Coming off a tough beat in the previous competitive season and with the changes to the tournament schedule, I went into this season with a simple plan: become a Q3 demon. This simply means laying low and playing casually until March comes around, then I would try to go to every single major until I earn an invite. This actually put a lot of pressure off my shoulders early, I attended tournaments that were convenient or that I would get peer pressured into (more on that later). With this, I expected that I would also maximize my value and get all my local League Cup finishes in Q3 as well in order to reach for a travel award for next year’s Internationals.

Here is my initial plan based on what was announced:

>Las Vegas Regionals

>???

>New Orleans NAIC

>Get invite???

In hindsight perhaps the lack of tournaments within my proximity lead to my decision to sit out the first quarter.

Las Vegas Regionals

My goal for this tournament was to be innovative. I really wanted to play some kind of control archetype with Pidgeot but I was having trouble with how wide the meta was. I was unable to make the Gholdengo matchup favorable now that they have Solrock and Mega Lopunny as attacking options. I tried my best to make a control list that works, even bringing in out to a League Cup. However, I took a loss to Froslass Grimmsnarl in top 8, something that I thought I was teched for but it didn’t work out. I was not feeling comfortable at all about my deck choice. That was when I came up with this:

I mentioned this in my Vegas Regional post, but this came about because I was trying to find the MOST consistent way to set up Pidgeot turn two, this ended up being 4 Colress engine with Grand Tree. I wanted higher value from my Fan Rotom as well and that is when I found Slaking. Everything just worked together, it was a cool concept, I just didn’t have time to test it out much. With all the theory I put together, I was still more confident in this than any other deck that I’ve tried thus far. So, I went into the tournament with high hopes but no expectations.

I start off quite well with a 5-2 record. I decided to play out the final day 1 round and hit a Grimmsnarl. I narrowly won game one, then lost a long game two after a slower start. We only had 5 minutes or so for game three so I just offered the ID, noting that neither of us would like to go out on a donk/dead draw.

Phase two would end up being a lot tougher and I think my lack of testing was starting to show, my deck felt more awkward into the matchups where the theory was positive. Gholdengo was, in fact, still a bad matchup despite my techs for it. I went 2-4 in phase two for a final finish of 7-6-1 and 426th place.

Toronto Regionals

Toronto Regionals was announced mid-July 2025. I knew that this would be one that I wouldn’t miss. Strangely, it was moved closer to the middle of Winter compared to previous years when it was in December. I guess that turned out how you would expect…

I invited my fiancée and we ended up staying for an entire week. This was a great call since a snowstorm leading up to the tournament would cause a lot of flight delays that we thankfully dodged by showing up early.

At this point, I had barely played since Vegas, the meta has changed a lot, and I needed something to play. Gardevoir was the obvious choice. I was comfortable with the deck since I played it to a few majors last season and did decently well. It was strongly positioned in the metagame, taking an okay matchup against Dragapult and keeping every other deck archetype in check with positive matchups all around.

I grabbed a list from my friend Jack and threw in a Drifloon and Bravery Charm because I like being able to take OHKOs against dark decks. He says the matchup is still fine but I just couldn’t visualize it properly so I added some cards that made me feel more confident into the matchups.

I started off strong then petered off once again in phase one, making it through at 5-1-2 (after starting 4-0). However, the cold got to me and I started feeling very unwell and it came through in my play. I tied three of my games in day two, won one, and lost one to finish 7-2-5.

It was disappointing, especially since I knew that I could have done much better if I was feeling alright. Still, I did better than in Vegas and got 170th place.

EUIC London

I was on the fence on attending EUIC initially. I have been to London for this twice already and a third time just didn’t sound all that appealing. I wasn’t sure whether it was worth the time, so I asked the group chat.

At that point, I was kinda locked in. Although this goes against my “Q3 thesis,” I figured that the point payout value was high enough and I was confident enough in my deck choice this time around.

Still, I didn’t really test so I had to just rely on instinct for a lot of my matchups. My list was only two cards different from last time:

I cut a Counter Catcher for a TM: Evo because it improves the matchup into item lock (Budew & Frillish).

I started off strong once again with a 6-0-2 record. My two ties being due to my inexperience in the Gholdengo matchup. My phase two started off with a loss to another Gholdengo but this time I just drew dead. At 6-1-2 heading into the second day, I knew that I was still alive and had a chance for a deep run. I won the next two rounds to reach 8-1-2 then unfortunately tied round 12 to be out of contention for top cut. This was the furthest that I have reached thus far and to do it at Internationals felt very good.

For the final two rounds, I won then I would have tied but since it would mean both of us bubble I honored an agreement and gave my opponent the win. I only make agreements based on prize cards and not on board state. It was frustratingly close because I had a much stronger start in game three but I misplayed the final turns and tried to go for a two prize turn on a Mew for the final turn of the game instead of just taking a single prize immediately and trying to follow up next turn. I immediately got punished by Turo. Although I could tie up the prizes as the final turn, it was obvious that my opponent could just take a guaranteed prize on their next turn so I conceded.

My final record was 9-2-3 for 104th place. Funnily enough, this exactly ties my best finish at EUIC from two years ago, except this time I had one more point. This is also, once again, slightly better than my previous major tournament. At this point I was noticing a pattern: Top 512 > Top 256 > Top 128… at this rate, I was definitely going to make top cut at Worlds.

Seattle Regionals

It was finally time! Q3! This is where I go all out and do my best to win everything. My mindset has been a lot better this year compared to last. Around this time a year ago, I was obsessing over my leaderboard placement, trying to figure out what placement I needed from my remaining tournaments to achieve my invite. This time around, I barely checked. I knew that the bulk of my points would come in the next three months so there was no point in looking at where I was on the leaderboard.

I felt really good coming off my EUIC finish so I decided to just run back the same deck. The list felt very refined and I still felt like I had a good matchup spread. Despite an entire new set being released in Ascended Heroes, I knew that my list was still strong.

This time, I started off in a tough position. I was 3-2 and in the depths. After a donk in game one of round six, I started to feel the tournament slipping away from me. Luckily, I was able to lock in. I ended up going 5-2-1 to make the second phase. I knew I could still make top cut if I won every single round. With three wins in a row to start off phase two I was feeling quite confident. However, an unlucky loss against Absol took me out. Still, I kept my focus and was able to close out with two more wins to continue my trend. I finished 10-3-1 and got 36th.

Queretaro Regionals

At this point I was looking at my point total and thinking, well I could just finish this off at LA Regionals and NAIC, I already have some solid finishes and I don’t need many more points to lock up an invite ~750. I didn’t really want to attend every single NA regional because, as a Canadian, traveling to America became a point of contention. There were suddenly a lot more concerns about crossing the border and the safety of going to certain US cities. Then I got a message:

I wasn’t serious at first, I truthfully didn’t want to go to any Regional that took more than 4 hours of traveling. However, the more I looked into it the better it seemed. The flights to Mexico weren’t too bad and also weren’t too pricey. It being on the same day as a large US regional meant that we could expect fewer top NA players at the event so we would have a higher expected win percentage against the field. It is also in Mexico, a country that I have never visited before and would love to see!

It ended up being a great trip, I had a lot of fun seeing Mexico and all of the local players were very nice! I ran back the same list once again, despite it being over a month later and another set, Perfect Order, releasing. I started strong at 5-0 before finally taking a close loss against Grimmsnarl. My next opponent at 5-1 offered to tie so that we would make phase two right there. With a round remaining I felt that it would be better to play it out and try to win. After losing a game then winning game two, I offered the tie with just 10 minutes left and my opponent gladly accepted. This tie was more strategic because I just witnessed a Grimmsnarl on my left and a Grimmsnarl on my right both win their games. A tie here would put me out of that scary bracket.

I was immediately rewarded with a Joltik box into Crustle back-to-back. I got very lucky with matchups in phase two, pairing into Alakazam and Festival Lead to make it into top cut. My top cut game would be on stream and it was a great time. I may have used up all my luck, however, and my run would end in top eight, again losing to Grimmsnarl. I still swear the matchup isn’t that bad but I think I am 6-10 against it between this Regional and a League Cup weekend just before this.

With this seventh place finish, I found myself locked in for an invite. The Q3 strategy was finished in just two majors.

Reflections

My goal for this season was to win a Regionals. I do feel like I had a good chance in a few of the Regionals that I attended. I made deeper runs than my last season and found success with my first top eight in this post-covid era. Still, I fell a bit short of my goal but I am still proud of what I have been able to achieve.

I do wish that I could comfortably attend more Regionals but, between having a full-time job and doing wedding planning activities most weekends, it was difficult to find the time. Still, I am having a great time in life outside of Pokémon events and maybe at the end of the day that is the kind of mental needed in order to succeed.

What went well

• I will definitely look at attending Regionals in Mexico in the future, the community is very welcoming and the food is muy bueno (I need to work on my Spanish).
• I was very confident with my deck list at the start of every tournament. I knew that I locked in something that could get me a win.
• Taking the entire early part of the season slow improved my mental a lot. There was no pressure to perform at Vegas or EUIC and by the time Q3 rolled around I was very confident in my ability.
• Played very well in my deep runs and also got rewarded with lucky matchups.
• I had a lot of fun traveling with great friends

What went poorly

• Got sick partway through a Regional, need to focus on my health and pack better for cold weather lol
• Didn’t win a single League Cup – left a lot of points on the table for Q3 where I just wouldn’t have enough time to get all my finishes with the travel that I had planned. Need to plan this better and also get some wins.
• Had some losses at EUIC due to inexperience in the matchup, honestly just need to do more testing before majors.
• Although Q3 demon mode was good for mental, it became unrealistic to attend every single NA regional both due to political factors and also due to the cost of traveling in the Spring. Need to rethink my strategy once the circuit is announced.

Future Goals

I plan to carry over my goal of winning a Regionals. I explained this last year as well, this is the one achievement that I’ve been chasing forever. I have finished 2nd place three times in every age division and have made top 8 numerous more times. I feel like the win is coming, I just need to persevere.

I have had questions about how I have managed to last so long in the competitive scene. I’ve been playing since 2008, for 15 full seasons, and have achieved 10 worlds invites. I’ve been through some of the highest highs and had crushing lows. Missing an invite by 3 points in two separate seasons is especially disheartening. But, at the end of the day, I just really love playing Pokémon. Every loss is just part of the journey and I’m looking forward to every step in that journey. I’m glad that I am able to balance playing competitively with everything else going on in my life and I am grateful for all the friends that have helped me along the way.

Hoping that I can make a deep run at Worlds for my tenth try, I’ll be sure to write up a report no matter how it goes.