I
presented here at this amazing world in San Francisco.
I'm Evan Hashimoto joined by, with VGC, Sierra Dawn,
with the full deal names, and of course,
he's G. Emily Horson, and then of course,
Caleb Bang, who's gonna be doing all of my Unite stuff
because he knows the game better than me.
But, well, we've got so much action going on here.
Actually, a lot of you have done Unite,
I made that joke earlier, but we've got so much action
that's happened over the past few days.
I mean, of course, players and teams coming
from all across the world,
and it's been so exciting to watch,
But we're only, I mean, I guess, half-ish through the entire tournament.
Already we've seen so many upsets and some great wins.
So I'm going to go, I'm going to want to kind of ask you all, first of all,
what is your big takeaway so far now being partly through this event
and seeing what's going to come into the future.
So, Sierra, what do you see?
I mean, first off for the Pokemon video game, the biggest takeaway from the get-go
is this is a really tough tournament.
We have had so many of our previous world champions get knocked out
in phase one of the competition, which I mean, you come to world is the best of the best.
Some people have to drop along the way, but I think you're really high in up this repeat
champion. And we do have a couple of them still in the field, but it's looking tricky.
The other one too, with our current regulation and slash B, it's all been about this mega
Charizard, right? But we have seen that even though it's really at the top percentages,
It's not necessarily all of the top teams.
We've gotten to see Mega Dragonite by Yuya,
which has been incredible.
Justin Tang with his Mega Delphox and Mega Blast toys.
NJ and Harry Deer Kona with Mega Star Raptor
and Thrychu, just showing that there is a lot
of innovation in different Mega's
that really could rise to the top.
Yeah, of course, it's so exciting seeing
of course a new game and all the new formats
and there's just so many things being changed.
But Emily, how about TCG, what's it take away?
Well, you can't talk about the Pokemon trading card game
without talking about the big bad Dragonfall DX,
which of course is here in full force,
but honestly, not as much as people would expect
at the World Championship,
only sitting at 43.2%.
A lot of players actually thought
that this deck would actually be above 50%
for this tournament,
but all the way at the top of our Swiss phase one
is going to be Brent Tonneson from Australia,
who is currently undefeated, 8-0,
with Dragonfall crushing hammers.
So there's a couple of variants of Dragonfall
that can be played, but it seems like Bretton
is actually really locked down.
Just the most consistent list,
and where you really just don't wanna take risks
here in the World Championship.
I don't wanna take no risks
or take every risk right, it's the chance here.
But of course, with Pokemon Go, how's it feelin'?
Definitely, so a big takeaway here
is our two Grand Finals,
and Bealsboy are still in the running to make another grand finals of the year.
They were top two for a reason and Bealsboy, the reigning world champion, we've never, speaking of VP world champions,
we've never had a world champion VP ever as well in our fifth year.
So, it's not early on but it really might happen this year.
Meanwhile, the finalist that finished second last year has gone on five trade championships on days in international worlds.
which is absolutely insane, it's that line of hands.
He's looking to try to make it back to Fairfax to find the win,
that world championship that he's been going for.
So, I think it's a super exciting one,
especially if you get that win,
I should have had a rematch at NAIC that was super close,
and I'm sure it's on the back of both of the lines
that they might, based off the end of the number two,
and maybe in the championship something.
And well, that actually is a great segment to unite,
because we've got a lot of players
that are former champions, old champions,
but a lot of them have been eliminated.
teams. We've got some of our previous rainbow champion as well. It's having a
little bit of a tough time, but the real takeaway here that nobody expected is
people who have never been the world champion, which is Europe, right? We've
had Japanese champions, we've had American champions, we've had a Latin
champion most recently, but Europe has qualified with one extra spot through
like kind of a big qualifier at EYC and all four of their teams have made it
to day number two, which I believe is the first time that's ever happened,
and they're looking extremely good. So they've made it up like second place
and made it to the Grand Finals before,
but they've never quite been there.
It's just been one of those regions.
This might be their years.
Everybody's really looking towards Europe,
but we still have basically every region
present in day number two,
so anything can really happen with Pokemon United.
It's gonna be very exciting.
But, of course, there have been some amazing moments
that have happened already,
and I think we want to each kind of highlight
one of them that's happened so far.
So, of course, the Pokemon video game,
any big moment?
Oh, I highlighted team.
Oh, okay.
I'm glad to highlight to you, but starting off talking about the fact that we can have a repeat world champion.
I wanted to highlight for Shogi Kumura's match for 2023 Pokemon World Champion.
Looking back at this match too, he was going up against our, okay we got the, we got the cliff switch,
but we'll start with this one first. So we're switching the points. We're talking about the unique Pokemon.
We'll come back to Joey in a second. I wanted to highlight Kerry's team and Kerry as a player.
His Kerry has been someone who has really stepped up throughout this year.
He is reigning regional champion.
And when we're looking at a couple of these unique megas,
he has two of them with the Star After and the Raiju.
But it was really, this is Yui and Arcanine
that stole the show.
This has been a Pokemon that hasn't necessarily picked up
on so many teams, but it really made so much impact.
But this is what I was talking about.
Shohei Kimura going up against a Japan national champion
in Hiroshima Nishi.
And this was such a great match.
Shohei now sitting at a 7-on-1 record.
They had very similar teams with mega Charizard being one of the dominant teams going into
this tournament.
And how Shohei piloted it was such a, we know that he's so skilled, but to see it again
in such confidence display was really like, wow, if this is just a preview of his matches,
he's going to go all the way.
It was incredible.
It's such a big stage to be able to show something like that on.
Yeah, now since, of course, Pokemon video game had two clips and now that means you're not getting zero clips, unfortunately.
They took it away from us.
I'm sorry, that's just how it goes.
That's just how it goes.
No, we'll have one later.
But for the trading card game, of course, it's a gigantic tournament, any moment that you wanted to kind of show us.
Well, there's plenty, right?
And I think for a lot of players that may be tuning into the Pokemon trading card game for the first time,
They may not know this, but we've had a whole expansion set that has been released in between NAIC and the world championship.
But of course, it is going to be Brett Thomason on the right piloting that very straightforward, very consistent Dragapult.
He even ran out of ways to get Dragapult in the end, and then Dragapult's best friend, Monkey Dory, coming in with the mind bend.
been with that ability a dread of rain being able to move three damage counters
over and then taking the win from here but honestly this is my favorite moment
of yesterday but Tayish who actually got top eight laugh at worlds last year with
Dragonbolt I believe is piloting Alakazam now the most popular stadium that
we actually have in the trading card game these days is Team Rocket's
Watchtower it shuts off the Dunsparce but he actually paired it with
So it's a definitely a very tricky way to make the deck but he knows exactly how to trip up the rest of the field
That's another two clips. I think you're actually out of clips now. Yeah, yeah
They're actually gonna finish this segment. They're just gonna take me off stage immediately
No, I love the fact too that when we talk about all these games together, which is not you know
I'm an opportunity to it just sounds so ridiculous to hear two Pokemon paired together that it's class if you're like
And JackaPult's best friend, Monkey Dory,
looking at that from other games for a second,
it's like, what?
That's wild.
And then you think,
maybe I should play a training card game, you know?
Crime Round was good for a while.
I want to play that.
But of course, we can't ignore Go.
I think they might have taken away your clip, too,
because they're so greedy.
They're too big a clip.
You know, we'll see if there's a clip or not.
We don't have Monkey Dory in the game yet
from a long ago.
We do have Dragon Bolt,
which someone actually tried to bring
the last of the World Championships
and quite worked decently well.
But we are in our fifth year
And I feel like the skill level for this game
has gone to an all-time high.
It's going higher and higher as this is Emmy Weedow,
one of our former world champions
against the two-time Thailand champion.
In their first matchup on the winners finals,
winner goes to day number two on the winners side.
Loser might even get knocked out tournament.
But look at how close this is down to the wire.
Both players having like two or three points left
with red HG bars, only a fraction
of percentages of health.
And you can see in the very end,
It comes out to the final second, simultaneous knockout,
just really highlights the skill level game too.
That's a half seconds that they had to, you know,
tie on that very moment, and that's exactly what happened.
But we've seen that in so many of our matches
through and throughout, and these players,
like, they're so tuned into the game
that they kind of are anticipating each other's
anticipations, and that's kind of how it has been
this year, and so I say every world champion
every year is just better, better than the previous.
It's so cool, especially with games like, you know, of course, I love video game, but you know, I feel like our games are a little bit newer, right?
As far as things go competitively, so it's really cool to see the players level up more and more as time has gone on.
And that's actually what my clip is, which is if anybody out there is not familiar with Pokemon Unite,
I think this is such a great clip to kind of show how amazing the game is, how strong the movement is.
This is Aruto, one of the best players in the world coming out of Japan.
Going off one of the best jukes that we have ever seen.
They're going to be on the Lucario and they're going to be chased around.
So you should be able to see them kind of in the top right there,
juking an entire team, 1v4.
They managed to go, escape into the Kyobor pit.
They're escaping the entire team.
They managed to teleport backwards using bone rush right here.
A huge juked, and they waste the entire time of Groot Dignitas,
which was considered one of the best teams in the world
looking to win this entire tournament,
but they actually got eliminated on day number one
in a big upset.
A part of it wasn't because of this,
but there are just too many good teams, so.
Right, there's Ingoz over there.
Yes, yes, oh, that was such an amazing truth.
This is, that's gonna be an amazing clip for all time.
So, if you check that Pokemon Unite,
that's kind of the move that you can expect from it.
So, I mean, amazing moments already
from all of these games.
It's been such an amazing half of the event so far,
or I guess maybe one third of it
for considering Sunday as well.
And of course, there's so many amazing things out here in this actual venue.
I cannot believe how huge it is.
There's so many things to do.
I feel like I've, I don't know, caught like 10% of it.
I feel like everyone's...
Yeah, I tried to go for a wanderer and I'm like,
all right, I'm off for a couple rounds.
Surely I can see everything, right?
You start getting out to the convention floor
and it just goes as far as the eye can see.
And there's still so much more.
I looked at a map and I'm like,
this doesn't even scratch the surface.
It is just incredible how much love there is for Pokemon.
how much love has been poured into the event
and so many things going on.
So hopefully we have the opportunity today,
but it's a competition ramps up, I don't know.
Yeah, yep, you're cute.
Honestly, to build on Sierra's point,
I really feel like there's something here
for a Pokemon fan of any level.
Even if it's your first day,
if you've been with the series for years,
you really can just find something for you.
I know there's musical performances outside.
There's a whole outside stage,
Pokemon XP happening for the first time.
For me, my favorite thing that I've seen so far
is that life-size Venusaur Blastoise and Charizard
made out of Lego.
The Lego. It's so cool.
Ridiculous, yeah.
I'm just trying to get a picture with that.
I've not been able to yet.
Do you have a favorite thing real quick
before we move on to the next thing?
I mean, yeah, I don't think I have a similar to Emilia.
Probably everyone else here.
Maybe I haven't had the full time to experience all of it.
It's one of all my friends and competitors
have been on some of these events.
You can accept the whole stage.
You're like, yeah, I didn't know what to expect
from the whole to my XP side things,
But all of them, for everyone that said, it's blue,
blowing their expectations, right?
And it's just, if you're a Hulk player,
or a fan of Pokemon, Pokemon is the perfect place for you.
If you're on the fence about Pokemon,
you'll probably fall in love with Pokemon after this weekend.
So, so many great reasons to come out
to these World Championships,
and no better way to celebrate it on the 10th of December.
Oh, absolutely.
But of course, I want to make sure
that everybody at home doesn't feel bad as well.
So of course, there are things that every game
is giving out for just for watching,
which unfortunately I've been missing
because I've been here,
so I actually haven't had the streams open,
but we'll sort of talk about what our games are kind of giving away.
So let's start with the Pokemon video games there.
If you have anything knowledgeable about what's actually being distributed for Pokemon games.
We're giving away so much.
I don't know which order the graphics are going to fly,
but we're giving away a swag in-game
if you want a World Championship shirt.
As well, we got to make sure that your style is matching your Pokemon.
You have the opportunity to pick up the 2026 Worlds in Cinnabar.
It's in order to everywhere now for VGC, it's kind of taken over whether you love or hate
it or not.
It is taken over, it is here, it is one of these strongest Pokemon opportunity to grow out
back there.
And this is the shirt I was talking about.
Enjoy World 26.
Again, enjoy World 26.
Write it down, take a picture.
Don't ask 10 million times into Twitch chat.
Enjoy World 26 and you can get that hat and shirt.
Alright, I need a pen.
you bring a pen so I can write that code down please or otherwise I'll just ask a challenge
And of course we have so many different things for so many games. I agree. I'm so I don't know what's gonna come up first
But but the trading card game will see what they bring a very good
Honestly, you talk about swag
Champions you can also get your swag the Pokemon trading card game live as well
I personally love the jacket looks like a half leather jacket half letter bin, which is really sick
But of course players love customized their deck boxes as well
So you can find all of your world swag right on your screen, but
The longer you watch the Pokemon trading for a game the more things you actually get a lot
So in order to get all all of this swag that you see right here
You have to actually watch for 60 minutes
But if you only have time for 30 minutes today can actually get six packs of pitch black
So once again, that is our newest set that we have in the Pokemon trading part game
I personally love watching a regional stream on the side to make sure I'm always opening packs either in person or online
There's so much stuff here that I genuinely cannot read that text from here. I'm gonna be honest
So this is a nice giveaway Pokemon go. Let's let's see what you're giving away. We've got we got so much stuff
We gotta do through this. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'll just quick highlight
Yeah, we charge him super exclusive resource. They can get to watch it up to 60 minutes
Also, more importantly, you get the World Champion from Listerfield's voice, Tinkitun, that he used, his stats on the Tinkitun, and more importantly, he even gets an exclusive background just on the Tinkitun.
Really cool to have. And of course, we got the Pokemon Pikachu XP, you see, and the Space Outfit as well as the Champion.
Pikachu is falling in the game right now, so you can get it if you're opening the game.
So, open the game, play it, and you also get a fresh avatar shirt as well as you can do.
and you know no big deal but I might have gotten the shiny Pikachu with this
face you know costume yesterday so you know but hey it could be like me if you
just open up a game and play it. Everybody up here is greedy there you're getting
the dragon with the shiny, getting multiple clips. We got so much good stuff what
does your knight got? I know I know yeah you knight of course has some really
actually amazing things depending on how you walk on you watch more you can
see the blog with sticker for the event or at 30 minutes you get to an
exclusive license of Pikachu which is very very cool and then you can actually
a license for one of the Pokemon from the world champion team Peru last year, what they won with
if you do watch for 45 minutes. So some really nice stuff and of course just be sure to watch all
of the streams for each of these if you want to be able to get some rewards at home and I mean just
watch all your favorite players play because we are getting so close now to starting day number
two. I know it's been an amazing day one so far and of course it's a reminder to everybody
This is all leading up to a huge championship Sunday in the Chase Center the arena
I mean we got a little sneak peek of it. It is incredible
It is going to be a show like I think no Pokemon fans have ever ever watched
So of course we've got four amazing games be sure to watch all the broadcasts
We're gonna have a really tough time today
I think deciding who will be moving on towards that special
championship Sunday so thank you from all of us we're going to be moving on very soon as we get
sending it over to our start for day number two here at the Pokemon World Championships 2026.
We'll see you all playing soon.
Take us, ready, set, cuz now it's time to go
Maybe we can finally see who we're meant to be
Let's just start the whole way, don't you know me?
Every time you show us who we are
You know we've got a side to glory
Together you and I will touch the stars
Let me be with you and I'll over again
Cuz even if we leave the way
And you always say, here we go
Here we go again
And even better than last time
Here we go
Here we go again
There is life that I like
We're gonna win today, we're gonna win
Here we go again
We're gonna win today, we're gonna win
We're gonna go around some major places
Follow us on a path to the unknown
Staying tall in the edge of the rain
Let's see when we're walking victory road
And then we'll see when our lover begins
Cause even if we win the day
We will always stay
Here we go
We go again
Let's laugh and laugh
Thank you
We go again
Here we go!
Here we go again!
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to day two of the Pokemon World Championships and Pokemon XP.
Yeah.
We are absolutely delighted you decided to spend your days in the bay
and join oh so sunny San Francisco, California.
What a day that we have in store.
I'm Gabby Durden and after a strong start to yesterday, I'm back to keep us on track
towards Championship Sunday and the culmination of all the fun surrounding Pokemon XP.
Have you seen the skate park?
You get a chance to?
Yeah?
It's cool, right?
Okay, I'm gonna have to go check that out.
It's wild.
You know what else is wild?
The fact that we are going to know our finalists across all of the divisions by
the end of the day.
Some of which will be crowned world champions when we take over even more of the city by
unleashing the power of Pokemon in the Chase Center.
Today is about our trainers.
Across Pokemon Champions, the trading card game, Pokemon Go and Pokemon Unite, our incredible
competitors are ready to battle for glory.
And I'm curious, who are you cheering for?
Let's see who did I write down in my notes yesterday? Oh, yeah. And Pokemon VGC trainers
Yuya Wakasugi, Justin Tang, and Stefano Grepi. They look like they have the best shot at
Championship Sunday, but we'll see how things shake out once we get into top cut. The Pokemon
TCG competition has been unmistakably fierce, but Brent Tonneson, Henry Chow, and Rune Hairmans,
they really hope to hold on to yesterday's momentum. And I know a lot of people agree
that they can and Pokemon go, they're not going to lie.
I'm keeping my own Beals of Boy, as well as Potomac and M.E.
Weedle as they tap their way through the brackets.
And finally, for Pokemon Unite, we've got Peru Unite,
Reject, and KOMI ready to put up a fight.
Am I right?
Who's going to shine bright in the championship Sunday
arena?
Well, I'm stoked to find out.
How about you?
As we've mentioned, the Pokemon World Championships are only half of the fun we have this weekend.
Pokemon XP is in full swing.
And whether you're tuning in from home or you're here with us in person, there is something
for everyone.
Later on, make sure you check out the Pokemon XP panels featuring Pokemon Go, Lego, and
Jimmy Paul.
Those will be live on the Pokemon XP channel, you don't want to miss it.
So this would be the time to add that to your schedule.
And while I have your attention, can we take a moment to recognize all of the people that
make an event like this possible?
Join me in thanking the phenomenal staff, judges, production crew, and everyone working behind
the scenes to bring the Pokemon World Championships and Pokemon XP to life in San Francisco,
the Pokemon community truly is
something special and it's
because each and every one of
you is part of it.
Okay, that's enough from me
right now.
We have a day two of the
Pokemon World Championships to
get started.
Let's get into it.
Castors, take it away.
I'm going to be missing those
panels because we have a full
day of Pokemon TV the action. We
are not leaving the most
contended today until we have
our finalist that joining you
for the first cover out today.
It's going to be myself for
the first time in my life.
I'm going to be missing those
panels because we have a full
day of Pokemon TV the action.
We are not leaving the most
contended today until we have
you for the first cover after that it's going to be my South Cross Gilbert and the lovely Joe
Bernard. I mean yes it was good Joe. Look really high-hoping for that. Oh my goodness yeah I mean
we've already had heartbreak and heroics that's what phase one of the competition is all about
but that tension dials up even more today no mistakes allowed we've got to have flawless runs
for a lot of these players if they want to book themselves into the asymmetrical top cuts
after our last of four Swiss rounds of the day today so you can't have a misstep players
are already feeling pretty good. They've already achieved their 16 match points or better from that phase one of competition.
So they're already feeling confident in their deck choice.
They're feeling like they're in the groove and they have to start making a push now.
Absolutely by my calculations and this is not official, I can't stress that at all.
We've got like a hundred and forty three players here in day two, but they're not all either.
Brett Tonneson comes in with an 8-0 record, 24 match points.
Whereas your lower ranked players, players who kind of scraped in with a minimum record, 5-2-1, 16 match points.
That gives Brent base at the three extra wins over the players and there's only four rounds to be played so players like Brent at the top
They don't have that much to do win or two and they will be in whereas the players at the bottom
They're gonna have to go for an O and maybe even hope for a little bit of luck
It is not even records carry over and it is a top eight
But you mentioned a symmetrical pair the way that works is we look at how many match points the eighth place player has
will be able to get the
prize. As anyone that's tied
with them up to be total will
go into an asymmetrical top
cup to earn their way into top
eight and then from there full
knockout elimination. There's
the knockout. Elimination is
going on today, but also players
who are going to try and
achieve other prizes on the
line because there's a lot of
cash you can earn as well as
other great prizes this
weekend, Ross. Oh yeah, you
I ended up, you know, losing the A-Spectacle top cut.
Oh, wait, I still go home with $10,000.
That is not too shabby.
But of course, if you end up in the chase center tomorrow
on that stage with victory in your hand,
you will also have $50,000 in your hands as well.
That is a pretty sweet try spot.
So let's see who's closest to the top right now.
As we have our player standings,
as we go into this phase two of competition,
as you mentioned, Ross Brent Collison.
He's a player that got top of the leaderboards,
the last couple of years didn't
get it this year. He's taking
that personally. He's on the
rampage right now with drag
apart on that eight and oh
record. We've also checked in
with Henry Chow on the stream
yesterday. He's on a 701 record.
He's no longer playing with
God of all he's tossed out
away. His new best friend is
Dragapult and you can see why
he's on a great run again. It
You have a very literal leg up in the tournament.
They just got born that point.
We'll look at names like Alex Shomansky, Nina Eisenblatt,
Natalie Miller, Matej Vaskojev.
There's so many. Diego Casaraga, 17 world champions.
I'm naming all these amazing players,
and I'm still missing people, Joe.
Yeah, Diego, not only a world champion,
multiple top eights as well.
The fact that he should be once again looking at a top cut
would be absolutely exceptional.
And Rune Hermanns, as he mentioned,
is a bit of a bookie man in the room.
He's on that crustal. Not many players have made it far into the tournament with that archetype,
but now when he's up there, he's surrounded by a lot of interesting matchups.
Someone like Brent would be quite a free win for him because he doesn't have any good attackers to
deal with that crustal itself. And there's also a lot of the Alakazam archetype. That's been an
undercurrent story from our phase one of competition. There's players like Diego,
there's Mateusz, there's Alec Szimanski. A lot of these top players are rocking on these
strong records, these Alakazam decks. Some of them will have very easy answers to the
crossword matchup by having Dedenne and the recycle of that enhanced hammer. However, a
number of these Alakazam players have cut that card, meaning that Rune could potentially
have a free run into our top cut. Absolutely. It's a very matchup-dependent deck. A couple
of other players will have us here, Brennan Kaverman, Austin going out to Toa, and
his twin brother Owen on the European leaderboard, and Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, who of course
One of our players to watch for the weekend sitting now over six and two record
And she got a chance to chat with him and a few other people before we even started on Thursday
So hopefully we'll get to see that at some point
There's certainly a player to watch Arnikar Jala as well just so many yeah the nominal
But every one of those players on the screen right now John looking at going
I wouldn't be surprised if they won worlds
No, I mean we've seen their faces up there before because they've been champions are in top cuts
And I also want to take a look at the meta for phase two
We know that in phase one Dragapult was 43%. How did it convert? Well, look at that. It seems like other archetypes has Dragapult's number os.
It does, but let's not sleep on the fact Dragapult is still doubling up any other decks. Dragapult is still number one by a huge margin, but you're right.
And you look at some of these other decks coming through, things like that Tiamasca Ogroporn with Lilith the Fairy, things like Enthorua, things like Crustle.
these are decks which traditionally you would play if you wanted to play not
Dragonbolt, but you wanted to cover your Dragonbolt match up. So the format is,
I was kind of expecting coming into Dragonbolt by far the best deck, but then
after that it's what's good against Dragonbolt. And this is what's
interesting to me, it's the ingress of the NAIC. Dragonbolt was the most
played deck, but then it absolutely dwarfed everything else coming into phase 2.
It feels like our top players have found archetypes that aren't Dragonpults,
They don't have to contend with those mirror matches.
They don't have to worry about flipping coins or crushing ammo.
Sure, a number of our players are still going for that approach,
but it's great to see all of these other archetypes in the field
still having a good shot even to the Dragaport matchup
and also being able to compete against the rest.
It feels like from that phase one,
the Mega X Cabral has kind of fallen off that little bit.
It was already less popular than many expected.
It was 4% of the field in phase one.
It seems like Quastal has sort of crept its way into this meta here
and it will make things a little bit more spicy for phase two.
It will indeed, Crustle of course. It's a very underwhelming Pokemon in terms of attacking, but it blocks a lot of these decks with its ability, so the deal essentially is, you play the right deck, you have a lot of quite easy wins, you play the wrong deck, you have actually quite a lot of crushing losses.
Yeah.
It is not a deck that goes toe to toe in a traditional sense. It's not going to win a back and forth prize race against many decks at all.
A lot of players, you know, you pick Frostal, you hope you get the good matchups, and apparently, we have a bunch of people here that have, and generally speaking, with these kind of decks, the longer you go in the tournament, the more of the decks you're expecting to see, you see, that could end up shaking out as we get further on there.
Yeah, Rift Camons is the player on the best record for Frostal right now, but it won't take much for some of these other Frostal pilots to have that sort of destiny run.
If they have two or three matches go their way,
they'll fight instantly knowing that they're in a really strong position.
That if their deck flows as it should do,
it should breeze through some of the other competitors.
So it wouldn't surprise me if more of those starts to rise to the top,
just based on what's out there in the field right now.
Get ready for the possibility of cross or mirror matches, ladies and gentlemen.
We'll see you then when we come to them.
God also give them a lot of the sloking now.
I know there's a bunch of you watching at home who love sloking,
who love music on the ladder on PTCG Live.
It is in some ways a bit of a fan-favorite deck,
Special edition of Metagross recently, which has given it that really strong damage in a 300 damage from one attack
So slow king another one to look out for 11 people playing in the room. It's got some decent matchup
So I don't know if there's certainly the favorite going into today, but there's some of them hanging around
Yeah, there are some strong players that I think Brett and Camelman no surprise
He's already won a tournament with this archetype over the last few months
I think he's on the best record of smoking right now
Let's see how the phase 2 meta shapes up compared to our cast predictions
I think I'm going to be hiding for this one Ross because mine have not gone to plan so far.
I tried to back the pitch black expansion.
I said that both of these new cards can target Dragapult in a couple of different ways.
Mega Ezreal drill, really high damage output, a lot of hit points, the potential to heal
your way out of a two hit KO.
I thought that would be really problematic for Dragapult.
Now I will admit that it has a bit more of an awkward time against some of the other
single prize strategies that could sometimes be a wrench in the works.
But I did think the mega extra drill had a good chance against at least our top back in the room
Although it's not had a great phase one to phase two conversion then hide and sneak
It's it's been hiding so well, but it's almost invisible. It's imperceptible to the human eye
It is really not done much this tournament at all. He is hiding very well for my picks
Now when Lillies with fairy X basically my picks were kind of I wanted to show the meta game
Lillies with fairy is the anti meta game pick the anti dragon pulp pick
And I do believe whether it's in its own kind of box of mega Kanga scum or whether it's popped into things like
Sloking or hide and sneak I really thought it was going to be pivotal Crispin
I picked Crispin because I think in the format right now fully in context
It serves to be up there with with cars like bosses orders and lilies determination
I think it is that impactful or they support a card dragapult plays it to make sure they can get the energy when they need it
anti-dragapult decks play it. There are so many Pokemon in the format like
Wellspring Mask, Ogre Pond for instance, you know, even though these could vary
itself, but don't really work unless you can accelerate that energy with Crispin
while searching out another one, get that double attachment during your turn
with the energy guaranteed. And this is my way of facing these sayings, the
community as a whole. Can we start recognizing, everyone knows Crispin is
good. No one's saying Crispin's bad, but can we start talking about it as the
We met against a binding card that it is.
I am so bullish on that card.
You're going to hear throughout the weekend
that we're going to be saying they need to Crispin this turn.
If they can't Crispin this turn,
they're going to have a useless turn.
They're going to have a turn off.
It's all this.
Right, exactly.
And I mean, Ethan is winning the cast of predictions.
I'm going to let you guys at home decide
how much credit he gets for picking the probably best
two decks in the format.
But we could have done that too, to be fair.
I was in the talk before Ethan to get my predictions in.
I could have had those predictions, so Ethan has absolutely nailed the predictions here.
Jib doing pretty well, Tiamat's going upon the Sloking, that's the good picks.
Or the only person Sloking?
No, Sloking was popular between all of our casters, Emily there and Pablo.
Pablo admitted in the Analyst Desk yesterday that he was much happier with his choice after seeing how well Matershield is well,
because he's also back to Alakazam deck in there.
Sloking, I think, definitely has the power level, you know, it can joint some of the best attacks in the game
for a fairly cheap discounted cost with its seek inspiration effect of an attack so I do think that one is a nice puzzle piece
You know we showed it off with Ross Hawthorne at the NAIC
Turned plenty of heads with that deck. I think slow king definitely popular
Sam in there. Yeah, I think Pablo's quite happy that there's Mateusz backing it right now
Amy took the bold choice the festival grounds hoping that we could see some festival lead action
We know that this gained so much from the new gladiants final battle addition coming into this expansion
But it does still have to dodge and we've those dragon thoughts there are still some of them still out in the competition
But they still have to try and avoid what is the most popular deck in the room and about one 30 or games today
You should expect to be drag a poll, but we've got some we've got some goodies for you this weekend
We've got some distributions over there on Pokemon trading card game live
So go and watch for 30 minutes six booster packs that is a booster pack every five minutes. That is good
man, I will do that. 45 minutes, maybe you get your Mega Zera or EX playset. A couple
of special illustration reirs, a couple of double reirs, and that is a card I am eye
on Joe. And then if you keep watching it just keeps getting better.
Yeah, the world's greatest there for you. You can get all your swag. Look at that Pikachu
jacket. You've got to be wearing it. You've got to be wearing it.
You've got to be wearing it.
Yeah, exactly. I know. There's so much here. And if you're a follower of Pokemon
Pocket as well, you can get 24 pack hour glasses. That's going to save you
a lot of time. You just got to watch for 30 minutes to earn those hourglasses. You can get a ton of boosters in, restart your collection if you dropped off at Pocket any time. It's so easy to jump back in. And I saw out yesterday on the stage on Rayquater Road. There's lots of gameplay of Pocket going on as well. So if you're enjoying the TCG, not quite knowing how to follow along at times, get yourself onto Pocket. That's going to be a perfect jump start for you into the training class game.
They revealed a play Cocoa EX for Pocket yesterday.
I am very excited about that.
Dual type card, we're gonna make a new two-thirds
of a dual type card, 24 hour glass,
and if anyone needs to know that is two booster packs.
So what we got, we wanna hear from you guys.
You're gonna hear from us all weekend,
that's kind of what we do, that's why we're here.
But we wanna hear from you!
Hashtag Pokemon XP, hashtag Pokemon World
in all the usual places on X, on Instagram,
YouTube, four slash play Pokemon.
Tell us where you're watching,
with whom you're watching.
show us pictures of your pets
with whom you're watching.
Because we know a lot of you are watching
with your pets, who are they?
They have to be.
But also, tell us who you're rooting for.
We're seeing so many,
a star-studded cast of players have made it through.
Yes, we did see some players dropping out
of the tournament from phase one.
Heartbreak for Todd Reckler,
players, you know, one of the players
that everyone wants to watch.
It was one of five zero star ended up at five three.
So Titans have already fallen here.
There's still so many great talented players
out on display today.
Let us know who you're backing.
Yeah, let us know who you're back in.
Let us know where you're watching.
Let us see your setup.
Tell us anything you want to tell us.
We are going to be checking all of those social posts
all weekend right now.
However, we are going to be checking in
with our first game of the day.
We can't go straight there, though,
because it would be frankly irresponsible
if we didn't tell you about the format first.
Let's dive into the format for the Pokemon Trading Car
game at the 2026 Pokemon World Championships.
The best trainers from around the globe
here to compete for their share of a $2 million prize pool and the coveted title of Pokemon
Trading Car Game World Champion.
The competition takes place over three days, battling head-to-head in a best-of-three Swiss
round format.
Trainers advance to Swissface 2 if they gain more match points than their division threshold.
When Swiss completes, the top eight trainers end up to eight additional trainers tied
in eighth place, advance into an asymmetrical single elimination bracket until only two
finalists remain.
final two trainers and each age division will compete on Championship Sunday. 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 Trading Card Game World Champion. Let's get this tournament started.
Let's get this tournament started. Let's get day two started here in San Francisco in the Bay
We've got a fantastic matchup.
We've got Natalie White.
We've got Natalie Miller.
We have got ourselves a big basic box deck.
We have got ourselves a dragapult deck.
And we have got an absolute treat for you to start off the stream.
Good players, good decks.
And I think a pretty good matchup, Jack.
An awesome matchup to see.
As we know, this basic style box archetype
was the winner at the NAIC in the hands of James Kowalski.
His clone bro was the winner.
at the NAIC in the hands of James Kowalski, his clone brew archetype.
Kani's got a new build that she's backing right now with a little bit more of the
Teal Mask Ogre Pond shoved in there, but is still
leaving quite heavily towards that Lili's Kaferi EX, which as we know
will be so impactful against that Dragapult.
Well, here's the question, Joe. You play Lili's Kaferi EX, it's a great
character, the Dragapult. Is that enough to swing the match on its own?
Well, it's a huge threat. It's a great start for you.
But what's interesting about Natalie, she's playing the Duster War package,
So that could be a great way for you to curse blast your way around Lily's pearl for example because there's only a hundred and ninety hit points on the lilies per fairy
Ex you can try and use your dust noir to take
130 damage then place six counters on the lilies per fairy itself must also
Using your highest damage output the 200 damage output swing from phantom dive on to other Pokemon at the same time
So Natty's going to have to time her actions very cleanly there
She has some great gusting potential with the Vultures into Teal Mask Ogapon.
She has hand disruption at her disposal.
She's not rocking any of the Team Rocket's watch house to shut down the tankers' calm.
So it looks like we're seeing lift up here.
The fifth spot from both players.
I think we're getting into our first turn of the game pretty soon.
We are suspiciously close.
West round nine. Here we go.
Day two, round one.
Round nine overall.
Natalie Miller.
Callie White.
Let's get rolling with Teal Mask Ogapon.
Attaching an energy.
using that teal dance that draws the card while also allowing it to touch an extra energy and we're going to be looking for energy attachments
and we're going to be looking for big basic Pokemon.
Yeah, finding knockouts in any means necessary is really what Kali's list is all trying to perform here.
Ideally, she can look to weave in the wellspring mask Ogre Pond EX as we know Tarantula Pump is so effective at taking out multiple lower hit point Pokemon
And that's really what Nackely's deck is filled with,
because she will be trying to evolve up into multiple Stage 2 Pokémon.
And starting off with this Teal Mask Ogopony X, not too shabby at all.
This is not only a great attacker,
because it is a very solid grass-type Pokémon
for some certain type coverage in the field,
but it's a key acceleration option for you,
because there are four copies of energy switch within the deck.
Peaking at those prize cards, the A-Spec Prime Catcher,
not ideal for Kali having it in the top right of her prize cards.
She's also got one of those two lilies caffari in the prizes, but fortunately she is doubled up
So she will still have access to that card and she also has the well-rounded damage output of one raging bolt EX in her list as well
So she should have a few opportunities to still reach KO's as this first ultra ball resolves finding that mega Kangas Khan EX a
Key draw engine piece of this deck
That's what you're gonna be looking for get it in the active it lets you draw two cards a very few Pokemon that are based
it'll let you draw two. This is one of them. We've doubled up on the Meowth as well. That's in the prizes.
But there is a second one in the deck as well. So we've attached an energy.
We're now going to bench that Latias. That gives free retreat to all of your basic Pokemon.
That lets you put your mega kengis guard EX in the active and you can draw two cards with run errands.
And it looks like we're going to be immediately getting a rescue stretcher back using it to attach a grass energy.
And then just passing over to Natalie the order of the day here get them basic Pokemon down
Absolutely the case. I really like the early night stretch from tally there getting the energy stashed on mega Kangaskhan
Sets yourself up for a crisp into at least launched some pressure next turn even without much else help from the draws
That you can acquire here, but Natalie kicks things off with a buddy buddy puff and it's exactly what you want to see
With this archetype because she's playing a ton of low hit point basic Pokemon
The more creepy, the better is normally the policy for this Dragapult deck,
because it really gets rolling when you are able to use multiple Recon Directive.
And the fact that she prized a couple Buddy Buddy Poffin
makes it even more fortuitous that she was able to find one in that opening hand.
Also, a little warning shot there for one of those Crispin in the prize cards.
Very often, when you're facing up against this big basic style archetype
that has easy means of KOing Dragapult EX cleanly,
it's so important to keep track of your energy acceleration options
so that you can continually phantom dive, because that's what you're going to need in this matchup.
Yeah, there are two in the deck, so you're right, one being away means you've got to find that one.
No meow for the deck, you wouldn't generally play that in dragapult, so that is going to potentially
make things a little more awkward. We're filling out the bench, we've got a Dripie and we've got
a Duskull. That's an indication of a really strong hand, right? If you're grabbing only one
Dripie from this first search, usually a good sign. Of course, you're going to get a Dripie,
You can evolve up into the cloak next time and that's got that recon directive
Let's look at the top two cards to your deck and you get to draw one and bottom deck the other
Building up into that drag a pot with two energy does 200 to the active and allowed you to drop six damage counters
Wherever you like speaking of good hand Joe. Yeah, I'll share a couple pad
Yeah, she had a couple more drip in hand as well
So we're seeing even more basics coming into play and the early Maltres. This is such an interesting choice from Natalie
It's so common in the hammer-based builds of Dragon Pulse,
but seeing it in the Dostanowar build shows that Natalie was respecting the Mega X
Goodrill matchup, but in turn really helps out against tackling that Teal Mask Ogrepony X
to change her prize race up, so that she can maintain a single prize board during this game.
Absolutely. For just a single fire energy, it does 110,
two in the X, 20 to a non-EX, double weakness, that is going to go up to 220.
That's pretty good mass when you hit the one last go-up on this week.
Absolutely the case, as action passes back over to Kali.
Natalie not prioritising Buju in this instance.
She may not have had a means of retreating this dustgull either,
so instead is going to prioritise just setting up the board with as many Drepia as possible,
as we see the run Aaron coming in from Kali to see a couple additional guards.
There was already Crispin in hand from the previous turn,
so she can begin to launch some rapid-fire combos here.
The good news is you're not going to have to flip for rapid-fire combo 200.
We'll just get that dust goal.
Here is that Crispin. You promised us, Joe.
You get to search your deck for two different types of basic energy.
One gets attached and the other one goes into your hand.
But of course, you're allowed to attach one energy per turn.
So a lot of the time, you really just search both, attach both,
and then you've got your double attachment rolling.
Worth noting, however, that you could instead put it to hand
and then just manually attach it with the ability, I should say,
to peel Mask Ogre upon to draw an extra card,
but you will need an extra energy or an energy switch in a moment
so that that mega Kangaskarn can be attacking.
And because Kali is using that raging bolt in her list,
she has five different types of energy in the deck
to try and make that Crispin work as best as possible.
And early area 0 coming into the hand
is a pretty good option actually
when you have a 300 hit point Kangaskarn
as your early game attacking threat.
If you can take a hit from this Kangaskarn,
then use area 0 and Chen Pao to remove this Pokemon from play.
That can be a means of gaining three turns during the game.
So this rapid fire combo, it's only a single prize KO.
It's not the full pressure you would have liked
from a Wellspring Mask Ogre Pond,
but it's still putting a lot of questions over to Natalie here
as it does turn over to her turn.
I like that very much indeed.
Yes, of course, your areas are on the depths
with an 8-bent Pokemon.
You can then play Genpowl to remove it,
at which point you're only allowed 5-bent Pokemon.
Any extra needs to be removed.
And if they just happen to be heavily damaged
three points giving up mega re-exes.
Well then, all the better for it.
Looks like we've got our first drag look of the game here.
That is going to give Natalie access to recon directive
to draw more cards.
And I don't want to be greedy, Joe,
but I think Natalie probably wants two more drag looks
this time.
And it's an interesting promote of the Maltreza.
I wonder if that's an indication of what's
already available in hand.
She's going to try and less bosses orders as an option
now.
That just came out of the recon directive.
You could boss up that Teal Mask Ogre
If you're feeling a little bit cheeky, she may just need fodder for ultra ball in this hand though
Looks like she does take the energy in that will indeed be fodder
Gonna have to remove one of those crushing hammer and a psychic energy
I think we are going to need a meow to fix this hand
I believe the Fezzendiptex was in her prize cards
So it is going to be a last ditch catch into the lilies determination to get a fresh eight cards here Natalie
continuing to prioritize that set up as best as possible but in the same
instance even just getting a prod in early with Moltres could be really useful
here fighting wings not just good for being a type coverage threat could easily
put pressure onto this Pankas Khan setting it up for a Phantom Dive so
these eight cards if we're able to access Fire Energy could really put
Natalie in a good spot. Now I think you make an excellent point there Joe
yeah 110 might get a one hit counter to Tiel Mask Ogre bomb but it's still
decent chunk of damage against many X and when you're playing a deck like this
where you've got damage coming down with your dust bar and you've got Dragonport
hitting the active and the bent you know there's a lot of damage flying around
getting damage on the board is good do we see a fire energy
I don't see a fire energy. You just...
No, not quite. Well Natalie is there even... well there's one Ultra Ball so we can
access one more triple oak here. You definitely want to evolve up a second one.
It's built without any copies of Rare Candy instead Natalie has those four
crushing hammer in addition to the dustmar line so she's really shoved a lot into this list similar
to the just in new golf build that we saw over the last few tournaments. I can see the discard of the
jamming tower that is Natalie's only stadium card that's being removed now to grab a second
Drakloak it would be far too vulnerable for a zero wreck handy list to sit with just one Drakloak
in play too vulnerable for a torrential pump to really ruin your day here so the second one
was mandatory. It's the bare minimum from that eight card, Lily.
No, absolutely right. You want to make sure you've got an option for Dragapult next turn.
So, if you, you know, if it badly wants to attack with a Moltres this turn, she has to
hit a fire energy off this recon directive. Do we see one? We don't. It's a dust noir,
I believe, that is the choice offer there. So that means we're not going to be seeing the
Moltres attack. There will be no fighting wings. It's an attachment to a drag look on the
the bench and then a pass probably not the turn she was hoping for. A little bit awkward for her.
As she only plays two copies of Night Stretcher in the deck, you have to try and
weave that in later on in the game if you want to have the nice up trade,
two for one into the Teal Mask go-kupon. But as things go, it's still a reasonable enough
sponge. You still want to protect your 3-pin track look, that little bit more.
I really like the arch ball from her at the beginning of that last turn as well,
so that she could stash and prepare herself for a potential brosers encouragement supporter,
which is already in hand.
Action back over to Callie, though, who's got her run errant in.
Does have access to boss's orders.
Could be an easy way just to take out either the Meowth
for an easy two prize cards and just try and race as quickly as possible.
Whenever you're facing down cursed blast Pokemon,
it may feel unintuitive to go onto an odd prize map,
but then you're essentially just defusing the cursed blast itself.
Absolutely.
We'll see if Callie wants to go more aggressive here
or wants to prioritise more board setup.
I think if you knew that the Crispin was priced for Natalie,
You'd be very tempted to go and take that only energy off the board
Right, but of course you are expecting Natalie to have access to at least two Crispin here
You're right. There's options with bosses orders right now
We have got enough energy on both the mega Kangaskarni X and the Tio mask overporn for large attacks if we wish
We're just iron up all of these options. We've got an ultra ball. Yeah, Gempower. We got a boss
It really comes down to how much prep can we do before taking our next prize because now Natalie has seen a decent
with her last lily. She has a couple recon directive already on the board. You have to
start expecting that Natalie will have reached towards her A-spec, that unfair stamp. So
Callie really wants to build a board that has some safeguard against hand disruption.
So getting the early raging bolt down and even stashing an energy onto it this turn
really will allow Callie to have a much easier time of taking out a Dragapult next turn.
I think this is a very solid choice because she currently has access to that fighting
energy. So that's a really nice play for her.
This is your big bad of the deck.
This is the one that can stretch up and take big one,
hit K.O.'s on that dragapult.
Here comes the boss' orders.
Where's it going, Joe? You've got to be quick.
I feel like it's Meowth.
It could easily be Dust Glocks
or the Drag Cloak with energy, though.
I think it's like a ton of great options here.
Oh, yeah. It is going to be the Meowth.
Yeah, I feel like when there's Cursed Blast in the mix,
you want to make it punishing for the opponent.
You want to make it very difficult for Natalie
to leave it in, if ever.
So it is going to be a two prize K.O.
Callie goes down, just three prize cards remaining,
and she's even able to pick up a Liska Fairy from those prize cards,
which could be quite handy.
And now we have to start seeing some action from Natalie.
Her hand is not great.
She's really reliant on the next couple of recon directives
to get her anywhere.
At least you do have two of those to use,
but you talk about the prize map essentially now.
A single Cursed Blast means the Dragapod KO
will win the game.
Oh, the next...
Oh, yeah.
Was Ace Guard.
The fire energy that she needed so badly.
It's a jamming tower and a darkness energy.
jamming tower gets taken. Second recon directive does give Lily's determination and with zero
prize cards taken, I will give Natalie eight new cards as she evolves up into a dust noir,
then to the 3P and attaches a fire energy to the active. Lily's determination for eight,
we're looking for a dragapult so we can start actually throwing some damage around.
Dragapult at the very least, if we can also find crushing hammer in combination with
unfair stamp, suddenly you can be getting yourself back into a good position. Natalie
may also try and hold on to the unfair stamp that little bit longer and basically say that I've evolved into dust law
But I'm not actually gonna use this car. I can't really do it. It's been risky for me
And instead we'll just try and force Cali through to drag a pot EX for a man of these prizes
Your decision, but you're right. Essentially. You either use a dust law or you make your opponent care with second drag a poll
We'll see where Natalie come down
There is not much in this hand Ross. We've got a bidu. We got of course is all
They've got to be completely with Dragapults.
There's no way towards it.
We both have a weakensie the hand better than you can at home right now.
There's Naren, there's a concession.
Kali White is going to take game one.
One nil up with this mega Kangas gun.
Lily's the fairy box deck.
Natalie cannot get a Dragapult, cannot recover.
And Kali takes game one.
A very calm collected win there for Kali.
The Blitz obviously didn't do anything super impressive.
It just kind of went through the motions
and just started swinging with rapid-fire combo.
There's much more scary cards that could have come out in the list for Callie.
So to get a nice win under the belt early has to feel good,
knowing that they didn't even have to resort to any Clefairy
or Wellspring open-up on tactics.
There's even more threat for Natalie in this next couple of games
where the game down right now with that well-disappointed concession,
she's given herself a good amount of time to try and bring this back though, Ross.
She has indeed, but you're right, that whole game,
it was just attaching and you know attaching the mega kangaskar and building up your bench. Here we have a quick look at the replay.
Here's the first KO on the dust skull and it's just, you know, you see on the mask.
Coco Poms been sitting on the bench drawing half mega kangaskar and attacking.
We see the boss's orders on to the meet out to go and get a KO there for two more prices.
But can he never really swung with anything else? It was just setting up other attackers just in case drawing cars.
to see your mask on the palm and swinging with mega Kangaskarn and when Natalie with the dragon
fall off of that release termination to eight, that was the point where she said, yeah, I'm
not winning this game. That's going to come to the big basic step. Definitely keeps you honest
because if it has anything, it has more power at its side. It's always got those early game
run errands that has the field mask on the bottom, chipping in at times as well.
So you constantly getting a lot of card advantage from the very beginning of the game.
You can see the fist bump getting into this game number two then in our Swiss round nine
Natalie kicks things off with the Maltres in the active
Which is actually pretty solid and I like the adjustment to choose to go first in this instance
Pretty clear that you don't want the big basic deck to get free run errand draws or free energy attachments
Both of those things are pretty scary for you
And in this instance already on the first turn of the game Natalie has found fire energy to Maltres
So, immediately, she's asking more questions than she did in that first game.
It already seems like it's going better than last time.
You've got the energy on the Moltres, you've got a Dribby and a Duskull on the bench.
We've got a Poker Pad coming down here.
It's going to allow you to go and grab something else if you so wish.
We didn't even think she probably does at this point.
And then in the hand, we've got a Dragapult there,
a Snatch for a future turn, if you need it.
I mean, is it second Dribby? Oh, no.
I believe that was... We've used the search now.
So, it's for one of each of these basics and action over to Kali now, having the perfect start with that Kanyas card already in the active spot, meaning we can run Aaron for two additional cards.
Also, already spotted an Ultra Ball in that hand for Kali.
Two energy off the run, Aaron. One of it's a Grass energy. Nice for you, Teal Mask Ogre Pond.
So, we've got an Ultra Ball. We need some more Pokemon coming down. I'm guessing it doesn't dipty in the hand.
That's not too much yet. So we're just going to be an October ball straight away and that's going to go and search for
presumably you to your mouse go upon that is often the first one you go for here because that gives you a draw
Ranging to work with well, I'm thinking Meowth Cyrano get the gang
I think you get a squad going this turn that could be pretty good
Don't want me half south kind of fun. You're right Cyrano search you for free Pokemon. Yes, the prize cards. Oh, no, I think again
I'm afraid
So it's going to be a second copy of Kangaskarn searched.
Not ideally what you're looking for here, but, like you say,
sometimes your prizes unfortunately do not do you any favours for what it's worth.
Both rescue stretchers as well hiding in the prizes for Callie.
Let's tell her something to keep an eye on.
It is a well-spring mask Ogopon in the end.
All right, OK.
It means that Callie indicates that she also has a fairly strong hand.
Basically saying that she will attach to it this turn,
find a way towards Latias EX in addition to Crispin next turn. Start firing off some torrential pumps.
Well that seems to be the plan with Lily's determinate. Crispin is actually already in
hand and Latias is in hand. Although you've actually got everything you need already ready to go.
There is an energy and looks like we're actually going Crispin this turn. So we've got a water
to hand. We've got a sidekick being attached. So this is pretty nice turn. One can call
Yeah telegraphing the play but ultimately Natalie does not play shaman so she can't really do much about the line of play that Kelly's already setting up here
That's the beauty of it. No, and there's no hand disruption outside of an unfair stamp
Which can be used unless a prize was taken so you know it's coming
But you can't do much about it. There's your attachment for turn. We have the attachment from Crispin
We bench the Latias so Natalie knows it's just an energy attachment next turn and the place coming
But what can she do about it? Not much. So we pass back to Natalie here
It's gonna be a crushing hammer. This could really help her for a heads. I've no idea. I can't see it's still spinning
Everyone just stares at the door. Oh, it's a tails
So it's a Lily's determination here gonna get a new eight come that could have forced another Crispin next time
Absolutely could have said that's a big whiff already for Natalie
And if you're wondering why Kelly did not attach water at a G for turn, that's exactly why she's respecting the four
crushing hammers that Natalie has, so she was stashing that one copy of water.
That's the only attack costing energy that you require,
otherwise it's colorless energy on that wellspring mask,
so you have to have a water attached.
So, Callie, with a strong adjustment early on in this game, number two.
And there's only one in the deck,
and both your rescue stretcher in the prize is going into...
Oh, no.
...Vina would have gone.
There is a draklo, second crushing hammer.
Here we go.
It is ahead this time.
So one of those energy is gone and is a psychic energy.
That makes things a lot more difficult.
relief Ross because there's only one drag cloak right now and even the
recondirective no access to buddy-buddy pop in even poker pad or even just a
regular drippy again this leads determination has not been great for
Natalie. We're seeing a fire engine now attached to the Duskull at the very
least we can use fighting wings here but Natalie has to be terrified of the
actual pump that could come down. Oh we saw the top there now there's no
access to Crispin right now have a look at the two cars it's an
You can ult, you can ult for Meowth, use Meowth to go and get Crispin, and then retreat and absolutely decimate this board. That is an option if you want it.
You've got to go for it. Leaving Natalie with only a Duskull here would be huge.
You don't think about this dude, you just go for it.
You have to go for this.
This is the end of the game, right? If this goes well enough, that is going to give you such a huge advantage.
Let's grab Crispin. We already know that the water energy is in hand for Callie.
So she will grab a grass energy to the hand whilst accelerating a lightning energy.
We can then manually attach for the turn, water onto that wellspring last go-upon.
That is going to give a KO on both the Moltres and the Benchtre Cloak.
Lily's for fair. He goes and hits the board. Free retreat using Latias' Skyliner.
And here we go. KO on the Moltres and a KO on the Drag Cloak.
leaving Natalie with just a duskull and a fire energy.
That is a bad board right now.
Release determination for eight.
We need to see from Natalie here just a big, big board rebuild
because Callie is still pressuring a lot.
The good news for Natalie here is that if we can weave in BUDDOO,
there shouldn't be a way for Callie to actually get another torrential pump in.
So trying to have that little bit of breathing room all comes down
to reestablishing some item lock here,
in addition to some 3P, Matthew yet to see any of her buddy-buddy poffins.
So she has good odds of finding multiple basics here from these eight cards,
although we've said that a few times so far in the set and none have come.
As it works, yeah. 3P? What is happening?
As you know, buddy-buddy poffin in hand, there is a 3P, which is nice,
but I don't think any buddy poffin, I'm not saying any ultra ball,
we see a monkey Dory come down with darkness energy attached,
and I think, yeah, you just retreat into that just because it's got more HP.
That's it.
Exactly because now you have to play around energy switch plus Crispin that could reload
It would also require a tail mask go up on but you could get a second to ventral pump out of nowhere here
Good awareness from Natalie to defend against that
I don't think Kelly's hand is that strong to get her into a position like that though
No, and you you need to draw cards that would be retreating into Kangas guard
But then you wouldn't be able to second retreat to get there
So I think it is asking a lot this turn so Cyrano comes down. We know there's gonna be no Crispin
We're just going to go and search for free Pokemon EX one of which is going to be your teal mask ogre bomb
Which of course will then give you more draw
We've got a second meowth if we want it in a moment to go and get ourselves another supporter
And is there a third one we want?
She's going to definitely thin something even if it's just an additional Kangaskhan
That's why they see values having the extra option of this raging bolts potentially to the hand
Or if she just wants maybe fodder for future ultra ball. It's going to be another Kangaskhan
Yeah, I think this is a building turn
You don't even need to launch an attack here at all even to stashing one energy onto Clefairy seems so intimidating
When Natalie once again, we have to stress no rare candy in the list
So it has to slowly build up drag-a-pot over multiple turns even slowly building up the dust bowl in multiple turns
We see one additional draw here from teal dance. That is going to be a crisp in so next turn
We could be seeing a pretty big one next turn. We are gonna retreat into the Kangaskans
you can run Aaron to draw two more cars. Can we start an energy on the whilst we
have to go up on this turn? We could. There have been two crushing hammer
played, but if another is used and gets heads, then it feels like you're again
sort of without a strong play. I think I prefer a little bit more on to
Clefairy in this instance. Well, it is. Well, it looks like Khali agrees with you.
There's the energy on the Clefairy and it's a little bit of a threat at this
point. A lot of the time, of course, you don't really want to bet the
very too early. He's only got 190 hit points, but the game's going really well.
There is your evolution into your dust globs there as we go back over to Natalie here.
We're going to see a rescue stretcher to grab a second Dreepee onto the bench,
and it is going to be another Lily's determination still for eight,
because Natalie is sitting there still with zero prize cards taken.
But she's got to be thinking at this point like, what are these going to hit in a minute?
I'm going to finally start drawing what I want.
Surely. Surely. What happened?
She has had such a tough time.
Eight cards sounds like a huge amount,
but every time Natalie is falling short with these draws,
she did spend a Night Stretcher there for an additional Dreepee as well,
but that's already with two Fire Energy and one of her Maltres,
well, her only Maltres in the discard pass,
so that's also sort of a window shutting for her.
Just have the safety net of additional Dreepee.
She has finally found Buddy Buddy Poffin at the very least here.
And two Ultra Ball as well.
So we're finally starting to see that Pokemon search coming out of the deck
and hopefully she can start building that board like she wants to because right
now we are still in a situation where we could see some really awkward plays if
Kali keeps going. Natalie it's a board building turn here we go there with a
buddy buddy Poffin. At least one more Dripi. Is there a fourth? Is that greedy?
Well, I would if I could. I don't think there is one there towards the back of the deck if I saw it properly.
Unless she has access to Fezantipity EX this turn, perhaps, might be something on her mind.
Absolutely.
We're going to grab one Drippy right now.
Fezantipity actually in the prize cards right now.
Oh, probably not coming out.
Probably not.
Hehehehe.
Nonetheless, she's trying to...
She has to try and build a board position where she has just a few of these Pokémon towards the end game.
She doesn't want to just fall prey to a torrential pump.
She wants to force Bosses' orders or Crispin' combinations,
force a supporter combo out of Kali late game,
rather than having somebody's vulnerable hit point Pokemon later,
as we do see the one Recon Directive.
There's a Meowth, and I think it's a Lily's...
No, it's not. It's a Poker Pad, sorry.
The Poker Pad is going to go back to the bottom of the deck,
and he's always two Poker Pads,
so there was no decision to be made, it turns out.
We do see a Dust Goal coming down.
That explains why there wasn't another Dreepe searched out.
Natalie really wants access to those Dust Goals.
I mean, the clock is ticking, though.
Callie already taking two prize cards.
You assume she'll take one this turn as well.
At the very least, she could even take two this turn.
Things line up in her hand.
The window is shutting very quickly for Curse Blast.
Here's Run-Aaron to go and draw two cards.
Always nice to start with that. See your options for the game.
Does look like we've got a mega Kangaskarn.
Is that a raging bolt? Yeah, raging bolt and mega Kangaskarn
come out on the deck here from the Run-Aaron.
We are going to play that area zero under that.
So for the first time in this game,
eight bent spaces have been opened up.
I think a very simple turn here for Cali would be finding bosses orders on Drakloak
If you can attach to her Clefairy again this turn just take out the only other stage one Pokemon
Here it is night stretch of a second psych energy that you can safeguard you around a hammer
And there is bosses orders in the hand you have to assume Cali will continue to target down these engine pieces for Natalie
Well, it is going to be a bosses orders onto that Drakloak on the bench quite obviously
we retreat with Skyliner to go and get your Liddice Fairy any active and then we can just swing for, I'm not counting it, it doubles up, it's easily enough to go and get AKO.
So let's take that one out and now with three prizes down, your opponent kind of wants to give you prizes with Dustbox and Dustball but they can't really do that very much and this is becoming very, very awkward for Natalie.
At this point, does Kali know Natalie's not playing Rare Candy at this point?
Oh, for certain. She's been playing around crushing Hammer, and no list can fit all the crushing Hammers and Rare Candy's and Dusterbar.
It's just impossible, Ross. There's no space. There's no space.
Kali playing around the Hammers beautifully, targeting down and punishing the fact that there aren't no Rare Candy.
And that means that...
Now, three prize cards up, and Natalie yet to launch much of an attack outside of the Moltres.
She can at least come back with a Crispin now, and Mindbend is set up.
Perhaps some confusion flips will be her only means of getting back into this game.
She'll have to buy turns somehow here.
That does last. I mean, we've seen this as far back as the North American internationals back in, I think it was 23 when we commentated it, Joe.
That was when Monkey Dory burst onto the scene, and hey, Mindbend can buy you turns.
Absolutely, 60 damage plus confusion.
Make your opponent flip in order to get an attack rolling.
Can we get another Cloak here? Oh, hello!
How's this for a play? 60 damage from Mind Bend, plus 130 from Cursed Blast.
It does put Kali down to two prize cards, but your board is all single prize Pokemon.
This would be a way to clear the Lily's Laferi off the board,
whilst also limiting the hand size for Kali, who now has to find more Crispin,
more energy switch to even have any sort of attacker lined up for the next turn.
You're taking two of the free energy off the board as well.
like you're thinking here Joe unfair stamp as I like to say unfair by name unfair by nature
but that is the very point of a card it's an aspect for a reason so five cards draw for Natalie
only two it's a boss and an ultra ball that is energy that's going to be most needed here comes
the recon directive it's an ultra ball was it a cloak because that's what I really love.
I'll be doing an ultra ball yeah you could also just mind bend this turn and hold on your curse
blast because you don't want to give your opponent both flip the script and run errand
You're giving them so many cards. So yeah, I like just the 60 prod here
It still sets up the same line of play, but you're also limiting the draw in this instance
Well back over the Cali you draw one card for turn
It is a meow so that's going to go and get you towards the supporter card if you want one
But you can of course free retreat with your Latias here into a mega Kangas card
Does look like that's what's being eyed up here, and then you can run errand to draw two extra cars
I know, but we're not doing it yet
He has what in hand right now just a mean alpha ex
Hunting for a key supporter cards
Is it gonna be another Crispin here perhaps?
Yes, it is
We've been counting the Crispin is that number three feel like that's three
Either way there is obviously a fool for this deck rumble Crispin so much. I have access to energy switch here. Oh
What's going on, Joe? We see Crispin on to fast. Why is there a Crispin on to fast, Joe?
Because we are trying to knock out that bench-Drakloak once again. There it is.
Energy switch in hand for Kali. We saw this play so effectively at the NAIC and
history is repeating itself. Cruel arrow getting back into the equation,
taking out Drakloak. Continuing to limit Natalie's options here. Kali White
goes down to just two prize cards remaining. And there's not going to be a
dragapult next turn. It is impossible with no rare candy in the list and I
I think what we've seen here is Kali just going,
I'm gonna do everything in my power
to make sure that I'm taking out all of these to a cloak.
That is all that's really important.
It's not about how many prizes I take,
it is about cutting off your access to Dragapult,
another Lily's determination for Natalie,
which is still drawing eight cars.
That's not where you wanna be if you're Natalie.
She has no more hand disruption left in the deck either.
The only means of disrupting this board
either by a confusion or crushing hammer coin flips at this stage Ross so she's
gonna have to really hope that these crushing hammers can pull through in
this instance because there's a number of threatening attackers in play right
now for Cali. Well there's one crushing hammer in hand or is it two no one in
hand but then it problem is you just reattach because Crawlero is fairly
underwhelming free energy hundred to the bench but there's no downside there's
no discard energy there's no you can't do it next turn it is just
100 to the bent with get a draw cloak and there's only one on the board for Natalie
So I mean unless you can stop the cool arrow in some way. It's just gonna happen again
Natalie hoping for help from prize cards here takes out the Lewis Clefairy
And I think now she's saying that the 50 50 of confusion is her best chance to survive the next turn here
She will just rely she's taken two energy out of play with that Lewis Clefairy KO
But now Kali with one prize card remaining can take out essentially any of these Pokemon to close the game
Natalie is banking on a coin flip at this stage in our Swiss round nine. We might see coin flip for game next turn Joe
I'm sorry. That sounds pretty exciting to me. I kind of want to see a coin flip the game right now
It's gonna be a buddy buddy poffin for Natalie gonna be searching out
Nothing more just hand thinning you get to the point where there aren't enough basics in you next you play it to get it out
of your hand
That is going to be my friend the last defense for Natalie Miller
Will it be enough Cali does now have access to fit the script so we'll be able to see a few more cards here
Has access to the glass trumpets. It could be some key energy acceleration as well. Let's see the three cards
Looking for energy switch. We're looking for cyber maniac should be access to the game here as we will be able to retreat
Into a Kangaskarn. Oh, there we go. We retreat. We gust we KO we win
to win. Calli white takes the
game to games to zero. Latte
out and able free retreat, at
which point you can use your
prime catch of the gust of
Pokemon from the bed while
switching the best to keep back
to the active, and that means
we are good. Wow. What a
commanding victory for Calli
White. She's had a fairly
understated season. Let's not
a little bit less so this season, but enough to make it to the World Championships.
And once again on the main stage of the World Championships,
she's making it count with this big, basic toolbox.
She made it look so easy there, Ross.
How often do you see these players who are good players,
and they've not had these biggest results for a spin a couple of years,
but they're good enough to get to Worlds,
and if you're good enough to get to Worlds, you can have these runs.
Let's see how it all played out here.
Right back to the beginning of Game 1 with that energy acceleration.
game one was very straightforward get energy on Kangaskar and just swing and take these prizes
we saw a boss's orders to carry the Meowth for two prizes but it was just get some energy on the
Pokemon on the bench while swinging with Kangaskar and Natalie never drew a dragapult and that was
the end of the game. A huge whiff from Lily's determination and that actually kind of continued
as we see this massive torrential pump. Natalie whiffing from Lily's determination
anybody pop body pop in any access to additional 3p so in the mid game here
Kali continues to charge through prizes, Natalie has the most valiant defence possible using a really smart means of mind bend to force
specificity Kali with another great answer here and then Natalie the best case narrow for her was denying a cruel arrow that was all it took to
close out this final prize. Absolutely it was and really with the Prime catcher it was actually the switch that was the most important because
He can attack the bench, but you need it to retreat and then switch it back into the active to essentially remove the confusion
That is what the prime catcher did and that is how Cali went to a 2-0 victory going to an 8 and 1
Record not that gun. Yep grinning it in. You can see why that was that was like work
There was no stress there about the entire set really she put the pressure on she never let up
But that was a really smooth way to make it to an 8-1 record putting herself in great stead for the rest of these Swiss rounds
It's always fun when you can play a dragapole and your opponent never gets a dragapole in the entire match.
It does make your life a lot easier as you get through the game.
Your whole deck is built to target dragapoles.
You're expecting them to come in to play at some point, but in this case, Kali was able to just get around with the entire set.
Absolutely what it looks like.
We're going to have a bit of a chat with Kali.
And again, we've just seen her win.
Why don't we now hear about her talking about her win?
And don't worry, we've got Amy on the case.
you. Thank you so much, guys.
Of course we're here with Kelly,
who just want to feature match
with a wonderfully constructed
deck with plenty of attackers.
Now, Kelly, can you explain to
me why you chose this deck
specifically for the tournament?
Well, I played like hundreds of
games with Dragonfall. I just
like don't vibe with the deck
very much. I played a lot last
season, so I was like, I'm
that one of your favorite mega Pokemon? No, I just like the card. Like, I like having consistency
on a basic is the main thing. Honestly, it's a deck builder's dream, right? Having that
on the basic. So honestly, I don't blame you. How many dragon vaults have you faced so far?
I've got to ask. I played against five and I beat them all. My only loss is Alakazam.
Oh man, did you come up against any of the Alakazam with those dusk lines in? No,
I think it's safe to say you've
gone through every trial and
tribulation. You've jumped
through every hoop. Dragapult
has to show for this event, and
you've done an amazing job thus
far. Can you tell the audience
at home just a little bit about
your preparation for the world
championships and how you got
here to this amazing record on
the stage? I mainly just
played a bunch of games alive.
I'm so sure about that.
Well, I mainly just played a bunch of games online, but I switched to Raging Bull last week
so it was all a drag-a-fault, but I mean I played Raging Bull to NAIC so I have some experience
on it, so yeah.
Honestly, that's sometimes the best way, just going in with something you're super prepared
with and something you vibe with, I think that's really important.
Do you have anyone who helped you prepare for the event?
Oh, yeah.
I'd like to show my friends Gwen, Rosie, Annie, Catherine, Liv, Brayden, and yeah.
Amazing! Thank you so much you guys!
I'm absolutely astounded and you made it look so easy!
Have you had that kind of calm composure through the whole of the event?
Or is there any moment where you were like, I don't know if I can do this?
Well, I mean I've been calm all of that.
I want to be on stream. I want to get on stage. I want to have that experience. Yeah, some people really embrace that experience. And that's what our top players do. They've probably been on the state one, one or two times before, but still you just get to let your shoulders down say, yeah, I deserve to be here. I'm beating the best. I can do it. I can make it through the rest of the tournament. That's always a great feeling to have when you're coming off that victory.
that victory. And for Natalie, losing that set, she has to look back at that and say she missed a
lot of pieces along the way there. She's not going to let that shake her. Sometimes, as we know,
Pokemon can be a cruel game. You just with pieces along the way and you felt like you never really
got rolling. So she's hoping to wipe that one off and hope to come back stronger the next few
rounds. No, agree entirely. You know, there are very few games I find where you can actually
say, well, you know, it wasn't my fault. I think that might have been one where it
wasn't Natalie's fault. You know, even things like missing that dragon pole in game one,
where you were finally getting ready to start launching some attacks,
you know, missing those buddy-buddy poppins in game two,
you know, using Liddy's determination to eight multiple times
and skill never hitting, though, I mean, it was one of those games,
but Kali took advantage of it beautifully.
Yep, she never let up. Great pressure from that big basic archetype.
It's such a strange deck, Ross, because the fact that you can just throw in
so many basic points, when you have all this energy acceleration,
you have all the energy switch, you can justify so many strange cards
that it's never really been truly defined,
especially at the NAICC in Kowalski's list with the four dusk ball and just crazy counts of all of these Pokemon,
he sort of redefined what it meant to be this sort of big basic style box.
I think a lot of our players this weekend have pivoted back towards Teal Mask O'Kopon in part because of the respect for N'Zorowak,
but having that E-switch combination around the board just gives you so much flexibility.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you've got to play Mega Kangaskar. It's Pokemon drawn on a pace, like, too good.
And you've got to play Crispin because you're playing weird and wonderful attackers, a ridiculous energy line.
Crispin is the way it makes it work.
After that, I would say probably Lily Scafairy because of how big Dragonbolt is.
And then it really is just dealer's choice at that point.
After those three cards, it is, what do you want to try and beat?
Well, we've got two other players who are thinking about what they want to try and beat.
That's right. We've got a feature match to bring you from this round as well.
So let's go and join in with some more Pokemon action.
Because frankly, one game around is not enough for us.
It looks like there's been more big, basic action as well.
Nathan Sprye is going to be on big basics, but a slightly different build.
He's coming up against Henry Thompson, who is on a sort of controlling Alakazam
with the Flutter Main Start, which is actually a pretty nice option for Henry here.
He'll try and shut down the draw power of active Pokémon.
So we're already shutting down the Teal Dance, and as we know,
Mega Kang's card has to be in the active position to use that run, Eren.
So a really good lead for Henry just by circumstance.
This is mostly a tech card to help out against the Festival lead matchup.
So it has to be happy to see that one and has an early game dawn after
Nathan really just had an attached pass to kick the game off.
But that's actually a low key still fairly scary attached pass because Nathan is playing
one crucial tech card in his big basic build, that Iron Crown EX is in his deck.
That's a Pokémon that can use Twin Shuttles to deal 50 to 2 Pokémon,
and that's enough to deal with multiple Abra.
So even though there wasn't much on Nathan's side of the board,
he's still actually threatening a potential monster turn next turn.
All we would need would be the Iron Crown, the Energy Switch, and a Crispin.
Here comes Dawn grabbing a basic, and a Stage 1 and a Stage 2.
That flutters the main turns off all abilities of active Pokémon only.
So here we do get the Dunspars coming down, we get the Abra coming down.
We've got ourselves a poker pad to go and search another Abra, it looks like,
so building up our bench full of A6, very nicely indeed.
Can we get a little bit more working?
It's an energy on the Abra, pass to Nathan, and it was not that likely, Joe.
If an eye count did come out here, devastating.
It would be absolutely devastating. Let's see.
Right now I think our only draw power is by this Crispin,
because we can grab a grass energy to the hand
the acceleration on the bench to draw plus one card. So it's far from where we
want to be. There's also still torrential pump on the table for Nathan.
It doesn't have to be twin shuffles in this instance because there is
currently no shaman on the board protecting those basic Pokemon. The key
reason why the iron crown is looked towards is because it ignores the
effects of Pokemon so it gets through even shaming. In this instance any
attacker will do for Nathan. It is pretty good. Yeah. So here we get it.
Now this is the attachment from Crispin, and this is the attachment from your tealducks.
So the attachment for turn is actually still available here.
That was just to draw an extra card.
So from that extra card that we get something we can use, attachment for turn, still live.
It was just a Kangas card. It would have been beautiful,
but for the midnight fluttering, shutting down the key engine.
So action is back over to Henry.
He can use a buddy-buddy poffin to fill out the remainder of his bench.
Looks like it's going to be another Abra in addition to a Dunsparse.
No muckin' about here.
Three Abra, two Dunsparse.
That is pretty much what you would want.
Abra evolves into your attacker, Dunsparse evolves into your draw range,
and what more do you need?
Well, rare candy into it.
Look at that. Might be what you need.
And that is going to draw three cards because of the ability psychic draw.
We evolve into the Dunsparse,
and that means you can use that ability to get a runaway draw,
to get another three cards.
just for good measure. This is very nice. We've just won six cards drawn. We've got an ability there
and we've now got the attack from Alakazam which is potentially on board. Can we access an energy
card here? That might be one of the missing pieces. Possibly a Hilda would be a good option this
turn. No access to energy, so no attacks being launched with powerful hand. But Henry is quite
content leaving midnight fluttering where it is. It's like Nathan is forced into a boss's
order's line of play just to access more draw power pushing the
Flutermane to the bench so we can see two cards here.
Far from ideal just to pass again for Nathan. So you got the two draws but after
those two draws you just passed right back now we've got an
Aberriny active rather than a Flutermane we're going to draw three more cards
with the dunce pass with that runaway draw and
we're counting. We're counting the hand. Oh we counted. How many cards Joe?
Not enough just yet, there's a few...
Well, we need 15 in the hands to be able to reach that KO.
Well, Hilda's gonna help, that's gonna go and get yourself an energy and a Pokemon.
And it's the Enriching Energy.
This is a combo we've seen a lot.
What you do is you attach Enriching Energy, you draw four cards.
You evolve up into the Dunspass.
You then put it all back into your deck.
You draw three more cards with the Dunspass,
but you protect the Enriching Energy by putting it back into your deck.
You draw seven and you don't leave your A-Spec energy in harm's way.
Here we go. Draw in four.
It's a big draw. We can still draw towards Air Balloon.
So we cancel attack this turn either via Rare Candy into Alakazam
or by finding an Air Balloon for this Abra.
We've just drawn seven cards. Let's hope there is an Air Balloon.
That would be fun.
Yeah, more Kadabra potentially to evolve as well.
We have a lot of reach here.
But he wants our outs.
Reaching into this tank's harm would be a crazy turn.
Ah, two more dunce bars.
Before the enriching I think I counted 12 cards in hand. We have just played a couple down though after going up with the enriching
I've not been counting I think that's 15
But I think we might need to play cards out of hand
Don't currently have a lot of might need to evolve into Kadabra to plus one and then use air balloon
It was a rare candy. That's minus one plus three
That's plus two in total so now we should just need now
Now we've all been to Gadabra, play one from hand, but you draw two, so there's a plus one in hand.
Surely by now you've drawn a way to get Gadabra out of the active.
It is even the night time mine as well.
And it is a KO-free prizes on the mega-kangaskarm.
How many cards in hand? I don't know, enough.
It wasn't exactly because we were able to play down the night time mine.
Can we see those prizes again quick now?
No, it wasn't.
For the minute now I was very, very confused.
OK, I'd be confused if there was seven basic energy in Alakazam.
That was part of my confusion, honestly.
Either way, it looks like Nathan has his back against the wall.
This Alakazam is running away with the game.
Last trumpet can accelerate to our mega-Kangaskarn EX.
We have a Crispin as well,
but we need to have some sort of hand disruption
alongside all of this.
You can't just send another Kangaskarn into the line of fire.
No, because if it gets KOed, that's the game over.
They give up free prizes each when they are KOed.
So not something that you really want to risk unless you can combine it with some kind of hand disrupt
There is special red card. Yeah, one actually exactly. So it's now or never for Nathan
He's to not only put himself out of harm's way with this Kangas Khan. There's actually the red card already in hand for him
Okay, he'll dance comes in. There's a draw. That was not attachment for turn. Remember
We've got an energy switch so the energy isn't going to be a problem. There is the energy switch and now we've got enough energy
We're going to retreat into the mega Kangus. Can't you not forget to play special red card?
Good to see the run errand first a couple of pieces as he comes in three more cards
Really, this is the last stand already for Nathan
It's only been a couple turns of the game
But we're already in panic territory when you leave your three prize Pokemon in the active and you know that Alakazam has the capacity to reach
You're really just hoping that this one destruct can be big
one saving grace here is we got
two Alakazam and one Kadabra on the
board which means less draw from
your Alakazam line. Here comes that
special red card. That is going to
put Henry down to a free card hand.
Bearing in mind it was a 15 card
hand. It was going to be 16 when he
drew for the term. The game was
already on the board.
No, sorry, he would have needed a
psychic energy. That would have been
it. Here is the KO onto the Alakazam.
We put a dunce pass in the active
Henry's job is very simple build up your hand Dawn is gonna go and get a stage one a stage two and a basic stage
Two should be Alakazam
Basically stage one should be done sparse basic pheasant dipty that is actually between those free Pokemon drawing
Nine cards that's a draw nine at least this turn and we could still wow
No, we can't be much energy. He could use another to done sparse though
So it would just be just the nine cards right now
Let's see what else we can do from this hand. There's no wondrous patch, so there's not going to be a way to attack to enriching energy this turn yet.
And that's why we're seeing the promoter of Flutterbane, Henry, very aware that doesn't want to waste Alakazam in the active position if it's not taking a KO.
Instead, we'll defend it on the bench here. We'll continue to evolve up and use fit the script.
and use fit the script.
So he's building that hand quite nicely.
Could use enriching energy this turn
just to grow that hand size a little bit more
if you're content to not attack here.
Even attaching to the active at this point
could be reasonable.
I really like playing enriching energy now
because if you play a psychic energy
it is kind of same to your opponent
that they can then go and hunt that energy down.
Whereas enriching energy, even if they hunt it down
it's still drawn the four.
And that's if you can't get it off the board
when you play it.
So we got a bunch of cards in hand.
We're working towards 15.
That seems to be the game plan here.
We do have an Enriching Energy,
but there's also a Telepathic Energy in hand.
Looks like we're gonna play the Telepathic
onto Alakazam on the bench.
Save the Enriching Energy for next turn.
We pass back to Nathan,
but does feel like Henry might have this next turn.
Well, the hand size has grown to such an amount,
and Nathan has no way to slow it down.
But can he pivot into a two prize Pokemon at this stage
and make life awkward. Possibly even Cru Arrow could be useful here if we have any switches,
but with the midnight fluttering also shutting down the run error, Nathan has no access to
additional cards and picks up the options. Oh, here we go, and it seems like that's
already over. There's no way around it, no way to disrupt the hand. And unfortunately,
if you can't disrupt Alakazam's hand when it does that, you don't win the game then,
Yeah, Alakazam is such a threat in this field, it seems like such an interesting approach to take to this tournament where in theory on paper, it had that awful dragapult, but so many players are going back towards that controlling package with multiple nighttime mines and hammers and the denna and L gym and these sorts of pieces.
If you make the dragapult turn into a fairly favored matchup, whilst also farming the lights of these big basic matchups, these are the bread and butter matchups.
I love seeing these low hit point multiplies Pokemon that have one or two disrupts at most during the game
That's where Alec-Azam is going to have a field day so you can see why it's the top of our table this weekend
Absolutely yesterday we saw Matthias having that game where he was playing around the hand disruption so well never giving his opponent a chance to use it
Well here we saw the other side of the coin we saw even when my opponent hand disrupts
How can we build my hand?
Yeah, already have so many ways to draw into cards.
One thing gets you into another, and you cascade back into a huge hand.
We're actually going to go into that game too, as we can see that early concession from Nathan.
So we will get to see another one and see how things can go.
He did have a pretty slow start in that game, number one.
And most of the time, his best case scenario is going to be put on pressure early with the spread Pokemon.
That is always a fun plan.
Omega Kankos can't see the Genesect in the act of this game,
which means you're not turned off by Flutter Main,
so you can already start building in a way you just couldn't back in Game 1.
We've got an Ultrable coming down,
and that is going to go and search out a big, basic Pokemon of your choice,
which a lot of times that Teal Mask, Ogre Pond,
so you can attach energy, draw extra cards,
works as a nice little engine.
I mean, we just saw big basics win the previous game,
and now we're seeing the real weaknesses of the deck.
Yeah, and that is certainly the case,
but let's admit that that random start of the phatomane just really hinted this engine entirely.
That was huge.
Yes, so now we get to see it on a little bit faster of a tempo as we have the run errand into the
teal dance. We do have manual attachments that can be stashed somewhere. In this case,
it will be the mega kangaskarn, but as we know, energy switch analgons are all over this deck,
so trying to maybe pivot into a different attacker could be very handy,
but it is the early buddy buddy Poffin from Henry, so we'll get to work on finding some early Abra,
possibly Dunsparse as well, if he also has access to that telepathic psychic energy
on this turn, he could end up with a really wide board of basics.
Yeah, that telepathic psychic energy is so good, you're attached to a psychic Pokemon,
it gets you two more psychic basics, so buddy buddy Poffin combined with that can get you
free Abra plus something else that you want that is non-psychic. It is a Dunsparse coming
down as well, so there's probably access to more Abra in that hand somewhere.
Yeah, you'd have to think so. That's why Hilda is such a strong supporter in this deck, because
not only is it good for grabbing your evolution pieces throughout the entire game, it also
turns into a turn one consistency supporter via access to telepathic. In this case though,
Henry is shuffling up the hand, doesn't he have any more means of going back into
the deck? Just does he have more Abra as at least one available? There you go.
Okay, so we have to do it in hand.
That will help to explain why the outcome
is going to get done sparse.
Now we pass back to Nathan with free Abra
and a done sparse down on the bench.
We immediately see the run errand coming down
and that means that we are drawing two cards
or Nathan is drawing two cards
and that is going to help out me outfits the bench
and that goes and searches a supporter card.
Is it Crispin?
Do we have a better play?
Oh, it's Serrano.
Peter Serrano, yeah, if we are instead
going to grab multiple EX Pokemon.
Should even be a sob this turn wouldn't be too bad.
Try and track this Genesect as a lot of the time
Alakazam only uses Air Balloon to retreat their Pokemon.
So even just getting that little prod of 20
could set you up for a torrential pump on the next turn
whilst helping you grab that Skyliner from Latias EX
so you can at least move your mega Kangas Khan.
Well, it looks like we're going for a Meowth
to go and get a supporter in the future
and it is going to be that Latias
and it's going to be that well spring mask Ogre Pond.
So might well be Torentia Pump coming next turn.
Could it be so coming this turn?
Are you using thought at that play?
I like it.
It sets up the Genesect to then be knocked out
on the next turn as well, because it has 110 hit points.
That 20 would be pretty valuable.
I'm pretty sure there's only one energy switch
in the hand right now.
So I don't think we can make
a big Torentia Pump play straight away.
Is there anything to go?
Instead of going to Kangaskarn,
we do have one E-switch.
we could just the pass. So if you pass over the switch in hand,
you could have energy switched on the Kangus card and attack is up.
Wait, it's just a pass back from Henry.
Henry's going to say that was a whole turn.
You pass and then you drew a card and pass back.
Now, this is where we start team some combo.
Siphon Maniac's code breaking
lets you search your deck for any two cards,
stash them on top of your deck.
But you got to make a Kangus card in the active.
It draws two cards.
So because Kangus card is in the active,
Cybermenia's code-breaking is just search any two cards.
And in that instance, you instantly grab them,
and that's going to mean a great turn for Nathan here.
Picks up a second energy switch,
and it looks like it might be Fezendipity
getting into the equation.
Cruel Arrow could be getting right into this mix.
Double energy switch off the Mega Kangaskarn
to power up this Pokemon.
And we're going to get aggressive.
So it's not the Wellspring Mask go-gopon,
it is the Fezendipty second game in a row for us,
Joe, we're seeing cruel arrow coming out. We've got jamming tower and it is the only dunce bus that you go and after
Wow, and it seems like that's actually already game two Henley goes if I can't have done sparse
I don't want to play this game
I think it's a really disciplined scoop and you see that from the best players when you know
You're in a favored matchup and you've got that weekend
You think why don't I let the clock run down here and get myself into a tying position
And I pick it up knowing that I have lots of time to conclude that game number three
So I think that's a really good choice there now. I agree entirely and again
I think what you said was really important there favored matchup
Yeah, if you're in an unfavorable matchup sometimes a tie is going to be your best result
So just lose slowly after winning a game. You know what why not?
But if you're in a favored matchup, yeah
Give up on game two if it starts looking bad because you're so sure that game three is gonna go in your way
And the thing is although you had your alakazam where your one dunce passed down
It's like how I was gonna go so slowly from there. Yeah, it would just be really awkward
Especially lacking those early attachments as well trying to move the genocide would be a bit of an issue Nathan there
He wasn't going all out with like fresh. He wasn't going crazy with credential pump
He said, you know what if my phone is just drawing nothing for a couple turns
I can just continue to crawl our room apart the board really nice discipline option
I mean hey if it works it works and I really like the fact that he left the genocide
rather than going after it with something like a Trenchal Plup just when...
I don't think you can move that right now, and if you can't move that,
like, you know, we've seen this for years in the Pokemon TCG,
if there's an immovable Pokemon in the active,
and you can sit there going after the bench,
it creates insurmountable pressure on your opponent.
Yeah, it's one of those things where oftentimes you throw that Pokemon as the sacrificial lamb,
and if you find it goes, I've got a way around this,
if it's even more awkward for you,
so that's always a strong element to try and identify during the game,
Identify during the game in the big basic deck it can spring attackers out of nowhere all the time
So you always have to keep those odd lines open
Absolutely, and I really like decks like this big basics deck. I like having options
I like being able to go well in this particular circumstance
This is gonna work hang on a second this happened that opens up this line of play and it feels like for a long time
Ferdinand if she's called error was under you right and it feels like in the past kind of six months
Maybe you know certainly at some very big events
We've seen players go, this is a really underrated attack.
And in the right circumstance, I can just leave Fessin' Difty there taking prize after prize to win the game.
Yeah, we do have a number of like set up style decks that takes a number of turns to get into the game.
Even if they play Rare Candy, they need to have so many pieces full their way to actually capitalize on their stage to attacking Pokemon.
And if your opponent knows it's two or three turns to get something done, you can buy a turn back with the cool arrow.
It's a prize and a turn with no pressure back to you. That's why it's so strong right now.
And you know, we saw in the previous game where Kali was using it against Mastly going,
you need to get through your drake cloak to get into your drake cloak.
You're not playing anywhere candy.
And if you're only going to have one drake cloak on the field at a time,
well, yeah, cruel arrow.
And I'm going to force you to evolve two,
knowing that only one of them is going to survive,
just to get towards your stage 2 attacker.
And I always feel free to that.
Yeah, the big basic stuff is having a good tournament run right now.
A lot of top players at the top tables with it.
There are some alakazam to dodge and we will find a way like we saw there to get through awkward matchups
But I do think it's got a decent chance of making it into our asymmetrical top cut
But Ross it's time for your favorite time of the day. Oh, this is my thinking excited for all boarding
I've been excited. I'm gonna I'm gonna say this I'm gonna sound hyperbolic and I believe this to be true
I don't think there is a single person in the Pokemon community that likes card reveals as much as I like card reveals
And if you if you're familiar with my work, you will know that is not a hyperbolic statement
And we have on September the 16th a very exciting set releasing 30th celebration is set to celebrate the 30th anniversary of
Pokemon and
It turns out what we're gonna do have a world stream and not reveal some cards from 30 of celebration. No
So let's show you some cards for 30 of celebration
Hello everyone, I'm Kyle Pukasukovic, I'm on the product development team for the TCG
at TPCI, joined here by Chip and Azul, and today we're going to take a look at some
of the cards from the classic collection from the 30th Celebration expansion.
One of the first ones we can take a look at is this Magikarp.
It has a very cool card, I remember when this card initially got revealed during
the Scarlet and Violet era of the game. Just the general excitement around it. It's beautiful
and seeing it now in this new 30th anniversary style with this golden border makes it pop
so nicely and I mean an iconic weapon as well in Magikarp, one of the original
Pokémon so I always love to see that getting some love. And very emblematic of one of the
innovations of the Scarlet and Violet era. The introduction of those illustration rare
This is very much an embodiment of what that new art style kind of represents in that new kind of card rarity
as well
We also have maybe a throwback of it more to the past made the mid
2000s or so with this dark tarantula. Yeah. Yeah, the dark tarantula are looking super good in its new gold
Order, of course and I think for competitive players a big throwback had a lot of success back in the day
Those commonly comes to mind is Ross coffins second place at the world championships in 2005, right?
So a lot of history in the competitive scene with this one.
Yeah, Ross Coffin, only player to qualify for every world championships to date,
and that's kind of where his legacy began, was with this card right here.
And we'll also bring it to this Lugia that's from the Aquapolis expansion,
going even further into the past.
You can really see the gold border on this one,
and it's affectionately referred to as, like, crystal Lugia due to its crystal-type poke body.
One of the first moments, if you attach different types of energy to it, can change types.
It's attack costs represent the different types it can turn into as well.
And I think just a very iconic card as well, very striking artwork.
And that brings us to one more, and we haven't revealed yet.
And so for the first time, we will officially reveal drum roll please.
I don't know.
They set Pikachu brought back here for the 30th anniversary classic collection.
I mean what a callback, right?
To the very first expansion for the Pokemon TCG artwork done by Arita-san of course.
Just totally iconic.
Love to see it included.
Yeah, as well do you get any memories seeing the original Pikachu artwork for the TCG?
Yeah, I mean, I remember having the actual original card back way back in the day.
I don't remember how long ago it was now, but it is really cool to see it represent once again here in the 30th anniversary set.
Yeah, and once again, these are just a few of the 30 cards you'll see in the classic collection in the 30th celebration Pokemon TCG expansion.
And we also have some more cards to look at as well.
We'll get a glimpse into what the future of the Pokemon TCG might be like with some of these futuristic rare cards
illustrated by Yoshiroptin, and we have a couple different ones here.
Some you'll find in the 30th Celebration expansion, such as this Mew EX and Mew 2 EX.
And some you'll find in an ultra premium collection product, such as these Pikachu EX.
Yeah, I mean, I think there might be infinite possibilities for the Mew because, of course,
its ability allows it to utilize the attacks of any of your benched Pokemon
as long as you have the necessary energy required so this is gonna be a card I'm
very excited to see what the community can come up with when they get their
hands on it and also a card that like as new cards come out in years to come
yeah it'll be a card that you'll always come back to as a potential option it
is so versatile and the ways you could potentially use it yeah very
fitting for you of course over the years we've seen lots of different
new cards in the TCG be able to use all sorts of different attacks and
It always feels like there's some way to use this kind of card.
It is on the low end of HP for a Pokemon EX of just 160,
but being able to use pretty much any of the attacks of any of your Pokemon,
hey, there's probably a use for that somewhere, right?
Yeah, we'll find it out.
Yep, and then we can also shift our attention to the Mewtwo EX.
You know, we have a shift here.
We kind of have a split of day and night.
Mew representing the day theme and Mewtwo representing the night theme.
Mewtwo EX has this Photon bullets attack chip. What do you see in here? Yeah, I mean Mewtwo of course another iconic Pokemon
Spread potential always very good, you know targeting down
Multiple Pokemon with just one single attack has a lot of potential
softening things up to be easier KO'd by a different Pokemon perhaps or
or using Photon Bullet's turn after turn after turn
can really build up a lot of damage in play.
Potential board wipe scenarios, multi prize turns,
I love cards like this.
Yeah, and you can see much higher HP than the new EX as well.
230 HP, Azul, can you see any potential here for a new EX?
Yeah, yeah, I think...
I might be missing a little bit of energy acceleration for the Psychic type right now, but...
But the spread attack, you never know
what you're going to be able to combo that with to be able to make things awkward for your opponent for sure.
Absolutely.
We can shift our attention over to these Pikachu EX cards as well.
Pikachu is one of those Pokemon that is frequently featured as a Pokemon EX even though it's not a fully evolved Pokemon.
We'll start off with the Day Pikachu EX with the Pika Pika Parade attack. Chip, what do you see in here?
Yeah, so a very powerful effect being able to throw a ton of Pokemon into play.
Normally these call for family style attacks bring out one, two, very rarely three Pokemon.
This one allowing you to just fill your board with basic Pokemon.
We see players utilizing that A-Spec precious trolley currently in the meta game from time
to time when they want to do that.
Now if players want to use a different A-Spec in their deck, they have an option to
still pull a bunch of powerful Pokemon out.
And there are so many powerful basic Pokémon in the game right now, throwing a Mega King
Gisconde, perhaps a Latias EX, into play right away doesn't seem too bad.
Yeah, and as always we'll take a look at the Knight Pikachu EX with the Zip Zap Frenzy Attack.
You see any fun combos you can pull off with this one?
Yeah, I mean this is once again, I feel like similar to the Mu EX, almost limitless
potential, allowing you to accelerate any number of basic energy into play from
your hand.
of the Energy Search Pro, A-Spec in the format still,
so that'll be a very cool combination.
Similar to the Mew, lots of potential,
lots of future potential, I think,
is like the big ones for these two.
It's got an amazing look at these futuristic rare cards,
and, you know, we have 30 years of Pokemon.
We're celebrating how far we've come,
especially with the Pokemon TCG,
and taking a look towards what the future might hold as
well, getting a little glimpse
with these futuristic rare cards.
And it's exciting to see what we have here,
and we'll continue to see what the future holds for the Pokemon TCG.
Oh, thank you very much, Chaps. I have a lot of reactions to that.
One thing that comes to mind, that Dark Tarana time, never won Worlds,
but in 2005, D'Gurionator came second with it,
and that was the year that our analyst friend Pablo actually got third at the World Championships,
with the Lina Queen deck with which, um, it won.
It did win.
It won.
I'll figure that one out in a second.
I also want to point out that new.
Oh, that new copying attacks, things like the golec that they revealed,
which is going to be coming around in del terrain to energy 300.
Oh, but it's got an ability that says you've got to have 10 cards in hand to attack.
New doesn't have that ability.
Joe, you can't copy.
Yeah. And I just think the new and YouTube, both of those
EX Pokemon being basic psychic types, we've seen the combined
with Lily's could vary and Lattee as EX, the fact that these Pokemon
You can take advantage of telepathic psychic energy or you can take advantage of wondrous patch
They can you know take advantage of the fairies own from Billy's for fairy instantly these cards could be a hit
If we can build either a sort of basic toolbox that is
Predominantly psychic type, but we know what we get against dragonfall or if they just splash into these decks of 10 cards seems good
Jeremy Moroll of course 2005 world champion with that nitty queen deck my apologies
That took me a moment. We saw the magic heart
Yeah, it's catapulted Shinji Kanda into super stardom as a Pokemon trading card game artist
Who doesn't want that?
Oh my goodness. I love those crystal type Pokemon. You know we called them crystal sites
They're not actually officially crystal Pokemon. They're like colloquially known, but you can see why they had just such
artwork Pokemon and getting a loop here. It was out in a pop this originally is so awesome to see as someone who loves to play
I'm so happy that we get lots of playable cards through the years as well.
It definitely saves us a bit of a headache of acquiring these cards for ourselves
and enjoying those older formats.
When I was much younger, I opened Base-Sep Pikachu for many packs.
When the Base-Sep burst came out with the local game still near me,
I opened many Pikachu. I hope to repeat that in September.
Right now, however, let's turn our attention to the World Championships in 2026.
Let's see some notable pairings.
We're going to be looking at Henry Chow against Jackson Ford, but Omar will Diego Cazaraga against Anika Jala.
That really jumps out to there. There's some good matchups, Joe.
Yeah, and there's a couple of those Crustle out there as well.
It's not only Roon here, man. Now it's also Satoshi.
So Crustle is also rising to the top.
Brent Tonneson still on that flawless record, 9-0 right now.
Coming up against Kali in the next round who we just saw on the forecast.
to be trying to fight through
another dragon pulse in Brent.
Let's see if you can keep on
her winning ways. Nuxi Diego
Casaraga up there as well. But
we have our notable match. So
let's head over to the stage as
our players are already getting
set up. Let's get rolling here
round two of day two around
10. Overall, these players are
fighting for that space of the
asymmetrical top cut. You need
to be in eighth place or have a
top cut and that will still be played today. By the time we leave this venue, we will have our finalist set for the Chase Center tomorrow.
Right now, three rounds remain in this Phase 2 of the tournament and Henry and Jackson is going to be a Dragapult mirror match
of sorts, because this is not the same deck, Jackson sort of made a name for himself.
He's already a regional champion and has had lots of great results over the years, but most recently at the NAIC,
I see he was innovating this Dragapult Blaziken EX build because he had secret box within his list
But it was quite unconventional
Interestingly enough, he's picked it back towards unfestamp this weekend
But nonetheless, he is still so happy piloting this archetype
Blaziken EX has recently gained lots of popularity
Hacks the fact that it is a fly type in its own right
So I think he'll feel with a mega EX profile deck that has come out in pitch black
But at the same time any time you can weave in energy acceleration
gives the Dragapop deck so many more opportunities to not only chain attacks with Phantom Dive,
not being so reliant on Crispin, but at the same time weaving in Monkey Dory for his
Renafrine on top of the fact that you have Phantom Dive to give you even more control
over the doors.
Here come the prizes, let's see where we're going.
One Dragapop for one side, one's your close for either side, nothing, oh no, one of
each for Jack, there's a little bit sad.
But there are a few for Henry as well, as you normally rely on Crispin to accelerate
That could be a little bit troublesome as we get through the stages of the game.
Not ideal for either player, really.
Not perfect, nothing dreadful there.
There are still two fire energy in the deck for Henry, but you're right.
It is not ideal.
We have players, we have a stage, we have judges, we have prize cards.
All we need now is a nice friendly fist bump to get us rolling here in round 10.
Everyone seems ready.
Players of chocolate.
They're cracking up right now.
Now they're very relaxed, and it wouldn't be an unbeaten run so far at the World Championship.
702 records for both of these players.
We did get to catch Henry on screen yesterday with a very unique build of the Dragapult with Duster War,
because he is of course playing for Trat in his list.
I think this might be a matchup where that tech card can shine.
Didn't do anything yesterday. Here are our opening Pokemon.
Here is our opening fist bump, and we are rolling here with Swiss Round 10
from San Francisco and the Pokemon World Championships,
but do start for Henry Chow and a Drepi start for Jackson Ford.
Both these players rocking that Dragapult EX,
so they have a very similar goal
in that they will be trying to get as many Drepi
and Drakloak established in those opening stages as possible.
Not only is that helping you work towards your key attacker,
but it's also giving you access
to more card advantage via the recon directive.
But both players also have that side quest
of the other stage two Pokemon within their deck list.
Henry going to be relying on the Dust Noir,
Cursed Blast giving him even more damage counters to play with,
whether it's going all in on the active with Cursed Blast
so you can KO a Dragapult in one hit,
whilst sacrificing one of your prize cards in the process,
or whether you want to target down key bench Pokemon,
either with Dust Noir or with Dust Globs
in combination with Phantom Dive Counter Placement,
that means you can take out multiple threats at once.
Well, we are seeing Henry setting up here.
We've got a D.P. with an energy.
We pass back over to Jackson,
And I have a question for you, Joe.
We've got free rare candy in Jackson's list,
zero rare candy in Henry's list.
Do we think that could be relevant as the game goes along
in terms of big splash turns?
It certainly does.
In the opening stages, both players will look to use Budu.
So it's unlikely it's gonna allow Jackson to have,
like, turn two big springboard attacks or whatnot.
But during the game,
as we get into a Phantom Dive versus Phantom Dive off,
if you can find a position where Torchik is safe,
can evolve instantly into a Blazerkin,
That could allow you to have a lot of burst acceleration.
So as the game progresses,
those red candies could still be influential.
Absolutely. As a reminder, Blaziken's main function here
is the ability Seaving Spirit,
which lets you attach a basic energy from your discard
to one of your Pokemon once per turn.
It solves the two-energy awkwardness of Dragapult.
It's not going to be a phenomenal attacker in this matchup,
but it is going to work great in terms of energy acceleration.
It's basically Dragapult's attack
you don't get to put six damage counters on the bench and you can't use it next turn.
Fairly significant down swing.
Pretty nice hand for Jackson with three of those poker pad in the opening hand.
It's not quite as useful as just having access to Buddy Buddy Poffin.
You're having to grab these pieces one at a time and it means you have less poker pad
as you progress through the game.
But it's pretty nice to proactively play all of these,
seeing as though Henry is already showing that budge in the active position on his side of the board.
So getting that early to coat cloak stashed for next turn is already really handy and you just saw a little bit of a grimace
There from Henry going oh man
You've already searched out your cloak my whole point of the deal was to stop you here comes Chris spin my cast of pick
I'm feeling really good about that one frankly. I'm gonna be easy cast of pick and I just be clear no regrets
I do it again in a heartbeat, but we are getting a fire and a psychic energy
What else would we get in a dragapult matchup one of them is gonna go to the hand one of them
It's going to be attached to a Pokemon and that is going to give Jackson a couple energy to get rolling with nice and early
Yeah, I really like this play from Jackson hold that trackloak for next time
I think he's also holding on to Lily's determination
So he knows that he can shove one energy onto the active 3p just to get a retreat in into his own buddhu and start this itchy pollen
War as we know Jackson does have a couple monkey Dory in his list
They can be really influential cards when you're trying to itchy pollen versus itchy pollen one leather
Absolutely. Can we see a protract coming down? Well, here we go. The Purdue War. Well, they've got 30 HP and they're doing 10 HP.
But for them, this is as real as it gets, Joe. And we now have no item cards. It's going to be an itemless card game for a little while, as Henry plays a judge.
Yeah, both players often have one copy of Judge within their deck. So, Henry saying that, hey, I already have access to one recon directive.
I'm effectively seeing six cards here.
If I can limit Jackson just down to four
and use itchy pollen this turn,
maybe I can gain an advantage that way.
Because as we know, Jackson was already holding on
to a track cloak.
Henry's trying to disrupt that straight away.
And I really like this.
Your opponent proactively went and got a track cloak
with the poker pad.
And then we go, well, you know,
how fun it's now backing your deck.
One off judge, great time to use it.
Here comes the recon directive.
It's unfair stamp goes back to the bottom.
That's not going to be useful for a couple of turns.
Lily's determination goes to Han.
Duskull evolved into Dusklock.
Wow, look at this.
Who immediately goes and gets a KO on poor old Badoo.
And that is first prize to...
Well, both players actually accept one for one trade.
They're trading one for one.
Just having confirmation here of what's going on.
There's a both stop play for a little while.
But it is a fire energy now coming into prizes for Henry
a darkness energy coming into a hand for Jackson. Jackson's got to promote himself for
the most. Yeah. 3P with an energy on. Ooh, Henry.
He just took fire from the price cut. So he could get in with a headbutt now.
That's what I was thinking and now you're giving up the energy on the 3P because that
headbutt is going to be enough to go and get a KO if you want to dragon headbutt
to energy 70 and that 3P only has 70 HP. The math works out perfectly.
It's so tempting. But the three red candy and Jackson's list I think Henry just wants
to sit back. It's a big sigh of relief for Jackson though.
He can evolve into Combustion and will now get the chance for eight fresh cards from the
least determination. Things could have got really out of control if Henry went super
aggressive, but also he could have fallen prey to a high roll hand from Jackson. So
Henry going to slow things down that little bit, accepting the fact that he's made
it difficult for Jackson to get his own item lock re-established. Jackson does
have eight cards here who will now start looking for Sumptre Cloak.
Maybe it is just a case of well, I'm gonna have items. You're not gonna have items at one price
It's not going to be worth it
The pheasant if tea is gonna go and grab free with flip the script gonna be an octable and energy and a rescue
Items here Ross. There's a lot of items. It's just gonna be a knockout with petty grudge. Well, that does enough
It doesn't do much sorry the bite attack fight for 40 even the first time
I think might have done it doesn't matter doesn't matter
We've got the KO and now we've got a ducloak in the active
Henry's had the bosses orders and a basic energy Joe. I
Think there's a Linnies poking out there as well
That's the this is the recon directive those two cars. Oh, thank goodness for that
Okay, this hand was off to the side for a second. I'm a little bit terrified. Okay, then I'm slightly less terrified
Yeah, I think we're gonna be in a slightly better position than that. Henry just really debating that recon directive
I think oh
I think he was debating the boss's orders because he could push this creepy to the bench
and then take out multiple threats all in one turn, but he would leave him with the Dragapult
and nothing else and you would fall prey to an unfair stamp pretty quickly if that was
the case for Jackson.
So again, Henry going for a safer route, gonna ult, we'll find another Drakloak and
then we'll see a fresh hand after attaching an additional energy to the bench.
Henry is really nicely up on energy attachments right now as if he can find a Dragapult
He will be removing Jackson's only energy from play and continuing to go well even back on this prize race
That was a perfectly played hand you alterable for the cloak attaching energy Lily's determination for six with an empty hand
Can we get stuff through? Oh, okay?
stamp
Unfair stuff. Oh, it's suffer a KO last turn your body was knocked out. Let's be also flip the scripts in the sea
We've in the dust go while we can
and it is going to be the Unfestam launched straight away here from Henry Chow.
He's hoping to see from these five cards that Dragapult's EX are out to it.
And I think it really helps getting the Fezzendipity down before playing the Unfestam,
because now essentially instead of drawing five, you're drawing eight,
while your opponent only draws two. And worth noting that that board,
yes, you've got the Fezzendipity down if you jack, and that's fantastic,
but outside of that it's a combustion, a dripie, and a dripie, like that.
That is not a great board, depending on the draws from this unfair stamp.
So there's five for Henry, but bear in mind there's three more coming.
Oh, there you go.
You flip the script.
Dragapult EX already found.
That's nice.
Anna Buddy boffing to go and get some extra basics.
I really like the choice from Henry to reestablish Duskell this turn as well.
You know that you've just unfair stamped your opponent down to a low hand size.
You're really not in much threat of a follow-up Phantom Dive from Jackson.
So, seeing two Duskull now, Henry's really just trying to make the board as dangerous as possible for Jackson.
He wants to lock out the opportunity for any additional basics to evolve up into Trecloak.
Here comes Flipped, let's get for free in a very important note.
Duskull is a rare Pokemon you're playing here, which will just be KO'd by the residual damage counters from a Phantom Dive.
No other damage needed. Right now, you think they're safe? I agree with you.
Let's see them get evolved before it becomes too bad.
Speaking of being evolved, here comes the Dragapult into the active.
Seems like we're going to have a rescue stretcher coming down.
What are we going for?
I think we're just going to re-establish a dust globs, just in case Jackson goes back into a pivots towards Budu.
Because Henry is really not expecting much from an attack at all coming back from Jackson.
Pretty much the best case attacker Jackson is likely to perform would be getting a basic NEX.
Seems that it can half power itself up.
Yep.
But not much beyond that.
So Henry thinking maybe Jackson's going to pivot back to Budu for a turn
Let me use these item cards quickly as we have to see the first phantom dive of this set
Taking out the active now. Where does Henry want to place these other damage counters?
I like not putting six all in one place here, especially when you have access to multiple dust globs
So it is just me five onto the 3p whilst floating 10 damage onto a pheasant deputy ex so you can set that up for a phantom dive later
Yeah, ten on the first. It's absolutely standard brings it out to 200 HP, which is phantom dive territory
We saw Henry actually searching out a second or cloak as well last turn really protecting from that potential
But do we see a 3p being searched out by Jackson?
That is going to be hitting the board and from here on this is where those potential rare candy splash turns could
With the right draws come in handy. There's free for the first and dipty. It's an energy
I didn't see the other two cards.
Well, there's basic in EX.
I think there's energy in Boss' orders in the hand.
I think Jackson might be forced into this.
Try and slow down Henry in any way you can.
You can get one seeding spirit in here from basic in EX.
That's gonna be a psychic energy attached to the bench
and just action over to Henry.
This could be a turning point turn, Ross.
There's the potential for multiple dust globs
coming out onto this board.
We could see a lot of prize cards coming down here
And we could wipe potentially all of those 3P off the board.
That could be absolutely huge.
Blaziken is not as good an attacker.
So, Henry, show us what you've got with certain-
It could dust globs.
It could straight up be game here, Ross.
If we have access to two dust globs,
we can retreat our Fesendipity,
curse blast the active, curse blast the benched 3P.
Bosses orders up the Fesendipity.
That's four prize cards.
That is four prizes. Very well put there, Joe.
This could be the final turn of the game.
If Henry gets the car team needs to get, we've already got some of the pieces.
There is Dust Glocks, we will need one more of those and a Boss's orders and a Pivot.
There is 50 damage onto the bench, Drippy from the Cursed Blast. We're not there yet.
We need Boss's orders and we need a Pivot. I think that's about what we need.
Yeah, Meowth. And that is it. Boss from the Meowth and that is a four-price turn for Henry Chow.
3P goes down, 3P goes down, Pheasant gets he goes down, Henry goes up!
One game from 0.
Really nicely performed there from Henry.
I love to see the acknowledgement of when to weave in Lee's Duskull.
That's a harder skill than it looks to be honest with you, Dross,
because it has that wonderful 60 hit points.
There are situations where it's going to be a massive liability for you.
Henry weaving in two Duskull on the turn where he duped the unfair stamp
and took out all the energy from play.
Remember, he could create a crazy forward state on that next turn of the game.
Henry knows how to cash in on these ghosts.
Absolutely, he does, and that was massively played.
And that's what you see when the best Dragonfall players, they set these up.
One damage counter on a Fesadip 2, so you can try to dive it in easy.
Everything else is not.
Let's go take a look back at that game.
So, Henry here, there was the early curse last onto the Badoo.
That was when Henry really turned into the aggressor,
giving up a prize to take out the Badoe to get his items back while locking his opponent.
Yes, Jackson got the return KO with a bite onto that Badoe, but this put Henry really in the
driver's seat. We had that early judge which made a big deal. We had the unfair scamp, which
helped Henry was really playing a lot with hand disruption here. And then we saw this four
prize KO. It was a Gus Globs onto a 3T. And then you Gus, the, you know, you boss
He's got some orders with pheasant dipped into the active, 200 to that, 20 damage on to each of the 3p, where does the extra 20 damage go?
I mean, it has some blazing in it, but no one really cares, because at that point the game is already over.
That was such an intriguing opening couple of turns from both players.
It's rare that you see Duskloft skin to Budu, and then it's even rare to see a bite KO on Budu.
In some ways, that actually came back to bite Jackson, honestly, because then he got hit with an unfair snap the following turn.
We're already into game two here Joe while that replay was finishing the players were started the game and once again
I'm seeing a little bit of page our move
We got a bit do from Henry and we got a dream B from Jackson and actually it looks like Jackson
He's telling Henry to go first and he's starting off with a buddy buddy puff in for a couple of basic
Why would he do this Joe?
It's very common for the Blaziken. Oh, sorry the drag-up whole players to choose second
Simply so that you give yourself those additional outs with Lily's determination to see more cards because really it's
the more the merrier, the more 3p you can find, turn 1 is great, and having extra access to those
other basic Pokemon is still really important. So you're basically saying to your opponent,
if they're forced first, can they find as many buddy-buddy-puffin as possible in the first
instance? And even if they do use a puffin, hopefully they're only getting one or two
3p down. Now in this case, it's not working out great for Jackson because there's already a
lot of basics that Henry has access to, but Jackson can at least be content that he has
access to potentially eight more cards on his first turn of the game, just because this
supporter card gets access to so many cards in those open stages, it almost guarantees
you a decent setup.
So basically it's just trying to make sure you have the better turn one, because you
have access to a supporter and your opponent doesn't.
Well unfortunately for Jackson, Henry did get two DREP, two Dust goal, but doing
the active and an energy attachment, that's pretty much all you want.
said that, Jax has got a 3P, energy attachment is not the right energy unfortunately, but
we have a Badoo, we have a Torchic and now we have a fresh eight cards, there we go, from
Lily's determination, he needs to try and really get rolling.
I'm already super excited about this game number two because it looks like both players
are going to have really strong board setups here. If this Lily's determination
grants access to more basic Pokemon, I think we're going to be in for a thrilling
game two here and there is a buddy buddy Poffin coming out for Jackson Ford so he
will be able to grab even more Dreepee in this instance and yes he will be able
to retreat to this active Pokemon to initiate that itchy pollen and at least
try and limit the outs for Henry but I know he's also sound a monster right now
he's already got track cloak and his only least determination in hand so
Jackson doing the right thing and choosing to go second to give himself
the best outs into this game but Henry happens to have had a crazy opening
hand himself. Yeah, both players absolutely rocking their first couple of
the other first turn. Jackson here is just about to get Dreepey number two and
Dreepey number three to go with the Torchic and the Badou. So both players
like you say setting up to have potentially very very strong turns and
we saw back in game one these Dragapult versus Dragapult matchups there
is real opportunity to outplay your opponent and pull off well what they're
not looking for. Energy Attachment therefore gives the retreat to Drepi. It's a Badoo in
the active and it's going to be an itchy pollen, but first we're actually going to rescue
stretch of that energy back. Itchy pollen, no item for Henry, but he does have a Drakloak
and a Lily's Determination to 8. Yeah, that's not bad. So even under 2, this item lock
you're going to see 10 cards. And Henry now looking for those Stage 1 Pokemon,
no doubts. I wonder if in this instance he will continue to do what he did in
that game number one. As soon as he found his first dust clots, he immediately wanted to
blast through the budge, and he has the opportunity again. I wonder if it was context dependent
or if he thinks this is a strategy to employ against every Dragapult player. No drag cloak
or dust clots so far, and no help from the recon directive either, so it's a moot
point in this instance. Henry's going to have to take things slower.
Unfortunately, there is no out to a dust clots. We do have a fire energy for the
You could KO the Badoo here.
I don't think you're going to, but technically you could if you wanted to.
We're probably just going to see an itchy pollen slow the game right down.
Remember, Henry is the player who is not playing any rare candy,
so evolution up through track loak becomes absolutely vital,
and it is just an itchy pollen.
Ten damage on the Badoo, but far more importantly,
there will be no items from Jackson this turn.
Which is pretty unfortunate because he has a lot of strong items in his hand right now.
was relying on just this one recon directive, but it did find Monkey Dory and thanks to the night stretcher last turn
Now Jackson might have an opportunity to heal his Badoo and actually take a knockout with itchy pollen here
This is a great choice from Jackson because you get to take that early prize
And you're not concerned about the unfair stamp coming back to you
I absolutely adore this move one damage counter from your Badoo to theirs
And then they've got 20 damage. You got no damage itchy pollen for ten actually
the four takes the KO, but Henry does get the drag-a-pot rolling now, so we can start using
Phantom Dive. You kind of want to get the Purdue out the active though. 200 does seem a little
bit too much.
Yeah, that's why it's a big decision for Henry. He has a couple of ways of doing it.
Oh, here's the boss.
Yeah, he could have used Dawn and once again Cursed Blast of the Budgie to KO it, but
instead he says, I want exactly this to a cloak. That's the thing that I'm concerned
about. I want to try and force Jackson into having multiple Rare Candy and Crispin
or whatever else to get any Phantom Dive back to me.
So let's take out that Stage 1 Pokemon
and initiate this prize race.
I like this very much.
Got the Bidu as well with that residual damage.
Very important to not leave any damage
for all six on the Bidu,
because with that Monkey Dory sitting on the bench,
that damage can come back to you if you leave it floating,
not as position you want to put yourself in.
Here comes an Ultramul getting rid of a boss's orders
and this is an ugly discard, honestly, Ross.
can get very far into you right now, but I think we're going to have a rare candy
Plus dragon for and now we're going to go meow for Crispin so we can come straight back
Jackson with a well identified line of play. This is what can happen when you don't lock out the items
We have rare candy drag a pot and we have the unfair stamp. Oh, this is a big comeback turn for Jackson
This is great. I was just about to start talking about the fact that yeah
He got the dragon for but you needed to use the meow
But it was all a little bit awkward and then he dropped on first half of it. Now he good. That's a lot better
Yeah, you've got to feel good about that and often times the drag-a-pot mirror match can be defined by which drag-a-pot player hits into the
Opposing drag-a-pot first
I feel like that can be a huge swing in games because then you can
Dictate your phantom dice throughout the game that little bit more easily while the opponent is scrambling for more Crispin and more attachments
Jacksons should have a good way of making life difficult for Henry here.
And it is worth noting there's no drake cloak on Henry's side of the board.
There is no draw power to save him after these two cards.
So there's no ferns, and even if there was, there's no KO coming this turn.
I just probably will be on a dustcult to be fair.
But there's no ferns and dipty to draw, there's no drake cloak to draw.
Henry's going to need something off of these two cards from the unfair stamp
and the one card drawn for turn because it's looking a little bit rough right now for Henry.
It's quite tempting to take out a Duskull because of the threat of Cursed Blast,
but I actually do quite like trying to put a lot of damage onto this 3P.
If you put at least three damage counters onto a 3P,
that's a nice threat that you can represent here
so that you can try and take it out over a couple of turns.
There's no way for Henry to knock out Jackson's Dragapult in one hit
because he doesn't play Rare Candy for Cursed Blast,
so you could go for a line where you just say that you can attack twice,
punching this Dragapult two times, and also targeting down that 3P.
If that's free on the tree, even if it evolves up to a Drakloak, it is going to be in range.
Now, I like your thought process, Erjo. Very well explained.
Even if it evolves, it's not being rare candy, so the only Drakloak is getting evolved up.
But Henry knows it's not going to last any more than one turn.
200 goes onto the Drakapot from Phantom Dive as well.
But if you're Henry here, I mean, you've got to get some Drakloak down.
Surely you've got to start preparing for life after this Drakapot and this Drakloak.
It may be a difficult life
The Maltres might be one of the few Pokemon he considers here as he can use phantom dive in there
Maybe like cursed blast and Maltres his way through
the active Dragapult
Could be an option just to get rid of it
Not you coming down and Jackson's choice of not taking out a dusk all here has paid dividends as the recon directive did access
that Fesantipiti, which is not online right now, Jackson playing amazingly in the second
set.
From a tough position, a lot of pressure from Henry early on, Henry's adapting, he's going
to retreat, he doesn't want to just swing into this for obvious reasons, he's just
going to initiate an itchy pollen.
And if you're Jackson, you know, you just want a bosses' order, he's got a bosses'
orders and it's a concession already from Henry.
If I don't have Dragapult and I don't have Dragloc, I'm not winning this game,
By one game one, I get the choice of going first or second.
So let's go to game three with one game each.
You probably played there for Jackson.
Yeah, that was awesome to see, because that's in that game number two,
especially because it felt like Henry Starr was the stronger one.
He had a lot of basics on the opening turn.
He got into the Phantom Dive first,
even with the bosses on his TKC, Jackson's only draft cloak.
But this is where the deck building comes in from Jackson.
Those three copies of Rare Candy were huge.
He's playing two copies of Crispin in addition to the acceleration of basic in EX so as soon as there was a fan to the dive
Unlocking the items for Jackson. He was able to immediately pop off his stage chemo pop
And it took a little bit with that Meowth for a Crispin after the rare candy into drag-and-poll
It wasn't just that it was that combined with the unfair stamp when Henry had no Draklo down
No feather dipped he no way of drawing extra cards and it bought just enough time to put so much pressure in
Let me say that, the damage count is on 3p, to say even when it evolves into Draclo, it's not going to be enough.
Taking out both of them in one go, giving Henry no attackers to work with, and that's how we end up, even at one apiece.
But I do like watching the players here, Joe. They seem like they're having a really good time.
They're quite relaxed right now, despite being in Swiss round number 10 of the World Championships.
Both players undefeated to this point.
One of them could be walking away with their first loss of the tournament
and we can't really have too many of those if you want to make our way into the asymmetrical top cuts.
But to learn happier though, one player is going to remain undefeated.
Because I think we've got enough time left here that we probably aren't heading towards the tie
unless something unusual happens.
There is enough time. We could still get a tie obviously.
Yeah.
But I do think there's enough time here for one of these players to go finish this up.
And you've got to think that's probably part of Henry's thinking there.
When the Draklo and the Dragapult went down, he could have played a couple more turns.
Yeah, with a board of two muskull, I don't like it.
It wasn't going to be very many more turns, though.
But I think here both players know, yes, 702 is a great record,
but the cutoff for that asymmetrical top cut is going to be so harsh and so difficult to hit.
You just need to get those points.
Well, here we go, 25 minutes left, into game three.
Henry makes Jackson go first,
but Jackson starts off with a buddy-buddy puff in to get a pair of 3P.
How's that started without a thousand-pivity in the active, though,
which is not really what you want to see on turn one?
Yeah, at least has some energy in the hand,
so we'll be able to pivot out of this fairly quickly.
There's also the outside chance that Cool Arrow can even be useful in this mirror match,
because Henry is opting to not play any crushing hammer within his list.
Jackson, pretty aware of that at this stage.
So Jackson could even think towards attaching early to that Pokemon
and have Crispin as a line to him later on, so in some instances this
festivity start could be really handy. Jackson has also prized his one copy of
Badoo in addition to three of his energy cards. Including both darkness energy
to value two in the deck. They are both unavailable for now, so there will be no
monkey business. Right, but that's also the early game strategy. Typically you're
going to try and itchy-polling each other back and forth as we've seen in
the other games, but in this instance Jackson might be eyeing up cruel
Arrow in this game three. I kind of like that plan. We've seen Crawl Arrow in two
different matchups. In fact, we see them in both the matches we've commented this
morning, Joe. Let's go free for free, but now Henry is going to start off his
first turn going using a buddy-buddy poffin, searching out a couple of those
basic Pokemon, but on them, you know, on the way having a quick look at a deck
search. And as we talk about quite a bit, if you're new to the game, this
is where the good players, they're prize-checking. There are six cards in
Pokemon Trading Card game that get taken out of your deck and put down as prize
cards. They are unavailable until you draw them from your prizes. So what Henry's
doing here is looking through the deck, trying to figure out which of the six
cards are actually in the prizes. What don't I have access to? So we see there
there's two 3P. Henry knows there's only two 3P in the deck to play with,
but I've also got my only protract in prizes. So if I wanted to try and use
that as an anti-monkey-dory plan, it's not available. Yeah, this could get pretty ugly if Henry is not
on full cylinders getting into his Dragapult EX early. He's unlikely to have as much of a draw engine
as he would like during the game, but also might be forced into evolving up into Dragapult quickly,
just so they're not wiped off all in one turn. So instantly those two prize 3P changes exactly
how Henry has to approach this set. Absolutely, and this is why it's so important to do that
that prize, Jack, you have to know if you've got these things like two dreamy prize.
We do see a poker pad searching out a drag cloak for next turn.
Of course, you are expecting to be item locked anytime you're against a dragapult,
although Henry is very aware of the pheasant dipty.
And actually, if Jackson knew there were two dreamy prize,
oh, you go first.
Oh, pheasant dipty would be an amazing strategy in that position.
Obviously, the second dreamy coming down, at least for Henry,
that was naturally in the hand.
at least you've got two of those.
And you know, there is a way to hide it from your opponent
if you bench other Pokemon.
So it's just, I know I only want to treat you right now.
I'll get the others later.
There is a way to play and build your board
to try and hide it from your opponents.
Henry's thinking about Moltres right now.
He has Moltres energy in hand.
Oh, I kind of like that.
We're getting aggressive, Ross.
Oh, we are getting aggressive.
110 to that pheasant dip through of Moltres'
fighting wings, choosing not to item lock here.
And I kind of love this,
because now if Jackson chooses to use Crawl Arrow,
he'll take a prize, and then Henry will take two.
This game is already so insane.
The top deck of Meowth EX opens up the Crawl Arrow line of play,
but Henry, going aggressive with Maltres
isn't just to try and deny Crawl Arrow,
but it's also to access those prize cards
as quickly as possible to grab more drippy.
So instantly going for this Maltres play
is so big brain.
This is actually keeping him in this set here.
Jackson looks like he has a great line of play,
but he may have to forgo it now for setup instead,
and that's why we're going to see the lily.
This 110 damage from Moltres has completely changed the complexion of this turn.
And this is something you need to do.
If you've got horrible prizes,
part of your strategy is take prizes very quickly any way that you can,
especially when it's something like 2-3-3 prize.
Sometimes your prizes are so bad,
you'll just concede the game and go to game 3.
You can't do that in game 3.
So here we go with Jackson getting a new eight-cast,
forced to reevaluate his strategy
at the aggressive Moltres from Henry Chow.
Really does.
It has to move this, this turn.
Have to stress that budding in the prize cards
means he won't be able to shut down
icon cards as he would typically like to do.
But Jackson may be forced into a strange position
of bringing up even one of these draft bloke
if he's able to find some from the lily
as a better option for him.
Yeah, things get really awkward here.
That's before we've seen these eight cards though.
Maybe these will help out.
The very least needs to find some Stage 1 Pokemon.
Absolutely, he does.
There's at least one Drakloak.
Okay.
Also has a buddy Poffin, so he can get to work
on a Torchic as well here.
Yeah, there is one Drakloak in hand.
He's in a lovely alternate art from Jerky,
who is in the building this weekend,
doing some signings.
Had you missed a signing with Jerky
to come and take this game?
Worth it.
Yeah, I would rather see that artwork
while we're commenting again here, Jair.
That's way more important than that.
But we are going to see the 3P with the energy.
We've got a Torchic on the bench.
We've got the Alph coming down.
And we've got those two 3P, one with an energy.
But we know the do.
Like, when you retreat, the pheasant dipty,
what do you retreat into?
Yeah, I think if you could evolve up
into a trochloak this turn, perhaps you can actually
hit with it and promote it and just get 70 damage
prodded into this Moltres to set you up
for future Phantom Dive.
The Maltres does great damage output, but only into EX Pokemon.
It's terrible. It's a non-EX.
Exactly.
It's damage.
Yeah, you don't want to...
And that's doing not much, realistically.
So...
I could do, I suppose.
Yeah, it's looking enough.
But that is about all you're getting.
But it is really into EXes, and it's shiny.
And we get the evolution into that Dracloak.
We are now going to see the first recon directive.
Look at the top two cards.
One goes to your hand.
One goes to the bottom of the deck.
It's a rare candy that was taken from the recon directive.
That opens up some plays potentially.
Yeah, there is Rare Candy Dragapult in the hand,
but he just evolved to the Pokemon
that already has one energy attached to it.
So he may just hold off on this
for potential Rare Candy Blaziken on another turn.
That's sort of the more impactful stage two evolution here,
seeing as though you can just naturally evolve
into Dragapult anyway next turn.
And Jackson is forced into a retreat option,
but there's no easy targets.
We don't have enough energy or anything
to actually get some attacking going on
with a little bit of a pain. This is tough. If there was a Rare Candy Blazerkin, potentially,
but even then he'd have to be this guard to be awkward. So it's going to be just that
Dracula, but not to attack just to chill in the active. It's so scary to be like, this
is my only stage one, this is my only real draw on board. I have to do this play, but
it feels like the right line, Henry now instantly into his own recondirective, picks
What's up potential for judge and dustclops both interesting choices here.
I like dustclops. I like that. They're both fun. Dustclops is going to be the choice for now.
That's access to another Cloak now as well with the poker pad.
Nice.
And I think what's important about the dustclops is you have to get this dustclop out of 60 hit point range
and grow it up into a big dustclops instead.
100%.
You don't have to give away an easy prize on the bench.
You do not want it sitting there just to let your opponent manipulate the prize race like that.
It is a dragapult and a fire energy that we see from the recon directive.
Dragapult taken for when we're ready to use that note.
Changing minds, fire energy is taken.
Going to get an attachment down of a psychic.
We are going to get the dust blocks.
We're going to retreat into Madu and it is just going to be back to Ichi Pollen.
Your board is not well established enough really to do anything else.
Exactly and you don't want that but you sat on the bench for easy phantom dive counters for the free prize card
So let's pivot out of there and build up our board in the back and Henry is also holding on to his a spec
So what's better than a budu to get knocked out to unleash that? No, absolutely, right?
And that's that's one of the things I love about but do any set up Pokemon that if they get KO'd you can just go
Unfair stamp and if your opponent knows you're playing it is this awkward thing of whatever you don't like your but do and I want to
Get rid of it, but if I do get rid of it
I'm going to get unfair stamp so they have to try and time the KO for when it doesn't hurt them so much and
Such an advantage for now
It's a dawn for a stage one a stage two and a basic Pokemon which when you play in two stage two lines
That's pretty cool. This is a great response to itchy pollen in particular
So you can still piece together lots of your evolution Pokemon facts
And may have had a really tough time to find any of these with all of those ball search cards locked away
I love this thought support are coming into these debt lists both pairs utilizing it in their list
It's so vital in these Miramac situations to continue to build your board
So it's a perfect time to see the supporter card Jackson will now have the opportunity to use another recon directive and
Could still be launching a very impactful phantom dive here out there is the evolution and the recon directive look at two cards
keep one. Did not spy what it was. It was a special red card that went and got kept.
We have an attachment to the active Trogloak and an evolution into Dragapult. Keep that wreck,
Handy Jackson, that'll come in handy in a future term. You don't really want to phantom dive into
the Bidu. You want that on the bench, but without any other options, you can still get a bunch
of damage on the board. It is 200 to the Bidu, but more importantly, we're spreading damage
on those stage 1 saying, I can take them out later.
An interesting choice from Jackson.
We know that Henry can evolve up into Dust Noir
and make that three damage counters essentially irrelevant.
But Jackson also knows that Henry isn't playing his own Monkey Dory.
So putting the three on Druckloch is normally quite poor.
You want it to be six,
so you play around potential Monkey Dory, flinging it back to you.
In this case, he doesn't have to worry about that.
So he can try and float those damage and force Henry
into evolving up into this Dust Noir.
I really like it.
Sometimes it's just nice to force your opponent to have to prioritize resources to do something they might not have bothered doing.
They have to get Dustmars to go and get Dustmars. Here's an energy onto the cloak, but now we see the unchecked nodding.
That doesn't really just do it like, yeah, sure. You got it like that, Henry, huh?
I mean, the good news is you do at least have Wonder Cloak down and a Pheasant Dipty, so you do have some options here.
But the bad news is, I don't think we've seen a supporter from Henry yet this turn, so we could see some boss shenanigans.
A lot could be happening this turn, Ross, to be honest with you.
Especially that cursed barst open up, you can knock out the Dragapult this turn.
I mean, you can just flat out knock out Fessendipty to a 2-for-1 on the bench if you want.
You can also do that as well, but I feel like taking out that Dragapult is just so vital when there's just one Drakloak for there on the bench right now.
Oh, agreed.
There are several options.
I really like a lot of them honestly
Henry will find the best one of the bunch
She's got five cards to deal with right now and a couple recon directive on top of that
I didn't see access to any drag-a-pole ex just yet. So it does need some help here
Well there we go. Recon directive. Oh drag-a-pole and a lily. They're very nice cards
So you're just having a look at the discard pile going. Can I really afford to give back the lily?
Yes, because you really need drag-a-pole. He kept lily I think. He kept li- oh yeah. No, okay
So we're lily for eight cards. No prizes taken. It is the full eight slight risk here. There's no other other as a drag
Okay, so you've got this plus three come directive
You expect to hit it off the top 10 again ten cards and that's a really interesting spot so often and I would have done the same
Thing Ross think let's deal with the guarantees here
Let's not risk being in a position where I miss but ten cutters so many
You're so likely to get that and other things on top
So Henry's not content with just a dragapult here. He's looking for more
If you hit the Dragapult undoubtedly the right option if you don't there might be some regrets. No, no, no, no
One recon directive. There is a rescue stretcher, but it's not there. We're gonna get the dragapult
There we go didn't take it from the first did take it for the second
There's your dragapult into the active and now Henry is feeling great about that decision
Who's you got so many other cars and so many other options in addition to that dragapult love that result for Henry
I have to feel like we're gonna curse past the active here. It's it's the play that makes the most sense
You could try and take out that drawing in and try and limit Jackson to just
One recon directive, but even just announcing Phantom Dive is still really powerful on this board
I think if you haven't played unfair stamp, you definitely no question go for go for the Dragonpole
And I still think I agree with you. I love the play. It's just because you unfair stamped
It's taking out that pheasant dipty in addition to that just seems very tempting
But like you say you are then just giving your opponent an attack and that's your cloak on the bed will go down
Yeah, no question. I mean you can hit this dragaport and then also put as much damage on to the
Bench track float for Jackson as possible as well
The board is full so there's no monkey Dory business going back to you that might also be playing on
Henry's mind a little bit. I think we're not cursed blasting anything here. No, we're just announcing an attack with Phantom Dive
trying to make the unfair stamp as unfair as possible.
I kind of like this as well, honestly, because now you're still setting up for 10...
Oh, okay, I really like this.
So what you're actually doing here is now Fesendipty is in range
from the residual damage from the Phantom Dive.
So now you can basically curse Blaster Dragapult, take the KO,
and then you KO something like a MIA.
You can have a six-pronged turn.
Yeah, he said a win next turn.
He said a game next turn this way.
Oh, this is beautiful.
and Jackson just has to deal with the hand in front of him. This is why you
don't curse last last time. Henry's good at this. Oh Henry is giving us an
absolute masterclass. I love this and if you're Jackson, what do you do it? Like
your opponent basically needs boss to guarantee game next turn. Haven't you
go after the plus one? Well we've just seen the linear determination. Dustin
would have been the safest way to do so. Take that off the board then you
We deny the 6 prize turn, but Jackson only had the two cards from Nuff, first stamp and
the one Recon Directive. No access to the bosses order, so he has to go for the fresh
hand. But really, he's at the mercy of Henry at this stage. He could simply end it all
with the bosses orders next turn. Absolutely he could. Here's your six cards from Lily's
determination. What have we got to play with as an evolution into a drakloak? So that's
going to give you a second Recon Directive. Can we, there's not even a way to mind
here because the board is full, could we get an area zero? No, there's not even
area zero in Jackson's list. He's playing Watchtower and Risky Ruins.
I think he's announcing an attack, Joe. The Cloak goes down and it is as simple as that.
If Henry draws a boss's orders, this game is going to be over. Does he have one in
the hands?
Such a large hand size, but no copies of boss's orders.
He does have one. I don't think he's used Recon Directive yet.
He's looking at his notes for the prize cards. Can he fish for it with
Curse Blast here. He can take two prize cards. If he has Ultra Balls in there, if he has Meowth
in there, he's going to have one more look. Doesn't look like anything helps him from
the prizes to instantly win the game. So taking out the active Dragapult EX with Curse Blast
wouldn't give him even a chance to find Bosses' orders.
No, there's no Boss in the prizes, so I think you have to search for it with
Wait, our recall direct that was no that was in the discard my apology
So we haven't even got a way to fish for it. This is just a body buff in affirming the situation
And what looked like from such a large hand from Henry it looked so clear that game could have been over but just lacking
Bosses orders at the crucial moments
How often have we said that this card is the defining
One in games or the good news is Jackson's got four prizes remaining
So he shouldn't be able to win the game next turn.
The problem is, you're gonna not have an attacker.
Yeah, your board is gone.
Your board is gone next turn.
And you don't have any rare candy,
so you're not gonna be able to just get that big explosive
Dragonbolt coming up out of nowhere.
And Henry, after searching up for this six prize turn,
feels like it might be running away from him here.
What a tense game three.
As you see Henry Chow shuffling up
from the buddy-buddy-puff-in. No draw on the board.
There's no way that we can access Boss here at all.
There's none in the prizes.
He cannot fish out that way.
A jamming tower.
There's no Boss here.
There's nothing we can get from the Nite stretcher
that's helpful.
We're just retreating into Moltres here
and trying to get to hit-in.
I think I'll actually get the KO.
Yeah, there's 110 left.
So Moltres will get a KO, and at least,
I think that's probably the play.
You do that, you give your opponent more cards to flip the script.
No, I think you have to dust the wall, the pheasant dip needs to take out flip, flip the script.
And then you're Moltres into the active, and then it's going to be the cursed blast trade 2 for 1.
Yeah, see this is what I like, and then you take out the active with your Moltres.
No, it's... yeah, okay. It's going to be then a Phantom Dive, so it's still going for it here.
Okay, so this is where it gets scary. A Phantom Dive here could potentially...
It could put the game almost out of reach if Jackson's able to get it going here.
I don't know how you take the last two prizes if his Dragapult goes down.
Like, stop me, Jo, am I missing anything?
How do these last two prizes come if this Dragapult goes down?
Well, you can still Curse Blast and Bosses' Orders with Moltres to carry the Meowth.
That would be your final way, because Jackson can only take two prize cards this turn.
So that would still be the line that Henry now is living on essentially top decks to try and find Bosses' Orders.
So we can still boss and curse Blast to take out the Meowth.
I think it's a line.
It's certainly a line.
Jackson has just recon directed and instantly head in hands.
What's better odds here?
Special red card, but you know Henry doesn't have it in hand,
or Team Rocket's Watchtower to limit the ultra ball outs for Meowth.
He opts for Watchtower.
This could be hugely impactful to the end of this game.
If Henry puts down Team Rocket's Watchtower this turn,
he has drastically limited the outs from Henry to win the game next turn.
He's living on top decks right now Ross. He is absolutely living on top decks is a great way to put it
I think the watchtower is definitely to play here because special red cards
You just give it to your opponent
You definitely don't want to do that this at least means they've got to get it
Rather than a Meowth or an octable somewhere to get Meowth. So yeah, I love the watchtower
But I think that is literally the only play you still need your own dragapult, of course
You need to get a dragapult and a fire energy to get the attack going on that's pretty important
I feel like with Jackson's hands, I almost wrote that off as saying that's gonna be there somewhere
We're gonna find a way to that. Yeah, I can see he probably has it, but I still want to see it
See what else can well there's a night stretcher that should secure the attack
As we have a night stretcher one of those words can be festin tippity ex come into the equation
If we got the energy we'd need to be specific to have more night stretcher in here
We have a fire energy in the discard. Yeah, we do
We still have our supporter for the turn as well.
Okay, so it looks like we're going to be good to go.
Oh, there's a Dragapop.
Yeah.
So, okay, so the attack is now definitely on board.
There's no issue there.
Here comes the Poker Pad.
That's going to go and search out a non-Ruobots Pokémon.
It is going to be that Monkey Dory.
Yep.
Tech fitting here.
Yeah, absolutely.
Jackson's putting himself in a position where he knows that Henry has the capacity to win next turn.
But he also knows that he didn't have the exact card he required on the previous turn.
So Jackson knows that all he can do here is get himself one turn away
and hope that that's going to be enough.
As we see that second copy of Nightstretcher for fire energy for the turn.
There's the attacker. That's all up and rolling now.
That Team Rocket's Watchtower has to come down.
You drastically limit the outs here.
Oh, absolutely.
Combustion is fairly safe to put into play, but it does have a two-retreat cost.
So Jackson may think twice about this.
But if there's a boss's orders, it's game over anyway.
so he may as well bench it.
Yeah, but they're not going to boss school.
They're going to boss win.
Right.
It's going to be a crispiness as the supporter for turn.
That's going to get a couple of energy out of the deck.
Just try and make sure that, again, Jackson knows it.
Henry has got the initiative here.
Henry, if he has what he needs, Henry will win this game.
And there's nothing Jackson could do about it.
What he's doing here is just setting up.
If Henry doesn't win, I'm going
to give myself the best chance of winning
because next turn is a turn where I can potentially
go and win this game.
and Boskin gets evolved.
We have an energy.
There's your watchtower.
It's huge here, Ross.
I mean, it turns off Meowth.
Meowth is a great out.
Here is the KO.
And it really comes down to this.
I have a Henry wins this turn,
or Jackson is going to take the boss.
Top Dex is the boss!
He's going to bring the Meowth into the active.
He's going to cast blast.
He's going to KO with Moltres.
And Henry tells Top Dex the perfect card
at the perfect time for a 2-1 win.
He's stunned.
I'm stunned.
And Jackson did everything right, couldn't have watched tower down, so it had to be boss,
it couldn't be ultiable, it couldn't be me out, it had to be boss, and Henry Ripsett
off the top, he had no door on board, he had to top deck it.
My head is spinning Ross.
What a bash, the free we just watched Joe.
That's insanity.
Dreams are made of Henry Chow with the 10 plus card hand miraculously didn't have bosses orders a turn earlier
Giving Jackson the opportunity to put himself in a crazy position that one copy of team Rockets watch tower limited the out
substantially
Removing the Alpiex for the guaranteed bosses orders at that stage
Oughtry would have been only for festivity to draw three cards and really pumped for the boss
But finding one copy of bosses orders
closed out the game beautifully let's go and remind ourselves about this best of
free might have been the best we've seen on stream all weekend so far we see
here in game one where we had Jackson taking the KO on the Purdue after the
cursed blast from Henry to take out a Purdue and then we saw Henry go on the
aggressor as the aggressor with that dragapult taking out that dreamy
popping some damage down but it was a huge four-price turn at the end of the
game using those last blocks and then bosses orders taking four prizes in one turn for a
really definitive turn one win. What an awesome game one setters. The opening stages was just
so bizarre from both players. They went super aggressive in both cases and in this game
number two Henry was forced first but had such a good opener that he was able to
launch early bosses orders plus phantom dive but Jackson bounced back with Crispin
rare candy was punching into Henry's Dragapult and suddenly we have to take out all of the
Dragons at once. Yeah and that was enough going over into game three and both players
set up quite nicely again. Jackson gets that early Dragapult but he has to punch into the
Bidoo and then spread some damage on the bench. Both players come back and forth and
Henry sets up so much damage on the board he's setting up for a sixth prize term but
he's not able to pull off the sixth prize term. He takes four prizes, go into Dragapult
and the pheasant dipty, and it goes back to Jackson.
He can't win the game, but he can put himself in a good position.
Henry then needs exactly boss off the top,
and actually somehow draws it, pulls up the Meowth,
gets the KO with a combination of curse blast
and fighting wings, and Henry takes an unlikely game-free
victory.
And you see the reaction there.
I mean, we've all top decked the game.
We've all done that, but top decked the game.
Let's go to the interview.
And I'm with Boss's order's favorite competitor of the day
thus far.
Henry, how does it feel to get that top-deck moment?
That was one of the most unbelievable games
I've been a part of.
I mean, honestly, the set itself
was nothing that crazy.
Just a ton of insane swing turns both ways in games two
and three.
I, of course, got pretty lucky to kind of scam him
in game one.
And I mean, just that last sequence was insane.
I mean, when I lilyed, I thought I had it in the bag
because all I needed was a mouth, ult, or boss
to just win on that previous turn.
And I drew none of it.
And then I put my jamming tower down
because I didn't consider that he might play Watchtower.
And I got massively punished and then just unbelievably
bailed out by the boss's orders.
That was, wow, yeah.
I mean, that was insane.
Absolutely unbelievable.
Did you really kind of feel your heart sink
before that boss had come around thinking,
I have no draw?
What am I going to do?
Yeah, I mean, I spent that whole turn hoping
that he would red card me.
Because even though I did nothing on the previous turn, I took four prizes.
I mean, a four is already greater than three, right?
But he told me that he had a recon between Watchtower and Redcard.
And I think he made a really smart decision by getting the Watchtower,
because I could have had the Meowth out in hand.
But of course I may have played the Meowth last year.
Well, I don't know. Yeah, it was really interesting mind games.
But at the end of the day, you know,
I wouldn't probably went like this, to this, to this, so, you know.
It was a rollercoaster to watch that alone be in the moment.
You must be exhausted emotionally, so I can't imagine how you've got to go on and play some
more games now.
Can you give me and the viewers at home just a brief overview of how your run has gone throughout
this tournament?
You're clearly being successful, but what's the key?
Yeah, my run's been really interesting.
This was actually my very first Dragon Bolt mirror, which to anyone who saw the graphic,
that is a completely unbelievable statistic.
I've hit some Slow King, some Zora arcs, some of the Raging Bolt decks.
I've got pretty good matchmaking.
The slurking deck was difficult, but we managed to get there.
Came to the day at 7-0-1, tied my first round against Krusl,
which was a good matchup, but things didn't go my way there.
But I can't complain because I managed to get this one down,
and I think I have to win one of my last two.
You're here, and that's the most important part.
And even through that rollercoaster, you came up Trump's.
You absolutely nailed it.
It was a nail-biter of a match.
Are there any opponents you might be afraid of going
that you know are on similar records.
I think there's a chance I may hit Brent Tonneson.
I know at X1 there's Callie White playing Raging Bull.
I think that's an OK matchup for me, so I wouldn't mind that.
But obviously, our world to every single competitor is just incredible.
And I also really want to give a shout out to Jackson.
I don't know if they mentioned this on broadcast,
but Jackson and I have had a very long rivalry
of hitting each other that very, very high stakes games.
And he's always a pleasure to play against.
And I'm happy to have got this one as crazy as it may have been.
I absolutely love that and like hearing you guys talking at the table afterwards kind of explaining that back and forth of that last few turns was really lovely to see the sportsmanship that is coming from both of you.
Any final shout outs before I let you get on with your event.
Shout out to Boogie Color for supporting me for this tournament and shout out to all my friends and family who are watching and helping me test and really hope I can get this one done.
Absolutely rooting for you my friend. Thank you so much for such a superstar set there.
to get there. But it's time
for us to curse blast our way
back into the action with the
cast is. Yes, it is indeed,
although we will not be
cursed blasting quite as well
timed as Henry. I'm not sure
anybody will at this tournament.
It's lovely to hear about that
little rivalry with Jackson
explains why they're so
comfortable and so chatty at
the table. We've all got
those players that we just
always seem to play in these
tournaments and going to get
a little bit of a friendly
rivalry going. It's fun.
Yeah, they got plenty of
respect for one another and
and I love the humbleness of Henry there to say that he may have made some mistakes along the way,
but it was such a cat and mouse series. He was saying it was swing turn after swing turn. It felt
like just from the one panic recon directive, it suddenly became an unfair stamp that became a
lily that became this, that and the other. Both players were springboarded into such insane
board states that it was a real struggle to keep up. It absolutely was for helping us keep up.
We got a friend here in the studio. We got our friend Pablo over on the analyst desk
who is going to help us keep up with all the action this weekend.
Pablo, that last game, back and forth,
maybe the best game we've seen on stream this weekend.
I said it, just give us your thoughts, Black Canvas.
I mean, honestly, the whole series was pretty good.
And as you guys mentioned, Henry being very humble
in terms of like, I think he said he scammed Jackson out of a game.
I would call it a scam, right?
I feel like this is always what I tell players
when you're at the World Championship,
Jackson's edge against Henry or Henry's edge against Jackson is definitely not in the decision-making, right?
Because both players, you'd expect them to be at their maximum level here at Worlds after a whole summer of practicing.
So what determines the outcome of such of two Titans who go up against each other?
It's going to be either a deck building edge or a little bit of luck.
And you chance into a lily, you chance into the unfair stamp, all of a sudden walk away the winner.
I mean, it's not something you expect but you'll definitely take advantage of such a situation.
So I think one very key thing though that happened is the very first decision that Henry took in terms of
using the Duff's Clubs in order to take out his opponent's body.
I think that was a major decision after a judge as well.
It's not something you'll commonly see you want to use Duff's Clubs or Duff's Clubs to perhaps take down a bench
or something perhaps more significant, however, let's show the clip, we had the possibility
to take out your opponent's body, so you get to keep the body pressure, but you free yourself
and you give yourself poke pad and you give yourself body body puff in, so I generally
think that was a major decision, that was very important, and we saw Jackson follow
that up with a bite kill, I believe, and the only punish for that was the unfirst time right,
which of a judge, a turn two judge, it's so unlikely right, so I don't think that was like any sort of
bait it would just happen to Henry, Locke, shine on him just as we saw towards the end.
Yeah, the value that you can get from that duster while you really have the time
really well, and I was not expecting the buddhu knockout, but like you said,
Judges one of those supporter cards that you kind of you look at your hand and you're like do I trust you today or not?
When you go for the dust blocks it said that you could at least have those additional outs
I can see why the cogs were worrying for Henry in that regard where normally you try and build all the way up to a
Duster while to get more bang for your buck from your one prize card, but I really liked that choice
I also think in game number three the pivotal choice to go Maltres punching into that festivity my favorite player for sure
Yeah, that's something else that I would love to show
how like you're gonna threaten me with as a deputy I need the immediate response to
that right so then now your physically plays getting punished by my MULTRA sure
knock on a drippy I get two prizes in return I get three extra drippies perhaps
from my price card your three energy investment which is huge in dragable
right they don't play a high energy count they play one Crispin run Rosa
it seems to be the 10 towards this day two list so getting a little greedy
in terms of the energy department and then you just invest so much for a single knockout,
a single dripping, not a drag cloak, no energy removal, that definitely would have been,
that was the perfect response rather. That was the perfect response from Henry, had to
make Jackson default back to the body plan and then he defaulted, but he wasn't available
and then Henry did have access to the body. So everything, the way it played out, all
decisions. Every turn felt like a huge turn. Huge things were happening, even though on the
field it was like basic Pokemon against basic Pokemon. The decisions behind that were so
amazing.
There were a lot of big swings in that game and yes, Henry got very lucky at the end with
our boss's orders, but let's not forget all the amazing plays he made along the
way. Pablo, thank you very much as always for coming and giving us your analyst brain.
We love to hear it, but unfortunately we have no more time with Pablo because we've
got to get to our other game, our broadcast match, that we have been having a look at.
Trying to bring in some extra, some extra action from the Pogba and World Championships in addition
to our one match per round. Hopefully we can get down to that in a matter of moments.
Here we go, right here, Strand's hand. We've got Diego against Arnie, and it looks
like we have got, well, actually that could be almost any deck at this point, but
I know that Diego was playing Alec as I actually ran into him in the hall. We
We had a lovely chat yesterday while I was interviewing,
and I actually got to grab Diego for a little spot.
It was lovely.
The world champion trying to make it two times.
He's playing Alakazam.
He just had a draw pass, though,
with just the Geneset in the active.
And Arnie is going to be rocking the sloking deck.
Not too many of those players left at the top tables,
but Arnie is such a fierce competitor.
And he's had an early-term one attachment to Latias EX.
Not always the ideal option.
It's more of a supporting Pokemon,
but at the very least,
We'll be able to access a couple of these psychic basic Pokemon and get some slow poking to play most notably
Because as we know Ross the sloking deck is all about trying to copy some devastating attackers
Yes, the way the sloking that works the very unusual debt
We've got the attack seek inspiration
You look at the top card of your deck just exactly one card and as long as it's not a
Rulebox Pokemon like in Pokemon EX you can copy the attack and you don't have to have the correct energy
You can break the rules
It's wonderful and you might be thinking well, that's very unlikely you'll hit what you want
Yes, it is but we have the stadium card Academy at night
Which allows you to put a card from your hand on top of your deck
So you use that to guarantee the right card on top of your deck and you use slow king to copy these wild attacks
I've Pokemon that actually aren't good on their own because they're stage twos or whatever
But slow king makes them work. That is the very basics of how this slow king deck works
First, we need smoking, we need energy.
Is there going to be any mega-cangors coming on to this board?
No draw power for Arnie, so both players having a bit of a stumble in the opener,
but Diego gets the buddy-buddy-puff-in off the top,
and it looks like it also has access to at least the dawn supporter for the next turn.
So now, a little turn behind, but at the very least,
we'll start to establish this board quite nicely,
because that's immediately followed up,
so we will be able to find a Kadabra for the next turn.
So now you're going to be in Alakazam and it's either going to be an additional Abra or Dunsparce here.
Both big engine pieces. Well, perhaps the Shaman as well. This is a key tech inclusion for Diego trying to respect the option of Trifrost, Ross.
Yeah, there's a Kyurim that you play in Slow King. I said I've ordered these cards that's way too expensive to play normally, but it deals 110 to 3 Pokemon.
And that's free Abra taken off the board in one go.
You absolutely have to respect the Kyurim
any time you play against low king
because it's not five energy,
it's just two on a low king,
but Shea Min stops the bench being targeted.
So absolutely vital with the threat of that Kyurim.
We went over, aren't he here then?
Kyurim not such a good option,
but we do need to get some evolution.
We need to get some energy.
And hey, some more slope hope wouldn't go amiss either.
It's actually a second Latias Joe.
Yeah, there's some funky stuff going on in Arnie's hand,
that's for sure, because we are mainly attaching to Latias
for a second turn in a row here.
Is there much else going on?
Well, there's the lucky helmet.
I think he's opting to have two copies of this
within his deck list to give him some additional draw,
and it's the surfer supporter card
to help him draw up to five cards here.
Okay, so we basically surfered to get that Latias
onto the bench and protect it a little bit,
but you will still, of course, have free retreat
from the Latias here, there is an outside chance
of a wondrous patch which would allow you
to then retreat and attack with Latias this turn.
I'm not sure it's happening, but it is on the table.
It's on the table, and Sloky does try and weave that in
when it can, when it can.
The wondrous patch is actually a vital item
within the deck because your Slokin
get knocked out so easily,
so you have to constantly rebuild these Pokemon.
But of course, Trifrost also discards those energy.
We're not gonna see any Trifrost right now
Thanks to that shaman, but it's still something to keep in mind as to why you see so many of those wondrous patch within the list
Right now though. No basics like currently in the discard pile
So it could be a bit of a combo if that's gonna come together
Absolutely, I just see two energy on a Latias. I can't remember last time I saw two energy on a Latias
And a tool which revolves around being attacked when it's attached
You know, it's all the makings of I might actually attack with this Latias
for now retreat into a slow poachers to have a single prize Pokemon in the active so if an attack does come through
It's got a little bit of
Protection we see the first evolution up to a cadabra and then a rare candy into an alakazam
That's going to be five cards total drawn to the evolution into cadabra free from alakazam and a telepathic energy for two
More basics things are turning around for Diego Joe
Yeah, it doesn't take much for this alakazam deck to start
flurrying through the deck and seeing so many cards and dawn supporter is a big
reason why that is the case I'm gonna see another one coming down for Diego now
who may look to get the knockout that's that rare candy as long as you can find
access to a air balloon should be able to pivot this Pokemon and start
launching some attacks even single prize knockouts are really valuable
here for Diego as you can easily knock out three prize Pokemon and with your
damage output getting absolutely atrocious later on in the game it can be
absolutely terrifying to come up against this. Well let's make sure we have at least four
cards in hand to KO the slow poke. Right we need to have at least four cards in hand. He's got a lot more than that but he has
passed action over he didn't it look like he lacked a air balloon right now.
That is a little bit sad because even taking out the slow poke here forces
your opponent to really have to rush to establish the board which something
Arnie hasn't really been doing very well in this game at all. Wow evolving
into sloking in the active, yeah.
That's so rare.
You now no longer have Skyliner available to you,
and you don't have an energy on there,
so you can't just attach and attack.
We can attack, but we can't attack right now.
We would need more energy and wondrous patch.
Only accelerates onto bench,
both on it will not accelerate to the active.
So it is just an attached pass,
kind of relying on Diego not having a way
to pivot that Genesect out of the active, I suppose.
I mean, we know he's working with not a lot,
Even in this position choosing to evolve and attach to the active rather than on to the bench slope is such an interesting choice
Because you're limiting your own options and you're making Diego's knockout better in a lot of situations here
Well, here's an evolution into Alakazam
We're gonna draw three cards give more options to get towards that air balloon
We're gonna draw two from cadaver evolution as well
So that's five extra cards five extra choices need Genesect. What's a retreat cost of Genesect?
It's the two retreat cost, I think.
It's a one retreat cost,
so even just a manual attachment would allow a pivot here onto that Genesect.
And there we go. Just an attach and retreat.
So, yeah, that was never going to hold,
and it was already in energy on the Alec as I'm here.
The buddy Poffin to go and get a dunce pass for next turn.
Bit low on bench space to dunce pass, which is sad,
but it's not sad.
Kale on the slow king.
Yeah, Diego was running away with this game.
like shaming immediately turns this match up from pretty awful to really quite strong.
Yeah.
When Arnie has a start like this, you have to think that his back is against the wall right now.
And just have a quick look at the top.
There we are on game three.
We are one game each here.
This is our third and final game winner of this will go on to an 8-1-1 record.
Trying to stay alive for that asymmetrical top cut.
You cannot take many losses.
Your record carries all the way through from the start of yesterday
and it's very hard to get enough match points.
You need everyone you can get your hands on.
Arnie trying to valiantly fight through
what has been a really tough opener.
Diego's board is looking terrifying right now
and it looks like Arnie just has to come in
with an Eon Blade here.
He's used another telepathic psychic energy
to get a Slowpoke and a Lily's Clefairy into the mix
and can easily retreat into this Pokemon
but it's a vulnerable two prize Pokemon.
This is not a trade that you love to initiate,
but it's what you have to do with such a weak hand.
That is the issue of sloking sometimes.
It's a big combination deck.
You rely on a lot of cards to come together to do
the most impressive stuff in the game.
But when that combo doesn't come to light,
you see stuff like this.
Oh, there's an energy to go and get another Abra.
The Alakazam already there.
We need 11 cards in hand to get the KO on the Latias.
I think we might already be there.
There's a Poker Pad being searched out.
That is presumably going to go and get a the Duns pass to evolve what we benched last turn or what Diego benched last term.
And that means that we are going to be able to see a the Duns pass going back into the deck.
That is going to draw three cards, but not before Alec Kazam evolves up and draws three cards.
We have definitely got enough to KO here.
Diego goes down to three prize cards remaining and crucially there are two two prize Pokemon on the board.
The Diego's prize map is not difficult.
Yeah, but if you're wondering why we didn't see any lucky helmet activation,
it's only damage from an attack.
And Alexander don't deal damage.
So we don't even get those panic draws.
And he's still working with basically whatever he's got access to,
which hasn't been a lot so far.
Is able to power up this Sloking though?
Will he have access to a Cadabre at night?
Yes, we do.
And our best attack here would probably just be a Metagross attack
to take out the active.
Well, let's see what we've got to put on top of the deck.
It does look like that was a Metagross.
So now we're going to see the Seek Inspiration.
And it is the Metagross, as predicted.
It's going to KO.
And the fun thing is, you do get to do the extra 150
without having to discard,
because you can't discard Metal Energy
if you don't have Metal Energy,
but you do the extra damage,
and then you check to see if you've got the Metal Energy
by which point you've already done the extra.
Lana's aid comes down for a bit of a recovery, grabbing an Alakazam and a psychic energy and an Abra, not too shabby, and a rare candy Alakazam to draw three more.
Yeah, Diego knows he's in an amazing position at this stage.
Slo-King is not known for playing much hand destruction whatsoever, so having one Alakazam in play, the next one lined up already.
His hand is monstrous right now, and it's not going to go anywhere.
One more prize taken for Diego, and he just requires one boss's order to close out this game three.
And one might not even need a boss's orders at this, right? Not if that Latya stays in the active, which, you know, it won't.
Imagine, dream. Imagine.
Diego here is in such a good position, even played the battle cage to get rid of the Academy at night just to make Arnie's job even more difficult.
But you really need Academy at night, and the attacking you want, and slow king, and energy, and Wanderer's patch.
Just to get an attack roll in this turn and it is going to be alterable for me Alphalilie's determination.
Yeah, Arnie doing everything he can to at least make it difficult.
Maybe there's a stumbling point for Diego at some point.
Yes, his hand size is massive, but at this point there's no take-backs.
We're in game three, so Arnie has to play towards what he can get.
If you can find that wondrous patch,
sloking, and a means of attacking, he can at least force Diego to have
an energy and a bot as orders.
That's all Arnie is hoping for at this stage.
to get through to Alakazam somehow, maybe there could be a window of opportunity, but it's
really just hoping that Diego doesn't have the cards in his incredibly large hand size.
There it is.
Oh, it doesn't. There we go. Fist bump into a handshake and Diego Casaraga takes this
two games to one. Alakazam a real contender this weekend, Joe, and Diego Casaraga tried
to become only the second player ever to repeat as the Masters Division World Champion,
of course being a free time
world champion most recently in
2013 Diego is a veteran not
only getting that win which
everyone acclaimed him for he's
also got multiple top 8s at
World Championships before I
feel like it's hard to say for
a world champion but he's a
super underrated player for
how incredible he is Diego has
been around the block and has
had amazing performances this
weekend it's no surprise he's
into Diego. He told us the hat that he wears, same hat as 2017 when he won the World Championships,
has been wearing the hat for 20 years, but wanted to stress, it's no longer a day-to-day
wear hat. This is just for big events.
It's impossible.
It has been washed.
Excellent.
But it is not day-to-day for 20 years. It was day-to-day. It is now the event
hat. And look, if I won the World Championships, whatever hat I was wearing, that would
my world's hat until the end of my days. Yeah, we just saw Lucky Helmet. Well, Diego's got a lucky hat.
And it's certainly an excellent hat. It's working, Joe. It's absolutely working. I love to see Diego
on those top tables. He's getting himself in a good position in these Swiss rounds. A couple more
Swiss rounds to go today before we get into our asymmetrical top cut. And don't forget that on
Sunday, we will be at the Chase Center. But all of those finals were already so high for us.
I'm so excited, Joe. But we have so much more action to show today as well. We absolutely
We've got two more rounds here and then we're going to have our asymmetrical top cut as a reminder the top eight players are in
Anyone that is tied on the number of match points with the player in eighth place
Will then go into the asymmetrical top cut up to a maximum of 16
But it's actually really important you're seeding because let's say there's 10 players who have a good enough record
Six players are in seeds one to six are in top eight
they get a round off. But then seed 7, 8, 9 and 10 they will play. So the lower seed
if not everybody plays in the asymmetrical top cut, it is only the lower seed to do. So
the higher you finish, you might legitimately get a round off. Having a break is nice.
But more importantly, can't get knocked down the asymmetrical top cut round if you
don't play the asymmetrical top cut round. So it's not an I'm in a sim. It really
is super important to get as many points as possible. That extra win could be the reason
you get to skip that round. Well, that last feature match, well, the last match we had
on the stage was Henry and Jackson Ford. We ended up speechless during that one, but
we can listen in to what Dave was thinking and saying during that set.
You're in bad shit because I've also upped my poke pad count from 3 to 4.
You've never probably been focused against me, have you?
You're setting up just 5.
I hope you're an ultra ball count.
I'm also gonna upped a little bit.
I gotta listen to Azul this game, man.
When is Azul's day?
Azul said you can never forget the cruel arrow strategy.
I'm getting attached to the original Crullero game.
I don't know what I'm reminded of that kid.
That was like a little light in my entire folks' life career.
Okay, welcome back to Faster Than A Caster,
where we find out if our new friends are faster
than a caster, and if they are,
they get a booster pack of mega revolutions.
So guys, are you ready?
I'm ready, sure.
Amazing, okay, your question is,
Can you name me 10 Pokemon that have a stage 2 evolution line?
Uh, Ralts? Like, like 2 stages, like, only name the second stage?
Okay, Ralts, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Turtwig, Torchic, Chimchar, Dracapult, or Trepe, Dratini, Gasly.
And that's 10, congratulations!
You won Faster than a Caster!
It was 17 seconds and you won 20!
Aw, yeah, you just go.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you so much.
Have a great day.
Thank you, he is.
Thank you so much for joining us on Faster than a Caster.
We'll catch you guys next time.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Pokemon Center.
here at Worlds 2026 in San Francisco.
As you can see, we've got the World Championship side.
We've got the Pokemon XP side.
I hear it's absolutely insane in there.
Let's go take a look.
We gotta get me popping out behind everything that we can.
Let's take a shot of it.
Hey, how's it going?
Beautiful pieces breathing close here. I want you to take a look at this for everyone at home. This is a fantastic piece. This is the beautiful Sableye we have right here. Without question, one of the finest we have. Beautiful, sparkly. We have the EV right next to it. And finally, the jiggly pup. Very nice collection.
collection. The official mat limit one per customer but I count as two customers so I will take two.
No. King Pagan ship.
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.
OK, OK, get a picture of me with the Umbreon.
There you get it.
The World Championship playing that in 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's going on a trip.
One of them's blasting off.
Another one would be in a spaceship.
I think I like Kimberley.
I think I like Curely the best.
I have been excited to see this the entire time.
This is the item I've 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 bad.
I will be back for it,
because technically I'm not allowed to shop for this right now.
As we close out our second phase of Swiss welcome back to the Pokemon
the
top cut on the horizon as we close out our second phase of Swiss welcome back to the Pokemon TCG World
world championships will be crowned our champion tomorrow and working our way
today down to just two players. There is so much on the line especially within
these last two rounds as well of course making it into the asymmetrical
top cut is everyone's goal but even if you cannot there are still things that
you can receive like some cool promo cards but I mean you could still get
some money too and of course that's what players are still fighting for
here within Swiss rounds 11 and $5,000 never heard nobody allegedly but you know
there's plenty on the line those cool backpacks for top 32 know a lot of
players like to sport some Pokemon swag throughout the future events to come up
a lot of cool memorabilia and for those players making the top eight special
play mats and the big thing these players are looking for a Pikachu trophy
and card for those top four placing players and not just that but of course
You have the world champion bag, the world champion bag.
You get a ton of stuff for being the world champion here
in the Pokemon trading part game.
I am so excited to see how the rest of the day
is going to filter out.
I think our main storyline of, okay,
Dragonfall's going to be at the top
is was kind of coming to fruition.
But I don't think anybody saw Alakazam coming,
especially teched out in different ways as well.
I think the one prize Pokemon definitely had kind of this,
okay, we should really start respecting slow king.
really starts respecting Alakazam.
But to have Alakazam be more than half of the top spots
yesterday in Swiss phase one,
very interested to see how the rest of the day
is going to go for that.
Well, hopefully we put it into perspective
how massive the scale of this event is.
There is so much going on inside the hall
over on the XP side of things,
outside the whole street is closed
and people are sharing their thoughts
and experiences over on social media.
This drone show, super cool happened after the Giants game.
It's also running last night and tonight as well.
Super cool for any of the spectators or competitors
to have a great end to their night.
This was definitely a treat to get to see.
I mean, it's the first Pokemon XP
and Pokemon has been doing collaborations
with so many groups this year.
But to be able to go to a Pokemon baseball game
and then sit through the game
And then at the end of this drone show
it's kind of a key staple.
It feels like a world's at this point.
And it's very emotional for a lot of people,
for a lot of players.
They've worked this entire year to go see these drones
show either their favorite Pokemon
or even just logos in of itself.
I mean, even the Charizard, that is so cool.
Yeah, definitely one of my top two favorites.
Love the Charizard.
Love the Umbreon as well on its little planet.
That one was definitely cool.
I wish they had done this feel planet to be honest.
I know a lot of people online have been fiving with that one.
That's gotta be one of my favorites.
Definitely took by surprise, but in a good way.
Absolutely.
And still, like we're showing,
if you want to get your tweets featured,
make sure you use the hashtag Pokemon Worlds
to have your posts featured.
And still, what's also really important,
and I like how we're showing this post in particular,
World celebrations should still be happening
add to this point and you can actually go on and win a cool deck box of some
sleeves and even a little winner promo card as well as getting the promo from
last year's World's featuring Gardevoir. And with the deck here from
Metaeus it looks like a little bit of a bachurian name. Apologies there but winning
a celebration tournament with Emily one of your favorite decks Raging Bold. Yeah.
Alive and well and still kicking it here at this tournament it's not the
top table. Yeah, definitely for sure. Maybe not exactly the raging bolt that I know and love anymore. I think mega kengis on is really just going to kind of take over the archetype. And then raging bolt is the one that kind of finishes off dragon bolt in the end. But speaking of raging
I feel like a lot of players really came to this tournament and anticipating raging bolt to be the one that kind of takes
Crown off the head, especially because raging bolt can hit those high numbers very easily even under item lock
Using field dance using Crispin as well
So the thing is the the field came teched for it with Alakazam and Lily's go fairy
So I'm a little bit sad, but still I mean the amount of surprises we've had at this tournament
Definitely overshadowed my love for raging bolt
Well, we're through 10 Swiss rounds thus far.
We've got two more rounds to go.
We can take a look at how things have shaped up at the top of the tournament.
Grant Tonneson undefeated a perfect 10 and 0 record.
He has already secured himself a spot in top cut,
potentially dodging the asymmetric portion.
Let's see how the rest plays out.
Mateus in a great spot to advance.
Honestly, looks potentially locked up if he so chooses to could.
potentially draw twice or try and win one of the next two matches to also
potentially avoid that asymmetric top cut. I think Europe has really come out
strong here within the final phases and the final rounds of Swiss here just
looking at it right you have Mataesh you have Rune you still have Jose over on
the right side as well so you really do have the best the best of each
region still represented here I love when it gets to be these stages
because you get to see, for example, Brent, number one in Oceania,
going up against someone like Henry Chow.
All of these matches are star studded.
It's really hard to just pick one.
And while there are a lot of top players here,
it seems that the decks are pretty condensed
at the top of the field.
There's Dragapult EX, I know, Shocker, ladies and gentlemen.
What?
Alakazam and some of those big basic decks.
Those are really what encapsulate the top of the format
and those kind of present the question,
What is that final bracket going to look like?
Will there be a heavy amount of mirror matches?
What players have decided to tech for said mirrors?
And what are those key card differences
that will really come into play in that open list format?
I feel like we're gonna just have to talk about it
at some point.
I know it has been moving around,
but it is ruined on that crustal event.
It's about time that we do talk about it
because I think a lot of players
before this tournament were really kind of looking away
from crustal saying, you know what,
There's going to be way too many single prize Pokemon that can take out
Frostal, for example, Festival Lead was getting a ton of hype going into this
tournament thanks to Gladion's final battle, plus that brave bangle.
So a lot of players were really kind of just saying, you know what, I don't
need to worry about Frostal anymore.
But the problem is when it goes unchecked, that seems to be when it
does the best.
And that's another question to ask at the top of the field.
How prepared are those Alakazam variants for a deck like Frostal?
We saw in the past, you know, Karris Jones,
when she took down that regional championship,
had Tex for said deck.
So a lot of those card inclusions will come into play.
You see all of the top level talent
and the various matches going on these players,
two wins away potentially from locking up a spot in top cut.
Henry Chow versus Brent, as you mentioned.
Rune versus Bataeus, he's got, you know,
all of those dusk nor in his deck
to potentially deal with the crustal.
A little bit of an unconventional lag
in our featured match that we will be showing.
It's going to be Joji Koyama up against Andrew Hedrick,
and it feels like a crime almost
that we have not featured Andrew
until this late in the tournament,
but he's had a bit of a silent journey
throughout this event, it feels like you just can't feature
every single person at the World Championship
because it is the World Championship.
You got to feature the best players
from all over the world.
But if you are from North America
and honestly, let's even go wider than that.
If you know the Pokemon TCG,
you know Andrew Hedrick consistent always and he has all of these great wins and
like you said kind of a silent run going through but the thing is sometimes you
actually prefer that Ethan right part of the Pokemon TCG until you get to that
asymmetrical top cut technically your opponents don't know what you're playing
so for Andrew Hedrick who has had some really great runs on this Dragon
Bolt I'm excited to see how exactly he wants to either tech his current
list to fill the rest of the room here.
Or if he's just saying, you know what consistency
is King like friend?
And this is a common thing for Andrew.
Started the day off at 6-2.
If you look back to when he took down
the North American International Championships,
he started at 6-2-1, won all of his rounds in day two,
and then went undefeated throughout all of his rounds
to taking down the championship.
Will we see a similar storyline this weekend?
Time will tell.
And honestly, the more you look at this page,
There are tons of storylines I know Chip and Kyle in the back are really rooting for Diego
Casiraga on the Alakazam and that is a storyline that is brewing and brewing and brewing but
still Natalie Miller still technically of course in the running as well as Callie White.
We've seen some great play from everybody on this list.
I think all eyes are going towards Brent obviously but who's going to follow behind
him.
What Brent decides to do in these next couple of matches is strategic.
Yes, he's locked up for a spot in top cut.
He has some control over who he wants to keep in said top cut.
There's a bit of metagaming when it comes to letting your opponents in,
giving some people sometimes the win.
I know in this specific match, though, he does not want a player as talented
as Henry Chow to be in this bracket.
If he could do something about it,
force Henry to have a winnin' to get into cut and potentially miss.
That could be the difference between him becoming a world champion and him falling just short.
And I think the big change that we've had over the past couple of months is that the higher C you are heading into a symmetrical top cut,
you get to choose whether you'd like to go first or second.
And in a deck like Dragapult that really has that straightforward turn one, do you have some drippies, do you have the do in the active, and do you have an energy attached?
You know that Brent wants to go second every single time to play a little bit more defense.
I'm excited to see how Brent, I mean he's once again the only player that is 10-0.
It really feels like he is now the puppeteer of the bracket like you had mentioned to really
go in and choose the way he wants his cup to go because we know Brent Tonneson, he's hungry for
that crowd. Yeah, important that you mentioned the higher-seated player in going first.
That's actually something to think about. We'll touch more on that a bit later but for now
you all are ready to see what two decks are facing up against each other.
Let's throw it down to the stage and waste no time introducing our two players on the left.
Joji Koyama from Japan having strong start to day one worked his way through a bit of missteps in
day two. Often against Andrew Hedrick it's going to be a battle between Japan and North America.
Well the headsets are on so even I know we made everybody at home sit through Dragapult last
round. Now granted there were two archetypes of Dragapult. We've decided to give you a treat
going into this one and this is going to be what we'd like to call some of our unclassified decks.
Actually, that still have a chance, specifically a deck even, that was actually getting a lot of talk
quite literally one week before the world championship and so many players said no way is
this real, sure it does well into one or two matchups. It can't be reliable, but here Joji
is on the verge of still being able to make asymmetrical top cut shall we say it you think
yeah I'll leave it to you. Lopony, Bronzog still very much in the running. Granted there are a couple
of other tech cards like that dust nor in there but Andrew Hedrick I think if you have to pair
this deck actually playing the correct arc type into it. Crushing Hammer definitely the
important card for sure. Bronzog really here to provide disruption and of course cannot forget
how impactful that first blast ability is,
preventing your opponent for a single psychic energy
from evolving any of their Pokemon on the following turn.
And it's no surprise that Dragonfall, for as powerful as it is,
is a stage two Pokemon.
There is no way for Andrew to directly play around this attack.
That's because such as the deck for evolution cards,
something that can cheat Pokemon out into play,
and this is what separates the good from great players.
family finding alternate ways to approach rather than the typical okay I'm
gonna evolve energy's phantom dive he's gonna have to get a big creative in
this match and if it's one player that will be able to it is Andrew budget he
knows the deck extremely well and of course it's going to be some of
Dragon pull's best friends that are going to come into the fray and having
to start to do some damage those basic Pokemon like monkey Dory like even
with a cruel arrow so we'll see if Andrew Hedrick is going to be able to figure out the lines here but I mean even I know we have access to
Jogi's list. Jogi is playing a kind of box of chocolate for this matchup of course playing the bronze on playing the dust mormon as I alluded to a little bit earlier is playing a copy of that
that make a lot of money as well.
But there are certain other tech cards in here.
Joji is truly ready for any type of matchup.
I wouldn't want to call this control
because I actually feel like Joji is going
to be a little bit more aggressive rather than just
hanging back and playing a little bit more defense.
Yeah, I would even call this a dust door
bronze on deck before hot money.
It's just the thickest line I think I've ever seen
in a deck with dust door.
It's four copies of dust gold, two dust cups,
and four Dustdoor with four rare candy.
Honestly, in this matchup,
Joji might give more prize cards to Andrew
than he naturally would take by knocking out Pokemon.
And that says something to the strength of Cursed Blast
paired with Destruction.
Absolutely, I agree with you there.
And once again, we are still waiting to get
directly into the match here,
but going back to this archetype in general,
I know it picked up a win at the very big international
literally one week before the World Championships,
But so many players decided to write this arc type off saying it's a one off move
But look at Joji so very much in the running they hit a symmetrical top cut
Why do you think Joji is sending something like this rather than something that could be a little bit more popular?
Surprise is definitely a big factor after world championships. You gotta ask
How many of my opponents have played against this style of deck? How many players know the correct line?
If they don't, they are not going to have enough time to adjust on the fly.
Let's see exactly how things play off.
Opening, coin flip, already in place.
Let's see who decides to go first.
That is a huge advantage in this match.
If Andrew can start the game off and there is no direct way to get into
Guangzong on turn when we see cards like Salvatore sometimes in this deck
to evolve and accelerate right away.
That's not an option, meaning that even getting something like Dracloak into play, giving a huge advantage since you kind of out-trained the bronzer and 70 with that dragon headbutt to 30 from that.
And speaking of Dracloak, oh my goodness, double Dracloak in the prize cards as long as one of those crushing hammer as well.
That's a huge thing for Andrew here, wanting to take away as many resources from Joji as possible, including that energy.
All, all Joji needs is one energy to really get going here.
Always looking at the Duskmore line as well.
So one Duskclops and one Duskgold being in the prizes.
Chris felt tragedy for a little bit later.
The question is, what does Joji technically want to open up here?
Of course, Mega Kang is gone, feels pretty good.
But I can't imagine if Joji is sitting across from Andrew Hedrick,
he can't possibly think that it
won't be directly in front of them.
We are ready to get underway.
Swiss round 11, the final few rounds
before we determine our top cut.
And immediately more questions to be asked.
We talked about the Badoo start early on,
but Duskul is another card that typically signals
you're playing against Dragapult EX.
And I do wonder for Andrew how that could affect
his setup on which Pokemon he choose to provide.
You immediately see Monkey Dory
potentially go to the top of the deck.
That card's not gonna do enough in this matchup.
Andrew's doing the opening prize checks, but I can't help but to imagine that this late into the tournament Ethan 11 Swiss rounds
These players have probably been sitting around each other at this point
So you have to wonder if Andrew Andrew has seen Joji at any point here
But I liked the concept of throwing monkey Dory immediately to the front of the hand because as we mentioned a little bit earlier
If Bronzang does get into play and evolution jammer starts hitting this board
The only attackers that Andrew is really going to have available to him at this point are going to be those basic Pokemon
Monkey Dory, Pheasant Dippity here. Didn't get to see the rest of Andrew's hand as he is going to write down his prize cards here
But all I can imagine is another energy attachment feels pretty good at this point.
Have the darkness energy in hand. Meowth for the following turn as there is the pass over to Joji
What is he sitting on? Does play Mechagangus gone, as well as something like Latias EX to pivot in and out?
We'll immediately see that energy placed onto Duskull telepathic psychic energy.
That means two psychic basic Pokemon can be put into play immediately checking for the deck.
We see a bit of an uncommon aspect in that enriching energy being played for Joji.
I think the biggest part of this opening deck search and why Joji is not looking specifically for Pokemon,
for energy, Ethan, is because he knows that Andrew is playing these crushing
hammers, right? So energy, especially when it's a special energy, is much more of a
limited resource than something like a basic psychic energy is. It can't be
recovered from a night stretcher here, so Joji's going to have to be very
careful with his attachments. But from the rest of his prize cards, I didn't
see anything too detrimental there. The one copy of Bronzor, I believe, is
in there. He's going to bench the other one. But at this point for Joji, I think it's time for him
to really step it up. Just get all of these Dust Ghouls out or as many as possible this turn.
Smeowth is now going to hit the bench. So curious how Joji has decided to build this deck.
Typically with Dust Noir List, you can really see the power of Night Stretcher to bring cards
back. He is not playing any copies of that card. No way to recover energy or Pokemon from
the deck. That is going to really change how he wants to play and very curious to see what the
setup looks like. A couple Pokemon coming down, as you mentioned, Meowthie X, grabbing Lily's
determination to filter through the deck a bit and immediately B'nari coming down as well as
a potential aggressive attacker in this mid-stage of the game. I think one of the best things
that Joji is doing here is just at least setting up multiple routes at this point.
Putting a mega Pokemon in play versus Dragapult is never the most fun thing you want to do,
But still, if this Bronzong doesn't come out on next turn, at least having the pivoting option to
Megalopony is going to be at least a play. The eight cards here coming out,
and just maybe one more Duskull at this point would actually set him up for success here.
These are a ton of cards for next turn, Ethan, but there's that Duskull if each so chooses to.
Does find it. The Badoo can present some problems down the line, of course,
shutting off item cards, things like Rare Candy. We do have one of those Duskulls
in the prizes so it could be a bit more annoying to establish that the site did
not bench that dust goal what might Joe GB thinking about by not putting that
book mod into play definitely wants the flexibility slot at this point if he so
chooses to Andrew could absolutely bench this me out this turn especially
because the hand wasn't looking too good so playing a little bit more defense on
that side have to see the rest of the hand here but still I mean there's
plenty of energy in the hand and also does have a hilda for next turn
but Andrew's going to go for the more consistent route here.
Get another drippy up and running.
But there's that meowth.
You can only assume for a Lilly's determination
to go a little bit further.
But the problem is now, if Andrew doesn't find a direct
local of this Lilly's determination,
and just as a reminder, Ethan, there
are two in the prizes, it's not
going to be too much of a fun time.
I'd really be curious to see what takes place this trend.
Thinking about playing the crushing hammer decides to.
It is a heads, and that does discard
the telepathic psychic energy.
We talked a bit about that empty bench space now,
would require Latias EX to come down into play,
if that Evolution Jammer is to be used this turn.
Not exactly also.
Once again, benching me out is one thing,
but benching Latias, who loves to soak damage counters,
turn over turn, not exactly what you want to see here.
Big eight cards here for Andrew.
And that's because there are four Switch
in the deck for Joji Ichipallen,
almost guaranteed to be used as the attack
for this turn would shut those item cards off.
So interesting to see how Joji has constructed this list.
As you mentioned, Dracloak on the menu,
on the to-do list, immediately Pokey Pad found,
as well as an Ultra Ball,
can now start to use those recon directive,
funnel through the deck,
and figure out how he wants to approach these next few turns.
Yeah, but the question is,
does Andrew want to pitch away resources already with that Ultra Ball?
There's no guaranteed way of finding another Dracloak after this one here.
Would have to use the rest of the hand to see here,
But at least one Recon Directive is better than none.
But the problem is that is going to be a Dracula who would be attacking
with Dragon Headbutt next turn, not going to be a Phantom Dive over the two cards.
Ethan, I missed it. Andrew is a good concealer of those cards.
Thinking about what to grab.
Psychic energy.
Looks like Rosa's encouragement.
Not a card that can be used as both players are tied on prizes.
She's all being played now has to decide which cards to discard.
special red card. Great disruptive effect. It may not be as impactful as it feels like these early turns are really going to determine who jumps ahead and potentially wins this game.
Part of the reason why this ultra ball discard is really important here, Ethan, is because of the archetype that Andrew has decided to play to this tournament.
Last round we did see Jackson Ford play Dragonpole Blaziken. We're pitching energy off an ultra ball. Isn't exactly too tough of a decision, but actually benching the Fezendipity here,
As we had mentioned in the beginning of this game once Bronzong comes into play
It is going to be that Fezendipity who's going to be the one getting the attachment and
Getting to be the one that's actually going to start attacking here, believe it or not
Cruel arrow 100 damage to a Pokemon of choosing notably hitting the Bronzong for weakness
110 HP not enough being hit for 200 thanks to that
See HitchiPalon used 10 damage and immediately there's Hilda to grab an evolution Pokemon and an energy card.
Now for Andrew on the opposite side, pretty much telegraphing the possibility of a knockout thanks to Cruel Arrow on the following turn.
I've got to be thinking a little bit beyond what happens if Evolution Jammer is not an attack after this turn.
The problem is Hilda only takes one evolution Pokemon out of the deck and there are plenty of basic Pokemon here
I would love to get evolved up into the next turn.
And unfortunately for Joji's hand,
not going to be able to find any sort of way
of getting around item lock here.
So that Hilda is just only going to grab one Pokemon.
Now granted, it's definitely going to be the Bronzon.
That will at least slow things down.
But I'm wondering if Joji's going to want
to bunch the second Bunmiri at this point,
saying, okay, Megalopony definitely has to come
into play at some point here.
The problem is, the rest of the hand,
One of these Dust Calls could go down, but still, I mean, it's the fact that the Beniri is just sitting there. I'm very concerned.
Needs this last spot to be for Latias, so it is unfortunately not an option to put that second Pokemon into play.
However, Andrew now has to kind of make another decision. Am I okay not being able to evolve my Pokemon next turn?
What is my opponent really doing with 30 damage? And that may be the question for Andrew on this turn.
Do I go after this Bronzong, or do I start to target the things like the Duskull on the bench?
If my opponent ever attacks and doesn't, KO my Dracloak, then I can evolve the following turn into Dragapult EX.
The fact that none of the Duskulls, like you had mentioned, have been unlocked at this point to go up into Dusklobs
gives Andrew some time to really think about where he wants to place this damage.
The problem is, like I mentioned, that Panieri is ready to go,
But Ladias using Skyliner switch into the active and now it's up to Bronzong here to try and tank some of this damage
There is a dustclops there. Okay. That's dustclops
So hard to tell the difference with some of these illustration rare stage lights are very shiny blinging out these cards
I see you in the moonlight dust school and dustclops dust nor maybe come into your door in a few business days
Fezzendipity is promoted immediately. Andrew having the Crispin can put these energy onto Fezzendipity draw some cards with recon directive and that flip the script ability.
Now the big decision Emily. What Pokemon does he want to target from this cool era?
Well, it's really hard to say right? I mean the desklops is ready to go right then and there and that could do some damage.
but then Fez and Dipity is already in the active, so Mega Lopunny EX could come into the active and use Gale Thrust for two more prize cards here.
Does that now change his decision from playing this unfair stamp? It's going to make Joji down to just two cards in hand.
Might have to actually use the Curse Blast to try and draw a card off of the prizes.
If he's able to find the Dusk Noir here, it could very well be stuck with these two cards in hand. Let's see.
If there's a bunch of advantages to KOing different Pokemon, like you mentioned,
KOing the Baneary plays around that Gale for us to take a KO.
But if you take out the Bronzong, you're not going to be threatened from that evolution jammer on the following turn.
We'll see Andrew play as many cards as he can, crushing Hammer,
and this signals he won't be going after the Bronzong this turn.
I'm feeling not, and that is going to be Drakklok as well.
Now starting to draw some cards.
the spoiler alert. What's the dust north that was drawn for Joji? And now this
Fezendipity feels actually pretty safe, at least for the next couple turns. We'll
see what Joji's Lily's determination in hand actually gives him here, but the
cruel arrow is going to go on to the dust globs there because now it's going
to be an extra piece. But wow, Megalopony into the Lily's determination!
Stamp is a lie, ladies and gentlemen. It does nothing. So you may as well
play a different A-spec in your deck.
I'm just kidding, of course.
Ryoji more than happy to find that lily's determination,
evolve into the Lopini,
and you may not be expecting those copies of Switch in the deck.
Bronzong, of course, can't use that Skyliner ability
from Latias EX.
It does have a three-retreat cost,
so it's a bit bulky to move.
Let's see what he was able to find.
Of course, a Pokemon was knocked out.
Is playing something like Fezendipity?
No, no copies of Fezendipity EX in this deck.
So if he wants to draw cards, it looks like he may just have to work with what he has in hand.
But the bigger question, as you alluded to, Ethan, is that there are no ways to get this bronzang out of play.
Now granted, I believe that's ultra-ball rare candy here.
So could find the dust nor into taking out the track look each onto the bench here,
but could also use Curse Blast onto the active and start damaging this Fezendipity more and more.
So that when Mega Loppani comes into play, that could be a way to get it out of play here.
But the question is, how afraid are you of Dragapult coming into the fray here?
It's interesting. If you take out your Cloak and then use Cursed Blast this turn,
Andrew will not be able to get the Dragapult EX into play for three turns at minimum.
He won't be able to evolve thanks to Evolution Jarrah. That's one.
Dragapult potentially, if that's KO'd on the next turn, that's two.
And Dragapult EX, the final stage of Evolution.
and that now becomes the question for Joji.
What can he do to capitalize off three turns
without Andrew putting Dracloker Dragapult Yex into play?
Let's see what the Rare Candy Bronzong is going to give
as the attachment.
I mean, I don't see why the attachment for a turn
just can't go onto the Lopini,
but I understand the hesitation, essentially,
because this Bronzong is technically stuck,
as you said, with Skyliner here.
So Rare Candy Dusk Noir,
then you can only imagine that Curse Blast
onto the Drag Cloak on the bench with the energy onto it here.
Haven't seen an attachment for a turn.
Believe Joji is holding onto a psychic energy.
Big decision for him.
Does he want to use this Cursed Blast?
Does use it.
Takes the K-O onto Drag Cloak.
And does draw into a decent prize card in that dust goal.
Have to wonder though, if Andrew will continue to target that Pokemon down,
there's the Evolution Jammer.
30 damage onto Pheasant Dippity.
No, Pokemon can evolve this turn.
Andrew though still able to draw so many cards each turn by using that flip the script ability over and over again
It's not just that but now Joji is really stuck with the two cards in his hand
And that bronzong is going to be staying there for quite some time
So while yes, it seems like Andrew has a really clear path of taking out this dust gold
It's gonna be then Joji up to him to respond because then
Fezendipity is going to start stacking up damage on things like Meowth and Lodios for example Pokemon that we consider bench sitters here
But here comes Monkey Dory into the fray.
That's going to be the secondary attacker here.
And look at this already, Crispin.
So now Monkey Dory's mind then is going to be up and running already.
This is just a tough spot for Andrew.
Yoshi has a switch on the following turn.
He set up for a two turn prize map.
KO, Pheasant Dippity, and then boss to KO, Meowth EX.
All while Andrew will not be able to respond
with Dragapult EX on the following turn.
It's looking a little bit rough for Andrew as well here.
So the question is, does he want to just avoid everything
by retreating Fez and Dipity at this point
and starting to go in with Monkey Dory at least to slow down?
Maybe Joji won't be able to flip himself out of mind-bent here.
It would protect those two prize cards from the Fez and Dipity
if a switch is played.
He still put pressure as well on Joji to find a switch
because if the Bronzong flips tails from Confusion,
you get to buy an extra turn
and put Double Dracloak into play.
You do have to, of course, note there are two
in the prize cards, one in the discard pile.
So, and you're also relying off of needing to find a rest,
or excuse me, a knight's structure.
So, it is gonna be that exact play.
Monkey Dory comes up, mind bent to deal 60 damage,
plus Confusion, as well as putting
three damage counters onto Duskull,
threatening another Adrenal Brain
to KO it on the following turn.
That's Hilda and that is going to be an evolution Pokemon and an energy here
But look at what look at what Andrew is now setting up here, right?
If this Bronzong were to attack now
Monkey Dory is in play ready to play kind of this secondary game, right?
Sending these damage counters back on over into Duskull's range
There's the enriching energy big four cards Ethan needs to find switch already played a supporter card this burn their four
and finds the switch a huge grab that's gonna allow this bronze on to either attack yet again thanks to skyliner or
A ko onto this one prize Pokemon with Andrew not being able to respond with anything besides that
Fezzantipides cruel arrow attack might as well draw some cards though and here comes mega kang has gone to jump into the fray as well
but like you had mentioned Ethan, I'm just a little bit worried if
If Joji were to swing with the Mega Lop on the EX,
that means the evolutions are up and running once more for Andrew.
That would at least mean that Draplo can jump back into the play
and start sifting through the deck for Andrew.
So I want to see what Joji's going to prioritize here.
It's tough because if you use that Evolution Jammer attack,
you're not putting on pressure
and you're letting Monkey Dory KO the dust goal for free.
So it seems that nothing changes in the immediate factor.
Yes, you would KO the Bronzong. That is an impact as well.
But it feels like being under no pressure,
you could go back to that attack on the following turn.
So I like this aggression from Joji.
Take this prize card, understand the level of threats on board
are just the Fezendipity EX.
Go down to three prize cards and see if a Cursed Blast
plus a Boss's orders can close out the game on the following turn.
Looking over at Joji's side of the board,
At this point, it could be Andrew starting to think about damaging the active Megalopony EX.
It would line it up perfectly if he were to get into Dragapult for the following turn
and start using a boss's orders to get three prize cards there while leaving the Bronzong as well.
So now that there's damage counters on Joji's side and now evolutions are back online for Andrew,
he has a ton of ways that he can specifically handle this,
But I'm wondering if Cruel Arrow onto the Bronzong at this point,
to guarantee that he can get into Dragopol TX next turn is the way he wants to go.
Definitely an interesting spot. We'll see a lot of cards this turn.
Three off-flip descripts, it's already a Dracloak in play,
and a Night Stretcher to grab back.
The other Dracloak that is available, Crushing Hammer on top.
There's a lot of cool things surrounding Bosses' orders for Andrew.
Of course, Cruel Arrow can attack any Pokemon in play.
There's no bench barrier or protection.
There is maybe a world where you can capitalize off Bronze on being unable to move thanks to Skyliner.
A lot of options at its disposal.
We'll start things off with that recon directive ability.
Finds the risky ruins, meaning if Monkey Dory ever comes back online,
you can damage your own Pokemon to move damage counters over.
A bunch of options to go.
Ultra ball next.
What else is Andrew looking for on this turn?
this turn. It could be another drag cloak. That would be the most obvious thing off of
this ultra ball here, but I like the concept of bringing Monkey Dory back into the fray
and starting to bench down some of these Pokemon that would get risky ruins damage
up and running here. The best part about Joji's deck for Andrew, there's only one
dust goal as of right now, one looming threat. So if he is able to establish another
drag look and like we talked about, if Joji so chooses to go back into Bronzong and use
that evolution jammer again, it is going to be up to Andrew to find a way to get back
into Dragapult, but there's a night stretcher, so another drag look has been established
and the Ultra Ball for Monkey Dory has been played.
It really comes down to the prize map, like who can close the game out faster?
If you accept that you want your evolution Pokemon to go online, then there's also
of the expectation that by bringing up another Pokemon
into the active spot, Megalopony can just take a KO
on whatever Pokemon is in the active spot.
And from there, there's no way for Andrew
in a single turn to take three prize cards,
even with these mega evolution Pokemon in play.
So may have to get a big creative.
It's still going to be the cruel error.
The question now becomes, what does he
want to do with his bosses orders in hand, if anything?
Might have to be just going on to either the Meowth
to try and get some four prize action going potentially down the line.
But it is going to be the cruel arrow on to the dust goal.
Dust goal always feels like that missing piece to get things up and running for
these combo decks to really start shining here.
And from what I can see, this mega lot bunny is still in the active and granted.
Well, Ethan, yes, this would be a great target to switch out and to switch
into for a gale thrust.
And that would bring Joji down to one prize.
The problem is Andrew is lining up to have Dragapult EX next turn.
It looks like A-Spec found.
Already in play, excuse me, there's a card with a little bit of red.
It looks like the Blood Moon Ursuluna.
That's my goat right there. Blood Moon Ursuluna.
You can't quite get into the fray just yet,
but it can always be a great option to close the game out.
So Lily's determination played, as we mentioned, no Fezendipity EX.
So it'll just be these six cards drawn.
If there's a switch, of course,
make a Kangaskhan can draw some cards with Ron Aaron.
That does feel like the big card
that is going to be on Joji's agenda to find this turn.
Switch to reset the Gale Thrust, KO Fezendipity,
and then try and figure out
how to take that last prize card
since he cannot lose the game on the next turn.
What I'm looking at, Ethan, though,
is the fact that Andrew benched down
the risky ruins here instead of
and not putting Monkey Dory into play.
The problem is if Joji were to re-establish this dust gold that would be two damage counters already onto the dust gold there
Thus making the monkey Dory math and even the phantom dive math look even easier down the line here
So the question is you don't have a dark type Pokemon to really bench
So you're just going to have to accept that that dust gold is going to have already some damage counters onto it
It changes a bit it would still require phantom dives bench damage for the most part to KO
There wouldn't be the ability to take two knockouts onto the bench and Adrenaline not an option since you'd need to use something like
Crispin there is the Rosa of course that could get both things accomplished
Would just be a little bit short of taking the KO
Notably Joji did find that switch now has to debate whether it is
advantageous for him to put that duskle into play
Leaving things out there for decision
like you had mentioned this me out or this Ladeos excuse me coming into play
forcefully off of the opening turns has really kind of messed up Joji's bench
for the rest of at least this game what Joji really wanted to have was multiple
dust globs we talked about a very heavy cursed blast line I believe 424 going
all the way up here so it's really up to Joji to figure out how he would
like to get back into it what's that final bench spot going to be going
into the mega kengis gone could we see a switch in hand and just going straight
already again for the gale for us it's an interesting choice to retreat and then
play the switch would of course remove an energy off of your Pokemon when you
could have just played the switch gone into mega kengis gone and retreat so
so what joji is cooking with this line we'll of course see the risky ruins
come down those two damage counters do need to be placed on dusk will make
sure our judges are aware and get that settled. Here we go. Loppeny comes into the active
spot KO with Gale Thrust. And now one prize card away from closing this game out. Trecloak
gets promoted. And with Phantom Dive online plus some potential disruption, Andrew is
playing that one copy of Special Red card. I believe it was discarded earlier on with
an Ultra Ball. I'd have to double check and see if that resource is still available.
be clutch in terms of leaving this Lopony active, hitting with Phantom Dive, and closing
the game out on the following term.
And speaking of resources, I think what Andrew is looking for right now, Andrew, his discard
piles, how many Switch have been used?
You look at the rest of the bench here for Andrew, and it's not, or, yeah, for Andrew,
and not a lot of Pokemon can be knocked out with just 70 as of right now, unless it
to be paired with a boss's orders,
assuming that that Dunsparse is going to jump back into deck here.
But as you mentioned, the Rose's encouragement is definitely
a line he could take here, but there's the Pokepads,
so Dunsparse, Dunsparse, excuse me,
is going to have to be the pull,
but look how many cards are left in Andrew's deck.
Compared to the hand, is Rose's encouragement available?
It is, it's already in the hand for Andrew,
so he has all of the pieces necessary.
Rose's encouragement can be played
since he has more prize cards left, accelerating two energy from the discard
pile onto the stage to drag a poll while retaining the ability to attach an
energy card for the turn to this bench. Monkey Dory is now threatening to win
the game on the following turn and more importantly puts the pressure on
Joji to close things out right now. I love what Andrew is doing right
here and getting quite literally as big as possible on the bench. You
know what they say when you're up against a bear in real life, you
get as big as possible and the thing is that Blood Moon Ursulina, well yes, we
haven't seen in a long time, could be very much a threat with that Blood Moon
attack as well. So evolving all the way up feels like you kind of have to at this
point and granted, leaving Meowth right there. So for Choji, the win condition
for next turn is going to have to be getting this Megalopony out of the
active, finding boss's orders, and then finding a way to get Megalopony
back into the active.
This is a tough decision for Andrew on what to do with this benched damage counters from Phantom Dive.
If he keeps this bench lock, he plays around something like Blood Moon Ursuluna to come into play.
But on the contrary, Duskul can evolve into Dusk Lops or Dusk Noor
and use that Cursed Blast since Andrew is still at three prize cards.
So he's going to decide to KO the Duskul,
we'll see where he places these last two damage counters.
Something potentially like on the bronze on puts it in range of a trend of brain,
but instead wants to make sure something like Ladiasi X can also be KO comes down to the final cards here.
What is in Joji's hand?
You know the boss's orders has to be the way.
Is a pokey pad.
That's not going to change much searching through the deck.
See the boss's orders.
Copy of switch at the top, going to thin out to start.
And there is an ultra ball.
Also, going through the deck, filling out as many unneeded cards as possible, I'm not
sure if there's any other way to move this Mega Pokemon.
No pheasant dipping in the deck, no switch in the hand.
The question now becomes, what do you do with this active Pokemon?
Is a Mega Evolution Pokemon with one retreat cost?
So you can, of course, retreat into Mega Kangaskhan if you have an energy in hand
and try and find a perfect two cards from Run errand.
Oh, boy. Yeah. So it has to just be the two cards.
It feels like you actually need more than just two cards, right?
You have to manually retrieve the mega lot bunny there.
So we would lose the energy.
Then you would need switch and bosses orders onto the me out.
But that's only two cards that you can get off on air and that's not three.
So is there an energy in hand to do this?
No, if there's an energy, if not, it's just an impossible task.
Two cards, bosses orders.
I'm not sure there's a switch in the hand.
And looking through, there is an energy, so one card off, finding the combination is gonna
play this last ditch boss's orders to bring up Meowth.
But if Andrew Hedrick has an energy card and a boss's orders of his own, Megaloppenny
will fall.
He's playing quickly.
We'll see the hand.
Just double checking the notes to make sure what's in deck.
There's a darkness energy and a boss's orders in the hand, Megaloppenny goes down,
after a back and forth game one, Andrew Hedrick emerges victorious.
I think it's really important to note, Ethan, that Andrew did go first in this
matchup. Stereotypically, Dragon Balls love to go second, but you see what happens
when you at least get to go first. You buy yourself just a little bit of time.
And while Joji, yes, had to commit those bench spots to Lanias and Meowth there.
Ideally, those two spots on the bench could have been dust-able.
they could have been another Bronson.
But now we start to see kind of where Bronson falls
a little bit short, and especially this deck.
As you mentioned, there's no real draw supporter
within this deck other than a mega Kangascon.
But still, I'm wondering if it is going to be
Joji who's going to be able to find a way to get
Bronson out just a little bit faster.
Saw the power of that Evolution Jammer
in combination with the first blast
to a pair of Dracloak, the MVP 100%
matchup plus Fezendivity EX of course known for that flip the script ability we've seen over time the cruel arrow line emerges super powerful in these off meta decks matchups like this one.
So close here within this game one but the problem is while Bronzong is really good it unfortunately stayed in the active for a little bit too long here and Andrew really kind of having to maneuver every piece around here having to get a little bit
right attacking with the monkey
door. But the moment that those
three damage counters came back
from Joji just instantly moving
them to the dust goal. And that's
what happens when you're just a
little bit too far behind. Well
yes dust goal and dust nor and
the spots are a big part of this
puzzle. The problem is they soak
up this adrenaline damage for easy
easy prize cards. Here we go
getting into game number two.
Joji picking things off with an
and a telepathic psychic energy set up guaranteed on this first turn.
Yeah, this is exactly what you want to see.
Joji is going to finally have another Duskull if he so chooses to,
but has to check the rest of the hand and of course the rest of the deck.
As we mentioned a little bit earlier, this is a very high count of the cursed blast line,
so you can only imagine how many things are available to him.
And speaking of things that are available, there are the prize cards.
Unfortunately, missing that copy of Enriching Energy, which you always love to see for a couple of more cards,
but still one copy of that Baneeri when there's two in the deck, not too bad.
Whole squad is here. Speaking of the squad, double buddy, buddy puffing for Andrew to kick the turn off.
We, of course, do see one of those Bidou in the prize cards for him.
Has opted to play two copies of that card this weekend, and that was a big change going into this new format.
We saw two Bidou as a staple in this Dragon-Pult deck,
and for a few tournaments,
a lot of players were opting to play just one.
Unfortunately for both players,
both A-specs are offline for this game,
but we did see how important Monkey Dory was
to Andrew's deck just a little bit earlier
and a copy of Dark Energy here.
So I'm curious what the rest of the hand for
Andrew looks like at this point here,
but still, I mean, aside from the A-spec,
which did actually pretty much help him
just because Jochi doesn't have too much help
in terms of that draw, supported without mega-kang has gone in the fray.
I think that will be sorely missed for Andrew down the line.
Taking a look for the deck, identifying the prize cards may be reliant,
yet again, on an early use of that Medialph EX's last-ditch catch ability.
Cloak number, excuse me, 3-B number 3 coming down to play.
And now the question becomes, where do you commit energy attachments?
Do you go in early with itchy pollen?
It would require the Monkey Dory to retreat.
It seems like Fezzendipity EX, yet again a crucial strategy in this match-up.
Benching it early before knockouts have been taken and playing this Lily's determination
to try and find some key pieces for this and the following term.
I mentioned the Badoom, but that is not coming into play at all.
Rather Andrew just deciding to get his trusty old Fezzendipity up and running already here.
But it's very interesting to see how Andrew is really prioritizing finding the energy so quickly.
a lot of players this Meowth becomes a sitting duck on the bench and then it ends up taking a lot of damage.
So I think Andrew just has to be okay with the board seat at the point that he has to understand
that Bronzong is going to come into play next turn. And it's all about finding those crispens to
get Fisindipity up and running or even sending the energy back with Monkey Dory.
Usually would love to find your cloak, but Andrew understanding that most likely a 90% chance or so
that these three people will be unable to evolve and look at that off the top.
Hilda will guarantee the Bronzong plus another energy card with the way Andrew's hand is looking.
He's not going to have a solid of a response as he did in the first game.
Absolutely not. And I always like to point it out, Ethan.
Not much time left in this round, either. Only 17 minutes to go here.
And that's why you see Joji going so quickly because he does need to at least win this game
to bring him to a game three or even just a tide.
And the last thing you want to do when you are this close to asymmetrical top cut is take a tie.
Let's grab the telepathic psychic energy and is shuffling the deck.
So I wonder if he is deciding to keep that card.
We're just going to see no Pokemon grab now putting some more energy onto the bronze
on allowing it to retreat potentially down the line.
And what does Andrew do has a boss's orders in hand and that was the question for why we didn't see
Latias come into play
He does not bite him in the back
No is sitting on a lyos of his own attachment to the monkey Dory already have been passed and there's the la deos and here
We go slow riveting gameplay does take the energy though, and that's a big card
Potentially allowing him to get himself back in this game
That's actually pretty massive when you really think about it, right?
just because we talked about it a little bit earlier.
Those dust goals are really sponges for a ton of damage,
for a ton of damage counters here,
but it's going to be the mind bed.
And what's very interesting,
actually setting it back to the Bronzong instead,
Andrew wanting to go a little bit more aggressive here.
Bosses orders the Treepee.
Andrew hasn't shown that he has too much energy
to play with.
If he flips Tails, it's a huge game changer.
But no, heads on the attack
and a prevent your cloak from coming into play.
If that was Tails,
that bronzon would take a KO on itself from the damage,
and your cloak will be able to be evolved.
This essentially buys another turn for Joji
if there's no energy card in hand.
I'm so concerned here.
The adrenaline can take a KO,
so the damage from that Evolution Jammer
coming back to bite Joji,
and while Andrew cannot evolve Pokemon this turn,
he sure as well will on the following turn.
No Baneary in play already, so there's no Megalopony.
There's no response here at all, I think.
Pokemon in a red card,
there's nothing happening in the hand.
It's going to be a pass over
and the doors are wide open for Andrew in game number two.
And it's all go right at this point, right?
You can get into every single one of the drag clothes
and it's so unfortunate for Joji
because had every piece in hand to attack
if he just had energy attackers,
even just a cursed blast would have even helped on
even something like the dust pops
to try and get back into this game.
But now it's all going to be go for Andrew.
He is going to sift through the deck.
Look how many Drakklokos are available to him, and even if he so chooses to,
can start getting Fezendipity loaded up again, maybe even retreat this Drakklok in the active,
and then go back into Monkey Dory and still keep taking prize cards, Ethan.
We see how strong Monkey Dory is against small attackers like the Bronzong dealing 90 damage essentially every turn,
and while Drakklok can't come into play, if your opponent is unable to use Cursed Blast as a way of dealing with that Pokemon,
Things start to fall apart very quickly.
Triple Dracloak, triple Recon Directive,
a Lily's Determination on top of that,
can search and find even more cards.
As we see Adrenal Brain start to slowly put damage on the board.
Three damage counters on the Bronzor,
and just passing the turnover,
a huge help that gopher Joji finds the Lily's Determination.
And that means if cards are found here,
like the Energy card, like the Bronzog,
these Dracloaks are not going to be able to evolve on the following turn.
And what could have been if just one energy was found for Andrew last turn to just get back into Monkey Dory and start using mind-bending,
getting the damage at least on the other side of the board.
Huge eight cards here for Joji, but the question is, Ethan, is not only Joji going to find the bronze on, but also has to find the dust globs.
Wow, this hand is very poor.
There is a switch so can go into mega Kangaskhan as this final Pokemon, but I'm not sure those Pokemon are present
There's a poke pad and a rare candy. However, but I'm not sure I see any energy cards in the hand
At this point it could be just Joji wanting to go in and use something like curse blast onto the monkey Dory
But there's no energy to boot here an interesting point to note
There are two energy in the prize cards for Joji so may be thinking in this spot
I've got a 33% chance to draw into a way to attack with the bronzom now
That's assuming there's a way to get that evolution Pokemon as well
It may be a calculated risk
He has to taking the spot it has to take all of the energy off the board here
So it is going to be rare candy dust nor onto the monkey Dory here
So Fezzan Dipty wouldn't even be able to jump into play for next turn
No energy found of course would need that telepathic psychic energy enriching energy still would allow more cards to be drawn
But yet again does not find a way to use evolution jammer and Andrew is gonna run away with this game
And it's time for him to go there are tons of things going on and even to add insults injury
Ethan there is an unfair stamp in the hand as that was actually taken off the prizes here for Andrew Hedrick
But the question is you kind of want it all at this point, right?
You need the energy acceleration. You want the unfair stamp as well because just look at
But, Joji's board, there's just nothing to really work with other than that Mega Kangaskhan.
And you saw Andrew from last game was stacking up so much damage onto the Mega Lopunny here.
So, I just want to see him get at least an energy down onto the board here.
Looks like Andrew is going to thin as much as possible before playing this unfair stamp.
Grabs Padoe going to play Ultra Ball to this card, these unwanted Pokemon.
The other Ultra Ball from his hand to get rid of more pieces he doesn't need.
and then use that unfair stamp combined with two recondirective and a flip the script to
see if Crispin can be there. If he can find that card, he's threatening the game in just
two turns.
He can mill even further than just one ultra ball. I do believe there is a second one
in hand as well here.
Grabbing your cloak that Pokemon no longer needed. All you need from here is just
Dragapult EX and a dream. Thinking about what other card is best at this card.
It will be the Lily's determination.
Can just grab another card.
It's not going to matter in this spot.
We'll see potentially one more basic Pokemon
like the Dunsparse hit the bench and a big five
cards from this unfair stamp.
Five big ones here, hoping to hit a Crispin.
I do believe there is one in deck here.
So as you said, even a combination of five cards
and Crispin to go along center with,
can he find the option?
But even so, I mean, you look at Joji's side
the board as well. That bronzor is still technically in play. So at least Andrew has one Dragapult to
work with. But I'm wondering if he's going to do what he did last game and evolve all the way up
just to put the big wall in front of Joji saying you know what all my Pokemon are already evolved
at this point. What can you realistically do with one Bronzong? Bronzong is not a threat from
this point. It is going to not do enough to slow down Andrew and these Duskull are really
the only potential scary thing. So we'll see this Pokepad played thanks to the unfair
stamp drawing five cards for Andrew.
We're not seeing Crispin played yet away.
That's definitely the card you want to play immediately as drawing into energy
cards would prevent you from playing that supporter.
And you have to wonder how much energy Andrew has really kind of have left to
work with. And that's the problem with Dragapult sometimes in these other
various three big cards Ethan, tell me.
And that's probably the worst three cards you could draw into two dark
energy. I'm not sure there's enough energy now in the deck to use
Crispin.
There was one psychic for sure, that's in the hand for Andrew.
Two dark energy, that's unavailable to use the Crispin.
Now a recon directive, and with how many energy cards have been discarded
thanks to the monkey Dory having to attack earlier on in the game,
it looks like Andrew has fallen short and is unable to announce Phantom Dive this turn.
Well, he could at least announce jet headbutt at this point that would start stacking up some damage on his side with Dunsparce now sitting on the bench for Andrew.
Does also technically have a Dunsparce which would turn into a Monkey Dory slot or you could just absolutely take the prize card as well.
Bosses orders onto the dust goal. There's that energy that Joji needed last turn.
Still a great spot. What did Joji find from the unfair stamp?
Hokey Pad but no meaningful supporter.
Just a boss's orders in the hand could slow
Andrew down just a little bit.
But there does not seem to be enough pressure coming from
his side to deal with the monster that is Dragapult EX.
And nine minutes away from Andrew being able to take out
this set even if this game doesn't finish.
But look only three prize cards left for Andrew to take
and that mega Kang has gone.
It's just quite literally asking for damage to be spread
around here.
So we'll see.
It feels like Joji is going to have to be forced into evolving into the Bronzong.
And like I mentioned, Ethan, you don't want this mega-kang has gone to start taking damage.
So at least Evolution Jammer to keep this Dunsparse active into play, but the boss's orders, he has to play so much defense
for what feels like Andrew just has this game on lock already.
Desperation play. Can Andrew now find a way to accelerate energy?
That minimum though can set up for another Jet Headbutt KO.
Or even attached to Dragapult, he is not under an immense amount of pressure.
Finally finds the Crispin, but all of those energies are currently in the hand, it seems.
Let's take a look through the deck and see.
Those have two energy in the deck, so drew into plenty, but can now still play that Crispin.
And we're going to see a Phantom Dive Emily powered up this turn.
Feels pretty good, right? Especially not only do you get the Bronzong, but you get the Duskull as well to boot.
Or even if you want to go further, maybe not even take the Duskull,
but get that one damage counter on the Ladias as we know boss's order seems to be everyone's favorite card to see in this scenario
but I can't imagine Andrew not wanting to take the Duskull that's clearly waiting for it and the crushing hammer on top.
Now come on. That's a little bit of bad manners if I do say so myself just wants to play that card to thin it out of the hand in case there is some disruption.
and Andrew taking every advantage he can, optimizing every decision.
You'll see two prize cards taken,
Guangzong and Dustle being KOed.
And from there, the question looms.
What can Joji do to come back in this game?
The question is, does it even seem to be showing itself at this point here?
I think one thing that's really key, though,
based off of the board state,
Ethan is the fact that Dragapult has one singular damage counter onto it.
If Andrew is able to find Dunsparse, get back into the deck, find a way to re-establish Monkey Dory Dark Energy,
move the damage counter on over to Lodious here, and then find Bosses' orders. That could be game next turn.
Definitely the potential with the right cards to close things out, and the complete opposite for Joji.
Just a Hilda and Energy cards cannot put these weak Pokémon into play, as Andrew is left with just one prize card remaining.
Cursed Blast unavailable to be used.
No attackers at its disposal, and it seems like the walls are closing in.
Even if this telepathic energy... Is that just the past here?
Nothing more he can do in this spot.
Looking at the hand that the Dunsparce, as we saw earlier, available.
Andrew's going to start things off with an Ultra Ball.
Discards some unneeded pieces.
Special red card as well as an energy.
Let's take a look at that and see what pieces are available.
There's the boss's orders. There's the night stretcher.
The question now, is there a dark energy?
We saw one discarded via retreating the Meowth on the previous turn.
Andrew is playing three copies of that with none of the prizes.
He has one available and is going to see five cards this turn
with those two Recondirective and that runaway draw from the Dunsparse.
Has to shuffle real tight here if you're Andrew.
I do believe there is already a dark energy in hand.
And there it is here.
But no boss's orders quite yet.
So here we go. Recondirective number one.
The crushing hammer taken, other card placed to the bottom of the deck.
Recon directive number two, is that the boss's orders? No, just more crushing hammer.
So here we go, run away, draw three cards. Can Andrew find the boss's orders to close this game out?
He cannot, and while it's not the best to be able to not close this game out, it does seem like the inevitable is looming.
Yeah, I mean that would have been the stylistic way to end this set already.
already would be Andrew finding the boss's orders, but it may be pretty much guaranteed
Considering how small Andrew's deck is for next turn here
But of course you can't always just get the monkey Dory down anyway and start throwing the damage counters onto this mega
Kangas gone so you can start stacking up that damage and still even if they bosses orders is found anyway
Can move that one damage counter over and then still use the phantom dive so six on to Ladias here
I mean, Joji, what is the line at this point?
Seems like desperation.
This mecha-kangaskhan cannot be KO'd if it's on the bench.
It does have 230 HP or, excuse me, damage on it.
The Blood Moon Ursuluna can attack for free.
Is there a boss's orders to try and knock out something
like Fezendipity?
So it seemed like the only way to get back in
is at the help of that Pokemon.
Flutter main grabbed from the deck.
It's not going to shut off too many relevant abilities,
something like the Draklok and the active spot.
But with Andrew at one price cards,
it's just going to be an energy.
Here we go, though, going to play to every out possible.
Blood moon for 240 damage.
Thanks to that season's skill ability,
Andrew's still looking for the boss's orders.
Not able to find it off the top of the deck,
but there is the Adrenal Brain,
and that's going to close the game out,
can place it onto the Kengis gun on the bench,
and Phantom dive with the six damage counters
means that Andrew Hedrick advances to 10 and two.
At three minutes and 40 seconds left,
and Andrew is able to overcome the deck that was designed to essentially stop it fully into place.
And as we've seen, this Megalopony Vom Vom deck can get it done absolutely.
But the problem is when you don't have those dust rolls to really work around,
you're not really doing much other than 30 damage.
And Andrew played around that absolutely perfectly saying,
Okay, I'll take this 30 damage, but I have monkey Dory to send her right back at you and not even targeting the bronze on
That's not the issue. That's what most players would go for. It's actually targeting down the dust balls. That's what makes this deck on
Let's take a look at that. Let's take a look back at what was definitely one of our most intense and interesting sets of the tournament
Cruel arrow the MVP of game one like you mentioned
Targeting down Dusk, targeting down Disclops, targeting down any Pokemon that could use Curse
Blast by leaving this Bronzong to just poke very slightly, 30 damage each turn, just not
enough to put pressure onto Fezendipity, and while the Megalopony eventually got into
play, it was just a little bit too little, that one piece short for being able to close
the game out on Meowthiax.
I am so happy to at least get to feature a deck like this, because it shows creative
deck building can still be used even in something like the world championship where your deck has gone
undiscovered until the week of the tournament but still Andrew locking down at that game number one
and then monkey dory coming into the fray doing what it does best sending the damage back even
attacking at one point as well Andrew missed a huge turn with not being able to retreat the
track slope there so unfortunately for him that monkey dory did go down but still one turn
off of the evolution jammer means that Dragonbolt plug dates can absolutely open.
President Dippenadee, the MVP of game one, Monkey Gory, the MVP of game two, the confusion,
plus residual damage, healing it off thanks to that Adrenal Brain ability and Joji's deck,
just not able to keep up in the second game when that lock finally broke and when it broke yet
again, Dragcloak able to stabilize everything, Phantom Dive to take the KO, and that's
That's a star right there.
Andrew Hedrick now just one game away
from advancing into top cut.
It always just feels like Andrew Hedrick can do it
no matter what the circumstances are in front of him.
And a lot of people, I think before this match,
you see, hey, we're going to stream
Watt Bunny, Bronzong versus Dragapult.
People may ask, oh, why would you do that?
You know that this matchup can be extremely bad
for Dragapult, but as long as you know how to go around it
and that was perfect showcase by Andrew,
you do have ways to really kind of get yourself
back into the game.
And just as you know, it's not the Bronzong that's the issue.
It's actually the rest of the Dust goals ready to attack.
I mean, 4-2-4, Ethan, that's a heavy, heavy line.
Let's bring in Pablo Mesa, our analyst.
Was it this amount of maybe PTCG Live games running into this deck
in the last week that was allowing Andrew to pilot
that matchup as great as possible?
It seemed like he was doing every right thing
throughout those two games.
I mean, I generally always think that the very, very best
in the game are the best at improvising, right?
So everyone seen the hype, Andrew I'm sure,
knew the deck existed.
I would be very surprised if you actually took the time
to try or play games against it,
given its expected meta share.
Many times the online results don't really translate
to real life tournaments.
And so of course it's a powerful deck.
The Evolution Jammer is very annoying,
But when you have these extremely powerful basic Pokemon to deal with that and adapt,
I generally think Andrew always knew what the game planner was going to be heading into this.
And that's another question, you know, finding counterplay.
Does it really come down to that engine that's set up for Joji?
Or is it really, you know, in Andrew's hand to make more plays to advance the board state?
I really think it comes down to the Mega Lopony trying to...
The Mega Lopony deck with Bronson trying to do so many things, right?
slowed down the game enough with Bronson and have enough DOSNORs set up in order to threaten whatever's threatening you.
But as we can see, Andrew did a very good job in making sure there were no DOSNORs available, no threat.
The first KO he took with Fesendipity was on a DOSKAL over the BUNERY, knowing the BUNERY would allow Megalopony to take down the Fesendipity,
but that means you get to evolve into Dragapult and Megalopony going up against Dragapult straight up,
probably always going to be losing that battle and in this particular turn I
think that energy retreat was definitely a careless mistake that he mentioned
Ethan when it happened not having two energy available on the big open it
could have cost Joji towards the end but he had this amazing pivotal moment
where he had as far energies it was fine needed the perfect two cards right
boss and switch I swear my heart skipped a beat when I saw the boss as the
first cart. I'm sure everybody heard my gas. It's so close Pablo and as we're
kind of talking about the consistency of this deck. Where does this deck really
get its draw power from aside from a kengis gone right you have to rely on
putting a three prize Pokemon and the Ladi awesome play it's not just the
mega kengis gone you do also have to put that bench sitter there too. How
do you feel like this deck is going to stack up past worlds going into our
next season. I generally don't think it stacks up. Mokidori is a staple in many decks. Fesendipity
is a staple in many decks as well. And I really don't think the deck has enough to deal with those
two. And I mean, we saw it here, the lack of a drawing thing, right? The big reliance on
me, I can't ask, I'm sure you're denying evolution, but you're also giving your opponent
so much time, right? You're not drawing cards, you're not able to evolve. Just like
you're living off the top deck every single time and eventually Dragapult with its more powerful
attackers is just going to outpace you in terms of damage. Even the 30 damage you're dealing is
being utilized against you thanks to Adrenaline. Now granted Andrew did get that very lucky top
deck off the darkness energy right off the top and that definitely helped but as I tend to say
in these defining moments at the very highest level of Pokemon when both players are making
the absolute perfect decisions each and every turn. It usually comes down to deck building differences or
lock of the draw sometimes when it matters the most. And towards the end we saw this boss
disorders once again to deny the dosco. If there's no dosco or dosco available your damage
output is either 30 which is insignificant or it can be dealt with through Adrenal Brain or
Megalopony is a free-pricer that will always lose the battle against a powerful 2-priced Dragapult DX.
So overall, obviously the deck's doing pretty well. I don't know if it has what it takes to
actually beat Dragapult, the deck it is supposed to counter.
A lot to take away from that match. Thank you as always Pablo for breaking things down.
Wrap up Swiss round 11 and get ready for the horizon final Swiss round. Swiss round
Number 12 coming up very soon. We are going to take a quick break as we do. We'll take a quick sneak peek of Pokemon TCG pocket
The Pokemon training card game has some important rules.
You can only have four of each card in the deck.
You can only have one A-spec.
But what would happen if we let our trainers break any of the rules they wanted?
Well, I think I would pick a deck with a draw engine something like drag float or Zoroa or something like that
And I would play probably six of each of them that way whenever I lily and I draw eight cards
I'm gonna hit more than I normally would my opponents using to do against me doesn't matter
I got like six of these Zoroa X the drawing to
I probably play a whole bunch of aspects which I would really like because some of the aspects are really powerful
But secret box makes your deck function so well
So I could play secret box and a power card sounds good to me
Probably way more of the power cards like extra festival grounds for example
but also way more consistently six or seven lilies and way more of those
probably more of like the Pokemon themselves instead of the deck cards
like Shaman and such just to keep your deck more powerful.
I would like to play something like United Wings because we can have
have a ton of Pokémon of United Wings on this card file and attack with tons of damage
and KO everything, mostly.
I would put a lot of Ace Specs because they are the powerful card in the format.
So when I hear in words I was confused about my Ace Specs, could be on Fire Stamp, could
be Match Belt, why not play all of them?
I'd probably play more poppins and pokey pads
so I can make sure I get my drag cloaks every time.
Well, with no restrictions,
I would play at least 15 ace specs.
That would be a good start.
And I would probably play a few more drag cloaks
because they are really powerful in the drag poll deck.
I don't know.
I would probably do eight release determination,
just the consistency.
And then, yeah, I would probably do also
the six, six, so right.
I'm playing so right right now.
And I feel like more of those will never hurt.
So probably do that.
Yeah.
If there were no deck restrictions whatsoever.
And I'm also going to say no Rackendi restrictions.
I can play it on turn one, right?
I would play a deck with four Duskull, four Duskull,
or four Rackendi, and as high of a draw
and she doesn't have, I can have.
So Secret Box is going to go into every kind of deck there
and just try to turn one.
Go first, and then make sure or hope
that my opponent starts with one Pokemon,
and I can knock that up before they even get to take a turn.
Your answer is basically, if I could take thrills,
I would ruin it for everyone.
If I like control decks, I would ruin the game.
Yeah, I put the best ace of picks in all decks.
So I rest it down.
And I would say, then ace of pick before deck.
Ace a lot, it's very powerful cards.
And what deck do you think you'd play?
Eh...
I'd draw a pool with a lot of ace of pick, maybe.
LAUGHTER
Now that we've broken the rules,
Let's bring them back. Let's get back to the stream and let's watch all of our wonderful training card game players give their all
Welcome back to faster than a car. So well, I've got some new friends and they're going to they're really familiar looking actually wow
I've got some new friends and they're going to see if they're faster than a car
Now if they managed to get this right then they win a mega evolution booster pack
each how fun is that so guys I'm gonna ask you a question my cast a friend has
already done this so we've got a time for you to beat so it's a little bit of a
tricky one but it's two against one are you ready okay I'm ready I'm ready okay
so can you name me ten Pokemon which have two legs go
Piggie you too
Articuno Zaptos
We've also got this meow okay. We've got meow. Let's see who knows gotta have rapid dash
Oh no, I'm sorry
You know of course we got Charmander, how many are we had so far?
You did a great job
How did you approach the task I just thought about usually like the starters some of my favorite
Pokemon's which are from the first Pokemon movie which is the three legendary birds so
that was already like a quick easy one and for me all my favorite ones are four-legged
oh who we all pay for Pokemon and my favorite is Eevee Rapidash what's the Galarian one
I'm going to be playing
Potea at the Glaring Lake.
Oh, yeah.
That's a good one.
Moltres.
You have so many!
But yeah, it's like aww.
Well, thank you so much for playing, guys,
and join in next time for Faster than the Caster.
The final Swiss round is upon us here,
the biggest defensive of the year.
Pokemon World Championships,
where today we'll be playing down to just our two finalists.
Welcome back into the trading card game side of things.
My name's Ethan Hegging.
Emily Foreman is along with me.
could not be more excited for this final Swiss round.
And that is my favorite part of Worlds, Ethan,
is really, you know, when you get to these certain parts
of the day, there's so many match-ups,
but you actually just get down to quite literally
the last two competitors.
You can only imagine what is going through their heads
as they, you know, leave the venue and they say,
okay, well, I'm either a finalist or I'm a champion,
but also the fact that they now have, you know,
a knight to either prep against one deck.
And that can actually weigh down on you so mentally going into the finals.
But you got to talk about finals, even the chase after it's going to be an exciting Sunday.
It was built up to the climax of the event.
Build up.
Let's take a look at these final Swiss rounds.
The important notable matches.
These are just a few of the important matches going on outside.
We've got Chen-Li Zhao locked up for top cut.
He'll be playing against Nathan Sprague, who still needs that one more match point.
So it'll be interesting to see what happens there.
Rune looking to take himself into top cut.
We have Makani up against Keon Old School versus New School.
Defending, or excuse me,
previous world champion Diego Casidaga,
looking for three more match points
to get himself in a spot for top cut.
And of course, our featured match,
two players on the Winnen, Angus Johnson,
up against Satoshi Matsuri.
It's so unfortunate for Brent.
Finally, taking that first loss of the tournament,
just one round to go to can reach out who has safely locked himself into that top cut. As
you said, Brent versus Mateusz, I think both players who have had these great stories,
especially over worlds would love to see that. But of course you have these very, very
stressful and very, very intense winning ends that we just have to show, especially
when the matchups are so important. And they've been really honestly, I know it's
It's been 42% dragapult.
I know the dragapult numbers have been high,
but I think what we've done really well this weekend
is show a very diverse amount of decks on stream this weekend.
We even started with high drapble even.
I mean, there was plenty of other decks
other than dragapult brought to the world.
Our stage is ready, so let's throw things down.
Take a look at our players and take a look at what decks
they're looking to make top and cut.
We have two very distinctly different players,
Angus Johnson, a player from over in Australia,
has played a lot throughout the years,
had some solid placings at many different tournaments,
up against Satoshi Matsui,
a player from Japan who has come over to the U.S.
to live in here,
attending multiple regional championships,
playing in a bunch of different events,
has now led him to the biggest match of his career
to get into this top-cut at the World Championship.
Pokemon is a global game event,
and it's so nice to see Satoshi over here,
Okay, but here we go. We alluded to it last game, and like I said, there's been a diverse
amount of decks that have made it here to Worlds, and now granted, Alakazam and Dustnor
is one thing, but I think it's time that we feature the Crestle players that very much
deserve to get featured at this point.
Two very different decks, two very different strategies. When they clash together, it
is going to for sure be an excellent game. Dustnor working for you, and of course
the first blast ability on any Pokemon,
but over on Satoshi's side has the missed energy
to stop the Alakazam's powerful hand attack.
We'll have to see how those two factors interact with each other.
I'm interested to see how exactly Angus
is going to attack this matchup, like you had mentioned.
Not only is the Alakazam going to be coming into play
to drop the most amount of parts possible,
the main attacker very well might turn into Dusk nor Eden.
does play enough energy requirements to get shadow bind off.
Now granted the effect that no retreat would be one thing right,
but there are technically answers to missed energy in this matchup,
but also still Dusselord does have cursed blasts.
A combination of a couple of those and a couple of items in this list
could lead into crustal stimulus.
They're drawing their opening hands getting set up.
I'm just really looking to start with that Mekke Tengis gun, I guess.
It's just not, and that's immediately an important factor that's going to change how this game plays out.
It's just there for that run errand ability.
This is some of the lowest Pokémon counts we've seen in Dex, just playing 10 Pokémon total.
Or Mekke Tengis gun, and that 3-3 cross the line.
Look at the prize cards. Let's see what we can start with.
double dustclops in the prizes could definitely be a factor. No missed energy on Satoshi's side.
Double dustclops. That's all the dustclops in the proxies, Ethan.
So it is going to have to be Angus relying on rare candy, dust, nor every single time.
Now, Grint, not exactly the worst strategy here, but if Angus wants to take it a little bit slow,
we'll have to keep that in the back of his head, especially because Satoshi,
A certain supporter card loves to have a deck
build up a certain amount of cards and then just wipe it off away.
A bunch of factors at play as we jump into the final Swiss round.
So how does she kick things off?
It looks like Drew into Mega Kang has gone as the top deck potentially.
Never loved to see that when you're so close to starting that Pokemon.
Does play this Poki Gear 3.0?
I'm sure has an idea from this point that Angus is playing the version of this deck.
Did fall earlier to what is close to the same 60 cards earlier on in this tournament
To Mateus who is basically locked up a spot on top cut
So he has that valuable experience going into this matchup. What adjustments do you think he may make in this time around?
Might just have to be realizing how
Well to use not only the handheld fan when it's time to send it those energies over a way
But realizing what time it is to start using that hero skate and of course with control with crustal
It's always the question of jumbo ice cream when you want to put those directly in to play here
But for Angus at this point going to have at least a very ideal set up
I like the thought of Bidu coming into play even if Angus does have an energy to retreat could put the item lock online
At least slow Satoshi down in that matter here
It's very difficult for crustal to get mega Kangus gone into play and also double into play
without the use of item cards, can't play things like Ultra Ball can't play cards like Buddy Bunny Poffin
It's a very difficult situation a lot of the time will be reliant off the one copy of
Lumio City to end this turn but in exchange grab something like the Mechagangus gone
That could be a huge card in this spot
One of the big things that I'm noticing about Angus already is not leaning towards
Getting a bunch of Abra out but instead going full right away with the amount of dust goals
Granted, if Satoshi is unable to find a Hero's Cape, a health modifier at that point,
Double Cursed Blast could very well be online at this point.
So I want to see if Angus is going to be able to find the lines to get through.
But Satoshi, under Item Lock, like you said, did draw the Hilda a little bit earlier,
so he can get into the Crustle this turn, but not much else.
We'll play the Hilda.
Curious to see what energy card will get grabbed.
something like the Missed Energy is great if you play down this early, you're still susceptible for a powerful hand to take the KO or even something like Cursed Blast and not playing something like a stadium card down to grab Mega Kangascon means that if there's no health modifier,
Crystal just gets KO'd by a single rare candy dust nor very curious to see what else after she has in his hand.
And this is what Angus has done with setting up a double Abra here, right?
Definitely needs all three pieces of the Dust Ghouls to really get things going,
but those four cards essentially with psychic draw that he is going to draw two off of each Abra,
it's going to be pretty important here.
But like you said, Ethan, Miss Energy grabbed, and so is this.
So is the crustal, but the petrol is unfortunately unable to be played,
and that would have been an easy answer to find the hero's game.
big card in hand. It was top-decked on the previous turn. Mega Kangaskhan EX receiving the mist energy,
mainly because the crustal's ability preventing it from taking damage from non EX Pokemon. Not
very useful in this matchup when Alakazam gets right through that if you don't have a mist energy.
I'm wondering if those early turns of Ichi Pollen and the way that it kind of stops Satoshi's setup
is it if Satoshi is really just going to go into Mega Kangaskhan and that's going to be the
the one that's doing the attacking rather than Crustle just kind of hanging out here.
But there's the Gwyn instead to actually discard the pieces, Kedabra and Dusknor to instead
of draw four, actually draw six cards here.
It feels like such a big ask, especially because both of those Dusk Globs are prizey then.
You have to find double rare candy, double Dusknor to get it done.
It seems unlikely on this turn.
We also of course saw two of the strange timepiece be used to draw some extra card
with the Kadabra. There's the first card. Rare Candy on Dusknoir will be the itchy
pound, so waiting to use that ability. So close because Angus actually has pretty
much, I think, double Rare Candy already in hand as well here. So Satoshi using the
Lily's Determination at this point to try and find that Hero's Cape so
important. But I think also what is also really important, this turn, Ethan,
is finding another energy attachment as well. The thing is with a lot of
these control lists and as we saw yesterday with Sander, no acceleration means that these
turns are very kind of picky on how exactly you want to go. A miss of an energy attachment
or even that heroes cape kind of spells out a really big disaster just being off for one
turn. Heroes cape, that A-spec allowing Pokemon, that tool card is attached to to have a hundred
more HP. Definitely a difference maker. Big find here would be another copy of
Megakangaskhan along with a missed energy. It's hard enough as it is to deal
with one Megakangaskhan with a missed energy. Dealing with two, assuming
Satoshi can consistently find energy cards is even more difficult.
Let's find the missed energy again, but also the growing grass energy.
I'm wondering if Satoshi has decided that this crustal is not going to be
worth kind of keeping up all the way with the health modifiers just because
one dust nor is already in play, but instead getting that Megakangaskhan
ready, but instead is going to commit the growing grass energy and the pass back over.
So that crustal is going to get a little bit more health here, but here comes Angus.
That's a lot of card drawing. Drawing a bunch of cards. And this is the tough part of starting with
Dwebble in this matchup. You, of course, want that mecha-kengis gone in the active to use
that run air and ability. If you play cards like switch too early on and your opponent is
able to trap something like crustal in the active spot, it really slows down the setup
where the more cards you're able to see, the better positions you will be for that big combo turn.
And talk us through a little bit about that combo turn that Angus is looking to put together.
Well, he's looking for a couple of Cursed Blasts onto the Mega Kangus gone,
and if he's able to get all three actually set up, could use because the Crustle doesn't
have a Miss Energy Attach, a powerful hand to take the Naka, but could also use
the Shadowbind down the line as well.
I mean, that's the best part about Dusknoir also being a psychic type is that,
yes, while it's a ton of energy commitment,
this Pokemon tech can technically attack.
Was that earlier in the field watching this matchup?
Something specific that Mateus did,
and I'm not sure Angus will do the same,
is a similar strategy.
Double Rare Candy, double Dusknoir,
powered up with another Duskcloth to force his opponent to three cards,
and then use that special red card to hand disrupt,
was able to put Satoshi in a pretty unfavorable spot.
I have to imagine if that's what he's building up to,
especially with Ichi Pal and slowing down
all of the potential options for Satoshi
to play these item cards to either get Pokemon into play,
to find supporter cards.
Really, that extra time bot is super valuable.
What I am worried about though, Ethan, is, well, yes,
Rare Candy Dusk Nor Rare Candy Dusk Nor.
This Dust Globs, or this Dust Goal, excuse me,
is missing a Dust Globs of that equation here.
So instead, just going to itchy pollen once more
as things are getting up and running at least online here.
So the Alakazam can't damage the Mega Kangaskhan,
but is Angus going to find the final piece
to essentially blow everything up here?
But Team Rocket's Petrel being played,
as you alluded to a little bit earlier,
it's gotta be for that hero's cave.
The Angus was so close to winning the game on that turn.
Double Cursed Blast, I guess it would be just a little bit short.
Looking for that third Cursed Blast ability, if you can find the rare candy,
it would be almost there, right?
Mega Kangascon with 200, excuse me, 300 HP means Double Cursed Blast plus a Dust Globs.
However, there are two in the prize cards, and that is a difficult factor for Angus.
Importantly though, that Hero's Cape you mentioned being found from the Petrel
means Mega Kangascon gets even more beefy and even more difficult to take care of.
Unfortunately, Hero's Cape is a tool and not an item, so there's nothing that really
Padook can really do about that part here.
So Satoshi, of course it's going on the Megacangus gone here, but I can only imagine that Satoshi
is really kind of saying to himself, it's time to start getting the Megacangus gone.
Now that the Hero's Cape is online, start to build up this Megacangus gone, where
it could potentially even start attacking next turn, if an energy was already fed
to it.
Ethan, walk me through it.
curious here debating which energy card to attach and while the missed energy on
the crustal will prevent it from being hit from a powerful hand attack it can
easily be dealt with with a cursed blast ability and these missed energy are the
most important resources in this matchup. We're gonna see a commit to the
active now all of a sudden that's one energy so she may need towards the end
of the game. Yeah what's really unfortunate here too is that I don't
know if Angus decides that it's time for Crustle to go.
That's going to be a mega-kangaskon just hanging out here.
But the problem is, Ethan, is that that energy was really
actually committed already to the Crustle.
So this mega-kangaskon, well, yes,
it's sitting at 400 hit points here.
We'll see Crustblast use onto the active Crustblast number
two, damaging that mega-kangaskon on the bench.
This crustal is just hanging on, it seems.
Well, hanging on by 10, and that's
but do still in the active that's going to be the choice attacker
here, and still putting Satoshi under item lock at this point.
So I'm wondering if it is time for that Sacred Ash being
used to reestablish, and we'll have to go back and work
just a little bit harder.
It depends on what Angus took off the prizes as well.
Not many rare candies left here,
so it is going to have to be the old way of going
from basic to stage one to stage two
in order for this play to be made again.
So the Duke can of course continue with the item locking.
You do see that sacred ash shuffle,
the Pokemon back into play.
There's the buddy buddy poppin',
just playing through all of the steps,
seeing how things should have played out.
Just wanna double check the math on the Crusul.
So right now it does have that growing grass energy,
so it receives 20 extra HP.
There was a couple of itchy pollen use on that active Pokemon.
Of course, just a little bit more bulky, just hanging on.
And now the question becomes,
can we see a third Cursed Blast from Angus
followed by some way to deal with the following mega-kangus gone
in combination with something like disruption?
But the problem is Ethan because of that miss energy being attached to the crustal instead of the mega kengis gone
This mega kengis gone is still just going to be
Attaching an energy and essentially doing nothing with it can't use the jumbo ice cream
I believe because there's no three energy on this Pokemon
So unfortunately for Satoshi not going to be able to actually sift all the way through that might be a win
And I think that is a win for Hengiz.
Get confirmation on who picked up their cards.
I'm sure she was still in a great spot,
had the Vist energy on his Pokemon,
and with their not being enough cursed last to be used,
it looks like Satoshi is taking that game.
There's just not enough ways to deal damage to that Pokemon.
That's the hard part about Prostal,
is that, and especially with this deck of Alakazam
and Dustmore, there are weird things that counts.
Those two Dustbots being prized,
messes up the map come completely here so I'm interested to see where it all kind
of went wrong for Angus because he had the right idea Ethan but Satoshi being
named the game winner it seems like he's got it. He just wasn't able to
capitalize off the cursed blast ability that missed energy really throwing a
wrench in Angus' plan started off early with the hand disruption but
importantly here Satoshi taking that Xerosix machinations off the prize
followed by the missed energy still on the mega kengis gone and consistent
energy attachments just too much for angus to be able to deal with and this
being the final round these players really do not want to take a tie
definitely not and you're if you're not reliably back into your win condition
you blink and you miss it angus understanding I just need more time to
get it done so Satoshi while not starting mega kengis on still was able
to get really through everything.
So going into the second match,
Sadducee didn't do much,
but he still had that missed energy.
It's Genghis Khan to deal with the amount
of cursed glass Genghis had.
What does he need to do differently
to take the second game?
It's really hard to say.
I mean, if Genghis doesn't,
I mean, the most obvious answer is,
don't prize double-crust blocks, right?
That forces Genghis to use a lot more resources
than he wants to use.
I know he does play the strange time piece as well,
But I feel like in this matchup it's not going to actually come into play as much.
It's really Angus just has to face ways to go just a little bit faster than Sato.
She had the right idea with Purdue stopping everything there,
but the thing is Petrol grabs Hero's Cape.
It's an item. It can be, or it's a tool, excuse me. It can be used.
We'll get into game number two. Angus opting to go first this time around.
Starts with that telepathic psychic energy onto Dusko.
will get the bad news that there are a couple important Pokemon in the prize
cards the importance of rare candy cannot be stated enough with there being
two Kadabra plus a rare candy it may be a bit harder to get into a bunch of
dust nor throughout the game that's not what you want to see doubles
consistently being prized and for Kadabra I mean granted there are four
Kadabra in this list but I guess if Angus is going first if Satoshi by
chance misses the energy. This could be a big big turn for Angus going back into his turn. So has
to do his best at this point to try and get set up fully. Ideally would like to see one more
dust globs before passing on over to Satoshi's turn. Can always be some inconsistent air issues
with deck like Crustle. You're very reliant on starting with that mega kengis gun and when
that's not the case, things can definitely get out of hand. There is nothing going on in his
hand. Just a Hilda can play that to grab a missed energy and use ascension, but then
the Crustle would be so close to being KO'd.
So it's a matter of if Angus is essentially going to draw the same combinations of cards
he needed a little bit earlier. Like you had mentioned, Ethan, Hilda being played
now can grab the Crustle here.
And as it stands, even something like a psychic energy rare candy dust nor would
deal enough damage to take a KO.
You can use the mumble attack on Dust goal.
That deals 30, plus the 130 from Curse Blast.
Let's see what Angus can find.
He's looking through the deck very quickly.
Candy Dust nor plus an energy card.
That will be our second game.
One big thing about this list that I don't think
we're in the situation to really talk about,
but we can talk about here is I love the way
that this list plays four copies of Gwen.
So I know a little bit earlier,
we talked about how double Kadabra being prized,
not exactly what you want to see.
But when you play so many non-Rulebox Pokemon
within this list, Gwyn is a great way
to get yourself to draw a plethora of cards.
And honestly, for Angus, does it come down to,
once again, finding rare candy dust?
No, there are three.
There's the rare candy, Ethan, and the Gwyn,
but no Rulebox Pokemon to discard, I believe.
Yeah, there's not enough going on.
We're going to see the mumble action in our final Swiss round.
Just a piece short.
If there was a dust door in hand, that would be all she wrote.
And what a top deck from Satoshi finds the pokey gear.
That's half of the equation.
Now needs to look a bit awkward on the right side of his deck.
Seven cards from the top.
Can he find something like Lily's determination?
Does find Petrel, and that might be good enough
to get Megacangus gone into play.
Could be Megacangus gone.
Could also be the hero's cape as well here.
So it matters on what Satoshi wants to prioritize, excuse me.
See how he's going to play it down.
Petrel, very important key card in this list.
Well, could also be the Lumio City to grab the mega Kangaskhan, even.
That would end his turn, but honestly, that's actually
the pivot that he's going for, actually prioritizing
mega Kangaskhan, over getting that hero's cape.
See what the choice is.
It is the Lumio City, so that comes down
to play guaranteeing mega kengis gone the energy attachment to start threatening some pressure
with the crustal now thinking about which energy card to be there it is going to be the growing grass
energy buffing this crustal HP by 20 and mega kengis god makes his way into the battle honestly
from toji it feels like a weird play to use petrol out of all things to grab lumeo city out
of all things but that's actually the only way i believe to grab mega kengis gone out of this
deck aside from I believe there's just one ultra play and the thing is with
control you want your whole menu essentially available to you at every
time what's the draw Ethan no Angus has nothing just drew a card for turn and
played down retreats into Abra and plays the Lumio City to end the turn no
Alakazam no Kadabra no way to draw any cards or fine cards and this slow
down opens the door up for Satoshi to try and retreat into mega Kangaskhan
or even take some chaos and this like you said we're either retreat into mega kengis gone or get that mega kengis gone up
And running here, but is the energy attachment of the spiky energy on over to Satoshi here?
And this is massive yeah
Then now starting to take all the energy off of the board for Angus as well doesn't play too many in this alakazam list
I believe place for telepathic and only one psychic so can potentially run out of resources to even attack
back. Pressure being put on
Crustle. It's not something you often
see with this deck early on. Top
deck of the night stretcher has
Fezzendipity EX, flip the script to draw
cards, but those cards are not
helpful. Double buddy buddy
coffin and bosses orders and you do
not want to bring mega kengis gone into the active
spot right now. Not just that, but the
Fezzendipity as well. You don't want
to bench, but might have to and I do
believe did to draw some more
cards at this point and just a pass back
Passing a Hilda top deck absolutely massive can now put a missed energy onto mega kengis gone ensuring powerful hands
Can never be attacked onto that Pokemon. It's a bigger point here, too
I mean you look at how many cards are in the tech here for Angus and not being able to even utilize Gwyn to draw any poke any
Cards here, excuse me six cards. Unfortunately couldn't be drawn and now it's up to Satoshi
to really kind of start driving away with this game.
And I have a fear that he already has.
I mean, this kid, Dabra, is in the active here,
won't get into Alakazam, and that's a lot of energy
now off the board.
Angus can't really do much at all.
And if Satoshi can take three prize cards
before Angus applies pressure,
that will limit him to just two curse blast abilities.
We've seen how powerful it is
when this Alakazam dust door deck can use three,
even four curse blasts sometimes.
So these early prize cards,
While they don't mean much on the surface, they do matter in the long run.
I mean, Satoshi can absolutely take his time at this point.
Like a kid in a park just dropping the ice cream on a hot sunny day.
Some things never change.
Yeah, no. I mean, you have essentially anything that you want to do here in Satoshi,
not being threatened by a special red card,
so can still just keep using this crustal to take some prize cards.
And that's exactly what he wants to do, get a little bit more aggressive.
Angus would be down to one Abra here,
but the problem is it's not about Alakazam attacking anymore.
Like you said, that missed energy is in play,
and this is the general fear with Crustle.
A lot of players say that Crustle
wasn't the play for this event,
but that seems to be when Crustle
gets the most amount of power.
When players are just not considering it anymore,
you look back a couple of months ago
to enhance hammer being used,
to Dene being in the list,
and that could have solved so many issues,
But now, unfortunately, for Angus, has to rely on finding these dust clubs and these dusknoors to get things done.
I really can't afford to play things like Rescue Stretcher all free and without consequences.
You need these cards to recover your dusknoor line.
We'll see when I draw some more cards, six cards found.
There are still just the one dusknoor drawn in.
Do you see a pair of rare candy in the hand?
However, you're going to really need to combine these Cursed Blast abilities together to have a strong effect.
Now with Satoshi being at four prize cards, it would mean a pivotal turn could come into play.
Dustnor's Cursed Blast forces Satoshi to take a prize card, turning on the special red card.
If there's some sort of force attacking power on Angus' side,
it could lead Satoshi in a side where he's unable to respond with enough setup and enough pressure.
Well, the thing is with Satoshi going down to two prize cards
With this mega kengis gone already having one energy Satoshi can very well take the next couple of turns to get
Re-acclimated with potentially attacking with this mega kengis gone. So while yes angus hanging on this crustal is really good
You have to consider the fact that this mega kengis gone will be able to start attacking in about two turns here
and then Satoshi would be down to three prize cards
and then there's a Fezendipity as well,
could very well see a heads for the win.
Threat number one is not this puzzle.
It's 100% mega Kangaskhan.
It's just so beefy and so difficult to deal with.
That Pokemon will constantly present a threat.
We're gonna see the retreat from the Abra into this Badoo
and comboed with what I assumed
to be a special red card at some point,
not forced to play at this turn
when Emily is the opportune time to play that card.
probably right now at this point, right?
I mean, Satoshi's got three cards left in deck.
You definitely don't want everything you have available to you,
but I think what's really important, Ethan,
and Satoshi just showed the camera,
there are three Jumbo ice creams,
or at least two that I saw within that hand.
So very important to know that now that these damage counters
are going to be flown here,
Pokemon's got our ladies actually drawn here,
so could heal some more damage,
but I don't see anything else in terms of health,
of help, but my goodness, speaking of help, Ethan.
Lily's determination in the top deck.
Lily's determination in the hand,
but I honestly would like to see Satoshi
hold on to that card this turn.
Guarantee healing off that mega Kangaskhan.
You're basically playing protect the president at this point.
Mega Kangaskhan is essentially your big man.
Your whole backbone of the strategy,
you can hold on and maybe even just deal
with the bigger threat, which is these Duskull,
holding the Lily, leaving options for next turn,
a smart play here for Satoshi.
not just see that Lily and immediately slam it down. And that's it. Angus understands he cannot
win this game. Satoshi Matsui advances into the world championship top cut with none other than Krustle.
It might have been the fastest Krustle set we've ever seen on extreme Ethan and Satoshi
excited of course for himself. You gotta be bummed right? I mean you're making it in
to asymmetrical top cut with a deck that nobody considered really. Let's be honest right a lot
players were saying you know what why would you ever bring Krustle to the
world championship Alakazam is going to play that in hands hammer it's going to
be a bunch of festival lead that you're going to be finding your way but
still as long as you know the matchup you got it down on box or so to say
congratulations making it in and look how excited the guys are.
had to battle through two days of competition to get to this point as we
take a look back on how that set played out it really were these opening
turns that define the game. It's cheap how long to try and disrupt but the timed petrol was
able to get the heroes cape, the mega kengis gone was the top deck for turn and it's just so difficult.
We're girls of how you approach it that deal with a 400 HP missed energy attack mega kengis gone.
Yeah no matter which way you put it right and the problem is you just don't have enough ways to
replenish the resource of the curse blast to keep doing it over and over. You can full clear
at one point but it's just not enough to go all the way to 400 so for Angus unfortunately
what a close close game at least for game number one but in game number two I mean just a boss's
orders onto that dust ball saying you know what do you have an energy to even retreat and that's
a lot to ask for a deck that's only playing five energy in total. Yeah once again don't really
see Crustle get into the prize lead in matches like these taking prizes consistently turn
after turn and the slow set up for Angus of course it does take time to put a bunch of dust or into play
Just felt like it wasn't enough pressure not overwhelming enough and it really was this border
Crustle with a missed energy taking care of the pokemon and that mega kangis gone for backup with still 170 hp left
It's too much for angus to overcome and stop the sheet and it fancies into our top
Well, you can't play crustle aggressive
You know, why not? We're learning new things every day here at the world championship
I mean, that's that's what is really important here, right, is being able to adapt on the fly and nobody saw this Alakazam and nobody saw this dust norm being paired together coming, right?
So we didn't really get to see a stream. Time fees. We didn't really even get to see what the deck can truly do other than yesterday, right?
Matae's hands. But the thing is, Crustle is it's it's inevitable. You're going to face one, right?
that here's the thing. You can't go by in the Pokemon trading card game without hitting an uncomfortable matchup and you can't go by without hitting control. You have to do your due diligence and learning how your deck does go against these decks because listen, they're out there. Whether you like them or not, you will hit one. Sometimes you hit one on your winning end. That really sucks.
It definitely want to circle back around to the fact that Satoshi just a few rounds earlier played against this matchup
And that's valuable experience
Maybe came in a little bit unknown against the player who had a game plan and it seems like the experience
He learned the importance of getting the missed energy to play the importance of valuing mega Kangaskhan early and more importantly
There were few opportunities he could have retreated into the Kangaskhan tried it by some more cards of blood Aaron
I think that would offer him in this match.
Yeah, especially when Angus is the one who needs to kind of rush and go faster and faster each turn, right?
And had absolutely the tools to do it with Wind, for example, drawing, evidently, six cards.
But it felt like there were pairs hiding in the prizes every single time, right?
A pair of Kid Dabra, a pair. I think game one really was because of the prize cards, right?
Unable really to get things going. But honestly, don't take it from us.
I want to hear from Satoshi himself.
Hello. Hello. Hello. We're here with Satoshi, who just won with the only, the one, the very
mysterious guy at Crustle. Killing it on the world stage, the first time that you've been
featured, you just let me know. How does it feel to have been up there with that
I've been awesome. I mean I feel awesome. I was so lucky to be honest, but I mean today's my day.
It is your day and you can only revel in that energy. How did it feel coming into the event with Crustle?
Did it feel risky or did you feel like nah nah no one's respecting this right now?
I mean, no one's respecting.
That's why I got so much, like so many good games.
Lucky and I have so many good friends.
So, and they recommend me to play Crustle.
I'm like, yeah, why not?
Yeah, exactly, you've got it.
Do you want to give some of those friends a shout out?
Are they here supporting you?
I think that's just that.
Yeah, shout out to Lillian, Steph, Carter, Johnny,
Michael, John, Henry, Abban, and Rahul.
Yeah, Mustafa, everybody, but yeah.
And then shout out to my parents, too.
Yeah, absolutely.
We got to wrap the people who got us here, haven't we?
Absolutely.
Incredible show with Prustle so far.
How are we feeling?
Jettisoning yourself into the top tables of this event,
did you ever imagine yourself being in this position?
No, not at all, because I've never made cash.
I've never made top cut.
This is my first top cut.
That would be like, yeah, this is just crazy to me.
At the World Championship, you said you haven't even
been playing that long.
What's your journey into the game been like?
I mean, I started it when Prismatic came out,
and then I got into it.
So, Craig, I like Pokemon.
I mean, my name is Satoshi.
Satoshi is an ash.
So I'm like, I hope you play Pokemon.
And I guess I'm just left by Pokemon.
It was meant to be.
that's what we're going to do.
We're going to throw it back to
the cast. This was a more good
times. Thank you. Thanks so much,
Amy. Great to hear from our
winner of May. Is there a
possibility he is the real
Ash Ketchum in this tournament
trying to become a Pokemon
master. You know, when I
realized that, as he said, then
I was like, that's gotta be
that as he said, then I was like that's got to be some plot armor, man. And I think it's
so impressive. And it really is kind of showing that no matter how long you've been playing,
you can make it to this world stage. I do believe Satoshi said he started in prismatic
from what I heard prismatic believe it or not is not that far ago in terms of sets.
So realistically, it's about the people that you surround yourself with as well.
I heard some great names there in terms of support for Satoshi, so when you got a good testing group honestly get even anything is possible
And that's what the world championships are about
Of course you have the players that are expected to perform well, but it feels like every year
There's always a Cinderella story. Yeah, you know unknown players someone who made their way through
grinding local events or the regional circuit or whatever events
have had a huge breakout position, but with the right deck with the right look and with the right matchups find themselves in a spot where they go on this epic journey to try and take home a trophy title.
And you want to talk about Cinderella stories. I know that we can't talk about everything just yet, but Oivind, a player who is of course one of a favorite of Europe and who had an amazing run at the World Championship last year, I believe, just locked himself into asymmetrical top cut again.
And this is what we're talking about.
There are way too many players here to feature at once.
It's so unfortunate that we can't have eyes
all over the place.
But this is why it's important for you all to keep up
as well, too, it will help us out.
And honestly, I'm just so excited to see
how the rest of the day is going to go.
We're going up to our final two competitors.
Somebody's gonna be a champion tomorrow, Ethan.
As we get ready for top cut,
we'll make sure, of course,
we break down the players, all the decks.
This is the place you want to be, you are a Pokemon TCG fan.
We are going to have such exciting action for our top cut.
I just can't wait.
I mean, we keep saying it, and it's going to feel surreal.
But tomorrow, the Chase Center.
Pokemon cards in the Chase Center, Ethan.
It's going to be crazy.
I have no words to describe what this place is
going to look like, what it's going to sound like,
how excited and nervous at the same time
these players are going to be.
course will be featuring the juniors division, seniors division and master's
division finalists will be crowning three champions for the Pokemon TCG tomorrow at the chase.
And what's very fun about watching the other age divisions is how different the
meta is for a lot of our age divisions. Back at NAIC, you and I, Ethan,
commented in a haunch crow winning, haunch crow and raging bolt, right?
So I really love these younger divisions, especially because you kind of get
to see their journeys up through the masters as well.
plenty of the players that you see today in Masters also started in Juniors.
Yeah, long road for a lot of these competitors. We talked yesterday about Ross
Coffin. He's been playing in every world championship. We have players here that
this is their first world championship. This is their first season, you know,
someone like Satoshi, for example, who just made himself a top cut
representative. There are so many different journeys people take to get to
this spot and that's what makes the game so special. When you sit down
against your opponent. You have no idea what their journey has been. How many hours they've
practiced, who they've lost to, who they've beaten. That's what makes the game so special.
And it's really a global game. It always will be a global game, not just at the World Championship.
People are flying hours and hours to go all over the world, whether you're from North America,
from Australia. But speaking of North America, Ethan, one of our breakout stars
from last season, Karris Jones, is currently at the feature match table. And I think we're
going to try to pull up the match here so we can keep going and keep figuring out some
of these matchups here. Ethan, I mean, she's still piloting this Alakazam.
Yeah, and up against a very interesting deck. So these players currently at 7, 1, and 3.
So potentially on the cusp of top cut, a win would give them 27 match points. Kind
and it just right around that angle.
We'll see Fan Rotom start things off
and I am seeing some very interesting Pokemon
in using Chas Deck.
Yeah, here's the thing, Ethan.
We saw Megalopony a little bit earlier,
paired with a couple of other friends.
I actually think used deck is majorly going to be
just colorless box.
So using the Fan Rotom to find all of your support
Pokemon that being done sparse
and then bringing your Megalopony in play.
This is kind of what we saw originally with Megalopony
being the one that's kind of the attacker
and then just using the Dunspar to keep drawing cards here.
But I'm interested to see if Karris Jones is
having an answer at least to the missed energy
that's inevitably going to come down onto this Megalopony.
And this immediately presents a problem for Karris
trying to find some way to deal with that card.
She of course, for her Indianapolis win,
was able to deal with it
Thanks to the Denny to bring back the double enhanced hammer.
But if those cards are not in the list,
things could definitely get out of hand quickly.
Just peeking over the list right now
does have a couple of copies of handheld fan
that could go through.
But I'm not seeing that very signature enhanced hammer
that helped her win in Deanapolis, as you mentioned here.
Take a look at the handheld fan count.
It is two.
And you have to always remember this Alakazam deck with the Dunsparse can do an infinite loop where they don't deck out
thanks to the Dunsparse plus another Dunsparse on the following turn.
So you have to go for some sort of attacking strategy.
Megaloppenet, if it can attack consistently, will deal with every Pokemon in this deck.
The question just becomes, how many missed energy can you consistently get onto that Pokemon
to avoid a powerful hand from taking out your mega evolution Pokemon?
One thing that I do love about used deck as I'm looking at the deck list
does at least play one copy of Wally's Compassion,
as we saw with this deck many moons ago at this point here.
But one thing that I thought was missing from the Bronze on Lopony deck just a little bit more
was actually Wally's Compassion.
This Mega Lopony gives up a lot of prize cards
and players really do love to prioritize it.
But for Karras' turn, having only one Abra here,
not exactly what you want to see, but double attachment
for the missed energy onto the Lopunny there
all the way through.
I mean, that Lopunny is going to take a knockout this term,
but that handheld fan is only going
to be able to move one missed energy.
But the thing is, Ethan, you can either move it to a done
sparse, and that's going to go back into the deck.
You move it to the fan rotom, and that
can be used to still attack here
if there's a stadium in play.
Or you just move it to the other mega Lopunny EX
when it comes into play?
Yeah, not great options whatsoever.
Missed energy count, 100% we're seeing in multiple matchups
how Missed energy truly shuts down Alakazam.
And that was the big adjustment for the deck
going into this event, not expecting many players
to include that card in their deck
and decided to free up some spots,
play some more consistency cards,
play other forms of disruption.
And we've seen that in these later rounds
towards the end of the tournament,
some players are getting punished for their mistake.
And I'm very interested to see,
and I would love to talk to you on why deciding to go with a deck like this.
It feels like the only deck in the room that's truly prepared for Alakazam.
And really, I mean, nobody truly was prepared for Alakazam this entire time here.
So it is going to be fan-roaring going up into the active here.
I'm wondering if you want to take a little bit more of an aggressive approach,
saying I don't really care about this Genesect here,
and would rather just go straight to the Abra?
Definitely can.
Of course, moving that Fan Rotom out of the active spot
can be a bit of a challenge.
You do have to commit some resources.
You never really want to play Switch
if it's not getting you an attack for turn.
Something like the Air Balloon is better on to the Megalopony
since you can retreat into the Dunsparse,
then shuffle it back in,
and you basically get a free reset on your Gale Thrust attack.
There's also the Spikey Hopper attack
that can just consistently be used.
use, do 160 damage, get through everything in this deck,
and that way you don't have to constantly be moving in and out.
It's really going to come down to, yet again,
how many missed energy can be put into play,
and more importantly, how disruptive is that handheld fan?
Pass back on over, the battle cage is played,
so that requirement for assault landing has been filled here.
One Pogiepad off of the runaway draw has been found,
so that is at least another Abra,
Or it could be a cadavera if Karris really wants to spin the wheel and optimally draw some more cards.
But as you can see, it is going to be Hilda for the turn.
Telepathic psychic energy found, and that means Karris now reliably has some ways to grab some more Pokemon out of the deck.
The question still looms, Emily. What is the response to missed energy?
The Genesect with this handheld fan, of course, can interact with that attack.
And you're just losing that Pokemon. There's already two missed energy on, so you're still
safe from a potential powerful hand on following turns. You always have to ask yourself if the
Pokemon TCG, when your back is up against the wall, what can I do to play around the
conditions my opponent is setting? And for Karris, there's not a lot. Super Cybold
can hit that Pokemon, but it's only going to do 30 damage. The Dunsparse take so much
time to power up and bosses orders can easily put a wrench in those plans I
just struggle to see how Karris finds a way out of this game. Well according to
the list if I'm reading it correctly I mean Karris does at least play a copy
of Lily's Clefairy EX so that could be powered up but the problem is one thing
that Mega Lot Bunny does extremely well and what this deck is really known for
is the amount of switches that it's used to get Lot Bunny out of the
active so Gale for us can go back in. So if she were to promote a 2 prize
Pokemon that's easy pickings for someone like you to really take advantage of.
And I think you realize is that his lotbunny is technically completely safe.
He can use all of this time even with Genesect in the active with ace
nullifier now in effect because of the tools. He can really use just sit back
and say you know what I don't need my enriching energy just yet. I'll attack
when I really feel like it.
Lily's Clefairy can, of course, attack that Megalopony.
It's an effects of attack that that Missed Energy blocks.
And more importantly, that handheld fan.
If it's available, it's probably best used
onto that Clefairy EX.
Being able to just disrupt and pressure your opponent
to attack into you yet again.
A big factor in this match.
And we see Cares prevent herself from benching that Pokemon,
ideally with the plan to use something
like a wondrous path to attack with it on the same turn it comes into play.
You kind of want to leave your only attacking Pokemon in this matchup as a surprise.
As we mentioned a little bit earlier, you is only playing one, I believe, copy of the Wally's
Compassion. So while, yes, these full boards will be able to at least buff the damage,
you will have to use that Wally's Compassion very, very carefully here. That's a fire energy,
Ethan, going to be at least an assault landing onto the only draw Pokemon that done sparse right now
I just want to use bosses orders take care of that Pokemon
You never know what fun surprises could be in play
See one of those fun surprises that the done sparse EX over on use side
So just wants to play around every potential option shut the draw power off force
Kadabra and Alakazam to come into play and with that it does limit the
total amount of draw throughout the game that Karris will have by taking out
something like the Dunsparse or Dunsparse. I just want to talk about
use lists just a little bit just knowing that we went into worlds and
especially Liam Halliburton and toward playing a Zorak list with four watch
tower it feels very dangerous to go up against a kind of a meta that feels
kind of planned against you here but you was actually playing three battle
cage and one copy of the jamming tower so a lot of these tools the
players love to use like air balloon shutting off actually helps them in the
end as Donnie is going to be used for turn couple more cards being drawn here
but I love the way that you is actually just protecting the Lopony until it's
time really to go in and start taking these prize cards and if jamming towers
played down at the right time the game almost ends on the spot you shut
off the handheld fan for that turn you keep your two missed energy on
your Pokemon and if the one psychic pattern wonderous patch excuse me is used to power up
Lillis Clefairy then your opponent has to telegraph and attack on the following turns
meeting bosses orders can easily clean things up.
Harris has got to act quick in this spot if she wants to keep herself in this game.
Plenty of cards in hand to go alongside her as well.
Very well gets set up another Dunsparse as well.
She's going to put it down.
I'm wondering if she's going to fill that final bench slot.
Yep, with Dunsparse as you've alluded to Ethan I think it is really smart to
not just put forward the Lily's Clefairy until it's attacking, but more so importantly until the
Megalopony is attacking. You don't want to reveal it now, but more so instead when the benches are
full for her against the Lopony instead. That's at least going to give her the most amount of prize
cards possible. And especially because you is only playing one Wally's Compassion, that damage
is going to stay there after that for the rest of the game.
Pass of the turn, we see Miss Energy number three.
That is a lot of special energy attached to this Pokemon,
really making sure that Alakazam does not deal a powerful hand attack to that Megalopping.
I think what's also interesting is that we don't get to see the prize cards when it's on a featured patch,
but the thing is there's still a Baneary on the bench that does at least need one copy of Miss Energy at some point here.
So you will draw six cards from this Lily's determination,
and you'll find that jamming tower stadium to shut off the handheld fan.
Still two use of the runaway draw at his disposal.
See, three cards drawn.
Did Dunspar shuffle back into the deck?
See if Dunspar's can come back down to reuse that ability later on in the game.
But even if you was unable to find something like the jamming tower,
He's got two missed energy as a backup and has to assume that at most
Keras has one more handheld fan available at her disposal. Yeah, it feels pretty good at this point here for you
three cards drawn
Both done sparse gone for the time being there's one from the hand
Pauphin would also be a great card. There's a air balloon
So sure access for this megalopony to move down the line
I don't think I've ever seen so many cards attached to a lot before Ethan usually it's just a a energy and
That's all you kind of need as long as you can get in it out of the active
But this may go this make a lot money is going to be the one that does it here
And just another pass back on over to Keras inside here really just respecting the handheld fan as much as possible
Maybe you was trying to toy with her patience just a little bit
Alakazam does draw plenty of cards and we are in our final round of swiss here
Yeah, both players have access to that to Dunspar's loop
So they won't be decking out in this game and with you being the only one to essentially deal damage consistently
It really just comes down to resources with that being the case
There's no incentive for you to attack until he has a way to shut off this handheld fan
That's when he's going to get the most value and the most use out of that jamming tower all the time in the world for you
Now as Karras can still just keep going
Set up the amount of cards and really I think you should say you can take this fan rotum
I've given it to you on a silver platter, but I can see her just passing over and over again
It's one of the most viral clips from the season of her just saying you know what if you fall in past
Maybe thinking about an alternate win condition to stall something out, but that doesn't work, right?
Because the DUNS sparse can keep looping. Now, there is a world where both players get into an infinite board state
where no one is progressing things and things go back and forth, and it can definitely get complicated.
But how many resources you still have access to? I'm not sure we'll quite see that happen.
No DUNS sparse in play, a knockout on the DUNS sparse because of boss's orders plus powerful hand.
and see if you can find that jamming tower,
considering playing something like the Nightstretcher.
Pokey Gear here.
Now, you did at least drive Lily's determination,
so could refresh the hand if anything else,
but still buying time, essentially.
Boss's orders here could get aggressive
and go after the Alakazam without the tool on it.
Just start to at least get prize cards of his own
with that Mega Law Bunny,
with the air balloon on it, but the problem is,
does you want to start getting aggressive now?
At least we'll set up the DUNS spars here.
You can just use another assault landing on a DUNS sparse.
Keep the energy in play.
I was wondering what to go with, of course,
attacking into this Alakazam with Fanroton.
Definitely not a wise choice.
We've seen Hugo out of his way to play around that.
Really just wants every missed energy as possible.
This is a bit excessive, don't you think?
Yeah, it's definitely not what you want to see here,
but I think the wrench in the side here for you
is that Karras is not taking this fan rodom.
I think she's purposefully leaving here as kind of this target.
And this poor Baneeri on the bench has no balloon
and no missed energy on it, Ethan.
Really all or nothing with one Pokemon.
Yeah, I don't know if Karras has enough ways
to play boss's orders consistently to get it into a spot
where the Beniri can't retreat.
Seems a bit difficult with it just having a one retreat cost.
And immediately, see, Keras start off with an eerie.
So bringing back that card that found her success
in Indianapolis.
There's only that special red card to this card.
Doesn't see anything like the battle cage.
So may not be aware that that stadium card is what
he was waiting for.
It's just not exactly what Keras wants to see.
It's more so information than anything else,
but finally be able to continue going through her loop here.
It just feels like a standstill at this point even, right?
You doesn't want to move this fan rodem away,
and nor does Karris want to attack this fan rodem,
because that means that the handheld fan is not
going to find much for her.
See Dunsparce come into play.
Now considering whether or not to play the Lily's
determination before the start of this turn.
Fosses orders also available thanks to the pokey gear.
Things to consider, it will be fan rotom
getting involved yet again.
Foss onto Dunsparse using that assault landing.
You takes the prize lead going down to four prizes
and Keras is eventually gonna be in a spot
where all the Pokemon in play don't wanna be KO'd
or are prevented from being KO'd.
And we'll just be in a standstill
until you eventually find that staining card.
Now, I know this weekend is fully about Alakazam
and how players have really kind of teched it out,
but the thing is, what I really enjoy about you
going after this Dunsparse is the amount of recovery options
that Karris doesn't have.
So a lot of times some of these Alakazam lists
back in the day were playing something like Alana's Aid
to get back tons of Pokemon, but for Karris,
I mean, she's only playing one Nightstretcher
and one Sacred Ash, so only has use of those resources
Just for once, if you continues to target down these done sparses,
that infinite loop that you had mentioned,
even not going to be online for too much longer.
Just so many difficulties for Karris in this situation.
You have to play around for energy, for missed energy.
Loppany, and the Clefairy can make things a bit awkward.
Is playing one copy of that special red card?
So in a world where you goes for a KO to put himself down to three prizes,
that surprise Lillies Clefairy plus hand disruption might be enough to find a way back into this game.
It's not just the surprise Lillies Clefairy, it's the surprise Lillies Pearl as well, too.
So that can absolutely mess up you's prize map, but as we've been talking about,
you has been really kind of waiting for this jamming tower this entire time
to start really getting things going.
And as Kara's finally going to take down this Van Rotem,
you have to ask if you is finally going to start
using this Mega Law Pony with four energy on it
to get it going.
Just counting cards and deck, making sure deck out
is not an option.
Cards in the hand.
Always got to be aware of what resources you still have,
what is available at your disposal.
Three cards drawn off the Dunsparse.
Back in it goes.
Whee!
It's gone.
back in the deck. You'd love to see it. I mean honestly what a life it would be to
be at the Dunsparse. Every day you just are thrown in and out of the deck and you
can confidently say life is never boring. Until a Team Rockets watchtower comes
down and then you're never allowed to jump back in never getting just kind of
sit there. Kind of sad. Yeah definitely could have some bad days but
everybody has bad days. And there it is. It looks like no potentially no
jamming tower still. Oh it's at the bottom of the deck you could see that
full-art jamming tower just slowly thinning cards out Hilda for just a fire energy
see it put on to the baneery
and she's gonna use the attack, char moving the energy to the pench purposely or actually looks
like the slap for 10 damage and you force the energy to be moved from the handheld
It's... it's... it's skibb for dad?
Just styling. You know what? You got it.
You could pop it and just attach the energy to the megalopony on the bench, but said no.
I want to deal 10 damage, so just styling out in this game.
Sure, why not? I mean, sometimes in the Pokemon Trading Card game, it really comes down to these micro decisions
that really, you know, this 10 damage could be the most important 10 damage we actually see all day here.
but an Erie is being played,
so now Karis gets to see you's hand
as you got to see her hand a little bit earlier, not too long ago.
And not sure of the exact time in this situation.
But you is just at such a massive advantage
that there's really no reason for him to rush.
He knows the jamming towers in play.
He knows he has ways to get around the deck out situation.
So you may as well just take your time
if you know that there's not really a situation
where you're going to lose.
And this also works too.
You have no Pokemon on your bench, so Handheld Fan just does absolutely nothing.
Now, Karris is just no enhanced hammers either, and even if there were at this point, I mean,
you can't use it four times in a row unless you've got four of them here.
So Karris really has to wonder, I mean, there's how many cards are left in deck here for you?
There are a decent amount, but this is the combo turn for Karris.
Can play this Lilliskal Fairy down, fill the bench up, use the Wunderous Patch,
and then play the special red card to hand disrupt the biggest issue however is you're taking a free hit KO
Onto this megalopony and that is just not a trade when it's taking a to hit KO in response
Not exactly what you want to see
But if she has the lilies pearl modifier available to her at least this lilies Clefairy X would only be
One price card here, but this is also a strategy by
Now it doesn't change much. The Lilith Clefairy will just take enough damage over time.
Yeah.
Just trying to think of ways that Karis is planning to deal with this Pokemon, but it just seems
like she's trapped in a box with no way to escape.
Yeah, Specky Hopper can be used just twice, like you had mentioned, to get the prize
card. And the thing is, no Lilith's pearl either. That's going to leave you on one
prize card left. And as of right now, you hasn't used that one Wally's Compassion.
Yeah, now you can't really use it from this. Yeah
No, it's about the same. Your opponent is just holding on to an enhanced hammer. Very true. Pick all those energies back up
Just about playing as safe as possible on spot. There is that special red card as we see. There's a full Murondo full bench just for Kara
So 120 damage, three hit KO, it's Megaloppeny easily getting a two hit KO onto the Lilies Clefairy. Draw for turn
There's that jamming tower it looks like. And really what does you have to do in this spot?
can use that's the lilies determination but doesn't really change much and has
the poke pad to grab another Pokemon I'm not quite sure how many switches you
does play to do a good old gale thrust but actually none in this type of list I
mean usually you have a second lot bunny ready to go at this point but it's
really just going to be you I believe using the spiky hopper and there is
that lilies pearl now granted you did draw the jamming tower even so next turn if
Karris isn't weary of it this lilies could very could be two prize cards again
that would definitely spell disaster any Pokemon that's promoted on the
following turn outside of the lilies could very would be one hit KO'd so
there it is again full moon rondo for 120 damage what can find you see the
jamming tower removing that stadium card turning off the lilies pearl and
There's a KO and looking at Karris's list,
there's no way to reestablish the Lily's Clefairy in one turn.
And this is what we talked about just a little bit earlier.
Oh, it's there.
Wait, there's a secret ash and a second Wonders Patch.
Can Karris find this?
She's gonna check the discard pile and see what else is there.
If she can fill the bench up yet again,
she wouldn't be able to use that last full moon rondo.
It's just so strange to see the amount of Wonders Patch.
I wonder if you is not gonna be expecting this.
It could be the Dawn to find the Lillies Clefairy and the Dedun scars even so it's a matter like you said
Does Karris have the wondrous patch and the energy attachment for a turn you has done so much this entire game
Can also keep drawing as well. There's there is and the wondrous energy
Taking a KO Wow what a game for Karris
It seemed like she had no way back found the line and you was just taken by surprise in that game
I certainly would as well.
Both players had something tricky up the sleeve.
We talked about this a little bit earlier
with Karris's list.
Ethan, there was not much recovery there as well.
So in some of those pressure situations,
a lot of players, when they see their dunce prices go down,
they get just a little bit more and more and more.
Concerned, hey, my draw engine is offline.
But the problem is in a matchup like that,
that's not the Pokemon that you're really looking for,
right?
You have to start attacking.
So you did such a good job of getting to that board state where it's like what are you going to do about a Lopini with four energy on it?
But still I mean, Karris, this is what she does best. She finds ways in really strange ones, too.
It definitely taken by surprise from the Lilies Clefairy.
Additionally, didn't have a done sparse in play right if that's there, then you take a one hit KO,
lose the various dealt with, and definitely played a little bit too passive in that game.
If you've just taken a few knockouts earlier than that jamming tower Lily's Clefairy play most likely you take your last two prizes in the game
Just ends but just was a little bit too scared of that handheld fan and so it came back to bite
Yeah, and just got word that Karris did end up winning the match
I know we did have just game one for you all but Karris did end up winning that match
So overcoming four missed energies and a lot of money still very impressive and especially because no enhanced hammer
No enhanced hammer at all, Karris wins the set, not sure we'll see her quite in top cut,
but still walking away with a great end to the season, top 32, top 16 somewhere in that
range, never championed whatsoever.
Now as we get into our top cut, we've got a little bit of time before we get to the
matches and really get this action started.
While we wait 10 years ago, another world champion was crowned.
Let's take a video at how that went down.
Hi everyone, I'm here with Jesper Eriksson who won the world championships as a senior
right here in San Francisco, 10 years ago in 2016.
How are we feeling being back?
It feels amazing.
After we were told two years ago
that we would go back to San Francisco,
I immediately had that goosebumps feeling of,
wait, I get to go back again?
And with this being 10 years after,
maybe the perfect circle can have a closing.
Maybe.
What would it mean to you to win the World Championships here in 2026?
We haven't had a repeat champion in both seniors and masters.
We've seen Jason Klasinski win three times, all of them in masters.
We haven't had that from seniors to masters yet.
And I always hope that I can be the first, although it's just incredible being here.
And regardless of my result, I'm going to be happy.
I'm going to go here and have a lot of fun.
Like I always want to do at tournaments.
We love to hear it.
I mean what more could we want than a bit of fun? So obviously you have moved from
seniors to masters divisions what has that journey been like for you? Well I've gotten older. I'm a
grown-up now right? Going from 15 now to turn 25 recently right? It's a whole journey enough
itself moving a bit from you know being this all out player to a caster and a coach in the game
as well. It's just giving me much more context and much more perspective in the game and it's
giving me the experience so I feel like when I sit down and I play against players that I have
you know that bit of an edge right that you want when you have 19 years of experience as I have
so it's just an incredible experience and a journey that I wouldn't have been the same without.
Coming from being a seniors champion would you have any advice for the seniors who are
leveling up to Masters soon.
Don't put too much pressure on yourself.
Maybe, regardless of your results in seniors,
Masters is a new breath of life.
It's a new chapter, right?
And the Regionals, they're a bit longer.
It's a bit more waiting times, sometimes between the rounds.
But just more people to play against
and have fun with.
And I think if you go in and take the route off,
let's have fun at this tournament,
regardless of the size of it,
whether that be an IC,
a Regional Championship, or here at Worlds, even.
If you have fun with it,
you would automatically perform better.
I'm going to be doing better.
I'm having fun with it.
Go watch the stream this weekend and hopefully I will be there in the chase center Sunday.
That is a true dream of mine since we started the whole arena experience.
But yeah, thank you to my family, my girlfriend and limitless for everything you've done
for me.
Thank you so much Jesper.
Very good luck this weekend.
It could be a full circle championship Sunday for Jesper.
What we have plenty of other competitors you're going to have to battle through
to get there.
So, with that, make sure you stay tuned in all weekend for all of the action.
I'll see you next time.
So close final matches concluding out on the floor and that means we will know which competitors will beat in our
Top cut and have that dream still alive of becoming the world champion. My name is Tripp Richard joined here by Kyle Pukasukovic
And this is what we've worked so hard towards all weekend long all season long
Gonna come down to these last few games
I believe the 10 players who have made it to our top cut, the Dream, is still alive
and well.
You can still become a world champion at this event.
The rest of the field, Dream's broken, Heart's broken at this point.
So many players, maybe had an opportunity on their last round for winning in and unfortunately
just not their year, but 10 remain at this point.
10 players remain, but only one of them can become our champion.
We'll get into exactly who and what decks are going to be competing later.
But I think headlining this top cut for sure, we can speak on just quickly, Diego Castillardo,
the 2017 World Champion.
He's looking to do what no other person has done besides Jason Kuzinski,
which is to win multiple World Championship titles.
It would be an amazing accomplishment already making it back to the top cut of the World
championships and amazing accomplishment for Diego who's done that three times in the past.
Of course as you mentioned former world champion as well and you know as the years have gone by
chip a lot of those older players have fallen by the wayside other things come up in life maybe
you don't have much time to practice and be at the top of your game at world championship
caliber level. We've seen you know exceptions like Ross Coffin we bring up all the time
Diego is kind of in that class as well, you know, he's still around.
He's still at the top of his game and he's managed to make it back again.
It's an incredible story.
Absolutely, especially being now nine years removed from that 2017 World Championship title run.
He's had other strong runs at Worlds, top 64, I think, in there between now and then,
but has not made it back in the top five.
That's what it's about, just getting to the next stage of the tournament, right?
you're just trying so hard to get into phase two, staying alive, keeping that dream afloat.
Phase two into top cut, as long as you can just get phase by phase by phase, I hope still remains.
Well, I think we have some of our other friends standing by.
We have Pablo, Joe, and Amy.
We're going to bring them in to get some of their thoughts as well.
What are you seeing as we head into this top cut?
It's a party over here.
I mean very exciting I gotta say like you guys said I mean I faced Diego in that top
card where he became world champion so this would be a very special thing to see him push
forward and push towards that potential second win.
There are some really really big names in this top card coming up and it's gonna be
a phenomenal show that's for sure because I know I've always enjoyed a lot of these
players matches before and now we have a field which is quite varied of the decks that we know
are definitely going to be up there. I think it's a lot more varied than what we were maybe
expecting from that day one graphic. Yeah, I think there's a lot of good variety out there.
I was just watching those dying embers of the Andrew versus Natalie sets where it really got
down to the wire. There was mind bend confusion flicks coming into the equation, players
having to retreat into late game itchy pollen to try and deny outs of night stretcher on
final critical turns. And
Frederick just about to pull
that one out and got himself
into now the position for the
asymmetrical top cut. Really
devastating for Natalie. She's
had a great run. She also was
so unfortunate on our screen
game today, but she's a heck of
a competitor. She's had another
amazing run today. Such a good
season overall as well, really
hitting herself at the top of
those really expert players
that we come to know and
love that will kind of always
up there in our top cuts.
But this isn't the Pokemon
World Championships and you'd
You don't just have an ordinary tournament field then.
You've got literally the best players in the entire world in one room and going cool.
Hush out guys.
And I want to thank Chippangal for all your support so far.
We're going to be seeing you very soon in our top cut matches.
We're going to take over this top cut pre-show now and generally we can't reveal the players
just yet.
We can't reveal the decks just yet.
But what an exciting tournament.
had. I think it really showcased a lot of creativity which is not something that we tend to see too much
of. There's specific players who are very well known about creating road decks but I've definitely
felt like we've had a lot more variety than I expected it to be like just drag a pull down
over the place. I think we definitely saw some builds of decks this weekend which have been
incredibly hyper consistent. We've seen those consistent decks we've seen them and we're
we're like, okay, yeah, cool.
That's very what maybe we'd call vanilla
in regards to the deck build,
where we're clearly seeing the players
are wanting to almost guarantee themselves in that phase too,
but can it push them all the way?
Can being kind of vanilla, being ordinary get you there,
not always?
Sometimes you've got to think outside of the box
and that's where, like you said, Pablo,
we've had all of that innovative deck building,
which has just been the superstar this tournament for me.
many players would say that's sort of fallen by the wayside the information era that we have now
daily tournaments going on online there's just so much content out there whether it's
other players giving you tips and tricks guides on these archetypes as well
it feels like there's so much that has already been covered but still coming to the world championships
a number of pilots were still able to keep a lot under wraps and come up with some really
really cool lists so i'm very happy that we're even featuring some of those further
into our top cut and speaking of superstars we have our first player to reveal for this
top cut we have Brent Tonneson the number one seeded player of this event
playing that very unique Dragonfall deck with crushing hammers of course that's
been a main strategy since we had this rotation nobody should be surprised to
see Dragonfall at the very very top. No seeing Dragonfall at the tippity top
certainly was likely to be on the cards however seeing the crushing hammer
I think is the part that really speaks to me in theory. The deck has those spaces of the crushing hammers inhibit
But actually they can they can make all great games. They really can and so it's whether you want to dedicate those spaces to something
That is a coin flip or not and in this instance Brent's gone. I'm going for the coin flips and if they go in my favor
I'm going to go really far in this event if they don't go in my favor. I'm still a good player. I'm still it's still a good debt
I can overcome as many match ups as I can
I can and brand he's had a flawless one really he's had an incredible couple of days in those Swiss rounds and
It's strangely a bold choice to just go so straightforward with the list that we've known about for many months
But just saying that give myself the four counts of everything that's good
And I know is good and I can find wiggle room with the cards that I have within my list
He's made no exceptions
No wacky tech cards that could come up in the sort of 5% matchup that could be in the room instead
He's just saying I want my deck to work as smoothly as possible in every round and that's worked out incredibly for him
And we got to see that on stream over the weekend, right? We were able to feature Brent in one of our matches which was
Very intense between another very well-known player from Europe who is known for his creativity in his deck building playing
I have quite a standard deck. I was surprised for sure
But overall I think risky ruins was definitely a card to look out for in this mirror match Brent
and those started with both playing it, I could believe,
and they were not fearful at all to just get it out immediately,
and it created chaos with damage counters all over the place.
It was an interesting game for me because I always
am not quite sure how to approach the Dragoball-Mare match.
It feels like a big game of chicken.
Where do I put the damage? Do I put the damage?
Do they play Monkey Dory? Don't they play Monkey Dory?
And at the moment more than ever, those are the pining questions
that although they seem microscopic in the bit grand scheme of things, those are what make or break a match.
And those are the decisions that really cinch it.
And you can see here, Brent is very meticulously spreading those damage counters thinly to make it really frustrating for Oscar to remove any of them.
We've seen plenty of dragapult throughout the entire weekend, but almost every set has played out so differently just by how those opening turns shape up.
players trying to evade getting caught by unfair stamps or special red cards at
points trying to play around monkey Dory as much as possible and cashing
themselves as we see Fred in this instance actually finding that as his
final attacker because so often a drag-a-pop board swing can really
devastate the evolution line itself you have to find this final couple of
Pokemon sometimes this is basics I don't know about you guys but that
Acerola's mischievous towards the end of the game really had me on pH off my seat
but of course all those damage counters in play allowed Brent to just fight
I feel like if that gets played at the World Championship, I'm sure many players have picked up the cards, which is double-checking exactly what it is.
And another player that we are able to reveal now is our lovely Diego, who again, we had a fantastic preview of, and I believe Ross actually got the opportunity to speak to Diego,
to be able to get to that
typically top of this time.
This time Diego brings Alakazam
to our stage. Yeah, it's an
interesting choice from Diego
is a player that typically
doesn't go for the top deck in
the room, barring his world
champions win, of course, but
even then it was a new
opportunity for him to
get to the top deck in the
room, and he's a great
player. He's a great
it's win, of course, but even
then it was a new archetype
that he sort of innovated in his
own way, but Diego's been having
some great results even as of
late, and he's demonstrated
exactly why his build of
Alakazam is one of the top ones
out there. He might not be the
only Alakazam in our asymmetrical
top cut, but he has to be happy
that he's going for the control
package this weekend because
there may be some other
matchups where that could
really come clutch for him.
We did get to see Diego
play out last round of the
day yesterday where he was
to really dominate this big basic box deck, which is supposed to like overwhelm, drag up hold,
and take it down with weakness and culinary pressure, and willpower bun, but Dingo was able
to stabilize each and every time, put everything out of ring of well ring, and just honestly
played pretty much flawlessly that set. Yeah, honestly, I think it's a really impressive
trait to be able to stay calm in a situation where you're staring down a deck which can
take multiple prize cards against you, a deck which can kind of overcome the strategic advantage
you have of being a single prize deck. And actually Diego really flourished and I love
seeing the Dedenne still standing in the deck firm because that's one of the cards in particular
that's going to allow Diego to continue further in this event with the other decks
that are looking like they're going to sneak their way into our top cut.
Yeah, that control package. A lot of people have experimented with it and they're
not necessarily taking it recently people trying out two cannon from the pitch black expansion and simply just other builds of alakazam
Seeing things like the forest of fatality and raps could coming into other builds
But in this instance Diego going for an old faithful and it's really showing why it's still such a strong choice
Yeah, the double ginsik being that a little bit of extra spice that's
and
Yeah, well former world champion almost a decade ago and even before that he already had accolades, right?
So it would be pretty impressive to see him walk away with another title after over two decades of playing at this level
That's wild
I mean it's you wouldn't say that he's been dominant that entire amount of time
But the fact that he can cherry pick tournaments and has the capacity to go over the top when he has those right slices of luck
Go his way shows how consistent he's been this entire time
Absolutely, you can tell he's a decorated player just through the way that he holds himself even during a match
and now next up we have Henry Chau, another fan favorite, a much more recent player,
a much younger player as well, who has accomplished so much in so little time
and I saw a very funny comment earlier, obviously Henry was the guard of our EX
player, right? He probably dominated Dragapult throughout that whole time and now
Well, she's Dragapult, the extra strongest holder, perhaps.
I mean, what better way than to learn how to be Dragapult, than to defeat it for so long
with Gardevoir.
Actually, it feels like a natural pivot for Henry, as far as I'm concerned.
But we still get those Henry-isms that we had with Gardevoir.
We really do.
He's taking prize cards, X-Tree.
He's doing more than Dragapult can typically do.
why he's chosen this dust more packages because I think it feels a little bit like
hope the surprise for me is that he's forsaken monkey Dory that seems like
the guy associated most with Henry once he's constructed a list that doesn't
play monkey Dory whatsoever no darkness energy he's basically has tried to get
as much space into the deck as possible and saying that this one cheat code
there's one per tracks could be the way that you can not fall prey to your
opponent using lots of monkey Dory it means he doesn't have to worry with
crushing hammers it's much more streamlined with what he's trying
with those cursed blasters instead and we were lucky enough to see Henry Chao featured in two
different rounds this tournament so we are very aware of what his deck can accomplish we first
saw him honestly dominate this festival lead deck with multiple price turns taking advantage of that
low HP the extra damage counter placement and of course that does more capability and I mean
even though he ended up losing that first game he was able to recover pretty flawlessly.
the first time. Yeah, as we
know, the festival leaders
have been absolutely on it
with trying to make sure
the dragapult matchup is as
good as it can get because you
don't take a deck into this
event that cannot defeat
dragapult. It's nuts. You
just don't do it. So this was
although on paper, you say
traditionally dragapult has the
advantage that's not
necessarily the case anymore.
We saw it in game one, but
then Henry Child just knew
every step to take to keep
everything away and just left the borders just to swat me that was really good artist read from Henry there a
Patient turn but he could have got in the action a little bit earlier
Instead he wants to set up a checkmate scenario and I think that's something that Henry has been known for right making these
server north thoughts plays and also very innovative with this list
He played a Zorike X line in his car
Now he's playing monkey Dory less drag-up fold but also denying his opponents monkey Dory
So giving himself a big advantage that way.
So really impressive to see dominating a good match
of infestability, dominating the mirror match as well.
And yeah, I mean, I'm very much looking forward
to seeing how Henry does his tournaments
as we continue with the top cut.
I think Henry is one of our best innovators
within the strong effects.
He only takes a little bit of innovation
to make a huge impact on our matter.
And that's something I really admire in him
that's the only way to get
back into the game. We saw
that as one of our top players
in this instance, using the
trapped instead of the monkey
Dory allowed him the space to
create a more consistent list.
And that is really where it all
came into play, and we saw
this maltres put in so much
work. Yeah, I mean, this is
for me. The sets of the
tournament so far. This was
such good opportunities to find bosses orders somehow didn't and then Jackson got into a position where
he forced Henry to have a top deck out not many outs in the deck whatsoever slams bosses orders
not only is Henry capable of pulling out some of the best plays in the game doesn't hurt having
a nice slice of luck along the way as well. Not the first time we've seen Henry Chow slam a car
a game winning card on the table and I I don't know we might see we might continue to see that
I'm very very impressive. One of my favorite players to watch and just everyone's on the lookout on what is Henry's 60 this time. Yeah, it's always something on the players lips is Henry playing, especially when God for rotated. Everyone was really curious about what he was going to next. Yeah, he was sort of seen as a one trick pony for a lot of time. You know, he was doing excellently with the deck. You can see why he stuck with one the entire time. But he's saying no, it's not just one archetype. I can be a master of anything in any format.
of innovators. We've got another in our midst as Mateusz, of course, has made it into our top cut with
that innovative Alakazam Dusknoir build where he has masterfully avoided any red cards shenanigans,
which was one of the really crushing card reveals as far as Alakazam was concerned about its history
and actually having it now at the World Championship in this position feels great.
And having back-to-back top 8s at the World Championships, that's like on top of an incredibly
creative deck building, the huge success throughout the season winning original championship in fact
back-to-back top 8s at the World Championship with very unique decks as well. He had a very
unique take on Zorakiax last time around. Now he has a very unique take on Alagazam allowing
himself to manipulate the price parts. I'm really looking forward to see how much he finishes this
tournament. I just want to ask him how he got that testing process started. Where did it all begin?
Was it the Gwyn supporter card that he's playing four of this weekend from pitch black
that opened up the third eye and said, why don't I just shove as many Pokemon in my list as
possible, give myself all these outs? Maybe that's what led him down the corridor of the
strange timepiece. And that's really where this archetype flourishes, where you don't play
the traditional Dung Sparse package, instead you look to again shave on card spaces by
having that strange timepiece item card in its place, so that you can just bounce between
your Alakazam evolutions. And then that also opens the door for Dustamard to just have
even more control over the opponent's board. You always think about Alakazam, always just
trying to get the critical mass for the knockout, but Matesh is using this card and
scaling that two damage each time to get the perfect math in play so they can play
the game. And that's what
we're going to do. We're going
to be able to play around those
key item disruptors. That's
exactly what we saw from his
tree match. Right? He did that
masterfully. We saw the
strange timepiece take place for
extra draw potential. We saw
the dosn't are as well, uh,
taking those last few KOs or
closing out the game rather
without exposing himself to
the special record really,
really well done. Yeah,
choosing and analyzing when
you're not going to be able to
be able to do that because you
kind of want to have a slow
setup because you want the
card draw. You need the card
draw, and then you're
preventing yourself from being
disrupted by not taking any
knockouts. A lot of Dex's
weekend. We've seen excess
judge and the taste didn't
really need to worry about
that too much. Only a handful
of archetypes will play it
even then. It's like a one
old copy, so it's difficult
for the opponent to time
that at the right moment.
just be gawking at for how great of a line of play she can construct and yes she created this
excellent dunk in game number two but in this game number three she was just sort of out of
options the entire time. Even a great mind like hers couldn't find any way to disrupt
Matej's game plan. Yeah I mean I really would have loved to see the chat's reaction,
our viewers' reaction is when Matej chose not to draw with AlexSan.
I can only imagine the string of messages telling he didn't draw from AlexSan,
he didn't draw from AlexSan. He purposely chose not to do that.
We haven't seen that before on stream. It was flawless play and yeah,
that last post-sorders by Viper just had no clue what to do.
There was Checkmate on board. Having that sort of control over
your possibility to win a game is what impressed me the most on the stage so far
I was lucky enough to interview him after that game and said that the best piece of deck building advice when constructing a new archetype is to start with the engine and that's where I think that strange time piece came in.
It was actually I have more control over what I'm doing. A lot of the time Alakazam can get a little bit stuck in the mid to late game with card draw even with the Dunlun sparse engine.
But not if you can devolve your Pokemon and evolve them again for more card draw, but like you said Pablo, that's optional.
And multiple times throughout that set, he was getting to the very bottom of the deck.
So he was accessing every card available to him and making the most out of every card within his list.
And Alakazam's normally known for sort of rebounding and getting back into a place where it's got enough cards to actually get a knockout.
In this case, Matej is trying to actually just like go to the bottom and then close the game.
And now, next up we have another, of course, incredible player who has generally won it all in his very short Pokemon career, except for the World Championship.
But I'm sure Andrew Hendrick will be trying his best to get that title, the one title that he does not have yet.
He's an NAIC champion, he's five times regional champion, he might even have first through eighth places in Top Gods regionals and whatnot.
is this the big one for Andrew?
Surely it has to come around at some point, and maybe this is his time.
Another Dragapult EX with crushing hammers again going for that consistent build.
We know Dragapult's strengths, we know its weaknesses.
At this point, it's a bunch of incredibly talented players in the pool
and seeing who comes out on top.
And we call it the Hedrick build for a reason.
He was the key innovator of crushing hammer in the first place
the tournament. He's such a
fantastic player to watch,
whether it's with his loss own
deck or with even with the
metang Dialog of the star
archetype. He's such a great
sort of metagame. He can put a
pinpoint on a meta game in this
case. He's just deciding to be
the bad guy. He's playing the
dragon ball, but I love the
fact that he can cherry pick
tournaments and have like a
really bold deck choice
behind him at times. So to
pick tournaments and have like a really bold deck choice behind him at times so he exerts
great emphasis on metagaming at times but then when he thinks there's one deck that is simply the best
he will pilot it to you know great accomplishment. I mean I'm gonna go ahead and I used to call
Henry Chow the Gardevoir EX master player of the universe. I generally think Andrew
Henry's legacy with Dragon Ball takes place beyond this latest rotation. When Gardevoir was dominating
Even he himself said, I've committed so much time to Dragon Pulse, I'm so good with Dragon Pulse that even though I recognise Cardivore is a better deck, I'm still going to stick with Dragon Pulse.
Then here he is continuing with Dragon Pulse, making the perfect decisions and making it all the way to the top card final in the World Championships.
We had the honour of seeing that very mastery in our Swiss round 11 for Mantru.
I mean, it's a good time. It's
a good time. And if boy was a
good time against a cheese, uh,
Bronzong build, which I was a
little bit worried for Andrew
when I saw Bronzong hit the
stage. Yeah I mean, this is
meant to be a counterstyle
archetype predominantly for
this matchup. Andrew is one of
the players who just gets so
many reps in with Pokemon. He
would not be fazed by this
whatsoever. He knows exactly
what to do in these
situations, whether it's
weaving in mind bends or
trying to attack that
Dragaport was the key to this one.
I think the perfect word you used just now, Joe, was supposed.
Yeah.
It is supposed to be a counter deck,
but against the very best players,
the ones that are not going to get faced at all
by the pressure of not being able to evolve,
the ones that can really adapt and have shown time
and time and again that they'll
be able to navigate every situation,
you never saw a single drop of sweat from Andrew
in this set, I don't think.
Now, even coming up against the unconventional,
the game. And he's got a lot
of work in. So, uh, Andrew
very much blessing that he's
got that there unlike Henry
Chow. So it could have been a
bit of a sticky one of the
tables returned in the matchups
were reversed, but actually
Andrew still had the capacity
to take this further and to
take down bronzong with that
evolution jammer preventing any
of his dragons revolving.
Just feels like he's one of
these ice cold players in the
game where even in those
really tense situations, he's
just very relaxed. The
head to retails on a flip that could win the game. If it's a head, she's just like,
yeah, it was tails. So I guess I'll keep playing.
You might see a chuckle from. Yeah. Oh, well, yeah, this happened.
Raps. Yeah. That path closed.
This one open. Exactly. Always finding the win condition.
There's a feeling. Really, really impressive as usual. Yeah.
What a gem. We've had the pleasure of watching Andrew play so many matches before.
But honestly, that one's going to remain in my memory for a very long time.
The concern on my face.
You should have seen the backstage in Bronson was I was like,
but Andrew, Andrew's really good.
Andrew does know, right?
He studied up, don't worry.
He knows the Bronson.
He was coming out a couple of days before the tournament.
There was a lot of chatter about the archetype.
Only a handful of players actually decided to take the risk
for the world championships and, hey, it got pretty far.
But ultimately, these players who have played with a deck
for a full season or more. At this point they're going to find the wiggle room that they need to.
And now next up our another player that's made it to the top card all the way from Australia. We have Nathan
Spry. We did get to feature him throughout our Swiss rounds this weekend so far but here he is
top 32 at last year's Worlds finally making through and making top card.
I think it's going to be a
great start. Absolute
gauntlet of impressive
accolades over the last few
years. Nathan's briars
certainly no one to mess with
and running that lilies to
very ex kind of big basic
Pokemon bashy box deck. He's
got a bit of everything going
on. And honestly, those are
all the way. Yeah we call it a box for a reason. There's also what's going on in his deck list and it's amazing to see a player like Nathan who's been chipping away at results, you know, going deep in tournaments, but why not make your first big top cut the world championships?
Yeah, sure. And with a deck that, as you mentioned, Amy, lets you adapt, right?
Adapt to any situation that you're up against with all the different typing,
all the different possibilities of attacks, a solid draw engine with mega Kangas can as well.
So yeah, pretty cool to see him get all the way here.
Absolutely. And of course, we're seeing a bit of Satoshi as well
who's going to be joining us and their impressive crustal build.
So how are we feeling about the fact that Krosla is up there in our top card guys?
Were you expecting that at the beginning of this event?
I would say no.
Yes!
I wouldn't have expected it personally.
There's always that one person who higher rules Joe.
Every single time.
Well that's the thing Pablo.
We figured that the matchup spread was way less favourable for the World Championships.
There was the new matchup of Mega Excadrill to contend with.
There was still a number of Alakazam builds that could have the controlling package
that's awkward.
the game. It's like, you know,
you're just poking out in the
field. Even a number of the
Dragonpole players would
sometimes have things like
Chi you in their deck list if
it was a blazing in build of
Dragonpole, so it felt fraught
for the crystal players. It
really felt you had to have a
very specific run of matchups.
But again, it's one of these
things where if you can
really read the meta game and
say that the very best players
in the room won't go for
some of these other fringe
decks, they'll go for the
very best. That's exactly
And because in theory, Mega Exkidril is here to shut things down with better growth.
Mega Exkidril showed up in 4% and you can factor in 1-2 losses to that matchup if you're going to dominate the rest of the field.
I haven't seen a single Dragonfall deck with respect across all this weekend, and if that's 40%, you're in for a good time.
Yeah, that's so true.
Yeah, it makes sense. I think there are some jamming tower dustimals out there.
That might be the only hope for some of these Dragonfall players, but even then,
It's going to be a slog with the amount of kick-point buff and healing cards within that list. It's never going to be that simple
And now we have our last player joining us in top god Satoshi is one of them in case it wasn't very clear
But Kien, Amidie with another
DragoPultec joining us once again Santa Clara regional champion quite a few years ago a couple
Deep runs at Worlds last year and NAIC as well a few years ago
but his first ever world's top
card this season. Impressively,
Anaheim, world's top 32 as well.
So did pretty well last year.
That is a very, very good result.
I'm just pushing it that little bit
further. Can Kim go all the way
with Dragapult crushing hammer,
which seems to be the favored
Dragapult going into our top
right? Yeah, it's what to be expected to be honest of you. You know, a lot of people think that the
crushing hammers the best ways simply because you can shut down avenues of attack. You can
stop an opponent from using the boss's orders or you can make your boss's orders much better if
you're going to take an energy away from a Pokemon and force them to manually retreat out of
another Pokemon because in game allows you to have even more flexibility. When you're already
combining it with the most flexible attack that we have in the game in the Phantom Dive,
you can create lots of pockets to really be devastating. Ian's been a name that's been
around for many years. These are just some recent accomplishments, but he's a player who's really
chipped away at the meta game for many, many years now. He's got a ton of experience under his belt.
And on the other side of many, many years, we have Rune, of course we can't forget about Rune,
also made it to the top cut here with fan-favorite Russell, a very successful,
a very successful senior career so far, making a name for himself in Masters Division.
Already with a regional championship in the Masters Division, another top 8 last season as well, so first top cut of many at the World Championships I'm going to wager, Rune is here to make an anchor himself in this division.
Yeah, more than one crustal managed to scuttle through the net and into our top cut, so maybe it wasn't so unlikely for a blow.
I mean, especially Rune as well. He's just a great player all round
He's got all of those senior accomplishments under his belt even junior accomplishments under his belt has done well at the world
Championships before in those divisions as well as international first-place finishes
So it was inevitable that he was going to come on to the scene strong in the Masters division
But already making it into the top eight of the world championships is crazy
That's her lineup for the top cut these 10 players will be battling it out in our bracket
which we will be revealing very very soon so make sure you are staying tuned don't go anywhere
okay welcome back to faster than a caster we've got two competitors ready to try and win these
two mega evolution booster packs but will you be faster than a caster let's find outplay along
at home so I need you two to work together Pokemon that begin with the
letter R go real Lou
Rekwaza, Reggie Giggs, Reggie Rock, Reggie Seal, Reggie Ice, Reggie Dregal, and Reggie L...
We've done it! That's more than ten! And that was incredibly fast of that, Acosta! Congratulations, duty!
You nailed it! Here is a booster pack each! Thank you so much! You absolutely nailed it!
Emily had a time of over one minute and she only got five.
Thank you so much. We'll catch you next time on Faster than a Caster.
The Pokemon training card game has some important rules.
You can only have four of each card in the deck.
You can only have one A-spec.
But what would happen if we let our trainers break any of the rules they wanted?
Well, I think I would pick a deck with a draw engine,
something like Dragflow, or Zoroac, or something like that,
and I would play probably six of each of them.
That way whenever I lily and I draw eight cards
I'm gonna hit more than I normally would by opponents using to do against me. It doesn't matter
I got like six of these are likes to draw into
I probably play a whole bunch of aspects which I would really like because some of the aspects are really powerful
But secret box makes your deck function so well, so I could play secret box and a power card. Sounds good to me
probably way more of the power cards like
extra festival granted festival II for example, but also way more consistently six or seven
the lilies and way more of those, probably more of like the Pokemon themselves instead
of the deck cards like Shaman and such, just to keep your deck more powerful.
I would like to play something like United Wings because we can have a ton of Pokemon
of United Wings on this card file and attack with tons of damage and KO everything, mostly.
I would put a lot of A-specs because they are the powerful card in the format, so when
I hear in words I was confusing about my A-spec, it could be unfair stamp, it could be max belt,
why not play all of them?
I'd probably play more Poffins and Pokepads so I can make sure I get my draft books
every time.
Well, with no restrictions I would play at least 15 A-specs, that would be a good
and I would probably play a few more direct likes
because they are really powerful in the drag-of-all deck.
Um, I don't know.
I would probably do eight Middle East termination,
just the consistency.
And then, yeah, I would probably do also the 6-6 Starwreck line.
I'm playing Starwreck right now, and I feel like more of those will never hurt, so probably do that, yeah.
If there were no deck restrictions whatsoever, and I'm also going to say no Rekendi restrictions.
I can play it on turn one, right?
I would play a deck with four Duskull, four Duskull, four Rekendi, and as high as a draw on Janus, I can have.
So Secret Box is going to go into every kind of deck there, and just try turn one.
turn one go first and then make sure or hope that my opponent starts with one
Pokemon and I can knock that out before they even get to take a turn.
Your answer was basically if I could take the rules I would ruin it for everyone.
That's why I control decks.
I wouldn't ruin the game.
Yeah I put the best ace a pig in all decks.
Rest of the stamina.
Then ace a pig before the deck.
Ace a lot. It's a very powerful card.
And what deck do you think you'd play?
Um...
I... I'd rather pull with this...
A lot of... I'd say pick, maybe.
LAUGHTER
Now that we've broken the rules, let's bring them back,
let's get back to the stream,
and let's watch all of our wonderful
trading card game players give their all.
I
Welcome back in Pokemon fans to the world championships here in San Francisco, California trading card game action coming to a head.
We are ready to get into those ever important top cut matches.
Hundreds of trainers from across the globe entered this room and now for the simply 10 remain chipperty here alongside Kyle.
It's ready to take you through our first of many top cut matches this evening.
What a time, Kyle. What a time.
What a time to be alive, Chip. What a time to be here at the football world championships in San Francisco.
And what a time it's going to be for our 10 remaining players.
You know, it's got to be such a mix of emotions for everybody who's still in the running right.
so much hope you're so close to maybe fulfilling your dream to becoming a world champion. I feel a
bit anxious. Might be cursing your luck if you got the wrong matchup in the top cut here, but
one thing is going to be for sure by the end of today we'll be down to just two players.
Players up to this point have been playing Swiss rounds where they are constantly playing
against other players who have similar records to them, but now we have cut down
to single elimination. We have our bracket ready to share. You mentioned the match-ups, Kyle.
This is incredibly important for many, many of those players. Of course, a handful have already
advanced into the top eight, not having to worry about playing this asymmetrical round,
but for four trainers, if they want to hold that glory of making top eight of the World
Championships, they've still got one more match to do. Yep, we did have 10 players make our
top cut here. We have this asymmetrical cut where everybody who has the same record as
each place does make it into the cut. And so that means we have 10 and that means six
of our players have advanced to the top eight and can rest knowing that they have that
great accomplishment. Four players here still have to win one more. Finally make the
top eight.
And as the bracket breaks down, of course, what you're playing against is extremely important.
Having good matchups is nice going into any given wide field, but now that you have just
one opponent after one opponent and you can map out who you'll be playing up against,
those matchups are as important as ever.
Looking at those two matches that we'll be seeing in that top 16 Nathan Sprite up
against Oivens Vindavut.
Of course, Oiven getting top eight at the World Championships.
The last season, he's followed it up with another top cut performance here.
We've got Diego Casieraga against Piano Mini from the U.S.
Yeah, two great matchups here, and you know, much different road to the top cut.
Oiven this year versus last year, you know, he went on that huge undefeated streak
to begin last year's World Championships this year.
After a rockier start, had to battle his way up from the bottom and keep winning
near the end of the event, going to Hot Street to make it back here.
You know, we actually didn't feature him in any of our matches on the main stage
this weekend.
He won't be making it back here.
Going up against Nathan, who actually did make top 32 at the World
Championships last season, but maybe not as well known of a player as some
of the other ones.
Yeah, that one at the bottom, Diego versus Keon.
Those are two veteran players.
One of stars did a match up then.
Other factors that we should make the folks at home aware of as we get into top cut.
We are now in an open deck list phase of the tournament players before they play their games.
We'll have a couple of minutes to review their opponent's list.
Make note of any tech cards, make note of maybe where they cut corners in the deck building.
Did they slim down on their ultra balls? Did they slim down on their bosses' orders?
All those pieces can be really valuable as you play through a game.
And another factor as well, the higher seated player now has an advantage in top cut.
Yeah, if you are the higher seeded player, you do get to choose who goes first.
You get to skip that opening coin flip, one of the advantages of being that higher seed.
So, you know, Brent, the number one overall seed, if he continues to win in advance in this tournament,
he'll get to choose who gets to go first in each of his matches.
An incredible advantage in deserving when you win as many games as Brent did coming into top cut.
I do enjoy that change that we made through the season this year.
You know, we spent time in the pre-show, of course,
talking about each of these players individually,
but just looking back, seeing all these names listed.
And we've got the Anglicosiraga, of course,
the 2017 World Champion,
looking to become just the second player ever to win multiple worlds.
But all these other names, Kyle,
if you think back to the last two or three years of the game,
these players have been dominating the game
in their respective regions.
Okay, if players like Brent, Andrew Hedrick, Henry Chow,
and Mateusz has had a great season so far,
also made top cut at Worlds.
Last season, I mean, this is a list
of some of the best players in the world,
which is exactly what you would expect.
But I think what's fascinating here is
a lot of these players are ones that
have had great success at the regional
and international level,
but haven't been able to piece together
make world championships finish. Now for players like Brent, Andrew, Henry, they
are here with a golden opportunity to perhaps become world champion and
really cement themselves as some of the game's greatest players. There's plenty
of those great players with tons of backing, tons of accomplishments, but it
seems like every year at Worlds there will be one or two dark horses, a
player who were maybe a little less familiar with getting into top cut.
I think this year that is certainly Satoshi Matsui, a player who's only
been playing the game for just about a year qualified for the world championships.
And here he is in top eight.
Yeah, I think during his interview, he said, this is my first top cut.
Just on the run of a lifetime.
And hey, sometimes that's how it goes.
I would say that's been actually pretty common for the last couple of years
at the World Championships.
The winner has ended up being, you know,
very good players that weren't household names.
The last year we had Riley McKay,
who first out of the scene at NAIC leading up to it.
But before that, maybe he was not a well-known player.
Just had a great couple of months stretch.
Huge finish at NAIC, wins the World Championships.
Yeah, I think back to players like Fernando Suquentes.
So again, he's very not household names at the time,
But all the players who qualify at the World Championships
are here for a reason, and this is your big opportunity
to make a name for yourself.
So Toshi's best finish ahead of this top eight,
top 64 at the Houston Regional Championships.
What a story that just goes to show.
You know, if you get into the game
and you really commit the time to it,
then you make a great medical.
Things go your way.
You can end up amongst the best very, very quickly.
And I mean as we look towards which decks made it into this top cut, I think no surprise.
Dragapult EX is the most represented deck, but only four out of the 10 decks.
You know, that is about what it was, its representation in the overall world's
meta game to start, you know, there's about a little over 40% of the meta game sharing day one, right?
So that's about right.
And then I think some of the surprises for sure.
Crossbowl, there's two of those that way outperformed
its expectations and probably Alakazam,
two of those as well, the big surprises.
But then no surprise to see a couple other ones
like the end Zorak and the raging bolt
or the big basic EX deck.
Yeah, I think Mateusz Laskiewicz's deck,
the Alakazam is the most surprising
of our top cut entrance here.
Everyone else, you know, they're playing very good decks,
things we've seen a bit before.
But Tase has done, I think, by far the most innovation
heading into this top cut with his Alakazam dust noir den.
Yeah, I think that's the one where we first saw the decklist.
We saw Henry Brand bringing it to this event.
We first saw the decklist.
He was like, what is this?
What's the point of this thing?
Where's the Duns bars?
What's going on?
And then all it took was one match of seeing it play out.
You go, oh, I get it now.
This is pretty genius idea.
And I mean, this is one where, if things just
keep going according to plan, formatage,
we could see something we haven't seen a ton of in recent years,
like a very new, innovative deck.
Of course, using Alakazam, which is well-known,
but a very new twist on that to perhaps win the world
championships, those are rare feats.
We will be playing all the way down to our two finalists.
This evening, lots of Pokemon action still to come.
Pukas, you look at this bracket,
and you see who's playing who.
What decks are up against one another?
Are you really favoring anyone on either side of the bracket
to get into that finals match?
It's tough to look at this
and not think Satoshi has a good road ahead.
Having that crustal deck,
There's potentially a lot of Dragonbolt decks
that don't have good counters to that.
That is a potential thing I'm looking at,
but the one match I think is gonna be key
for maybe deciding how this tournament plays out
is Diego versus Keon at the bottom there.
Diego has enhanced hammer in his deck,
which can counter those crustal decks.
I don't think Keon has a great way to deal with crustal.
That one match there can influence what goes the top four,
what goes the finals, what ends up winning this whole tournament.
Of course, if you're watching along at home
through the course of the weekend, any of our streams,
you want to make sure you're taking advantage
of the available Twitch drops.
Lots of incredible cosmetics that you can earn
to bling out your deck, swag yourself out a little bit
as you're playing on the Pokemon Trading Card game lives,
coins, deck boxes,
needs across both Pokemon World Championships coverage and also the
Pokemon XP tree. Cool stuff of course this is the first time we have Pokemon XP
with Pokemon World Championships lining up with celebrating 30 years of Pokemon.
Check out all this cool stuff, card sleeves, you know, customized stuff in Pokemon TCG Live.
A lot of people might be looking to use those Charizard Sneak Shoe.
I'm certainly going to be one of those people.
Ouka, of course there's tons of other Pokemon action happening live right now.
We're here with the trading card game coverage, but there are tons of other games happening.
We've got our Pokemon Go broadcast down here.
Pokemon Champions this way and then down below Pokemon Unite as well.
Yeah, of course. That's the part. That's fun about the World Championships.
You know, we love the Pokemon TCG here, but it's the celebration of all things Pokemon and that is, you know, Unite, Go!
Champions, so much fun stuff to follow.
And of course, all these trainers are battling right now for a chance to head to that arena tomorrow to play in Championship Sunday.
That's what it's all about.
It looks like both Champions and Unite are in their top eight currently.
We're about to get into top eight match,
which we are very excited to be featured.
We're going to have Matayush up against Henry Chow.
We looked at the bracket and looked at who's
going to be playing against who.
We know obviously all these matches are great,
but this certainly seems like a standout.
Oh, absolutely.
These are some of the best players this season.
One more to be said.
I'm sure we'll talk about that more as we get into it.
But I do think it's interesting to note,
Henry Chow had an excellent season last season,
winning a bunch of regional championships.
He was one of the top performers again and again
and again with Gardevoir EX.
And then of course in the middle of this season,
we did have the standard format rotation
where Gardevoir EX could no longer be used.
And then there's a question, what's Henry gonna do now?
He doesn't have Gardevoir to fall back on.
I think for a bit we saw a lot of like top 32,
Top 16 finishes from Henry at a lot of different events.
He wasn't able to break through to many top eats, top cuts.
Now he's proven, don't need Gardevoir to succeed.
He's here in the top eight of the world championships.
Gardevoir, of course, very often led the charge
in meta-share percentage.
Let's take a look at the meta-share percentage.
For this event, Henry going from number one in Gardevoir
into number one in Dragonfall,
not too big of a surprise.
Phase one, absolutely dominated by Dragapult DX,
344 of the trainers who entered this room,
decided to use it as their choice for the world championships.
43% a massive, massive lead over the next few decks.
I said it yesterday, but if you add up the next five,
it still doesn't total how much Dragapult
was in the room at this event.
By far the most popular deck.
And for good reason.
It's got so many things going for it.
The reason that it's been the number one deck,
the reason why it has a target on its back
coming into this event,
and why pretty much everyone decided,
you know, I'm gonna play this deck.
I'm gonna play a deck that can maybe beat this deck
or I'm gonna try to, you know,
zig whatever else is zagging
and try to play the decks
that beat the Dragonbolt counters.
It's kind of, Dragonbolt EX has been the centerpiece
of this standard format metagame so far.
We'll take a look at the phase two metagame
and I will say, Puka, oh before we get there,
let's make a stop here at the best of the rest,
some of those other decks that of course we've seen,
we've got some festival lead yesterday,
raging boldly appearances, crustal of course,
we've seen kind of push through into the day two metagame.
Lots of powerful options here
the trainers chose to bring to World Championships this year.
Yeah, I mean, what a crazy conversion rate
for the Crustle, right?
Only 21 people in the entire event
brought that deck to the World Championships.
Two of them made it to the top cut.
Two of them were in top eight already.
Well, let's take a look at how many of them made it
into phase two, 21 in phase one.
We can take a look at that phase two.
I know it made it all the way up, eight players.
And then two of those converting it into top defense.
Yeah, incredible.
And I mean, this has been one of those decks in the format,
right?
You either prepare for it or you don't.
It has just a lot of very good matchups,
several very bad matchups, very few in between.
It's one of those very straightforward decks.
Can you deal with my missed energy,
Pokemon that can't be damaged by Pokemon EX and my healing cards. If you can, good game, if not, well, tough war.
At regional championships this season, we've seen pretty consistently around 30% day one Dragonbolt EX ever since the rotation.
And then moving into phase two, that number has jumped up above 40%, sometimes nearly 50% of the day two field.
We see a bit of an inverse here at the World Championships.
More players playing it in Phase 1,
but it's not converting quite as well into Phase 2.
What do you make of that?
Yeah, it's tough to make heads or tails of it.
You know, the World Championships, such a dynamic event.
You never really know what's going to happen.
I do think we saw a good chunk of top players
decide to stick with the Dragonbolt,
but many of them also decided they weren't
going to be part of that group.
We saw a lot of very strong players opt not to use
Dragapult and maybe try to innovate in other ways so I think that may have played into it Dragapult was the most played deck
But I think a lot of the time what drives what's happening here in phase two
What makes the top cut is what the very very best players are using
Of course always going to be a huge factor in these tournaments as
Regardless of matchups regardless of deck choice
The skill reigns supreme the players who are the best continue to succeed
And that is, I think, made evident with our top cut at Worlds this year.
So many extremely accomplished players making it through.
And we are going to see two of them right now as we get down to the stage for
top eight A, Henry Chow, Person Mateus, Laschkevitz.
Oh, what a match.
This is gonna be, Jim, this is fitting up the world.
Champion, Jim's two world-class players.
either one you could see emerging as world champion from this weekend.
Henry, we saw earlier in the day with a miraculous top deck of a boss's
orders to get a crucial win to propel himself here.
You got to wonder, is it just his week?
Succeeded any Pokemon tournament.
It feels like three things have to be true.
You've got to prepare well and play well.
You got to have picked a good deck and it's got to be.
That was certainly a it's your weekend moment for Henry chow
I mean that top deck is the difference between him sitting in this chair and him being in the prize wall pickup line
Now he finds himself up against the teyesh course with that alakazam
Just nor deck the most innovative deck that we have in top touch the most unique spin
He's certainly found something very unique that I'm sure players
players across the world are going to be seeing in the
Pokemon Trading Card game live in weeks to come,
regardless of his final standing in this event.
We see now players exchanging deck lists,
taking a moment to review what the other player has available.
Look at looking at these two players lists.
What do you think the things are that each of them
will be making note of?
Of course, Henry perhaps has a little bit more to study,
Mateus.
Yeah, maybe, but Henry does have some odd things
in his deck list as well, such as no Monkey Dory.
I think the cards we've seen a lot of
opted to go with the Petraps over that,
and I don't think that will make any difference.
Actually, both players bringing the Petraps to this event,
fearing the Monkey Dory,
deciding to counter it instead of using it themselves.
I think a couple of big cards here from Henry's side.
Number one, Judge.
This is not a card we see Dragon Bolt play
very often these days, but it is a supporter card.
You can play it on any turn of the game
to disrupt your opponent's hand.
And that is what Alakazam is all about.
Stockpile a bunch of cards in your hand
for that powerful hand attack.
I think we could see that Judge
potentially be a difference maker.
The one Judge, the one unfair stamp
and the one special red card,
those are the ways that Henry Chao
has to reset the hand of Mateus Lashkovitz.
Yeah, the other thing, there's no, you know, from a taste, there's no, you know, things
to block the Phantom Dive.
There's no things to block Henry's Dust Noir either.
No, like, side up, things like that.
Of course, I mean, why would you play side up in this deck for either player?
But, you know, Dragonbolt is one of these decks that can pick apart a weak Alakazam
board state with that Phantom Dive.
We don't see anything like the battle cage from Mattesh either.
I do think Henry's going to have some opportunities here to pick apart this Alec-Azam deck.
But both players also opting for two copies of that Badoo.
Itchy pollen, raining supreme here again.
Henry Chow is the third seed coming into this cut.
Mattesh, the sixth seed, that means that Henry will have the option here first,
for second. An ever important choice. Which way do you think he'll leave?
That's a tough choice. I kind of feel like you want to go second. Just being the first one to use that itchy pollen
could be a big deal here, but it's such a tough choice, right? You want to go first
when you want to evolve your Pokemon up into the druklok, into the dust clumps,
things like that. I honestly don't know what I would be doing here.
I'm sure Henry's given it some thought. He's got a great testing group as well.
I'm sure they've talked plenty about in the time since Top Cut was set to now
what he should be doing, which options did he choose, and Mateus as well. Also well
networked with his friend group and testing partners, perhaps people who
have scouted out the stream and given him some insight into the way Henry's
been playing and different sorts of maneuvers he could make.
We do a confirmation.
Henry chose to go second.
Maybe favoring that itchy pollen.
Also being able to play a supporter first
is giving himself the best chance
to ensure a setup happens.
We see prize cards going out for both of these players.
Quite a few Pokemon on the side of a Mateish.
That Don and Dustin are in the prizes for Henry.
Two Kadabra and a Dustclops for Mateish.
You know, just talking about how important the itchy pollen is early on.
That's going to become even more impactful when the three of those stage one Pokemon
are in Mateus' prize cards that could really hinder his setup early in the game.
There is the fist bump.
Here we go.
Top eight at the 2026 World Championships underway.
Mateus Lashkovits will be taking the first turn and he kicks it off with an Abra
in the active spot.
Telepathic psychic energy down.
This will allow him to search the deck for two basic psychic Pokémon
and bring them into play.
Extended time here as well in Top Cut.
We see 75 minutes there on the clock,
ensuring that a three game set can occur.
This is where Matash will take an opportunity
to check what's in those prize cards.
And I do think this will be pretty bad news for him
on what's available.
But this telepathic psychic energy is one of these cards
that came out in one of the recent expansions
that really made this Alakazam deck much stronger.
You can use your energy attachment for the turn
to go search for two psychic basic Pokemon
and put them onto your bench.
Your energy attachment just turns into a buddy-buddy poffin
of sorts, and it just adds so much consistency
to this style of deck.
Thinking back in the history of the game,
this type of effect has almost always been good.
Capture energy, such a strong card for so long,
even all the way back to call energy,
which was a four off in many archetypes back in the 2009 and 2010 formats.
And that one ended your turn.
It did end your turn in this one.
You just get to keep going here as we see Mateusz playing out a poke pad,
fetching out one of those cadavers.
That is huge to find on this opening term.
Absolutely. You want to get ahead again of that item lock from the itchy pollen.
Now looks like it's back over to Henry.
He's going to be taking a look through his prize cards here,
Kicking things off with the buddy buddy pop buddy buddy pop and the main card
You want to see in your opening hand for so many archetypes
Especially the dragapult build searching your deck for two Pokemon with 70 HP or less and putting them into play
See just taking stock of which Pokemon are and are not available
Surely noting that dusk nor is not part of the party for this game one until some prize cards
Start to be taken
Does have both copies of his Badoo
I have to think Badoo will be coming out this turn as long as he's got an energy to retreat
Yeah, I would say one of the only awkward things about this is you know your pun has the cadaver in hand already
Cadaver can just do 30 damage and knock out of a do on the second turn
You might just be okay with that that walks right into something like an unfair stamp on the following turn
but one of the
Real challenges with dragapult in the early game is
You know trying not to fall too far behind
Before you can set up a dragapult EX and you can see the double Badoo already
Henry anticipating that the first one is gonna go down and
Really prioritizing having that pivot to the next turns
We doesn't have to burn more energy cards to retreat
You really prioritizing the setup here as well as Meowth EX fetched out from an ultra ball
Putting that into play to use that last ditch catch ability allowing him to search the deck for any supporter card and adding it to the hand
And it is all about the lilies determination sending the hand into the deck and drawing six cards
But since Henry does have exactly six prize cards remaining. He's going to get eight cards
So often we see Dragonbolt players use this card turn after turn after turn until they are fully established and set up
Some wonderful start so far from Henry. He's gonna be able to
Establish some things early on you know Dragonbolt EX is a relatively slow deck
Have to evolve from basic to stage one to stage two this version doesn't play any rare candy
You're not going to see any pressure in the opening turns, but you will see the itchy pollen and itchy pollen incoming and you
Called it out with this but do potentially going down right away to a cadaver attack
Did you see one of those eight cards? Henry drew it was
The unfair stamp is Mateus just going to walk into this and drop down to simply two cards
Yeah, unfair stamp is one of the biggest cards in the format right now.
Sometimes you can just attack in on the second turn and just cross your fingers and say what
are the odds my opponent just has the unfair stamp already.
No way to search it out.
Just has to draw into it naturally.
Yep.
And of course, when they do, you feel horrible, but when they don't...
It's a little unfair.
Yeah, weird.
I do want to call it as well. Henry's board state is very awkward with a lot of
Badoo, Meowth, EX, no room for a dust ball right now, but look at that chip.
Support a card we got going on here. Here we go. Gwynn, one of the new cards
from the pitch black expansion, I think, you know, perhaps designed to go along
with that hide-and-sneak archetype, but used here to discard a bunch of
Pokemon and draw six cards and immediately here we see that knockout from
Mateusz and Henry playing quickly. I think that was a top deck of a second
dracloak. Two dracloaks into play and there it is unfair stamp. Both players
shuffling their hands in. Henry will get five. Mateusz will be left with only
two. Just isn't fair Chip. You take a simple knockout to stop the item lock
from Ichi Palin and your reward is getting your hand shuffled in and
and you only have two cards.
This can be devastating for Matias here.
He just doesn't have that strong of a setup right now.
There's just those two Abra on the bench.
Yikes, this could be really bad
if he doesn't find something like Alakazam or Kadabra
to start drawing some cards.
Still plenty for Henry Chow to do here
as Recon Directive number one.
As you lost, and Recon Directive number two
does find him, the Lilly's determination.
He of course has not played a supporter card
at this turn feels odd since he's already shuffled
and drawn some cards,
but Billy's determination is still live to be played,
but not before Poképad fetches out the third draw.
This is an excellent start for Henry.
Absolutely, and gonna follow up the unfair state
by half to imagine with another itchy pollen,
which will make any cards like Poképad, Buddy Buddy,
Poffin, you know, those item cards
that allow you to search for your Pokemon,
they will be useless.
Henry trying to set up a situation
Maybe Matiasz is not able to evolve any of those Pokemon and then he can swoop in with Dragapult EX, Phantom Dive and knock out multiple Pokemon at once.
And perhaps knocking out even more with that Duskull coming down, setting up to potentially become a Duskull off, setting up for a Cursed Blast to rain havoc down on Matiasz's side of the field.
Abra, very soft Pokemon. In fact,
Mateus playing two copies of that teleporter.
Abra, it only has 40 hit points.
That is a prime target for both Dragapult EX and Dust Clops.
With the Cursed Blast, it's right now feels like the momentum is going
Henry Chow's way. Being able to sift through the deck,
slowly set up this game plan.
The only silver lining for Matiasz at this point is he will take the lead in this game,
get a bit of a cushion in that regard and probably be up by two prize cards at the end of his
turn.
Let's see what the unfair stamp has left.
Matiasz with, there is a Hilda, couple of buddy, buddy, Poffin, he's unable to play,
but the Hilda is a really nice find.
Yeah, that's great.
At the very least, that's going to find an Alakazam to draw three cards here.
If you're wondering, is he going to go for a Cadabra?
Maybe try to save one of those Abra here.
If you go for Alakazam, try to draw an extra card.
This is not an easy decision.
I also want to call out,
normally the A-Spec card in Alakazam decks is the enriching energy.
That card that allows you to draw four cards when you attach it.
But because there's no Dundz-Barse in this version of the deck,
The A-Spec card is actually Prime Catcher.
So this would be a spot where you would love to hilda for enriching energy and draw a bunch of cards.
But Prime Catcher is the choice here and you can't even play that right now because of Edgy Pollen.
Mateusz ultimately did land on Alakazam. We did see him mull it over a bit, Kadabra versus Alakazam.
Which one seemed better? He values the extra card here.
Let's find another Alakazam, but no Kedabra, Puka.
Oh, Chip.
Follow-up supporter.
He's going to jump ahead here.
He's going to take the lead.
Four prizes remaining to Henry's six.
But this is exactly what Henry wants to have happen.
I think Matash knows devastation is looming for him here.
There is a good chance we will leave this turn
with zero Alakazam, zero Abra in play.
Nothing but a field full of duskull.
Formatash, this is really dire.
All Henry needs to pull that off after this polka pad finds out the dust
glops is a psychic energy and a dragapult EX.
And he has so much access to his deck now, he can play a supporter card.
He can play a couple of recondirectives.
He could even get back that Fezzendipiti EX he discarded if necessary.
There's Rosa's encouragement.
That is a way he could guarantee the attachment.
He needs to find himself a Dragapult EX.
The other part of this that might feel a bit unfair is if Henry goes with the dust globs, uses the Cursed Blast.
He knocks out one of those Abra. It will force Metayush to take a prize card,
which would then unlock Henry's special red card to disrupt Metayush's hand further.
Here is the beginning of this turn, Chip.
Kirst Blast takes out the Abra, awarding both players a prize card,
and Mateusz down to just three now.
Henry finally striking with five prizes remaining on his end.
I don't think we're going to get out of this turn without Henry Chow tying this game up.
Psychic energy attached from the hand onto the dragapult.
Tonight's stretcher searching the discard pile to bring back a dust goal,
setting up for future Kirst Blasts and a buddy, buddy,
pop and just to thin the hand out of beds.
I think the only thing Henry would have to be concerned about, I mean, I don't think you can use enough
cursed blasts from Mitaesh without losing, like you said, if the game's going to be tied at some point.
But, I mean, you could see a ridiculous turn, right, where Mitaesh gets like three dust-noir out
and forces a sudden death scenario.
very unlikely but that kind of feels like the only way they'll have a shot in
this game at this point. The Alakazam is really the only attacker he has. It's also
his draw engine as well. Like you mentioned, no Dundsmars, no enriching
energy. He's got those Gwyn, but that's really the only way for him to draw.
And here it is. Phantom dive takes down Alakazam, targets down the Abra,
Henry ties it up, three prizes to three, Mateusz sees the writing on the
and it's gonna pack us up to game two.
That is textbook, drag a bolt for you.
The itchy pollen early in the game.
You buy some time, set up multiple knockouts
with Phantom Dive.
Just was not a whole lot of chance for you
in that situation.
Really see this choice of the dust bar line
for Henry Payne dividends.
Without that, you know, you can maybe knock out
Alakazam and Abra, but then you leave one,
you get into a sticky spot where your opponent
is able to get an Alakazam out on the following turn,
but that additional damage from the Dustbop's first blast
lets you just decimate your opponent's field.
So many cards drawn for Mateish on his second turn.
It was seeming like everything was going according to plan,
but then Henry Chow was able to respond
with that unfair stamp.
reset that hand down, and it's not finding too much.
The Hilda was nice, but we're being hit by an unfair stamp,
and there's not that many fines of the Cadabra
thanks to two being prized.
It seems really difficult for Mateusz to get back through his deck.
I have to wonder if Mateusz is maybe a little bit too
aggressive in that first game.
It's tempting to just attack with the Cadabra
and knock out the Badiak, but immediately got unfair
stamps, not to think, you know, would it have been maybe better if your hand is good enough
to wait an extra turn, try to get one more cadaver out before you go into it.
But sometimes you just got to go for it and say, okay, they had on first hand.
Playing the odds a little bit, not super likely necessarily for Henry to have it, but not
super unreasonable either.
Oh, all right.
So probably not the way that Mataesh wanted this top heat to start off.
Henry probably feeling great, but it's only one game of our best of three match here.
Anybody could still take this home in advance, do the top four of the world championships,
which is a huge plateau, of course, such an increase in pricing and everything like that.
Every match you play from here on out is just so impactful.
The Chayesh will have the opportunity to choose first or second here, so he will choose going second, and he will be the one to have the opportunity to get an opening, Ichi, Paulin.
Let's see what Henry has available in this opening hand. The lead of the dust goal, not too bad. And a couple of Drepi join the party here.
It's like ultra ball being debated here. Henry recognizing that the
Badoo itchy pollen is extremely likely from his opponent wants to make sure to play those item cards while he came
Yeah, and in the first game we didn't see that at all, but they should not even put down a Badoo at any point
Probably recognizing when I go first, this is not gonna be very impactful. My opponent's already played a lot of things
Set up for the following turn played a supporter card
just not worth putting this tiny Pokemon into play.
Not how that game's gonna go.
I wonder if we'll see the roles shift in game number two,
where Matanj could have the first opportunity
to do the itchy pollen, do the item locking,
and maybe slow Henry down this time.
I'd normally look at these prize cards and say,
oh, not too big of a deal.
Nothing really of consequence, but something to note, Puka,
Henry did just use an Ultra Ball
and discarded an Ultra Ball with it.
His other two ultra ball are in his prize cards.
That's something we'll have to track.
It could be difficult for him to find a Dragonbolt EX.
That's very true.
I guess maybe the silver lining is he just played Dawn,
which is one way to find a Dragonbolt EX.
But yeah, that's going to be really awkward.
And I think also something you don't think to search for
when you're looking at what's in my prize cards.
You just don't really have the time or the mental capacity
to note every single thing that's in your prize cards and Ultra Ball is just not something you
think to look for. We'll take it into the deck right away with an opening Hilda, searching out
an evolution Pokemon and an energy card. We will shortly see that telepathic psychic energy come
into play here, catching out a few more of those psychic basics. Looks like the evolution
Pokemon he's going with for now is that Dusk Lops, telepathic psychic has now joined that
party. Taking a note of his prize cards. Doesn't look thrilled I'll say that. Looks like a couple
of telepathic psychic in his prize cards. Not very many energy available. Okay he only plays
five energy. I mean he's only got two available until he starts to take prize cards. That's
not good Chip. Thankfully you only need one to attack with Alakazam. But if he retreats
He just won off here to attack with Badoo,
then he's only got one.
Exactly.
I don't think he can afford to do that anymore.
Meanwhile, you have to find your last energy card,
and then you have to hope at some point
when you take a prize card, you find another energy card.
I mean, you have pretty good odds.
There are half of your prizes.
But yeah, this is two games in a row now
where Matias might have to come up with an alternate plan
just based on what's in those prize cards.
Do you see that telepathic psychic energy coming down,
searching the deck for two basic psychic Pokémon?
It looks like Abra and that Duskull are hitting the field.
And a buddy, buddy, Poffin can ensure a few more Pokémon
come out.
And he does grab out the Badoo.
That does signify the retreat of that telepathic psychic
energy and the itchy pollen.
He's just going to value shutting Henry down.
So, so much now over to Henry.
We see that Recon Directive and a huge hit off of those two cards.
Lily's determination.
That's going to turn into eight more cards.
But not before the dawn.
What do you think of this?
He's got the dawn in hand.
He's going to choose to play it slowly.
I don't mind it at all.
This can do a couple of different things.
You can grab a dust clops.
You can just get your dust go out of the active spot
without having to burn in energy
if you want to go that route.
You can set yourself up to find that dragapult
that you don't have any Ultra Balls this this might just end up working out I'm
not sure if Henry has an energy but yeah look the curse blast. It's gonna take out
the Badoo and he'll promote his own Badoo and he is gonna match Mateus'
itchy-pulling with one of his own. That is a huge hit though. Mateus off of that
prize card did take I think a telepathic psychic energy. Henry's in
such a good position here. Matias is all basic Pokemon in play still and Henry was able to get rid of that
but do and itchy pollen on his own turn and put Matias in an awkward spot where again he can't play cards like
Pokepad buddy buddy Poffin. It's gonna be tougher to search for things and crucially does shut off rare candy as well.
Oh, but Mateusz can draw so many cards here.
We see that first psychic draw, finding two from the top of the deck.
There's the attach of the telepathic psychic energy,
but he has when waiting in the hand.
And Pokemon he is happy to get rid of, such as that Petratt,
of course, a tech for those decks that use Monkey Dory.
Not something he has to worry about.
Now that he has surveyed Henry Chow's list,
he'll be happy to discard that Pokemon
in favor of drawing six cards from the top of his deck.
That's a lot of cards to just add right to your hand.
Still more to come as well here with the psychic draw.
Two more being found and here comes a couple of dust globs
evolving up those dust gulls.
Preparing for future curse blasts with dust nor.
They are also live to just pop right now though.
Not sure how worth it that would be.
It is something to consider though.
He could take out that only Dracloak.
I think it's very tempting.
Take out the only Dracloak.
The only thing that has energy on it,
You're going to knock out the active, knock out that Drakloak,
leave Henry with no attacker for at least two turns.
I mean, you'd have to at least be a little bit tempted.
And then did Matias just pass?
He did just pass, perhaps an adjustment from game number one,
saying he didn't want to walk into the unfair stamp.
Well, let's say Henry Childsboard seemed much less developed,
and this is going to be excellent for Henry
as he uses Recon Directive, finds another Drakloak,
evolves into Dragapult and plays the least determination.
Of course, Henry's looking for a fire energy here at the very least,
perhaps to begin Phantom Dive.
Feels like a reasonable turn to try to use Phantom Dive,
but would also be a little bit, I don't know,
it would feel a little bit odd, you know,
that's your only Pokemon with energy in play.
But it feels like Tasha's evolved up so many of those Pokemon now.
He might be feeling the pressure to try to fire back.
He did find the fire energy, so Phantom Dive is certainly available for him.
But with the Katabra waiting on the bench with a couple of Dusk Lops potentially ready to become Dusk Noir,
Henry's Dragapult DX is far from safe.
He'll play a buddy-buddy puff in to fetch out another Dusk Call down to the bench,
perhaps debating one more Pokemon to join the party.
His fourth 3P is prized,
so he cannot bring that Pokemon out.
What a second Duskull could hit the field.
Yeah. If Henry does go for the Phantom Dive here,
I think it becomes a question of what you're going to target
down with those six damage counters.
Do you simply take out a Duskull,
try to limit the explosive opportunity that Matash could have?
I guess probably not.
You know, you're gonna be down to three prize cards after a phantom dive
The most the tape could use this to curse blasts in a term without losing
So it's probably Abra you would go after and just kind of hope that
Hey, I hope you don't get to enough cards to knock out my dragon pole to help
This is a race I can win a pair of recon directives used for Henry
Debating here off this second what card he'd like to hang on to looks like night stretcher will be the winner of
That debate fair stamp is waiting in the hand
And why is it Matthias had a bit of foresight to not take the KO on the Badoe perhaps?
I'd love to see that.
And now is Henry going to spread these energies out?
Is he not going to phantom dive this turn?
Yeah, again, it just feels like such a perilous situation.
You put yourself in.
You could see exactly how this can go wrong.
Yes, you'd love to take a couple prize cards, force your opponent to have all
all the pieces to put together a massive turn, but no, just patience, Ichi Pollen being used.
Ichi Pollen utilized also worth noting that Henry has looked at the list from Mitaish.
Mitaish only has one boss's orders and no D'dun Sparse.
It's so unlikely for him to be punished by this play with the Dragapult KO.
He'll go with the evolution of the Alakazam psychic draw to find three more cards.
I'm wondering if Henry wants to wait to find judge that might be the one card. He's waiting for
Play judge then phantom dive in the same turn
Reduce your opponent's hand down to four cards make it really challenging
Oh the one of boss's orders from Mateus and that
Just nor coming into play that will allow for him to take this KL
but he is actually going to play it slow.
He's not going to take the knockout.
He'll hit for 240 damage,
leave this Dragon Bolt with 80 HP.
This is the brilliance of this deck.
But wow, the one boss's orders.
That was a huge card for Matayush,
defined here to hit into that Dragon Bolt EX
and set it up for a Cursed Blast on the following turn.
This is the strategy of this Alakazam deck.
Soften up your opponent's Pokemon
with the first powerful hand play around things like unfair stamp special red
card those sorts of things and then in the following turn use that curse blast
to knock out the the Pokemon you damaged before maybe knock out a few other
things you're trying to almost play dragopold's game wipe the board in one
turn we saw Henry wipe Mateus last game getting rid of all Abra Mateus is
setting up for the potential of wiping out
Dragonpole TX and both Dracloak,
the potential of multiple of those curse blast abilities
being utilized, very, very likely here.
How will Henry Chow respond?
It's a great question.
It's even maybe a situation where you want to evolve
one of those Dracloak preemptively
just to make sure it can't get curse blasted.
But again, remember Henry is on ultra balls.
It might be tough to find another Dragapult EX in this situation.
Debating a Cursed Glass Tier, which is just with the Dusk Lofts, not the Dusk Norse,
so it will just be five damage counters placed onto one of Mateusz's Pokemon.
And he's going to take out the Abra, maybe fishing for one of those Ultra Balls from his prize cards.
He does not find it, and Pukka, he does not have a way to find a Dragapult Tier.
It sure doesn't look like it. Is there anything in the discard pile he can find?
The second dust clops and he's going to curse Blast again.
He's going to clear the board of all the Alakazam,
Abra and Kadabra once again.
He's going to give Matejish some prize cards alongside this.
And the Buddy Buddy Poffin will be played just
spinning that card from the hand.
This is great for Henry.
He'll take out both Alakazam and the Kadabra,
sprinkle some damage elsewhere.
But Puka, it's possible for Bateyash to win on this next turn.
I guess he can't actually win because he's going to take two prize cards,
but he could force a tiebreaker game.
Yeah, he could force this.
He could end up in a situation where if you use Dustor's Cursed Blast
to do enough damage to knock out one of your opponent's Pokemon,
you knock out your own Pokemon and your opponent's Pokemon,
You both collect your prize cards at the same time and win at the same time
And maybe what we're heading for there is two prizes for Henry chow down to just the two remaining and is there any other play for
Matayush
He has no way to utilize an alakazam, but he's got a full grip of cards in his hand
There is that poke a pad being played to fetch out another Pokemon without a rule box could find another dust nor
It's just going to be the Badoo.
If Matias can find a line, he's going to go for it.
He will see that.
Dusk Noir's Curse Blast.
And the second Dusk Glops being used,
all those Curse Blasts happen.
And these players will both satisfy
the same number of win conditions.
Hookah, we're going into a tiebreaker game.
Ooh, OK.
It's been a while since we've seen one of these situations,
Chip.
This is a tiebreaker game.
We're going to set up for a full game.
This second game has not resolved yet.
Metayush's tournament life is at stake here.
And it's very simple.
First prize card wins.
Now, of course, it gets really awkward with Joss Klops as well.
You can extend this a bit still with some cursed blasts.
But yeah, this is what it comes down to.
If Henry takes a prize card first in this tiebreaker game,
He advances to the top four.
If Mateusz does, we're going to go to game three.
And we actually see these players,
they have to flip a coin to decide who goes first
in this tiebreaker game.
This is like a game that exists in a little bubble
in and of itself, almost outside of the normal best of three.
This is simply aiming to resolve
the result of game number two.
Such a unique situation, but not the first time Mateusz
encountered this in this tournament. I watched his round 11 out in the field
against Rune where this same thing happens. These players went to a tiebreaker
game after a situation like this in a game three and now it is just a chance
for Mateus to hang on here. He has won prize card away from being eliminated
from the World Championships. So much can happen in this kind of a situation.
Player strategies have to change completely.
Everything changes.
Yes.
Normally, on the first turn of the game,
you want to go for itchy pollen.
But now, a 30 HP, but do getting knocked out
loses you the game.
And now, also, normally, you want to go second,
it seems, in this matchup.
I think you want to go first.
You want to try to get the turn to attack.
It's like Matash is going first here in our tiebreaker game.
Does start with the dust goal.
There's so much that can happen here.
I think one crucial thing,
Taysh would hopefully find an energy card here,
but we could be here for a while, Chip.
Let's be honest.
What's gonna happen if Matejish next turn
goes rare candy, dust nor, and takes a prize card?
Do we set up for a new tiebreaker game?
Or do they play until someone is ahead on prize cards?
I believe that is what it is, yes.
until somebody is ahead on prize cards.
That is how the tiebreaker game ends.
Well, we've seen things that can happen
in like the expanded format as well.
I think there's like the Zerker Tree GX
that can put out an extra prize card for your opponent.
That's a way to end one of these tiebreaker games as well.
It's when there's a differential,
but these games can get really awkward
and no energy attachment.
No energy attachment, but Matej did have his prime catcher in hand, Puka.
That's the way he can make up for the miss of an energy.
Henry has a lot to consider here, opening Drepi.
He does have, it looks like, a buddy-buddy coffin in the hand, and that will be the play.
He also has low determination, he's got an energy card.
He could go itchy pollen here, but putting a 30 HP Pokemon in play.
he's again we're gonna have to see him change his strategy will he even put
Bidu out? It's difficult to know if that's the right thing to do I kind of
think it is because your opponent can't actually attack Bidu next turn and not
gonna yes we can see the curse blast but again that would not end up in a
player being ahead on prize cards so the game potentially continues after
that I guess we would be clarification on exactly how this tiebreaker game is
going to work with these kinds of effects but we'll get our people backstage
looking at the rule book here such a unique situation but I think if that's
the case you still want to itchy pollen because I mean well what would
montage be able to do on the next turn best you could do is a vaulted
cadabra and not be able to attack but Henry it would still be multiple turns
away I mean from him being the one to attack right yeah that's the other side
of this Henry won't be able to win next turn if Matash just you know like gets
rare candy Alec is amry if you're gonna bite this creepy or this dusk hole with
this creepy he's playing Crispin I mean you may as well right what you gotta do
is take a prize card you just want to attack yeah I was actually thinking the
the one Pokemon you'd want to start with with for Henry is peasant
the thing with the biggest amount of HP he's going to bite with
dreamy Crispin to energy into play 40 damage on this dust goal.
And this is this threatens a boss's orders next turn to win.
Tage could win the game right now, though. If he has rare candy
allocas and energy, he has his prime catcher in hand. That's
right, Chip. His prime catcher is a way has the energy. He has
the allocas and all he needs is a rare candy here from the
does not find it.
A win though can still draw him a ton of cards.
He has four rare candy in his list.
He can discard two Pokemon from his hand
and draw six from the top of the deck.
Not before telepathic psychic energy will thin things out.
Fetching out a couple of psychic Pokemon.
And this is all because Henry did not use Badoo last turn.
Mateus has this opening to find that rare candy
and use his premature to win.
Oh, this is tense, Chip.
We're going to see a win for the win, maybe.
Needs to find rare candy.
I think the good news is that even if the tash misses here,
it's not necessarily over.
You can use the prime catcher to get your dusk all out
of the active spot.
Then you would force Henry to have a boss's orders
to win on the following turn.
Oh, this is, I cannot imagine a more nerve-wracking
situation than this.
Your tournament is on the line here.
need to find something. We have gotten confirmation that it is whoever is the
prize advantaged player. That will be the player who wins the game. Six cards to
come from this Gwen. One rare candy ends it for Mateus has not found it just yet.
There is one in the prize cards. Is it this final one? And no he does with. He
will not be able to rare candy into Alakazam. He has no way to win the
game on this turn. Oh now what the prime catcher has to be used to get
with this dust goal out of the active spot now and Henry
Chow is the ball back in Henry's for Henry's a boss's
orders away from winning the game.
The boss's orders.
Ultra ball for me out.
It's all works so many different ways that Henry could
close this one out.
See that pocket pad fetches out the dust norm.
We're going to see the Cadabra.
You could still find a rare candy off of this to do
Dusk Noir, and that would knock out the Stripie with the energy on it, but he missed again!
He missed again, three rare candy in the deck, does not find any of them.
He is going to evolve into Dusk Glops.
It's making that prime catcher a little harder for Henry to win.
Prime catcher of the A-Spec card, is this Matash's hope to try to survive in this tournament.
He's got an energy in his hand. If he has an energy and a boss, his orders
actually doesn't quite win it because everything is out of range nothing gets
KO'd to a bite he has Lily's determination he has boss he has energy but
there's nothing that bite can KO he has no dracloak he has no way oh no to search
anything else out the endeavor in the after spot I don't think Henry can win
now this turn Puka both players just shaking their heads like how could I
not find something so simple to win this game yeah crucially evolving into
Dust Clops prevented this game from ending as well.
Now, if Henry bosses up the Dust Clops,
Matej will be able to curse blasts the 3P
that's already got damage on it.
He will stay at five to five in prize cards,
and then an Alakazam can swoop in and win the game.
And he's going to put down that Fezzendipiti EX.
It's holding onto that boss, which had that Matej not
I found Dusclops would have closed out the game.
Will have to just go with a lily's determination.
He'll get eight cards.
But I don't think he has a way to deal 80 damage this turn.
The max he could do would be 70 with a drake cloaks dragon
headbutt.
No way to deal that extra 10 damage.
Yeah, I think Henry's only hope at this point
is to just retreat into Fezendipity
and hope that it can take it.
But no, that's it.
Henry recognizes that he I think has no way to win
and Mateus is gonna be awarded a game two victory
coming out ahead and sudden death.
What a bizarre way to keep your hopes alive here
at the World Championships.
That's gotta be a big jolt of energy for Matash
as we head into a third and deciding game.
He was one prize card away from being eliminated
from flying back home with a top eight finish
at the World Championship.
Something he, of course, would be proud of,
but would, of course, sting being so close.
It is so hard to get to this point
and so difficult to ever fight your way back.
You only have so many chances to become a champion.
And Mateus is making a full-on effort here.
I'm curious if we have Pablo standing by,
see if there's anything big we saw in that second game.
what a wild ride it was.
It really was, Kyle.
I mean, very, very cool to see this situation
that only hasn't come up.
I don't remember the last time we saw it,
or if we have seen it.
I really can't recall.
So many games of Pokemon, maybe it has happened before,
but I mean, you guys mentioned that Atej was actually,
or has already done it before right in a round.
So, not something he's unfamiliar with, and with four-way candy,
he's probably pretty able to do it consistently,
and perhaps take an advantage with a quick Galaga zap.
These tiebreaker games are so, so rare in the Pokemon DCG.
They do happen, though.
I have to imagine, though,
this is the highest stakes moment
for one top eight of the World Championships.
Are you kidding me?
Oh, just think.
I mean, if Mateusz goes on to the top four
and ultimately wins this tournament,
That will be one of the moments for the ages here at the world championships.
We have over two decades worth of world championships for the TCG so far.
Iconic moments are made every year.
And here we are in game three chip winner moves on game three underway.
But do the starter for Matias here with Henry Chow starting at the skull on his end
and a opening buddy, buddy Poffin, always a welcome sight.
After that, are we going to see a normal game or another weird one?
Impossible to tell.
Prize cards being checked here for Mateus.
Really nothing super consequential.
In some matchups you'd be devastated to see Shaman over there in those six,
but obviously not a big deal in this moment.
A couple of his supporters, he doesn't play that many supporters in his deck,
so perhaps something to track there with the Gwyn and the Hilda hiding away.
But Buddy Buddy Poffin will find out a pair of Abra. Got that 40 HP Teleporter one, and then also
teleportation attack available on that 50 HP Abra.
Of course Abra, classic Abra right, teleporting all the time. But this is exactly what you need to
see when you go first. You need to get basic Pokemon into play, whether that's Buddy Buddy
body poppin', the telepathic psychic energy,
but Tanshu's deck revolves around getting basic Pokemon
down as quickly as possible, evolving them up.
You know, such a somewhat unique build to see these days.
So many stage two Pokemon in one deck.
It's all about evolving up higher and higher.
We see the era of, you know,
we've seen the era of big basic Pokemon for a long time,
but here she's all stage two Pokemon are the stars.
Wow! Look at the start.
What an opening here for Matej.
Playing out a handful of item cards as well
to play around the potential itchy pollen of Henry Chow,
utilizing that telepathic psychic energy.
And Paul for turn there from Henry Chow
is a Lily's determination.
His hand was unplayable.
Look at that hand, Puka.
Two fire energy, a Dragonbolt EX.
Stadium card nothing at all to work with.
He is bailed out and saved by that Lily's determination top deck.
Wow, what a draw to stay in this game.
I mean, he surely just would have lost on the next turn.
But now, new life for Henry now.
What a roller coaster we've been on.
These eight cards are going to be massive for Henry.
It was effectively a game on board, right?
We just saw Mateusz use Pokepad to get that dust
gloves.
If he used dust gloves, 50 damage to the dust goal,
that she Paulin is the 10 damage he needs.
That would have been the game.
That would have been Matiasz moving on.
That Lilly's determination keeps Henry in this set.
And what a find.
The buddy, buddy, Poffin.
And Henry's going to fire right back.
Buddy, buddy, Poffin got an ultra ball
to get things ready to go.
You never know what's going to happen
next between these two players.
Of course, Henry with the boss's orders
top deck earlier in the day.
Now the Lilly's determination, top deck.
One of these players has to move on chip.
It's a shame one of them has to have their run end here.
Whoever goes on, I mean, what a run it's gonna be.
And look at these prize cards for Henry Pinka,
unfair stamp judge.
Two of the three ways he has to disrupt his opponent
and the only ways he could ever aggressively disrupt
his opponent, that special red card, not active,
until Mateusz has taken three prize cards.
I think fortunately you can maybe fish some of those out
if you're able to set up a cursed blast.
That unfair stamp is pretty good position,
but yeah, this is not ideal.
Lots of cards that Henry would like to have access to
for sure, but I think in general,
this is a kind of scary position for Henry to be in.
has the buddy-buddy puff in for these two.
Drifi has to use an energy attachment for the turn
to retreat into Badou.
You definitely cannot end this turn
without saying ipsy pollen.
The potential for your opponent
to just play a bunch of rare candy
evolve into those stage two Pokemon, way too high.
But Henry's gotta be feeling the pressure here.
Seems like Mateusz has set himself up very well.
And there is the retreat into the Badou,
the second Badou coming down as well,
Preparing for the potential of a Kadabra attacking into this Pokemon
And Mateusz will be unable to play any of his item cards here
But this hand full of Pokemon Kadabra number one psychic draw to find two more cards
It's like Kadabra number two waiting in the hand a couple more cards will be available
He's got dust globs in order to start evolving up and getting ready for a future dust nor cursed blast
No, he's not gonna wait for the future. He's in a curse blast right now
When putting an interesting decision on Henry right now,
what Pokemon to send out?
I actually wondered if Mateusz would have
curse blasted the benched Badoo in that spot
and just force the other one to stay active.
You could do something like knock out the benched one,
force Henry to leave that Badoo active,
and then go into your own Kadebra.
And look at that find off the prize cards for Henry.
Rips the unfair stamp, so that will be an available play
for him next turn if Mateusz does not use itchy pollen.
Should he go with the Supersciple,
he'll be able to take a prize card on this Badoo,
go down to just four remaining.
He would walk right into unfair stamp
for a second game in this set.
Decision time for Mateusz here.
You attack with Kadabra, put on the maximum pressure,
or do you simply itchy pollen
and try to set up your own board a little bit more?
This is not an easy decision.
I see the merits of both sides of this.
What will Mateusz do?
Still has a few more cards to see before he finalizes his decision as Gwen will discard two Pokemon from the hand in order to draw six from the top of the deck.
Debating on what those two Pokemon discarded will be, looks like he does land on Badoo and a Duskull.
He actually was going to discard a Duskull and change his mind.
He does decide to hang on to the Duskull and there's a rare candy in the hand, of course cannot play it.
Henry did use a cheap pollen last turn and we are going to see him get aggressive here.
He is going up with this Kadabra.
He's going to use the Super Cybold, take a prize,
and jump ahead in this game.
Four prizes remaining to Henry's five.
And Henry found the perfect prize card in that unfair stamp.
Having a debate about what to promote here.
Dusko or Drippy, what will be the choice?
It looks like he does land on the Dusko.
Not an easy choice to make here.
Wow, what a prize card drawn.
As you said, Chip, the one best card
he could have gotten off of that one prize card,
the unfair stamp.
This could be the one way that Henry gets to stay
in this game and slow down this offense from Mitaish.
It's going to need to be kind of perfect times
from here on out from Henry to battle back in this one.
He is going to attach the energy to his drip float
And Bench Fesendipity then play on fair stamp.
Both players shuffle their hands into the deck.
Henry will be awarded with five, and he's still
going to be able to roll through this turn.
Recon directive, flip the script, even a supporter
still to be played.
And Matiasch will be left with simply two cards
to work with on his next turn.
What is Henry going to go for here?
I think he would love to be able to itchy-pull
this turn and get back into that item lock, but both Bidu now in the discard pile would need to
find a night stretcher to get it back and has already attached for the turn in order to get a
Bidu into the active would also need to curse blast with dust clops to get that out of there.
Feels not great that your opponent could just draw a poke pad off these two cards,
get an alakazam and start drawing back up. Henry needs to find some way to make sure that
But this unfair stamp sticks and maybe stamps his ticket into the top four.
Flip the script utilized to draw three cards from the top of the deck, finding a buddy buddy
puffin which Henry will play to fetch that second duskull from the deck.
Putting that Pokemon into play.
He's also got a pookapad in hand so we could see another druck cloak hit the field
or that dusklock is a way to pivot this active out.
He still could play supporter.
He's got Crispin in his hand.
That's another way that he could retreat this duskull
should he want to.
And he will attach an energy from that Crispin to this active.
Can we see a night stretcher to go with this, though?
I think Ichi Pollen would be a huge part of this turn.
Henry might be digging for it here.
He's got two cards to see off this recon directive.
Looking at them, it doesn't look like one
is a night stretcher.
but he does have one waiting already in the hand.
Pocopat gonna definitely find one more
jocloak for a recon directive.
Did see Chip in Matanche's hand is a Pocopat.
If there's no itchy pollen here,
we'll certainly see an Alakazam come into play.
Here is that night stretcher.
He is able to find it, had it waiting in the hand,
And we'll get into the Badoo and this is huge.
He is walking right into that super side bolt,
but he is keeping Mateusz locked for yet another turn
as he builds up to the future of Cursed Blast,
of Phantom Dive, and picking apart Mateusz's board.
That was a massive fine.
Unfair stamp into all of this.
Henry putting immense pressure onto Mateusz.
What did he draw off of those two cards
on the unfair stamp?
One, no for sure, is a Pokepad, which cannot be used now.
I think he did also have a Hilda, so that would be a way he could find out a Pokemon,
either Alakazam or Kadabra, to draw through the deck and also boost the HP of his board overall.
But we've talked about it through the entirety of this set.
These basic Pokemon are so small.
60 HP on these Duskles, 50 HP on the Abra,
of course, little 30 HP Badoo hanging around as well.
That is what Dragapult dreams of when it comes to Phantom Dive.
What a match we've seen here between our two competitors in the top eight of the world championships.
World-class play from both. Oh, two item cards and a Hilda.
The Hilda, the only bailout here, searching out any evolution Pokemon and an energy card to add to the hand.
And he will land on the Kadabra as his grab here using psychic draw to find two more cards.
I don't mind this at all. Make it challenging for Henry, but let's see what he draws.
I guess I'll win perhaps for the next turn. No, it looks like Petrack's shaming in his hand.
A couple of more item cards in that basic psychic energy, so...
I don't mind this play from Matash.
It's going to force Henry, if he wants to completely clear this board,
he's going to have to use two Cursed Blasts,
and he can wipe out both Kadabra and the active one with Phantom Dive.
But then they would put Matash down to one prize card,
and Henry would be at two,
and that would still leave the door open for Matash
to go with something like Rare Candy into Dusknoir
and Cursed Blasts to win this game.
So Matatjus making it as difficult as possible for Henry to set up some massive play here.
Henry promotes his Drakloka, attaches an energy to it.
It is simply a dragapult DX away from the Phantom Dive being on the table.
And he'll send his hand into the deck with the laser termination.
Still a pair of recon directives to use.
Also flip the script on the table to be utilized for Henry Chow here.
You can see on his face the pressure of the moment.
I mean, this is massive. This is win or go home.
These six cards and the few to follow will be very important
to determine who is moving on to top four.
Here comes a flip the script. Three cards to find.
It's the fun dragapult.
Needs a dragapult and the Ultra Ball will guarantee that.
He's going to use a recon directive.
Does find that special red card, Puka.
Card he's able to play now since Mateusz took that KO last turn.
He'll be able to throw Mateusz's hand down to the deck even further.
Matias doesn't have that much to work with right now though, but he's going to get extra cards in his hand
Thanks to curse blast so special red card is extremely impactful and here he goes curse blast takes down
Kadabra both players taking a prize card that is huge defined dust noir in that situation being able to completely knock out a
Kadabra now Henry can set up this play
He has dust clops put five damage counters on the cadaver you phantom dive knock out the active knock out the kid cadaver and
The Badoo three prize cards and you go down to a single prize card
This could leave us in another situation ship
Where if Matash finds rare candy and dust are?
You know Henry had an opportunity to maybe condense his board down to things that cannot be cursed blasted
but we could see I don't want to curse it yet another tiebreaker game it is
entirely possible Mateus down to just one prize card remaining but with the
active cadabra with that benched one taking so much damage these Pokemon
will both be cleared from play Henry Chow with four prize cards remaining
there is that special red card sending the hand to the bottom of the deck for
Mateus and wiping out all of these Pokemon from play one prize card apiece for each of these players and Mateus
only has a pair of
Dusts gold to work with he did find dust nor just needs rare candy
Nothing else in the hand if he finds a rare candy here
He can send us to another tiebreaker game and okay. He does not have it. He still has gone
This can find Fezendipity ex and flip the script, but no
He's gonna extend the hand here does not have it available and is going to shake
Henry's hand and send him forward to top four at the world championships Wow
Congratulations to Henry Chow
Miracle run continues the top tech of the lilies determination
On that third and final game to stay in it and battle back and take down this
this unique, this innovative Elixam of Dustinor Deck.
What an incredible display from both of these players,
Matiasz, holding on in that tiebreaker game in Game 2,
but Henry is the one that moves on.
This is one that I think we will remember
for a long time to come.
One of the best Pokemon TCG matches
I have ever seen, two incredible players.
Matiasz's run will come to an end here,
top eight of the World Championships.
Two years in a row, Puka.
What a couple of year runs in your pad.
Yeah, I mean, an incredible back-to-back run for Matash.
I think he has to feel a little bit disappointed
that he was not able to advance once again,
but still excellent season for him
and an excellent run with such an amazing deck.
It's a shame to see this one fall where he did again.
It feels like a shame that one of these players
had to go out here, but that's how the bracket goes sometimes.
What a match we had here, so much happening back and forth.
A lot of Purdue going back and forth.
A lot of Purdue.
Both these players were a little itchy sitting up there
on the stage.
This was a huge turn in that game,
two puka bosses orders on the table.
That is a one-off card in his deck.
Prime catcher not working because he was hit with itchy
pollen.
Absolutely, and this is where I thought, oh, maybe
Henry found a way to, you know, clear the board here with the curse blast.
The Phantom died, what was going to happen.
But the Tash had set up this curse blast play,
take two prize cards off of this one and then boom, we had to a tiebreaker game
because both players have collected all six of their prize cards.
And then what unfolded was, I mean, just insanity.
And then to game three, the top deck of the determination to keep Henry Chow alive.
Mateusz would have won the game on his second turn had Henry not found a supporter card or a way to get out of Pokemon
So much changes in the world championships. I mean top cut top eight. Those are excellent excellent accomplishments
But it feels so nice to get into top four you earn yourself one of those
iconic trophy cards. The prize pool continues to increase. You get to take home a Pikachu trophy
regardless of your final standing and you get an invitation to the next season's World Championships
as well. You can see my tames there extending the hand congratulating Henry who honestly battled
back. It set up such a crazy comeback there that game but I think we're gonna throw it over to the stage.
I'm going to go for a second.
Top four with no look at
slowing down. Henry. How we
feeling coming out of that
creature smash? That was
absolutely insane. I mean,
Game one, you know, went great.
I drew amazing in game one. I
was feeling pretty good. Game
two got myself into a pretty
done to play around it, but sudden death I think is pretty much a 50-50. If I go first,
it's pretty hard for him to stop me from taking the first prize, and then actually even going
second I actually got a chance if I had top vector cloak and then in game three I really
thought it was all over. I mean I don't know if the camera caught my opening hand, it
was absolutely disgusting. And this is my second time on stream actually, top decking
Lily off a completely unplayable hand. This happened in round five against Festival
I just, I can't believe that happened, the universe feels like it's, it feels like the universe is toying with me and I made a huge, huge blunder at the end of game 3 as well.
I benched the Driepe to thin my deck before my lilies, but if I had thought far enough ahead in the turn, I could have made a pulse, pulse, fez board.
So he couldn't force that in death with dust nor but I benched the street view that meant that off the red card
Which I was really lucky even draw the red card because I'm certain you would have had the candy dust her if I didn't drop the red card
She would have been able to force another seven death, which I don't know if I hard would have been able to handle that
But honestly at this level of play it's interesting still to hear that you reflect immediately on the game and think to yourself
What can I always be doing better? Is that something you always think when you come out of a match?
Yeah, I mean it depends if I see it or not, of course
Yeah, sometimes I just don't know I haven't made a mistake until someone told me
I'm sure some of my friends must have caught this mistake for me
It was just later on in the turn after I popped all my nostrils
I'm looking at my board and I can say but I can make this a pull to the other two pulls to defend
Why is this creepy on the board? But I I got bailed out as and I'll take it
I'll take it. You got to get everything you can get. I'll try to play better next game
I mean even so a phenomenal run thus far
you. We are with twists and
turns every single moment.
Henry. We are so pleased to
have you on this stage and we
wish the best of luck going
forward. And he final words
before we let you move on in
this event. You are top four
guaranteed. Let's see how far
we can go. I just thank you
so much. Everybody's tuning
in and watching even my
friends who are not affiliated
with Pokemon and just watch
it support me. It really
means the world to me. This
the top four today, so gotta hold it together. But yeah, I really wanted to get this discernment.
Well, hopefully your luck hasn't ended there and the top decks continue to bail you out of silly
situations, including the stickiest of tiebreaker games. So thank you, Henry, for joining us once
again and congratulations. Let's keep rolling on with more action. Let's head back to the
the Caster Desk for some more.
Congratulations to Henry Chow.
He's been one of the best players in the game
the last couple of seasons.
Didn't have a great run at Worlds last year,
but now top four at this event,
solidifying himself as just one of the top,
top, top players in the game,
and aiming to push even farther forward here.
You heard that emotion in his voice.
I mean, what a game, what a roller coaster it was.
I mean, we're feeling it here in the booth.
Our audience out in the crowd feeling it.
You at home, I hope feeling it as well,
but I cannot even imagine what is swirling
through Henry Chow's mind in this moment.
Yeah, I think that's one of the things
that makes Henry easy to root for.
You can see how much it means to him.
You know, he's not afraid to show his emotions
in those situations we've seen.
Pretty much every time he's been on the stream
this weekend, just seems so exhausted and relieved
whenever things go his way,
and he really puts his heart into it,
and I'm gonna keep an eye on him
and see where this weekend takes him.
These moments are what the World Championships
is all about unforgettable memories,
incredible high level play.
We're gonna bring Pablo Mesa in
to help us break down the game we just watched.
Table man, what do you think of that?
Tiebreaker game in top eight of Worlds,
are you kidding me?
I know, and if you had told me Henry would do it with Gardevoir it would have 100% believed you, but now Gardevoir is gone and he's still here showing that it's not really the deck, right?
It's the player himself, his skill is, I mean, I don't know if he's reached his ceiling or not, he's playing some amazing Pokemon and the fact that the first thing he does as soon as he walks away from that match is say he's gonna play better next time.
what's not his best it's just it's really inspiring to see and I mean as we've talked
before right at this high level play sometimes you need that little bit extra of luck the universe
is definitely helping out Henry Chow a little bit with these early on first steps which are so
devastating that Lily topic as well when the stakes are this high when both players are this
good sometimes the lock of a draw is what will define a match such as this one and of course
the early stamp very very damaging to these alakazam decks and especially when you're able to
combine that with a withing a cadavera yeah withing a cadavera is really what put a nail in the
coffin here for my page the double avra susceptibility on the bench made it so that he had no
no follow-up, no way to protect the Abra and the Kadabra, and led to this multi-price turn
of just knocking out everything from the board with a single Phantom Dive, and led to the
pretty interesting scenario of the crazy Southern Dead.
Something we hadn't seen before.
I think players took a few shortcuts here, so just wanted to make sure it was very
clear what happened.
Dragonbolt has 80 HP left, so DOSNOR takes out the Dragonbolt, Henry takes a prize, Mateusz takes two, and then the DOS Glove takes out the body, tying everyone up at zero prize cards.
And because both players have basic Pokemon or Pokemon in play remaining, that means only one win condition is fulfilled for both players, and therefore we go to the sudden death game.
and I mean how how much tighter do you need the margins to be that the game has
to be settled by another game right and another one that really showcased some
very interesting play as well very small margins and in the end Mateusz
walked away the winner of their bowl players with key cards when they had an
opening but overall I think this turn and this game showed how Mateusz's
deck is built is a very unique Alakazam deck build that does really well against the expected
Dragapult Leasing and Variant which is probably the one that has what's gathering the most
attention leading into the event because of Mega Exca Drills potential to counter quotation
marks Dragapult and crushing hammers that really affect this version of the deck
but when you are up against a multi-target threat which is Dothmore and Dothclubs which
which are able to remove the Pokemon from your bench very easily
on top of the Phantom Divex for damage counters.
The low HP is what ultimately being,
ultimately was, but there's this demise here.
Versus the other dry-off variants, I have to imagine there's good price rates
and the pressure on the bench is manageable,
but when you have all these Dust Clubs and Dust Lords just targeting your bench
over and over and eliminating multiple Cadabras and Abras in a single turn
On top of your active, that's where things fell apart in.
Over the course of three games we saw, like them only attack once where it really mattered, right?
Against the Dragapult. So I think this version of the deck very successful in the expected metagame,
but when you come up against a Titan such as Henry Chow and piloting the Dragapult version
of the deck that you're gonna struggle with the most, we see Henry walk away the winner
a fantastic display of skill, decision-making, and even after the game already evaluating what he can do better as he advances into the top four of Worlds.
I'm loving this game, one of the best, as you mentioned Chip, one of the best we've seen so far with a very interesting sudden death.
And I'm really looking forward to see how much farther Henry Chao can push himself and push the boundaries of what is the top-top level of Pokemon trading card game.
Thank you so much Pablo for the insight as always. It is ever appreciated. That is
just our first top 8 game. We still have another top 8 game to cover.
We're gonna be covering both top four games tonight as well and if that's
what game one had in store for us, I don't know if I can take three more.
And you got to think if Henry Chow does go on to perhaps become world
champion at this event, you know that match will probably be immortalized in
in history as one of the best matches
to ever be played on this stage.
Maybe one that decided the whole fate of this tournament.
There are now just six players remaining.
Henry Chaus moved on to top four.
Andrew Hedrick has also moved on to top four.
We do have two more top eight games still to cover.
We'll be having Brent Tonneson up against Nathan
Spry up on the main stage.
Diego Casiraga and Roon Hyrimans
will be playing out on the floor.
Brent and Nathan will be playing up on the big stage,
Like mentioned, Ethan and Emily are going to be coming in
to cover that game for you all.
It's just six players left to see who will be immortalized
as a world champion.
The flame goes out in the woods
We'll remember the names
The time has come
We'll look in their eyes
They've been through the night
They came to be
In the light
and this match will not disappoint.
My name is Ethan Hegge.
I'm joined alongside Emily Foreman.
Cannot be more excited.
Cannot stress how excited we are
for this last Top A match.
The seats are full out in the crowd
for all of our games here
at the World Championship
and even, I mean the excitement
for all of our competitors
all around the world
in all around the Pokemon ecosystem
as well for Unite Go Champions
and here in the Trading Card Game.
only building like you said but Ethan only two players can make it to the
chase center tomorrow and honestly I cannot even pick out of a hat if I had
to guess right now wouldn't even be able to tell you which one. Well hold it
against you we've been building this bracket brick by brick and we could take
a look at the bracket to see how things have shaped out for these players.
We started off the asymmetric top cut we played two games so there was a total
10 players in that top cut and then we made it to a top 8. We just saw Henry Chow win that game and
wow what a crazy match that was. I mean Pablo said it a little bit earlier in the day but I believe
it was San Antonio a couple years ago that he coined Henry Chow the Gardevoir master of the
universe but look at him going even further with Gardevoir's number one enemy and that was
Dragonfall but it's nice to see Henry Chow going into this top four with a completely different deck.
You also have to note out as well as we're checking out this bracket here Andrew Hedrick was able to defeat Satoshi
So this top four Ethan I mean look at the stars up and down at this top eight
I mean you cannot predict who is going to win was out in the field looking at that match
It was on one of our featured streams so many players and fans in the arena could check that match out
It was an absolute roller coaster Andrew's crushing hammers were paid actors
They were basically said discard of energy.
You did not need to flip.
We got you, my friend.
Getting rid of the missed energy,
getting rid of the growing grass energy,
and Sato, she was just unable to keep up.
And it was a quick 2-0 in a matchup
that usually takes a lot of time.
Him and Henry on different sides of the bracket,
their collision course and finals
seems like it may be eminent.
It's going to be up to the other four players
that are playing their top eight matches
to see if they can take them down.
It has been so interesting to see
how Dragapult has really developed in this tournament
because going into the tournament every single person I know has been writing off
Dragonfall, Dustin Orr saying you're better off playing even Blaziken. Everyone knows
that crushing camera is going to be the most dominant version of Dragonfall, but
still many many players decided to bring the cursed last line that Dustin Orr
line over to the World Championships and it has only benefited them. So I am
so excited to see if Henry Chow and Andrew Hedrick are going to be
able to make it to the finals but we still have plenty of matches here to go.
We're going to take it down to the stage so we can see another top eight match.
It will be two of Australia's finest local match taken it to the big stage.
The world stage at that Nathan's fry up against Brent Tonneson.
What more can we say about Brent? He is one of the games great.
One of the best players in the world finally having a strong finish at
the world championships. I'm sure he's not satisfied with just top eight. He wants to go all the way.
Yeah, like you said, Australian showdown as well. Brent's number one in Oceania. He has been for several
seasons now in a row and he has a friend of not only Australia but he is a friend of the entire
world. If there is a regional there is always a chance that Brent is actually going to show up
no matter what. But against his opponent Nathan Spry, now it's a very large world. We live in
Ethan. What are the chances that you actually hit one of your locals in a top eight of worlds?
Nothing is impossible when it comes to the Pokemon TCG. A bit of a Cinderella run last year in
Anaheim. Top 32 with Armor Rouge, you're dead. Woo, not on the radar. Very spicy. So Nathan,
very used to these toolbox style decks.
Of course, that moved energy around.
This time you're powering up different attachments.
You see it right there on the screen.
That Lily's Cleverie EX will be the key card in this matchup.
Yeah, I'm so excited to see
and what players are currently doing
if you are unfamiliar with these top cut games.
If you make it to this point,
you actually get a nice little sneak peek
at your opponent's deck list.
So what Nathan is really looking for
or as he is the pilot of this basic big box
is looking to see if Brent is playing a shame in
because he wants to use that ball spring mass over plot
to take a couple of prizes over on one turn.
But the thing is for Brent,
he has really created the most consistent dragon bolt list
I think we've seen in a very, very long time.
No funny business besides the crushing hammer,
just dragon bolts, buttoot,
peasant dipity and a couple of friends
including monkey Dory.
So the Dunspar's package, there's no cursed blast being used,
just wants to maximize the counts of cards that are in actual recede,
that being an extremely effective strategy.
Nathan, on the other hand, playing a bunch of different attackers.
Of course, have that lose.
Clefairy EX, the Fairy Zone ability makes it so.
Dragapult EX, a dragon Pokemon that normally does not have weaknesses,
one of the benefits of being a dragon type.
Now is weak to psychic Pokemon as long as Clefairy is in play.
a lot of other exciting attackers.
Dive into those details once we get now to our match.
The problem is with Basic Box.
As a Basic Box enjoyer,
the problem is you so desperately need
to start Mega Kangaskhan EX in hand
to get it into the active as quickly as possible
so you can start drawing cards.
Big Basic Box has a very big tendency
if you are not starting Mega Kangaskhan
to absolutely prick.
See what the prize cards are gonna give us Ethan
And that's so far not too bad, unless I curse it right now.
OK, Prime Catcher not great for the big basics.
And one copy of the Lilies could vary DX,
but there are two, of course, in the deck.
Very important to have access to at least one of them.
But a nice structure being priced
means there's only the ability to get two Lilies
to vary out as it's safe.
Track and pull can never take that first KO.
Things could definitely get dicey in on Brent's side.
Dark Energy Stadium cards that are definitely relevant.
I think we're ready to get into things here.
Our second top eight match at the World Championships.
The winner moves on to get a Pikachu trophy,
cards and that chance to battle at the Chase Center tomorrow.
My favorite thing about Brent is the fact
that he is going first in this matchup.
One of the big things about Basic Box
is that it really wants to accelerate energy
and start attacking as quickly as possible.
And the thing is because Brent is the top seed of Swiss
he actually gets to take that luxury away from Nathan
because he placed so high here.
So going in, it's going to be all about the setup here.
Because both players have actually seen each other's list here,
Brent does know that Nathan wants to pivot
into this well-sparing mask overpump
and get that to rental pump as quickly as possible.
We see this very commonly with lots of players
in the Pokemon TCK, bunching all of those Pokemon
to the front of the deck just to make it
a little bit easier to identify.
So Treepe is the choice over on Nathan's side.
You definitely have to have a sigh of relief
when your opponent doesn't play Buddy Buddy Poffin,
but instead that Poke Pad to start.
Doesn't mean the rest of the hand is too bad.
Brent's gonna play on the safer side.
Interesting, did see the list and knows
that there's no way to shut off Miao's EX's ability
that last ditch catch.
Still wants to just grab a supporter card,
which will most likely be that Lily's determination.
It's guaranteed, right?
And Brent's saying, you know what?
This Miao, the EX is going to stay on the bench,
but at least if, as well,
if he has that energy attachment,
This Lily's determination next turn is going to be practically guaranteed.
So we'll just want to see if Brett wants to find another way to get something going here.
But unfortunately has to bench the Meowth right away here.
That's going to be a very prime target for something like Boss's orders and the mega kangaskhan.
Not even having to flip heads to get the knockout.
Yeah, big liability in multiple ways.
You were talking about that wellspring mask ogre pump, the torrential pump.
Saab is another great attack on something like the Meowth EX.
only has that one attack for three energy cards.
Yes, it picks itself up, but it's a big investment
and costs a lot of resources.
We'll shuffle the deck up.
There's a couple of energy cards that can place that down
onto, what I presume to be one of these two Treepy.
Not much else going on in the hand.
We'll have to rely off that Lily for the following turn.
Yeah, nothing, like you said,
nothing else in that hand really for Brent.
Can't ask for anything more though.
You do have to at least double Treepy
and an energy attachment to follow through with.
So going back over onto Nathan's side,
This is exactly where you want to start.
Now, granted, Ladias is usually a very key Pokémon to this matchup,
but unfortunately has it in the hand a little bit too early.
So this ultra ball coming down now has to grab the mega Kangus gone here.
Just needs a little bit more draw, granted.
In some of these turns, even like Nathan kind of wants to do here,
it's wellspring mask over pond time as soon as possible.
But the problem is you just can't get into it so easily here.
So it's actually going to be the Meowth now on Nathan's side
to find the Serrano to get a couple of more EX Pokemon out.
But the real question is, is Nathan going to prioritize
putting Mechakangus on forward for more draw
or get that stop lock going?
Nathan himself will take a look at the deck,
see what pieces are available.
Is sitting on some solid cards in hand
for the following turn, that powerful supporter,
Crispin, to accelerate energy.
So it's a manual attachment for turn up to Shabby.
and what better way to end the turn off than drawing a few cards with Run-Aaron.
Thanks to that Ladias EX's Skyliner ability.
Will be the Fezendipity for later on that flip. The script ability super strong.
We'll see how he can put together this turn and more importantly,
next turn what attack he wants to go towards.
Assuming that Brent can find some pieces and get set up.
Like you had said, Mega Kang has gone now going into the active.
Need some more resources to find those plays for later.
That's a really big find though, with Meowth guaranteed for next turn to get the Crispin up and running as well.
But sometimes it feels like, even when you play this big basic box, you're really at the mercy of your opening hand.
And the problem is not starting Mega Kangascon, you've actually now are forced to use a supporter this early.
Crushing Hammer, gonna flip tails.
Yeah, big flip. If that flips heads, Mega Kangascon is not really in a position where it can easily attack.
would have to rely off teal dance shenanigans
with an energy switch paired and there's not a huge hand
and not a lot of resources available.
We'll see if that attachment to the Kangaskhan
pays off compared to like you mentioned,
the wellspring ogre pond.
Now things are going to get just a little bit more difficult
as that friendly face or maybe an evil face
if you've been itchy followed a little bit too much.
Badoo comes down to play followed
by the lilies determination really now looking
for this reclope.
Not just looking for the reclope,
looking for the energy to move this 3B
out of the active as well.
Now that Nathan has committed this energy
to the Mega Kangascon EX,
this Mega Kangascon is actually going to be the one
that's going to be doing the attacking
for at least two turns.
It's very big, it's very bulky,
and Dragapult has very far moved away
from the rare candy Dragapult Crispin Day.
So this Mega Kangascon is going to get a ton of mileage,
which is going to give Nathan some time
to kind of move around Brent's board here,
but big, big eight cards.
Set up, of course, very dire and very important,
and that is more than a solid hand.
Dracloak, first card drawn.
Let me use this Recon Directive first,
trying to maximize his outset, finding Pokemon.
Really taking the card.
Saw Monkey Dory in the top.
Wonder if that was the card.
Like, no, it's another Dracloak, an excellent find.
There is a high chance that we're gonna see
double Recon Directive
and potentially that attachment to retreat.
That 3B did come down this turn,
so it only put two Dracloak into play.
Does already have the energy on the bench,
and it's very unlikely that that Dracloak
with the psychic energy will be put under pressure this turn.
That was a really hard decision for Brent off of the recon directive.
It's either Lilly's determination or the crushing hammer.
And this crushing hammer here is so important to hit, unfortunately, for Brent.
Not going to find the first one.
Do you believe had a second one?
Or is that just the special red card here?
Played to crushing hammer this turn.
If it went 50-50, it would have gotten its job done.
But no, double tails in a big time match could turn the tides of battle.
There is the itchy pollen.
You can just go on taking a little bit of damage, but more importantly shutting item cards off things like energy switch cannot be used
Really reliant off having a Crispin and we see that already in Nathan's hand if he chooses to use it
I mean
Ethan you got to look at Nathan's hand. It is all Pokemon now granted Nathan does at least have a Crispin
So double Meowth does not have to come into play just yet here, but look going all the way benching wide here
Yeah, and benching not just any Pokemon that is enamorous ladies and gentlemen
You are seeing that correctly on your screen the love for residents such a good attack
If you can get that Pokemon powered up being able to just take a one hit KO deal
200 damage on a variety of Pokemon things like me out and of course
Dragapult EX if you have that Lily's Clefairy in play all on a one prize Pokemon
It does take three energy
but being a one-pricer can kind of skew the price
rate against this Dragon pull deck.
Part of the big piece that Nathan is missing,
though, as part of the board, Ethan,
is that teal mask ogre pawn, right?
Being able to consistently go through decks through and through,
but Nathan actually deciding not to power up the Kangascon
right away doesn't want to fall victim potentially
to an unfair stand.
Is this going to be heart sign for the knockout?
Yeah, just wants to make sure Kangascon is not
taking the full force of a phantom dive.
If this active is hit for a knockout, that's going to be great value off this enamorous.
It only can add one energy committed to it.
If the mega kangas gone, it's healthy.
It gets to use Run-Air and for at least two turns, there's going to be plenty of card draw,
thanks to that festin-dipity on the bench.
I'd like this approach from the one-pricer.
We'll have to see how Brent is able to play his turn out.
Two recon directive at his disposal.
A third potentially as well.
We see the ultra ball in hand.
Does have the fire energy.
Bosses orders.
I gotta imagine if Brent can play something like on fair stamp
as well as bring up a Pokemon like Fesidipity
while not taking a knockout, activating that ability,
we could see Nathan in a bit of a precarious situation.
This is the part of the reason why players either love
to play against big basic box or love to hate it, right?
The amount of multi prize knockouts that you have
that will just be sitting there practically the entire time.
And unfortunately for Nathan,
usually this deck is comboed
not only with that team last gogropon,
but of course with an area zero under depths as well.
So the thing is when you're playing so many one ups here,
here comes that Moultrie,
sounds about to talk about coming down.
This could actually be a nice way to kind of scare Nathan off
of even putting Teal Mask over upon into play.
Bit of an interesting route for Brent.
It's going to let his opponent go down
to four prize cards, but brings up this Moultrie,
a one prize Pokemon capable of setting Mega Kengis
gone up for a two hit KO.
There's the fighting wings.
I think he's gone just 180 HP left.
And a pretty solid back line here for Brent.
Two recon directives, potentially a third.
And how great does it really feel for Nathan to take a KO,
be in that unfair stamp range?
And if you do so, it could be trouble.
There are so many cards in Nathan's hand,
and none of them allow him directly to extend the bench,
which he really needs to do right now.
He can get the Teal Mask Ogre Pawn in play,
but there's Multraise ready to go to get those prize cards.
So it feels like Nathan is really kind of forced
to attack into this Multraise,
because of course, if it's not going to be knocked out now,
I mean, Brent can still kind of manipulate
the damage around where Dragon Pulti X can come in
and take a massive amount of prize cards.
Like you said, at least Fezzendipiti
is on the bench for next turn,
but feels like Mega Kangus gone here
is in a great, great danger.
Yeah, great spot for Brent, to be honest.
He is on a two turn clock to potentially close this game out.
Knockout on mega kengis gun with a phantom dive
and 120 damage residually thanks to those six damage counters
would be enough to knock out an amorous
if you can play a boss's orders.
It looks like Brent has taken the lead
even though he's fallen behind.
Just doesn't feel comfortable if you're Brent.
And there's no energy on the board either.
Brent said I do believe there is
at least a night stretcher within the hand.
But really, I mean, you look at this board
and it's just uncomfortable.
And now, all of a sudden, Brittany
needs to find a weird mix of a Crispin
into a Dragapult EX to at least start the prize race.
But the problem is the rest of the board
has just not come to yet.
A Rosa here would be excellent.
Rosa's encouragement would allow
too energy to be accelerated to this Dragapult EX
since he is behind on prizes and allow an extra energy
card to be put onto one of these Benster Cloak,
meaning boss's orders could be played on the following turn.
Has the Rosa in hand?
Is there an energy?
There's an unfair stamp. Brent now just needs to find an attachment to one of these three cloak and he'll be in a pretty solid spot
It's not even just the drag loop that could be the recipient of an energy
Could also be the monkey Dory and move starting to move some of these damage counters back
But still I like the idea here of rather being safe than sorry
Getting this drag look ready to go potentially because one thing that Brent knows about basic bots
Is that there's always a Lily's clifari waiting in the wings incredible turn for Brent fully powers up a drag
Dragonpole gets a Bench Drakloak ready and plays on fair stamp to shuffle Nathan's hand as well as his into the deck
Nathan will only get two cards Brent is going to get five and there is not a mega Kanga scone on Nathan's bench to promote into the active
Meaning he may at most only be able to see six cards from his deck this term
The problem is even if Nathan wanted to get set up once again that would require potentially benching another me out
That is just another piece of food for this Dragonpole to go on ahead and take some more prize cards here
So Brent I mean moving pretty quickly now
We went from a board Ethan that really was not comfortable at all to now a board that feels almost like a checkmate if you will
So we'll see an Amaris put up to just 40 HP remaining
60 HP rather does have 120 HP and
and Fezendipity and Lodios impactfully one damage counter on each of those Pokemon.
I mean that of course always leads into your favorite card to top deck.
Bosses orders, we've already seen it.
See what Fezendipity gives here as well, an energy switch, an energy and GMPOW.
There's another mega tank is gone in the hand at least, but the problem is
Brent's already sitting one Bosses orders away on multiple Pokemon to get it done, right?
It already has, like you said, the energy or the damage counters, excuse me,
on to the Lodios and the Fezendipity, it's really just a choice and if you look at Brent
kind of already flashing it, he already has it in hand so with no special red card because
it was already discarded at the beginning of the game, he might just have it in hand.
We may be flipping coins here ladies and gentlemen.
Oh boy.
Kangaskhan is going to draw two cards.
There's no way to move into another Pokemon with Prime Catcher prize.
There is a Crispin in hand and I think this is Nathan's best play.
the Crispin, it's going to allow the energy to be accelerated to Mega Kangascon as well
as a manual attachment because of that energy switch and we need to flip three heads in
a row otherwise a boss's orders will close the game out for Brett.
You know usually when you play Mega Kangascon and you go for this rapid fire combo on CCG
Live it's usually a buddy that you're usually flipping five heads on and it's never when
you need it the most on Dragonpole so here we go rapid fire combo.
immediately does not find it and just going to pick cards up,
understands the game is a wrap.
Brent Tonneson in quick fashion, taking game number one.
And this is the thing with Basis Box, realistically even.
It has the answer for everything you put in front of it.
But unfortunately, if you do not start Mega Tank,
you don't really have the ability to unlock what this deck
really can't do for you.
And that's the thing when you leave it up to the wheel
of chance versus Brent who has consistency already unlocked.
It's really hard to say if Nathan is going to be able
to find a way back into this.
They can take away from that game Brent,
responding expertly to early pressure,
even without the help of pressure camera.
Back at game number one.
Nathan not starting that mega Kangaskhan
did get into it and had a couple of cool plays.
An Amorous deal a little bit of damage,
but having that one prize Pokemon in play did lead to a nice prize map for Brent, if that game were to complete them.
And honestly, I love the way that Moltres is not just used as a counter to Teal Mask Ogre Pawn,
really does set up a ton of Pokemon to fall victim to a bunch of attacks, especially from Dragapult.
I know that we've seen some cursed blasts over the weekend, but honestly, I love the way that Brent has just kept it simple practically this entire tournament.
and it has led him to be the first seed in this A-Spectacle top cut for a reason.
Look at that beautiful crowd out there, Ethan.
I know some people are hyped to see TCGA.
Grant Tonneson, one game away from hoisting that Pikachu trophy
and potentially moving on to an incredibly big match is in his career.
Price cards will go out.
Most likely C going first yet again for Nathan.
And that's the choice.
Nathan decided to go first in this game rather than second.
Just do a little bit more if he has that mega-kangis on him.
We're ready to hop into game number two,
and Bill, one of the worst starters in the deck for Nathan,
it's gonna be that Iron Leaves EX.
And the draw for turn didn't help him.
There is nothing in his hand.
Just an attached pass.
No supporters for the following turn either.
And Brent is sitting on at least a solid hand.
Stadium plus Lilly's determination
can start to at least funnel through the deck a bit.
Look at the way that Brent is really weighing every single option that he has.
Even really thinking about putting down the risky ruins as well,
doesn't want to have too much damage on his side of the board.
But when your opponent opens, like you said,
quite possibly the worst starter in the deck to begin this match with.
And then nothing else, you've got to feel like it's a little bit safer than not
to just put a stadium in play.
So big eight cards for Brent, but as we've been talking about this entire time
How often with a very consistent list you miss something like a buddy buddy pop it
We'll have to see off of these eight cards as Brent gets set up through this game
Do have an update from out in the field Diego Casiraga joins the other two players as the third top four player
So the winner of this match will join Diego along with Henry and Andrew as our four quarter semi finalists
does find the buddy buddy puff in that's gonna allow two more tree be to come into play and there's
additionally but do plus an energy and itchy pollen is going to stay nothing else hurts more than if
Nathan were to draw something like an ultra ball to get himself out of this mess by finding me
out not being able to do it and the worst part is looking at Nathan's hand even there's not
even a grass energy to at least start powering up this iron leaves so now Brent's is going
going to have a ton of time looking at Brent's prizes. Nothing too sorely missed
here. Of course, not having full access to all of your dragopult line must hurt
in one crushing hammer. But the rest of it right the aspect unfair stamp is still
absolutely online. And now Brent honestly just has his way, whichever way he
wants it.
Interesting to see Brent choose to not grab the do out of the deck would
technically thin a card even though he has one in his hand. May signal just
trying to commit energy to the Bench Pokemon, but no.
Will play the Badoo down from his hand instead.
Two damage counters from the risky ruins,
as well as the energy going to this card pile,
thanks to that one retreat cost,
and Ichi Pallant immediately putting on the pressure
on turn number one.
And then going into Brent's second turn,
already has Ultra Ball and another Lily's in hand,
but draws the Mega Tank is gone.
So now here we go, finally able to find the Stadium Bump,
and going into Mega Tank is gone to draw some cards.
would actually need to find Cyrano or something to get at least basic Pokemon out of the deck
onto the bench, but at least having Megacangus gone at this point.
You're one Crispin away from starting to take some prize cards.
There is no Crispin in sight, Emily. There is nothing but energies and items that cannot be played
and immediately Brent's starting off with an Evolution, an Attachment, and a Lily's Determination.
And while prize cards have not been taken, while Megacangus gone is in play,
The clock is slowly ticking and Brent is going to be able to confidently fire off a phantom dive on the following turn
It's not even just that Ethan is that Brent can also go in and once again pull this Moltres play as well
There's plenty of ways to get this mega King has gone damage within the next couple of turns to really start setting up
The point where Nathan would have an opportunity to fire back, but it would just be too late and quite frankly Ethan
looking at the board seat right now.
If there's more drag loops in play
as they were just drawn,
it's starting to feel that way already.
Recon directive finds a Crispin.
That will be an excellent supporter
for the following turns.
Unfair stamp.
I am not quite, it looks like Dragapult EX
so has that for the following turn
and an Ultra ball which can find the third
trickloak, a perfect turn two,
followed from that turn one.
Brent is absolutely in the driver's seat.
Consistency is king Ethan and that is exactly what Brent has done with this list either just naturally drawing into drag cloaks or being able to get into the drag cloaks with things like
Ultravault. You can't ask for anything else. You already have one energy attached onto the board here and now you're going to have your whole entire engine online for as long as you choose.
There's the fire energy if he wants it. Does also have another pokey pad I believe but you just got to take the fire in those moments.
Don't have to tunnel into Kristen for the following turn.
Guarantee that attachment.
Recon directive number three.
And if you're in Nathan's shoes,
you have to just be shaking your head.
Everything so far has gone wrong for you
and everything has gone right for Brent.
He's got to stay composed and got to try to think
about how to get out of the situation.
It's so strangely enough
that the perfect combinations of fards
wouldn't even help Nathan at this point.
I do believe what was just drawn,
was that a cipher maniacs code breaking?
So this is one of the ways
that Nathan could at least start getting set up a little bit more.
You're able to use that to manipulate the top two cards of the deck.
A lot of y'all's drawn is pretty good,
but I think what Nathan is more so happy about
is drawing into that Crispin.
At least there's an attack online.
Yeah, just such a rough spot to use Cypher Maniac.
You use your supporter and you're not attacking.
Crispin found definitely a big deal.
Meka Kengisgan can start to get in there,
swing, take some prizes.
Try and run away with this game.
see the water energy brought to the front, as well as the grass energy.
Are you considering what energy to prioritize? Of course, those psychic energy
have to be your number one priority, because of how important Lily's Clefairy is.
The thing is, you want to keep them in the deck as long as possible, too.
Just because BUDDU can always come back and lock those energies into place,
and then you wouldn't be able to use something like an energy switch
to get them onto your Lily's Clefairy here.
And the thing is, what's so unfortunate about these two energy in particular
being chosen is the fact that we're never going to see the main users of said
energies. We haven't seen even a teal dance this match, Ethan. So it's looking
so unfortunate for Nathan right now. At least he'll get some prize cards going,
but the question is, what does he do next?
Yeah, it's been so tough. He's had half of his teal mask overpon in the prizes
each game. It's hard to find those cards if you're not using a supporter
like Cyrano. So here we go. Knocked out taken on Bidu with that rapid fire
combo Brent already guaranteed to fire off a phantom dive this turn everything else is just a cherry on top
Just wants to use that unfair sample. Look at what the recon directed just gave Brent
It's just like a nice little present for you on top if you would like to bench that sensitivity and why not at this point?
You're so far ahead cards down cards down
Everything's under control here. Listen. There's a lot of pressure on these top eight matches, right?
There's a lot of shaky hands. It's okay. Take a deep breath three more cards though as you had mentioned even more
I mean the deck is completely unlocked dare I say I mean you have three drak cloaks
Three con directive you can fire off and attack this turn and if the unfair stamp is in hand like I think you did say
Yeah, looks like a dragapult EX sometimes the side border can look like an unfair stamp
It is not available for the time being, but doesn't even necessarily need it.
Great when you pair it with a KO, of course.
You do allow your opponent to use Fezantipity, but Fezantipity is not down in this spot.
You see the stadium bump from the risky ruins.
That means the bench is now down to just five Pokemon for both players.
Kudori comes into play. Two damage counters, thanks to the risky ruins.
We are going to see Phantom Dive powered up on top of a Crispin.
Excellent to make sure we can fire off consecutive attacks.
exactly what Brent wants to see as well.
He is one boss's orders away,
next turn from finding five prize cards, right?
Laudios is always going to be a recipient
of at least one damage counter from a Phantom Dive,
that is true, but also this Iron Leaves EX
doesn't have enough damage counters
or it doesn't have enough health, excuse me,
to survive a Phantom Dive of its own either.
So while Brent now gets to kind of get things set up,
does have a little bit of damage counters to play with
on the following turns as well here.
So there it is moving.
He can't move these two damage counters over to Ladias.
We'll most likely see it onto the mecha-kangaskhan
by hitting for 200 damage to the active spot,
plus the 20 this turn from Adrenal Brain.
It will bring this kangaskhan to 230,
meaning an Adrenal Brain plus boss on the following turn
will be able to take it out with that residual damage.
There it is.
Adrenal Brain to the active.
Phantom die for 200, brings this kangaskhan
to just 70 HP remaining.
One damage counter for sure on the Ladias.
and that Iron Leaves now also gonna be in range of being KOed.
Many players at this moment would probably try
and get into their Lily's Clefairy as quickly as possible
and take out the looming thread,
but unfortunately Lily's Clefairy DX
has really low hit points into a deck like Dragapult.
So while yes, you would have essentially
a one hit knockout onto the Dragapult DX
thanks to Fairy Zone, the problem is
that's not really gonna stop this five prize turn
from essentially happening at this point.
So now it's up to Nathan to either get this
megacangaskon out of play or try to find a way to get another attacker that's
could potentially survive a phantom dive. There is the ultra ball, see energy in
switch in hand for Nathan. Did not decide to put a psychic energy on that
megacangaskon so as it stands we cannot see an attack from Lily's
Clefairy unless the Cypher Maniac grabs pieces. So there is the Cypher
Maniac will grab the psychic energy as well as another
Excuse me any card from the deck looks like Fezendipity
Sorry the Clefairy in hand so can at least use that flip the script ability to draw a few cards
The 20 damage from risky ruins honestly not that impactful on Clefairy definitely could be on some of these other Pokemon as it stands
It looks like the price map is pretty clear for Brent to close this game out
Yeah, that's the problem with this deck into a deck like Dragonbolt. Well, yes, it does have the answer
If you're not the one who has multiple attackers ready to go,
you can go up two prize cards or a prize card.
That's fine.
You don't want this Mechakangus gone at any point,
taking such a big hit of damage here.
So this Mulspring Mask Ogrebon is going to come into play.
Okay, we can fire off and attack this turn.
Double energy switch in the hand, flip the script.
We'll see Double for Cloak go down
thanks to a torrential pump
in combination with Prime Catcher.
100 damage to the active, 120 to the bench,
and all of a sudden with no treat me in play,
if Dragapult EX goes down on the following turn,
there's no backup attacker.
This wellspring mask Ogre Pond would go down next turn,
but the thing is if Brent already has boss's orders in him,
this is going to be a ton of damage sent back over.
This Monkey Dory still does have two damage counters
to work with, and as I look with Brent's list,
if he is able to find another Monkey Dory
and get that set up. Double Adrenaline could spell a ton of trouble for Nathan.
Just considering which Pokémon to promote into the active spot,
would it be the Monkey Dory?
Now just kind of deciding how to approach this turn.
See, of course, the deck shuffled. Two prize cards taken for Nathan.
What does the hand look like? Starting off with a Poképad.
I was able to find another Pokémon. It is the Monkey Dory.
As it stands, the fourth Treepy is in the prize cards for Brent, so cannot even establish
another one unless he can find a night stretch of this turn.
But honestly, I'm looking at the board, Ethan, and is there not a five prize turn that is
potentially lined up at this point with the second Monkey Dory being grabbed and moving
at both damage counters over before Brett were to retreat?
The five is guaranteed.
The issue comes down to that final prize card.
Willy's Clefairy taking a KO on Dragapult
means there's no backup attacker to take that last prize.
And with Nathan going down to just one prize card,
he'll be up boss's orders away.
Brent has to try and play through this scenario
to figure out how he's going to win.
And this makes sense.
Start to put damage counters onto Pokemon,
retreat off, keep the Dragapult up,
and see if maybe Moltres can take that final prize.
Definitely getting tricky for Brent here,
moving the damage counters.
Like you said, I love how he's just moving one,
I think just keeping the damage on the board
as closely as possible here,
but that is going to be one damage counter
moved over to mega Kangascon.
You know that that Phantom dive
is going to take five prizes, like you said.
And the game is lined up on the following turn.
We cannot forget, Iron Leaves is in play,
weak to fire, getting one hit KO'd,
we'll see the Multras preemptively benched.
Nathan cannot deal with both threats at the same time,
meaning Boss's orders closes either game out.
We'll see the Boss play preemptively
to take out the Fezendipity, shut off that draw,
combined with the special red card,
and Nathan's large hand now going to the bottom
will only get three cards.
I mean, this is every single draw engine offline
in one turn.
Both Fezendipity and Megacangus gone
would be about what Nathan drew into here,
but as you mentioned, Ethan,
Checkmate is technically on a board for Brent
and multiple Checkmates, right?
So the energy does find a mega Kangas gun at least.
Yeah, but there's nothing else in this hand.
It's going to have to promote the mega Kangas gun
to use run errand.
But that means there's no way to switch
into Lily's Clefairy of this turn.
Two cards drawn.
There's no help at all.
Fezendipity is gone.
The Serrano cannot find any Pokemon of help.
And it seems that all the walls are shutting.
He'll do what he can, search through the deck.
But it seems the inevitable is coming.
If Serrano actually were to look out
Any three Pokemon could find a way to potentially bench them all right and then get rid of the area zero underdebs
Thus getting the iron leaves out of play here because it seems like Brent can finish it off not only with draggable
But it with Maltres it wouldn't matter with what though
It wouldn't matter bosses orders can take out two different Pokemon this turn if the meow comes down to fill the bench up
It seems that there's an option either way
Brent has essentially set himself up to secure a spot in top four. We'll see what Nathan can do
Question is the rest of the hand at this point already has retreated as well
So we just have to be an attachment and just hope that Brent doesn't have boss
Bosses orders chaos the bench EX well spring mask overpond and Brent
Tonneson advances as our final top four member. I mean even consistency is king through and through and Brent is number one seed
for a reason finding a way through all of these tricky matchups and this big
basic box I feel like on stream we never get to see its power unfolds clearly
it's good enough to make it to top eight it's just that when you play so many
one-offs the chance of breaking is way too high for the stack absolutely
well-deserved for both players congratulations of course of course
and Nathan for making it to the top eight, what a hard fought match and what an excellently piloted
match from Brent as we look back on how that set played out. I mean this was the matchup of a
lifetime really when you think about it. There are several ways for big basic box to destroy
Dragapult. Has Lillie Slaffari, has Wellspring Mask Ogre Pawn but the problem is Nathan had to
work for that optimal start both times and even in the second time there was no chance of
getting an optimal smart. But it goes back to what Brett does best and it's his deck building.
Many moons ago he built that amazing Gardevoir EX deck that had tons of results and now here he is
on Dragapult essentially repeating the same thing. Consistency is king no other way to put it.
What a set we haven't even seen that Lilith's Clifari attack once. Now that is very uncharacteristic
for how this matchup tends to go. Nathan just on the bad side of the coin today
and able to find the pieces necessary, and Brent set this up masterfully.
Voltra has to take the final KO, even after Nathan Turner, both for Cloak,
it seemed that no matter what twists and turns and what problems were thrown at Brent,
he was able to respond and the bosses' orders sealed the deal.
Brent Tonneson is just two matches away from advancing to become a world champion.
It is so exciting to see Brent up there, and we've been talking about it this entire weekend
that Brent is a friend to many, many people and many, many regions and I know tons of people
are so stoked to see him up there with Dragapult of course. I think a lot of players were a little
bit nervous about playing Dragapult and then you know it's just what's good is good right. I mean
you don't have to get too tricky with it as long as you're good with the best deck in the
room. I mean what can't you do? Brent is now the recipient of a Pikachu trophy and maybe
much more to come. Let's throw it down and hear from our latest semifinalists.
Our latest semifinalists, Brent Tonneson has blessed us with another cracking game
against all odds. How are we feeling advancing to top four?
I feel surreal. Yeah, I mean, it does feel like bad to be someone who's a
friend and one of my locals. Yeah, I think the fun fact was he beat me in
he was like trying to get his
invite for the first time. And
now he's playing a top eight of
the world. Against a friend
someone who's probably helped
about a lot at league and kind
of in that social scenario, I
imagine as well. Yeah, we
definitely talk sometimes. We
definitely had some discussions
on things. I think he I was
one of the players who told me
they should stick with both to
play it for this event. Wow,
that is an amazing tip bit. So
going up against that matchup,
that matchup how did you approach it in your head when you knew that this was
going to be your matchup? Well in the matchup, generally if you attack at 6-5 or
when they're at 5 prize cards and you're still at 6 as Dragaport, you're usually in
a pretty good position but they do have a lot of openings where they can be
very aggressive. I think I did not exactly get that in game one but it
start wasn't strong enough that I was able to stall a turn later and
and that convert into a win.
Oh, we love to hear it.
That is genuinely a phenomenal story from yourself
and of course your opponent.
Thank you so much for joining us once again.
I'll leave you to it so you can prepare
because it is going to be a wild ride later on
when we get to see you once again in top four.
But in the meantime, any quick shoutouts
before I let you off?
Well, I have to shout out my sponsor PSA
and I guess all my friends and family
supporting it. Thank you so very much. We're going to jump over to Pablo Cpie as any final thoughts
for us on that one. Thank you so much, Amy. Great to hear from Brent, the world traveler as he is
known. Really cool to see him achieve success at the world championships. I think he's won
plenty of regionals. He's done pretty well at internationals. He had a very good season,
perhaps not one up to his usual standard, but here he is closing out the 2026 season with the cherry on top
advancing onto top four and honestly in very dominating fashion
the the games were very straightforward. It was Dragonbolt attacking over and over and
the
the threat of the Anamaris combined with the Clefairy is something that he always had to keep in mind
But this energy switch play probably gave Brent a big sigh of relief because that meant there was no
Lilith Clefairy showing up. We actually didn't see any Lilith Clefairy throughout both games
We didn't see any Teal Mask overpon, so Nathan's deck probably not working to its full list potential
in this particular round, which of course
these cards, the Anamaris and Lilith Clefairy, the Teal Mask to provide energy acceleration and draw power
They are all very important key
things from Nathan's deck but it just wasn't available to him and that means when you're
not applying any sort of pressure to Dragapult it's definitely going to take over the game.
We saw even the crushing hammers were pretty mild, they were very unimpactful, Nathan barely
managed to have attackers powered up and as soon as he didn't flip three heads in a
row to take down this Dragapult DX he just immediately said you know what let's go
to a second game and the second game was a little bit better for him. We pulled off this really cool
play with a double energy switch into the well spring overpond combined with the prime catcher,
so a very aggressive move but perhaps just a little too late. Brent had already attacked
once with Phantom Dive. You want to be pulling this off to delay any potential Dragapult attacks
but even though you leave Brent with no dripping play, a single Dragapult as well
that hopefully can be dealt by Lillie's Claffery, once again never showed up and at that point
it was too little too late. The super aggressive deck wasn't able to be aggressive enough to slow
down Dragapult's reign of terror and we have Dragapult played by Brent Henderson advancing
into the top four. Really impressive run by Brent so far, I don't know what it's gonna take
to stop him here at this world championship. We have two more matches to go today. Both
semifinals will be live streamed right here and so we do have our casters ready to go.
Ross and Joe, take it away.
I'm a little bit excited about Pit Lovely X there and the energy acceleration I'm
thinking pull off in Pokemon pocket, but that is going to have to wait until we figure
out our finalist here at the Pokemon trading card game World Championship 2026 in San Francisco.
Two top four games we have to show you.
The winners of those two games will be facing off
in the Chase Center tomorrow
to determine our world champion.
And we're gonna start you off with my Wii.
I mean, my South Ross and the lovely Joe Bernard-Joes.
What's got your height this weekend?
Oh my God, there's so much to choose from.
There's so much, Ross,
and there's still two more games to go.
But before we have our finalists
in the Chase Center tomorrow,
our players can already pat themselves on the back.
They've already earned a coveted Peachy promo
from the World Championships.
Let's take a look at those top eight decks and see how our cut has shaped up because a lot of the discussion around this tournament was
What was the best play for the event?
Well, we had two crustal, actually an opposite side but a bracket
Yeah, there was a potential for a crustal mirror match in the finals
They have both fallen by the wayside. We've got Dragapok coming there in big numbers
Alakazam coming out as well and a couple of crustal there as well as a couple of those big basic box decks
So, a little bit of variety, but still a lot of drag-a-pot.
The big jump out to be more than the next year, unnamed.
This is one of the most star-studded top eight I think we've ever had at a world championship.
We got a player returning from top eight last year in Matesh.
We've got Brent Tonneson, the championship point leader from last year.
We've got Henry Chow, who won three regionals last season.
We've got Gardevoir, Andrew Hedrick, who was just looking up in profile, right?
regional wins and a special championship win and an international win. We've got a former
world champion Diego Casaraga. We have got a star-studded lineup here. Yeah, all of these players
are well worthy champions and only four remain at this stage for us. As you mentioned, these are
some of the best players the game has seen, not just in recent years, although looking at the
likes of Henry Chow and Andrew Hedrick, these have been some of the most dominant players
in the US. Brent Tonneson travels around the world gaining accomplishment after accomplishment whether
it's in Europe, in the US or where he hails from in Australia. Brent is such a consistent
performer as you mentioned, topped the leaderboards for multiple years now, wasn't number one this
season was only in the top 10 in air quotes. Oh no. Oh no, but he's made a point of doing
what he needs to at the world championship to get into that top four placement.
That Diego Casaraga, I mean this first word championship top eight was in 2007. He's
He's been doing this for a long time.
Oh, yes, it's his fourth top cut at the World Championships
for Diego, of course.
One with Guardiwac, GX back in 2017,
looking to become only the second player ever
to repeat as a world champion.
We saw Jason Kozinski win three times,
most recently in 2013,
Diego hoping to add his names at list
of repeat champions.
But whoever wins now from these four players,
there is a great story that is gonna be told,
all four of those players have already made their mark on the game.
Now it's time to see if they can add a world championship or in the case of Diego, another world championship.
So it's either Dragapult with Brushing Hammer, Dragapult with Brushing Hammer, Dragapult with Dostalar or Alakazam.
And it's going to be that second matchup in the bracket that we're going to be showing you here.
Well, let's head on down to the stage because the players are ready and we need to get rolling here in our first top four.
it is going to be Diego against Henry, Alakazam against Dragapult. Look at their records 11-0.
In 11-1, we've got 11-0, sorry, 11-1. Season win lost there. That is a pretty
hefty 140 wins for Henry. Both of them have had a top four this season. Neither of them
had a victory yet, although Henry did have three regional wins last season with Gardevoir.
So, I mean, one of the things I really love here, two of the best Gardevoir players ever,
But it's very different eras.
Yeah, certainly different eras.
That just shows how Dom and Gadawad have been in all these iterations.
The front pilots, they are both on very different decks together.
Alakazam has been a three-story, probably entirely tendency cross
with the various materials from this Dastamard build
or the various other builds of Alakazam.
Diego has sort of swept through the field quite nicely.
You can see those accomplishments, including just that little bit.
It's not just the world championship placements for Diego.
He's also had a more recent regional championship under his belt
and some top four finishes as well.
Absolutely, and Henry, 25 regional champion, 25 regional champion, 25 regional champion.
One of the most dominant runs we've ever seen with any player piloting any deck.
In 2025, it was Henry Chow with Gardevoir in 2017.
Otherwise, championship was Diego with Gardevoir.
Here we've got Alakazam and Dragapole.
And Diego here, trying to stop us having an all-drag-a-pop final of the world champion deck.
And I think digging into the decks that little bit, what's going to be really interesting to follow the entire series is that Henry is playing only one stadium card.
He's playing one copy of Jamming Tower in his list, but Diego, he has four copies of the battle stage.
That can shut down a lot of the trickery that Henry has been in his deck with Curse Blast and tried to dive down a counter placement.
So Diego trying to manage that stadium more is going to be vital and Henry capitalizing on the
potentially only one turn he has of full value with all of his abilities and attacks.
It is going to be very important and does look like we're getting some prize cards hitting down here.
Anything terrifying? Nothing too bad from Henry.
The Loisé can be a little bit awkward for Diego at times, especially alongside that copy of
safe match, the area as well in the FIES Cards, that's an awful one. That is not one you want to see go.
We have players, we have a stage, we have, we've got a hand on a basic Pokemon. We are getting ready
here for our first of two top fours. Don't go anywhere. As soon as this top four is done,
we will go to the second. From right now, we've got Henry and Diego. There is a fifth
bump and we are rolling here in the top four on the Pokemon Training Card Game. World
champion Jips. Henry goes first with a dripping energy and then a pass to Diego.
It's not much but it's just about enough and I've got a quick peek at Henry's hand as well.
He does have at least a cloak on the next turn and I believe in Lily's determination. So
it's not the wide board that you would like with multiple basics but at least we know that
Henry is in the game. Action over to Diego now with that early buddy buddy Poffin. He wants to
find as many of those opera as possible and he does have quite a traditional engine really
with the 3-3 line of the Dunsparse in the deck as well.
Diego with a really like streamlined straightforward build,
even plays two copies of the Ace nullifier Geneset
to try and help safeguard him around the Ace-spec unfair stamp.
So that's also going to be an interaction we have to follow throughout this set.
Absolutely. This Alakazam deck, the goal is very simple.
Build your hand.
Kadabra draws cards, Alakazam draws cards,
the Dunsparse draws cards,
and then you get to place two damage counters for every card in your hand
using Alakazam's attack for just a single energy.
Get a whole bunch of cards in your hand
and use powerful hand to do huge damage.
But, someone like an Unfest,
that making you shuffle your hand in to get back and drawing two cards.
Absolutely devastating.
Can't be played if there is an ace nullifier,
Jenna Sekt on the board to try and turn it off.
So that's something we will absolutely be looking for as we go.
Early doors, you just want your Abra to evolve
and you're done's past to evolve up to draw some cards later.
So often we talk about hand disruption being a way to limit your opponent's outs towards doing things,
but not only does hand disruption hurt Diego in this case by hurting his outs,
but also the entirety of his damage output comes from his hand size as well,
so it's extra devastating. No one at Diego is taking precautions here.
Looks like it's going to be early festivity on the bench.
We do have an energy attachment, so we can get a teleportation attacking if we wish.
to try and shift your Abra out of the line of fire and is in fact going to go into his
Fezantipity EX. Diego is holding onto one of his air balloon. Henry's showing off that
he had four draft blows in the hand. Unfortunately, when you've got 4-3 on the bench, 4-3 cloak
amazing, but this point, no. Evolve one up, get the first recon directive on the
board, Lily's determination for a new eight cards. And this deck is rather straightforward
in some ways. You want to evolve up into the cloak, which gives you a bit of draw
power of recon directive and then Dragapult has arguably the best attack in the game.
Two energy, 200 to the active and you get to drop six damage counters on the bench wherever you like.
If that's not enough fun, you just add in your dust blocks and dust wall that can KO themselves
to drop more damage counters and you try to build up into those turns where you take multiple
KOs. A nice eight cards from Lily then as there's already the buddy buddy Poffin in hand for Henry
picks up a couple more so we'll be able to really go wide on this bench having the threat of multiple
cursed blasts in addition to Phantom Diver's what makes life so scary for Diego sat on the other side
of the table because there's such vulnerable low hit point Pokemon 50 hit points on the Abra 80
hit points on Kadabra it's very very quickly where your entire board can be wiped away from
you if Henry is able to capitalize on multiple cursed blasts in a term that is something we
to try and avoid. Of course, that's where that battle cage comes in that you highlighted at the beginning of the game here.
Battle cage is a stadium card that stops damage counters being placed on bench Pokemon, not the active, by effects of attacks or ability.
So both the residual damage from Phantom Dive and the damage counter, some curse blast will all be stopped by battle cage.
That makes it absolutely huge. So timing that is going to be crucial.
But with four of them, it really comes down to actually when Henry times his one stadium to get rid of it.
As it happens, Henry is at least getting his board set up as best as possible.
Will he also be able to pivot into Budu here? Yes, there is the psychic energy retreat.
So we can at least initiate an item lock here, whilst also getting a really relevant 10 damage
onto the active Fezantipity EX, setting Henry up for a potential bosses order
later down the line alongside Phantom Dive for a clean lockout.
Very nice, we see our first at Dunsparse, we're going to get that runaway draw that allows you to draw three cards and then return to Dunsparse to your deck.
Genesect, boss's orders and there was another supporter, I believe, it was a dawn that was seen.
That's the pick up that I'm happy to see and Diego is certainly happy to see that as well.
Speaking of which, here comes Dawn, go and grab yourself a basic Pokémon and a Stage 1 and a Stage 2.
It's ideal for an archetype like this where all of your Pokémon also have draws stapled onto them.
So being able to search out a number of these Pokemon all in one go
Help you evolve up and get into a healthier range of hit points
So you're not going to be targeted down too quickly
But it also means you're going to see a ton of cards in the process
Absolutely, we've got a cadaver. We've got an alakazam the basic one is a few different options here
It depends where you're going to be going a lot of time done sparsely the option
Yeah, there's a little attempt. Yeah, there's a temptation to really never go opera because if ever you're able to draw naturally into your
telepathic psychic energy, you get to find more Abra for free.
So, I like the option here from Diego.
We'll have the very least see two cards from the psychic draw
from Kadabra that he's just searched out.
And when he's ready to take his first KO,
that is when you need to get that Genesect established
to make sure that that unfair stamp
will not be hitting the board.
We do see Duns boss coming down.
We're gonna see an evolution up into Kadabra.
That's gonna draw two cards with psychic draw.
You get two for evolving into Kadabra,
three for evolving into Alakazam.
One more than the stage is the way I like to remember it.
Now, Gadabra can use Super Sidebot for 30 damage into Budu
if Diego wishes.
He could get aggressive.
I'm not personally seeing his board
being strong enough to make that play come together,
especially because you would have to commit your tool
to the active rather than to the Genesect on the bench,
which is normally what you want to do.
But we do see the early battle cage coming to play,
so Diego might be considering this line.
Battle cage already out there.
Henry's gonna have to be very carefully,
only one stadium, so the second battlecade will stick for the game. It is just a retreat
into that dunce pass, just leaving something in the active. I hope it's not going to get
KO'd, but if it does get KO'd it's the least important thing on your board.
Yeah, you don't want to feed Henry those easy two prize cards, and you also don't
want any of your evolution line going down. Diego is in a precarious spot. There is
the potential for a boss's orders on Kadabra, and if Henry is also able to
He could fight a stadium bump.
He could look out the Abra as well.
He does have to work on getting rid of that back-and-cage.
Right now we've got free recon directive going.
We've got a poker pad drawn off the third recon directive.
So that is going to allow you to go and get a non-EX Pokemon,
a non-rubox Pokemon.
Good news is it doesn't look like we're seeing any big burst attacks coming down here.
So that does mean that we should be in a...
We could either have ulti-ball in the hand, so we could either find the Meowth EX, or we could just guarantee that Dragapult EX right now.
It's always a strange situation when that battle cage is up, the main selling point of Dragapult is that damage counter placement, really.
And now you're basically, you know, the same as just using your Jet Headbutt attack, because you can knock out this stun sparse pretty cleanly.
Although initiating that prize race can still have its advantages, you're denying potential draw from Runaway Draw, later on in the game, from Diego.
And at the same time you're throwing a pretty high hit point Pokemon into the active position before
Diego has had a chance to really start motoring through his deck
Absolutely, we do see the dragon pole is the choice off of the ultra ball with a fire energy in hand
That does mean Henry is gonna be able to phantom done if he wishes
We're now gonna see a boss
It was already in hand on the cadaver and that means that we are gonna see the free retreat from the Badoo
Dragapult goes into the active and it is going to be a KO but no residual bench damage because of that battle gauge
So already coming in and showing its worth. Yeah, that that was really well timed from Diego to
Otherwise, you know, he could be completely in an awful position with no Abra whatsoever
There's a tippity and done sparse. He can see already the value of this stadium card
And it's going to be Diego's
to really keep this in play for as long as possible.
As we see a reload of buddy-buddy pop-in now,
some of his locked up items are now released
because the itchy poem is no longer in effect.
So Diego will take a chance to look through his deck
one more time just to confirm things before shuffling up.
And I think he should have access to
a decent amount of draw here.
He has flipped the script online.
He now can use runaway draw this turn
in addition to any psychic draw.
Ideally he wants to work towards a rare candy
so we can start coming back with some attachment because Alakazam.
Absolutely. If you want a quick maths lesson, here's what you do.
You look at the HP of the Pokémon you want to KO.
You take off the zero, divide it by two.
That's how many cards you need in hand to get a clean one-hit KO.
If it's an odd number, just add one and then divide by two.
So, Dragapult 32 divided by two is 16.
That's how many cards you need in hand for a clean one-hit KO with your Alakazam.
getting free off this to Duns Pass is going to be an excellent start and it
looks like we've got an energy and a poker pad. Didn't look ideal to be honest
with you and remember Diego has that Lana's aid and the sacred ash both in
his prize cards. It's only real means of Pokemon recovery as he's not playing
Night Stretch in his list that's sometimes a one-off that you see
alongside that so the fact that Henry has gone early taking out a Kadabra
could be limiting Diego here who once again opts to go for dawn for his
support for the turn. It looks as though Diego is taking another turn off here and just trying
to reestablish as big of a bench as he can. Tadapra coming into the hand. You can also
reestablish Tadapra or a dunce bus. There's always that, well, there you go. Also, the
ace nullified, Genesect is important. When you do get aggressive, you don't want to
see an unfair stamp coming your way. No. As soon as you're ready to take your
first prize, you don't need Genesect down until you're taking KO's. But the
second you take your first KO, that is when you need to have Genesect already
down on the board, but unless
there's a rare candy hiding in Diego's hand,
there is an energy. We saw that telepathic energy.
Unless there's a rare candy already there, we're not
really going to see an attack this term.
Even if there is, we don't have nearly enough cars
to get a KO. Here comes the Geneslect.
We are going to see a buddy-buddy poffin.
But you're right, Joel, just for having a spy
of the deck list, both of those, you say
Krilashny and Lana's aid, they're both played as one-offs.
So there's no recovery right now.
No, it's a terrifying spot for Diego, really.
Especially when you're having more passive turns here
It is the one evolution of Gadabra
That's the only abra that he has access to this turn that can evolve
We do see access to the enriching energy to be a manual attachment this turn
That was draw four in your cards. Yeah four draws there
But it's an aspect you don't often see but is pretty perfect for the alakazam deck
It's fantastic for alakazam
But that kind of confirms that will not be an attack coming son
So she does no wondrous after anything like that. You got a nice big chunky hand of cards
which is wonderful. But again, you're letting Henry take a second KO and then you're going from there.
We put Genesek up into the active, just essentially, unfortunately, that is the sacrificial lamb.
That is just being put up there to beat KO because it's the least important thing on your board.
You can play another one in a minute if you need to.
As for Henry then, are we going to see the floodgates begin to open?
Can he access? Well, there's access to another boss's orders.
It's definitely intriguing. I love that. I love bosses all the time to get down here.
Like you're already you're already doing well. Just press the advantage.
You know, you've got energy attachments that you can float quite happily as well.
Draw engine has been pretty untouched. Energy down there onto the drag
cloak. And this is what's wonderful when you're playing dragapult. A term where
you've got a dragapult attacking. You can just get a free energy down.
Essentially now turns that dragapult into a single energy attacker. Here comes
a poker pad to go and search presumably a dustclops here just to potentially give
you that option moving forward. I mean you could even just trade it for an
Abra right now if you wanted to. Maybe bosses orders up the Cadabra and just
take out all of those options. You don't know your opponents out of recovery but
you would have to boss up the Abra due to the battle cave. So you boss up
the Abra then you could curse blast the Abra exactly and then it's
It's Dan Stieger to re-promote to his Geneset.
That would be the only line there.
Oh, I mean, bring up the Kadabra.
Just KO with Phantom Dive.
Oh, just playing it with Phantom Dive?
Yeah, sure.
You're right.
We would need the stadium to pull off the other play.
Now, if we get the stadium here,
you can actually KO all three of them.
That would basically be game.
Yes, yes.
I feel like we had the stadium though.
The stadium would be in play by now.
Still like the idea of going Kadabra.
We're actually going Pes and Dipty here.
I like this as well.
It's just two prizes.
You're just prize racing here.
Well, this is what you say.
You go down to three prize cards,
Then you say that your one stadium bump will give you a means towards a three prize turn with curse blast and fat and dive damage counter placement
It's very possible Henry is once again putting himself a one turn clock away from potentially winning
Provided he can bounce that stadium charge
On the following turn and this is a dream right you got one stadium bump
But you're putting yourself in a situation where you literally only need one and then you're gonna win the game
Yeah, who needs more than one at least at the moment not Henry here comes a poker pad for Diego
still no Alakazam attacking. We finally have one. We can attack and attack this
turn, take two prizes, but you're now kind of terrified. You really, really need to
try and do something to disrupt here. Might just be KO the Dragapult and hope,
but we might try and do something. I mean, what I've ruptured to do you have, Joe?
Well, that's the issue. The Alakazam archetype is relatively straightforward in
nature. It's just trying to race pretty routinely, honestly, so you really
lack any form of disruption. It's really only the airy supporter card that you can look to use
to make life difficult. You could use a boss's orders on DOS glocks, but it feels like your
prize race is running away from you anyway at that stage. It's going to be Lucky Helmets
onto the Genesect, activating that ace nullifier. So I imagine Diego will have to simply go
through the straggapult, but it's one of those situations where Henry, if he can draw
deep enough into his deck and find that jamming tower, he can all come down in this
game number one here. Diego has had a fairly slow start. It's really starting to show now.
Absolutely has. Right now that Abra is an issue. Abra's only got 50 HP. So that is going to be easily
KOed by the residual damage from a phantom dive. A dust walk to take out that Kadabra.
And then obviously the KO on the active would be free prizes. Right now Diego is counting
the cards in hand. Do we have 16? Is that enough to get the KO? I'll be honest, I'm not
following enough. We are to see Hilda. That's a plus one. Yeah. Player supporter minus one.
Search out a Pokemon and an energy plus two for plus one overall. However, this Dunds
Pass could then give you another two extra cards. So that's going to get you a little
bit closer with that runaway draw.
That is 15 in the hand right now.
Okay, so the Dunsparse will get...
Okay, so this is when you put you down to 13,
but then runaway draw will then put you up to 16,
and that is the magic number.
Yeah, the Alexander does it on its own.
Oh, that too.
I'm pretty sure we can't evolve that Dunsparse.
No, I don't think so.
Diego is making sure.
He's figuring out what's been played this turn.
There are judges at the table.
I'll be honest with you.
It's just going to be a straight
KO on the drag-up hole, but that
was never the pinch turn. This Joe
is a pinch turn. Free retreat
Purdue in the active. Can we get
well, I mean, we need to get
a stadium bump and I think, well,
is there a chance for a treble
KO now? I don't think so. I
think Diego has done a good
job of evolving out of all of
these lower hit point Pokemon.
I believe Henry would just be
10 shy from a phantom dive
from a Phantom Dive, two prize KO in addition to a Cursed Blast KO.
That's what I'm seeing, unfortunately.
That Dunn-Sparse is the lowest HP thing on the bench, and it's got 60.
You can evolve him into a Dust Guard and take a KO.
You can KO the active. You will be one short.
So Diego granted a little bit of a lifeline here
as we see another direct look going and being searched out.
To give free recon directive again,
that is giving access to six extra cards.
Is it that important that this takes to bump the stadium?
Can Henry just take two prizes and just say,
well, Diego's not winning the game next turn,
so I'll take two this turn and finish it off next turn?
Yeah, one prize this turn is plenty.
So I think Henry's going to get to work on maybe getting even more energy into play.
That would be ideal for him.
So he won Crispin in his list.
He also does play a copy of Judge as well.
If he wants to get creative, he could try and use Judge as a hand disruption.
Crispin's come out of the Dreykond directive here.
I feel like as long as there's enough energy in the deck,
That's going to be a very strong supporter for Henry this turn
I see the final recon directive to pretty useless cards
You could even just burn this buddy buddy popping or use it for optional fodder at this stage
Absolutely, you could it's not gonna get you too much. You've got all the basics
You really need at this point in the game. So it is gonna be optional fodder
It looks like first a poker pad though go and find a non ex Pokemon of choice
It is a Moltres sounds like fodder to me Ross
That smacked a lot like for the DiMigio.
Feels like that's getting discarded with the buddy-buddy pop-in
to get that ultra ball rolling.
Yep, there's a good amount of energy in the deck for Henry here,
so we can Crispin this turn,
turn that deck as much as possible.
You can see there's still a really big chunk of cards remaining in that deck.
So there's no guarantee that next turn he'll be able to find that jamming tower.
This game is not over. Let's be perfectly clear.
Diego can win this in two turns, and Henry can win it in two turns.
but Henry's got to keep those drag-a-pult rolling.
We see... Is that Lily's determination?
No, that's also part of his disc up all right there.
It is going to be the Fesantipity EX
into the hand for Henry.
He may not even need to stadium at all this game.
If Henry uses Crispin this turn,
he could use that boss's orders effect on anything that isn't Alakazam,
because that's the only Pokemon with 140 hit points.
If you bring up any other Pokemon, then you can curse Blast the Active for a prize,
And then you can also phantom dive the Alexander close the game.
So it may not even require a stadium at all here,
just because he's had such a strong early game starts,
and Diego has been a little slow here.
No, absolutely. Right now, because there's no easy KO
with six damage counters on the bench,
you're probably going to get two natural KO's
and one with the cursed blast.
You don't necessarily, like you say, you don't need it.
It would be nice to get rid of it to open cursed blast,
but you are in a very strong position regardless.
So you might be able to take the time off.
Let's first have a look at this Ultra Ball.
That is going to go and get another Pokemon, presumably a Dragapult.
Feels like you probably need one of those.
Yep, that's Dragapult EX.
So Henry is working his way towards a really nice closing turn on the next turn.
He still has one manual attachment to go here.
Cannibal of Up.
Then he's looking towards the likes of Nightstretcher.
If he's unable to find Dragapult from those prize cards,
there is one stored away there and Nightstretcher actually.
He's got good odds of finding his next follow-up piece,
but even just a one-priced KO is plenty for Henry here,
as we see him finally promote that Dragonpole EX.
He's attached to the bench, he's done everything he needs to do.
Henry Chao has put himself one solid attack away from the game.
How can Diego respond here?
Well, first things first, it's going to be KO this Dragonpole.
That is the most important thing right now.
Henry needs to take two prizes next turn.
If he wants to use the curse blast,
He is going to need to get rid of that Babel cage.
Right now it's over to Diego.
And essentially, it's not the nicest,
but it's K of the Dragapult.
Oh, there's an Aries.
You're going to get rid of special red card.
I love that.
Two great hits.
Yeah, that's wonderful.
Night Stretch and special red card.
Not too bad.
Night Stretch would have been one of the pieces
Henry required to have his next Dragapult EX online.
And also the fact that Diego is almost certainly
going down to two prize cards this turn. Getting rid of that special red card is huge. The one
of supporters coming in clutch for Diego. Making life a little bit more awkward for Henry. Diego
is not going to be secure. That's not going to be an issue. It's really just how much
of a defense he can put up with this fairly vulnerable bench beyond that. That is a big
question here. But honestly, if I'm Diego, I'm starting to feel better and better
about this. My opponent has to bump the stadium to get a double KO next time. I'm
not seeing any way. They can use bosses orders as well. They can bosses orders up the Genesects
and curse Blastly Active with a Dostnoir and then you will have Phantom Pantalus.
Oh yes, my apologies. Okay, so we're going to need a boss or a stadium. Thank you very
much Joe. Alongside also recovering a Dragapult. And that's kind of my point. And you're
going to need a psychic energy as well. It's not that much of a given. I don't
get me wrong. If I'd still probably rather be in Henry's position, you've got the
initiative right now, but the Echo's got to be feeling a little bit like this
This is still doable. If I can take two prizes here, you know, next turn, I can K.O. let Nefes and Dipty to end the game.
And that's going to be an awful lot easier. There's a boss already in hand for next turn, and you're not really worried about special red card anymore,
because there he already got rid of it. So, here we go. K.O. on the dragapult. Diego down to two prizes remaining, boss's orders in hand.
Diego's looking like he's probably going to win the game next turn. Joe is Henry going to stop him.
There it is. I mean, Knight stretcher has come into the hand, Ross.
I think that's the final piece that Rewakrya.
Knight stretcher for Dragapult, EX, Psyche, an energy to the Drekloak.
And because we already have Dostomar in hand, we can use that boss's orders.
Here we go. Boss is going to bring the Genesect in the active.
Battlecage does not stop. Cursed blast on the active.
Now we KO the Genesect.
Go down to one prize remaining. You've got to promote something.
Whatever you promote will be KOed by a Phantom Dive.
and that is going to give Henry a one game to zero lead here in the top four of the world championships one
Game away from looking at sport on stage in the chase center tomorrow
Things were pretty smooth for Henry Chow in that game number one
Never even required to bump battle cage so rare to see
Dragapult just doing 200 damage a turn was enough in this instance cross
But if that like Diego wasn't sputtering in those opening stages Henry some really good early game bosses orders to
Destructs the sort of main draw power Diego has access to in addition to
So we've made a tackle that he tried to work towards and Diego was lacking those rare candy
One of those strange arc-tides where you feel like a example most of them always have it
So the amount of reach they have in their hand
But because you're not selecting the card you're accessing you're just simply touring off the top of the deck
sometimes being good by counselling these cars and just this stuff okay well
let's take a look back then at what Henry did to take victory in that first
game so we saw the first KO on the cadavera and this is really just Diego
not having very much it took far too long to get rolling by which point
Henry takes a second KO and for that was on the pheasant dip going down to
free prize cards remaining plenty of options for if the battle cage wasn't
there but it always was. Diego finally starts taking prizes but unfortunately it was too
little too late and then we're hopefully going to see in a second this big end state scenario
where Henry goes well panel gauge only protects the bench so I can just boss his orders up
something in the active, KO it with cursed blast from the dust war and then that means
something gets promoted that gets KO'd by the dragapult and then Henry takes a pretty
the end. But the Ago knows. He
did not have the best draws in
that first game, especially
when Alexander is much better
archetype going first into this
matchup. I feel like so having
that advantage is really going
to help him out. You can get
evolving that little bit
quicker. Slow down the
evolutionary side to does
not play their candy. So you
know you're not really going
to be facing down the
this second game and let's not forget he started his only ex for qualms as well and Henry really
quickly capitalized on that festivity so that he could have very easily chain attacks throughout the
remainder of the game to stay ahead of the race so the fact that it was a festivity starts and
that he had a slower start under the itch of pollen lock, I feel like this next game is going
to be a lot closer. Even that 10 damage from itch and pollen was absolutely huge in the end
because with no effort with that account to slide around that's what led to the KO on the
So yeah, very important point. We have seen a Mulligan from the Aver. There won't be a second Mulligan. There's at least an Apra in hand.
You do have to have a basic Pokemon to start a game off the Pokemon trading card game.
If you don't have a basic Pokemon, we call that a Mulligan. You have to shuffle your hand to draw a new opening hand
and your opponent gets to have an extra card. All this like a luck and apology. Sorry I made you wait a bit because I didn't have a basic.
Have an extra card to make it better.
to make it better. And here is a fist bump, and here is game two, Abra against
Reapy, Alakazam against Dragapol, and Diego will get the chance to go first.
Hopefully, Joe will have a better start than last time. Well, I can already see
there's a poker pad in the hand, and he also already has access to his
aspectly enriching energy. So it may well be that this poker pad will
search out a done sparse just to get the value of enriching and
potentially reuse it throughout the game. Alternatively, he may just still
need to have a backup Abra, and you say that just one use of enriching in this case is enough.
The Odea is going to go for the Duns-Bars, first of all, which is no bad thing. He's already
holding onto some supporters for the next turn, so Odea's hand is pretty reasonable, ideally from
the next four cards from his Enriching Energy A-Spec. He might be able to find some more
buddy-buddy poffin. That would be ideal. Those prize cards, not the worst. You are lacking
one of your Abra, one of your Aleksandam, and again that Lana's aid has found its way into
prizes. At least you've got Sacred Ash this time. At least you've got some recovery. Yeah,
we can handle that. Even the third copy of Alakazam can be a big deal just so you have that
higher threshold of hit points at times. It's going to be something Diego can navigate around throughout
the game. Absolutely. And here, you know, one of the things about Dragaport is it just doesn't
put on very much early game damage. It takes a couple of turns to get rolling. It's wide but
due is so, so ubiquitous with the deck. So that will give you a couple of turns to set up
if you can deal with the lack of items, which can sometimes be a very big if.
So we've got the Dunstmas, we've got the Aberrindy Active,
hopefully we can start to, you know, see Diego.
Get this board going a little bit more, get a bunch of basics down,
and then one of the nice things to get around your item lock is just draw a whole bunch of cards.
Oh, he's not mucking about, Joe. Turn on the ball, Cage!
Well, players have open decklists at this stage in the tournament.
They know that Henry only has access to one stadium card,
The four draws from the enriching energy weren't ideal for Diego, so action passes over to Henry now.
He's going to be looking to get his, but do on that. It's not the exact start Diego wanted.
Funch of cards, it's nice, but not many Pokemon. So Henry here using a buddy-buddy poffin.
Doing that over the game search, of course. Remember that there are six cards that are put down as prize cards at the beginning of the game.
Those are cards to which you do not have access until you draw them by taking prizes, by knocking out Pokemon.
Good players like Henry, what they're going to do is spend the first search of the game, trying to figure out what those prizes are.
And the good news for Henry is that there is no jamming tower in the prize cards.
That's already the first thing that he's going to be checking, but ultimately nothing too dangerous for him.
That Pheasant Dipty EX obviously can be a good way for him to go deeper into the deck when he's trying to close out games,
but might not be too concerning for a little while. Overall, pretty nice prize cards for both players.
players. The 1,000 dip, he makes me a little bit nervous, but you're almost certainly going
to have something prize every game that you'd rather not have prize. It's not the end of
the world. So Henry there, just making a couple little notes of what is prize. You can refer
back to that as you get later in the game. Tension rises, you forget a few things.
So you look back and go, oh, that's what happened. That's what's in the prizes.
Yeah. Henry's already looking like in a really good position. He's got one buddy,
I think he's also got a poker pad in the hand as well as a Lily's determination
So things are looking pretty good for Henry here, even a backup 3p
And in this case Henry's gonna commit to a second bud who here
Seeing the value of chaining item lock against Diego
Really saw Diego start and went I don't think you've got all that much going on
So I'm just gonna make sure you are item lock for a whole bunch of turns and by the time this item lock is broken
I'm gonna have everything I need established to start taking these multiple prizes. Here we go with the
What just a shuffle up from Lily's determination? No prize cars taken means eight new cars coming out for Henry Chow here
We've already got an energy on the active 3p and another 3p down as well
What can we get from these eight cars to make things better? It's already picture perfect
It's not into a ton of search and typically in the Dragapult deck that search can so quickly be converted into draw
So Henry could fill up his final bench space with a Treepee if he wishes and can already start to put some DracLoke into his hand.
And even one of each energy, one fire and one psychic for good measure, after buddy-buddy-puffin to get basics,
and then you've got your poker pan, I think it was an octable in there as well to go and get your Revolution Pokemon.
Just a, and even the unfair stat with your opponent dares to take a prize, just really good hand.
This is one of the big sort of pitfalls you can have whilst using that early budgie,
They're sort of teasing Diego saying,
I'm going to use that item lock.
I know your Kadabra can take a knockout on this body easily,
but then you're holding onto that A-Spec.
You can instantly punish them.
So, Henry, throwing all of these items away,
the reason being, Erie is in the deck for Diego,
and he knows that there's no hand disruption beyond Erie,
so let's convert these into track hook now
and guarantee them for next turn.
Well, there's the itchy pollen.
There will be no item cast from Diego.
Does get that telepathic energy,
which is actually huge here.
Go and search out a couple of basic psychic Pokémon,
or as I like to call them, Abra,
and that is going to allow him to set up quite nicely,
hopefully, under this item lock,
and as soon as you start drawing the Kadabra,
drawing the Alakazam, drawing the Dundspot,
then you're going to be drawing extra cards,
and hopefully mitigating that item lock a little bit.
Yeah, and part of the reason why Diego plays two copies
of that ace nullified Geneset
is to try and allow him to be aggressive
with these Kadabra and take those prizes,
If he's able to develop the Genesect alongside a tool,
he then doesn't have to fear the unfair stamp.
So if he can make that combination come together from his hand here,
it could still be a big turn for him.
Well, there is a Kadabra.
Two cards will be drawn from psychic draw.
What are we going to see? It is a Genesect.
Do we have a tool to attach?
Because it only works when there's a tool on there.
I don't see it just yet,
but there is access to this runaway draw for three cards.
Looking for a tool, that would be absolutely huge.
any tall warrior. There it is. Lucky helmets. Nice. Okay, this is fantastic. This is exactly what I was saying a second ago.
Yes, you're item locks, but you have a bunch of just natural draw, and that means you can bend to Genesect,
attack to tall, all of a sudden ace nullifier is online. You can care of the Badoo,
but Henry isn't then allowed to go and use unfair staff, which is in and of itself unfair,
which I think is ironic. It's going to be the hilder for turn for Diego. Already has attached here,
but he could re-establish an energy into that hand.
At the very least, he can stash more of these psychic Pokemon
for the next turn to continue to draw through the decks.
So, may as well take advantage of the heal the while you can.
And I have to think that with the lucky helmet pickup,
you do go for this early prize card.
I think you probably do.
And, you know, at this point, you open deck list, right?
So, you know Henry's not playing any rare candy.
So, that could abrub. It seems pretty self-willed.
Yeah, you've got Barocade, and that Canabra should be pretty safe.
Yeah, it's looking safe from my side here.
So if you go and search out with Alakazam and Enriching Energy,
which is exactly what Diego's doing,
that's probably seven cards drawn next turn.
That's a lot of cards.
Things are looking pretty good for Diego in the second game,
who will now nullify this board.
So it doesn't have to fear the un-fessed up,
that we know is already in Henry's hand.
So a great pick up for Diego,
and now we'll take the first prize card of the game
and even hit some Abra to boot.
That's a really, really good turn for him.
Back over to Henry.
We do see a recon directive.
It's either a night stretcher or a dust noir goes for the dust noir.
For now, that's going to not ready yet,
but hopefully in a turn or two,
we'll be recon directive on a second draft look.
Freshly evolved gives access to a protract,
which is not going to help too much here.
Fordor is an ultriball.
So I think Fordor is probably the right word.
Yeah, we're going to throw the protract away,
as well as a dust noir.
to put a stash that for later in the discard pile with your night stretchers and the third
drake cloak coming into play. Henry with a pretty perfect turn one and two here giving access to
three recon directive. This is the power of dragaport at play. This is absolutely what you are
looking for. A couple of cards coming to hand here. Well not coming to hand being a recon
directive. You get to have one of them and that is a rose we've got there in hand. That
is a good energy acceleration onto a stage two if you need it sometimes. One energy onto a
with the Dragon of Dragloak.
It seems like there is a judge in hand,
which is going to be very important later on.
For now, it's just a...
the Chichi Colin.
Seems like a decent play.
You're allowing Diego to have this early pressure.
You're hoping that you can spring board back
with a judge as well as a knockout with Phantom Dive.
However, Diego has
a lot of cards to draw here.
He's already evolved into Alakazam into the active.
He can Psychic Draw with two Kadabra now as well.
He's hoping that he can sit
can sit on this large hand size for as long as possible. There's even the bosses orders
pick up now for Diego. Does he want to chase down those energy from the Benchtrick cloak?
Seems like a pretty good option.
He's going to say, I think you probably do, because the problem is you already KO'd want
to do. You've got an Alex out in the active. You've got an absolute mountain of cards
in hand. You either want to be KOing a Dragapult, which isn't an option, or
just going after the most important thing, which right now is that Dragquirk with
the energy on, telepathic energy onto the Kadabra for the time being, will allow you
to search to get any other basic psychic?
Yeah, I like just stashing this energy, even without any psychic Pokemon targets, it means
that you can again weave in that enriching energy on another turn.
So you're almost making your healers more live in the deck, just in case you are hit
with that judge.
So that's also a really strong option on a turn where you don't need that many
cards in hand to have a powerful hand KO here.
And he has an insane amount of cards in hand, he doesn't need that many to deal
with this reclote.
really does not. You only actually need five in hand. You've easily got five.
So it was the boss onto the drag-loak here. That is going to be a KO.
Diego up two prizes to zero, and that is in a very good position.
This is already so different to what we saw back in game one.
Henry's going to need some kind of energy acceleration here.
Starts with Crispin.
And that boss's orders from Diego has now just meant that he doesn't have to be concerned about Judge.
He was already ace nullifying the unfair stamp, and he's not yet falling prey to the special red card.
So Diego is fully aware that he could hold on to this hand
Fax that boss's orders on the previous turn forcing Henry into a line by a Crispin here rather than anything else
And instantly one energy is going to go on to the cloak and now we will recon directive
That stadium bump coming into the hand. This is where things get spicy. Yeah, Jammin tower is in hand
But there's no as well. There's no great targets for that residual damage not yet
but you need to have it all in one turn if you can.
Yeah, unfortunately you do.
It does tend to be a bit of a combo.
Only one judge, you better time it well.
Only one jamming tower, you better time it well.
Henry has a bunch of these one-off options.
If timed correctly, could absolutely swing the game.
One special red card as well.
In theory, a bunch of outs to Alakazam.
I'm pretty sure Henry shouldn't have evolved into track-a-pult this turn.
I'm pretty sure he should go for just a single prize board
and continue to itchy pollinear.
I think ultra-balling into a dust box.
Now he's found that jamming tower.
Could be pretty important so he can work his way
towards a dust noir on the next turn.
So he has just picked up Dragapop,
but he might even be sacrificing it here
alongside a rose's encouragement.
Henry is gambling everything right now.
These are both of his energy acceleration cards
being used this turn.
So instead he will spread his energy
onto multiple draklok this turn,
evolve into this dustclops and say that I can have a big swing turn with dust no art jamming tower and a knockout later on
Even if you don't own one psychic on each draculate with a fire in hand to make sure you've definitely got what you need next turn energy
Why so itchy pollen Diego is still item lock there is no access to items Diego taking a prize
It's not an issue here. That's going to happen
But you're kind of thinking at this point my opponent is slowing things down
how bad is the turn gonna be when they decide to go faster you know we go to see
a judge are we gonna see a jamming tower we're gonna see all of this coming
down in one term really it's just making yourself as well prepared for that as
possible oh I like this this is creative getting the enriching energy
onto Genesect because it wasn't an air balloon coming onto the Genesect you
have to be aware that it's one retreat cost can be awkward at times
Gigo has drawn into a dunce boss. That's handy. He does also have access to dawn in hand this turn as well as bosses orders
But he's gonna hold on to these cards seeing so he's just grown such a substantial hand
He's also drawn into those air balloon. So you could consider putting Fezzendipity down proactively
Expecting the floodgates to open pretty soon. I do like the enriching energy on the genocide
Well, I gotta ask you Joe. You can't now cycle it like you can on of the dunce boss
That could come back to bite later on right it could be awkward
But then again, it's one of those situations where you don't always have the opportunity anyway
No, it's gonna be another boss's orders attempt here. Diego trying to stifle those energies once again
And is happy to ignore buddhu your limiting Henry's draw. You're forcing extra attachments out of him
I even see the pheasant gifty and ebbly and come down this turn as well
Diego is getting into range of the special red card and he's taking precautions
I actually kind of love taking out this because you know again you're open checklist
You know Rose is gone. You know Crispin's gone
You know that both of these energy on the dracloak is everything that's there now
There's no guarantee UK or the dragapult next turn, but if you do that's all the energy gone
I think it's time. I think it's time for judge
Always time for judge Henry is considering all of his options here. I think this is the turn. He's debating whether or not to
Play jamming tower perhaps here
Or is he thinking that he just doesn't have high enough odds from the judge?
But it is time Henry has fallen quite far behind in this game
and he needs to limit Diego's hand.
This was one of the few ways that he could.
It was either find your special red card,
or play the judge here.
In this case, he's going to give himself just four cards and a recon directive
to at the very least find a Dragonpole TX this turn.
You need to start attacking.
Yeah, and if the Dragonpole goes down, you lose the game.
That is it. You're not recovering from that.
So this is the turn. I think you have to just judge and hope it works out.
Diego can refill his hand. We've seen these texts do that.
There's two Kadabra ready to evolve. There's a Duns boss ready to evolve.
There are a bunch of drawing options. You've got your Pheasant Dipty ready to flip the script.
So here are four cards for Diego.
There's the Dragapult. That's a big piece.
Okay. Can we... Oh, Nightstretcher as well. There's the option for Dostouar.
We could curse blast the active Alakazam. Thanks to some early itchy pollen.
that's in range of a knockout. It is. You could also phantom dive after the fact.
You would be giving Diego potentially more cards to fit the script, but
at this stage you kind of have to start going for this. I think you do. I think that might be,
that is a fun play. We'll see if it comes out. It is the Night Stretcher that is taken off
of the recon directive here. That's going to go into hand. We've already got the energy.
There's a night stretcher that presumably is going to be always for a tree P actually say not thinking that's more on the active
Just go into the active with dragapult right now and hope that the 320 hit point threshold is too much for Diego
He only has four cards currently in his hand. He has flipped the script that can get him three additional cards
As you mentioned ross that enriching energy has been committed
That's not a way for Diego to springboard into enough to take out this dragapult
16 cards. If we get to 16 cards, this game is over. You will need to put the Alakazam down.
You'll do that anyway to draw extra cards. Get to 16 cards in hand. You will end up winning this game.
That Dragapolka down, you have one prize card remaining, and there really won't be much for Henry to do at that point.
But, I mean, you can see the hand, Joe. How likely is this to happen?
Well, there's not many of those evolution pieces just yet for Diego. It does start with a Hilda.
We have three Pokémon that we can evolve. Each of them can draw three cards.
With two psychic draws from two Alakazam plus a runaway draw.
I'm not sure if it's enough when you're also having to manually play these Pokémon down.
You're only going plus two on each of these.
So I think Henry's found a window of opportunity.
Imagine if that enriching energy was still available here and usually set that as well.
I mean, it is one of those things, but also if you don't put an energy on the Geneset, then it can become a trap target later.
Oh, absolutely.
Oh, I'm not saying it was the wrong decision. I'm just saying, I'd really, you know, if I was Diego, I'd really like it right now.
These are the fine margins of Pokemon, though. You can see the logic as to why Diego did it at the time, as we do see the first psychic draw from Alakazam.
Do you see any more pieces? No, I don't see much here. Didn't draw into the Duns boss.
There is an ultra ball, but the ultra ball, unfortunately, is kind of a minus two when you play it.
So then when you play the Alakazam, you have even it's not a great use of resources.
It's not building your hand size at all.
This is very awkward. We're going to put telepathic energy onto the Kadabra.
And you can have a quick look at the decks if there are any basic psychic Pokemon we may want to grab out.
There is an Abra there.
there. It feels like Diego may just go for a passive turn again. It feels like you've
got to reload those cannons after you've just lost a large hand's-size. So he may end up
promoting the Dunsparse at the end of this turn here, or even the Abra, to be honest
with you, because he's already got so many energy around this board, he can probably
feel fairly safe to do so, but no. Instead, Diego is going to go with an attack and
put some damage counters into play. Diego has to be far less concerned about Henry
having monkey with no monkey Dory putting damage counts into players far less scary for him
that's a substantial chunk as well being hit into this dragapult yet well you got to think
Diego's winning in two if he's winning is winning in two turns regardless here now there's no
turn where you need an absolutely redonkulous gigantic hand yeah that's true and it also means
that if there is a special red card coming out you can still get close to the dragapult
ex next turn so probably is the wisest approach Henry though a slow attachment to
What else is going on in this hand? Is there anything else for him here?
Not seeing too much. There is an option.
Now, if Jammingtower were to be found,
that Abra would represent a very easy second prize on the bench for Henry.
Of course, there was a judge last turn. There's only one in the deck.
The odds aren't great. Henry's shaking his head.
That's going to be the knockout.
I think he knows he's got low percentage win at this stage.
He's just seeing what Diego can construct.
Got to make him have it in the hand, because, at the very least,
He has to build quite a few cards here. He does top deck the Duns sparse, but he has plenty of draws before that.
First we'll flip the script from Pheasant Dippity, but it is looking more and more favourable for Diego at this stage.
Really?
That's a Kadabra lined up.
Does he have the recovery required to get some of these Alakazam out of the discard pile?
That's what we're going to be looking for here.
Redie is Alakazam. You only need six cards in hand.
The card in hand is no longer an issue.
Looks like it is going to be a dawn,
gets you a basic of stage one and a stage two.
That's going to get you your Kadabra
and your Alakazam as well as a basic.
Of course, we've already got the dunce bar in hand.
And I kind of love the fact that here
you need six cards in hand.
Now, our night is just going to be the concession from Henry.
Diego takes game two.
There is too much pressure from the Alakazam line
and that means we are going to a game three.
But the wonderful thing is we're in top four.
We've got a longer clock! We've got loads of time for a game free, Joe!
We have plenty of time, and I was about to say before Henry picked up his guards,
that was going to be the picture-perfect board statement that Diego had constructed
whilst also going down to just one price by remaining.
So, Henry could see the price on the wall, he had six price cards still to take,
not going to get it done there.
Diego, coolly, with a much better draw in this game number two,
a light work that Henry's thought there.
Absolutely did!
And that we've just seen this is what Alakazam does.
Let's see it again. Let's go to the replay.
See what we've already seen so far.
This is just game two here.
And this is Diego, early KO with the Kadabra,
but crucially with that ace-mullifier genocide,
making sure there will be no unfair stamp.
And from here, it was Henry Tran set up,
and Diego just ruining it.
We saw the force of orders,
KOing that drag loop with the energy on,
two turns in a row. We did finally see a dragapult come up and take a prize. Diego unable to get
a one hit KO going. I can just hit it now and then it's a two hit KO and I never need
a large hand size to pull it off and Henry went good point. Let's go to a game three.
Henry Chow who made his name last season when he free regionals with Guard of War. Diego
a well-known player for many, many years,
who's biggest championship,
you know, biggest result was in the World Championships in 2017
with a different guard of war.
Now it is a best of one.
Whoever wins this final game
will be joining us in the Chase Center tomorrow
for the World Championship Final.
It doesn't get bigger than this, Ross.
Just won the game away.
Riding it out in the Chase Center.
And there is the fist bump.
We are off game free.
It all comes down to this and it is going to be it looks like Henry going first 3p against Abra
And I'm not seeing much in the hand
I see a dust goal as well as one poker pad will this be for a second 3p and just hope that leaves determination can help you out
Or to try and hold this for a guaranteed trochloak on the next turn of the game an age old question for those drag-a-port players
Henry opps the pass
Well, we've got a 3p and a dusk all hopefully things will get a bit better next turn
Diego here first turn where you're allowed to play a supporter items are not locked
So here we go buddy buddy poffin is going to go and get a couple of basic Pokemon
You're gonna have a look to fear and figure out which cars are in your prizes
And we are also going to go and grab a couple of basics worth noting
There are two battle cage in the prizes, but there are still two in the deck compared to one jamming tower
So not as bad, but ultimately it means that if this game 3 comes down to Henry just having to throw that stadium out there
There's a much higher likelihood of that actually sticking around for a turn
So it's going to be a little bit awkward Diego with that early search will grab at least one done sparse
And he does already have to be threatened by the dust skull on Henry's side of the board
We may try and look towards getting multiple Abra into play because you don't want your only Abra to be cursed blasted too early
Absolutely not. That 50 HP is terrifying and one of the main reasons is Dusklox drops 5 damage counters when it uses Cursed Blast.
Now we have gone and gone 2 Duns-Bars to only one Abra in the active, which would suggest Diego maybe has a telepathic energy or at least some way, I hope so, to get towards more Abra.
Looks like Diego is also thinking about getting an Abra down here. He has to select 3 targets but we will, I think there's additional Ball Search available to him.
Just weighing up the options of what's better.
I don't think he's actually got free.
I think, yeah, he's doing that.
He's saying that he wants an Abra
and that's because he's got a Poker Pad in hand.
Okay. So Poker Pad.
I know it's going to be a telepathic energy.
Yeah, as you said, Ross.
Love this. Hilda's going to get
an Evolution Pokemon and an energy
and has to be telepathic energy.
We're just going to go and get two Abra
and there is also a Poker Pad here.
But strong argument to play that preemptively
for an Evolution Pokemon with
Purdue on the horizon.
Yeah, nice to see that cadaver coming into the hands.
So it's like Deere's hand is already pretty well sorted.
And some additional Averacoming into play.
This is a really picturesque turn one going second for Diego right now.
Saw the Dedenne.
You're not for this matchup.
Yeah, I wouldn't go to Dedenne personally.
I think Dedenne is great.
I think this matchup, have a little bit of a snooze.
Wait for tomorrow.
You might be needed more then.
Here comes a poker pad to go and search out a non EX,
non robot Pokemon.
Do we get another base? Or do we get an evolution for next turn?
I think picking up another Kadabra is pretty reasonable here.
It's actually going to be the ace nullifier, Geneset.
So Diego saying, I want the opportunity to go aggressive if I have to.
In this game number three, I don't want to be slowed down by unfair stamp.
I want to use this Pokemon. He's always made it a trademark, including his list, by playing two copies.
Identifying how important it is to not fall short to that ace spec choice.
already has the air balloon in hand so why not I mean yeah quite frankly I mean
it's doing so much good he hasn't been unfair stand once in this whole series
and it is going to be just that that attack from the Abra flick back to the
bench while doing 10 damage popping a Genesect active just because it's got a
little bit more beef yep I mean already holding on to that air balloon you
can feel pretty confident with that line of play Henry is gonna poke a pad
out the one track bloke that he chose to hold this poker pads for
this turn just to guarantee that stage one and he's also going to do his routine
deck check. He does have a couple of those psychic energy in the prize cards.
I want to feel a little bit awkward for him. We know that he needs to keep up on
these energy attachments when Alakazam is swinging. It can be swinging pretty hard
so you've got to keep up on those energy drops throughout the entire game.
We also have a couple of drake cloak as well. It's not ideal prizes. Oh it's a
one of each. Yeah. Oh it is one of each. My apologies. One of each is still
not ideal and then we've got two psychic energy. That's got some bosses
not ideal, but you play two Dusk Gloss free bosses orders.
You'll probably be able to work around them just fine,
but two of your four psychic energy
when you need it to attack with Dragapult.
So I'm going to keep an eye on, but most players
take prizes from the bottom to the top,
so we expect them to be taken sooner rather than later.
I'm just going to take the moment to acknowledge
that we are in such a historic match.
Diego Casaraga has been such an amazing player
to watch for many years.
for so many moments. Henry Chow, a player of the now,
over the last couple of seasons, he has been non-stop competing
at the very highest level, and this Lily's determination
is going to be huge for him here. Henry evolving up into
multiple stage one Pokemon and needs to start seeing
some buddy-buddy puff in, as well as energy this turn.
If he wants to initiate an itchy pollen item block,
failing that, he at least has to protect his Procloak.
No, absolutely. Diego is in a position to start taking prizes next turn.
He has got a decent board of Pokémon.
And again, we said it before, but it bears repeating.
All of those Pokémon of Diego's bench,
when you evolve, they draw you cards.
Kadabra, the Duns boss, they all draw cards.
You wreck Andy into an Alakazam. It draws cards.
Everything is drawing you cards as you go.
There does seem to be a Dreepee in hand, for Henry, at least.
It's a pretty strong hand.
Oh, we're... Sorry, Joe, I dropped your legs.
We're out of dust globs.
He has ironed up the dust glocks to try and potentially take out presumably the Abra with the energy on
Hasn't made the decision yet, but it's clearly thinking about it. He's edging towards it. He's gonna do it
No, he's not gonna do it. I think he's gonna do it Joe. He's gonna do it
We could be here a while
Unlike the Abra on the bench which just went away with that curse blast one prize to each player
but crucially the eyebrow of the energy attack is no more on Diego's bench
Henry then has a easy recon directive choice of ultra ball or ultra ball. I take ultra ball personally
Yeah, good shout and it is going to be the buddy buddy pop in now in addition to there's already 3p in
Hand and there's already a Boudou in hand. So Henry can easily reload a dusk all as well as a 3p
One of the things that's intrigued me so much about Henry's play throughout this entire tournament is how
aggressively he likes to use those dust globs during the game much more
aggressive than most players I would say. I've been surprised in this tournament
not in a bad way but I've been surprised by the situations in which Henry
has decided hey it's turn two I'm gonna use dust globs to take something out
we saw it on a Purdue in a previous game that was absolutely crucial we've
seen it on an Abra here hoping for Henry's sake that it is going to be the
same we see an energy attachment just to manually retreat the Tricloak and
And that means that we do get a Badoo into the active, and it is going to be an itchy bollum, 10 damage, but far more importantly is no item cards coming down.
I say 10 damage. It would have been 10 damage, were it not for the resistance that we see on Jannisette.
He's not worried about the damage in this case. He just wants to shut down the flow of Diego's deck.
We already see that. We're a couple of Katabra already in the hand, and Adorn has just found his way into the hand.
In addition to one of his two copies of Battle Cage,
with two in those prize cards, lest we forget,
and now we have the runaway draw from Diego.
Thanks to this itchy pollen, Henry knows that there's not going to be
an attack from an Alakazam, but there could still be a Kadabra KO this turn.
And we know that Diego was happy to do so in that game number two
where he came out the victor as soon as he was able to combine a KO
with the ace nullified Genesect, and that will be a board save that he can
Once again repeats. Yeah, absolutely. He's got that air balloon to attach to the active to enable free retreat
We're lacking energy right now. I was there just about to say Joe
I don't think we've got an energy right now. So that's a tough break
Was that look how many cards are in that hand and yet? No, it's gonna be a dawn to go and grab
Basic a stage one and a stage two
Coming down to our final runaway draw for an energy card here. I think it might be runaway draw desperate search for an energy
I think that might be the only play.
It's a surprising turn of events.
Diego has seen so many cards.
You think it's inevitable that there's going to be one in there, but not yet.
Well, there's only five energy in the deck.
One of which, of course, is hiding away in the prizes.
One of which on the Abra that just got KOed.
So that does mean there's only actually free energy available.
Maybe that's why we're seeing it with.
So cross your fingers if you want to see Diego win here.
Cross your fingers.
we're about to see a psychic energy coming off of this runaway draw. Everything else is there.
We've got Kadabra. We've got the air balloons, both turn on ace nullifier and get Genesect out.
The active. Do we have a psychic energy coming off of this draw? Huge turning point in the game.
We do. That telepathic energy comes out. That's a big pickup for Diego. You want to pressure
the board as much as possible. We've seen what Henry can do when he has access to Curse
So, let's speed up the game, start taking these prize cards.
It's also the best-case scenario, a telepathic energy,
so he can also replace an Abra that was carried on the previous turn.
So, now his board is looking a little bit more stable here.
Absolutely huge.
Like, with the energy there, would it put you a whole turn back?
So, when you get to the end of the game, you're like,
ah, I would have won with one more turn. Well, that's where the turn went.
But not to me, the telepathic energy did come out.
We see a dunce pass, ping and pop down to replace it, a dunce pass.
battle cage comes down to turn off all of those shenanigans.
You've already seen one cursed blast.
And now for that, thank you very much.
So we see an air balloon on the Genesect.
That's going to give it free retreat into the Kadabra.
And then Kadabra can just come along
and Super Cybolt for 30.
Get the KO onto that Purdue.
Start the prize race,
but there will be no unfair stamp
because ace nullifier on that Genesect is online.
Diego has been so diligent with this
throughout the entire set.
You have to respect that dangerous A-spec.
Henry already taking a moment to pause here.
How can he punish his opponent?
He's thinking of promoting a dust skull here,
even though there's free retreat
with his body has just been knocked out, my apologies.
But it is forcing him into a dust globs play here,
and Ness is gonna take another turn off.
Well, the dust globs would only be able to go to the active,
which is not the best use of the damage.
I mean, it still gets damaged down,
but it's not what you're looking for.
Henry once again on the back foot here,
Diego absolutely the aggressor in this game number three.
Lost game one, came back in one game two.
Remember we are in game three here.
It is top four at the World Championships in San Francisco.
The winner of this individual game
will take a two-one win
and we will see them again in the chase center tomorrow
on stage and I'm telling you,
you don't wanna miss tomorrow.
That is looking like the best venue you've ever seen
for a trading card game championship match.
Rare situation where you may be using
your unfair stamp as discard fodder for an ultra ball.
No!
It's come to the hand, and we do have a dawn
as the support of the turn for Henry.
So confirmation that there's not gonna be
much of an attack going on this turn.
Unless you value, something will be cursed blast.
We can reload perhaps a bodu here
to continue to item lock.
has been something Henry has tried to maintain for a lot of this game.
Problem is, if you continue to ice a lot, you continue to feed your opponent prizes,
that will go down, that will be Diego's third prize,
and he is just building up those Alakazam on the bench as we go.
Good news, of course, you haven't played your judge yet,
you haven't played your special red card,
so you do still have those hand disruption options,
you haven't used your jamming tower for your big potential multi-price term.
So all three of those one-offs are still in the deck, there's still options.
Yeah, and that's one of the key choices from Henry this tournament to have all three options of disruption
There's normally cherry pick two of those
It's almost all with the unfair stamp
And it's either the all of the special red card or the judge in this case Henry wanted to have all three options
And it could end up being a huge choice for him as we progress through this game
Henry able to pick up a few more drawing cards with that third reclote that he can evolve into and is also going to hold
On to the festivity in his hand for now
He does already have energy that he can commit this turn
I think essentially what he wants to do is force Diego down to three prize cards
It's almost almost allow Diego to go down to three prize cards so that he has both judge and the special red card
They can work into this game. He's got the stadium. He just drew the jamming towel off of that recon directive
So that is going to give that one turn of well would say one turn
Diego doesn't draw into his other stadium. Maybe not but one turn at least of hey
I can actually use Phantom Dive. I can use Curse Blast on the bench. I can do all of my fun tricks
Right now it's going to be a night stretcher to go and grab a Pokemon or a basic energy from the discard pile
It is going to be that dust globs
You can use that to evolve the active
Then just the pass. Now you're threatening on all fronts
You're saying I want my draw power to stick around so if you want a boss's orders
I at least still have access to my dust of R if you just take out the dust globs
I can still manage with that because I'm going to be on odd prize cards and I can try and force my opponent through multiple
of my Dragon Pulse EX.
Let's see how Diego wants to respond to this. Can he weave in an airy perhaps this turn? That could be a huge issue.
The knockout is already confirmed.
It's really how he can make his board as safe as possible. Evolving up into another Kadabra would be very handy here.
Getting another Duns Barcing to play would be very handy as well.
But if you can find that area supporter card it could be massive you can try and catch Henry off kilter
You can catch that special red card if you can catch something else in that hand you can really slow him down
Catch the ace back here. I'm not sure if special red card is in there bro. No, not at the moment
But do you guys not to know that that's what he's trying to work towards?
Absolutely. Just pick up that Feds and 50 EX
It could be a Pokemon that he also tries to weave in.
He's got another heirloom in hand,
so it could be another Pokemon he decides to bench here.
Knowing that once you take this knockout,
you're gonna be in range of that special red card,
so you do want to have the script
to help you burst back into some cards.
You absolutely do.
Here comes the poker pad.
That's gonna go and search out a non-robot Pokemon.
It is going to be, is that genocide design up there?
Think about it.
Probably just as a discard for later,
even just to add a card into hands.
He's not got, you know, not much else right now.
It's not going to do him much good at this precise moment.
We've got a Genesect who's already doing its job.
But like we've got Tuka Dabra down
that could evolve up into Alakazam and draw a bunch of cards.
Look at this, the second copy of Genesect coming into play.
Oh, my word! He is not getting unfest up this turn, Joe.
That means it's a boss's orders effect.
You're going to try and take out the Cloak here from Henry Chow.
Now you're saying there's still going to be no unfest up,
Even if there's a dust to our getting into the equation with jamming tower, Diego if you want to have a safe board
That's how you do it can even draw three cards with another evolution here of Alakazam
You're finding a spot to use bosses orders again targeting down the energy Diego going down to three prize cards with double
Genesect developed. I love it. I've ever seen double Genesect on the board at the same time
But it means that unfair stamping you might as well scarred of an altar ball now. I'm afraid Henry
It is not gonna do you any good for the rest of this game
We've got a dust box. We got to dracloak
It seems like we're grabbing and a night stretch rapid now was from a recon directive
And then we're gonna get what's like a buddy puffing on Lily's determination from the second one
It was like it has to be Lily from this stage
You could still try and use flip the script this turn and try and work towards your special red cards
But, Judge feels pretty poor this turn.
It does feel... I mean, you really need energy at this point.
That's the thing. If you attacked one energy a turn, that just tells Diego,
hey Diego, KO this one! This is the one you want!
So you need something like a Crispin or a Rosa, but the problem is then,
you need to get it all in one turn and then you're not playing Judge.
It is starting to look a little bit hairy. Diego just free prize cards away
from booking his spot to a second world championship final.
Here comes a PokeBad.
That's going to search out another Pokemon for Henry here.
Honestly, I'm just so pleased with the play from Diego last time.
The second ace nullified, Geneset, also with the air balloon, is just incredible,
because Henry was slowly trying to creep towards this play
where you blow up the Geneset on the bench,
so you can unleash your unfest amp to be powerful.
Diego's having none of that, not his first rodeo.
No, and that could have been a play.
You know, we've got the jamming tower in hand,
you've all opened the bustle, I'll play down the jamming tower,
and then Kers Blast will get rid of the Genesect on the bench.
He'll immediately unfair stamp. It was all there.
Diego, he wasn't to know both those cards were in hand,
but he also, like you say, not his first rodeo,
you're thinking, what is the worst thing that can happen right now?
Hey, I've got an answer to that.
So strong from Henry.
Oh, sorry, from Diego.
And it's put Henry in this strange position
where he might even be having another turn
He's putting on the brakes doesn't want to put an EX Pokemon into play
Can the way you only give up one prize card this turn means you can still use curse blast and a phantom dive
It gives him one more turn to try desperately to dig
Towards that special red card on the following turn
Not in hand now. There's no judge. There's special red card
We are just going to see an ultra ball still holding on to that unfair stab still holding on to a little bit
I hope that maybe we can use it here
Oh, we did it go to this guy
Well, we've just even alter ball to get rid of some pieces and then a lilies determination fresh hand here
Henry unable to use judge didn't value any of the supporter card instead is going to go for the lead termination
Didn't want to put the pheasant dipty into play either that would allow Diego down to one prize card
And that would essentially diffuse your curse blast Pokemon
It's not going to go to that just yet.
It's not there yet.
Drawn back into the unfair stuff.
I haven't hit the special red card.
You're just as likely to hit each of them,
but you hit the one you can't play yet.
And that means that it's going to be back to Diego in a moment.
And you just think, I mean, I suppose maybe you do,
but do it again because you just don't want the Dracula
being KOed either way, but do stay there.
And it is going to be a pass over to Diego.
but the very least, the KO and going down to two prizes
is on the board.
Could we see maybe a boss's orders
to take out the drag cloak with the only energy on?
The cheeky Lucky Helmets from Diego.
A decent option to give you that little bit more draw.
Diego is really closing in on this game pretty quickly.
You're still gonna have to probably get
through one Dragapult EX here.
That's the thing you have to still have
in the back of your mind,
that you're gonna have to still springboard
into a number of cards,
but the Lucky Helmet helps you do that.
already safeguarded around the unfair stamp.
He's done pretty much everything he needs to do.
He's holding on to that boss's orders as well,
so he could just continue to take out energy.
There it is.
You'd go after the Droglo, you'd get rid of the energy,
and now, they can't play Judge next turn,
and they can't play unfair stamp next turn,
so it's exactly special red card
as the only thing that you are worried about.
We take the KO, and Diego goes down
to two prize cards remaining.
One Dragapult KO away from a space
at the World Championship Finals.
Does Henry have a way back?
Still five prize cards to take.
Draco goes into the active.
Top deck, no help.
It's gonna have to come down to this recon directive, Ross.
What have we got?
It's a Crispin and a Dragapult.
A shaken ahead from Henry.
Oh, and if you're Diego, you love to see that.
Your opponent shaking their head.
Is it all slipping away for Henry Chow here?
You kind of want both of those cards
to start launching an attack.
You can't, it's only one just to be clear.
But both of them would be quite nice.
Oh, and what's Henry got?
Other than that, he dates to Crispin.
That's going to get us as all this is his only other supporter card,
and that's pretty useless.
And neither supports are looking great here.
It could be the Crispin.
But at this stage again, you have to just give up a single prize.
Are you retreating into Drepi here?
That's your best line of play.
That's going to put Diego down to one prize card remaining.
I think Diego has played two boss so far, right?
He has.
And there are two in the deck.
So, boss is now out for Diego.
There will be no more gusting,
No more bosses orders. You just have to hit what's in front of you. But Henry here
He's got three hand disruption cards. None of them have hit the board
None of them have given him any value whatsoever here and Diego has really just had a very straightforward
Set up of Alakazam chaos smaller Pokemon. He hasn't had to reach a tall
energy
Onto the drag cloak and a second one and then a retreat into but do when you are five prizes down to two remaining
and it is just going to be an itchy pollen.
There will be no item cards for Diego,
but he will draw cards for the lucky helmet.
Has plenty of draw right now.
Henry was really wobbling on that final turn,
almost retreated the psychic energy away.
You can see he's feeling the pressure
and Diego, all he has to do is take a prize card.
Diego Casaraga, just one prize card away.
Henry's been holding onto a lot of the puzzle pieces,
has picked up a Meowth EX.
Could that be one of his final defences here?
I think it almost feels like at this point
where you're looking for, you get an energy,
you get a dragapult, you find your jamming tower,
and you just hope that Diego's not able to piece together
a big KO onto a dragapult,
because I'm not seeing much else that Henry's got here.
He's having a look through his deck,
but he's got to be thinking at this point,
is there anything that I can do?
Where am I at?
What can I do when I'm this far down?
It's going to be the Meowth for Judge. It has to be at this stage.
The hand size is too monstrous for Diego.
We have the fight energy already in hand.
Did we also already have the Dragapult EX in the hand as well?
There we go. We have the stadium though.
You could consider playing this card,
but you have to be so careful about when you do.
Here comes the only stadium that Jammingtower comes down.
We do see Dustnoir and it is going to be a judge.
Finally, we get some hand disruption Henry has got to get a dragapot and this is Henry's last stand here
You get dragapot. You've got jamming tower down. You put your opponent down to a four-card hand
You know they have no gusting left and you say you can't KO this dragapot and I'm making a huge comeback
And it's looking ugly here, but just a couple of turns of phantom dive and it can all change
Oh, yes, you can still put in a substantial amount of damage
knocking out one Alakazam, setting up the bench to Kadabra on the following turn,
if you're able to sponge a hit, you can knock out an Alakazam, finish off the
Kadabra. If Diego is unable to find another Stage 2 Evolution, it's a poker
pad coming out from Henry. I'm not even sure if he has access to the Dragaport EX
just yet, his own judge. We've got a dawn coming down. We do have a
dust lock. We come down to the recon directive, even if Henry can find this
Dragaport in the first place. There's a light structure in the
So that's okay
Okay, so that's gonna get you towards the dragapult. That's gonna be big
And it picks up the special red card as well. Oh, I love that
That's a special red card surely. Yeah, so you can judge phantom dive this term the next turn special red card phantom dive
Henry's done everything he can to be as cautious as possible
To still have this chance to phantom dive cleanly two times
You're asking for a lot here. You need to get a fairly poor four-card hand from judge
But he's gonna set up the Kadabra and hope they can take out multiple Alakazam in a turn and leave Diego with no attackers whatsoever
Diego what do you have? Do we do Alakazam already? Do we draw off the lucky helmet? No because of the jamming tower
Oh, of course. Thank you very much a jamming tower turns off the lucky helmet. No draws from that
We've got five cards in hand. We do have a dawn
We do have a potential Alakazam draw for free. It does feel like we are just gonna be hitting and working on a two hit KO here
But already evolving up into the Alakazam is the biggest relief for Diego.
That's the most important thing here. Get your Kadabra out of range of a second Phantom Dive.
Yes.
And then you can two-hit here with this last Dragapultie X from Henry.
So the judge has been just good enough for Diego so far.
Just good enough. I think is a good way to put it.
We're going to go and get a Pheasant Dipty. That can go down and draw you three extra cards.
Go and get a Stage 1 Dedunce, but it's not doing anything.
This is plus one card in hand, which is everything this deck wants to do.
So we're going to be drawing six cards here, three from Flip the Script,
three from Alakazam.
Doesn't look like we've got a KO this turn,
but we can set up for a two-hit KO and win the game next turn.
16 cards does seem out of reach.
Let's see the three cards. There's the Enriching Energy.
OK, that's a lot of cards here.
There's the Enriching Energy to draw four.
We can get three more off the dunce pass and then three more of the back here.
Diego start counting.
You've got flip the script, you've got runaway draw. That could be enough.
There's the handshake. Diego does get the 16 cards in hand.
One Hickey on the fresh Dragonpole.
And Diego Casaraga is back to the Pokemon trading card game.
World Championship. We'll see him in the chase as of tomorrow.
Trying to be the second player ever to repeat as the Masters Division World Champion.
Wow, Diego, you're doing it again.
All the words of J-Witz, go Diego, go.
My word, the end of that game, Joe, that was so stressful.
I have so much sympathy for the players there.
Just another Diego was running away with it, and then Henry had the turn.
We had the jamming power, we had the judge, we had special red card.
Lopmanet turned in, but then Diego somehow to rich energy and it's necessary and it's always
that we do have 16 cards in hand. Let's go. Oh such an impressive result for Diego there.
Keeping his cool. Let's see how it all played out. Starting off in this game number one then.
Diego had a really slow start in this game number one. Henry was getting in there with
Phantom Dive even with the battle cage established. He was able to go up three prize
guards before Diego was able to initiate any sort of attack. Absolutely
battlecade was there but battlecade was absolutely not doing anything like you
needed it to. We had this big turn at the end where you use the curse blast to
KO the active the battlecade will not protect big KO off the game to where
Diego has a much better start. All these KO's with Alakazam while Henry is not
able to actually set up much of anything Diego is able to then start
Hicking apart the bench using Boston's orders to take out the Drakloak that Henry really wanted to stay on the board
And then when we finally saw Dragapult come up, Diego is able to just draw a whole bunch of cards
He didn't get a one hit KO, but a two hit KO was more than enough and Henry went all right then
Let's go to game three. Game three
And then in that un-mouse situation Henry going early with Cursefast trying to just limit those
Kedavra as much as possible, knowing that he had to keep replaying these low hit-point
both on, and he tried to find a situation where he could get three prize cards later
on in the game.
That's why he was getting so aggressive with those dust blocks for Diego, with a much better
opener here, was able to weave in a knockout early on with a Kedavra whilst getting the
ace nullified Geneset online, and that was really hithering Henry, he was really
desperate he tried to weave in that ace spec for Diego, with that second copy of
The Jettison coming down, but there was gonna be no shenanigans from Dostnilor.
And that was such a crucial play, and here we see Diego going,
I know you dropped me last turn, and I know that your jamming tower turned off
Milwaukee helmet, but I think I can still get the 16 card turned out.
He totally could, and he is going back to the World Championship Finals 2017.
He took a bit of a risk with Guard of War GX, the first weekend,
the burning shadows was legal.
He played that deck all the way to a World Championship victory.
And the community loved it.
He's been a fan favorite for so many years.
Well, nine years later, we're back, Joe, and he might be doing it again.
There you go. Not getting rusty at all.
He is not going anywhere, teaching the new blood how to do it.
He has been at Pokemon for so many years.
He's seen so many iterations of the game.
He's still able to compete at the very top.
He's only able to compete in a handful of tournaments these days.
You know, he's a dad.
He's doing all sorts of other things in the game.
He still finds the time to come to these major tournaments still makes it to the World Championships almost every year
And he really has solidified himself as one of the best ever in this game
I did see a great social media post which was basically like his kid watching him play in the World Championships
Just that lovely kind of father-son moment. I absolutely get those feelings
But they don't want to be playing the World Championships
You know close enough Joe close enough
But it is just lovely, you know seeing these players who have been around a while they have other responsibilities
but they stay in the game, and when you're that level of good,
you can come back and do it all over again.
And still, the only hope for a Dragon Pult Not-Winning Worlds
this year.
That's one down.
Who to go?
We have a Dragon Pult Mirror match,
and the other side of our top four
will be Brent Parson or Andrew Hedrick meeting Diego
Kassiraga in the finals.
Either way, it's going to be an immense show tomorrow.
It is going to be.
I mean, we looked at the top four,
we looked at all of these players,
any of these four players would be a great story winning world after everything we've seen these are players that we've followed for years players
We're all very familiar with and now it's like well
It's coming down to it and any of them will still make a great story
But Diego repeating as world champion the last time we saw that was Jason Kuzitski winning his third world championships
That was in 2013 that was before we even started casting Joe
That's a long time
Long time ago, man.
It was like a completely different game at this stage.
And that's what's, again, just so impressive for Diego.
He's had to relearn this game year after year,
not only the new cards coming in,
but just sort of tempo and pace of the game as a whole.
Totally different from back in 2007,
he was playing B'net EX with some EV illusions,
where there was things like 70 damage
being a good number, 90 hit points on, you know,
two prize EX Pokemon at that stage.
Now we're looking at 320 hit point two prize Pokemon.
We've come a long way,
Diego still finds the way to pinpoint a meta game and really catch it a little bit still.
You can see the love of the game. Give a little bit of love to Henry Chow.
Oh, yeah. Last season, the Guard of War player. When Guard of War was the best
deck around, Henry Chow was the best Guard of War player. Three regional wins.
And going into this season, there was a bit of a chatter of, well, you know,
is Henry just a really good Guard of War player or can he adapt to another deck?
I think it's pretty conclusive at this point. Henry did a great job adapting,
picking up Dragapult and going no I'm still at great place give me five minutes to learn the deck
would you and I adored his deck list a great choice for the weekend and he really utilized those
cursed blast Pokemon in a very different way in a very unorthodox way in a lot of those situations
the cogs just seem to turn differently for Henry yes there were times time and time again where
it felt like he's been out of this tournament and he's come back from the bitter death of it
and has got himself to a top four, an amazing result for Henry Chow.
He congratulates us to him, but now it's all about our finalists.
It is all about our finalists, but why talk about him when we can talk to him?
So let's catch up with Amy and let's go to the stage.
And here we are with Diego, who is using a really big spoon to carve his name once again
into the Pokemon TCG finals here at the World Championships.
Diego, how does it feel to be back on the stage?
It's very exciting to be here after so many years of playing,
and I'm very excited to be here with my family.
Family is what it's all about, and I can see these guys love Pokemon too.
I have a question for them if it's okay.
What are their favorite Pokemon?
Lugia, Kerali, Pikachu.
Amazing! It's a family affair over here at the World Championships, as it should be.
So, when preparing for this event, I've got to ask, Alakazam, the build you went with
is what I'd call quite a traditional build for Alakazam. You've got enhanced hammers to deal
with a lot of threats coming up. Were there any cards that you changed out in and out of
your deck last minute that you could reveal to us?
No, he wouldn't change anything because it's working.
But with my teammates, we're going to do the deck.
We practiced a lot and we made the best cards.
No, he wouldn't change anything because everything has been working so far
and everything is thanks to his team members.
Oh, that's amazing. Let's get a huge shout-out to that team.
Do you want to give us some specifics?
No, I'm going to say hi to all my family and friends.
The last time I was competing like this, the last time he won Worlds, he was still in his mother's belly.
Oh my goodness, time has passed, but your skill is still here.
I'm astounded to see how well you've played,
and it's so lovely to see your family getting involved as well.
Do you think these guys are going to be world champions one day too?
They practice a lot, maybe.
Family affairs have world champions across the board.
Diego, do you have anything that you're going to do to prepare this evening, ready for tomorrow?
I'm blessed, blessed, I mean.
Rest and eat, that is the best thing you can possibly do and spend some time with your family.
Thank you so very much, it's been an absolute pleasure watching you succeed today.
Very good luck in the finals tomorrow for me and the rest of the crew, so thank you so much.
Thank you so much. One last big old chip in Diego, our first finalist!
We're gonna go back to Pablo to get some good, juicy analysis of that game.
Thank you so much, Amy. Congratulations to both players.
And I'm just gonna say, this is a preview for the Latin Regional Street.
you can expect. Next season the energy lovely to see and of course amazing play by both players in
this semi-final match here at the World Championships. Diego advancing to championship
Sunday but not without a few hiccups along the way losing that first game but having the
resilience to come back and funnily enough the very first turn really decided that game won.
Benching, Daphis, and TPT to be able to go back into it, that decision, I think, ultimately ended up hurting Diego.
He had the Herbalune available to free retreat and whatnot, but that bodyw, putting 10 damage,
that 10 damage can be the difference between advancing to World Finals or possibly not,
and that 10 damage from the bodyw, along with the item lock, allowed Henry to set up this play,
where in the price trade-off two prizes is very significant. It means you have to
take one less turn in order to win the whole game and Diego really made the best
he could out of this but ultimately he ended up falling to to Henry in game
one. He was able to make a comeback but in order to maximize his chances of
winning a well-timed area was part of his plan. He was against the Rogue,
he was stuck in this situation where he needed Henry to ultimately whiff in the crucial moment the
front of Dostnovar was happening and airy hit both special red card but more crucially a night
stretcher with the night stretcher and the knockout on Dragapult that meant that Henry needed a
psychic the Dostnovar and a Dragapult as well which he would have had otherwise thanks to that
night stretcher so perfect timing the list is obviously very very good but
ultimately it just wasn't quite enough in order to win this game. Henry had the
perfect pieces, found the boss, found the dosnure, found the Dragapult, utilized
dosnure to bypass that battle cage as that only protects the bench but not
the active and really crazy to see a battle cage coming into play for the
whole game but then ultimately not being enough and Henry managing to pull out the win and then
in game two we saw another very crucial boss disorders pressure by Diego he was able to consistently
apply this pressure find the boss disorders take down the energy and by denying the energy what
you do you force your opponent to find either Crispin or Rosa's encouragement which Henry only
place a single copy of in order to force them to be able to attack and that means no
judge right with Genesek denying the unfair stamp pretty much all three games with special
red card not being active because we're still in a situation where we haven't taken three
prizes we're still at four that means there's no hand disruption and that means the hand
continues to build and Diego can't threaten any incoming Dragonbolt this still force Henry
to have to take it slow and steady and then we had this very peculiar situation towards the end.
I'm getting a little, yeah, with the Double Genesect. I was like, where's the Double Genesect?
Double Genesect means even if you set up a Dostnovar, you cannot get attacked by On First
Stamp, giving you the freedom to take down the energy once again forcing Rose's encouragement,
forcing Crispin. Denying energy on Dragapult is definitely a way to beat it.
Usually this is done in the mirror match with crushing hammer. Of course boss disorders is a great way to pressure the energy and Henry, one of his deck
building choices for this weekend was to skip out a little bit on the energy acceleration.
Two copies of Crispin, one of Rosa is usually the norm.
He decided to play one of each and that ultimately led to a little bit slower games.
but Diego was always on top of things and continued to apply and apply the pressure and this was a very crucial moment
I think this encapsulates perfectly how the pressure the nerves the moment
How important it is to keep your cool Henry almost made a small mistake by
Retreating the wrong energy had a fire energy in his hand
which we can barely see right there and he was about to retreat the psychic energy of the
which would have led to him having zero chance or making it even harder for him to make a comeback in this particular game.
So both players playing at their best the pressure of the moment being one game away for both players from playing in
Championship Sunday almost made that crucial mistake wasn't enough despite not making it and
Diego advances to the finals. Next up we have Brent Tonneson against Andrew Hedrick
We do have one small tidbit at the fun zone at Pokemon XP with Amy Gabby and Fareed
So let's take it away over there as we head back to our next master's top four
Welcome guys, we're here at Pokemon XP out in the garden. I know they let us go outside
I'm with Fareed and Gabby of course my name is Amy we're gonna take you around some of the activities that everyone can enjoy here.
So in the Alola region trainers can work part-time to rescue Fukumuku by trucking them back in the ocean after they wash ashore.
But here at the World Championships we can have a little bit of a fun competition by trying to chuck them back into the ocean just to see who's you know better Fukumuku trucker.
So Amy Farid, I think you two need to have a little bit of a friendly competition to see who's better. What do you think?
I think we've got to do it.
I'm ready.
We see Gabby up here going to save that hukamuku real good. She didn't do it.
But you know what? They both work really hard. Farid's going to get that bonus for working in a lola.
Good job everyone. Saving the hukamuku.
Okay trainers, we are outside at the pin rally station and what pin have we just got ourselves beautiful little for off one pins one available
Everyone that's out here and there's a queue for them
But there's another one that we'd like to get so stay tuned because we'll be back
Hi guys, I'm here at the fur fur hair salon and misty is helping me out with a new look
We're getting some cute brains and they've got loads of different styles. You can pick from
patents, so glitter accessories
Braids the law. There's so much goodness gracious. There's just so much
So we're gonna see how the final look comes out. I really love the little braids. They're so cute
This is a look this is a vibe
So we're here in the fur through hair salon, and I am getting special treatment from my new friend Claudio
We're getting green Pokemon go. So I hope you enjoy it guys the things we do for Pokemon
Hey everybody, I'm here with Kevin at the bee dome and Kevin, why don't you tell us what's going on here today?
Hi, thank you so much for having me well. This is for Planet B
We talk about science education and be conservation for schools around the Bay Area
We're here making seed balls because bees are the most important pollinator
Did you know that there are 20,000 types of species of bees around the world? I actually did not um, you know girl
All right. Well tell me what's the seed ball? Yeah, so it's just a little bit of clay
We put some poppy seeds in there kids can just toss it out
And then we just help the bees because bees are very important to our ecosystem and environments
Any particular reason why you're using poppy seeds?
Poppy seeds are native to California.
We love California.
Welcome to San Francisco.
And we just want to support more local bees here
in the San Francisco Bay area.
We've had our eyes done.
We've had our hair done.
We've got new pins.
There's so much to do at the Yerba Buena Gardens.
Make sure to check it out.
But from us, that's a wrap.
I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do that, but I'm going to do it.
I'm going to be able to do it.
I'm going to do it.
I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but I'm pretty sure it's a good idea.
I'm pretty sure it's a good idea, but I'm pretty sure it's a good idea.
And then there were three welcome back in Pokemon fans to the trading car game competition here
at the world championships 2026 in San Francisco, California.
We've got Diego Cosiroga waiting to play his final match tomorrow, but we've got to
determine who his finals opponent will be.
It's going to be our job for the next 75 or so minutes
chipper cheat here in the desk with Kyle Putsukovich.
It's going to be either Brent Tonneson or Andrew
Hedrick facing off in the chase arena tomorrow.
What an event we ended up with.
We were uncertain as we were going through this event
how things were going to play out.
You know, a couple crustal decks made it into the top eight.
How are things going to shake out?
Turns out, Dragon Pult was the answer all along.
But, of course, Diego, congratulations.
making it back to the Finals of the World Championships
a second time with that Alakazam deck.
So we will not have a dragapult mirror match in the Finals.
We do have one to decide who will join Diego
and what a matchup it is between two of the top players
in the last couple of seasons, Brent and Andrew Hedrick.
Multiple championships between both of these trainers,
but only one of them is gonna keep that dream alive
but the coming world champion.
Let's get down to that stage
where our players are getting set up
and determine who will be playing in the arena tomorrow.
Brent Tonneson lacing off Andrew Hedrick.
As you alluded to, Kyle,
it is a mirror match.
Dragapult EX alongside the Everador crushing hammer.
Okay, Andrew Hedrick was really the person
who made this deck.
We had the rotation in the standard format.
Players were using Dragapult DX,
and Andrew Hedrick was kind of the first one
to put this on the map.
You have a lot of extra spaces for this deck.
Why not play some crushing hammers?
Give yourself an advantage in the mirror match,
and this immediately became adopted
as the way to play this deck.
So in a lot of ways,
very fitting in this Dragapult format
that we find ourselves in at kind of the creator of this modern
variant of the deck is here with a chance to go to the finals of the world
championships. Andrew won the Los Angeles regional championships this year with
this archetype. He had a couple of other strong finishes with the deck,
including a top 32 finish at this season for the American internationals.
And even though there's been a new set for least couple new sets since
that first L.A. regionals where he won with this archetype,
The deck has really not changed that much.
A couple of new cards thrown in,
the roses encouragement, special red card.
Other than that, the core of the deck is all the same.
Look at the accomplishments for these players.
Brett Tonneson, six-time regional champion.
Andrew Hunter, five-time regional champion.
Of course, one NAIC, a couple seasons ago as well.
Take a look here, Chip.
Neither player had really had a huge success
at the World Championship,
despite all the wins, the finals at all other stages.
This is really the first time both of them find themselves
in a spot to have an opportunity
to win the world championships.
And for one of them,
this is gonna feel like the best weekend of their lives.
Brink has played plenty of Dragapult this year,
though most often it has been Dragapult
alongside Dusknor, a changeup for him
heading into this event.
Rise cards going out for both of these players.
Couple of interesting things to note for certain,
too psychic energy for Brent.
That could make for some awkward crispens for him
in the future.
And speaking of the Crispen,
one of them is hiding out in Andrew Hedrick's private space.
Big thing right off the bat,
you do need a psychic and a fire type energy
to use Dragonfall DX's Phantom Dive Attack.
As you mentioned,
you have only three psychic energy in Brent's deck.
So I can have access to one at the beginning of the game.
This will be something we keep an eye on.
And these players are moving.
We're headed down to the table.
Let's kick off game one of Masters' top four.
And it will be Andrew Hedrick with the opening turn,
starting off with Adripi and playing Buddy Buddy Poffin,
searching his deck for two Pokemon with 70 HP or less,
and bringing them down into play.
And Pooka, look at that starter for Brent.
That one of Meowth EX.
You hate to see it if you're Brent.
Love to see it if you're Andrew.
This is one of the premier support Pokemon
in the Pokemon TCG right now,
but it only can use that last ditch catch ability
when you play it from your hand onto your bench.
When you start with it as your active Pokemon
for the game, you cannot use that ability
and it is a huge liability.
Gives up two prize cards and only has 170 HP.
Off this opening buddy, buddy, Poffin Andrew
has placed down one Drippy and a Badou.
Now Brent is the higher seated player in top cut,
so he did choose to go second here,
allowing Andrew to take the first turn.
That of course means Andrew will be the first player
to be able to evolve up into Drakloaks,
but Brent will have that advantage
of being the first player to be able to play a supporter
and the first player to potentially attack.
I also wanted to call out Chip,
Even the one of the judges at our table,
a former top four competitor at the World Championships as well,
Pedro is the star stud at table here.
He's been in this seat before.
Absolutely, just in a different position at the table this time around.
We see here, Andrew being wary of the potential from his opponents.
Flays on the next turn, knowing that Badou's a cheap pollen,
more than likely plays out plenty of item cards.
hookah pad included in that and now ultra ball fetching out a me out ex
Crucially discarding some
Maybe important cards a crushing hammer it looks like and a dedun sparse heading to the discard pile
Those can be important, but like Andrew realizing
I mean first of all
Again Andrew is kind of like the dragapult player in this format
he must have played against other Dragonpole decks dozens and dozens of
times at this point. It's probably not a situation that's come up that he has not
encountered. So he's got to be the most experienced Dragonpole mirror player in
this event. Yeah I think even for someone like Brent who is such an experienced
player and has had such a magical run through this event right started
undefeated for a very long time. Seeing your paired up with a player
like Andrew Hedrick could make you a little bit nervous.
You know you have to be on top of your game against this guy.
He's not going to give you an inch.
Brent will match Andrew's opening buddy, buddy Poffin,
with a Poffin of his own, searching through the deck now.
So his decision's perhaps a little more difficult,
considering that Meowthie X being forced into play early.
And sure enough, no Badoo found at the start.
It will be a pair of Dreepee,
and they will also take some damage
from that risky ruins that Andrew put into play.
Yeah, risky ruins was a huge part to play down on the first turn.
It's actually the only stadium card either player seems to be using in this deck,
but Andrew being able to play down the Bidu before the risky ruins,
and then put it out, makes it so that, yeah,
that Bidu is going to come into play with two damage counters already.
And this is an awkward situation, right?
You want to retreat into your Bidu and use itgy pollen,
but then it could get knocked out immediately by your opponents.
The board setup is looking pretty solid here for Brent.
After the use of the Poffin and that Poke pad,
bringing down Badoo, having a monkey Dory to put into play,
as well that powerful Adrenal Brain ability
and throws the hand into the deck
with Lily's determination shuffling in to draw six cards.
But since he still has his full six prize cards running,
he'll be able to now draw eight cards.
Looking to find perhaps an energy shift he wants to retreat and use Ichi Pauline.
One thing I want to call out, we've paid a lot of attention to the deck building choices of a lot of these players coming into the World Championships.
I would say for quite a while, it had become standard to go down to a single copy of that Badoo in this Dragapult deck.
But a lot of players at this event went back to Bidu in their deck, realizing how important it is
not just to have one, but to sometimes use more than one in a game.
And both of these players happened to come to that same conclusion.
We saw that quite a bit this week.
I think it was Andrew himself, was the original player to go down to the single copy of Bidu
and that made most of the community follow suits.
But Brent here will actually attach an energy to the Monkey Dory and use Adrenalbrain for going the itchy pollen this turn.
I'm just going to be content to bounce that damage over to Andrew's side.
Now Andrew will kick off his second turn immediately, evolving a drippy Intedraklok,
benching down that Monkey Dory and using Meowth E at that last ditch catch, fetching a supporter from the deck.
deck, and he'll be able to grab
Lily's determination to get an
eight cards of his own.
Yeah, I think Monkey Dory is one
of these cards will be seeing a
lot of in this match here.
Chip course that Adrenaline
ability has been used for quite
a while in the standard format
at this point, but the risky
ruins did force Brent to alter
his plans and have to go into
the Monkey Dory rather than
using the itchy pollen and we'll
see if that's gonna end up paying off for Andrew as now he can play any cards like
polka pad that he draws off to the Solis determination and immediately that
first card scene was one of those polka pad pookas so Andrew will be able to
find out another drip cloak should he want to buddy buddy puffin also found
here it looks like he'll kick off this sequence with a recon directive
looking at the top two cards of the deck and this is gonna be the first
of many, many, many, many recon directives we will see in this set.
Of course, one of the reasons this deck is as popular as it is every turn.
You get to look at the top two cards of your deck, take one, put the other on the bottom of your deck.
And guess what? You have more than one of these in play.
All of them can use that ability every turn.
Just allows you to go through your deck and find the cards you need to set up your big future play.
And speaking of more than one, Andrew has found his second Drakloak off of this Poképad,
so he'll still get one more peek into the deck here.
His badou in the active spot, he could potentially just go with that Ichi Pollen.
I do think he does not have an energy as of now, Fuga.
So I think that may be what he's looking for, and he does find a psychic off of
this recon directive.
Energy is often the name of the game in these Dragapult mirror matches.
course with the inclusion of crushing hammer it becomes a very vital resource
even in the middle and late stages of the game and even things like discarding a
darkness energy off of your opponent's monkey Dory would be a big deal. This is
also a challenging situation for Andrew because Brent has that monkey Dory set up
already. Again your inclination is to use itchy pollen whenever you can but
But if you do that, Adrenal Brain, I guess no matter what,
can knock out this Purdue.
There's already lots of damage counters
to move around with the Monkey Dory.
But you have to be sitting here thinking,
my Purdue's going to get knocked out.
And I'm going to have to figure out what Pokemon
to put in the active spot if Brent decides to knock me out.
Andrew does use itchy pollen.
10 damage placed onto the Meowth.
And Grant Tonneson will be unable to play any item
cards this turn.
as we see the first recon directive does show a pair of items,
but unusable at this point.
But the second Drakloak found, that is huge for Brent
after being hit with an itchy pollen.
Absolutely.
Often these mirror matches can come down to one player
using that itchy pollen, preventing the use of item cards,
while the other fails to find their Drakloak.
It seems like we're going to get
into a pretty good game here.
Yeah, there are. There are a lot of times when you see these matchups where you know one player sets up while the other struggles to do so and
Brent is going to take the first KO here using that Adrenal brain to bounce some damage over to the Badoo of Andrew Hedrick and now
Andrew is left with that choice you called out. What should he promote and he's going to send up his Drakloak with the energy card.
Yeah, I I love this because you know your opponent can't play any crushing hammers. You used itchy pollen.
Your opponent also can't really do any relevant attacks to threaten your dracloak in this situation
They've already evolved up into those dracloak on their side. There's just not enough energy in play to really
Threaten any sort of attack. So I think in Andrew is pretty much saying
I'm gonna try to go for dragapult and phantom dive next turn and look at this Brent off of his prize card that he took
found judge and that will be the exact card he chooses to play here having both
players shuffle their hands into the deck and they'll only get four cards he's
trying to slow Andrew down here a bit yeah and this is one of the differences
between their two decklists Brett is playing that one copy of judge you know
the premier hand disruption cards in the format are unfair stamp you can only
use it after one of your Pokemon was knocked out during your opponent's
previous turn, special red card. You can only use it if your opponent has three or
fewer prize cards, but Judge, you can use that whenever. And a lot of times it does
catch your opponent off guard, but what? Just a pass, absolutely nothing on the
other end of the judge for Brent Connison. And an incredible draw for
Andrew Hedrick. He's got himself at your cloak. He's got Dragonbolt DX, and he
He also has a lily's determination, what a disaster for Brent can't even retreat the
Meowth EX or even attached to a benched trick cloak or anything like that.
The judge ended up disrupting him more than his opponent.
Now Inger with just so many different paths here.
I think the most simple one though is to try to find a psychic energy.
He'll use recon directive with this active trick cloak and it all this drawing that
he's about to do this turn, the one thing he's looking for is a psychic energy.
He's actually here Puka debating Recon Directive and Evolve or Lily's determination first.
What do you think of this choice?
It's a tough one. I think if you had Crispin, that would be such a huge play this turn.
If you could Crispin get a psychic on the active, darkness on the monkey door, you could set up a big knockout,
the active knockout, that already has two damage counters on it.
But we've been seeing this a lot this weekend from players like both Brent and Andrew and even Henry Chow earlier
Patience conservative play not going for the home run every time
Set yourself up first and then try to close out the game later. Don't always reach for those big plays
Here are eight cards from that Lily's determination and the first crushing hammer flip
It does fall heads.
That means Andrew will be able to discard the darkness energy from Brent's Monkey Dory.
That Adrenaline Ability going to be a massive part of this mirror match.
Here comes Recon Directive number one.
Still no psychic energy available for Andrew Hedrick.
And he's going to have to look at these top four cards upon one.
Recon Directive number two.
Monkey Dory and special red card offered up.
Neither of those cards going to be super useful in this exact turn.
So I'll have to think a little bit ahead as to which one he wants to hang on to in this point
And now puka recondirective number three
He needs to find a psychic energy if he wants to be the first player to phantom dive here and he does not find it
This seemed like such a promising turn he draws so many cards and he just doesn't find a psychic
is one of the, I guess, few downsides of Dragapult.
You actually need two different types of energy to use Phantom Dive.
But Andrew hasn't found any energy off of all of this.
These are the thin margins that come up in these Dragapult mirror matches sometimes.
Checking the discard pile.
Do I have any psychic in here that I can make stretcher back to my hand?
No.
breath here from Andrew really having to think about how to approach the
situation he does have the night stretcher so he could get back but do he
could itchy pollen again here he's got his other one and he's got oh the second
one actually already in the hands of getting to conserve night stretcher
even better is that better to retreat this dracloak and use itchy pollen here
that is his internal debate looks like the answer is gonna be yes for now he
can recover this fire energy he'll discard from the retreat to still
get an attachment to this turn. He knows this fire energy will be safe from
crushing hammers if Ichi Pollen is the attack utilized.
A very interesting situation because you know, well I guess now with the
darkness energy off of that monkey door, you don't know that your Purdue is
gonna get knocked out. So maybe this is an opportunity for Andrew to lock
down Brent's options. It is still a very awkward situation for Brent with
the Meowth EX in the active spot.
He had no energy on his bench Pokemon.
It's going to be a few turns before he can start attacking.
But I'm sure Brent was actually kind of happy
with how that played out.
Probably expected a phantom dive,
and he was going to be under a ton of pressure.
But now, maybe he gets a little breathing room.
A very interesting early game here, Pukas.
Both players have gotten an OK setup,
but neither has really pieced together
their ideal game plan.
We'll have to see how it develops as we continue forward here Brent playing a Crispin as supporter for turn does find
The darkness energy to replace the one he lost on the previous turn
So Adrenaline is available to him recondirective number one and now number two
Seeing a handful of more cars. It looks like a fire energy will be held on to
But still no Phantom dive
He's going to try to get himself prepped up
and is actually going to promote his Bidu here.
He will retreat me out into the Bidu.
He can use Adrenaline to move some damage counters over.
He's going to ping pong 20 over to the Dracloak on Andrew's side
and Ichy Paulin able to score a KO.
Brent Tonneson jumping far ahead here, four prizes to six.
I think this is what Brent wanted to do on the previous turn
and now just got the opportunity to do it.
The benefit of getting this knockout with the itchy pollen is Andrew cannot use unfair stamp on his turn
It's gonna be an awkward spot now Brent is up by two prize cards
surprisingly both of those knockouts on those 30 HP but do
Will those two prize cards at the beginning be enough cushion for him and Andrew Hedrick finally off of that third recon
Directive able to find a psychic energy. He'll be able to phantom dive this turn
But he has not been able to establish a darkness energy on his monkey Dory
Don't see a crisp in but he does have bosses orders and you called it out
Who could how important monkey Dory is in this matchup Andrew wants to clear this Pokemon out of play immediately
It's just so annoying to deal with it can set up so many plays on your opponent's side for multiple knockouts with phantom dive
and Adrenal Brain, but what a huge phantom dive from Andrew there.
He's going to tie this game up.
Four prizes remaining a piece for these players.
Andrew taking down that Badoo and the Monkey Dory.
Brent pushing up his Dracloak, plays a Buddy Buddy Poffin,
finally able to play out these item cards he has been holding on to.
It's going to get another Driepe down into play.
Take a look through what else he has in his hand.
Plenty of other Buddy Buddy Poffins.
happy to just lay those out and here it is Puka unfair stamp his a spec of
choice sending both players hands into the deck since Andrew took a K on the
last turn Brent will have five cards to work with and Andrew will be left with
only two. Not sure if we could take a look at Brent's prize cards I mean one
of the things you'd love to have here is another Crispin looks like no we'll
have access to another Crispin. If he can draw into it here,
promise there's no energy in place. So if he wants to get off a Phantom
dive on this turn, would need to find that Crispin to
power up a Dragapult EX. He's used one and there's one remaining. It
would be a massive draw off of these five.
There are still so many cards he can see this turn. However,
a couple recon directives. He could also get Fezendipiti EX into the mix
to use flip the script to draw a few more cards.
He's going to thin the deck a little bit here using that pocket pad.
He could get another tricklead,
but he wouldn't be able to evolve that droopy that just came into play,
but he will replenish his board with another Monkey Dory.
Another thing to call out.
Now there are two Darkness Energy in Brent's discard pile,
and the other plays two.
So we'll have to use a Night Stretcher if he wants to get Monkey Dory up and running.
Here comes the recon directives and it will be Brent grabbing on to a crushing hammer.
That's always a nice little bailout. If you can flip a couple heads, you can always get back
into the game. There is a Rosa's encouragement, apart that both of these players do play in their
decks. Also a night stretcher being offered as an option. It will be the Rosa's hung on to
for Brent. Here it is, crushing hammer, Puka. Gonna be a flip of the coin for Brent and it is
a heads huge flip here every crushing hammer becomes so important as this game
progresses also a decision on which energy to get rid of here comes with
the psychic the roses encouragement seems like a great card to have here but
you can't use it unless your opponent has fewer prize cards remaining boss's
orders will be Brent's move this does mean he's unable to play a
Crispin, he was not able to find it so he's gonna have to just bring this Pokemon up
and I guess ask the question of Andrew Hedrick, can you move this Pokemon this
coming turn? Right, well and with the crushing hammer it means you know a
regular attachment wouldn't be enough to do another Phantom Dive. This is just
a way you can strain your opponent's energy cards and really make it so it's
tough to Phantom Dive, it's tough to use your energy on the Monkey Dory
for adrenaline. You have to use one to retreat, but then you also need your attachments to go other places.
This is where crushing hammer and these kinds of moves add up.
The perfect prize card last turn for Andrew Hedrix KO was the one copy of Crispin that he prized.
It's now in his hand, so he will be able to play that card,
get an extra energy into play, and then attach for turn to his dragapult so he can Phantom dive this turn and
And the only thing that would make it any better
if he could Adrenaline Brain,
he's not gonna be able to retreat
and Adrenaline Brain, however,
so he's gonna have to be content
taking down a Dracloak.
He founds his second Crispin here as well.
Yeah, also wanna mention that Brent decided
to move the damage off of his Drippy with Adrenaline Brain,
knowing that Andrew could not Adrenaline Brain
and Phantom Dive in the same turn.
So if you wanted to protect that Dripie
from getting knocked out by a Phantom Dive,
if Andrew happened to have a Crispin on this turn,
these are the little things that add up
over the course of a game.
Where are you moving damage from?
Where are you moving them to?
There's so many small things
that go into these Dragon Pull matches.
And also which energy cards you pull out
at a given time from the deck with a Crispin
Committing a darkness energy to retreat to this Meowth means it's one less that's available for a future Adrenal Brain.
That is going to be his play, however, as Crispin attaches the dark to the active and then from his hand he'll bring down that psychic
that he added to his arsenal and he'll be able to retreat, he'll be able to Phantom Dive and sprinkle some damage over on Brent Tonneson's side.
And he'll jump ahead in this game.
But this is a little bit of a scary position for Andrew. He will be going down to three prize cards remaining.
And it's going to be a big question of where Andrew places the damage counters for the
Phantom Dive.
You cannot get a clean knockout on a bench Pokemon here.
Six damage counters, not enough to knock out the 70 HP, Treepy, nothing else in range
and of course you're leaving a lot of damage on your opponent's board to send back
your way with Monkey Dory's Adrenal Brain.
Second, you're still going to go for it.
Sometimes we've seen players just do a simple jet headbutt
in these kinds of spots to not give your opponent more fuel.
But no, Andrew deciding, I can kind of overload damage here
on this monkey Dory and make sure that even if damage gets
moved off a phantom dive, we'll finish it off next turn.
Phantom dive KO for Andrew.
Now three prizes left in Brent.
Immediately evolves his drake cloak
and plays a lilies determination.
He'll get himself six new cards to work with.
That does mean he's not going to be able to attack
with a Dragapult this turn,
and he promoted his Monkey Dory.
That's not the plan this turn, Chip.
Yeah.
We're going for mine, Benda, pretty sure.
And again, this is part of this crushing hammer strategy,
a way to really disrupt what your opponent
is able to do on all their turns.
You can force your opponent to flip
for that confused special condition
and maybe by yourself a turn.
It's very annoying.
The first flip happening here is the flip,
the script of Fezendipity EX,
and the crushing hammer was found.
So another flip could happen on this turn.
Crispin headed to the hand for Brent is very, very nice.
He's got another recon directive to work with here as well.
He already has the psychic energy in hand necessary
for that mind bend.
Is that a second crushing hammer found off of that?
Here we go, Jim.
Here could be absolutely devastating.
Here comes crushing hammer flip number one.
It does fall tails, but another one could provide some help,
but no another tails.
That is two tails for Ben Thomson on this turn and in this game.
All right, now Brett may be asking the question to Andrew.
Are you feeling lucky?
If you remember back to when Andrew Hedrick won NAIC a couple seasons ago, there was a big coin flip involved with that in this exact situation with this Pokemon.
It was Andrew Hedrick's Iron Hands EX that was confused by Stefan Ivanov's Monkey Dory. Andrew did go for the flip in that situation, and it rolled heads.
He's ensuring he would be the NAIC champion.
Will he have to go for it here in this spot?
I think with a Crispin, the answer to that is no.
I agree.
I don't think you need to, but it
will depend on how much energy is left in the deck.
If you can get the full two off of this Crispin,
yeah, probably not needed.
Brett is in such a fragile position at this point.
And Andrew knows at this point,
I believe three crushing hammers are gone for Brent.
So that, I have a scary part of the game
is mostly over for him.
There can't be any random,
all my energy got discarded off of my dragapult.
Andrew now will be able to kind of plan
the rest of the game out without much fear
of getting his energy discarded.
Andrew has not used his recon directives just yet.
This turns, I'm gonna look at these top two,
unfair stamp, one of those offered up.
Of course, no KO happened, so we'll not take that.
It's going to be Boss's orders held onto instead.
Looks like a thin of the deck with a buddy-buddy pawfin',
or maybe just a shuffle of the deck.
You won't see that unfair scamp back in the mix before the recon
directive number two.
One more thing to mention, just small differences
between these two players, Deckless.
Andrew is running nine energy in his deck,
versus what I think is the standard eight.
we see in a lot, and that can be a difference maker
in these Dragapult matches as well.
Simply having access to more energy cards
sometimes is the difference.
Poca Pad taken off of the final recon directive
for Andrew this turn,
and it's got a night stretcher in the hand.
It's gonna choose to play it.
It's gonna get that Badoo back in play.
Let's take some damage from that risky ruins.
Is it going to itch and pollen this turn, Puka?
Yeah, it's a decent play when you're kind of ahead like this
and your opponent really has no dragapult setup to attack you.
It might seem weird.
Zepadu is almost certainly going to get knocked out.
It's going to be a free prize card for your opponent.
But this is something we see quite a bit
when your Pokemon is confused.
You don't really want to go for the flip.
If you flip tails, things can get really bad.
But if you just retreat, use Ichi Pollen,
it really limits what your opponent is able to do on this turn.
He will use Ichi Pollen, locking those item cards down
in Brent Connason's hands.
So he'll kick off his turn with recondirective.
There is that fourth and final crushing hammer,
of course, unable to be played right now.
And should he want to attack with a drag ball this turn,
he would need a Crispin, which
Has he actually played all of his Crispin?
He does play the two.
Let's get a check of that discard pile real quick.
He does have the Roses encouragement in hand,
which now he can use.
That's right, yes.
He does still have more prize cards remaining.
It does look like he does have one Crispin
still floating around in the deck,
but Roses would be a nice way
to get off an attack this turn with Dragapults.
It's a little awkward
because you kind of have to telegraph
what you're doing here potentially.
You know, if you want to knock up Badoo with Adrena Brain, you need to evolve to Dragapult EX and play the Roses encouragement first and show your opponent
that's what your plan is for the turn because once you tie up the game again, you can't use it.
It could potentially influence what Andrew would decide to promote in this situation.
We'll see Brent retreat that Monkey Dory and he'll use that Rose's encouragement to bring back the psyche
He just discarded along with a fire that found its way to the discard pile earlier on in the game
And now Phantom Dive up and running an extra attachment of this fire energy
preparing for some sort of unfair stamp plus crushing hammer shenanigans and we're gonna see that Phantom Dive taking out your cloak and
Taking out the Badoo Brent Tonneson jumping back ahead just two prize cards remaining for him
But Andrew Hedrick has the boss's orders to bring up me out the X and with Monkey Dory
He'd be able to take his final three prize cards and win game one
That Andrew set that up perfectly that Monkey Dory had five damage counters
Remaining on it after the adrenaline move three off
Just 60 HP remaining meant it was a prime target for the six damage counters from Phantom dive
And then either the Meowth EX or honestly even the Physi-dipity EX plus adrenaline was enough there
And that was
That was a clinic from Andrew Hedrick in that first game of I don't approach a track of full fear match, I suppose
We're gonna bring Pablo Mesa in to give some thoughts on that game one of top four
I mean, they were died by the crushing hamburgers, right?
They didn't go brand-tonneson's way, I could believe.
Hedrick flipped at least one head-stat match.
That can be the difference, but I do want to say that extra energy
that Andrew Hedrick is playing, I think he's been playing
a base of nine since his very success in the post-rotation metagame.
I can only think that could possibly give him an edge here.
Just because you find energy a lot earlier, you find energy more often you're able to
easily, easier pay between costs as well.
So that kind of energy, I generally think could be a difference
and it might have played a role in this match particularly.
And that extra energy as well, being a darkness energy makes it all the easier to use Monkey Glory,
which is such an important piece of this mirror match.
getting ready to get into game number two here.
Now Brent did get to choosing game one first versus second.
He did not go his way.
Any reason you think for him to change his decision here, Puka?
I don't think so.
Shouldn't let one game decide to change your strategy here.
If you think going second is better, then you should go second.
I mean, especially you've already looked at your opponent's
decklists.
Ideally, you've figured out what the plan is by now.
So yeah, I have to assume going second will be Brent's choice once again looks like Andrew Hadrick has a mulligan, so
Shuffle his hand back in and still try to find a basic in his seven opening hand cards
Take a look here and see if he's able to get one we can get into this next game
Of course to start a game the Pokemon CCG when you draw that opening hand of seven
You do have to find at least one basic to get the game rolling
Andrew was unable to do that the first time around and that means Brent will have an additional
part to work with on his first turn.
Let's get into it game two, the top four.
All right, we are kicking off game number two in the top four of the world championships
here in San Francisco.
If Andrew wins, he will join at Diego Casiraga in the finals tomorrow at the
Chase Center in the big arena.
Grant needs to win these next two games.
He wants his dream of becoming world champion
to remain a possibility.
Looks like a little bit of a weaker hand for Andrew
in this game.
I don't see a buddy buddy Poffin in there.
Yeah, the play of the poker pad initially
does usually signal that.
That's often if a buddy buddy Poffin is there,
that is to grab immediately.
But still, this poker pad allows him to get down
try to get into your club next turn and looking at those prize cards, anytime an energy prize you got to definitely make note of that.
Lily's boss crush. I mean these are all good cards but you got to prize something.
Yeah, exactly. Alright, I think we'll probably see both players be able to play the game here at least, which is great to see.
to see. It's all about, well, there's no question about it. You're gonna get itchy
pollen. Brett did start with it, both players, starting with this key Pokemon
that has been emblematic of the Pokemon TCG over the last couple seasons. And
it is just a pass. It's gonna be over to Brent now on his opening turn. See
what he's got to work with. Of course, he's able to play a supporter card
here. I'm sure he's looking for a buddy buddy poppin but no the first card of this game is going
to be a crushing hammer and this one is also going to fall tails. That's three hammer tails in a row
for Brent. Another interesting thing so I think when you're first starting out playing the Pokemon
TCG your first instinct when you're setting up to play the game is to bench all of the
Pokemon in your opening hand during setup but then as you play a bit more you realize oh
There's no ways for my opponent to disrupt my hand
on the first turn of the game when they go first.
So I'll just put out one basic Pokemon,
keep the rest in my hand,
play them during my turn to disguise the strength of my hand.
But then it's kind of like the other end of the bell curve,
where it's like when you're a genius,
then you just bench the Pokemon again.
Brett playing around the risky ruins on Andrew's side.
That really burned him in the first game.
He decided to start the game off with more than one Pokemon in play just so he wouldn't have to put damage counters on his own Pokemon
Looking at his prize cards. There is a full evolution line of dragapult hiding out there one Dripi
Wandercloak in that one dragapult and also crushing hammer in his prizes. He does match Andrew Hedrick in that aspect
Chip that
Now look like a good hand for Brent. Oh wow. Yeah, no supporter being played just a itchy pollen
He was at least able to get down a couple of drippy, but no supporter on his end and Andrew Hedrick
immediately into the Lilly's determination
No can't see it right now, but Brent kind of got hands on his head. Yeah, there it is
Realizing he's not in a great situation here
He's down a game here in top four, Puka. If he loses this game, this is where his
tournament run will end.
Yeah, does have a drake cloak for next turn at least. Can start using recon
directive, but no energy attachment. Didn't play a supporter card, isn't
great. And on the other side, it's looking a little bit better for Andrew.
Looks like he's gonna get a drake cloak into play, uses recon directive.
It's an energy attachment for a turn.
He's got another drippy in hand.
And sometimes, we'll see players pounce on these situations
and go in with the dragon head, but...
I don't think we'll see it here, Chip.
There's just not a good reason to do it here.
Your opponent could be holding on to unfair stamp
in this situation.
You just don't need to run into that.
Just press your advantage here.
Try to lock down your opponent with the itchy pollen
and go from there.
There is the Meowth EX.
That must have been his top deck this term, Puka.
He'll immediately use that last-ditch catchability,
search the deck for a supporter card,
and snap out that Lily's determination.
That's a nice reset for Brent here.
Already got the one drip cloak in play, which is nice.
Draw a lot of cards.
So probably not too unlikely to draw another one.
Looks like we're going to have ourselves
a nice little drag-a-pult game here.
Get some energy cards in the mix, but right now it's all about setting up your recon directives and using that itchy pollen.
Here is recon directive number one for Brent, holding on to a crushing hammer there.
It looks like Dracloak number two is available for yet another recon directive.
That's a deputy in a basic fire energy, the potential options.
Looks like he does already have a psychic in hand to get his attachment for turn.
And Andrew Pablo called it out.
He was playing an extra energy card
and was able to attach on both turn one and turn two.
Oh, look at this.
He's going to choose to use Monkey Dory here
as opposed to trying to get an energy established on a Drakloak.
And this is going to allow him to strike first yet again.
Moving that 10 damage over to Andrew's Bidu puts it up to 20
and then then Ichi Paulin takes it down.
First prize card of this game goes to Brent.
Of course, Andrew does have two energy on the stroke cloak already.
Just needs to find Dragapult EX in order to use Phantom Dive on this turn.
Ideally would pair it with, like a boss's orders to go after a higher impact benched Pokemon here.
With that flip the script is going to see a lot of cards.
Andrew has prized a Dragapult here, and he's, of course, unable to play any item cards to search for one,
so he certainly could whiff out on the Dragapult attack this turn.
He's already used Flip the Script to use that first Recon Directive.
Here is Recon Directive number two.
It doesn't look like a Dragapult was one of those two available cards.
You're right, Chip, and I don't see one in hand right now.
Now, Meowth EX, that probably won't help here.
You could use it to find a Lily's determination.
Maybe draw the dragon pulp that way,
but yeah, this is maybe a precarious situation now.
So we just see Crispin getting used.
Crispin could load some energy up into play
onto perhaps Andrew's other Drakloak to get that
powered up, we've also seen at times
The Cruel Arrow of Fezendipity get into the mix, but this is not going to be one of those
times Puka, a pair of energy down onto Dracloak on the bench.
Yeah, I think Hawaii's from Andrew there.
This is not a situation where the Fezendipity EX will be particularly powerful once your
opponent has Dracloak in play and can evolve into Dragapult EX.
The effectiveness of Cruel Arrow goes down quite a bit.
As you said, we've seen it be used to great effect in the past.
You just don't want to miss the play when it's available.
That is for sure.
There is the dragon headbutt, though, for Andrew.
He's going to take that KO on Badoo.
Tie this game up.
Five prizes remaining for each player.
Jack of all TX taken from his prizes.
But here is this barrage of crushing hammers.
This is what Brent has been waiting for.
And there is a heads.
And this could be a huge turn.
If he gets rid of both energy on the bench
and knock out this active, he
can clear four energy out of play in a single turn.
And he does hit heads on that second hammer.
Should he have Crispin, Dragapult EX,
he would be able to take out all of Andrew's energy
in one fell swoop.
These are the swings you can see
in these Dragapult mirror matches now.
And you can see how important it was for Andrew
to find Dragapult EX on that previous turn.
Now he is in extreme danger of losing all energy in play.
in play. All it takes, like you said, Chip, is a Crispin. Can Brent piece that final puzzle piece
together here? There's an attachment of the psychic energy to his active, and it looks like
he's actually not going to try to find a Crispin. He's going for the judge. Yeah, all he needs is
Dragapult EX. He can use Adrenal Brain to move two damage counters, then Jet Headbutt for the
knockout. This is a twofold play here for Brent as he's fitting his hand out and
then playing a shuffle draw card to cycle through his deck even more. He's also
going to hit Andrew Hedrick's hand and leave him with just four cards. Huge
swing in the second game here to decide who goes to the finals at the
Pokemon TCG World Championships. Four cards drawn off of this judge. Let's
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, Puka.
Finding a Dragapult may not be the easiest thing for Brent
with one of the prizes as well as two Ultra Ball,
but he is going to see so many cards here.
Starting it off with a flip the script
and Ultra Ball will guarantee Dragapult comes out this time.
Two cards from this recon directive.
It's got an energy and a buddy-buddy poffin available.
It's gonna hold onto the fire.
That'll be really nice on his next turn.
And now another recon directive to look at those top two,
find a piece he wants to hold on to.
It is going to be Crispin.
That'll be a nice response to have
should Andrew find a few fortunate heads,
flips on his next turn.
And this ultra ball is going to get the big piece.
Dragapult, EX.
No need to worry about Phantom Dive.
Thanks to that risky ruins, placing the 20 damage
on that Drippy, Brent is able to bounce it
over to the active of Andrew Hedrick with Adrenaline Brain.
And now Jet Headbutt on Dragopolte X
lines up for the perfect math KO to take down Dracloak.
What a turn.
Incredible response from Brent.
What will Andrew do to respond?
Of course, he could have crushing hammers of his own.
And this would be a prime turn to find the unfair stamp.
And there it is in his hand, Puka, ready to play,
ready to this route and try to draw through the deck.
But before playing his unfair stamp,
we're going to see the use of a recon directive
looking at these top two.
Finds himself a polka pad, also ultra ball.
See a crushing hammer to go with the unfair stamp.
These are some of these big, high impact swing cards.
You can see in this matchup.
And here it is, crushing hammer flip for Andrew Hedrick.
And this one is going to land Tails now a decision, though.
Puka, will he get rid of the energy from the active
or the monkey Dori it looks like he's going to target down
Dragopolis?
I think he's hoping maybe he'll find another crushing hammer
and the next one won't be a decision.
You'll just do exactly what Brent just did to you.
Get rid of all your energy.
Still long ways to go for Andrew on this turn
to really get the highest impact outcome here.
Brett is in a really challenging situation
if he gets hit by the unfair stamp, though.
Just the one drake cloak in play.
Only one recon directive to draw out of the two cards
he'll be drawing.
So the momentum could swing back into Andrew's favor,
but I mean, his board isn't the best either.
just the one Dragapult he has no recon directives anymore.
Ultraball gets rid of a Lily's determination
and a Badoo here, fitting the Badoo out of the deck
with a polka pad, finding out Dragapult.
He still has flip the script to use,
but it will be on the other end of this unfair stamp.
And look at the sequencing decisions here from Andrew.
He had Ultraball in the hand.
He used the recon directive before unfair stamp
because he knew he had the piece
to go fetch out Dragapult.
And I think here, Puka, if he can find a Crispin
and get two energy cards into play,
it would be a huge swing in this game.
Yeah, Rose's encouragement also would be great to find as well.
Maybe even the preferred option,
since you get them out of the discard pile
and not need to take more energy cards out of your deck.
Yeah, I wonder how many energy he even has in the deck now,
as we know that there's two each of those fire and psychics down.
We're going to see those five cards being drawn.
There is one fire energy.
Here is the script of the Fezendipity EX.
It does find Crispin, but he also does have Ultra Ball,
so he could use Ultra Ball to get me out
if Rosa's encouragement would be preferred.
Yeah, and that would let you charge up Monkey Dory
as well, this turn, if you wanted to.
You can use the Rosa's encouragement
to put two energy on your active Dragonbolt EX,
then use your attachment for the turn.
onto Monkey Dory to set up Adrenaline.
Now Monkey Dory is eyed up and will be brought into play here.
Does receive 20 damage, thanks to the risky ruins.
Let's see if that Ultra Ball is going to be used here.
Will Andrew go for that Meowth?
Sure seems like a chip.
That would be the thing to Ultra Ball for here.
It's not even clear that you have the different types
energy in the deck for the Crispin at this point, but looks like he drew a
couple in his hand, so that does seem unlikely. Sure enough, ultra ball for me
out, last ditch catch. Finding out any supporter card from his deck.
And that Rosa's encouragement is the name of the game here. He has more prize
cards remaining than his opponent. Still five prizes remaining for Andrew.
Four for Brent Tonneson. He's also gonna fetch out Ed Driepey here. This
We'll take a little damage from the risky ruin, but should he get a darkness energy established
We'll be able to move that damage back over
This is gonna be a tough
Decision for Andrew on where to put damage from both Adrenaline and
Phantom dive
Think you can look at it real quickly and say oh you can knock out 3b move a damage counter over there with Adrenaline
brain, take a knockout, but then you give your opponent access to flip the script.
So it may be a situation where you're just loading the field with damage,
but not actually taking a knockout.
He's gonna move 20 damage from his monkey Dory over to Brent's monkey Dory,
and Phantom Dive 200 damage laid into the active and 60 damage onto the bench.
Hoka pad played right away from Brent.
We'll give him a second to cloak into play.
He's gonna be living off of these recon directives.
Yeah, and with just no energy in play,
besides the one on the Monkey Dory,
I feel like Crispin has to be one of the big cards to find here
in order to power up a Phantom Dive.
But even in this spot, how good is using Phantom Dive
with your Pokemon that is heavily damaged?
What else can he do?
Well, go through the deck and try to find some keys.
It looks like a fire energy was found,
Perhaps that minimum a jet headbutt could happen and try to start chipping away at a dragapult.
That damage is really difficult to make relevant.
He's going to use that second recon directive and sees his unfair stamp offered as well as a night stretcher.
And I hang on to the pink card for now and it's just going to concede the fact that this dragapult in the active is going to go down.
That just does not feel good, Chip.
Sacrificing a dragapult EX, two prize cards.
to go with it.
This would feel better, I think, for Brent
if he had a second dragapult
and could protect this energy investment.
But now, Andrew's got a few ways to deal with this.
If he finds a crushing hammer,
can give it to that energy.
But even if he just finds it, bosses orders.
He could get rid of that energy and play from Brent.
Here is the crushing hammer in hand
and he's going for it, flipping the back coin.
And this one is going to roll heads,
Take a moment and check the discard pile.
Figure out if that Monkey Dory is ever worth dealing with,
but no, let's just take fire energy out of play
and put Phantom Dive.
He'll be able to knock out the Monkey Dory here, Puka.
This is looking really tough for Brent.
Andrew is gonna steam roll ahead this turn.
And Brent, played around a potentially disastrous situation
by only moving two damage counters with his Monkey Dory.
If you move three, then Andrew can just fling three
on to your dracloak and set up a phantom dive
to knock out the active and your dracloak.
Only moving two denies that play,
but now still something extremely devastating.
Phantom dive, knock out the active, knock out monkey Dory.
Andrew will go down to just two prize cards
after this turn and Brent is on the ropes here.
He's got a few different draw abilities available that he'll have to utilize in order to fight
his way back into this one.
And we see that damage sprinkled into play.
A three prize card turn for Andrew Hedrick jumping ahead in this game.
Just a boss's orders away from winning the game next turn, taking out that Meowth
EX that Brent has in play.
Brent's going to do everything he can to withstand this unfair stamp ready to
go.
Yeah, huge unfair stamp here.
Could give Brett the chance he needs to win this game.
There's a couple different things he could find on this turn
to make a huge difference.
If he has any crushing hammers left,
now would be the time to draw one and use one here.
And the thing is the Rosa's encouragement
to be able to power up his Dragapult EX.
Now that Andrew is the one with more prize cards remaining,
This is a tricky spot to try to come back from.
He really just needs to hope, at this point, Andrew does not find a boss's orders
to be able to phantom dive for those last two prize cards.
Five cards here for Brent to try to piece something together.
We'll use a poker pad, search through the deck, then out a non-rule box Pokémon.
Looks like Badoe getting into the mix even here in the late game.
Just taking it out of the deck, of course.
There's still a lot of cards he can draw here a couple recon directives also that flip the script of the Fezzendipity
It's gonna effectively be able to see the top seven cards of his deck this turn
Such a tense moment here and you know Andrew also playing around the monkey Dory play
Only leaving two damage counters on any one Pokemon, but here's a huge flip the script three cards for Brent
I see a psychic energy night stretcher.
Ultra ball can guarantee a dragapult this turn.
He's gonna play that right now
before any uses of Recon Directive.
But how many energy?
It looks like he does have one psychic,
one fire left in the deck,
so he can still fire off a Phantom Dive here
if he finds the Crispin.
Now of course, Rose's encouragement active
on his end as well.
Those are the three cards he's gonna be looking for.
Let's get one check real quick of that discard pile on Brent's side
and we can see how many of those supporters have been played thus far
if they're all still available.
Let me see that recon directive.
It's like a buddy buddy puffin' as one.
Recon directive number two.
Buddy puffin' once again at the fire energy.
I don't see a roses or a Crispin.
Oh no, is there no way to power up Dragapult EX on this turn?
Oh, Brent looking through all the options here.
There's so many things you have to play around in this situation, such a tightrope to walk.
If you're going to make an attack this turn, but also deny your opponent the chance to win on his following turn.
What is it going to be?
It's going to use Monkey Dory as a part of this sequence,
and move an energy over from this side to the other.
Excuse me, a damage counter.
It will just be the one damage counter from Dracloak
to Andrews Dracloak.
And only a pass if Andrew Hedrick finds bosses orders.
He will win the game and punch his ticket
into Championship Sunday.
Andrew Hedrick takes down Ren Thomas.
Congratulations to Andrew Hedrick.
He's gonna head the Chase Center tomorrow in the big arena.
One more match.
They'll go up against Diego.
I see which player will be crowned world champion.
It feels like so many accomplishments he has.
Many time regional champion, IC champion.
and now an opportunity to become a world champion.
And this is all just in the last four or five years
of his competitive career.
Puka, he really first onto the scene in this like
poof-poofed era of the game.
2022 and onward, he has been a dominant force.
Five regional titles, one IC,
and now a chance to become the world champion.
Yeah, and he really showed off his skills
in this Dragonbolt mirror match here.
Brent did have some unfortunate things happen,
starting with the Meowth EX.
Not always drawing exactly what he needed.
But hey, that's gonna happen sometimes.
And maybe Brent against some other players,
they've been able to come back in those situations.
But against someone like Andrew Hedrick,
where every damage counter is going to be placed precisely,
every attachment is going to be pristine.
You just have not much room for error.
And it was a boss's orders for the win in game number one.
And a similar story in game number two, but not before.
Some resistance on Brent Thomason's end.
Brent had an incredible turn here where he used a double crushing hammer to get rid of
both energy on Andrew's side and used the dragon headbutt, jet headbutt in order to
take the KO.
What a huge turn this was.
I mean, it seemed like there was no way that Andrew was going to be able to come
back from this. Yeah, it seemed like two crushing hammers knocking out all the energy but then
right away the crushing hammer from Andrew was able to power up the dragapult EX and just was able
to swing this game put himself in a position to find the bosses orders to win this match. Now
we're going to head over to the stage to hear from our winner. Hello everybody of course we're
We're here with Andrew, the winner of our feature match, heading headfirst into our finals tomorrow.
How are we feeling now that that is secured and in place? Has it sunk in?
I would say not really. Feels okay though. Glad to be up here and it was a really fun set.
Honestly, it seemed like every single pokeball was just in your court.
Were there any moments where you were like, oh no, that's looking a bit fishy?
Yeah, I definitely some scary
moments on a game to when he
went in with the judge went
through my drink. Look, I mean,
I didn't have to draw kind of
well there to respond to him,
but I was able to do it and put
myself in a really good spot
to win. Yeah, you honestly
played for Leslie. I couldn't
see anything that could have
possibly made that any
different. Honestly, it was
just a fantastic set watch,
but also really inspirational
because that is such a
tricky matchup. But the
to be a little different. Have
you got any thoughts going
into that? Yeah, I mean, I'm
definitely played against
Alakazam's in testing, too, but
and probably try to be trying
to go over some more tonight and
make sure I'm ready for finals.
Honestly, preparation is key. How
about its pilot? Yeah, I mean,
the former world champion right
back in the finals. I can't
let him win two times in a
row, right? I've got to try
to take him down, but you
know, it's going to be a
great finals right? It's a
great player, so it could be
really fun. Honestly, I cannot
to be up all night just excited to watch. So you make sure you get plenty of breath to be got any
shout outs before I leave you to rest and get some last minute practice it against Alakazam.
Yeah, I mean, so it's all my friends who played the deck with me.
Sounds of my parents were supporting me. And so it's a pokey color too.
Absolutely. Thank you so much. Andrew Hendrick, everyone bringing the heat with Dragapult,
having birthed the fantastic crushing hammers build
from this man's excellent brain,
we are gonna throw it back to Pablo
for one last really thorough assessment.
Not quite Pablo, but we'll have to do
Chip and Puka here to break it down.
What an incredible moment.
What a run, what a tournament for all of our competitors.
I mean, of course we have to say congratulations to Brent.
I mean, he started this tournament, I think, 10-0, right?
Made it into top cut as the number one seed gets top four.
He'll get so many things to go along with that.
Trophy cards, a massive Pikachu trophy as well,
but the run does come just short.
Yeah, and it hurts to get that far and fall short for sure,
but it's one of those where it feels bad in the moment.
But maybe in a couple of weeks, you'll look back
and think that's pretty cool.
I mean, it's a top four in the world.
only so many opportunities to make that happen.
Let's get a quick recap of the brackets
and see how we got to this point
where there are but two that remain
in true Hedrick and Diego Casiraga,
facing off at the Chase Center tomorrow in the arena
to determine who will be etched into Pokemon history forever.
Will it be Diego once again,
nine years removed from his first place finish in 2017
In Anaheim in this very state, Andrew Hedrick being the one to get that victory five-time
regional champion and I see winner, if he gets this world's win, Puka, I mean, it does
not get much better than that.
Yeah, and definitely a battle between the new generation versus the old generation versus
Andrew, one of these top players in the last three or four years.
Diego been around for decades competing at the World Championships.
So we'll see who comes out on top.
In recent times, it's really been the younger players
taking down the World Championships.
It's been a while since we've seen one of these veterans
like Diego take the crown.
We're gonna wanna make sure that you are tuning in
to Championship Sunday tomorrow,
not just for the trading card game,
but for all of our Pokemon games,
Pokemon Unites, Pokemon Go,
and of course, Pokemon Champions.
will be crowning so many world champions tomorrow.
But you can turn in at 9 a.m. Pacific time.
You're not gonna want to miss it.
Yeah, and if you're not in Pacific time, look it up.
You can find what time you're in.
That's why I gave them Pacific time.
Little Google will get you there, of course.
What a time, what a moment, what an event.
And it is not over just yet.
The most exciting is still to come.
We'll see you all there tomorrow.
Welcome to day two of the Pokémon World Championships.
bring back over fun and friends.
Thomas it.
Hedrick finds both his orders.
He will win the game and punch his ticket into
championship Sunday.
Andrew Hedrick.
Don't get the tickets.
They come in time.
We'll take the hold of the Fred Stragum hole at the age of
Dr. Roger is back.
music
you