Continuing from 2005’s tournaments, Battle Road 2006 resumed with another 2 seasonal tournaments in spring and summer. Battle Road Autumn did not occur this year, and was replaced with the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Battle Festa 2006. The 2006 tournaments would start on March 19, 2006 with the Battle Road Spring tournaments.
Battle Road 2006 continued to use the updated Victory Ring and Victory Orb prize cards that were introduced in 2005.
Path to Worlds
Like in the previous year (Battle Road 2005), 1st place juniors and seniors winners of the spring regional tournaments would be invited to participate in the 2006 World Championships, held in the United States.
Winners of the Summer tournament would instead be invited to the Japan national championships, the Champion’s League. For the first time, 2006’s Champion’s League was held in Taiwan, not Japan.
Tournament Structure
Similar to 2005, players were divided into 3 age groups, known as “leagues”.
- Junior League: Born after April 2, 1994
- Senior League: Born April 2,1988 – April 1, 1994
- Master League: Born before April 1, 1988
Like previous years, the regional tournaments were split up into a Qualifying Tournament and a Final Tournament. The Qualifying Tournament would serve to cut the large amount of attendees down to a final top cut.
The 2006 summer and spring tournaments used the traditional Qualifying / Final Tournament structures.
Allowed Cards
Battle Road 2006 continued with the previous year’s legal card pool by banning all yellow-border cards. Only cards from the ADV expansions (EX Sapphire and onwards), associated preconstructed decks, and newer promo cards would be allowed.
Qualifying Tournament Rules
During the Qualifying Tournament, players in each age group were split into small groups. Within that group, players played round-robin games, with points award for wins and draws. At the end of the qualifying tournament, the 1st place player in each group would advance to the Final Tournament.
- Allowed cards only
- 30-card decks
- 3 Prizes
- Up to 2 cards with the same name in each deck (excluding basic energies)
- The first player cannot play Supporters on their first turn
Final Tournament Rules
Players who advanced to the Final Tournament played against each other in a single-elimination tournament.
- Allowed cards only
- 60-card decks
- 6 prizes
- Up to 4 cards with the same name in each deck (excluding basic energies)
- The first player cannot play Supporters on their first turn
The top 3 winners of the Final Tournament would be crowned the regional tournament’s winners, and would receive the Victory Ring / Victory Orb promo cards.
Battle Road Spring 2006
Battle Road Spring 2006 was held at 9 tournaments in 7 cities across Japan. In order to participate in the tournament, players had to fill out a pre-application form on the official Pokemon TCG website to enter into a lottery by February 17, 2006.
Selected players would receive instructions on how to attend their regional tournament, held at the following locations and dates.
- Hokkaidō tournament: Sapporo Convention Center, Sapporo on March 19, 2006.
- Kantō A tournament: Hamamatsuchō House, Tokyo on March 25, 2006.
- Kantō B tournament: Hamamatsuchō House, Tokyo on March 26, 2006.
- Tōhoku tournament: Aztec Museum, Sendai on April 2, 2006.
- Chūbu tournament: Nagoya Trade & Industry Center, Nagoya on April 9, 2006.
- Chūgoku/Shikoku tournament: Hiroshima Industrial Hall, Hiroshima on April 16, 2006.
- Kansai A tournament: Umeda Center Building, Osaka on April 22, 2006.
- Kansai B tournament: Umeda Center Building, Osaka on April 23, 2006.
- Kyūshū tournament: Fukuoka Fashion Building, Fukuoka on April 30, 2006.
Players who managed to get into the tournament were given a holofoil Deoxys delta species promo card. Those who made it to the Final Tournament were given a copy of the Championship Arena card that was previously given to the winners of Battle Road Autumn 2005’s Premium Stage.
The top 3 winners of the Final Tournament at each regional tournament were awarded with a Victory Ring promo in an acrylic plaque. The plaque’s design was changed from its 2005 version to feature a design with Groudon and Kyogre instead of the previous year’s energy symbols.
The 1st place junior and senior league winner of each regional Battle Road Spring 2006 tournament earned an invite to the 2006 World Championships in Anaheim, California in the United States. Masters league players were not able to win an invite to the international event.
Battle Road Summer 2006
Battle Road Summer 2006 was held at 9 tournaments in 7 cities across Japan. Similar to the spring tournament, to participate in the tournament players had to fill out a pre-application form on the official Pokemon TCG website to enter into a lottery by June 16, 2006.
Competitors in the summer tournament would be competing for a spot in the Japanese national championships tournament known as the Champion’s League. Events were held at the following locations and dates.
- Kyūshū tournament: StarLanes Hakata, Fukuoka on July 16, 2006.
- Kansai A tournament: Umeda Center Building, Osaka on July 22, 2006.
- Kansai B tournament: Umeda Center Building, Osaka on July 23, 2006.
- Chūbu tournament: Nagoya Trade & Industry Center, Nagoya on July 23, 2006.
- Tōhoku tournament: Aztec Museum, Sendai on July 30, 2006.
- Kantō A tournament: Tokyo Ryutsu Center, Tokyo on August 5, 2006.
- Kantō B tournament: Tokyo Ryutsu Center, Tokyo on August 6, 2006.
- Chūgoku/Shikoku tournament: Hiroshima Industrial Hall, Hiroshima on August 13, 2006.
- Hokkaidō tournament: Sapporo Convention Center, Sapporo on August 13, 2006.
Players who were lucky enough to participate in the tournament were given a non-holo promo of Mew delta species. Those who made it to the Final Tournament were awarded with a δ Rainbow Energy mirror holofoil promo card.
The top 3 winners of the Final Tournament at each regional tournament were awarded with a Victory Orb promo in an acrylic plaque. The plaque’s design was changed from its 2005 version to feature a design with Groudon and Kyogre instead of the previous year’s energy symbols.
The 1st place winner of each regional tournament’s junior, senior, and master leagues each earned an invite to the 2006 Champion’s League, held September 2006 in Taiwan.
Side Events (Corners)
Like all other official tournaments, Battle Road 2006 featured multiple side events, also known as “corners”. These side events often had exclusive promo cards for participants and winners.
Plusle Minun Tag Battle
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2006, Battle Road Summer 2006
The Plusle Minun Tag Battle was a 2v2 tournament with a unique rule set. Each 2-person team would bring a 58-card deck to play with. Each player would then be given 2 copies of a Touch Exchange promo card to put into the remaining 2 slots of their 60-card deck. When played, this trainer card would allow teammates to switch the cards in their hand with each other. The card also featured red text in its corner stating, “Tag Battle Rules exclusive use card”.
During Battle Road Spring 2006, if a team won two consecutive battles, they would be rewarded with a set of 6 basic holofoil energy promos. These were the same ones given out at the Team Rocket One Day Battle in the previous year’s Battle Road Autumn 2005.
When this side event was held against at Battle Road Summer 2006, winning teams instead won a stamped version of the Touch Exchange promo that players had to play with.
Miracle Crystal One Day Battle
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2006
This side event was a tournament played with 30-card decks. At least 4 cards had to be from the new Miracle Crystal expansion (EX Crystal Guardians in the US) or associated preconstructed decks.
The tournament was played in the “Point Get Battle” structure used in previous Battle Road side events. Points were accumulated by winning games, which could be traded in for prizes. Games each had no time limit, so players were incentivized to play as quickly as possible to gather points within the event’s time limit. The event ran from 14:15 to 16:30, so there was just over 2 hours of time for players to compete for points.
Junior Triple Rally
Available at: Battle Road Summer 2006
This side event was a tournament meant only for elementary school children or younger. Participants would attempt 3 challenges: “Trading”, “Deck building”, and “Competing”. For each challenge completed, the players would level up and earn prizes like a set of trainer cards to use in regular gameplay.
Challenge PCL & Gym Leaders
Available at: Battle Road Summer 2006
Returning from Battle Road Summer 2004 was this corner. Pokemon Card Laboratory (PCL) “researchers” and staff members portraying Gym Leaders were available at this corner to challenge trainers to battle with 30-card decks. PCL is the Pokemon TCG’s development team for the game, so the decks they used were all finely tuned.
Defeating a PCL researcher would win you a special promo card, but this corner was known to be very difficult so few additional copies of the promo were distributed.
Pokemon Players Club Corner
Available at: Battle Road Spring 2006, Battle Road Summer 2006
This corner was a place where players could register to join the Pokemon Players Club, now in its second season. New and current members could receive 50 EXP points for visiting this corner.
During Battle Road Spring 2006, this corner also had red card sleeves for sale that were normally only available for club members.
2005-2006 Victory Ring & Orb Population
Given the known information on tournaments during Battle Road 2005 & 2006, it’s possible to estimate out the total amount of these cards that were distributed to winners.
The 2005-2006 Victory Ring had 162 copies officially distributed during 2 events:
Battle Road Spring 2005: 81 copies
- Given to top 3 winners of each regional tournament
- 9 regional tournaments held
- 3 age divisions (junior, senior, master)
Battle Road Spring 2006: 81 copies
- Given to top 3 winners of each regional tournament
- 9 regional tournaments held
- 9 age divisions (junior, senior, master)
The 2005-2006 Victory Orb had 189 copies officially distributed during 2 events:
Battle Road Summer 2005: 108 copies
- Given to top 4 winners (there were two 3rd places) of each regional tournament
- 9 regional tournaments held
- 3 age divisions (junior, senior, master)
Battle Road Summer 2006: 81 copies
- Given to top 3 winners of each regional tournament
- 9 regional tournaments held
- 3 age divisions (junior, senior, master)
Legacy
Battle Road 2006 would be the final Battle Road tournaments to award the Victory Ring and Victory Orb trophy cards. Starting with Battle Road 2007, two new trophy cards would be awarded instead: Mysterious Pearl and Miracle Diamond.
A different version of Victory Ring would be awarded many years later starting in 2013. These featured completely different artwork, as well as different card effects. They were ranked bronze through gold depending on placement.
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20060207021544/http://www.pokemon-card.com:80/event/index.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20060409145433/http://www.pokemon-card.com/event/topics/sp2006_cn.html#corner
- http://web.archive.org/web/20090228083144/http://www.pokemon-card.com/event/report/060716.html
- https://pokeboon.com/jp/promo_event/battle-road-summer-2006/
- http://web.archive.org/web/20090228083144/http://www.pokemon-card.com/event/report/060716.html
