Upper Deck has announced an ambitious and comprehensive plan for organized play to support its new Huntik TCG. The announcement comes shortly after the announcements that a second season of Huntik: Secrets and Seekers has been ordered for the U.S., debuting in 2010 (see “Second Season Ordered for ‘Huntik’”) and that Upper Deck intends to run TV ads for the TCG (see “’Huntik’ TV Ads”).

Huntik OP starts with the Seeker League, a hobby-store exclusive program that rewards players both for participation and for winning games and includes exclusive promo cards and other prizes.

The competitive portion of Huntik OP kicks off in May with Store Championships. Two exclusive promo cards, one for participation and one for winning, will be offered, and the winner of each Store Championship gets a bye to day two of his or her respective National Championship. Regional Championships take place in June and July, with the top eight finalists also getting seeded in day two of the National Championships. Prizes for Regionals include a Nintendo Wii, an iPod Nano, and iPod Shuffles. National Championships are in July and August, with the North American Continental Championship taking place at Gen Con Indy. Prizes for these events are yet to be announced.

Future plans include a themed local-level Elite Event in October and another round of championships in winter.