joeygaffney

The Cost of a Worlds invite (2026)

I wanted to write this last year but I unfortunately whiffed my invite by 3 points, a cruel punishment for not finishing out my League Challenges BFL. As the regular season is about to end and I’m sitting on a comfortable 835 points, I thought it would be interesting to see how much I hadContinue reading “The Cost of a Worlds invite (2026)”

Querétaro Regionals 2026

Hola! I didn’t plan on going to Mexico for Regionals but when my friend Drew hit me up asking if I would be going to Orlando Regionals I responded, “I’d sooner go to Mexico for Regionals” and that was that. It is simply geographically closer and has the added bonus of not having to enterContinue reading “Querétaro Regionals 2026”

Toronto Regionals 2026

The annual pilgrimage to Toronto for yet another Pokemon Regionals would commence in early January this time around. I swear someone at TPCi is trying to make Canada look bad by always scheduling Toronto Regionals around times where it is difficult to fly in due to weather. Thankfully, I was scheduled to fly out aContinue reading “Toronto Regionals 2026”

Seattle Regionals 2026

Without much preamble, Seattle Regionals, being a West Coast Regionals which I can drive to in under 3 hours, is very good. I hope that they continue holding Regionals at this location. The convention center was very nice and the tournament was run very efficiently. I forgot to take any pictures of Seattle to useContinue reading “Seattle Regionals 2026”

EUIC LONDON 2026

For the third year in a row, I decided (or rather, was forcibly convinced) that going to EUIC was a good idea. I like playing in International tournaments. They really go all out in creating an exciting atmosphere. The major downside is, of course, traveling 10 hours by plane. This year, unlike previously, I’d beContinue reading “EUIC LONDON 2026”

Pokémon Vegas Regionals 2025

With the 2026 season kicking off for competitive Pokémon it was clear from the start that reaching an invite is a lofty goal. My favorite tournament, Vancouver Regionals, has been cut from the circuit and Regionals on the west coast in general are few and far between. I’m also busy this year with my weddingContinue reading “Pokémon Vegas Regionals 2025”

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 givenContinue reading “2024-2025 Season Review”

My Dad

My dad always had the answers to everything. When I was young he taught me to read. I asked him how to pronounce different words and what they meant. He was very good with words. I used to ask him to do work puzzles for me whenever I couldn’t figure them out. He could solveContinue reading “My Dad”

2023-2024 Pokémon Season Review

In the 2022-2023 season, I bombed in Toronto, Vancouver, Portland, and NAIC. I didn’t make day 2 in any of those events and definitely felt like my play was sloppy. I still traveled to Worlds because it has always been a dream of mine to attend Worlds in Japan. However, while at the venue IContinue reading “2023-2024 Pokémon Season Review”

Deck List HOF

Here are the lists that I have played to some success at tournaments throughout my career. I will try to include some insights as well. It will be sorted from most recent. 2024-2025 Season This season they changed the invite structure to only award invites to the top 125 players in North America as opposedContinue reading “Deck List HOF”