The Pokemon World Championship TCG tournament was thrown into chaos thanks to one controversial gesture. In this year’s Masters bracket (for players 16 years or older), competitor Ian Robb was retroactively handed a loss after winning his quarterfinal match against Fernando Cifuentes. According to a statement provided to ComicBook by The Pokemon Company International, Robb was issued a match loss for “unsportsmanlike conduct,” likely due to Robb making a gesture that could be construed as obscene after his victory match. You can see Robb make the gesture in the clip taken from the Pokemon World Championships stream below:ย
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Robb’s match loss pushed Cifuentes into the semifinal match against Jesse Parker, who had been undefeated up to that point in the tournament. Cifuentes triumphed over Parker and ended up in tomorrow’s finals against Seinosuke Shiokawa. Ironically, Parker had just defeated a Regidrago ex-themed deck in the quarterfinals and would have faced a similar deck had he faced Robb, but instead faced an Iron Thorns ex deck that had entirely different mechanics and weaknesses.
The match also has serious financial consequences as well. Depending on whether Robb’s match loss counts as a full disqualification or just a standard loss, Robb potentially lost out on a guaranteed $20,000 in prize money for making the semifinals, although he would recoup $15,000 of this if he’s considered to be a Top 8 finisher.
The decision and aftermath has placed a large shadow over the remainder of the tournament. One of the two finalists in the division lost a quarterfinal match but still managed to move on due to the actions of an opponent after the match was completed. Additionally, a semifinalist potentially lost a spot in the finals after a favorable matchup was retroactively pulled from the tournament. Obviously, the Pokemon Trading Card Game community is talking about the controversy with some questioning whether Robb actually made an inappropriate gesture or whether it was enough to shift the entire outlook of the tournament.ย
