It’s with great sadness that we bid farewell to Box Buster Sports Cards, which as been the home of the Western Slope Pokemon League in Montrose for the past 2 years, as they closed down for good on Saturday, August 3rd.
I want to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to Garrett and his family for hosting our events and helping us grow the Pokemon community here! It’s been such a joy getting to know them and working with them to help the community on the thrive. I hope and pray that they have a successful new store opening in their new home in Golden, CO!
What does this mean for the league in Montrose? Unfortunately, because of TPCi’s rules, it means that since we’ll no longer be affiliated with a game store, we won’t be able to do any sanctioned League events, Challenges, Cups, or Prereleases in Montrose for the foreseeable future. So that means that the closest tournament and prerelease scene will be at Board Fox Games in Grand Junction (which I’ll be sure myself and Professor Rayne keep everyone updated on!).
This doesn’t mean it’s the end of Pokemon in Montrose, though! I still have plenty of Prize Packs and promos left (with some new stuff already on its way!) that I want to make sure to give out. As often as I’m able, I’ll reserve the meeting room at the Montrose Regional Library for fun, casual hangouts to play and get promos. The first of which will be on Saturday, August 17th to celebrate the World Championships!
Be sure to keep an eye out here and in our Discord for updates as I have them.
We’ll be doing a Worlds Celebration event at the Montrose Library on Saturday, Aug. 17th! Join us at a party celebrating the Pokémon World Championships! To celebrate the spirit of competition, all arrivals get a special Pikachu promo card featuring an intense battle between Pikachu and Mew, a Honolulu-inspired backdrop, and the World Championships stamp.
Play casual games, trade, and make new friends! There will also be other exclusive promotional items given out throughout the event.
When: August 17, 2024, 1:00pm-5:00pm Where: Montrose Regional Library, 320 South 2nd St., Montrose, CO 81401
Our very first Video Game Challenge in Montrose was a resounding success! After a few technical hiccups, our four trainers got to battling to see who would be the first VG Challenge champion of Montrose!
Congratulations goes to Joanna for taking 1st place and Eilidh for securing 2nd! Check out their teams below.
Everyone had a great time, and we can’t wait for the next one! And don’t forget to check out the winning TCG decks from the League Challenge that was going at the same time!
Champion Team – Joanna
Calyrex (Shadow Rider)
Moves: Astral Barrage Psychic Nasty Plot Draining Kiss
Held Item: Covert Cloak Ability: As One Tera Type: Fairy
Montrose’s first League Challenge of the 2025 season was a blast! We once again had Juniors and Masters from across the Western Slope, and it was a great kick off to the new season!
As you can see from the winning deck lists below, Regidrago was the VSTAR of the show! 😏
Join us at Box Buster Sports Cards in Montrose on Saturday, July 20th for a Ditto Draft! Check-in starts at 2pm and we’ll start drafting at 2:30pm. $20 entry fee for drafting 4 packs (exact packs will depend on store inventory at the time of the event). Prize Packs will be given to all players and extra Prize Packs awarded to the winners! Please bring your own sleeves, damage counters, etc. Basic energies and Ditto Markers will be provided by organizer.
Each player receives four predetermined booster packs. They can all be from the same expansion or from different expansions, as long as each player has the same four packs.
Players will also be provided with Ditto Markers to use along with the special Ditto Draft rules (see below). Ditto Markers can be placed on Basic Pokémon without a Rule Box to grant them the Ability to evolve into any Stage 1 or Stage 2 Pokémon that a player drafts and includes in their deck.
Players will be seated in a circle to facilitate the draft. Once everyone is ready, the Organizer will signal the players to open their first booster pack. If using a combination of packs from different expansions, all players should open a pack from the same expansion at the same time. Each player selects one card from the pack and sets it aside to start their draft selection pile, along with the Pokémon TCG Live or Pokémon TCG Online code card and the basic Energy card or VSTAR marker. Players then pass the remaining cards from the booster pack, face down, to the person on their left. The cards selected by each player should remain secret during the drafting process.
Each player continues to select one card from among the cards passed to them until all the cards have been selected. After all cards from a booster pack have been picked, players will have one minute to review the cards they have so far. This process repeats for each remaining booster pack, with the passing pattern alternating from left to right as each new pack is opened.
Deck Construction
After all the booster packs have been opened and all the cards have been selected, each player constructs a 40-card deck using the cards they picked from the booster packs, as well as basic Energy cards provided by the Organizer. Players have 20 minutes to construct their decks. Players may not trade the cards they selected in the draft with other players until the tournament ends. After everyone’s deck is completed, play begins.
Gameplay
Games will be played with 4 Prize cards instead of the usual six. Once the first round of the tournament begins, players may not alter the contents of their decks. All standard gameplay rules apply, with the following additional Ditto Draft rule:
Once during your turn (before you attack), you may place a Ditto marker on 1 of your Basic Pokémon that doesn’t have a Rule Box. It gains the following Ability:
Ability: EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE Once during your turn, you may put any Stage 1 or Stage 2 card from your hand onto this Pokémon to evolve it. You can’t use this Ability during your first turn or the turn this Pokémon was put into play. If you put a Stage 2 card onto this Pokémon, your turn ends. Each Pokémon can use only 1 Evolutionary Advantage Ability per game.
The 2024/2025 competitive season has officially begun! Box Buster Sports Cards in Montrose will be having its first League Challenges Saturday, July 27th.
That’s right, that’s “Challenges” plural! As announced by The Pokémon Company last week, the local-level Video Game Championship series have been renamed to Video Game League Challenge and Video Game League Cup… and Montrose is now able to hold those events! So if you’ve been wanting to try your hand at competitive video game play in Pokémon Scarlet or Pokémon Violet, now’s your chance!
We will be holding the TCG League Challenge and Video Game League Challenge simultaneously, with staggered start times to help with logistics. Here’s the info:
TCG League Challenge
Check-in: 2:00pm
Tournament start: 3:00pm
Format: Standard
Entry fee: $10
Rounds: Best-of-1, 30 minute Swiss
VG League Challenge
Check-in: 2:30pm
Tournament start: 3:30pm
Format: Double battles, Regulation Set G
Entry fee: None
Rounds: Best-of-3 Swiss rounds
Please bring completed deck lists or team lists to speed up the registration process. Otherwise, blank list sheets will be provided when you check in. If you are able to print your own lists, I recommend using RK9 Labs’ deck list creator or team list creator.
Rememberthat if you are earning Championship Points, you can only earn points for one type of game! CP do not transfer from one game to another, so be sure your Play! Pokémon account is set to earn points in the correct game that you want. (Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t play in different types of tournaments throughout the year if you want! Just make sure you’re aware of your account settings so you can plan your season accordingly.)
If this will be your first time competing in an official tournament, be sure to familiarize yourself with the Play! Pokémon Rules and Resources. Though, even if you’re an old hand at the competitive scene, it wouldn’t hurt to look over them again since they were updated recently. 😉
I’m super excited to be able to provide more competitive opportunities for our local players, and I look forward to seeing all the decks and teams you come up with this season! Please reach out if you have any questions.
Despite some crazy weather, we had a great time at our first Gym Leader Challenge tournament in Montrose! GLC is such a unique and fun format and everyone had a great time!
We only had Junior and Master divisions, and I’d like to share the winning decks! Congrats to our winners, and we look forward to holding more fun events like this throughout the summer.
Due to changes in Box Buster Sports Cards’ hours this summer, our regular league sessions will be changing days and time! Starting June 27, casual Pokémon League will be moving to every other THURSDAY from 5-8pm! That’s right, league is finally returning to 3-hour sessions, which means more time to earn prize packs and have fun!
Also, our free Gym Leader Challenge tournament is moving to SATURDAY, June 22nd at 2:00pm! In addition to the exclusive Buddy-Buddy Poffin, Super Rod, and TM Evolution promo cards all participants will get, the winners in each age division will also receive a Champion playmat!
We hope you’ll continue to join us for a summer filled with all kinds of Pokémon fun!
We had a jam-packed 2023/2024 competitive season in Montrose! With 4 League Cups and 7 League Challenges and players from all over Colorado’s Western Slope, it was hands-down the best year we’ve ever had!
I’d like to highlight two of our players who had amazing accomplishments this year: Eduardo Ambriz and Calvin R. These two trainers each had the most Top 3 finishes in Montrose events, with Eddie landing 8 and Calvin getting 7 (plus another significant win, but we’ll get to that in a moment).
Eddie’s known for playing Chien-Pao, though he did play some other decks throughout the year, such as Mew VMAX/Genesect (before rotation) and a Blastoise ex/Palkia VSTAR deck.
In the Junior division, Calvin absolutely CRUSHED it with five first place wins, the most of any of our players! He piloted decks like Charizard ex and Lugia VSTAR/Cinccino with great success. And to top it all off, he placed in the Top 64 at last weekend’s North America International Championship, which secured him his invite to the 2024 World Championship! That’s a huge accomplishment in and of itself, but what makes it extra special is that Calvin is officially the first trainer on the Western Slope EVER to qualify for Worlds! I’m absolutely one proud Professor, and so excited to see where Calvin’s trainer journey takes him next!
In closing, I want to congratulate and thank everyone that has participated in our events in Montrose throughout the year. Your continued support and involvement are helping us build an awesome community across the Western Slope, and I’m looking forward to more to come in the coming year!
On May 11, we had our League Cup tournament in Montrose! Here are the decks that took 1st and 2nd in the Junior and Master divisions. Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone that came and played!
