The Pokémon Trading Card Game 2004 World Championships was held at the Wyndham Palace Resort & Spa at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida in the United States from August 20 to 22, 2004.
The event would be the first World Championships hosted by The Pokemon Company International (TPCI)’s organized play program instead of Wizards of the Coast. Wizards had lost the international license for the Pokemon TCG in 2002. The resulting transfer and legal battle meant that a 2003 World Championships was never held.
TPCI formed a new division called “Pokemon Organized Play” to administer all aspects of the 2004 tournament circuit outside of Japan. The 2004 World Championships would be the culmination of these efforts and finally brought all aspects of the Pokemon TCG’s global organized play scene under one umbrella. Therefore, many players see 2004 as the first “true” world championships, despite Wizards of the Coast having had hosted one in 2002.
Format
The 2004 Pokemon World Championships would only support the Pokemon TCG. The Pokemon video games would not be introduced to the world championship tournaments until 2009.
Legal TCG sets
The 2004 World Championships was held in the Modified Format. The following Pokemon TCG sets were legal:
- Expedition Base Set (Base Expansion Pack in Japan)
- Aquapolis (The Town on No Map and Wind from the Sea in Japan)
- Skyridge (Split Earth and Mysterious Mountains in Japan)
- EX Ruby & Sapphire (ADV era’s Expansion Pack in Japan)
- EX Sandstorm (Miracle Desert in Japan)
- EX Dragon (Rulers of the Heavens in Japan)
- EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua (Magma VS Aqua: Two Ambitions in Japan)
- EX Hidden Legends (Undone Seal in Japan)
- Nintendo Black Star Promos #001 – 026
- EX Trainer Kit (All reprints from except Latios & Latias which were promo cards in Japan)
Metagame
Outside of Japan, the 2004 Worlds meta was fairly diverse. Multiple deck archetypes were played across all countries and age groups.
Japanese players however surprised the tournament with a Team Magma’s Groudon deck that dominated the tournament, resulting in Japanese players winning across all age groups.
A full breakdown of deck archetypes for this tournament can be viewed here.
Qualification
Qualification for the 2004 World Championships varied depending on country. Due to this being the first year that TPCI ran an international tournament circuit, the path to Worlds varied greatly in difficulty depending on the player’s country.
In total, 310 players were invited to compete in the 2004 World Championships.
North America
In the United States and Canada, there were multiple ways for players to earn an invite to Worlds
- Top player from each of the 3 age groups (10 and under, 11 to 14, and 15 and up) at Gym Challenge events in 2004. 37 Gym challenges were held across North America for the 2004 organized play season. In total that means 111 players obtained an invite this way.
- Top 4 players from each age group at the Stadium Challenge events. 3 of these events were held in the USA. In total that means 36 players obtained an invite this way.
- Top 4 players from each age group at the American National Championships. In total 12 players obtained an invite this way.
- Top 16 ranked players in each age group in the Pokemon Organized Play rankings database as of July 20, 2004. In total 48 players obtained an invite this way.
- Winners from the 2002 World Championships held by Wizards of the Coast received an automatic invite.
- Lastly, at least the top 8 players in each age group at the “Last Chance Qualifier Tournament” would also get a Worlds invite. This event took place the Friday before the 2004 World Championships. In total 24 players obtained an invite this way.
Japan
In Japan, juniors and seniors league winners from each regional Battle Road 2004 Summer tournament would earn an invite to Worlds, as well as the previous year’s Junior, Senior, and Masters national champions. This was likely to make up for the fact that 2003 did not have a world championships event due to the license transferring from Wizards to the Pokemon Company.
In total, this meant that 57 players from Japan were invited to Worlds 2004.
International
In all other countries, Pokemon held National Championship tournaments from May 30 – July 28, 2004. The champion for each tournament was invited from their country to compete in Worlds. These were held in the following countries:
- Kowloon, Hong Kong: Toyland Castle on May 30, 2004
- Makati City, Philippines: NG Glorietta Tournament Center on May 30, 2004
- Winterthur, Switzerland: Ev. Zentrum on June 13, 2004
- Salzburg, Austria: StieglKeller Salzburg on June 19, 2004
- Espoo, Finland: Servin Mokki on June 19, 2004
- Oslo, Norway: Outland Oslo on June 19, 2004
- Koln, Germany: Gurzenich Koln on June 26, 2004
- Utrecht, Netherlands: Nationaal Denksportcentrum on June 27, 2004
- Caulfield South, Australia: Absolute Games on July 4, 2004
- Ra, Israel: Stadium Sports on July 28, 2004
There was one Gym Challenge event held in Germany as well, so the winner of the event would also get a worlds invite:
- Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany: Spielzeugland Werner on June 5, 2004
Additionally, the top finishers from each international Stadium Challenge gained a Worlds invite. There were 3 held:
- Winterthur, Switzerland: Ev. Zentrum on May 16, 2004
- Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany: Sangerhalle Unterturkheim on June 12, 2004
- Berlin, Germany: Einkaufszentrum Bärenschaufenster on June 12, 2004
In total, this meant that 14 players were invited to Worlds 2004 from non-Japanese, non-North American countries through these events. Additional players were also invited from each country based on their rankings. For example, the Netherlands sent 5 players.
Participation Gifts & Merchandise
Competitors would receive a variety of merchandise and promo cards for qualifying. All competitors who qualified received a set of Tropical Wind promos, stamped with the Worlds 2004 logo. This card was inspired by the Tropical Wind and Tropical Breeze promos previously given to tournament competitors, and established a recurring trend of featuring Psyduck in the card’s artwork.
The competitor set of 2004 Tropical Winds was presented as a 3×3 binder page. To represent the coming together of players from around the world, players would receive a copy of the card in each of 7 major languages that the Pokemon TCG was printed in. The complete set included English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
To fill in the remaining 2 slots on the binder page, two insert cards were also included. One advertised the upcoming World Championship Decks that would be produced after the tournament, and another showing the Pokemon Organized Play logo.
Competitors also received a baseball cap with the event logo on it, and a special gray competitor T-shirt.
American Competitors were given a Welcome kit that included a packet of instructions and a branded notepad.
Japanese competitors were sent a “Japan National Team Kit” with an invite letter prior to departing for the event. The package contained a deck box, Charizard zipper pouch, pin, Venusaur towel, Blastoise t-shirt, and a “Battle Dictionary” similar to the ones from the International Tropical Mega Battle events.
Thank you for supporting the Pokemon Card Game, and congratulations on making it to the “Pokemon Card Game World Championship 2004”!
We have sent you a “Japan National Team Kit” for all of you who will be representing Japan in battle against the world’s strongest players. The “Japan National Team Kit” contains the following original goods. Use them to battle with players from all over the world!!
- A clear black original deck case with silhouetted Pokemon designs
- A original bag with a Charizard design that can hold a deck case
- An original shirt with a Blastoise design
- An original towel with a Venusaur Design
- An original badge with silhouetted Pokemon designs
- And a dictionary that allows you to enjoy playing and trading
These are all special goods given only to the Japanese national players who made it to Florida. Let’s get together wearing the original T-shirt and cap we got at Battle Road Summer.
Translated text
The cap and the T-shirt from Battle Road Summer 2004 that the letter mentions wearing are pictured below.
All competitors also received a special luggage tag in their welcome kit.
Non-Competitor Merchandise
The 2004 World Championships were the first and only Worlds to feature a special attendee card promo. This was an English Tropical Wind card similar to the competitors received, except without the Worlds 2004 foil stamp.
Attendees could also purchase an orange T-shirt featuring the flags of all the invited players’ countries and event logo.
Volunteer staff members at the event received a white version of this shirt with “STAFF” printed across the back. There was a blue version of the staff shirt as well that was was very limited, as judges wore the unbranded striped referee shirts. The blue shirt was worn at side events and other non-judge functions. Staff received a special Staff-stamped version of the Tropical Wind promo.
A 2×2 card binder was also available at the venue.
Tournament Structure
The 2004 World Championships would take place over the course of 3 days (August 20 – 22, 2004).
- Friday (August 20, 2004): Last Chance Qualifier Tournament and Swiss Day 1 tournament.
- Saturday (August 21, 2004): Top 32 single-elimination finals
- Sunday (August 22, 2004): Top 16 finals
Last Chance Qualifier
The Pokémon TCG Last Chance Qualifier was the final sanctioned Worlds qualifier open to all eligible players and occurred on location at the World Championships on August 20, 2004.
Registration was first come, first served basis and begun at 4:00 PM local time, with the tournament beginning at 5:00 PM. Players had to pay a $5 entry fee to participate.
The tournament was held in the same Modified Format as the overall Worlds tournament with Age Modified Swiss pairing. In this pairing method, players are paired both by record and age group. Players could be matched with players from other age groups if no other players in their age group had a suitable rating.
There was no elimination method for the Last Chance Qualifier. Instead, players would continued to be paired until a top 8 was determined for each age group.
If already-qualified players failed to make it to the event due travel or scheduling reasons, their spot would be available to Last Chance Qualifier players, meaning players who placed 9th place or below could also get a Worlds invite.
According to a blog post from the event, these were the number of players from the Last Chance Qualifier who received a Worlds invite from the event:
- 10 and under: 19 (all participants made it in)
- 11 – 14: 24 (not all made it in)
- 15+: 32 (out of 118 participants)
Day 1 (Swiss)
Deck check-in for qualified players was from 2:00-7:00 PM local time. Once checked in, Players would be pairing up according to the Swiss Pairing Method.
In this method, all players in a tournament play in each round against an opponent with a similar win/loss record. Players are not paired against opponents they have previously played.
After all Swiss rounds were completed, the top 32 players in each age group would advance to the next day.
Day 2 (Top 32 Finals)
On the following Saturday, the top 32 players in each age group would play in a single-elimination tournament. Players would play best-of-3 games to determine winners for each match.
Day 3 (Top 16 Finals & Championship)
Sunday was the last day of the 2004 World Championships and would crown the “first” official Pokemon TCG world champions. Players from each age group would play in single-elimination rounds to determine a final standings.
All 3 age groups were swept by Japanese players piloting the now infamous Team Magma’s Groudon decks.
Prizes
The top 3 players of each age group would receive No.1, 2, and 3 Trainer trophy cards. This would be the first time that these kind of top placement cards would ever be printed outside of Japan, and would set the stage for subsequent years to come.
Additionally, special “Top 16”, “Quarter-Finalist,” “Semi-Finalist” and “Finalist” versions were awarded to the respective players in each age group. Unlike the years following, competitors only received Tropical Wind promo cards stamped with their highest placement, making the placement-stamped cards from Worlds 2004 much more rare than the years following.
Given that, the total number of each distributed were as follows:
- Finalist – 6 copies
- Semi-finalist – 6 copies
- Quarter-finalist – 12 copies
- Top 16 – 24 copies
Top placing players also got additional prizes as follows:
1st place
- A Pokémon TCG World Champion Trophy
- An Invitation to the World Championships in 2005
- A Travel award for you and a guest (or parent or legal guardian for players under 18) to the 2005 World Championships.
- A scholarship award worth $7500
- An Ultimate Pokémon Game Package including:
- Nintendo® Game Cube system
- Kyogre ™ Game Boy Advance SP system
- Groudon ™ Game Boy Advance SP system
- Game Boy player
- Game Boy link cable
- Pokémon Colosseum video game
- Next upcoming Pokémon Titles for the Game Boy Advance system!
- One box of each of the most current Pokémon TCG expansion for a year
- Custom World Championship Backpack
- World Championship Finalist’s Hat
- Custom World Champion Jacket with your choice of your favorite Pokémon character!
2nd place
- A Pokémon TCG World Championships Second Place Trophy
- A scholarship award worth $5000
- A Pokémon Game Boy Advance SP system
- Pokémon Colosseum video game
- Next upcoming Pokémon Titles for the Game Boy Advance system!
- Game Boy link cable
- One box of each of the most current Pokémon TCG expansion for a year
- Custom World Championship Backpack
- World Championship Finalist’s Hat
- Custom World Championship Jacket with your choice of your favorite Pokémon character!
3rd place
- A Pokémon TCG World Championships Third Place Trophy
- A scholarship award worth $3500
- A Pokémon Game Boy Advance SP system
- Pokémon Colosseum video game
- Game Boy link cable
- One box of the upcoming Pokémon EX ™ expansion
- Custom World Championship Backpack
- World Championship Finalist’s Hat
- Custom World Championship Jacket with your choice of your favorite Pokémon character!
4th place
- A scholarship award worth $3500
- A Pokémon Game Boy Advance SP system
- Pokémon Colosseum video game
- Game Boy link cable
- One box of the upcoming Pokémon EX expansion
- Custom World Championship Backpack
- World Championship Finalist’s Hat
5th – 8th place
- A scholarship award worth $1500
- Pokémon Colosseum video game
- Custom World Championship Backpack
- 18 Booster Packs of the upcoming Pokémon EX expansion
- A Pokémon Game Boy Advance SP system
- Game Boy link cable
- World Championship Finalist’s Hat
9th – 16th place
- A scholarship award worth $1000
- Pokémon Colosseum video game
- Custom World Championship Backpack
- 18 Booster Packs of the upcoming Pokémon EX Expansion
- World Championship Finalist’s Hat
Legacy
The 2004 Pokemon World Championships was a resounding successful, and proved that TPCi was able to run international tournaments just as well, if not better than Wizards of the Coast. The tournament established multiple traditions that would be repeated at almost every Worlds in years to come.
First of all, the tournament would take the No.1 Trainers awarded in regional Japanese tournaments like the Lizardon Mega Battles and Battle Roads and moved them to only being awarded to Worlds winners.
Secondly, the tournament established that a full language set of special Worlds promos was to be given to each competitor. Each of these would be a trainer card featuring Psyduck in its artwork, and a foil stamp showing the tournament year. The unstamped variant of this promo was only given out in 2004 Worlds spectators, and this was never repeated in subsequent years.
Third, the tournament also awarded top competitors and staff members with foil-stamped versions of the Worlds promo card. In subsequent years, high-placing players would not only receive their ranked card, but also stamped cards of placements under them.
Lastly, the 2004 Worlds tournament would begin a tradition of the Pokemon World Championships being held outside of Japan. Only almost 20 years later would this penultimate international tournament return to Japan in 2023 for the 2023 Pokemon World Championships, held in Yokohama Japan.
Sources
- https://ptcglegends.com/worlds/2004/summary
- https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/2004_World_Championships_(TCG)
- https://ptcgarchive.com/2004-decks/
- https://www.elitefourum.com/t/pokemon-organized-play-pop-timeline-2003-2004-pokemon-league-year-5/37300
- https://www.pojo.com/KillerDecks/2004/Worlds-Blaze.htm
- http://web.archive.org/web/20040623220457/http://op.pokemon-tcg.com/home/world_invite.asp
- http://web.archive.org/web/20040723194304/http://op.pokemon-tcg.com/events/faqs/world_champ_faq.asp
- https://pokegym.net/community/index.php?threads/worlds.9799/
- http://web.archive.org/web/20040821142359/http://op.pokemon-tcg.com/events/faqs/last_chance_qualifier.asp
