Pokémon has always been promoted as a family-friendly series, and at the World Championships last weekend, a competitor in the Trading Card Game tournament was immediately disqualified after winning his quarter-final match.
This took place in the Masters bracket (the top division for players 16 years and older), with competitor Ian Robb thrown out of the top 8, which was live streamed on Twitch and YouTube. According to an official statement shared with Comicbook.com, The Pokémon Company International issued Robb with a match loss for "unsportsmanlike conduct".
While The Pokémon Company didn't elaborate on this, the source notes how it's "likely due to Robb making a gesture" with his hand after winning the match. You can see the edited match video (which removes this) above, but clips of this scene are still doing the rounds on social media.
What's even crazier is that Robb's opponent Fernando Cifuentes actually went on to win the entire tournament! It's believed Robb has also "potentially lost out on a guaranteed $20,000 prize money for making the semifinals" although he could still "recoup $15,000 of this" if he's considered a Top 8 finisher.
Fortunately, the tournament continued on, and during the closing ceremony, multiple game announcements and updates were shared about the Trading Card Game and the mobile pocket version of it even locked in a release date.
