2024-2025 Season Review

With this new season some big changes were brought in for the invite structure to the World Championships. Instead of a 600 point threshold they switched to a Top X structure on the leaderboard. For the Masters division in North America, this would be the top 125 ranked players in points. This seems daunting given that there are regularly thousands of competitors showing up to every Regional tournament in North America but it is something that I’ve done before. Just last season, in fact, I finished in 113th with 671 points. Of course, this was a time when people would stop trying after reaching 600 points and not keep pushing until the very end so it would be slightly harder this time. But I am no slouch when it comes to climbing a leaderboard.

My best ever season in 2014 saw me atop the leaderboard at #5 among multiple-time World Champions.

It would take a huge finish to reach these heights again, but I came up with a plan. There are two goals that I have for this season of competitive Pokemon:

Get an invite to the World Championships (obviously)
Achieve net positive in earnings vs spending

In order to achieve goal #2, I will be keeping track of all of my spending on attending all events from League Challenges to Internationals. I want a realistic picture of how much it costs and how much effort it takes to achieve my number one goal SO THAT if this system sticks around for a while, I know what to expect.

For major tournaments, only the best 5 finishes would count towards your point total. Thus, I planned for five major events to attend and tried to see what else I could fit that would be cost effective. The five majors I planned to attend are:

Sacramento Regionals
Toronto Regionals
Vancouver Regionals
European Internationals (EUIC)
North American Internationals (NAIC)

Which are the cheapest Regionals that I can get to plus the two Internationals that are easier to get to (traveling to Brazil for the Latin American Internationals is expensive and takes very long). Internationals are much higher value due to the inflated point payout that they provide. I managed to fit in two other Regionals as backups because a larger group of friends would also be going.

San Antonio Regionals
Louisville Regionals

My overall goal is to average top 128 in placements (as that would logically be within top 125 in North America). This would mean 480 points from majors. Of course, if I only got top 128 finishes then I wouldn’t reach my second goal of finishing net positive so I would need to spike a few good finishes as well.

Without further ado:

Louisville, KY (Oct. 12, 2024)

Trip Cost: $740 CAD

Kentucky Regionals came up sorta randomly. A group of friends showed interest and flights were just under $500 round trip (flying out of YVR-Vancouver is expensive). As a result, it was a very fun trip!

Although it was fun, we all missed day 2 🙂 (Except Simon the Snorlax GOAT who missed the pic because he had to pee).

I decided to play Pidgeot Control to this event because it felt like a deck that if I was able to master, would pay off in the long run. I went 3-4-1 so obviously I had not mastered it.

Sacramento, CA (Nov. 23, 2024)

Trip cost: $350 CAD

Sacramento is not too far from Vancouver so going to this Regionals is actually affordable. I had over a month from Kentucky to refine my Pidgeot Control deck to try and optimize it. This was also the first Regionals after LAIC so it was the first chance to get points in this second “quarter” of the season.

I learned all of my matchups and added a spicy Comfey tech in remembrance of Flower Selecting, my most played deck of last season. However, this Comfey was in here to catch opponents off guard with a forced draw 3 to deck out. Was it good? Not really. Did I use it to deck out someone? Yes. Was it worth it? Probably not. I put in the 1-1 Farigiraf since I thought decks like Raging Bolt would be popular and it fit the Psychic energy choice nicely. I had Black Kyurem ex as my Regidrago counter alongside double Mist Energy and double Mimikyu. Then I threw in a Diancie because I really didn’t want to lose to a Lugia.

I ended up going 6-1-5 which put me at just 0.18% opponent’s resistance away from top 128 (ending at 130th).

I started off 3-0 with quick wins against Gholdengo, Gardevoir, and Lost Box (all 2-0 victories). Then I proceed to tie the next three:

One was against Regidrago after I won game one then lost game two after I prized both Pidgeot and Rotom. My opponent had a slow start but managed to win on the final turn of time.
One was against Charizard, I lost game one and since my main strategy in this matchup is wall + deck out we weren’t going to finish. I did get about halfway through their deck in game three.
The final tie was against Hydreigon. I got decked out in game one, won game two with Blood Moon Ursaluna attacks, and then ran out of time to finish game three in a favorable spot.

After three ties in a row, I win round seven against a Regidrago and I am in a position to either intentionally draw (ID) into day two (but go out of contention to win) or I can play it out and try to get to a better spot for day two.

I get paired against a Raging Bolt and I’m feeling decent about my chances since Farigiraf ex should just win the game if I set it up. However, after I play Colress’s Tenacity to set up, my opponent reveals that he plays a Kyurem and builds up massive damage on my board. I can’t overcome this and lose game one. I manage to set up a Farigiraf in game two and win but now it is scary. I don’t actually do the math but I figured that the odds of either me prizing a piece of Farigiraf ex or him donking me were around 50% given that he can choose to go second. Also, given that I feel decent about my deck and the ability to win in day two, the expected value of offering the ID here was pretty high even though I wouldn’t be able to win the tournament. Given that I don’t have too many chances at getting points at majors, I decide to ID and my opponent accepts.

So, 4-0-4 into Day two was not something that we thought would be possible yet here we are, technically undefeated. In day two I proceed to go 2-1-1:

Both wins were against Lost Box. The matchup is very good since you can time an Eri to get rid of Super Rod or Mirage Gate and leave them with very little resources to finish off their six prizes. If they ever overbench without leaving room for Iron Hands ex or Sableye you can also sometimes just put down Cornerstone Ogerpon ex and they can never win.
The tie was against a Raging Bolt. He seemed to have infinite answers to my walls including a Canceling Cologne, Slither Wing, and Kyurem. He won a close game one then ended up using Cologne early in game two allowing me to sweep with Farigiraf and we didn’t have enough time for game three to finish.
The loss was to a Dragapult. This was a match that I threw 100%. I had game on board with a Sob Lock but I just didn’t see it and went for a riskier win condition which ended up losing to his TM Devolution play. Game one was so long that I knew we would never be able to finish game two and I was tilted so I just scooped the set.

Did I master Pidgeot Control? Nope.

Was it fun? Yeah!

Toronto, ON Regionals (Dec. 12, 2024)

Trip cost: $500 CAD (This would normally be lower but I flew out my fiancé as well)

I was ready for Toronto Regionals. I learned so much from the previous two Regionals and I was starting to attend local tournaments and I converted a cup win with this deck.

I locked in a confident 60 this time with much less funny business. I’ve removed the Giraf in favor of Noivern ex which helps in many more matchups – Miraidon, Lost Box, Roaring Moon, and Raging Bolt. I’ve also thrown in a cheeky Dark Energy to make funny plays with Noivern but this never actually happened.

The tournament started off well once again with three quick wins against Pult/Thorns, Regidrago, and Gholdengo (all 2-0s).

Round four I paired against a Klawf deck and lost rather quickly. Poison gets around my Noivern strategy and my set up wasn’t good enough to make it up.

Thankfully, I hit an auto-win in Snorlax in the next round to put me right back in it. Unfortunately I tied against an Ancient Box in the next round, I got the Noivern lock in the first game but missed in the second game then ran out of time for game three. Then for the next three rounds I saw some very interesting matchups.

Palafin?! This is apparently a great matchup because they cannot KO Mimikyu easily so I just spammed 70 then hit them with a TM Devo.
Gouging Fire: Noivern clears.
Gholdengo: I announced Sob twice and they scooped both times for a quick 2-0.

Thus I made day two at 7-1-1 feeling pretty confident about my deck.

In day two I immediately pair into a nightmare matchup in Palkia VStar. It was also being run by an excellent pilot in Stephane Ivanoff, multiple time NAIC champion. I tried my best to Sob Lock in game one but I prized a gust effect so I couldn’t overcome all of his switch outs. In game two I quickly got donked to put me out of my misery.

I pair into Charizard in the next round and because he played so fast we were able to finish three games. It was to their detriment, however, as it caused them to misplay and lose a game on the spot. TM Devolution makes the matchup quite favorable as long as I don’t prize too many important cards.

I pair into Charizard again for round 12 and this time the pace of play is very very slow. I prized TM Devo and Eri in game one and end up losing. I win game two but we don’t have enough time to finish a third game so we agree to a tie. It was frustrating but ultimately out of my control. Even with a 5-minute extension from a judge that was observing the game, I cannot close out games quickly. I don’t believe it was malicious at all, it’s just what is bound to happen when I choose a deck like Pidgeot Control.

For the final game I pair into local Vancouver Snorlax legend Simon. He knows that I know the matchup and that it is essentially an auto-win given I don’t prize Xerosic so he just scoops after I show that it isn’t prized.

And so, I end up 9-2-2 which gets me exactly to 32nd, one of just two players at my record to bubble into top 32.

This was a huge finish for my goals with both a huge influx of points and a putting me net positive in majors for the first time so far!

San Antonio, TX (Jan. 25, 2025)

Trip Cost: $500 CAD

I was surprised at the affordability of this trip but we found a good deal on flights and were able to split an Airbnb with a few people.

Hear me out, I’ve invested so much time into Pidgeot Control that it would be a waste to not stick to it. You get autowins against Snorlax and Gholdengo and very favorable matchups against anything that Noivern blocks. You can grind out games against Gardevoir and Dragapult if you play optimally which I am confident in doing at this point.

Now, I didn’t take notes for this tournament but I know that I started 5-0:

R1: Palkia/Terapagos WW
R2: Klawf WW
R3: Snorlax :)) W
R4: Regidrago WW
R5: Raging Bolt WW
R6: Klawf LL
R7: Charizard LL
R8: Snorlax WW
R9: Klawf WLT (didn’t want to get donked)

Taking another tie into day two putting me out of contention for a win was disappointing but I still felt that the expected value was higher than just getting donked right away. I’m surprised the Klawf player agreed to it to be honest but they didn’t know the matchup was favored for them.

Day two didn’t go as well as I hoped:

R10: Archaludon/Dialga W
R11: Regidrago L
R12: Charizard/Noctowl L
R13: Charizard/Pidgeot W

2-2 on the day got me to 8-3-1 putting me at 135th overall. A disappointing finish but at least I still got some points out of it. Still, this was a very successful tournament for the group with half of our Airbnb making it to the win and in to top cut (and one of them making it to top cut). Thus putting the crew in good contention for Worlds invites all around.

Kgoat and Simon the Snorlax king on the win-and-in to top cut.

EUIC: London, UK (Feb. 21, 2025)

Trip Cost: $1,260 CAD (flew out the fiancé again)

London was the tournament that pretty much sealed up my invite last season and I was hoping that it would do the same for me this time around. However, I was struggling to find a good Pidgeot list for the new meta. It was unclear what the meta would be and the wider the meta the harder it is to build. I also did not test as much as I should have as this trip was more of a vacation rather than a tournament outing. I flew out a week with my fiancé early to meet up with some friends in Belgium before going up to London and had a great time!

R1: Miraidon L, I didn’t know the correct line for setting up Noivern and he was able to gust it both times before it attacked/evolved

R2: Ancient Box W, Noivern Clears

R3: Gardevoir W

R4: Gardevoir T

R5: Klawf T

R6: Miraidon L

R7: Gardevoir L, he knew the matchup quite well

R8: Terapagos W

R9: Dragapult/Dusknoir W

Unfortunately a 4-3-2 finish is not enough for points and I finish 1114th.

The list felt alright but the pilot just was not good enough. There were matchups that I just couldn’t figure out in time and games that I felt favored but threw. While I didn’t get any points out of this, I learned a valuable lesson: choose better decks!!

Vancouver, BC (Mar. 08, 2025)

Trip cost: $103.40 CAD (this is just the entry cost for a Regionals)

I ran it back for Vancouver…

I was starting wean off when a friend of mine asked me a pivotal question:

Hanseam Park, now a top Korean player who once went to the same local league where I started off in Surrey, was considering playing Pidgeot to the next Korean major and asked, “why not milotic?” I started typing an answer and even sent it saying something like, “the win con is retreat lock” etc. But then I thought about it some more. Why not Milotic?

So I threw it in and did some testing, it seemed to work! I also threw in a Klefki for the Klawf matchup since sticking up a Brute Bonnet gives enough time to set up an unbeatable board. I also switched over to a Grand Tree build as this had the most consistent results for setting up. It allows me to set up Pidgeot with just a single Forest Seal Stone.

R1: Gholdengo/Pult T – my first round was against a Japanese player with an interesting deck. Normally I would win this handily since, at the end of the day, this is just a Gholdengo deck and it loses to Eri, Xerosic, and Sob. However, I prized Xerosic and wasn’t able to deck him out. I also did not hit his Superior Energy Retrievals with my Eri so he was able to string along a few KOs. In the end, I was going to deck out first by one card so we played it out with Iono’s and Dedenne to recycle gust effects so that he could never win on prizes. Time is up before game one ends so we draw.
R2: Archaludon LWW – I lose game one from Black Belt off Iono to two, which isn’t unreasonable but I didn’t prepare for it. I ended up winning just barely in time and finally got my momentum going.
R3: Charizard/Pidgeot WW – He doesn’t play any ghosts so he just insta-scooped to Milotic ex which would never die.
R4: Gardevoir WW – another Japanese player here and he played quite well. I was able to pull off a slow lock win in game one due to him starting Manaphy followed up by a win on prizes in game two showing that I can win both ways.
R5: Archaludon WW – The matchup is quite good.
R6: Raging Bolt WW – Noivern is quite good.
R7: Gardevoir WW – They bricked twice
R8: Klawf LL – I opened dead then got donked

6-1-1 into day two has me in a similar position as Toronto Regionals and I was feeling quite confident this time looking at the potential matchups in the top tables.

R9: Klawf WW – I start decently this time and manage to pull off the Klefki plays
R10: Dragapult/Dusknoir WLT – This was a game that I should’ve probably won. I lost a really close game two on the final turn of time so if I had just held out for another turn and played a different strategy things would’ve gone differently.
R11: Pidgeot Control W – I knew that we wouldn’t ever finish two games so I focused up for game one. This is a complex mirror with good options from both sides but his Ace Spec choice is Megaton Blower so I had to be careful. Either player can easily get something trapped with Milotic + Sob so we have to be very mindful about what goes on the bench. I manage to capitalize on their slow start in game one and squeak out six prizes. There isn’t enough time to finish game two given that the main win condition is deck out.
R12: Gardevoir LL – This is a win-and-in to top cut so the stakes are quite high. I lose game one from a bad start which you cannot afford in the matchup. In hindsight I should’ve played for a tie by closing out a long game two but I was hoping somehow that I could close out two more. In the end I lose to a terrible misplay by attaching a Jet energy for no reason then later losing due to not being able to move my Milotic out of the active when the ENTIRE GAME my opponent prized both of their Gardevoir ex. My final prize was also an energy so I lost on both my misplay and the 50/50 on prizes.

I end up 8-2-2 again but for 39th this time.

This isn’t bad and still puts me in a decent position for a Worlds invite. It does suck to know that had I not misplayed I would have easily confirmed top 32 for cash or even have had a small chance at top cut by winning a quick game three.

Portland, OR (May 24, 2025)

Trip cost: $300 CAD

At this point I am at 587 points. Based on the leaderboard at the time I fully expect 700CP to be safe. With that in mind my goal is top 32 for 125 more points which would put me at 712. Of course, I would be pretty happy with a top 64 (100CP) which would set me up to just need a top 512 at NAIC (80 points replacing a 60 point finish = +20) to reach 707.

One thing to note is that the gap between Vancouver Regionals and Portland is quite large. From March to May there was a full rotation and several Regionals around the world where the meta was able to fully evolve. I felt that the strongest play would be a variant of the “Brixty” – Brent Tonisson’s Gardevoir list.

The changes that I’ve implemented were -1 Budew, Iono, Nest Ball, and Bravery Charm for +1 Scream Tail, Arven, Rare Candy, and Gravity Gemstone.

The reasoning is that Budew is pretty useless in most matchups and I’d rather attack with Cleffa almost all of the time. I swapped an Iono for Arven because it felt like a slightly better card to find off Secret Box to ensure a Gardevoir ex early (you can use Secret Box for Arven and a Rare Candy then use Arven to find Ultra Ball for Gardevoir ex). The third Rare Candy was to solidify the aggro matchups. And, finally, the Gravity Gemstone was a tech for the mirror to be able to Counter Catcher and lock up a Fezandipiti ex or Gardevoir ex if I fall behind.

R1 vs Raging Bolt WW:

Game 1: I go first get two Ralts on bench with Cleffa active and pass. My opponent uses Judge and I draw Kirlia, Rare Candy, Garde, Iono. I am able to set up perfectly fine and win the prize trade.
Game 2: They got too aggressive and didn’t leave a bench spot open for a Tera Pokemon. I abused this fact by not taking any KOs until I could take a 4 prize turn with Munkidori damage and set up checkmate on board.

R2 vs Joltik Box WW:

Game 1: I go first which is unfavored in the matchup but luckily I am able to find an answer to the t2 Iron Hands with a Gardevoir ex plus two Adrena-Brain’s for 250 damage. They can’t really respond after that.
Game 2: I go first again. He gets the early Iron Hands ex again but this time I whiff a Gardevoir ex. I find it on turn 4 but they are at 2 prize cards remaining to my 3 with very little energy on board. They need to find exactly Blood Moon Ursaluna and Prime Catcher to win the game but the Ursaluna was prized!

R3 vs Raging Bolt LWT

Game 1: I go second and miss Garde ex for two turns in a row drawing five cards with Cleffa each time plus Fezandipiti ex draws. They go up by 3 prize cards before I manage to deal with the Raging Bolt. It comes down to them needing to hit Blood Moon and Prime Catcher off of Iono to two (plus Fez draw) and they hit.
Game 2: I go second and get two Ralts and a Munkidori in play. They get the turn two snipe KO on a Ralts but had to use up two Noctowl to do it. This time I have Rare Candy and Garde ex to get the return KO with Drifloon. They KO the Drifloon with a Fan Rotom and I Counter Catcher up an Ogerpon and deal 190 to it with Garde. They hit back with the Ogerpon and I get a second Garde out, Counter Catcher a Hoothoot, then use Munki to KO Ogerpon while KOing their Hoothoot leaving me at just two prize cards and the option of double Munki KO rotom plus Scream Tail for game no matter what.
Game 3: There is only 5 minutes left. We both whiff an early attack and time is called on 6-5 in prize cards so we tie.

R4 vs NO SHOW WW

Yeah, they literally didn’t show up for the match at 2-0-1. Kinda crazy but I’ll take it.

R5 vs Gardevoir/Rabsca WW

Game 1: I go first, bench Ralts and get a dark on Munkidori, pass. They play no supporters. I set up and go too far ahead for them to catch up.
Game 2: Same thing happens.

R6 vs Straight Dragapult WW

Game 1: I go first, get dark on a Munkidori, bench a Ralts and have Scream Tail active. They start using Itchy Pollen. I bench Clefairy with Bravery Charm, attach Psychic, Artazon for a second Ralts and play Iono for six. I miss a Kirlia but my board is solid. After a couple of turns of Itchy Pollen, they break the lock to KO both Ralts. I have a Night Stretcher for one Ralts and get the return KO with Clefairy. They Itchy Pollen. I KO the Budew with Munkidori’s Adrena-Brain and hit the promoted Latias ex for 180 damage putting me in the prize lead 3-4. He Counter Catchers my Munkidori to prevent a three-prize turn by me and KOs my benched Cleffa to go down to two prizes. I can’t take a KO with Clefairy as that will leave me vulnerable to a Blood Moon play. I keep my board out of range of a two prize play and just move some damage onto Latias to set up my three-prize turn. He uses Maractus to lock up a Ralts. I just move the damage off and set up two Gardevoir ex, still keeping out of range of any possible double prize play and setting up the Latias for a Munki KO next turn. They scoop.
Game 2: In the early game I hit a Kirlia off of Iono and then an early turn three Gardevoir ex under item lock to snipe his only Drakloak and he immediately scooped.

R7 vs Gardevoir WLL

Game 1: The matchup went my way, their board was hung up by Budew and I grinded out a long game. It came down to them gambling on whether I ran a Professor Turo or the second Counter Catcher. I had both so it didn’t matter.

Game 2: Did not go my way. I missed a turn where I could’ve tried the Gravity Gemstone trick.

Game 3: I was behind from the start and unable to find darks for my Munkidori. I lost in overtime.

R8 vs Raging Bolt LWL

Game 1: I just got overrun and drew dead for the first few turns.

Game 2: I set up quickly and easily take control of the game.

Game 3: It comes down to them needing to hit Blood Moon + Prime Catcher off Fezandipiti and they hit.

So I made day 2 but at the minimum record after starting at 5-0-1. I could still reach my goals of making top 32 but I would not be able to drop a game tomorrow.

DAY 2 (I’ve stopped taking notes at this point so I’ll just summarize the sets).

R9 vs Raging Bolt WLL – My opponent was quite nervous but I know the matchup can be tricky if I don’t have a strong start. Unfortunately that is exactly what happens in games two and three. I lose a close game two and just draw dead in game three to lose.

R10 vs Raging Bolt LWT – I hate Raging Bolt

R11 vs Terapagos WLT – I hit the absolute GAS in game one getting a turn three KO on a fully buffed Terapagos ex with double Bouffalant in play and a Bravery Charm. Unfortunately I lose a close game two and we don’t have time to finish a third game.

R12 vs Raging Bolt WW – It only took an 0-1-2 record to scrape the bottom of the barrel of Raging Bolt players. They seemed pretty unfamiliar in the matchup and they took completely wrong lines allowing me to come back from slow starts in both games.

So I ended up going 1-1-2 in day two for a total score of 6-3-3 for 197th place. Not quite the showing I was hoping for but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

New Orleans, LA (June 13, 2025)

Trip cost: $950 CAD

After Portland there would only be three weeks to test for NAIC. The format is expected to shift quite a bit with the release of Destined Rivals and the expected rise of Marnie’s Grimmsnarl made Gardevoir a slightly more questionable play. However, after testing, I believe that the matchup is actually close to even if you play it perfectly.

I am now sitting at 657CP with a finish of top 256 at a Regionals that can be replaced (60 points). I tried to finish off my League Challenges to reach 665 but I couldn’t crack past top four. Thus, a top 128 finish would put me at 717, a top 256 finish would put me at 697, and a top 512 finish would have me at 677. I still expected that 685 would be borderline so I thought that 256 would be risky but likely safe. And of course anything higher than that would be great!

I lock in Gardevoir ex once more. I play the same sixty cards as my testing partner and fellow Mountain Eater enthusiast – Jack Pitcher.

This is a pretty standard list, the main tech idea is Technical Machine: Devolution for both mirror and Grimmsnarl matchups. Shaymin is also good in the mirror and for those pesky Raging Bolt players.

R1 vs Joltik Box WW: I hit my attacks on curve and was able to deal with the early Iron Hands ex while denying early two-prize turns with Munkidori + Bravery Charm.

R2 vs Gholdengo/Pidgeot W: This is one matchup where Technical Machine Devolution is crucial. I spam Munkidori Mind Bend on different Gholdengo and get the huge Devo turn to get rid of all attackers on board. I win a ~35 minute game one. We start up game two but don’t have enough time to progress the board enough to finish.

R3 vs Grimmsnarl LWT: Both games one and two were close, my main strategy is to snipe out Munkidori and set up my own then try and set up a Devo play on Grimmsnarl. I was able to get ahead in game two due to their slow start and eventually close it out. We did not have enough time to finish game three.

R4 vs Dragapult/Dusknoir WW: This matchup is much better than before now that I have two Arven and TM Evo. The main idea is to take KOs on Duskull and Dusclops to prevent a big KO on Gardevoir ex. It all comes down to how well I set up under Itchy Pollen since I can’t just knock it out with the fear of Reset Stamp always present.

R5 vs Gholdengo/Pult W: Again this is a game where I can grind out a win thanks to TM Devo and that’s what I do. The main cards to play around are Turo, Picnic Basket, and Switch. Once they all hit the discard, Mind Bend is much stronger and I can get lots of damage on board.

R6 vs Grimmsnarl WLT: I win a pretty short game one and lose a somewhat longer game two giving us ~20 mins for game three. It is a bit back and forth where I miss Garde off ~15 cards from Research + Cleffa draw to allow me to KO the only Morgrem on board. They eventually get a second set up so it would come down to a Devo play again. Unfortunately time gets called and there is barely not enough time to finish. I’m turn three and if I hit a drifloon KO on the only Grimmsnarl with energy then I go down to one prize to three and it is pretty much sealed up. Unfortunately I miss the Bravery Charm and so my only option is to Mind Bend with Munkidori. This would essentially put the game down to a coin flip if there was more time to finish so I took the draw.

R7 vs Joltik Box WW: I finally hit another good matchup. This game goes as expected and I just get an early enough set up to remove all their energy on board.

R8 vs Eevee Box WW: This is also quite a good matchup. I manually attach to Clefairy twice in order to deal with my Ralts and Kirlia getting shuffled into my deck every other turn. I misplay a bit by not thinking about the Leafeon KO from having four energy on board so my Clefairy gets bodied. Thankfully I have the Devo play since it evolved from a 50HP Eevee. The second game goes much the same and I pull out a double win to lock me in for day two.

R9 vs Grimmsnarl LWT: I lose a close game one and win a long game two. There is not enough time to finish game three so we just tie.

I end day one at 6-0-3, no set losses but three ties is more than I wanted. I’ll take it considering the matchup gauntlet that I had to go through – three Grimmsnarl and two Gholdengo!!

R10 vs Gholdengo/Pult LL: I get much slower starts in these games and they are able to conserve all of their outs to Munkidori Mind Bend to take exactly enough prizes without having to flip for confusion. This puts me out of contention for top cut but I still need to win out for a good finish.

R11 vs Archaludon/Poison WW: I avoid the donk both games and just set up normally. The matchup is quite good if I don’t get donked.

R12 vs Gholdengo/Pult LL: This one is even worse than the R10 match, I just hit bricks and they conserve their Turo and Switch. They know about the Devo play at this point and they would always avoid it.

R13 vs Gardevoir WLT: They also play TM Devo so this is a close match. I win a very long game one that comes down to me having to hit exactly a Dark energy off Iono to one in order to win with triple Munkidori damage after getting board wiped by Devo. We have around 15 minutes left for game two and I just have to hold out or win the game to seal the match. Unfortunately I go a bit too aggressive and get punished as they are able to close out the win in game two of time. The match ends in a tie.

I end up with a record of 7-2-4 putting me in 187th place.

I get points for top 256 netting me +40 points and putting me at 697CP. UNFORTUNATELY, this would end up being the bubble. As it turns out, 700 points would end up being the cutoff so I was short by literally three points. If I had won my last round or one more League Challenge then it would have been enough. Missing my chance for Worlds because I was unable to win a League Challenge is tough but that’s just the way it is sometimes.

After all, there were many opportunities for me to achieve my goals. There was my final round at NAIC where if I just chose a less aggressive route then my opponent probably could never close out the game in time. There was my win-and-in in Vancouver Regionals where if I just did the math properly I would’ve been able to close out game two and at worst tie the game to secure a top 32 finish. And there were my other day two finishes where I completely flop out to finish in top 256. Still, there are many accomplishments that I’ve achieved this season that I can be proud of. I made day two at six out of eight majors that I attended and had good record after day one in three of those. I had my first win-and-in to top cut and first cash since I started playing again after COVID. I built unique lists and found confidence in control decks over time. Even though I did not hit either of my goals this season, I do believe that I have the skill to do even better next season.

And with that I have to update my goals for the next season.

This season I was very focused on getting my invite. I took ties in the final round of day one twice in order to guarantee day two and have a chance at making top cut. Both times were in unfavored positions, one was after getting donked in game one and the other was going into a game three in a close to 50/50 matchup. Both times I took myself out of contention to win the tournament in order to guarantee more points and have a chance at winning some scraps of cash. This season I fumbled most of my day twos.

Next season my goal is to win a Regionals. This has truly been my goal since I first started playing. In my very first season in Juniors I was able to win BC Provincals and Canadian Nationals but I fell just short taking second place at Alberta Regionals. And since then I have gotten second at Regionals twice more (in each age division) and gotten a bunch more top eight finishes. I have never won Regionals and it is about time that I lock in to this goal. This means taking more chances but I do believe that I am once again in a good position to achieve this goal. I do feel like I hit my stride at Vancouver Regionals where my deck felt like the strongest in the room and I had the confidence that was needed to win the whole event. I want to feel that feeling more and the only way to do this is to do a lot more prep.

So, with that I will leave a short recap table here of my 2024-2025 season.

Tournament	Record + Placement	Net Cost (CAD)
Louisville Regionals	3-4-1, 951st / 1938	-$736.15
Sacramento Regionals	6-1-5, 132nd / 1709	-$353.40
Toronto Regionals	9-2-2, 32nd / 2140	+$1,328.26
San Antonio Regionals	8-4-1, 135th / 2407	-$503.69
EUIC	4-3-2, 1112th / 3364	-$1,257.95
Vancouver Regionals	8-2-2, 39th / 1317	-$103.40
Portland Regionals	6-3-3, 195th / 1691	-$321.76
NAIC	7-2-4, 187th / 3815	-$948.64
TOTAL	Average top 14.5%	-$2896.73