The Pokémon World Championships returned to the city of San Francisco after 10 years.

Back in 2016 I have fond memories of traveling with my family, our last summer vacation right before I started University. I very well expected that to be my final World Championships, after all I didn’t know how busy I would get while studying engineering, especially when I saw my class schedule of up to seven courses each semester.

I played one of my most favorite decks of all time, Night March, and found my way qualifying for the second day of competition where I would ultimately crash and burn to finish 86th. Doesn’t sound too bad to be 86th in the World, but when your goal is always to win, you can’t help but feel disappointed. Seeing as I would be going on to higher education and pursuing a career, I saw this as possibly my final chance and I just let it slip.

History has a funny way of repeating itself because now, 10 years later, I would compete once again (and for the 10th time) at the World Championships back again in San Francisco.

Much like my past self, I qualified for this tournament on the back of a top eight finish at a Regional Championship. In fact, I played the same deck to four different majors in order to collect 600 points total. Unfortunately, the entire lifeblood of the deck, Gardevoir ex, would not be in standard rotation for the World Championships and thus I couldn’t play my favorite deck.

So, the quest to find a deck to play began.

Right away I had some promising ideas. The deck that I wanted to play the most revolved around a new mechanic introduced in the latest TCG set, Pitch Black, called “Hide ‘n’ Sneak”. This uses the new Banette and Sinistcha cards to set up, spread damage, then finish off with Dhelmise to take KOs.

Since it seemed that the most dominant deck in the format would be Dragapult ex, this felt like a good counter, but not in the way you expect. Most lists out there opted to play a lot of Dhelmise and utilize Legacy Energy + Lillie’s Clefairy to always have a favorable prize trade. My idea was to focus on the spread aspect of the deck due to a lack of healing currently in the format. Getting three attacks off with Sinistcha spreads 120 to your opponents entire field. This will certainly pick up some KOs and the remaining Pokémon will be in range of Spiritombs deadly Spiritual End.

Another new addition of Patrat also shuts down the only heal that the opponent could access. The strategy worked great and most Dragapult lists are unable to handle the slow and methodical spread that quickly becomes a checkmate threat. The one glaring issue is that the deck was not quite consistent enough. With no access to a built in draw ability like Recon Directive, Teal Dance, Trade, or Psychic Draw, the deck is very susceptible to hand disruption and can also struggle in the early game if you don’t find a supporter quickly. You would hope that Banette’s attack would help with this as you can just search for any card, but the fact that it is enough to KO a Budew or Dreepy is very bad since it allows the opponent to play Reset Stamp to ruin your day.

I gave myself a week to solve the consistency issue and came up short. You need to commit too many deck slots to Hide n Sneak Pokémon  for Spiritomb to put in work. I do think it is possible, I just don’t think I will be the one to figure it out.

In the meantime, my friend and testing partner Jack was trying to optimize different versions of Dragapult. He taught me the goals of each of his variants and his pros and cons for each list. I decide to build a Dragapult/Dusknoir list because this was the version that I felt had the best matchup spread into the field with little to no bad matchups and the ability to win from doomed positions.

From all of my testing the card that I found I liked the most was Patrat. The Dragapult mirror can be difficult if you Phantom dive first and leave damage on the opponents board. If they get a return Phantom Dive combined with a Munkidori to heal + KO a Drakloak then you reach a tough position. This typically forces you to wait for a Boss’s Orders before you start attacking which felt kinda lame with such an aggressive deck. Patrat helped with this since you could safely attack first and spread damage to manipulate easy KOs over two turns without fear of random healing or retaliation.

The deck was doing great on the online ladder and I climbed quickly on a fresh account with an >80% win rate up to ~1800. And yet, the deck still didn’t feel right. Despite the online performance, the deck was feeling inconsistent or bad when testing irl.

I decided to try out Dragapult/Blaziken since this was one of Jack’s frontrunners for what to play. I liked the deck but had to tweak it a bit to get it to work well for me. Jack was convinced on playing two Meowth, two Area Zero, and a Chien-Pao. You gain added consistency as well as a way to control your board in a way that your opponent wouldn’t expect. I didn’t believe in the second Meowth or the second Area Zero, but I did like the Chien-Pao idea. Being able to remove liabilities on your board is very important in the Dragapult mirror. I just didn’t think the play was necessary and that having a different stadium to bounce Area Zero would also be a good inclusion. I also thought that the deck was consistent enough without a second Meowth.

I put together a list that was around 5 cards off his and we played a Worlds Celebration event. I ended up winning the event undefeated and felt a lot more confident in the list and its consistency.

I was close to dead set on the list leading up to the event but I always pack some extra tech choices because you never know what might be needed.

Day ZERO (Thursday)

Spent the day hanging around and collecting our competitor badges. You get two packs of Chaos Rising and lucky Jack pulled both a full art and Illustration Rare Greninja ex!!! Craziest two pack combo I’ve ever seen.

Spent some more time wandering around Chinatown looking for good food options. Finally, we went back to the Mariott Marquis for some last minute testing.

I again started to feel like I was having consistency issues due to losing 8/10 games against Dragapult/Dusknoir. At this moment I realized, maybe Jack was right all along. I ended up on 59/60 from his list, the one change being that I cut down to 2 Rare Candy in order to play Shaymin. I felt that having a matchup or two that becomes very heavily favored is worth its weight in gold at the World Championships, a 12 round tournament.

The added consistency of the second Meowth was the biggest plus. The cat is no longer a liability as long as you can find the Chien-Pao combo.

Day ONE

Woke up early and felt good about it. Definitely felt physically well all weekend which really helped with my focus. Got into the tournament area after a while and found some seats to watch the opening ceremony.

For the first round I am sitting right next to my testing partner Jack! I drew a match against a player from Japan while Jack is facing off against Tord Reklev. It seems that TOM gives its toughest soldiers the hardest battles.

Round 1 vs Shoya Isomura [JP] > Big Basics

Game 1: I initiate with Pult and follow up with Blaziken + Stamp which sticks him with a bad enough hand for enough turns for me to win.

Game 2: I dead draw and we go to a game 3.

Game 3: I don’t remember much but I believe that he was able to get a very key retreat lock and Chien-Pao stadium bounce to win the game.

Starting off with a loss but I’m not shaken at all, I’m still feeling confident for the rest of my matches.

Round 2 vs Lin Dun [CN] > Dragapult Dusknoir

This is the matchup that I tested a lot for just the day prior so I was hoping that insight would help me here.

Game 1: I am able to set up and target down Dusclops. Patrat puts in work as it allows me to set up big multi-prize turns. This forces Lin to evolve Kloaks but that is my plan all along as a well-timed Unfair Stamp becomes much more effective.

Game 2: Similar to the first, I don’t remember too much detail but I recall that between both games he flipped only one heads on Crushing Hammer out of maybe six rolls.

Perhaps I got lucky, but I think the reps I put in last minute really helped, especially since it made me pivot closer to the list that Jack envisioned.

Round 3 vs Jorge Arteaga [US] > Slowking

As soon as I saw a Slowpoke I couldn’t help but smile. I knew Shaymin would pay off. Sure I could win this matchup without any techs, but going into a match knowing that you are favored to win is very helpful for your mental.

Game 1: I immediately Pokepad for Shaymin and Lillie into some Buddy-Buddy Poffins. The matchup is quite simple but he made it interesting with some paralysis tricks with Drapion. It lets him two-shot Blaziken but also put his Slowking in range of Adrena-Brain KO or worse, a double KO with Phantom Dive + Boss. I’m able to win with a crucial KO + Unfair Stamp, the Dragapult specialty.

Game 2: Jorge goes for an early Munkidori this time. I figure that I should respect this and search for Patrat this time. This turns out to be a good play because he was planning on using Cofagrigus to spread damage then go for Adrena-Brain plus Kyurem for a four prize turn. Patrat is very clutch.

Glad I ended up being teched out for the matchup. GGs Jorge.

Round 4 vs Teruyuki Nagashima [JP] > Raging Bolt

Game 1: He gets very aggressive with a turn two KO on my sole Drakloak. This leaves me with just Munkidori + Budew. I am able to punish his aggressive play with Crispin to Munkidori for a KO and bench Torchic to

Rare Candy Blaziken Unfair Stamp on the following turn after he followed up with a Teal Mask Ogerpon. This put him on a poor hand and I am able to set up for two Phantom dives which typically spells the end for Raging Bolt.

Game 2: I go first again, start Budew, Poképad for Dreepy and pass. Teruyuki starts Teal Mask Ogerpon, retreats into Raging Bolt, and uses Burst Roar discarding 3 energy and a retrieval! On my turn I am able to find a supporter off Recon Directive and Itchy Pollen. Teruyuki is just forced to Burst Roar AGAIN!! This time he discards a bunch of items, including Secret Box. I decide I would only go in with a Phantom Dive on this turn if I draw amazingly off Lillie. I hit everything I could possibly want so I just push aggression and take all my prizes in a few turns.

This is the halfway point of the day and I’m feeling quite good about it. Big Basics is a lot more popular than I expected and Metal seemed to be just overhyped. Hoping for more Dragapult matchups though, that’s what I’ve been testing for after all.

Round 5 vs Ben Dobberstein [US] > Hydrapple

This was not a deck that I expected to see so I had to come up with a game plan on the spot. As with most decks without a draw engine, I figured that the deck would be susceptible to Unfair Stamp disruption.

Game 1: Ben gets a Celebi start and is able to quickly get meganium and Hydrapple out taking a quick KO on a Drakloak. Luckily, I have Unfair Stamp + Boss’s Orders in hand to bring up Meganium and hope that Itchy Pollen will buy me a turn to get a Dragapult set up. It works and he draw passes. After getting the KO on Meganium, Ben fails to find a replacement even after a lot of draw and several supporters. The two turns of missed attacks was all that I needed to surge ahead in the prize race as Blaziken OHKOs anything in his deck with ease.

Game 2: This time my start allows me to take first action and with a board of two Blaziken and me taking the first KO with Pult, Ben sees the writing on the wall and concedes. He also flipped over his prizes to reveal both Meganium which was a shock to us both.

Ben, you were a pleasure to play against, well done on piloting such a cool deck to Worlds.

Round 6 vs Keito Arai [JP] > Big Basics

I recognize his name as one of the Japanese players who regularly competes in overseas tournaments. I was excited to play this match.

Game 1: I dead drew and was unable to mount a comeback either because I prized stamp or he drew out of it, I don’t really remember.

Game 2: Keito has a slow start with just a Kangaskhan and energy attachment. This is exactly what I need in the matchup, just gotta find Budew to guarantee I get another turn of no KOs aaaaaaaand Budew is prized. I get down three Dreepy instead and promote Chien-Pao to sacrifice. Keito finds Teal Mask Ogerpon and goes for a Sob on the Chien-Pao. Again, nbd, just gotta find Shaymin to protect my Kloaks aaaaaand Shaymin is prized. Look, I didn’t prize check because we were running low on time and I did not want to go into the tie bracket. Anyways, he goes for the double KO on his turn and I have Pult as a response, just gotta pair it with Unfair Stamp to lower the odds of a Clefairy return KO. As I prize check while thinning my deck I realize… Stamp is prized…

Tough set to lose but I still kept up my confidence in my deck and my playing ability. I wasn’t out of it yet.

Round 7 vs Jeremy Lim [AU] > Big Basics

This is where the matches get most intense as both players know that even a tie here loses a shot at the title.

Game 1: After falling behind due to my first attacker being Blaziken getting retreat locked, I finally stabilize my board and set up two Blaziken to swap between along with an Unfair Stamp. I have also KO’d their Wellspring Ogerpon so they are limited in bench space so that Dragapult can safely swing. However, they are able to find Boss off the Stamp in two consecutive turns to seal the win.

Game 2: He gets into Kangaskhan attacks on turn 2 after I Budew once. However, he over benched to 6 and this gives me a big out. I am able to swing with Clefairy + a full bench for a OHKO on Kangaskhan. This leaves him with few options other than partaking in a prize race that I can clearly win.

Game 3: He just completely bricks and I have a fast set up. I managed to win in just a few turns of Phantom Dive as he fails to draw out of it. With very little time remaining I eke out a win.

Feeling relieved that I’m still alive in the tournament, very good set – sad that it ended the way it did but it otherwise would’ve likely been a tie. GGs Jeremy, it was a pleasure to meet you.

Round 8 vs Tomoki Mizuno [JP] > Big Basics

It seems like every Japanese player collaborated for this Worlds and they are all playing the same thing! I guess it is no surprise as the deck did win Japan Nationals, their biggest tournament in this format.

Game 1: I’ve learned the matchup a lot throughout the day and by now I’m well versed on the ins and outs of how to play this. I draw insanely well and initiate attack with Dragapult into Kangaskhan. The Clefairy KO is returned with Blaziken + Stamp. Sob stalls for a turn but his poor hand after Stamp does not get him the Blaziken KO. I Boss KO the Kangaskhan with Pult and set up everything to be in range of Blaziken. His out is Pecharunt to lock something but I find Chien-Pao to remove any liabilities.

Game 2: He goes for an early KO with Teal Mask Ogerpon on Budew. I have Stamp in hand and after that + a Lillie, I find Rare Candy Blaziken for a return KO and his weak hand leaves him draw passing for a few turns. Dragapult cleans up his board.

Before the game he asked for my signature on a Worlds Celebration Pikachu. I thought that was a cool gesture so I also gave him one of my custom 200 damage counters after the match. He was very thankful and gave me a cool GX Japanese sleeve lol. GGs Tomoki

End of Day 1

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Ending at 6-2 puts me in a tough spot: having to win 4 straight matches to make top cut. I was confident in my ability but seeing the potential matchups gave cause for worry. There were quite a few Crustle and Alakazam, I don’t have many techs for these matchups so there isn’t much hope.

Still, matchups are all left up to fate, I can only worry about facing the person in front of me.

I get some decent sleep and change sleeves for tomorrow. As for Jack, he had a tougher tournament in terms of matchups and finished 4-3-1, to finish 274th, just a bit short on winning packs.

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Day TWO

Got to the venue early but it took so long to get inside due to the people waiting for PINS from the PIN RALLY. I hope the capitalization of those words expresses my frustration adequately and, if not, I hope that it does so after reading this…

Anyways, I make it on time and see that I am paired against Vini. I just watched Vini take down Sander’s control deck on stream during round seven so I had some idea of what his list was but definitely not to enough extent to properly formulate a strategy against it in just five minutes.

Round 9 vs Vinicius Fernandez [BR] > Zoroark

In my limited testing, Patrat proved to be a very good tech in this matchup. This would be true but Vini does play a tech Watchtower to shut off Patrat. I wasn’t sure what the best line to go for would be but I guessed that going for Reshiram/Zekrom KOs would be good since he likely plays limited Night Stretcher. Both games involve me trying to find winning lines and failing due to missing key cards. I lose in two.

Very disappointed to be out of the running but that’s just the fate that I would have to accept this time. Still, at 6-3 I could do my best to finish strong.

Round 10 vs Brandon Salazar [US] > Big Basics

Game 1: Brandon has a very interesting Big Basics list that involves an intense combo in the Dragapult matchup of Munkidori, Team Rocket’s Mimikyu & Clefairy to Phantom Dive for a surprise double KO. I play right into this but I have an easy response of Blaziken KO Ogerpon and Unfair Stamp. This sets me up for an easy three prize turn on Clefairy + Mimikyu the following turn and essentially checkmate.

Game 2: This time Brandon builds up the combo in hand again. I bench Patrat in anticipation and also Shaymin to prevent the potential Wellspring double KO on two Drakloak. This gets punished and he ends up using Sob to lock them in the active spot in order to set up a four prize turn. This, combined with two Clefairy each with an energy could spell checkmate in this matchup. Fearing this, I use up two Boss to KO Mimikyu in two hits with Shaymin. He gets the four prize turn anyways and that leaves me with my only play of final Boss on Wellspring Ogerpon + Unfair Stamp and pray. I go down to three prizes so a Phantom Dive can win me the game but I am out of Boss at this point. He gets some Munki damage on my Dreepy and promotes Mimikyu then passes. I can KO this with my second Blaziken but I fear Stretcher for Ogerpon could disrupt me and give him time to find a double KO. I overthink things and decide to KO with Kloak and also Stretcher for Shaymin to prevent a potential Wellspring double KO. HOWEVER, this immediately loses on the spot to double Munkidori to KO my benched Drakloak and attack into my active. I could have sealed up this game by just using Stretcher for Patrat and sending up Blaziken to attack but I incorrectly evaluated his outs. Frustratingly, I didn’t even check his discard pile for resources available so I definitely should have taken more time on this decision.

Game 3: we have about four minutes left and when time is called and both of us are at six prizes, we agree to a draw.

Now I am out of contention for money. This sucks but I can at least put my pride on the line. Respect to Brandon, he played very well in recognizing his outs. GGs.

Round 11 vs Alexander Thorvaldson [AU] > Festival Lead

Festival Lead can be a tough matchup but you can try and get them with a turn two Phantom Dive or a good Unfair Stamp turn.

Game 1: He gets a slow set up with not many basics but he has a Dipplin KO on my Budew. I have to attack with Munkidori but he’s still dead drawing. I get Phantom Dive soon after and sweep his weak board.

Game 2: This goes how the matchup is supposed to and my Dragapults get continuously one shot (well technically it is two attacks I guess) and hand disruption does nothing against double Quick Search. Both Thwackey immediately had Air Balloon attached as well so I had to resort to Boss stalling a Rabsca but with no way to generate damage for Munkidori KO, the play was useless anyways.

Game 3: He gets a lot of basics down very early and Bug Catching Set nets him Thwackey for the following turn. I can only use Itchy Pollen and hope I can set up quickly. He draws, evolves both Grookey, and passes! He somehow does not have a Dipplin in his hand or a supporter. I miss Rare Candy for an early Phantom Dive so I have to just hope for one more turn. It works again! I go for a Thwackey KO + Rellor snipe. He finally draws out of it and gets a return KO but by now it is too late. I get another two prizes with a second Phantom Dive and the writing is on the wall.

Round 12 vs Diego Varea [PE] > Dragapult Hammers

FINALLY ANOTHER PULT MATCHUP. Patrat carries once again and having a secondary attacker in Blaziken makes the matchup quite favored. The prize map for me is essentially Phantom dive twice to KO Budew + Drakloak, use Blaziken to finish off Dragapult, then use Clefairy to finish off second Dragapult. You just need to keep as many Drakloak as possible in play and you always are up the exchange thanks to the one-shot potential of Clefairy. You also gain the advantage of being able to clear Meowth allowing you to play them down more aggressively.

Both games go quite similarly from what I remember and at the end of the match Diego asks how I am able to fit everything into my list. Easy, I just took the bad cards out 😉

End of Day two.

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With that, I finish with a record of 8-3-1 and a final placement of 48th. While this is better than my 86th place finish from a decade earlier, it still leaves me wanting more. Maybe today wasn’t my day but I can still try again and make next season my year.

Final Thoughts

One thing that this weekend showed me is the amount of resolve needed to do well at Worlds. Just look at the two finalists: Diego Cassiraga, the 2017 World Champion, competing at Worlds for the 17th time and making it back to the finals after six finishes outside of prizing at Worlds since his win. Even after his loss, he boldly states if there can be four Worlds top cuts then there can be a fifth.

As for Andrew Hedrick, I actually sat next to him during round four and he lost in two straight games in a Dragapult mirror (one being a turn 1 win) to go to a score of 2-2. After the match, his opponent left and Andrew just sat there, head in hands, likely replaying the match in his head. I won my match shortly after and left as well but could see that Andrew was still sitting there, trying to reset his mental. To be able to go from that to never losing again and winning the entire tournament is truly a testament to what it takes to be a champion. Being able to navigate an intense roller coaster of emotions that happens throughout a day (or even throughout a match) is necessary to overcome the odds and succeed.

As for my own mental, I was never shaken or nervous. For once, I felt confident all day and accepted the fate set upon me by the Pokémon tournament organizer software. I played my best and still made some mistakes but I am still proud of my performance and I am excited for how I am starting to develop as a player. I don’t have much time to commit to testing and deckbuilding as I used to but to be able to put up a fight and finish strong fills me with pride.

I don’t know what the next season will hold. It is very likely that I will only be able to play five or fewer majors but I’m still confident that I can make it to Worlds one more time and hopefully win the whole thing. To take inspiration from Diego Cassiraga, if I can make it to ten World Championships, then I can make it to eleven.

Props

• Jack’s 59 card list, actually a way better deck builder than me
• Shaymin actually putting in work
• Patrat Watchful Eye my new favorite ability
• Brayden for lending me a notepad, pen, and playmat – I have to give those back by the way
• Two-player Dragapult draft, finally a good cube format
• Next Worlds in Singapore 🙂
• Jigglypuff earrings for my wife :))
• 6/6 on Day 2s this season and playing with more confidence throughout the day in general
• Getting one of the very last few Ascended Heroes ETBs at the Pokemon Center on Sunday
• Great trades at the Trading Corner

Slops

• Watchtower in Zoroark 😡
• Missed cash 😦
• Threw a win into a tie, probably threw a tie into a loss as well
• Pin Rally lines. I didn’t even stand in one but it just blocked every path anyways
• XP lines. There were lots of cool things to do, just didn’t seem worth waiting 20+ minutes to do it, surely a better system could be implemented
• Chase Arena not allowing my water bottle inside??? Like what???
• Missed Ed Sheeran because I didn’t want my water bottle to get locked up in the void 😦
• Jigglypuff earring broke :(((
• Didn’t win this year :((((
• Not having a spare holo Play! Promo Hilda for Diego :C
• Not opening a Pikachu in my Ascended Heroes ETB

Some Photos

Thanks for reading ❤

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