Pokémon Tournament canceled after players protest “absolute disrespect” shown by organizers

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League of their own

Clefairy uses Metronome
(Image credit: The Pokemon Compnay)

Pokémon Korea was forced to cancel a tournament in response to a creative competitors' protest against the organizer. 

The 2023 TrainersCup, a virtual Pokémon Scarlet and Violet tournament for South Korean players, was canceled after the top four competitors agreed to protest the event in response to “absolute disrespect” shown to players, resulting in their disqualification at the hands of tournament officials.  

In a Tweet, NashVGC shared their side of the story, stating that the top four players of the TrainersCup second ladder tour planned to protest their discontent with Pokémon Korea’s approach to the tournaments by engaging in a Metronome battle on stream.

For those who aren’t in the know, Metronome is a unique attack in Pokémon that causes the monster using it to perform a random attack. In practice, this means that their battle would have been completely random, rather than a showcase of Pokémon excellence as desired by Pokémon Korea. 

Nash and co. organized the protest to highlight “issues within our community” which they firmly place at the feet of the tournament organizer. These include “no irl events, constant problems in the tour system, disregarding younger divisions [and] absurd compensations for the problems they caused.”   

Unfortunately for the protestors, the group was disqualified before the event could take place. Blue, one of the trainers, was disqualified “without telling him why”. Betago, who was brought in to replace Blue, agreed with the three original protestors and joined them in their plans for the metronome battle. 

On June 3, this resulted in all four players being disqualified. According to Nash, Pokémon Korea disqualified them on the grounds of “causing harm to other participants” as well as “other actions that Nintendo… deems inappropriate.” 

It would seem that, while the Pokémon Company is capable of making the best Pokémon games, it still has growing to do when it comes to building healthy relationships with top-level Pokémon trainers. One thing's for sure: after all that drama, I'm in dire need of a nice, long Pokémon Sleep.

Cat Bussell
Cat Bussell
Freelance contributor

An editor and freelance journalist, Cat Bussell has been writing about video games for more than four years and, frankly, she’s developed a taste for it. As seen on TechRadar, Technopedia, The Gamer, Wargamer, and SUPERJUMP, Cat’s reviews, features, and guides are lovingly curated for your reading pleasure.

A Cambridge graduate, recovering bartender, and Cloud Strife enjoyer, Cat’s foremost mission is to bring you the best coverage she can, whether that’s through helpful guides, even-handed reviews, or thought-provoking features. She’s interviewed indie darlings, triple-A greats, and legendary voice actors, all to help you get closer to the action. When she’s not writing, Cat can be found sticking her neck into a fresh RPG or running yet another Dungeons & Dragons game.