Welcome everyone to the 2026 Pokemon World Championships.
We are back here after 10 years of bigger and better for this year's World Championships.
got Pokemon XP as well. There are so many exciting things. So here on your countdown
show, we want to break it all down for what you want to be watching and experiencing this
entire weekend. Hi, everybody. I'm Joshua. I'm going to be talking about Pokemon Unite.
We got Amanda talking about Pokemon Go, Ethan talking about the Pokemon Trading Card Game,
and Rosemary talking about the Pokemon Video Game. We obviously have so much to talk about.
competition is so exciting. These halls are already packed with competitors and
fans alike but we have a lot of major things to talk about one of which we
are sitting on right now. This stage is incredible everyone is already getting a
first look at it. Rosemary what's one of the coolest things you've seen either
here or at the convention so far? Well I gotta agree with you this stage looks
amazing but it isn't just the stage we have so many activations all around
San Francisco. There's even a Pokemon Go stamp rally so you can see some of what
San Francisco has to offer. It's gonna be a possible to do everything this weekend.
Shereva you Ethan. Yeah I mean these events year after year continue to grow
and expand. There's more and more to do each year. The competition becomes even
more intense as players continue to hone their skills in all the games. It's
gonna be an incredible weekend. That just bouncing off of that. 30 years for Pokemon
like you said Rosemary, 10 years now for Pokemon Go, it's been absolutely incredible, especially as
a Go player to see everything there has been to do in San Francisco. Yeah, I mean this event,
I said bigger and better right during the intro. It really is. I'm so excited for all the competition
that's going to happen on this main stage, but this convention hall goes for what seems like miles
that direction and there is Pokemon everywhere surrounding us. I wouldn't have it any other way.
It is so, so fun, but our job is to focus on what's going on here on the main stage
and in the tournament hall all weekend long, so we want to talk about what you should be
looking to watch this weekend.
We're going to start off with some major storylines.
So RealSpirary, what is a major storyline in the video game that people should be paying
attention to?
Well, the highlight of the weekend is that this is the first World Championships for
Pokemon champions and what better way to be able to kick off this game's life cycle than to crown a world champion
We've got mega evolution back. It's going to be just such a great display for all of our top trainers around the world
Show what they've got for Pokemon champions. Awesome. How about TCG?
It's really around that one big bad Pokemon dragapult EX. You can't run and you can't hide from them
is everywhere, especially the top trainers
bringing him to the World Championship.
So we're going to see if there's another deck
that could be thrown in.
We had a similar metagame 10 years ago
to very dominant decks, very dominant archetypes.
And it was actually a rogue deck that was able to take
the tournament down.
So who knows, we could see another surprise back
in San Francisco after check.
Oh, I love that.
A look back is so fun.
I know we have the museum as well here in the venue.
I'm not sure if that rogue deck is featured.
I sure hope it is. There's a lot of cool moments throughout TCG's history, but how about for Pokemon Go, Amanda?
What should we be looking forward to watching all weekend long?
So I feel like Go is in this unique position right now.
We're kind of at the bend diagram middle between the video game and Unite because as the video game has moved on to a new thing,
this will actually be the last season for Go to have an
individual World Champion as we are moving to 3 vs 3 for the World Championships next season.
So that's a big accolade that I think a lot of people are really hoping that they'll be able to claim.
Yeah, I mean you've had a few world champions already and one more to take that solo throne is so exciting.
Pokemon Unite, we are in a bit of a sweet and sour situation.
It is the final time for Pokemon Unite at the world championships.
However, we could not have picked a bigger stage, bigger venue to crown our final world champion.
That is going to be the major storyline to watch.
There is going to be one final team raising that trophy at the Chase Center this weekend, by the way.
We're switching venues and going to one of the biggest that San Francisco has to offer for our Grand Finals.
That is going to be just incredible.
I cannot wait to see all the competitions all day long on that championship Sunday.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
So that is why we think you should be watching, but maybe you're asking, who should I be watching?
Well, that's our next job.
So, Rosemary, what players do we have to watch in the video game over the weekend?
It was so hard to just narrow it down to three competitors because it is the world championships
and we've got the top trainers from around the world that are going to be competing here this weekend.
But we've got Wolf Glick, Marco Silva and Ko Tukide as your players to watch for the video game.
Wolf Glick needs no introduction. This man won the world championships 10 years ago
And now, it could be his time to get a second title.
He came off the back of the second place at the first regional championships
that we had in Pokemon Champions, and he's always a meta innovator.
He thinks about what is going to be strong and how can I beat that?
And that's why he had mega steel eggs at that regional championships.
Marco Silva from Italy is going to be our next player to watch.
He is a three-time international champion,
only one of few competitors that can say that they've even won twice,
but he's missing the elusive World Championship title.
So that's why Izeron came this weekend to see if he can finally claim that.
Last but certainly not least, Ko Tsukide.
He is a world champion from the seniors division in 2019,
but Ko has been on an absolute international tear this season,
top-running both the international championships that he attended,
as well as the Japan Nationals just a couple of months ago.
So if there's anybody that you should be keeping an eye on in Japan, it is Ko.
Wow, I mean, the absolute lineup there on the BG.
We had people cheering in the crowd just with a player, a ton of players to watch.
So yeah, some huge faces in the community here at the World Championships.
So exciting. I know the trading card game is no exception.
Now, Edwin, who should we be watching over the weekend?
Of course, this year, no exception.
We've got international talent coming from all over the world.
Our three players to watch are from a mixture of different regions.
Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, a player for many, many years,
had a great season coming over to regional championships.
The Houston and taking it down.
Pies are definitely on him to see if Japan can win a world
championship on their 10th anniversary.
Tour de Reclove, no introduction for this man.
Did the global circuit, the grand slam,
the only player to win all four international championships.
It's also missing that elusive world championship title.
Got so close in the Oklahoma.
He's still looking for that championship win.
And of course, our defending world champion,
Wiley McKay, can't write off the back of Gardevoir this year,
but he's a very talented player.
We'll have to see what that key decides to bring this year
to see if he can become a repeat champion.
Interesting. Okay, it's maybe even a rogue option for Riley McKay. We'll have to see. I know you're already talking about big bad
Dragapult. Do you think all three of these players to watch are bringing bringing the notorious maybe infamous Dragapult this weekend? I
Know I can probably speak for tour that's where it has played Dragapult to a lot of different events
But he loves his trade ability on Zoroark. He played that to the North American international
championships where he made top cut. I wouldn't be so shocked to see him come back with another
innovative Zoroark build and try and take down his tour. It is not about the spirit of the world
championships. Trainers with their iconic partner Pokemon. I mean that just fits the
bill. How about for Pokemon Go? Any players to watch them? You should never rise. Oh boy,
there are so many talented players and I know that we've been a little bit more new to the
seen that we haven't had any repeat world champions, but the keyword is yet because the first person
we want to look at here is Fields Boy last season, the Anaheim World Champion. He is from India,
but he's actually had a chance this season to play a couple times in North America and also
international championships and has top cut during those. So he is still really going through this
season quite grossly. Next up we have Nighttime Clashard. We're going to call him Mr. Worldwide
at this point because he's been playing in North America, Europe and Oceania. He also got first
place at the Latin American international championships. He is also leading NA on the
leaderboard. So definitely a player that wants to be able to give this world championship title.
And last but again, we can't say last but not least, we're always saying it, but we have to
really say this because the Spanish sensation, Pato Man, is arguably the best trainer in Pokemon
right now. I think you could ask 10 trainers and probably 10 out of 10 will
say that he's had the best season. He was the champion of the UIC two years in a row.
He was our finalist last season in Anaheim and I think a lot of people are
wondering if he's gonna take it all the way this year. I love that. I mean the
World Championships always has that vibe. It's a championship of champions every
single time. Feels like Pokemon Go really leaning into that this time around.
Well, I gave everybody else the chance to say three players to watch.
I'm, of course, going to allow you guys to talk about 15 players to watch,
and they're going to be sectioned off into three different teams.
We have some teams coming from all over the world, of course, just like every title.
The first one we got to talk about is Fennel from Japan.
This team is unbelievable.
To tell you the truth, it doesn't feel like they know how to lose the video game.
At any point in time, every single championship that this team has been a part of this year,
This year, they have won in the R former world champions
in Honolulu just a couple of years ago.
This team is looking on a whole nother level.
Who none of the next team go in North America
is Rue Dignitas.
Zagreb, not a huge fan of Umbria on there.
I am, I got a pinch for it.
But Zagreb leading the way for Rue Dignitas.
This team is looking amazing this year.
Champions at LAIC and at NAIC this year
as well as a really strong performance in the Asian.
Champions League a lot of players on that team hunting for a world championship title
But this could be the one to do it take a look at their group stage later on the United
Show though crazy start for their tournament and after them we have the reigning world champions Peru
Unite last year in Anaheim were able to dominate the competition in the arena
They're looking to do so again
It was strange season for this team ups and downs
But they are on the up going into the world championships when they won the Latin America
Regional League taken down to each one Brazil Latin America South and North so doing a amazing season
They look boys to be a real contender at this time
So that is gonna be what the major story lines
We think you should be watching this weekend some of the players that you should be watching
We also want to give you even more reasons to be watching the world championships as well as all the broadcasts
associated. We got drops. We got this for us. Rosemary, what are we giving away in the video game?
Well, well, well, we do have an incentive war that you can drop inside Pokemon champions for just watching
60 minutes of the stream and alongside of that you're also giving away some other in-game items
So that if you don't want to use Insider War on your next team, you can actually get and
and for improvement for a new Pokemon and train it up.
So make sure that you're sticking around and watching the stream.
Yeah, the recent launch of Champions, a lot of new resources.
Even if you're a new player, these seem like great drops
that you could add to your collection.
Maybe get some of those Pokemon recruited onto your team.
Even I know the trading card game, you got a few of these lined up.
So what's going on in the world of drops in the trading card game?
We've got a whole mixture of things.
Look at all those things you can get within the Pokemon trading card game.
live, of course those exclusive worlds, accessories, deck box, some cosmetics for your avatar.
There's a mixed Xero aura place at the Mega Xero aura EX.
It's got two of the special art rare, so you know, nice way to fling out your deck of it,
as well as a special worlds loop train.
Get all that from watching this stream.
There's going to be plenty of awesome action this weekend.
Awesome.
Yeah, I mean huge show.
It's an Ethan by the way.
At home I'm sure you can read that just fine on your screen, but that is some small thought
that Ethan was able to read on the monitor that we have in front of us.
So, big behind the curtain there, but great work, Ethan.
That's in the trading card game for Trading Card Game Live.
But how about for Pokemon Go, what do we got for drops?
Yeah, Ethan's eyesight is impeccable, but for Go, there's also some very cool things
that you are going to be able to do just by watching.
And the main thing, you can see him raising that trophy there.
You will be able to get a Tinketon based off of Beelzeboy's team last year
that he was able to take that world championship.
Not only that, you're going to have a little choose your own adventure for watching 30 minutes.
You can choose between going down a Lickitung, Totodile, or the Rupert hat.
So I don't know, joints, what would you pick if you were playing?
Oh, I'm going Totodile.
All the way?
I love that Pokemon.
I mean, it wouldn't even be a trick.
You're going Rupert?
Yeah, Claude Sire is so good.
Ethan, what are you picking?
I agree, Claude Sire is pretty cool.
I got to love that little guy.
I have to go, Licky Licky's probably gonna be the major Pokemon in our meta, so pay attention to that this weekend.
But yes, you're gonna want to make sure you're watching because you'll get a lead TM as well,
so you can use that to take away the charge, can't run your Pokemon.
Oh, I love that. Prepare for a future competition.
Steve, in the Pokemon Go season, that's a great job.
Great time to do it right now.
Pokemon Unite, we got some really cool drops this time around for the World Championships.
Of course, we got your classics, that World Championships sticker,
We also have license art and then one of my favorite drops that we have ever had if you watch worlds for 45 minutes
You actually get a license of Pokemon that you can play in game one of the five Pokemon that Peru used to win
That game winning match in Anaheim last year leave me on side up
Zashion and tell you on in Crustle those middle two
Zashion and side up those are going to be
Relevant threats this weekend. They're going to be banned. They're going to be picked
We're going to see a lot of them on the Pokemon United broadcast.
So we have so many rewards that you can be getting for watching any of our games.
I know in the Pokemon XP broadcast, we also have things to be given away.
So check out so many amazing moments at this year's World Championships in 2026,
which is, well, not exactly a rerun, but a return.
As 10 years ago, the World Championships was held here in San Francisco.
Love getting the chance to showcase Pokemon to this incredible city yet again.
That's got us in the nostalgic mood a little bit.
So we want to say one of maybe our favorite competitive memories of all Pokemon Rosemary.
How about you?
Being in San Francisco, it just makes me remember our time in Japan just a couple of years ago.
Another way that we could commemorate a huge milestone for the Pokemon franchise.
And so to see how the city was set up for everyone to enjoy and how San Francisco is now,
It's just a great time to be a Pokemon fan.
Absolutely, Ethan, how about you?
Got a flashback to ten years ago.
What a tournament it was before in San Francisco.
The change inside from a hotel ballroom to now this incredibly expansive convention center.
Really seeing that road deck take down the tournament.
Shocking the entire world.
I'm really curious to see what happens.
Awesome rapid fire for you, Lemberger.
I think at the same point too, just being able to be in the stadium last season was such a big thing for a goal.
Going from a stage to a stadium is absolutely incredible and we're going to get to go ahead and do it again this year.
I cannot wait. I've loved all the world championships that we have had in previous years.
It has been so fun, but like I said, we are getting bigger and better for this year's Pokemon XP and World Championships.
San Francisco has been home to legendary Pokemon moments across so many of our titles.
What this year is going to be so fun, so let's throw it to our opening ceremonies.
Oh
I
We're coming!
Here we stand at the start of a new day
Looking out on a new adventure
No one knows where the road will take us
Ready, set, cause now it's time to go
Maybe we can finally see
Who we're meant to be
We step away from the lonely
Every chance your heart's filling up
You know we've got side-by-side to lonely
Together, you and I will touch the stars
And then, if you will all over again
Cause even if we lose our way
You know we say, here we go
Here we go again
And even better the next time we go
Here we go again
Memories last at a lifetime
It's a new day, we all get
With all our hands
Here we go again
I don't care
Let me blast it on the edge
You
You know
I'm gonna
Beat you up
You
Here we go!
We're gonna take you down!
Here we go!
Here we go again!
We're gonna prove you're never gonna last at our last hour.
Take the new day to be away with your friends!
Here we go!
Here we go again
Hello, Trainers, and good morning.
To start things off, we are about to take you on a musical journey from the past through the present.
Celebrating 30 years of Pokémon will start today by bringing you the great music of Kanto.
I'm your conductor, Charlie Rosen,
and we are the 8-Bit Big Band.
Thank you so much.
Please enjoy.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much.
Well, that journey through Kanto was actually only just the start of our program this morning, Trainers.
Now, join me as we travel across generations to celebrate the amazing 30-year legacy of Pokémon.
Thank you so much.
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the 2026 Pokemon World Championships and Pokemon XP.
Let's give it up one more time for our fabulous dancers and the 8-bit big band.
I mean come on, no matter when you first discovered Pokemon, I hope hearing those medleys from
our orchestra transported you back to some happy and cheerful memories.
Hi, I'm Gabby Durden.
I'm your host for this weekend's festivities.
And just like you, I've loved Pokemon
since I was a small child, forming my first core memories.
So I'm beyond honored to be here on this stage,
coming to you live from San Francisco, California.
Yeah.
This weekend is extra special for all of us.
One part of our event commemorates
the hard work of our trainers as they conclude their journey
to become world champions across four types.
Pokemon champions.
The Pokemon trading card game.
Pokemon Go.
And Pokemon Unites.
And, and, and even more adventure awaits
with our first ever Pokemon XP,
where we couldn't be more excited for you to join us for activities,
panels, attractions, and much more throughout the weekend.
All right, two incredible events, one unforgettable weekend.
And you better believe we're going to make sure it's one for the record books.
But I think we should get things started, shall we?
It is my pleasure to introduce to the stage
the president and CEO of the Pokemon Company, Mr. Tsunekazu Ishihara.
Hello, Trainers, and welcome to the team.
Hello Trainers and welcome to the 2026 Pokemon World Championships and Pokemon XP.
First I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone gathered here today as well as
all of you from around the world joining us online.
And whether you're here to compete for the title of World Champion or you've come with family and friends to enjoy Pokemon XP, I'm truly delighted that we can all be here together on Pokemon's 30th anniversary.
From all the exciting experiences we have waiting for you at Pokemon XP to the World Championship Finals, we're going to have a chase center on Sunday, this weekend is sure to be a lot of fun.
that I think trainers will remember for many years to come.
And to all of the competitors who have battled their way here,
truly your hard work, passion, and determination inspire future
trainers who dream of one day standing on this very stage.
You truly represent both an aspiration and a source of hope for the next generation.
皆さんが今日ここにいることが次の世代への夢をつないで
そのことにここでをもって最後まで全力で協議を楽しんでください
Just by being here today you are helping pass those dreams on to the future.
Take pride in that and enjoy every moment of the competition as you give it your best to
the very end.
And with that, I wish you all the best of luck in your battles.
Thank you, Mr. Ichihara, for setting the stage.
Oh, so beautifully.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.
I can feel the energy in this room.
I can sense the excitement to compete.
More than 2,000 trainers have descended upon San Francisco
to test their skills and fight with all their might
to become the next Pokemon World Champion.
Competitors, the time has come.
Please make your way over to the play tables
to kick off your matches.
And before we get into the action,
our casters are prepped to walk you through everything in store this weekend.
So everybody, let the 2026 Pokemon World Championships begin.
Welcome in trainers to the 2026 Pokemon go world championships.
I'm speediest chief too with the illustrious Amanda Lundberg.
We cannot wait to get into this.
All right, it not only is it the 30th anniversary of Pokemon
for our game specifically Pokemon Go,
this is our 10th anniversary
and this is going to be a special show for all of you.
Absolutely a special moment,
but only one champion will be crowned on Sunday.
But I'll tell you what, a lot of trainers,
they might not be as up to date
with competitive Pokemon Go,
so we've got a quick format video.
Let's dive into the format for Pokemon Go at the 2026 Pokemon World Championships.
The best trainers from around the globe are here to compete for their share of a two million
dollar prize pool and the coveted title of Pokemon Go World Champion.
The competition takes place over three days, battling in a double elimination bracket using
a great format.
Only two trainers will remain to compete on Championship Sunday.
Matches are best of three until the end of the bracket.
Winners finals, losers finals and grand finals are all played as a best of five series.
Each match follows the bring six pick three format, where trainers craft a team of six
Pokemon but only bring three into each game.
The trainers are bringing their all to the playtables this weekend, and we will soon see
who will claim the trophy and title of Pokemon Go World Champion.
Let's get this tournament started.
If we couldn't have said it better, let's indeed get this tournament started here in
our show 6 pick 3 format.
It's kind of an open meta, right?
Well, there's some Pokemon at the different international championships at Regionals.
Minnesota shifts throughout the year.
However, I think that we're going to see some very special things.
You said the year, Amanda, it shifts up to the day
in competitive Pokemon Go.
And these trainers have been cooking all season long.
Let's take a look here at what is at stake.
These are the prize money rewards at the New World Championships.
First place takes home $20,000.
That's a lot of money, but that's not all the way through 16th place.
So you're going to see up to $1,000 for that competitive dip.
Not only that, they're getting competitor kits.
There's going to be some different prizes
throughout the weekend and also for you while watching at home.
So much at stake and so many reasons
to push yourself to your absolute limits
because this is the world championships.
This is it, the last tournament,
the last event of the entire season.
And the last chance to cement your name
in the history books as a competitive Pokemon Go player.
But you know what, Amanda?
San Francisco is a beautiful city
from the Golden Gate Bridge all the way downtown.
There's so much to see, but sometimes you want to play it safe too.
And bringing a jacket down here when the sun starts to go down on the bay is a great choice.
Let's talk about some safe picks in the metagame right now, and we have to talk about Ticketun first.
Ticketun is a pokemon that once it got its attack, Ticketun Hammer, it became one of the most popular pokemon used.
And people are either going to be playing it or defending against it this weekend.
Ticketun Hammer is so powerful, and when you're at Ticketun, everything looks like a nail.
Let's take a look at Kanto 9 tails next because this is one of the top picks to counter that Tinketon and keep it in check
Kanto 9 tails recently got energy ball as one of its charge attacks making it also not only hit back against those Tinketons
But also some of the water type Pokemon that was giving it a lot of trouble before now players have to opt
Do I want to shield up a Pokemon that could potentially get knocked down by that 9 tails?
We are definitely going to see an energy ball connected to a coaxi or at least once this weekend
So stay tuned for that.
But another people wanted to highlight is Licky Licky,
a normal type of Pokemon with only one weakness.
And roll out is the fast attack with body slam to boot.
This Pokemon is gonna be everywhere in the Medicaid.
Yeah, we think that this could potentially be
the top used Pokemon, definitely a safe pick.
A lot of people actually like to use it
in that what we call safe swap position.
So if you don't have a good lead,
immediately you're gonna see that Licky Licky come in
to try to just soak up some damage
and put out some damage of its own.
Definitely a safety net and I have few on at that.
But let's look at some of the Pokemon that are upsetting the Apple cart.
These are risky picks, but winning with your favorites is a key part of Pokemon Go competitive.
So let's take a look first at Pistoyan Electrodemando.
I am really, really high on this Pokemon.
I think this Pokemon right here can core break numerous teams.
Walk me through it.
Well, it's an electric and grass type Pokemon.
It's got Thunder Shock as a fast attack, which is only two turns, very fast energy generation.
You get energy Paul just like the Ninetales has, but you get Wild Charge as well.
So you see so many Pokemon like Nantin and Feraligator,
Wild Charges go to fry them.
There's other risky picks that some people might be playing,
and we know for sure at least one person
will be bringing this Shadow Giratina.
Shadow Giratina is a Pokemon that has recently
become more Great League viable.
It's already won a couple of regional championships.
Could it possibly win Worlds?
That's a great question.
Let's take a look at another dragon
that maybe is a little more easy to get
than that Shadow Giratina Altered form.
This is Tertinator, a dragon fire type Pokémon with access to Ember, Brutal Swing, Dragon Claw, Flash Cannon, Overheats.
It's got an arsenal at its disposal, and this Pokémon can core break a lot of these teams that do have the grass or the fire type Pokémon like Ninetales.
That's absolutely true. These fire type Pokémon are kind of putting a little bit of pressure turning up the heat on the tinkertons that we're going to see on the field.
But it's not just the Pokémon, it's definitely the players that you want to be keeping your eye on, seeing what they're going to bring and pilot in this tournament.
starting with the North America region.
These are three trainers that we think
are gonna have a pretty outstanding time.
We're looking at Cy Rhino, Nighttime Clashier,
and Dunebug 97.
Those latter two names you're probably familiar with,
but Cy Rhino exploded onto the scene at NAIC,
sweeping that grand finals.
Our leaderboards are set.
These trainers have fought all season long.
Nighttime Clashier stands at top,
but there are so many talented trainers in this top 16.
And not only just in the top 16 here in North America,
we've got top trainers all over the globe.
Let's go ahead and take a swipe over to the EU region.
These are players to watch.
We talked about them in the pre-show.
We have Pat Oman up for us, the trainer,
with the most championship points of this season.
Next up, inadequate from the Netherlands
and Stone Collection from Germany,
who actually won a championship here in North America
earlier on in the season.
Amanda, 40.
40 events until Stone Collection took gold.
He is absolutely committed,
and these trainers have been committed all season.
Pat Oman again, leading the pack there,
But some spice in Europe, Tontan Batusa number six
and Z's wireless at number eight.
In Europe in particular, Amanda,
I know you can vouch for this.
Those trainers push themselves very hard
to win the signature Pokemon.
Everyone wants to be the next Alolan Raticate champion,
the next Theevil champion,
or even a spicier pick like Shadow Hydragan.
You know, EE might play with spice,
but Latam definitely plays with heart.
And there is some Latin American trainers
that are absolutely gonna be shining this weekend for sure.
We've got some Brazilian boy twins here with the CP points there at the bottom there, TZ, Steiner, and Alindiaz Parjeff.
It's so hard not to talk about Laptam when you see these trainers so powerful, so talented.
But this is a pleasant surprise for all of our longtime PVPers. Look at number one, that's Zardy, a trainer that burst onto the scene early on,
took a year off but is coming back with a vengeance and so many other talented trainers, including number seven, Memmi-Kinflana, who just won his first event ever.
And of course we saw Marto briefly on that players to watch screen as well.
Marto Galday, a staple name here in Pokemon Go.
Exactly, Marto, the pride of Argentina, but let's head down to OC.
We've got Jelithy, who won two events this season with the same team.
And no, that is not an error.
We've got Gone 1001, and they love Jai.
Jai is known for bringing that a little night tales, but I'll see, Amanda.
I don't know if there's much room for it in this meta.
We'll have to see with all of those fire type Pokemon.
Tinkeredo might not be the only thing that's a little bit afraid.
This is the Oceania leader for they're gone actually leaving that hand, you know
And it was going back and forth there between that first place
He was able to take one himself not a surprise to see him at the very top
I do like Godzilla as well famously winning the Grand Finals in Australia with a guzzlord
Oh my guzzlord gamers arise up. I do think that will be a prominent pick in this medicaid
We talked about Turretnator and Shadow here to an altered form because because our players know what's up
And not only that we sometimes don't know what's up in the other regions because we don't get to see
a lot of the regional competitions, but these are players to watch from Japan.
We have first we have happy boy Q ended up taking the Japanese qualifier and then maybe
you've seen the other two trainers as they have competed often in Oceania, David actually
being able to get that first click in Melbourne earlier this season.
Exactly talented trainers and we always look to APAC, we've got two world champions from
APAC and oh my goodness, look at production, we've got them on screen, Beelzeboi and Yaqai
are both competing again this weekend as well as Master Mahir. Everyone when they
look at at India they talk about the Elzeboid but Master Mahir is such a
formidable trainer and you would argue that he and Elzeboid were neck and neck
last year at Worlds. Being able to top cut in that competition I think that he
has something to prove here in San Francisco's office if he'll be able to
do that. There's so many trainers who have come to compete in this event. Those
are just a few names we just have to pick just the smallest amount. I honestly
You could have added a ton more names on that list and I've been like yes
These are also definitely players to watch you're gonna want to make sure you're watching this whole weekend players and Pokemon are not the only
Treats for our viewers at home. Let's take a look at our drops starting with the video game
We do have awesome swag items here a hat and a Pikachu shirt and make sure to type in that code enjoy worlds
26 in order to snag that distro from champions
So that's right. We have it for the video game and we also have it for the other games that are being competed here in the arena
We have TCG up next and look how many drops they have if you are a card game player
You are probably loving this. I mean this is a vault of goodies, right?
Make sure to connect your account correctly and snack these drops. Let's slide on over to the green screen
We've got go coming up as well
Not only can you pick one of these three hats and get this valuable Pokemon for your own PvP team
But we have a very special award Amanda. Tell us about that tinkerton. So tinkerton
We talked about earlier what feels boy used it to help him win in the world championships in Anaheim last season
This is the exact tinkerton that feels boy used with the exact same spread
So this is very cool if you're a player who's thinking oh, maybe I want to get into Pokemon PvP
But I don't have a lot of the Pokemon yet. This is a great way to get started
So you want to make sure that you're watching and be able to collect that but well, that's not all we have
That's definitely not all use that code San Francisco 2026 to snack this avatar item a
Sage green Pikachu shirt and a little spoiler for everyone at home my tie tomorrow sage green
So we're definitely on theme here in San Francisco
That's looking prime if you go ahead and put that on make sure if you're go in the go valley
Maybe take a screenshot of it and be able to post it on the socials or something
So we can see that you are watching this stream and that you are supporting the champions all of our posters and chatters
Let's get active. I'm getting work from production. We've got usage for day one. Okay. These painters have had the lid on the pot.
They've been cooking for over two months and these are the Pokemon of choice.
We did get the first three right, Amanda, but look at the Pokemon below it.
The safest of the safe there in the top three, but I guess not really too big of surprise.
They were coming in recently taking that seventh spot and then we also have some brown type Pokemon there with that
Pantel, Merawek, and also the Unovan Stumpfist.
I want to get our trainers at home involved.
Some Pokemon are not on this board.
Annihilate, I thought, would be a bit higher.
We also do not see the spicier picks like Turtmator,
but that's kind of to be expected.
Type in the chat, which Pokemon you think
is going to take it off here in San Francisco.
A big question I think a lot of people will have,
but they won't for long because there's open team sheets,
is that Shadow Fortress running a Volt Switch
as it's fast attack or bug fight?
Because we've seen both do quite well
throughout this competitive season and they're just so different it depends on
the team it depends on what these trainers are trying to do
scheme wise with their team of six but you know Amanda we put our phone two
cents in the slot and we said these are the pokemon that we think are going to
succeed this weekend four picks each i don't know what
shadow alexander is doing on this graphic but
shadow swan is the truth right back me up here right uh you know i played
against it it is pretty annoying to play against what surprised me to
actually see one or two in the tournament of course I think a lot of us
ended up going with that Hussain Electro there was in that top 8 spot of top 12 usage
so maybe not that spicy at all. One thing I do want to point out I say it every
time, Sabalaya is my Sabal guy and if any meta that it's viable for I definitely
want to see it play and it can actually start hitting back now against those
Licky Lickies which is in that top spot.
2-0 butters and Henry are Don Gozo believers in a Hussain Electro meta
I don't know if that Pokemon is not going to succeed, but these trainers believe in it.
So again, let us know in the chat which Pokemon you think is going to take the crown this weekend.
We took a peek at some of the team sheets on Arcanine and oh my goodness,
Amanda, are we in for some treats this weekend?
There's been a small meta shakeup since June.
You could say that things have been sort of like leveling out.
You see a lot of different practice tournaments, different usage going on.
So it's really exciting to see that it all boils down to this very moment that they'll be playing throughout the weekend.
All the top trainers who have made it here said, okay, this is my team of six that could potentially make me the San Francisco World Champion.
Exactly. These trainers have been cooking, but you know what? We're here in the venue in San Francisco, but this is a World Championship.
And everyone in the world who loves competitive Pokemon is part of it. You need to get involved following us on socials.
on socials, remember to use that backslash play Pokemon
across various channels and you'll find us there.
And also when you post on X, formerly known as Twitter,
make sure to use that hashtag play Pokemon
so you can find your posts.
Yeah, we wanna see those avatar items
that you're gonna get all the different things.
Let us know who you think is going to be taking home
the crown.
We're gonna get all involved here.
There's so much to do in San Francisco,
but there's so much to do for you guys as well
if you're watching at home.
Make sure to connect your Twitch account.
We will be posting instructions in the chat
to help you get your tongue connected
so you can rack up those watch minutes,
get those drops, and be happy campers
while you're enjoying the show this weekend.
And as a reminder to everyone, this is just day one.
Absolutely.
You're liking the content.
If you're excited to see more games,
hit that follow button.
We have day two, and then Championship Sunday,
we will be all on the main channel
for each of our games finals as we move through the day.
So I know that for 30 minutes that you can choose,
I'm calling it a choose your own adventure here.
You can choose between a licky tongue path,
a totodile path, and a Pavey and Booper path.
What path would you choose, Will?
Oh, that is a really good question.
So I played the community days for those Pokemon in the past,
but I gotta say, Feraligator is so fun and so cool.
You can always use another Feraligator,
especially one with a little bit more attack wave.
And of course, Licky Licky, our top number one Pokemon
in this meta, you evolved that from a Licky tongue.
So maybe a lot of people will opt to go for that route
as well.
Clotsar is a Pokemon that wouldn't surprise me actually
to see a bit in this tournament,
So definitely don't count out the Paldein woofer.
Paldein woofer is very fun.
And Klotzire might be another core breaker
that trainers look out for.
Poisonous things, Stone Edge, Sludge Bomb, Earthquake,
plus more bulk than you can imagine.
That Pokemon is formidable.
And I think one of our casters thinks
it'll be top usage on day two as well.
But I'll tell you what, Amanda, just one more time.
Let's do a refresher on how to connect your Twitch account
and claim these rewards for easy steps.
You've got this chat, I believe in you.
Yeah, we know that you can do it.
If you do need help, there will be people in the chat to help that out.
Here's a little tip.
Using exclamation point drops is not going to do anything for you.
So go ahead, maybe take a screenshot of this even
to make sure that you are going to be able to collect all of the different rewards
that we have for you in Pokemon Go.
Pro tip for everyone as well.
Open up the other streams and other tabs
and make sure that you're collecting those drops.
You never know, maybe you'd log into TCG Live occasionally.
You're going to want those drops and those memories
memories when you revisit the game.
So even if you don't play those primarily,
it's always good to snack free stuff
because this stuff is awesome.
I tell you what, we're steering straight across these booths
here at the Unite team too.
We didn't really talk about theirs,
but there's a licensed Pokemon that you can grab from up here.
So pretty cool.
That is true.
All of our Pokemon Unite trainers.
And honestly, Amanda, we've got a big screen in front of us,
but I feel like I need a magnifying glass
to read all of these drops.
So you've got to get active and make
sure to pick up this exclusive Twitch chat badge.
That's dope.
just to explain this to everyone.
Maybe if you're just a casual Twitch viewer,
you only come on to watch Pokemon.
This means that next to your name,
this Pikachu will appear,
and you can take this with you
to any other channel that you watch.
This is yours to own,
so make sure to claim that as well.
Very, very cool.
We've got goodies galore for you
here at the World Championship in San Francisco,
so definitely make sure that your account's connected
and definitely stay tuned throughout the weekend
because not only is this going to be the last time
time an individual person is going to win worlds for Pokemon go the tournament
field is stacked we will talk about that more as the weekend progresses but
you're right there's so many updates in Pokemon it's really hard to keep track
Pokemon go as long as we've known it has been an individual e-sport pursuit but
next year we are shifting to a three versus three team format we don't have
details no leaks on the screen for you guys at home I'm so sorry but if we do
learn something will be the first Italian. Yeah absolutely but in the
meantime we definitely have to take it. We saw a little you know nostalgia road
there in the opening ceremony. We really have to soak in the moments here for
Pokemon Go. There has been a couple champions already Beelzeboy, Yukai. They're
both here. They're both ready to be playing for it again. Do you think that
we will have a repeat champion for our very last year of individual go? I want
to read what Chat says. Come on Chat. Keep it going. Keep it going. Alright. I'll
make my response I firmly believe Amanda that we will never have a repeat champion mark my word
it's too competitive it's too fast and just a single mistake can derail an entire tournament run
and also our co-caster Caleb made a really good point he said we do operate in a double elimination
format which means a quarter of trainers are going to go 0-2 this event and then half of them will go
1-2 it's brutal out here in competitive Pokemon Go you have to be at the top of your game and as
as much as I believe in our trainers,
I want to see them all succeed.
They can only do one champion
and it's probably gonna be a new person on Sunday.
I mean, top of their game,
I have to ask you a real quick question, Will.
Oh, okay.
Are you at the top of your dance game?
I don't know about dance moves.
I mean, this mat we're standing on isn't that big.
Oh, wait, wait, you're talking about this?
Well, I don't know.
Maybe we'll get a chance to see you pull out your EDM moves
there earlier on, because this is something that's very cool.
One of them already sold out in Los Angeles,
But this is Pokemon Night Out, the concert with Marshmallow and Alson Wonderlander.
Tickets are available for the London one in November.
That is gonna be so cool. I am a big Marshmallow fan, to be honest with you.
And we asked if we could wear space suit helmets this weekend, we were told no.
But Marshmallow does have a really cool helmet that he wears during his sets.
Maybe we could borrow it and bring it to go.
We'll have the Pokemon one with the little ears on the top of the helmet there.
We'll bring it to the concert.
If we wore marshmallow headsets on the cast, that would be the coolest thing, but we're
going to have a fun time regardless, everybody.
That's going to be a really great time for all of our EDM enjoys out there.
And this weekend in San Francisco, not only do we have the events, we've got Pokemon
XP, which we haven't talked about at all.
That's a massive event.
You and I have been here, what, almost two days, and we've not been able to cover all
of it yet.
So if you are a fan and you do have access to it, make sure to see as much as you possibly
can.
I've heard a rumor honestly that there might be some drone shows at night as well.
Drone shows at the fairy building in San Francisco.
I always love seeing the Pokemon drone shows.
There's been so many fun things to do and there's also fun things in the venue and there's
fun things for the competitors.
Obviously they're all competing to be able to beat that world champion.
But let's go ahead and take a look at the different things.
The whole time has built up to here in San Francisco.
This is starting to put the North America road map, starting in Baltimore.
I cannot believe that we started all the way back there, but my goodness, this next season
is going to be so sick, you guys, and keep in mind as well that the next season will
operate on the new battle system.
So Pokemon like Mimikyu, like Cramorant, those are going to become valuable meta players.
I think everyone's peeking at the end of the blurry ones, being like, TBA, what, where
is that one?
I'm not quite sure.
I was like, maybe if I squint just hard enough,
I can actually see the city, but I couldn't get it done.
There are quite a few regional competitions,
and that is how our players qualify
for the World Championships there.
Each competition awards championship points.
The first place gets a direct invite to the world,
and then also throughout the season,
but the ICs, it's the top four people
who also get placements for Worlds.
Exactly, the championship points
are a very important part of competitive Pokemon.
A lot of trainers, maybe they don't win events outright,
But if they're consistent enough,
they can earn their world championships first.
I'll tell you what everybody, we have two trainers on stage.
I know you're probably asking,
are these commentators just gapping all the time?
We wanna see some games.
I'm right there with you.
Our trainers are getting set up
and we'll just be another moment though.
Actually, they're already on stage
and it looks like they're getting ready to go.
Take it to the stage.
Check out our very first matchups
of the world championships that we're seeing here.
We got DHC knighted up against Pato Man.
This is such an electric matchup,
starting off the 2026 World Championships.
With Potomac, the back-to-back EUIC winner
is a great way to do it, but DHC United,
if everyone remembers back earlier this season,
DHC conquered, I believe it was Toronto,
with his shadow Garrados against
Helsinki in the Grand Finals.
Potomac ended up taking the last tournament for EU
in Turin, a fairly similar meta,
so we'll have to see if he's confident
that he'll be able to take this game number one.
Both of these trainers so well accolated
and taking a peek at their teams.
I don't see a licky-licky anywhere on Paco Man's team.
Yeah, no safe picks on either side here.
I just want everyone to take in the stage as well
while we get these sprites up on screen.
But look at the background and how awesome this is.
These trainers are competing for it, for the championship.
And I think that the venue is so fitting
for the gravity of what they are trying to achieve.
But right back to the teams, as you mentioned, Amanda,
my Lodik on Pogdeman's team,
and then the Don Dozzo on DHC United.
So my Lodik, I've heard a lot of rumors.
I've heard that Waterfall is likely the fast hat
for this one.
I can see that they definitely get to see
because they have open team sheets
for both of these trainers.
They're checking it out.
We're just starting up the matches.
And I have to admit, it looks like Henry and Butters
maybe they're onto something there
because the very first game of this thing,
we have a Don Dozzo on screen.
exactly done doza but also hip-out on a Pokemon that I think has a lot of valuable coverage
weather ball rock and earth power with sand attack as the fast attack that is going to
really throw a wrench into any cantonight tail plans but another Pokemon that I'm a little
surprised to see on both sides Amanda is a Malamar.
Malamar in a tinketon meta what is going on no tinketon to be found even though it is
in the top 12 usage of all of the world players of today looks like both these trainers are
getting ready, we're getting locked in, throw the ball, we're starting the match.
Game one of the 2026 World Championships, Licky Licky Lee from DHC United into the
UNOVAN STUNFIST from Pato Man, the very neutral matchup as you expect, that
his STUNFIST will eventually wear down this opponent.
Going ahead now just really both of them charging up a ton of energy there.
DHC United wants to be able to throw a shadow ball to do more damage on the
UNOVAN STUNFIST and while the first mud bomb going through the UNOVAN STUNFIST
didn't do too much damage.
The second one would definitely
knock the Licky Licky down to the yellow.
Shadowball coming through from the DHC United's
Licky Licky does connect, lowering that.
You know the stuff is about half health.
How comes a bug bite for Trish?
And this is one of the main reasons to run that fast attack
because this matchup into the Sunfist
is abysmal with both switch.
And maybe a good reason,
Patelman left that Malamar on the bench
for this game number one.
Incoming course lead to just soak up all of this damage.
Bug bites not doing nothing here,
but this rock team is gonna make that
the player in Porcelor have attacked even less.
One of the most important things about playing the one-turn
Fast Attack Pokemon like Bug Bite Fortress
is getting your tiny just right.
Tiny, those astonishers getting as much Fast Attack
damage as possible.
BSU did such a good job of that,
and he's trying to push with a Rock Tomb.
Goes on Charge Attack priority.
Great call.
Going ahead, throwing the sand to Fortress is a Pokemon
that both of its charge attacks will do something
to its opponent.
That Rock Tomb is going to lower the attack,
and the sand tombs are going to lower the defense here.
So this porcelain might be low, tons of energy.
There has to grow here with a 1 HP fortress left down.
It goes in comes that Likula Dina,
me to pivot back into the Ynogun Sunfist.
I really like to swap out there.
In comes the Dondozo.
And although this Ynogun Sunfist will
deal a lot of super effective damage to the Dondozo,
it is bulky as all get-out.
It will be able to withstand a discharge here.
And those waterfalls are chunking away in the meantime.
You see that super effective damage,
but still way in the green at this point.
Potomac great turning here.
now throws other charge attack and getting that first shield off of DHC 19.
Everyone likes to talk about charge attacks in competitive Pokemon Go, but fast attack
damage is such a critical part and no waterfalls. Take down the Innova stuff because that is a big
KO for DHC. Coming back in now immediately with the Corsula this is charge attack priority and
then the Pokemon with the higher attack will always be able to go first getting that protection
off of Potomans side because he wants to get this Dandozo low here as you can see he also
those thrones in shape.
Too much energy to waste here for Potemann.
This nightshade will connect,
but the bad news is I don't think it's enough.
Don Toso hangs on, out comes the on-buck-like fortress
from Potemann, and now he's square up against that
Licky Licky.
Licky Licky has a ton of energy shadowball,
number one going through here.
Only one shield left on Potemann's side.
Using it now once you keep this fortress nice and healthy
because of Corsola doesn't really want to face off
against that Licky Licky,
especially at such low health here,
shadowball number two gonna be able to connect.
I really like the immediate throw here from DHC.
He does not want to get hit with the sand tube
and lose all the energy that he gathered up,
but the fortress is commanding this matchup.
There's still potential for DHC.
He's got to use it here,
or he will lose his lucky lucky.
Go ahead.
Now he puts it up on his very low lucky lucky lucky.
You're looking at switch timers are not quite up yet.
He's hoping to be able to hit to another attempt,
not even able to get to the body slam.
Now back in comes the don dozo
and is able to take out that bug bite
before the serve is reached.
What a close match.
crucial farm down from the shadow bug by Fortress there by Potomac getting the
knockout against the Licky Licky and disrupting the body slam was key if he
does think the body slam that waterfall might be enough to bring down the
Fortress and cause an upset here and I say upset because Potomac is such a
talented trainer with so many athletes to his name Amanda he finished six
internationals in a row in top four yeah no one has quite done it like
He's been top cutting not only regional competitions but international championships just like you were saying he was last year's finalist in Anaheim and he's got something to prove.
And he's starting off very strongly here in game number one against what would it say a very strong newcomer to the game.
I would definitely agree and with a signature pick at that we have seen a few of these trainers focus on so far.
you know the Sunfish, Fortress on both sides as well as DHC United's Don Dozo and Licky Licky,
the question now becomes, what adjustments are made in game number two? Again, to remind everyone,
competitive Pokemon Go is a best of three double elimination tournaments, so DHC needs to win
two more games in order to advance through this round on the winner side. Yes, the winners side
of the bracket is where I think all the trainers would hopefully comfortably want to play because
because that means you have a little bit more wiggle room
to be able to make mistakes.
But we've seen trainers being able to take very early losses,
go through the loser's bracket, and be
able to come out on top.
So just because you're down does not mean that you are out.
And guess what?
We are just getting started.
We started out game number one with a neutral matchup,
Licky Licky versus the Unova and Stunfist.
But there are some disastrous scenarios
that could play out here.
I'm looking at a man team on THC United's team,
and that you love with Stumpfist on Potomac.
So whenever you look at a show six pick three format,
you want to keep those hard matchups in mind,
try to avoid those disaster situations
and play to your win conditions.
And let's see what they're going to do
as we're hopping into game number two.
Now we have that shadow fortress on the side of Potomac,
up against the Licky Licky on DC United.
Just starting both of these tournaments,
staying in the matchup.
You could see how much damage already
those fast attacks alone are doing to that Licky Licky.
Now throwing a Fitz for a Shadow Ball and giving that first protect shield off of Pactaman.
Because Shadow Fortress does have those debuffing charge attacks, it's very wise for Pactaman to shield up a full strength Shadow Ball.
Look for a Rock Tomb debuff potentially, but in comes the swap.
DHC tries to catch a Rock Tomb on the dump.
Oh, so, Pactaman says, you know what? I'll give you two anyway.
He said, okay, well, I see what you're doing there. I am going to debuff you.
Pactaman has a choice now. He's immediately going to swap out and look at this coming in with his own water type Pokemon.
These waterfalls are doing very little damage to each other there.
It's going to be this charge attack going through on the Dundosa that's going to start making it hurt.
I got to be honest, Milotic is such a unique pick in this competitive meta for Worlds.
But if there's any trainer who's going to be scary with it, it's Otoman,
because he did play it at the UIC in his victory there.
So I think that he's got the slight edge, but the outrage connects.
Big damage to Milotic.
Not as big as I think that the DC United were hoping,
but that Rock Tomb ended up doing a lot more than we thought.
But look at this! Absolutely huge!
You have to pass it through because he recognized that he was at another attack.
Didn't want to put up this other shield here, and Dow goes to Dundos with another outrage going.
Still two shields on the side of DC United, but he might have to use one here as the wallet is at its next attack.
Even when you use the protect shield, still one damage comes through regardless.
And DHC United had the outrage, but he was forced to no shield because he might lose his Dundos anyway.
Now in a shadow fortress near matchup, and it looks like Patsyman is just slightly ahead, but that's all he needs.
Coming out with just a little bit of energy before he swapped out ends up putting him right here for the Santum number one.
This is low on defenses and DC says, you know what? Right back at you pal Santum coming through here on the side of Patsyman,
and he's going to end up shooting this here. Will he give it out? He has no chance to run at this moment.
Exactly. Oh, after the debuff, Licky-Licky combo plays with the shadow ball. I got to be honest,
I think this is enough to pick up the KO and the key Pokemon for Potomac in game number one goes down here
Licky Licky sticking out its tongue as a competitor there as fortress goes down and the loaded comes back in
Sort of forcing Licky Licky to maybe have to throw a little bit. It's gonna get there first DC
You notice it lets another rollout go through doesn't even want to try to throw at the exact same time great play
There also puts up the shield and trying to get a little bit more energy
energy. He pops that you know, but
Sunfish, it's all about fresher.
And I think that Potaman is
applying as much as he possibly
can because his last healthy
Pokemon just hit the field.
You know, the Sunfish has a lot
of work to do. I think the
Thunder Shot down is out of the
question here, but he needs
energy to deal with the fortress.
He's ahead. I think Potaman
might have this. Speaking of
Fortress, it comes back in here
going to have to think this mud
bomb. You can see DC and I kind
of unsure of what you want to do
there. It is barely enough to
knock out the fortress.
Pato Man gives a nod here as he still has a decent amount of energy throwing the next mudbomb and taking this a queen to oh
perfect energy management flawless
Execution but that's what we come to expect from the back-to-back EUIC champion
Let's hear in the venue for Pato Man winning round one and starting us off here at the world championships
And I know if people are just not even watching at home if you're taking a look through that tournament bracket
And you see, Platinum has a 2-0 victory.
You said, well, of course he does.
He's such a great player.
But the big thing is, DC United played so well
through those matchups, those games were very, very close
and could have swung either way.
If both players weren't playing exactly on point.
And that's the thing about the World Championships
is all of these trainers are our top level competitors
throughout the seasons.
You're not going to see as many, what would be,
mistakes or misplays as you could
at a potential regional competition.
I mean, this is your first Pokemon Go PDP tournament.
You tuned in to absolute cinema.
And I think that something that's so important
to mention as well, Amanda,
is that these trainers have been fighting all season,
and it's not just about the teams of six,
it's about how well you know your Pokemon.
Anyone that's right on a new pair of dress shoes says,
okay, they look great,
but after a few miles walking in them,
your heels are torn up,
and these trainers have practiced these Pokemon relentlessly.
That's how Pokemon knew he was able
to take the outrage, no problem.
That's how Potemann knew he could trigger this charge attack,
fire, he tied and win it.
And that's how he knew he would survive the roll-outs
from the Licky Licky and force another shield.
Yeah, some people might say it's like this is pure skill
you just seeing on the stages here between his opponents.
And this is our very first matchup of the day.
And I think that it's just showcasing some of the talent,
but we're going to see so many more talented trainers
throughout this weekend.
I cannot wait to see the Pokemon that they brought as well.
As you mentioned earlier, the meta game will shift,
not even week to week or month to month, but day to day.
I promise you that a lot of trainers
that brought these teams here today on Friday,
they had a completely different scheme earlier this week.
So what are you thinking when you're looking
at the team compositions here?
No Canto Ninetales on either of those teams,
no Tinkerton and only one Licky Licky.
Sometimes day one for regional competitions,
when it's such a wide meta,
there's some picks that you see there
that you don't see in day two,
but it's actually surprising at the World Championships
where you're seeing the people
who have really been thinking about this
since they've been able to know
that they qualified for Worlds.
What am I going to run in August?
Exactly, and we always get some of the best Pokemon
and the best plays, but I gotta be honest,
I wanna hear from Ponsoman himself.
Let's get our notebooks and our pencils out
and take some notes for Eads on stage.
Let's hear from the Spanish prodigy.
Thank you, Speedy and Amanda.
I am joined by Paxman, a player we all know, we all love,
and he's already won the very first match here
at the 2026 Pokemon World Championships.
Paxman, how are you feeling after that win?
I'm feeling really confident, I say.
I know this guy was like a super good player.
He won a Toronto IDR if I know the word.
So, yeah, I'm not really confident.
I'm so hyped for this tournament, I want to do my best possible and try to take it also.
Let's see what comes.
Now we're in San Francisco, you arrived last week.
How has your preparation been balancing your tourism and preparing for this event?
So preparation for this one has been kind of hard, just because I had some ideas before
the Seattle community day and that shaped the meta a lot.
So, you know, it has been not the easiest preparation, but I'm feeling confident anyway.
I think my team is out there for this tournament, so I'll keep going and that's it.
We've all noticed that you've got that Milotic again.
You brought Dragon Tail Milotic back at EUIC, where you won.
This time we've gone for waterfall.
What's the decision behind that?
Well, actually I think Milotic is a really good Pokémon on this meta, really safe into
most things.
You can't like heartbeat that shadow canine and also I thought like okay with sick him
I want you a city's gear and I want to ring so why I cannot just play the other MVP in my US Iran
Which was my logic and ring words. I don't know I'll try but you know, it could be a kind of family
You know, I mean it looks like it's doing well already now last year
You came second in the world and since then we're talking third in Frankfurt second at LAIC
second in Birmingham, first to EUIC, second in Seville, fourth in NAIC, and you won of course the last regional of the year in Turin.
How does that feel with all of that momentum coming into the World Championships?
I know you have high expectations, but what's that like for you?
Well, I obviously know this is a different tournament. I start from zero against a lot of good players, actually the best players in the world.
So you can never, like, be all, I'm gonna win
because I got these places on other tournaments.
It's gonna be hard, I know the run on work is never easy,
but I'll try to do my best and that's all.
Now, I know we're probably gonna be speaking to you a lot
this weekend, but are there any early shout-outs
you'd like to give your friends, family,
people that you've prepared with?
Of course, I wanna show my family that is here,
they're like, supporting me, my mother, my father,
my brother, my sister.
Also my friend, Christian, my girlfriend and all people supporting me in this trouble
because I really appreciate that and I want to give you the thing you want to see.
And we cannot wait to see it. We know you have so many fans out there.
Best of luck this weekend. You're off to a great start.
Castus, back to you.
Already early on in this gaming and the duck is already riding high on the waves here.
Pato Man, as we've talked about time and time again,
even though this has just started,
one of the best players right now globally.
I think a lot of eyes are on him,
and I think so far, not a disappointment.
Highly consistent, right?
Especially at the international level.
When the stage is the biggest,
Pato Man rises to the occasion.
And as we saw this season at EUIC,
he actually lost in the third round of the event
and then just said, you know what?
I didn't like that feeling.
I'm just not gonna do that again.
So he won 15 sets straight, not five, not 10, 15 straight to win the championship back to back.
Any crowdsurfed at both EUICs, I mean my goodness, we're gonna have to have like a reserved crowdsurfing zone for him when he competes next year.
There's gonna be a splash zone set specifically there for Path of Man, but he is not the only player in this tournament.
There are so many good players.
And like we said earlier on, we keep mentioning it, but that was just game number one of this entire weekend.
Just game one, just getting started
and our next set of trainers will take the stage shortly,
but I wanna get everyone again engaged in chat.
I know it's a little early, but if you're on the East Coast,
I mean, you've probably had your breakfast by now.
Let us know what you think of the event so far
and which Pokemon you expect to succeed.
Again, I'm a little surprised by the Milotic
and Dondozo picks.
I was like, yeah, there's a fire type against an itel.
But it's got energy ball, don't forget about that.
That's true, but we did see how much
that Dondozo can take.
That is a bulky Pokemon, both of those running surf as it's fast stack to be able to hit back against those fire type Pokemon that we probably will see more and also a little bit better into that Tinketung matchup.
Something I wanted to mention for this world championships is that the pool of available trainers that we're able to qualify, especially from the TPC region, expanded greatly.
So in past years might have seen Yakai from Hong Kong, might have seen other trainers like Crescent Angels from Japan.
And we said, OK, not only a handful of them,
we're actually able to qualify and travel to the World
Championships.
That has been totally changed.
We're going to get a lot of trainers in the TPC region,
which is such a treat, too, because we
don't get to see them compete on live streams outside of maybe
the BJCS.
Absolutely.
I was just going to say the same.
It's one of my favorite parts of the World Championships.
It's getting to see some of the trainers
that we don't get to talk about as often
and be kind of blown away by different play styles
that they have been like.
This is a trainer who I have heard of, that I know that do does well, but to see them actually play on the main stage is absolutely incredible.
And we've seen some of that in Yakai, in Beelzeboy, and in Masterman here, but trainers that we've said that you should be able to watch.
Well, speaking of main stage, let's go ahead and flip it around and look downtown.
This is the venue here for the event this weekend.
Again, the Pokemon XP experience is such a massive, massive organization.
This is just a fragment, a piece, a sliver, if you will, of what's to see here in San Francisco this weekend.
One thing that is very cool, if you are in San Francisco, make sure that you're looking out for that stamp rally.
So, different locations around San Francisco, you can take a stamp and you're going to get the Pikachu, that is the astronaut outfit.
Yeah, well, you know what I like, Amanda, and I'm just going to be honest, I know a lot of our Go Trainers are watching and you probably share the same sentiment,
But I think it's so ironic that a lot of the other games,
maybe they don't get competitive Pokemon Go.
Maybe they think it's just tapping.
They're like, I want to really see the skill expression.
But the ironic part to me is that everybody,
if you're a VG player, United player, TCG player,
even if you're just a fan, they're opening their app.
They're rating these Pikachu's, they're doing the stat rallies
and they're getting involved in competitive Pokemon Go,
at least slightly, right?
Maybe they're right on the doorstep.
I think that, I know that all costumes
are kind of matching the theme of it as well going on.
Definitely space here, but you are looking mighty royal.
Well, I was thinking as well, red version, blue version.
And I did have the silver tie, because that
was the next generation of games after that.
So Amanda, we got to get you a gold tie in order
to keep the theme going.
Perfect.
Yeah, that sounds great.
Production gold also took a gold crown.
Listen, I'm not picky.
I'm not going to be the person that says gold necklace.
Gold crown is also OK.
Can we manifest that here?
I'll actually tell production right now.
maybe a separate gold crowns that okay okay hold on you need a throne as well
yeah my feet are getting tired already but I will say the official verbiage
that we have been told to use is the Pokemon worlds Pikachu and the Pokemon
XP Pikachu with the Cosmog pin that's how you tell the difference yeah exactly
plus know which one is your favorite but everything about this has been
absolutely incredible I loved the little intro video I saw the Umbrians
Just running on the planet, Brion is so cool, it doesn't even need a helmet.
Hey, Aura, well our next set of traders are getting set up here, shortly everybody, we
will get those to you as soon as we can, but until then, you can look at our charming
faces and we'll continue to tell you about the world championships this weekend.
And again, Amanda, I think honestly, once we finish our rotation here and our friends
Butters and Caleb come up. I would kind of want to go see more at this event. Absolutely, too
There's so much going on in the venue outside as well
I saw people there's a little skate park outside. Oh, I I want to see you skateboard and a kid
Can we can we film that? Can we get that on the stream?
Well, I'd also like to see me do that, too
Well, maybe not the skate park if our suits are torn when we come back
You'll know where we were but that being said you all at home are watching and you're getting involved on
Socials let's take a look at some of the posts that you've been throwing up and review
What do you have to say about the world championships?
Go ahead and take a look at the first one there the first drone show which was actually
But staying there said how about the drone show at the Giants game at Oracle Park in San Francisco?
What a way to close out the eve of the
2006 Pokemon World Championships couldn't agree more check out these pictures. This is so cool
You know what when we went to the Pokemon Center yesterday, I did get one of these pluses. I'm just gonna admit
I do have the rocket backpack Chars are plushy, but look at the Pikachu as well
What's this one's name worlds costume Pikachu nailed it and the world championships in case you forgot where you were
This is the biggest event of the year and if you're thinking that hey those look pretty good
You can check them out Friday Saturday and Sunday as well if you are in the area
But guess what we got our next games ready to go
So we're going to hop on down to the stage there to see what we've got cooking.
Let's see, we've got K-Bon versus Deku-Pai.
This is going to be a fascinating matchup because K-Bon is one of those trainers
from Japan that we don't get to see very often.
He is elite in terms of skill.
We see the Hsuian Electro there on the left and your little friend,
Shadow Saber-Eye on the right.
He's wiggling his little hands here.
Also, another thing we kind of want to take note of is those top three Pokémon
that we said were safe picks are actually on both of these trainers teams with that
Licky Licky, that Nine Tails and the Tinker Time.
So we could potentially see some mirror matchup gaming because this is a show six pick three
right you can choose to bring three potentially see those if they think that these are the
safest picks for their team.
And another aspect of preparation for competitive Pokemon Go is knowing your Pokemon stats and
picking specific Pokemon to power up that you think will win those head to head matchups.
So if you do see mirror matches, you will see one of those two taking the slight advantage
as the game goes on.
And that being said, Amanda, what about strangers who's already locked in?
They're still ready to go?
They're ready to go for Pokemon Go.
Another one, taking a little bit more time.
Don't blame them at all, even if you are on this main stage, which you're maybe not on
so often.
It takes a little bit of pressure.
You want to take a moment to pause and think, what can I do to be able to get myself at
least game number one because that puts you in a very advantageous position.
Looking at this matchup for Kaepon, I like the Meroac a lot. You have multiple
targets like the Shadowcatcher 9 tails, like the Ticketun, and you're neutral
into Licky Licky and the opposing Shadow Saberlight. You do have to watch out
for of course the Corbinite, but you've got Rockside for that. I think the worst
matchup's gotta be that Waterfall Miloade. We'll have to see if it will come into play.
looks like it can do pretty good. We saw it last game with half a man against DHC United. Will we see
Niko Pei take it now again against Kaibon because it looks like both of these trainers are getting
ready to get locked in. And we have locked ins on both sides. Sorry everybody this is
winners round two group G Kaibon taking on Deku Pi. Going ahead start off this game with that
shadow my loaded up against the man team not the matchup that you're really looking for if you're
and decoupage position, but still going ahead, maybe going to go for that wrap and lower the attack of that Mantine.
You see it's both of these trainers staying in it here going for twister number one.
I'm telling you man, if we learn this at NAIC, even when water type Pokemon are not the focus of the meta,
somehow they rise to the top of it and starting off with a water versus water matchup is Pokemon Go in its prime.
Going for the wrap gear, decoupage fighting back.
Going ahead, not using a protect shield on the first one.
definitely a good play because the next one would be a knockout here and now in
comes Licky Licky to be met with that Hussain Electro number 8 on the top 12
usage here throwing a body slam no protect shield used by K-Bon. First body
slam connecting into Hussain Electro again with that energy ball and wild
charge tool kit a lot of trainers will wait to throw their charge attacks until
late in the matchup or they go for a cheeky energy ball this can possibly
trigger a defense drop. Going ahead getting all the bubbles there no
shield used by Decapite either takes it down to a little bit after half health and an immediate
pivot here going for another body slam and it looks like Kebon is going to shield this one up
because a lot of energy doesn't want to lose on this electro. Yeah I do like this play quite a bit.
I think this Pokemon is just outside of body slam range. Throwing after two rollouts ensuring this
damage will connect. Kebon lets this charge attack go but he's got to be careful to not get barmed
down by something that swaps in thrown ahead now to loaded here going for energy
ball this is a great play by k-bomb because and the next Pokemon coming in
you can choose a throw energy ball or that heavy hitting wild Georgia whatever
comes in immediate throw before that waterfall goes through gets protect shield
for sure from Deku paya I think when you look at the rest of the team
competition there k-bomb had no fear just blind wild charge yellow send it
full does get a protection away from my loaded now he's got a decision to make
comes back in with the man team doesn't want to reveal his third Pokemon.
You saw that he's trying to swap out the catchers on something else.
Wasn't able to do so.
Putting up the protection here because Nantan is starting to be a little bit of a menace.
Here is Amanda's favorite Pokemon and typically this matchup with Lean,
looking at his direction just due to its poke and being able to double resist the shadow claws.
But this is a drain punch save all I used to buy going for the foul play though.
Drain punch is a attack that boosts your own defense.
And with a shadow ball potentially coming through,
you would maybe think that that would have been the first one
that the decouplier threw.
However, he went for the heavier hitting foul play.
And this shadow ball will connect with that save line,
knocking it down fairly low before the next one going
through, going straight for foul plays here.
Decouplier hoping and getting his hope here
that he's not going to be able to shield.
And again, those shadow balls being double resisted
are not going to make much of an impact.
Licky Licky comfortably pushes for another shadow ball. No fear there.
But Deku-Pi might see a farm down opportunity.
I think that K-Von needs to make the swap out immediately in order to avoid that.
Switch timers are up. See that man thing coming immediately back.
And going for that twister should be enough at this stage because there's no protect shields remaining.
And this Malota goes down.
And completed some research to boot, right?
BQ5 was unable to topple the Mantine, and we started off that Water vs. Water matchup in the lead.
We got it again towards the end, and honestly, the analogy I was thinking of was swimming against the tide.
When you have a Mi-Rodic with Waterfall against the bulky, beefy Mantine, it can feel almost impossible to push up against it.
Mantine was another Pokemon that really benefited from the move update,
But with so many Pokemon that are electric taking the field,
it's sometimes a bit of a risky pick.
It was not surprised to see it in such high usage.
But I now, after seeing the K-Bond play it,
yeah, I'm definitely not surprised at all.
No, and I really love that you mentioned that,
because the Electric-type Pokemon are the things to fear.
No Electric coverage at all on Decapai's team,
which makes that Pokemon very safe.
So again, in the show six pick three format,
it's so different from the Go Battle League,
where you just lock in a sturdy team of three
In this format, you can pick and choose based on what your opponent has at their disposal,
and this will change your approach from round to round.
Definitely. That's why Show 6 Pick 3 is so interesting, right?
It can change from matchup to matchup as you see your opponent's team
maybe recognizing not necessarily weaknesses, but how you want to play around
wouldn't surprise me if we see that man team more and more
throughout this recognizing how safe it is against Decoupai's team,
maybe in that safe swap position.
Exactly right. Well, DeCoupay, speaking of that trainer,
best finish this season was fourth at the Santiago event,
or excuse me, third at the Santiago event,
and that couple of other strong performances
netted him the championship points
to come and compete here this weekend in San Francisco.
Let's get into game number two, Amanda.
This could be an elimination game
where K-Bon is able to knock DeCoupay down
to that loser side bracket.
Oh, going ahead and seeing a very, very exciting matchup
as we see the licky licky space off against each other.
Number one, Pokemon here, up.
Both of them charging up a little bit of extra energy
and actually might get to see who wins
charge attack priority here as the first body spam
goes through no potential views on D2Py side.
You said number one and the number one rule came to my mind,
do not throw shadow ball in this matchup trainers.
It is double resistant, it'll get you nowhere.
We're gonna see body spam spam back and forth
and valuable information on a charge attack priority tie
as these trainers feel their way through this matchup.
And welcome to the slam as both of them go once again
for charge attack priority.
That is some valuable information
to take away in this game.
Knowing that the licky, licky on this side of K-Bon
is a little bit higher attack,
could also mean that it may be not as bulky
and perhaps can survive as well these attacks.
That's a really good point because it will come down
to the slimmest of margins here.
These Pokemon keep an even pace as the matchup wears on.
Neither trainer willing to swap out.
That tells you a lot as well.
Maybe they don't want to take that
Likiliki energy anywhere else,
or maybe they don't think they're confident
they can farm down if they do make a swap.
Going ahead now, throwing a body slam.
Looks like it's still out of body slam rage.
K-Bon knows it as well,
and it looks like he's ready to press and go ahead
and throw at the charge attack priority.
Third one already in the starting part of the matchup here.
No protection abused by Jekyll Pysad,
and it looks like it will go down,
and K-Bon gets to dictate the switch.
Exactly, call it the calm before the storm.
the shadow kids are nine tails to amber advantage, but it's met by the man team and that is the value of
Controlling switch advantage. Kaibam is able to respond here with his water flying to Pokemon and avoids the catch
But he swaps Marowak into Corviknight. This is not ideal. This isn't maybe
Just a quick you swap I swap there
He isn't an advantageous position with that man time against the nine tails and knows it doesn't want to take an energy ball on
on the Marowak, but Marowak's fast attacks
and one of his charge attacks just do negligible damage
to that Fortnite has to throw this rock slide here.
No protect shield once again by Deku-Pai.
Yeah, I like this play a lot.
You know, you can absorb the first rock slide
and you're not at risk of being mudslap down,
not here and not probably in two minutes or now.
So it's safe to allow that charge stack through,
but the second one, you might need to respect.
Getting mighty, mighty closer.
Still two protect shields used on Deku-Pai's side.
Still not shielding it up, saying,
not going to do it. Look how much energy now is on that
Corbinite. The very little help doesn't want to get any more
farm to that man team here now throwing first air cutter. Air
cutter has a potential to bulk the attack of the Corbinite.
We'll have to see if he gets it. He does get it right there
throwing immediately with just a sliver of health left.
Laser precision there. A single sand attack into the air
cutter. Anulifying that much slack damage and still getting
the torch tacked through incomes of man team. Oh, swaps
Wubs throws a weather ball.
This is a hate.
And a risky one at that.
A risky one.
Nineteen thousand.
Not taken.
K-Bon looking in there, strong and silencing.
No way.
Even if it was an energy ball, I can take the first.
Going for the twister, a little bit of a bait of his own,
although this will still do a decent amount of damage
should it go unshielded.
Yeah, I mean, let's be honest.
Given the shield scenario here,
D-Coupa needs to pull a bundle B out of a hat
in order to flip this and that.
And that weather ball bait was a great idea,
but K-Bon saw it coming.
energy ball does not get the defense drop either, which means he's fancy and still a full strength.
Yeah, as a reminder, still two shields left on K-Bond's side, uh,
did prepare, used his first one there, used his second one now on a second twister,
as that 9-tels just continues to go up for more energy, going for another
weather ball, forcing that first shield off of K-Bond's side, uh, still in a very advantageous
position, but the switch timer is up and he needs to be wary of a potential catch.
No, you're exactly right. Corbinite comes out of its roost and right back into it.
Decoupon unable to secure the swap on charge tag priority weather ball is the last shot from the cancer nine tails
But k-bond has the water pulse ready doing everything
He could they're recognizing his own wind condition
But so did k-bond and k-bond is able to take that shield go for toward the tech hurting even though he lost it
Guarantees that this will now connect with the nine tails down it goes taking another to oh sweep
Our trainer who finished third place in Santiago does fall to that loser side bracket here at the world champ
and K-Bond looks out to the crowd cheering as he advances to Winners Round 3.
Bunks his fist there as he's in an advantageous position being on that
Winners side of the bracket. Also when you're not used to playing as often on
the main stage is an absolutely incredible feat for him. He looked at it through that
whole thing he was just so locked in so concentrated knew exactly what he wanted
to do. He got the Pokemon that he wanted on his opponents and he just didn't let
foot off the gas. We know Japan is a very special region and my goodness the
composure there on stage absolutely unfazed by whatever his opponent tries to
do. I expect all of our Japanese trainers to be equally as disciplined and firm
in their approach. Again it all started in this battle number two winning the
lead situation here K-pop with a slightly more attack-weighted Licky. Licky gave
him the advantage he needed. Here we have to really think about this too because if
If it was the other way around, in Decomprise,
Lippy Licky ended up winning that charge attack priority,
he might have been able to dictate the switch advantage,
and that could have potentially changed this whole game.
Correct, and in some games, that's what you want.
In other games, switch advantage does not matter as much.
It all comes down to knowing your team
and knowing what situation you're actually in.
A lot of trainers will play,
and it will be called ABC team,
where you have your ABC core,
and then a C swap to kind of game that alignment back.
some trainers though will play an ABB or even an ABA.
I don't want to get these weather balls through.
Trying to just do a little bit of damage.
This was the potential win condition
if you would have been able to catch an attack there.
I'm just able to do so.
And now taking down here by K-Bon,
a really good player from the pack.
Well done by K-Bon.
He advances to winners around three,
but his opponent's not out of it yet.
Does fall down to that loser side bracket.
Again, unlike the other titles here this weekend,
we are a double elimination format.
these trainers can only afford to take two losses before their world championship dreams are dashed.
And tell you what, I mean like we talked about Patelman earlier on, he dropped down quite early
at an international championship. We've had people win regionals dropping down the very first round
to that bracket. So even though they're down, don't count them out, you can go ahead and pay
attention to all the trainers who are still in the tournament as this is early days. But on Saturday
the field is going to get a little bit narrower and on Sunday there will only be two.
Switch mods forgive me if I'm wrong but I think you can type exclamation bracket and you can take a look.
So if I'm wrong just I apologize in advance but yeah definitely take a look there at the bracket
follow along with the trainers that you want to see compete and speaking of competitors we do
have Fareed on stage for a quick interview take it away.
Thanks very much, Speedy and Amanda. We are joined by Kebon, who's just won his first
match of the World Championships. How are you feeling?
Yeah, I'm very excited. Yeah, I'm very excited now. Just a little bit nervous for just the
first game, but to tell you, I'm really, yeah, excited now, yeah.
last year you came in the top 24 you qualified this year by coming top 24 in
the Japan Championship Series how are you feeling for this weekend?
I'm a little bit nervous because I went to second last time so I couldn't yeah I
couldn't have lost here. Now last year you got knocked out by Yakai that must
have obviously been a huge match for you are there any players that you've been
looking at this year that you'd like to play against or like to avoid?
Avoid? Yeah, direct avoid. Especially on day one. Yeah, day two, yeah, I'm gonna pick him, if I, if I, yeah.
You well felt great. I'm glad to hear it.
Yeah, thank you.
Obviously, you've got to a good start here. What's it like for you playing here on stage?
I know there's a little bit more pressure, but it must feel pretty good to win.
I actually, so I'm not really nervous here, just easy, easy, taking easy, taking easy.
And I said to myself, and just play.
Yeah, I mean, you're doing really, really well so far, and you know, you were in Anaheim
last year, now you're in San Francisco, did you have some time before today to settle
down, to prepare, to enjoy the atmosphere?
Yes, I practice every day with my teammates and they are very strong, so it was good practice.
Perfect. You mentioned a teammate. Are there any shoutouts that you'd like to give?
Yes.
Please go ahead. Do you have any shoutouts to your friends and family?
Yeah, I do. Thank you for me and friends, family, me, everybody.
I'm going to go to day two, so cheer me up. Please.
I can't wait to see how far you get best of luck. Thank you very much and congratulations again. Thank you cast us back to you
The confidence on K bond you absolutely love to see it
He said you'll see me day two
He's not frazzled at all playing on stream and that's really showing with that great to oh start for him
Advancing on into winners around three. It sounds so cliche, but honestly everyone confidence is key
I won't reveal which trainer it was, but I was having a conversation earlier this week.
They were already planning their speech for Sunday when they win the whole thing.
Again, you have as much as you can handle in front of you when you get your opponent.
You don't need to be fighting yourself internally as well.
Carry that confidence into each match and I'm very, very confident our trainers will be successful.
I think that that is something that a lot of people can take away because we saw DHC United
play earlier on. We mentioned that he was like a relatively new trainer to the scene.
Maybe he didn't have as much experience.
He probably had even less experience on the stream.
It's true.
But both of these trainers just really competing and playing really well.
And these are two other trainers who I definitely think have never had a chance
to play against each other before.
We have Boom 20 from Belgium playing up against an existing monkey from North America.
A lot of our European trainers are very familiar with Boom,
a trainer with an absolutely elite record.
I think his worst finish in his career is like seventh place.
I think it was nice, but you surround that area.
He's top cut every single competition that he has played in.
He really made some waves last year when he entered his very first tournament
and became the regional champion at that time.
This is his first World's competition, though.
And we all know things can get a little bit shaky.
I know a lot of facts about Boon, because I also am living in Belgium.
One fun one that I think is now continuing on is that he has played more games on stream
then he has played at the tables and now look at him.
It's already just winners round three
and we're seeing him once again on screen.
Quite the resume for our European trainer on the left,
but existing monkey has also been consistent this season.
I believe the best finish,
which actually ninth place in Seattle,
and he did it with Gus Lord,
Chargerbug, Jellison,
Togic, his shadow, Kintomarowak,
and in Polion, as you can see,
his World Championship team
is definitely different from that.
He did opt for his Suin Electrode Pokémon that I think is going to be very successful this weekend.
And it's got plenty of targets. I'm looking at Booms of Zoomerall.
It's got to be pretty scared over there on the left side of the screen, right?
Quags are normally doing quite well against electric type Pokémon, but I tell you what,
going ahead and getting an energy ball from a Suin Electrode is not something that it wants to do.
existing monkey is a trainer that he has been doing fairly well obviously was able to qualify for
worlds but neither one of these trainers have had a lot of experience I think on this big main
stage. I agree I think this is still a new experience even though they do have some very
significant accolades under their belt already but this is the peak right this is the last event
of the season and the crown is on the line so let's take a deeper dive into these teams.
Flourages for existing monkey is a fairy type Pokemon that we do not talk about very much. We've seen so many take a ton
Take a ton will be the fairy star of the weekend. Don't get me wrong
But this floor just has options this one for existing monkey is running fairy wind with chilling water and disarming voice
There's no trailblaze on this floor just but it can still be very powerful
And in one matchup in particular that I'm seeing is that disarming voice versus Malamar is going to wreck that dark type Pokemon
Looks like both of these trainers are getting ready to lock in. We'll have to see what they want to bring for game number one here in
Where's round two group B? We have that shadow camp to Ninetales up against the Hussuin Electrode. A part grass type Pokemon
We'll see what the existing monkey wants to do the immediate pivot into that safe swap of Licky Licky
Just sticking his tongue out already had a body slam, but doesn't want to throw it quite yet
Yeah, you see a Ninetales on the other side. Electrode better bail out fast. Licky Licky is happy to absorb this damage for its teammate
The other ball does connect at
Licky Licky like you said with the
shadow ball but the chip and diff
strat boom comes in with quack
sire coming in now going for the
heavier hitting shadow ball.
But this quack sire is nice and
healthy at this point.
Another thing to point out is a lot
of people opt for that shadow
version of the nine tails.
Also a lot of shadow quack sorry.
This one is a regular quack
sire here throwing the first
aquatail at a fairly low level.
You know protect shield from
existing monkey.
I like to be no shield here,
but there's two aquatails loaded
and boom is so good at playing safe
and recognizing what his opponent is likely to do.
He says, if I throw the stone edge and it fails,
I'm gonna lose this matchup for sure.
So double off, double off the tail is the safer play.
And so getting a shield on that
because look how much energy is on that licky licky
going for a shadow ball, one rollout away from another one.
No protect shield views on boom side.
He saw that electrode, he says, okay, you know,
I know that some heavy hitting damage,
wanna make sure to just be able to get
as much damage off as possible.
Letting this quacksire do its work,
getting it nice and low and now letting it go down.
And by doing that boom gives up control of switch advantage which means he's not going to have that nine tails into a lecture matchup any longer and he's got to be a bit more careful about which Pokemon he decides to bring out.
Yeah, he's up a shield but he is going to have to come back in and maybe potentially lose a shield. No, a complete.
And we're down. This is huge for Boon there because there's a lot of energy back on this nine tails and even though there's an Empoli on any of the fast attacks aren't doing much at all.
It's only going to be the Charger attacks making waves.
This is not water falling.
Polion everyone.
This is metal sound and that is not going to make a big impact into the cancer.
And I says, as you pointed out, weather ball number one connects number two is being held
because because this impoleon will win the charge type priority tie if these trainers
throw an alignment and know who knows that as well.
Going for a little extra energy and now at two weather balls here, throwing the first
moon before a next hydro cannon is even available.
This one has one protection doesn't want to use it on his employee on here, but there's
still another weather ball ready when this electrode comes back in. This is
wildly uncomfortable because the nine tails is closing in the backpack
weather balls in this matchup as well. And it's gonna outpace before existing
monkey can even get to his first wild charge going ahead, recognizing maybe
the writing on the wall at this point, maybe not even going to throw an attack
taking the information of game number one here and taking it for game number
two existing monkey goes down. Boom takes game number one clean, efficient,
calculated experience beyond his years.
That's what we come to expect from boom 20
and he is displaying that early on in San Francisco.
This is only winners round two
and he's off to a one zero start.
Soon Electro was something that we originally called out
earlier on as a risky pick,
but ends up being quite safe into this world's meta
in that top eight spot of day one usage.
This Licky Licky gets that Wagsire out of the way,
but I think that's exactly what Boom wants
Recognizing the strong position of having an extra shield and energy on a nine tails versus the whole team there of existing monkey
And I mean perfect coverage right you've got the energy ball for the Encholion and the weather ball has neutral
And you've got the weather ball fire for the Electra so the nine tails wrapped up this game with a bow
But I want to talk to you about series progression and if you're existing monkey
Maybe you do believe in your Hussain Electra
Maybe you do think that Pokemon can't help you in this matchup
But in game one, after you lead it into a nine tails,
doesn't that kind of dissuade you from leading it again?
I don't know.
Maybe it's one of those things where, you know,
it's a game in everyone's mind as well.
Well, my opponent led this game one.
So there's no way he would do it again
because he thinks that I would change it out.
So we'll have to see.
Again, this is a best of three matchup
on the winner's side of the bracket.
So still a lot to play for,
even though he is down one game.
It's always fascinating to see what these trainers do
in terms of adjustments
because they gain a lot of information
from the approach from the energy management from the Pokemon selected and that helps them to inform what they're going to do in game number two as the series goes on I think the
cantonine tails is a must bring for boom no matter what so if you're existing monkey you can anticipate that Pokemon you just don't know in what position
well obviously it made it one of those hiding shell games there find the nine tails if existing monkey can do so might put him in an advantageous position as we hop into winners round
to game number two the way we ended game number one we start game number two
and pulling on into that canto nine tails and think the longer this matchup
goes on the better it gets for the nine tails because the pacing adds up only
four embers to the weather ball versus five metal sands of the hydro cannon
going ahead using that first protect shield because definitely doesn't want
to take a hydro cannon there and actually opting for the energy ball heavy
hitting and doesn't use a shield on the side of existing monkey we can see how
much damage this does knocks it down to the low red there and already another
weather ball going straight for it here nine tails is literally on fire at risk
of being cringe it's blazing fast up here with the shadow gates and high tails
stealing away that first protection from existing monkey and no swap out from
either trainer yet another charge that coming through and boom invests while
going ahead using both protect shields very early on in the matchup there but
you might be able to completely farm down should existing monkey not want to
out. That's exactly what happens. A lot of energy and now Ninjutsu doesn't have shields,
but it has so much energy as this Mantine comes in.
And I think if you're a broom, you just leave this Pokemon in, right? You go ahead and fire
off the double energy balls, take a shield, chip down the Mantine, and then probably come
in with Licky Licky as the safe bet. Let's see if that's what he decides to do.
Hoping maybe for an energy drop. No, immediately pivoting out into that Licky Licky. We see
it so often as a safe swap, but Mantine can really get back at this Pokemon, especially
when there has been a little bit of energy already loaded on it, this waterfalls will connect with
that Licky Licky and now pivoting into the Floridus. And this is the benefit of that force swap
because now Boom is able to lure out the Fairy-type Pokemon. As you look at the back line, Boom has a
Malamar and we talked about the disarming voice being a huge threat to his Dark-type Pokemon.
Now he doesn't have to fear it because he sees it here on the field. Going ahead,
throwing this first chilling water, what this attack does is going to lower the attack
of your opponent there.
So this Licky, Licky,
but if it throws body slams
or if it throws shadow balls
is not going to be doing
as much damage as before.
Even still, Licky, Licky
is starting to still put in work
going for yet another body slam.
Yeah, it's slow and easy,
but it does add up over time.
Body slam connects.
Another one is ready to go as well.
Floor just will be able to endure,
but it's going to be super close.
Existing monkey only one
protection left.
The sights to forego the shield here
and take the damage.
Go ahead, taking and swapping
back into the mansion.
So he's got an attack safe on that fortress, which is dangerous.
Now you see Boon coming in with saying, OK, well, disarming voice is not something that
this Malamar wants to face.
Malamar scy-waving through that man team is going to take a water pulse for its trouble.
And I think after the wing attacks, the twister is still not enough.
So the double water pulse is the play that the foul play does come through first.
What does existing monkey do?
Keep in mind he's got a shield.
He just uses his last shield here on that next foul play, just getting a ton of energy
on this mountain, throwing now into that Malamore.
Still an attack safe up on the floor.
There's still some help left on Boone's nine tails.
We have to see how these two trainers want to play out here
as this nine tails immediately comes into knockout
that man team.
Boone's awareness of the switch timer
is off the charts here.
He knew that Existing Monkey was going
to be able to reach for that floor just in just another moment.
So he throws that nine tails onto the field,
fires a weather ball, but he's going
to take the chilly water here.
This is going to do a lot of damage.
Going ahead, no protect shields left on either side.
very small sliver of help up on his gorgeous as his licky licky comes back in it's got an attack
load it doesn't even need it rolls out down all we've seen so far on stream is 2-0 sweeping boom
rolls forward to winners round three with a victory over existing monkey what a talented
trainer again plays so experienced is so dialed in all the time you wouldn't believe that he's
he's only competed at just a handful of events.
Every single time Boom plays,
I think other trainers are starting to turn and take notice.
He's a trainer who's been playing
a lot of grassroots tournaments.
And I think that's where he got his, you know,
a little bit, everyone knew who he was
before he entered his first tournament.
And now everyone gets to see him
on the main stage here in San Francisco.
Absolutely incredible plays.
He's someone truly some of the best energy management
and aggressive plays that you will see
throughout the time.
He knows exactly what he wants to do.
He's not afraid to take risks.
He's not afraid to go down two shields
at the beginning of a matchup
and still come out on top.
I really appreciate how decisive Boone can be.
He's not wishy-washy.
When he knows a Pokemon is key,
he's not worried about double investing.
To your point, Amanda,
he recognizes the win conditions
and he seizes them, does not linger.
I did such a critical skill in competitive Pokemon Go
because if you try to split the difference
between two or three different strategies,
Eventually you find out you can't succeed in any of them and the best trainers are able to find those win conditions early on and follow them through to the end.
You tell you what, you know, for a while it kind of looked like it could have been in existing Monkeys Court.
He swapped out with very low energy on that floor just but an attack saving. When there's no protect shields left, either one of those was enough to knock out.
Boom, stayed calm, kept a body slam on his licky-licky before he swapped out here and now he's able to bend.
Turns out he doesn't even need it to take that game number three.
It was so, so close.
It made me a little nervous, right?
I was like, I was like, are you going to throw the body set?
I mean, if you just throw the body set and the game's over,
you can do the rollout.
It's a little cooler, but if you just throw the body set.
OK, rollout did it.
OK, there's no reason to be scared.
Manti almost stole away that win with the wing attacks.
He ended up fast attacking down two of the Pokemon
in that game number two.
I know that we've been talking quite a bit about him,
but I want to hear from the man himself.
We got freed with an interview with Boom20.
Here he is, it's Boom20 and a lot of us weren't expecting to see you here this weekend, but you've shown up, talk us through what happened.
So, originally I thought that couldn't come because of exams, but the schedule, I got very lucky with the schedule and I got a big break in between the exams which allowed me to be here in San Francisco and I'm enjoying every single second of it.
Very lucky for you, very unlucky for everyone else.
Lots of people here believe that you are head and shoulders
above the competition, not just because of your height.
But how did it feel getting your first ever victory
here at the World Championships?
Well, it feels great.
Came especially this morning, woke up at 6 o'clock
and lots of nerves.
This first match really helps
and I hope I can keep this momentum going.
Now, if we looked at your record,
you've only played five events before this.
And in those, you've got top eight every single time.
One of them was at gold.
Two of them were silvers. How does it feel going in with the expectations now at the World Championships?
Well, I'm mainly happy to just be able to go, right? Especially since I was not expecting to be here.
So as long as I don't make a fool of myself, I don't play terrible, I'll go home happy.
Now you've got some interesting picks. You're not going for full meta. This time you've got something spicy that we saw,
especially the Malamar right at the very end. Do you want to talk us through that choice?
Well, originally I had the ensuing electrode in the Malmar spot, but yesterday, me and David,
we both teamed together.
We were discussing about some potential issues with it and we changed it last minute, which
actually was very scary because the electrode would have come in real handy in this matchup,
but the Malmar just provides a lot of flexibility, a lot of coverage across the meta.
It doesn't have a lot of hard counters and that's the type of game I like to play.
Amazing.
David any shoutouts you'd like to say for any players that you prepared with for this weekend?
Yeah mainly I've mainly prepared with David but I just want to shout out everyone that's watching
at home my family I would say hi I wasn't expecting to be on stream this quick. And it must have been
a little bit of pressure some nerves there you were saying before this match are you a little bit
more calm now to get that victory under your belt? Yes definitely I'm ready to take on the next
opponent and we'll see how the day goes. I cannot wait to see how far you go boom congratulations
again. Great performance there.
Castors, we're going to go to a segment where we can watch Marta Galday at the Latin America
International Championships.
I started in complete Pokemon in 2018 when PBB was first introduced.
I started playing with my friend and then some Grassroots tournaments.
So my starter Pokemon is Grookey, even though I haven't played the Galar games.
Reminds me of myself of it, so I just love it.
My earliest memory was when I went to a tournament just to get a Meltdown box, and my friends
convinced me to play the tournament, and after that it was just emotion and getting excited
for battles.
I couldn't stop.
I think I've learned to be composed, I think I have a lot of experience in the stage, so
that generally is an advantage against my opponents.
Going to the rent, I had a team that I felt kind of comfortable with.
It has some holes and some weaknesses,
but me knowing those weaknesses made the opponents seem more predictable.
I think that was the most important key aspect.
The thing I want to improve the most right now is to predict.
What my opponent is running and what should I do?
Because sometimes you need to bait out something
or you need to play a certain strategy
and I feel like I could improve that.
Due to the magnitude of the tournament being international, the finals had a bit more pressure.
I started getting nervous and played a bit less confident than I currently do.
Every year I think it's harder to win in Pokemon Go.
Everyone is improving so the competition is getting more fierce and that's why I feel
like I have less chances to win.
This finals was pretty rough and I thought I was going to lose at the end.
My summer will survive that with very low HP.
At the end it was crazy.
It looks like I still have it.
It's Mordo has just reached a Superal status.
He might be the greatest of all time.
In the world, I never expected to win it.
It feels surreal.
This win is very important because I sometimes don't myself,
so this helps me a lot.
It has been a crazy season.
It doesn't make sense.
This is the third time I have qualified to world this season,
and I think we're only like two months in.
When I qualified to the Grand Finals,
I started crying and I threw myself into the floor, and it's a moment I will never forget.
I think the most epic finalist to face in Worlds would be Jekai.
Jekai sent me to the Losers bracket right at the end of Worlds.
I think I kind of choked in the last game. I could have won that game, and I'm still a bit sad about that.
That would be epic to have their revenge.
Worlds is always very fun and very fierce, and also I want to go to Disney.
He is the national champion!
My name is Elam Rojas, and I am from Costa Rica, but I live in Florida.
Elam, a tenured veteran, two-time regional champion.
These are the battles that make or break your destiny.
If I had to pick a starter Pokemon, I would probably say Pit Love.
very cute and then it becomes pretty strong looking. When I was playing
Pokemon Go in Colombia, I had like a group of friends that I used to hang out
with and I would hear them talk about self tournaments at the time. The very
first time that I played a tournament that had a price it was I think $250
for first place. That was like the biggest thing for me at the time. I was
like playing in my room and then I went running to tell my brother I was like
I just won this tournament. It showed me that I had the skill and at the same
time was having a lot of fun. The Go Battle League got introduced into the
game. At the time there was a kilometer requirement to unlock your sets. I just
didn't want to walk the whole way so I only get to play for like three sets
per day, play Pokemon started and I just I just love it. Something that I've learned through
competing is that the way you carry yourself, the way you handle yourself in moments of stress
are going to heavily affect the way things happen, your life goes and that kind of stuff.
Even just being on stage it could be very stressful but if you do your best to calm yourself down,
you're going to be putting in your best version of yourself.
The very first match that I had streamed on day one, I was very shaky.
I was doing a lot of mistakes.
But throughout day two, I felt way more comfortable.
And towards the end, like the grand finals, I feel like I was probably as comfortable as I felt in a while.
because I knew at the end of the day it's a long series. I have to call lines. I have to
stay resilient. I have to make the right decisions. So it was just much more consistent and up to the
level that I want to display. It's always a good time playing Doombook. I believe this
four is like four, two maybe. He recently beat me in Toronto, but I'm happy that I was able to
beat him today, not only once, but twice.
But Fortress shakes it off.
Dunbug falls.
It looks like Elam is going to be your Houston regional champion.
The very first season where I qualified for Worlds,
it was 2023 season.
I think I got a second place in Baltimore
and then a second place in Hartford.
It was Worlds in the Oklahoma.
It was the dream trip for me.
But I wasn't able to make it because of ESA issues.
I was like preparing the whole time,
and then it was like pretty heartbreaking news
if I could have made it.
So because of that, I took like a long break.
But at the end of the day, stuff happens.
And with my level and my consistency,
I knew that I would be able to qualify again
and to show the world what I've made up.
I'm going to win worlds this year.
getting that final achievement would solidify me as I mean I don't want to say it like this but as one of the codes.
Welcome back to the 2026 Pokemon World Championship where one of these trainers will become one of those
because we are celebrating 30 years of Pokemon,
10 years of Pokemon Go.
We have over 300 of the best trainers
on the planet competing here
to become your Pokemon Go World Champion.
I am 2-0 Butters, joined by Caleb Payne.
And what a weekend we have coming up here.
Not only is it the 30th for Pokemon
and 10-year anniversary of Pokemon Go,
it's also the fifth year for Pokemon Go
in the official championship series circuit.
And we've had, what, five World Champions
to be Clued, Emmie Weedow from that senior submission the first year. We're going to crown a six, but it could be the year where we have a repeat champion too.
It's no doubt the pinnacle of Pokemon Go PvP right now and it has started off strong. Of course, Pottleman, he is probably the favorite to win it all here.
Of course, any of these 300 trainers could do it. That's how talented they all are.
But a trainer that made, I believe,
six-street championship Sundays
is a back-to-back international champion,
started out 2-0, just as some other top trainers
like Boom and K-Bone started 2-0 as well.
That's right, and Boom is a player
that you definitely keep your eyes on in the back.
We just saw him play on stage,
has only attended four tournaments ever,
only in EU, first place, second place,
third place, and a ninth place,
incredibly high efficiency and effectiveness
in his matches.
And you know, our EU players are looking very strong,
but we got players from all around the world here.
And for the past two years,
our world champions have been from APEC.
Well, we got our next two trainers
that you might be familiar with,
because train trainers that have some reps,
let's get on over to stage.
We got EU, Mero versus Taun, Taun,
Batus on stage for you right now.
And Taun, Taun, Batus, the Spice Master himself.
Let's see what he's running.
He's running a pow down and a shadow high dragon.
was one of the keys to his success in his regional win this year and the EO Merrill is running also kind of a spicy team too.
He likes to really mix up the movesets quite a bit.
I believe that is indeed a Galarian Corsa, not the non Galarian Corsa.
Let's just keep that in mind, but does have pretty standard movesets all the way throughout.
It is going to be mudbomb and octal tail on the shadow quags that are not stone edge, which for this matchup, it could be pretty bad if he gets it into the man team.
into the manatee. And how about the opposing in another dark dragon as well?
You have the Guzzlord on Eomero's side, a Pokemon that you wouldn't really expect
to see in a heavy Tinketon meta. You saw Tinketon, I believe,
with either number two or three in usage right now. Of course, the meta is dominated
by Licky Licky, Tinketon, and Shadow Kanto Ninetales in particular.
Those are the Pokemon to target. So how does Guzzlord do that?
Guzzlord does really well, of course, into that Shadow Kanto Ninetales.
going to be able to soak up all of its energy, not very effectively.
So I feel like that could be a really nice threat into this heavy Shadow
Kanto Ninetales meta.
A lot of trainers have gone for the waterfall users, the water types,
but it's interesting that these two trainers vote for that dragon type
that we really haven't seen much of at all.
Yeah.
The Dark Dragon has really great typing, especially helping neutralize
Kanto Ninetales, which is pretty prominent within this meta alone.
But Glareon Corsot has made a resurgence in this meta, one of the safest and strongest and bulkiest Ghost types.
And that is also going to be a great neutralizing factor with that Dark Dragon.
And I was just double checking to make sure that there wasn't a Flash Cannon actually on that Shadow High Dragon.
Because that can actually do some neutral damage into the Ticket Tonne.
And remember that is better since the last update as well.
But I know it is going to be the Fly and the Bird of Swing.
And then a late Riser in the meta right now, a Pokemon that can do pretty well against that Shadow Canto Ninetales as well.
is that Shadow Quagsire that is on Eomero's side.
Of course, Tauntaun does have that night's out,
so can he target it?
He has two really good bench press for Pokemon.
Let's get this battle started.
It is gonna be the Tinketon versus the Mantine.
It's kind of a pokey matchup, but it's very neutral.
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, Type Advantage would go over to the Mantine,
as he's gonna resist all the charge attacks from Tinketaun,
but that Tinketaun hammer hits so hard,
even when resisted, as you're gonna see it coming through
against the Mantine Tauntaun,
not gonna throw up the first shield.
And it's going to be not very effective, but like you said, it does nearly half up the health.
I mean, not exactly.
Probably about 40% of the health plus that very wind damage.
It just does so much even when it's resisted.
It is such a strong community-date attack.
And both these trainers are just going to play it out.
Soft losing this matchup going to be the end of the world.
You do have coverage in the back.
And if you're taunt on, you know you have that shadow of Hydraegon in the back.
And you see Ticaton in the lead.
That is literally best case scenario for your wild card pick.
It is going to be able to go off in the back line.
Exactly.
And Tom's on just going to save the shields,
likely pull the high dragon because it is so frail.
Going to let this go.
And Eomero charging up as much and just possibly
far throwing this final kickdown hammer.
Not actually going to be enough.
And the twister is going to be thrown.
This is triple resistant twister.
But it might be enough to kill this thing.
Let's see.
And it endured the tickets on both sides
to get the very one down and to get a crucial bulldoze.
And has a 50-50 chance of coin flip right here
to get the debuff as well.
really get the debuff into this hill battle,
but it's all gonna be about that shadow
Hydraigon in the back.
No, did not get that debuff.
You're probably gonna see,
actually does come in with the Kraizar.
This is good, actually.
The Mantine has a twister in the back
for that shadow Hydraigon as well.
That would be super effective.
And he has to let this go.
He has to save the shields for the Hydraigon.
I'd like this play from Tauntaun,
knowing that he needs shields for the Hydraigon,
even in a more positive matchup.
But there are really,
extremely positive matchups in Hydraigon.
Just very neutral ones.
And the Mantine does have the super fight to the twister,
So saving the shields for that can be huge.
You're not gonna protect shields against the Earth Power.
That's a lot of damage mitigated.
This bomb can be absolutely huge,
but no taunts against the second Earth Power.
And probably the reason he's running a non-shadow
he piled on to have that extra bolt
to be able to get to these charge stacks.
Got another protect shield.
He has two protect shields ahead,
but there's a lot of energy here
and he can go for Aqua Tail Bates
because a bomb going through that bomb.
Into the bomb that is gonna be going double-resistant,
but it doesn't matter.
The man's gonna know how.
One HP and a catch right there for Tauntaun, giving him a third shield effectively for the shadow high dry gun.
Here comes the octatill bait. You're going to have to shield pretty much everything here for Tauntaun, even if it's octatill.
He hasn't even seen the third poke one yet.
You know, Mero, going to think about maybe swapping up, but no, might just stay in here to tank some of this damage.
Get to another octatill bait, but Tauntaun is going to reach the Brutal Swing first.
But double Brutal Swing can do this.
He's going to be able to knock out with this Brutal Swing here. He has one protect shield remaining.
He can protect you up to Twister if he can pace to the double Brutal Swing plus the Dragon Breath Damage.
I think Tauntaun can close this.
And the Shadow Hydra Gaunt Master is here to play as you can see Irmiel reaching for the double Twister.
But Tauntaun going to outpace through the Brutal Swings instead.
First one coming through, Irmiel, thinking it through, thinking if he has a chance here.
But no, there isn't one as Tauntaun's here and unleashing the Shadow Hydra Gaunt on the world stage.
just as he's done in the past,
become a regional champion of the High Dragoons.
Gonna be able to knock out the Manatee
and to take game number one of this winner's round,
number three, Tauntaun having effectively three shields
in the back as you were saying, able to swap,
catch that mudbomb into the Manatee,
that Manatee that had zero health
and he pivoted out only for that moment.
He only kept that Manatee in a round to catch an attack
and it worked perfectly.
That's why he has a one next to his name right now.
That's right. I mean, he has a bunch of titles under his name too.
An EUIC champion, a multi-time regional champion,
multi-time medalist and a world's competitor.
And he just played that matchup first to perfection,
catching and knowing that you can't avoid the catch
if you're EOMarrow because you're going against
a one turn shadow high drag house.
There's just no way to avoid it here.
As you see, this is the catch that played
and had so much value here.
And a double earth power shield.
It was the right call from your mail to save on such a look at that catch
Absolutely huge because if he had to shield that bump bomb on the high drag out or doesn't even get the catch off
Then this final shield that and wouldn't have done anything for you
I don't think you can just throw the switch if I see had to get the double twister instead because that final main shield
And you see right here a completely different strategy that you've been seeing the entire tournament so far a new take on the minute
Netta from Tauntaun, a trainer that is known for his boldness, for his innovation, and he brought it to the world stage.
He brought his signature Pokemon, the Shadow Hydraegon, and he sat in for game number two, but he has an awesome lead.
This is a neutral matchup, but Korshla loved this matchup in the Manteen.
Definitely, and you have the super effective power jab, but more importantly, you just laid both here than the Manteen,
and you avoid the Gustler matchup in the back on the U.M.S. Tauntaun doesn't know that it's there,
that it's there but yeah at least it's feeling pretty comfortable as you're
just going for the twister maybe a little bit less effective than the water
balls but wants to put it potentially in a chip down like oh and goes for a
great catch on the nightshade. But he was trying to go for the power gym right?
Yeah. He was trying to swap on the power gym to be not very effective but he
whiffed on that and he whiffed on the bait as well but counterswap into the
main team but this is exactly where you want to be. He thought about saving that
backline Pokemon that he pouted on he could have brought in the Hippodon as
Well, if had on what a bit of better matchup here, but he was saving it for something
I'm not sure exactly what he was saving it in the back for yeah, definitely. I mean I think talk about things that he
You know might be trying to fade it out
But you know it could be maybe he thinks it's like a licky licky in the back
But instead you know has that God's Lord and the God's Lord is in a pretty good position
I mean if you look at the back line, God's Lord and man
He has so much play into reigning Pokemon taunt on and yes
he loves in a bad match with the Tinkertown but as long as you bring the
mansion low enough you have a clear path to victory. The 45 switch timer for
Iomaro is back up so he can swap out so it is for Tonton and Tonton is gonna try
to get him for a farm down. Oh! Here comes the Dothorn to get a really nice farm down
but this is clunky because Tonton does have a switch available as well. He's
gonna throw this power gem and plus you can't really form down the porcelain from
this range so actually no sorry he's switch locked in. He is switch locked in
this matchup play. How much farm can Iomaro get? Maybe he's gonna throw a charge stack
party of Power Gym smart play from EO Merrill. Yeah, perfect counting from EO Merrill to
deny Tauntaun to build to get this Power Gym up unless he wants to spend his shield. Tauntaun
trying to think it through and does the side of let it go has put everything on the remaining
Pokemon. This time it's not the Shadowhide Dragon. It's going to be the hand power down
about the charge engine pre fast with the sand attack and it's not shadow so it could
take some of this damage but you have to still watch out for not only the team is on with
entry but the main thing still has a full 50% HP. And the timers almost back up for EO Merrill.
It's gonna be hard to swap though because you have a three turn fast attack against a one turn fast attack from taunt on here
So the Bruce wing is gonna be coming through no protection once again
They have how'd on a Pokemon that we haven't seen too much on this stage before there is the swap into the combo attack into the
Twister it's gonna be super effective. There's two protect shields remaining
But you mirrors just gonna save those two protect shields first back my Pokemon as he lets guzzler go down
It's gonna be the man team versus the world
But the man team does have to take a little chip damage here. Oh
It doesn't even protect shield. He knows that same attack doesn't do any damage. So why do I protect shield right?
Four shields remaining in total neither player designed to use their shields
And I'm most of a taunt on maybe thinking he should have used a shield a little bit sooner
But this is pretty much over for taunt on because he has two back-back twister and energy on the tinketon
And there's still two shields inside of Eomero. Exactly. So if there is the energy on the tinketon it is over
I was thinking maybe he can't get to the triple weather ball rocks here, but a tinketon has the attack to combo play
Here's the swap, here's the combo play, one away from the both of those and that will do it.
There's no protect shields remaining.
This battle was vulnerable and Eomaro is able to tie up the series one-to-one.
What a series so far from Eomaro versus Tauntaun.
Eomaro, one of our first ever Worlds qualifier in the Visual Circuit back in 2020,
getting second place in the first ever North America regional against King I.V. in Indianapolis in 2022.
And even though he's never won a title himself in a regional international world title,
He's always been able to hang against the best of best,
making multiple top cuts throughout his five year career.
And as we celebrate our history of Pokemon and Pokemon Go,
he is a historic figure,
not only because he was there at the beginning,
but I believe he is actually one of the best team creators
in the circuit.
Oftentimes, in these big tournaments,
EO Merrill will be the architect of their team
for an international championship for a big regional,
and he will use that team and spread it
with his other teammates and they will all try his version of his team and often they do really well
with that team. So now we're in this meta that's absolutely new. It's wide open. It's evolving so
quickly. You want someone like Diomaro on your side to be helping you team build. Yeah Diomaro is
in your DMs. You're feeling good about your form and prep. Here we go. Game number three against
Diomaro for top top of two. This is winners round three. So either way plays will still be in the
tournament but seeing how the winters has huge as here comes the shadow high
dragon can take kick things off. Well shadow high dragon usually loves this
matchup but this is a bloodbomb quagsire so it's not as nice as it is against the
stone edge because against the stone edge either the quagsire has to rely on
baits or actually just going straight for the bloodbomb or landing that
stone edge but now here comes swap into the licky licky this is actually where
you want to be you can throw this energy or you can bank one actually a no
shield here this is gonna chunk a lot into the licky licky I expect him to bank
up at least until this next rollout it's over maybe swapping to the bottom no
actually you might want to know he lets it go yeah it puts on time in a tough
position he doesn't want to throw both shields away on the high drag down
without even seeing the third Pokemon he's just not getting as much value as
possible here maybe trying to go for double brutal swing as he is at the next
one does you know just gonna let this go and even though he has let the
licky-licky go completely gone at this point to he starts to get to another
another brutal swing. He does get to that brutal swing. That's
devastating. And now he gets his protect shield back. So suddenly
he has the alignment and he was able to get his protect shield
back and he's ahead on health. This is a great situation here
for taunt on as he brings in the man team and that wax are his
helpless. There's no stone edge. This is so weird too because
his man team or scroungs have a one side and man team or
scroungs have on another side. But taunt has advantage because
he's at the super vectors rock weather ball coverage against
the man team where steal Merrill. He has nowhere to go with
I think his only plan here is to grab shields, do something, stall the timer enough to combo play the pattern and take it out and then try to take it out later with the Manti.
But, Tonton calls the bait and doesn't shield the potential super effective water balls.
Another risky bait in what a call from Tonton.
Ilmerro did this earlier going straight for the twister and here comes the weather ball rock that's going to be super effective.
It's going to take at least two of these and knock out a Manti and this is not the shadow version as well so it actually is going to take three at this range
because remember these sand attacks are gonna be double resisted they're just
not doing enough so Tauntaun is just gonna let this step out of go down but
if I don't get probably take a twister it might even be able to get to one more
weather ball can it get to one more weather ball no floppy saves it yeah and
he sees this combo plate coming and now you know Merrill has the shadow quags
at but it's only resisted fast attack and charge attack damage not many places
for this quags at the glass you see how dominant of a matchup this is and Tauntaun
now throwing the water post doesn't want to take another second of damage from
Graxler despite that being all-resistant taking two e-mount to his final
boat won't know he gets one final aquatel off but this is just gonna tickle the
man team it has so much both this water flying type takes the aquatel no
problem able to farm down with that wing attack and now it's gonna be man team
versus man team but there is a protect shield advantage for taunt on here you
are behind on energy but like you said there is that energy banked in the back
and that's why Tauntaun is already saying GG to EO Merrill
because the twister plus either a combo play
or some wing attack is gonna finally close it out for Tauntaun
as he takes it two to one.
Tauntaun with a dominant victory in that third game,
recognizing that as long as he maintains switch advantage
with that shadow high drag gun, he has so much room to go.
Despite the down a shield, he was in control
and that is the risk you take running that ground water coverage
of Quagsire, Nancy, one of the perennial flyer Pokemon in this meta, it's going to be
completely hard walling it off.
Well, that was a late riser in the meta, especially in some practice tournaments leading up the
Shadow Quagsire because these trainers are desperately looking for a water type that
can beat Shadow Kanto Ninetales.
That is the recipe, that is the formula here for Worlds.
And Quagsire is a Pokemon that can do that.
Obviously, it's double super effective against the energy ball.
You don't want to take that, but the pacing is so strong.
getting four mud shots through that awkward tail.
It could be really good in that matchup,
but it's so devastating against the man team.
And man team is taught by usage.
It's just too hard to use it flexibly in this meta,
compared to the more flexible ground type
that was on Tauntaun's team that he pout on.
Yeah, definitely a pout on,
definitely a spice anti meta pig
that probably will get you a lot of players off mark.
And more importantly,
a lot of players might not know how that matchup goes,
even off to the non-shadow.
And you can see how much value you got from it.
doesn't shield to twister still hangs around hasn't moved back just in case
things get dicey later but so far had even need the pow down for later and
how much of a damage could it be for taunta to be running to Pokemon that
you narrow and some other trainers might not be as familiar with yes he did win a
regional championship with that shadow high dragon but it's not a popular
Pokemon in the meta and taunta knows it better than anyone and that hip-hound on
it has gained some steam in the go battle league but in championship series
you really don't see it often in New York City, the shadow
hit patterns, so that normal pattern is pretty rare.
I'll be honest, I don't see most of Pokemon in any format if it's on
Tauntaunts scene, but I'm curious to hear a word from the Spice Master himself.
Fareed, take it away.
Thank you, casters. I'm joined by Tauntaunts on the winner of that last match.
Your second win now at the World Championships here in San Francisco.
How are you feeling?
I'm a bit nervous because I can't attract my second game on this best of three, but I still got this best of three, so I'm really happy about my performance and I hope I will continue until the finals.
Ami, and you're such an exciting player to watch from all the fans and all throughout the season as well. Shadow, Hydraigon, but it's not the first time you've used it. You won Prague with it as well. Why did you bring it this weekend?
So, to be honest, I lack of inspiration for this weekend and I wanted to bring a dragon.
I didn't find anything else but the Hydra-Gon. I think it's still good, currently.
Even if everyone is playing Tinkathon, I think it still has players to see during my battles.
So, Tinkathon has obviously been such a popular Pokémon coming into this meta.
What's it like for you bringing a Pokémon that really, really would struggle against it?
You mean... Wait, Pokémon? Sorry, I didn't...
that Shadow Hydragon obviously struggles against that Tinketon, how did you balance that out in your team?
Oh, okay, so I directly put the Shadow canine because it was like the best answer to Ticathon even
fairies who can handle Cileo for example, so I think it was a good pairing as long as you're not facing
a carbine and I put a hypodon so to get some ground coverage, I didn't want to use quite
I think Hapaldon is a really great shout. You've opted for the regular Hapaldon over the Shadow. Was there a specific reason for that?
I tried Shadow Hypo in GBL. It was a way to frail, to handle things like Corsola, even Ticatin. You know, you get wanted killed by a Ticatin Hammer.
And I saw Hamsilai playing it. And Higami also told me to play it because it was a really good pitch.
amazing and you obviously bring so many spicy Pokemon you've gone through so
many Pokemon throughout all of your events in the championship series when
you're building a team do you pick a spicy Pokemon and think I really want
to make this work and I'll build around it or do you build a safer team and then
add some spice at the end. Currently my team building is more like I'm picking a
dragon type but I really like then if it's a spicy I already have a spicy pick
if it's not I will try to find something really spicy that covers really well
with him or another you know pairing typing so it's more of a dragon typing
in a particular type amazing and I know you've traveled here to San
Francisco with some of your friends when you're team building do you team
built together at all or do you have to go and do your completely own thing
because you're such a unique style so I'll be honest for this tournament it's
he cameo built my team I didn't build anything I just thought I wanted to play
I tried to play with the other team, but I didn't find the team I really liked, and he suggested me to play with the Hyperdon with it, and he built a team.
I tried to build another team, but I ended up with the same exact team, so I just played it.
Well, it sounds like Hikami needs a great shoutout. Is there anyone else you'd like to shout out this weekend?
Shoutout to every French user who is watching the stream. I know it's kind of late, I hope you enjoy this stream, and shoutout to my family, they really support me a lot.
I'm sure they're all really enjoying watching you win best of luck for the rest of the weekend and congratulations again on that victory
Custards back to you
Thank you so much Tomahawk
We really enjoy him winning as well because it is awesome to see a trainer have his unique take on the meta
He just talked about his team building mechanics a little later. I actually might talk about it
I had a little unofficial questionnaire that I asked about 30 trainers competing here today about their take on how hard it was
is to build for this meta.
What they're taking on is how important a wild card pick is
and how important that is for your team building process
in general, because it's on these trainers' mind.
In a meta right now that's so wide open,
you have the top meta that is solidified.
But I would say between six through 15,
it can be anything in this meta,
and that's really hard to team build around.
Definitely.
And certain players have certain signature Pokemon
that they use a lot.
I feel like Tauntaun is a great example of someone
that doesn't really have a signature Pokemon.
He just always goes really off meta and goes something spicy because he switched up the
team so often there's no way to pinpoint what he's going to team build and the wider the
meta is the more spice you get bring and I think honestly it might be the perfect kind
of meta for taunt time.
We'll see how far it goes.
You know I'm just going to bring it up now because I know you like the stats.
I asked about 30 trainers here that are going to be competing and I asked them at a difficulty
out of 10. How hard was it the team build for this event compared to all other championship
events? And on average, it was a 7.8 out of 10 with 23% of those trainers saying it was
10 out of 10 difficulty to prepare for this event just because of how wide open the meta
is of course because of the numbers of the tournament and all of these trainers from
other regions as you see some on the stage right now. It is just really hard to deal with.
Yeah, and we have a crazy matchup coming up here.
Fantastic success, by the way, and we got to know that one.
But we got the reigning world champion, Beelzeboy,
on the big stage, going against Sona from Thailand.
And this is going to be a super exciting one, too.
And speaking of spice, look at their teams.
And while they're both running Jump Fluff and Cancel 9Tails.
Jump Fluff and the Cancel 9Tails meta is absolutely wild.
But the hard-hitting neutral acrobatics is huge.
And recently, a buffed energy ball
helps both the Nineteals and the jump off in these situations.
So I'm very excited to see this one play out.
Also, as a quick reminder to everyone, tune in.
Be sure to tune into broadcasts.
You can get twist drops throughout the entire weekend
during the broadcast live or during any rebroadcast.
There might be some issues right now,
but we will get that sorted out
probably within the next two hours.
So just hang tight there.
But also just to an end of broadcasts,
well, I mean, the action is so great, right?
And we'll get those twist drops working back up
if there's any difficulties right now.
It is high priority and it's gonna be a high priority.
you get these twitch drops because they're very unique and awesome.
Of course, if you didn't know, there's also an elite charge to him.
There is the literal Pokemon from Busyboy that you can get with these stats
from his World Championship run as well.
So there is so much to gain here just from watching, just from hanging out.
I got even better news for you as we're talking about the World Champion
and his signature Ticket Time that he won Worlds with last year.
Not only do you get the exact thing that he used, but you also get a special
exclusive background with his
Dinkathon.
That is so cool.
We've never done that before.
For any Twitch shots in the
history of Pokemon Go, but this
is a special world and for those
watching wherever you are in the
world, you know, best way to be
a part of it and get a little
commemorative Pokemon in your
storage.
And we've said we're celebrating
10 years of Pokemon Go, so if
you're a Pokemon Go trainer that's
played in the past and haven't
played recently, that's another
awesome thing that you can collect
right now.
The backgrounds look so cool and
if you're able to get a shiny,
a shiny, plus the exclusive background.
Oh, it's just the best.
And what's going to be the best is this matchup.
Of course, he is a boy.
He is the reigning world champion.
He had a pretty good 2026 season as well.
He brought his game into the North America circuit,
also into the international circuit as well.
And he continued up his dominance.
He did well.
He didn't get a title this season.
He hasn't gotten one since being a world champ,
but he has displayed that he is still on top of his game
coming back here to the 2026 World Championships.
Definitely, and he is definitely in contention
of one of those players that could potentially
repeat as a champion this year.
I mean, that would be back-to-back years for him,
but his world's performances are absolutely insane.
Back in 2024, he got fourth place
in his first ever international world's tournaments,
first time ever playing against any players
on the French circuit outside of his home reach in India.
And last year, he gets first place.
Like that's absolutely insane to average a top four at the world stage against the best players in the world.
But that is why he is one of the best players in the world still to this day.
Here we go. Game number one, Sona vs. Villas Bochona.
Definitely the underdog in this one.
But he still has what it takes to potentially go for the upset.
And it's going to be the jump walk into Malmar. Fantastic start for Sona.
Some Pokemon that you often see together and a team in Go Battle League say swap into that 9 tails there.
and it's going to be met by the diggers feet,
but this isn't actually terrible for the Ninetales.
Because of this energy ball and the pacing with that ember,
you're able to fight back against a lot of your counters,
which your main counters as a fire type is ground and water.
Guess what they're weak to, Caleb?
They're weak to grass,
and you get to those grass attacks really quickly.
And beautiful, like, going to protect up the shadow,
cancel Ninetales to start things off
as that scorched sand would nearly KO.
You can see, still enough, maybe a little surprised by this,
but now you get a weird position.
We have a potential weather ball,
You can see field boy throws the weather ball right before sports fans reach and this allows him to throw another one on charge
I priority it's on the side of shields shields coming through over here comes another weather ball coming right now
Oh, no, he doesn't go for it and there is the charge attack
It is gonna be shielded up from Beelzeboi Beelzeboi is used to having this team competition advantage
Just like he had in that grand finals was Potomac with his glaring motors
He has the same thing with the shadow canton nine tails the safe swap or just in general up energy shadow canton nine tails
is unchecked against Zona's team.
So he's just gonna invest into it,
into this entire series,
as he's able to use both his shields there
to take down the first Pokemon,
but this Ninetales is still healthy and has energy.
Dad, I'd love to play from Bealsboy.
So if you look at the team, just like he said,
it is completely unchecked,
and Bealsboy is now gonna reach another weather ball,
and he has another weather ball in the bay.
And this is not really a great matchup.
A lot of large ITC's are losing the cancel,
not just because of this incredible coverage.
Oh, and he makes the catch up the drill thing instead
getting maximum value here in this cancel,
Nigel's matchup in this first game.
And remember, he did bank an attack, too.
I believe he has the energy ball or that weather ball as well.
Here comes the jump-fluff, but now this jump-fluff
is going to be taking that super effective wing
attack damage, but only has to deal with that neutral twister
while throwing out neutral damage.
Well, actually going for the energy ball here
to try to chunk this manatee, and it's not
going to be enough to knock out the manatee.
You're going to need double energy ball.
I like going for the double energy ball instead
the acrobatics because I think you needed to charge attacks no matter what
yeah great place on Sona for showing I actually you know even though this one
made that catch earlier he did throw a drill but the less effective of inter
ninjas expecting feels what to go for a catch like that right exactly what he
did however Sona is still in a top position because the cancel ninjas is
loaded with energy and you have time to swap out and you can see feels boy so
understanding of the timing here brings in the cancel ninjas doesn't even wait the
time to give Sona the chance to swap back over to the Empoli on and more
for the Impoleon is out of energy and there's some still full health Malamar in the back.
And instead of going for that full sweep with the Shadow Kanto 9 tails and said he's going
to the Malamar, he's going to throw it after the Hydra Cannon does go through here, he
can either try to go for the Super Power, that Super Effective or try to go for a foul
play and use his Weather Ball in the back, but no, it was charge attack priority into
that Super Power, which is super effective into that Steel Tide from the Impoleon, but
It is gonna be enough to knock out that Napoleon
if Beasley Boy takes game number one.
Wow, what a game from Beasley Boy.
Lost the lead, but still won the game in dominant fashion.
That's the world champ difference right there.
I think he wants to lose lead.
I think he wants to just come in with Shadow Cancel,
nine tails and get an energy advantage.
We saw this on the main stage in Anaheim
where he had that Galarian Moltres
that was so good against an opposing team
and we know Beasley Boy's tendencies.
when he finds a Pokemon that is dominant in a matchup,
he rides that wave.
And I believe he's gonna be investing
into that Shadow Kanto Ninetales once again
in game number two.
Absolutely.
I mean, what a great call from him, right?
If you look at the entire team of Sona,
there's just no real answer to the Shadow Kanto Ninetales.
The best you can potentially do is chip
and come in with your own,
or try to two shield through with the Counter Shadow Ninet.
That might be the answer he needs
because he just didn't have an answer to it.
And I'm very curious, right?
Because Sona's certainly been practicing
It's just huge a huge threat across the board, especially at the edge of all block so there's got to be a way that he knows how to play around that matchup, but in the hands of the World Champion like this boy, it is tough.
It might be the best Pokemon in the meta. I think you would have a plan for it going into the World Championships.
But what also sticks out to me for music boy
He basically has the go battle league team that is pretty famous of jump puff in polion in Malamar
Combined with the shadow kanta nine tails licky licky and man team which are three at a top five usage Pokemon
So basically he brought the top three Pokemon here in the meta and he brought a really famous go battle league team
And this jump puff I believe is to start countering that wave of waterfall users
a last minute adjustment that we saw as some trainers like
Padaman bringing that melodic.
We even saw DHC United with that Don Dozo.
Those trainers that are trying to get that last second
water type that will dominate the Shadow Canto Ninetales.
Guess what?
Jump Pluff will be the answer to all those picks.
That's right.
And here we go.
Game number two.
Sona has some work through here.
Still is not out of it yet.
Has to win this game to force a game number three.
Here we go.
It's going to be them poll number Shadow Canto Ninetales.
And again, Sona doesn't have a great answer this.
does have the Shadow Nile in the back this time around,
but you just get so hard outpaced by the Kanto Ninetales.
It's just so awkward because you're doing neutral
as that fire type, and because it's water's feel
and using a steel fast attack in that metal sound,
it is resisted by that Shadow Kanto Ninetales.
And of course, Beelzeboy does invest
into a Shadow Kanto Ninetales,
the super effective Hydra Cannon,
which would absolutely chunk, does get protected,
going for the energy ball.
Now, does he just double shield and farm down instead?
No, he's trying to get a shield back and he does get that shield back from Polio
But I fully expect the Usa Boy to either swap out here or double shield and farm down
Yeah, I don't think he's gonna stay in here too long, but in comes Sona with the waterfall
So, Enchi Ball does more damage to Weather Ball. It's less efficient
But it does put your Polio in farm down range for Emperor and Sona
I think knows to swap straight over to the Annihilate, but here comes the Nancy
And it's such a dominant matchup for the flying water type
This is devastating for that Shadow Nile. If you see a Pokemon like Mantine, or if you see a Pokemon like Corse-Lite,
you really hate to see it as a Shadow Nile. And this is even worse, because at least you can throw the super effective damage into the Corse-Lite.
Now you're just sitting there taking Twisters. The Twister is probably going to be just about enough, so he has to use the Protect Shield.
But Beasboy is almost that double Twister, yeah.
Yeah, I believe Beasboy is one away from the next one. Let's see if Sona's able to get you against there on charge at party.
It does maintain switch advantage for Sona which is pretty big and this is a double ramp up on Nihilax.
He undercharges. He undercharges. He throws the great but it's still enough to knock out there.
The Ninetales doesn't have a charge attack but it will outpace the annihilate and here comes the Malabar
going to try to go for the full side way down. Swap out into the jump off, power swap into the Shadow Kanto Ninetales.
The Shadow Kanto Ninetales has the energy advantage but you can take a weather ball and you should be able to get to the acrobatics before the double weather ball
But it's gonna be closed. I don't know if you'll get out paced or not
Yeah, drop off. It's one of the focus grass. That's here. You are able to get to
Absolutely brutal for Sona and you can see he feels as well as feels what's going to lead this even if he's a mouse
Hang on there's gonna be no help remaining on the final three Pokemon off Sona
But it is enough to KO and here comes the menace that is shadow get the man toes yet again
So now reaches for the rage fist does get it off in time
It is no help remaining.
I think the Malamarkers has fast-tracked everything down
to the end.
And just like game number one ended with a superpower
into them, holding on to that is probably
what's going to happen once again
as this Malamark is nearly full healthier.
It's going to be able to outpace the superpower
and throw a foul play, actually, just for fun.
And Beosavoy, with the clean 2-0 on the back of that shadow,
canceling 9-tales, advances to winners' round number four.
And Beosavoy, trying to become the fourth sign
time ever back to back two time world champion for Pokemon go.
It is really, really hard to do that because there's only one winner and we have over 300 players,
the best of us in the world, but he's making quick work of his opponents and he made that look easy.
He did make it look easy. I mean with that team composition advantage and you know his strengths in competing,
he is really good at taking advantage of the team composition.
You gave him that shadow Kanto nine tails with an opportunity to go anywhere.
He double shielded it both matches.
He actually probably could even swept with it both matches, but instead swept with
the Malamar in the end and now he's advancing and has a really good opportunity
now to make it to day number two.
Definitely.
And he's been absolutely on top of this game.
Even though, you know, like you said, he didn't win a title throughout this regular season.
He's gone through some really sad tournaments to internationals and making
top, I believe 10 in both of them as well is absolutely huge.
I think he got a fourth place at LA as well at that regional and you can see here in this matchup
So I didn't play poorly but feel the boy played it perfectly
I don't I didn't see a single misplay in any of those two games in any point in that matchup
That is not easy thing to fall off but feels the boy was just so up on with every shield every move drone every catcher attempts
They just avoided his opponent from getting any type of vanish and we playing like that like it's so hard to beat
right no matter who you are. He's so locked in and it's the combination of the skill and the
ability to rise up in the moment. I think that's one of these boys best strengths and you've even
seen him get down in competitions before. I believe you're watching an international competition
earlier on in the season. He would lose the first game it seemed like every single matchup but then
he would always sweep, reverse sweep to keep advancing. This is a trainer that loves the moment.
He is a humble trainer at heart, but he is so talented and he's putting on a show so far at Worlds.
Definitely. Well, let's hear a word from the World Champion, Fred. Take it away.
Thank you, Caleb and Butters. And Caleb and Butters were the commentators.
Last year, when you won your World Championships, they're casting your first match here on stage
in San Francisco. One win under your belt in front of everyone. How are you feeling?
it's awesome yeah I love hearing Caleb and butters like you know whenever they
cast like I look back on this team and here all their casting so I'm excited
yeah no it's really good to see that you're you're getting them a mental
under your belt already that was a big win there so far your teams looking
pretty strong how are you feeling for it for the rest of the weekend
it yeah I like the team I made an adjustment that like yesterday
yesterday evening but overall I like the team I think it's good. It looks pretty
good and you are the world's champion that means last year you qualified
directly to San Francisco this year but you didn't take a break in between you've
actually played quite a few events regionals and international championships
talk us through your year. Yeah I started off in Vegas and then I'd
I was running Melmetal. I really wanted to make Melmetal work, but it did not. But then I went to EUIC, which was so fun.
And then I went to LA Regional and NAIC. And now we are back in California.
We are, but you came top 8 in those 3 last events. So you've got some good momentum under your belt there. How are you feeling for the World Championships?
Do you think you can really push and take it all the way once more?
Okay, so I think of all the players in the tournament, I have the least pressure because
nobody expects the reigning world champion to do well the second time, right?
So, I mean, I'm just excited to be here, hang out with you all and play the games.
And you've been enjoying San Francisco, haven't you?
You've been here for a little while.
What have you been enjoying most about the city?
I don't know.
The wind is really nice.
I like the weather a lot, yeah.
And yeah, I've been having pizza every day, which has been nice.
How does the food compare to back home?
Maybe I'm a little biased, but I like food back home.
But the food here is great as well.
I think that's a pretty fair analysis.
Now, is there anyone you'd like to shout out for your preparation for this weekend or
anything else?
I want to thank all my friends who are here, me here, DJ, Brandon, Panic, Decay, there's
so many showers back home to HVK, the Delhi Diamonds, and yeah, thank you.
Yeah, thank you to all those players for that.
My team, thank you to my team because it's so, yeah, it's great.
Of course, your team is a huge part for so many of these players.
Beilsport, you are the world champion, can you hold onto it?
we cannot wait to see.
We'll send it back to your favorite casters,
Caleb and Butters.
Take us away.
All right, thank you for it.
And thank you, Bealsboy, for the wonderful kind words.
One of my favorite world champions as well.
In that top five, I would say, for a world champion.
You know, funny enough, I actually saw Bealsboy
a few days ago, maybe two days ago,
and we're getting some food,
and he was gonna bring a fairy type.
All right, he didn't have a fairy type on the scene.
He made me guess, whole list of Pokemon, right?
I was like, Clefable, Wigglytuff,
something off meta where we think none of those,
not to get taught, not forges, it was carpet.
But he didn't end up bringing it,
so I feel like he retained some of the love
for the world champions,
because I think if he brought the carpet,
some people might not be a big fan of him as much.
Well, we didn't get to find out,
but he said he made a last minute adjustment last night.
I think it's the jump off.
I really do.
We're gonna ask him later,
but I think he saw too many trainers
bringing those waterfall water types,
or maybe some quacks fires or some stun fist.
And he made that last second adjustment to the jump off.
But we'll try to get back to you on that,
if that was that last second adjustment.
And he said he loves the wind here.
It feels like he's got wind behind him.
He has momentum.
And I believe already now,
he might be having the best performance
of a world champion going into the next season.
Because classically in Pokemon Go,
whoever wins the world championships
does not do as well in the next world championships.
a visa boy is on path to changing that right now.
Definitely, yeah.
And you know, it's a tough one, right?
It's not even a knock on any past world champion.
It's just you're playing against the best of best.
It's double elimination style and anything can happen.
But he has quite the self record in not only worlds,
but I would say in all of California.
He got first in Anaheim last year, fourth in LA,
back in California, getting San Francisco
looking for another top finish.
And you know, any type of finish,
any top finish at Worlds is still something
you're impressed about.
We're very excited to keep on following his journey through
the world.
Well, it's so hard, right?
Because there's so much parody in terms of the meta
and in terms of the top trainers, right?
I mean, we're going to be in Chase Center on Sunday.
So I have the justification to talk a little bit of NBA.
But there hasn't been a repeat champion
since the home of the Chase Center, the Golden State Warriors
in the NBA, because there's just so much parody.
It's so hard to just climb that mountaintop two seasons
in a row.
And it's the same for these world championships
and Pokemon as well.
So if the easy boy is going to be able to do that,
he'll be just like the home champs at Chase Center,
the Golden State Warriors.
Yeah, I mean, I would say, in a way,
it's even hard to be going repeat champion in BWG
because you're not playing a couple dozen teams,
you're playing against hundreds of players,
and there's going to be only one that rises to the top.
Speaking of rising to the top, he did win it last year,
and that's why we have amazing Twitch drops
for you all this year at World Championships.
You mentioned it earlier, but if you watch at least 30 minutes,
get the Lick and Tongue, Totodile, and Pal game whooper to create a championship ready
team which we see a lot in these Pokemon Lick and Lick and be so relevant.
The evolution of Lick and Tongue as well as frauging to be really relevant.
Maybe not as much in this meta, but it has been really strong for the past couple years.
Pal game whooper into that closet.
We have a closet coming up actually in Cluster, one of the focus Pokemon greatly, but if you
watch for 60 minutes butters, you get feels the voice Tinket on and like I said with the
special background he's exacting that he brought to world championships last year
and an elite charge to him in case you want to throw on gigaton hammer on to
that thing it's on and make sure you have twitch drops enabled and watch for
that 60 minutes like you said and if it's a rebroadcast you can still get
these twitch drops as well and everyone can get this t-shirt right now the 2026
world championships all you gotta do is put in that task code yeah take a
screenshot send it to your friends and your family log into the game to
claim it as well and you see that world Pikachu very cool to see. It's in the game for Pokemon
Go right now also as well as a Pokemon XP Pikachu. So all you have to get it though is logging
right now and playing the game. Even if you've been away from the game for a while it's no better
time to get back into it. We got a bunch of Twitch Shops as well for all our other games.
You got Pokemon Unites, Pokemon Live, TCG, Pokemon Champions and Pokemon Pocket. So there's so many
cool things and you know the text is a little bit too small for me to read right now but again
Zoom in, take a look, tune into all the broadcasts to get a chance to do this, and you can get
this from tuning in live as well as re-broadcast.
So even if you're not watching it live, it might be a different kind of sound.
The re-broadcast will be happening throughout the weekend as well.
I'm so stoked about this.
We have a unique exclusive Twitch chat badge that you can get.
It's the 2026 World's Costume Pikachu right next to your name when you chat in the stream.
So we would love to see you chatting in the stream with that badge.
made sure to take advantage of that.
That's one of the coolest flexes that you can have
in a Twitch chat is an awesome badge.
You know, I might be a little biased.
I mean, everyone's biased, right?
But I think this Pikachu is probably
one of my favorites of all time.
Because, you know, we had some really good ones all the way
throughout the years.
But it's got the champion cape, the crown,
the 30th anniversary, no better way to commemorate it.
And honestly, I'm really jealous of where
a Wings World is here.
Because I'm sure the outfits, the avatar, everything exclusive
It's going to be top notch.
Well, the thing is, we also have the Pokemon XB costume Pikachu as well.
And we have a new stamp system.
If you're here in the city of San Francisco, you can take advantage of that.
Get those encounters, get those special backgrounds as well.
So there's so much happening in terms of Pokemon in San Francisco right now.
And we have the top trainers in Pokemon Go, as I said before, over 300 of them.
And we're trying to whittle that down into a top cut for day number two.
So which trainers will endure?
Yeah, and you know, we're on the winner's side.
So we see a lot of winners matchups.
Something that I think is really fascinating is,
especially in the double elimination format,
25% of the players at this tournament
will not win a series.
And 50% of players will not win a series
or go one to have a negative record.
And that's really, really tough,
but it speaks to the volume of how tough the competition is.
These are some of the best players in the world
winning multiple titles, having gone,
maybe even undefeated in tournaments,
but against the best of best, it is tough.
And you can definitely follow along the bracket
on Trolange as well, if anyone wants to see any of the action.
We can't cover every match unfortunately.
We would love to, but we might be here all month,
and that's the case.
However, we got a great matchup coming up.
We have Kanto No, first Colin Six Japan, first EU,
Colin Six, one of our most decorated players,
and they call him the final boss in the EU,
because coincidentally, he typically is
in the final stage of battle.
Well, he definitely has that reputation.
Recently, he hasn't always been there to be that final boss,
but in this moment, as we've mentioned before,
we're celebrating the history of Pokemon Go, of Pokemon,
these Pokemon trainers that have these legacies.
What better way to be a final boss
than in 2026 Pokemon World Championships
and make it the championship Sunday.
And like you said, we're on that winner's side of the bracket.
I believe I can see this is gonna be already
the winner's round number four for these trainers.
So these trainers are really close to day number two
and getting the top cut.
And that is a huge achievement.
You just pointed out the realistic statistics
that you have to deal with being at a world championship.
But if you can be that coveted few to get to day number two,
you're just one step closer to that ultimate glory,
not only becoming the world champion,
but of course, all the prizes that you have
from becoming top nine through top 12,
there are so many prizes on the line for these trainers.
That's right.
And Colin Six, you can see Asi's getting ready
for the final two.
Has still had a fantastic season, right?
Maybe didn't win a title.
got second place at UIC.
I believe the biggest international this year,
only was the Potter Man, which, I mean, you know,
who's not losing it these days.
And then he got, I believe, a second place
and a third place this season as well,
losing in Antiquance, also the actually most winning
trainer of the entire season.
Has one more series and matches
than I believe any trainer in the entire year.
He just doesn't play that much,
he's busy casting as well.
Yes, I miss worded that because I said,
he hadn't been the final boss
because he hadn't won the championship,
But that is a misworded statement
because he has been that final boss.
He has been the traitor to be there,
but he wants to be that final boss
that does succeed against the competition as well.
Like you mentioned, he has had an awesome season.
He has had such an awesome Pokemon Go journey.
And he is running a unique team right here.
I believe he has the Codzire
and he has the Hissui and Electrode,
a Pokemon that we both had on our cast of predictions,
a Pokemon that actually broke its way in the top usage.
I believe it was like number nine and top,
number eight actually in top usage
for that electric grass type.
And it's gonna be facing an absolutely wild team
on the other side with a shadow polytone,
a shadow gliscor, a pangoro, a chargeabug,
tinketongue and licky-licky.
The spice on this matchup is absolutely insane.
I don't know what it would reach on the Skolbo scale,
but you got, I mean, when's the last time
see a shadow or shadow Gliscor.
Even Pankoro has been kind of extinct for a while,
but end console note is just bringing it,
even Charkabuff, right?
The lecture that the lobby will not bring these days,
but the size of bringing this one.
And then console six, I mean, it's weird
because Azuma has been so meta for a while,
but Azuma has not really been meta this year,
particularly this season of Girl Battle League
since the updates, but he is bringing it here
as well as the Bogey Closet and even has the Bureau.
Well, that's why it's so hard to prepare right now in this meta
because it is so wide open.
There's so many viable picks that you can use.
And then in that informal questionnaire, I asked trainers,
how important is a wild card Pokemon?
77% of the trainers said it's very useful.
7% said it's a must have.
So 84% are saying you need that wild card pick.
But then I also asked them,
how concerned are you against all the opposing wild cards?
And the funny thing is,
The most common answer for that was you actually can't protect your team against everything.
So it's not the biggest part of your team building process because they know there are
going to be so many of these picks.
Right now you're facing multiple of them if you are calling as we get into this game
number one with the Azumarul versus the Licky Licky.
Alright, this is a pretty bulky matchup.
Let's see which one outlasts.
You got the shadow Glyceborg in the back and you're going to avoid the Zero matchup which
from pretty good by N. Conto now. And you have the shadow guy scores the shadow
polytote there is the quags are in that shadow canto nine tails in the back
here gonna go ahead and go for the shadow ball and this is actually where
you kind of want to be for the zoom roll matchup you don't love this matchup
at against the licky licky but it's super neutral and a zoom rule is probably
the best Pokemon ever in Pokemon go and look at the team from N. Conto now he's
He's like, I don't want to deal with Kanto and Ninjutsu.
He brought three hard answers to that Kanto Ninjutsu.
Kanto Ninjutsu has played into all three,
but it is not a comfortable position for Kanto to feed in.
And if Ankozuno has a shield advantage,
that's Ninjutsu, not going to have a lot of plays to go.
Here comes the swap to the Black Star,
but here comes Ankozuno with the Poujou.
And this is a stone edge, Black Star,
so you're going to have to at least go build up to maybe
bait or go for the harder, hitting more energy stone edge.
But if Ankozuno shields it,
It's going to be kind of trouble for the back side.
And actually instead of throwing that CharterTag from the Zoomerler,
try to clean up that first matchup,
swapped out, banked it to try to bait something out in the back,
and it is going to be a polytode versus this stone edge that
does get Protect Shielded up.
And now there is one Protect Shield down here,
and it's actually going to be going for the Blizzard,
knowing that one weather ball wouldn't be enough.
He tries to sneak in a Blizzard through two Protect Shields.
Oh no, it's actually the Ice Beam.
Sorry.
Hey, it's Ice Beam, but it's just not enough.
You know, if it was a blister, I would have said no.
But instead, it's going to be the ice beam.
And now, Colin has a slight advantage,
because he lands not only the stone edge,
but also has a shield advantage.
Plus, the sumo's got a lot of energy.
But in comes Enk, Enk comes with those.
Licky, Licky, and I believe there's a charge-track priority.
So, Colin 6 has to decision to make Dusty spend his first shield.
Yeah, he has an ice beam, or that play rough.
And he actually lets it go, because it's a body slam.
And the body slam is not enough to knock out the Izumro here.
And now, this Licky, Licky is going to be knocked out.
He's going to go for the full charge.
Yes, he goes for the full X-Lite,
trying to knock out this licky-licky.
Is he able to do it?
No, but one bubble should be able to do it.
Now, can he get to a charge attack
against this polytode or the Gliscor
that would be devastating here?
I don't know if he can take the fast attack damage,
but he does have a protection advantage
for that ShadowKidz on Ninetales.
He instant swap, trying to get this inverse,
trying to get as much energy as possible
while having to deal with these super effective sand tombs.
And the sand tombs is guaranteed deep off,
a chance the Ninetales more importantly
is also super effective.
But Colin Six had the plan to put everything on the 9th is ready because the licky licky actually reached the shadow ball
But he still decided to let it potentially go knowing that he needs to save shields for the science house
Knowing there's a positive in the back, but now he sees the shadow fly score as well. Can you do anything here?
He goes for the catcher tip, but gets the weather ball off first and this is disastrous
But Colin can get some still shield on his side and comes to know and you can't
and put down this polytope.
And you have to throw a charge attack,
but can you get to the zoom roll here?
There is one protection remaining.
Do you try to swap on this sand tomb?
Is the sand tomb already banked here?
And can he swap into the zoom roll to observe it?
No, it's not big.
Did he swap here?
He swapped literally trying to get the ice cream,
but he's unable to.
Unfortunate for Colin 6, and Dr. Nogashi didn't even
have the sand tomb ready, but this is the top part, right?
As you don't see, Shadowfist for very often,
might be a mashup, he's not familiar with
going to land it getting the super
better damage to it and Conto know
takes the first game against con six in
Conto know with the spice is
able to hang on there
versus the juggernaut that
is calling having that ice
thing tech on that polytode
as well. I really like that. Of course
it's going to be good against the man team. At least
you have a neutral attack against it. But
also just bringing out the shadow
Gliscorps at this stage at this level
and able to knock out with that sand
and Collin did the right thing also trying to just swap out on that zoom rule and clear that deep up
But at that point at that range he was super effective was enough to knock out the night tails
Yeah, what would a matchup there to I mean I talked to no play that almost as well
Awesome the ice beam was the right flight going for that move to take out the flagstaff
But unfortunately did not allow him to do so put him in a slightly disadvantage
But, guess the body's in wrong.
Doesn't actually go over the shuttle's tail,
but it allows, and comes in up to that.
It's got a turn advantage to come in and swap in.
And I think the mistake of column six,
made here, because that's not going to get the catch there,
is that he could have farmed extra against the polyzone.
Maybe got a little nervous, wasn't sure of the edge of counts.
And again, it's a shallow polyzone.
How often does he see shallow polyzone
and shallow glycephal, right?
So, I don't even blame him for not knowing all those counts.
So much to keep track of, because, again,
for our viewers at home, we can see everything on both sides.
These players can only see their side of the screen.
So they're only working with half the information we are.
Well, for either way, you would have to get that swap out
because there was a protect shield remaining.
Even if you got the double weather ball,
you would get that protect shield
and you would have to throw the second weather ball
or swap anyway.
But we're getting into game number two from inconto no
versus calling.
And there it is.
It's flying side versus flying side.
You have the shadow list score,
but I feel like you don't love this matchup
against the shadow list score
because it takes way longer to get to your flying type
charge attacks which is acrobatics. Oh and he just full sends the acrobatics not even over the
fate but colon six snuffs it out shields a hard-hating stab acrobatics and now I got to know in a much
couple difficult position because Spiro has over two drop back loaded does make a catch onto licky
licky but colon six not feeling bad about this one. I love that catch because at that point I'm
like you just have to let the gliss score go yes you got the protection but this Spiro is just
loaded with energy and it's actually going to get the triple charge attack before a body slam
is available no actually banks all the energy so was able to throw that charge
attack get enough wing attacks to re-bank all that energy that I had before
and then you bring out your sponge Pokemon which is that clogs iron to just
soak up all of that licky licky energy which it does best absolutely huge for
politics because not only does he has over two drill packs loaded but on top
of that he has a bulkier matchup into licky licky licky is very both the
Closar is just laughing at the health and the damage from the licky licky and in comes com six with the sonnet
The problem is you can't fast-track this down, right?
There's so much help remaining on the Closar and on the console has two moves loaded
So any console know how decision-making is going to charge up throws on charge the break
Oh, I love it. He just full sense of acrobatic knowing that getting the heart-hitting move is the play
Santune would not be enough to take out the Closar just knowing his dimensions and knowing exactly how much his charge attacks do
he was able to register that the sand attack wouldn't be enough so he goes
for that knockout but you have to deal with all that energy on the Fero.
Fero's just coming in getting a little extra energy first. You have to actually
hold on but it does he double shield? I think so. He's gonna double shield. I think that's the
play right because he knows he has no fast attack pressure from the resistant
mud shot from the poly toad and column six might be scratching his head a little bit.
Like is this worth it? What is happening in the back? The end console know I love
this play from because it looks so bad from in the back end but I suppose to get
this ring attack now it's huge and now he thinks he thinks he's going for
santu he thinks he's going for the debuff and he is sending it instead he's
gonna go for the acrobatics and it lands in the clagsire doing a huge joke of
damage absolutely massive but on six still has a shield remaining and could
potentially get a stonage maybe I'll put this enough let's see how much damage this does
if you didn't get any more try damage against the polisher that's number two
no has spoke with a double stonage does he have time and cost no building up to
the double waterfall and now for only he just goes to the
aqua tier but I don't think it's going to KO. Yeah but the
thing is you can even maybe win with wing attack on your
shadow gliss score because you're double resisting these
mud shots plus you have all this energy bank. There is a
protection remaining. Colin wants to get some energy. He's
trying to hope to get to a drill pack on his feral but is
the timer back up? No the timer's not back up. Can he go
for a farm down? He needs the farm down. He desperately needs
enough energy to get to the drill pack to tie up this
series. Can he get there? And console note trying to solve
the switch time as you can swap over, swap is available.
Can you get to the triple bank of time?
What about the second two hits?
And Ancocts will now take the two-zero victory
in this spice matchup against Colin Six.
Spectacular plays from Ancocto, no,
coming out of nowhere in dominating this matchup
versus Colin with the spice mix.
He played amazingly.
Wow.
What a series.
And Ancocts will know, maybe a lesser known player
in the circuit, right?
because a lot of the players from Japan, from other regions in Asia, they don't have a lot of their tournaments broadcast, right?
So I believe that Encounter Noir did qualify through PJCS this year.
Yes.
But, you know, my personal prediction this year for World Championships is that I think last few years APAC players have won Worlds.
I think it might happen for a third year shift because they increase the amount of players that can come from those regions.
And I think very well deserved, right?
because our last two chambers were from those regions,
and now they get a chance to show off the spotlight
and be, you know, a part of this tournament
that maybe in the past wouldn't have been able to base
on how many players could walk by,
and ends up coming down.
He brought the spice to that series.
And of course, out of all of the regions in APAC,
Japan has the largest player base here,
competing at the World Championships,
and a player base that has been practicing together,
have their own unique strategy, own unique style,
something that these trainers here
that we've seen all season long in our championship series
are not as well aware of.
And you saw it exactly there.
The mind games that he was playing in that matchup
with those Spice Pokemons, it's just brilliant, Caleb.
Yeah, it's a shadow, Glyspor, shall we?
And then he didn't faint.
He went full acrobatics, full times.
He just went for all the hard of hitting moves.
And since you know what, as long as I play this wall,
I know the ring costs.
And you can see here, right, column six,
great job bank calls.
and he puts himself in the wing attack range.
He obviously doesn't know the concept of that, right?
So, maybe he doesn't think he needs to help us much,
but it came in absolutely huge.
This farmed down, and of course,
the after-match to take out almost the entire health form
of the frags that are later to put politics
in a very different position.
And this is the point of the moment that happens
so often in these world championships
that I get the goosebumps.
I get a bit of chills because I see something
that I haven't seen before.
I haven't seen this type of strategy.
It seems like Inconto though has cracked the code a little bit
and I can't wait to see where that takes him
because this was the winner's semis in Group E.
So I don't know if that definitely secured Day Number Two,
but he has an amazing chance to be here
on Saturday, Day Number Two.
Yeah, I believe he has to win the Winner's Finals
or win the Loose Finals.
He has two more chances to make it into Day Number Two
and his odds are looking pretty good.
He's only, he only ran three Pokemon.
We didn't see the Panthers, the Tinkentown
or the Chargerbugs, but wow.
What a well-built team, a spice team at Vast.
And that's the thing, right?
No matter what our top 12 usage is,
if you know how to build a team well,
especially in an open meta and make it synergized,
it can take you really, really far.
In Contano, trying to win infinite glory
here at the World Championships,
let's hear from him.
Take it away, Tomahawk.
I'm joined by Contano, one of the players
that's traveled here to San Francisco
all the way from Japan.
And you have just beaten,
not just one of the best players in Europe,
but one of the best players in the world in Colin Six.
How are you feeling?
He's a very good player, but he's also a player who knows a lot about the game, so I was able to do something about it.
your favorite pokemon that poly toad talk us through why you went with that
pokemon
my favorite pokemon is poly toad and that is why I was using poly toad
now you're in San Francisco at your world championships have you played in a
World Championships before?
Yes, and not other worlds, but Ponto's son has entered many various other tournaments,
especially the UIC, where his opponent came second that time, so he's able to experience
other tournaments as well.
Well you've done really, really well so far and you should be very proud.
You've still got yourself on the winner's side of the bracket, so best of luck.
Congratulations again, otherwise we're going to go to a quick video, stay tuned.
The one that banished, the one that watches, a legendary Pokémon that exists in shadows.
Deared for its presence yet coveted by trainers worldwide, Giratina has left a lasting mark
on the world of Pokémon GO.
In its altered form, Giratina thrives as a supported force, anchoring teams and wearing
down opponents with patience, strength, but in its origin form, Giratina's true nature
awakens, breathes from the chains of exile, it becomes a serpentine dragon, abandoned by gravity,
its attacks grow fierce, and transform it from a sturdy defender into a devastating closer capable
of ending battles with overwhelming power. It's no wonder that such a weakly bursted
hostile Pokémon as clean displays on chat-inched
videos. Yet, having a legendary Pokémon is not the same as mastering it. It takes knowledge
to unlock the full potential of these giants. Allow me to show you.
Legendary Pokémon are notoriously difficult to obtain, but their power makes the effort
work well. They shine the most in the Master League, where their CP can reach staggering
heights, but some can also be kept below 1500 CP, making them viable for the Great League.
Trainers often trade with friends to secure a legendary Pokemon that ideally sit as close
to 1500 CP as possible, without exceeding that Great League professional.
Examples of legendary Pokemon that are very good in the Great League are Cresselia, Giratina
on Registil, Zaptos and Galarian Moltres.
Galarian Moltres was a key member of World Champion Builds Boys team.
It has some of the best fast and charged sex in the game.
Once Mandebus ruled the skies, but now Galarian Moltres has taken the throne.
With its dark and flying type, it is one of the best counters to popular crowns and ghost-type football.
Giratina comes in two forms. Origin, offering more offense pressure, and Alpert, providing greater bulk.
Recently, trainers were able to rescue Shadow Giratina Alpert from Giovanni, and it has proven to be successful in the competition immediately.
Its typing gives it eight defensive resistances, making it one of the top choices as your ghost-like Pokémon to bring to the battlefield.
Next to strength and versatility, some legendary Pokemon focus on coverage and poke.
Priscilla has been a stapling competitive battle for years, thanks to its flexible choice
of attacks.
With Krasnod, it threatens water and ground type Pokemon.
With Moon Blast, it handles dragon and dark type Pokemon.
And with Future Sight, it delivers strong neutral damage.
It has won multiple championships for a reason.
Legendary football demonstrates that many favorites can find a place in competitive battles.
With their strength, versatility and coverage, the way can be tailored to fill the role your team needs the most.
Whether it is in friendly matches or the football go-valley,
mastering these footballs can give trains a decisive edge.
Try for yourself by catching or training one of these legendary Pokemon and adding them to your roster.
Best of luck, Trainers!
Pokemon Go is my first Pokemon game I've played.
My favorite Pokemon is Registeel because it was the Pokemon I won my first ever
play Pokemon Regional with.
It was Worlds in Yokohama, Japan.
That was the furthest I've ever traveled.
Absolutely worth it. Once in a lifetime trip.
I would definitely say I look up to it's action the world champion from Yokohama. He's definitely
really helped me with a lot of the teams I build and a lot of the play styles I've really gotten
comfortable with. So everywhere I like to go my favorite food is nachos. I always have to like
criticize the nachos that different places have that I travel to. So I would definitely say
nachos are the best thing ever. I want to say fruit because that's what you should be having
First, not, but I always love my bag of chips.
My favorite city to compete in, it actually has to be London.
I just love the city in general.
It's always a breeze to travel around London.
Variety of music is definitely EDM.
Always a lot of jamming music when it comes to that genre.
That's what I always do to like hype myself up
before tournaments.
Water, fire, or draft?
Water.
Water is essential to life.
Welcome back Pokemon trainers to the 2026 Pokemon go world championships.
The action so far this weekend has been absolutely incredible and it's only heating up as the
day goes on.
My name is home size Henry joined here on the desk by the one and only Luther Pikachu.
Take it through day number one as these trainers continue to fight for their place in top cut.
Honestly, the matches so far have been incredible.
We have the best of the best from all around the globe competing to get that coveted number
one spot to call themselves the Pokemon World Champion.
This is the fifth world championship for competitive Pokemon Go.
And so one of these trainers within a few days is going to be able to add their name
to that incredible roster.
So far it seems like kind of an early theme, a recipe to success, one could say, has been
kind of thinking outside the box.
He's going into the tournament, what Pokemon were we expecting, the Cantonine, Tails, the
Kyliki, the Tinketon.
And they definitely made their present selves, but it really feels like trainers thinking
outside the box trying to find interesting ways to
corebreak those options, whether it's the Dondozo,
we saw Milotic, we just saw a Shadow Glide score piloted
to perfection.
So trainers kind of think it outside the box,
trying to, maybe not necessarily discerning the top six
in usage and that risk has really paid off.
Well, I think we're in an interesting position
because the forever forward meta only really unleashed
towards the end of the regional season.
We had the terrain and special championships
where a lot of trainers on the European side were able
to kind of dip their toe in the water
and see how this meta was feeling.
But now, fast forward through the summer,
the Pokemon World Championships and this is the tournament unlike any other so our trainers do they
want to bring something tried and tested something reliable or something that little bit more spicy
it's worlds at the end of the day so you got to be confident. And speaking of confidence we have
two trainers right down on the stage and there are two trainers who have had pretty incredible
seasons on the left Spartan L who has had runner-up placements in Merida and Monterey this season
and Firestar who's arguably been one of the most consistent trainers in North America he's competed
again and again and he is always finding his way into these top cuts making deep tournament runs.
That's the thing, a lot of consistency across the board from both of these trainers and the
Pokemon as well have certainly got their fair share of competitive experience. Pokemon like the
Empolium we have seen in many matters past but the Pokemon I want to talk about first of all is
that Thevil on fire star side. That's one that's recently had that community day and unlocked the
icy wind that's really put it forward into this meta game. What Thevil can put like at least in terms
of pressure onto an opponent's team is it's a really difficult Pokemon to try and lead
weak to because if you end up like losing lead to a Thievel and you put something in,
Thievel has the ability with that new legacy move, Icy Wind, slow down your roll, debuff
your attack and then pin it into a matchup. And so Thievel can honestly put a lot of pressure
on the teams, especially considering that the dark type of choice for Spartan is MandaBuzz.
MandaBuzz is running kind of a different move set to what we've seen in the past in the
the championship series. In
days of old, we had Aerial Ace, we
had Air Slash and Valve Play, but now
it's Snarl, Valve Play, and Shadow
Ball. And that man of us moves that gives a very
strong neutral matchups, but a worry
could be it does not have
any coverage into that deadly Feeble.
I think Feeble has to watch out though, because on
the opposing side you do have that Flaugers, and
the Fairy type running that Fairy Wind is going
to be able to deal decently with that
opposing Pokemon, doesn't have to worry too much about taking
those sucker punches. And Flaugers critically as well
is running that chilling water and the disarming voice, not opting for the trailblaze, not wanting
to be able to boost itself up instead going for that defense attack drop on the opposing side
and weaken it out for later. But Henry, let's jump into the match. We've got Galarian Corsula
versus the Ninetales. An interesting choice right off the bat from Spartan. He's opted for the non-
shadow Kanto Ninetales. Typically, the shadow is preferred for matchups like these.
Weather ball, energy ball, they're decent charge attacks, but the bulk of Galarian Corsula means
that even if an energy ball does get a debuff, Galarian Corsula, not worried. This is what
9 tells like to do best though use those embers to farm up all the energy and get some damage on the
forfeit switches galore it's going to be the licky licky person down against the evil now switches
on both sides and people not quite able to make the ice wind before body slam is available fire star
will put up the effect shield and this little bit telegraphs his next move is he could try and reach
for the icy wind showed in the body slam that would be the most damage yeah evil going for
these sucker punches there's the icy wind like he mentioned we know the bulk of licky licky is going
to be able to contend with this and regardless of the shield comes in play the ice and debuff will
still come through, but Spartan reserving their shields wisely for Licky Licky.
An important aspect of this game for Firestar was the fact that he did not let it catch
happen. He was able to hold onto that energy on that Galarian Corsola, so even though he
is in a position where he's down a shield in this mid game, look at that body set, that
body set, there's nothing. Siebel should be able to exit the match with a lot of energy,
there's a lot of energy in the Corsola as well, and then switch back as Night Tales
hits the field.
Yeah, the switch time is half reset, so we're going to see a run back of the opening leads
for this first game here with the Ninetales versus the Corsola, but Corsola is going to
start ramping on the pressure a little bit going for this power jab is super
effective but not enough to get the KO nine tails still in the game. It looks
like Spartan would not have made the double weather ball so instead opting
for the energy ball. Energy ball slightly less efficient but does do a little bit
more damage. Energy ball connects, Corsula survives, no debuff comes through and
Firestar farms down. Yeah those are strong she's just finishing up against
that nine tails but now Spartan has an option you could bring in that and pull
him from the back start farming up a little bit of energy or put the
Licky Licky back in place. It is gonna be that point here you have the shotty
ready to go. That's going to apply so much pressure onto that Corsola. Incredible
counting there from Spartan, the overfarm by one CMP tying the Corsola,
slamming the door as the energy for Firestar is lost. The Firestar could look
to utilize the evil energy to great success as Impoleon hits a deal. Two of
the steel type Titans of the meta, Tinkertum versus Impoleon and Tinkertum
does have that utility coverage move with the Bulldoze to apply pressure to the
opposing Impoleon but Spartan gonna let this come through. Bulldoze connects. It's a
50% chance at a debuff, but it does not come through. Firestar reaching for the next bulldoze,
Spartan not going to throw energy just as he wants to hold onto the energy to make it more
difficult for Firestar to potentially try and switch into Feeble. And with the second bulldoze
coming through, I think a wide shield here, you want to keep him polion in the game, no debuffs,
still against one lucky little penguin as he gets all of that energy up on the Hydra cannons.
And this Hydra cannon, it's not going to be a problem for Tinketon. Tinketon is very bulky.
In addition to having that great defensive typing, Firestar can try and reach for the bulldoze,
But Spartan is going to cut him off.
Going for the Hydro Cannon.
Firestar, he's letting Tingenton go.
He's putting his Game 1 hopes on the back of Feeble.
There's still that one shield on Firestar's side of the field
as well to utilize.
And you have that Feeble with so much energy band
coming back onto the field.
The Night Slash in play, but Spartan now deciding,
do you want to keep him podium in play
or are you going to utilize that shield?
It is at the last second going up.
The Protect Shield comes off.
Does Firestar, oh he gets the boost.
It is going to be a charge attack priority tie here.
So now the Feeble, these sucker punches,
they already do so much damage,
But they're going to be hitting even harder Spartan able to grab the final protect shield
But a plus one night slash and polion can never hope to survive this this time as well
It's insult to injury the tracks yields are down the plus one light
You said Henry is gonna come full in full force and get the knockout onto that polio
Licky-licky however comes back in although that's a lot of energy
There's not a lot of HP on the board and does this body set take the knockout the ice to indiva from earlier has been reset
Licky, Licky fires up the body slam, Thiebel falls and that's going to be a game one win for Spartan.
That was on the finest of margins in that endgame. Licky, Licky barely holding on but such a fantastic utility to come in with all that energy and keep the pressure on.
I really liked Spartan's decision in the endgame. It seemed like for a second there he wasn't quite sure if the body slammer would take the knockout.
So even despite the threat of those boosted sucker punches, he stayed calm. He threw the roll out to get a little bit of extra damage.
The evil is quite bulky and with a little bit of extra damage done body slam takes the knockout and sparring clutches a very important victory
I have to mention as well the pressure output from these charge attacks that the nine tails and the opoleum were
Bel able to deal out against fire star side
You were able to get to those energy balls and weather balls so fast on nine tails side and at the same time back to back hydro
Conn is ready to go is such a ferocious thing to deal with even despite the fact that the regular nine tails is not necessarily
knows the damage that it can output. I really liked how he was able to decision that 9 tails
in this game. He was able to fire off an energy ball early on, survive the power gem, so the
bulk on the regular 9 tails actually came in clutch, getting a second energy ball. And
then the energy management on Spartan was absolutely critical in that end game. Napoleon
energy so valuable in this meta as a whole, but so valuable in this matchup, the energy
goes everywhere unless they're in an impoleon mirror, and by prioritizing that energy perfectly,
She's just able to get enough damage out of that Feeble to take the game one win.
That's an interesting observation though, because you're right.
You see a lot more of the shadow variant on these 9-tels.
I think it's a nice way for it to apply pressure to some of the water types in the meta.
But then we're going to see the adaptation here, where it's not shadow and gives it that defensive capabilities.
But we're jumping right into the game.
It's going to be a ghost type parade with the Annihilation vs. the Corsalev.
Oh, that is not what Spartan was hoping to see.
But he save switches, licky-licky, Firestar going to bring in the Feeble.
And Feeble just going to strike first with the Night Slash.
Night Slash isn't a cheaper move, won't have that attack drop, but what it does get is some damage onto that Licky Licky because the Licky Licky having health in the endgame
and it'll prove to be a little bit problematic for Firestar in game number one.
Yeah, Sloan and Steddy can indeed win the race in Licky Licky's game, of course, but now it's going to be going for another one of these body slams.
These just stack up some decent damage into the opposing people and look at that, another one is primed and ready to go.
A no shield from Firestar, he knows his body sample not threatened to knock out.
He's approaching very quickly under the Night Slash, and as these sucker punches connect as the damage adds up,
Licky Licky is going to be very hard pressed to survive, so Spartan will invest to protect Shield.
Not something we see every day, particularly when there is a Shadow Annihilate in the back,
that normally likes to hold all of those shields to itself, but Licky Licky optimizing the potential
to go for all this energy on the Shadow Ball, all the Body Slam.
It looks like Thievill, however, is just pipping it to the post.
That may have been a miss-celt there from Spartan, he lets it on Night Slash be reached,
Now he's down both protect shields and considering what he has in the back
He could be in some pretty serious trouble against tinketon and he can't even farm down the sucker punch pressure from evil too much for
Licky-Licky and Spartan has to give up both protect shields and an entire body slam
You can see what Licky-Licky is trying to do as you say farm down
There's much energy up on the board and then unleash that on one of the poke one in the back on fire star side
But Licky-Licky had to go for that damage in that situation, but now he gets that shadow board and look it's gone and shielded
He's making the read. He's trusting in Tinketon with both protect shields intact.
The Shadow Ball connects. Big damage. Ingum's man to buzz. Tinketon hits the field.
And this could be a very big problem for Spartan. Spartan did stay in that lead match
to get a little bit of energy that will allow him to outpace.
But this is where having two protect shields, he's critical for Firestar.
He can protect the Tinketon, invest in that hell, and then reach for the Tinketon hammer for the one.
Hit KO. And look at the work that those fairy winds are putting in against the Shadow Manilape as well.
so much energy up on the board and so much HP being dwindled away on an earlipside, particularly with the follow-up of that heavy damage attack coming through.
This Tinketon, by prioritizing that HP, is firmly outside of a range where Shadow Ball could take a knockout.
And that is very, very good for Firestar, because being outside of Shadow Ball range, even though you have a prevent shield,
you're not necessarily threatened to throw it until he's able to make it to his second Shadow Ball,
whereas in the meantime, these Tinketon hammers, oh my goodness, and he gets the catch back out of the Corsula.
Corsola basically just being used as he damaged Bunch in this game.
Yeah, it's taking shadowball after shadowball, but even though it's taking a super effective attack,
it is still hanging on in the game and can retaliate with this power gem.
Something that the Mandebus does not appreciate taking at all.
So, Firestar ended up dropping the first game, but in game two,
he fights back in dramatic fashion. Corsola knocking out one of its most typical matchups in Mandebus.
We've got a series we're going to a game number three.
I love myself a game three. It's more incredible competitive Pokemon action for you guys at home
to enjoy and for us to cast over as well particularly when the games are so very close so much great
alignment so much switching but for me it really came down to the momentum swing when tinkerton
found itself down against our annihilator that tinkerton and the call to make to send in the
course and no shield a super effective shadowball he was trusting in the fact that tinkerton up two
shields looking into spartans even if it was something like that problematic kanto nine tails
which is not a good matchup up two shields he should still have enough where just by firing
a full doses in Gigaton hammers that Tinkathon would still be able to close out that match.
Yeah it was great to be able to see one of the top poke one in the meta have such great utility
in play but again one of the key things for me was about those shield utilities being able to
keep the shields nicely preserved in contrast to your opponent who was then incredibly vulnerable
here the Annihilate and then the follow-up with the Mandypuzz gigaton hammer was just able to come
through absolutely unstopped. Now a team construction like that from Spartan is only possible when the
Fairy type of choice on Fire's first side is the Tinkathon because Annihilate can actually have
some play. Ticket's on through the fairy steel typing counter hits for neutral. You can actually
over time get some pretty nice damage there. So the idea was to kind of run a soft ABA line
which is basically where your lead Pokemon and your back Pokemon share weakness. And so his plan
was if I see the ticket on on the lead, I can kind of soft lose the match up for the man the
bush should be good in the back. All right, the stage is set. The battler's already game number three
Spartan L versus Firestar. The Corsola returns but this time it leads into Florges. Yes, both
Changing things up bringing that floor jazz into play. It's just able to go for these very winds stop farming up
As much energy as possible gets to his charge attacks nice and early, but then goes for that chilling water
Now what mean that fire star may have to check for with this team composition if he is double weak to fighting in the back
We know Spartan has not bought the annihilate, but if I start is worried about the annihilate
He could potentially need to try and hit it out of this matchup
I do like the adjustment in steel types here
Tinketon is gone and at its place in Polion a Pokemon that can better take charge stacks from Spartans in Polion
And knowing as well the Theevils in the back here, you want to make sure that you avoid facing down against our opposing Flaugers.
Empolion joins the Fray is able to go for these Metal Slimes and just get into a prime position, but it's now time for that.
Poggan wants to start going for the big damage, trying to get the Night Sage down onto the opposing side, but Empolion can take that easy.
I love this play pattern from Firestar. It's something we've seen time and time again, typically with Licky Lickies.
If you're ever able to get a little bit of chip damage and kind of soften up your opponent, then you can bring in your own Empolion.
in poleon because everything in this matchup is resisted in poleon. The reason why it's in this
meta is it has an incredibly strong defensive typing. Firestar will actually invest a protect
shield. He does want to keep this in poleon around but this is a pretty effective way for him to
kind of neutralize that energy. Steel typing is one of the best defensive typings in the game and
in poleon is able to utilize this so well. We're going to slow down the pace of play in this mirror
between both the in poleons but the one key thing they can do is relentlessly store up all of this
energy. Hydra Cannon comes across not very effective but it is going to be hanging on on the opposing
inside, Spartan can retaliate with a hydrocanon of his very own.
Oh my goodness, a very low HP survive for Spartan.
Firestar double shielding, he's doubling down on Empolion.
There's a switch into the Forgis,
and I believe that was actually a charge type priority type.
Forgis' energy is resisted,
but Spartan just wants damage on this Pokemon.
Yep, just trying to weaken up, try and get it off the board
as soon as possible, and that's one way to do it.
Getting the KO on the Forgis, now Spartan has the option.
I can't remember how much energy was banked on that opposing Empolion,
but at the same time, your Ninetales can start going through these embers,
farming up energy of its own,
And particularly as you have the shield advantage on Spartan side, you can find a way through the Sympoleon.
Can Firestar potentially find a way to save the Empoleon? Maybe try and go for a catch.
The energy was thrown on the Corse Lake. It was used to chip the Empoleon earlier.
He's going to try for the catch. Bray and Zeeble. But Zeeble is down quite a lot of energy.
Ninetales will reach for the energy ball. There is always a percent chance at a defense drop. Will it come through here?
Enigabal does connect. Significant amount of damage, but it looks like no debuff.
people still able to go for these sucker punches, but the Ninetales is just not
holding back another energy ball as primed and ready to go.
Spartan still does have that protection to work with but also has the holy
arm which could potentially be used as a sacrificial swap at Firestar.
Ways to turn, no catch will come through, but Spartan knows this Night Slash is
survivable. Does he decide to let it go? He will. This would be less damage than
in Hydrocannon, so he's gonna no shield and try and farm down.
Yeah, Ninetales proved his bulk in the previous match of this set, so it knows
is able to hang on. You still have that shield. You have so much energy with the Corsula again.
One of these bulkier pokémon is in play. You have to get a couple more embers of chip down
to be able to apply that pressure. I think Firestar may have a guaranteed win condition here.
He should survive it. If he's able to instantly switch into the Impoleon,
then he could potentially go for a catch. But oh, Spartan reads the catch. Firestar stays on the
field. He gets the call right. Impoleon falls and Firestar's onto the Group D winners finals.
come and compose the whole way through that set fire star able to come back and
give us an incredible game the three thriller of a match wow what a way to
kick things off on our side of the broadcast their fire star staying
undefeated in the tournament so far fire star just stone cold under pressure he
dropped that game number one and sometimes you can kind of see it can get
to players they can get a little bit flustered but not fire star he was
composed. He was just cool under pressure and he made the plays. That ending was so exciting though.
Spartan calling the catch but Firestar stays in and just farms him down. The mind games were
incredible. A great set between two great players and honestly I'm a little sad that it had to come
to an end but what a series. I mean I say this a lot about competitive Pokemon Go. Everything is in
these half second kind of increments right and you have to make so many split second decisions
and already start visualizing paths to victory and I think that was a masterclass in what Firestar
was able to utilize here in this game. The adaptations as well on Spartan side, I really
like to see them come through. I like seeing the Annihilator, for example, I like seeing
the Adjustment Factor Fludges in game two. But Firestar was just able to get fantastic
alignment with Pokemon like this evil, just constantly applying pressure with those sucker
punches, getting so much energy up and ultimately weakening Spartan's life.
An incredibly underrated moment in that series was even though Spartan had the weather ball,
Firestar made a very conscious choice to over form by one if he could then pivot out. He wasn't
even able to get the catch, but what that did is it set up a very difficult end game where everything
has energy. The Impoleon was only two metal sounds away from a Hydro Cannon. There's the
fast attack pressure from the Galarian Corsula, so even in a very dynamic game that had so many
moving parts, Pokemon switching in, left and right, charge attacks being stored, the Switch
Timers desync all over the place, he was kind of able to set up a complicated board state, and I
feel like that is part of what made it so difficult for Spartan to handle is he was able to preserve
that Impoleon and it was at a pretty good health range too. So it just kind of set
himself up really really well. I think you make a good observation about the
switch timer. In this game in particular it was really really strong
constantly on both sides of the field they were making that adaptation maybe
slowing down the pace of play but then thinking hey I've got this energy bank
later I have to make sure I get the right moment to switch in the poke once
of being very confident of that timer was I think a really critical part of
this particular set. The good news is we should hear from Firestar himself
about that dramatic set. Sounds like we have Fareed ready down on the stage to
to hear from the man of the hour, Firestar.
I'm really excited to hear from Firestar as well.
He's a player we all know,
and he's had a really eventful season.
That was a great victory up there.
How are you feeling?
I'm feeling ecstatic.
I have been wanting to keep improving,
being able to make it to winners finals
in the World Championships is something I could have,
honestly, I would say I could have never dreamed of,
but I've been dreaming.
Now, you and I played a long time ago,
and that was a really tough match,
But since then, you've been absolutely soaring.
You've had a great season so far.
I'm glad we're not playing this weekend.
What's it been like for you this year?
It's been absolutely crazy.
It's really been a game of steady improvements.
I've desperately wanted to improve,
and this season has been perfect for it.
Not only making my first winnors side in Seattle,
making my continuing the winnors side even up to here,
hopefully I can make it into day two on the winnors side
and show my potential here at the Worlds.
Now, I like that Feeble pick that you had in your team.
You managed to land that night slush in that last game
and suck a punch down.
What's that new Pokemon been like for you
since this community day?
Feeble has been super interesting.
It was one of the picks that some people advise me
not to go with, but when in practice,
it just felt so neutral being able to icy wind
even the fairies and cause them issues
is something fantastic for a dark type.
It's been fantastic.
Every single team I've played against today
has either been like almost 4X to 5X week to it,
and it's been very easy for me to bring.
Now, lots of players have different approaches
to team building.
Some will have their team ready weeks in advance.
Others want to look in right at the very end.
What's your style?
So I've been building for a while.
I came across this team about a week ago,
and with enough practice,
I locked it in literally night before at about 11 p.m.
What I always recommend to people
that are heading to the fence, not sure on their team,
continue getting that practice.
Don't lock it in too early and don't second guess yourself.
I think that's really good advice,
but you've now played some matches.
You're obviously doing very well with the team.
Are you still happy with it?
Are there any bits where you're like,
oh, this could have been slightly different?
Or is this really, really something
that you've worked well on?
I'd say overall, everything seemed pretty solid.
There were a couple issues.
I actually had an issue into Altaria
and I lost my game one against it,
which was kind of scary,
but I bounced back and haven't seen Altaria since.
So that's been kind of helpful.
Right, well, fingers crossed,
you don't face any more Altaria,
but I would be really worried if I were your opponent's
because that was some really strong gameplay.
Congratulations again, best of luck for the rest of the tournament.
Otherwise, Kastas, take it away.
Bouncing back is certainly what he's been able to do,
even after taking a game one loss.
That's why we play best of three at the end of the day.
Of course, Firestar will be continuing in the competition,
but Spartans not out yet either.
We play a double elimination bracket,
so even though you take that one loss,
the dream is still very much alive
for our trainers in that losers bracket.
Speaking of, we've had so many matches
occurring off stream throughout the day.
We have a bunch of results for you.
We have Ripperly taking down Pranav,
Kem Koop emerging victorious,
Z's wireless taking down Arbusora.
There's some top names here.
That certainly is as well.
Panama down there as well.
We've also got Marta Galday taking a 2-0 victory there
over Serrana.
Again, a trainer, I think a lot of viewers out there,
a lot of fans are really rooting for.
But I have to say Z's wireless,
I remember Z's wireless versus Panama at EUIC.
I think that was one of the most iconic games
of Pokemon Go history.
Great to see both of these competitors here
on the world stage.
I really like seeing trainers who are able to kind of build off a strong performance and turn it into such incredible consistency.
Because people can have those like one-off incredible runs, but if the trainers do that, it almost feels like a light's a fire under them, right?
Where suddenly they're like, I get it. I no longer feel those nerves like, I can lock in, I can play my game.
And that's what we've seen where ZZ, he very frequently tries to go anti-meta rather than running the top stuff.
He usually tries to find something kind of interesting, whether it's something like he's brought a King Gambit to a previous World Championship,
which, if you're watching, you're familiar with VGC,
you go Henry, King Gambit is very good.
King Gambit is kind of a surprise for us at this format.
So he's known for kind of thinking outside the box.
I'm very happy to see that at least off stream,
things have been going very well for him.
I do like seeing that creativity come through
on a lot of teams.
And I'm glad you mentioned the consistency
because again, a trainer that I don't really need
any encouragement to talk about is Padaman of course.
I do like to consider myself Padaman's number one fan,
but we talk a lot about his, you know,
back to back European international championship wins.
But for me, one of the highlights was he was a trainer
who in the European scene was doing incredibly well
getting to these Grand Finals,
but it actually took him to his third Grand Finals
to be able to get the win.
And I remember as with Charm Alolan nine tails
back in the day, but again, it took him those three attempts.
The consistency was there, but the victory,
the golden ticket as it were, still was just out of reach.
And he had to keep that momentum up and keep that drive.
And for a lot of trainers, that really is the story.
For a lot of them as well, I mean trainers like Firestar,
they have that consistency, those top finishes,
but we're still waiting for a lot of trainers
to get that number one win.
Are you actually alluding to this perfectly because speaking of Potomac, he is back on stage
and this might be the matchup that I have been the most excited for this entire day
on the left. Potomac, the boy wonder, back to back European international champion.
He had a streak where he had made day three at five consecutive internationals. The streak was
only broken at NAIC where he got four. It's still an unbelievable run and sitting across the table
for him, a rising star from the United States of America, Caspian Pike.
He's only participated this is his fourth event, but his third event in Indianapolis,
he won the whole thing.
A rising star in our scene versus Potomac, who is an established star.
This matchup has an incredible amount of firepower.
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't Indianapolis the last regional of the U.S.
circuit in this season?
Was that the very last one?
Because I think if it was, then Padaman winning Turin, the last one of the European season.
it to where the hottest condensers coming into the world championships you are absolutely right that is a terrific callout right there so these trainers have both been at the top of their game very very recently and the teams that they're running are incredibly interesting
Potomac has opted for the non-shadow, Milotic, Waterfall, Aqua Tail wrap, the ability to kind of debuff through matchups with wrap,
and with super effective water type Vastal Pressure, be kind of difficult for the Ninetales.
And then Caspian Pike also has a fish of his own. We have a little fish battle here on stage, but he has Dondoso.
Dondoso with Waterfall, Surf, and Outrage, feels a very similar role of trying to target and shut down Pokémon like Alolan Ninetales.
9 tails. Well, I think that's the reason because Kaspy and Pike was running the Feraligator back in
Indianapolis and Pokemon like Feraligator and Empolion are kind of dropping off a little bit
more particularly the Feraligator in the face of Pokemon like the Alolan 9 tails that particularly
in the shadow form are able to apply a lot more pressure with seeing in this world championships
already early doors, a big shift into more bulky water type variants, Dondozo and the Milotic for
example. And those Pokemon, the main reason why they're rising is an ability to survive a super
super effective energy ball from that Kanto Ninetales.
A Pokemon like Shadow Feraliator,
it's actually not a comfortable match
up to the Ninetales.
If you end up getting one bait called wrong,
if you end up shielding a weather ball,
suddenly the Ninetales is outpacing you,
you're getting one shot, it's tough.
But if you have these water types that have bulk,
like that Milotic, like that Dardozo,
you throw a super effective energy ball at them,
and they're fine.
They take that very comfortably,
they're still smacking down
with super effective waterfall damage.
So it's very interesting to see as the meta adapts
to try and counter that Cancer Ninetales,
because it is an absolute terror.
Well, it looks like our train is already,
so we're not gonna leave you waiting
any longer, let's jump into the game.
It's gonna be a fortress versus the Ninetales here.
This is no a fortress wants to see at all.
A catastrophic lead for Bato, man,
but in comes Milotic.
Caspian Pipe gonna stay on the field.
He's gonna build up to the energy ball.
This would do quite a lot of damage.
He goes for the weather ball bait.
He will save a little bit of energy
and grab an early protect shield.
Yeah, Panama not only losing the lead,
but losing a shield very early on in this game one.
has lots of energy charged up those the adaptation comes in with this stun fist
now because Pato man did end up investing for tech shield this by load it
is very very healthy now the most recent time we saw my lot of is actually at
the European international championships where you're never gonna believe it
Pato man ended up winning so he's very familiar with this Pokemon castian bike
could potentially try and look to make a play for switch advantage here as
keeping nine tails aligned on that force rest would be very very favorable but
despite the bulk of this by loading something is applying a lot of pressure
having, you know, super effective fast and charge attacks here. The Thunder Shock stacking up.
What I see, I think, on Caspian Pike's side, going through the shield here, you want to be able to eat up this Aquatown,
not take any damage and keep that pressure game on.
And Caspian Pike, one off the discharge, able to fire off the charge attack on perfect timing.
Cato Man invests to protect shield. Can he potentially waterfall down?
This is going to be close to Stunfisk as low, but Stunfisk is buggy, but Caspian Pike pops out.
He brings in Licky Licky, and that's going to be swiftly answered with the Forrest Rips.
Yeah, again, slowing down the pace of play here,
Licky Licky versus Forrest, but Forrest is much happier
to face down against the Licky Licky than the Ninetales in the lead.
Licky Licky, however, can utilize all of these charge attacks,
so no protection remaining on Padaman's side,
and that is a huge chunk of damage into that bulky Pokemon.
Oh, that is so much damage onto the Licky Licky.
Caspian Pike, he's gonna like to let this go.
This will not take the knockout,
but Potomac does get very, very good value out of his Fortress.
The Raktu connects, Caspian White will reach for the Shadow Ball,
but he's actually gonna over farm,
because he does not want to give a lot of farm
to Potomac once that fortress gets knocked out.
Yeah, here comes the second shadow ball coming through.
Being the shadow variant on it,
the fortress is well-done.
It's leaving a little bit more vulnerable defensively,
but now Padaman can bring that Milotic back in
with all the energy up to face down to get Ninetales.
But look at that, Ninetales gets there first.
This is gonna be close. It's a resistant weather ball.
Milotic is very bulky. Can it survive?
Weather ball connects. Milotic falls.
No! And that is exactly what Caspian was hoping to see.
This Ninetale's absolutely dealing, vanquishing,
that opposing Milotic from play.
play and look at that it's got another charge attack for some style points to
face down against into this Corsola.
What a problem for Caspian Pike to be, he does not have a lot of HP remaining on his remaining Pokemon.
He's gonna have to survive astonishments on the Licky Licky and I don't know if Licky Licky has what it takes.
There's not a lot of energy ready on that Licky Licky, it does manage to get to the body start but we know that will be negligible damage into the Corsola.
Wasn't able to get to the Shadow Ball, now it really is all hopes and stun fists for Caspian Pike.
But Pato Man has the back to back night shades as close as it can get.
Caspian knows with back to back night shades, the only one for Dex shield.
It's checkmate, Pato Man takes game number one.
It certainly looks a little bit dicey in turns and that the beginning in the leads was not ideal for
Panama, forced to go for those shields early, then my low tick goes down.
But he was able to come out on top, that is a champion right there.
I think an incredibly tricky aspect of that game was Caspian Pike intentionally over farmed
not only to try and let it farm in that licky licky matchup, but also over farmed because he wanted an ability to switch out
He did not want to concede farmed to that my load if he wanted nine gels in the field
But in doing so by throwing the extra rollout
He took a lot of extra bug bites and that was actually the deciding factor in this game
It was right here instead of going the shadow ball right away
You over farmed to throw one more base the switch timer would not have been off after this knockout was taken after the shadow ball lands
The switch timer just came off
but it wouldn't have been available had he not from the rollout so it's a very tricky situation of trying to manage your health
versus manage the timers. Pato Man just ends up committing to back attack pressure and by not getting any charge attacks off on the Milotic
there was a fear that maybe there was enough HP remaining on that Licky Licky, but even double-resisted
astonishing's got the far down on Licky Licky. That game was as close as it could get.
So Licky Licky was trying to buy a little bit of time you save for maybe the Ninetales could come back into the game
the game and Nontas was able to deal with the Milota beautifully with the bulk of that
Corsola, particularly with the Astonishes stacking up to low HP just meant that Panaman
had a clear path to victory at the end of that game one. But Caspian Pike has been in
these positions before, his back might be up against the wall in this situation, but
we played this best of three set, there's adaptations to be made.
I'm so impressed with how that regular Milotic, the non-channel was able to handle that you
know, the Sunfish matchup, because normally we see a lot of water times, especially if
they're down a shield, kind of struggle there, but the reason that Caspian Pike had to pivot
out to give up switch advantage with you was just getting far down all right we've
got lock-ins game number two it's gonna be you know the stunfish for
Casper and bike it is a shadow bug by fortress for Potomac yeah Padaman sticking
with the same leads from that game one and the fortress of the Pokemon by his
side from that victory into Rin as well gets lots of energy up but it is going
to be the stunfish that's supposed to move mud bomb would do some pretty
significant damage but never throwing the farm down Potomac is going to shield up
the mud bomb if a mud bomb gets no shielded then potentially if it's a
good IV on that Sunfist. Sunfist has the ability to no shield and make double
discharge and kind of make life a little bit uncomfortable but by shielding a
mud bomb that should hopefully put Potomac in a slightly better position.
Yeah we are gonna see the Santune come through with the supporting defense buff
that it will always deal through. That does leave the Sunfist a little bit more
vulnerable but the Sunfist I think is really also trying to get some damage on
the board. He goes for that discharge, puts the fortress down into that yellow
zone and look at that another discharge ready to go. But this should be
survivable for Potomac. It is going to be very very close but the important
distinction right here of shielding the mudbomb is what allows him to win this switch advantage.
So switch advantage has been won, but it all comes back. It all started from that very
first mudbomb shield. Very, very good sequencing here from Potomac.
And Panama, allowing the Licky Licky to farm up a little bit there, but critically being
able to farm on the foragers as well to get to these charge attacks here. The Rock Tomb
will come through. Connects obviously onto that Licky Licky Lois. Its attack may be making
it a little bit easier for one of the poke, one in the back for Panama.
Milotic will hit the field immediately and switch out into the Mantine, answered with
this is a pretty negative matchup for the Mantine.
However, Mantine is up a little bit of energy.
It's up a shield, but it's going to have a lot of work to do
if it wants to get through the bulky Corsola and end up by loading.
As well, that Power Gem does apply a lot of super effective pressure onto the Mantine here.
Mantine is going to go for the Water Pass, however.
We know the bulk of the Corsola is going to be able to keep it comfortably in the game,
and it looks like Panama's actually going for the Night Shade here.
Looks like the shield comes up on Casting Pike's side, though,
thinking maybe that couldn't be the Power Gem.
I really like that play from Potomac.
a very low risk bait, where even if the Nite Chain ends up getting no shield, there's some
very valuable damage that would make the Mantine a lot easier for my Loading to deal with.
Now Pato-Man, he is looking to try and land the Power Gem, Cast me in double shields,
but even purely off the Astonish damage, a Charge Attack hasn't landed on the Mantine,
and it's already lost almost two thirds of its health bar.
This Corsair is putting in some work and pressure to boot.
Mantine, however, can now start retaliating as well, part of him allowing us to go through
wanting to conserve the shields a little bit more in this second game.
comes Milotic. Waterfall goes through as Twister will connect, but it's a no shield from Potomac.
The non-shadow Milotic is very, very bulky. The Twister connects. Milotic takes it like it's nothing,
and even these waterfalls are starting to pressure.
Thing is Milotic really doesn't feel threatened at all by anything the Mantine can come back with.
Patamant is able to preserve that shield nicely and forcing this Mantine to have to keep unleashing
all the energy it's storing up to be able to keep the pressure on the Milotic. Milotic now able to go
go for something like a wrap or just keep up this back to back acro tails if
there's going to be a switch.
Pato Man do not want to risk the upper tail missing the knockout will full
center the wrap. Wrap is going to land. Mantine is going to fall and now it's
Licky Licky versus the world.
Licky Licky has a lot of energy however so it is able to unleash that but
Padaman wisely had conserved that shield for this exact scenario here. You can
keep my load safely in the game and now you have all the energy for days to try
and deal with this opposing Licky Licky.
And Caspian did not actually end up firing off energy here.
He was potentially worried about a catch, so instead of locking in two-charts,
he already tied the overfarm, but the wrap is going to land Licky, Licky,
all the switch, Corsola farms down Licky, Licky again,
as Potomac takes the series two games to zero.
What an incredible game.
Look at the relief though, however, that was definitely Dicey in places
throughout the set for Panda Man, was able to keep calm and composed throughout,
making the great utility switches with that Corsola and the Miloadik.
And I have to say, sticking with the fortress as your lead
in games one and game two just put on so much pressure with those bug flies they
were tearing through the opponent I really liked the conviction there from
Pato man even though he ended up seeing the worst-case scenario lead for the
fortress leading into the canton I tell said you know what what are the odds that
happens again what if I just run this back and then try and just not lead into
the cancer night else although the crazy thing was he managed to win that game
because of how safe my lotic was to save switch you know this done this we
actually saw it in the Indianapolis regionals where Caspian pike against
out of pocket was able to utilize
some fish to really effectively
neutralized on gozo.
Don gozo is very bulky,
but it doesn't have the pacing
and my loaded spacing group
to be very, very problematic
for that sunfish and forcing
to give up switch advantage
and that opened the door
for pato man to win that game.
My loader was an absolute
showstopper in that game.
And one of the things I say a lot
is I know it's Pokemon at the end
of the day and it's really
through. You got to carry the
Pokemon to win the game.
But you also have to play
the player and sometimes
the player is like the fourth
Pokemon on the team.
And I think Pat on was able
to demonstrate that so beautifully.
As you said, you know,
having a terrible lead position with that fortress in game one,
but still being able to clutch the victory,
did possibly put a seed of doubt into Caspian Pike's mind
for the adaptations coming into the next game.
Meaning Panama says, I'm bringing my fortress.
What are you going to do?
Because even when the fortress was on the cancer nine test,
it was blind because of the my loading strength as a safe switch.
But that lead matchup in game number two
felt so incredibly decisive.
The very, very heads up play of shielding early in a matchup
where Mudbomb doesn't even come close to take the knockout,
but understanding.
If he's going to try and play
that zero-protect shield scenario,
you can make a mud bomb plus double discharge.
If I shield the mud bomb,
then double discharge isn't a problem.
But if you know shield that mud bomb,
then mud bomb plus discharge actually knocks out
incredible foresight from Potomac.
Watching him play, you instantly understand
how he's had such incredible success
at an international level.
His plays are just brilliant.
It's always a pleasure and always a joy
to watch Panama play
and also a privilege to watch Caspian Pike
in action as well.
Someone who hasn't played too many tournaments
but has had such great success.
Again, they have only dropped down to the losers brackets.
They are still in contention for this tournament.
It is worlds at the end of the day, so early on,
even on the first day of competition,
we are gonna see Titans at the competition battle out.
You know, that could have been a final pairing,
for example.
To be honest, yeah, they are both regional champions,
two of our games best,
and for Caspian Pike,
his day not being over is very critical,
because he was able to make it up to the group finals,
which if I'm not mistaken means that he is
still pretty close to making it through two day number two,
which this being his first world's wick would be an incredible accomplishment.
So if the Caspian bike fans watching at home, he's down, but he's not out.
He's still very much in it.
And for the Potomac fans, business as usual.
Potomac showed up to an international and Potomac dominated.
Exactly, and I think as well, it's always interesting when,
even as a competitor coming in, you're a world,
you know you're going to play against the best of the best.
But Panama's name is definitely not the one you necessarily want to see on the
bracket early doors.
So Caspian bike, you've got that one out of the way.
The show is yours for the taking.
But of course you guys at home as well are engaging with us on the broadcast as much as the action energy is electric here in the stadium.
It really is about you viewers at home engaging that really adds that extra bit to the beat.
Let's take a look at some incredible social media messages from you.
The first from the Dana Dame made it to San Francisco.
Hashtag play Pokemon and look at that the Golden Gate Bridge.
We have Incineroar.
I know you know that one from the video game.
Incineroar up top Charizard as well.
An incredibly cool way to enter the venue.
really beautiful seeing all of the different Pokemon that is scattered around San Francisco here to celebrate the Pokemon World Championships and the Pokemon XP as well.
So many fans making it this way. I really hope you're enjoying the experience. Look, there's a little blastoise as well coming through. Good morning, Pokemon World, Pokemon XP.
I mean, blastoise, it's doing pretty well on the video game, Simon, things. And the water types, you're amongst friends here in Pokemon Go.
the scale of Pokemon worlds and you can see it in that last photo. It's honestly just staggering when you enter. It's incredibly cool.
And we have Ash Van Girl Lisa. I got the World Pikachu Probe and my local League on Saturday after
meeting the tournament. Also won this really cool Pikachu Micro Fiber Cloth and a free raffle. Hashtag Pikachu,
hashtag play Pokemon. You'll love to see it. Man. That world's Pikachu. That's an incredible design.
Yeah. Shout out to the Pikachu. I mean, we also have the one for the Pokemon XP as well.
Oh true.
You have double Pikachu action here to celebrate Pokemon's 30th birthday as well, and I know
a lot of fans out there are really excited to go around the city and be able to see different
Pokemon that are scattered around on banners and details here and there.
There really is just something to look out for everywhere you go.
And something that was very cool as I was getting to explore San Francisco yesterday
is there actually is a stamp rally in San Francisco for Pokemon Go, and I had never really done
a stamp rally before, so I stamped it, and then one of the World's Pikachu showed up
and I was like, oh, this is the way to get extra World's Pikachu, so if you're here in
San Francisco. It's worth going to find those stamp stops. There are a few of them kind
of near the venue. I think I managed to get three so far.
Oh, you're ahead of me. I've only got two.
Oh, all right. We're in the lead. This is good. But I still haven't gotten the shiny
yet. So I will keep stamping those stamp pokey stops and try and get the shiny. This is
a very, very cool shiny.
It's got a beautiful background as well of the Golden Gate Bridge. So, you know, it's
a really nice memento to take away from the tournament. So if you can take yourself away
from the Pokemon action, I'm not encouraging you to do so. But maybe if you've got time
later on after the broadcast go and get those stamps in Pokemon Go.
And I am actually hearing a bit of a word from production actually, interestingly enough
that they're saying it is definitely worth making sure that your Pokemon Go app is up
to date that you are signed in and ready because to quote them something amazing is coming
this weekend.
And that's just the Pokemon action.
There's so many amazing things, honestly the list just goes on and on but I think that's
really sound advice.
I'm going to take note of that, make sure you guys do our home as well as we wait for our
you want to make sure you don't
miss any of the action that is
coming through here. Now take
it a look at the names that
will have coming up here in a
few short minutes. Oh, we have
an absolute tree for you guys.
We have returning to the stage
be raining Pokemon Go World
Champion Beelzeboy. Now Beelzeboy
has been running some Pokemon
that we haven't necessarily seen
a lot of. He's running the
Malamar. He's also running the
jump love and jump love is a
flyer that honestly feels a
run Pokemon that are weak to
Canterran eintails and a Canterran
eintails meta, but it feels like
he's got a decent job of running
the double flyer. He still has
the man team to try and check
the Canterran eintails and then
he has that jump love, whereas
jump love can provide very,
very strong zero shield
matchups just because of its
incredible bulk and honestly
really good typing. And the
other boy obviously being the
reigning world champion as well,
someone who has a lot of eyes
on him to try and get the double
try and get the back to back
because we have not had a repeat
Pokemon world champion before,
so the other boy could indeed
be one of those contenders on
the other side of the world
champion. So the other boy
could be one of those contenders
would indeed be one of those contenders.
On the opposing side, however you have Ripperly,
a player that I know very well from across the pond,
and have been able to see a lot of success
along the European scene.
We've got a lot of those key Pokemon
that are in this team as well.
You've got that Kanto, Ninetales,
you've got the Licky, Licky,
but you've also got the Flaugers,
a Pokemon that I've been really interested to see come through.
You have that Fairy Wind,
that can apply a lot of pressure
to the Dark Types on the opposing side,
and you do see that Malamar potentially in play.
Well, I'm very curious about for Ripperly,
is he does have that Kanto Merowak.
Now, previously, people who have watched
previous metas, we've seen Kanto Marowak as the Shadow. However, this time it's
actually the non-Shadow Marowak and that's for a very particular reason.
In a very similar way to Alpha Ralliator has been phased out in favorite
Pokemon like Milotic and Dondozo, the non-Shadow Marowak has actually risen in
popularity because it can survive that Shadow Kanto Ninetales energy ball. So
being able to hang on, survive the energy ball, and not instantly be forced to
give up protection shields is part of why we are starting to see these bulkier
their options because Kanto
nightdales, its neutral matchups
are just absolutely incredibly strong.
There's a nice bit of history here as well.
Ripley was actually able to get top four
at the Frankfurt Regional Championships
in the previous year with a shadow
Kanto Marowak. So actually now, you know,
dropping that shadow variant going for that
bulkier side, it's a Pokemon he's clearly
well versed with and has had a lot of success
with, but now changing things up, adapting
for the critical meta of worlds today.
Now, Jumpluff could be a Pokemon
Ripperly wants to run. Because Jumpluff is very very strong usually here. It does have to avoid the
Cantor Ninetales, but as Beals avoid just because a Pokemon is strong on your line of six doesn't
mean you necessarily have to bring it. So if you're pretty confident that Ripperly will try and
run strong into the Jumpluff, you could potentially try and target down those options by instead
running Pokemon like your own Cantor Ninetales, which should be very good into Ripperly's Cantor
Ninetales at Empolio. Exactly and I think the leads are going to be quite critical here as well.
You want to make sure that you're getting a Pokemon into a prime position to stop farming up
Lots of energy because there's a lot of bulky Pokemon on the field here Pokemon like the Licky Licky for example
But at the same time there can be such relentless pressure from Pokemon like the Empolio and the Ninetales that both of our trainers have a piece
We've seen time and time again when they're able to be able to bank up lots of energy
It can be so difficult to deal from particularly if you're already in a shields down scenario
Oh a very interesting note that I just realized this floor just is not one of the disarmament boys for distance
This is actually the more traditional set of trailblaze
which means the floor dis is actually completely walled off by that jump bluff.
So that makes that matchup even more difficult for Ripperly
because since you don't have that disarming voice with disarming voice,
you can at the very least have a move that you can hit back against jump bluff.
But with a water attack and a grass attack into a grass flyer,
you're kind of left just throwing charge attacks and they're doing no damage.
So floor just could be kind of a tough bring here
unless Ripperly is very confident that maybe with a game one line
that they've been able to scare away that jump bluff.
Yeah, I think if you're the floor dis user,
So you kind of generally want to see a Pokemon
that you're going to be able to capitalize that trail plays
on a position where you can boost up your own attack
and then allow FlauGes to kind of shine
a little brighter in its own right.
But possibly not going to be the call here for Ripley.
We'll have to see as the leads are ready,
our trainers are getting ready for the match.
Their out front and center is going
to be the man team versus the Malamar.
Now this is a very neutral matchup.
Billsboy realizing the FlauGes is a very tough bring
for Ripley.
And what does FlauGes typically counter?
That's going to be the Malamar.
And now Malamar has an incredible amount
of neutral play in this matchup.
Malamar just farming up so much energy is able to get his charge tax off just a little bit ahead of this mountain here
The foul play is gonna come through no shield on Ripley side and Ripper Lee knows that because it's the non-channel Malamar
It's not gonna do a lot of damage, but there's the catch and sneak Bills a boy showing us those world champion moves catching that twister
Preserving the Malamar because if there is no Fortis in the back and Fortis is pretty unlikely of this matchup
Then that Malamar will always have value
This is a matchup. I've been waiting to see however the alignment of the shadow nine tails against the Empolion
You do have to watch out for these hide-to-canons coming through of course
That's why there's a shield in play but the energy balls are ready and also the weather balls
That's something Empolion doesn't appreciate either and it looks like nine tails is actually at two of them
Ripley gonna go for the weather ball. I think Empolion oh this boy will actually put up the protect shield
Ripley does have the back-to-back if only I should still be one off here
So he can outpace but not gonna choose to instead is going to over farm as bills boy is able to grab that final protect shield
We've seen this before with the protect shields are utilized on that more weak shadow variant, let's say defensively and needs that capabilities
But look how much energy is up on this nine tells you against the man team
That's definitely not ideal, but you have that energy ball busy feels a boy going to unshield this
It really feels like bills boy has has been kind of dancing throughout this game
Desinking the switch timers saving charge attacks being able to pivot out and try and set up in any game board state
where that Malamore with a protect shield is very strong.
But Mantine is outside of Drillpeck range,
which could prove to be a little bit problematic for Ripperly
because the resistant metal sounds
are gonna be doing basically no damage.
We're gonna see a reverse now,
where it's the Mantine on Beelzeboi
versus the Empolion on Ripperly's side.
But it's the same kind of state of play.
There's not a lot that the Mantine can really do
to that opposing Empolion, not very effective moves,
and look at the energy up on that Empolion.
It's got the Drillpeck already.
Mantine should be able to hang on here.
It's taken quite a lot of damage.
Beelzeboi knows it.
He's gonna be no shielding, Drowpeck will connect,
Mantine survives, and Mantine can make another move.
It's gonna force energy out of the Empolion.
That was such an awkward health range for Ripley
to try and play around, and suddenly,
all that Empolion energy is lost.
It worked so hard to farm it all up,
but it has been unleashed onto the Mantine.
At least you've taken that one Pokemon,
but look at the energy stored up on that Malamar,
and it's actually banked again in the back
as the Empolion comes in.
What a beautiful catch.
Oh, my goodness, Beelzeboi.
He saves the Malamar energy, catches onto the Empolion.
That's incredible.
In comes the Ninetales, but can Ninetales farm down?
Ninetales gets the farm down and Polyon falls.
Ninetales doing its best to be able to get there,
but the superpower is ready on this Malabar.
It has been supporting the Elzaboy the whole way through this match,
keeping itself safe, keeping these attacks ready to go,
and there's no protect shields remaining on Ripley's side,
so the superpower will come through,
puts the Ninetales into the red.
Oh, he survives, but did that Sidewave take the knockout there?
Beelzeboi with a very tough call to make here.
Beelzeboi's gonna let it go.
He's calling that it's the Weatherball.
Weatherball connects for big damage,
and he is able to get the side wave down.
Yes, side wave comes through, looks like it's only going to take one or two more
to be able to get to that super power.
The foul plays in play, but Mantine is able to foul the Malamar.
That feels like he had diligently tried so hard to observe throughout that game.
That catch onto the Empolion,
being able to preserve that Malamar was incredible,
but unfortunately it set up the Canto 9 tails too well.
The Canto 9 tails getting that full farm down,
trusting that Ripperly's counts were exactly accurate.
Had he been off by one, had he doubted he could have thrown a weather ball
and then not have that end game,
but he ended up just getting so much energy.
And that's what Fieldsboy tried to do,
save energy on the Malamore in reposition,
but Ripperly did not let him get away with it.
Very, very strong gameplay there from Ripperly
as he takes game one against a formidable foe.
We saw a couple of times in this match,
actually Ripperly going for the double
on a load of those charge attacks,
making sure there was maybe double weather for,
or possibly the double Hydra Cannon as well on that,
and Polion's just constantly keep the pressure up,
force the shields to come through from Realty Boy
and then leave his team more vulnerable to bottom up attacks
when Ripley's Pokemon were able to rejoin the field.
And that was so close.
The Kanto Ninjas barely clinging to his HP bar there
as it was able to survive that superpower.
And that superpower, had it knocked out,
that would have set up Fielderoy
to be able to potentially take home the win.
The main team was outside of foul play range,
but he would have been able to get a bunch of sideways damage
in there as well.
So it would have been a very close end game,
but it was just not enough.
The Shadow Kanto Ninjas, even with that Shadow stat
is taking extra damage, still able to hang on.
Yeah, that makes me a little bit surprised to be honest.
I thought being the shadow variant, I was like, oh, it's
going to be more vulnerable.
But actually, Niantail's really proving
why he does want to be the best Pokemon in this forever
forward meta, and why it was in the top 12 usage of Pokemon
trainers, bringing it to day one here at Worlds.
So Bill's a boy, often, to not bring that jump bluff.
Unfortunately, he didn't end up working out.
So does he decide to risk it?
Ripperly, in my opinion, is almost always
bringing the Kanto Ninetales.
It's very, very strong, usually, into this team.
But also, it's a very good check into the jump bluff.
So does Bill's boy decide to risk it?
It would be a bit of a risky call.
But if it can avoid that Kanto Ninetales,
It does look like it has a lot of strong play here.
I think as long as you've got Pokemon like the man team that
can find its way into the 9-Tels for example,
and just try and get that pressure down,
then possibly jump off is going to have
a happier time of things.
But you'll write the alignment can be devastating.
We've already seen how 9-Tels does against the rest of the team.
If it goes into something like the jump off,
then it's really going to rain on jump plus parade.
All right, Lucy, we don't have to wait any longer.
The battlers have locked in game number two,
winners finals of Group A. It's going to be Malamar
into Impoleon.
Now this matchup at first glance looks to be very dominant for Malamar, you have access
to a super effective super power, but in Polion, because it has identical pacing and
wind charge type priority, the more shields that are in play, Polion actually has some
very nice opportunities to be well here.
Once again so much energy on the board, the fast attacks really not doing too much damage
into either opponent, but in Polion now starting to unleash these Hydra cannons, it's got another
one ready to go as well.
Malamar takes that, can retaliate with a foul play of its very own, but this time in contrast
Ripley going for the shield.
Yes, the boy could look to try and go for the man team catch here assuming that there's gonna be a throw
He does go for the catch. Oh, it's under the Empolion either way
He wanted to ensure he could get the catch Ripper Lee actually went for the drill peck it
Disappating a catch on a man team, but it's the Empolion and that Empolion took almost no damage
Yeah, once again, we've got Empolion versus Empolion getting that energy up in the ball
But Ripper Lee had that switch advantage can now bring in that man team and start applying pressure to the opposing of polio
I really like how Ripper Lee was able to bounce back here that catch was devastating
but having an ability to rebank the energy on that Impoleon and then bring the Mantine.
Mantine is one of the most effective Pokemon for neutralizing Impoleon energy.
It feels like it almost shouldn't be because it's a matchup that has a tremendous amount of resistive damage,
but the natural bulk of Mantine and the resistance to Metal Sound means
that even as Impoleon throws Draw Pack after Draw Pack,
Smash Up doesn't honestly work out particularly well.
And also, respectfully, the Water Palace damage is putting in some work against the opposing Impoleon here.
It is forcing it to go for its energy here, go for the Draw Pack into the Mantine,
find it smart putting it down into the yellow but it really does look like once
Mantine can get to this other energy it's going to be putting that pressure
for the KO onto Empolion. So Bill's the boy not opting for a catch this time
and said get a state in, forced to fire off three Drobbex in a row to finally
fell to Mantine. In comes the Kanto 9 tails looking for the farm down not
quite able to get it. The Hydro Cannon has been reached.
Yeah this time you're going to have to go for a shield onto that 9 tails to keep it
in the game but I think it's only a matter of time for a few more embers to
work its magic down into the Empolion and remove it from play. Now you've got the
the mountain however so again you want to get to these energy walls you want to
start applying pressure to BLZ boys mountain now in case this energy ball
will do a decent amount of neutral damage but bills boy is gonna be no
shielding in case an energy ball gets a debuff who wants to hold his protect
shields for later he will be able to make it to the water pulse no catch comes
out from Riverley he predicted an overfarm but bills the boy gets the
call right stays on the field fires off the water pulse and water pulse is gonna
knock out the nine tails I'm so impressed with the longevity of the
in these games, forcing the shields to go down on Ripple I side just to unleash that water-type damage into the opposing 9-tiles.
Now you've got your Malomar with the superpower down into the opposing impodium.
Just KO's left, right and center coming through from BL's avoid. That's your world champion right there.
That was an incredible game, number two, between these two players.
What I really liked is it really felt like the game came down to whoever was better able to utilize that duo of Empolion and Manteen.
Against teams that do not have that you know of a stun face to corebreak that duo, that duo ends up being very neutral,
very flexible and also if you're able to pilot them well it can be a very effective way to neutralize your opponents in
Polyon plus Manti duo and that was the master class we saw there from Beelzeboy
Consistently desyncing timers getting catches preserving the in Polyon and then just being able to better leverage those two strong water types to get the equalizer
I think it's interesting as well because we're seeing in Polyon and Manti actually on both sides of the field here
So as much as you kind of say
We want the Manti up on this side against in Polyon the opponent wants that as well
But on their side and we're seeing a lot of the time
You know who's able to maybe set up that alignment first and try and gain momentum from it can ultimately win out the game
The Malamon has proved to be a very nice pick for Billsboy
He's consistently been able to protect the Malamon with catches onto those more defense of water types
almost evoking memories of the Latin American international championships where it really felt like if you caught something on your water type
You were probably winning that game
And he kind of been able to emulate that play style to very nice success
And then once he was able to get those shields down in game number one rip really was able to decide it by getting that critical farm down with
Ninjutsu and Napoleon but at the game number two
It was in polyons revenge surviving on one hit point remaining making that hydro cannon and a pressuring way that found a protect shield
They kind of sealed Ripley's fate but once again home size
We've got ourselves a game at three these trainers know we want all of the competitive action
And we want things to come right down to the wire your reigning world champion
Beelzeboy is one game away from staying undefeated in the tournament
but also one game away from dropping down into the loser's bracket and trying to have that run to get the title back to back
Ripley however took such a commanding game one was able to really utilize the positioning to game momentum over BL
So what can he do it in a game three and cause an upset early on in this tournament? The nerves have to be high
They can feel the anticipation building. This is the biggest game. They have played today
It's a win and in if you win your group
You're through to date number two here at the Pokemon Go World Championships
But if you lose there's more gameplay ahead the battlers exchange thumbs up
They are ready the battlers are locked in the stage is set game number three bills a boy versus ripper Lee
And it's gonna be man team into the shadow Kanto night tails
Almost like we're picking up where we left off from the previous game here
The embers are gonna come through trying to get all that energy up on the night
Tells side of things but you're gonna have to do a lot of charge attack to get through this bulky man team
This is two perfect mirror teams, just in a slightly different order.
Whoever's better able to leverage their advantage this year, get catches, get up energy, he tries for the catch, he brings in Empolion,
feels more going to choose to bring in the Ninetales, but Ninetales, because he ended up throwing a wing attack there, is actually behind Ripperly able to throw first and deny Ninetales it's full Ember sneak.
This could give the Empolion an edge here, being able to get that first try to kind of down getting that first shield utilized up on Ninetales side,
Although 9Tels can retaliate again with these weatherballs, forcing Shields to possibly come through and leave Ripley's team a lot more vulnerable, as you said, getting that momentum edge could put him in the front foot of this race.
Being down this with energy, it almost feels like Beelzeboy is required to double Shield Ripley with a very advanced play there.
He over-forms by one, knowing Beelzeboy had the charge stack, but knowing that Beelzeboy would never play to a losing charge severity time.
So Ripley's still able to get a little bit of extra energy.
Beelzeboy approaches the double up on weatherballs, waits the turn, no catch comes through, and now Ripley has to decide.
Is this worth investing my protect shields?
Ripley exhibiting not just wisdom on his own side of the field,
but a gone VL's a boys side as well with all of those critical overfarms.
But we are going to see the Ninetales start to come through with this weather ball.
A shield coming up from Ripley's side.
Ken Bealsboy pivot out here.
The Hydro Cannon is available.
Oh, he stays in.
Ripley reads the switch out.
And this is going to allow Bealsboy to actually make an energy ball.
Yep, energy ball will come through thick and fast into the Mantine on Ripley's side
because there are no protect shields remaining.
Ninetales did put in some work against that podium to leave the fact line a lot more vulnerable even though it's not very effective
That's a chunk of damage that was such an incredible heads up play by bills boy understand that rifer Lee had actually just snuck through a metal
Sound when he switched that guarantees a one-turn switch out
So normally even though it would be a charge temporary time man team into that nine tails bills boy understood
He's behind by a turn because he got that sneak
I can stay in get the chip damage with that energy ball and then once the man team's health has been decreased
then suddenly the wall in Polyon hits the field and life gets very difficult for Ripperly.
Yeah, the story of the set has been the battle between these water types
and they're just carving out a Mella chapter here in this game three once again in Polyon going on the offensive here with
this Drillpeck will connect down onto Manti, but it's still in the game
but it's so far away from getting to its charge attacks and Polyon is just able to go again and again.
Great call by Beelzeboy throwing the Hydra Cannon. Drillpeck would be more efficient
but either would take the knockup. Hydra Cannon covers her potential catch onto the Ninetales. Ninetales will hit the field.
There's the switch back into the man team the water pulse snipe ripperly looks to the sky
But there's no help there this water pulse is guaranteed to connect at nine tails will fall
This is beautiful synergy from the water types of the alzaboy side
They and podium put in so much work and now the mountain clearing away that nine tails from the field now
It's just a second away from taking down the impoli on its nemesis throughout the set and be alzaboy proving the world championship difference
It's still very much in play here the 2026 Pokemon world championships
I'm honestly feeling deja vu right now the last time I saw bills boy make plays of this caliber
He won the entire thing world's 20 25 clearly bills a boy playing in California not to be messed with
I don't mean be able to play lost game one in that step right as well
So already had his back to the wall had to make some adaptations and on Ripley side as well again
Phenomenal play really identifying keep open one into this matchup and having to really stay on your nerve to be able to make sure those
adaptations, the energy conservation was in play and you mentioned this one in that game three.
The way he was over farming maybe once or twice was just absolutely beautiful,
but when you're up against Fielce the boy you really have to be on top of your game.
It really felt to me like a very high level of a very technical set like two players who clearly
understand the game at an incredible depth battling it out, the switches, the over farms,
utilizing the fact that in polion into kanto nine tails a water type into a fire type is actually
an extraordinarily neutral matchup.
Bealsboy recognized he had a double shield at this play right here.
Rifferly read the catch attempt by Bealsboy.
He read the read.
He stayed in, but if you notice the man,
he was behind by the turn,
and that's why he can outpace it.
Wouldn't be a charge security tie.
He was not locked out of the field,
and then he was just able to set up that impoliade
to shut down the man team.
That was just masterfully played games there by Bealsboy.
And we've had a bit of a legend curse here
when it came to people who winning Worlds
kind of underperforming in their next year.
Looks like Bealsboy breaking the mold
He has been dominated on day number one.
I loved as well the fact that you had the Malamar being showcased really beautifully in games one and two.
But Bealsboy kind of saying you put in work.
Let's just go for a full down mirror match between the nine tells the mountain and the impolion against my opponent and give a pure masterclass that shows why I am indeed one of the best trainers in the world.
Beautiful place for both of them looking forward to seeing what they're going to bring in the rest of the competition.
What I really liked about how Bealsboy played that set was even though jump fluff on paper looks very strong, Bealsboy understood that sometimes a Pokemon almost the threat of it.
the threat of it. The bench pressure of it can be just as valuable as actually bringing it.
Because of the threat of that jump bluff, it really restricted the lines that Ripperly was
able to bring. And then based on that, he's realizing, oh, he is never bringing Pokemon
like that Trebley. Florgis, I can just run to ADA Water. I can run the Ninetales, all Pokemon
that would not have an incredibly fun time against Florgis, but being able to punish the fact that
Florgis was kind of kept in a perpetual bench state out of fear of a jump bluff that he wisely
just never brought to the game. Yeah, I love that pressure sometimes just in the team line,
how it can affect Pokemon and leaving them on the bench.
I learned from your comments earlier, HomoSize,
you mentioned how watching this game, watching BLs of the play,
was really kind of reminiscent of 2025
and his previous World Championship run.
So, while we kick it to a very short break,
let's have a little reminisce down memory lane
of what World 2025 was all about.
Tell me if we had to start from the beginning once again, would it be worth it?
Would you trace every single step that led us to this very moment, would you do it?
Every high and every low
Knowing just where the path would go
Every sacrifice we made
We could do it all again
So we could stand up here and say
It's our time
We've been waiting so long
Feels like forever
Now the bully has come find me
It's a time
But we'll never stay
Until forever
Wake up all the heads and stay with me
It's a time
Let me take you all back to the scene of just a small town kid who believes growing up
I throw a ball against the wall and dream of making the lead so when I got a starter
now I really started a team from the first loss to the first battle I want to articulate
what the words like I'm the journey push forward to evolve with my friends I look back at every
And I do it again and again and again
No way, just where the path would go
All the way up to victory road
Every sacrifice, every way
No regret, so I live for the game
Try to find me here you say
We're making things our time
We've been waiting so long
Feels like forever
Now my moment has come, finally it's our time
But remember this day, until forever
We're gonna try to stay with me, it's our time
Oh, it's our time
Time!
It's our time!
Time!
Every step in every scar, every wish upon a star, look the strength to chase the sun,
We face out these refused to run from humble start to change the glory
It's our time, our time, yeah
It is our time, and we'll give it up
You know we can't so far, never give it up
And now take a look at us, finally
It's our time, and we'll give it up
You know we can't so far, never give it up
And now take a look at us, finally
We are returning to you live from the Moscow Center here in San Francisco as we continue
our coverage of the Pokemon Go World Championships. I'm Speedy Chief with Amanda Lundberg.
Yes, and it is indeed our time for Pokemon Go to be making these spectacular memories
for our last individual World Champion that will be crowned this weekend here in San Francisco.
We're in like the final stages, update one for some of the competitors while others are just
getting started. Still plenty more broadcast to go. I hope you're tuning in. I hope that you
you have your Twitch connected
so you're getting all of our fabulous drops
and seeing these fantastic games.
Well, backstage, you and I have been browsing that bracket
and so many top trainers have either been eliminated
or knocked down to that loser side bracket.
And I got word that there was hard Jeff
versus inadequates in their round one of their group.
And unfortunately, I don't think we're gonna get
that match on stream.
We have so many other talented battleers to showcase,
but we will eventually see those trainers
as we move through this broadcast.
Speaking of seeing players throughout this broadcast,
You've been tuning in a little bit earlier on you may have seen one of these spaces already performing that is boom 20 on that left-hand side
But he is up against LJ on that right-hand side
And that is a name that maybe I've been you're familiar with because he got fourth place at the
2023 world competition and he did it with five
Pokemon not six but five due to a moveset registration error
He took down some of the world's best with a hand tied behind his back.
So what can LJ do when he's at full power?
We'll have to see because these two players are powerhouses going up against each other in the
winners finals to guarantee their spot in day number two. Will, I learned a little fun fact here.
We saw Boom play earlier on stream. He did play a couple off stream.
He is undefeated at the tables in his whole Pokemon career.
He has not dropped a game when he is not on stream.
We can call him Boom 2-0.
Actually, maybe we should.
Maybe a name change is in order,
but he's still got a lot of work here
to do at the World Championships.
His first ever, again, in spite of that incredible resume
at the tables on stream and beyond,
this is his first World Championships,
and he's up against literally the best of the best.
And there's so much to break down about this matchup.
We have the Malamar, Shadow Kintan, Eintelz,
and a zoomerall for Boom.
Meanwhile, Elche with Tinkaton and his Feeble,
as well as that Hussuy and Electro.
If you break down this dynamic, Amanda,
what do you see?
What really jumps out to you?
You know, we talked a little bit earlier on
about Mantine being quite safe
when there is no electric type Pokemon on the other team.
And that is exactly what Elche is facing up against there.
There are some Pokemon that, yes,
can start putting a dent into it,
but there's no hard counter threats.
We're hopping right into this game number one.
We're seeing that Toga kiss up against the Thiebel here.
Thiebel's fast attacks are not going to be doing too much
damage, but that icy wind will slow down the Toga kiss there.
LJ's thing in trying to catch an aura spear
not quite able to do so, but still landed on that Manti.
Stumbling out of the gate, boom,
throws the aura spear into the Manti,
double resisted damage, great catch by LJ
to kick things off here.
But like you said, there aren't too many hard counter
matchups, and the switch is available.
So boom, can't reach for a different Pokemon than he does.
Going ahead, just chipping away a little bit that mantis.
It's out a ton of energy.
Now throwing this first waterpulse
into an unprotected licky, licky here.
Licky, licky, it's just going to take it on the chin,
maybe take it on the tongue.
And just going ahead and just charging up a ton more energy
here, throwing the shadow ball, but not before the second waterpulse
goes off.
One eye on the switch timer always.
And LJ swaps so early that he's almost back
to his reserve Pokemon, can't reach for the feeble
or the Ticket Time, but the Shadow Ball does get queued up.
I don't think this is quite enough,
and I think L.J. agrees with me
as he no shields his Shadow Ball.
Letting that go through, gets it down mighty low there.
One more rollout should do it.
That's a little extra energy.
Can probably get up now to a body slam
should L.J. not want to throw immediately on that fever.
Looks like that's exactly what he's gonna do.
Still no protect shield flip on his side
as the body slam will connect.
Yeah, wanting to maintain his ability to swap out.
In comes the token with the aura sphere
already stored, locked, and loaded.
Gonna go ahead and pull away that first shield from LJ.
And there's a problem I'm seeing on the horizon,
the man just swaps that Tinkerton.
A nine tails might come out soon.
Yeah, taking a peek at these back lines here.
Boom, just did swap in here.
Has to produce a protection because the icy wind
would do a lot of damage.
The bigger problem now is that the Torgacus is debuffed
as that Tinkerton comes in and just starts swinging the hammer.
I wonder if your LJ, if you can just continue to farm up,
anticipate a swap and then carry all that energy
into the nine tails matchup to try to make it
a little more favorable.
Our spheres are going to add up in the meanwhile,
and boom, is deploying all this energy.
This is our sphere number two.
The one, no, still no shield on Elche.
So there for the Tinkerton, Tinkerton's Tinkerton hammer
would be the one that needs to take out that Togokis here.
But the real question is, will Boone shield it up,
knowing that he has that nine tails in the back,
content to let it go down here as Elche attempts,
maybe an undercharge then decides against it.
That Togokis is out of the picture.
I mean, this is basically best case scenario for Boone.
He recognized that LJ we need to deploy a ton of energy in the gigaton hammer in order to force that token kiss off the field
Outcomes the nine tails first bulldozer. No problem. Don't forget. He says it like you lick it
He can switch that Pokemon out in case he gets debunked coming in now with that evil on the side of LJ
Getting the protection off of boom side as night slash goes through here once you keep that nine tails as healthy as
Possible because he's got some energy to boot. I mean no boost on the night slash has to hurt a little bit here for LJ
He's gonna let the people go down.
He took that shield, did a great job.
Final Pokemon will be the Tinkerton.
Out it comes, but it's so weak.
Going ahead now and saying the shield left, no problem.
Farming down the Tinkerton at the end.
Boom takes game number one.
It brings a heavy sign of relief.
That is literally the first time I've ever seen Boom
express anything resembling not being confident.
And I think it all came down to that initial play.
I think you start the game.
There's so many things running through your mind.
And then Elche, one of the most experienced
and talented traders we have, especially from Latan,
he makes that swap and boom, stumble.
And that's rare to see.
But this is how you know you have a really good player, right?
Yes, sometimes you stumble, but he didn't fall.
He recovered, he came back into those matchups.
And I think that just shows a good wherewithal
within him to be able to say, okay,
I know I made a mistake, but now watch me work.
Exactly.
And he has worked with that nine tails.
every single round we've seen him on stream.
He continues to bring it into this matchup as well.
In spite of that man team from Elche,
he's gonna kinda force him to bring that water type
Pokemon more often and try to get that alignment.
Going ahead there, Elche really had a good idea
with it.
We talked about in the earlier matchup
when there's not really an electric type
or something that can do heavy, hard counter damage
to the man team.
It makes a really great safe swap in this meta.
That's exactly what we saw.
Not only that, he was able to get that catch.
Really great start.
You'll have to see Elton can pull back for game number two.
Tie up this series.
Call me crazy, Amanda, but I think that that,
okay, well, that was a little too easy for you.
How about that is Zumril from Boom 20?
That Pokemon looks pretty safe
into basically all these matchups here.
And if you're pressuring with Kanto Ninetales and Toadkiss,
you're probably persuading Elche
to lead the Historic Electrode on the bench.
Maybe Zumril can wedge itself in there for Boom as well.
To see how he wants to play it.
If you watch Boom play,
He typically likes very fast aggressive place.
Azumeral Wall has a lot of folk to its name.
Aggressive is not really the word
that I would use to describe that Pokemon.
However, the fact that this is a Pokemon
that's been around since basically the beginning of PVP
is a testament to how good Azumeral is in almost any meta.
We are locked in, trainers.
This is game number two of the winners finals.
Winner advanced today, number two at the World Championships
and the trusty canton itails jumps onto the field for boom.
Go ahead, leads the pack here as a Corsula.
Another Pokemon very similar to a Zoomal with slower pacing
and a bit more bulk to its name,
continues to just start charging up energy as well.
Going for it, well, it's almost charge attack priority here.
And LJ lets that first one go through,
knocks it down to about half health.
I think the key there is pacing.
Boom recognized that that glaring Corsula
is gonna take 15 turns to get to its charge attack.
And that is a lifetime for the Cantho Ninetales to farm.
So now LJ has to pretend with the fact
that nine tails is basically maxed out on energy and he's going to have to find a
way around that Pokemon.
Licky tongue coming in, doing what Licky tongue does, just getting up a lot of extra
energy and now going for a body slam on this Thiebel. Thiebel is something that
has recently been added to the meta and has shaken everything up here. So going
ahead, taking body slam number two, Elche taking energy of his own.
Thiebel can win this match up depending on what the stats are for the Thiebel
that Elche powered up. He's gonna go ahead and throw this night slash and
honestly I think he needs the boost in order to sucker punch down it's gonna
be pretty competitive and Licky Licky meanwhile it's just one roll out away
from another body slam. Going ahead throwing right beforehand who knows it
as well. This Licky Licky is not quite at the one HP but still doesn't want to
use a shield on it recognizing that it has done its job. Let's see what boom
brings in. It's gonna be that quag sire now. Elche be able to reach a move. Yes
This is going straight for that Night Slash.
I mean, the downside is that Boom
reveals his third Pokemon first.
But the upside is that he already
has enormous energy on the Ninetales.
Now he's going to have a ton of energy on the Quagsire
as well.
So like you called out, Amanda, he
likes those fast, aggressive, energy-intensive Pokemon.
The Corsula already has energy built to it there,
going ahead, throwing that first Night Shade,
getting the first Protect Shield off of Boom's side.
He's got a lot of energy on his Pokemon there.
But if you take a peek at both the Ninetales and the Quagsire,
they're both fairly low health.
absolutely maximizing those charge attack intervals throws the weather ball
here LJ notes his glaring course I can hang on he trust it to and it does oh
excuse me it's KO and I'm so shocked oh wow this is big for boom they're being
able to not let that course look it up any energy is huge incoming with that
anti-nove the big thing here is there's two protections for LJ to hide behind and
unlike a previous matchup where there was a mud bomb and aqua tail on the
Quacksire. Boom's Quacksire is running Stone Edge.
Yeah, that is going to be a difference vicar here.
The second energy ball is also applying a lot of pressure.
I just realized still two protect shields for Elche.
He's putting it all on his Mantine here,
and he's got that evil that he can swap out
for a potential third shield.
Going ahead now and using that first shield
with a really low health mental.
This is a bait move by Boom,
but still gets that shield very good for him.
Elche is still in a great position overall.
Has to use both shields here,
but he's going for a charge attack of his own on that quag sire.
Yeah, this is going to be really critical here as the second protection gets peeled away.
Mantine it goes for the waterfalls. It's harder hitting attack.
We get this shield from boom.
Now the question is pacing and a catch.
The feeble still lurking and the back could pop out like a fox and take this attack.
Does he pull the trigger? No!
LJ misses it.
Going ahead now, throwing another Aqua Tail.
Remember, this is a part water type and flying type Pokemon,
so it's not doing a ton of damage there.
Not enough to take it out, and enough to get to the twister.
This is huge for LJ.
This is a roller coaster back and forth.
LJ thought it was over.
He connects with the twister to bring down that coaxire,
and over with his HP, but he wing attacks through.
Wing attack down, the nine tails comes back
and knocks out the man.
The both of these are so low, healthy,
but coming in for evil has a little bit more,
and takes it down one HP and a dream indeed.
Sucker punch more like a haymaker at the last second when LJ needed his people to pull through
Ember just not strong enough. It's not a blaze
It is just that a small ember of fire and the damage reflects that
Everybody we're headed to a game number three and we knew this was gonna be cinema when we saw this matchup backstage
Home size Henry said all my goodness this is gonna be epic
He is definitely watching on the edge of the seat
which I'm sure plenty of you not only in the arena but also at home are doing
because this is a big matchup for today. This is the winners finals of Group B
guaranteed spot in the winners side of the bracket for day number two and I
think this game just shows how good both of these trainers are and how safe this
manning is for LJ. This last 30 seconds I'm telling you up down all around what
a roller coaster as both trainers thought they had it in the bag and thought
They fumbled the bag and it turns out that LJ stands atop in that game number two.
So we're heading into a decisive battle number three and I think that LJ is giving boom all he can handle.
I think that we're going to see that mantin again for sure in game number three.
LJ really relied on bulk in game number two.
Their course a little on the team. Yes, it's a little bit slow pacing,
but it definitely did the job of kind of scaring away some of this Pokemon
and then also that mantin with no electric type coverage on the other side.
going into game number three.
I think strategy for boom in game number two was to store
energy and just to play it all at the end.
Let's see what he does differently here against Elche.
Going ahead now, Elche is smartly throwing the energy ball here,
but here's the thing, when you're pursuing an electrode
in the lead, you can wild charge and just dip.
Wild charge lowers your own defenses,
so you don't really want to stay in too long after that,
but look how much damage already just one charge attack
has done to Licky Licky.
Yeah, and I think that this pursuing an electrode
will also outpace only 10 turns to both of its charge stacks
Meanwhile, that Licky Licky, these four rollouts for Shadow ball.
Here comes another energy ball.
Fortunately, that shield early in this game number three.
Is at the body slam.
He wants to put up that protect shield,
at least start chunking away at the left.
Trying to go for a catch here, we commandant.
And now coming in with a 12-bit kiss.
We saw it in another game with Boom last time.
He accidentally threw the aura spear into it.
But this time, he's going to get a little bit more energy,
and we're going to see him throw the move on the right.
Two water pulses, feels like the recipe for success here.
and being tooling attacks up means that LJ might be able to close this gap before the third charge attack from Toga Kiss is ready to go.
There's only five pecs for each of these side shots.
Now, LJ has been hoarding his shields pretty much to the last moment each game.
Game one didn't work from game two, paid off.
This second one is going through and still no protection.
This minting is going to be low as low as it can go.
But my jaw hit the ground because this is not a water pulse.
This is a twister.
He resisted charge attack into the togakus, but LJ must know his damage accounts. Here comes togakus hangs on
This might be a simul k.o. Going ahead
That's exactly what it is both fall from the sky and now we have eight seconds to decide what we are bringing in now
Each trainer is gonna wait to the absolute last second because that would if one went in first
It would give the other one too much information the nine tails comes in you see LJ shake his head
Yes here and now he's going straight for that night slash number one
It looks like LJ is down a shield if I'm not mistaken first night slash comes through here a boost would be
Critical here for LJ doesn't get it on the first night slash going ahead now still hasn't used up protection
Is this the moment that he will do so boom has won LJ still has to as this first one connects
Here what about number two coming immediately after guys start to respect them
There's the first shield from LJ in this decisive game number three nine tails well outpaced
But I think it's got the HP to hang on it's gonna force boom to swap into the licky-licky with the body slam spam
LJ might need to make a switch of his own going ahead now
This first body slam is going to be shielded up zero shields left on LJ side now
But he is also at a night slash just boom want to use both of his shields here
The licky-licky has taken both in this game wants to try to keep it around because it has a decent amount of energy left
It in comes the electrode and down maybe goes to the electrode
This is going to be extremely close because that feeble needs to pull through and boom knows
And he's got barely any HP and he needs more energy
He needs more charge stacks goes for the body slam here LJ might have lost this game
You know you saw it on boom's face when that electrode came in he saw how much energy was on his licky licky
He said this paid off for me body slam for you body slam for you game number three for me
Boom winning again. What a young phenom here at the 2026 World Championships. I mean the
resume doesn't lie. The plays on stage are speaking the same truths that we saw all season
long and I think LJ pushing the furthest that I've witnessed personally. The bad news for
boom is it's only going to get harder from here. We can say for sure now boom has officially
that he has competed in LJ down, but not out, knocked down to that loser side of the
bracket. Well, he will continue on in this double elimination tournament. But what a
set of games those were. I'm telling you that game to I'm still thinking about the last 30 seconds.
It's like lingering in my mind. The swaps each trainer thinking the game was over only to have the outcome be reversed.
What a series for two of our best players. And I honestly, everybody, if you're enjoying if you're enjoying that, you're
I honestly, everybody, if you're enjoying that,
you're gonna see a lot more of that
as we move to day number two tomorrow.
And these two trainers,
I could watch these replays all day,
just seeing how good they both are here.
That simultaneous knockout between the mandate
and the total kiss was also absolute cinema.
I thought we were gonna see the back-to-back waterfalls,
but the twister into the wing attack,
Cyble KO, was wild,
and it made for a very exciting matchup,
especially as you pointed out, Amanda,
when both of the Pokemon paint,
Whoever sends out their pick first is going to get countered.
And so you saw them waiting until the absolute last second
to be able to do so.
And these games came down to the wire every single time.
You saw how Boom recognized how he was going to win that near
the end.
He was almost like, OK, don't screw it up.
I just need to bodice them.
I need one more rollout.
And it should be enough.
And it absolutely was.
That's a thing too.
A lot of trainers that are that experienced,
they recognize the win condition.
And they can play things out in their mind
in the middle of the game.
So you might be 10, 15, 20 seconds out
from the eventual outcome, but they already
have visualized one more rollout, Body Sam, KO.
They already know exactly how the game is going to play out.
That's such a good mental exercise, too.
If you're playing your own battles at home,
just start thinking about that.
Start thinking about the end of the game and not just
the matchup that's in front of you.
Another thing to really consider
is if you're playing the game, maybe
have a teammate or friend that is running something similar
to it so you guys can have a different understanding of Pokemon
as it goes on.
We're hopping right into the next matchup here.
We have a player on the right hand side of the screen
that was on our players to watch for the Lactam region.
We have Marto Galday for the first time on screen.
I believe so.
Marto Galday from Argentina, of course,
adored in the competitive Pokemon GO community.
LAIC champion, if you remember,
he was up against 12 Vittorello,
surviving the Braeper from the Galarian Maltres.
He's a zoomer,
oh, got to that final charge attack that it needed
and all the emotions out poured after that.
He's gonna take on Firestar,
trainer from North America
that we have seen very competitive this season.
No stranger to the spicy picks.
And he's got, I venture to say,
two foxes on the team, right?
He's got the Kanto Night Tales and the Thiebel.
I'm loving that.
I love foxes and I love Firestar's play.
He's been absolutely on fire this season,
really doing well, top cutting many times.
We saw him on stream already,
forming really well to get to the spot
in the winter finals.
Prophecy if he can get past Marto Galde to be able to secure it that day to great call out
This is group D. We've gotten multiple groups here in our double elimination format
It looks like the game where was already decided by the Rock Paper Scissors. That was a pretty a rock paper scissors matchup
I would say
But no these two traders probably know each other pretty well
And that's one of the best things about our competitive Pokemon go community
Is that no matter if you're from a if you're from laptop or Oceania wherever you you reside these trainers scrim together practice together
I think that they probably battled it out a few times even on the go battling ladder, you know and talking about teams
Let's go ahead and talk about them a little bit because Marto for some I'm seeing some of the pics that he has
He has another tondozo of his own and also that shadow save last seemingly running frame punch
You mentioned the save line and I think that's really cool. I know it's your favorite
But what about Altaria? That's a Pokemon that we saw a bit in Turin right after the moveset change
but it's been almost non-existent this weekend at Worlds.
I think that's because there's so many other adjustments
that have been made over the weeks that have passed.
To see this Pokemon out, it's kind of like a throwback, right?
It's like seeing a zoomerall in 2026.
You're like, oh, this thing's still around.
It's still pretty good, I guess.
Indeed.
We talked about zoomerall being one of the Pokemon
from the very beginning.
We can put Altaria right up there next to it.
Always been a consistent threat.
Nowadays, running Flamethrower as one of its Charger attacks,
which even though Tinkentown doesn't have,
You know, it doesn't have a fantastic matchup against Tinkitun.
It can definitely hit back and put in some hurt.
Well, I mean, look at all the obstacles
that would have to overcome against Firestar, though.
You've got the Twister and the Mantine.
You've got a Napoleon that's going to resist all the Dragon
Breaths.
You've got the Evil Icy Wind, which is double super effective.
And then, like you pointed out, the Tinkitun matchup
is a bit perilous.
Flamethrower can fight back.
The Tinkitun hammer absolutely smashes through HP.
Plus, you've got the Power Gem on the Galarian Corselaw.
My goodness.
So many obstacles to navigate here.
Will Larto even consider that Pokemon?
I mean, maybe, you know, Altaria usually in the skies,
maybe just sitting on the ground,
maybe perhaps on the bench for this specific matchup.
But you never know,
Marto has a lot of plays with interesting Pokemon.
He really knows the ins and outs of what he wants to do.
And he's had a lot of success in the Play Pokemon circuit.
Oh, absolutely.
And not only in his own region,
but also at the World Championships.
I believe it was in Hawaii, he finished top four.
I mean, he's no stranger to the big stage,
and I'm sure he's gonna put on a show for us.
But are there any other picks that really stand out to you or how about this better question?
Is there one Pokemon on each side that you think has to come to this battle? No matter what I?
Would guess that Marta will bring the Dondo so just looking at the matchups there
I think it it doesn't have like any strong wins
But it doesn't have any strong losses and that's like I would say that course law has been such a good pick overall
But if there is a team with the shadow sable lie, it kind of makes you think twice about bringing it
But I will tell you that nine tails has been around. It's been really really good for a lot of players
It wouldn't surprise me if we're gonna see those on the field
Well given that the team from Marta only has one true tinketon check in that canto nine tails
I think that there are some opportunities there for Marta to try to heart counter it when it does come because I
Don't see any reason why fire star would leave that on the bench
If it's got five favorable matchups in one negative one, right?
But of course that's a bit of the mind game in itself, right?
It's like you looking at your opponent saying,
I dare you to bring this Pokemon because I've got a plan.
And I'm ready for it, right?
We'll have to see if they're getting ready.
It looks like the trainers are getting close to being locked in
for this matchup winners finals.
We're going to head into the battles shortly everybody,
but let us know when you're watching at home,
who you think is going to win this next series.
Martial Galdi, a storied trainer or fire star, not to be too punny, but a rising star in North America,
both of these trainers are giving it their all, and they've advanced all the way to the winners finals.
It's about, what time is it here in California? About 1.23. It's only lunchtime, and these trainers
are already punching their tickets to day two. Oh, I tell you what, another fun thing about both of
these trainers is both of them have the plush of their favorite Pokemon there on the screen with them.
We got that jump-up that has done so well for Marto Galdi in previous tournaments
And we have that Gerrachi from the side of Firestar
I thought that Marto's favorite was the Ghiratina. Is that not...
I think you're a mistake. Another one that starts MAR.
No, no, no. Palkia.
Oh, yeah, there we go.
Yeah, that's the one. That's how you spell Palkia. Yeah.
Gerrachi, definitely a very fun Pokemon, Steel and Psychic type.
I do remember my first ever GoFest experience catching that Pokemon in Chicago at Grand Park.
very, very fun. Of course, the stats were, they left a lot to be desired, but that's how Mitch
Bills tend to roll, right? Speaking of stats, just a reminder, if you guys are watching on Twitch,
make sure that you are connected, because if you are watching for 60 minutes, you will get a tinketon
with the same stats that Bielsebois had when he won the World Championships last season. He's actually
locked in his day two already, beating Ripperly in the last winners finals right before we came on.
speaking of locked in our trainer on the left is just that's waiting on our
trainer on the right Marto is still mulling things over a little bit trying
to get everything lined up again so much of show six pick three is game
planning take okay if I leave this Pokemon and encounter this specific
opponent what do I do I stay in through a charge from swap I swap
immediately do I stay in and play at the zeros do I stay to play out the twos so
many questions but we're gonna get some answers here everybody game one on the
getting ready to rock and roll here in the lead. They're pretty good for fire
star. We have that people up against that shadow Saber lie have to see how
Marto wants to play that out. Keep in mind that those nights actually they're
gonna do some nice damage to Saber lie but train punches also not gonna do too
much with man team great catch there by fire star a good start for him in this
winners finals. I'm getting echoes of the L chain boom matchup with the aura
sphere was caught another fighting type move on a man team and it does
basically nothing.
Marcos does not want to leave empty-handed though.
He's going to gather up a ton of energy
if I're up for foul play.
I mean, I think if you're in Marcos, you say,
okay, well, the feeble, you know,
it wasn't the greatest matchup for the Sableye anyway.
Yeah.
I'm now a little bit buffer.
Watch me start throwing my stuff.
I'm honestly, yeah, a little surprised to see the swap out
because that feeble looks pretty dominant
in the Sableye matchup, even in spite of the drain punch.
We're going to see a charge stack up through.
Water pulls, peels away that shield from Marcos all day.
He's got another foul play ready to go, though.
going ahead, throwing that foul play and Manteen just continuing to build up energy,
using a protect shield of his own on the side of Firestar. Keep in mind,
now these switch timers are very misaligned here, so both of them could switch out,
should they want to push through, coming through here, no protect shield on Marto's side.
The question now is, can Marto farm down this Manteen? He's got a waterfall gondoso and an
ember kanto knife dill. It's going to be really hard to farm down this Pokémon,
but he did succeed in taking both of Firestar's shields.
Yeah, makes sense for Mark to stay in with that save.
I think, okay, fine.
This is actually where I would have loved to see the man team
to begin with.
Twister number one now coming through unprotected on that
Dinoza.
Look how much energy that thing still has.
But the twister, I mean, not much damage, right?
The Dunduzzo is used to surfing the waves,
and it is not bothered by a little storm here and there.
Second twister connects down into the yellow, the swap out
into the canton.
I tell you, trying to get the formula swaps into the end
poleon.
Canton, I tell you, is now going to go for a weather ball.
Here's the thing.
Kanto Ninetales is a head-on energy.
There are no protect shields left on fireside side,
and Marco still has one shield lift.
So this might be exactly what he needs to help
get himself back into the game.
Yeah, I'm not gonna lie.
This is very perilous, right?
Because Marco is just going to shield up the Hydra cannon,
and as long as he avoids the charge attack priority tie,
which Kanto Ninetales would lose,
he's gonna bring down the Empolion,
and he avoids it perfectly.
That's exactly what he does.
Great counting by Marco Galdes saying,
All right, this is just gonna be enough for me.
What you got now as the next Pokemon will come back in.
Coming in with that, Thiebel already has some energy there.
Night Slash coming through.
Night Slash number one, Thiebel doesn't have much energy
outside of this, so I think the Kento Ninetales
might be able to outpace, but it's gonna,
all the boost comes through.
That might be a game changer here.
The one ahead, you see how much more they suck
in front, doing fire, I'm sorry,
fire going to the fire star here
as the first fireball, weatherball connects.
And the second one is just one away here, tries to catch a minty, but now is spulping back into the Dondozo.
Seeing the swap coming, oh and really close there.
Because of the one turn swap, March is able to throw two waterfalls and a surf, but that was scary close.
He almost got hit by a twister.
Going ahead now, trying to get to one more surf.
And he's able to do that right before Firestar throws.
You see Marco readjusting and recognizing he's taken game number one.
Don Dozzo gobbles up two Pokemon, two KO's for the water type as the water falls and
serves are just too much for Firestar.
Let's see if he can regain himself here in game number two.
Very close matchups on both sides, but super well played by Marto Galder there recognizing
that with that Sableye sometimes you know you take a bad situation and you turn it to
your advantage.
That's exactly what Marto was able to do.
You know what, my Dom Dozzo and my Ninetales don't really fare too well into that man team.
I'm gonna stick in with the Saber Line and just chip away as much as possible.
Yeah, I really like the point you made there.
And especially when you saw the lead, it looked really scary for Martell, at least in my opinion.
I mean, that's a pretty competitive matchup and you've taken a lot of sucker punch damage
as to Saber Line, whereas your Shadow Claws are resisted.
But Firestar saw something there, made the swap, and you know, he's never been afraid
to kind of put it all on the line.
He gave both of his shields up early on, but the Pokemon that he had in reserve was the
Mantine and there just wasn't enough firepower to that Pokemon.
So maybe next time, if he gives up the shields early, he'll have something more potent in
the back.
Throw it ahead.
Now you can see the recap here being able to take out both of those Pokemon to take game
number one.
Marto is in a, you know, commanding position here, but will he be able to keep this lead
if he wins that next game?
He's guaranteed to move on to day number two.
But as we've already seen, these matches can get so incredibly close, so back and forth.
Wouldn't surprise me if Firestar can pull this around and we would be going to a best of three.
Game one, no tinketun from Firestar. Felt like a very safe, familiar pick that he could have leaned on.
Ops not to bring it. Meanwhile, Marto did not bring his dragon and flying type Altaria either.
So both of these trainers still with a few tricks up their sleeve.
Let's see what they decide to do here in game number two.
I mean, if maybe Marto is taking a page out of your books and is Altaria a safe bet here
with so many hard counters of it on the other side or at least hard counter attacks, you
only have two shields that you can use per game.
You have to decide when you want to use it and we're going to find out soon as actually
Altaria is the very first Pokemon we see on Marto's side taking the field up against
Firestar's Thiebel.
Very similar pacing here for these Pokemon, the Sky Attack and the icy wind are almost
identical but this Altaria will lose the charge attack priority so wisely
throwing just before the icy wind is ready and honestly Amanda I wouldn't be
shocked to see a swap out here to avoid taking that damage or shielding.
But you know what the problem is is icy wind on anything is going to lower the
attack. Farasur says don't want it now don't want to put it on not very
effective attack onto this Tinkerton that just comes in.
Immediate pivot by him into this Corsula.
So now he's a thiebel with a lot of energy and a bulky Pokemon that can at
at least tank one gigaton hammer as the first one goes through.
I mean Martell already claimed one protection from Firestar.
He's gonna, I guess, be hit by a barrage of gigaton hammers
if he doesn't do something about this tinketon
and fire up the nightshake here.
This will do some chip damage.
The tinketon has so much energy.
It's probably, oh yeah, it's already at the next
gigaton hammer.
What am I talking about?
They just start swinging away,
but still swinging here.
Does Firestar wanna put his protection into it?
Says no, not gonna do it, but it is the gigaton hammer.
It's enough to knock out that Corsola and now coming in with the Mantic, a pretty good
hard counter to the Tinketun.
But it's so uncomfortable because what are you going to do?
Wing attack down a steel type?
Or are you going to sucker punch down a fairy type?
Those are your two options here as Firestar.
He's got so much Tinketun to work through still.
He's going to take one Gigatun hammer for his trouble, maybe even a second one unless
he throws a charge attack pretty soon.
Going ahead and throwing right before saying, all right, that's enough Tinketun.
You calm down.
Go back into your ball.
had enough here in Marcho content to let it go. It did a ton of damage. In comes
Altaria and immediate pivot back out and actually goes for a knight slash bait.
Gets that shield a great play by Firestar. I really like that bait. Firestar is
about two steps behind. He needs to make up some ground and that's a good way to
start moving that direction but out comes the Dondozo which is such an issue
for him in game number one. A nice slash boost here would be awfully sweet. Going
ahead this one's going through it says how many can I throw before I get a boost in meantime just
continuing to get a ton of energy going for a second one against this dondo so gonna get it pretty
darn low no need to shield here night slash not gonna do that much damage even though it is same
type attack bonus no boost either so it goes from bad news to worse four fire star he's his back is
against the wall right now back against the wall shields down here we'll have to see how he wants to
come back from this just charging up a little bit more energy here tries to
complete farm down great catch that's a one way to do it here is this going to be
not very effective you know Manchin has been taking a gigaton hammer not very
effective also taking this surf on the chin Wow inspired swap and now he's got
the twister loaded ready for this Altaria that might have been the catch
that fire star needed to get back into this if I'm not mistaken his evil does
have an icy wind as well so there's a lot of energy still to go around but the
The question is pacing and Altaria outpaces.
Shake it up, baby, trying to get that twist
and shout out of the way,
but this sky attack should be enough
to knock out that man team.
And yes, people does have a ton of energy,
opting to go for another Night Slash,
getting that last protection.
But look at the health on this, Will.
I don't know if it's enough.
Saving the shields has paid massive dividends for Marto
as he's able to protect himself from the Night Slash
and protect himself from an upset here
at the World Championships Finals.
You see both these players shaking hand,
great game by both of them,
recognizing what they needed to do to win.
Firestar had a lot of great calls within those matches,
but in at the end,
Marto pulled through with some Pokemon
that you weren't even quite sure
was gonna be in that matchup.
Definitely did a lot of good from there,
getting that Sky Attack on that Manatee
at that last second.
I mean, at the risk of sounding nerdy,
I've been pretty wishy-washy on the Dondozo,
but it seems like it's making a big impact
I just lost my co-caster. We're now in a solo cast from here on out now. You can't come back now
What a series there from fire star and his opponent Marto Gal day
Firestar's not out of it yet does drop down to that loser side bracket here in San Francisco
And I said, uh, I said world championships grand or I said world championship finals
I meant winners finals because we still have so many more battles to go everybody. Absolutely. This is just day number
number one that we've got going on here,
but some of these trainers are guaranteed
to be making it on to day number two.
Marto Galli can add his name to this list,
despite these great catches that Firestar had
throughout the matches.
So inspired, right?
He caught the drain punch, but not mistaken.
Game number one, he caught a surf there in game number two,
plus the kick it on the hammer that you call it out.
Great man team plays, but it's just not enough
to clear through the bulk of Marto's Altaria
and Don Bezos, duo.
just really taking to the skies.
Taking game number two there for
Martell Gallday well done by the
pride of Argentina himself.
I cannot wait to hear from him
as we get set up everybody.
Let us know if you're rooting for
Martell or any other specific
trainer in the bracket this weekend.
As we said, I mean,
there's so many upsets,
so many trainers that we thought
we're a lot to make day two have
unfortunately been knocked out,
so it's going to get perilous
as we move towards the top in a
double elimination tournament.
in a double elimination tournament,
sometimes that's the way it goes.
But while we can discuss all of that,
I really want to hear what Marto has to say
about making it on to day number two.
Go ahead, Pru, take it away.
Marto Galdi does it again.
A huge win there, putting you into day two.
You must be so pleased.
Yeah, I'm a bit emotional right now.
Last year, it didn't go so well for me at Worlds.
And my objective this tournament was to go to day two,
So I'm just very happy right now.
And you're being a fire star, who's a fantastic player.
You're through to day two, so you can relax
for the rest of the day.
What do you think and how are you feeling
about how today has gone so far?
I was perfect for me.
I didn't doubt myself, like I'm very confident myself.
I just didn't practice with the team.
So I had a bit of doubt with the team.
So it went perfect and I'll stay to cheer for my friends.
Amazing, what was your team building process like
as you're approaching Worlds?
I know a lot of players were panicking until the very last moment.
You saw that feeble there, how was that for you?
Yeah, it's a funny story.
I stole a team from someone.
That's how it generally goes.
Actually, yesterday I was so desperate asking people for teams.
I'm like, give me a team, give me a team.
And people didn't believe me.
They say like, oh, you probably have a team.
No, I didn't.
But I just saw one team and it worked.
I cannot say who, but it worked.
Well, there we go.
And you are one of the most decorated players in the world.
What's this season been like for you?
This season it's okay. I didn't win a tournament. I had high hopes of myself.
Any AC, I think I could have won that tournament. I just wasn't that focused day three.
So it was a bit of not the best, but I took it a bit easy this season because I didn't play as much tournaments.
But I'm pretty happy with it.
Previously, when you've done well at international championships and the world championships,
do you go into those events feeling, I'm really good at the moment, this is going to be my tournament?
Or are you still a little bit nervous as you enter in it that gradually builds throughout?
I think you're always nervous. Before the tournament I was never nervous, like very confident myself.
I generally when I go to a tournament I keep my head low, I say like okay let's try to make the best possible.
Coming into this tournament I saw myself being a strong player and it worked out today so.
And how do you prepare for tomorrow? You're going to relax, you're going to look at your matchup.
What's the level of practice you do before you go into day two and event?
Yeah, I don't know from practicing, but I'll try my best because I really want to perform well tomorrow for the region.
We'll see. Right now, I'll say to cheer for my friends, which is always like the case, so it's very early right now, so we'll see later.
Is there any of your friends that you'd like to give a thanks to?
Oh, there's way too many, but I'll give a shout out to my Twitch chat, my family, my friends, Shoei, Larry, Nawel, Niu, Maxi, Tsu-Ku, Man-Gen, there's too many, I'm gonna forget them.
But yeah, shout out to everyone that's supporting me.
I feel the love, I feel the support these past days.
So I'm just very happy that gives me joy.
Amazing, congratulations, Marto.
Some brilliant action down here on the stage,
but so much more still to come.
Castors, back to you.
Thank you so much, Bruton.
Thank you, Marto, for those insights.
It's always great to hear from players
who are well-known within the community,
so well-known that he even has his own people
that he's thinking out like, oh, my own chuch chat.
He is a good content creator for Pokemon Go,
and it's a delight to see him on the screen.
Well, you know, they say that a good artist creates,
but a great artist steals.
And it looks like Martell had no problem stealing
a quality team from one of his friends.
And, I mean, can't blame him, right?
Because if it's a working formula,
I'm sure that they're pretty proud
of how Martell played the team.
So if you guys have been watching this
from the beginning, at the very start of the show,
we gave you some players to watch from each of these.
And we're just also giving you a little update
on how they are doing so far.
So for EU, Pat Oman, who's gone 5-0 so far,
Inadequance just started his rounds,
was able to take round number one,
which I believe was against Harjeth.
So we know that the Harjeth has been knocked down
to the losers bracket round one,
and Stone Collection hasn't started his tournament yet.
We dropped that little breadcrumb earlier.
We knew, based on the bracket,
that it was Inadequance versus L&DS Harjeth.
I mean, I gotta say, one of Brazil's best trainers.
Speaking of Brazil, we do have TZ Steinar, Marto and LDS Harjeff.
And this honestly is a shocker to see Steinar 02.
Honestly, last thing I predicted, but it just speaks volumes about how stacked
this World Championships truly is.
Absolutely true. Steiner has had an amazing season there, all leading up to Worlds.
But sometimes that absolutely happens. Caleb talked about it a little bit earlier on.
Statistically, these champions, there can only be one.
It's most likely not going to be over the 100 competitors who have registered and are here competing.
But on Championship Sunday, we will see who that will be for our last ever individual world champion.
It's a long road to get there. And honestly, if I could give just one piece of advice to the trainers that didn't perform the way that they wanted, be where your feet are.
Don't linger on the game that was on the stage or at the tables.
Don't think about next year's World Championships, which is a year away.
Be where your feet are here at the venue, enjoying the time with your friends at Pokemon XP,
taking all the sights in this beautiful city of San Francisco.
It's a good rule of thumb, right? No matter where you are in life, be where your feet are.
And absolutely true because there's been so many things that you can do if you are here in San Francisco.
Even if the tournament run has ended, there are side events, there are XP events,
plenty of things to do in this city.
And also, you know, if you're hungry to battle, you can hop in to go battle league.
You can do some battles there as well.
I spoke with a few trainers, got some GBL recommended teams from them.
We might air that segment later, so definitely stay tuned for that.
But meanwhile, we're going back down to the stage for more live battles.
We've got a Japan versus Japan showdown.
We don't get to see these trainers play very often on screen,
and we actually now get to see two play against each other.
Super well known in the community.
We've got Pokimichie versus Encontono.
Encontono taking on a familiar face.
I'm sure they've battled in the PJCS in the past
and likely have queued up in Go Battle League as well.
Let's talk about the teams though
because you do have some unique picks here.
We have seen Tinketung, Glare, Corsola,
Thievol, Mantine, you know, the Sunfisk.
The Pokemon I want to point out for Pokimichie
is that Shadow Annihilate,
which I thought was going to have a bigger presence.
And famously, earlier on in the stream,
And Contano took down Colin with that shadow glyceor and shadow polytode Colin
Six one of the great trainers from EU finalists at EUIC was taken down knocked down to the loser's bracket by and Contano by this
I would call rather spicy team there
I'm trying to think which one I would say was even the spiciest he has that shadow polytode
He also has that shadow glider as well or gliscor as well
Yeah, exactly. And I was kind of wondering what the movesets would be. We don't see that gliscord that often, but I do think it is running sand-tune acrobatics if I'm not mistaken.
Absolutely, too. And we'll have to see if it will come into play against Pokimichi. And if Pokimichi is ready for it, because keep in mind that the Pokémon Company region of Japan is on a different system that doesn't use championship points.
They use qualifiers to be able to compete here at Worlds.
I'm so excited because that field of qualified competitors was expanded. It used to be just the top eight or top ten or even top four
Now it's expanded and more of these trainers from the TPC region can come and compete and show us that they are some of the best in the world
We talked about the annihilate we talked about the poly tone and the shadow gly score
There's a pangoro on that team as well
That is an interesting pick for this meta does great against Licky Licky if you think it does pretty good against Galarian
course look but it does fear Ticketton. Oh absolutely fears Ticketton and I was
looking at the Thiebel too I mean if you're spinning up the cross chops one
close combat and it's lights out for the dark type evil so I don't know Pangoro
might find some play here but like you pointed out Amanda a couple of really
dire matchups you want to avoid first being Ticketton of course secondly
though man team has to be pretty abysmal and if you're in a shield jump
scenario versus the shadow and eyelid you likely just get countered down. We
We haven't seen as many fighters as I anticipated seen in this meta, but we have seen more Pokemon
that have been sort of French picks like that Melodic that we saw earlier on in the day in
Dandoza which we just saw Marto Garl, they play to perfection.
There's a water type though on Encontano's team with that Shadow Polytote however that
we could see as another contender for a good water type in this meta.
That is a water ball, excuse me, water ball, what am I talking about?
Weather ball, water, and ice beam at Shadow Poly toad.
I mean, this could be an interesting matchup.
There's one point, oh, one more point I wanted to make, the charge above.
I think charge above for N. Contano could be very, very impactful.
X-Scissor, the Thiebel, Volt switch through the Mantine.
There's a ton of play for that.
Yeah, doing great against you, Nova and Sunfus as well.
Electric types against each other.
not going to see it at the beginning.
Pokimichi has a great lead there going for him.
The Inovan Sunfish up against that Tinkerton.
Tinkerton has to throw a bulldozer
really to do much damage overall.
Doesn't want to throw anything.
Tries to catch onto that please score
and now comes in with a Mantine on the side of Pokimichi.
Yeah, tried to catch a double resistant mud bomb
but did not quite get his wish.
Outcomes the acrobatics and got a respect
that even though Mantine is extremely bulky,
acrobatics from a shadow high attack fly score
would really wreak havoc on the HP.
Got the waterpulse overcharging.
Going also for the Twister bait here,
getting that first shield back,
Pukimichi going for this.
We'll still have a lot of energy on the man team.
For him, self should he choose to now throw a waterpulse,
which he is at.
But just now, and Kotonoh says, you bait, I bait.
Look at him get this last shot with that sand dune.
Insane sand dune bait here.
And you gotta be asking,
why are these trainers fighting so hard
in the middle matchup?
It's because that Ticket Ton wants to get away
from the you know, but stuff this and in Contano realizes he's not going to get his
wish. He's got to send it back out to soak a what is this triple resisted
twister. He said recognizing. Okay, I'll take what I can get here. Sure that you
know, when stuff is coming back in, but maybe I can lower expenses here with his
bulldoze number one coming through bulldoze does have a chance to lower that
defense and it does activate here going to go for the mud bomb, you know, in
stuff this fighting back against ticket time can absorb one but not to go ahead
throwing that first one on the side of Poki Michi there.
It is going to be a little bit defense drop
and Boltos is going to be going through
before the next one from the Nova Sunfish side.
No protection remaining on Poki Michi.
Great awareness by N. Contano to know his Ticket Time.
Double win.
Wow, double drop on the defense as well.
So this Nova Sunfish is looking awfully soft.
Might get farmed down by the next Pokémon that comes out,
but the Mudbomb does KO the Ticket Time.
Coming in now with that Licky Licky,
that number one used Pokémon of our tournament so far.
And now you see the little pause before he throws, but out of double debuff,
Bodyslam should do it at this range.
Just wants to get up a little more energy first, and Pokimichu gives a mud bomb as a parting gift.
I keep thinking that Enconteno is putting in a lot of work, but we have not even seen the Thiebel from Pokimichu.
He's got a lot of gas still left in the tank, and as you said, Amanda,
Bodyslam is going to be more than enough now that this Stuntfist has been double debuffed.
He's ahead on shields on Enconteno's side, and now we do see that Thiebel coming back in.
Both of these pairs swapping in and out, timing exactly right.
Getting that last protection as a twister goes through from that Mantine side.
Now the advantage for pacing is going to go to that Gliscor and Contano has no
exactly where it is and he throws on charge attack priority perfectly when the
twister is ready. Great timing, great where with all from
and Contano being able to knock out this Mantine and maybe be able to sand tune
the Thebel which would help him be able to do that but Night Slash of course looks
like it will be reached first.
Yeah, it doesn't throw the charge attack.
Evil gonna pick up a massive tail here
and could get a massive attack boost off the Night Sash
as well.
Let's see it.
It does come through.
Big, big place for you.
You can see him coming up.
Not the happiest about it.
Although he's grinning, it's through his teeth there.
The first body slam is able to connect,
but this box is boosted.
It's not quite grinning more like a grimace.
Here comes body slam number two,
as Licky Licky tries to fight back in this matchup.
But the rollout damage is not going to be enough.
this evil. It looks like it's on a run.
Doing everything again.
Night Slash coming through at the last second here,
putting that Licky Licky in a world of hurt
and putting Pokimichi in charge of game number one.
Wow.
Close battle between these two traders from Japan
and Kanto putting in so much work
but honestly, man, that fella he wiggled
and he fought but he could not get an opening.
Now, Pokimichi said, oh yeah,
I still have a third Pokemon.
I haven't shown you yet.
It went from bad to worse.
And you see at the very end too,
that there was a friendship level increase between this.
So I think that these two trainers
have definitely battled against each other before.
As a reminder, you can also be sending gifts to your friends.
And there are some really cool hockey stops here
at the venue and around San Francisco.
So if you're someone that's at home
and you know someone here, try to beg them for a gift
because I've seen a couple of them and they are pretty cool.
They are so cool.
And I've been meaning to walk around the venue
and try to collect some of them.
As a reminder, everybody,
Hoki Michi finished 13th overall
at the World Championships last year,
actually defeated by Lyle Jeffs and Friar Stars.
So he's trying to do better than 13th place overall,
trying to push himself, maybe, up into the top eight,
but he's gotta get through and continue
and advance through this winners finals first.
One more game should be able to do it for him.
Should he be able to take game number two?
This is winners finals up through P,
meaning the winner will go on.
However, the loser will knock down
to that loser's side of the bracket.
Thinking about the Pokemon here,
what adjustments are we going to get
from these two trainers?
It felt like the Gliscorps had a couple opportunities
here and there, did connect one acrobatics,
but also commanded a lot of shields.
And Contano also a successful sandtune bait
on the man team that was pretty gnarly.
Does he bring that Pokemon back in game number two?
One thing we have to remember too,
is that Contano fought back very hard
against a very bad lead for himself.
When you see a Tinkerton up against
Novin' Sanfus at the beginning.
It heavily favors you, Novin' Sanfus.
Even still, he managed to make some great catches,
get those shields down right away,
and get a double debuff.
So it still could have been playing
onto anyone's game until those very last moments.
And it just also should show, just because you lose,
Lee doesn't mean that you are automatically
going to lose the game.
Very well said.
And you know that Sanfus has to be the first thing
on Enkanto's mind.
And when you have a team like his, right,
You've got a charge book that's gonna struggle against the you know, it's not this the tank of time will struggle as well
You've got your poly to which yeah, I can fight back, but if you're down protect shields remember it's still a water-type Pokemon
It's gonna take a lot of damage from the discharge
So kind of feels like the options are limited here on the right side of your screen
Whereas pokey Mitchie's in the driver's seat, man, I love watching these guys get ready here
We got a thumbs up
We got some stretches as we're getting into the battle a much better matchup for incontinue there as now
with the Hoki Michi who is immediately swapping out into a safe swap normally
of a man team but with an electric type on the other side that's a pretty dangerous
swap do you think the fact that the gigatom hammer is being thrown could be
a giveaway that maybe we're not seeing one of those Pokemon in the back yeah I
think the lack of a swap here means that there is no charge bug you can start to
do that process of illumination if you are Hoki Michi but if you're in console
you're probably thinking as well hey if I could control switch in the mid game
here. I can offensively align my pangoro versus the feeble and give myself a chance
against whatever that third pokemon is which is the you know the sunfish. So
there's a lot of play here and I would not be surprised to see this mid game
matchup go the distance. And you see pokemon immediately putting up a
shield saying they didn't even swap out. Okay this team is weak to the tinkerton
as the next water pulse goes through. Will he get that first protection? Yes he does
in front of no has a lot of energy on that tinkerton at this moment. Tinkerton
basically in one mode here, you cannot throw a bulldoze and ferry wind down.
It's not going to happen.
Man team will lose charge type party to basically everything else in the meta
and it does lose to the ticket on here.
You can turn hammer number three coming in now, coming for that, you know,
Vince Dunfus and now I think you have to remember that both of these
trainers can swap out.
So at this point, you see and come to know staying in here, throwing a bulldoze,
hoping for maybe what happened last game, being able to get a defense debuff
would be a really great position for him.
Wasn't able to get it on the first one.
Wasn't able to get it.
Out comes the discharge.
I really like that blade, because if Fokimichi is expecting
a swap out, that discharge would catch a lot more Pokemon
neutrally than the Mudbomb wig.
And Nyu's going to knock out anyway.
Inconvenient, immediate pivot now into the Thiebel.
But now, Kompino has an answer for it there with that Hengarou.
I don't think Inconvenient is quite out of the wits yet,
because he can build up to the double close combat here.
But then after the Thiebel faints,
He risked the Sunfish coming in,
Thunder Shocking down,
and still being an issue for the Gliscor.
It's going to be a little tricky,
but in Kotsu-no starting to take control of this game.
Going for it straight away,
lowering the defense here of the pender.
It doesn't even matter going ahead
and just throwing the next one immediately.
I like this, expecting a night slash,
but the shoe goes up anyway.
Pokimichi sniffs out the play.
Does he get Thunder Shock down
or does he swap into Gliscor?
Timer's not there.
Timer is not quite there yet.
It is quite low and not even actually bothering all the way.
Go ahead and get this pangoro out of here.
The big thing is though, Gliscor in the back
has a pretty darn good matchup against it.
You know, when Sanfis withers no shields.
Yeah, exactly.
You're going to need multiple, multiple discharges
to even weaken this Gliscor.
Sanctum number one comes through,
and this is just the first shovel.
A second one will definitely pick up the KO.
Keep in mind it's part ground, but it's also part flying there.
So at the same time, you can see him just continue to charge away.
I think at this point, Pokemon can not even bother to throw an attack, recognizing the
writing on the wall and that this is going into a decisive game number three.
A sand tune, number two, takes out the Yenova's Sunfist.
And Gliscorps Animation gave us a nice little pincer clip right there just to show that
it's having a great time against Yenova's Sunfist.
He says, yeah, more of that matchup, please.
I'd like to see that Pokemon again.
And I said, you know, you saw it in Contrino stretching at the beginning.
Maybe he was just doing a little Gliscorps dancing.
Okay, I'm giving you a warning.
This is what's coming in.
I really love how expressive Incontino is.
We've seen the smiles, the grimaces,
and whatever that last one just was,
he's really wearing his emotions on his sleeve.
So going into game number three, Amanda,
what do you think?
Because, I mean, Pocomichi had all the momentum in game one,
and Contino fought back strong in game number two.
Well, you know, when he was interviewed earlier on,
on stream, he was holding up that polly to.
We haven't seen it at all against Pocomichi's team.
And you have to wonder, is it one of those pics
you like it because it's you think it's an actually good call for the meta or do
you just like it because it is one of your signature Pokemon valid question
right and I think at this stage you can't let your favorite tism kind of
cloud the Pokemon that you pick you need to pick the right Pokemon for the
right matchups and even though that poly toad might look strong and you might
be telling you yeah I think I can win this you gotta be honest you gotta be
measured here by score though seems like a staple for man console now going
game number one winning with
the game number two will have
to see if he will bring it in
to game number three as both of
these trainers take a moment to
get ready to decide what
they're going to lock in for
this very decisive game number
three who will determine who
is going on today. Number two
on that winners side of the
bracket. This is close close
battles between two trainers
from Japan. If you want to
start shadowed life score, I
think Pocchi Mitchie I mean
what are the three best
options? Mantine, uh,
Feeble, Galarian Corsola, but then at that point you're ABA weak to Pangoro, right?
So there's so many obstacles to navigate here and the team composition in order is going to matter quite a bit as well as these trainers
Blocking their teams again everyone. This is the winners finals whoever wins this moves on to day number two
Whoever loses it probably has to battle two or three more rounds to get a chance to do the same
And you brought up a good point about the Pangoro being a big problem for that team if he would have a composition like that
But that is also one of the reasons that show 6-3 is so engaging and fun because you don't get to know what your opponent's
Going to bring until that pops out of that pokeball and then it's everyone's game
It's like you know we get everyone gets a see backstage
Yeah, okay
I see what they're bringing and you guys are about to as well as we hop into game number three
We got that glaring course along the side of pokemachi up against that shadow go to score
Well pop or maybe even glide as neither of these Pokemon are gonna touch the ground
We're going to see the Gliscorps build up a ton of energy and reach for the acrobatics immediately is going to do a lot of damage.
Heavy hitting attack will a protection go up last second if does on Pokimichi.
Keeping that course nice and healthy as it just continues to go ahead and go.
And look at that, still way to turn and still through the nightshake into that licky licky that has got to hurt.
But we'll have to see how he bounces back from it as that evil comes in to start taking up some energy.
I mean the good news for pokemiches that he avoided the pangoro lead that he was probably really worried about and now that he sees
A licky-licky it's safe to bring in his evil gets a new side of this Pokemon
And I think his end goals probably to win this matchup and then throw an icy win into whatever
In Contano sends out next going ahead
There was just a small amount of chip damage already on that licky-licky from that night here
Which again it's not going to be doing too much because of normal typing of licky-licky there
but now another body stem is going through.
This people is getting pretty low.
It's definitely being worn down
and Licky Licky is known for that.
Just being patient, but relentless.
Another night slash is ready
and throw on the charge attack priority.
This will definitely pick up the knockout.
Going ahead now, no protection on and Compton O's side,
content to let that Licky Licky go down.
The real question will be, will he be able to get
to another attack here as now that this word comes in
and there's immediate swap out back into that force.
to throw a second night shards and this time I found my target lost in the
sauce and Contano reaches for the acrobatics but he's a turn too late
forced to shield up here switch climbers still available for him so he can't
reach for the charge bug but he doesn't want to reveal his third Pokemon just
yet honestly though he's got to avoid taking too much astonish damage or he
will lose his life score I mean this is a big problem for poke Mitchy if you're
looking at take a peek at that backline but this might be the absolute
saving thing for him look at him stone cold they're recognizing okay
Mantine you stay away from this here as I'm going to try to get that charge a buck out of the pitcher
Look at the sequencing from Bokeh Mitchie. He goes for the night. She which means he's gonna try to get two night shades
Instead of just be one power gym
He thinks he might be able to do it
But this discharge is gonna cut off this glaring course a lot if Bokeh Mitchie hangs on here that will be decisive
This will be a big moment. I think everyone's waiting, but it does
Just at the last second in comes the man things try maybe trying to get a catch onto that low health evil
but there are two charge attacks.
First one, this target is reached,
but unfortunately for Pokemitchy,
there is another one already loaded.
I mean, massive swap, incredible timing,
even in spite of the weight,
but there's so much pressure,
it might've just been inevitable.
Discharge number two, double super effective.
Mantine fans, look away from the screen.
Oh, it gets down so low.
One more bolt switch will do it,
but Mantine is able to get off a twister here.
It's gonna knock that charge book out very, very low.
keep in mind we still have that Gliscor in the back to be able to do it.
Doesn't even need it as the man team goes down and and Contano gets what we
call a reverse sweep.
Incredibly well done by the charge of a trainer and Contano charge but keeps
on chugging the little bug that could nobody really believed in it.
I didn't hear any talk about charge of a bug, but it's enough to overcome
pokemitchy.
Oh man and Contano all smiles there.
very expressive trainer and he's been winning so far able to make it to day two with an incredibly
impressive spicy team there. We've seen some Pokemon on that team that we haven't seen very
much on the broadcast before. And if you're a fan of those Pokemon, you better tune in tomorrow
because you might see some more shadow polytode action and I got to say the Goliath score it
seems like it's almost ubiquitous. I think he'll bring that out no matter what. I think we saw
every single game for him is a Pokemon that has been a little bit popular in the past but with
with a different set of move sets.
But now with the acrobatics and the sandtune,
which guarantees to lower the defense
of your opponent's Pokemon,
I think it definitely was able to take him pretty far.
It just fits one of those really specific niches
where you're like, hey, I want to be a flying type Pokemon,
but I kind of want to resist electric too.
How do I do that?
You know, you can't really be a Corvik Knight.
And if you're Altaria, you're a little too slow
and a little too weak to ice,
but I think that Gliscor is also a little soft to ice.
So maybe there are some shared overlaps there.
Who knows?
been so many trainers, people from Japan, like I said before, who we don't get an opportunity
to see very often, always happy to see them winning, doing well on stream.
There are some other trainers that are well known staples within our community who have
been competing at Worlds and Lyle Jeffs is one of them.
We're going to show you a little bit about his personal story.
Playing Pokemon Blue, that was like a big part of kind of growing up and getting introduced
into the Pokemon world.
I used to spend many hours playing that on long car rides.
Here's my starting Pokemon, most likely Blastoise.
Squirtle, Squirtle.
One of the Titans of North America,
Lyle Jeffs III.
My brother introduced me to battling in Pokemon Go,
and I sort of started from there
doing some grassroots tournaments.
His first regional finals, NAAC Top 8,
which set him to worlds where he got top 33.
I just really like the aspect of me versus another trainer,
using my skills and abilities to sort of outwit them
and outplay them.
My favorite moment from competitive play Pokemon history
was actually the very first EUIC.
Pokemon Go on that big stage was just sort of like
eye-opening to me and really inspired me
to start my own play Pokemon journey.
Last season I qualified for Worlds
due to a trickle down at NAIC.
I was actually able to win a regional this year
and prove to myself that me making Worlds last year
was in fact legit.
Lion Jeffs has the opportunity to claim the championship.
Continuous top cuts, getting so close, and he's done it.
It feels amazing to win a regional,
especially after Pittsburgh when I finished second place.
What I've learned since I've started competing
is just how amazing the community is.
This is one of my favorite parts of coming to these events,
and getting a hang out with everyone,
the ups and downs of the tournament runs,
the community that I'm a part of,
they're motivating me to try to make them better
and to try to make myself better.
And in these battles, a long-time dream has been achieved.
In terms of people that I look up to,
obviously it's Aksin, the world champion.
We all want to strive to be a world champion.
My number one goal this season,
I would say do well at Worlds.
I was a little underwhelmed with my performance last year
in Japan.
Probably, I would say, win world,
but maybe that's a little too ambitious.
I will be winning the World Championship this year.
Hello, Pokemon fans and friends.
Lundberger here to talk to you about how you can add
a Galarian Legendary Pokemon to your tournament roster.
With the Pokemon Go Championship Series in full swing,
trainers everywhere are flocking to catch
the rare stars of the competitive meta,
the Galarian Legendary Pokemon.
The 2025 competitive season marked the first time
Galarian Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres
were eligible for tournaments,
and they immediately made their mark,
stirring up excitement and ruffling a few feathers
in the process.
Among these Pokemon, Galarian Moltres
soared straight to the top,
quickly becoming one of the most popular picks
in the show six format.
With its dark and flying typing,
it counters many dominant Pokemon in the meta.
Additionally, its powerful charge attack Brave Bird
allows it to take on even its toughest opponents,
like Claude Seier and Azumaral.
It's no surprise that Glareon Multus
made quite an impression in its early tournaments.
It was on the team of the third place finisher
in its debut tournament
and continued to gain traction from there.
Even by the first tournament of the season,
Glareon Multus was in the top usage for day two competitors,
as well as on both of the teams
in the grand finals in Dortmund, Germany.
Glareon Multus became an undeniable force
to be reckoned with.
If you are eager to add a Glareon Multress to your roster,
it's easier than you might think.
These elusive Pokemon can only be encountered
while using your blue daily adventure incense,
a special item that lasts for 15 minutes
and spawns Pokemon not already seen on your map,
including Wild Glareon Articuno, Zapdos, or Multress.
To maximize your success while you're out birdwatching,
if you have an Origin Form Dialga,
Activate its Roar of Time ability to pause the daily incense timer.
This will give you more time to search for your feathered friends without feeling rushed.
The Glarion Legendary Pokémon have an extremely high flea rate, so you should always use
a Golden Raspberry and an Ultra Ball for your throw, no matter the Pokémon CP, to increase
your chance of a successful capture.
For those truly special encounters where letting a rare Pokémon escape is not an option, don't
hesitate to use a Master Ball for a guaranteed catch. Though the Master Balls are rare, so
are these Pokemon. After catching a Glareon Multus, you'll likely want to optimize it
to be a perfect tournament-ready partner. Consider arranging a special trade with a
friend to aim for the attack, defense, and HP spread that you are hunting for. Once your
prize partner is ready, take it to a competition, cups, or challenges to showcase its prowess
in action. The Galarian legend
are more than just Pokemon,
they are game changers in this
competitive land and skyscape.
With Galarian Moltres leading the
way, their impact on the meta
is undeniable. So grab your
daily incense, prepare your team
and get ready to take flight.
With one of these powerhouses
on your roster, you'll be
soaring above the competition
in no time.
What's my favorite?
My favorite is the one that's
Got jet black hair.
He's extremely fast.
Limitless.
So cute.
She has a 12-octave vocal range.
Can be calm.
Powerful.
Still a woman.
Her name is Kido.
She's so powerful.
He would improvise on this part.
He just always finds a way to make it funny.
We both have very fast moves and can change the world using its mind.
Jigglypuff is my favorite.
Jigglypuff.
Every single time you met a new Pokemon, it felt like you met a new part of yourself.
He likes to sleep.
Just like me.
I'm like, horrible.
I'm a little bit of a nice human.
There's a lot of ways to get rid of opponents.
Always cheers for the girls.
We love language.
Salvayote, saapinite.
She uses her voice to protect herself.
There's homies, you know?
That's what I love.
My favorite is...
I like to go to the city.
Akanei.
Angkor.
So what's your favorite?
We're here so far from home on the undripped path
But we're not alone, we got each other
So we got a lot, and now the moment's come
To finally take our share
Oh, look out, Bob, we've come
Look out, Bob, we've come
We're such close now
Two battles we won
Oh, look out, Bob, we've come
Look out, Bob, we've come
You still ain't sure they know, but look how far we've come
Look how far we've come
Welcome back trainers to the 2026 Pokemon Go World Championships.
And if you're just tuning in now, maybe not even halfway to day number one yet, but so
many incredible battles.
This is the best of best year fighting to become the fifth ever world champion of Pokemon go. I'm K.O.Peng. I'm Joe Mike
Good friend 2-0 butters. How's the battle so far?
I'm feeling amazing and look how far we've come in obviously championship series, but in Pokemon go in general and I
Just want to say if you are here in the venue
You're here in San Francisco, and you haven't played Pokemon go in a little bit
I think you're gonna want to update your app because something awesome is gonna be happening this weekend that you're not gonna
want to miss. Definitely and also if you haven't been playing Pokemon Gold perfect time is when
you're tuning the broadcast because there's twist drops and you get all these cool rewards
for free just for watching and if you're ready to watch right now might as well get some rewards
for it too. Watch up to 60 minutes to get all the full rewards and of course we got our battles
on our hands. We're gonna head into the stage it's they love Jai from Australia first Taunta Batous
from France. Tantan Batous, who was first place at 2023 EYC, first place at 2025 Gdans,
and where he left off, he was first place at 2026 Prague with that shadow high dragon. He has
brought it back here to the winners finals, and now he is just one match victory away from day
number two. And they love Jai, second world championship for him, maybe not the best role
last year, I think he went 0-2, did take games in both of his losses, but one of the best players
from Oceania has two second place finishes. His first two tournaments, he got second in both,
actually, and has always been a, you know, a kind of a household name ever since that 2020 season
when he started to compete in the official circuits. And, you know, he's definitely going to get some
much more accomplished players sitting across him, but they love Jai, friends with a lot of players
in the community, and especially with, you know, so much online communication these days. I know
he screams with a lot of the top players in the circuits. So he has the ability to take down any
Titan in the field and both of them are in this winners finals. They're both looking for I believe
their first ever game number two at World Championships and that would be such a huge
you know cyber league that they make it there because not only do they make it to day two but
they make out the winner side. That's a massive advantage and of course the teams are looking
pretty spicy as expected. Yeah and it's a little spicier for the Corvanite as well because I believe
that is a shadow Corvanite that Jai has at his disposal.
A newer Pokemon that recently got released into Shadow Grunts.
Now you can also Elite Team it to get that special charge deck,
which you can get with Twitch Drops right now.
Get that Elite Charge him and look at that dapper fancy looking
Shadow Kanto Ninetales for Tauntons, but there's even his most
meta Pokemon is Spitey looking.
That's right.
And we got Nalo of Jai with a double flyer with Licky Licky in the lead.
It's going to be a good lead for him because he avoids the Shadow Corvanite.
on to the shadow cancel nine tails which is a pretty disastrous matchup. Everything in the back, you know, actually it's actually very alignment dependent because you do not want the Altaria on the Tinketon, you want the Corviknight on it.
However, the Altaria doesn't have nearly as many plays to go, as you see Tauntaun Batu's building a line, ABA strong into the Altaria. And so he's going to throw this energy ball, going to do more damage to the weather ball, trying to chip it out as much as possible.
Oh, we get a deep buff as well.
And it probably won't matter just because now the body slam is going to be coming through
and you will get the knockout before this next body slam is probably available.
I mean, unless you come in with the Glaring Corsula, there goes down the Kanto Ninetales.
Here comes the Tinketon trying to get that advantage instantly swapping out into the Shadow Corbinite.
Now, this is interesting because you're doing super effective sand attack with that ground type fast attack.
But all of your energy is going to be resisted into the typing of that Steel Fairy type of Tinketon.
and he actually gave off a protect shield
against a resistant gigaton hammer.
Gigaton hammer just won this move,
so I even resisted.
You could potentially command shields
and into the shadow Corbinite
because it's less bulky than the non-shadow,
you have to respect it.
And it's the boost right on the first air cutter.
Going to be massive for this matchup.
You can see the sand attacks are starting to really chunk
the health bar of the singaton.
The attack is one stage higher now
for the shadow Corbinite.
Now it's going to do more damage with the Zest Shard attack.
Here comes the swap into the course run.
That's a beautiful swap because oh actually gets to protect you. This is just an air cutter right now for Jai
It wasn't the payback even though he was at payback energy does it get another boost?
No, not another boost, but he's at the payback right now. That's gonna be super effective
He is gonna double down. He's gonna beat again. Can he get both protect deals from this gorsula?
Tauntaun singing about it, but he throws up the shield doesn't want to take a boosted shadow payback
But they love Jai, he's in the position he needs and I don't think Gorsha is going to be able to get the two moves
He tries to massage out but doesn't get to it and here comes the payback.
I think this might one shot KO the Corsula, Tata Purdue is trying to think it through.
And yes, he takes out the Boki Dose type.
Two stage bump on the attack, was able to knock out and now you have that
Protect Shield advantage to use on this Gigaton Hammer.
You're already at the flamethrower here.
Tata doesn't have any Protect Shields remaining.
This is gonna be super effective into the steel typing of that Tinketon.
How about the Shadow Corviknight and the three ball flex from Jive
to start us off in game number one.
And he had a shield remaining on top of it, too.
Dominant victory there from Day Love Jive.
And it was on the backs of the double air cutter base.
And it's a really tough position for Contop
because if you don't shield a payback,
you could just get one shot KO.
But if you shield an air cutter, it's even more disastrous
because there's a chance to boost again,
which is what exactly happened.
And then you get hit by a double boosted
super effective payback from the Shadow Corp.
That is not a fun time.
What stands out to me in that game number one team composition
for Tauntaun is it felt like he was also trying to scare off
that Alolan Nine Tails because he was running ABA strong
to it with the Shadow Canter Nine Tails in the lead
and the Tingaton in the back.
Does that mean that he's trying to play his signature Pokemon
in that Shadow Hydraegon in the game number two?
Because if you scare away that Alolan Nine Tails,
you do have a lot more flexibility in neutral play
into the team of Jai, but if you're gonna be expecting
those same three Pokemon from Jai,
the Licky Licky, Altaria, and Corbinite,
you actually don't have the greatest of matchups,
so he might have to sit that signature Pokemon,
but I believe that he used game number one
to try to scare off the biggest counter
to his signature Pokemon,
so he could use it in game number two.
All right, well, here it goes, being a game number two,
it's going to be Day Love Jai up a game
into the Shadow High Dragon,
tons of things that's brought it out,
But this is actually kind of a weird matchup because the aircruiser is going to do a good chunk, even though it's not the best move.
Shadowhide, Dragon's so frail that even the aircruiser is going to start doing a lot of damage.
And it's a ShadowCorpionite, so the ShadowCorpionite is going to be able to land this aircruiser. Can he get a boost once again?
Wow! And he gets the boost! So this sand attack is doing way more damage. The double Bruno swing will be available, so you could win the 0-protect shield situation here if you are taunt on.
And Dryg doesn't shield the first one. Does he try to shield the second one?
He can go for the sand attack down.
It's not going to be on charge that party.
Maybe he's going to try to take the alignment.
Yes, he's going to take the alignment.
Go for the sand attack down.
I love this play from Jai because he knows that even
Payback can do a lot into Ninetales.
But here comes Adonai.
He's not trying to let him get to it.
And it's just going to throw the air cutter first.
Do some part damage.
It is a boosted Gormnice, so this is still going to be better
than throwing it into the Ninetales later.
Now, chips it, dips it.
Here comes the Licky Licky for a dominant matchup.
Well, it's funny, he couldn't even bring a Quagsire
down a shield into something like a fire type
because you would take that double super effective
energy ball as you see here,
the energy ball will actually do more damage
than one weather ball.
And also you can try to fish for a debuff on the defense.
It can drop the defense by one stage of your opponent.
There's a chance of that.
And under charge on the body slam,
trying to get the farm down and the perfect farm down,
getting one extra roll out because of it.
This is so disaster tauntaun.
Yes, he has a shield advantage,
but he has to go through pretty much three balls.
Oh, a beautiful catch, he catches the recidious Shadow Ball onto the high dragout.
This is one way to get back into the game for sure, but he still has a lot more to go.
That's exactly what he needed. He had a protective advantage, but essentially he now has a two-protection advantage after he caught that Shadow Ball.
Now the next Shadow Ball is available. It does get the protect shield.
Now the awkward situation is, do you try to go for a bulldoze, bulldoze farm down?
You have to commit to the gigaton because it's going to be really hard to finish off this licky-licky.
I like this decision. You need to get this licky-licky out of here and Bulldoze would not have done it.
And I think Jai's in a commanding position. He has a full health Shadow Quacks that are left.
There is no Mud Bomb, but at this range Mud Shot and Aguadil will start really adding up.
On top of it, he still has the Shadow Corminite and the Super Vectives Shadows and the Dex will still add up.
And he could also just catch that Giganton Hammer if he really wants to.
If he doesn't catch it, I don't think it fair to win down either.
And going for the bulldoze here, you do have a coin flip 50-50 chance of getting the debuff from this bulldoze.
Can Tauntaun get it? Yes, he gets the defense drop.
Now suddenly, this Quagsire would be in range of Gigaton Hammer.
The last protect shield is down for Tauntaun, but Tauntaun needs to throw a Gigaton Hammer into this Quagsire
and be able to finish off the Corbinite.
The Corbinite is energy dry, but he throws a Gigaton.
There's one protection remaining, so he does properly call it.
huge shield from Jai, even if it's a fate, right?
He knows he gets more mudshot damage often.
He could just protect his hand tacked down,
but shielding that gigatun hammer is game over
as they love Jai, takes a two zero victory over Taunt on Batuus
to find his first ever day number two
at World Championships.
Well, taunt to Jai now.
He is advancing into our top cut for day number two
here at Pokemon Go World and a trainer
who has gotten second place so many times in his career,
able to come in on that winter side of the bracket.
He definitely has a chance to make it the championship Sunday
because he played awesome in that matchup.
I think he played so clean, Caleb.
Yeah, definitely.
And you can see great sportsmanship from Taunton as well
to respecting the trainer of sitting crossings,
also running some spice himself.
Shadow Corp.
Which we really haven't seen on the big stage.
There's a recent Shadow Pokemon introduced in Pokemon Go.
So not even a lot of chance to review the run stats.
Speaking of signature Pokemon, we're
talking about Shadow High Dragon from Taunton.
Dayle Jai, maybe a lesser known household name,
has played in eight tournaments where he could run a low nine times. He played in another
tournament, but it was like a limited medicine. It's a little different, but he has run shadow
camp, shadow alone in nine tails in six out of his eight torments so far. This makes it
seven out of nine tournaments. And his worst results were really when he didn't bring the
long night just including last year world. So the signature Pokemon, it doesn't get more
signature than shadow alone nine tails and they love died. Well, what a sack that is.
Shadow Kanto Ninetales is literally the meta pick of the tournament and the key
Pokemon that most of these trainers were trying to prepare for the most by
trying to get a water type to counter it and then using the jumpflop evolution
from trainers like use the boy the former world champ trying to defeat those
water types so the key factor in this meta is Shadow Kanto Ninetales and the
fact to flip that Zag go with your signature Pokemon of the Shadow of
Lillian Ninetales and make it the day number two doing so yeah that is epic
That reminds me of the first ever World Championships, right?
Where there wasn't a lonely Ninetales and a Kanto Ninetales going for the final Grand Championship.
That's right, and if history repeats itself, it was indeed the lone Ninetales that threw the edge over the Kanto Ninetales,
despite the fact that it's a bad matchup for the lone Ninetales, but it just has so much more value.
Yes, we didn't see it in this particular game.
I don't know, maybe we won't see it at all in this tournament, but you do have to worry about it on the bench,
and it gives you pause to bring other Pokemon in,
And that's why we probably didn't see the Hapow down from Taunt on Pt.2,
knowing that, you know, there's so many answers.
Double water, ice, you know, and it just makes it really, really tough to run that Hapow down.
And big congrats to Veil of Jai for making his first ever day two at Worlds.
And it makes it even more difficult.
You even saw in that matchup, there's a signature Pokemon of the Alolan Ninetales,
which I didn't even bring it, right?
Because it doesn't have the greatest of matchups in the Taunt on Steam.
And then Taunt on has his signature Pokemon of the Shadow Hydraegon,
but he was able to scare off that counter.
But in game number two, it just didn't really have a target, right?
It didn't have the best opportunities, and it's hard to stick the landing on these Pokemon
because the meta is so wide open.
We talked about it before, but the top five usage is the top of the meta.
But then after that, there are so many branches and so many ways that the meta can expand,
and it's really hard to be able to counter all of it.
So you might have that signature Pokemon that's really good in some matchups.
And in some matchups, you're like, I can't even bring this out.
Definitely.
And I think, you know, we were pretty spot on with our predictions, I guess, right?
In terms of like, how you spoke one, Licky, Licky, Kanto, nine tails and Tingleton,
top of the meta, top three in usage.
But that just makes players really predictable because you know those are coming
and then you could bring something like a shadow Corbinite, which has been
matched to the Tingleton has playing to Licky, Licky.
Yes, the other one about the Kanto, nine tails, but he's got double water and a
dragon and a Licky, Licky, Licky on his team.
It's just so hard to bring that Kanto, nine tails as we saw in that first game
from Tom, he tried it, but it just didn't work out so well.
So, big congrats to Dale of Jai.
And if you're a Tauntaun Batuse fan,
he's still in it.
He will be moved to lose his finals,
but if he wins that matchup,
he will also be joining Jai in day number two.
And a fun fact, there is actually two Pokemon
in North America that are tied
for the most regional championships this season.
Those two Pokemon were on that last team.
Do you know those Pokemon, Caleb?
Uh, wait, say your question one more time.
There's two Pokemon that are tied
for the most regional championships,
which means those Pokemon were on the team
of the regional champions in North America this season.
This season.
And those two Pokemon were on the winning team
and you saw it on the battlefield Caleb.
Oh, okay.
I'm gonna go with Altaria and Licky Licky.
No, it's Altaria Corbinite actually.
Oh, okay.
Altaria Corbinite two is flying here.
We're tied for the most regional champions
as we look at our top 12 Pokemon.
Neither of those Pokemon,
so they were heroes of the season,
but they are not represented on this day one graphic
because they've kind of fallen off a little bit.
This is the top 12 usage and if you remember Natalya of Jai's team, he has, I believe, only one Pokemon out of his six in the top 12 usage.
He has come completely prepared for this meta to just go into meta.
It's only number one. It's only Licky Licky. He has the Licky Licky, but otherwise, all his Pokemon are outside of the top 12 usage, which is very rare and hard to do.
But it just speaks to the fact that this meta is so expansive right now, just like our player pool is.
It could be any Pokemon and it could be any trainer in chase center on Sunday. Yeah, it's it's rare to find someone maybe using less
Meta Pokemon that even Tom Tom, but even Tom Tom had to eventually face off against someone like that and that indeed was they love
Jai so meta is met up for a reason but
Anti meta is also anti meta for a reason as we have an exciting matchup coming up
It is going to be doom bug 97 versus k-bomb and speaking of north american regional championships, right?
That's true.
Dombard 97 won the best players in the world throughout the entire circuit.
But I think his main Achilles heel year after year has been World Championships.
Has not made that top go.
Has not made that day number two.
Even when he was considered the best player in the world going to Worlds back in 2024,
had what like I think three regional titles in that season alone in a second place at
EYC, but just couldn't find his footing at World Championships.
But this year, he came on with the mission and he's in that winners finals and he's
only one match away from making that day number two. Well it's crazy to say a
trainer as talented as Dunebug is streaky but I think he is actually a
streaky Pokemon. Alright sorry not a Pokemon a trainer. He is able to just go
and win championship after championship but then oftentimes in the season he
cools off a little bit and by the time he gets the world championships he's
maybe not in his best groove and he's talked about that before and he's talked
about how he wants to make that adjustment for this time this
championship that he wants to be on top of his game going into world
championships which in other times he's been in top of his game during earlier portions of the seasons
or a juncture of North American regional championships, international championships,
but now we're here in August at the absolute end of the season he wants to be at the top and it
looks like he's doing pretty well so far because he is also in the winners finals which means if he
is able to defeat K-Bond he moves on to day number two. Definitely and K-Bond has been put in work
too. I think it was one of the first match we saw on the broadcast today just made quick work of his
This is one of the cleanest 2-0s I've seen and just make incredible shield call decisions.
K-Bond coming all the way to Japan as well.
So it might be the first time ever these two players are facing off.
And that's the thing, right?
Especially our players from North America, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania, there's
a lot of chances for you to watch their matches on the broadcast.
But for some of these players like K-Bond coming from Japan, there's not many chances
to see his gameplay.
And it could be a complete unknown factor that even DOOMBUG is not experienced.
He's gone to so many corners, battle so much on stage, but I guess on no point, you don't
know what to expect.
And there is a pretty meta team from K-Bond, but of course has the Hussion electrode, which
is a grass and electric type.
And I think that's going to be a key factor here, because if you did not have that electrode
and also that Licky-Licky, the Jellison on Dubug's team is looking really strong in the
K-Bond's matchup.
So how do you actually protect that Jellison?
How do you protect it from that Hussion electrode and Licky-Licky core?
pretty hard to do to be honest. There's not really a clear Pokemon. You do have the neutral picks
like maybe the Thiebel, like the Florges. So maybe it might be some Thiebel and Jealousy coming
out from Doomglove here. Yeah, Jealousy is a pretty hard pick in my opinion. It is obviously,
you can see not the most popular Ghost type in this tournament. Maybe not even the second most
popular as Horselay is on most teams. The problem with Jealousy is that even though it has great
type of error, it resists the Gigathon Hammer from the Tingathon. You would think it's a winning
matchup, but he can do a hammer plus the fair when really chumped even the
jealous it and a matchup that seems like it would be really one-sided isn't so
much. So I'm very curious to see how Dumbok will play around this. He is no
stranger to running spice himself and want to innovate and try new things
including it's working for him so far in this world championship. And it is hard
to succeed in a meta that the top Pokemon is Licky Licky if you are a ghost type
because of course you are using the fast attack which is hex which is double
resisted into that normal typing of the Licky Licky. So maybe he just sits it
all together, but a lot of meta picks really from Dunebug, you do have that
Florgis that maybe has some neutral play besides of course the Tinketon, but
otherwise has some neutral play to everything, and let's actually look at
the Charge Stacks, because recently a lot of these trainers have been dropping
Trailblaze for that Disarming Voice, because you don't really need Trailblaze
in this meta as much, because Chilling Water is often just as good, you get that
debuff, and you would rather have that same type attack bonus with the Fairy
that's right and there's even a lot less water types in this meta alone because
of shadow can't or just can't tonight I was in general with that engine ball
covers outpacing these water types so I agree I don't think you really need
trailblazers much and if you ever get into a dragon situation you really want
that harder-hitting neutral super effective at state disarming voice but
here we go do bug 97 birds k-bond to start things off in this winners files
up groove G winner makes it in day number two and it's going to be the man team
Again, ShadowKidZ and I just started off here, not the best lead for GymBug.
This is where you want to be if you're K-Bond, because you're going to be able to take neutral damage from the energy ball.
That is why these water types are either trying to have fast attack damage that's going to be super effective with water,
or have a subtyping that can protect you from this energy ball, so that your water typing has a chance to get some fire typing, which is crazy.
It would have so often to the Twister, it's dragon type, but guess what?
A fairy just popped up on the battlefield and it's not very effective.
Double resisted, what a beautiful catch from Doombug in that timing.
And now he draws out the shadow.
Cancel 9 tails, going to debuff it.
This gives him a lot of opportunities to reverse farm down and get a lot of value
in his own cancel 9 tails.
And more importantly, we see 9 tails, even with energy, is a problem for Manti.
And you have the double weather ball here.
probably double it. Weather ball is gonna be enough even though you got the debuff here.
Flour just doesn't have the best that product. Oh, it's just about gonna be enough. I don't know
though. If you can hang on to this with one health, you could get to that chilling water. I think you
might be able to barely endure. Can the flower hang on through the fire? Yes! Gets to that chilling
water to try to douse the flames from the Kinton night sails. It is going to be able to knock it
out. Absolutely master of doom buggy. Not only catch the entry from the man team, but he also
foot's a very respiring matchup into the nine tails and now he has what he wants. He doesn't know
if there's a tigaton in the back and that's probably the worst matchup possible for the
Siebel so he's just going to bring this in and knowing that you know what even with energy like
even if I'm in a fast situation my nine tails should be good unless it's into a Marowak and
indeed it is actually not it's just going to be the Licky Licky and now Drew Buck knows his
win cost as he's seen all three Pokemon from K-Bon and at this point you're just trying to reduce
the attack of the Licky Licky because you have to go straight body slam if you
do the Licky Licky the shadow ball is gonna be not very effective so here
comes the swap actually into the Kanto Naito there's two protect shields
remaining here comes the body slam it's gonna be coming through but because of
the debuff it's not gonna be doing nearly enough able to hold on with a lot
of health left and now suddenly you're starting to outpace the Licky Licky there
are four protect shields remaining but you're generating energy faster and you
got an inbur. Yeah he got a lot of energy and now K-bomb's gonna have a difficult
time trying to optimize to return the teacher here might have to throw him
bad time is doing buckets at three weather ball he actually goes to the
energy ball this huge it's going to do more damage does k-bomb decide to shield
this because if he doesn't in my cable he pulls the shield at the very last
second but another engine balls there and he catches it on the man team it's
the right move over do but so he is going to effectively take out the man team
and force k-bomb in situation where he only has to make you like you left and
it's like he like he versus the world here as a feeble comes in and gets a
sucker punch down. The licky licky has almost two body slams worth of energy.
There's one protection remaining. Where is Dunebug gonna use it? And he uses it
into the Feeble. Feeble has a decent stat product here, which means that it has a
decent amount of HP and defense. So it's gonna be able to, I think, hold on to this
body slam. It is kind of bulky. Well, this is actually not the worst of K-Bond. If you
could get the roll out down, I don't think the Ninth Sense will be able to get to a
move in time. But it looks like Dunebug just went commit to the fast stack down.
because he gets it, he does, and he gets the first game off against Gabon.
And Doombug said he wanted to be on top of his game, going into the world championships.
And it sure seems like that right now, being able to swap onto that twister,
to take it not very effective into the floor, just to be able to hold on with one health remaining,
to get that last chilling water, he played amazing during the game number one.
And that was huge value for Doombug, right? Catches the double-resisted twister,
gets double chilling water off, lives switch advantage,
And more importantly, his line composition made a lot of sense.
He had the 9-0 lead to check the Tinketon, and he had Florges and Devo in the back,
both really weak to Tinketon, but the Florges has neutral damage to still throw at Tinketon,
and you could draw it out, then you're in a good spot.
But K-Bond didn't even bring it. He didn't respect the Florges nor the Devo,
and because of that, Dunebug was able to come ahead.
No, exactly right. Trying to fade out that Tinketon with the Florges,
now going into the adjustments for this game number two.
Does K-Bond try to bring that Tinketon, knowing that it's going to have a good backline,
but anything can happen, especially with the trainer as experienced as Doombug.
Doombug has literally seen it all and he has thrown out more strategies as almost any trainer.
I think he has some of the most experience in Championship Series when you look at games played.
I know he has the most medals of any trainer in Championship Series,
but he probably also has the most match victories as well.
Doombug MPP is just synonymous, right? He has done so much in this game just in general.
He's actually the first ever person to hit legend in go battle league when he first came out
So he's like there's so many athletes that doing like has but on the world championship stage
This is kind of the missing piece that he has been searching for for the past five years now in the fifth year
He's looking to try to change that narrative the top of her cape on because we talked about it, right?
Can you bring tickets on? Yes, it's evil and there's gorgeous
But look at we hit the face you have a mirror matchup
Which is not ideal you have a losing matchup for shells and you have a losing matchup versus nine tails
And you don't have a great type of vanished matchup or in kind of lose your matchup into man team like it is so
Impossible to bring this thing it's on and you're just rolling the dice with the dice
It's not in your favor, but the other side of the coin
It's not terrible versus jealous it or the main team as well right through that is thing it's on strength
So you could have five neutral matchups and maybe one devastating matchup
We're gonna see if k-bomb does decide to bring it instead
There is the man team and both these trainers do have that shadow came to nine tails in the back
but essentially Doombrug that brought ABA Barry into this game number two.
And this is going to be a tough one for Doombug if he doesn't get the lineman he needs
because the nine tails onto his own Tingala is not going to be a fun time as well.
You have the Licky Licky that would be on his camp for nine tails.
But the problem is he can't really swap out here.
He's supposed to have five protrusioners.
I love this play from him because as long as he gets some master,
he wants to get debuffed through a lot of damage and then get shields back potentially.
As K-Bon gonna have to go for the more energy intensive water pulse to do anything.
Oh, he goes for the chilly water!
Hey, K-Bon doesn't shield it!
So risky here, going for the not very effective water type damage, and K-Bon lets it go!
It's not very effective, but you do debuff the opponent here,
and now you probably can let this water pulse through,
but you've already given up and protect shield,
and now you're gonna be at very low health,
so K-Bon is really far ahead in this beginning stage of the game.
Now what do you do?
You just go for another chilly water before the water pulse is available,
that's exactly what Doombug reaches for.
Yeah, I don't like, I don't hate this play from Doombug,
because even if it's not shielded, he gets killed like this.
Yes, he gets a shield, but he can also now shield back
and still maintain switchmanage and leave with a move.
So, I actually don't hate this play from Doombug,
because if he didn't land, if he, uh,
if he went for a turn voice and K-Bond shield that one,
he would be in much worse position.
But now that K-Bond's defunct, it's a lot better.
Oh, and here comes the T-N-Tron.
Not wasting any time.
Want to save the energy.
I love that play from Doombug because he knows the energy's going to be useful later,
And he already has a winning match with your team to turn into Licky Licky.
That's huge because the switch advantage mattered a lot more to Doombug.
Because if he matched up his Tinketon into a Shadow Canto Ninetales,
he would be in a tough position.
Instead, it's matched up against this Licky Licky.
And it's going to be Shadow Canto Ninetales versus Shadow Canto Ninetales in that backline.
Here comes the Giggaton Hammer.
There's one protection remaining and it is off the battlefield.
That is a smart use of your protection.
But the second Shadow Ball isn't quite enough.
So there's going to be another Giggaton Hammer that's going to be coming out.
Switch timer's coming up soon. Let's see if K-Bon goes to the 9-tiles or not.
As D-Mug has reached the next, Gigaton Hammer wants to save as much out of this boss,
so as he, I think he snuffs out the backline.
Oh, and brings it in!
And the Furbid Tied and Pudgy, but yet again, banks the move!
He banks it. Does that mean he has a Chilling Water
and he has a Gigaton Hammer in that backline?
But he's not going to get back to a Switch Timer for a long time.
The Switch Timer currently in Pokemon Go PvP is 45 seconds.
Each Shark Attack will take 10 seconds off the clock.
So after this energy ball, 10 seconds will be off that timer.
He needs to get back to start throwing some combo attacks.
He's going for the energy ball.
He's going for the debuff.
Does he get the debuff on his feet?
Oh!
He gets the debuff.
Huge debuff for Doombug.
Goes for another energy ball, but K-Bomb's
going to throw the weather ball first.
This next energy ball, I don't think it's enough, even
with the debuff.
And we have to keep in mind, time is just two moves loaded
on Doombug's side.
And now he throws an energy ball K-Bomb out of shields as well.
Still has kept potential on the main team,
so he could still gather and take him out at any point.
Who plays first? Does anyone move? No one moves.
And he throws it. Wait, this is tough, right?
Because Boombug, I don't think you can pass that down his nine tails with either your fairy deck
and you're both throwing fairy winds, so let's see what he's going to do.
But he kind of has to throw a move at some points.
He's trying to think it through. In comes the gorgeous.
Oh, he gets to farm now.
He gets to farm down with the fairy wind. Mantiin is there available.
Do we see a peekaboo? Will we see K-Bon come with the lick-a-lickie?
Swap into the Mantiin. He's looking at maybe going for the peekaboo.
He's looking at it.
There's no peekaboo.
There is a peekaboo, but it's very, very down.
Now suddenly, Dumbul has two charge attacks.
It's a charge attack priority.
Devastating there for K-Boy.
Is he's gonna be able to land the gigaton hammer
and waste all of this energy on them, Linky and Linky.
Yeah, and he gets the Bison Ball.
Very unfortunate charge attack priority for K-Boy.
But the problem is he wasn't gonna charge that party
into the floor just either.
So he has to do something.
He wants to hang on as much as possible.
But the disarming voice is there.
And Dumbul, you see he's subbing.
He gets it all and takes the 2-0 victory over K-Pon
to find his first ever day to have World Championships.
He is one of the Pokemon Go PDT Goats for a reason.
He showed it off right there in game number two
to finish it off.
What an amazing demonstration of how you can execute
in an in-game in Pokemon Go PDT.
Even Duned Bugs cannot believe it.
What an absolute master class from both players.
You know, that was so back and forth in so many ways.
K-Fon tried to go for the catch, but it's so hard.
And the patience from Dumbug to avoid the catch was huge.
He recognized that was his opponent's only win
condition there.
And let's talk about two.
He went double energy ball in that nine-tailed spear, which
is not the most efficient move, but it does do more damage.
And if you get the deep bump, it's definitely worth it.
And if we could see that in game in slow motion
a little bit, starting with that floor just
into the shadow of Kanto nine-tails, that was ridiculous.
To be able to have that composure at this level,
on this stage with the lights this bright
in the biggest tournament ever in Pokemon Go history
to be able to have that endurance to stay in.
No, I can get the fairy when down.
I can stay in here.
I can go for a swap.
I know that their peekaboo or counter swap is coming.
I'll just go for my fairy when down
and they go for a wing attack.
And then I will unleash all my charge attacks
that I've been faking throughout the duration
of this battle to finish it off.
It is just greatness we are witnessing.
Yeah, the lights are bright, but they're not bright, too bright for Dombug 97, as he made all the right moves there, the patience, the setup, the place from the beginning to end.
Baking all the energy for the final moments of this match, when both players had three bulk months remaining on each side, but it was just enough for Dombug as he catches it.
And on the charge attack priority, you can see he was super excited to be there, too.
And you know, watch out for how he's accomplished, right?
Tied, I think, with LDS Hard Jeff with the most amount of titles in the championship series circuits.
I think they're both at 7 tournament 1s in total, which is absolutely insane.
But even then, they still have 4 to 5 for it.
I mean, it's just really like speed chess at the end of there, right? He knows he's already 3 moves ahead.
I move this way, he moves, my opponent's going to move that way.
I'm going to do a fairy wind and then checkmate. I'm going to have all the energy and his Mantine is going to be knocked out from a fairy wind.
His Kanto Ninetales is going to be knocked out from a fairy wind as well.
Well, he got two of those knockouts with very wins in order to hold on to that energy to be able to close the battle
Amazing Caleb amazing. Yeah, what what a series we had so far there and oh, of course
You can pick your next match as well
So be sure to tune into the broadcast we watch his live twitch.tv slash Pokemon god if you're watching rebroadcast
Be sure to try to tune into a live one if you can to get your votes in
Yeah, we would love to hear from you to see what matchup will have next because remember we have a lot of groups here
We have over 300 trainers competing in these Pokemon go world championships.
So we staggered our different groups throughout the day.
So if you haven't seen your favorite trainer yet,
it could mean that they are still battling through the beginning stages of their specific group.
And they might be joining the ranks of these winners and losers finals soon.
So make sure to make your pick to see which trainer will be up next.
That's right.
And for any fans of K bomb, he's still in it.
He is moving down to that loose finals, but a match one there will guarantee him a day number two at world championships as well.
But they can grasp the DOOM bug and I feel like a lot of our big names in this tournament so far have been making that date number two, right?
I think what?
Bees boy made it, right? Potumon
And now we got DOOM bug a lot of our Titans making it through but there's still so much potential upsets
And if you look at the bracket a lot of upsets have happened even if we haven't shown it on the broadcast
Well, just to echo that point if you are new to Pokemon Go Championship series our whole tournament is double elimination
And so far here today, we've only been on that winner's side of the bracket
So if you enjoyed watching a trainer earlier on in the stream and unfortunately they lost they were not eliminated by that loss because we've only seen the winner side
And to lose in this tournament to be eliminated you have to have two match losses
So this was winners finals and now K-Bon will drop down to the losers finals
Like you said has an opportunity for one more batch victory to get to that coveted day number two
That's right. And if you want to follow along be sure to follow along on our true launch bracket
I believe it's exclamation mark bracket if you're watching on Twitch to pull up that link
But also you could just like look it up online if you'd like but we got some more battles to go
It's gonna be PvP David 0 7 against goji and goji one that's hot players from Korea
And I know that he definitely played in last year's world championships
But maybe in further ones as well loves to run spice and I believe goji was a recent number one on go battle
Well, always run so spicy.
I mean, let's take a look at what he's right.
Wait, hold up, hold up.
He's running a Requieson?
What?
A Great League is actually insane.
First off, that's so rare to get.
It almost impossible.
You know what I'm talking about?
That Caleb is almost impossible to get this game.
A few things, right?
First off, you have to trade it, right?
This is great to meet people in your community.
You have to do a friendship trade, a very low friendship trade.
So someone you maybe just met or have a low friendship.
But I'm not adding into the game.
try to re-roll the Rekweza stats so that you can even make it greatly eligible. This thing is also
just absolutely paper fit, right? It is hard to use, absolutely hard to use. I didn't even see the
rest of the team yet. I just saw Rekweza to start things off. I mean, the rest of the team, he's
got double ground, you know, all that stuff. Thinkers me is pretty interesting in this meta, but
the Rekweza is actually wild. I literally don't know what, like if you're actually gonna bring it,
like how could you make this work it's insane that even has it also to bring it
in this is this is winners finals that he has that requires up I mean right near
requires a road that is outside of the venue here in San Francisco and you
just mentioned it there is a lot of advantages in Pokemon go to getting high
friendship because you can have lucky trades and you can have better Pokemon
with those trades but there's also a lot of advantages of having low friendship
in Pokemon Go. The main thing is to get those PvP Pokemon. So if you find a new friend and trade
some Pokemon like a Ray Plaza, you might have an opportunity to have that attack be lower
and therefore eligible for the Great League and eligible to be in the winners finals here at the
World Championships, which is absolutely crazy. I just got to know how much he's been using it.
Is this just a token bench Pokemon or are we actually going to see it on the battlefield?
I think this is actually insane. I don't know because I don't think anyone has really tried to make
Rekwaza seriously. I think in Attica's maybe tried it in a previous tournament before,
but even he said it was hard to use and he loves running his spicy dragon types, right?
But Goji is, I believe, yeah, won the South Korea playoffs back in 2024. So is a champion winner.
So is BB David as well. But if I'm BB David, I mean he at least has double pairs. I hear a lot of
answers to this equation. He has a leaky leaky Malmour. I'm sure the sideways is going to absolutely
trunk, but it's possible it's just a flex. It could be. It could be. Yeah, because most of you in the
world do not even have this. I'm a tough. I've tried it a few times. It's never gone my way,
even when trading, but it's one thing to have it. It's another thing to try in a tournament. It's
another thing to try it in the winners finals of day number one at World Championships. Absolutely
wilds but like I said this this guy loves running spice base and that is the
spiciest thing we've seen it's like this tournament but maybe in the entire like
year so far. One of the coolest wild card ticks I've ever seen but let's talk a
little bit about the other five because I believe those are the Pokemon we're
gonna be seeing more often in this matchup. He is actually running double
ground but a Pokemon that we were not expecting to be top usage that actually
became top usage here is that you know the stun fist of course it's the
the electric and ground typing.
And then you also have the diggers speed
that is the normal and ground typing.
That's really strong against a team
with the Glaring Corsair.
But PVP David does not have the Glaring Corsair on his team.
And a fun fact, I believe that PVP David
just faced off versus Out-of-Pocket,
who was undefeated going into that matchup with PVP David.
But it looks like PVP David was able to take down
Out-of-Pocket to get to this moment right here.
He is running the double water,
but the Fairy type is one we haven't really seen that much.
He's actually running the Toga Kits on his team.
And here's the thing, right?
He might have double fairy,
but the bubble is resistant on the Reqesa.
And yes, I see him double to Rebekah,
probably enough to one-shot KO the Reqesa.
The Reqesa is running Dragon's End,
which is a recently buffed move.
And that's something you probably see
in like Mega Master League, if you're playing Gold Battle League,
but definitely not something to see
in Ultra League nor Great League.
And the Dragon's End of Flying move,
it's a signature move for Reqesa.
It does so much damage.
I think only very few Pokemon on PV Davis side can even handle a dragon sent probably just the zoom rule and like you like
But they took chip damage to hold them sorry. All right, here we go game number one goji vs.
PV Davis not far request and no regrets on the first game. It's coming Malabar into man team
I really do like that goji all his Pokemon are almost all exactly 1500 CP or 1499 as you see there
That is a nice place the closer you can get to that 1500 CP cutoff the better the stats on your Pokemon can't be as
As this Malamar is gonna be throwing this foul play
into the Manti, the good thing about Malamar
is it significantly outpaces the good attacks
from the Manti.
So if you properly protect shield,
oh, actually does not go for the protect shield
on this waterfall.
So this is not terrible here for Goji
because now you've got your chunk damage in.
Even if you go down to this Malamar,
you could finish it off with something else potentially.
Yeah, Goji, feeling pretty confident here,
you avoid the Malamar into the course.
I'm course assigning it the worst Pokemon into Malamar
because it's still doing neutral damage
and he is going to be able to get to that twist
To fight for switch man does PB Davis shield no ops not to knowing that I mean the man
He's really disastrous his backline right quagsire and nine just getting this all the fewer at least in a farm down range
It's huge comes in those to double reason much hot gets one much hot advantage
We know that it was literally one health because it got knocked out by one much
Yeah, I didn't think he was gonna get to that twister but held on with one HP
We know that for a fact because one much hot does one HP to a man team and now it's gonna be coming in with that advantage here
The backline is looking absolutely dominating for BB David.
He has that shadow canton nine steals just lurking in the shadows for that Tinketon.
Yeah, I'm surprised Goji is going to show the course like he's got to know that
his the backline BB David's got to be strong into the Tinketon because he's running a malware that's
so weak to Tinketon. So double answer to Tinketon in the back with BB David's a very expected line.
Let's see how it's going against round this one. This is not looking good for Goji's backline.
Not gonna lie, Rayquaza was looking really good at getting back to the top.
Rayquaza looks good into the entire team, actually.
Yeah, it does. As the Aqua Tail does get protected, like you said, he's probably expecting an answer in the back for Tickets on.
So I like using the Protect Shield. Maybe trying to get this farm down.
He can take the Aqua Tail, no problem. He needs to get this to Sonderstown.
But he and Pete David's probably gonna cut it off and swap out.
He does exactly that, so he doesn't allow the ramp up of energy.
And now here comes the super effective Power Gym because it's protected by David.
Yeah, you can see Goji, a little grimace, a little smile, knowing that he is in trouble.
And that is exactly the case as a cancelant, it's not only paces faster, but you have to saw your dominant matchup in the back.
If you throw up this shield, it's pretty much guaranteed that if you beat David, it's going to know it's the team that's on the back.
And I don't think that if you beat David, it's ever going to let a power gem go through at this point in time.
Goes for it.
And if you beat David, has this room make, he is going to shield this up. And this is so tough for Goji.
PP David, no respect for the Rekwaza and it is payoff in game number one.
And now, yes, you could knock out potentially with the Gigaton Hammer plus very wins eventually.
But the thing is, you're so far behind on energy, the double weather ball is going to be reached
before you have the energy for even that Gigaton Hammer. And there it is from PP David.
It's going to be able to finish off this matchup and take game number one.
PP David, such a talented player. I believe at least a two-time regional champion has multiple
second place finishes as well including a title from this season alone and he's looking to make a
stamp here at World Championships and he has a very dominant game number one especially because he
built that line perfect to counter Goji's back line with the Ting-a-ton. Do we see replacement
game number two because after you see that line Goji's got to be thinking man maybe I gotta lean
into this dragon flying time right it was so mutually safe into everything PV David brought in
that game like there's no licky-licky there's no fairy and you just have so much
use of like I mean yeah it's a free of Pokemon so who knows like if it really
can handle even like a quacks that are off the field but I think it can and we'll
see if goji makes that just right now but a very quick game from PD Davis to
start things off look we all want to see it we're literally at Rayclaw's of road
we want to see one of the most legendary Pokemon literally pop out of
pokeball in open great league that I've ever seen. It's a true legendary in its name. I don't think we're gonna see it.
But if we do see it, it will be so epic to see it in the stadium.
We are locked in for game number two and you made a noise so it's possible. Are we gonna see the Ray Plaza?
Let's see what they're locked into.
There it is! It's the Ray Plaza!
Double Barry in the back!
Oh no!
on the semi-final score for a tetra is no mud-bomb on the black side so it's not the worst for Goji in this matchup
but still a losing matchup and more importantly David calmly relying perfectly again having two
having the main answer team done the lead and two things read to team on the back and again Goji is
corebroken in this lead because he just can't really get the tinketon to get on the right target
he is going to throw a game on hammer and PDK is going to spend the shield this would be good though
because you have a shield advantage.
It might come down to an ancient power boost.
If he's able to boost in the back,
we know Goji is the main character in this story
because Ray Plaza is facing a double fairy backline
which is devastating for a dragon type,
but you at least got a protect shield out of this matchup
which you wouldn't expect to get a protection
out of a Pokemon like Flagstaff.
That's typically supposed to counter.
Now, do you bring in their cousin? No.
Oh, this is good. This is a decent matchup for the man team, but the thing is you don't have any great charge attacks to throw into the Azuma.
No, you don't. Oh, wait, hold on. This Azuma is running Hyker Bomb in play route.
So, maybe David actually doesn't have the best match of the inch to replace it with this because it takes more energy to get to that play route.
Enough to public KO, but Reqwaza still, but Goji more importantly left with the Gigatron hammer.
So, he has that for the backline and more importantly, he has a shield advantage.
Candle or Quasar take out the Tocus and the Quasar later, and maybe even the Sumo, because the Sumo still has a lot of health, and like you said, only resists the charge attack from Koji.
Well, the timers are ticking away, and after one more charge attack, both of these trainer timers are going to be close to being back up.
I don't think you want to come in with the Requaza at this moment, because the Azumarul has a good amount of energy, but now that the Azumarul is energy-dry, is this the time that you unleash the Requaza?
Because your Mantine, it's very low health. Are we going to see the swap into the Requaza?
We can go to the combo play and here it comes!
Gigas on hammer, neutral damage,
but a hard hitting move,
and David doesn't wanna spend another shield on this,
doesn't wanna go down two shields,
have to respect the potential,
or Quasar is going to get out.
But here comes the farm down,
you're gonna have to get to the movement time,
and here comes the Toa-Kiss,
and you can see, Goji not enjoying this,
you have super-veg to inch around,
but look at the peg damage,
the neutral peg damage,
doing so much into the Requisa,
first side shot coming through.
I think he needs a boost.
I think his opportunity to win this battle,
to advance in this tournament.
Is it this Rayquaza, after this Dragotail hits it?
No, actually gonna go for the Dragonessy.
He's going for double Dragonessy.
How much damage is this Dragonessy
gonna do neutrally into this Togekiss?
I believe it should be enough to KO.
He goes to maximum energy against Togekiss.
BB David knows he cannot afford to shield here.
Goji can still swap out and clear the debuff.
But don't help!
One shot KO, here comes the Quaxxer.
Now goes for the intrapower baits.
And Bates is David, he has to shield.
He has to shield, but you are doing resisted.
He can swap, he can swap.
When does he go for it?
The Aqua Tail is available.
There's a swap, simultaneous swap,
but he's gonna get a charge attack.
He had the water post.
He can throw the water post.
He throws it.
Yeah, but for the problem is now you get
much shot down, and Goji doesn't have the move.
Huge maneuver from P.B. David to get the much shot down.
He can see Goji shaking his head.
I don't think he has the dragon set ready yet.
Water post, not enough.
A few more much shots will do a stone edge.
Just floating Goji trying to press it.
But one dragotail away.
And PBDavid taking down the Legendary Quasar
makes his day number two at World Championships.
Oh, it's the end of Rayquaza Road for this Rayquaza.
As it goes down, is it not able to sweep the backlight.
But PBDavid is able to win it two to zero to secure his place
In day number two of the 2026 Pokemon World Championships,
but what a display from Goji,
who is not quite eliminated yet.
Yeah, great line reach from PB David to set him up.
And he knew that after bringing a triple soft
to Reqweza line, he's like,
I gotta bring my two berries
because this thing is going to be in pain.
And he had the matchups he wanted.
Quags are on Tinketon, double fairy on the Reqweza,
but it still came down to the Y.
one dragon tail away from taking out the black siren.
That is the power of Requisa.
I don't know if it's still really good,
but it still made it look pretty fun.
I'm not gonna lie to you, Taylor.
I don't always participate in the Master League.
I thought Dragon's Ascent was gonna be a Dragon type attack.
It is not.
Because of the name.
If it is not a Dragon type attack,
it is a flying type attack.
If you didn't know either, I don't blame you.
Yeah, I mean, it ascended to the sky.
You can see how much damage you did, one shot KO, the tokens,
the neutral dragons then doing even more damage
to the ancient power that's super-vegged
because you have the same type of tattoo on this,
and you have the, you know, it's just like an exclusive move.
So it just does so much damage.
You can see here, this end game was so close.
I think if he just goes for a dragon tail
and expects to catch, because you can see right here, right,
he's trying to avoid it, he swaps,
but then Goji swaps, and Goji changes.
He's like, now, oh my gosh,
I just give you the energy you need for the Quackstart.
Quackstart wants to have to move,
and if he just stayed in there to land the dragon set
and then we would have our first ever equation
went out of broadcast.
We could have dragon tails down, right?
Yeah.
To that double resisted, obviously,
fairy typing, and able to dragon tail down,
get two dragon tails, get the dragon to sit,
close off that matchup.
But it would have been tied to one to one.
They still would have had a game number three.
But what an epic moment that would have been.
An epic moment nonetheless, the Seabree Quaza
in an open, great league battlefield.
Once again, it is super rare.
I've actually never even seen one.
So that was a treat for me here today.
Yeah, now everyone in the world has seen it in action.
And I do see his potential, right?
And got to give props to Goji.
He made it all into the winners' finals.
Who knows how many other people were defeated
by Rekweza in this tournament, right?
I'm sure some people were like, wait, did you face it or not,
right, or was it just in the back for bench pressure?
But Goji's not out of the gets.
Still can win the losers' finals and make day number two.
And I mean, what a joy would that be, right?
Seeing Rekweza again in day number two,
that'd be so fun to see.
But we'll see kind of how that shakes up and a great run for BV David who may say number two
I believe he made day two in Honolulu if I'm not mistaken
He had a pretty high finish at world championships that year not sure about last year
But one of our best players especially from you and definitely a fun one. So pick your next match
I mean if you know anyone else road request, uh, yeah, I'm not telling you how to vote, but that's how I would vote
Yeah, we would love to hear what which trainer you would love to see next
But we have much more on the other side.
Take it away, Will.
Welcome in, Trainers.
I'm here with some of the best Trainers in the world.
And there are worlds qualified.
I know that Arrow, you've been battling a lot in the Go Battle League.
And a lot of Trainers at home, they're not able to enjoy the tournament competitively.
But maybe they're in GBL.
So you know what? I want a strong team.
I want to compete. I want to play like my hero, Arrow.
Arrow, what are you currently running in GBL?
Okay, so I'm currently running Hussuian Electrode, Shadow Wifesire, and Shadow Swanna.
The goal of the team is to save all your shields for Swanna and let it rain terror.
Do you have any move set recommendations?
I know Swanna gets gusts and that's pretty powerful.
I would run gusts, Aqua Jet Fly on Swanna, on Electrode.
As Timthing is Swift is, I would run Wild Charge and Energy Ball, and you always want
Stone Edge on Wifesire.
are. Mudbob's not a real move said. Thank you so much, Aira. I know you've got a match
coming up, so I'll see who else we can find, and best of luck to you next round. Thank
you, sweetie. I just bumped into Out of Pocket, who I know as the number one Quagsire fan,
and I have to ask him as well, because he's one of the best trainers in North America.
Pocket, what are you running in GBL right now? So I actually hit the Legend Rank, running
Quagsire in GBL, but very recently I've been enjoying a team that consisted of Shadow,
by Fortress, Dondozo, and Wiki-Liki.
I like to call the team the Rotators,
because when both Fortress and Dondozo use their fast attacks
to kind of like twist a little bit,
like Dondozo is really cool.
He just like a, he's like a little like,
like he charges up a twist to throw the waterfalls.
And it's a lot of fun.
You gotta teach me that move after you finish this interview,
but I wanted to ask you, you mentioned the waterfall,
Dondozo, what other movesets would you recommend
for this team?
So Fortress, Fortress really excels with flying debuffs.
So you would bug by fast pressure, it'll either lower their defenses with a sand
tube or lower their attacks that with a rock to dump those out.
It really likes the cheapest target possible.
It's going to how slow waterfall is.
So you run surfing outrage with it and then lucky, lucky you were just on roll out.
Shout out all body.
Awesome.
But any, any advice for playing the team?
Do you have a safe swap?
You always go to Licky, Licky in that situation or what?
I'd say like 99% of the time it's Licky, Licky.
I would only really say swap down those if you're like they do not have an
electrolyte or a jump block or something that really shuts it down
because that does those extremely good energy but it's just way more likely to
get a find a really tough matchup.
Thank you so much. I know you have a match coming up so I'll let you run.
Let's see who else we can find. I'm here with one of North America's rising stars.
This is Sustenance Eater who burst onto the stage just a couple years ago.
He's qualified for Worlds this year as well.
I'm so curious because your team this weekend is cool, but what are you running in go battle league? Yeah, so go battle league is a little different from show six right now
I'm kind of preferring to use
Glaring wheezing shadow glaring wheezing with sludge and brutal swing
I think it has really great neutral play into a lot of the fairies that people are leading right now such as the forges
Not as great to the ticket on but there's always some neutral play there
And then it also is really good into the fighters and it does a lot of damage to all the other things like ghost man team and
And in the back, I use a wiki and man team to bulky flexible Pokemon that always seem to get the job done
I really like glaring reason but the ground weakness is tough to overcome
So I like that you paired it with man team because man team just dominates those matchups
Do you have any moose or recommendations for man team and for leaky-leaky?
Yeah, so what you like you wise where does it get the standard roll out body slam and shadow ball and then man team same thing here
Wing attack twister and waterfalls. I was playing against a licky-licky yesterday, and I got to with the earthquake
Which was the first surprise but then he threw four more rollouts. I said oh, this is a body slam
It was a shadow ball shadow ball earthquake is also a move set that you might see from time to time
Do you have any advice on playing the team? Do you lead the man team? Do you swap a specific Pokemon?
Yeah, so I'm like leading the glare and wheezing it feels like we can always do a bunch of fairy winds and catch out on to
One of our bulky Pokemon the lucky wiki or the man team and the energy is always gonna be some later because whenever we get in the
Situation where we're throwing neutral sludges
Those are gonna be hitting for a lot of damage against things like what he would eat and man team and it feels really good to have that energy and
Sweep with it later on
All right, so since I know you have a match coming up, so I'll let you run
Let's get back over to the stream everybody and let us know how you're doing in the go battle League this weekend
My name is
and I'm from Spain.
I would be the other side,
not because it's the type that it's the Pokemon Serac,
which is my representative Pokemon.
My first time competing was in Leerful in 2003,
where my dad came with me to Leerful,
and I also got second place,
and then I won the Kedav Regional.
I would love to repeat that
and win the next World Championship.
I didn't have a gold medal, but I had a gold trophy, which was the EYC one, so I'm really
proud of that.
It was like a really fun experience because also the final was against a really good friend
of mine, which is T-Shirtles.
And I actually lost a final line in teams in Barcelona
in my home city.
So I'm really proud of that.
And I think it's a really memorable moment.
Pato Man, he is going for the triple crown here.
Basically, my team has Quichupol,
which is a really good platform for this meta.
So I think my team is really fun to play.
Three ball flexer on Pato Man.
He is so on point.
So, if I had to say an MVP for this weekend, I would say it was Corsula, I really like that.
Also, for this meta, he did really help me to get this point in the tournament.
Yeah, actually, I was really worried about the MOTRES, and I had to face the MOTRES in the grand finals,
so that wasn't really good for me.
And then maybe CISOR, because I didn't have a real response, but I think that's all,
Because my team, I think it was really safe to play.
Execution is just on another level.
So the Grand Final was the most difficult match that I had this weekend.
Because of the mudflash, and also the sub-bodies are really good players.
So I had to play around that.
Also, Kizami's rate did really good bench pressure.
Because the counters to the mudflash, which are not really countered, got really off base.
I buy the salon, so I had to manage those two.
I also stayed in the Xalapos, which were really good to my team.
And I think I don't really have that much of play.
I feel good, but also maybe not disappointed, but feeling that I could have done more, but
still I'm really proud of myself and happy with this tournament.
My most memorable moment from this weekend was Saturday when I fought fight the World
Finals in the Wings Project because I feel like I had all the moments when I needed and
everyone supported me really, really, supported me in getting more champion for the next day.
I think it's like the love I have for Pokemon because I really like playing the game.
Also the community, the families, the players that always support me, also run on mine and I appreciate all of them.
So that will be the main reason why I keep providing to these guys.
You have to be completely focused on doing and never give up as the way to focus your dreams.
And that's what I want to do for the next season.
The action's only heating up here at the Pokemon Go World Championship.
So many trainers have already punched their ticket today.
Number two, the action just keeps on building.
My name is Homeless Henry, joined on the desk with the one and only Lou the Pikachu.
to take you through more winners finals.
We've had so many trainers so far already punched their day to take it.
And there's still so many games ahead of us as these trainers continue to fight for the dream
of being crowned the next world champion.
We're at that fork in the road of day one where some trainers have locked in for day two of the
competition. Their confidence is absolutely sky high. And then some other trainers had to take
a step back and regroup and lock in that focus to stay in the competition. But we've seen time
and time again, trainers drop down into that losing bracket and have that wonderful story going
all the way to even win worlds on a time.
One of my favorite stories actually occurred in 2025, sorry,
out of 2026, EUIC, which Potomac looking to defend his title,
we just got to see that wonderful story about Potomac
and his runner up performance at the World Championships.
He dropped into losers, I believe,
in losers rounds three at EUIC,
and then clearly decided he'd have enough of that losing thing
and then won 15 sets in a row.
Incredible run to claim the ground.
So even if you are rooting for someone at home
and they have dropped to the losers side of the bracket.
They are by no means out of it
as we've seen some incredible losers runs even this season.
Sometimes I always think trainers drop down
just to give us more content for them,
more action to showcase.
But speaking of the action,
our trainers for winners finals of Group I
are ready on the stage.
We have got Gabo Herka versus Kento Sarenori,
and there are some really interesting choices here.
Kento Sarenori running three shadows on that team.
Kento Sarenori is an incredible battler from Japan,
had his first Worlds experience last year at Anaheim
and had a very strong 13th place finish.
Now he is going a little bit more anti-Meta here.
Shadow Kingdra, I don't believe a Pokemon
that we've seen on stream so far today.
Shadow Kingdra this season actually recently
got access to Surf, and with Surf,
as opposed to the Swift Outrage moveset
that we saw at the European International
Chimneychips, gives Kingdra a lot more consistency overall.
Additionally, I think Fero Energy could be kind of interesting
in this matchup.
If Fero was able to get just that tiny little bit
of energy advantage, even against a Pokemon
like Yudovus Thunfisk, Fero with that straight
the draw in pacing could make life quite difficult. I think when the forever forward meta broke out, everyone was saying, hey, fear is going to be really, really good now. We're going to see it picking up in usage, but it's kind of been a little bit on the bench. It was great to be able to see it in action here. Alongside a few team that might be a little bit more vulnerable with the shadow variants, but you have the Fludgers, you have the Fludgers, you have the claw tire that are able to have that bulk allow side, the brawn on Gabbo Herkesside. However, a few familiar faces. We've of course got that licky, licky. We've got the stun fist and the quagsire as well. But I love seeing that little jump up in the air.
jump love can put some pretty interesting pressure on the lines that
Kento Sarinori would like to run as his his floor just is running the disarmament
voice will have an ability to hit back but King's really not a fan of that
match if the annihilate would be very tricky as well one thing that's actually
a little bit interesting it is even though the the freak the Firo actually
has access to drill run one of the reasons why it's falling out of usage is
Kanto nine tails you might think okay it is a ground move why is Kanto nine
tails problem for it because of the speed of Kanto nine tails always being able
outpace it. If you lead Fiora into Kanto Ninetales, Kanto Ninetales is double shields. The Ember
damage adds up to the point where we're weather ball KO's and then you just lose the matchup.
So in a very weird way, no Kanto Ninetales on the side of Gabber Herka could potentially
open the door to some Fiora gameplay. Ninetales can certainly start steamrolling for a match
and that's another thing I associate with a Pokemon like Annihilate. If you can get those
rage fists going, start getting the attack boost upon each other again and again, that
can leave your opponent having to ask some serious questions. Where do you utilize the
shields where do you maybe make the switches into eat up that energy and
ultimately how do you deal with annihilate once it gets the ball rolling
we've got lock into your for game number one winners finals of group i it's
going to be forges for gabo herca into the clawed sire for kento saurinori
yeah forges get out of there as quickly as possible because of poison stings would start
stacking up a lot of damage instead you can bring in this quag sigh that's able to farm up all of
this energy and nyle have also joined field on the opposing side doesn't go through the shield to
they're able to take up this
Aquatail.
I do like Kendo Saranori
deciding to basically try and
find a usage for the Annihilate
because Annihilate does have
some polarizing matchups here.
There's the forges, there's the
jump lever could get a little
bit difficult.
Seeing that Quagsire
and Quagsire is actually not
on Stone Edge, it is on
Aquatail Mud Bomb.
So an interesting choice there
from Gabo Herka.
Here comes the first rage fist
on this Annihilate.
It's going to go on shield
on Gabo Herka's side
so obviously it's going to
connect and critically get
that guaranteed attack boost
as well.
That can put it into good stead
to start getting a few more counters down I was gonna say until we saw a fairy type
join the field.
Fortress will take a lot of damage from the plus one rage fist, shield does come up from
Gabbo Herka but Gabbo Herka getting a big farm down here, suddenly Claude Sire could
be threatened by the super effective Chilling Waters and Fortress is gonna get me six fairy
wind head start.
Claude Sire is not threatened by back to back Chilling Waters but as Claude Sire continues
to take this damage and continues to get more and more debuff then the momentum might swing
over to Gabbo Herka.
I really like that from the Fortress, capitalizing on the annihilate with those fairy winds again
getting up all that energy just so you can apply so much pressure and look at
that already back up and has banked out for later. Stunfisk coming down against
the clock, Thomas switching things up. Now King is facing down against the Stunfisk.
Great patience from Genshisar and Nori not letting the sludge bomb be caught.
Stunfisk will be able to consistently chip away with neutral damage but a
shadow surf lands. This Stunfisk is not going to be other fields for very long
because that damage would be devastating. And these Dragon Breaths so
ferocious not doing too much damage but they just constantly whittle away at
your opponent. They're so so fast and critically getting this King for to the
energy the shield goes up at the last second keeping Stunfisk in play. Stunfisk
desperately trying to raise to the double discharge and can it go for the mud
bomb instead? Shield does come up from Kento Sarenori. Kento Sarenori just has
to make it to the surf. If the surf connects then that should be the
deciding charge stack of this game. There's no more shields in the game at
the moment so this stuff will be guaranteed to connect down onto the
opposing Stunfisk. It is vulnerable. It's gonna secure the knockout. Vultures
will be forced to be able to come in afterwards and it does have all that
energy banked up already, but Claude Zyre is there to meet it.
Oh that's a really nice optimization by Kento Sarunori, gonna throw the Dragon Breath and
then combo play with the Sludge Bomb. The Chilling Water debuff has been reset,
Flaugius falls, and that is a game one win for Kento Sarunori.
That felt like a full circle moba for the Claude Zyre, it was able to latch onto the
Flaugius in the lead, then switched out, had all the energy and right at the very end was
finally able to get the damage down, that poison type damage onto the Flaugius to secure game one
for Kento Zara Nori. I think that Kento Zara Nori kind of made it look easy in that game. There
were multiple moments where it felt like the game could have gotten out of control, especially
if the sludge bomb had been caught onto the stun fist. Stun fist is a ground shot that would have
double resisted it and with that energy gone, then maybe there's a world where Florida gets
enough energy where it can actually find its way through the claw attire. But the patience of Kento
Zara Nori over farming past watching for that catch, not letting it happen, is part of what's
really set him up for success and then that new move on Kingdra, Surfing so deadly, not even having to fade.
The Shadow Kingdra, not a Pokemon, we've really seen a lot so far today in day one of the Pokemon Goal Championships,
but Kendo started already demonstrating that just because there's low usage, just not being able to load in damage output.
I did like the preservation of this Kingdra as well, Kendo Sarnor utilizing the shields to keep it in play and constantly apply pressure with their surfs.
You all are going to be doing providable damage, same type of type of load as being able to utilize the Shadow boost that you get as well.
Also, the Quagsire. It's not going to appreciate taking those stuffs either.
And the Quagsire safe switch, because there's no Mantine on the side of Kento Sarenori, ends up being a pretty safe switch overall.
Because even if you're bringing something like the Fero, two Aqua Tails will still come pretty close to securing a knockout.
So Kento Sarenori could always no shield the first, but does that Fero get brought?
He identified that it could be a key contributor to victory.
Does Kento Sarenori decide to lock it in game number one?
Just because you won doesn't mean you can't make adjustments.
He's only one win away from day number two.
Of course, sometimes you'll think my opponent's going to adjust a certain way in order to accommodate how I played in game one.
So I need to be that one step ahead and make the adjustment to my opponent's adjustment.
So you could be right. Something like the fear would be great to be able to see in here.
I was really intrigued to see the shadow annihilate get brought clearly.
No fear of the jump left. No fear of the Florida's but very wisely taking the opportunity to.
If there's a situation where there's a Florida's lead, you don't want to save the annihilate
and then lose switch advantage, then have annihilate on the floor just get the annihilate in a matchup where at the very least
counters are hitting for neutral and that way you're guaranteed to always get some value
I think that's where the clods are our partnership was really great for that annihilate because it could easily apply pressure to that
Flajus and when we saw it right away in the leads it went straight back into its poke ball and made the adaptation
So let's see what our trainers are rocking out here with the full game to it is that Flajus
And there's the Fero home slides like you called it that Fero looks immediately very
is threatening into Gavillherka's line. Gavillherka has the jump-fluff in the back. The quacksire,
which is no fast attack pressure, it's going to be a charge, saccharity, tie, Fira with the monster
attacks that enable the win. Shield comes up from Gavillherka, but seeing an early shield could
telegraph to Kintosarinori that this is only a chilling water and not a disarming voice.
That's exactly the play we're seeing unfold on at the stage at the moment. The chilling order will
come through, will connect onto the Fira, do a little bit of damage, critically get that attack
drop however as well. So not as much offense coming through from Fira here without energy is
being stored up and Nala Shirley water is going to follow through though. This could get a little
bit tricky for Kendra Sarinori because as the Fero continues to get lower and lower that jump
up is exceedingly strong into his back line. He is now at a stage of double attack drop which
means that Florges really does not have to respect this and Florges isn't really in any
danger of getting pecked down before Fero would have to throw again. I think Florges noticing
that there is of course that jump up in the back wants to try and get rid of this Fero as quickly
as possible but jump up actually coming in to maybe try and get the closing blow here. Fero is
He's going to be able to unleash the draw pack though, however, it's going on shielded
onto that jump off, so it will have to take this damage, super effective, but still hanging
on.
That double attack drop paying dividends for Gabel Hurka, and I really like this play.
Reset that attack drop, save the energy, and then bring in the Kingdra.
Oh my goodness, the full set, acrobatics, the no shield from Shadow Kingdra.
Kingdra will hang on here, but that is a lot of health gone in a split second.
Sometimes Fortune favors the Brave, but unfortunately here for Kingdra it did have to take a heavy
hit of damage there.
It is able to retaliate, though, now with a swift across the stage here.
Jumpluff is going to let this come through.
No shield to be utilized on Gabo Herco's side,
but Jumpluff has the bulk to be able to stay in the game.
It has so much energy, but those Dragon Breaths putting in so much work,
energy, lost.
Quagsire now in play.
I don't think that's what Gabo Herco was hoping for.
He was hoping to get the farm down, but the Shadow Dragon Breath is so oppressive.
Jumpluff falls, and now Quagsire is forced to take a swift as well,
and that has helped that you really do not want to lose,
his incomes annihilate with this massive counter fast move pressure. At least you do have the energy
up on Quag's side though, however, so you can already get an Aqua Tail across the board. But we've
got to remember both these trains also have a shield in play. That could easily be the momentum
swing that is needed, particularly considering this annihilator isn't in a position to start going
for the Rage Fist, but first it has to get through the splorges. Kendo Sauronori is nodding. He likes
the position that he's in. Annihilator can try and counter down the splorges. Annihilator says
very typhoon, gets the farm down, the rage fist is loaded, there's still that loaded
charge stack on the Fero as well, so the moment Gablehark shields this charge deck, his fate
is sealed, rage fist gets the shield, Kento Sarenori can just stay in, the Annihilate
will have to get knocked out here, it cannot be farmed down, and then Fero having that
drill pack stored, all those attack drops reset is going to secure Kento Sarenori this
game.
Yeah, Quacksaw are violently doing its best to try and get the Annihilate out of there
that we talked about as the great adaptation coming into game two is able to sweep in from the skies, secure the knockout, and Kento Sarenori will be advancing into day two of the competition.
Very well played there by Kento Sarenori. Upon locking it looked like a very tricky team composition to handle, where both the fortress and the jumblub were exceedingly strong into his backline,
but the decision to save switch to the jumblub Kento Sarenori was actually able to get some pretty solid value there, even from a double debuff throwback.
It still inflicted some pretty good damage there.
And so by getting that damage, suddenly it was able to set up the Kingdra,
and then Kingdra put in so much work.
It farms down a jump flop, which is one of its worst matchups.
And then Annihilate was supposed to not like the Florida disc,
and Annihilate just countered down the Florida disc,
so the Fairy-type fast moves just not necessarily work it out for Gabba Urca.
Yeah, having a few question marks in my head,
a bit like a side duck after that.
So looking at things, as you said, the Annihilate doing so well into the Florida disc,
you don't often see the fighting timing pound to take down
and opposing Fairy-type in a bulky one at that.
I think again, just showcasing that once you get rage-fist up as well, the attack moves will be helping out.
And critically as well, you know, the king drop being up to do so well against the jump-flop.
Really great to be able to see possibly Meta's flipped on the head a little bit.
That Fero, if you're in a matchup where you don't have to deal with bad 9 tails, it can just run away with games.
Even into that Florida's like consistently winning charge-stab priority.
Florida's love to be able to debuff things, but his identical pacing and you lose charge-stab priority.
and if you shield, it almost feels like there's this giant neon sign above your opponent's head saying,
I am throwing the chilling water, you can no shield, it's fine.
And so even that matchup, which is technically a neutral one, still felt profoundly negative for the Forgas.
So very well played there to Kento Saurinori, and Shadow Kingra sneaking into day number two, very cool to see.
I love those little inferences, like you say, kind of when you see one move happen, you know what possibly the battle is going to be.
And I definitely have some questions, because the Cloths are, I thought, did so well in game one,
but in game two he didn't bring it, even though it applied so much pressure, so great feel to see that come through.
Maybe there was a little bit of worry after it was two ground types in the back, maybe there could be like an ABA lead and back ground type and then the Claude Sair could get countered.
But trusting in the fact that Fero should actually end up being a lot more neutral overall, did actually keep the exact same backline with the Kingdra and the Annihilate,
But just saying, you know what, I can actually run my second Fortress counter, which is the Fero,
because that Fero Fortress matchup was very unfortunate for that Fortress. My goodness.
Yeah, Fero, I think, was definitely making a statement, and it was nice as well to be able to
see a composition with two shadow types coming forward, because sometimes you have to ask the
question, why do I put my shields? We know shadow poke won't really like to eat up those shields,
but when you've got the annihilator and the king, it's like, what do you do to split them across,
so you have to really, I think, make good educated guesses of what your opponent is bringing and
I'm glad they're going to be utilized for most.
I really like the matchup knowledge of understanding that even in acrobatics onto a shadow king
grid is something that is survivable.
That's where you can immediately tell the level of preparation that these trainers have.
They have played out these matchups.
They know the optimal things that they can and can't survive.
And a lot of the times sometimes they will build very specific steps to be able to survive
charge stacks in certain matchups.
So it's really nice to see a trainer's preparation pay off in a big way on the big stage.
Ketya Saranori, he is well on his way to repeating or even exceeding his World 25 performance
because he's on to day number two.
Exactly, and taking down a regional champion from earlier in the season as well is no easy
feat.
So you've got to be feeling confident after that victory and bouncing into day two of
the competition.
Because the action is still rolling here at the 2026 Pokemon World Championships, we've
had so many incredible veterans at the competition battling it out and there's some trainers as
well who really want to be able to make their mark and call themselves the very next Pokemon
world champion. I mean, I've been so inspired so far in this tournament and it sounds like a lot of
you at home have been inspired as well. You guys have been reaching out using the hashtag play
Pokemon, which is incredible. Looks like our first one here is from mickey bgc matching with my buddy
hashtag play Pokemon hashtag Pokemon worlds hashtag Pokemon xp always got the jacket. Okay,
that's awesome. That's awesome. I didn't see the jacket at first. That's so cool. Yeah, loving the
mega right you as well. The mega revolutions are so cool. The more recent ones that we've been able
to, you know, see coming out into the Pokemon world. Great to be able to showcase them and going to even a pre evolution of
Raichi. We got the little Pikachu, the world Pikachu. And look at that Bata, Hondo. The Hondo with the background.
The San Francisco background is all that's very cool from Wild Side 2 underscore Mystic. Now that is a trip souvenir right there.
That's an incredible find. Oh, look at this as well. Another Hondo, but also a shiny.
So we call that a Shondo in the community. The Mewtwo with the backdrop as well to commemorate 10 years of Pokemon Go.
What an incredible memory and what an incredible background as well be the the globe background with the Sun coming over it
It honestly feels like a very fitting way to celebrate 10 years of this incredible game
Hondo mute use for everyone and and in the go battle league
We actually have the mega masterly coming up here pretty soon
So if you get that mute to it is worth powering up because mega mute to is an absolute menace in the mega masterly
That thing is each carer. I'd say I was lucky enough as well to get the shiny on that
I'm so excited to be able to get that, so that's one I think I'll have to consider for my future battles as well.
I didn't get the shiny on that one, but on one of the raid days, I did actually end up getting the Shundo.
My first ever Hundo Mewtwo was a Shundo, which I was shocked by, so we had to obviously be raised after that and get it maxed out,
but it's maxed out, I finished the best buddy a few days ago on it, so we are prepared.
It is powered up, mega level maxed, bring on the Mega Master League, bring your Mewtwo counters,
to be up my team. Great skill to have that ready for when we battle possibly in the future,
but I'm glad you mentioned kind of the best buddy as well because we see that a lot of
the time with our competitors here. The Pokemon will have that little best buddy ribbon showing
that between the Pokemon and the trainer, they've really fueled this bond together and they have
that trust and faith within each other to bring it to the world. The championships,
our next trainers are ready. However, on the stage, we're actually going to be moving into the losers
finals here for group A. We're going to be showcasing some trainers we featured earlier on in the
in the broadcast, critically Ripley,
who had an incredible match against the Elzaboy, actually.
You know, had an incredible match against them,
took game one, but unfortunately got reverse swept
and kicked down into the loser's bracket.
But some incredible Pokemon choices here.
Oh my goodness.
I'm looking over at his opponent here,
Nyan Gakke, and we've gotta talk about that Tertnator.
Tertnator is there to really try and target down Pokemon
like the Shadowcanto Ninetales.
Shadowcanto Ninetales, one of the reasons
why it's so popular is it feels like its energy
those everywhere, the fire type,
weather ball, the grass type, energy ball,
but suddenly there's a Turdenator
and it's a fire dragon type
and anything you could throw at it
is gonna be double resisted.
This Turdenator is running incinerate,
brutal swing and overseas.
Brutal swing does give the Turdenator very fast pacing.
It is only two incinerates to the first three brutal swings
and then one incinerate to the fourth
and it also has overheat in case it needs to inflict
some pretty big neutral damage.
And it looks like there's only two fire resistors
on the team, so an overheat landing
could be game-changing in this set.
I think Incinerate is always very interesting
because you're kind of saying it only takes two
or only takes one on the follow-up
to be able to get to that charge attack.
Incinerate is one of those slower, faster attacks.
It can sometimes however, you know,
obviously reap the rewards from all the energy
it can generate up,
but it is something you have to be very cognizant of
in terms of your timing.
And honestly, even Turdinator into the Flauages, for example,
is not the worst matchup ever
because of that very unique Fire Dragon typing
that we really don't see a lot of in this meta.
Even if it does run at the Flauages,
only hitting it for neutral damage. Looks like we're not gonna have to wait much
longer. The battlers are ready. We've got double lock-ins. Game number one. Losers
finals of Group A. It's gonna be the Shadow Canto Ninetales into the
Turdenator. Oh no! We are bringing the fire to the stage. We've got Turdenator
versus the Ninetales. In comes the Florgis. But Florgis is not gonna do
particularly well either. In comes the Electrode and the Florgis is completely
walled. There's no disarming voice. It's trailblaze and chilling water. Repurly
shaking his head as he knows this is a very negative matchup. Yes it's not the
Poker when he wants to see with the Flauages. The Ninetales in the back however would be
happy to find a live in against it later on. So Flauages has got to try and find a
way to navigate that. Right now however the electrode in a prime position should
just keep going for these energy balls getting that damage on the board. Even if
a second attack drop is applied that second energy ball is still going to be
taking the knockout. Normally what makes Kanto Ninetales so threatening is
let's say it was Kanto Ninetales into a Mantine. You're able to get a bunch of
farm from the electrode and then suddenly your energy balls will add up. You can throw as
many charge attacks as you want at that turnator. That turnator is not going to mind whatsoever.
This electrode doesn't mind taking chilling wardens either, getting those attack drops,
look at that. It doesn't mind. Going for an electrical bats in LKF. This is a pokemon it
does have a problem with however the ember's coming through thick and fast and giving so much
energy to that 9 jails. The electrode is going to have one last hurrah, getting some damage
against its opponent. This is a double debuff wild charge and that's still half of the night
the field. And now the
turnator is going to re hit
the field in the man team, but
it's going to be fully walled
off by the zoom world. This is
a very, very slow matchup.
Honestly, the biggest damage
healer here for the man team
is going to be the neutral
way attacks. But the single
assistant water plus overtime
man team does have a pacing
advantage. But the question is
maintain has to get through it
entire zoom world and then get
damage on the turnator. And I
just think it might be too
much fault on the side of nine
cockade. The zoom world does
feel like a thorn in the side
of rupees team. But the
side of rupees team here as you've said it's gonna really slow down the pace of
play with the mantis really not a lot man team can do to it other than those
wing attacks and then nine tails at the same time isn't gonna appreciate the
bubbles coming through so my team has a lot of work to do to remove this a
zoom rule from play and then you've got to still deal with that turbinator that
turbinator does have a decent amount of energy as well now the turbinator's
charge tax cannot really threaten here but we're actually gonna see oh in comes
rip early firing off the energy ball but in doing so this now sets up the
It does indeed you unleash a lot of your energy onto that zoomer and turn it as you said it's just gonna get straight on in here seeing that the
Ninetales is wonderful, but nine tails gets the edge can go for a weather ball no shield right now
Oh, no an entire incinerate goes through turn it are already at an advantage
It now looks unstoppable get a farm up to a hundred go for the brutal swing with early force to let this go
But even though brutal swing is only neutral damage onto the man team
It just really feels like the man team does not have enough in the tank an
Immediate brutal swing should be able to just about burn the switch timer here and then get a zoom world back on the field
Turdinator looks so nonchalant on the field right now
But it is applying so much pressure just able to get
Consistently to these brutal swings and forcing pressure onto that man team man team's able to go for the you know attack
Yeah, we'll be able to get some good damage on the board with the twisters super effective
But turdinator is still in play
And now I'm going to go for the Overheat. This is resisted, but Overheat is an incredibly powerful attack.
Ripperly is going to no shield. This is going to deal damage. Overheat connects, and he's barely able to hang on.
But one bubble from Azumarill is able to get the farm down, and Mainkake takes the Game 1 win.
That was such a great teamwork between the Azumarill and the Turdenator as well.
I think between them, they just really walled against Ripperly's team, and they just felt like there was no wiggle room for him to maneuver there.
maneuver there particularly when we saw the leads come out there was the nine
tails that had to get out of there fantastic I would kind of say almost like
a pincer movement coming through on the opposing side. It really felt like there
was almost nothing that Ripperly could do in any of those matchups
unfortunately and that's sometimes when trainers try and go a bit more
anti-meta where we've seen a couple of zoom world. Zoom world is arguably the
greatest Pokemon go PvP Pokemon of all time but nowadays it's not seen as
frequently so I'll honestly view it as something that's a bit more anti-meta. The
The Tornator is very anti-meta, but running these anti-meta picks specifically to try and target down the meta,
if you're able to find your target, that's going to be very favorable alignment.
Tornator, it absolutely proved it's worse than that game, because that Night Tales, it got energy.
And energy just did nothing.
Yeah, it went absolutely nowhere, and I want to credit as well the work that Electro put in there.
Even though it had two debuffs from the Chilling Water, it was able to apply a lot of damage with the energy balls.
The Thunder Shocks just kept stacking up all of that energy, and it just felt like a Pokemon that could not roll away from the field.
it was very frustrating for Ripley to deal with.
And Ripley, I would imagine he's probably not safe switching a floor just again into this team
because that electrode matchup was just so dominant.
The moment I realized I was like, oh no, there's no disarming voice.
That message goes from pretty playable with disarming voice to very tough without it.
Well, let's see what adaptations are made.
The Nine Tails this time finds its mark against the grass type electric on the opposing side
and much better state of play for Ripley.
I really like Ripley's conviction here.
even though it led into the Turtonator, Riverley predicted that Nankake would make an adjustment.
So you know what? Surely it's not the Turtonator again. It's not. It's the electrode. In comes the
zoomerill. You can fire off the energy ball, pressure away a shield, and then potentially even look to
try and pivot out here eventually. Exactly. And now the Ninetales once again farming off all this
energy with Ember, getting himself to the energy ball. We know the zoomerill is bulky enough to be
easily able to take that. I don't know why, since like it has a built-in third shield against these
super effective attacks. Does take it down to the yellow, however. There's plenty of energy up
up in the zoom real side. It does have to fight his way through the bulkiest boys that
Licky Licky. Licky Licky is the damage punch here. Play Rock will hit for neutral but his
shirt does not feel like it. Whereas Licky Licky, this is not a range for Shadow Ball,
will take the knockout and that's why Ripirly is not throwing energy just yet. Ideally,
he wants to try and get as much energy as possible before securing the knockout so that
way when that electric comes back in, he can actually get some damage on him. Yeah, you
can see these body sums being charged up. Shadow Ball as well, at two of those back-to-back
Licky, Licky able to capitalize on the fact that Azumarill is so slow to get to his Charging Shack
it can just go from rollout after rollout and get that energy prime.
One Shatterball comes through but it's not enough to be able to get the KO.
It needs one, maybe two more rollouts to get there.
Oh, that is really not what Riverly was hoping to see.
The Azumarill hanging on one HP at a dream.
That crashes away not only a Shadowball but it bodies him as well.
And suddenly all that Licky, Licky energy doesn't really have it anymore.
It's forced to use it all onto that bulky Azumarill.
Yeah, it would have been great if it just went down with the Shatterball
and those couple of rollouts, but instead had to unleash the damage.
It does still have enough ready to be able to go for that shuttle ball into the electrode.
That puts in some serious work, but now Ripley has lost that licky-licky.
The 9-tiles comes in perfect. You can get those embers down,
but the electrode already finds with the charge attack, forcing the shield on Ripley's side.
This Turtonator is going to have to pull off a master class in the endgame.
There it is. Turtonator ruffles off of the field, in comes Mantine,
and unfortunately both battlers are realizing that this Turtonator is in a very rough spot.
Yeah, a little bit of a contrast from Game 1 into Game 2, Turdinator not as happy to face down against this Mantine.
Does get the Brutal Swing on the board, but we know that Mantine is ready with that Twister to unleash some super effective damage.
There is to look across the shield on my side, but you're going to have to take at least one of these.
And unfortunately, for Naitake, it does look like Twister is able to pick up the two-hit knockout, whereas the Brutal Swings, the choice to not run Dragon Claw, does give Turdinator better pacing.
But in moments like these, this is when Brutal Swing can feel inadequate as Brutal Swing after a Brutal Swing connection to the Mantine.
And Mantine still looks very cheerful, as he can just no shield everything and just span up Twister after Twister.
Yeah, it's doing those little backflips of joy, knowing it's in a prime position. Here's a Mellot Twister, trying to blow the Turbinator off the field, and that final shield has now been utilized.
The Turbinator is a lot more vulnerable. You still have the shield on Ripulae's side, but I do think the Mantine is in a position to still take this.
I really like the decision to no show because even if this does not take the knockout
The nine tail should actually be able to defeat the Turtonator here a very rare moment
When a nine tails deals meaningful damage onto a Turtonator board the Turtonator has been dealt with this thoroughly by man team weather ball
Even despite the double resistance will take the knockout back in comes the like trode
There's weather ball number two. That's a great answer from ripperly
It all went wrong in game one but staying calm staying composed
Sticking with that 90L lead and pays off way better this time.
9Tel score is revenge and redemption against that Turtonator.
Being able to, like you say, not deal too much damage, but enough damage to be able to secure the knockout.
Evening out the score between both of these trainers.
This is what we love to see. We set this earlier on the desk.
But give us game 3s, please. All day long.
The mind games now are going to reach an all-time high.
Both battlers know they are one win away from day 2,
day two but one loss away from exiting out of this tournament. This is the most important
game they will play today and I cannot blame them here. They're taking last second decisions
here. They're taking their time. They're double checking their theory crafting lines because
they know this is everything. I mean so far the narrative in this user's final set has been the
battle of the fire type for Ninetales, the Turbanator. Coming into game three home slides,
do you think they're going to bank on these trust of Pokemon again or are we going to see a bold
switch up between these five times. I think if I'm ripperly I might end up benching the
tantalizer. The tantalizer does have very intriguing coverage but the worry is if we
saw what happened to game number one it kind of just got obliterated by the
Turtonator. There was no amount of energy management that could save it from alignment
that is that dire. So potentially trying to pin it away from it if you're worried about
that Turtonator could be an option but as well there's some very enticing that stuff here like
like the Corbinite, the Sweeney Electrode,
so there are reasons to bring it.
So is this gonna be a really, really tough one?
I can see it going both ways.
I do think the Turdenator is probably
going to get brought in game number three,
because the Turdenator, as long as it can basically
more or less avoid the Merowak,
even in that Mantine matchup,
as long as the Mantine has some damage on it,
Turdenator's ability to survive one Twister
is actually pretty nice there.
It is indeed.
It has that bulk to be able to hang on
a little bit longer.
I think as well, critically,
the leads are gonna be so important.
when we saw Ninetales at a disadvantage position,
that's where suddenly Rippley was on the back foot,
but as soon as you can get the alignment
with that Ninetales, the story is different.
But let's see if the Ninetales is back in play.
No, it has been benched, turban-aider on the opposing side,
but it's Corsola versus Mantine.
Now, beating Corsola into a Pokemon that is not Licky-Licky,
when you know your opponent does have a Licky-Licky,
is an incredibly, incredibly awkward spot to be in.
You will oftentimes notice that trainers
will over-form Quetsidivari with Corsola
out of fear of a charge attack being caught,
Even though Corsewell should throw power gems here, you really want the power gem to either land for damage on the Manti or
You want it to have the ability to like threaten a protection away from Manti. A power gem landing on a Licky Licky is a very inefficient use of energy
So does Nainkake look to try and over farm here? Does he consider a throw on a limity studs?
But ripperly with a reed. There's that catch he was looking for as in comes Licky Licky.
This is exactly we said you don't want the power gem to land in the spot
exactly the target. Licky Licky has absorbed for itself. Of course Licky gets out of there. We're now
going to see the zoom roll to multi Pokemon once again in play. But the critical fingers,
these rollouts will start stacking up. We are going to see so much over farming of this energy
onto the Shadow Balls. This Licky Licky being outside of play rough range and even with a couple
more bubbles landing, still out that a play rough range is very good for Ripperly. Ripperly has
potentially cleared the path for that non-shadowed Merowak in the back to be able to sweep because
We know Naenggakke has that Turdinator, so each charge attack that Licky Licky lands on the Azumaril as his health bar gets lower and lower,
the odds of Rifferly being able to get through a first sweep only increase.
Azumaril also trying to play the same game as Licky Licky here, trying to overfarm the energy.
This play rough will come through, but there is another one, only a few bubbles away from being primed as well to just keep that pressure on.
At the same time, Licky Licky has won too many rollouts away from being able to get to that body slam, so really the offensive drive is on Azumaril right now.
I really felt like he got incredible value out of that Vicky Linky, forcing two charge stacks out of his zoomerul is incredible
because his zoomerul thrives by just outbulking things and making multiple charge stacks
and now he can bring in the Mantine. The Mantine should also be outside of a potential play rough range.
The Mantine capped at 100 energy, going to go for the Water Pulse. Water Pulse won't take the knockout here, but it will get this zoomerul perilously low.
Yeah, Mantine already came in with so much energy, it can unleash a little bit, it's got some to afford.
but critically the play rough was righty on that zoomer over the mountain able to get the edge
the shield comes up and that is what ripper lee is hoping to see ripper lee with that shield
should have a pretty good idea that it's the tournater in the back he's letting it go he's
putting his day two hopes on the back of kanto marowak that's the thing marowak is indeed in
the back it finds his mark down against the turdonator nine kake looks up has a little after
himself this was not the Pokemon he wanted to see and Mero Wax just the
consistency at which it can reach bone clubs is a very big problem I don't even
believe there's an opportunity for the Turtonator to bait into landing and
overheat I just think that the Mero Wax is always just gonna be able to outpace
here this is the thing there's so much pressure coming through from the Mero
Wax and you have that shield still on Ripley's side so it is going to be able
to keep itself nice and safe from one of these brutal swings and apply so much
pressure going forward of course the Turtonator was fast to be able to get
to them is another one coming through, but the Marowak's still going to be around.
And unfortunately, even though Brutal Swing and Overheat have decent synergy, it's not
good enough, and he's only able to make it to another Brutal Swing, can't quite get the
farm down, but with all this energy on the Marowak, this is looking like a potential win
here for Ripperly.
That was so close though, that was nearly a full farm down on the Turdenator, but I
love that you have energy and energy to spare.
You can go for another one of these blowncups in to the opposing Corsula, but Corsula's
bulky.
Corsola will be able to hang on here, the Meroac getting lower, the Pinty and the Mantine.
Oh, Mantine able to get there, hanging on, making it to the Twister.
Is this going to be enough?
I thought those astronomers might cause an upset, but Twister will come through.
Is it enough? Yes, the Corsola goes down, a zoomer, or goes for the bubble.
Manches to get the KO, but now the Meroac comes in.
Meroac should survive the bubble, and that's going to do it.
Ripperly waited, he was so worried about a catch, no catch comes through.
He's able to secure the knockout, get the reverse sweep,
and his world's run is not yet over.
He's moving on with a fist pump to day number two.
Do you know what? If we were in seats right now,
I would be completely on the edge of my head.
I would be on the floor.
That end game was back and forth.
Switches left, right and center on both sides of the field.
It really came down to the wire.
Both these trainers wanting to stay in the competition
and Ripley has been able to secure that.
Commiserations, of course, to his opponent.
He has been knocked out of the competition.
a very great run, making it one win away from day number two.
And we're going to Pokemon that we haven't seen yet.
Turtonator, and able to pull out a very good show.
And we saw maybe the reasons why people considered Turtonator
when they were able to shut down the Ninetales,
and the reasons why they may not have, because where there's
Ninetales, there's also Mantine, and that Mantine matchup
was very tough.
That end game did get a little bit scary, though,
because once he was able to make the phone club,
he should always be able to get the zero turn switch into the Mantine,
click the twister, guaranteeing that it was in the middle of the
he actually threw a wing attack,
waited a turn, and in doing so,
there could have been a catch opportunity,
but no catch comes through.
It still lands on its intended target there,
but Ripperly was very favored,
but in that end game, there was a brief opening
where a catch actually could have happened.
It didn't end up happening.
He still got the win, but for a moment there,
we were all holding our breath.
Yeah, things were so incredibly close,
and even battling out here,
you could just see these fast attacks
powering up so much energy across the board,
and I think that was the key thing from both players.
They were farming so much energy up
energy up that they were possibly having back-to-back pressures but maybe that one extra wing attack
or that one extra astonish just started to pave a way to victory.
At one specific optimization that I did really like there was being able to get that catch,
reading the fact that oh he's going to throw on alignment here to try and outpace but this
was the end game that I was talking about.
He zipped land the bone club, he could pivot in but he waits the turn and the astonish goes
through so it was on alignment that he actually opened the door for his opponent to catch.
He didn't catch. He stayed on the field, but that was about as close as it could get. Azubaral farms down, bubble super effective, but the non-shadowed Marowak, the extra bulk, that's the reason people have it on their team, and it ended up paying off there, as it had just enough HP remaining to take on that win.
Loki, when I saw that astonish come through there, like, like, I jumped. I was so shocked. I was like, it's gone down, but no. A little increment of HP either way could have been a different story, but no.
was able to hang on. And then
the Marowak obviously was able
to close out the game. I
thought that was a beautiful
adjustment as well. We spoke
a little bit about Will the
Ninetales come back and you
talked about how Corvik Knight
in the Troat is so tempting
right to bring the Ninetales
in, but that is not what nine
Kake brought. So benching that
Ninetales was a perfect play.
Just trying to avoid that that
game one where it felt like
even though he ended up playing
pretty well, there was just not
really any play like he was
consistently never able to do
anything other than single or
even double resisted damage in
So recognizing if I'm gonna bet on myself, I'm at the world championships and I'm one win away
I'm gonna bet on myself to try and have if I can set up a neutral game and just try and play better
All it takes is playing better one time and that's gonna be benching the nine tails
Because he's bringing that tornado and then Merawak adjustment ended up working out very nicely
But it was all set up by that really rough matchup at the start getting that catch on the licky-licky. It was so important
Well sticking in the losers side of things we're coming to another losers group finals our trainers ready on the stage
This is gonna be another epic battle of proportions
Being able to see trainers who have advanced so far in the competition to be able to get to the world championship
But now be potentially one game away from being knocked out. This is where things get really really intense
We've got two wanted competitors on stage on the left
We have Pokimichi and on the right, one of Europe's brightest stars, Hecami.
Hecami also running down Milotic that we've seen a couple times today.
Milotic, Siebel, Galarian, Corsola, Tinketon, a Charger Bug of Pokemon we've seen a little bit today,
but not super frequently, and Altaria over Mantis.
Really like to see the Altaria, it was a Pokemon I definitely thought would be more prevalent coming into this World Championships,
but I haven't seen it around too much.
The one thing I love so much about Altaria in the past has been its synergy with a Pokemon like Empolion, for example.
I think they have beautiful ways to cover each other, but no I'm pulling on combination here on a calmest team instead
That water steal type is kind of in split between the Milotic and of course that tinkerton
But as we take a look across a commie team
I can kind of see where that flyer ended up being Altaria because if you consider the fact that poke Mitchy has you know
The stunfisk is pretty good into the charge bug charge like it's a really rough match up there
It's really good into the tinkerton. Oh, they did rock paper scissors there on stage. It looked like that's fantastic
And even Milotic it can hit for super effective damage
So if you opt for a flyer of Mantine, then you might be in a situation where, like, half of your team isn't playable into a stunfisk, so I think Yltaria presumably comes out of a desire to not be quite as weak to that stunfisk.
Even though Mantine is arguably the better Pokemon, it's not the best coverage into this team, so I like the choice for Hakami here.
one Pokemon that these train effect to Pokemon these trainers have a piece is that evil and that course stiller as well
I've got an eye on whether these tables are going to come into this match because if you can land the sucker punches down against the opposing course
So that that is a match with that bulky Pokemon does not want to face at all
And people sucker punch does look pretty deadly in this match up
It oftentimes feels like you're looking at five five Pokemon where sucker punch is unresisted and then usually like a tinketon
Which is kind of like the worst matchup you could ever see as a people. Yeah, the one thing you have to avoid
It's just never have it on a ticket on even just a feeble mirror where sucker funds is resisted is obviously just still pretty neutral
And it's basically decided on whoever wins charge second priority
If I give my ice you would debuff up before my opponent then their ice wind is gonna be doing a lot less and it ends up working out a
Lot better so it's very intriguing to try and bring feeble into a matchup like this
Especially with Altaria over man team on the side of a commie where those double super effective ice you wins could be a very big problem
But there's always that worry if it ends up on the tigaton
It almost feels a little bit like that that nine tails and the turnator situation where you could throw as many charge
Stacks as you want and the tigaton is just not gonna mind
Yeah
It is not going to be bothered at all by taking all that damage another critical Pokemon on Pokemon
Michi side is gonna be that shadow and I like having the counter as well
That's really nice into Pokemon like the evil on the opposing side as well
If you can get those raid fists rolling that can just be such monumental damage even into like resistive attacks
If you're at a couple of plus attacks, you can still be doing some significant work out there on the field.
And one thing that I did want to double check is the annihilate fast move, because I've heard some rumors that there are some annihilates actually running low kick at the tournament.
This is not one of them. This is one of the counter annihilates. Counter, rage fist, and ice punch.
So it is going to have a ton of fast attack pressure, but there are some pretty nice, like, counter resistances on Hikami's side.
with the Glade Corsula, with the Charged Bug, although somehow I always feel like Annihilate
makes that Charged Bug match a lot closer than it should be, and the Altaria,
kind of Altaria, those shields and Ice Punch, that could get very, very tricky.
I do love that flexibility though, because as you mentioned, yes, the fast attack,
not going to be doing too much into Altaria or the Corsula, but then the charge attacks,
you know, whether it is going to be the Bravest or the Ice Punch has a way to deal with them as
well, right? And Counter still pretty good at being able to get that energy up, so it really
will come down, I think, to possibly shield utility if we see that alignment play out.
And I think in in an annihilate matchup here always guaranteeing that you're going to have useful energy
Could be something that that is actually making annihilate a pretty nice pick here
Because even despite the counter resistances if you're able to get it onto one of those matchups like a feeble or a mylotic
And you're able to farm down you can guarantee your energy has value in a way that if you win a dominating matchup with feeble
And they bring the tingaton
Then you're forced to pivot out and that's which advantage that that you fought so hard for
unfortunately you're kind of forced to give it up otherwise all all your extra energy just doesn't really do anything
It's gonna be interesting to see what the leads are coming out here because we've mentioned so many alignment dependent matchups
I guess you know some Pokemon really hard counter into another one possibly these leads
Forcing your opponent to make those switches and suddenly go down on the switch timer can be the thing that stacks up towards the endgame
I always find those matches the most interesting where it's possibly the opening turn or two is what determines the endgame at the end
And there's so much flexibility on these teams, but this potentially could happen
I really like the idea of charge bug for Hikami. I think charge bug it's it's not a big fan of dealing with that
You know the stunfisk, but charge a bug it has super effective accessors into the feeble
It actually ends up resisting gigaton hammer if anything can actually resist gigaton hammer
So it does resist gigaton hammer. There's a man-deenicum target. It does have that resistance to counter
Now Corsola is a matchup or Corsola just kind of neutrally outbulks it
But I do think the charge book could be a key contributor here for Hikami, especially if it's able to find one of those matchups
I always love seeing Chargerbug. It's a Pokemon that's had a lot of utility across many different
matters. Even if it's not the most popular, there's a lot of Chargerbug believers, I like
to say, that have a lot of experience and flexibility with this Pokemon. Being able to have that
pressure with, you know, X's or as well could be so nice into the dark types we see running
around. And interestingly, this is actually a Shadow
Milotic. We did see Potomac already make it into the number two with the regular Milotic.
The Shadow Milotic is going to have substantially more fast attack pressure and shield pressure.
Hellernet does come at a cost.
We saw one of the things that aided Potomad
in making it to day number two was the bulk of Milotic,
but the trade-off, 20% extra tier attack,
but 20% reduced from your defense.
So that trade-off, sometimes it can benefit,
sometimes it can hurt, and in this matchup,
I think especially if it ends up onto the Annihilate,
those shadow counters could be
a little bit problematic for it.
Yeah, one shadow into another.
You're gonna have the extra boost, like you said,
but also your defenses are gonna be weakened.
At the same time that we have seen Milotic
do really well in end game positions,
where it's possibly in a position to start, you know,
getting that final KO with those waterfalls
and trying to farm down.
So that's possibly if you've been able
to weaken up the annihilate enough
with something like the Thiebel, for example,
then possibly Milotic can just sweep away the competition.
Especially if you're in an end game situation
where you don't have any more Pokemon that you can switch out,
that's when the Rap debuffs can kind of get out of hand.
Because waterfall is already a pretty decent fast attack.
It does some pretty nice damage,
but once you're able to lower their defense,
the waterfall damage just to ramp up,
It almost feels like a tidal wave of damage coming at your Pokemon.
And if you're not able to have any other Pokemon on the field,
like if both here on the two Pokemon have been knocked out already,
then there's just no way to stop that Shadow Milotic.
It's like the opposite of Annihilate that's boosting itself up and up.
The wraps are actually boosting you down or debuffing you down,
and that's where things can become a lot more vulnerable.
Looks like the trainers, however, are putting their final calculations to the test.
Remember, this is a match where one of them will be sent home
at the end of the day out of the competition.
So everything is on the line.
Let's jump into it.
It is going to be the Thievel for Pokimichi
and the Chargerbug for Hikami.
Now this is a matchup that should end up favoring Hikami.
Voltridge will hit for neutral, so will Suckerbunt.
But a super effective accessor landing could be catastrophic.
It's going to be Pokimichi going on the offensive first
as he looks to connect with Night Slash.
Yeah, Night Slash will come across the field
and connect onto that opposing Chargerbug.
Do a significant amount of damage.
But critically, the fact that you can...
Oh, it got the attack boost as well.
That's exactly what the Thievel needs.
Why is he, I think, going for the shield here, though?
Now Thiebel should be able to pretty effortlessly get a full farm down.
The X's are will be shielded, but Sucker Punch was scaring before,
wait until it's attack boosted, and the prediction by Pokimichi calling that Hikami would throw right away,
and he's able to force a charge to a Fiori tie.
Hikami will be able to partially the final shield,
but Thiebel is going to get a pretty massive farm down.
It's going to have a decent amount of HP,
and it's also going to have quite a bit of plus one attack boosted energy.
Thiebel was able to make swift work of this Charger Bug,
when actually it didn't have the best matchup against it in the first place.
It's not Feeble vs Feeble, but you gotta remember the one on Pokimitcheside has that attack.
At least it did. Now you got the Tinketon. This is the perfect Pokémon to deal with Feeble.
And that is the risk. If you end up safe switching a Feeble into a Tinketon team, if there's a Tinketon back there, you could be in a very big world of hurt.
Icy Wind will debuff the Tinketon, but I don't think any amount of debuffs can save this Feeble from Tinketon Hammer.
That's true. Tinketon Hammer is gonna hurt when it comes to onto the Feeble.
You can of course keep going for the icy wind, trying to deep up the opposing team as much as possible,
but look how minimal that damage is on the board.
Gigaton Hammer is primed and considering the feeble is also already in the yellow,
Hikami's going to let it go down.
At Poki and Michi, nice optimization.
They're farming up as much energy as possible without exceeding the 100 energy cap.
Gigaton Hammer still takes the knockout and in comes Shadow Miload.
Shadow Miload going to be going for these waterfalls, farming up as much energy as possible.
There isn't another Gigaton Hammer on the board, but you've got to remember it's at minus 2 now as well.
So the Miloadik gonna be in a better position to take this.
You can see it's doing about a quarter damage here.
Critically, however, Stumpfist comes in.
This is a great poke one to deal with Miloadik.
These Shadow Operatails will do a pretty considerable amount
of damage onto the Stumpfist,
but an important part of this end game
is gonna be the Thiebel for Pokimichi.
Thiebel actually did store a Night Slash,
so as Shadow Miloadik looks to try and shield up
and potentially try for a Farm Down,
if the Farm Down is not successful,
then unfortunately that Thiebel
is gonna have a Chart Stack.
He's able to save that shadow by Lodik, but the Feeble having that night's life bank should still be absolutely game winning for Pocchi Mitchy.
Seeing the charge bug coming valiantly for the Miloadik, really great to be able to see that Pocchi won in play.
It does eventually go down to another bit of damage from that fast attack Miloadik coming back with all the energy.
But as you said, the Feeble also has energy in the bank and is able to get the edge.
Oh, that was perfection by Pocchi Mitchy.
to get the edge.
Oh, that was perfection by Pokimichi.
Pokimichi waited the turn, saw the animation for the waterfall start, and it's a three-turn
animation, and then that was the moment to strike.
Switched in, Thiebel able to snipe down with the Night Slash, guaranteed that it takes the
knockout there.
Great gameplay there from Pokimichi.
It's very easy.
If your opponent saves you to something, you have something that's very strong to just
switch in your strong answer, but Pokimichi knew, I'm in no hurry to switch.
I can bang the Night Slash, then bring in Tinketon, and that won him that game.
If he immediately switches into the Tinketon and does not make that energy,
then suddenly, Hikami's Milotic isn't in position to win.
I mean, talk us through that endgame situation, because we saw the Stunfest
applying a lot of pressure to the Milotic.
Milotic was able to switch out, maybe trying to avoid a potential farm down,
but it still just didn't go Hikami's way.
If he was able to get that farm down with the Waterfalls,
it would have set up kind of a 50-50 endgame,
where Pokimichi would have been able to send in the Thiebel,
and then it comes down to like does hikami catch because hikami really needed this catch
for the move from the feeble but because he didn't get the farm down he would have been
knocked out by the discharge that forced his hand he was forced to catch out of it and then
from there it was just pokemitchy watching for that animation actually waited there a little bit
to take a little bit of extra damage just to guarantee he would get knocked out by the waterfall
and then the moment he saw it switching in sniping down with that night slash incredibly
the game play there by
and he is off early in this
the show, you know very early
on as well getting the attack
coming through really I think
the dominance saying people was
not mess around even though you
reset that you saved all that
beautiful energy for the end
as we saw player on screen
in the position where he's
away from being knocked out of
the competition. It was great to
play. Do you think if the attack
through on the table. It could have been a very different story.
I, I definitely agree that attack boost on night size is very
legit. I'm happy, but getting it on that first night's last was so
big for Pokemon. She, because it really led Pokemon. She to
dictate that switch advantage. He come. He didn't want to
surrender a big farm down because he didn't have a tinketon
in the back. So a boosted icy winds don't have done a lot of
damage once he eventually got farmed down and then had to
bring in his own people. So he tried to get aggressive, try and
make the call that there's no tinketon in the back. If a
Tinketon was there and it just completely shut down that evil.
Yeah, Tinketon was in a great position.
It didn't worry about taking the ice winds for damage or debuffs
because that Geketon hammer is just so relentless.
And it really does put the fear into a lot of Pokemon
on the opposing side, either forcing shields
or meaning that you have to sacrifice them
to preserve a Pokemon in the back.
And it looks like the weight is over.
The battlers are locked in.
Game number two, win or go home for Hikami.
It's gonna be Galarian Corsola leading into Tinketon.
This is a very neutral, very bulky lead matchup.
We're seeing a shake up from both trainers as well.
No evil in the backlines,
but ChargerBug is wading in the wings on Hikami's side.
Looks like all the energy is coming up on the Tinkertown.
Not going for the Tinkertown hammer,
instead going for the Bulldoze.
Oh, getting a shield with the Bulldoze as well.
There's a chance at a debuff.
Bulldoze hits the shield.
We do see that debuff.
And now the Corsula has been,
had its defense reduced,
and that's gonna be a problem.
So maybe the Fairywinds do more,
the Tinkertown Hammers do more.
That is a completely game-changing bulldoze drop.
Both of these gains, Pokimichie has come out and made a statement with either a boost or a debuff from these attackers.
Tinkertown now going for that gigatron hammer.
We are going to see it come down onto the opposing Milotic. It is pretty bulky,
and you have at least reset the defense drop on the opposing side, but look at that damage nonetheless. That's not very effective.
In comes the Corsula. Corsula will be able to absorb the damage here from this Milotic.
Shadow Milotic does have that extra attack stat there due to being a Shadow,
which means these Aqua Tails will hit substantially harder,
but this is still a Galarian Corsula.
Galarian Corsula gonna look for the full farm down.
This Aqua Tail will be very close to knocking out
Pokemitchy, frosting in the Corsula.
He thinks he can't hold on here, it's gonna be close.
Aqua Tail connects, Corsula, it does survive,
and he exits with a massive amount of energy.
Absolutely unfazed, Corsula staying in play
and can now unleash this Nightshade
into its counterpart on the opposing side.
Hikami letting this one go through,
preserving their shields for a Pokemon in the fact,
knowing it can take one nightshade but it's now down into the yellow. The energy
is up on Corsola however on Hikami side you do have the utility to unleash that
but Pokimichi has two shields on his side of the field. His stun fist looks
to be a very big problem for Hikami as Hikami has brought his charge bug in the
back. Charge bug really not a big fan of that matchup whatsoever. He's down a
protect shield. Pokimichi is gonna no shield but Hikami won't have an
opportunity to make a second nightshade unless Pokimichi decides not to fire off
it is charged. You're kind of relying on the Corsair here to be able to deal with
this stunfisk so that your Chargerbug can have a better time later on. But both
those shields are in play for Pokemitch. He doesn't go for them however, lets the
second Nightshade come through. And he's not going to be able to get the farm down
Pokemitchy holding onto those protect shields. He is calling that it's the
Chargerbug in the back and there's gonna be zero fast attack pressure
remaining. And you know what? He's right. There's the reveal. It's Chargerbug. There
There is so little HP remaining on all of Pokemon, but with the triple resistance to
electric on Yunova's stunfist, Hikami can never farm down.
That's the thing that's really not a room to maneuver on this charge bug, whereas the
mud bombs on the opposing side for this stunfist are just going to be in the prime position.
You've got rid of the protect shields on Hikami's side, you don't have free reign to get that
damage down.
Two mud bombs will not take the knockout, charge bug is exceedingly, exceedingly bulky.
the economy going to fire off this X-Scissor.
The Protect Shields finally starting to come up
for Pokemitchy.
Pokemitchy will also have a potential opportunity
to try and catch an X-Scissor as needed,
as he does have access to that Tinketon
that has been preserved in the back.
But first, he's gonna stay in, fire off another Mud Bomb,
and this Mud Bomb landing may even put it in the ferry
with downrange for that Tinketon.
I love the vision though that Pokemitchy has created
here, preserving those shields,
knowing that if you can get down onto that Charger Bug,
the electric type of attack is doing nothing.
The X-Sciss is you can shield against if you want to,
but instead says, let's bring the X's through,
utilize all your energy and let Tinkertong wrap things up.
And that was a nice no shield by Poke Mitchie.
He's trusting in the fact that the Charger Bug
just could never get enough energy.
The bulldoze is reached, Charger Bug will fall.
Poke Mitchie betted all on it being Charger Bug in the back.
He was absolutely correct
and he's moving on to day number two.
Brilliant foresight calling exactly what his opponent
was bringing in this match and Tinkertong.
One of the best Pokemon in the meta right now,
showcasing exactly why it is at the top usage for our trainers here at the 2026
Pokemon World Championship. Congratulations, Pokemonichi. You are still in contention
to become our world champion at the end of this weekend. I didn't really like how he
Kami was able to try and work around that kind of a difficult matchup there. He ends up
showing that the bulldozed debuff was catastrophic because it forced him out of a pretty neutral
matchup because once you're debuffed, that matchup goes from neutral to suddenly pretty
catch dropping. He was able to get that catch out onto the Milotic, but
unfortunately that galarian course love being able to know she'll be up against
and farm down. That was absolutely devastating because it really felt like
there wasn't a lot of value gained out of that Milotic catch. That's Pokemon at
the end of the day, though. Sometimes those roles go your way. Sometimes they
don't, but definitely for Poco Mitchie, it felt like he was in the driving seat
the whole way through, whether it was, you know, from Night Slash or the deep up
as well in that game too. Just all those little bits to give him an edge and
advantage. That's one thing, but then to capitalize on it the way he did,
absolutely phenomenal play.
That's a very good point that that there was actually a status
effect that a proctin game number one as well there where he
did have that night's last boost.
So unfortunately the RNG not necessarily in Hikami's favor.
Overall, I feel like he played a pretty good set.
But Pokimichi with the stone cold read calling it was charged
bug in the back.
Those are the kind of reads that can make a trainer a world
champion.
So Pokimichi in fine form here so far in San Francisco.
And I like that idea saying hey Chargerbug is going to be coming into this game
I'm going to bench the people as well that had a difficult time into the charge bug
Yes, it was able to get that light such who's but that's not guaranteed
And that was something that you don't want to have to rely on going into the game
So making these adaptations bringing that stun fist to pressure that Chargerbug was a phenomenal adjustment on Pokemon
Michi side
I also really liked the the decision by by Pokemon Michi recognizing that that once that that second mudbomb was reached
charged, chargebook's done its job.
Well, sorry, the, the, uh,
Stunfisk had, had done its job there
and, and he could end up just no shooting that X
scissor, and then trusting Tinketon to be able to take home
that win, and being able to navigate those
endgame scenarios, and, and be able to see
your win condition, not play to your opponent's win
condition there, there was just so many electric types.
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, there were way too many, too many
electric types for me, I'm getting confused.
But recognizing that once that second month bomb
landed, suddenly there was no need for the Stunfisk.
The Stunfisk did not need to be protected
any more and then he just bring the ticket on make it to the bulldoze even the bulldoze very good move
There's almost no HTL. I mean so many electric types
Maybe we need to take a little bit of a break and defuse off to some incredible
Pokemon matches that's exactly what we're gonna do
We're gonna throw it to a break and you guys can take a look at what the welcome kits are like here at the 2026 Pokemon World Championships
My name is Vaid Ban. I go by Veazaboy and I'm from India.
He is holding his community on his back, his friends, his dreams. You need to do it right now.
My favorite Pokemon starter is Spikotito, because that was my first actual starter in
Balaton Violet.
Like most people, I started playing the game in 2016, and it first came out.
When COVID hit, I found out about the battling feature that Pokemon Go had added, and I just
hopped on to the game, and I've been playing since.
My friend persuaded me to come to Japan.
I hadn't qualified for the World Champion Subscriber.
subscribed. I really like the game. It told me to you know come along. That was my first
international trip. The atmosphere at world was crazy. It's accent one that time. I thought
you know I would like to complete that world someday. And I also met Aaron Cybertron saying
was really cool. You know my friend persuaded me to come to Japan and meeting Cybertron
goes to after things that got me into competitive Pokemon. There are so many great players. I
I mean, Dancing Rob is definitely one person that, you know, he's the trailblazer, he's the first world champion.
Like, most things it takes a while to learn and it's not always smooth sailing.
It's very important to take a step back sometimes and take a deep breath and link things over.
It's best to just drink lots of water and, you know, pause.
This is my second in-person tournament. The first one I got in fourth place.
is following up his last year's world performance with the exact same dominance.
I really like Mokras. I caught it on my daily adventure in sense.
One day walking back home, I definitely had to build a team around it.
I have an eyelid for opposing fighters. I have Laughers, which is the best neutral pick in the game.
I was sure that this is a good team and that I have practiced well enough with it,
that I can play around most opposing teams.
The MVP of my team was definitely Lapis.
One of my toughest opponents was India's Tarjeev.
His annihilator was really good versus my team because I didn't have a go-cyber than my own annihilator.
And he's a great opponent.
This was my first finals on stream.
Vizalboy has now reset the bracket!
I feel like when you're actually battling, you don't really pay a lot of attention to
what is happening around you, you just focus on the battles.
Most of it was the same but lots of smoke, lots of light and lots of people's hearing.
Right at the end when I hit the ice beam on the Corsula, I knew it was done.
Absolute cinema.
The number one challenge that I set for myself this season was to make as little misplays as possible.
To help that guy?
Well, I didn't make a few misplays, but I guess it balances out because I won.
If you're 20-25, Pokemon Go World Champion!
My most memorable moment on the stage was definitely, you know, walking up to the podium with the crowd cheering and then lifting the trophy.
This is the one event where I get to meet a lot of my friends.
The community is very warm and wholesome and very welcoming.
Thank you for all your kindness and I'm very grateful for everything that community has helped me with.
the world championship last year in Anaheim, California in an arena.
Take a good look around because this year we're going to try to do it one more time.
We're going to be in the Chase Stadium on Sunday to crown another champion.
But in the meantime, we're going to see who's going to make it there.
I'm Amanda, also known as Lumberger.
I'm going to be in the Lumberger.
I'm Amanda, also known as Lumberger, here alongside speediest chief too.
That's such a good point, Amanda. All of our in-person Pokemon fans need to remember that we are headed to the Chase Center for all of our Championship Sunday activities, so we hope to see you there.
But, as you said, we still have a lot of battles left to go today, and we have moved our way through, I think, about, like, 65, 70% of the groups.
We're going to continue to see these trainers that have not yet appeared on the stream.
the stream. I tell you what, some people are already locked in for day number two.
They're taking a rest. Others are still tapping here and some people who are up
next are in the winners group of their finals. They're about to join the people
in that. And one of these trainers is someone who was a finalist a couple of
years ago. And I think he wants to try to do with him. You think so? It wasn't in
Hawaii, perhaps? Could have been. Let's go ahead and take a look at the stage.
All right, on the left side of your screen is Jin's hailing from Australia and then
inadequates on the right side. A lot of trainers familiar with European PvP are very well acquainted
with that trainer and he's done it against all odds. He brings the shadow guiratina altered form
to the world championships and he's done pretty well with it so far. If you guys have been paying
attention to the brackets and you can use that exclamation point bracket to see how everything
is going. You've seen that there are so many fierce competitors here in group J. Jins and
inadequate have been able to make it here to that winter side of the bracket, but it all comes
down to this moment for them to see who will be making it on on that winter side for day number
two. Jins, an Australian trainer who's recently moved to North America and also has been competing
quite a bit there. Jins, definitely powerful, definitely formidable. I know that our OC trainers
don't get as much coverage as some of the other regions, but they are equally as talented.
Couple of key picks I wanted to mention here, the car pink for Jinz. If I'm not mistaken,
this is the first time we've seen it, maybe the second this entire weekend. And then on
inadequacies team, you, I know that you're thinking about that shadow gear, Tina altered form. But
how about poly wrath? What was martyne cooking with that? Because I mean, if you want a water
type that meets other water types, poly wrath is pretty good. I mean, not only that you said earlier
on, well, I don't think anyone is actually going to bring in a low linen nine tails. We have one of
of those on the team of
as well. He's known for
of team compositions. This
a few things work so far
two regional championships
to be able to get him qual
championship here. A few
to point out here, partic
side. That shadow gear to
claw shadow sneak and dra
So it's going to struggle a little bit in matchups like versus Pidgeot and then the polyrath.
I know a lot of trainers are playing much shot.
He opted for counter as well as icy wind and dynamic punch.
She's going to have a little bit more fast attack pressure, but a little less charge
attack pressure.
So we'll see how much pressure these trainers are going to put into these matchups because
we're getting ready for game number one.
Getting locked in here.
Take it to the stage.
We have a great lead for Nataklenzer that Pidgeot up against the lowland nine tails.
You see Jin's immediately pivot out into Glaring Corsula to be met by hard counter Thiebel.
Oh no, Jin smiled as soon as he saw the lead and this has gone from bad to disaster because
Thiebel is going to devour Glaring Corsula.
I said on the pre-show Amanda that Inadequance's teams are generally prediction heavy but the
boost adds insult to injury here.
Power Jin getting fired off and I don't think Inadequance even needs to shield this.
This bandit is getting mean here.
It's boosted up.
He's taking out a bulky Pokemon and it's going to be able to hit whatever comes in now.
Will it be an icy wind for the Pidgeot, or will it be a nice, very heavy hitting now
that it's boosted into the Meroac, or also icy wind because that's also super effective.
He's got three more sucker punches, maybe more because the gust damage has not yet applied,
goes for the Night Slash, and you know what, you're only going to get one charge attack
anyway, pulls the shield with it, and the older dodge is true, Amanda.
When it rains, it pours.
time in here going come back in with the Alolan nine toes. This time the pitcher does have a little
bit of energy stored and an atticons putting up that protect shield there wants to make sure
that he's not going to be able to take much damage just an air cutter and now also going ahead and
getting a boost on the side of James. Alolan nine tails with the weather ball ice as well as chilling
water so it does have a little bit of a way to fight back against this counter part but these
gusts are relentless and that heat wave if it can actually be devastating so an atticons chills that
Double shielded Alolan Ninetales here, Corsula out of the way, Pidgeot down very, very low and now comes in Kanto Marowak, which doesn't want to see the Lula Ninetales either.
Jin's playing very ABA weak to the Lula Ninetales, which was in the lead.
And look at them laughing, inadequate snows. He has a third Pokemon that could answer this Kanto Marowak, but he might not even need to show it because his Alolan Ninetales is ice typing.
ice typing. It's just so valuable. It's hard to bring ice and they take a ton
Kanto Night Tales meta, but I think an adequate might have found the only way
to do it. Going ahead, throwing that last weather ball should be enough to take
out that Kanto Merowak at this point. Pidgeot is going to be, well, you know,
coming back in, but going down rather quickly. This is icing on the cake
because an adequate did not even need to show his third Pokemon. So not only did
he win lead, win swap, get a night slash boost, win closing matchups, but he also kept his
last Pokemon a secret from Jyn.
So he doesn't even know what to prep for in game two.
I mean, they're both laughing and smiling, but Jyn's has to be kind of like smiling through
the pain there because he was predicted quite hard in that matchup and an applicants has
such a powerful lead.
Like you pointed out, also game one is usually a game where people like to kind of get some
information.
is my opponent like to play? Not knowing your opponent's third Pokemon puts you on a huge disadvantage for game number two.
As we take a look at Anatikwitz's team, the team building is so unique because, consider this matchup, consider that Shadow Bugfight Fortress on Jyn's side.
You might say, okay, it's got a little bit of utility, maybe I want to bring it next game to battle the feeble.
Well, an adequate sandwiched it between a fairy-type Alolan Ninetales and a fighting-type
Poliwraps, and he had built in resistances in case he saw the Bugfighter coming.
This team is so unique, and there are levels to this, especially with typing management
coverage.
And we talked about it just briefly earlier on, but Jens was leading two Pokémon that
was weak to that Alolan Ninetales, one in the front being that Pidgeot and the Meruac
in the back that was also weak.
So when you see it in the lead, it was such a risk for him.
He had to swap out.
But in doing so, he brought out his only counters
to the Lola Ninetales.
You're absolutely right.
And if you look at Jin's team, I mean, he's got the carving.
He's got the dandoso.
He's got answers for Lola Ninetales.
But unless those answers are lined up, they're useless.
And the inadequates took a swift game one.
Now it's up to Jin to kind of recenter himself,
figure out how he wants to approach this game number two.
Because he's very talented.
All the way in the winners finals group, J. Game one,
you know, sometimes a line, it just doesn't go your way making it through the
bracket to be in the winners finals is no small feat.
And Adequence has one more game to do to make it to day number two.
Will Jyns be able to stop him as we pop into the battle here?
We have a Pidgeot lead again versus that Shadow Geertina.
An immediate swap out onto the Thiebel.
Looks like Adequence playing a similar team except for now the Geertina in the back,
but looks like Jyns pretty much just same with D'Amdozo.
Yeah, exactly.
Relying on similar Pokemon here, but the Thiebel will force away the first
protect shield do we get another boost from an
adequate no we do not in game two at least not yet yeah you
can't keep getting away with this right now going for
air cutter does you want to put up a shield immediately
decides not to do so here as this air cutter will connect
with the evil not sit down to the low red but now being able
to still get off at night slash yeah not wanting to risk
anything does not even go for the sucker punch just the
night slash James way his options decides to tip the
scale towards the protect shield if there's a gear Tina
and an Alolan Itails, but is Anatolix going to show his third Pokemon this early?
Going ahead now, waiting out that switch timer very smartly and now coming in without Alolan
Itails. Remember, there is a heat wave here. Anatolix has two shields, but last time he's
Jyn's baby first, and Anatolix calls it here, doesn't shield it up, air cutter connects,
but it doesn't do much damage, immediately pivoting into that core slurp, and Anatolix looks like
he's standing and he's going to chip it a little bit before going into that period.
That was an unbelievably diabolical bait call there.
As an adquanth, if you would have lost his alone nine tails,
would have been down to just one Pokemon
at the midpoint of the game,
but he trusts in himself and calls it perfectly.
Here comes the first potential for an adquanth.
He's got to respect his nightshade.
Even though the nightshade is not going to be doing
as much damage because of that to the water,
it's still going to do a lot to this Pokemon.
He wants to protect it up at all costs,
charging up a ton of energy,
throwing right before the next one is available.
Great timing there by an adequate and this should be enough to do a lot of damage to that course shadow sneak might mess
Around and knock out the course line
It does out comes a pg out which has been a thorn in the side of an adequate here so far out
It's gonna go ahead and no shield this I mean air cutter heat wave
Neither one is gonna threaten to knock out at this range going ahead just taking it
But the big problem is neither one of the fast attack of the side of an adequate is either going to be too much coming back
and sniping there, getting some extra energy as the Pidgeot
goes down.
We see the third.
It's going to be that Dondozo.
No protection is left on Jin's side,
but very low health Pokemon on the side of an Ataclanus.
Mechanically, very inspired.
But this Dondozo is a watery wall
that's going to be so hard to break through.
An Ataclanus has a lot of energy on his Giratina.
But what's stopping Jin from just farming all the way down,
throwing an outrage, and tanking whatever
that Giratina can throw at it?
Going ahead, this weather fall will connect.
There is some energy under your Tina, but there's a ton of energy on the Dom
Dozo and only one shield to hide behind.
Will this be a bait?
Will this be the outrage or will he not even get a chance as he goes for another
fast attack?
Wait, there's still a protection in place.
So Jyns might have to go for the waterfall down.
First Dragon Claw connects.
Does he have a second one?
No, he's not even there.
Wow.
Look how incredibly close those margins are as Jyns is able to take game number two
in the winners' finals for Minatico.
And it's one of the most decorated trainers we have this season.
Running back very similar Pokemon in game number two. Jins was not I guess discouraged by that game number one matchup
Madness that he ran into at this point though an adequate series has been evened up one one
Jins is proving why he is here in the winners finals group J at the world championships
And I think that both trainers need to lock in for this next game
I mean Pidgeot in the lead for that first game was very scary for him
But Pidgeot in the lead game too looked very, very precise.
And I think Jinx is happy with how that game turned out.
Tying up the series and look how much damage
he's done two more times.
That Pidgeot, I think you nailed it Amanda.
That is the number one Pokemon that I think
an addictons has to watch out for in this decisive game,
number three, gotta find a way to counter it.
And if you do, you kind of box yourself in.
Cause you say, okay, well I have to bring the
lower nine tails to beat it handedly.
But then that tells Jinx that,
Okay, Dantoso is safe against my team,
or maybe you can bring back the car break
for the first time, right?
There's so many different windows of opportunity
that that opens.
So heading into game number three,
this is really anyone's series.
Dantoso just had too much bulk to get through
in that last game being able to take that waterfall,
knock out in adiquines, and that, I tell you what,
I get excited about things like this,
because that means we get to see more engaging gameplay,
especially at this super high level.
You're exactly right.
A Pokemon that would be able to answer Dandoza as we talked about is the poly wrath. It was on the game one team
Does inadequence kind of toy with the idea
Maybe a breed in this decisive game three when Pidgeot has been out of its roost and all over the field
And that's the thing with gins do right here
No idea that the poly wrath was in the first game and he didn't really adapt too much because of that specific Pokemon
Maybe he thought your team was in the back the whole time the other and says you know what all right
I'm just going to play it a little bit differently, a little bit better.
And it really worked out for him there for game number two.
One of our trainers has locked in decisive game three here.
Winners finals.
Let's see who advances to day two on the winners side.
He made a prediction in game number one.
He does it again in game number three.
Alola and Eytale versus the shadow Pidgeot.
This time Jens is not ABA weak so now that he pivots out it's not going to be as bad.
And an adequate stays in a little bit longer, which I think is sort of proving that there's not that
feeble there to answer the Corsula. Also going for the weather ball, which paces a little bit
quicker, but does not lower the attack of the Corsula. You're exactly right. And we've been
talking about lowland nine tails is the only answer for Pidgeot. But how about a steel water
type? Maybe something like impoleon could also try its wares against the Pidgeot. So an adequate
now has built himself in a couple of options. And if that polywrap were to get up energy,
He also has icy wind to threaten, so he's very strong into that normal flying type Pokemon this game.
I mean, we've seen how well Kanto Ninetales has done, and Lola Ninetales paced him just as quickly to these brother balls.
So doing what the Ninetales essentially can do, knocking out this big old Corsula by just getting to attacks so much quicker.
And Atacoin has invested one shield already, and now he gets a tip-tape.
What comes in as the Dundosa comes in, he has every opportunity if he wants to swap out and keep it,
or maybe he just stays in a little bit longer.
banking almost to weather ball
sort of energy and go throw in here.
I don't know if Jim has any reason to shield.
He knows the move sets. It's on the team sheet there.
Weather ball ice and chilling water.
Neither going to be super effective,
but inadequate is going to force his Sandozo
to do something to remove the nine tails from the field.
Nine tails little animation.
They're flipping its hair right before it flips
that weather ball up into the air to hit the Dandozo.
As you can see, it's just so bulky.
It's getting so much energy, complete farm down.
down and now the polyrath comes in and it's going to have to take an outrage.
Counter polyrath. What year is it? Is it 2021? This Pokémon has not been meta-relevant for quite a while,
but inatequence is showing us it still has a lot of fight. It's a blind swap!
The prediction again. Inatequence is ready. Both of these trainers swap. The exact same
Dungeons does have a shield advantage, but not anymore as he puts it up to protect himself from
this community day attack. Hydrocanon going to do a ton of damage there. Heatwave will also
hit back at the Empolion, but he has to be able to get it. Does Inadequance think this is a bait?
That is the great question. He's going to let it through. It's only neutral everybody,
but it is a Shadow Pidgeot and that hurts a lot. He's going to be able to take away the final show
here with the Hydro Cannon. Pidgeot is being protected by Jens for how close is Polyrath.
You're a nice win. This is a big, big thing because there's not much health left on this Empolion
and Augusta is able to take it down and it does a lot of damage to that Polyrath. Polyrath coming
and no energy on it whatsoever.
Everybody's putting up the shield.
This is so tough.
Final protect shield goes up.
Polyrath all alone, and there's a barrage
of flying type attacks headed its direction.
Closing in, can't get there.
Oh, Polyrath did everything it could.
You know, it really was on the bench,
the whole game number one.
Game three, it did make a showing,
but unfortunately for inadequates,
it wasn't enough to get past that shadow Pidgeot.
And Jyn's advances on to day two.
series started with fireworks and ended in a fizzle for
inadequate. But Jens proved that he's got what it takes to
overcome those bad alignment matchups, fight his way back
into the series and reverse sweep a legend like
inadequate. A player from Australia being able to make it
over North America start making waves over there and now
he's definitely doing so in San Francisco. Jens is a player
you're going to want to keep your eyes on as he took down one
of the most decorated trainers we have this year in the
competitive circuit. So much nuance comes down to the moveset choices here.
Again, counter polywad something we don't really think about. You're the gear
seen an altered form without ancient power. So the pitch out was the right
play and Jin's just kept on hammering it lead after lead after lead was not
perturbed by inadequacies choices. I mean, it says it speaks volumes about a
trainer like Jin's that he's not rattled after what was a disastrous game
I mean, Pitch up is really a shining Pokemon for him.
If you think about it,
Martyn has won two tournaments this season.
He's used Giratina in everything.
He basically made a blanket statement saying,
I'm bringing this to worlds.
And then you know that you have face to face,
but you say, okay, I have a Pokemon
that actually does okay against it
because I resist those fast attacks.
Exactly, finding ways out of that natural.
It's not right there, that blind swap.
I'm such a big fan of that.
And Anaclysm knew the switch was coming.
He didn't even wait to see the typings change in the top right corner of his screen.
He went straight to the infallion, but just being unable to keep pace,
especially with the Pidgeot with one or two best lead, it was just overwhelming in the end.
I mean, it was the call right there.
You saw his face afterwards.
If he would have shielded up that heat wave, it could have been a whole different ball game.
But you don't know, that's the whole thing.
When you have one shield left, is your opponent baiting to try to get that shield
stripped away from you, or is there going for the actual heavy hitting attack?
Jinz really played that super well.
He baited game number two.
He went straight for it game number three,
and it really proved successful for him.
Congratulations to Jinz for advancing to day number two
on the winner's side bracket.
He's proving that he can hang with the best of them.
Inadequates, meanwhile, had a rocket start,
winning at rounds one and two over LNDS, hard Jeff,
and Ilum kind of fizzled there on stage against Jinz.
So the question now is, can the trainer from the Netherlands
fight back, find his way back into the bracket,
like his fellow EU countryman, Potomac, did an EUIC.
He didn't care that he fell down to the loser's bracket.
He just fought his way through the rest of it.
So maybe an adequate could do something similar.
I mean, in this double elimination tournament,
still anything is possible for him.
He has top cut performances from coming
from that loser's side of the bracket.
He has won tournaments coming from the loser's side
of the bracket, so definitely don't count him out yet.
But in the meantime, there's going to still so many more
great matches to be played.
What a fun meta game we have, everybody.
We knew that Kanto Ninetales, Licky Licky, and Ticket Ton would be the most common choices,
but I don't know if anyone had Shadow Pidgeot on their bingo cards or Waterfall Shadow Milotic
or any of these fun picks that we've seen.
We're gonna head down to the stage here shortly though, everybody, as our trainers get their
headphones on.
Auburn, taking on Paul Garcia.
Auburn is a GVL legend.
Are you familiar with his accolades and his accomplishments?
one of the people where he's quietly calm but extremely good at the game. He's a world
competitor multiple years in a row, always really nice placements, but never has that
absolute breakout moment that people are like, oh, this is Auburn. Well, pay attention because
this could be that moment, winners finals for group number K. Well, I just wanted to speak
briefly. I mean, I knew Auburn's name two years before I ever met Auburn. And it's because of the
go battling accolades being at the top of the leaderboards year in year out month after month season after season
This is a trainer that has dominated the blind format and then I was so excited a couple years ago
And he made the transition over to the show six pick three format
He's been in a grand finals before he was defeated by Richie for a member right
That was the Swampert team from Richie that just overpowered Auburn
He wasn't able to to rain that Pokemon in but he's actually the winners finals here group K
So for all of our elderly trainers out there that are 25 and up maybe there is a chance for us yet
And if you take a look at the team compositions of both Auburn and Paul Garcia
They have very similar things in common of four of the six Pokemon are the same
But the real difference is between that and Polion the Malamar
Florgis and the tank of time that is in the side of Auburn
Yeah, you nailed it
I think that those are the standout picks and a lot will revolve around that
There's always a question of move sets and we have not seen a trailblaze
Florgis and any of our casting rotations Amanda
We're gonna get another disarming voice Florgis and that Malamar across the board from it
Looks like the number one target
So Malamar we saw a little bit earlier when boom 20 it was playing it
I wonder if it's big part of Auburn's team building abilities as well because as we've mentioned when there are fairy type Pokemon when there are
Pokemon that have actual fairy type attacks like you just point out disarming voice Malamar gets a little bit scared
and bug bite fortress.
I'm still trying to struggle to find its placement in the meta,
but people who have been using it have obviously been piloting it to success.
Well, Malomar is flexible.
Just need to avoid some of those really tough matchups.
And let's see if Paul Garcia is able to do that.
A couple other things I wanted to note.
First of all, we have a regular Kanto Marowak.
Not purified, not shadow on one side.
And then we have a shadow Kanto Marowak on Auburn's team.
team. So a little difference there, a little difference in potency and also defense. But
I do think that the mudslap, although in spite of all the nerfs, is still a very powerful fast attack.
I think a lot of people have been opting for different types of ground
Pokemon during this tournament. We've seen a lot of the Kanto Marillax, but we've also seen
a couple more fringe picks such as like a Hapaldon earlier on. And I mean, so let us know what you
you think is the best? I haven't seen much Diggerspeed. Oh, yeah, that's actually a good
point. I haven't seen it either. And you would think Diggerspeed's got a lot of opportunity
in these matchups. I mean, I guess you've gotten like really hard losses to things like
Mantine. That's pretty rough. Unless you're running Hyper Beam Diggerspeed, that would
be top off. But yeah, I think that it does actually have a place in the meta. The more
I look at this. You can definitely hit back against the Canto Ninetales. Yeah. Hit back
against Tinkitons, against the Licky Lickies. I mean, there's quite a few things that it
It has targets for, but you're absolutely right.
With Manton being so prevalent in this meta,
not being able to throw anything at it
kind of puts a damper on that usage.
Our trainers are thinking things over,
reading those team sheets, making game plans, right?
Probably thinking if I lead Tinketon, for example,
and I encounter Kanto Ninetales, what's my safe spot?
What do I pivot to?
They're already thinking two or three steps ahead.
In terms of team composition, they say,
well, if my opponent is leading Kanto Ninetales,
what are they likely to bring?
How do they protect that Pokemon from my pick, Mantine, for example?
And once you have a team that is very similar to your opponents,
using a lot of meta Pokemon, like we kind of pointed out earlier,
those nine tails, the tinketons, the licky-lickies, the Mantines,
then you really have to start wondering,
okay, are these meta for the reason that I should be playing them?
Like, how well do they synergize together?
Or can I take a Pokemon that I've kind of picked to be one of my more spicy
or fringe picks and make them work within that context?
Exactly. It's super satisfying when you can make those spicy Pokemon work, but sometimes you just got to reach for old reliable.
Whatever Pokemon is strong in the current meta game, go ahead and take that Pokemon and see how far you can go with it.
One of our trainers has locked in. The other one just followed suit. All right, everybody, we're headed to our winners finals for group K.
Let's get started.
Going ahead, leading that tinkertun on the side of Auburn up against the floor.
So we've got some very on fairy damage here going on immediate pivot out by
progress into that man team, which handles that ticket to much more
comfortably. It does. We've talked about this matchup quite a few times already
today on Friday. Gigaton hammer hurts. You're going to need at least two plus
a bunch of fairy winds to pick up the KO, but no swap out until late. In comes
Licky. Licky will come in to stop up all of this damage, but there's quite a bit
of energy on the mansion already throwing that first water pulse, which
You can see it wasn't nice jump to the Licky Licky and Licky will now start to
pace accordingly here just going all the way up to a shadow ball and look at Auburn
he's not fooling around he's going straight for that shadow ball. Does Paul Garcia think that it's just a body
sandbater? Is he gonna put up a shield? Great shield call there. Mantine could have endured
sure but if you want to get off all this energy and maybe another charge attack you
have to protect shield there Paul Garcia with a great call out. Switch timers also
displaced by about 15 seconds so Paul Garcia can pivot out if he so chooses.
Looks like it's gonna be able to take that Auburn's going for one more and actually going for another rollout while this Twister will go.
Auburn uses his protection because there's a little bit of energy left, but are we gonna see a catch on this something that a bodice would not do much damage on?
I don't know. It could be possible. Bodice then coming through here. This will pick up a knockout. Paul Garcia has to decide if he's gonna continue to invest in the man team.
He decides to let it go. Save his final protection for his other two Pokemon.
This isn't bad. I mean with the licky-licky this low anything can come in and get a fondant and get a little bit of extra energy
That's exactly what Paul Garcia does with the employee on now
Employment has a two middle sons advantage coming in with the mantis of all on Albert site going for the heavier hitting attack
You don't want to throw the watertight damage into a waterfly
This is such an awkward matchup like trying to grab a slippery bar of soap neither one of these watertight Pokémon can really wrestle away
the match up until late in its
that's a progression. So no
coming through this time.
man team. Waterfalls going
as Paul Garcia doesn't put
but employee on's only at
don't want to swap a tink
a load in the fully on ea
to stay into this kind of
matchup. It is pretty neut
of time to pace to that ne
of these trainers have on
Paul Garcia tries to catch
Florida's to now met with Timketon. We're back to where we started. Yeah tries to catch the charge attack there but fails. I think the
Florida's his only hope is to try to slow down this Tinketon as much as possible as the first Chilling Water connects. They'll look for a second one.
Gotta throw the Gaketon hammer before that second one comes through right? Right? Right? Question mark? No. Auburn definitely has a plan for this as he just continues to swing that hammer.
Take the Chilling Waters, lower the attack of the Tinkertun, but even Double D-Buff still
would do so much damage to this Fairy-type Pokemon, and Paul Garcia goes in and just lets
it go.
Maybe looking for a Fairy-Win down?
Double D-Buff, Tinkertun's Tinkertun Hammer does so much damage still, bulldoze to boot
as well perfectly, and perfectly managed by Auburn.
He's got the energy he needs for the next charge attack.
Paul Garcia not even shielding it up, even though it is super effective damage, just
Once you try to get off as much as possible here,
they're going for right for charge attack priority.
And if you notice, he's going for the group
that hits the shield here, just in case Auburn decided
he wanted to bring that Mantine in as a safe swap.
Yeah, I was thinking of the swap,
but I was thinking, oh, catch, catch would be flashy,
it'd be cool.
But honestly, if you are ticketing,
you can deal the damage, just lock him
in a charge attack priority, take that shield or the KO,
and then bring out the Mantine.
Yeah, but this is what we call a combination play here,
getting that last shield with the bulldoze
and finishing it off with the water pulls and Auburn takes game number one from Paul Garcia and winners finals group K.
Well played. We started off with a fairly odd pairing of the Florgis and take it on went into a very mushy water versus water matchup.
But eventually we got to the end of that game. That was just the number one though.
Game number two. I think some adjustments are in order.
Well, what are the adjustments that you're thinking of?
Great question. I mean a lot of it comes down to alignment, and I didn't really see too many openings for different Pokemon
I mean if you're Paul Garcia, maybe you're thinking about the canton eintails, but last game not only was there a rollout
Licky-licky, but also a man team to contend with so you can't really answer that tinketon with a hard pick like cancer
Ninetails, unless you're willing to take a big risk
I mean man team is on both of the teams here, and it's still a pretty safe Pokemon overall
when there's no electric types it just seems to be a bit of a menace. I've been
talking to some trainers I know that the trainer from France Mega Junko he is
not a man trained believer at all he thinks that this is the Pokemon that
should not be as popular as it is and yet it was top four of day 12 or sorry
yeah top four of the 12 in day one here. Mega Junko and I should form a club
because I'm not a I'm not a big man team player myself so I think we'd actually
Well, despite all of that, it seems to be doing quite well in the world championships.
So maybe we should be taking notes from some of these trainers as Auburn was able to use it to fight successfully in game number one.
With that water pools to knock out the Empolion, but that was game one, guys.
Guess what's happening now? We're jumping right into game number two.
And Auburn jumps right into a disaster scenario here.
Mantine and the lead got to get the Kanto Meriwak out of their ASAP.
Out comes the Empolion to answer that. Licky, Licky, save swap.
going ahead and immediately throwing that shadow ball to before the
employee on even gets to attack no protection you'll be by Paul Garcia
recognizes that even if it is a shadow ball it's not going to be a threat and
knockout at that stage that's what shields are going to be used for later
while you just gain up a ton of energy I mean both of these heavy hitters need
to charge techs each to pick up the chaos so shield investments gonna start
to be a question that weighs in both trainers minds as the first hydrocannot
connects the second one is cute and the pacing advantage goes to Empolion it's
really interesting though from the side of Auburn because with you have such a bad matchup like he
had at the beginning with that Marowak versus the Mantine you think maybe you would want to try to
keep alignment but with a couple mud slaps now you are going to be able to threaten that rock slide
at the Mantine that's coming in so great play by Auburn. Let's see how Paul can see it once
he responds because this Marowak's got energy. I mean we're kind of like in an inverted mirror
situation right Shadowkid's a Marowak versus Mantine right now but we might get a regular
another Merawek versus a Mantine later.
Rockside coming through just like he called out a Manna and no shield that's gonna hurt again.
Like I said, it needs to end the fast attacks.
I've got to very much at all look at Auburn waiting to turn there catching this waterfalls onto his own Mantine.
And if you're Paul and Garcia, what do you do?
You don't want to swap out into a Merawek to be in this, but now you'll look very low health Mantine left.
Exactly right.
I just did the Scorsese cinema back here off camera.
What a swap and a catch from Auburn.
Twister coming through here, neutral damage, we'll start to add up.
Even on the bulkiest of Pokemon, like Mantine,
and Auburn's gotta decide when to throw.
He says, you know what, I think now is a good time.
Keep in mind both of these trainers have two shields of Bulgarcy
is now using his first one here,
hoping that Auburn's gonna do the same, but they aren't even energy.
And they have similar Pokemon.
Tries to go in to catch Twister, but now comes in with that Meruac,
and this Water Force is going to hurt.
I mean, what are you gonna do with your Bulgarcy, right?
You can't try to call it.
You're not going to get a
twister bait.
It's definitely going to be
the water pulse and Auburn
suddenly has two protect shields
to Paul Garcia's zero and he has
played this match up masterfully
and have so much of it comes down
to that swap and catch of the
water pulse earlier.
They say that Merrill is
weeping behind that mask and I
think it really might be doing so
now because this is getting a
little bit hard to deal with no
protection gloves on the side of
Paul Garcia and Auburn has just
used his first.
He's got so much energy, and I think we're going to see him go ahead and just let this go through.
At this stage in the game, Auburn is budgeting his HP.
He wants to make sure that he has enough to withstand the wing attacks here.
Hold on to that protector to case he needs it, which he does.
So taking that single bottom club is all he can afford to do.
Final show comes up, and this game might be a wrap.
Saving that shield for a rainy or twistery type day, it seems.
Putting that up, going for that rock side, knocking out the Mantine and taking game number two here as a
Paul Garcia's Merlot comes back in, but just too little in the tank.
And as you can see there on stage, that's Auburn's happy face once he wins.
You can tell, very, very excited.
Well played by both trainers on stage. Paul Garcia definitely put up a big fight.
One of Mexico's best trainers, but Auburn looks to be in very, very good condition.
this late in the day he will move on to day number two on the winter side bracket and group out.
I mean that's something right to you know that he's known for go battle league which is a blind
three format he's also proving his prowess here in the show six pick three making it on to day two
on that winter side of the bracket. Proving his prowess I actually might write that one down that's
pretty good. All right. What else what else is good right the man team the Kanto Marowak and the
the matchups that we saw, so much of it, right?
When you have similar Pokemon on both teams,
so much of that dividing line,
it's not a big flashy play.
It's not a big knockout.
It's not a big no shield.
It tends to be the small things, the micro adjustments,
the swap, the catch, just one more fast tech here and there.
And those little bricks start to build into a house
and you build a big barrier
between you and your opponent over time.
And also one thing I'd like to point out besides
that brilliant catch that really spoke
that momentum in Auburn's favorite,
Auburn had a bad lead with that Kanto Merlwack up against the Mantine.
He went for a switch in the licky-licky, but he didn't fight for switch advantage.
Instead, he chose to get some extra energy on his own Merlwack when it came back in.
So then it was more threatening to whatever was in the back and really powerful for him.
So fascinating because when the game begins, I think a lot of trainers have a game plan.
They think they know what they want to do, but then you encounter those unknown variables,
which are your opponent.
And you have to adjust.
You say, okay, I'm about a third of the way through the game.
Does this look like a game I can win with protection advantage?
And then you get halfway through the game.
You say, you know what?
I've got to use my protect shields now.
Maybe energy advantage is the way I'm going to do this.
And then later on in the game, you say, you know what?
As long as I control switch advantage at this critical point,
I think I get the alignment right, and I can win this game.
There's so many different modes, and I
think that it's almost like a big web of different strategies
that condenses down smaller and smaller and smaller
until there's only one or two win conditions left.
that's essentially what we get at the end of the game.
Absolutely, it's not just one single thing that you can do.
It's not like, oh, I'm always gonna play for switch advantage
because that is going to guarantee me the winner.
Always, I'm gonna save my shield
for my more frail Pokemon
because I wanted to be able to hit harder.
No, you really have to analyze it second by second
because that's how long turns can be in Pokemon.
Blink and you miss it.
Blink and you fumble for one second.
You have given your opponent so much extra advantage.
Exactly, I mean, just a late swap,
a couple seconds too late,
your opponent suddenly is keeping pace
with your Pokemon that's supposed to counter.
And then you're like, oh my goodness,
maybe I actually need to double shield here
in order to maintain switch advantage.
So many different variables in competitive Pokemon go.
And we love to talk about them here,
especially such a high level, like the world championships.
I mean, you know, I never want to wipe my memory,
but if I experienced competitive Pokemon go
for the first time watching this world,
oh man, what a time.
The what a time indeed.
I think a lot of trainers are thinking the same
for the 30 year anniversary for Pokemon,
10 year anniversary for Pokemon Go,
five years for us in this competitive circuit.
Exactly.
And what a journey it's been,
but the journey continues everybody.
Remember, this is only Friday.
We have a few more matches today
and we will see tons of battles
from start to finish on Saturday
and then Championship Sunday
will be on the main channel.
So make sure to tune into that
and follow this channel and that one to get notified.
So, next up, Ice Kris and H. Shira.
Look at the team of H. Shira.
A little bit of funky, I would say.
We saw one Pangoro earlier on doing quite well.
This is also on her team, as well as a Chargerbug,
which has been doing well.
I saw Hikami playing it a little bit earlier on.
We've seen some success with Pokemon
that hasn't been as popular outside
of that top 12 usage of day one.
Exactly.
We did see Marto have a bit of success
with Altaria earlier.
I think that the Pangoro,
We also saw have an impact, especially against a Thiebel, right?
But no Thiebel's to be seen on the opposing side, but two soft targets in
Empoleon and the Licky-Licky.
So, eight-sheer, definitely a valued member, especially of the grassroots community in
NA, often contributing to discussions on Discord or scrims and battles and getting
prepped.
I think a lot of trainers speak highly of her because they think that she's got
the talent to make a deep run, even in the biggest stages like Worlds.
Absolutely.
the talent, the wherewithal, the knowledge of Pokemon and their damages.
These are all very important things that you have to take into account while you're building your teams.
I know some people, they like to build a team with a Pokemon that has a high attack
because they know that if a Pokemon say, like, I'm just gonna use Licky Licky even though that's not the best example of a heavy hitting Pokemon.
But they want to win that mirror matchup. They want to win that charge attack priority.
They want to be able to throw first.
Well, other people opt for bulk saying,
okay, I know that if I have just a little more defense
or a little more bulk to my name,
then I'm gonna be able to survive and charge attack better
and I'll be able to throw one more off.
These are things that people are taking into account.
They're trying against the different opponents,
they're trying against their friends,
and they're also saying, okay,
this could be the difference maker that it takes
to help me win Worlds.
I think a good example,
if I could piggyback off of your theme there,
was when Shadow Scissor was super top meta.
And even before that, when Frostlass was super top meta,
because essentially you'd be in a situation
where you know that one charge attack
could KO your Pokemon,
and you're gonna be in a lot of mirror matches,
so you might as well pick one with a little bit more attack,
power that one up, and use that instead.
And you're right, that is something
that a lot of changers are thinking about,
especially given specific ranges of attack
based on the Pokemon species, right?
So you can only punch so high as a Licky Licky.
But if you're a Primeape, the sky is truly the limit.
Another good example speaking of primate was do you remember when shadow annihilate or annihilate was out and had shadow ball and not rage fist
There was so many mere matches that I know a lot of trainers
They were opting for absolutely the highest attack they could get because they did not want to lose that charge attack priority
I built one. I built one. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Well, you never know. You never know what you're gonna need it
It's absolutely true
And I know a lot of people probably are still using it just on the off case that they're gonna run into another
another annihilate here in the tournament.
We haven't seen as many fighting type Pokemon
as we anticipated early on,
but seeing the Pangoro on the side of it,
sure there is one of them that has been making
a little bit of leaves in this tournament.
In this matchup though, wait,
now actually in this matchup,
I think it's got a lot of play.
Pangoro does have a bit of variety in its move set as well.
And double checking here,
it looks like Night Slash close combat,
which is pretty standard.
Each year is gonna be running that set into this team.
She's got to avoid the Florgis, right?
But outside of that,
Pangaro's got a ton of neutral matchups,
and if it has shields,
I think it can also wear down on Ataria
with the Night Slashes.
Another point, I was just looking at our Ice Crysis team there
with that Florgis,
another one running disarming voice in the past.
A Florgis was opting for Trailblaze,
which boosts its own attack,
and a Chalene Water,
which lowered your opponent's attack.
This time, you're just going for straight, raw damage.
You're doing a little bit more with that disarming voice
and hitting some things that are in the meta
for super effective damage.
No, exactly, Raya.
I think sometimes you do need just that forward,
aggressive kind of strategy in order to close out matchups
and take control of games.
Outside of that, I don't see too many moveset surprises.
We are rocking in Altaria with Sky Attack and Flamethrower.
I know sometimes you'll see the moon blast,
but that's not very common in the championship series
because there are so many steel type Pokemon.
And when you're a dragon type,
if you're weak to ice or if you're gonna run into a wall
It's a steel type.
It's good to have a little fire up your sleeve.
I think so.
I think that they're a little bit happy about having that.
Just a little extra security.
And I also think because of fire type damage
from like the nine tails that we've seen so often
that I think it's number two in this tournament.
That's why we're seeing a rise of the water type Pokemons
like the Bandozes and like the Melodic
that's it's on Hsirah's team.
Let's get started everybody.
Ice, Chris taking on Hsirah.
Altaria versus Licky, Licky.
Defiant neutral side matchup.
But I think that overtime,
Licky Licky will probably take the edge.
Going ahead now,
just both of them charging up a ton of energy here.
When there's a Licky Licky on the opposing side,
even when you're at the shadowball,
you will see a lot of trainers
maybe build up a little bit more or wait
because shadowball catches on to another Licky Licky.
Just feels so disheartening.
I know it truly does.
It could be extremely deflating,
especially when you're trying to build momentum
for your own side.
Shield comes up actually on the second shadowball
and the pivot now in to the shadow waterfall.
Miload it again.
So many water type Pokemon facing off Amanda.
Going ahead now throwing the effect.
We'll be definitely doing more than the hydro cannon,
but Miload it will be able to take it quite comfortably there.
And now it sure has a couple of options.
The lot of hotels are going to be doing much either are the wraps,
but wrap is going to lower the defense of the employee on.
So that might be what her plan is.
Yeah, I think the waterfall pressure,
even though it's negligible right now after a debuff,
it might start to pile on.
Rap number one coming through here.
Likely no shield from Iced Chrissy's.
Only got one left and both of these attacks
are gonna be resisted.
No shields to wrap as expected.
Waterfalls.
Oh, he does not want to stay around and see.
How comes the Altaria?
Altaria coming in had a lot of energy there.
It sure also only has one shield.
Chooses not to use it and the Melodic goes down.
In comes that Licky Licky to start right back
where we were at the very beginning.
But this time the Altaria has a little bit more energy
to start with and throws its sky attack.
Still no protection, it was on her sheer side.
I'm starting to like how this matchup looks for Hshira.
Her third Pokemon, as you can see,
is the Mantine in the back.
And the third Pokemon for Icecrest
is the Shadow Kanto Marowak.
So Shadow Ball coming through here
to guarantee the knockout.
But I think Hshira might look for a pivot
because she does not want to get much of that down
when the Marowak comes out.
Yeah, no risky business there saying,
okay, I'm just gonna go ahead,
throw this whatever comes in.
We see it in immediate pivot,
not even really noticing what it's going to be.
and now coming in with that man thing, which has a great matchup.
It does need to be wary of the rock side, but it can take one comfortably.
Yeah, exactly. And I think in terms of relative damage, the rock side is the
most threatening charge attack still on the board for ice.
Chris to throw eight shares way. Waterfalls coming through here.
Ice. Chris might need a catch in order to win this game, if I'm being honest.
I mean, might need a catch, but he has quite a bit of energy as this first
rock side will go through the last potential views from eight shares side,
making sure that the man team stays nice and healthy and now actually going for the other waterpulse doesn't roll that rock slide right away.
This is going to knock it down quite low, but keep in mind, this is a regular Kanto Marowak and not a shadow on a shadow one might not have lived that quite so comfortably.
Such a good call Amanda. That's exactly right. Rockside number two will connect into the man team, but the wing attacks are piling on as well.
This Kanto Marowak might actually faint. No, those are the swapping to the pole on.
Does Hshira know where the energy is, goes for the twister, and maybe Icecrest lost count, this twister is going to hurt.
This twister will be able to connect with the Emporion. It is hard skill, but it is still going to be able to not be quite enough.
Wow! Just trying to do as much damage as he can before this Emporion goes down, but there's still that Licky Licky in the back with a little low health Meralak.
DROPEK connects, Licky-Licky comes out, it's one roll out away, and Licky-Licky might get the job done after all.
H.Shiara connects with the body slam and wins game one.
Not taking any chances, and I know that rollout doesn't do too much.
That mudslap's gonna do more damage. Let me go ahead and finish that off with the body slam.
Taking that game in the winners' finals of Group L.
Well done, H.Shiara.
I looked a little tedious there in the late goings of the matchup, but she ultimately found her way through a tricky team composition from Ice Kris in game number one.
Ice Kris is a trainer who's been well-known within our circuit as well. We talked about each year and this interesting team composition that she has put together.
I know that you said before that you're not quite a man team believer. We saw a lot of it in the other team. You see it on her team as well.
But what about the charge above? Are you a charge above believer?
Well, I feel like my friends these wires be disappointed to me if I said I wasn't so I'm more of a chargebook believer than I am a man team believer
All right, that's fair
I think that both of them definitely have places in this world's meta as we've seen quite a few man team and a couple of chargeable
Being able to do quite well in each year there at the end getting to that push there was something that really
Momentum behind her name there, but then the ice-creams being able to get off this attack was was just you know a little bit fun for us
all the watch at home. Yeah, you know, they say there's so many ways to cut a
cake. I almost felt like H0 when she saw that the Twister didn't KO, could have
done a blind swap over to the Licky-Licky, soaked the charge attack from the
Empolion there, brought the Mantine back out, and still wrapped up the game. So
there are a couple different avenues she could have taken. She took the scenic
route there, let Ice Criss fire off the charge attack, and then close it up.
Saying, okay, one more charge attack for me as well. That'll do it. Hop it into
game number two. H0 wins this. She'll continue on to day two on that winner's
side of the bracket we have a licky licky up against an employee on here and
Shadowball is being thrown. Shadowball against the employee on will deal
meaningful damage sometimes you get that early shield in order to protect your
Pokemon's overall health but not this time in comes the licky licky into the
man team though oh my goodness ice Chris has got to work through this matchup
because man team last game was a headache. Throwing the head now throwing the
Shadowball and actually hits that first shield off each year they're saying okay
probably a shadow ball want to be able to keep this healthy has a lot of energy
here throwing a water pulse of her own this ice-crisp moment respond with a
shield and kind of no choosing to let this connect. Yeah I think Licky Licky can
absorb two water pulses here ring attacks don't threaten the KO either so
it's gonna be a little bit tricky for each here to bring it down also keep in
mind the switch timers are a little displaced I do think that one trainer
will be able to swap for the other second water pulse though still does not
full of shield. Keep in mind we do have two licky licky series. You see him
living there now throwing the shadow ball. When we wait for that to land on the
H-shears low health pump, if this one does connect and you see him pivot out
into the hole and I'm now saying okay let's see what we can do and a quick pivot by
H-shear and do him a loading. Yeah I really like the drill pet here. I think no
matter what you're probably gonna throw that if you're ice crisp but just having
the awareness to not kind of go on autopilot there and throw a hydro cannon
well done by him and I think that the pressure is really starting to mount. I
I don't know if you agree, but it feels like the momentum is really on Chris's side each Shira looks like she's just playing defense right now
Going ahead doing a lot of fancy spots
We have the whip timing here, but in the same breath ice Chris still has two shields to his name and a lot of energy
I was gonna say why not just let the impoleon go coming in Altaria and drag it breath down
See the switch time is it up getting so many dragon, but that's a lot of energy for that Altaria
as Licky Licky comes back in and try to do what it can do.
But it might get a little bit, wait for it, tricky.
Oh my goodness.
Yes, it may.
Sky attack going to get fired off here.
No protect shield from H Sheara on the Licky Licky.
This Altaria looks to be in a commanding position.
I do think a catch or a swap might be in the cards
for H Sheara, but oh, this is actually
the first step for her to come back into the game.
Because the body sand bait, killing away the shield, is huge.
A catch, swap, or a bait.
We'll take what we can get, says H Sheara,
and then she did get that first shield.
Another sky attack coming through
using the last protect shield.
This Altaria is quite healthy,
but you have to keep in mind now that the Switch Timer
is going to be a little misaligned.
They can swap at any moment.
Another body sand.
Does she get the double baits
on the low energy body sand?
Ice Kris gives up both shields
and each year is starting to build her way back.
She needs a shadow ball right now
and the Mantine comes out and he's a twister as well.
Going ahead and going for that twister right before,
Going for this, this is a dragon type damage,
but it's not a dragon type Pokemon,
so it doesn't have same type attack bonus.
It is super effective, but Altaria hangs on
to throw its own attack.
You have to completely undercharge here
as Icecrest can't do any damage.
You have to farm down with Dragon Breath,
try to get to another Sky Attack,
but he might need to catch on Mickey Licky
to give himself any chance at all.
Down goes the Mantine,
then now there's still a little bit of energy,
but Mickey Licky still has a body slam.
Loaded here, it's going for the Altaria, not for one.
The real question is how much help is left on Ice Kris's Licky Licky in the back?
Here comes Licky Licky. Absolutely not.
It's got nothing left!
H.Shiira! 2-0 over Ice Kris! What an incredibly well piloted game. What a series from her.
H.Shiira popping off there at the end with that Licky Licky. So much energy.
Two body slam baits gets two shields and then knocks out two Pokemon at the end to advance to day number two.
throwing the body slam immediately when Licky Licky came out.
That was the absolute key.
Ice Kris was going to say, okay, either she throws it immediately,
either she throws a rollout, or she pauses and then throws.
There were three different avenues.
He could only choose one.
And when he ducked left, H. Shearer was there with a haymaker to take the series.
Wow, really, really close match.
Both of those trainers were so concentrated within them.
But in the end, there could only be one who advances.
Congratulations to H-Shiro for being the woman who did so.
Such an incredible series and Ice-Kris is a fantastic trainer, right?
This is another player who's always topping those Go Battle League leaderboards,
has consistently competed at the regional level.
I'm used to incredibly formidable and he was in the group finals as well.
So both of those trainers outstanding individually,
but H-Shiro was better Friday at the World Championships in 2026.
And if you're a big fan of Ice-Kris, like I know a lot of people who are,
I'm a little bit in the chats.
Don't worry.
We might see a little bit more of him later on
as he just drops down to that loser's side of the bracket
in this double elimination tournament.
I'm just so impressed, right?
Game number one, fantastic from H.Shiara.
Game number two, still, I stick to that point.
I feel like she was playing defense for three quarters
of that game.
And then when she saw the opening,
she shot through the gap.
It was able to win in stunning fashion.
I mean, we've seen that quite a few times so far
in the World Championship.
When there are games going on, we
this with two protect shields even baiting is so dangerous but when it
pays off it pays off if h-air didn't bait those times and those were shadow
balls and they were both shielded up she would not have had enough energy to
knock out both Altaria and that Licky Licky in the end. You're 100% right if the double bait
fails if anything goes wrong in that long plan of hers the whole thing comes
apart but she executed flawlessly in order to win it yeah I mean just right
there ice Chris thought okay she throws a roll out she pauses something else
happens but the one thing he didn't want to happen is exactly what she did no
no no throwing it right away and I just love the smile on her face if she
recognizes this is it this is the moment that I am moving on in the tournament
wow absolutely incredible games there day two age here is gonna hit different
everybody I cannot wait to see them battle it out tomorrow I'll tell you what
We have our own opinions and
thoughts, but I want to hear
from the trainer herself.
Freed. What's a share about to
say? We're very lucky to be
joined by Heather, also known
as a share winner of that last
match and straight through to
day two here at the World
Championships. Heather, how are
you feeling? I have no words
honestly, like I'm so, so
happy. Um yeah, that was really,
really well played. And this is
play. And this is your first
World Championships and you're
through to day two. That is an
immense achievement. What does
that feel like? If you were to
look back and know that you've
made day two already, how are
you feeling? Honestly, it's just
like unbelievable. I'm just so,
so thrilled. I've just been
playing really well, and I
haven't dropped a single game
yet today, so hopefully we'll
take that momentum into
tomorrow. Well, I think everyone's
really, really excited, but I was
particularly excited about your
Shadow Milotic pick because
Pokemon coming into this weekend. Talk us through that choice.
Yeah, so I've been kind of toying with the idea of what water type I wanted to
bring. I was thinking about Lapras. I was thinking about shadow, um, my
logic. So I was just kind of pulling between the two. And of course, I was
always bringing mankind to pair with. And I thought that, um, my logic just
paired a little bit better with it, provide a lot of fast pressure into,
uh, Pokemon like Sunfist, that kind of thing. So it just provided rabbit out
the team a little bit better than Lapras did.
It's been really exciting and you've obviously played NAIC. You've had a little bit of break over the summer
What was preparation like as you anticipated world championships?
It's been a lot of
Inadequate practice tournaments and then a lot of GPL
So the go battle league has been I've been I've been going hard at it to learn my matchups
I'm the damage is everything like that. And then of course scrimming with teammates and friends has helped a lot, too
So for players at home, when you're building your teams, are you testing all of them in
the Go Battle League so that you can see how they play?
Do you use a line of three from your team of six?
Yes, I definitely do a lot of testing in the Go Battle League with, I was actually playing
this morning.
Once I locked in my team last night, I didn't do anything.
I was like, I'm just going to, you know, breathe, just sleep on it.
And then I woke up this morning.
I was like, all right, it's time to get on to it until I ran some lines of three from
my team just to get into it.
And when you've been playing today, you've obviously done very, very well.
Are there any Pokemon or matchups that you've learned during the course of this tournament
that you're actually really excited about and you can take forward to day two?
Or is everything going as you expected?
Everything's going as expected.
I haven't really seen any crazy matchups yet.
So yeah, everything pretty expected.
Amazing.
Is there any last shoutouts you'd like to give?
Yeah, huge shoutout to a couple battle frontier teams.
So my team Wing Attack and then also the Homestice Homies.
Huge shoutout to my partner.
I wouldn't be here without him.
And then shout out to everyone who has helped me scrimmed.
Juice, for you in particular, helped me a lot.
So, who should I shoot, shout out to him.
All my friends, everyone who has supported me
through this journey, shout out to all of them.
Amazing battles, but it's not just battles happening here
at the Pokemon World Championships.
If you've missed any of the action over
at the Pokemon Center, stay tuned.
and I'm originally from Boston Massachusetts, the book went up, I would be steel type, because
I'm very resilient like steel.
Doom Book was the first trainer to be able to get three
rainbow competitions in four seasons.
He's so good at this game.
When I was working a summer job after graduating high school,
some coworkers were just playing Pokemon Go.
And I was like, what is this game that they're playing?
Oh, you can find Pokemon in the real world.
And I was hooked.
Hey, my favorite early memory from the game
is the first GoFest I've ever attended,
where there was just such a fun community.
It was a great time overall.
I would say the best advice I have for new football
trainers, be the best person you can,
because that will help you in life in general,
and also at tournaments you go to.
My biggest mentor in my life has been my father,
who's stabbing along with me, while he's folding.
He put in the effort, and the results will follow.
I think the underdog mentality really pushes me further
and helps me succeed when I really need it.
I think the biggest development for me personally
throughout the years has been concentration
and in-game discipline,
not making rash decisions that could potentially cost me games.
There's absolutely a balance between being aggressive
and being more reserved with your play style.
When it comes to attending tournaments,
I would say 70% I'm focused on winning,
doing as best as I can.
Then 30% is having fun with everyone and all my friends.
My most difficult match in day two was against Rockhead.
That basket on Doudra and Zoomerill combo
and Shadow Sizzler was just a lot to deal with.
And I had to just make some really risky calls
and it ended up working out in the end.
I feel like Ryce's occasion is the most fierce competitor
I can face at any tournament.
My first finals was in Arlington.
I was able to dig myself out of an O2 hole
and the losers' finals against Ryce.
This match compared to the other ones,
It shows how much I was able to adjust to a difficult matchup.
In the first winners finals,
I was just not realizing how strong my shadow climate would be.
But once we got to that rematch, I was starting to realize,
this is a really good pick against his team.
Once I made the correct adjustments,
I was able to just steamroll through the rest of the games.
When I reset the bracket,
I knew I was in a very good spot.
Dudebug, box this, this, give it up for your lost Vegas regional champion!
Uh, right now I'm feeling really in awe of everything that's happening.
It's been a crazy weekend.
Dudebug came down to Vegas and he set the state on fire this weekend!
This event qualified me for Worlds and put me in a very good position to get that travel award for UIC at London.
Everyone in those seasons would probably be make day two of it.
Every world championship I've attended, I've never made day two.
I just finally want to break through that wall.
My favorite world moment has to be when I got to spend that whole time with my amazing
boyfriend, Dillon.
I don't know if I'm going to win Worlds this year, but you'll have to tune in and find out.
Which type of team you start poking at?
Go.
I think it was just to look out for me at Worlds because I'm just a sneaky player, I'm
Very sneaky.
F***.
Sometimes I can fly under the radar
and people might not expect me to come out from my new ground.
If I won Worlds, I think my life would be complete.
Welcome back to the 2026 Pokemon World Championships
and we have had trainers battle throughout the day
in hopes to making it to the company day number two in the rest of the trainers
that we're going to see do have that opportunity just as doombug has already secured.
I am 2-0 butters joined by Kayla Payne.
And we've got incredible battles, incredible storylines, some upsets, some repeating players
making that day too.
Particularly our two grand finalists, Bills the Boy and Parliament.
Both on that Winnerside Day 2, scary stuff for these players to deal with.
But we have two players coming up next that have never made day number two here at World
championships, neither than have won a title yet, but this could be their breakout season.
And he was looking a little scary for North American representation for a while as only
for a moment two trainers had made it through. Of course, Dunebug was one of them, but now a wave
of some of those trainers like H. Shearer and up next we have Sussin, its eater and Teddy Bear with
those same opportunities to make it to day number two. Because remember also North America does
have the most participants here at the World Championships. It was just barely overtaking
you're up, of course. Yeah, and I love the match we have up next because
Susan Zeter and Teddy Bear, both of them have not really had the best finish, but
always in the top cut, always deemed to be a lot of those top players and now
they have a chance to make a name for themselves. Teddy Bear, I think highest
ever finish was a fourth place medal, which is still pretty good. And then
Susan Zeter, breakout season for him, seventh place at EYC, the younger brother
of Nite Time Clash, but also very accomplished in his own right. And this
could be a pretty fun one because they're still winners finals. They both
technically have two chances to make day number two.
Well, I'm glad you brought that up
because you would actually expect these trainers
to be underdogs at this point in the tournament, right?
With 300 of the top trainers throughout all of Pokemon Go,
two trainers that have a best performance of seventh
and fourth is definitely not the favorites for North America,
but they are sitting here in this position
with the opportunity to make it to day number two
and get over that hurdle.
A trainer like Susan and Seater
who has frequently made day number two,
getting 7th multiple times, getting 9th multiple times,
and often getting in that top 16,
but never really making an impact on that day number two.
Can he come in on that winner's side of the bracket
and make that impact that he's been searching for?
And let's take a look at these teams.
So we got the dozo back in action.
We saw that on Jinz's team,
and now it's on Susan's Eater's team as well.
I think Martial Galday had it too.
Definitely a very anti-meta pick,
but you have that fast attack pressure of waterfall
to help you show us.
But here we go. It's gonna be Malamore into all charges.
Kick things off. It's a non-shadowed Malamore.
So it's not gonna hit as hard, but it can take these moves pretty well too.
And look at the swap!
And this is just gonna be a neutral attack here.
So we didn't get to point out there's actually a shadow primate in the back for Teddy Bear.
I actually talked to Teddy Bear.
He said he didn't have a ton of time to prepare for this tournament,
and he still didn't have a team left.
He certainly made a spicy team.
One of the few trainers running that Altaria, of course.
We saw in Greener's Metro.
And trying to counter swap into the Nightshade here,
throwing out a fighting type versus this ghost type,
but at least you have this super effective ghost type attack to fight back.
And try to maybe even, I mean, catching a nice fish,
there's probably not even an ideal for a tight bear,
but get the racers off before, as long as you're confident
knowing that you can tank the super effective rage fist.
And you can see here, try to get some of the balls off,
maybe a little bit technical-ish here,
as we're going to see how these players played out here.
He's still going to go for potentially a nice fish,
as the next rage fist is reached.
Well, as you can see on the screen that it's in this middle left area where you see the tap happening
But if you actually look at the camera where he's tapping on the screen seems like he's tapping in different areas as well
So maybe it's not registering
That's why you see the frustration from sustenance either there and they're gonna play out the matchup because
Anything can happen here. He's gonna come in with the Malamar the Malamar is loaded with energy
He's gonna be able to get that sideways down here
So you don't want to quit right now even though that happened you got to still battle through
There's four protection remaining for Pokemon remaining and your Malamar is absolutely loaded with energy. You're not out of it
Yes, I think you could still easily win this actually
Maybe not easily I should say but he was able to come away with all this energy
But unfortunately now seems like it's a little bit tough as you can't really get the moves off here
Teddy bear is gonna throw this discharge
Yeah, and a little bit of frustration there for substance eater as he was trying to throw an attack
You could see when your charge attacks actually glow up like that
It means that you're a hunt at 100 energy
So you could see that substance either was at 100 energy
Which is the maximum amount of energy that a Pokemon can hold in Pokemon go PvP
So when you're at 100 energy these top trainers would want to throw that energy to try to use that to regain it with fast attacks
And so substance either was unable to in that moment and now it's gonna be in the judges hands
Yeah, tough
I mean, I think that that one might be, you know, likely going to be a rematch, but we'll wait for our expert judges to debate on that one.
Um, as you can see, very, very communicative throughout, so he recognized as well, like, there's no reason for Susan Zeter to throw a move there.
Um, but we're just going to make sure all the tech situations are resolved before we start the next one.
And you can see the players, they know, they know how it goes, right?
And they know that it's frustrating to be on the receiving end of that, even if you're on the opposing end.
But keep going for Assassin's Eater as well, if you're ever on the stage, don't quit out the match, right?
Play it through, and you never know, like, if he wins that match, there's, I mean, what's Tiger going to do, right?
He's not going to race that review, so it still could be possible for him to win it, but good on him to stay composed there
and just play it out until the judges told him to stop the match.
Dan, good advice for trainers battling in the Go Battle League sometimes as well.
You'll keep battling, even if you have bad alignment, maybe something doesn't go right in the battle.
Just keep powering through, because you've seen on stage, there's so many times
that these trainers seem down and out,
but they do make a comeback.
And both these trainers have taken off their heads
that they're trying to hear what the judges are gonna be
telling them right now.
And again, these are trainers that you would consider
underdogs for this moment.
Of course, over 80 of our trainers,
I believe from the North American region,
are here competing at the World Championships.
But a lot of the trainers you expect to make a day number two
are those trainers with multiple regional titles,
maybe an international title or multiple times in top four.
But how about two trainers here trying to make their stamp on championship series in the biggest moment possible where we celebrate 30 years of Pokemon, 10 years of Pokemon Go.
Whoever's going to win this Pokemon Go World Championship, it's going to be an absolute legend.
And can they repeat something that Firestar did last year, going from maybe an unknown to a trainer that coming to the next season was well known by the community?
Definitely. And I mean, these two players have been in the circle for a couple years as well.
So many do know them, but they, you know, they haven't seen them perform at the, you know, winning
multiple trophies, titles and stuff like that, but they're well on their way.
Let's do a little, many quick recap of their run so far to get to this winter's final.
So Susins Heater starts off with a victory against Blacks Bolton, right?
Retro winner, the best superior player I think in the world, particularly on the all grass
moves, superior moveset, beats a little winery, beats legend push, and then now it's in the
the winner's finals. Meanwhile, Teddy Bear, in his own run,
beat Eduardo Lomas, and then beat Suvanche,
and then also beats Yamaren to get to this winner's finals,
both going three and zero,
not dropping a series against this point.
And that's why they landed in these winners' finals here,
and it's incredibly difficult.
I mean, you go out on the floor,
you mentioned the statistics alone earlier on, right?
How many of the top trainers in the world will go 0-2?
How many will have a negative win percentage just going?
50%.
50% of them will have a negative win percentage here,
which I mean, they're not used to that.
They're top competitors in their field,
in their respective regions.
In the come to this moment with 300 of the best in the world,
literally anything could happen.
Also, there's no seeding, right?
No seeding.
In other tournaments and championship series,
there is seeding.
So if you are a top trainer,
you're usually playing a trainer with a lower seed.
So you have that advantage here.
Here in the world championships,
it's just only the best of the best in anything that goes.
That's right.
you know, especially when you're facing off some of the best players in the world, right,
in a maybe a regional, maybe even an international or one of those qualifiers, you might play
against players that are a little bit less experienced and even if you have a bad lead,
a bad counter swap, a bad back line, you can still come away with it if you just play as
optimally as possible.
But against some of the best of bests, you can play the game perfectly and still lose
the game because you just made the wrong line call.
You face something that you don't expect to see, like a requiser even, you know.
So like all these things can factor in, which is why I always say whoever wins worlds,
one of the best players in the world for sure.
But some players in my mind might have gone O2 in this tournament and it's still one of
the best players in my mind.
They just had a really tough run, a really tough matchup, or maybe just had one deep
off or a buff not going their favor.
Well, you mentioned Rayquaza because that was one of the coolest flexes I have ever
seen in Pokemon Go PvP.
You have an opportunity to also get an amazing flex.
out this exclusive badge that you can earn to be put by your name in the twitch chat.
This is awesome. It's a cool way to stand out and look how beautiful that is the Pokemon
World Championships Costume Pikachu that you're going to get right next to your name.
Yeah, I mean that's a champion Pikachu right there. Look at how confident that Pikachu's
face is. You know, I might drop some of that myself once in a while if I get a chance to
do it. So definitely tune in and of course we have push-ups all throughout the week.
So many rewards, watch I believe at least 60 minutes right in the Pokemon Go stream to get all the rewards Pokemon Go
But there's two drops for all of our main series games as well
And if you want to check in on the previous world champion
We have Bees avoid moving on to day number two on that winter side and you have the
Opportunity to get his tinketon from last season's world championships by participating in these twitch drops
Remember you have to have two drops enabled and then you have to watch the stream for up to 16 minutes to get that
And if you're watching a rebroadcast right now, you are still eligible and of course that exclusive elite charge team is super useful
You could use that to get a gigaton hammer as well. That is such a strong attack for that take it on
I know you've used to use elite teams just to get the perfect moveset for your clay doll
You know, so you can use it for weather even if it's not exclusive movement, of course
We got the San Francisco
Exclusive worlds t-shirt for your avatar. So enter that passcode to get some additional swag for your avatar
Yeah, you're gonna want to get these because these are the unique ones obviously. It's the world championships
It's Pokemon XP these are the best drops that we're gonna have in the entire
Season and I can't wait to get those as well through the rebroadcast myself because I'm definitely gonna need to use that elite charge
See and I have about zero right now
I always use them on shadow Pokemon that have community day attacks
And I'm trying to get those exclusive attacks on my shadow Pokemon. I'm a shadow Pokemon fan
I feel like you're also though. I need to put the bait move on the left side. Oh, yes
The bigger move on the right side. No the other way around the other way around. Are you left-handed? No, okay
But I'm
No, where do you put your attacks when you're building a PvP Pokemon?
Do you have the bait attack which is the lower energy attack on the right side or the left side?
Or you don't care just wherever it ends up it ends up
I like to have the bait on the right side and then I have the
absolute dominant big attack on the left side because I think I tap with my
right hand on the right side I'm like it I'll bait I'll bait but then you don't
know where to lay in that attack you know I just cross over and I landed anyway
butters explaining his charge of hacks and in the order of it but speaking of
events to we also have the Pokemon night out EDM concert do you like EDM yeah
it you know actually there's gonna be special live performances from Marshmallow
in Alice in Wonderland which I believe are two people who are huge Pokemon fans
is well at this special event. So check that out if you're in the area. Yeah,
definitely. The LA tickets already sold out Los Angeles, but their tickets
available for London. So if you're a big fan of Pokemon and music and EDM, great
crossover right there. As we see our players, I think they're getting ready
for the next matchup. Thank you all for your patience. Of course, so many cool
events for Pokemon and stuff. So, so much check out. And remember, hashtag
Pokemon World on social media. We want to hear from you. Are you at the venue? If
if you are at the venue and maybe you're playing another game and you're just hearing this in the
crowd right now, you're going to actually want to open your Pokemon Go app. Keep it updated because
something pretty cool is going to be happening this week in Caleb. So if you're in the SF area
or you're at the venue, you're going to want to download Pokemon Go if you're a Pokemon fan.
And download too, even if you're not in the SF area, you can get the Pikachu, the XP Pikachu
right with the helmet. I believe also the world speaking true as well with the
outfits and some people are flexing. I actually saw a Shundo earlier from
Andy a world competitor actually shiny and 100% so shout out to him and you
know he I think he told me he's gonna trade to me after after our broadcast so
I'm looking forward to have that. I don't know that kind of defeats the purpose of a Shundo.
It could still be a Shundo to me. It's true. There's a very rare chance that you
You can have this cool Pokemon as they have.
Yeah, but congratulations to that person.
That's awesome to have the background and the shiny
also being a hundo and maybe even using masterful hundos.
But all right, looks like we're gonna get
locked back into this matchup.
So let's lock into this actual matchup.
You have the Dantos though from Sustenance Eater.
This was on my cast of predictions
because I think a lot of trainers were pivoting
into water types that could counter Shadow Kanto Nytos.
I believe Nytime Clashor is running the same attack team.
He is the brother of Sustenance Eater.
They team built together and here's the lead.
The Malmour into the Stuntfest,
having that Caudzire and Corsula
in the back for Sustenance here.
Looks like Sustenance is running back
to the exact same three Pokemon in the same order.
I think it's a really solid one too, right?
It has a lot of answers to that.
Tintin on the back with Corsula
and of course the Clawsider.
It's just gonna be a really great matchup here.
It is going to be the non-child Malmour.
So you can take them up pretty well.
And Sustenance here, I believe,
will probably just build up the two moves before throwing.
Oh, in comes the catcher temp from Teddy Bear,
but that's not going to be so well.
actually something here throws a super bow before
potentially swapping.
I wonder if he thinks that table
trying to lure out the cloth side.
So maybe something easier decides to come in with,
oh wait, just go through the double super power.
So the double super power,
maybe then gonna come with a course look
and try to astonish down.
No protection here because you did have your attack
and defense drop two stages that next super power
was not gonna be as useful as the first one.
And here comes that clawed out here.
Gonna go ahead and go for the super effective bulldoze.
But this will do less damage
in a gigaton hammer but he did secure the debuff which is a 50-50 chance now
suddenly this next gigaton hammer which is reached right now is gonna do a ton
of damage. Codzar is bulky but Sustenance Gitter doesn't really want to take that
damage so he puts up a protect shield. Yes interesting I thought he was gonna try to throw
before the gigaton hammer. The size not too big. Wait close for the earthquake I
think this is a little bit overdoing it here on the damage but actually goes to
the owner's arch too. Very curious playing from Sustenior. Maybe expecting that
had, Teddy Bear might try to go for the catch, but that wasn't the case. And now, Teddy Bear
has the mud bomb before the Earthquakes is reached.
And this is the risk of having Caudzire against other ground types, of course. They will outpace
you to their ground type attacks. And that mud bomb is super effective. You're almost
at the Earthquake here. Do try to see a swap into the Altaria to get it double resisted,
and actually throwing the bait stone edge here, which is going to be resisted, and it
gets protect shielded by Teddy Bear.
A huge bait from Susie, either. You can see Tampa not loving that. He's going to bake
to NG4 later as it comes to Corsula into the Ultra.
You have to super effective power champ,
and this is why Corsula is one of the best
Ghost types in this meta, and the most popular one
as it can neutralize a lot of these flying types
with this rock coverage.
And Corsula is so strong in neutral matchups.
That's why it's been good forever.
But like you mentioned,
rock type attached right now are really valuable
in the current meta.
So you have that advantage of being
an insane neutral Pokemon,
plus the coverage advantage as well.
That's why it's in a great position.
Even when Licky Licky is number one in usage,
Corseless still has the opportunity
as he's gonna reach the second power jam.
I think he can hang on.
So no shield from Sustenance either.
I like this play from Teddy Bear though,
cause he could potentially put this in Dragon Breath range
after laying this guy attack.
More importantly, his switcher might be coming up soon,
but Sustenance doesn't give him a chance to squat down.
He's just gonna throw the super vector power jam.
Teddy Bear calling a top position
cause the clock still has energy remaining.
Gonna go straight into the, some of his blunts.
Sustenance, Sustenance out, brings in the Malmour first
and still has a shield, so could just shield us up
and throw the super power to do some strong neutral damage
into the something.
And both trainers were over farming there,
going that there was one protect shield in play
for sustenance eater.
Now there are zero protect shields in play.
Actually going for the super power here,
instead of going for the foul play,
but the thing is you don't have your timer.
You're trying to get to the back to back.
This is definitely gonna knock out here.
There are low health Pokemon in the back
for sustenance eater, but Clawd'sire can't do
any fast attack pressure.
And Corsula is quite low.
Corsula's gonna be coming in.
Can you get enough Astonish damage to Astonish down?
And yes, you get the Astonish down,
but one Dragon Breath pretty much,
or two Dragon Breaths is gonna be able to knock out the horse.
He avoids the Astonish damage, this is actually pretty big.
Can't you get to the Stone Edge before the Skyjack
should be both pacing for it?
And it's reached right before the ult right against it.
Susten, you here takes the first game against Teddy Bear.
Susten, it's either can't believe it,
as he outpaces the Altaria to reach the Stone Edge
and take game number one.
Oh, what a match between these two.
And it was so neutral throughout, right?
I thought it was a little bit weird at first,
because I decided to go for the double super power
into the Tinketon instead of just bringing
the Clausteroid right away.
But Tinketon is so strong with the neutral,
hard-hitting gears on hand,
but even into a matchup with ground and poison
into a very steel, it's still,
okay, so I decided to pause to throw a little bit of air
to chip it down and try to take it out by committee.
Yeah, it felt like Malamar was not carrying its weight
in that battle, and initially with the super powers
in the Tinketon, and then even with the super power
into the skunk fist.
It just couldn't find the right dimensions in the battle,
but just with both of the Clawsire
and the bulk of that Galarian Corsula
was able to carry Susan and Peter through that backline.
Corsula, sorry, the Clawsire,
a Pokemon that has fallen off in the meta
has been kind of fringed.
It's now kind of back to be that neutral sponge
that can soak up licky, licky energy,
but also have really effective high energy charge attack
to either get protect shields or get knockouts.
That's right.
And you know, it was actually a cast that
put Klossai on the predictions.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
It probably wasn't you, though.
It probably wasn't.
No, it was so, yeah.
But yeah, I mean, I think it's a very annoying
Pokemon to base because it's so bulky, right?
It's a little bit slower than some of the other Pokemon
in pacing these days.
But because it's so bulky, you can tank a lot of this,
and it's such great coverage.
Ground and rock coverage is rarely resisted by much,
especially in the Great League.
I almost hear it in, like, a chest stop.
But who's doing that these days?
And because of that, I think it's actually
providing a lot of value.
Yes, it does lose to a lot of other ground types,
like marijuana, but against Stumpfist, it's not that bad.
Yeah, and the other ground types feel really hard to play
besides Stumpfist because of how a heavy influence
that Mantine and these other water types have on the meta.
So Claws are able to have that extra both
and even a hard hitting charge attack
like the Stone Edge to throw into the Mantine
and then be able to be so good against Licky Licky.
Be really good against the Shadow Cantile Ninetales
as well, a strong Pokemon.
And then if the Hussuin Electrode
is gonna be a factor day number two,
we don't really know that.
We both have that on our caster predictions,
but having that ground type for Electro Types
is super valuable as well.
All right, here we go.
I believe Sustenir is ready.
I said he's going to think this through just one more time
because this could be the last bout for him
on the winner side if he doesn't find a victory here.
But it's only going down one game.
Can still force a game number three.
Here we go.
Sustenir versus Sever.
Sustenir up a game and it's going to be
the shadow fortress into Altaria.
And this fortress is indeed running bugged by.
So not a great matchup with us in leader, but not terrible either
because you're also resisting the drag man.
It's tough though, because you take double super effective flamethrower.
Oh, that was the bait that was going to be incoming, but it's going to be the
sky attack landing in an astonished does go through for that glaring course.
So now Teddy bear in the back doesn't have a clear answer.
So maybe he's just going to try to bank up some more and injury, get his flamethrower
back and get out of there before the power gem comes.
Maybe try to swap on a power gem and there was that attempt, but he missed it.
Yeah, but because this course still has ratings of chip damage
It makes a matchup a lot easier for the stuff is thumb is traditionally does lose this matchup even shields even energy even health
But at this rate the something's has a lot more play and more importantly you avoid the tinketon into the fortress for later
Well, this is looking good for teddy bear because look at the back line as well
You're gonna have that tinketon to match up against the Malamar and you're still gonna be able to have that double super effective
flamethrower to throw at that fortress as well.
All you got to do is clean up this match up
versus the course of it to maintain that alignment.
You're going to be able to throw this discharge.
You already have the next discharge.
You can even be patient and get another thunder shock
through the timer is up.
You just got to throw before nightshade in perfect timing.
Actually going for the mudbomb to secure the knockout.
I think Teddy bear thinks that he can't get
to another move anyway.
So going for the harder hitting move
just in case there was like a potential catch.
But because he waited for the side shoot,
that's probably not possible.
And now comes the now more and you can see Teddy bear
hard pivoting over which is kind of interesting because he knows that there's a fortress in the back
But many viewers confident that you know what you can resist a bug bite as well and get some hair still does a lot even for
Resistant well that hard pivot is definitely risky. Yes, you will have a catch opportunity
But that alignment that was going to be so strong for you with the tinketon versus the Malamar in the back
It's gone now and now here comes the bulldoze bait
Can you get the debuff as well the coin flip does happen?
So it is a one-stage defense drop onto that shadow fortress now gonna be coming back for that super effective sand attacks
There's only one protection remaining and once you throw this sand attack, the next one will threaten the knockout
And he's gonna be really close to this next sand attack. He gets to the gigaton hammer
Does something you need to throw up a shield finally throws one up
But teddy bear has the option to pivot over to Altari if you would like
Something you know can easily be with a double assistant. It doesn't go for does it take you're trying to go for a catch
Moves are being reached and take it does swap over to the stuff this oh, no
Get the discharge off, that's huge for Teddy Bear.
There's one protection remaining,
you have to use it here because you have the sand tomb.
The sand tomb is gonna be so useful in this back,
or the rock tomb versus that Altaria.
He had so much energy, but there's a protection remaining.
You have the Malamar for a swap as well.
Remember, Altaria does have an attack loaded.
Does he try to throw a charge sack?
Friday, no, he throws the rock tomb,
expecting that it's gonna be Altaria.
This is not gonna be enough to knock out the Tingaton.
There is no protection.
What do you do?
You try to go for the bug bite down,
and he gets there but no swaps on the bulldoze.
This could be still disaster assassin either
if he gets the debuff and more importantly
the chip damage is really important
for the non-shadow Malmaw.
Altaria gonna be coming in soon.
Oh, we know the timer's not even up
so you get the full sideways down
but the debuff comes through
and Altaria is loaded with energy
and that chip damage is crucial
as Taibir's trying to reach it.
Two attacks just have to shield up
because he knows nothing is through the rock tomb earlier
so doesn't have another rock tomb banked
and great plays from Teddy Bear
to try to close out with back to back sky
first one coming through against the D-Bub Malamar.
And this SkyTac should be enough to knock out the Malamar.
You have the back-to-back thing that Fortress is very low health.
It is a bug steel type, so that's going to be neutral.
Wait a second, no way!
He got so risky there, he was trying to reach for the flamethrower
just to throw the double super effective,
but they thought better of it.
I'll throw the SkyTac, I'll tie up this series.
I don't want to mess around with day number two.
Very high low place from Teddy Bear there.
Great shield usage, great no-shield usage as well.
right and I said you know what I have energy on the team it's on but I don't
mind maybe debuff me that's fine I can still get the bulldoze off that's
exactly what happened and teddy bear knowing his ring about that was a pretty
weird match for back for right purposely giving up switching in is
purposely locking in the team it's on into the fortress knowing how long that
how short the time is on these days 45 seconds you have time to pivot out go
by some this and getting that discharge office huge it's a tough call because I
mean obviously the alignment would have been really good for teddy bear in the
back because he doesn't know that we know that because we can see the backline
I like the decision to try to have an extra Pokemon around because you knew at that point there was a fortress and the
Fortress is in the throwing attacks that are going to either drop the opponent's attack or drop the opponent's defense
So you would like another Pokemon that can clear that debuff because in Pokemon go PvP if you are debuff
You're attacking your defense if you swap out of the matchup that debuff goes away
And so it's smart to have an extra Pokemon to try to clear that in the endgame as these trainers are locked in to a crucial game
Game number three, it's Malomar versus Tingaton.
This is not great for the Malomar,
but he's actually staying in.
Yeah, I mean, the Malomar could go for a chip
and swap out here.
I mean, the top part is, of course,
that's not amazing, amazing,
and the Tingaton, especially behind energy,
Gigaton Hammer still does quite a bit as a bear.
It's just going to let this first one go.
Maybe we'll see a little bit later
that there isn't a clear answer for Tingaton,
but there is, it is indeed the fortress
that now comes to Gigaton Hammer.
And this is the thing that Sassanir has to watch out for.
Do you ever go for a shield,
not knowing what's on the back?
Yes, go and shield up.
display because if you look at the side of Teddy bear there's no real answer to
the course law on his team so if you spend a shield on the Glance course law
it will still go quite a ways away but because he gave so much energy to the
tingenton gets a second gigaton hammer off and that does so much damage into
this billion course law in the counter swap now just bringing in your bulky
Pokemon to soak up all the energy kind of just a reverse situation I'm gonna
bring in my bulky Pokemon soak up all your energy now I'm gonna do the same
You're gonna have to take that first night's save.
You're gonna have to take another night's save
because this course is not in range of a mud bomb or discharge.
But, Sustencedar is getting very close to his timer
because he didn't try to swap out to his Pokemon
as his timer is already up.
There it is, another pivot.
And now he's gonna show the fortress.
This gives Teddy Bear a lot of information.
All three Pokemon have been revealed for Sustencedar
and Teddy Bear knows that his backline matchup
is pretty weird right into fortress.
You have Altari into it.
It's not the best matchup, but if you can chip it down enough
then the Dragon Breath and Sky Attack might be enough.
or if you grab a shield, oh no, Sustenance doesn't shield.
This could put him in a very dangerous
fast stack farm down range.
And the mud bomb does go through.
Fortress can take it.
Here comes the Tinketon here.
You're gonna be at the Sustenance right now.
You don't wanna take a bulldoze.
You wanna throw him maybe on charge attack priority.
Perfect counting there from Sustenance either.
There are two protect shields remaining,
but do you wanna give it up here?
You're at such low health on the Tinketon.
And no, just let the Sustenance go.
I like that decision.
Now you can come in with your Altaria.
You can get a greedy farm down with that Altaria,
but you are at risk of getting debuffed somewhere,
so you have that something that's in the back to clear,
and here comes the Altaria.
Teddy Bear going way down his timer,
because his timer is quite decent,
and you can see Sustenator going straight for the Sanctum.
Does Teddy Bear shoot it?
Wait, maybe a little bit.
Maybe a little bit.
My little bit.
That's a huge side relief for Sustenator.
Has a small chance for Winkon,
as he has Sustenator loaded on the Malmaw,
but Teddy Bear has a sizable advantage in the energy lead,
however Malmaw paces much faster,
and Sustenator actually shoots his not to shield
And now all of this Pokemon are quite low here.
Remember there is a debuff on Teddy Bear.
Does he try to swap out?
There he tries to swap out.
But now you're loaded with energy.
Does he try to go down with a sideway?
Yes, he gets the full sideway down.
And Susie is still around with enough help
to take a dragon breath as well.
He can definitely back to back foul play here.
Teddy Bear is clicking on that shield.
Thinking about it, he does employ it.
This is so tough.
Imagine if Teddy Bear stowed a shield from early
that he didn't spend on the sand to him.
Did you see Susie here?
Susie is inner smiling.
Yeah, he's getting excited here.
He still has a shield on his side and Corsola is barely healthy.
And Altaria, I don't think has what it takes to drag my account with a straight
jab, there's just no way from this range, even lets astonish Stu.
But I think the riding is on the wall, Assassin's Eater just moments away from
making his first ever day two at World Championships.
And Teddy Bear gave away his swap earlier in the battle.
He doesn't have a swap here for this night shade.
And Assassin's Eater is able to get there as he tells his opponent,
GG. He wins this battle and he takes the series 2 to 1 to advance the day number 2 at Pokemon Worlds.
Wow. What a performance. You can see South Korea super excited and happy about it.
Well deserved as well. I mean you so on point in that game and that's the top part with Teddy Bear, right?
Like we obviously can see the energy values on the fortress you can't, but when you are in the biggest stage,
you cannot afford to make those mistakes.
and substance you're taking advantage of that mistake
and finding a decisive game three win.
And it seems like substance eater did have a strategy.
He was deploying the same Pokemon game after game
and he was just battling through, just persisting
and that persistence was enough to eventually win the battle
and he came in with that, with a strategy
and it's a reason that he is getting onto the winner's side
of the bracket day number two.
I will point out right now that there is a little bit
of discussion happening on the stage here.
I think possibly Teddy Bear has said something to the judge
and we do see that the match is under review.
We'll keep you all updated on what the review is.
Personally, I didn't see anything,
but I might have missed it, right?
Obviously the players are experiencing firsthand.
So we'll see if they're discussing it.
And also more importantly,
did any potential issues in that game affect the outcome,
right?
Because something needed to look really far ahead
in my mind, right?
And he's on a shield remaining too.
So I don't know if it's possible
to even get there, but we will keep you updated on what the judges discussed and what the
players have brought up for you.
And obviously, of course, within Teddy Bears, right, to bring up any reviews of things the
gameplay was not clean.
Absolutely.
So this is what's happening right now.
Teddy Bear maybe noticed something that happened in that battle.
He has told the judges and now the awesome judging staff that we have here.
And we give a huge thanks to the judging staff for not only Pokemon Go, but for all the titles
and really all of the huge, amazing staff that makes a tournament like this possible in
event like this possible. There are so many people that wake up and work hard to make something
like this happen. I just want to give a big thank you to all of them.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, especially our judges on stage as well to making sure all the gameplay
is going as well as it can, even if there's any hiccups. I believe the review is related
to Glaring Corsair in the end being there, but I'm not exactly sure what occurs. So they're
going to take a look at that and we'll keep you all updated once we have a report from
my trousers. Yeah. And so once again, I was talking about before North America
hasn't been represented on that winter side of the bracket so much. And we have
two women's situation. Right. Yeah, it's a guarantee. I think when I was talking
to some North American trainers earlier, like, okay, we have some guarantees
upcoming because we have two North American trainers going against each
other. And how about some of these trainers coming in with the underdog
you mentioned that Susana Cedar, his best performance with seven Teddy bears,
best performance was four. Even the next trainers that we have on stage,
Hungry Wolfpack and King OWT. Hungry Wolfpack's best performance was 9th and King OWT's best performance was 5th.
So a lot of these trainers that came into the tournament, maybe their opponent is thinking,
okay, I'm glad I had that matchup. They're not glad now because, yeah, some of these underdog trainers are making a name for themselves here.
And I feel like this is what happens every world championship, every big international championship, right?
These trainers that haven't been able to get over that hurdle, get over the hump, they do it in the biggest moment and it solidifies their Pokemon Go legacy.
That's right. You know, I mean, some of these big names were like, oh, they've won all these tournaments.
They had all these performances, but they all started somewhere and we all start somewhere to you.
So if you're watching this home, you're like, I don't know if I could do it. You never know, right?
I mean, substance eater just joined, I believe, start playing in the circuit maybe a year, maybe two years ago.
And this has been such a stellar season for him traveling internationally as well.
Having so many top performances and now just moments away from the day number two at Worlds.
Well, and if you've literally never even played Pokemon GO PVP and you enjoy Pokemon GO, you enjoy raiding, you enjoy Shining Hunting, you enjoy collecting,
you can take advantage of this Twitch drop right now, get the Tinketon from last year's World Championships,
and then you're literally one third of your way there to making a team, because Tinketon is so strong right now, you'll get that Elite Charge Tiem as well to use,
so even if you've never even played, you can get so close to even making a GO Battle League team.
team queue up see if you like it. It's a fun game and speaking of newer players to hungry well back played only one tournament last year in 2020 that first ever tournament was at North America International
Championships the last tournament in North America and you know obviously they make worlds off of that one tournament first ever tournament but this season was essentially his first ever season and he's already made worlds and has a chance maybe
even make day two as we big big congratulations to Susan Cedar as it looks like the review was
in his favor and he's going to take a two one victory over teddy bear. A resilient victory
from Susan Cedar to be able to move on to day number two something that he's done frequently
in the 2026 season but it's been at the start of day number two where he's fumbled a bit so
can this be his moment where he is strong in the day number two you'll have to tune in tomorrow
to find out because he'll be coming in on that winter side of the bracket which means he will
battle early on in day number two on Saturday. That's right and double
elimination so even if you lose this in day number two you still have more
chances to still make that day number three championship series finale and
of course Teddy Bear is still not out of it yet as will be moving down to our
losers finals. One series when there will also guarantee him a spot in day
number two. An awesome performance so far from Teddy Bear. He mentioned to me that
he hasn't had the most time to be able to prepare for this tournament but he was
the trainer that was on the bubble coming in to the end of this 2026 season.
I believe the last two tournaments of the season with the Indianapolis regionals
and of course with the North American International Championship,
he was one of those trainers just outside of that top 75,
which needed a decent performance to be able to qualify.
And not only did he qualify,
now he's an opportunity where he is one match victory away from getting to day number two.
So a trainer on the bubble doesn't know if he's even going to be here now has a chance to make it to Saturday.
That's right. Yeah. I mean, it's such a great point.
8th year as well. One of our players that made day number two right before we came on for Castle Rotation
was the last player to qualify from North America. And now she's gone undefeated.
Had to drop that game to make day number two at Worlds. Like anything can happen.
And just making it to the World Stage is absolutely huge. So some of our players,
they might have gone O2 and don't feel good about it.
but just making here show so much grits and so much potential.
Well, it's the perfect example that anyone could win Worlds, right?
When you have literally your last trainer that was able to punch their ticket
to the World Championships on the North American side,
make it through day one without a game loss.
This tournament is stacked, of course.
We talk about it all the time, but really,
to be able to come out on top in this tournament, it could be anyone,
but it will be the person that is resilient,
is gonna be able to shine in the biggest moments
and it's gonna be crowned a legend
and obtain infinite glory.
That's right, and a really cool outfit on top of that.
You'll be a part of the history books for sure.
Speaking of history books too,
I mean, looking at the players history
of our upcoming matchup is King OWT and Hungry Wolf Pack.
Hungry Wolf Pack, I said, pretty much,
course ever season, right?
Outside of that one final tournament last season,
King OWT has, I believe, only played
in seven tournaments in total since 2023.
And this is by far his best season, right?
And to even qualify for Worlds on only a few torments
is a very tough heat in itself,
but a physical finish will get you a lot of chance to your points.
And of course, one match away from making Day Number Two
at Worlds on the biggest stage.
Oh, it's so beautiful to see.
We were able to look ahead on our next three matchups.
And this really is the underdog portion
of the tournament so far.
Earlier on, we were just talking about all how
all these big games are succeeding.
Of course, they played awesome.
But in these next three matches,
these are trainers that have been on the edge,
the bubble or even making day two, but not really making a name for themselves
in day number two. The underdogs are making it to the top of day number two
because all of these trainers, I mentioned it before, we're going to be doing
winners finals and luchas finals. So to see a trainer win on stage, they are
going to day number two at both one worlds. Definitely. And here we go. We
have our players on the screen right now. Let's take a look at the teams from
these two. It is going to be hungry. World pack running the aquatail stone
edge variants of Quads that
have that shadow cancel.
Matt shows you a zoomer a lot
of you defaulting more to the
zoomer just going for the bulk
the bulkier water types.
This is zoomer is indeed
running ice thing player also
not that I had one was offered
to be David earlier but that's
a move that's very very hard to
land. And of course Malmour is
really picking up the use especially
we see it might be a lower usage
Pokemon but high performing
Pokemon means that it's a really
great meta read for a lot of
these players. And there's two
Malmour on the screen.
Yeah. And it's surprising
because Tinketon has been
one of the safest, strongest picks in the entire tournament, you're often seeing it in the stadium
here at Pokemon World. So to have Malibar be this successful, it's surprising to me. And we've seen
multiple trainers now bring it here. It was the last second adjustment. Malibar was not top usage.
So it seemed like a lot of these trainers got the same message. Maybe Malibar had the chance to be
really strong in this tournament. They brought it. And another Pokemon that we thought was going
to be really strong, the Hissuien Electrode is on the side of King OWT. And then we have another
Shadow Corviknight, I believe, from Hungry Wolfpack as well.
That's right. And of course, Shadow Kingdra on the side of King OWT.
It was a Pokemon that is pretty good in this meta, at least,
what a lot of you assume, but it's much harder to play in practicality
because it is on the more fair side.
But the pacing is so fast, that Swift,
and indeed this Kingdra is running Swift and Surf.
So really great covers, a great neutralizer to that Shadow Camping 9 tails on top of it.
I think King OWT has so many neutral options into this.
obviously the Kingdra that you mentioned is really neutral against everything, even against
the Korbanite. It's not terrible because if you can protect your property and protect your
the payback, you can hang in that matchup. And then you also have the Hussuin Electro that looks
just really awesome against everything on Hungry Wolfpack's team that's not Shadow Kanto Nightail.
So I believe that core in general of a Shadow Kingdra to protect yourself from that Shadow
Kanto Nightails and the Hussuin Electro is incredibly safe. And then one of the safest
this Pokemon in not only championship series, but in open great league go battle league is that Fero as well has almost perfect
coverage to be able to hit either neutral or super effective damage versus most of the meta has awesome typing between
That normal and flying typing. That's right
And even into the Corbin at which resists all the attacks from the Fero that you're also throwing double resistance and attack in return
Right, so it's not even the most comfortable matchup for that
And because of that, if you look at the side of Hungry Rollpack, there just aren't any clear, clear answers to Fero.
Fero doesn't really hard beat much, right? There's no fighting type on side of Hungry Rollpack,
but you have so much play into everything else, and because Fero is so attack-weighted,
it's going to win that charge attack priority against, I believe, every single Pokemon on Hungry Rollpack's side.
And so because of that, King OW2 can really invest shields into that Fero, and play around it, and just play all these neutral matchups out.
Well, you have so much neutrality if you're KINGOWW2.
You have so much optionality.
You have the Shadow Kingdra, you have the Hussiri Electro,
you have the Fero, you even have the Shadow Kento Ninetales
that even do super effective energy ball damage
versus the water type, so you have it all.
And there it is, it's the Shadow Kingdra,
but this is a great lead for Hungry Wolfpack.
If you're gonna see the Shadow Kingdra,
you would prefer that matchup.
That's why you get the instant swap, instant Ninetales,
and one of the better neutral answers is this Licky Licky.
And you can see Hungry Wolfpack
was ready for the safe swap.
I mean, it doesn't get safer then.
nine tails in this particular matchup as you can see there is no dragon type on the side of
Hungry Rollback to wall off this energy so this energy goes absolutely everywhere in the Hungry
Rollback side and see King OWT letting the harder hitting edge ball no deep up there but still
putting this licky-licky in a very uncomfortable range where Hungry Rollback has to consider
shielding even potentially a weather ball. And you might think it's weird that a fire type Pokemon
is going constantly for a grass attack it's because like you said it does a little bit more damage
which in the dimensions of this battle,
you would rather throw double energy ball
and maybe have an opportunity to invert down
if you do go for the protection here.
There it is, King OWT does go for the protection,
is now gonna be able to get that energy down
as the shadow falls goes nowhere
and you have the energy for the back line,
which is gonna be super effective
either into the shadow Corbinite
or the Azumarill that comes in.
And I like to play a lot because Hummry Wulpak
has put the Kingdra in checkmate.
It doesn't have a lot of places to go
into the Corbinites nor the Azumarill.
but more importantly, 100 roll pack,
pretty weak to this Assume Electrope.
So maybe expecting that, you know what,
I'm going to use Shield of Ange
because this Assume Electrope just corbic
my entire backline.
And here comes the ice beam
that's going to be super affected
into the crash typing.
And he knows that there's also a Corbinite in the back
and this is going to be your most useful protection
of the battle remaining.
So that was really smart.
Now instantly swapping into the Corbinite,
he knows that King LWT is switch lock.
So if he throws the wild charges here,
he's going to drop his defense by two stages.
If he does it again,
It's going to be four stages drop.
I believe you're going to see the back to back here,
but I don't think you can get back to your timer.
Yeah, I'd love to split from Hungry Wopak.
He knows that he can just drop both shields here
and just come out.
I mean, he still has essentially full health
on this Shadow Gormack, but even overfall in the middle.
Oh, can he swap?
No, just go straight for the payback quadruple debuffs.
This means that this payback's going to definitely one shot KO.
They have stood in the electro.
There it goes.
And now you have the Shadow King,
Shadow King, the Serpent who will still do a good
Shungry damage has also attached opportunity.
Wait, Harvey Wolfeck just going straight for the air cutter.
Doesn't want to mess around,
doesn't want to let the payback come through,
but this is not going to KO the Kingdra.
Knowing that the surf had an opportunity
to knock out the Corbinite going towards that attack
and now making as much energy as they can.
Oh!
The patient from Hunky Wolfeback
to take the resistive surf into the Kingdra.
But remember, there is a swap opportunity
and King OWT is using a one turn back stack.
He can't swap into the nine tails.
He has the opportunity
and he can also just bake up so much energy.
It's healthy try to go for the Swamp Hatches.
Beautiful replay by King OWT,
because you put the Zero now closing in
on Dragon Breath range,
and now gets to get the under the charge,
but a Zero is just so slow.
You're doing double resistive bubble damage,
and King OWT's perform up to 100 energy
before throwing the Swip, and now has to serve.
Can't serve be enough against the Shadowclaw,
and we haven't seen this match up much,
But it is hard hitting neutral damage into the more frail version of this Fortnite.
Here comes the serve and Hundero back just has a few more stands actually gets his air cover.
Candy hang on, I don't know this chaos but it might just be in a few dragon breath away.
One dragon breath and King Odil's team gets the win after two crazy back to back catches.
His fate was aligned to that serve and King OWT was able to do enough damage.
Must the dragon breath be able to win that match up in the back where it felt like hungry Wolf back
had all the answers in that team composition,
but the flexibility from the Pokemon,
like the Hissuin Electro,
also having that swap available for the Shadow King
to Nytales.
But how about Shadow Kingtra,
making an appearance here at the World Championships?
Hey, I thought it was going to be good in the NAAC meta.
I did not think it was going to be good
in the open-grade lead meta,
but that's exactly what King OWT is showing
on the big stage.
And I love the composure, right?
He got caught on.
It's not a great feeling, right?
A focus, you're catching a Shadow Serf from the Kingtra.
but it gave him actually the win kind he needed
because he over far more,
caught again on his own Pokemon,
knowing that the swimmer had a throw move
because pretty much out of health at that point,
farmed down through a swift
and had the surf ready for the quarter nights.
And just, that's just what you need, right?
A lot of times, if you might get frustrated,
maybe at their home to play go battle,
you get caught on as a tough situation,
but that composure, recognizing the game is not over.
In fact, turning a negative into a positive
was what got him that win.
that Electro stood no chance once this defense was dropped by four stages here, but it all came down to his Kingdra.
And like you said, there's just so much pressure, even though there was an awesome swap into the Azumaril,
because Azumaril paced so slowly compared to Kingdra's two charge attacks,
he was able to manipulate that back and swap at the exact right moment to catch that Ice Beam.
Look at the patience here, looking and knowing there's not an Ice Beam available yet,
and looks like these trainers are lost into game number two.
It is going to be the Malamar once again against the Shadow King Drift.
This is an awkward matchup for Shadow King Drift because obviously the crowd play is doing a lot more damage than the Swift is.
So if you were to do impactful damage, you have to go all the way to Surf.
But if Malamar does shield that Surf, you get outpaced for your next charge attack.
And I don't think King OWT will even stay in after they're going to Surf.
Just wants to get the standard shot, maybe grab a shield from Hungry Wolfpack.
Hungry Wolfpack does not shield the Surf.
I mean, it could have been a base if that would have been this action.
That's the case, but that's the chip damage needed and now team OWT comes in with the Hissun Electro.
Hissun Electro is pretty safe in this team, but the Shadow Kanto Ninetales is the main check to it
and Hungry Wolfpack brought it just for this situation. Well, getting an OWT is in such a tough
situation because not only do you have this bad matchup, you also have a bad matchup in the backline.
You have your own Shadow Kanto Ninetales versus the licky-licky of Hungry Wolfpack.
So now you're going to throw this wild charge, get the protection, but your defense has dropped
two stages you can back the back
but you can get back the back the
Tech Shields here but I believe this was
Charged Attack Priority, King OWT is shaking
his head but I think it is locked in
he's going to have to use his second
Protect Shield in order to keep this
Electro'd around and no he just lets it go
I like this play from King OWT he still has
a King for the Force Energy from Hungry
Wolfpack, I think Hungry Wolfpack will
probably swap out if that's the case
but his own Shadow Camper Ninjas can
definitely put in work here in comp the
is not the best match, but with the shield advantage,
Shadow Kanto Ninjas can put in absolute work
and gets the Ember through on top of it
for some extra energy.
And the scary thing for 100 Wolfpack
is the fact that that Kingdra is around in the back,
because even at that low health,
it double resists the Ember from the Shadow Kanto Ninjails.
It can definitely get to a charge attack in the backlight
as this first energy ball is gonna be coming through.
There is that one protector remaining,
but both of the Pokemon from King OWT
that's remaining are getting so low in health.
And King Otis, if you try to throw a charge attack priority,
The hunger wolf pack doesn't throw the body slam.
This might put it in KO range.
Let's see, can you take it out?
No, just to drive you a little bit of health
and now gets the body slam off.
There's kind of a weird breaking on WT
because he's going to shield,
try to preserve the health on this,
but you're pretty much a fast attack.
He needs the pivot.
He needs the pivot here and go into,
there's the pivot and do your thing.
Swap in the pastries,
can he get the floor down and take the serve?
No, instead, hungry wolf pack is able to get to the foul play
at the very last moment
We've won out for a beating and he's able to tie up the series.
Maybe a slight miscue from King LWT.
Maybe wanted to save that shield for the King's Rope.
He was calling the top position the moment
that Shadow Ball was thrown.
And what a great call for Hungry Wolfpack.
Going to shield himself goes to the hard hitting move anyway
because a lot of players expect Wolfpack to see
either shield or you're going to bait
and that's exactly the mind games Hungry Wolfpack.
I'm full setting the Shadow Ball.
I don't think you're a shield.
Now you're in fast attack pressure range
and that's exactly what happens.
King, sorry, Hungry Wolfpack was able to endure the tie of that series.
Even though it seems like he is a team composition disadvantage,
he made all the right reads going to this game number two.
He was able to have a Shadow Kanto Ninetales to counter that Kisui in
Electrode, he was also able to have the Licky Licky to counter that Shadow
Kanto Ninetales from King OWT.
So if anyone's game here,
if I still feel like King OWT has such an awesome team composition advantage,
but it doesn't matter when you're in a rubber match right now
into the sights of game number three, anything can happen.
That's right.
He knows that WT was in a tough position, right?
Had the Ninth Hill onto the electrode.
And because the Ninth Hill shielded up both Wild Charge,
that was still a full held Ninth Hill shielded up to 10,
but then you had to dump the surf.
Had you landed a Wild Charge,
maybe could drag him down or just call him
for a straight for a swift,
but he's still in tough position
because there's a licky, licky there.
Here we go, match point, reaching the hungry wolf bag
and King OWT to start things off.
It's going to be the licky, licky, into the mount more fantastically for King OWG.
Alignment's going to matter in the backlight as this zoomer all swaps out.
Maybe he's trying to bait out that Tinketon here for the Corbinite to have more play,
but the backline is going to be a shadow Kanto Ninetales.
So you're going to have a tough matchup here.
You have your ferry versus a ferry that counters you,
and then you're going to have a Corbinite versus a shadow Kanto Ninetales if things stay the same.
But Hungry Wolfback did miss the line.
The switch timer significantly, he can bounce around this matchup and try to come back.
That's right. And yeah, the timers are super misaligned and this is the top part with the zero.
Not only is it slower, but with this particular moveset, you're completely walled off by the most popular fairy type,
which is the Tingaton, a very hard-hitting neutral gigaton hammer, comes through, and Hungry Wolfpack trying to maybe misalign the timers of bits.
But the backline is not looking great from either. As the Kanto Ninetales is wading in the wings,
and King OWT might have just completely hard countered Hungry Wolfpack in the third and final game.
Oh, and gets the air cutter off before the swappers available.
But I believe you're going to be able to hang on if you're the team that's on here.
And King OWT was trying to hold on to get to that nine-tiles.
He does hang on.
Is there going to be a boost here?
There is no boost.
And now suddenly you're at the mercy of the top Pokemon in the meta,
probably only needing four inverts to get to that super effective weather ball
fire type.
It's going to be super effective into the quarterback and get it low enough
that you can ember down.
You will probably give up a protection.
Oh.
It doesn't even get the payback.
King OWT, putting a very strong performance in this final game.
Has a Malmarr loaded with NJ as well.
This way, Hungry Wolfpack has to spend a single shield.
Not only is he in bad matchup, after bad matchup,
he also has to worry about the King OWT's Malmarr
that is ready for this licky-licky no matter what.
And he's just not gonna shield anything.
He knows that the Malmarr has so much play,
still has to be done with a gigaton hammer on top of it.
This is an absolutely impossible task
100 Wolfpack to overcome. Oh actually tries to over form there lets the
zoomer all farm him down and waste all the energy I think he's ahead enough
that it didn't matter but he almost gave up about 85 energy to 100 Wolfpack in
that moment we kind of thought that it's over it's a wrap but I mean it still
feels pretty bad because there is a lot more health available on this Malamar
then there is a licky-licky of course there were four protectials now there's
only three and there's still the gigas on him on a ticket saw now I think
that speaks to ballings of how far ahead King OWC was, right?
Let's all the entry code and still get absolutely dominant
this match, but such a smart line read from King OWC
to completely put Hungry Will back in a corner
in this final match.
And here comes the combo play.
Giggas on hand with the closings out as King OWC
finds a spot in day number two at World Championships.
Congratulations, a trainer that has had his best performance
of fifth place is pumped up to do this well on the world stage and make it to the winner's
side of day number two. But shout out to Hungry Wolfback, another underdog that's made it
so far and he is not eliminated yet.
Yeah, and Hungry Wolfback, you can see he is still smiles as well, right? He knew that
was the top matchup. I don't think any player in this world circuit could have overcame
the matchup that he was in with that specifically matchup and the back lines. But King Alder
also played it absolutely perfectly and that's the top part right you can play
the perfect game but against someone that good they just have to play it well
too and there's just not much you can do. They congrats to Team OWT 4 that top
cut 4-day number 2 and Humber Wopack still has a chance and it's a lose your finals.
And it seems like he came up against a team competition that's really strong
against him. He obviously made the right calls in the game number 2 to
dominate that one the tie of the series but to be able to do that over and over
again it's incredibly difficult. The only trainer I know that can do that is
is usually inadequate for more time.
He's able to call every team competition.
Even he has faltered here a little bit
at the World Championships,
getting all the way to the winners finals
and then dropping down to that loser's side of the bracket
is so tough to this try to depend on the alignment
in a tournament that is widespread in the meta
as this one is, you kind of have to be reliant more
on the flexibility of your Pokemon.
And King OWT, I really love this team competition
because I feel like there's just infinite flexibility for him.
That's right, especially in through this matchup.
And credit to the Hungry Wolfpack, he did everything he could.
He even bubbled down the nine jails that had energy, right?
And also just, you know, hanged on, didn't shield.
Knowing exactly where you need to spend the shields.
But again, that safe swap of Zero is so tough
in a tinketum meta.
We've seen a Zero have a lot playing.
And I believe that's why maybe players like VP David
is running the hydro pump for the coverage
just for that one particular matchup
that could potentially just flip it
or give it, give himself the advantage he needs.
But yeah, this was a tough one for Hungry Wolfpack
in the final one.
great series between these two competitors.
Well done to these trainers that are trying to make a name for themselves on the world stage.
And I think they're well on their way.
Of course, King OWT does bring the Hesuin Electrode into day number two,
a Pokemon that really throws a wrench into a lot of these top teams,
especially if they're on our Shadow of Kintanite Telt.
So we're going to see how that plays out, especially on that winter side of the bracket tomorrow.
And speaking of winter side of the bracket too, we have a lot of fun matches still to go.
And one of them is a former world champion, Eddie Rideau.
We'll be going against Headiness, who I don't know about this year, but I know last year was the Thailand Qualifier Champion and also made day number two last year in World Championship.
So a very strong player and also another great player from APAC that doesn't have a lot of broadcast opportunities to play on stage because they don't have as many tournaments in the region, but very high performance rate and has a chance to potentially take down one of our World Champions.
and M.E. Weedle, of course,
technically the first Pokemon Go world champion
because he was in the seniors division
for the one year that we had that division
and he was able to take down other top seniors.
And let's be honest, the senior division at that time,
and probably even if it exists now,
is still really hard to get through.
As you see, how many of these top trainers in Pokemon Go
are some of these young trainers that have so much talent?
Yeah, they need to make a Masters Plus division
for guys like us,
because it's hard to keep up with the kids here these days,
But I mean, we don't has really grown up in the scene right back in 2020 win this
first ever World Championship following year has won a regional one EYC in
obviously now the only division we have which is the Masters division and he's
you know he's a very decorated player one of the few actually to have a
world title international title in a regional title so definitely heading
this is up against the tying but they're doing a little rock paper scissors
right now on stage a little pregame action here as we take a look at the
teams. There's a closet on the field for Teddiness as well. Yes, speaking of
decorated, I'm missing the decoration from any we do like he has in his full
Pokemon suit. That was such a great look. That's right. Rocking it here today,
but he did rock that in the past as the former world champion is running the
floor. Just licky, licky shadow flags are impoli on shadow Kanto night tales and
course love. Impoli on is probably one of the Pokemon that's dropped off the
most of Pokemon that has been in the fringe of top 12 usage in previous
practice tournaments and because it has that neutrality more into that shadow
camp tonight tells because it has the steel subtyping so you don't take super
effective from the energy ball and I feel like in other matchups I think if
only on it's been looking really good let's look at it right now it also looks
incredibly safe against tenuous esteem it does to a degree right the nine tails
is pretty awkward because the pacing so fast but the quacks are is running up on
not so nice so it makes it a lot worse for the impoleon and the only but the
emi weedles
sorry that's all the important on the side yet you're absolutely right the
impoleon emi weedle side different story they're very safe right even even
to cancel that just has play but it has a lot of utility there tokyo so does
have to or shear the super effective and if you're ahead on energy there that is
the awkward situation you're going to have to shield every potential super
effective or sphere but I do like the moveset from emi weedles quite said the
mudbomb off the tail for this working to match up because there is no man team
there's no Altaria so throwing the octane is at least those neutral damage
yes stone s is nice for tokens with tokens usually shields anyway you can
still chip it down and do something whereas we saw octane vs mudbomb into
man team earlier today and that's a much much harder matchup and it even helps
into the course load matchup as well because mudbomb is a more efficient
attack as well it's so risky with how much man team is in the matter right now
but when you're in this opportunity I believe once again we are in winners
finals for this group. You are not facing a Mantine, you're facing a Toga
Kits, a fairy type that has fallen off a little bit. It's been fringe met up, but
because Ticketon is so dominant and really strong against Toga Kits, you
haven't seen it as much, but how does it match up against Emmy Weedlesen? It is
kind of mutually everywhere. It does have hard hitting attacks. Let's see, is it
the Cy Shock and the Orser, or does it have? Okay, sometimes you can go for the
Desmond Gleam for the harder charge attack as well. Even some trainers go for
the ancient power but I believe the standard attacks on that toga kiss but I
feel like there's a lot of flexibility from both of these trainers here yeah
definitely and it's particularly the ghost type course slot on both sides is
only one true answer which is the licky-licky on the side of emirito and
the feeble on the side of teddy is but if you avoid those particular matchups
course that's played into everything right obviously your matches but if you
look at everything else on both sides course that's winning or neutral match
up against the rest entire entire rest remaining for Pokemon on both sides so I
I expect a lot of playing course love and really it just comes down to who could get the Gillian course on the right matchups
And who would get their counters on the posting plan course love
But it's also going to come down to who can play more flexibly because I feel like this matchup in general
It's not too alignment dependent
So in this situation you might see a lot more pivoting than you'll see in other matches because you know if you're not worried about
Switchlocking your Pokemon you can hang on with that Pokemon in the back to try to catch something later
Or even get to a last ditch charge attack in the end game
So this is the best moments for Pokemon GO PVP when you have enough flexibility and neutrality to be able to be flexible
That's right
And we're moments away from lock in between our two competitors Emmy Weedle looking to be talking about poses by the way
I'm looking at an awesome pose right now from Emmy Weedle
He does have the world champion pose and outfit from London 2022
One of two be able to have it the other being dancing Rob now one of our expert judges on the field and
and Emilito could be the first ever two time champion in Pokemon Go.
But he's got to get through Tendness first.
He's got to get through a lot of top players on day number two,
but both players only one match away from making that top 32.
And what a flex that is to be able to have that pose in the Go Battle League
when you are battling there.
And I actually believe, I think I saw there was a 2026 backpack in Pokemon Go
as well that you can get access to.
That is a really cool flex.
The backpacks here at Pokemon Worlds look absolutely awesome.
Of course, having the special Pikachu, not only from Pokemon Worlds, that cost him,
but you also have Pokemon XP happening in San Francisco with the more space-themed costume Pokemon.
Okay, I was wrong actually.
So, Tidiness was a Tidement champion last year.
Back-to-back champion actually won it all this year as well.
And prior to years, 2023 and 2024,
he was the second place finisher there.
So a second, a second, a first in a first place finish
in Thailand is absolutely wild,
but probably one of their most accomplished players
in the entire region.
And last year, like I said, made a top cut, I believe,
in Anaheim looking to do that again in backtrack years.
Definitely one of the top players
to watch out for especially on A-Pack.
Yeah, I don't want to let that fly by
and let it be understated at how difficult that is.
Especially with a lot of the ways that a lot of these APAC trainers do qualify.
Sometimes it's in online tournaments where you can have even single elimination.
It depends on the APAC region.
But to be able to do that well in back to back to be the triple really strong
performances in his perspective region.
He must be an insane battler because you don't see that often.
I think Mr.
Mejir is another trainer that has been awesome at doing that as well.
but it's a rare feat to be able to go to these open APAC qualifiers
and continue to dominate like that.
Yeah, I mean, to really speak to that point, too,
Teddiness didn't even win the qualifier for Thailand.
He won the playoffs.
So he got, I believe, fifth place in the qualifier.
So they didn't even sweep the qualifier,
but locked in when it counted in the playoffs
to get that number one spot again in his home region.
You can see our players.
Don't really love this bump.
I love the sportsmanship here.
All smiles, because they know they beat so many players
just to get to this winners finals to try to close out day number one.
Here we go, Emmy Weedover setting this,
and it's going to be the shadow cancel nine kills into Togekiss.
Two champions are in the stadium right now
and actually going to stay in with this Togekiss.
Yes, you are going to get outpaced to that weather ball,
but it's not the strongest attack.
Yes, it's the same type of attack bonus, but you can take that easily.
And because Ornispere is a pretty strong attack,
You can maybe even threaten a protect shield from Emile Weedle.
Does he try to go for an early protect shield?
No, I think he's just going to let it go.
Yeah, and this is the benefit of running Tokis instead of the Tingenton.
Because Tingenton doesn't really hang on, can't really hit back there easily into the cancel nine tails.
So, having a little bit more flexibility for a tightness is going to be pretty crucial here.
Goes through the shield, tries to go for the switch advantage, and in comes the Impoliant.
Gets the Orchard off to go and grab the instant shield from Emile Weedle.
Yeah, you don't want to let this one go.
be super effective into the Impoleon that's not that bulky and now you're
gonna counter with your own Impoleon here but you're behind energy but it
doesn't really matter. This is one of the matchups that is not too devastating to
be behind on energy because both these charge attacks are resistant and double
Hydra Cannon isn't even enough to knock out because the metal sounds are
double resistant you're doing almost no fast attack pressure. And first Hydra Cannon is
gonna land as headness is almost at his own second Hydra Cannon going to be
Throwing it, Emmi Rideau is ahead on energy,
so he might just softly win this matchup
to potentially put himself in a fastback range.
And I think that's kind of the ball in the story right now, right?
Ball players are softly losing the matchups
to try to see what can happen.
But Emmi Rideau has the advantage,
because he has to shield advantage, and the, oh, wait,
oh, no, actually, shield advantage is not there,
as Teng is forced to throw the hyper cannon
before getting fastbacked down.
Now, is this risky?
He was able to let those imbers through
and try to keep himself at low health.
But does this give the opportunity for him,
Holy on now to come down in metal sound down that could be risky pretentious
But he's already clicking on his feeble trying to pivot out of that matchup here comes the factor and here comes the counter feeble
There's one protect shield remaining for both these trainers. Amy needle is not liking this backline matchup as he shakes his head
I think I mean we don't still in a very commanding position in attendance because how do you take out the waxer and
The impulse on because ten years was forced to throw the high ten at a low health nine tails
It puts him really far behind.
Glows this Nightshade right on charge of priority.
I believe Enryu will just go and no shield.
He knows he can tank this especially because the Nightshade didn't boost the Thief ult.
Octatill will put the Siebel in KO range.
So Teddiness gonna have to potentially throw up the shield,
but he knows there's an Empoli on the back
and I don't think his Switch Shimer is up for a test.
No, it's not.
Yes, and here goes Enryu Wido trying to get to it right away.
But this will wheel down the timer even further.
And now he has the opportunity to swap out.
He has two Pokemon remaining.
his switch timer is up, Kenny swapped out.
Will there be a pause from the former world champion?
There is no pause, he is not growing yet.
And there is the Hydra Cadet that's gonna be landing
into the feeble, and Teddiness doesn't really
have much opportunity because his backline Pokemon
are so low on health.
If you look at the Curse Festival,
look at Teddiness trying to swap
and catch the Oxford Poliamp,
but I think he overtapped there.
Kenny gets a Hydra, and he does!
Gets a Hydra!
He gets the Buried!
Last seconds!
Double Resistant Metal Cell,
not doing enough to fast-sack down the Impoleon,
and the Quagsire still remains.
Can you take it out? There's still the Toga kiss and the Maggot Toga kiss.
Gonna double resist the mudshot damage.
You get to the off with them though, and Emmy Weedle.
But is that gonna be simultaneous?
The Impulion is still in the back.
One metal sound versus one mudshot.
We might see a tie here.
Will it be the simultaneous?
Yes, simultaneous knockout as these trainers have tied game number one.
Wow, what a game there too.
I think Emmy Weedle might have noticed something.
Maybe lost turn at some point in the matchup with,
I believe it was impolion into oh, sorry actually flags that into the people
Well, what made me take a look at that too because it looked at the place talking that I think that was the frustrating point for him
Where that could have made a difference especially because it ended on a tie
I did end on that they lost over they tied at the very final term
Oh, that's a good point doesn't get closer than that, right?
Yeah, the actual literal tie and that can happen in Pokemon
Yeah, and that can happen in Pokemon go PvP when you simultaneously
simultaneously knocked out your last remaining Pokemon for either trainer with a fast attack that will result in the tie in here in championship series when there's a tie you replay it so it's zero zero right now it actually doesn't even look like it's going to the judges at all looks like they're just going to replay that game number one.
I think I misinterpreted his frustration I thought I because I didn't see anything but I maybe I missed something
I thought that he's fresh or something, but maybe he just didn't like the matchup
He was it right? I don't think wax are that bad into people all things considered
But but maybe we don't not fan of that matchup and and it's not I mean it doesn't get closer than that and that means we get a
Few more games out of it. So I'm happy with that
I know maybe any leader and the technicals not that happy with me
Maybe a little bit of psychic reading future site from Amy. We know he wasn't liking it
as soon as people enter the battlefield,
he wasn't like, you're like,
I don't know why you're shaking it.
It's not that bad.
But he saw the tie happening.
He wanted to get that W instead of the T.
So now we got the replay of this game, number one.
As these two trainers are gonna lock in,
and this played out like I thought it would play out
because you see so much neutrality in this matchup.
There's so much pivoting.
How many times was a switch timer used in that matchup?
And even in the end game,
taking this had three Pokemon remaining
with very low health.
Yeah, really, really close games there, too.
And that Empolion getting to the Hydra Cannon
at the final second was huge here.
You can see he failed the catch attempt,
but still got that Hydra Cannon off.
Great place from both players, too.
I mean, I don't think either really made mistakes there.
In fact, I thought Emigre would have put himself
in a really good position to force the Hydra Cannon
from Teddy Nisses Empolion.
And honestly, if he waited for one more Ember,
he probably wouldn't have even got that final Hydra Cannon off.
Here we go, game number two.
Or actually, I should say game number one, redo.
Emigre would have played that fantastically
into the grand course of headiness.
And he shook his head a little bit thinking,
I knew you were going to leave that licky-licky here,
and having that safe swap into the Togikis
has been strong so far, because now you actually
do pick up a protect shield, because you don't want
to take that super effective aura sphere.
Now, you see a little chip and dip,
where you do a little bit of damage into this Togikis,
and then keep the remaining health on this licky-licky.
And most importantly, keep alignment
to match up with that Corsal in the back.
Oh, this is huge for Emilio now,
because he puts this in a metal sound range.
Ted is going to reach for the Orc to dust and he will decide to spend both shields off the bat.
There's a lot of damage mitigated and now I actually like this player a lot because there's no very easy answer for them pulling on top of that point has energy lead attached as well.
This is where you can hide your Corsula though. Now you can two shield your Feeble in the back and you can soak up all this energy and have that protect shield advantage.
This is looking awful for Teddiness but because he has that fairy type which is the Toe Kits instead of a Tingatong,
He was able to get double protect shields against these Pokemon
that are vulnerable to fighting type attacks.
And now he's going to be able to throw this Night Shade.
There's no protect shields remaining.
The timer is probably back up,
but you're not going to switch off your licky-licky.
That's right. And Ami-Wido, if he didn't like Teemo from the first game,
he's not going to like it in the second game with a two-shield advantage.
Ted is thinking they'd do it a little bit.
He's going to switch advantage now.
He's probably not going to have it later.
So wants to just let this course look go and just come to Teemo.
That's exactly what he does.
And this is really scary for Ami-Wido
because if Tendness goes for any, gets any boost off
with a Night Shade, that could be absolutely huge
for Tendness to close out the game with a box.
And Amy Weedle is just trying to get off his attacks instantly
because he knows he doesn't want to get debuff
from his Icy Wind.
Icy Wind will drop the attack
by one stage against the opposing Pokemon.
You do see the first protect shield of the battle
for Tendiness here, but do you actually go for the Icy Wind?
I think it might be more valuable to go for a Night Slash
and try to go for a Sucker Patch down.
And that's exactly what Tendiness is doing.
You don't want to waste that energy for Icy Wind
for an inefficient attack.
Exactly, and Tendiness could potentially get a boost here.
No CS, no tumors, anyway, gets a second.
Like, oh, wait, no, doesn't go and throw the move.
That's an interesting place from Tendness.
I mean, I think he could just easily got that off
and not have to get a shield.
Wait, he's just not shooting anything,
and now he's going to be closing in on fast attack range.
And these munch shots aren't going to be doing that much,
but look at the health on everything.
You have back-to-back nine slash.
There are no protect shields remaining.
Does he have the reach?
You don't have the much attack with the D.V.O.
Tending it to boost up the nine slash.
No, he doesn't get it and Emmi Rideau feels pretty confident about it too.
I mean, I don't know if you get fast-hacked down the course from this help ring,
just see how much health is on the course.
If you get even one Asansh off, it's worth it.
But no, I don't think that's going to be the case.
He does get one Asansh off, but Emmi Rideau want to close it out there too.
And maybe a slight mistake from Teddius,
because if you just threw the Nite Shade on proper timing there,
could avoid the body slam and save the shield for the T-Bow for the Parkside.
Exactly right, because in the in-game,
Teddius had his T-Bow against the wall, against that Licky Licky.
and you don't really want to be using double protect shields against body slams.
You've got that two protect shields advantage for a reason.
You don't want to just give it up to body slams from the licky-licky,
but you were put in that position where you had almost no health left on the people,
no health left on the Corsula. You really couldn't use it efficiently,
and that was the downfall for Teddingness there.
So he wasn't able to find a good opportunity to use that protect shield advantage,
and Imi Redo is able to take game number one.
Yeah, Imi Redo played to his win conditions perfectly there,
And I think the top part for ten this is he's let the tokens get into metal sound range
Looking at the team of Emmy we don't nothing can really completely wall off the energy from Tokyo's and has so much play into everything
So I think it would have been probably a really solid shield for him because he's ahead on energy and and he also
I believe crap is here for any weirdo
So he'd be on even shields you come in and pull me on behind energy on him on a tokens
You don't really win that match up because you're gonna get outpaced by by the or sphere in the peck image from the Tokyo
So I think, you know, possibly in the future,
getting the second game tennis might make that adjustment say,
you know what, maybe I should spend the shields on the Tokus,
given how safe it is into the rest of the team of Emil Rito.
Yeah, he did come up a little bit short there,
but I did love that combination between the Tokus and the Corsola
to be able to get those protect shields with the Tokus
and then bring in the Corsola to try to soak in all of that energy.
And once the switch timers were misaligned
and you don't have to face it versus Licky Licky,
that gave him hope, that gave him life,
and he had the opportunity to try to close it out,
but he just wasn't able to.
And this is going to be game number three for these trainers,
because the game number one did result in a tie.
So then they replayed that and Emmy Weedle
was able to win game number two.
This is winners final.
So if he wins this next game,
he is advancing into day number two here at Pokemon Worlds.
And he has the chance to become our first ever
two-time Pokemon Go champion.
What a feat that would be.
I mean, even just making it into day number two
at World Championships is a hard feat, right?
So many players, like we talked about earlier,
Junebug, right?
One of the best players in our circuit
Finally made it for the first time ever and Emmy Weedow trying to do it again for like a second time, right?
At least I've maybe he's even done it before in a previous tournament
But definitely a really strong player in our circuit and tennis
We're gonna have to dig deep here to find a way to force a game number three. Here we go match point for Emmy
Weedow versus Teddiness and it's gonna be an Empolia mirror match
Well, you know when Teddiness backbends the wall when he's in the playoff that is where he delivers
So can he reverse sweep here to get to day number two in polio versus in polio?
It doesn't really matter too much who wins charge attack priority early on because as I mentioned before both of these impoleons can take
Double hydra canons it might actually even be more
Advantages to try to hold on to some energy if you can figure out how to get out
But we do see who wins charge attack priority and the matchup here is a little bit more favor for Emmy
Weaver because they have a sense of the mirror team
But you have Licky Licky instead of the tokens from the side of Teddiness and if Emmy weaver wins charge
I call it wins the switch advantage Licky Licky on so of course that is disastrous for Teddiness
and Ted is not throwing the move right away expecting Ted to catch it. Gordon just let this hatchet in and go.
Does Emmy Weedle try to save them? Only on for later. He could potentially go for a catch,
but Ted is going to throw the hatchet right away.
I mean you can soft win this matchup if you are Teddiness because you win charge attack birdie.
And in order to win charge attack birdie, you have to have more attack.
These are the same Pokemon, so that means Teddiness has his Pokemon with a higher attack stat than Emmy Weedle,
which does affect his stat product, but you can win that charge attack priority and win the lead
and maybe ensure that you have a good matchup in the back.
Here comes that licking licking going for the full farm down with that rollout.
That's so tough.
Emmy Rito not only has the energy advantage, but yes,
it is a matchup that he just wants given the back climb,
but he's behind energy and there's still a mere match in the back.
There's no easy way of taking out this licky-licky
and it's even harder for Tokis now that's behind,
I believe, two rollouts worth of energy.
And no shield there on the body slam.
Body slam is an okay attack in this matchup
because you need two charge attacks plus the roll out super effective damage anyway.
A Shadow Ball does do more damage than one body slam even though it's same type of attack bonus.
Here comes the next body slam, here comes the protection. Now can you try to tee up maybe a
Swap even but you really need to get this licky-licky lower. You need to either land an Orisphere
or possibly get the last protection. Here comes the Swap. You do the course look. Maybe that gets
dead in his life here but he's behind on energy. Yeah he is and that's tough right because any
the timers are not up by any means.
So even if you lose this match or how do you fast back down
on Glareon Corsola and Tidus maybe sees the writing on the wall
trying to find a way around this,
we can see how much too effective damage he does
in this mirror matchup.
The problem is he needs extra energy to come out of this
to have a chance to throw anything into the licky licky,
but any wheeler should protect us up.
Those that he's going to outpace the Corsola to a move as well.
And here comes the Astana.
down absolutely brutal for Teddiness and Teddiness knows this is not even in
side-shock range so you can't even throw the side-shock to win that charge
priority to you know take out the Golan course and waste energy but Licky
Licky comes in tries to go for the comp play or she's gonna come through first but
it's not gonna be enough to KO to Licky Licky and it looks like he has that
body slam loaded it looks like his ticket to day number two is loaded as
as M.E. Weedle is able to win this 2-0 to advance.
A tough tie to start things off,
but M.E. Weedle finds a spot yet again.
A top cut at World Championships
and pays his dreams for becoming
the first ever two-time World Champion.
And an emotional trainer here,
knowing he is one step closer to his ultimate dream.
Of course, he's done it before,
but to do it against the entire field
of the best trainers on the planet
When he was in the seniors division, yes, it was stacked, but it was a smaller player pool.
Now, he is in the big leagues versus over 300 of the best trainers in the planet
with an opportunity to be on Championship Sunday in the Chase Arena.
And speaking of smaller championship pool too, I mean, even compared to the past World Championships,
this is, I believe, the largest one to date.
So, no matter who is a World Champion, there's never been a bigger and more stacked field
than there is this weekend.
weekend. And honestly, the players have gone better over the years as well. So the level of performance that you have to bring to these big tournaments is at an all time high.
Yeah, and what's an all time high here is the Pokemon action in San Francisco. Not only do we have the world championships, we have Pokemon XP, but we also had a really awesome Giants game. Let's check it out.
in there. Let's go take a look. We got to get me popping out behind everything that we can.
Let's take a shot of it.
Hey, how's it going?
Beautiful pieces. Bring it in close here. I want you to take a look at this for everyone at home.
This is a fantastic piece. This is the beautiful sable eye we have right here.
Without question, one of the finest we have. Beautiful, sparkly, we have the Eevee right
next to it, and finally the jigglypuff. Very nice collection.
The official matte. Limit one per customer. But I count as two customers, so I will take two.
No. King Pikachu.
We have now transitioned from the world championships to the XP area.
Space themed, extremely cool, in my opinion, cooler than the world championship area.
I'm probably not supposed to say that.
Let's do some pop outs.
Boom, pop.
Okay, okay, get a picture of me with the Umbreon.
There you go.
The World Championships play mat and bag.
Also limit one.
These are different though, so I can take them.
Yes?
Yes.
I got a yes.
Place is popping.
Beautiful.
Special, elegant.
One of them is going on a trip.
One of them is blasting off.
Another one would be in a spaceship.
I think I like Curely the best.
I have been excited to see this the entire time.
This is the item I have had my eye on more than anything else.
This jacket right here.
It's beautiful.
It's special.
I'm not exactly sure where I can wear it, except everywhere,
and I want it very badly.
I will be back for it,
because technically I'm not allowed to shop for this right now.
The action has been incredible so far here at day one of the 2026 Pokemon Go World Championships.
And we still have a few trainers battling it out trying to earn their spots in day number
two.
My name is home side center.
Join on the desk here by Lou the Pikachu.
The games have been incredible and the good news is day one is not yet done.
The action just keeps getting better and better with every single match that we bring to the
broadcast.
some veterans crash out of the competition we've got some new trainers maybe at the very first world
championships making all the way to these final stages of day one and honestly seeing some of the
incredible games and amazing Pokemon that we're seeing it's going to be one of the history books.
It really feels like a lot of trainers who have thought outside the box and kind of brought
Pokemon that people didn't necessarily believe in have really been rewarded. I can't even count
how many times we've seen Dondozo, we've seen Milotic, we've seen a lot of very cool picks have
we're going to have a lot of
success. And as we continue to
fill up our side of the bracket,
we have most of the winners
decided already. We still have
one more winners final. And
that's going to be group. Oh,
and then I believe we are going
to have the losers finals of
Group P, which is actually going
to be a rematch of the Group P
Group Semifinals. Yaki versus
Teddy this. Oh, that's going to
be an awesome one. I love a
rematch for that opportunity to
have redemption. We actually
and kicking Spartan down to the loser's bracket.
But then, lo and behold, when Firestar ended up
in the loser's bracket and the loser's finals there,
he faced down against Spartan again
and Spartan was able to overcome a 2-1 victory.
So sometimes these upsets can happen.
Is that possibly on the cards for the rest of us
one of it here?
And Yakai was actually the one who got sent down to loser.
So Yakai might be the one coming into it
with a chip on his shoulder.
And if there's a person who don't want to have a chip
on their shoulder, it's probably a former world champion.
As Yakai has been on these stages before,
he's won the entire thing.
and he's already put together a very strong performance
at his position himself very well
with only one win separating him from a top cut.
We've spoken a few times about whether a world champion
can actually run back worlds
and get that title for a second time.
We've seen the Alzeboy advance in undefeated
so far in the competition.
We'll be seeing him in day two,
but I think the only other remaining world champion
we've got is the Kai.
The Kai and Beelzeboy, I believe,
are trying to be those final two remaining.
I mean, we also have Dancing Rob, but he is backstage out the house, so I guess it could be after he's there.
But it is very cool to see some of these former world champions showing out and still doing very, very well.
Beals the Boy, honestly, was so impressive earlier in the day.
Beals the Boy's gameplay was incredible, but the good news is we've got our final winners final ready on stage.
The Group 0 finals are going to be between 9 Alphie and Hiromaru.
I mean, Alfie had such a commanding start to this season at the Frankfurt Regional Championship.
The very first event on the European calendar for 2026 was able to get a second place finish.
So came out really putting his mark onto the tournament scene,
and now here at the World Championship still undefeated in the winners' finals,
one match away from advancing into day two.
Now, whoa, take a look at these teams.
Lou, we got to talk about Morgroom.
Oh, yeah.
Morgroom is here to kind of shake things up.
I don't believe that's the Pokemon we've seen so far today,
but he has Corviknight, Corsula,
seeking Morgram, Cradilly and Shadow, can't deny it to us.
Those who watched Worlds in 2025 will know
it really felt like the matchup between Cradilly
and Galarian Moltres ended up deciding so many games.
Cradilly has since become a bit more difficult
to bring because of Tinketon,
but take a look at Hiromaru's team.
Tinketon is there, so Cradilly could be high-risk,
high-reward, but Morgram is also a very interesting pick.
Morgram is a dark and fairy-type Pokemon.
the team. We've seen a lot of
things like that. We've seen
a lot of things like that.
Morghum sucker punch foul play
and a play rough. Another one
of these sucker punchers kind
of in a similar way to what
people can do. But with that
dual typing so that way it's
not so vulnerable to let's say
bug bite, for example, and
counter from annihilate. Yeah,
crudely was actually on the
team that Alfie used to get
that second face finish, so it
might be one of those bond
favorites on the team. But I
kind of look at here tomorrow
side, and I'm like, Yeah, there's
a lot of the favorites we've
You know some Pokemon on here I wasn't expecting like you know, yes, you got your 9 tails
But then talk us through these road picks here home slice. Okay, I really like hip-hound on Lou
I I might be hip-hound on strongest soldier here
Okay, what I really like about hip-hound on is it functions very similarly to a
Mero Wacke where the goal is in a meta where there's no chest not if you've rock plus ground coverage your energy will always be valuable
You don't end up in a spot where it's like cancer nine deals in a tornado where you can throw five moves and it doesn't matter
Your energy is always valuable, but what separates a hip-out on from a kanto-marowak is the fact that you have weatherball rock
So instead of having cheaper ground damage, it's cheaper rock damage
And in a meta where there's a lot of Pokemon like Mantine, having very quick rock damage can be a bit of more of a benefit
Whereas we've seen the Marowak-Mantine matchup and unfortunately, Marowak's a little bit slow there
So the speed of hip-out on and the fact that he's chosen to run the Shadow of Pound on as well
This Pound on is going to be able to output damage very quickly
But if it gets any disadvantaged boards, if it's behind on Energy, if it's behind the shield,
that's where the Shadow Static could end up becoming a bit of a hindrance because it can't quite take the hits.
I do like that flexibility and the comparisons to the Marowak with kind of the ground and rock type charge attacks
does give it a lot of flexibility and it's good to be able to see where the ball is coming through.
There isn't just on Ninetales, for example, we do see that type changing depending on the Pokemon that is utilizing it.
Another key Pokemon, however, is the Jellison.
This was a Pokemon I think in Turin was doing very well and in previous formats
We've seen lots of trainers for example Maximilian P in a previous format was actually able to win with the Jellison original
So it is a firm favorite out there in a meta at the moment where we're seeing in Polly on in Dondozo
And my load it is the water types. It's nice to see this bulky one still in action
And Jellison is another one of these bulky water types. Do you exactly identify part of why it's here?
Is it can actually survive that shadow energy ball from Kanto Ninetales?
It's very difficult to survive
There are many many water types that are just not showing up here today because if you can't survive the energy ball
Why should you be on the team?
But Jellison can actually survive that and because ember is a very high energy generation fast move
It doesn't do a lot of damage so it's resisted damage
It's a very low base power fast attack
And so that means that Jellison can actually do pretty well into the nine tails as long as it's even energy if the nine tails gets
Up energy and Jellison counter switches. That's when it can't get flipped
I think when we take a look as well at some of the interesting Pokemon on Alfie's side
We've spoken a little bit about the more group. We've also got that Corbin I've you seen some trainers bring the shadow
Very well championed, but this one is not rocking that shadow for more. Is it? Let's have a double check
No, looks like it's not so the regular Corbinite there
There can be quite a few matchups where by not having the shadow status
If it doesn't get a lot of these sand attack breakpoints because sand attack it does not get same type attack bonus on Corbin
It really doesn't do a lot of damage Corbinite is mainly relying on its typing the steel flying in a very similar way to how
while Skarmory did in like two worlds ago back in 2024.
That typing offers an incredible amount
of defensive resistances.
So the goal is kind of be annoying,
take a lot of resisted hits
by kind of walling off a lot of damage,
and then just trying to outlast opponents
even if it doesn't have the greatest kit.
So I think the fact that it is the regular Corbinite
could actually prove to be quite helpful here
because that way you don't end up having to
take nearly as much resisted damage
from gigaton hammer, for example.
The seeking as well as an interesting one
of the Turrent Special Championships,
It was on a third of the top 16 usage.
And it was actually a Pokemon that both had a man
and Chris used in that iconic grand finals,
two great success being able to utilize icy wind
and things, but now we have the Thievolin play.
I am surprised to see it back in action,
but Alfie is trusting in it.
However, the leads are our Pokemon trainers.
It is Causola versus the Licky Licky.
That is not what Alfie was hoping to see.
Alfie is going to safe switch into seeking,
seeking, reaching for an icy wind,
but before it's able to get there,
he will bar, he baits with the body slam
and is able to grab a very early protect shield.
Yeah, he's utilizing that defensive capability with the shield. Keeps seeking in the game.
It's already got all that energy charged up. Has the utility to go for the IC win.
But look at that Licky Licky.
He's got so much energy on the board, and it's not going to even worry about taking an IC win, Tear.
Seeking's coverage is very intriguing in a show 6-3 environment.
But when it has to deal against a lot of these very bulky Pokémon like the Licky Licky,
that's when it can feel a little bit underwhelming.
In comes the Ninetales. Ninetales.
Gonna be baited with an IC win. Hero Maura, we're thinking it through.
Does he decide to call it? Oh no, he puts up the shield.
But even at minus one, this shadow energy ball is no joke.
That's very true.
And of course, we're going to see the Zembers coming through.
They're not going to be doing too much, particularly
with that debuff that came through from the IC win,
but a wise shield on Alfi's side.
I think that's a second shield to utilize though.
So it is going to be a lot more vulnerable if Nintel's
can fastly pace to another energy ball.
So a fantastic switch for Alfi.
And Alfi is really able to punish the decent switch timers.
Hiromaru is forced to fire off energy.
He doesn't necessarily want to fire off this energy,
but he needs his switch timer.
He wants to get Licky Licky back in line
of the Corsola, even that weather ball landing will not burn the timer, his timer will be
a momentarily buddy, just couldn't escape and is forced to fire off more debuff energy
at the Corsola, which for Alfi is a very acceptable trade.
Yeah, weather ball just coming through doing that little bit of damage, but of course Corsola
has so much utility as well with the potential of that power gem going into the 9-tiles.
Instead, you found him on that licky-licky-licky, has that coverage attack with the Shattered
Ball as well to target into these ghost types, Corsola goes down.
is a bit unfortunate did over
formed by one astonished had he
blind thrown anticipating the
switching he would have actually
got the power down off but instead
he does not in comes cradily but
cradily is behind it's down a shield
it's down energy this shadow ball
is guaranteed to land and in the
back the Pokemon that shuts down
cradily like no other there's that
ticket on honestly Licky Licky is on
a rampage right now shadow ball up
to shadow ball it does not even
blink in the face of this attack
coming through from the crate
Dilly because as you've said Licky
Licky Licky doesn't have to deal with the great deal. You have the tinker done in the back
That is in the prime position to just start speaking through seeking comes back in nine tails towards the break
Nine tails reaching for that energy ball, but not quite able to get there
Oh nine tails will actually put up the protect shield looking to try and force all energy out from the seeking seeking gets the final protect
Shield all the energy balls available seeking is one short and that means seeking is getting sent directly back to his photo ball
This is what Ninetales wanted, able to go for that energy ball, KO's the Sea King and
brings that Cradelli back into the building.
We've already had that little peep look at the Tinketon in the back and that's something
Alfie knows all too well.
And there's just no way out.
The reason Alfie doesn't throw the energy is because there's just simply no ability
for Cradelli to ever beat that Tinketon.
So he's going to save his time here and then just try and lock in, refocus for that game
number two.
Game one was out of reach as Hiromaru able to navigate kind of a tricky save switch there
with the Sea King, but using Licky-Licky as the damage sponge, getting 9 tails on the field,
and navigating around those decent simers.
The game looks very favorable from the lock-in, but Alphie did a really nice job of making
it complex and Hiromaru was able to still figure out a way to solve it and not let that
game get out of hand.
I like the utility of this 9 tails that you can see, just being able to constantly apply
pressure with those charge attacks, but critically getting out of play when it was in an unfavorable
position.
The way the Tinkertong was preserved so beautifully towards the end as well meant they, Hiromaru,
already could have that kind of mental game pressure as soon as that came out the credilly knew it was in trouble
I think that the sea king actually proved to be maybe a little bit more problematic than he or Mara may have expected
Because even though Licky Licky does have a very commanding seeking matchup
He really needed to kind of try and preserve that for the Corsola because Corsola energy is very very difficult to deal with if it's not on
That Licky Licky so even though he can kind of stay in and win that matchup
Pivoting out is what allowed him to kind of neutralize that Corsola energy
and then just save that Kinkatana as you identify to the back, calling that it's Criddly.
Because taking a look across this team, Kinkatana energy is very, very strong here.
Now we've seen a couple of times today, a trainer have a lead that's completely unfavorable,
and you have to immediately swap into a poke one in the back.
But then we've seen a lot of the times coming into game two, they think my opponent's going to adapt,
they're going to think maybe that was too easy, so they kind of do the double block strategy,
and run back to the same lead absolutely fearlessly.
I wonder if there's something Alfie's going to do and bring that Sea King once again.
We've seen a lot of trainers actually be very very successful with that. So you know what that didn't work
Yeah, I'm just gonna run it back this time. I'm gonna make the right plays at this time
I'm not gonna lead licky-licky. Well, there's gonna be a licky-licky on my Corsola
Yeah, I would be excited to see him run it back there because Corsola does actually
Outside of that licky-licky dictate a lot of very neutral play here across the board the the electrode matchup
Electro typically wins the zeros by going double energy ball
but Corsola eventually can't just kind of outfall get the nine tails is pretty nice as well
Although there's always the fear of potential catch up a move onto a licky-licky in the back
Jellison outpaces, but the astonishes do a terrifying amount of damage
Hip out on unfortunately, that is a matchup where it is substantially worse as the shadow just because the astonishing do a lot
It tinks very neutral
So I can see the idea behind the bringing the Corsola because like five of six I can play
Unfortunately, licky-licky was locked in as the lead and that made it very very challenging
Even if you let you say have five out of the six as a good opponent necessarily you just need that one to completely
Throw you off kilter, but looks like our trainers are ready one game up on Hiromaru's side of the field
But we're gonna see the adaptation it is going to be the hip hop on versus the sea king
Oh my goodness shadow it pow down hits the field
Pow down is in danger of taking super effective damage from icy wind about gonna farm up
Oh my goodness here on maru saves the hip power catches the icy wind
and seeking in shambles.
That is some beautiful energy
thanks for later.
And once again, the majestic nine
tails on the field to try and ruin
seeking stay.
Look at this pacing.
It gets to the eligible.
But there's a switch on Alfie's side.
There's a nine tails of beast.
Alfie says anything you can do, I can do better.
The energy is rebanked.
And this is a debuffed and resisted energy ball.
And now for Alfie, the name of the game
is going to try and get as much energy as possible.
You know the switch timer will eventually come up
and if Houdon will hit the field,
Kiro Maru is just going to throw charge attacks
purely to try and burn the timer.
But if Alfi can farm to 100, then it's very difficult to bring back into hip-out on because suddenly there's double energy ball threatening you.
You might want to start pacing out to get to that time, but at the same time the 9-tels on Hiromaru, so wants to try and get that energy up to be banked for later.
Alfi actually going for the energy ball here into that opposing shadow 9-tels, not enough to get the KO, but does put it in the reg.
And as you can see, the retaliation is going to be a weatherfall of Hiromaru's own.
Now Alfi has to make the decision. Will there be a switch into the hip-out on? He's going to have to try and make the call. In comes hip-out on.
Oh, there's the pivot out, in comes the Corsola, but Ipowdon is up so much energy, and Ipowdon
should have a pretty clear path to at least connect with one shadow, Earth Power.
As soon as they were up, their switch time has got reset on both sides of the field.
Ipowdon trying diligently to try and get this damage down into the Corsola, but Corsola still
in play, able to go for these astonishing farm up all the energy, going for a nice shape,
but it looks like the Ipowdon got the edge.
Corsola now with a tough call, but they can already one-protect, she'll down, not get a shield,
but that does significant damage. Now even a weather ball rock could threaten,
and a Poudon is so blazingly fast that Corselo is actually forced to fire off energy here.
Yeah, Corselo's got to find a way to clear this up out of the field, but there are two shields,
well now one remaining on Hiromaru's side, so it keeps a Poudon in the game, and as you said,
just one more charge attack could be enough to remove Corselo from play.
Corselo does have a nightshade, if all he wants the energy he's going to have to put up the protect
shield, but he's not, he lets it go, whether while Rock takes the knockout and Corselo will fall.
It could be critical to keep that shield for something like the 9-tiles in the back later on,
there's so much energy up in the seeking though so do you want to keep that in play or how much
damage will this weather ball do to seeking if it goes on shield if we're going to find out
connects down takes it down into that yellow as her power on drops incredible counting there from
alfi recognizing that could not have been the earth power in comes the tinketon this tinketon is
guaranteed to have to take a super effective draw in hero maru ends up no show to the first but
alfi's going to outpace this seeking energy is going to be a very big problem that's the thing
you know you have to take one of those your shield isn't going to keep you safe
from all of them. Ninetales Joy's Defreit takes up some energy but that's just
farming it up more for the Sea King. It really felt like there was a very
pivotal moment in that mid game where the game kind of got away from here
tomorrow and that was going for a final charge, type priority tie, wall debuff in
the mirror and he's just gonna end up getting farmed down there. Sea King gets
revenge here for Alphie, gets the equalizer and we're gonna be going on to a
game number three. Really great to see the utility play in that Sea King. You
mentioned in game one how it actually was a lot more difficult for Hiromaru to
deal with even though Hiromaru came up on top it's always a little bit like
seeking her to you and went yeah I'm trouble let me show you how. What I think
kind of ended up being a difference maker in the game was there was a big
desync in the switch clocks that was caused by Hiromaru catching that icy
wind and then Alfie rebanking energy before bringing in the Ninetales. Alfie
was going to reach 100 energy before Hiromaru was so Hiromaru could have
saved the energy on the Ninetales, knocked off the charge security tie, tanked the demove,
and then pivoted it back and pout on, and then suddenly there's energy on the Ninetales,
and it could be a little bit problematic later on. But by going for a charge security tie,
and throwing that charge attack, while it is resisted and debuffed, he got almost no
belly out of that energy, and despite the fact that he had set up a pretty strong board state
from the start with that catch, it ended up kind of slipping away from him, and all the
understanding that that could only be the weather ball rock was brilliant counting there,
And from there, Seeking does what it does best, which is Seeking Mixed Life, very, very difficult for Ticket on.
It certainly does. It was great to see Seeking still in a great position, having had a good run at the very beginning of this forever forward meta.
I think as well, the hip hop on, I felt for it that it never really found its mark strongly onto something like the Ninetales there.
Constantly Alphie was able to find alignment that was not necessarily the most favorable for hip hop on.
Yeah, Hipadon was able to get some nice damage onto the Corsola, but unfortunately not quite enough.
But it looks like we have lock-ins. Game number three, a trip to day two on the line.
It's going to be Shadow Kento Ninetales into the Jealousy.
Shaking things up. We've got the water on the field to try and put some pressure onto the supposing.
Ninetales with Ninetales in a great position to get those energy balls rolling as well.
And there is a water resist in the back for Alfie. So Alfie will potentially have an ability to throw
one Ember trying for a serve catch on the seeking. Kirimaru will put up the
protect shield. Energy ball not going to land, no debuff comes through and no
catch either. Alfi just gonna stay on the field but this serve would do way too
much damage so Alfi is forced to match protect shields. The hex is doing the best
to try and get maybe to a double serve to pull those shields out on Ninetail's side
to apply the pressure but Ninetail's so speedy with this Ember getting the
energy balls ready to go. It's not jellicent we know is able to take one of
but look at that damage home's life.
Oh, tries for the catch, not quite able to get there.
As Hiramaru is not going to under tap.
So Alfi was predicting Hiramaru was going to under tap predicting the catch,
but Hiramaru instead just ended up throwing the fast attack.
So now Shadow Ball will pressure away the final protection of the game
as Outcomes Licky Licky.
Alfi goes no shields down, very early doors in this game three.
Once again, C-King in prime position to start getting these debuffs in play.
It's not going to be doing too much damage to the Licky Licky.
We know he's going to be able to take it,
but critically the damage in retaliation is going to be weakened.
And the switch clocks are pretty significantly misaligned here minus one shadow ball was there do some pretty big damage onto the C King shadow ball
Is an incredibly efficient charge stack after one more charge attack from all feet the switch timer will be up
He would love to be able to get that Corbin out of the field. Can he escape?
No, he cannot the timer would not have been up here a borrowers reaching for the body sand
He's not gonna let the body sand land it said can fire off the icy wind and then look to get Corbin out on the field
Yeah, see King gonna burn up a little bit more time as the Corbin I joined the fray as you mentioned though
the shadow will will come through the system on a debuff licky licky so it's not going to be
dealing as much but it's going to really come down to where the call tonight can farm up the
last bits of energy left on this licky licky. Oh but the timer is up in comes the nine tails.
Alfie just gonna settle for the air cutter he wants whatever damage he can get he knows if he
tried to reach the payback hero maru would not have let him get there this also does
fish for a boost air cutter is going to land no boost comes through but now hero maru can actually
over form even better oh that count is immaculate from hero maru. On both sides of the field these
fast attacks of putting in some work as well but Ninetales very happy to unleash this weather ball
into that pulver night. It falls from grace and now Alphie has a twist to make. Are you going to
bring in the opposing Ninetales and try and gain that advantage that we saw in the previous game
as well? The Ninetales does have a pretty significant health advantage here. What is down at
a protect shield? Hiramaru just going to go for the slow and steady weather balls. They are
resistant but if you throw a mouth of them this Ninetales is going to be in trouble. He's reaching
for the weather ball, but I catch the ball for you.
The energy pacing there was interesting as well.
Hiromaru had a lot more energy when the Ninetales joined the fray,
but then now it's kind of switched around a little bit,
the Sea King in a position to eat up that energy
and still stay in play.
But it does go down so that energy is back up
on the Ninetales and Hiromaru's side,
as the Ninetales on Alphyside is already ready with the weather ball.
But it looks like Hiromaru's able to get that first.
And Hiromaru able to win charge step,
they're already there.
Weatherball is going to be securing the knockout,
and Hero Maru able to get a three ball flex having all three Pokemon still around.
A protect shield still unused as well as Hero Maru takes the series two games to zero.
That was an incredibly dominant performance in a game three. I mean,
games one and two, we had a little bit of back and forth, some very cognizant plays around that
switch time up in game three. Hero Maru just dominated.
The adjustment to the Corviknight from Allfi unfortunately kind of ended up backfiring there,
He was trusting in the Corbinite to try and take on the win, but unfortunately that shadow nine tails that matchup is so dominant
Even though said attack is super effective
It just never really does a lot of damage from Corbinite
That's one of the reasons why some trainers off to the shadow is you can get a little bit of extra sand attack damage
And if you get one extra damage per turn and it's a one-turn move that can really add up over time
But of course he was the regular and even just settling for that air cutter
We saw that damage was just not what you're hoping to see whatsoever
to be able to take one of
those energy balls. However,
the jealous was a nice
adaptation to on here in
Mauricide because again, it's
not going to worry about
anything. The seeking is
going to be sending his way
and on the nine tell side of
things with those energy
balls coming through. It's
not going to be as vulnerable
as something like the hip
out on, for example, we know
it's going to be able to take
one of those energy balls
thanks to his fault. I had a
little bit said that hip out
on lost the only stream game
that that it was brought to
in this series, but I still
She does limit a pattern quite a bit in this match because normally you've weather ball rock for super effective into like a man team if you have a jump love, but Corbinite still flying.
It's only neutral and your sand attacks are resisted and that's never a good spot to be even when your sand attacks are neutral.
So suddenly your sand attacks are resisted.
Notice that we do have a match under review for this decisive game at number three.
So a wonderful judging team is going to be checking everything, double checking, checking it twice just to make sure that everything occurred as intended.
Yeah, we'll get you an update as soon as we can, Pokemon Trainers, but it gives us a little bit more time to unpick this match up
and take a look at some of the Pokemon that did so well throughout this set at the very least so far.
I mean, Homestice, we talked a little bit about the Tinkathon that came earlier on in the game, but this was benched out for this final match.
And you can kind of see why in terms of what Alphie brought. It seemed like Alphie, with the Corp of Nightbird, was trying to target down that Tinkathon,
being like, I have several Pokemon that are very weak to that Tinkathon and surely it has to be brought.
but hero model was able to make a brilliant read, benching that tinketon all together,
running a line of three that was actually shockingly weak to the morgram, but trusting that even just
the threat of tinketon. Tinketon's aura from the bench was enough to keep morgram away,
because had morgram been played into that line of three, there's no sucker punch resistance there,
so morgram would have gone absolutely crazy. And the tinketon did so well finding its line
against the credilly that Alfie brought into that first game as well, but as you mentioned,
the adaptation was very weak to the morgram. There had to be some confidence the morgram wasn't
going to come necessarily into this game. Do you think there could have been play if Alfie had
brought it? I think that morgram could have found success, but it's a very difficult brain
considering that morgram's energy is so thoroughly shut down by tinketon. It almost feels a little
bit like we've we've seen a couple times trainers run feeble into tinketon teams. Sometimes it
can work very well. And other times it's just so catastrophically painful because you can throw
like three charge decks and the tinketon just does not care. Having that combination of bulk and
and that incredible fairy steel typing,
plus gigaton hammer, which is for those who don't know at home,
it's a precipice blades clone.
You know the move Groudon uses in the match league,
where you would throw precipice blades
and then the neutral monsters are gone.
It's that, but it's a steel move.
So it's a very strong move.
Even something like Corbin, it has to fear it.
So I think that threatening aura of ticaton,
it makes it really difficult to lock in Morghum.
Even though I do think Morghum is honestly pretty decent
in this matchup, the fear of being in a decisive game three
and not having neutral play because Morgum's on Tinkathon could definitely be a worry and contribute to why it was not brought.
The one thing I like about the Gigaton Hammer as well is not only is it a devastating attack,
but Tinkathon's actually able to pace to it very respectfully with those fairy winds.
Sometimes we see some really big damage dealing attacks, but it does take the Pokemon a while to get there
and you have to make sure that you have that time sense locked into your strategy as you're playing.
But with the Tinkathon, you generally can have it on the field and apply pressure with that Gigaton Hammer very, very quickly.
And one little bit of Tinkathon gigaton hammer trivia that a lot of people do not know is it's seven fairy wins to the first
But did you know it's seven seven six if you throw two gigaton hammers?
It's a little bit like a buy two get one free the third one
You have enough residual energy that you only get to it in six and that can come sneak up on players sometimes weather
So you should seven but if you burn that pit of residual by throwing multiple gigaton hammers
Then you get to that third one just a little bit quicker
And that's a terrifying thought a move that powerful getting to it one fairy went faster than normal
that. You know, it's a
really, really good position.
Local Loki. If you were already
sold on Tinkertown, that is
definitely a fantastic sales
fit. Not only does it have
incredible defensive typing, but
being able to use that same
type attack photos on a gigaton
hammer and just deal so much
relentless damage is fantastic
play. I think it's interesting
as well when you have that
coin slip for the bulldoze as
well to get the defense drop.
If you're able to be in a
position to get that defense
drop and follow up with the
gigaton hammer. There's really
not a lot that's going to be in
the first and it was a
bulldozer debuff and it basically flipped an entire neutral matchup into a dominant one for Ticket on so much so that the Corsola had to pin it out.
So it does open the door to like a very big upside.
But even a risk averse trainer can probably still use Ticket on to great success because even if you just go straight gigaton hammer,
eventually they're going to run out of shields.
Lou, there's two questions.
If you throw enough gigaton hammers, they cannot shield them all.
I think the other interesting match within this is not only is it about shield conservation.
about shield conservation, but it's about time management as well, particularly in the set between Alfie and Hiramaru.
You talked a lot about how the switch timers were misaligned. How does that give a trainer an advantage? Maybe a reflection from this set.
So the switch timer in comparison to when Go was introduced to the Championship Series was 60 seconds, which meant that even if you were in a matchup and your opponent stayed in to throw a charge tag after you switched in,
switched in, you were still on the field for 50 more seconds.
So you could kind of soften up a Pokemon
and people would often do this in Lickitung matchups.
They would throw like an Azumral Play Rough
into the safe such Lickitung, bring in their own Lickitung
and that Lickitung was trapped on the field forever.
But as the years have gone by,
that switch timer's slowly gotten lower and lower and lower,
55 seconds, 50 seconds, now it's down to 45.
And the quick kind of mental math
that I will oftentimes do in my head
is the amount of fast moves to get to a charge stack
plus a charge stack is right around 10 to 11 seconds.
So usually you can keep track of the switch timer
by the amount of charge tax thrown.
So usually if there are four charge tax thrown,
that will be enough and that counts like my charge tax
and my opponent's charge tax,
that will burn a switch timer.
So if you save such a sea king for example,
and then Licky Licky throws the shadow ball,
shields, I see wins and then hits out,
that's two charge tax.
Now these switch timers are basically misaligned
by around 22 seconds.
And so instead of being in a negative matchup forever,
Suddenly you have the alignment you want for 22 seconds and they have the alignment that they want for 22 seconds
So it's a bit more of an equalizer
So players who are consistently able to kind of dance in and out of matchups make those catches
Because not only are catches devastating because the energy didn't land where you wanted it to land
But that's also burning one of the one of the four charge attacks for the timer
And that's where some of these games were even a favorable alignment good players can make those winning plays and just start to kind of
the game. You know, you know,
you're not going to be able to
pull away with the winds being
able to get those catches
decent timers gets them on back
on the field, and there are so
many matches in this meta where
you do have an ability to which
you're able to get up a little
bit of energy. Even that
shadow came tonight. He was
man to match up allegedly. I've
been told it's a bad match up
for nine tails. I keep seeing
nine tails. Not out man. You
know, 1000 thing. I just wants
to completely flip the script on
kind of what it's necessarily
you know, they're not going to
be able to get the right
trainers. Maybe like you say,
go for that charge attacks to
burn through those last couple
of seconds to get this
which time exactly where they
want to. But sometimes we also
see them having to go for that
because the counts are off
against their opponent.
Sometimes they're maybe trying
to farm down against their
opponent, but they know their
opponent is maybe one fast
attack away. Getting the charge
attack of their very own. So
you as the trainer have no
choice, but to least the energy
you have been so valiantly
storing onto your opponent in
yourself to switch time alignment, but you potentially can give it to your opponent as
well.
The way I like to think about it is there's several advantages that you can basically
play to in a game of Pokemon Go PvP.
There's the switch advantage which everyone knows.
If you save switch in Altaria and I bring in my C.Leo for example, double super effective
powder's nose, I have switch advantage, I have a very happy individual.
However, there can also be energy advantage and shield advantage.
So there can be certain matchups like, for an energy advantage example, Shadow Kanto
Kanto Ninetales vs Feraligator.
If it's not even energy, and Ninetales is able to bait once, Ninetales just wins.
But if you have a Feraligator that's up 2 shouts across the energy, you can bait all
you want Kanto Ninetales, you are getting banished by the Hydra Cannon unless you catch out
of the matchup.
So that's where an energy advantage can flip a game, and that's part of where when these
timers are desynced, trainers can switch in and get some of these energy head starts
that can potentially allow it to flip it.
And finally, there's Shield Advantage.
There can be matchups that are pretty terrible, but if you're able to have a protection shield
your opponent doesn't then suddenly things could just flip on their head.
Exactly and I think sometimes that can be the difference between those wins
that you know can really be steamrolled through an opponent or sometimes they come right down to
the wire. We've seen it a few times in the tournament so far here at the World Championship
in the varieties between the shadow forms and not particularly with Pokemon like Milotic.
Sometimes we've seen the Pokemon that don't have that shadow form and therefore have that
additional little bit of bulk being the clutch little increments of HP that can keep them in
the game and ultimately keep the trainer in the tournament. And Milotic the trade-off I feel is
honestly very extreme there where the Shadow Milotic doesn't feel as bulky as you would like but
the amount of ramp-up pressure that it has with Rav, I believe it was H-era who was able to make
day two with the Shadow Milotic and we can kind of compare and contrast that with Potomac who
one of your favorites who managed to make day two with the regular Milotic where it doesn't quite
have that ability to kind of farm through a matchup where I believe off entirely resistance damage
This is a fun piece of trivia.
Shadow Milotic wins the two shield against Empolion.
Empolion is usual Dropax.
And Milotic is entirely resistant to damage.
Milotic can actually win the two shield there.
Just, well, these Shadow Milotic,
just off of that sheer ability to ramp up
because of that shadow status,
the shadow waterfalls, the wrap debuffs,
just kind of compounding more and more damage.
Whereas the regular, I'll be honest,
I have not looked at the matchups there.
It does have better survivability,
but that's how the matchups can actually be quite different
because you're playing a more defensive Pokemon
rather than a more offensive one.
We maybe need to check out more of those stats then on the regular map, considering the Panama is in day two of the competition undefeated.
He's not just one of my favorites, he is my favorite, let's be honest.
Another Pokemon though is the one that we have in this particular matchup, between Hiromaru and Alfie is this Kanto Ninetales,
because the shadow variant gives you so much more of an edge, particularly against water types like Empolion.
If you can get that alignment correct, being able to deal that additional damage can really swing momentum.
One particular matchup that I really noticed about the Shadow 9 tails was actually very early on.
It was one of the first three matches of the day. It was boom 20.
He was using the Shadowcatcher 9 tails to do a Polion.
Now, Weatherball is the more efficient move to go for there, but in that matchup, he actually threw an energy ball first,
and people were a little bit confused.
But what that little bit of extra damage allowed him to do was in the two-shot master,
if he lands the energy ball without the debuff, he can ember down in the twos and set up that farm down,
where even though it's more efficient to throw two Weatherballs if you want to take the knockout,
he was planning for if my opponent heavily invests protect shields here, I can just farm
down and win the two. So it's players understanding those specific scenarios and taking advantage
of the fact that regardless of the Pokemon that you're running, if you know the matchups that
that you're able to play to and you're winning shielding scenarios, you can immediately see
where the certain players preparation shines because that is immediately evident in their
gameplay. Yeah, and we've seen a couple of times these split second decisions being the critical
moment in getting a victory or not, inadequate earlier on. I remember it, I think it was in his
game three. The Pidgeot was going for a heatwave and inadequate had to make that call. Is this a
bait coming through or not? He got the call wrong. But again, those baits and those split second
decisions are the critical things to swing momentum, particularly in a game three. And we've seen a
lot of those so far. I think we've had the biggest tree of game threes in this tournament so far.
And honestly, I can't complain. That is just bonus Pokemon Go PvP. Now speaking of Pokemon Go PvP,
all you viewers watching at home have access to our wonderful Twitch drops and we have the
instructions for you I see you typing
exclamation point and a command that
doesn't do anything yes you Jeremy I see
you
all right here we go this is how to do it
right up here visit rewards.pokémon.com
login to your pokémon trainer
central account link to your twitch
account watch your desired stream for a
period of time to earn rewards I believe
this stream and the replay that'll be
happening after we end stream here
later today you'll have access to
twitch drops on both of those because I
don't have my twitch ruff yet I know
I need Bills the Boy Tinketon.
I want to be a world champion like him,
so I need that Tinketon.
I also really need that Elite Church,
if I think I see her right now.
So do I.
I have absolutely none left.
I need to get all of the goodies,
and the more you watch,
the more you engage, the more potential there is.
As you mentioned, having that replay is really, really nice,
because regardless of what time zone you're in,
and whenever you're catching up
on this epic Pokemon Go broadcast,
you can still get involved.
It's not the only game either.
I know we are the best game,
but it's not the only game where we have giveaways.
If you engage with the broadcast,
we've got things with Pokemon Champions as well.
You are able to get the 20-26 weld in Cinerol.
I hear Cinerol is a good Pokemon.
Maybe not a Pokemon GoPVP, but in Champions,
I've heard very, very good things about it.
Cinerol is very cool.
They have drops for the Pokemon Trading Card game.
We also have, oh my goodness, an exclusive Twitch chat badge.
Imagine rolling up in a Twitch chat
and you have the world's Pikachu sitting next to your name.
That's pretty cool.
So I'll be honest, probably over dinner.
I will have to recap up
is I need that world Pikachu Twitch chat badge.
I need it.
Let's just be honest,
you just can't stay away from the action.
I know we've lived and breathed it today,
but you're gonna be like, I need more.
I need to just stay extra excited.
But you're right, this is just such a cute Twitch badge
as well, being able to have that really focused Pikachu.
Every single year, everyone is excited to see
what's the world Pikachu gonna look like.
And I really think the team outdid themselves.
And if you enjoyed the incredible opening of today's show,
with all that amazing Pokemon music,
kind of a trip down memory lane.
Looks like we have a Pokemon Night Out EDM concert
with Marshmallow.
London is calling one of the shows is sold out.
Tickets available now at the O2.
And that's one of the coolest venues out there as well.
So if you like Pokemon, if you like EDM,
if you live somewhere in the vicinity
where you can travel to London, check it out.
It seems like a pretty cool event.
Yeah, it looks like the Los Angeles event
is actually sold out already as well.
like you know really really epic locations a phenomenal night of music and everything as well I think even though we play this you know this game called Pokemon there are so many intricate core memories associated with either one Pokemon the music a particular game in particular a particular location I think a lot of people
sometimes you're really connected to where a particular game is set, let's say.
I didn't expect the music this morning during the ceremony to hit me as much as it did,
but oh my goodness, they were absolutely incredible.
And just hearing all those callbacks to the old games, and they would flash the photos
up to, oh my goodness.
Oh, it's a live orchestra, like that hit different, like in your soul.
It was incredible.
I was sitting there, misty-eyed, being like, lock in, buddy, you got to do this.
It's a beautiful way to start the day and I honestly think of these world championships things do hit different
We're talking about the world championship difference
But honestly the world championship experience difference is on a whole other level
We can have a little bit of a step back as well and look at how things have shaped out for the go broadcast in terms of day
One meta a lot of familiar faces there
But some other familiar faces are two competitors from that match that he had previously looks like both of them are
step it away our winner is confirmed Hiromaru has been the fixer in this set.
Hiromaru played brilliantly being able to navigate several pretty complicated
games emerging victorious and Hiromaru that I believe was our final winners
final. He's making it to day two on the winners side of the bracket which is
incredible still kind of has that that extra life intact of not having been
said to the losers bracket yet but the the good news is is his opponent there
definitely not out of it by any means just gonna be in the loser's bracket
still fighting to make his way to day number two. Exactly and Alfie is a
veteran of the competition so someone who's gonna be able to regroup focus
look towards the next match and should certainly be a name that you keep an eye
out for in the rest of the tournament but wow what an intense best of three set
coming through there some Pokemon I wasn't expecting to see they have powered on
the jealous of that one also the credillion that little blast from the
past great to be able to see it making some waves here at the Pokemon World
championships. Now, hip-hop was actually on my cast of prediction. So, I'm over the moon.
We finally got a hip-hop on in day number two. It took us almost to the end, but we did get a hip-hop
on in day number two. I believe it was hip-hop on. I had a man-teen on there, a dondozo. Overall,
been a pretty successful day. The annihilate might have been a bit of a swing and a miss, but you
know what? I'll take three for four. I'll take three for four. I think I'm looking at three for four
as well. Obviously, we've got the nine tiles. We've got the floor just, I think they're really
I think it's a good thing that
you can see that it's really
showing up in this tournament.
We have seen a little bit of
variety in terms of its charge
attacks. I personally met rail
braze user, but not everybody
is using that one out there.
The evil has obviously shown up
in dividends being able to have
that sucker punch doing so
incredibly well. And I know
that it maybe hasn't got into
phase two of the competition as
much as I know, but I know that
there was a gastrodon out there.
Zeffie Masters was bringing one
so it was great to be able to
see it still making a name for
at the screen it almost looks like a quagsire.
A quagsire has been doing very well so far.
I'm a little bit sad though,
when we first saw that graphic,
Fareed had a shadow Alakazam on there.
That was not the Pokemon he was predicting to make day two.
It was supposed to be a shadow Geertina.
But when I first saw it I was like, oh.
Interesting.
Does he know something I don't know?
What is Alakazam doing in this meta?
I mean, it has Fire Punch.
Surely that does something in a Tinketon.
Probably not, definitely not.
But no, he met Shadow Geertina
and I believe I heard that Inatequins
did actually make it to day number two.
So, read off to a really good start here.
I shadow gear Tina.
Am I the only played by one person,
but that person is easily one of the best traders
in the entire world.
It's a purely off of an adequate shadow gear Tina
doing quite well here.
Not only is he one of the best trainers in the world,
but he's one of the best trainers in the world
with your Tina.
Yes.
He has flawlessly won many regionals
with that particular Pokemon.
And I know before the tournament,
he was kind of saying out there on social media
and things like, if you're bringing your Tina
in this meta, you are completely wild.
And guess what?
He was the one really psyching himself out there,
bringing Giratina, of course,
despite the Tinkertons out there,
despite the Azumarils,
he is really still rooting for his friend.
But we have another match ready for you.
This is Luz's finals, group P,
between Y'Kai and Teddius.
Ooh, now this is a rematch here.
Y'Kai and Teddius played in the group semi-finals,
and Teddius, who is the Thailand regional champion,
was able to emerge victorious.
Y'Kai is running a Pokemon
don't think we've seen today and that is the Dunsparse. Now we've seen a lot of
trainers. They had the Kancho Marowak, they had the Hapauton, they're really trying to
find Pokemon that have the Rock Ground coverage. Well, let me introduce you to
Dunsparse. Dunsparse is not a rock type, it's not a ground type, it's a pure normal
type, but it has rollout, it has rock slide, and drill run. So it's basically
another way that players are trying to get that rock ground coverage on their
team, but this time he doesn't necessarily want the weaknesses that come
with being a rock or a ground type. So he's opted for the Dunsparse. The Dunsparse actually
has some very real targets here. It's a normal type which is bad for the course love. It
is super effective damage into four of the six members of the team. Now Dunsparse, because
it doesn't get that same type of attack bonus, its damage can be a bit overwhelming at times.
So usually Dunsparse is not going to be able to like 1v2 in grand fashion, like some of
the more dominant sweepers. But what it can do is be a very defensive Pokemon that can
still hit for an annoying amount of super effective damage.
I think as well, it's interesting seeing kind of a bulky normal type in the form of Dancefast going for that rollout.
We see that a lot in Licky Licky, for example.
So seeing a different Pokemon still without utility, it kind of can play a similar role.
But the difference really is about those charge attacks as you've mentioned.
The coverage is fantastic having that ground and rock side coverage.
Another Pokemon I want to talk about, however, is going to be that Dondozo.
It's in just such a great position to apply good pressure.
But in this particular matchup, do you see having a place against Teddy Ness?
I think Dondozo looks very incredible here.
Dondozo it's very slow, but it has incredible incredible amounts of bulk
So when it comes to evaluating a team and looking at is Dondozo good
I usually look for water resist and I only see one and it's in Polly on and
Weirdly enough the impoli on matchup is not actually that convincing for the impoli on it feels like it should be
But Dondozo's ability to survive two drill pegs very comfortably
Yeah, and Dondozo actually has an exceedingly dominant matchup in the feeble so much so that a high ranked on those
can actually win the 0 protection shield to 1 protection center which is they
shield the surf you know shield all the night slashes and you can still win so I
think don dozo does have some very good play here now because don dozo is strong
that could basically force teddy this into always bring the impoleon so
there's always a bit of a gamble here do you end up risking the don dozo even if
it's on impoleon it's not the worst but that still just wouldn't be a very
efficient use of the don dozo or to try and psych out your opponent and then
just run a team that's very strong into the impoleon knowing that the impoleon
will be somewhere. Another Pokemon we've seen a splattering of across this tournament is the
Toca Kiss and both of our trainers are actually running that particular Pokemon. I find it very
interesting as a build because it's not actually running any fairy type moves and fairies seem to
be very strong in the meta obviously with the fairy winds, on for lodges and on tinker time to be
able to deal with a lot of the dark types and the dragons out there but instead Toca Kiss utilizing
more of its flying type with that pek and having good coverage with aurasphere and scishog. Aurasphere
could be nice into potential, you know, normal types out there.
Yeah, the Polyon, for example, that matchup is actually exceedingly, exceedingly stat-dependent
because the Togekiss and Polyon charge-security tie is within a range, where depending on how
these trainers ended up deciding in terms of if you go for a more bulk spread, you go for
a more high attack spread, that is within the realm of that CMP type potentially being
I-V-dependent. So, the stat spreads on these particular mods is going to matter quite a bit
as well. Corsola is probably the most efficient check to Togikis here, just because since Togikis
is not wearing dazzling gleam, it doesn't really have that hard hitting same type attack bonus
charge attack and non-same type attack bonus side shock. That was a tongue twister, I'll tell you
that. Just really doesn't do a lot of damage onto the Corsola, so Corsola does end up on
that Togikis. That is a very, very good spot to be if you're the Corsola.
Yeah, Corsola on your Christ side has to watch out though for the people on Teddingness aside,
If that Pokemon does want to come to the match the sucker punches can put in a lot of valiant effort as well as them being able to apply pressure with the dark
type charge attack that can be followed up at the same time those evil has to watch out for some of the play that can come
Through on your kai side, but at least this time
I'm not seeing that charge bug with an X is that we saw the last time I saw people match up
And last time I believe the people just said you know what I'm just gonna make slash boosted the charge
What didn't even matter it had a plan it always has a plan is that sneaky little fox for a reason you cannot underestimate it
I feel like we've seen so many
Feeble nights like this on Dream today.
You would think it's like 30%. It's not.
It is like, I believe, 10% or 12%
right in and around that range.
It is a very low percent chance to happen,
but Feeble has just kept boosting,
and that has consistently flipped games.
If there's any time, though, if we are Feeble to pull through
with those boosts, it's going to be at the World Championships,
though. It's almost like the Pokemon knows,
and it is showing up for its trainer,
and that can sometimes be the beautiful thing
that can win out the games. Our trainers are really locked
This is Loser's Finals. One of these trainers will be going home and we've got two champions on the field right now.
Both of these trainers have phenomenal records. Both of them deserve to be able to go into the next stage of the competition, but only of them will.
Yakae has locked in. He is looking for revenge. He was sent to the Loser side of the bracket by Teddiness.
The trainers exchanged well wishes. We've got double lock ins. We've got a fist pump. Game number one, Group P Loser's Finals.
finals, Teddy-ness is gonna be leading the Thievel, oh no, but Ya'kai has Corsola!
Let's go, Thievel against the Corsola, these sucker punches are gonna be making this Corsola
leave the field as the Togokist joins from the sky and Polion there to match it.
A very interesting decision here by Teddy-ness, Teddy-ness did not choose to bring in the
Corsola, instead bringing in Impoleon.
Impoleon does have access to these super effective metal sounds that will add up over time, but
if the Togish is supposed to get enough of a head start, potentially it may be able to
to make three aura spheres, but it looks like Tettiness
is actually knocking it through a single charge attack.
Tettiness may just look to try and fully farm down.
Yes, those metal sounds really putting in some work.
I think it's already at the two Hydra cannons,
but wanting to get as much energy as possible
at the utility of these shields, though.
It does manage to get rid of the token kiss.
Both those shields have paid off,
because now you have Hydra cannon after Hydra cannon.
Back to back, Hydra cannon's loaded.
Corsula will be able to survive the double up gear,
but the critical decision by Tettiness
to not throw a charge attack
ends up paying off massive dividends.
Had he thrown even one Hydro Cannon,
Yaki would have taken one to a metal sound
and made it to the third or a spear to secure the dock out.
That's a good confidence and utility with that Pokemon,
knowing that you could farm it the whole way down
and look at this, and the Hydro Cannon is ready to go.
It's gonna make this Corsula start having
to ask herself questions about whether you shield
to keep that energy that Corsula has acquired
on your Kai-side, and that's exactly what goes down.
And shielding here is tough.
Oh, Yaki, he pivots out.
You read the feeble switching,
but no switching comes through.
Instant Teddiness stays on the field, makes the Hydral Cannon, and this Hydral Cannon should clear a path for the Corsula from Teddiness to be able to take on the game one way.
Corsula in that final shield on the forward coast that really wants to land those bug lights down onto the field with the Inosas in the back, instead of going to find his way against the Corsula, really not doing too much damage to Corsula, not going to worry about taking this damage, but the debuffs are going to be able to slow down the pace of play.
The Rock Tomb connects, but that damage is just insufficient.
And as these astonishing add up more and more,
you just really see no way out for your guy.
He wins as he knows.
There's just no path forward in this game.
You're pulling on being able to hang on
and make that last second Hydra cannon.
It is barely no help raining on its own car in the back,
but that was absolutely critical.
Hey, at the end of the day,
you just need some help to keep you into the game.
So I'm pulling on being able to go for those hard encounters,
really set up the Corsair,
and the Thiebel plus access towards the Zen game.
You see the coursework go down, but Tettiness brings in that evil to get the final knockout onto that coursework, farm up a little bit of energy.
Only one sucker punch away, there's the Night Slash, a sigh of relief for Tettiness.
History repeating itself so far as Tettiness is going to be taking game number one.
I mean after you've already had a victory over a previous World Champion, you've got to be feeling confident,
but that doesn't mean you necessarily wanted to rematch them in the loser's bracket.
but Teniena's already showing that all of that knowledge and wisdom gained from the previous set
is still at the front of his mind. What a commanding start to this set.
It really felt like Yatai had an opportunity to gain an advantage with that Toei-Kis and Polion matchup.
However, the critical decision by Tenien is to not throw that energy, going down all protect shields,
but to say, you know what, I cannot let you make a third. If you make a third, my entire Polion's gone.
And that decision, going down two shields, it feels like it's oftentimes a recipe for disaster,
But here it was absolutely essential and incredible decision by Teddy this committing to that matchup
And it pays off in a big way as hold on to so much value in this game
That's where we see the mastery of true competitors where they have the force that you okay
I'm gonna have to use both my shields now. It's early
I'm really banking on the sympoleum
But it's to set up a very specific win condition for the end and be able to have that foresight and commitment to go through with it
It's absolutely masterful fantastic plays from Teddy Ness, but now you're kind he's a previous world champion
How was he going to adapt to come into this and keep himself in the tournament?
Blue, I think it's Tontozo time.
I love Tontozo. I think it might be the time here because Tontozo, even the Empolion matchup,
I've been the Empolion there in the go battle league. I did not have a good time. It was a
straight up terrible time. I threw so many drill pegs. Tontozo did not care. It was a little bit
rough. So I really think that Tontozo has the potential to be exceedingly, exceedingly safe
He didn't opt for it in game number one, but if he is able to end up bringing it
I think on those who could pull off some pretty nice value here because I think no matter where it's aligned
It's always going to have some pretty good value. I felt that the Corsair as well on you Kai's side
It never really seemed to get its footing in the game and obviously facing down against the evil very early on did put it on
The back foot a little bit so you're Kai possibly may be thinking is the Corsair going to be the Pokemon I need for this match
It is a good old reliable it has flexibility into the match against Tendiness
But if you lose that alignment, then it could be curtains from those who could indeed be the call
I think also potentially considering done sparse even though done sparse never really does a lot of damage
What done sparse can do it's gonna be a disruptor to the course attendiness likes to bring well stages set the battle is already
It's gonna be course law and there it is done sparse hits the field done sparse is indeed in play against the very stylish lifting
with those glasses but it's got out of range as the Empolion joins the field.
And Empolion not choosing to throw a charge attack right away could have thrown on 5 there to potentially get the turn back
but instead not going to happen. It's going to be drill run being launched by the Dunsvars
and Empolion investing in very early protect shield.
I wonder if we're going to see all the energy farm up on this Empolion again just like in that K1.
Gets to the second hearty cannon but now unleashes it into that Corsula Yikai.
Not shielding this, know that Corsula has the bulk to be able to withstand one of these attacks
But you have to keep an eye on those counts because the Empolion is not messing around.
It's gonna get to another back-to-back Hydro Cannon very soon.
Oh Empolion massively over farming and it ends up being a charge step already time.
Does Y'Kai trust that his course I can't hold on? He's not gonna risk it.
He will put up the protect shield.
TeddyNess did not want to throw energy until he thought there was maybe a chance of the Hydro Cannon taking the KO.
You don't want to lose all the momentum that this Corsair has built up with the energy.
You're forcing the shields to come through on Empolion's side.
So you didn't want to run the risk that the Hydro Cannon would get the KO.
Now you're leaving Teddiness a lot more vulnerable without those shields.
Kossler however, once again committing going for that second shield, wanting to get rid of the Symbolion with the charge attack of its very own.
Reaper doesn't see a catch out of the Klawtzai and waits to turn, but so does Ya'kai!
Ya'kai not gonna let that happen and instead he holds the energy and in comes a bug bite forageress.
Yeah, that energy back for later and both these Pokemon trainers equally in a position where you've got the ground and rock type coverage charge attacks as well.
The Klawtai is going to be able to do the first blink with this earthquake.
It does connect down onto the fortress. Look at that damage home slice.
That damage is massive, but due to the fact that Claude Sire runs Poison's thing, it can never farm down.
So, two charge attacks will always have to be expanded here by Teddiness.
In the meantime, Sanctum Lance doesn't really do a lot of damage, but it does put the minus one
on a defensive Claude Sire. And suddenly, Claude Sire is not working particularly healthy.
Yeah, that's giving a little bit more longevity to these bug flies that are just chomping away
at the opposing Claude Sire. Claude Sire, as you said, forced to have to go for these charge attacks.
The past attacks were not going to be able to battle through that fortress.
Now the dunce fast back in play going for these roll-ups. Not very effective, so I think the switch coming out from Corsula, resetting that defense buff, drop as well, bringing in this Corsula.
Now, catching a move from a normal type onto a Corsula might seem like a bit of a crazy play, but honestly, I kind of like the play pattern here from Tidy this.
This is not Licky Licky vs. Corsula, where there can be a super effective shadow ball that erases you through the field.
These are neutral charge attacks, and Drill Run really does not do a lot here. However, Ykai does have banked energy.
Does he try to risk going for accommodation play here?
He is not.
Oh, he tried to predict it, baby.
No, he actually ended up firing up the Power Gem,
but no switch comes through from the Akai.
The energy is still maintained.
Yeah, Power Gem will come through,
connect down onto the stunspot.
The energy onto that course slot on Akai's side is ready.
It switches in, and it will be able to get the Nightshake
down onto its counterpart on the opposing side,
telling us not looking too happy to see this come through.
And Akai also threw an astonish,
and he did want to get slightly lower.
Oh, he doesn't actually quite take the knockout there.
He is gonna get a little bit lower.
In comes the Empolion, Denkorsla, hang on here, no it cannot, Korsala will fall.
Korsala goes down, Empolion has the energy, it's able to get the advantage over the Dunsparse here.
Oh, that is as close as it can get, Hydro Cannon connects, Dunsparse will fall, and Lightning strikes twice as Tendiness gets back-to-back wins over Yakai.
Ted Ennis gave your kind no room to maneuver and in an incredible to an O set is able to knock out the previous world champion from the tournament on the double in the winner side of the bracket and in the loser side of the bracket.
Ted Ennis is able to reign supreme.
Ted Ennis is our reigning Thailand national champion making his appearance at Worlds and really making a name for himself on this global stage incredible gameplay going up against one of the best and emerging victorious and a pretty dominant two games.
two games week. I have to say I love the way he came out very kind of aggressive in the beginning of those games forcing those shields to come through but also preserving them so beautifully on the
on the podium kind of saying yeah I'm gonna use up my shields but then what are you gonna do when you lose yours I've got my clothes I would all the energy I've got my clothes I would all the energy I've got my
on podium with all the energy and it just constantly meant that was an onslaught of attacks that you can't just there was too much to deal with. And it really felt like you can't play that series well but
but Teddy this just did not give him even a single Iota of momentum every
opportunity trying to be able to pivot out here it looks like our winner's
side of the bracket is set and look at the names here we have some incredible
incredible names locked in on day number two winner's side we have feels a boy
all the way at the top here a Maru do bug
I mean, this this top cut is
incredible for tomorrow. If
you're just tuning in, jot down
these names. These are going to
be your top 16 from the
Winner side here advancing into
phase two of the competition.
Some incredible games we've seen
so far. King WT as well gave us
an absolute thrill earlier on in
the broadcast. Do make sure to
go back and watch like MPVP
David as well and M. E. Weedle
as well has been one of the
contenders throughout this
battle. Someone who I think,
you know, has won accolades in
the past, but really wants to
keep that momentum going.
So our top side of the bracket is set and we've had all you wonderful people
hanging out with us all day throughout this incredible action.
I think it's time.
I believe we have Will and Amanda standing on standby ready and waiting with a very special
message for you guys.
Stay tuned.
Hello Pokemon trainers.
We are mega excited to deliver some exciting news to you today.
The LAIC 2027 meta will feature a limited format for Pokemon Go competitive players.
This is very exciting, it's going to be in the Great League with some caveats.
Yes, there's going to be certain type things that are not allowed such as fire, dark, steel
and fairy.
Legendary Pokemon, mythical Pokemon and Ultra Beasts are also not permitted.
As well as a list of powerhouse Pokemon that you may already be familiar with in the Great
League.
And here is the most exciting part.
For the very first time, Mega Evolved, Pokemon, and Primal Reversions will be allowed into
the format.
Except for one small caveat that Mega Saber-Lie will not be allowed.
Mega Saber-Lie is definitely Amanda's favorite, but there are so many exciting Pokemon that
you'll be able to play if you compete at LEIC.
So start Mega Evolving, and we can't wait to see you there.
and incredibly exciting announcement.
Mega Pokemon at LAIC.
I'm a little sad Mega Saber-Lie is banned.
I do actually have one of those built and ready to go.
So I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board.
There's Saber-Lies out, but it sounds
like a lot of other Mega Pokemon are allowed.
And that'll be a first time ever on the Pokemon Go Championship
series.
So I'm incredibly excited to see what these trainers can
cook up over the next few months,
meeting up to the Latin American International
Championships.
Every single time we have these restrictive meds as well,
it really does test your team building skills.
I love seeing what trainers are able to cook up and bring to these tournaments particularly with mega coming forward
It is like the game is evolving even more in the next year of competitive Pokemon
So I personally cannot wait for that
It's going to be incredible
But the next bit of Pokemon action that you guys have to keep an eye on is actually the continuation of the Pokemon world championships
2026 if you want to make sure that you tune into the broadcast tomorrow
You can see on the bottom of your screen the start time it starts at 9 a.m. Pacific time and
12 p.m. Not I said am yes, because then it's 12 p.m
I'm from across the pond, okay?
We just work with, like, London time.
But these are the times.
Jot them down.
Don't be late.
And guess what?
If you are late, you can catch up on the replay.
Very true.
And make sure to follow along on all our socials
so you're not missing a minute of the action.
If you thought day one was incredible,
you haven't seen anything yet.
The best of the best battling it out.
And we go all the way down, I believe, tomorrow
to a top two who will be making it to day number three
in the chase center.
That atmosphere is going to be incredible.
Honestly, the fact that we have hundreds of competitors and then whittling it down to just two at the end of two days of competition is so intense.
Another way that you can get involved with the broadcast, however, is through the Twitch drops.
You can make sure that if you're watching the World's broadcast for 30 minutes, you can earn some team-building great league bonus time to research.
You can create a championship ready team with some of the popcorn that we showcased throughout this tournament once they're all evolved up.
Of course, Licky Tung, Totodile, Opaze and Woopa, you can pick one of these options.
And I'm very excited to get access to Beals of Voice Ticketon.
I actually met him in person, I asked him for his Ticketon, he was like, no, it's my Ticketon.
But now I can get his Ticketon via the Twitch drops, but it looks like the Twitch drops were not done.
We have Twitch drops for Pokemon champions.
We have a passcode, Enjoy Worlds 26, and that will get you access to that incredibly stylish t-shirt at a very cool hat.
Exactly, a nice memento from watching the broadcast and literally seeing history unfold.
The trading card game also has some incredible giveaways for you as well.
I absolutely love the fit that can be rocked on Pokemon trading card game live.
You can again do this by watching 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes to be able to get
increments of different incredible world giveaways.
And what a day we have had.
So many trainers arrived here in San Francisco with the dream of becoming the next world
champion.
Many dreams have been cut short already, but the trainers who remain alive, that fire burns
brighter than ever.
They have made it through the gauntlet.
That is day number one.
And they have an incredible, incredible, talented group
of trainers that they're going to have to defeat.
Because to be the best, you have to be the best.
That is certainly true.
And at the end of the day, this is the 30th anniversary
of Pokemon, the 10th anniversary of Go, the fifth Pokemon
to go world championships.
History is literally being repeated every single second
across this weekend.
And some trainers are etching their name multiple times
across multiple days of competition.
I for one cannot wait to see who our champion will be at the end of the weekend.
It's going to be absolutely incredible.
Getting to watch Beelzeboi win in 2025 in the stands was one of the coolest moments I've ever had as a person.
And I cannot wait to see what we have in store for 2026.
So the games have been incredible today.
My co-caster has been incredible.
Our wonderful teammates have been incredible.
Our production staff in the back have been absolutely incredible.
So thank you so much for tuning in to day one of the Pokemon Go World Championships.
and we'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning for day number two.
See you there.