In celebration the Pokémon franchise’s recent resurgence, and in support of the VGC scene, esports company One Nation of Gamers (ONOG) has invited an array of renowned trainers to compete in an invitational-style tournament. The tournament will be fully supported and sponsored by GEICO, one of the largest auto insurance companies in the United States.

We're getting in to Pokémon with @GEICOGaming and an Invitational! Tune in next weekend and visit our site for more:https://t.co/oMnSdyBv8I pic.twitter.com/UOlxNYHsYV — One Nation of Gamers (@ONOGesports) February 17, 2017

The cast of competitors includes the world champions of the last three years: Sejun Park (2014), Shoma “SHADEviera” Honami (2015), and Wolfe Glick (2016). Joining them are popular YouTubers Aaron “Cybertron” Zheng, Alex Ogloza, and Dan “aDrive” Clap. Rounding out the line-up are a pair of the world’s best – one, each, from Europe and the US – Markus “Yoshi” Stadter and Enosh Shachar.

The players will compete for a $1000 prize pool, with $500 going to the victor, $300 to the runner-up and $100 to 3rd and 4th place. The tournament will be conducted in two stages. The first is a group stage will have a double elimination format, with matches conducted as a best-of-three games. Following the group stage is the playoff stage, which is single elimination. In a new approach to VGC, matches played in this stage will be best-of-five, allowing for a greater reduction in the potential influence of RNG factors.

Each game will be streamed on the ONOG Twitch and YouTube channels. Justin Carris will cast each match, with a number of the competitors joining him to co-cast.

Profiles of each of the players will be posted to Trainer Tower, as will previews prior to each stage of the event. For more details about the tournament, including details about the organisers, schedule, groups and more, check out the official tournament microsite at http://pokemon.onog.gg/. For more details on the inception of the tournament, check out this blog post from Kevin “monk” Dong.