And then of course, Caleb Peng was going to be doing all of my Unite stuff because he knows the game better than me.
But 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. 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 one by one and kind of ask you all.
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 getting
knocked out in phase one of the competition, which, I mean, you come to world, it is the
best of the best. Some people have to drop along the wave, but I think we are really
high-teen 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 M slash B it's all been about this mega Charizard
right. So 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 Ieyuya which has been incredible Justin Tang
which is Mega Delphox and Mega Blast Toys,
NJ and Harry Deere Kona with Mega Star Raptor
and Drychew, just showing that there is a lot of innovation
in different Megas that really could rise to the top.
Yeah, of course, it's so exciting seeing
of course the new game and all the new formats
and there's just so many things being changed.
But Emily, how about TCG, what's the thick one?
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 a 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 Dragon Ball crushing hammers.
So there's a couple of variants of Dragon Ball
that can be played, but it seems like Bretton
has 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,
Greg, it's the chance here, but of course,
with Pokemon Go, how's it feel?
Definitely.
So a big takeaway here is our two grand finals,
Auderman and Beausboy, are still in the running
to make another grand final.
So here they were top two for a reason
and Beausboy, reigning world champion,
We've never, speaking of repeat World Championships,
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, parliament, the finalist
that finished second last year
has gone on five straight championships
on days in international world's combined,
which is absolutely insane, the stat line.
And so he's looking at his ride to make it back
in Korea, and trying to find the win
that World Championship that he's been going for.
So that gives me a super exciting one,
especially if you get that rematch.
had a rematch at NAIC that was super close,
and I'm sure it's out in the back of both their minds
that they might, based off of the end of day number two
and day three, win the championship title.
Well, that actually is a great segue into Unite,
because we've got a lot of players
that are former champions, world champions,
but a lot of them have been eliminated.
You know, they moved on to other teams.
We've got some of our previous
reigning world champions as well
that'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 a big qualifier at UIC,
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 to second place at Worlds,
and maybe to the grand finals before,
but they've never quite been there.
Just been one of those regions.
This might be their year,
so 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 Unites was 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, Pokemon video game, any big moment.
I highlighted tape, we had to highlight too.
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, he was going up against our,
okay, we got the clip 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 show you in a second.
I wanted to highlight Kari's team and Kari as a player,
because Kari has been someone who has really stepped up
throughout this year.
He is for any regional champion.
And when we're looking at a couple of these unique Megas,
he has two with the Star After and the Raichu,
but it was really this Hizui and Arcanine that sold the show.
This has been a Pokemon that has
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 Hiroshi Onishi, and this was such a great match.
Shohei now sitting at 7-1 record, we 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
in such confidence display was really like, wow,
if this is just a preview of his matches,
he's gonna go all the way.
It was incredible.
It's such a big stage to be able to show something like that
on and yeah, now since of course,
the Pokemon video game had two clips,
now that means you not get to see your own clips,
unfortunately, they just took it away.
I'm sorry, that's just how it goes.
That's just how it goes.
Now, we'll have one later,
but for the training card game, of course,
this is a gigantic tournament,
any moment that you wanted to kind of show this.
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,
with that ability, Adreda Breen,
being able to move three damage counters over,
and then taking the win from here.
But honestly, this is my favorite moment of yesterday.
With Tayish, who actually got top eight lap at Worlds
last year with Dragapult, I believe,
is piloting Alakazam.
Now, the most popular stadium that we actually have
in the training part game these days
is Team Rocket's Watchtower.
It shuts off Dodd-Dodd's cars, but he actually paired it with Duff-Mor.
So it's 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, they're gonna be finished this segment.
They're just gonna just 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, we don't get all the opportunities to.
It just sounds so ridiculous to hear two Pokemon paired together that it's class of
You're like, Jackpolt and Jackpolt's best friend, Monkey Dory.
Like, looking at that from other games perspective, it's like, what?
That's wild.
And then you think, like, they've actually played a training card game, you know?
Prime 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 just there.
They're so greedy.
They're too greedy to give me.
You know, we'll see if there's a clip or not.
We don't have Monkey Dory in the game yet for F1 Go.
We do have Try and Pull, which someone actually tried to bring Last of the World Championships
and quite worked so 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 Emi Wido, one of our former world champions, I guess,
a 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 of tournament.
But look at how close this is down to the wire.
Both players having like two or three points left with red HE 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 over game two.
That's a half seconds that they had to, you know, tie on that very moment.
And that's exactly what happened.
But we see that in so many of our matches through the routes.
And these players, like, they're so tuned into game that they kind of
are anticipating each other's anticipation.
And that's kind of how it has been this year.
And so I see every world champion every year is just better and better than the previous.
It's I mean it's so cool especially with games like you know, of course, I love the new game of TCG
But you know our games 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 like how strong the movement is
This is Aruto one of the best players in the world coming out of Japan
And point out one of the best juke that we have ever seen.
They're gonna be on the Lucario,
and they're gonna be chased around.
So you should be able to see them
kind of in the top right there, jukeing an entire team.
One V4, they managed to go, escape into the Kyogre pit.
They're escaping the entire team.
They managed to teleport backwards
using bone rush right here, a huge juke.
And they waste the entire time of root 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 was because of this,
but there are just too many good teams, so.
Right, there's angles over there.
Yes, yes, oh, that was such an amazing trip.
This is, that's gonna be an amazing clip for all time.
So, if you haven't checked out 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'll make it to maybe one third
if we're considering Sunday as well.
But 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 I'm in here.
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, yeah, you.
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 glass toys
and Charizard made out of Lego.
The Lego.
It's so cool.
Ridiculous, yeah.
I try 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 MLA.
Probably everyone else here.
Maybe I haven't had the full time to experience all of this.
All my friends and competitors have constant events.
Even with the first stage, they're like, yeah, I didn't know what to expect.
the Pokemon entity side of things, but all of them, for everyone that said, it's blue,
blown their expectation, right?
And it's just, if you're a fan of Pokemon, you love Pokemon, it's 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 end of the third week.
Uh-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 stream to open, but
Talk about what our games are kind of giving away. So let's start with the Pokemon video games here
If you have anything knowledgeable about what's actually being distributed for
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 the world championship shirt
As well, we got to make sure that your style is matching your oh come on
you have the opportunity to pick up the 2026 worlds incinerator is everywhere now for VGC
it's kind of taken over whether you love or hate incinerator it has taken over it is here is one of
these strongest Pokemon opportunity to grab that there and this is the shirt I was talking about
enjoy worlds 26 again enjoy worlds 26 write it down take a picture don't ask a 10 million times in
the Twitch chat. Enjoy World's 26 and you can get that hat and shirt.
Alright I need a pen, production, can you bring a pen so I can write that code down please?
Or otherwise I'll just ask you a challenge.
And of course we have so many different things for so many games, I agree. I'm just like I
don't know what's going to come up first but for the trading card game we'll see what
they bring up. There we go.
Honestly, you talk about swag and champions, you can also get your swag, the book about
trading card game live as well. I personally love the jacket. It looks like a half leather
Jack at half letterman, which is really sick. But of course, players love to customize 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 corp game, the more things you actually get unlocked.
So in order to get 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, you can actually get six packs of pitch black.
So once again, that is our newest set that we have the Pokemon trading part game
I personally love watching 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 see what you're giving away. We've got we've got so much stuff
We're gonna do through this. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I was just quick highlight down the charge team super exclusive resource
you get to watch it up to 60 minutes also more importantly you get the world champion from Lester
Beals for his Tinkertun that he used his stats on the Tinkertun and more importantly he even gets
an exclusive background just on the Tinkertun really cool to have and of course we got the Pokemon
Pikachu XP you see in the space outfit as well as the champion. Pikachu is spawning in the game right
now so you can get it if you're opening the game so open up the game play it and you also get a
fresh out to our shirt as well you can do and you know no big deal but I might
have gotten the shiny Pikachu with the space 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 agree they're gonna get into bragging about the shinies, getting multiple clips.
We got so much good stuff. What does he ignite it got?
I don't know I know yeah. Unite of course has some really actually amazing things depending on how you will go and you watch for you can
use the logo sticker for the event or at 30 minutes you can do an exclusive license over Pikachu which is very very cool
And then you can actually get a license for one of the Pokemon from the World Champion team for RU 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 awards 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, as 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 going to 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 gonna 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.
We stand at the start of a new day Looking out on a new adventure
No one knows where the road will take us We're ready, set, cause now it's time to go
Maybe we can finally see Who we're meant to be
She said to her baby, she told me
Every time you show us who we are
No, we've got some aside to glory
Together, yeah, when I will touch the stars
And then, we'll do it all over again
Cause even if we lose our way
We'll always stay
Here we go
Here we go again
And it's even better than my time, here we go
Here we go again
There is less than a lifetime
Here we go again
Before our hands
Here we go again
We go again
Let me slap that body back
To you and the animals
We go again
We go again
Here we go.
Here we go.
Here we go.
Every blast that I've had.
We need to be open with our hands.
Here we go.
Here we go.
You go again
Go, go, go
Hey everybody, welcome to day two of the Pokemon World Championships and Pokemon XP.
We are absolutely delighted you decided to spend your days in the bay enjoying 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 Pokémon XP.
Have you seen the skate park?
You got 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 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 Gruppi, 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 Herrmans, they really hope to hold on to yesterday's momentum
and I know a lot of people agree that they can in Pokemon Go. I'm not gonna 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 gonna 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.
I 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, California.
See, 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.
Thank you very much, Gabby. I agree with a lot of what was said in that video, Joe.
That video at the start gets me high. Shout out to everyone making these events happen.
These are great events. I have one problem with what Gabby said. I'm afraid you're going
to be missing those panels because we have a full day of Pokemon TCG action. We are not
leaving the Moscow tempted today until we have our finalist set. Joining you for the
first come around today it's going to be myself Ross Gilbert and the lovely Joe
Bernard I think yesterday was good Joe look really high 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're gonna 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
Popping in their deck choice. They're feeling like they're in the groove and they have to start making a push now
Absolutely, but my calculations and this is not official. I can't stress that enough
We've got like a hundred and forty-three players it here in day two, but they're not all even Fred Thomas and comes in with an
Eight zero record 24 match points
Whereas your lower right players players who kind of scraped him with a minimum record five two one sixteen 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 four or no 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 asymmetrical tear up the way that works is we look at how many match points the eighth place player has
Anyone that's tied with them up to 60 total
We'll go into an asymmetrical top cut to earn their way into top eight and then from there full knockout of it
Yeah, but the knockout in the late
Eliminations going on today, but also payers 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 might not make it top eight you get top 32
$5,000. Oh, no, I bubbled top a I ended up, you know losing the asymmetrical 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 hands,
you will also have $50,000 in your hands as well.
That is a pretty sweet try, Mott.
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
over the last couple of years.
Didn't get it this year.
He's taken that personally. He's on the rampage right now with Dragapult on that 8-0 record.
We also checked in with Henry Chow on the stream yesterday. He's on a 7-0-1 record.
He's no longer playing with GuardiVar. He's tossed that away. His new best friend is Dragapult.
And you can see why. He's on a great run again.
It is working beautifully. Rudd Hyman's there. 7-0-1 as well as
Janry Rong. Those are the players we're really looking at who have a very literal leg up in
in the tournament, they just got more match points.
We'll look at names like Alex Shomansky,
Mina Eisenblatt, Natalie Miller, and Matej Blaskowitz.
There's so many.
Diego Casarraga, 17 world champions.
Look, 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 could be once again looking at a top cut
would be absolutely exceptional.
And Rune Hermans, as he mentioned,
is a bit of a boogeyman in the room.
He's on that crustal.
Not many players have made it far into a 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 really doesn't have any good attackers to deal with that crosslet 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 crustal matchup by having Dedenne and the recycle of that enhanced hammer
However, a number of these Alkazam 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 tech couple of other players. We'll have us here Brennan Kammerman
Austin going to go to Toa with his twin brother Owen on the European leaderboard and
and Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, who of course is one of our players to watch for the weekend,
sitting over six and two record, and she got a chance to chat with him and a few other people,
the ball even started on Thursday, so hopefully we'll get to see that at some point,
for certainly a player to watch, Anika Jala as well, just so many phenomenal players.
Every one of those players on the screen right now, Jala, I'm 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 or 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 loss. It does but let's not sleep on the fact Dragapult is
still doubling up any other deck. 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 Teal Mask Overpond with
types that aren't dragapults and they don't have to contend with those mirror matches.
They don't have to worry about flipping points and crashing 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 dragapult matchup and also being able
to compete against the rest. It feels like from that phase one, the Mega X material 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 Crustle 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 very underwhelming Pokemon in terms of attacking,
but it blocks a lot of these decks with its ability.
So the deal as FD is, you play the right deck,
you have a lot of quite easy wins.
You play the wrong decks,
you have actually quite a lot of crushing losses.
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.
So a lot of players, you know, you pick Crustle,
you hope you get the good matchups.
And apparently, we have a bunch of people here that have.
generally speaking, but 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 ours to get further on here.
Yeah, Root Diamonds is the player on the best record for Kostle right now, but it won't take much for some of these other Kostle pilots to have that sort of destiny run.
Now two or three matches go their way, by 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 at 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 them when we come to them. God also give a better love to slow king now
I know there's a bunch of you watching at home
Yeah, love slow king who loves music on the ladder on team 2cg live
It is in some ways a bit of a fan favorite deck special edition of meta growth recently
We've just given it that really strong damage in a 300 damage from one attack
So, Slo-King, another one to look out for, 11 people playing in the room,
more some decent match-up, so I don't know if it's necessarily the favourite going into today,
but there's some of them hanging around.
Yeah, there are some strong players there.
I think Brett and Cameron, no surprise, he's already won a tournament with this archetype.
Yeah, over the last few months, I think he's on the best record of Slo-King 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 different ways.
Mega Expo Drill, really high damage output, a lot of hit points, the potential to heal your way out of a 2-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 that Mega X for Kill had a good chance against at least our top deck in the room,
although it's not had a great Phase 1 to Phase 2 conversion, then Hide and Sneak.
It's been hiding so well that it's almost invisible, it's imperceptible to the human eye.
It's really not done much this tournament at all.
He is hiding very well for my picks. Now when Lillies for Fairy X, basically my picks were kind of,
I wanted to show them metagame. Lillies for Fairy is the anti-metagame pick, the anti-dragapult pick,
And I do believe whether it's in its own kind of box of mega Kangaskarm
or whether it's popped into things like Slowking 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 deserves to be up there with cards like Bosses' Orders and Lily's Determination.
I think it is that impactful of a supporter 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 well-spring mask overposs for instance, you know
Even Lily's caffari itself that 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 basically saying to the community as a whole can we start recognizing?
Everyone knows Crispin is good. No one's safe. It's bad
But can we start talking about it as the meta game defining card that it is?
I am so bullish on that part. You're gonna hear throughout the weekend
That's we're going to be saying they need to Christmas turn if they can't Christmas turn
They're gonna have a useless turn. They have a turn off. It's orders. Right exactly
And I mean Ethan is winning the cast of predictions. I'm gonna 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 dock before even to get my predictions in I could have had those predictions
So Ethan has absolutely nailed the predictions here.
Chipp doing pretty well.
Tina Masco on the Sloking.
Yeah.
Good picks.
The only person was Sloking.
No, Sloking was popular between all of our castes,
Emily there and Pablo.
Pablo admitted in the analyst desk yesterday
that he was much happier with his choice
after seeing how well Mataesh did as well,
because he's also back to the Alakazam deck in there.
Sloking, I think, definitely has the power level.
You know, it can yoink some of the best attacks in the game
for a fairly cheap discounted cost
that 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.
So I think Snow King definitely will be popular. Xam 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 gains so much from
the New Gladion's final battle addition coming into this expansion, but it does still have to
to dodge and weave those Dragapults. 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.
At about one third of your game today, you should expect to be Dragapult, but we've got
some goodies for you this weekend. We've got some distributions over there on Pokemon Trading
Card Game Live. So, look, go and watch for 30 minutes, six booster packs. That is a booster
pack every five minutes. That is good math. I will do that. 45 minutes, maybe you get
your Megazera or EX play set. A couple of special illustration res, a couple of double
res and that is a card I am high 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. 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 drop off a pocket any time. It's so easy to jump back in. I saw out yesterday on the stage
on Rayquaza Road. There's lots of gameplay of pocket going on as well. 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 to you into the trading card game. They revealed a Fueco EX for pocket yesterday.
I am very excited about that jewel type cards and they're like a Mewtwo first of a jewel type card
24 hour glasses if anyone needs to know that is to boost a box
So what we got we want to 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 want to hear from you
Hashtag Pokemon XP hashtag Pokemon world in all the usual places on X on Instagram
YouTube
Play Pokemon tell us where you're watching with whom you're watching show us pictures of your pets with whom you're watching
We know a lot of you are watching
with your pets, too, aren't you?
Oh, they have to be.
But also, tell us who you're rooting for.
We're seeing a star-studded cast of players
that have made it through.
Yes, we did see some players dropping out of the tournament
from phase one.
Heartbreak for Torreclerf players,
one of the players that everyone wants to watch.
It was on a 5-0 start, ended up at 5-3.
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 backing.
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 we can 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 card game at the 2026 Pokemon world championships
The best trainers from around the globe are here to compete for their share of a $2 million
prize pool and the coveted title of Pokemon Train for 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 update, additional trainers tied in eighth
place, advance into an asymmetrical single elimination bracket until only two finalists
remain. These final two trainers in 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 Core Game World Champion. Let's get this
tournament started. Let's get this tournament started. Let's get day two started here in San
San Francisco in the Bay Area at the Pokemon Training Card Game World Championships 2026 with a fantastic matchup
We've got Ali 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 a
Absolute treat for you to start off the stream good players good decks
I think a pretty good matchup Joe an awesome matchup to see as we know
So, you know, it's basic style
box archetype was the winner at
the NAIC in the hands of James
Kowalski, his home brew archetype.
Callie's got a new build that
she's backing right now with a
little bit more of the Tealmark
Ogopon shoved in there, but is
still leading quite heavily
towards that Lily's Kaveri EX,
which, as we know, will be so
impactful against that Dragapult.
Well, here's the question, Joe.
You played Lily's Kaveri EX.
It's a great counter to 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 Wall package.
So that can be a great way if you
to cast Blast your way around Lily's Pearl, for example.
Because there's only 190 hit points
on the Lily's Perfere EX, you can try and use your Duster Wall
to take 130 damage and then place six counters
on the Lily's Perfere itself,
whilst also using your highest damage output,
the 200 damage output swing from Phantom Dive
onto other Pokemon at the same time.
So Natalie's going to have to time her actions
very cleanly here.
She has some great dusting potential, ult res into Teal Mask Ogropon, she has hand destruction at her disposal.
She's not rocking any of the Team Rocket's watchtowers to shut down the tanker's calm,
but it looks like we're seeing lift off here, the fist bump from both players,
and I think we're getting into our first turn of the game pretty soon.
We are suspiciously close, Swiss round nine, here we go, day two, round one, round nine overall.
Natalie Miller, Callie White, let's get rolling with Teal Mask Ogropon,
Attaching an energy using that teal dance that draws the card while also allowing you 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 Callie's list is all trying to perform here?
Ideally she can look to weave in the wellspring mask over upon EX as we know to rental pump is so effective at
Taking out multiple lower hit point Pokemon
And that's really what Natalie's deck is filled with because she will be trying to evolve up into multiple stage 2 Pokemon and
Starting off with a steel mask Ogre Pony X not too shabby at all
This is not only a great attacker because it is a very solid grass type Pokemon 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 that a spec prime catcher not ideal for Callie having it in the top
white of her prize cards. She's also got one of those two Lillies Caferi in the prizes,
but fortunately she has doubled up, so she will still have access to that card. And she
also has the well-rounded damage output of one Rage and Bolt EX in her list as well.
So she should have a few opportunities to still reach KO's as this first Ultra War
resolves, finding that mega Kangaskhan EX, a key draw engine piece of this deck.
That's what you're going to be looking for. Get it in the active, let you draw two cards,
There's a very few Pokémon that are basic that will 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 Pokémon.
That lets you put your Mega Kengis Garn EX in the active,
and you can draw two cards with Run Erend.
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 Nathalie.
The order of the day here, get them basic Pokemon down.
Absolutely the case.
I really like the early Night Stretcher from Kali there.
Getting the energy stashed on Mega Kangaskhan,
sets yourself up for a Crispin to at least
launch 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 dripy 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 gonna need in this matchup.
Yeah, there are two in the deck, so for your right, one being away means you've got to find that one.
There's no me-out 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 3P, and we've got a Duskull.
That's an indication of a really strong hand, right?
If you're grabbing only one 3P from this first search, usually a good sign.
Yeah.
Of course, you're going to get a 3P, so you can evolve up into the cloak next turn,
and that's got that recon directive.
Let's look at the top two card to your deck and you get to draw one and bottom deck the other
Building up into that dragapult with two energy does 200 to the active and allows you to drop six damage counters
Wherever you like speaking of good hand Joe. Yeah, she had a couple path
Yeah, she had a couple more trippy in hand as well
So we will be 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 dragapults
But seeing it in the Dostanowar build shows that Natalie was respecting the mega ex-co-drill matchup
But in turn really helps out against tackling that teal mask over pony X to change a prize race up
So that she can maintain a single prize board during this game
Absolutely for just a single fire energy. It does a hundred and ten to an EX 20 to a non EX double weakness
That is going to go up to 220. Um, that's pretty good mass when you head to last go to pump this week
Absolutely in the case as action passes back over to Callie Natalie not prioritizing budget in this instance
She may not have had a means of retreating this dust go either so instead is going to prioritize just setting up the board with as many
Drupia as possible as we see the run Aaron coming in from Callie to see a couple additional cards
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 gonna have to flip for rapid fire combo 200 will just get that dust go
Well, 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 see your mask
go up on 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.
Because Kali is using that raging bolts in her list,
she has five different types of energy in the deck, too,
trying to make that Crispin work as best as possible.
An early area zero 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 zero and Chen power
to remove this Pokemon from play.
That can be a means of gaining free turns during the game.
So this rapid fire combo, it's only a simple prize KO,
it's not the full pressure you would have liked
from a wellspring mask O'Kopon,
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 that are on the depths
will in late have eight bench Pokemon.
You could then play Chen Pal to remove it,
at which point you're only allowed five bench Pokemon.
Any extra need to be removed.
And if they just happen to be heavily damaged,
free prize giving up mega reactions,
well then all the better for it.
Looks like we've got our first drag cloak of the game here.
That is going to give Natalie access to recon directives, draw more cards.
And I don't want to be greedy, Joe, but I think Natalie probably wants two more drag cloaks this term.
And it's an interesting promote of the Maltres.
I wonder if that's an indication of what's already available in hand.
If she's going to try less bosses orders as an option now,
that just came out of the recon directive.
You could boss up that Teal Mask Ogapon 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 and that will indeed be fodder.
Gonna have to remove one of those crushing hammer and the psychic energy.
I think we are going to need a Meowth to fix this hand.
I believe the pheasant dip TEX was in her prize cards.
So it is going to be a last ditch catch into the Lily's determination
to get a fresh eight cards here.
Natalie continuing to prioritize that setup 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 on to this Kangaskhan
Setting it up for a phantom dive
So these eight cards if we're able to access fire energy could really put Matthew in a good spot now
I think you make an excellent point there Joe
Yeah, 110 might get a one hit come on a seal mask over Pomba
It's still a decent chunk of damage against many X and when you're playing a deck like this
Well, you've got damage coming down with your dust bar and you've got Dragonball hitting the active and the bet
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.
I think we'll have a couple of psychics.
No, not quite.
Well, Natalie, is there even?
Well, there's one ultra ball,
so we can access one more Traploak 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 Justin Newdorf build
that we saw over the last few tournaments.
And I see the discard of the jamming tower.
That is Natalie's only stadium card.
That's being removed now to grab a second to cloak.
It would be far too vulnerable for a zero reg handy list
to sit with just one to cloak in play.
Too vulnerable for a tarantula 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 Dragobot next turn.
So, if you, you know, if Natalie 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 Draglog on 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 Nightstretch in the deck, you have to try and weave that in later on in the game.
if you want to have a nice up trade, two for one,
into the teal mask, go-upon.
But as things go, it's still a reasonable enough sponge.
You still want to protect your dream pin,
Dracula, 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 Rosa's encouragement supporter,
which is already in hand.
Action back over to Kanilo, who's got her run errant in.
Does have access to bosses' orders.
Could be an easy way just to take out either the Meowth
for an easy two prize cards,
Just try and race as quickly as possible whenever you're facing down cursed blast Pokemon
It may feel unintuitive to go on to an odd prize map, but then you're essentially just diffusing the cursed blast itself
Absolutely, we'll see if Kelly wants to go more aggressive here or wants to prioritize more board set up
I think if you knew that a crisp in was priced and that's leave you very tempted to go and take that only energy off the board
Right, but of course you are expecting that leave have access to at least two crisp in 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 Teo mask gogopon for launch attacks if we wish
We're just eyeing up all of these options. We're not ultra ball
Yeah, 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 amount of cards 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 Kali 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 Kali 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 and this is your big bad of the deck
This is the one that can stretch up and take big one hit cares on that dragapult here comes the bosses orders
Where's it going Joe? You got to be quick. I feel like it's me out
It could easily be dust globes or the direct cloak with energy though. I think it's like a ton of great options here
Oh, it's gonna be the meow. Yeah, I feel like when there's curse blast in the mix you want to make it
Pudishing for the opponent you want to make it very difficult for Natalie to weave it in if ever
So it is gonna be a two prize. Okay. Oh, Cali 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 not we have to start seeing some action from Natalie
She's really reliant on the next
couple of Recon Directive 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 curse blast means
the Dragapult KO will win the game.
Oh, the next was Ace Guard.
Fire energy that she needed so badly.
It's a jamming tower and the darkness energy jamming
tower gets taken.
Second Recon Directive does give Lily's determination
and with zero prize cards taken out,
prize cards taken out. We'll give Natalie eight new cards as she evolves up into a Duster,
bent to the 3B and attaches a fire energy to the active. Lily's determination for eight.
We're looking for a Dragapult, and we can start actually throwing some damage around.
Dragapult at the very least. If we can also find crushing hammer in combination with unfair
stamps, suddenly you can be getting yourself back into a good position. Natalie may also
try and hold onto the unfair stamp that little bit longer, and basically say that I've evolved
I'm not actually going to use this card. I can't really do it. It's too risky for me and instead we'll just try and force Cali through to Dragapult EX for remainder of these prizes.
Very awkward decision, but you're right. Essentially you either use a Dustwater or you make your opponent care with second Dragapult. We'll see where Natalie comes down.
Have you missed?
There is not much in this hand, Ross.
We've got a Purdue. We've got a bosses order. We've got to see a Dragapult.
Completely with Dragapult.
There's no way towards it. We're both having the... We can see the hand better than you can at home right now.
There's a concession. Callie White is going to take Game 1, 1-0 up with this mega-kang has gone.
Lily's the very box deck. Natalie cannot get a drag-a-pop, cannot recover, and Callie takes Game 1.
A very calm, collected win there for Callie. The list 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 Cali.
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 on tactics.
There's even more threat for Natalie in this next couple of games where she's a game down right now with that well-disabled 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, the 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're Tio Masco Capon's
been sitting on the bench drawing cards, mega kangaskar's attacking.
We see the bosses' orders on 2D meet Alph to go and get a KO there for two more prizes.
But can he never really swung with anything else?
It was just setting up other attackers just in case.
the game. So, you can see
the game. You can cast the
steel mask of home and swinging
with mega Kangaskarn and when
Natalie with the Dragonball
off of that leads termination
to eight. That was the point
where she said, I'm not
winning this game. Let's get a
game to the big basic step
definitely keeps you honest
because if it has anything it
has full power inside. It's
always got those early game
run errands that have the field
mask of the bond chipping in
at times as well. Do you
constantly getting a lot of
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.
It's 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 Drepi and a Duskull on the bench.
We've got a poker pad coming down here
that's going to allow you to go and grab something else
if you so wish.
We didn't even see if he probably does at this point.
And then in the hand, we've got a drag support there.
That's for a future turn.
If you need it, I mean, is it second Drepi?
Oh, no.
I believe that was...
We've used the search now.
So it was for one of each of these basics,
an action over to Kali now.
having the perfect start with that Cangus card already in the active spot, meaning we can
run Eren for two additional cards. Also already spotted an Ultra Ball in that hand for Kali.
Two energy off the run, Eren, one of which is the Grass energy, nice Uteal Mask Ogropon.
So, we've got an Ultra Ball, we need some more Pokémon coming down. I'm guessing a
Pheasant Dipty in the hand, that's not doing much yet, so it's going to be an Ultra Ball
straight away and that's going to go in search for, presumably, Uteal Mask Ogropon. That
It's often the first one you go for here because that gives you a draw rending to work with well
I'm thinking Meowth Cyrano get the gang
I think a squad going this turn that could be pretty good don't want me out sounds kind of fun
You're right Cyrano search is for free Pokemon. Yes doing the prize cards for us. Oh, no, thank you again
I'm afraid
A second coffee of Kangas Khan searched
not really 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
stretcher as well hiding in the
prizes to Callie. Tells something to
keep an eye on. It is a well
spring mask Ogre Pong in the end.
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
Start firing off some torrential pumps
Well, that seems to be the plan with the lilies to terminate Crispin is actually already in hand and Latias is all there
Yeah, 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 got a water to hand. We've got a sidekick being attached
So this is pretty nice turn one from Callie here
Telegraphing the play, but ultimately Natalie does not play Shaman.
So she can't really do much about the line of play that Callie'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't 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.
So we had the attachment from Crispin.
We benched the Latin ass.
So Natalie knows it's just an energy attachment next turn and the play's coming,
but what can she do about it?
Not much.
So we pass back to Natalie here, it's going to be a crushing hammer, this could really help her for her heads!
I've no idea, I can't see. It's still spinning. Everyone just stares at the dice. Oh, it's the tails!
So it's a Lily's determination here, going to get a new eight-carb. That could have forced another
Crispin next time. Absolutely, good 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
It'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 and the prize is going into...
Oh, no.
...Vina would have gone. There is a drag cloak.
Second crushing hammer. Here we go.
It is a head to spine.
So one of those energy is gone. It is a psychic energy.
That makes things a lot more difficult.
That's a huge relief for us,
because there's only one drag cloak right now.
And even the recondirective, no access to buddy-buddy-poppin,
even polka-pad or even just a regular drippy.
Again, this Lili's 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 perpetual 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 ultrable.
You can ultrable for Meowth and 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 dusk all here would be huge.
Which point of the way, that's not possible.
You don't think about this, do you?
You just go for this.
You have to go for this.
This is the end of the game, right?
Like if this goes well enough,
that is going to give you such a huge advantage.
Yep, there's Meowth.
Last ditch catch.
Let's grab Crispin.
We already know that the water energy is in hand for Kali.
So she will grab a grass energy to the hand
whilst accelerating a lightning energy.
then Manly attached for the turn, water onto that wellspring mask, go-upon.
That is going to give a KO on both the Moltres and the Benchtre cloak.
Lillies, the fairies goes and hits the board, free retreat using Latias' Skyliner.
And here we go, KO on the Moltres and a KO on the track cloak,
leaving Nathalie with just a Duskell and a fire energy.
That is a bad board right now.
Will he determination for eight?
We need to see from Nathalie 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't weave in Budu,
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 Dreepee.
Natalie 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.
Has it worked yet? Dreepee?
What is happening?
There's nobody but a Poffin in hand.
There is a Treepee, which is nice.
But I'm saying anybody Poffin, I'm not saying any Ultra Ball.
We see a Monkey Borey come down with darkness, energy attached.
And I think, yeah, you just retreat into that.
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 Teal Mask Ogapon.
But you could get a second Trench of a Pump out of nowhere here.
That was an absolute 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 need to draw cards so that would be retreating into Kangus Garden,
but then you wouldn't be able to second retreat to get there.
So, I think it is asking a lot this time.
So, Cyrano comes down. We know there's going to be no Crispin.
We're just going to go and search for three 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 Kangaskarn.
That's whether she values having the extra option of this Raiding Bolt's protection to the hand,
or if she just wants maybe fodder for future Ultra Ball.
Looks like it's going to be another Kangaskarn.
Yeah, I think this is a building turn. You don't even need to launch an attack here at all.
Even just 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 Dragaport over multiple turns,
turns, even slowly building up the dust bowl in multiple turns as we see one
additional draw here from Teal Dance. That is going to be a crisp in the next
turn. We could be seeing a pretty big one next turn. We are going to retreat into
the Kangus Gantz so you can run Aaron to draw two more cars. Can we start an
energy on the last one that's going upon this turn? We could. There have been two
crashing 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, and that is...
Like, Halle 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 Clefairy too early,
so you've 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 3P onto the bench,
and it is going to be another Lily's determination still for 8,
because Natalie is sitting there still with zero prize cards taken and she's got to be thinking at this point like
One of these are gonna hit in a minute. I'm gonna finally start drawing while I'm all Lee surely
He's gonna happen. She has had such a tough time eight cards. Sounds like a huge amount
But every time Natalie is falling short with these drawers
She did spend a night stretch of there for an additional creepy as well
But that's already with too fine energy and one of her maltres
Well her only maltres in the discard part
So that's also sort of a window shutting for her.
Just have the safety net of additional Dripie.
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
that 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 Pheasantipti, yes, this turn, perhaps, might be something on her mind.
Absolutely.
I'm just going to grab one Dripi right now.
Pheasantipti 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
Pokemon towards the end game.
She doesn't want to just fall prey to a torrential punch. She wants to force bosses orders or Crispin combinations
Force a supporter combo out of Cali late game rather than having some of these vulnerable hit point Pokemon later
It's been using the one recon directive as a meow
And I think it's a lilies didn't know it's not as a poker pad
Sorry, the poker pad is gonna go back to the bottom of the deck and he's always to poker pad
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 creepy search doubt
Natalie really wants access to those dust goal. I mean the clock is ticking though, you know Callie already taken two prize cards
You assume she'll take one this turn as well
And so the very least you could even take two this turn
Things line up in her hand like the window is shutting very quickly for curse blast. Well, here's Ron 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
the deck here. From the run
Aaron, we are going to play
that areas are under that. So
for the first time this game,
eight bed spaces have been
opened up. I think a very
simple turn here for Callie
would be finding bosses orders
on Dreckloak, which 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 Psycho energy that you
can safeguard you around a hammer
and there is bosses orders in
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 your boss's orders onto that dracolok on the bench quite obviously
We retreat with Skyliner to go and get your Liddice the 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 a KO
So let's take that one out and now
Now, with three prizes down, your opponent kind of wants to give you prizes with Dust
Gobs and Dust Bar, 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 Rekhandi at this point?
Oh, for certain.
She's been playing around crushing hammer and no list can fit all the crushing hammers
and Rekhandi's and Dust Bar.
It's just impossible, Ross.
There's no space.
There's no space.
Hally playing around the hammers beautifully, targeting down and punishing the fact that there are no rare candy.
And that means...
Re-Prize cards up and Natalie yet to launch much of an attack outside of the Maltres.
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 by turn somehow here.
That does well.
I mean, we've seen this as far back as the North American internationals back,
and I think it was 23 when we commented it, Joe.
That was when Monkey Dory burst onto the scene and, hey,
Mind Bend can buy you turns.
Absolutely, 60 damage plus confusion.
Make your opponent flip in order to get an attack rolling.
Can we get another Dracloquia?
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 Gafferi off the board
whilst also limiting the hand-sized ball Callie, 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, I like your
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
drawn for Natalie, only two, it's a boss and an ultra ball, but this energy is
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 put an ultra ball. 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 errands. 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 to Kali. You draw one card for turn. It is Amy Alph. So that's going to go and get
get you towards their supporter card if you want one but you can of course free
retreat with your Latias here into a mega Kangaskarn does look like that's
what's being eyed up here and then you can run Aaron to draw two extra cars
well I know but we're not doing it yet. He has what in hand right now just a Meowth
EX. That's the plan for a key supporter card. Is it gonna be another Crispin here
perhaps? Yes it is. Have we been counting the Crispin is that number three? I feel
like that's three either way there is obviously a fall for this tech run on
Crispin so much I have access to energy switch here oh I love 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 drag look once again there it is energy switch in
hand for Cali we saw this place so effectively at the NAIC and history is
repeating itself cruel arrow getting back into the equation taking out drag
that. I'm not going to be a
dragapult next turn. It is
impossible with no rare candy
in the list. And I think what
we've seen here is Kelly just
going, I'm going to 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
drawing eight cars. That's not where you want to be if you're Natalie. She has no
more hand disruption left in the deck either. The only means of disrupting this
board is either via 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. Oh no, it's one
in hand but that problem is you can just reattach. Because Carl Arrow is fairly
underwhelming, free energy 100 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 bench which gets
a drake cloak and there's only one on the board for Natalie, so I mean unless you can stop the
call arrow in some way it's just gonna happen again.
And Natalie hoping for help from prize cards here, takes out the Lizca Fairy, 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 Lusca fairy, Teo.
But now Kali with one prize 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 for game right now.
It's going to be a buddy-buddy poffin for Natalie.
Going to be searching out nothing, more just hand thinning.
You get to the point where there aren't enough basics in the next few play-ins to get it out of your hand.
And it is mined by Ben.
The last defence for Natalie Miller. Will it be enough?
Callie 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 trumpet.
There could be some key energy acceleration as well. Let's see the three cards.
Looking for energy switch. We're looking for...
Cypher Maniac should be access to the game here, as we will be able to retreat into a Kangaskarn.
Oh, there it is.
We retreat, we gust, we KO, we win.
Kali White takes the game two, games to zero.
Latias enables free retreat,
at which point you can use your prime catcher
to gust the pokemons from the bench
while switching the festivity back to the active,
and that means we are good.
Wow, what a commanding victory for Kali White.
He's had a fairly understated season,
but let's not forget she had a form
regionals into a second place so she had a great season last year 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 bit a couple of years but they're good enough to get to worlds and if you're good enough to get
get to worlds, you can have these runs. Let's see how it all played out here right back to the beginning of game one with that energy acceleration.
In game one was very straightforward. Get energy on Kangaskarn and just swing and take these prizes.
We saw a boss's orders to KO the Meowth for two prizes, but it was just get some energy on the Pokemon on the bench while swing of a Kangaskarn.
And Natalie never drew a dragapult and that's at the end of the game.
huge width from Lily's determination and that actually kind of continued as we see this massive
torrential pump. Natalie, lifting from Lily's determination, anybody body pop in, any access
to additional 3P. So in the mid game here, Callie continues to charge through prizes.
Natalie had the most valiant defense possible using a really smart means of mind bend to force
specificity. Callie with another great answer here and then Natalie, the best case scenario 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 then the referee can attack the bench, but he needed 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 Kali went to a 2-0 victory, going to an 8-1 record. Not that gun. Yeah,
you can see why. That was that
was like work. There was no
stress there about the entire
set. Really put the pressure on.
She never let up. That was a
really smooth way to make it to
an eight one record, putting
herself in great stead for the
rest of these Swiss rounds. It's
always fun when you can play a
drag a pole and your opponent
never gets a drag a part in the
entire match. It does make your
life a lot easier. You know, you
get through the game. Your whole
deck is built to target drag a
pole. You're expecting them to
come into play at some point, but
in this case, Cali was able to
just get around with the entire
the entire set. No absolutely well it looks like. We're gonna have a bit of a coward Cali. I mean
yet we've just seen a win. Why don't we now hear about her talking about her win and don't worry
they got Amy on the case. Thank you so much guys of course we're here with Cali who just
won our feature match with a wonderfully constructed deck with plenty of attackers. Now Cali can
you explain to me why you chose this deck specifically for the tournament? Well I played
I played like hundreds of games with Dragonfall. I just like don't vibe with it that very much. I played a lot last season, so I was like, I'm just gonna play Raging Vault. I like mega can get scone a lot, so yeah.
Is it, is it, is it 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 Dragonfall have you faced so far? I've got to ask.
I played against five and I beat them all.
My only loss is Alakazam, so.
Oh, man.
Did you come up against any of the Alakazam
with those dusk lines in?
No, my round one was my loss.
It was to our Rapskut Alakazam.
Ooh, spicy.
Well, I think that 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?
Well, I mainly just played a bunch of games online, but I switched to Raging Vault last week, so it was all drag-a-fault.
But I mean, I played Raging Vault 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 it.
I mean, hitting Alakazammer, I know I was a little bit
tilting, but aside from that, yeah, I've been playing Pokemon.
I love it.
I love it.
Your cool composure inspires me,
because I'm a bit of a nervous bird whenever I'm playing.
So thank you so much for joining us, Kali.
We're going to throw it back to the casters
and get torrential pumping into the rest of this event.
Could not have said it better.
My self, Amy, always nice to hear from players
after a win like that.
you know, you see what it
means to the players to be at
world to get that win on stage.
How many players you talk to
like I just want to be on
stream. I want to get on stage.
I want to have that experience.
Yes, some people really embrace
that experience, and that's
what our top players do.
They've probably been on the
stage one one or two times
before, but still you just get
to let your shoulders down.
So 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
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 strong with the next few rounds.
Now, I agree entirely, you know,
there were 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 Lily's determination to eight multiple times
and still never hitting them.
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 basics archetype.
It's such a strange deck, Ross,
because the fact that you can just throw in
so many basic poke points,
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 NAIC, seeing Kowalski's list
is the four dusk ball and just crazy counts of all of these Pokemon, he's 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 Tealmaster O'Kopon in part because of the respect for
Enzorowak, but having that E-switch combination around the board gives you so much flexibility.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you've got to play Mega Kangaskar. It's Pokemon drawn at basic.
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 Scafari
because of how big Dragapult is.
And then it really is just dealer's choice at that point.
Out of 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 going to be more big, basic action as well.
Nathan Spry 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 Fluttermane start, which is actually a pretty nice option for Henry here
to try and shut down the draw power of active Pokemon.
So we're already shutting down the teal dance.
And as we know, Mega Kangas Khan has to be in the active position to use that run.
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 does have 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 Pokemon that can use Twin Shottles to deal 50 to 2 Pokemon.
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,
an energy switch and a Crispin.
Here comes Dawn grabbing a basic,
Anastabe one, Anastabe two.
That flutter main turns off all abilities of active Pokemon only.
So here we do get the Duns pass 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 for the basics very nicely indeed
Can we get a little bit more working?
It's an energy on the Abra past and Nathan and it was not that likely Joe if an eye-crab 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 and use the acceleration on the bench
To draw plus one card
So it's far from where we want to be, there's also a eventual 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 Pokémon.
The key reason why the Iron Crown is looked towards is because it ignores the effects of Pokémon, so it gets through even Shaman.
In this instance, any attacker will do for Nathan.
It is pretty good.
So here we go. Now this is the attachment from Crispin, and this is the attachment from your Teal Darks.
So the attachment of the turn is actually still available here.
That was just to draw an extra card.
So from that extra card, did we get something we can use?
Attachment of the turn, still live.
It was just the Kangas card.
It would have been beautiful,
but for the midnight fluttering,
shutting down the key engine.
So action is back over to Henry.
Can use a buddy-buddy puff in
to fill out the remainder of his bench.
So it's gonna be another Abra
in addition to a Duns boss.
No mucking about here.
Abra to Dunsparse. That is pretty much what you would want Abra evolves into your attacker Dunsparse evolves into your draw engine
What more do you need? Well red candy into Agatha 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 new 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?
Yeah, 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, 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 bosses orders line of play just to access more draw power pushing the
We can see Fluttersman to the bench, so we can see two cards here, half an ideal, just
the pass again for Nathan.
So you've got the two draws, but after those two draws you've just passed right back.
Now we've got an Aberrini active, rather than a Fluttersman, we're going to draw three
more cards with the Duns 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.
I need to use, sorry.
Well, we need 15 in the hands to be able to reach that KO.
Well, Hilda's going to help, that's going to go and get you some 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 Dunsparse.
You then put it all back into your deck.
You draw three more cards with the Dunsparse, 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.
Drawing four.
It's a big draw. We can still draw towards Air Balloon, so we can still 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.
It's important.
Reaching into this Kangasang would be a crazy turn.
Ah, two more Duns Bars.
Yeah, 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.
We don't currently have an out of hand.
So we might need to evolve into Kadabra to plus one and then use air balloon.
It's a rare candy.
That's minus one plus three, so that's plus two in total.
So now we should just need, now we evolve into Kadabra, play one from hand, but you draw two.
So there's a plus one in hand.
You've drawn a way to get
Canaveral the active.
There he is.
Even the nighttime mine as well.
And it is a KO-free prizes on the mega-kangaskarm.
How many cars in hand?
I don't know.
Enough.
Fifty.
Exactly, actually.
It was exactly because we were able to play down the
nighttime mine.
Can we see those prizes again?
No, it wasn't the prizes.
For a minute now, I was very, very confused.
I'd be confused if there was seven basic energy.
You know, Alakazam left.
That was tough. I can feel it, 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 disruptor.
There is special red card, there's only one actually.
Exactly, so it's now or never for Nathan.
He's can not only put himself out of harm's way
with this Kangaskarn,
there's actually the red card already in hand for him.
Okay, so 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, so now we've got enough energy.
We're gonna retreat into the mega Kangaskarn.
Do not forget to play special red card.
Ha ha ha, gonna see the run errand first.
A couple of pieces, as the difficulty comes in.
Three more cards.
Really, this is the last stand already for Nathan.
There's only been a couple of 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 disrupt can be big.
One saving grace here is that 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 turn.
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,
and now Henry's job is very simple.
Build up your hand.
Dawn is going to go and get a stage one, a stage two,
and a basic. Stage two should be Alakazam.
that should be the Dunsparse, Basic, Pheasant, Dipty.
That is actually between those three Pokemon
drawing nine cards.
That's a draw nine at least this turn.
And we could still, wow, look, we can't be
enriching energy.
We could use another Dunsparse 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 attach
enriching energy this turn yet.
And that's why we're seeing the promoter of Fluttermane,
Henry, very aware that doesn't want to waste Alakazam in the active position if it's not
taking a KO, instead defend it on the bench here, will continue to evolve up and use fit
the script. So he's building that hand quite nicely. Could you 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 saying 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've 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 it's also a telepathic energy in hand. Looks like we're going to play the telepathic
on to Alakazam on the bench. Save the enriching energy for next turn. We pass back to Nathan,
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 cruel arrow could be useful here
if we have any switches, but with the midnight fluttering
also shutting down the run arrow,
Nathan has no access to additional cards and picks up the option.
Oh, here we go, and it seems like that's already over.
the game. You know, there's
no way around it. No way to
disrupt the hand. And
unfortunately, if you can't
disrupt Alexander hand when it
does that. You don't win the
game. Then Joe. Yeah, Alexander
is such a threat in this field.
It seems like such an
interesting approach to take to
this tournament where in theorem
paper, it has that drag a
pulse that so many players are
going back towards that
controlling package with
the dragon pulse turned into a fairly favored matchup, whilst also farming the lights of
these big basic matchups. These are incredibly fun matchups. I love seeing these low hit
point and multi prize 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 hands roughs, I can't fill my hand with it.
Yeah, I 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 did 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 putting on pressure early with these spread Pokemon.
That is always a fun plan.
or megacancers 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 one.
We've got an Ultra will coming down,
and that is going to go and search out
a big basic Pokemon of your choice,
which a lot of the time is that Teal Mask overpons.
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.
Yep, that is certainly the case.
But let's admit that that random start of the phatomane
just really hindered this engine entirely.
That was huge.
Yes.
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 shenanigans
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 attach it 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 Hilder 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 have any more means of going back into the deck,
but just as you have more Abra as a Lizzie available,
there you go.
So he has to do it in hand.
That will help to explain why he's not comfortable
Now we pass back to Nathan with free Abra and a Dunsbass down on the bench.
We immediately, you know, see the run errand coming down,
and that means that we're drawing two cards,
or Nathan is drawing two cards,
and that is going to help me out,
hits the bench, and that goes in search, is a supporter card.
Is it Crispin? Do we have a better play?
Oh, it's Serrano.
Be the Serrano. Yeah, if we are instead going to grab multiple EX Pokemon,
Could even be a Solve for this turn, wouldn't be too bad.
Try and trap 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 Trenthral 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 Wellspring Mask Ogopon.
So might well be torrential pump coming next turn. Could it be so come in this turn?
Are we using like that play?
I like it. It sets up the Genesect to then be knocked out on the next turn as well because it has a hundred and ten 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 torrential pump play straight away
But it's anything to go instead. It's gonna go to Kangus Khan. We do have one e-switch so we could just a pass
So if you pass over the switch in hand, you could have energy switched on the Kangaskar in attack.
Wait, it's just a pass back from Henry. Henry's going to stay.
That was a whole turn. You pass and then you drew a card and pass back.
Now this is where we start team some combos.
Scythe of many acts code breaking lets you search your deck for any two cards, stash them on top of your deck.
But you've got to make a Kangaskar in the active, it draws two cards.
So because Kangaskar is in the active, Scythe of many acts code breaking is just search any two cards.
cards. And in that instance he instantly grabbed 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 Fezzendipity getting into the equation.
Cruel Arrow could be getting right into this mix. Double energy switch off the mega Kangaskhan to
power up this Pokemon and we're going to get aggressive. So it's not the Wellspring Mask gogopon,
it is the Fezzendipty 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 dance pass that you go and after and it seems
like that's actually already game two Henley goes if I can have done fast 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 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 no I agree entirely and again I think what you said was really important
the game. If you're in a
favorite matchup, if you're in
an unfavored 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 favorite matchup, give up on
game two if it starts looking
bad because you're so sure that
game free is going to go in your
way. And the thing is, although
you had your allocations and
would be a bit of an issue.
Nathan there, he wasn't going all out with like pressure.
He wasn't going crazy with traditional funk.
He said, you know what, if my fun,
it's just drawing nothing for a couple turns.
I can just continue to cool Aaron the path aboard.
Really nice, disciplined option.
I mean, hey, if it works, it works.
And I really liked the fact that he left the Genesect
rather than going after it with something like a
traditional pub 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
they're going after the bench, it creates
insurmountable pressure on your opponent.
Yeah, it's one of those things that often times
you throw that Pokemon as the sacrificial lamb
and if your opponent goes, I've got a way around this
it makes it even more awkward for you.
So that's always a strong element
to try and 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 going to work.
is going to work. Hang on a second. This happened. That opens up this line of play. It feels like for
a long time, Pesendipti's cool Laro was underused, and it feels like in the past kind of six months
maybe, and 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 Pesendipti there taking prize after prize,
win the game. Yeah, we do have a number of like set up style decks. It takes a number of turns
to get into the game. Even if they play rare candy, they need to have so many pieces fall their way
way to actually capitalise on their stage 2 attacking Pokemon.
And if your opponent knows it's two or three turns to get something done,
you can buy a turn back with a cruel arrow.
It's a prize and a turn of 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
Natalie going, you need to get through your drakeloak to get into your drakeloak.
You're not playing anywhere candy.
And if you're only going to have one drakeloak on the field at a time,
well, yeah, cruel arrow.
I'm going to force you to evolve to knowing that only one of them is going to survive
just to get towards your stage two attacker.
And I always feel free about it.
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 players.
Dodging Weevil, 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 an asymmetrical top cut.
But Ross, it's time for your favorite time of the day.
Oh, this is my thing.
You've been excited for all morning.
I've been excited. I'm gonna say this and it's 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 it's not a hyperbolic statement
And we have on September the 16th a very exciting set releasing 30th celebration of set to celebrate the 30th anniversary of
Pokemon and
And it turns out, what are we going to do?
Have a world stream and not reveal some cards
from 30 of Celebration?
No!
So let's show you some cards from 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 Magic Carp.
It has a very cool card.
I remember when this card initially got revealed
during the Starlet 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 Pokemon as well in Magic Carp,
one of the original Pokemon.
So I always love to see that getting some low.
And very emblematic of one of the innovations
of the Scarlet and Violet era,
the introduction of those illustration rare cards.
This is very much an embodiment
of what that new art style kind of represents
and that new kind of card rarity.
As well, we also have, maybe a drill back a bit more
to the past, maybe two thousands or so
with this Dark Tarantar.
Yeah, yeah, the Dark Tarantar looking super good
in its new gold border, of course.
and I think for competitive players,
a big throwback had a lot of success back in the day.
Most commonly comes to mind
is Ross Cawthon's second place
at the World Championships in 2005, right?
So a lot of history in the competitive scene with this one.
Yeah, Ross Cawthon, 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 Aquopolis expansion
going even further into the past.
You can really see the gold border on this one,
and it's affectionately referred to as crystal lugia
due to its crystal type poke body.
One of the first Pokemon that if you attach
different types of energy to it can change types,
and its attack costs represent the different types
it can turn into as well.
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.
So for the first time, we will officially reveal drum roll please.
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, so will you get any memories seeing the original Pikachu artwork for the TCG?
Yeah, I remember having the actual original card back way back in the day.
I don't even remember how long ago it was now, but it's really cool to see it represented once again here at 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.
But 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 Yoshiroften.
And we have a couple of 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 going to 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,
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 Mew, of course. Over the years,
we've seen lots of different Mew cards in the TCG being able to use all sorts of different attacks and
always feels like there's some way to use this this kind of card. It is on the low end HP for
Pokemon EX with just 160, but being able to use pretty much any of the attacks of any of your
Pokemon, there's probably a use for that somewhere, right? Yep, and then we can also shift our attention
to the Mew2 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 Pokémon.
Spread potential always very good, you know, targeting
down multiple Pokémon with just one single attack.
It has a lot of potential softening things up to be
easier KO'd by a different Pokemon perhaps, or using Photon Bullet's turn after turn after turn
can really build up a lot of damage and play, potential board wipes scenarios,
multi prize turns. I love cards like this. Yeah, and you can see, you know, much higher HP than the
Mew EX as well. 230 HP. Azul, can you see any potential here for Mew 2 EX? Yeah, yeah, I think
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.
And we can check our attention over to these Pikachu EX cards as well.
You know, Pikachu, 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 metagame 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.
There are so many powerful basic Pokemon in the game right now, throwing a Mega King
Discon, perhaps a Latias EX into play right away, doesn't seem too bad.
Yeah, and as well 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 Mew EX, almost limitless potential,
allowing you to accelerate any number of basic energy into play from your hand.
We do have 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 the big ones for these two.
It's got an amazing look at these futuristic rare cards,
and 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,
We'll continue to see what the future holds for the Pokemon TCG.
Oh, thank you very much, Chaps.
I have a lot of a lot of reactions to that one thing that comes to mind.
That's around the time. Never won Worlds.
But in 2005, to give you an idea, came second with it.
And that was the year that our analyst friend Pablo actually got third
at the World Championships with the Nidokwing deck, which I don't with which it won.
It did win one.
I think of that one out in a second.
I also want to point out that new. Oh, that that new copying attacks things like the golec that they reveal
Which is gonna be coming around in del terrain to energy 300
Oh, but it's got an ability that says you got to have 10 cards in hand to attack new doesn't have that ability Joe care
Yeah, and I just think the new and you to both those EX Pokemon being basic psychic types
We've seen the combined with Lily's the fairy and Lattee assie X the fact that these Pokemon can take advantage of telepathic
Lepatic Psychic Energy, can take advantage of Wanderous Patch, they can, you know, take advantage of the Fairy Zone from Lillies to 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 we'll be good against Dragapult, or if they just splash into these Nexus tech cards.
Seems good. Jeremy Moran, of course, was a 2005 World Champion with that Nidikwing deck.
My apologies, that took me a moment when we saw the Magikarp, which of course has catapulted Shinji Kanda into super stardom,
as a Pokemon trading card game artist who doesn't want that Lucia for the Qwaplus.
Oh, oh my goodness, I love those crystal type Pokemon. You know, we call them crystal types,
they're not actually officially crystal Pokemon, they're like colloquially known,
but you can see why they're just such a gorgeous artwork Pokemon and getting Lucia
was out in the Qwaplus originally is so awesome to see. As someone who loves to play older formats,
I'm so happy that we get lots of playable cards for the years as well. It definitely
saves us a bit of a headache of acquiring these cards for ourselves and enjoying those older
format. When I was when I was much younger, I opened Bay set Pikachu for many packs when the
Bay set first came out with the local game store 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. You can see we're going to be looking at Henry Chow against Jackson
in the first half of the
season. We're going to be
going to be going forward. Oh
my word. Diego Capsaraga gets
only cup Jala that really
jumped out to there. Um
there's some good matchups,
Joe. Yeah, and there's a couple
of those cross out there as
well. It's not only room here,
man's now. It's also Satoshi
also rising to the top. Brent
Tolstin still on that flawless
record nine and I right now
coming up against Cali in the
Let's see if you can keep on her winning ways.
We never see 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
in the eighth-metral top cut.
You need to be in eighth place
or have a record tie for the player in eighth place
in order to get into that eighth-metral 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 two of the tournament.
And Henry and Jackson is going to be a Dragapult mirror match of sorts,
because this is not the same deck, John.
Yeah, Jackson sort of made a name for himself.
You know, he's already a regional champion and has had lots of great results over the years.
But most recently at the NAIC, he was innovating this Dragapult Blaziken EX build,
because he had Secret Box within his list that was quite unconventional.
He's pivoted backwards on first half this weekend, but nonetheless, he is still so happy piloting this archetype.
Basically, EX has recently gained lots of popularity.
That's the fact that it is a fire type in its own right.
So it can help deal with a mega-experial deck that has come out in pitch black.
But at the same time, anytime you can weave in energy acceleration,
you can drag up on decks so many more opportunities to not only chain attacks with Phantom Dive,
dive, not being so reliant on Crispin, but at the same time weaving in Monkey Dory for his
Brenna Brain on top of the fact that you have Phantom Dive to give you even more control over the
board. Here come the prizes, let's see where we're going, one drag-a-pot for one side,
one drift slope 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 he normally rely on Crispin to accelerate,
that could be a little bit troublesome as we get through the stages of the game.
I don't like the player really. Not perfect. Nothing dreadful there. There are still too
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 are chuckling.
They're cracking up right now. They're very relaxed. It wouldn't be on unbeaten runs so
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 Dragapult.
We've dusted them off because he is, of course, playing Patratt in his list.
And I think this might be a matchup where that tech guard can shine.
Did not do anything yesterday. Here are our opening Pokemon.
Here are our opening fist bump.
And we are rolling here with Swiss round 10 from San Francisco
the World Championships, but do start for Henry Chow and a
Dreepie 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 Dreepie 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
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 keyed 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 3P with an energy. We pass back
the game. We've got a lot of
players in the opening stages
and we're going to talk over
to Jackson. I'll have a
question for you, Joe. We got
free rec handy in Jackson's
list. Zero rec handy in
Henry's list. Do we think
that could be relevant as the
game goes along in terms of
big splash terms? It certainly
does in the opening stages. Both
players will look to use
but do so. It's unlikely it's
going to allow Jackson to have
a turn to big springboard
attacks or whatnot. But
is safe, can evolve instantly into a Blaziken, that can allow you to have a lot of burst acceleration.
So as the game progresses, those rare 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 Pokémon once per turn.
It solves the two-energy awkwardness of Dragapult. It's not going to be a phenomenal attacker in
this match up, but it is going to work great in terms of energy acceleration. It's basically
Dragapulse attack where you don't get to put six damage counters on the bench and you can't
use it next turn. Fairly significant downswing.
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 puffin, 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
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
ado was to stop you. Here comes Chris, Finn, my cast to pick. I'm feeling really good about that one,
frankly. I'm going to do an easy cast to pick, and just to be clear, no regrets, let's do it again
in a heartbeat, but we are getting a fire and a psychic energy.
What else would we get in a Dragonbolt matchup?
One of them is going to go to the hand.
One of them is 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 drak cloak 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 of Monkey Dory in his list.
They can be really influential cards
when you're trying to itchy pollen versus itchy pollen one another.
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 each.
But for them, this is as real as it gets, Joe.
And we now have no item card.
It's going to be an itemless card game for a little while.
As Henry plays a judge.
Yeah, both players opting to have one copy of Judge within their deck, so Henry saying that,
hey, I already have access to one Recon Directive, so 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 onto a drake cloak. Henry's trying to disrupt that straight away.
And I really like this. Your opponent proactively went and got a drake cloak with the poker pad,
and then we go to, well, you know, have fun. It's now back in 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.
Lilly'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, because that was a one-for-one trade.
They're trading one-for-one.
Just having confirmation here of what's going on.
There's a phase of both stop play for a little while, but it is a fire energy now coming into the prize for Henry and the darkness energy coming into a handful of Jackson
Jackson's got to promote himself. He's going to get a 3P with an energy on
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. So tempting. But the three red candy in Jackson's list,
I think Henry just wants to sit back. It's a big sigh of relief for Jackson though. Gonna
evolve into Combustion and we'll 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 fall and pray to a high roll hand from Jackson. So Henry
gonna slow things down that little bit, accepting the fact that he's made it difficult for Jackson
to get his own item not re-established.
Jackson does have eight cards here
who will now start looking for Suntra Cloak.
And maybe it is just the case of,
well, I'm gonna have items,
you're not gonna have items at one prize.
It's not going to be worth it,
but Pheasant Dipty is gonna go and grab three
with Flip the Script.
It's gonna be an Octoball and Energy and a Rescue Stretcher.
There's a lot of items here, Ross.
There's a lot of items.
It's just gonna be a knockout with Petty Grudge.
Well, that does enough to have it.
It doesn't do much.
Sorry, the bite attack.
The second attack.
The bite for 40.
Even the first attack, I think, might have done it.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
We got the KO, and now we've got it to cloak in the active.
Henry's hand, the boss's order is on a basic energy, Joe.
I think there's a Linnies poking out there as well.
This is the recon directive, those two cards.
Oh, thank goodness for that.
OK.
His hand was off to the side for a second.
I got a little bit terrified.
OK.
Then I'm slightly less terrified.
Yeah.
I think we're going to be in a slightly better position than that.
Henry's just really debating that recon directive.
I think, oh, was he debating?
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 it would leave him with a dragapult and nothing else,
and you would fall prey to an unfest and pretty quickly
if that was the case for Jackson.
So again, Henry going for a safer route,
gonna ult wall, find another draklok,
and then we'll see a fresh hand after attaching
an additional energy to the bench.
Henry is really nicely up on energy attachment
right now, as if you can find a Dragapult EX, 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 ulti-ball through the cloak, attaching energy. Lily's
determination for six with an empty hand. Can we get stuff through? Oh, okay. Not like
warring.
Unfair stamp.
Unfair stamp.
It did suffer a KO last turn. Your buddy was knocked out, has also flipped the script.
It's going to see a really nice stretcher.
Weaving the dusk out while we can.
And it is going to be Unfestam.
Launch straight away here from Henry Chow.
He's hoping to see from these five cards
that Dragapult EX are out to it.
I think it really helps getting the Fez and Dipty 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 Fez and Dipty down at the Jackson.
That's fantastic.
But outside of that, it's a combustor and a D.P. and a D.P., like, 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.
If you flip the script, drag a potty, that's already found.
That's nice.
And a buddy boffing to go and get some extra basics.
I really like the choice from Henry to reestablish Dusk Oldestern 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 to dust on 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 triplote here come flip
That's good for free and a very important note dust goal 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 gonna have a rescue stretcher coming down
We go and I think we're just gonna reestablish a dust globs
Just in case Jackson goes back into a pivot towards buddhu
Because Henry is really not expecting much from attack at all coming back from Jackson
Pretty much the best case attacker Jackson is likely to perform would be getting a blazerkine X seeing so it can half power itself up
Yep, but not much beyond that.
So Henry thinking, maybe Jackson's going to pivot back to Budgie for a turn.
Let me use these item cards quickly, as we are going 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 drops.
So it is just going to be five onto the 3P whilst floating 10 damage onto a pheasant Dippity EX.
So you can set that up for a phantom dive later.
Yeah, 10 on the Fez. It's absolutely standard.
It brings it down to 200 HP, which is Phantom Dive Territory.
We saw Henry actually searching out a secondary 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 three for the Fez and Dipty.
It's an energy.
I didn't see any other two cards.
Well, there's basic in EX. I think there's energy and bosses orders in the hand.
I think Jackson might be forced into the app. This try and slow down Henry in any way you can.
You can get one seeding spirit in here from basic in EX.
There's gonna be a psyche 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.
Blazerkin is not as good an attacker.
So, Henry, show us what you've got with certain dust globs.
It could straight up be game here, Ross.
If we have access to two dust globs,
we can retreat our Fezzendipiti,
curse blast the active,
curse blast the benched 3P.
Bosses orders up the Fezzendipiti.
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 Duskloft. We will need one more of those, and a Boss's orders and a Pivot.
There is 50 damage onto the Ben Striepe 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.
Yep, 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, says the dipty goes down, Henry goes up!
One game to zero. Really nicely performed there from Henry.
I love to see the acknowledgement of when to weave in these dust goals.
That's a harder skill than it looks, to be honest with you,
because it has that vulnerable 60 hit points.
There are situations where it's going to be a massive liability for you.
But Henry weaving in two dust goals on the turn where he used the unfair stamp
and took out all the energy from play meant that he could create a crazy forward
stay on that next turn of the game. Henry knows how to cash in on these ghosts. Absolutely he does
and that was massively played. Now as we see from the best dragapult players, they set these up.
One damage counter on the first of 15 so you can find inside it is easy, everything else is not.
Let's go take a look back at that game. So Henry here, it was the early curse blast onto the Badoo.
That was when Henry really turned into the aggressor, giving up a prize to take out the Badoo
to get his items back while looking his opponent. Yes, Jackson got the return KO, win a bite
onto that Badoo, but this put Henry really in the drive to see. We had that early judge
which made a big deal. We had the unfair stamp, which helped Henry was really playing a lot
with hand destruction here, and then we saw this four prize KO. It was a dust blocks onto
a 3P, and then you bust the, you know, you boss his orders,
the first dip, 10th to the active, 200 to that,
20 damage onto each of the 3P.
Where did the extra 20 damage go?
I mean, it has some plays to give,
but no one really cares,
because at that point the game is all ready over.
That was such an intriguing opening couple of turns
from both players.
It's rare that you see Duskloft's into Budu,
and there's even rarity of Bite KO onto Budu.
In some ways, that actually came back to Bite Jackson,
honestly, because then he got hit
with an Unburst after the following turn.
We're already in the game two here, Joe.
While that replay was finishing, the players were starting the game.
And once again, I'm seeing a little bit of deja vu.
We've got a bit due from Henry, and we've got a 3B from Jackson.
And actually, it looks like Jackson is telling Henry to go first.
And he's starting off with a buddy-buddy poffin for a couple of basics.
Why would he do this, Joe?
It's very common for the Blaziken...
Oh, sorry, the Dragapult 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 term one is great
and having extra access to those other basic Pokemon are still really important.
So you're basically saying to your opponent if they're forced first,
can they find as many buddy-buddy Poffin as possible in the first instance?
And even if they do use a Poffin, 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 cards 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 term one because you have access to a supporter
Yeah, and your opponent doesn't well unfortunately for Jackson Henry did get to DREP two dust gold
We're doing the active and an energy attachment. That's pretty much all you want having said that
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 can use 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.
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 this active Pokemon
to initiate that itchy pollen,
and at least try and limit the outs for Henry.
I know he's also sat on a monster right now.
He's already got Dragpoke,
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 rock in their first couple of the other first turn Jackson here is just about to get DDP number two and
DDP number three to go with the Torchic and even do 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 DDP
It's a bad doing 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 items for Henry, but he does have a trickloak and a lily's determination to eight
Yeah, that's not bad. So even under to this item lock you're going to see 10 cards and Henry now looking for those stage one 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
Dost Klopp's he immediately wanted to blast through the budu 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 dustclops so far and no help from the recon directive either so
It's a moot point in this instance. Henry's gonna have to take things slower
Unfortunately, there is no out to a dustclops. We do have a fire energy for the draklok
You could KO the Badoe 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 Dragloc becomes absolutely vital,
and it is just an itchy pollen.
10 damage on the Badoe, 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 stretch at 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 pretend actually therefore takes the KO
But Henry does get the Dragapult 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 ways of doing it.
Oh, here's the boss.
Yeah, he could have used Dawn and once again Cursed Blast of the Bodgy 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 one Pokemon and initiate this prize race.
I like this very much got the Badoo as well with that residual damage.
Very important did not leave any damage for all six on the Badoo
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 Ultra Ball getting rid of a bosses orders and...
This is an ugly discard honestly Ross.
can get energy right now, but I think we're going to have a rare candy plus
dragapult and now we're going to go Meowth 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 dragapult and
we have the unfair stamp to boot. 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
dragapult but you needed to use the Meowth and 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 oftentimes 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
Jackson's 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 Fez and even if there was there's no KO coming this turn
I probably will be on a dust goal to be fair, but there's no Fez and dipty to draw
There's no drake cloak to draw Henry's gonna 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 dust goal because of the threat of curse 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 3p
even if it evolved up to age with Cloak.
It is going to be in range.
Now, I like your four-processer, Joe.
Very well explained.
Even if it evolves, it's not being rare candy,
so the only to Cloak is getting evolved up.
But Henry knows it's not going to last any more than one turn.
200 goes onto the Dragapot from Phantom Dive as well.
But if you're Henry here, I mean,
you've got to get some drippy down.
Surely you've got to start preparing for life
after this Dragapot or this Cloak.
It may be a difficult life.
I don't know.
The Maltres might be one of the few poke ones
he considers here, as he can use Phantom Dive
and then maybe like Curse Blast and Maltres his way
through the active Dragapult.
Could be an option just to get rid of it.
It's going to be a lot of coming down.
And Jackson's choice of not taking out a Duskell here
has paid dividends, as the Recon Directive did access
that Fezant Dippity, 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.
When 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, John's very easy.
Bosses orders. You just want the bosses orders.
He's got the 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, but I won game one.
I get the choice of going first or second.
So let's go to game three with one game each to hardly play death in Jackson.
Yeah, that was awesome to see it from Jackson in that game number two,
especially because it felt like Henry's start was the stronger one.
He had a lot of basics on the opening term.
He got into the phantom type first, even with the bosses on his takeout.
Jackson's only track book, 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 Daisy Kinney X.
So as soon as there was a pattern dive, unlocking the items for Jackson,
he was able to immediately pop off with his stage 3 mode pot.
And it took a little bit with that Meowth for a Crispin after the Red Candy into Dragonbolt.
It wasn't just that, it was that combined with the unfair stamp.
When Henry had no Drakwok down, no Fezz of Dipty, no way for an extra card,
and it bought just enough time to put so much pressure in.
Let me say that, the Sid put the damage counter on 3p to say,
Even when it evolves into Dracloak, 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 go. They seem like they're having a really good time.
Yeah, they're quite relaxed right now, despite being in Swiss round of the 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 we want to make our way into the asymmetrical top cuts.
But to a lot of unhappy, you know, one player is going to remain undefeated.
Because I think we've got enough time left here that we probably aren't heading towards a tie
unless something unusual happens. There is enough time. We could still get a tie, obviously.
But I do think there is enough time here for one of these players to go and finish this up.
And you've got to think that's probably part of Henry's thinking there.
When the Droglo and the Dragapult went down, he could have played a couple more turns.
With a board of two, Duskull, I don't like him.
It's going to be very many more turns though, but I think here both players know, yes, 7-0-2 is a great record,
but the cutoff for the asymmetrical top cut is going to be so hard 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 Dripi.
How's that with our Fezantipity 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 cruel 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
Oh, yeah
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 Fezantipity start could be really handy
Jackson has also prized his one copy of Budu in addition to three of his energy cards.
Including both Darkness energy cards.
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 Cruel Arrow in two different match-ups.
In fact, we've seen it 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 and using a buddy-buddy poffin,
searching out a couple of those basic Pokémon.
But 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 Pokémon 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 cars
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 the 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 yet 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 prize check.
You have to know if you've got these things like two 3P prize.
We do see a poker pad searching out a drag poke for next term.
Of course, you are expecting to be item lock any time you're against a dragapult.
Although Henry is very aware of the Feds and Nifty.
And actually, if Jackson knew there were two 3D prize, oh, you'd go Feds.
Oh, Feds and Nifty would be an amazing strategy in that position.
Obviously, the second 3D 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.
You know, if you bench other poker cards, so it 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 opponent.
Henry's thinking about Moltres right now.
He has Moltres energy in hand.
Oh, I kind of... We're getting aggressive, Ross.
Oh, we are getting aggressive.
110 to that pheasant dipty with Moltres is fighting wings,
choosing not to item lock here.
And I kind of love this, because now,
if Jackson chooses to use Cruel 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 Dreepee.
Oh, yes.
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 gonna 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 two 3B prize.
Sometimes your prizes are so bad,
you'll just concede the game and go to game three.
You can't do that in game three.
So here we go with Jackson getting a new eight cars,
forced to re-evaluate his strategy
at the aggressive Moltres from Henry Chow.
Really does, and has to move this Pesantipiti this turn.
Have to stress that Budding in the prize cards
means he won't be able to shut down item cards
as he would typically like to do.
So Jackson maybe forced into a strange position
of bringing up even one of these drafts,
if he's able to find something from the lily,
as a better option for him.
Things get really awkward here.
That's before we've seen these eight cards though,
Maybe these will help out here. The very least needs to find some stage one Pokemon
Absolutely, he does
At least one Drakloak, okay
But he's popping so can get to work on a torch it as well here
There is one Drakloak in hands of a lovely alternate art from jerky who is in the building this weekend doing some signings
Yeah, you missed a signing with jerky to commentate this game worth it
Yeah, I would rather see that artwork while we're coming to you. Yeah, that's where you were both world
But we are going to see the 3P with the energy, we've got a Torchic on the bench, we've got
Meowth coming down, and we've got those 2 3P, 1 with an energy.
But we know but do, like when you retreat the Fersend Dipty, what do you retreat into?
Yeah, I think if you could evolve up into a Tricloak this turn, perhaps you can actually
hit with it and promote it, and just get 70 damage prodded into this Maltres to set you
up for future Phantom Dive.
The Maltres does great damage output, but only into EX Pokemon.
It's terrible. It's not exactly damaged. Yeah, you don't want to and that's doing not much realistically. So do I suppose? Yeah, it would be enough
But it's about all you're getting
But it is really into EX's that it shines here. We get the evolution into that dracoloke
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 2 evolution here, seeing as though you can just naturally evolve into Dragapult anyway next turn
Jackson is forced into a retreat option, but there's no easy targets
We don't have enough energy on anything to actually get some attacking going on with a little bit of a pain
This is tough if there was if there was a rare candy Blaziken potentially
But even then there's a clue this got to be awkward
So it's gonna be just that dracloak, but not to attack just to chill in the active
It's 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 recon directive picks up potential for judge and dusk ops both interesting choices here
I like dust globs. I like that they're both fun dust globs is going to be the choice for now
That's access to another cloak now as well with the poker pad. Nice
So we got and I think what's important out of the dust globs is you have to get this dust girl out of 60 hit point range and
Grow it up into a big dust globs instead
You don't want 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. No changing your mind fire energy that's taken
I'm gonna get an attachment down of a psychic. We are going to get the dust blocks
We're going to retreat into medu and it is just going to be back to itchy pollen
Your board is not well established enough really to do anything else exactly and you don't want that
But do sat on the bench for easy Phantom dive counters for the free prize card
So let's pivot out of there build up our board in the back and Henry is also holding on to his aspect
So what's better than a buddha to get knocked out to unleash that?
No, absolutely right and that's one of things I love about Badoo and he set up Pokemon
But if they get KO'd you can just go unfair stamp and if your opponent knows you're playing it
It's this awkward thing of well
I really don't like your Badoo and I want to get rid of it
But if I do get rid of it, I'm gonna 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
I may have had a really tough time to find any of these with all of those ball search cards locked away
I love this dawn supporter coming into these deck lists both pairs utilizing it's in their list
It's so vital in these Miramar 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.
Right, 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 when it got kept
we have an attachment to the active drakloak and an evolution
into dragapult. Keep that wreck handy, Jackson, that'll come in handy
in a future turn. You don't really want to phantom dive into the Badoo. 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
Badoo, but more importantly, we're spreading damage on those Stage 1s, saying, I can take them out later.
An interesting choice from Jackson. We know that Henry can evolve up into Dusterwa,
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 fleeing 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 to 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 upon with doing
They have to get dust wants to go and get dust while here's an energy onto the cloak, but now we see the
I mean, the good news is you do at least have Wanda 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 with that Cursed Blast open up, you can knock out the Dragapult this turn.
I mean, you can just flat out knock out Pheasant Dipty to a 2-4-1 on the bench if you also do that as well.
But I feel like taking out that Dragapult is just so vital when there's just one Drakloak there on the bench right now.
I would agree. There are several options.
Several options, Jackson.
I really can't... I can't... I can't... I can 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 of Recon Directives on top of that.
I didn't see access to any Dragapult EX just yet, so it does need some help here.
Oh, well, there's one.
Recon Direct, oh, Dragapult 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 Dragapult.
He kept Lily, I think.
He kept Lily, oh!
Yeah.
No, okay, so with Lily in for eight cards, no prizes taken.
It is a full eight, slight risk here.
There's no other, oh, there is a Dragapult.
Okay, so you've got this plus Recon Direct.
You expect to hit it off the top 10, you're getting 10 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 10 cards are so many, you're so likely to get that, and other things on top, so Henry's not content with just the 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.
there was a rescue stretcher, but it's not there.
Regal Reckless gets the dragapult.
There we go. Didn't take it for 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 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 going to curse
off the active here.
It's the play that makes the most sense.
You could try and take out that draw engine
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 Stamped, you definitely no question go for the Dragapoll.
And I still think, I agree with you, I love the play. It's just because you unfair stamped,
it's taking out that Fesendipte in addition to that. Just seems very tempting.
But like you say, you are then just giving your opponent an attack. And that Draklok on the bench will go down.
Yeah, no question. I mean you can hit this drag-up pot and then also put as much damage on to the
Bench trackloat for Jackson as possible as well
The board is full so there's no monkey gory 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
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 first dipty is in range from the residual damage from a phantom dive
So now you can basically curse blast the dragapult
Yeah, take the KO and then you chaos something like a me up. You got a six twice. Yeah
He's gonna win next turn 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 blast last time. Yeah
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?
Your opponent basically needs boss to guarantee game next turn.
I think you go after the dust one.
Well, we've just seen the Lily's determination. Dust one would have been the safest way to do so.
You take that off the board, then you deny the six prize turn.
But Jackson only had the two cards from the moment of their stamp and the one recon directive.
No access to the bosses order, so it has to go for the fresh hand.
But really, he's at the mercy of Henry at this stage, who could simply end it all with the bosses all his next turn.
Absolutely, he could. Here's just six cars from Lilly'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.
There's not even a way to mind bend here because the board is full.
Could we get an area zero?
No, there's not even an area zero in Jackson's list.
He's playing Watchtower and Risky Ruins.
I think he's announcing an attack, Joe. The Drakloak goes down.
is a simple as that. If Henry draws the boss's orders, this game is going to be over. Does
he have one in hand? Such a large hand size, but no copies of boss's orders. I don't think
he's used recon directive. He's looking at his notes for the prize cards. Can he fish
for it with cursed 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 Cursed Blast wouldn't give him even a chance to find Boss's orders.
No, there's no Boss in the prizes. So I think you have to search for it. Wait, I'll
read it. No, that was in the discard. My apologies. So we haven't even got a way to
fish for it. This is just a funny boffing affirming the situation.
what looked like from such a large hand from Henry,
it looked so clear that the game could have been over,
but just lacking the boss's orders at the crucial moment.
How often have we said that this card
is the defining one in games?
Well, the good news is,
Jax has 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 dragapult coming up out of nowhere.
And Henry, after searching out for this six prize turn,
feels like it might be running away from him here.
What a tense game three,
as we see Henry Chao shuffling up from a 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 fit that way.
A jamming tower.
No, there's no. There's no
nothing we can get from the
from the night stretcher that's
helpful. We just retreated to
Maltres here and trying to get
to hitting. Um I think I'll
actually get the KO. Yeah,
there's 110 left. Yeah. So
Maltres will get a KO and at
least I think that's probably
to play. You do that. You
give your opponent more cards
but flip the script. No, I
think I think you have to
script and then your 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.
Oh it was just going for it here. Okay so this is where it gets scary a Phantom Dive
here could potentially put the game almost out of reach if Jackson's able
to get it going here. I don't know I don't know how you take the last two prizes
if his Dragapult goes down, like, stop me, Joe, am I missing anything?
How do these last two prizes come if this Dragapult goes down?
Well, you can still Curse Blast and Boss' 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, but Henry now is living on essentially top decks
to try and find Boss' orders.
So we can still Boss and Curse Blast to take out the Meowth.
I mean, look, it's a line. It's certainly a line.
Jackson has just redirected an 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.
And he is living on top decks right now, Ross.
He is absolutely living on top decks.
It's a great way to put it.
I think the watchtower is definitely to play here because special red cards
could 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
Octavool 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 hand, I almost wrote that off as saying
that's going to be there somewhere.
We're going to find a way to that.
It probably has it.
Yeah.
I can see he probably has it, but I still want to see it.
Let's see, what else can...
Well, there's a night stretcher.
That should secure the attack.
So we have a night stretcher,
one of those where it's going to be Fesantipity EX
coming into the equation.
We've got the energy.
Are we...
Do we have more night stretcher in here?
Do we have a fire energy in the discard?
Yeah, we do.
Quite a few pieces.
We still have our support for the turn as well.
Okay, so it looks like we're going to be good to get...
Oh, there's a dragon pop we've had.
So, okay, so the attack is now definitely on board.
There's no issue there.
Here comes the poker pad.
That's gonna go and search out a non-Rulebox Pokemon.
It is going to be that Monkey Dory.
Yep, deck 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 gonna be enough.
We see that second copy of night stretcher for fire energy for the turn. There's the attacker. That's all up and rolling now
That team Rockets watch tower has to come down. You drastically limit the outs here. Oh, absolutely
I'm asking 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 bosses orders, it's game over anyway, so you may as well bench it. Yeah, but they're not gonna bust all
They're gonna win right?
Crispin as the supporter for turn
to get a couple of energy out of the deck. Just try and make sure
that again, Jackson knows that Henry has got the initiative here.
Yeah. Henry, if he has what he needs, Henry will win this
game and there's nothing Jackson can 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. Can
Baskin get involved? There is. We have an energy. There's what
was 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 either Henry wins this
turn or Jackson is going to take the boss he's gonna bring the me out into the
active he's gonna cast blast he's gonna KO with Moltres and Henry chow top dexter
perfect card at the perfect time for a 2-1 win he's stunned
and Jackson did everything right couldn't have watched tower down so it had to be boss
It couldn't be old school. It couldn't be me out. It had to be boss and Henry rip set off the top
He had no draw on board. He had to talk deck it
My head is spinning Ross
Three we just watched Joe that's insanity
Stuff dreams are made of Henry Chow with the 10 plus card hand
Proactively 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 watched our limited the out
substantially
Removing Meowthi X for the guaranteed bosses orders at that stage
Oxford would have been only for festivity to draw three cards and really punt 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 curse 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 3P popping some damage down but it was this huge
4-price turn at the end of the game using those dust blocks and then bosses
in the first half of the
season. He was able to launch
his early bosses orders, taking
four prizes in one turn for a
really definitive one win. What
an awesome game. One says the
opening stages was just so
bizarre from both players. It
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 an early
bosses orders plus phantom type,
but Jackson bounced back with
That was enough going over into game three.
And both players set up right nicely again.
Jackson gets a early dragapult,
but he has to punch into the batoo
and then spread some damage on the bench.
Both players go back and forth,
and Henry sets up so much damage on the board,
he's setting up for a sixth prize turn,
but he's not able to pull off the sixth prize turn.
He takes four prizes,
go in the dragapult and the pheasant dipty,
and it goes back to Jackson who can't win the game,
but he can put himself in a good position.
Henry then meets exactly boss off the top,
and actually somehow draws it, pulls up the Meowth,
gets the KO with a combination of Cursed Glass
and Fighting Wings, and Henry takes an unlikely
game-free victory.
And you see the reaction there.
I think that we've all top decked for game.
We've all done that, but top deck for game.
Let's go to the interview.
And I'm with bosses orders,
I mean, I think that's the
favorite competitor of the day.
Thus far Henry has 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 bad crazy. Just a
ton of insane swing turns both
ways and games two and three. I
of course got pretty lucky to
kind of stand him in Game one.
And I mean, just that last
sequence was insane. I mean,
when I literally I thought I
And I drew none of it and then I put my jamming tower down
But I didn't consider that he might play watch tower and I got massively punished and that just
Unbelievably bailed out by the boss orders. That was wow. Yeah, I mean that was insane
Absolutely unbelievable. Did you really kind of feel your heart sink before that boss to come around thinking I have no draw
What am I gonna do? Yeah?
I mean I spent that a whole turn hoping that he would red card me because even though I did nothing on the previous turn
I took four prizes
So I mean a four is already greater than three right, but he told me that he had a recon between wash tower and red card
And I think he made a really smart decision by getting the watch tower because I could have the mouse out in hand
But of course I may have played the mouse boss of all. I don't know. Yeah, it was really interesting mind games
But at the end of the day, you know, my win probability went like this to this to this
It was a roller coaster to watch 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 Ball mirror which to anyone who saw the
graphic that is a completely unbelievable statistic. I fit some Slow King, some Zora arcs,
some of that raging bolt decks. You know I've got pretty good matchmaking but Slow King deck was
was difficult, but we managed to get there.
Came to the day at 7-0-1, tied my first round against
Krosil, 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 done,
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 roller coaster, you came up trumps.
You absolutely nailed it.
It was a nailed biter of a match.
Are there any opponents you might be afraid of going forward
that you know are on similar records?
I think there's a chance I may hit Brent Tonneson. I know an X one. There's Kelly White playing raging bull
I think that's an okay matchup for me. So I wouldn't mind that
But obviously a world to every single competitor is just incredible. I also I 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 how have you to have got this one? That's crazy as a man then I
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 showers before I let you get on with your event
Shout out to bogey 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 by
Absolutely rooting for you my friend. Thank you so much for such a super star set there
and we're going to have a
little bit of fun here, 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. Time does Henry. I'm not
sure anybody will at this
tournament is loving 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
for one another. 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
reign 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've got a friend here in the studio.
We've 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. 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 the 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 gonna 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 Dust Clubs in order to take out his opponent's body.
I think that was a major decision after a charge as well.
You know something you'll commonly see, you want to use Dust Clubs or Dust No. 2,
perhaps take down a bench-drunk cloak 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 a poke pad,
and you give yourself body-body puffing, so I generally think that was a major decision,
that was very important, and we saw Jackson follow that up with a bite KO, I believe.
for the first time, right,
which I'm a judge, a turn to
judge. It's still one likely,
right? So I don't think that
was like any sort of baby. It
just happened to the Henry
lock shine on him. Just as we
saw towards the end. Yeah, the
value that you can get from
that dust while you really have
to time really well and I was
not expecting the budget
knockout. But like you said,
judges, one of those support
cards that you kind of you
look at your hand and you're
like, do I trust you today on
you stay or not. So when you go for the dust stops, it's so that you can at least have those
additional outs. I can see why the Cogs were wearing for Henry in that regard, where normally
you try and build all the way up to a duster wall to get more bang for your butt 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 Fesendipity, my favorite play for sure.
Yeah, that's something else that I would love to show, how like you're gonna threaten me
with Fizzan Dippity, I need the immediate response to that, right? So then now your Fizzan Dippity
play is getting punished by my Muldra. Sure, knock on a Drip-E, I get two prizes in return,
I get three extra Drip-E's perhaps from my price cards, your three energy investment,
which is huge in Dragofold, 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
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
a perfect response rather, that was the perfect response from Henry, had to make Jackson default
back to the body plan and then he defaulted to body, 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 then we 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 he's always
becoming 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
coming into Extra. Extra action for the Pokemon 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.
Round ten, 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 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 Genesect in the active,
and Arnie is going to be rocking the Slokin 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, he will 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 Deck works, the very unusual deck.
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 rule-bought 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, or 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 Sloking to copy these wild attacks of Pokemon
that actually aren't good on their own because they're stage 2s or whatever,
but Sloking makes them work.
That is the very basics of how this Sloking deck works.
First, we need Sloking. We need energy.
Is there going to be any mega Cagnus card coming onto 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 pop-in off the top,
and it looks like it also has access to at least the born 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.
Very nice.
It's going to be an Alakazam,
and it's either going to be an additional Abra or Dunsparse 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 tri-frost cross
Yeah, there's a chai room that you play in slow king
It's another one of these cars is way too expensive to play normally, but it deals a hundred and ten to three
Pokemon that's free Abra taken off the board in one go you
Absolutely have to respect the chai room anytime you play against low king because it's not five energy
It's just too on a slow king that shaman stops the bench being targeted
so absolutely vital with the threat of that Kyurim Lumen over.
Arnie 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 Slowpoke wouldn't go amiss either.
It's actually a second Latias, Joe.
Yeah, there's some funky stuff going on in Arnie's hand,
but that's for sure, because we are manually attaching to Latias
for a second turn in a row here.
Is there much else going on?
Well, there's the lucky helmet.
He is 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, I so we basically suffered to go to get that Latias onto the bench and protect that 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 Sloky can get knocked out so easily,
so you have to constantly rebuild these Pokemon.
But of course, Tri-Frost also discards those energy.
We're not going to see any Tri-Frost 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 Patches in the list.
Right now, though, no basics like currently in the discard pile.
So it's going to be a bit of a combo if that's going to come together.
Absolutely. I just see two energy on a Latias.
I can't remember the last one, so 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 poke just to have a single prize Pokémon 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 Eikidabra, and then a rare candy into an Alakazam.
That's going to be five cards total drawn to the evolution into Godabra 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 the 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
Thanks 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 with your damage output getting absolutely
atrocious later on in the game it can be absolutely terrifying to come up
against this actually at least four cards in hand to KO the slowpoke right
we need to have at least four cards he's got a lot more than that but he has
passed action over he didn't it looked 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 with something on he hasn't really been doing very well in this game at all
Wow evolving into smoking 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 an attack we can attack but we can't attack right now
We would need more energy and wanderers 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 the active, I suppose
Honey, he we know he's working with not a lot
Even in this position choosing to evolve and attach to the active rather than onto 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
Here's an evolution into Alakazam. We're going to draw three cards, give more options to get towards that air balloon.
We're going to draw two from Kadabra evolution as well.
So there's five extra cards, five extra choices. The Genesects, what's the retreat cost of Genesects?
It's the two retreat costs, I think.
It's a one retreat cost, so even just a manual attachment would allow a pivot here onto that Genesects.
And there we go. Just an attach and retreat.
So, yeah, that was never going to hold,
and there was already an energy on the Alakazam here.
The buddy Poffin to go and get a dunce pass for next turn.
Bit low on that space for dunce pass, which is sad.
What is not sad, Kayle on the slow king.
Yeah, Diego was running away with this game.
Like, Shaymin immediately turns this match up
from pretty awful to really quite strong.
And 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.
We are on game three. We are one game each year. This is our third and final game winner of this will go on to an 8 1 1 record trying to say a lie for the
Ace medical 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.
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 slow poke and a Lillis
tafferi 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 Latiat. And I think we might already be there. There's
a poker pad being searched out. That is presumably going to go and get a dunce pass to evolve
what we benched last turn, or what Diego benched last turn,
and that means that we are going to be able to see
a dunce pass going back into the deck.
That is going to draw three cards, but not before Alec,
because that involves 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 prize Pokemon on the board,
so 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 feel 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 slow king though. Will he have access to a
Academy 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 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.
Lanna'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.
Sloking 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.
Even one more play is taken for Diego,
and he just requires one bosses' orders to close out this game three.
And one might not even need a bosses' orders like this, right?
Not if that Latia stays in the active, which, you know, it won't, but imagine Green.
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 attacker you want, and Sloking, and Energy, and Wanderer's patch.
Just to get an attack roll in this turn, and it is going to be
alterable for me, Alphaline'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 takebacks.
We're in game three, so Arnie has to play towards what he can get.
If he can find that wondrous patch,
sloking and a means of attacking, he can at least force Diego to have
an energy and a boss's orders.
That's all Arnie is hoping for at this stage.
If he can get through two Alakazam somehow,
the game. We're going to see
how. Maybe there could be a
window of opportunity. It's
really just hoping that Diego
doesn't have the cards in his
incredibly large hand size.
There it is. Doesn't there we
go. First bump into a hand
shaking Diego Casaraga takes
this two games to one. Alakazam
a real contender this weekend
Joe and Diego Casaraga trying
to become only the second
player ever to repeat as the
World Champion for the world
champion in 20 30 Diego is a
veteran, not only getting that
win which everyone claims him
for. He's also got multiple
top dates in the world
championships before I feel
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 doing well again. I have
actually have a Diego fact as
the world championship. It
has been wearing a hat for 20
years, but wanted to stress it's
no longer a day today wear hat.
This is just for big events.
It's washable. It has been
washed. Excellent, but it is
not day today for 20 years. It
was day today. It is now the
event hat and look if I won the
world championships, whatever
hat I was wearing, that would be
my world's high until the end of
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
do. We 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.
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 cup
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 seeds seven, eight, nine, and 10, they will play.
So the lower seed, if not everybody plays
in the asymmetrical top cup,
it is only the lower seats that do so the higher you finish you might legitimately get a round off
maybe the 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 but the last match we had on the stage was Henry and Jackson
board. We ended up speechless during that one, but we can listen into what they were thinking and saying during their set.
You're in bad shape because I've also upped my pokey pad count from three to four hundred.
Well, I didn't have one, but you didn't have a problem with your book.
You're setting up just five. I hope your ultra ball count has also been upped a little bit.
I got to listen to Azula this day, man.
What did Azula say?
Azula said you can never forget the cruel arrow stradded.
Ah!
You know the original cruel arrow game.
I don't know.
I don't know what to remind you of that game.
That was like a low light in my entire Pokemon career.
Okay, welcome back to Faster than Acosta, where we find out if any friends are faster
than Acosta.
and if they are they get a booster pack of mega evolutions so guys are you ready i'm ready sure
amazing okay your question is can you name me ten pokemon that have a stage two evolution line
waltz like like two stages like i don't know only name the second stage so just the first
Okay, Ralts, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Turtwig, Torchic, Muckip, Chimchar, Dracapult, or Trepey,
Dratini, Gasly.
And that's 10!
Congratulations!
You won for the Augusta!
It was 17 seconds and you won 20!
Oh, that's a lot of effort.
You won faster than a Caster!
It was 17 seconds and you went 20!
Aww, yeah, you just go.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you so much.
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 Diego.
26 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 got to get me popping out behind everything that we can let's take a shot of it
Hey, how's it going?
Beautiful pieces. Bring it in close here. I want you to take a look at this for
everyone at home. This is a fantastic piece. This is the beautiful Sableye we
have right here. Without question, one of the finest we have. Beautiful, sparkly.
We have the Eevee right next to it and finally the Jigglypuff. Very nice
collection.
The official match, limit one per customer, but I count as two customers, so I will take
two.
No.
We have now transitioned from the world championships to the XP area, space-themed, extremely cool,
in my opinion, cooler than the world championship area.
I'm probably not supposed to say that.
Let's do some pop-outs.
Boom, pop-out.
Okay, okay.
Get a picture of me with the Umbreon.
Here you go.
The World Championship play mat in a bag.
Also, limit one.
These are different though, so I can take them.
Yes?
Yes.
I got a yes.
Place is pop-out.
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 Kearley the best.
I have been excited to see this the entire time.
This is the item I have had my eye on
more than anything else, this jacket right here.
It's beautiful, it's special.
I'm not exactly sure where I can wear it,
except everywhere, and I want it very bad.
I will be back for it,
because secondly, I'm not allowed to shop for this right now.
on the horizon as we close out our second phase of Swiss.
Welcome back to the Pokemon TCG World Championships.
We'll be crowning 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 12.
$5,000 never hurt nobody, allegedly, but you know, there's plenty on the line.
Those cool backpacks for top 32, I know a lot of players like to sport
some Pokemon swag throughout the future events to come up.
A lot of cool memorabilia for those players within the top eight, especially
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.
Yeah. You get a ton of stuff for being the world champion here in the Pokemon trading card game.
I'm so excited to see how the rest of the day is going to filter out.
I think our main storyline of, okay, Dragapult'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, which really starts respecting Alakazam, but to have Alakazam be more than half of the top
spots yesterday in uh, uh, Swiss phase one. Very interested to see how the rest of the day is going to go for that.
Well, hopefully you 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 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 this drone show
is kind of a key staple it feels like of the world at this point and it's very
emotional for a lot of people you know for a lot of players you know they've
worked this entire year to go see these drones show they're either their favorite
Pokemon or even just, you know, 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 the Spheal Planet to be honest.
I know a lot of people online have been
vibing with that one.
That's gotta be one of my favorites.
Definitely took it 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, I like how we're showing this post in particular.
World celebrations should still be happening at 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 worlds featuring Gardevoir.
And with the deck here from
KS it looks like a
Little bit of a betraying the name apologies there
But winning a celebration tournament with Emily one of your favorite decks raging bolt
Yeah alive and well and still kicking it here at this tournament at some of the top tables
Yeah, definitely for sure
Maybe not exactly the raging bolt that I know and love anymore
I think mega can just on is really just going to kind of take over the archetype and then raging bolt is the one that kind of
finish is off Dragapult in the end.
But speaking of Raging Bolt,
I feel like a lot of players really came to this tournament
anticipating Raging Bolt to be the one
that kind of takes Dragapult's crown off the head,
especially because Raging Bolt can hit those high numbers
very easily, even under EigenLog,
using StiltDance and using Crispin as well.
So the thing is the field came teched for it
with Al Kazam and Lillie Schofari.
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 Bull.
Well, we're through 10 Swiss rounds thus far.
We've got two more rounds to go, and we
can take a look at how things have shaped up
at the top of the tournament.
Brent Tonneson undefeated a perfect 10-0 record.
He has already secured himself a spot in top cut,
potentially dodging the asymmetric portion.
See how the rest plays out.
Mateus in a great spot to advance.
Honestly, looks potentially locked up if he so chooses to could intentionally 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 of 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 Dragonhold EX, I know, Shocker, ladies and gentlemen, Alakazam, and some of those
big basic decks.
really what encapsulate the top of the format and does 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 rune on that crustal event it's about
time that we do talk about it because I think a lot of players before this
tournament we're really kind of looking away from Crustle saying you know what
there's going to be way too many single prize Pokemon that can take out
Crustle 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 Crustle 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
Brussels? We saw in the past, you know, Karris Jones, when she took down that
regional championship, had techs for said deck. 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 neck to potentially deal with the crustal a little bit of a unconventional leg
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 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 American
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 Pult, I'm excited to see
how exactly he wants to either tech his current list,
fill the rest of the room here,
or if he's just saying, you know what consistency
is King like Fred?
And this is a common thing for Andrew.
Started the day off at six and two.
If you look back to when he took down
the North American International Championships,
he started at six, two and one,
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.
It's, 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.
You'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?
Yeah, and what Brent decides to do
in these next couple of matches is strategic.
Yes, he's locked up for a spot in top cut.
They have some control over who he wants to keep in said top cut.
There's a bit of meta gaming 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 short.
And I think the big change that we've had over the past couple of months
is that the higher seed you are heading into a symmetrical top cut,
you get to choose whether you'd like to go first or a second.
And in a deck like Dragapult that really has that straightforward turn one,
Do you have some drippies?
Do you have the do any 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 cut to go.
Because we know Brent Tonneson, he's hungry for that round.
Yeah, important that you mentioned,
a higher seated player in going first.
That's something to think about.
We'll touch more on that a bit later, but for now,
I know 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
had a strong start to day one, worked his way through.
A bit of missteps in day two.
Up against Andrew Hedrick, it's going
a battle between Japan and North America.
Well the headsets are on so Ethan, I know we made everybody at home sit through
Dragapult last year. I'm 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 Ethan, 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 anything
I'll leave it to you Loponny Bronzon 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 typing to it.
Crashing Hammer definitely an 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 Dragon Bolt, or as powerful as it is, is a stage 2 Pokemon.
There is no way for Andrew to directly play around this attack that forgets 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, Emily, finding alternate ways to approach
rather than the typical, okay I'm gonna evolve, I'm gonna use energy, Phantom Dive,
he's gonna have to get a big creative in this match.
And if it's one player that we'll be able to, and 100%, it is Andrew Hedrick, who knows the deck extremely well.
And of course, it's going to be some of Dragor Pulse'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 Fez and Dipity 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 Jody's list.
this matchup. Of course,
playing the bronze on playing
the dust more, but as I alluded
to a little bit earlier is
playing a copy of that make a
lot funny 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
I think I've seen in a deck with dust gore, it's four copies of dust gold, two dust blocks, and four dust gore with four rare candy.
Honestly, in this matchup, Joji might give more prize cards to Andrew than he naturally would take by knocking half of a month.
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 archetype off, saying it's a one-off loop, but look at Joji still 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 at the world championships.
You gotta ask how many of my opponents have played against this style of deck.
How many players know the correct line?
And if they don't, they're not gonna have enough time to adjust on the fly.
You see exactly how things play off.
Opening, coin flip, already in place.
You 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
bronza on turn while 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 can be a huge advantage since you kind of
outtrade the bronzer at 70 with that dragon headbutt to 30 from that and
speaking of Dracloak, oh my goodness, double Dracloak in the prize cards as long
is 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 Joji needs is one energy to really get going here.
Always looking at the dust floor line
as well as one dust box and one dust goal
being in the prizes.
Could spell tragedy for a little bit later.
The question is, what does Joji technically want
to open up here?
Of course, mega Kangaskhan feels pretty good,
But I can't imagine if Joji is sitting across from Andrew Hedgick,
he can't possibly think of that.
It won't be Dragunov 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.
It'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 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 Bronzong 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 gonna be those basic Pokemon,
Bunkie 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 darkest energy in hand.
Meowth for the following turn,
there is the pass over to Joji. What is he sitting on? Does play Mechakangus gone as well as something
like Latios EX to pivot in and out. You'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 but looking for energy even 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 gonna 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, as Meowth 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 Nightstretcher 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 of Pokemon coming down, as you mentioned,
Meowthie X, grabbing Lily's determination
to filter through the deck a bit,
and immediately Beneri 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 Dragonpole
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 that the Bidu can present some problems down the line.
Of course, shutting off item cards, things like Rare Candy.
We do have one of those dust cups in the prizes.
So could be a bit more annoying to establish that.
Does this site did not bench that dust goal?
What might Joe G be 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 knee 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 dreapy up and running, but they're set me out. You can only assume for
Lily's determination to go a little bit further. But the problem is now, if Andrew doesn't find a
draft loco of this Lily'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.
We'll really be curious to see what takes place this trend. Thinking about playing the
the crushing hammer decides to it is a heads and that does this car 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 yet 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 Ichi pollen 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.
And as you mentioned, Dracloak on the menu, on the to-do list,
immediately Pokepad 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 Draklo
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
to keep out what to grab.
Psychic Energy.
Looks like Rosa's Encouragement.
Not a card that can be used as both players are tied on prizes,
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 a 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
So C.I.C. Pollan 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
that 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 bench
the second Bunniri 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 balls 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 OK 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 Mitra Cloak, 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 Baneeri is ready to go, but Lodios using
Skyliner switch into the active and now it's up to Bronze on here to try and
tank some of this damage. There is a dustclops there, okay?
Okay, that's dustclops. It's so hard to tell the difference with somebody's illustration rare.
The stage lights are very shiny.
Blinging out these cards, I see you in the moonlight, dustclops, dustclops,
dustclops are maybe coming to your door in a few business days.
Fezendipity is promoted immediately.
Andrew having the Crispin can put these energy onto Fezendipity,
draw some cards with Recon Directive,
and that flipped the script ability.
Now the big decision, Emily.
What Pokemon does he want to target from this cruel era?
Well, it's really hard to say, right?
I mean, the Dusk Lops is ready to go right then and there,
and that could do some damage.
But then Fezendipity is already in the active,
so Mega Lop Bunny 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 cursed 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,
Kao'ing the Beniri plays around that Gale thrust 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, crush a hammer, and this signals he won't be going after the Bronzong this turn.
Hopefully not, and that is going to be Dracloak as well.
Now starting to draw some cards. Spoiler alert, what's the dustmort that was drawn for Joji?
And now if this Fezzendipity 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 gets the Lily's determination.
Stamp is a lie, ladies and gentlemen.
It does nothing.
So you may as well play a different aspect in your deck.
Just kidding, of course, but Joji more than happy to find that release determination, evolved into the Lopini,
Andrew 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 who 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 bronze on at a play. Now granted, I believe that's ultra ball rare candy here,
so could find the dust nor into taking out the track look at 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 a Dragapult EX into play for three turns at minimum.
Won't be able to evolve thanks to Evolution Jarrah, that's one.
To recloak 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 Dracloak or Dragapult EX into play?
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 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.
Believ Jochi 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.
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's really stuck with the two cards in his hand and that bronzong is going to be staying there for quite some time
So well, yes, it seems like Andrew has a really clear path of taking out this dust goal
It's gonna be then Joji up to him to respond because then Fesendipity 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 gonna be the secondary attacker here and look at this already Crispin.
So now Monkey Dory's mind-bed is going to be up and running already.
This is just a tough spot for Andrew.
Jouji 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.
That's looking a little bit rough for Andrew as well here, so the question is does he want to just
avoid everything by retreating Fezendipity 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 Fezendipity if a switch is played.
You still put pressure as well on Jouji to find a switch because if the Bronzong flips tails from confusion
You get to buy an extra turn and put Double Drakloak into play. Would you 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 night stretcher
So it is going to be that exact play. Monkey Dory comes up, Mindbent to deal 60 damage plus confusion as well as putting
three damage counters onto Duskull threatening another Adrenaline to KO it on the following turn.
Well 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, that is the enriching energy big four cards, Ethan.
needs to find switch already played a supporter car this for their four copies 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
Fezzantipity's 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 Megalopony EX,
that means the evolutions are up and running once more for Andrew.
That would at least mean that Draclo 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 Duskull 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
able 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 Dragopoltex 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 the script.
There's already 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 boss's 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
Bronzong 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 the damage counters over.
Plenty of options to go.
Ultra ball next.
What else is Andrew looking for on this turn?
Could be another draft 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 Pokémon
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 Dracoloc,
and like we talked about, if Joji so chooses to go back into Bronzon
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 the Night Stretcher, so another Draglok has been
established and the Ultra Ball for Monkey Dory has been played.
It really comes down to the prize map.
Who can close the game out faster?
If you accept that you want your Evolution Pokemon to go online, then there's also 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.
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 arrow 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 meow 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
Duskull. Duskull 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 Lawpony is still in the active and granted. While 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
Dragopolty X next turn. 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. That's my goat. Blood Moon or Saluna. You can't
quite get into the fray just yet. It can always be a great option to close the game out. So Lily's
determination played as we mentioned. No Fezzendipity EX. So it will just be these six cards drawn. If
There's a switch, of course.
Megatangaskan 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 Gael 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 goal,
that would be two damage counters already onto the dust goal 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 goal 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 it.
There wouldn't be the ability to take two knockouts onto the bench and Adrenaline brain not an option since you 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 dusk all into play
Leaving things out there for decision
Like you had mentioned, this Ladeos 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 4-2-4 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?
But going into the Mega Kangas gun, could we see a switch in hand and just go straight
already again for the Gale Throws?
It's an interesting choice to retreat and then play the switch.
You would, of course, remove an energy off of your Pokemon when you could have just played
the switch, gone into Mega Kangas gun, and retreat.
So see 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 Duskull.
We'll make sure our judges are aware and get that settled.
Here we go, Lopony comes into the active spot, KO with Gale Thrust.
And now one prize card away from closing this game out, Tricloak 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.
Could 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 were to be paired with a boss's orders,
assuming that that dunk sparse is going to jump back into deck here.
But as you mentioned, the roses encouragement is definitely a line
He could take here, but there's the poke a pad so done sparse to done sparse
Excuse me is going to have to be the pull but look how many cards are left in Andrews deck compared to the hand
Is roses encouragement available? It is it's already in the hand for Andrew
So he has all of the pieces necessary
Roses encouragement can be played since he has more prize cards left
Accelerating to 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 benched 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 and you know what they say when you're up against
a bear in real life you got to 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
It feels like you kind of have to at this point,
and granted, leaving the out right there.
So for Joji, 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 locked, he
plays around something like Blood Moon Ursaluna
to come into play.
But on the contrary, does Skull
can evolve into Dusk Glops or Dusk Noir and use that Cursed Blast since Andrew is still
at 3 Prize Cards.
So he's going to decide to KO the Duskle, we'll see where he places these last two
damage counters.
Something potentially like on the Bronzong puts it in range of Adrenal Brain, but instead
wants to make sure something like Ladiasi X can also be KOed.
Comes down to the final cards here.
What is in Joji's hand?
Know the boss's orders has to be the way.
I say, Pokeypad, 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, so going through the deck, thinning 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?
It 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 Ron Arendt.
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 retreat the Mega Lop Bunny there,
so it would lose the energy.
Then you would need Switch and Bosses' orders onto the Meowth,
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?
I didn't even know 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.
Looking through, there is an energy.
So one card off finding the combination is gonna play this last ditch bosses orders to bring up me out
But if Andrew Hedrick has an energy card and a boss's orders of his own mega Lopini 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 mega Lopini goes down and after a back-and-forth game one Andrew Hedrick
I think it's really important to note, Ethan, that Andrew did go first in this matchup.
Stereotypically, Dragapult loves 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, banning me out there, ideally those two spots on the bench could have been
Duskull.
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 kangaston but still i'm wondering if it is going to be joji
who's going to be able to find a way to get bronzang out just a little bit faster saw the power of
that evolution jammer in combination with the curse blast to take care of your cloak the mvp
100 percent matchup plus fezzendimity ex of course known for that flip descriptability 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 crafty right attacking with the
the Monkey Dory, 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 Noor and Dust Clops 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 excellent starter.
bronze ore 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 dust goal 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 women. 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 Baneiri when there's two in the deck, not too bad.
Whole squad is here. Speaking of the squad, double buddy, buddy popping for Andrew to kick the turn off.
We of course do see one of those Badoo 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 Badoo
as a staple in this dragapult 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 them just because
because Jochi doesn't have too much of help in terms of that draw support
without Mega King is gone in the fray.
I think that will be sorely missed for Andrew down the line.
Taking a look through the deck, identifying the prize cards may be reliant,
yet again on an early use of that Meowth EX's last-ditch catch ability.
Clote number, excuse me, 3-3 coming down to play.
And now the question becomes, where do you commit energy attachments?
in early with itchy pollen that would require the monkey to work to retreat.
It seems like Fezendipity EX yet again a crucial strategy in this matchup.
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 Badoo but that is not coming into play at all. Rather Andrew
just deciding to get his Tresio Fezendipity 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 sync at the point that he has to understand
That bronze on is going to come into play next turn and it's all about finding those crispens to get fizzendipity 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 be unable to evolve and look at
that off the top Hilda will guarantee the bronze on plus another energy card
with the way Andrew's hand is looking he's not gonna have a solid of a response
as he did in the first game absolutely not and I always like to point it out
Ethan now much time left in this round either only 17 minutes to go here that's
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.
Does grab the telepathic psychic energy and is shuffling the deck.
So wonder if he is deciding to keep that card.
We're just going to see no Pokemon grab now putting some more energy off 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.
Hopefully does not bite him in the back.
No, is sitting on a lot of us of his own attachment to the monkey Dory already
happened past and there's the Latias and here we go.
Slow riveting gameplay does top 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 skulls are really sponges
for a ton of damage counters here,
but it's going to be the mind bed.
And what's very interesting,
actually sending it back to the Bronzong instead.
Andrew wanting to go a little bit more aggressive here.
Bosses orders the treatee.
Andrew hasn't shown that he has too much energy
to play with.
This is a huge flip.
If he flips tails, it's a huge game changer.
Britain know heads on the attack
and a prevent your cloak from coming into play.
If that was tails,
And the wrong zone 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.
I'm trying to break and take a KO,
so the damage from that Evolution Jammer
coming back to bite Joji,
and while Andrew cannot evolve Pokemon this turn,
he's sure as well will on the following turn.
No Paneerri in play already, so there's no Megalopony.
There's no response here at all, I think.
Just Pokemon and a red card,
There's nothing happening in the hand.
It's gonna 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 cops
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 Drakkloves are available to him.
And even if he so chooses to,
can start getting Fezendipity loaded up again.
Maybe even retreat this Drakkloak 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 Drakkloak 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 you see, Adrenaline Brain starts to slowly
put damage on the board,
three damage counters on the Bronze Orc,
and just passing the turnover.
A huge top back though for Joji,
finds the Lily's Determination,
and that means if cards are found here,
like the Energy card, like the Bronze Orc,
these Dracloaks are not gonna 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 Bend and 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 Bronzong, but also has to find the Dust Gloves.
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 blasts 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 Bronzo 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 a spot and has to take all of the energy off the board here
So it is going to be rare candy dust noir onto the monkey Dory here
So Fezzan Dippity 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 even 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 Joe G's board
There's just nothing to really work with other than that mega kengis gun and you saw Andrew from last game
Was stacking up so much damage onto the mega lot bunny 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 before playing this unfair stamp grabs
But do gonna play ultra ball to discard 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 recon directive and a flip the script to see if Crispin can be there
If you can find that card, he's threatening the game in just two turns. He can mill even further than just one ultra
I do believe there is a second one in hand as well here
Grabbing dr. Cloak that Pokemon no longer needed all you need from here is just drag-a-pull ex and a dream
Thinking about what other card is best to discard it will be the lilies determination
can just grab another card it's not gonna 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
I mean you look at Joji's side of the board as well that bronzor is still technically in play
So at least Andrew has one at Dragonfall 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 bronze on bronze long is not a threat from this point
It is going to not do enough to slow down Andrew and these dust skull are really the only potential scary thing
So we'll see this bogey pad 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 drag a pull
Sometimes in these other variants three big cards eat and 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 can at least announce jet headbutt at this point that would start stacking up some damage on his side with dunce sparse
Now sitting on the bench for Andrew does also technically have a
Dunce sparse which would turn into a monkey dory slot or you could just absolutely take the prize card as well bosses orders onto the
Dust Bowl 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 dragapold
Yes, and nine minutes away from Andrew being able to take out to the set
Even if this game it 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 Bronzon.
And like I mentioned, Ethan, you don't want this mega gank has gone to start taking damage.
So at least evolution jammer to keep this done sparse 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 curling 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.
We 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 Bronze on,
but you get the Dust Goal 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 fin it out of the hand in case there is some disruption.
Andrew taking every advantage he can, optimizing every decision. You'll see two prize cards taken,
Rongzhong and Duskul being KO'd, 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 Monkidori Dark Energy,
move the damage counter on over to Lodious here,
and then find Bosses' orders.
That could be game next start.
Definitely the potential with the right cards to close things out,
and the complete opposite for Joji,
just Hilda and Energy cards cannot put these weak Pokemon into play,
as Andrew is left with just one prize card remaining,
Cursed Blast unavailable to be used.
No attackers at a 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 the deck 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 recontirective 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.
There it is here.
No bosses orders quite yet.
So here we go. Recondirective number one.
The crushing hammer taken other card placed to the bottom of the deck.
Recondirective number two, is that the boss's orders? No, just more crushing hammer.
So here we go, runaway 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 blooming in the end.
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 always
just get the monkey dory down anyway and start throwing the damage counters onto this mega
kangaskhan so you can start stacking up that damage and still even if the boss's orders
is found anyway can move that one damage counter over and then still use the phantom dive so
six on to Ladiath 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 Ursula 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,
Buttermane grabbed from the deck.
It's not going to shut off too many relevant abilities,
something like the Dracloak in 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 2.
at three minutes and 40 seconds left, Ethan.
Andrew is able to overcome the deck
that was designed to essentially stop it fully in the place.
And as we've seen, this megalopony bonbon deck
can get it done absolutely.
But the problem is when you don't have those dust bowls
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 it 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
rule arrow the MVP of game one like you mentioned
Targeting down Dusk, targeting down Disclops,
targeting down any Pokemon that could use Curse Blast
while leaving this Bronzong to just poke very slightly,
30 damage each turn, just not enough to put pressure
onto Fezendipity.
And while the Mega Lopony 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 the Alvix.
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 float there so unfortunately for him that monkey Dory did go down but still one turn off
of the evolution jammer means that
Dragonbolt floodgates can absolutely open.
Besendipity, the MVP of Game 1.
Monkey Dory, the MVP of Game 2.
The confusion plus residual damage.
Healing it off thanks to that
Adrenaline Ability and Joji's
Jet. Just not able to keep up
in the second game when that
lock finally broke. And when it
broke yet again, Trackloak
able to stabilize everything.
Phantom Dive to take the KO.
And that's a star right there.
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 lot Bunny Bronzong versus Dragopold. People
may ask, oh, why would you do that? You know that this matchup can be extremely
bad for Dragopold. 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
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 seems 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 plan 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 setup for Joji?
Or is it really, you know, in Andrew's hand
to make more place to advance the board state?
I really think it comes down to the Megalopony trying to...
the Megalopony deck with Bronson trying to do so many things right slow 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 Fezzendipity was on a DOS call over the Bunnery knowing the Bunnery
would allow Megalopony to take down the Fezzendipity but that means you get to
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 you mentioned Ethan, when it happened,
not having two energy available on the Megalopony, could have cost Joji towards the end, but
we had this amazing pivotal moment where Janna's spare energy so it was fine, needed the perfect
two cards, right?
I swear, my heart skipped a beat when I saw the balls as the first card.
I'm sure everybody heard my gasping.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, 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 like a Kangaskhan, right?
You have to rely on putting a free prize Pokemon and the Ladi-Awesome play.
It's not just the mega Kangaskhan.
You do also have to put that bench sitter there, too.
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. Monkey Dory is a staple in many decks. Fezadipity
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 chain, right? The big reliance
on Mega. 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, Dragon Pulse with its more
powerful attackers is just gonna outpace you in terms of damage. Even the 30 damage you're
dealing is being utilized against you thanks to Adrenal Brain. 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 Dock
If there's no DOSNOR or DOSCOL or DOSCLUPS available, your damage output is either 30,
which is insignificant, or, and can be dealt with through Adrenal Brain, or Megalopony.
It is a 3-pricer that will always lose the battle against the powerful 2-priced Dragapult
DX.
So overall, obviously the deck is 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.
I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but it's a good idea.
It's a good idea.
It's a good idea.
It's a good idea.
It's a good idea.
The Pokémon 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 Dragflok 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 going to hit more than I normally
would.
My opponents using Bidu against me, doesn't matter.
I got like six of these Zoroaks to draw into.
I'd 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 if I could play Secret Box AND a power card, sounds good to me.
Probably way more of the power cards, like extra Festival Grounds and Festival Leaf, for example.
But also way more consistent, these six or seven lilies, and way more of those.
um 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 ton of pokemon of united wings on the discard pile 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 Worlds, I was confusing about my A-Specs.
It could be on first hand, it could be maxed out.
Why not play all of them?
I'd probably play more Poffins and Pokepads
so I can make sure I get my draft clips every time.
Well, with no restrictions, I would play at least 15 A-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-of-all deck.
Um, I don't know.
I would probably do eight little exterminations,
just for consistency.
And then, yeah, I would probably do also the 6'6' SoRak line.
I'm playing SoRak 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, four Rackendi, and as high as a draw on Shadasa, I can have.
So Secret Box is going to go to every kind of deck there, and just try 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 is basically if I could change rules I would ruin it for everyone
I put the best ace a pig in all this
Then ace a pig before they
Ace I love this is very powerful cars. What deck do you think you play?
I am.
Hi.
A dragon ball with a lot of...
Is it a 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 Caster,
where 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 caster.
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?
Kitty
You too
I
Articuno Zaptos
We've also got this meow okay, we've got meow. Let's see who else now to have rapid-ash. Oh, no, I'm sorry
No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not my preference.
All my favorite ones have four negi.
Okay, um, you know, of course, we got Charmander.
How many are we at so far?
Yeah, I think that's 10. I think that's 10.
We'll call it, that was 37 seconds!
That was not faster than a cast time!
So sorry!
I appreciate you guys.
You did a great job. Any...
It's okay.
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 was 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 you all paper Pokemon? I have my favorite is Eevee
Rapid-ash
What's the glaring one?
Potea the glaring one
Moltres
Well, thank you so much for
playing guys and joining next
time for faster than the car
staff. The final Swiss ground
is upon us here. The biggest
event of the year. Pokemon
World Championships where today
we'll be playing down to just part
two finals. Welcome back into the
trading card game side of things.
My name is Ethan Hegging. Emily
Foreman is along with me. Could I
be more excited for this final
Swiss round? And that is my
to these certain parts of the day.
There's so many matchups, 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 leave the venue.
They say, okay, well, I'm either a finalist or I'm a champion, but also the fact that
they now have a knight to either prep against one deck.
And that can actually weigh down you so mentally going into the finals.
But you got to talk about finals.
Even the chase center.
It's going to be an exciting Sunday.
It was filled 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-Rui Zhao locked up for top cut.
He'll be playing against Ethan Sprigh, 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 win and then Angus
Johnson up against Satoshi Matsui.
It's so unfortunate for Brent finally taking that first loss of the tournament just one
to go to Henry Chow who has safely locked himself into that top cut. As you said, Brent versus
Mataesh, 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
games that we just have to show, especially when the matchups are so important. And they've been
really honestly, I know it's been 42% Dragonpole. I know the Dragonpole 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
Drapel Ethan. I mean there was plenty of other decks other than Dragonpole
brought to Worlds. Our stage is ready so let's throw things down, take a look at
our players and take a look at what decks we're looking to make top. 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 US to live in here,
attending multiple regional championships, playing at a bunch of different events,
has now led him to the biggest match of his career to get into this top-of-the-world championship.
Pokemon is a global game even and it's so nice to see Satoshi over here 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 Dust Noir is one thing but I think it's time that we feature the Crustle 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, use the Cursed Blast ability on any Pokemon,
but over on Satoshi's side has the Miss Energy to stop the Alakazam's powerful hand attack.
You'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 kind of coming into play to drop,
most amount of cards possible. The main attacker very well might turn into Dusk nor even, 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 Duskmore does have Cursed Blast. A combination of a couple of those and a couple of items in this list could lead into Crustle's demise.
They're destroying their opening and getting set up.
So, I'm just really looking to start with that Mega Kangaskhan Index.
It's just not, and that's immediately an important factor that
will change how this game plays out. It's just there for that run error and ability.
This is some of the lowest Pokémon counts we've seen in Dex,
just playing 10 Pokémon total for Mega Kangaskhan and that 3-3 cross the line.
Double dust globs in the prizes could definitely be a factor. No missed energy outside of she's side. Double dust globs. That's all the dust globs in the process, Ethan.
So it is going to have to be Angus relying on rare candy dust nor every single time. Now Granted, 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 hat, especially because Satoshi,
a certain supporter card, loves to have a deck built up a certain amount of cards and then wipe it all away.
Plenty of factors at play as we jump into the final Swiss round.
Satoshi kicking things off and 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 has basically locked up a spot on top cut.
So we have 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 those energies over away,
realizing what time it is to start using that hero's cape.
And of course, with control, with Krustle,
it's always the question of jumbo ice cream.
When you want to put those directly into play here,
but for Angus at this point,
going to have at least a very ideal setup.
I like the thought of Bidu coming into play, Ethan.
If Angus does have an energy to retreat,
could put the item lock online,
at least slows the Toshi down in that matter here.
It's very difficult for Crustle to get Mega Kangaskhan into play
and also Dwebble into play without the use of item cards.
Can't place 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 his turn,
but in exchange, grab something like the Mega Kangaskhan.
That could be a huge card in this spot.
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 can get into the Crustle this turn, but not much else.
We'll play the Hilda.
Curious to see what energy card we'll grab.
Something like the Mist Energy is great.
If you play it 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,
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 goals to really get things going
But those four cards essentially with psychic draw that he's going to draw two off of each Abra
It's going pretty important here, but like you said Ethan this energy grabbed and so it's this
so is the
Crustle, but the Petrel is unfortunately unable to be played and that would have been an easy answer to find the heroes game.
Big card in hand, it was top decked on the previous turn, Mega Kangaskhan EX, receiving the missed energy, mainly because the Crustle'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 missed energy.
I'm wondering if those early turns of itchy pollen and the way that it kind of stops Satoshi's setup is it?
If Satoshi is really just going to go into mega Kangus God
And that's gonna be the one that's doing the attacking rather than crustal just kind of hanging out here
But there's the Gwyn instead to actually discard the pieces
Kedabra and dust nor to instead it of draw four actually draw six cards here
It feels like such a big ask especially because both of those dust globs are prize even you have to find double rare candy
Double dust nor to get it done. It seems unlikely on this turn
We also of course thought two of the strange timepiece be used to draw some extra card with the cadaver
There's the first card rare candy on dust nor 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 it's 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 Hero's Cape kind of spells out a really big disaster.
just being off for one turn.
Here is Kate, 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 Mega Kangaskhan
along with a missed energy.
It's hard enough as it is to deal with one Mega Kangaskhan
with a missed energy, dealing with two,
assuming Satoshi can consistently find energy cards
is even more difficult.
Does 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 mega king is gone 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 hard draw.
Drawing a bunch of cards,
and this is the tough part of starting with
Twebble in this match up.
You of course want that mecha-kangaskhan 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 Crustle 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 mecha-kangaskhan.
And if he's able to get all three actually set up,
could use because the Crestle doesn't have a missed energy
attach, a powerful hand to take the knockout,
but could also use the Shadowbind down the line as well.
I mean, that's the best part about Dustmore also
being a psychic type is that, yes,
while it's a ton of energy commitment,
this book can technically attack.
Was that earlier in the field watching this matchup?
And something specific that Mateus did,
and I'm not sure Angus will do the same,
is a similar strategy.
Double Rare Candy, double Dusk Noir,
powered up with another Dusk Clop
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.
And I have to imagine if that's what he's building up to,
especially with Ichi Pollen 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,
but is super valuable.
What I am worried about though, Ethan,
is well yes, Rare Candy Dust Nor Rare Candy Dust 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 Kangascon,
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 got to be for that hero's cave.
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,
would be almost there, right?
Mega Kangas gone 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 Kanga's Gun
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 has, of course,
it's going on the Mega Kanga's Gun here,
but I can only imagine that Satoshi
is really kind of saying to himself,
it's time to start getting the Mega Kanga's Gun.
Now that the hero's cape is online,
start to build up this Mechagang,
it's gone where it could potentially even
start attacking next turn.
If an energy was already fed to it, Ethan, walk me through it.
It's 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 going to see it commit to the active, and now all of a sudden, that's one energy,
especially 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-Kangaskhan just hanging out here, but the problem is, Ethan,
is that that energy was really actually committed already to the Crustle.
So this mega-Kangaskhan, well, yes, it's sitting at 400 hit points here.
We'll see Cursed Blast used onto the active Cursed Blast number two, damaging that Mega
Kengiscon on the bench.
This crustal is just hanging on, it seems.
Well, hanging on by ten, and that's Purdue 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 re-establish 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 what do you can, of course, continue with the item locking.
You do see that sacred ash shuffle the Pokémon back into play.
There's the buddy buddy Poffin, just playing through all of the steps, seeing how things
should have played out.
Just want to double check the math on the crustle.
Right now it does have that growing grass energy, so it receives 20 extra HP.
was a couple of Ichikawa news 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 megacangus gone
in combination with something like disruption?
The problem is, Ethan, because of that miss energy being attached to the crystal,
instead of the mega kangaskhan this mega kangaskhan 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 free energy on in this Pokemon so
unfortunately for Satochi not gonna be able to actually sift all the way through
that might be a win and I think that is a win for a hengiz get confirmation on
who picked up their cards and Satochi was still in a great spot had the missed
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 Dusknoir, there are weird things that counts.
Those two Dusklobs being prized messes up the math completely here.
So I'm interested to see where it all kind of went wrong for Angus because he had the
a bright idea, Ethan, but Satoshi being named the game
winner, it seems like he's got it.
It 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 cards,
followed by the missed energy still on the mecha-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 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 kangastan
still was able to get really through everything. So going into the second match Satoshi didn't do
much but he still had that missed energy. Capes kangaskhan deal with the amount of curse plus
Angus had. What does he need to do differently to take the second game?
It's really hard to say. I mean, if Angus doesn't, I mean, the most obvious answer is don't prize
Don't cost loss, right? That forces Angus to use a lot more resources than he wants to use.
I know he does play the strange timepiece 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 play ways
to go just a little bit faster than Satoshi.
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 Duskoal.
We'll get the bad news that there are a couple important
Pokemon in the prize cards.
The importance of rare candy cannot be stated enough.
And with there being two Kadabra, plus a rare candy, it may be a bit harder to get into a bunch of Duskiora 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 it has to do its best at this point to try and get set up fully.
Ideally, we'd like to see one more Dusk Lob before passing it on over to Satoshi's turn.
It can always be some inconsistent air issues with a deck like Crustle.
You're very reliant on starting with that Mega Tengis 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 Duskull.
steals 30, plus the 130 from Cursed Blast.
Let's see what Angus can find.
He's looking through the deck very quickly.
Candy Dustnore 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 Gwynn.
So I know a little bit earlier we talked about
how Double Kidapra 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 Poki 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 Mega Kangaskhan into play.
Could be Mega Kangaskhan 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.
very important key card in this list.
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 into play,
guaranteeing mega Kangaskhan the energy attachment
to start threatening some pressure with the crustal.
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 Satoji it feels like a weird play to use petrol
out of all things to grab Lumio City out of all things but that's actually the
only way I believe to grab mega kengis gun 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 find cards.
And this slow down opens the door up for Satoshi
to try and retreat into Mega Kangaskhan
or even take some KO's.
And this, like you said,
either retreat into Mega Kangaskhan
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, Ethan.
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 plays four telepathic and only one psychic,
so can potentially run out of resources to even attack.
Pressure being put on Crusill.
It's not something you often see with this deck early on.
top deck of the Night Structure has Fezendipity EX, flip the script to draw cards, but those
cards are not helpful. Double Buddy Buddy Poffin embosses orders, and you do not want
to bring Mega Kangascon into the active spot right now.
Not just that, but the Fezendipity 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 over.
Just a pass, and a Hilda top deck, absolutely massive, can now put a missed energy onto Mega
a kengis gun ensuring powerful hand 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 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 Kadabra 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 does Nordek 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 Dusk Clops and these Dusk Noirs 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 Dusk Noir line.
We'll see when draw some more cards, six cards found.
There are still just the one Dusk Noir drawn in.
Do you see a pair of Rare Candy in the hand?
However, you're going to really need to combine these Curse Blast abilities together
to have a strong effect now with Satoshi being at four price cards.
It would mean a pivotal turn could come into play.
Dust Norse Cursed Blast forces Satoshi to take a price 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 price cards,
with this mega-kangis now 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 gun.
So while, yes, Angus hanging out this crustal is really good.
You have to consider the fact that this mega kengis gun 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 crustal.
It's 100% mega kengis gun.
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
Combined with what I assume to be a special red card at some point not forced to play at this turn
What an Emily is the opportune time to play that card?
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 Center lady is actually drawn here so could heal some more damage
But I don't see anything else in terms of hell, but my goodness speaking of help even really
Determination the top deck the least 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 could 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.
You can 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 Crustle.
It might have been the fastest Crustle set we've ever seen on stream Ethan and Satoshi
excited of course for himself and his cruddy. 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
of players are saying you know what why would you ever bring Crustle to the World Championship.
Alakazam is going to play that enhanced 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.
So Satoshi, congratulations, making it in.
And look how excited he is, Ethan.
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 defined the game.
Itchy, power to try and disrupt,
but the timed Petrol was able to get the heroes' cape,
the Megacangaskon was the top deck for turn,
and it's just so difficult.
Regardless of how you approach it,
to deal with a 400 HP missed energy attack,
Megacangaskon.
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 the bosses orders on to 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 Krusl 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 for into play.
I just felt like it wasn't enough pressure, not overwhelming enough, and it really was
this board up.
Crustle with a missed energy, taking care of the Pokemon, and that Ekik Hengis gone
four backup with still 170 HP left.
It's too much for Hengis to overcome, and Satoshi advances into our top cut.
Well, you can't play Crustle aggressive.
You know?
Why not?
We're learning new things every day here at the World Championships.
I mean, 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 nor being paired
together coming right so we didn't we get to see a stream five bees we didn't
really even get to see what the deck can truly do other than yesterday right
in the tages hands but the thing is crustal is it's it's inevitable you're
gonna face one right but 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 in
that really sucks they 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 Kangas
got early. And more importantly, there are few opportunities he could have retreated
into the Kangas Don, tried it by some more cards in front. Aaron, a patient, and I think
that paid off for 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 win, for example, drawing
eventually six cards, but it felt like there were pairs hiding in the prizes every single
time, right? A pair of Cadabra, a pair. I think game one really was because of the prize
the world. It's a very
amazing, very nice part, 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 one
with the only the one the very
mysterious guy is crossed all
How does it feel to have been up there with that feature match?
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 they're just there.
Yeah, shout out to Vivian, Steph, Tyler,
Johnny, Michael, John, Henry, Abang, and Rahul.
Yeah, Mustafa, everybody, but yeah.
And then shout out to my parents too.
Yeah, absolutely.
We've got to wrap the people who got us here, haven't we?
Absolutely, incredible show with Prost so far.
How are we feeling?
Jeffersoning 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.
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, Greg, I like Pokemon. I mean, my name is Satoshi. Satoshi is Ash.
So, I'm like, I have to play Pokemon. And I guess I'm just loved by Pokemon.
It was meant to be Satoshi takes down an incredible foe using crustal
Thank you so much Satoshi. We wish you the best of luck and the rest of the event. You've absolutely got this
Thank you so much. We're gonna throw it back to the cast is for some more good times
Thanks so much Amy great to hear from our winner of mate is there a possibility
He is the real ash ketchup in this tournament trying to become a Pokemon master
you know, when I realized 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 set. So
realistically, it's about the people that you surround yourself with as well. That's I heard
some great names there in terms of support for Satoshi. So when you got a good testing group,
honestly, and 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, haven't had a huge breakout position,
but with the right deck, with the right luck,
and with the right matchups, find themselves in a spot
where they go on this epic journey
to try and take home a trophy in the 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 a symmetrical 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 to 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
going to be a champion tomorrow, Ethan. As we get ready for top cut, we'll make sure
course control is done. The players, all the decks, this is the place you want to be. You are a Pokemon
We are going to have such exciting action for our top gun.
I just can't wait.
I mean, we keep saying it, and it's going to feel surreal, but tomorrow, the Chase Center.
Bokevon 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.
to be. Of course, we'll be
featuring the juniors division,
seniors division and master's
division finalists will be
crowned 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
commentated in a haunch crow
winning haunch crow and raging
bolt, right? So I really love
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 seven, one in
three. So potentially on the cusp of top cut, a win would give them 27 match points
kind of just right around that angle.
We'll see Fanroton 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 Fanroton 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 Deden's Bar 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 Dean
apolis as you mentioned here. I'll 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, the Mega Lopinatha 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 Bronzong 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.
That Lopunny is going to take a knockout this turn, 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
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-roaming 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 onto the megalopony since you can retreat into the Dunsparce,
then shuffle it back in and you basically get a free reset on your Gale thrust attack.
There's also the spiky hopper attack that can just consistently be used.
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 fatter?
There's a 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 Kadabra 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 Karis 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?
But 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 in 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 Cyborg can hit that Pokemon, but it's only going to do 30 damage.
The Dunspar's take so much time to power up,
and Boss's 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 Lopunny does extremely well,
and what this deck is really known for,
is the amount of switches that it's used to get Lopunny out of the active,
so Gale Thrust can go back in.
So if she works for Moe A2 prize Pokemon,
that's easy pickings for someone like you to really take advantage of.
And I think you realize is that his Lopony is technically completely safe.
He can use all of this time, even with Genesect in the active with a
Snollifier 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.
The Lily's Clefairy can, of course, attack that Mega Lopony.
It's not effects of attack that that Miss Energy blocks.
And more importantly, that handheld fan.
If it's available, it's probably best used on to that Clefairy EX.
Being able to just disrupt and pressure your opponent to attack into you yet again,
a big factor in this matchup.
We see Karris prevent herself from benching that Pokemon, ideally with the plan to use something like a Wonders Path
to attack with it on the same turn it comes into play.
Yeah, and 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.
Gonna be at least an assault landing onto the only draw, Pokemon.
That done sparse right now.
Just want to use boss's orders, take care of that Pokemon.
You never know what fun surprises could be in play.
See one of those fun surprises that the Dunsparse EX over on you side
So just wants to play around every potential option shut the draw power off
Force could Dabra and Alec to Xam 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 list just a little bit just knowing that we went into worlds and especially Liam Haliburn and toward
playing a Zorak list with four watchtower.
It feels very dangerous to go up against a kind of a meta
that feels kind of planned against you here.
But Yu is 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 him in the end as Don is going to be used
for turn, a couple more cards being drawn here.
But I love the way that Yu is actually just protecting
the Lopony until it's time really to go in and start taking these prize cards.
And if jamming tower is played down at the right time, the game almost ends on this 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, Wanderer's Patch, excuse me, is used to power up Lily's Clefairy,
then your opponent has to telegraph and attack on the following turns,
meaning boss's orders can easily clean things up.
Paris 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 don't know 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 Wall-E's compassion,
that damage is going to stay there after that for the rest of the game.
Pass of the turn, we see history number three.
That is a lot of special energy attached to this Pokémon,
really making sure that Alakazam does not deal a powerful hand attack to that Mega Lopini.
I think what's also interesting is that there...
I mean, we don't get to see the prize cards when it's on a featured patch.
But the thing is, there's still a baneery on the bench that does at least need one copy of Miss Energy at some point here.
You will draw six cards from this Lily's determination.
Can you 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. The Dunspar shuffled back into the deck.
Let's see if Dunsparse can come back down to reuse that ability later on in the game.
But even if Yu is unable to find something like the Jamming Tower, he's got two missed
energies of backup and has to assume that at most, Karris has one more handheld fan available
at her disposal.
Yeah, it feels pretty good at this point here for you.
Three cards drawn.
Both Dunsparse gone for the time being.
One from the hand, body puffin' would also be a great card.
There is an air balloon, so easier access for this megalopony to move down the line.
I don't think I've ever seen so many cards attached to a megalopony before Ethan.
Usually it's just a energy, and that's all you kind of need as long as you can get in and out of the active.
But this megalopony is going to be the one that does it here.
And just another pass back on over to Karris' side here,
really just respecting the handheld fan as much as possible.
Maybe he was trying to toy with her patience just a little bit.
Halleakasam 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 his handheld fan.
That's when he's going to get the most value and the most use out of that jamming talent.
All the time in the world for you now.
As Karris can still just keep going, set up the amount of cards.
And really, I think you is just saying, you can take this fan wrote him.
I've given it to you on a silver platter.
Well, 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, it's you, Paul, and Paz.
Maybe thinking about an alternate win condition
to stall something out.
But that doesn't work, right?
Because the Dunsparse 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.
How many resources you still have access to?
I'm not sure we'll quite see if that happened.
No Dunsparse in play, a knockout on the Dunsparse
because of boss's orders plus powerful hand.
See if you can find that jamming tower,
considering playing something like the night stretcher.
Pookie gear here did now you did at least
drive Lily's determination,
so could refresh the hand if anything else,
but still buying time.
Essentially bosses 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 Dunsparse here.
You can just use another assault landing on a Dunsparse,
keep the energy in play.
Considering what to go with, of course,
tacking 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 Karris 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, even really all or nothing
with one Pokemon.
Yeah, I don't know if Karris has enough ways
to play boss's orders consistently to get into a spot where the Beniri can't
retreat. Seems a bit difficult with it just having a one retreat cost. And
immediately, see Karris start off with an Erie. So bringing back that card that
found her success in Indianapolis, there's only that special red card at
this card. Doesn't see anything like the balcade, so may not be aware that
Stadium card is what he was waiting for. It's just not exactly what Karris wants
It's more so information than anything else,
but finally be able to continue going through her loop here as
we're it just feels like a standstill at this point even right.
You doesn't want to move this fan wrote him away and nor does
Karris want to attack this fan wrote him because that means
that the handheld fan is not going to find much for her.
See done sparse come into play now considering whether or not
to play the Lily's determination before the start of this turn.
Bosses' order is also available thanks to the Poke gear.
A few things to consider.
It will be Fan Rotom getting involved yet again.
Boss onto Dunsparse using that assault landing.
He 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 standing 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,
you're then not going to be online for too much longer.
Just so many difficulties for Karras in this situation.
You have to play around four energy, four missed energy, Lopini.
And the Clefairy can make things a bit awkward.
Is playing one copy of that special red card?
So in a world where you go for a KO to put himself down to three prizes,
that surprise Lillies Clifari plus hand disruption might be enough to find a way back into this game.
It's not just the surprise Lillies Clifari, 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 Kerr is finally going to take down this Van Rotem,
you have to ask if you is finally going to start
using this Mega Lawpony with four energy on it
to get it going.
Just counting cards in deck, making sure deck out
is not an option.
Cards in the hands.
Always gotta be aware of what resources you still have,
what is available at your disposal.
Three cards drawn off the Dunsparce, back in it goes.
Whee!
It's gone.
It's back in the deck.
You'd love to see it.
I mean, honestly, what a life it would be to be at the Dunsparce.
Every day you just are thrown in and out of the deck.
Yeah, 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 carts out.
for just a fire energy. See it
put onto the baneery. What?
Is going to use the attack.
Charm 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
You know what? You got it.
You could have confidently just attached 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?
Sometimes in the Pokemon Trading hard 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 eerie is being played.
So now Karris gets to see you's hand as you got to see her hand is 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.
going to lose and all 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 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 Lily's Coffery down,
fill the bench up use the wondrous patch and then play the special red card to
hand disrupt the biggest issue however is you're taking a three-hit KO onto this
megalopony and that is just not a trade when it's taking a two-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 for fairy ex would only be one
prize card here but this is also a strategy by now it doesn't change much
the little cliff area will just take enough damage over time yeah just trying
to think of ways that Karris is planning to deal with this Pokemon but it just
seems like she's trapped in a box with no way to escape yes spiky hopper can be
used just twice like you had mentioned to get the prize card and the thing is
no lilies pearl either that's gonna leave you on one prize card left and as of
right now you hasn't used that one wallies compassion. Yeah now you can't
really use it from this point with the fear that your opponent is just holding
on to an enhanced hammer and pick all those energies back up. It's just about
playing as safe as possible. There is that special red card as we see there's a
full moorondo full bench just for Kara so 120 damage three hit KO. There's
megalopony easily getting a two hit KO onto the Lilies Clefairy draw for turn
and there's that jamming tower it looks like.
And really, what does you have to do in this spot?
Can you support?
That's the Lily's determination,
but it doesn't really change much.
And it has the Pokepad to grab another Pokemon.
I'm not quite sure how many switches
you does play to do a good ol' Gale for us,
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 Lily's Pearl.
Now granted, you did draw the Jamming Tower, Ethan.
So next turn, if Karris isn't weary of it,
this Lily's Clefairy could be two prize cards again.
That would definitely spell disaster.
Any Pokemon that's promoted on the following turn
outside of the Lily's Clefairy would be one hit KO'd.
So there it is again, full moon rondo for 120 damage.
What can you find?
see the jamming tower, removing that stadium card,
turning off the Lilly's Pearl, and there's a KO.
And looking at Karis' list, there's
no way to reestablish the Lilly's Clefairy in one turn.
And this is what we talked about just a little bit earlier.
It's there.
There's a sacred ash, and a second wonderous patch.
Can Karis find this?
She's going to 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 wondrous patch.
I wonder if you is not going to be expecting this.
It could be the dawn to find the Lillies Clifairy
and the D'dunsparse, Ethan.
So it's a matter of, 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 the wondrous patch.
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 done sparses 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 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 Keras this is what she does best she finds ways and 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 farriers dealt with.
definitely played a little bit too passive in that game. If you had just
taken a few knockouts earlier, then that jamming tower, Lillie's
Clefairy play, most likely you take your last two prizes and 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 wall funny, still very impressive. And
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 shabby, 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.
I'm here with Jesper Eriksson who won the world championships as a senior right here in San
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.
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.
I always hope that 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.
I always want to do 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 in itself, moving a bit from being this all-out player to a caster and coach in the game as well.
It's just giving me much more context and much more perspective in the game and it's 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 more waiting time 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 in IC,
regional championships, or here at Worlds, even.
If you have fun with it,
you would automatically perform better.
Have fun with it.
Go watch the stream this weekend
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 they've done for me. Thank you so much Jesper. Very good luck this weekend.
It could be a full circle championship Sunday for Jesper but 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 we can for all of the action. I'll see you next time.
Welcome back in Pokemon fans the 2026 trading card game world championships here in San Francisco
So close final matches, including out on the floor.
And that means we will know which competitors will be in our top cut and
have that dream still alive of becoming the world champion.
My name is Trevor Chichou and here by Kyle Pukasukovich.
And this is what we've worked so hard towards all weekend long, all season long.
It's gonna come down to the 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, dreams broken,
hearts broken at this point.
So many players maybe had an opportunity on their last round
for a win and an 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 because of Diego Castiller.
The 2017 World Champion, he's looking to do what no other person has done
besides Jason Klozinski, 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.
an 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,
she had 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 into the top.
That's what it's about, just getting to the next stage of the tournament, right?
Phase one, 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, the hope still remains.
Well I think we have some of our other friends standing by, we have Pablo, Joe and Eany, 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. 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 fix coming into the equation, players having to
retreat into late game itchy pollen to try and deny outs of night stretcher
on those final critical turns, Andrew Hedrick just about to pull that one out. He caught himself
into now the position for the asymmetrical top cut. Really devastating for Napoli. She's had a great
run. She also was so unfortunate on our stream 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
that in our top cuts but this is the Pokemon world championships and you don't just have an
ordinary tournament field that you've got literally the best players in the entire world
in one room and going cool, hash it out guys. And I want to thank Chupan Gal 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 we've had we 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
that I expected it to be, like,
strung up all 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 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,
you. You know, you're 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. And 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
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 Tunison the number one seeded player of this event playing that very unique
Deck with crushing hammers, of course, that's been a main strategy since we had this rotation
and nobody should be surprised to see Dragopolt at the very, very top.
Now, seeing Dragopolt at the Tiffordie Top certainly was likely to be on the cards.
However, seeing the crushing hammer build, I think, is the part that really speaks to me.
In theory, the deck has those spaces that the crushing hammers inhibit,
but actually, they can make or break games. They really can.
And so it's whether you want to dedicate those spaces to something that is a coin flip or not.
I'm going for the coin flips and if they go in my favor, I'm going to go really far on 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.
And Brent, 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.
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's known for his
creativity in his deck building. Playing quite a standard deck I was surprised for
sure but overall I think risky ruins was definitely hard to look out for in this
mirror match Brent and those who both played it I could believe and they were
not fearful at all to just get it out immediately and it created chaos with damage
I'm not sure how to approach
the Dragonball there 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
big grand scheme of things, those
are what make or break a match
and those are the decisions
that really sent to the
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 stamp saw, special red cards at points trying to play around monkey
dory as much as possible and cashing themselves. As we see Fred in this
since actually finding that as his final attacker.
Because so often a Dragon Ball 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 ace rule
is just towards the end of the game,
really had me on the edge of my seat.
But of course, all those damage counters in play
allowed Brett to just find the line.
I feel like if that gets played at the World Championship,
I'm sure many players have picked up the card
to just double check and use that thing.
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.
Kati Arraga down on the floor as well so we've been absolutely blessed to have his input in
multiple instances and you can see the Diego has had fantastic runs in many years really never
to be able to get to that
this time. This time Diego
brings Alakazam to our stage.
Interesting choice from Diego.
He's a player that typically
doesn't go for the top deck in
the room, barring his World
Championship to win, of course,
but even then it was a new
archetype that he sort of
innovated in his own way.
But Diego has 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
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. I mean we did get to see Diego play out
last round of the day yesterday where he was able to really dominate this big
basic box deck which is supposed to like overwhelm, drag-up hold, then take it down
with weakness and very pressure and well spin over bond but Diego was able to
You've stabilized each and every time, put everything out of range of wellspring, 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 for the pitch black expansion
and simply just other builds of Alakazam, seeing things like the forest of Fatality
and Rapska 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.
And the double ginseng being that little bit of extra spice that you can do.
And, I mean, yeah, a world, 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. That is absolutely wild.
I mean, 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 Chow 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 Gardevoir EX player, right?
Probably dominated Dragapult throughout that full time.
And now, he's Dragapult EX's strongest soldier, 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 extra.
He's doing more than Dragapult can typically do.
That's why he's chosen this Duskmaar package,
is because I think it feels a little bit like home.
The surprise for me is that he's forsaken Monkey Dory.
That seems like the kind of eye it associates most with Henry.
But once he's constructed a list that doesn't play Monkey Dory
whatsoever, no darkness energy,
he's basically just tried to get as much space
into the deck as possible.
And saying that there's one cheat code, there's one protract.
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 to do with those cursed glasses 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 HPV extra damage counter placement.
And of course that does our capability.
and even though he ended up losing that first game, he was able to recover pretty flawlessly.
Yeah, as we know, the festival leaders have been absolutely on it with trying to make sure their 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 putting the pressure on yeah
I think he had what was it a four prize term?
Everything away and just left the board was just too fatty
That was really good after Street 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
Servant orthodox plays and also very innovative with his list
He played a Zorik EX line in his card for us at some point.
Now he's playing Monkey Dory, less dragon pulled,
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 infestively dominating the mirror match as well.
And yeah, I mean, I'm very much looking forward
to seeing how Henry does this tournament
as we continue with the top cut.
I think Henry is one of our best innovators
within the strong X.
He only takes a little bit of innovation to make a huge impact on our meta.
And that's something I really admire in him as one of our top players.
In this instance, using the protract 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.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, I mean, this was, for me, the set of the tournament so far.
This was a crazy crazy game where Henry got into a really precarious spot
It felt like from a linear he would have had 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 of the deck whatsoever
Slam's 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 don't know we might see we might continue to see that from him very very impressive
One of my favorite players to watch and just everyone's on the lookout on what is Henry's 16 this time?
Yeah, it's always something on the players lips is
Henry playing especially when Godfua rotated
Everyone was really curious about what he was going to pick up 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's stuck with one the entire time
that he's saying no, it's not
just one archetype. I can be a
master of anything in any
format. Speaking of innovators,
we've got another in our midst
as Mateusz, of course, has made
it into our top cut with that
innovative Alec Zan dust noir
build where he has masterfully
avoided any red card shenanigans,
which was one of the really
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 the incredibly creative deck building the
huge success throughout the season winning a regional championship in
practice back-to-back top 8s at the world championship with very unique decks as
well yet a very unique take on Zorakiax last time around now he has a very unique
take on Alagazam allowing himself to manipulate the price cards I'm really
looking forward to see how much finishes this tournament.
I just want to ask him how he got that testing process started.
Where did it all begin?
Was it just one?
Was it the Gwyn supporter card that he's been 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 guns fast package.
Instead, you look to, again, shave on card spaces
that. You know, it's not
really a good idea to have
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
dust wards 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
knockouts. But Mattesh is
using this card and scaling
the last few KOs or closing
out the game rather without
exposing himself to the
special red card really,
really well done. Yeah,
choosing and analyzing when
to take knockouts was really
the key to this game. And if
anything, that's something
Alakazam can do even better
than most decks because you
kind of want to have a slow
setup because you want the
card drawer. You need the
card drawer and you need to
have a special card drawer
and you need to have a special
card drawer and you need to
you need the card draw and then you're preventing yourself from being disrupted by not taking any knockouts a lot of dex this week
And we've seen excess judge and we didn't really need to worry about that too much
Yeah, only a handful of archetypes will play and even then it's like a one-off copy
So it's difficult for the opponent to time that at the right moment
And this was such a bizarre set because we've seen pipe a lapine over and over again be one of these players that
We can just be gawking out for how great of a line of place you 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 Mattage's game plan. Yeah, I mean I really want to
Rather I really would have loved to see
the chat's reaction our viewers reactions when
Mattage chose not to draw without
I can't imagine the string of messages telling, he didn't draw from Alex Sam, he didn't draw from Alex Sam.
He purposely chose not to do that. We haven't seen that before in 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 honestly so far in the tournament.
I was lucky enough to interview him after that game and he said that the best beat 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.
card draw, but like you said,
Pablo, that's optional. Yeah.
And multiple times throughout
that set, he was getting to the
very bottom of the deck. Yeah.
So he was accessing every card
available to him and making the
most out of every card within
his list. And Alakazam is
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, Mattesh 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 EIC champion, he's five times regional champion.
He might even have first through eighth places in top spots.
Oh yeah.
Regionals and whatnot.
Top 32 at Worlds two years ago.
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 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 with that breakout
performance. Amazing scenes
from Andrew. You can see why
he's brought it to the
tournament is had an amazing
run with dragapult over the
last few months. He's such a
whether it's with his loss zone deck or with even with the metang, the Algarvista archetype, he's such a great
sort of metagame. He can put a pin point on a metagame. In this case, he's just
deciding to be the bad guy. He's playing the dragon pop.
But I love the fact that he can cherry 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 Chalder,
the Gardevoir EX master player of the universe.
I generally think Andrew Henry's legacy with Tryopold
takes off beyond this latest rotation.
When Gardevoir was dominating, even he himself said,
I've committed so much time to tryopold, I'm still good with tryopold,
that even though I recognize Gardevoir is a better deck,
I'm still gonna stick with tryopold.
Then here he is continuing with tryopold,
making the perfect decisions and making it all the way to the top
the world championship. We
had the honor of seeing that
very mastery in our Swiss
round 11 from Andrew and it
boy was it a good time again.
Joe G is a bronze on build,
which I was a little bit worried
for Andrew when I saw bronze
on 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
these situations, whether it's leaving in mindbends or trying to attack with that
festivity so nicely, knowing when to sacrifice and when to finally move in
with the Dragapult was the key to this one. I think the perfect where you use
just now, Joe, was supposed. Yeah. This is supposed to be a counter deck, but
against the very best players, the ones that are not gonna get faced at all by
the pressure of not being able to evolve, the ones that can immediately adapt and
have shown time and time and again that they'll be able to navigate every
game where even in those really tense situations he's just very relaxed. His shoulders are down,
his facial expression doesn't change whether it's a heads or a tails or a flip,
that could win in the game if it's a heads, he's just like, yeah, it was tails so I guess I'll
keep playing. You might see a chug over him. Yeah. Oh well, yeah, this happened.
Bad path closed, this one opened, always finding the win position. Really, really impressive as usual.
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 gonna find the wiggle
room that they need to. And now next up our another player that has made it to the top card all the
way from Australia we have Nathan Sry. We didn't 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 cut. An absolute gauntlet of impressive accolades over the last few years. Nathan
Spryer is certainly no one to mess with. And running that Lily's Clefairy EX kind of big basic
you know, it's a really
interesting game. It's a
Pokemon bashing box deck.
He's got a bit of everything
going on and honestly, those
are the types of decks I love
where you can cherry pick
exactly what you need for any
matchup and it has taken him
all the way. We call it the
box for a reason. There's all
sorts 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
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 Kangaskans 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. How are we feeling about the fact the crustal is
up there in our top car guys. Were you expecting that at the beginning of this event? I would say no.
There's always that one person who pyrels. In 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 Exkudo to contend with. There was still a number of Alakazam builds that
could have the controlling package that's awkward. There's sloking out in the field. Even a number
of the Dragonport players would sometimes have things like Chi Yu in their deck list if it was a
Blaziken build of Dragonport. So it felt fraught for the Crustle 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 decks. That's exactly what I was thinking. Like,
Like, Crosshole is at its best when it's the least respected, right?
And because, in theory, Mega Exkidril is here to shut things down with Metagross.
Mega Exkidril showed up in 4%, and you can factor in 1-2 losses to that match-up
if you're going to dominate the rest of the field.
I haven't seen a single Dragonball deck respect Crosshole this weekend,
and if that's 40%, you're in for a good time.
Yeah, that's not true.
Yeah, makes sense. I think there are some jamming tower dustimals out there.
might be the only hope for some of these Dragapult players,
but even then, it's going to be a slog with the amount
of 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.
It's one of them in case it wasn't very clear,
but Kien, Amidii, with another Dragapult deck joining us
once again, Santatara 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 God this season.
Impressively, Anaheim World's Top 32 as well, so did pretty well last year.
That is a very, very good result and just pushing it that little bit further,
Kaneki and go all the way with Dragapult crushing Hammer,
which seems to be the favoured Dragapult going into our top cut thus far, right?
Yep, it's what to be expected to be honest with you.
A lot of people think that the crushing hammer is the best ways,
simply because you can shut down avenues of attack.
You can stop an opponent from using a boss's orders,
or you can make your boss's orders much better
if you're going to take energy away from a Pokemon
and force them to manually retreat out of another Pokemon.
It's just that 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.
Keen'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 Grun, of course, we can't forget about Grun,
also made it to the top card here
with fan favorite, Crossel, a very successful...
a very successful senior career so far, making a name for himself in Masters Division, already
with a regional championship in Masters Division, another top 8 last season as well, so first
top cut of many of the world championships I'm going to wager.
Rune is here to make a name for himself in this division.
Yeah, more than one crustal man should just scuttle through the net and into our top cut,
So, maybe it wasn't so unlikely, Pablo.
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 gonna come onto 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.
OK, 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 out play along at home.
So I need you two to work together.
Pokemon that begin with the letter R. Go!
Rattata.
Reolu.
Um.
Rattu.
Relicanth.
Um.
Requaza.
Uh.
Regigigas.
Regirock.
Regicill.
Regiais.
Regidrego.
Regilin.
We've done it!
That's more than 10!
And that was incredibly faster than a caster!
Congratulations, Judy!
You nailed it!
Do 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 Zoroar 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 going to hit more than I normally would, if my opponent's using Bidu against me, it doesn't matter.
I got like six of these Zoroarcs to draw into.
I'd probably play a whole bunch of A-specs, which I would really like because some of the A-specs are really powerful, but Secret Box makes your deck function so well.
So if I could play Secret Box AND a power card, sounds good to me.
Probably way more of the power cards, like extra festival grants, for example, but also way more consistently 6 or 7 lilies and way more of those.
Probably more of 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
Pokémon of United Wings on the Discord file and attack with tons of damage and KO everything mostly.
I would put a lot of 8-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 on first hand, it could be max belt.
Why not play it all off-band?
I'd probably play more Poffins and Tokipas
so I can make sure I get my drag cloaks every time.
Well, with no restrictions, I would play at least 15 A-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 fold deck.
I don't know, I would probably do eight, the least determination, just the consistency.
And then, yeah, I would probably do also the 6'6", so I'm playing store 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 Ra'Kendi restrictions,
I could play it on turn one, right?
I would play a deck with four Duskull, four Duskull, four Ra'Kendi, and as high of a draw
and I can have. So Secret Box is going to go to 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 the turn.
Your answer is basically, if I could take the rules I would ruin it for everyone.
That's why I like control decks. I would ruin the game.
Yeah, I put the best ace of pig in all the days.
I rest at the stand, I don't say 10 ace of pig before the deck.
It's a lot, it's very powerful cars.
And what deck do you think you play?
Eh...
I...
A dragon pool with a lot of ace of pig, 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.
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, Fuka, simply 10 of the main chipper to here alongside Kyle.
Fuka, if it's ready to take you through our personal mini 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 Pokemon World Championships in San Francisco.
What a time it's going to be for our 10 remaining players.
It's got to be such a mix of emotions for everybody who's still in the running.
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 matchups 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 still got one more match we did. 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.
When 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 the top 16,
Nathan Sprite up against Oven, Spindavut.
Of course, Oven getting top eight at the World Championships last season.
He's followed it up with another top-cut performance here.
We've got Diego Casiraga against Keanu Meany from the U.S.
Yeah, two great matchups here in, you know, much different row to the top cuts for
Oven this year versus last year.
You know, he went on that huge undefeated streak to begin last year's World Championships this year.
Off to a Rock Year's start, had to battle his way up from the bottom and keep winning near the end of the event.
Go on a hot streak to make it back here. You know, we actually didn't feature him on 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 our other ones.
We had that one at the bottom, Diego versus Keon.
Those are two veteran players.
What a star stood a match up, that is.
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, will 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-seeded 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 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, we've got the Angokosiraga,
Of course, the 2017 World Champion looking to become just the second player ever to win multiple worlds.
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.
Players like Brent, Andrew Hedrick, Henry Chow, Mattage has had a great season so far.
Also made top cut at Worlds.
season. 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 a big world championships finish.
But 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 we're 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 8.
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.
And last year we had Riley McKay, who burst onto the scene at NAIC leading up to it.
But before that, maybe it was not a well-known player.
Just had a great couple of months stretch.
Huge finish at NAIC, wins the World Championships.
You know, I think back to players like Fernando Cifuentes, who again,
these were 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.
It 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 metacall.
Things go your way.
You can end up amongst the best very, very quickly.
Yeah, 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 it's 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 that's about right. And then I think some of the surprises for sure,
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 Ends, Zorak, and the Raging Bolter, the big basic EX deck.
Yeah, I think Mateusz Laskiewicz's deck, the Alakazam, is the most surprising of our top cut entrants here.
Everyone else, you know, they're playing very good decks, things we've seen a bit before.
Mateus has done, I think, by far the most innovation
heading into this top cut with his Alec Kazam,
Dusk Noir deck.
Yeah, I think that's the one when we first
saw the deck list, we saw Henry Brandt
bringing it to this event.
We first saw the deck list and was like,
what is this?
What's the point of this thing?
Where's the Dunsbarse, 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 a pretty genius idea.
And I mean, this is one where, if things just
keep going according to plan, Formatash,
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.
Now, guys, 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, uh, there's, you know, potentially a lot of
Try to pull 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 going to 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 could influence
what goes to the top four, what goes to 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 wanna make sure
you're taking advantage of the available switch,
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, sleeves,
across both Pokemon World Championships coverage
and also the Pokemon XP Street.
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, parts,
these customized stuff in Pokemon TCG Live.
A lot of people might be looking to use those Charizard
seeds here.
I'm certainly going to be one of those people.
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.
We love the Pokemon TCG here, but this is a 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 the top eight match,
which we are very excited to be featuring.
We're going to have Matej up against Henry Chow.
Boy looked at the bracket and looked at who's going to be playing against two.
I mean, obviously, obviously, that would be great, but this certainly seems like a standout.
Oh, absolutely. These are some of the best players this season.
I mean, what more can we say? I'm sure we'll talk about them more as we get into it,
but I do think it's interesting to know, you know, Henry Child had an excellent season last season,
winning a bunch of regional championships. He wanted to be top performers again and again and again
with Gardevoir EX and then of course in the middle of this season
We didn't have the standard format rotation where
Gardevoir EX 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 and I think for a bit
We saw a lot of like top 32 top 16
Finishes from Henry at a lot of different events. I wasn't able to break through to many top gates top cuts
Now he's proven
Don't need Gardevoir to succeed. He's here in the top 8 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 Dragonbolt, not too big of a surprise.
Phase one, absolutely dominated by Dragonbolt 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 I'm going to play this deck.
I'm going to play a deck that can maybe beat this deck,
or I'm going to try to seek whatever else is
zagging and try to play the decks that
beat the Dragonfall counters.
It's kind of Dragonfall EX has been the centerpiece
of this standard format of medigame 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 had some festival lead yesterday,
raging hold making appearances,
Crustle, of course, we've seen kind of push through
into the day two metagame.
Lots of powerful options here that trainers
just bring to the world championships this year.
I mean, what a crazy conversion rate for the Crestle, 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, 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 cut.
That's 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.
You know, can you deal with my missed energy, my Pokemon that can't be damaged
by Pokemon DX and my healing cards?
If you can, good game.
If not, well, tough work.
At regional championships this season,
we've seen pretty consistently around 30%
day one Dragon Ball DX 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 one,
but it's not converting quite as well into phase two.
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 Dragonbolt and maybe try to innovate in other ways. So I think that may
have played into it. Dragonbolt was the most played deck, but I think a lot of the time
and 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 evidence 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 8A.
Henry Chow versus Mateusz Laskawec.
Oh, what a match.
This is gonna be, Jim, this is fitting of the world.
Championship'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 quarters
to get a crucial win to propel himself here.
I gotta wonder, is it just Tuesday?
Succeeded in any Pokemon tournament.
It feels like three things have to be true.
You gotta prepare well and play well.
You gotta have picked a good deck.
It's got to be your weekend.
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 Muteyish, of course, with that Helikazam, Gus Nordek,
the most innovative deck that we have in Topcuts, the most unique spin.
He has certainly found something very unique that I'm sure 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.
We go 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,
Matthias.
Yeah, maybe.
But Henry does have some odd things in his deck list
as well, such as no monkey dory.
Of course, we've seen a lot of opportunity
to go with the contracts over that.
And I don't think that will make any difference.
Actually, both players bringing the foot rat to this event,
fearing the monkey Dory deciding to counter it
and sit and use it themselves.
I think a couple of big cards here from Henry's side.
Number one, judge.
This is not a card we see.
Drag the ball 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
Think we could see that judge potentially be a different speaker the one judge the one unfair stamp in the one
Special red card those are the ways that Henry Chow has to reset the hand of
Luteus Lashkovitz
Yeah, the other thing there's no
From Matash, there's no things to block the Phantom Dive.
There's no things to block Henry's Dust Noir either.
No side-up things like that.
Of course, why would you play side-up in this deck for either player?
But 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 Matash either.
I do think Henry's gonna have some opportunities here to pick the part this Alec is amdeck
But both players also opting for two copies of that but do
Itchy pollen raining supreme here again
Henry Chow is the third seed coming into this cut Matei ish the sixth seed that means
But Henry will have the option here first or second and every important choice
Which way do you think he'll lead?
Poof that's tough choice
I don't 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 triple into the dust clops things like that
I honestly don't know what I would be doing here. I'm sure Henry's giving it some thoughts. 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 option should 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.
Can we do a confirmation? Henry chose to go second.
So 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 Mataish.
That Don and Dust Snore and the prizes for Henry.
Two Kadabra and a Dust Clops for Mataish. You know, we're just talking about how important the itchy pollen is early on.
That's going to become even more impactful when three of those Stage 1 Pokemon are in Mataish's.
prize cards that could really hinder this set up early in the game.
There is the fist bump. Here we go.
Top 8 at the 2026 World Championships underway.
Mateusz Leskiewicz 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 the three game sets 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 is your prize.
Yeah, it did end your turn, and this one, you just get to keep going here as we see Mateusz playing out a poker pad,
fetching out one of those cadavers. That is huge to find on this opening turn, Puka.
Absolutely. You want to get ahead again of that item lock from the itchy pollen.
That looks like it's back over to Henry.
Just going to take a look through his prize cards here, kicking things off with the Buddy Buddy Poffin.
Buddy Buddy Poffin. The main card you want to see in your opening hand for so many archetypes,
especially the Dragapulse build, searching your deck for two Pokemon with 70 HP or less and putting them into play.
Let's see just taking stock of which Pokemon are and are not available.
Surely, noting that Dusk Noir is not part of the party for this game.
One until some prize cards start to be taken.
It 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 opponent has the Kadabra in hand already
Kadabra can just do 30 damage and knock out of a do on the second turn
Now 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 dragapults in the early game is
You know trying not to fall too far behind
behind before you can set up a dragapult EX.
And you can see the double Badoo already.
Henry anticipating that the first one is going to go down
and really prioritizing having that pivot to the next turn.
So you don'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
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 going to be able to establish some things
Early on, you know, Dragapult 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,
so you're not gonna see any pressure in the opening turns.
But you will see the itchy pollen.
The itchy pollen incoming and you called it out
with this Badoo potentially going down right away
to a Cadabra attack.
Did you see one of those eight cards?
Henry Drew was the unfair stamp.
is Mateusz 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 they don't. It was a little unfair.
Yeah, yeah, weird.
I do want to call it as well.
Henry's board state is very awkward with a lot of
Purdue, Meowth, EX, no room for Dustball right now,
but look at that, Chip.
Support a card we got going on here.
Here we go, Gwyn, one of the new cards
from the pitch black expansion,
I think perhaps designs 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 drake cloak, two drake cloaks into play.
And there it is on fair 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 Pallan and your reward
is getting your hand shuffled in 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.
He's utilized in Recon Directive number two.
Does find him the lilies determination.
He of course has not played a supporter card yet this turn.
It feels odd since he's already shuffled and drawn some cards,
but those determinations still live to be played,
but not before Poképad fetches out the third Draklok.
This is an excellent start for Henry.
Absolutely. And going to follow up the unfair stamp,
I have 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 where maybe Matash
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 Dusklock,
setting up for a Cursed Blast to rain havoc down
on Mateus' 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.
Right now it feels like the momentum is going Henry Chow's way.
Being able to sift through the deck, slowly set up his game plan.
The only silver lining for Matange 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 this turn.
to this turn. Let's see what the unfair stamp has left much
to do with. There is a Hilda. A couple of buddy buddy
puffing. 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. You have to wonder
is he going to go for a Kadabra? Maybe try to save one of those
Abra here. You go for Alakazam. Try to draw an extra card. This
is not an easy decision. And 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 sparse
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 heal
to 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 Eji Pollen.
Mattesh 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.
Does find another Alakazam, but no Kadabra 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 Mattesh 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, four Mataish, this is really dire.
All Henry needs to pull that off after this Poképad finds out the Dusk 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 recon directives.
He could even get back that Fezzendipity EX he discarded
if necessary.
There's Rose'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, maybe knocks out one of those Abra.
It will force Matej to take a prize card,
which would then unlock Henry's special red card
to disrupt Matayesh's hand further.
Here is the beginning of this turn, Chip.
Kerstflass takes out the Abra,
awarding both players a prize.
Pardon Matayesh down to just three.
Now, Henry finally striking with five prizes
remaining on his end.
I don't think we're gonna get out of this turn
without Henry Chao tying this game up.
Psychic energy attached from the hand
onto the dragapult.
Night stretcher searching the discard pile
to bring back a dust goal setting up for future cursed blasts
and a buddy buddy popping just to thin the hand out a bit.
The only thing Henry would have to be concerned about,
I mean, I don't think you can use enough cursed blasts
from Matiasz 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 Matiasz gets like three dust score out
and forces a sudden death scenario, very unlikely,
but that kind of feels like the only way
he'll have a shot in this game at this point.
Alec Kazam is really the only attacker he has.
It's also his draw engine as well.
Like you mentioned, no Dundsparse, 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 Alec Kazam,
targets down the Abra, Henry ties it up,
three prizes to three, Mateusz sees the writing
the wall and is going to pack us up to game two. That is text book. Dragapult for you.
The gitchy pollen early in the game. You buy some time, set up multiple knockouts with Phantom
Dive. Just was not a whole lot, but Tash could be in that situation. You really see this choice
of the dust door line for Henry A. Dividends. Without that, you know, you can maybe knock out
an Alec Kazam and an Abra, but then you leave one,
you get into a sticky spot where your opponent is able to get an Alec Kazam 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 Mateusz 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. It's not finding too much. The Hilda was nice. Being hit by an unfair stamp. And
there's not that many fines of the Kadabra thanks to two being prized. It seems really
difficult for Mateusz to get back through his deck.
I have to wonder if Mateusz was maybe a little bit too aggressive in that first game. You
know, attempting to just attack with the Kadabra and knock out the Badina. But immediately
got unfair stamps. I have 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 unfair stamp. Playing the odds a little
bit, not super likely necessarily for Henry to have it, but not super unreasonable either.
All right, so probably not the way that Matangus wanted this top
beat to start off, feeling great, but it's only one game of our
best of three match here.
Anybody could still take this home advantage to the top four of
the world championships, which is a huge plateau, of course,
such an increase in rising 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.
He's joining the party here.
Looks like Ultra Ball being debated here.
Henry recognizing that the Badoo Ichi Pollen
is extremely likely from his opponent,
wants to make sure to play those item cards while he can.
Yeah, and in the first game, we didn't see that at all.
But KSG 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 Matanche 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 dragapult EX
That's very true. I
Guess maybe the silver lining is he displayed dawn which is one way to find a dragapult EX
But yeah, that's gonna 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.
Let's take him to the deck right away with an opening.
Hilda searching out an evolution Pokemon and an energy card.
We will surely see that telepathic psychic energy come into play here.
Touching out a few more of those psychic basics.
Looks like the evolution Pokemon he's going with for now is that
Dusk Lops, the 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. Who could he only plays five energy?
I mean she's only got two
Available until he starts to take prize cards
That's not good ship
Thankfully you only need one to attack with Alakazam
But if he retreats one off here to attack with Badoo
Then he's only got one exactly. I don't think you can afford to do that anymore
I mean what you have to find your last energy card and then you'd have to hope at some point when you take a prize card
You find another energy card. I mean you have pretty good odds. They're half of your prizes
But yeah, this this is two games in a row now or Mateusz might have to
Come up with an alternate plan just based on what's in those prize cards
If you see that telepathic psychic energy coming down, searching the deck for two basic psychic Pokemon.
Looks like Abra and that Duskull are hitting the field and a buddy, buddy Poffin can ensure a few more Pokemon 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.
Recondirective 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.
It'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 an energy.
If you want to go that route, you can set yourself up
to find that dragapult now that you don't have any ultra balls.
This might just end up working out.
I'm not sure if Henry has an energy, but look, the curse blast.
It's going to take out the Badoo and he'll promote his own Badoo,
and he is going to match Mateus' itchy ball.
And an energy.
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.
Mateus has all basic Pokemon in play still,
Henry was able to get rid of that but do an itchy pollen on his own turn and put
Matayush in an awkward spot where again he can't play cards like Poki pad buddy
buddy puffin it's gonna be tougher to search for things and crucially does
shut off rare candy as well. Oh but Matayush can draw so many cards here we
see that first psychic draw finding two from the top of the deck there's the
attached to the telepathic psychic energy, but he has Gwyn 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,
so 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 goals. Preparing
for future cursed 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 know you're gonna knock
knock out the active, knock out that Draklo, 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. I will say, Harry Childs' board seemed much less developed,
and this is going to be excellent for Henry as he uses Recon Directive, finds another
to drakeloat, evolves into draggapult,
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 it 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.
It feels like my tension's evolved up so many
there's 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 a cadaver waiting on the bench, with a couple of dust globs potentially ready to become dust nor
Henry's Dragapult DX is far from safe. He'll play a Buddy Buddy Poffin to fetch out another
dust call down to the bench, perhaps debating one more Pokemon to join the party.
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 gonna target down with
those six damage counters. Do you simply take out a Duskull, try to limit the
kind of 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 tanks 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 dragonpole to help. This is a race. I can win
pair of recon directives used for Henry
Debating here off the second what card he'd like to hang on to looks like night stretcher will be the winner of that
That debate, that unfair stamp is waiting in the hand.
Wise of Matteo.
He had a bit of foresight to not take the KO on the Badoo,
perhaps, and now is Henry going to spread these energies out?
Is he not going to Phantom Dive this turn?
Again, it just feels like such a perilous situation.
You put yourself in.
You can see exactly how this can go wrong.
Yes, you'd love to take a couple prize cards,
force your opponent to have all of the pieces to put together a massive turn.
But no, just patience.
Ichi Pollen being used.
Ichi Pollen utilized also, you know, worth noting, Henry has looked at the list from Mitaish.
Mitaish only has one boss's orders, and no D'dun Spars.
It's so unlikely for him to be punished by this play with a Dragapult KO.
He'll go with the evolution of the Alakazam psychic draw to find three more cards.
Yeah, 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 Mateusz
and that Dusknor coming into play.
That will allow for him to take this KO,
but he is actually going to play it slow.
He's not gonna take the knockout. He'll hit for 240 damage. Leave this dragon pull with 80 HP
This is the brilliance of this deck. Wow the one boss's orders
That was a huge card for Matash defined here to hit into that dragon pull EX and set it up for a cursed blast on the
Following turn. This is the strategy of this Alakazam deck
Soften up your opponents 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 Cursed Blast to knock
out 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 Dragopold the X and both Dracloak the potential of multiple
Of those cursed blast abilities being utilized, very, very likely here, how will Henry Chow respond?
Great question. It's even maybe a situation where you want to evolve
one of those triplets preemptively, just to make sure it can't get cursed blasted. But again,
remember, Henry is out of ultra balls. It might be tough to find another Dragapult EX in this situation.
Debating a cursed blast here is just with the dust globs, not the dust nor.
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 Ball from his
Praskar.
He does not find it.
And Pukka, he does not have a way to find a Dragapult here.
Sure doesn't look like it.
Is there anything in the discard pile he can find?
The second dust globs.
He's going to curse blast again.
He's going to clear the board of all the Alakazam,
Abra and Kadabra once again.
Going to give Matej some prize cards alongside this.
And the buddy buddy Poffin will be played just
thinning 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 Matej to win
on this next turn, I guess he can't actually win
because Henry would 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 Dust Noor'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, that may be 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 Mateusz?
He has no way to utilize an Alakazam,
but he's got a full grip of cards in his hand.
There is that Pokepad being played to fetch out
another Pokemon without a rule box.
Could find another Dusknoir.
It is going to be the Badoo.
If Mateusz can find a line, he's going to go for it.
He will see that Dusknoir's curse blast
and the second Dusklobs being used.
Thus, all those curse blasts happen,
and these players will both satisfy
the same number of win conditions.
Puka, we're going into a tiebreaker game.
Ooh, okay, it's been a while since we've seen
one of these situations, Chip.
This is a tiebreaker game.
We're gonna set up for a full game.
This second game has not resolved yet.
Matej's tournament life is at stake here.
It's very simple. First prize card wins. Now of course it gets really awkward with
Duff's Clops as well. You can extend this a bit still. Some cursed blasts. But yeah
this is what it comes down to. If Henry takes a prize card first in this tie
breaker game, he advances to the top four. If Matash does, we're gonna 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 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 has
encountered this in this tournament. I watched his round 11 out in the field against rune
where this same thing happened.
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 is one 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 Ichi Pollen, but now a 30 HP,
but you're 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.
Looks like Matej is going first here in our tie break game.
Does start with the dust goal.
There's so much that can happen here.
I think one crucial thing, Matej would hopefully
find an energy card here, but we could be here for a wild chip. Let's be honest.
What's gonna happen if Mateusz next turn goes rare candy, dusk nor, and takes a
prize card? Do we set up for a new tiebreaker game? Or do they play until
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. 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 Muteish 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 Dreepee
He does have it looks like a
Buddy buddy coffin in the hand and that will be the play. He also has always 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 Badoo 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 the due next turn and
knock it out.
Yes, you 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 need 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 what would Mataesh be able to do on the next
turn best he could do is a Baltic cadabra yeah not able to attack but
Henry 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 a
Ambre. Is he gonna bite this creepy or this dust goal with this creepy? He's
playing Crispin. I mean, you may as well, right? All you gotta do is take a prize
card. You just want to attack. Yeah, I was actually thinking the one Pokemon you
would want to start with with for Henry is Fezendipity EX probably 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.
Tejas could win the game right now, though. If he has rare candy,
Alakazam energy, he has his prime catcher in hand. That's
right, ship. His prime catcher is a way to the energy. He has
Alakazam. All he needs is a rare candy here from the
Cadabra. He does not find it when 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 uses Prank Catcher 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, like, 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.
You 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 Alcazam.
He has no way to win the game on this turn.
Now what? The prime catcher has to be used to get this dust goal out of the active spot now.
And Henry Trowell is puts the ball back in Henry's court.
Henry's a boss's orders away from winning the game.
And a 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 are 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 street 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.
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
The boss's 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 a boss.
He has energy, but there's nothing that bite King KO.
He has no jocloak.
He has no way.
Oh, no.
To search anything else out the cadaver.
And the actors thought, I don't think Henry can win now
this turn, Puka.
Both players are shaking their heads,
like how can 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,
Mateusz will be able to curse blast the Dripia that's already got damage on it.
And it 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 Fezendipity EX.
holding on to that boss which had that
Mateusz not found.
Dustclops would have closed out the game.
We'll have to just go with a Lilly's determination.
He'll get eight cards.
I don't think he has a way to deal 80 damage this turn.
The max he could do would be 70 with a Drakloaks
dragon headbutt.
No way to deal that extra 10 damage.
Yeah, I think Henry's only hope at this point is to
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 Matthias is going to be awarded a game
to victory coming out ahead and sudden back. What a bizarre way to keep your hopes alive
here at the World Championships. That's got to be a big jolt of energy for Matash as we
We head into a third and deciding game.
He was one prize card away from being eliminated from
walking 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.
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 obviously 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.
before, but I mean, you guys mentioned that Mattage was actually, or has already done
it before right in our round.
So not something he's unfamiliar with and with forward candy, he's probably pretty
able to do it.
Because this is the end, perhaps taking advantage with a quick Galakazam.
These piebreaker games are so, so rare in the Pokemon PCG.
They do happen though, I have to imagine though, this is the highest stakes moment for one of
the top eight of the world championships.
Are you kidding me?
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 to dusk all on his end,
and a opening buddy, buddy Poffin.
Always a welcome sight.
After that, are we gonna see a normal game
or another weird one?
Impossible to tell.
Prize cards being checked here for Matias.
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 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 Poffin, the telepathic psychic energy,
the Tansha'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've seen the era of big basic Pokemon for a long time,
but here, it's just all stage two Pokemon are the stars.
Wow, look at the start. What an opening here for Mateusz playing out a handful of item cards as well to play around the potential
itchy pollen of Henry Chow
Utilizing that telepathic psychic energy
Return there from Henry Chow is a Lily's determination
his hand was unplayable look at that hand Puka to fire energy a
Dragapult EX
card nothing at all to work with he is bailed out and saved by that lilies
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 gonna be massive for Henry
it was effectively game on board right we just saw Mateusz use poke pad to get
That dust globs if you do use dust globs 50 damage to the dust goal itchy pollen is the 10 damage
He needs that would have been the game that would have been the tash moving on that lose determination
Keeps Henry in this set and what a find the buddy buddy pawfin
And Henry's gonna fire right back buddy buddy pawfin got an ultra ball to get things ready to go
Who you never know what's gonna happen next between these two players?
Of course, Henry with the bosses orders top deck earlier in the day now the lilies 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?
What a run it's gonna be look at these prize cards for Henry
Unfairstamp judge two of the three ways he has to disrupt his opponent and the only ways he could ever aggressively
Aggressively disrupt his opponent's 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, as the buddy-buddy
puffin' for these two, Drifi, has to use an energy attachment for the turn to retreat
into Purdue.
Definitely cannot end this turn without saying itchy pollen.
The potential for your opponent to just play a bunch of rare candy evolve into those Stage
2 Pokémon way too high.
But Henry's got to be feeling the pressure here.
like Mateusz, who set himself up very well.
And there's the retreat into the Badoo,
the second Badoo 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 look at this hand full of Pokemon.
Kadabra, number one psychic draw to find two more cards.
Looks 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 going to wait for the future. He's in a curse blast right now.
Oh, and putting an interesting decision on Henry right now, what Pokemon to send out.
I actually wondered if
Matias would have cursed blasted the benched Badoo in that spot and just force
the other one to stay active. You could do something like
knock out the bench 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 Super Saiyaj bowl to 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.
Do 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 Matej 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 was going to discard a dust noir and change his mind.
Does decide to hang on to the dust noir.
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 cadabra.
He's going to use the Super Cyble.
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.
Duskull or Dreepey, what will be the choice?
Looks like he does land on the Duskull.
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 Matias, it's going to need to be kind of perfect turns from here on out from Henry to battle back in this one.
He is going to attach the energy to his drip quote 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 Mateusz will be left with simply two cards to work with on his next turn.
Oof, what is Henry gonna go for here?
You know, I think he would love to be able to itchy-pull on 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.
So in order to get a Purdue into the active would also need to curse glass with dust clops to get that out of there
Feels not great that your opponent could just draw a pokey pad off these two cards get an alakazam and start drawing back up
Henry needs to find some way to make sure that this unfair stamp sticks and maybe the stamps is 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.
He now put him on in to play.
He's also got a coca pad in hand, so we can see another Drakloak hit the field,
or that those globs, he's a way to pivot this active out.
He still can 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 you 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.
Hukapakena definitely finds one more
Kloak for a recon directive.
Did see Chip and Matayesh's hand is a pokey pad.
If there's no itchy pollen here,
we'll certainly see an elixir him 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 curse blast of phantom dive and picking apart Mateusz is bored
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 pokey pad 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 dustcalls 50 HP on the
Abra of course little 30 HP to do 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 and 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 think I saw a Gwyn perhaps for the next turn. No, it looks like Petratt's
shaming in his hands. A couple of more item cards in that basic psychic energy.
So. So I don't I don't mind this play from Matash.
You know, 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 Canabra and the active one
with Phantom Dive.
But then it 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 Dustgar
and Cursed Blasts to win this game.
So Matias is making it as difficult as possible for Henry to set up some massive play here.
Henry promotes his Drakloka, attaches an energy to it.
He is simply a dragapult DX away from the Phantom Dive being on the table.
And he'll send his hand into the equity of Lily's determination.
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.
This is a 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.
If he doesn't have that much to work with right now, though,
but he's going to get extra cards in his hand thanks to Cursed Blast,
so special red card is extremely impactful, and here he goes. Cursed Blast takes down Kadabra,
both players taking a prize card.
That is huge to find Dust Noir in that situation, being able to completely knock out of Kadabra.
Now Henry can set up this play.
If 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 on the test 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 Matthias and
and wiping out all of these Pokemon from play.
One prize card apiece for each of these players.
And Matthias only has a pair of dust skull to work with.
He did find dust, nor just these rare candy.
But nothing else in the hand.
If he finds a rare candy here,
he can send us to another tiebreaker game.
And he does not have it.
He still has dawn.
This can find Fezendipity EX and flip the script.
But no, he's going to 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.
Well, Miracle Run continues the top deck of the Lilly's determination
on that third and final game to stay in it
and battle back and take down this week,
this innovative Calakazam, Dustin Ordeck.
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 people 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 in the World Championships.
Two years in a row, Puka.
What a couple of year run he has had.
Yeah, I mean, an incredible back to back run for Matash.
Maybe 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 it 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 Badoo going back and forth.
A lot of Badoo.
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 you thought, oh, maybe
Henry found a way to clear the board here
with the first blast, the phantom dive.
What was going to happen?
But Matayesh had set up this cursed blast play.
He took 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 Lilly's determination
to keep Henry Chow alive.
Matayesh would have won the game on his second turn,
had Henry not found a supporter card or a way
to get out of Pokemon.
next snowballed him into a D3 victory.
Coming away the winner of top eight.
Moving into top four,
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.
I can see my tapes, they're extending the hand, congratulating Henry, who honestly battled back and set up such a crazy comeback there in that game.
But I think we're going to throw it over to the stage.
Top four with no look at slowing down.
Henry, how are we feeling coming out of that egregious match?
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 good spot, I thought,
but I just kind of blanked on the fact
that he could force Sudden Death.
I don't know if there was really anything
I could have done to play around it.
But Sudden Death, I think it's 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 I actually, even going second,
I actually got a chance if I had top deck for 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 picking Lilly off a completely unplayable hand.
This happened in round five against Beth Valide as well.
I just, I can't believe that happened.
The universe feels like it's still like the universe
is toying with me.
And I made a huge, huge blunder at the end of game three
as well.
I benched the Dripie to pin my deck before my Lilly's,
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 Dustnore.
But I benched the Street B that meant that
off the Red Guard, which I was really lucky
to even draw the Red Guard,
because I'm certain he would have had the Candy Duster
if I didn't drop the Red Guard.
He would have been able to force another sudden death,
which I don't know if my heart would have been able
to handle that.
I don't think any of us 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?
So that's something you always think when you come out of a match.
Yeah, I mean, it depends if I see it or not, of course.
You know, sometimes I just don't know I 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 dust on my desk.
I'm looking at my board and I can say,
well, I can make this a pull, but then I have two pulls in a pair.
I'm like, why is this creepy on the board?
But I got bailed out 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, with twists and turns at every single moment, Henry,
we are so pleased to have you on this stage and wish the best of luck going forward.
Any 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 to everyone who's
tuning in and watching. Even my friends who are not affiliated with Pokemon and just watching
I'm not sure what I'm going to
do. I'm not sure what I'm
going to do. I'm not sure
support me. It really means the
world to me. This event has a
lot of emotion for me, and I
really want to do good. You
know, it's not done yet. I got
to focus for top four today, so
got to hold it together. But
yeah, I really want to do good
this tournament. Well, hopefully
your luck hasn't ended there. And
the top decks continue to bail
you out silly situations,
including the stickiest of
rolling on with more action.
Let's head back to 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
is 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.
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 going to be keeping 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 going to 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
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 the player
himself his skill is I mean I don't know if he's reaching 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
It's not his best, it's just 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 off lock the universe
is definitely helping out Henry Chow a little bit with these early on for staff which are
so devastating that Lily top pick as well when the stakes are this high when both players
are this good sometimes the lock of the 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 withing a Kadabra. Yeah, withing a Kadabra is really what put a nail in
the coffin here for Matej. The double Abra susceptibility on the bench made it so that he had 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
sudden death, something we hadn't seen before. I think players took a few
shortcuts here, so just want to make sure it was very clear what happened. This Dragonbolt has ADHP left, so
DOSNOR takes out the Dragonbolt,
Henry takes a prize, Mathias takes two, and then the DOS Clubs 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 Solon Death game, and, I mean, 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 both 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 Plays again variant, which is probably the one
that has was gathering the most attention leading into the event because of Mega Exca Drills,
potential to counter quotation marks Dragapult. And crushing hammers could really affect this
version of the deck, but when you are up against a multi-target threat, which is DOSNWAR and DOSPLUPS,
which are able to remove the Pogon from your bench very easily on top of the Phantom Dive Extra damage counters.
The low HP is what ultimately being, ultimately was, but there's this device here.
Versus the other dry-up variants, I have to imagine there's good price rates and the pressure on the bench is manageable.
But when you have all these DOS clubs and DOS Nords 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 them only attack once where it really mattered, right?
Against the Dragapult. So I think this version of the deck is very successful in the expected meta game,
but when you come up against a Titan such as Henry Chao and Paladin,
the Dragapult version of the deck that you're gonna struggle with the most,
we see Henry walk away the winner in 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 these games, 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 Chow 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 eight game. We still have another
top eight 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 Zhao does go on to perhaps become
world champion at this event, you know that match will probably be immortalized
in history as one of the best matches to ever be played on this stage. Maybe
be 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 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 Rune Hirmans 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.
For the fame that we're down in the woods
We'll remember the names
And don't let us leave no one looking at us
They came to burn it, they came to be
the world championships in San Francisco. 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 eight 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.
It's 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 hold it against you.
We've been building this bracket brick by brick and we can take a look at the bracket to see how things have shaped out for these players
Started off the asymmetric top cut we played two games
So there was a total of ten players in that top cut and then we made it to a top eight
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 floor 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 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 discarded 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 Satoshi 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 gonna 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 Dragapult,
you're better off playing even Blaziken.
Everyone knows that camera is going to be the most
dominant version of Dragon Pulse,
but still many, many players decided to bring the
curse last line that dust nor 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
see another top eight match. It will be two of Australia's finest local match
taken it to the biggest stage the world stage at that Nathan Spry up against
Brent Tonneson what more can we say about Brent. He is one of the game's
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
He wants to go all the way.
Yeah, like he 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 Sprite, now it's a very large world we live in, even.
What are the chances that you actually hit one of your locals in a top 8 of Worlds?
Nothing is impossible when it comes to the Pokemon TCG.
A bit of a Cinderella run last year in Anaheim.
A top 32 with Armor Rouge adept.
Not on the rig, are 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.
it right there on the screen that Lily's Clefairy 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 as he is the pilot of this basic big
box is looking to see if Brent is playing Shea Mid because he wants to use that Wall
all spring mascot to take a couple of prizes over one turn.
The thing is for Brent, he has really created
the most consistent dragapult list
I think we've seen in a very, very off time.
No funny business besides the crushing hammer,
just dragapults, but do,
Fezzendipiti and a couple of friends,
including Monkey Dory.
No, the Dunsparse package,
there's no cursed blast being used,
just wants to maximize the counts of cards
that are impactful.
seen that be an extremely effective strategy. Nathan on the other hand, playing a bunch of different
attackers. Of course, have that, including Clefairy EX, the Fairy Zone ability makes it so. Dragapold 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. There's a lot of other
sighting attackers, dive into those details once we get down to our match. The problem is with
As a basic box enjoyer, the problem is you so desperately need to start mega kangis
gun EX in hand to get it into the active as quickly as possible so you can start drawing
cards.
The basic box has a very big tendency if you are not starting mega kangis gun to absolutely
break.
See what the prize cards are going to give us even.
So far not too bad.
Almost like curse it right now.
Okay, prime catcher not great for the big basics and one copy of the lilies for very ex, but there are two of course in the deck
Very important to have access to at least one of them
But a nice stretch of being prize means there's only the ability to get to lilies for very out as it's
Try to pull can ever take that first KO
Things could definitely get present in on brexit our 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 Wall-Spring
Mask overpump and get that to run your pump as quickly as possible.
We see this very commonly with lots of players in the Pokemon TCG, bunching all of those Pokemon
to the front of the deck just to make it a little bit easier to identify.
So, Drippy is the choice.
Over on the defense side, you definitely have to have a sigh of relief
when your opponent doesn't play buddy-buddy-puffin,
but instead that poke pad to start doesn't mean the rest of the hand is too bad.
Brent's going to play on the safer side.
Interesting. Did see the list and knows that there's no way to shut off
Meowth's EX's ability, that last-ditch catch.
Sill wants to just grab a supporter card,
which will most likely be that Lily's determination.
It's guaranteed, right?
and Brent saying, you know what, this Meowth 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, just want to see if Brent 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 Kang has gone, not even having to flip
heads to get the knockout. A big liability in multiple ways who are talking about that wellspring
mask ogre upon the torrential pump. Sob is another great attack on something like the Meowth EX.
It 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. It will shuffle the deck up. There's a couple of energy
cards who can place that down onto what I presume to be one of these two drapey. Not much else going
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 that at least double drippy and an energy attachment to follow through with.
So going back over onto Nathan's side, this isn't exactly where you want to start.
Now, granted, Ladias is usually a very key Pokemon 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 Ethan, 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 Mekka Kengis gone forward for more draw or get that stop lock going?
Nathan himself will take a look at the deck, see what pieces are available.
He's sitting on some solid cards in hand for the following turn, that powerful supporter, Crispin, to accelerate energy.
So that's a manual attachment for a turn, not too shabby.
And what better way to end the turn off than drawing a few cards with Run-Aaron.
Thanks to that Ladiost EX's Skyliner ability.
We'll be the Fezzan Dippity for later on that Flip Descript ability, super strong.
You'll see how he can put together this turn and more importantly next turn what attack he wants to go towards
Assuming that Brett can find some pieces and get set up
It said mega kengis gone now going into the active needs some more resources to find those
Plays for later. That's a really big find though with me out
Guaranteed for next turn to get the Crispin up and running as well
But sometimes it feels like either when you play this big basic box
You're really at the mercy of your opening hand and the problem is not starting mega Kangaskhan
You've actually now are forced to use a supporter this early crushing hammer kind of flip tails
Yeah, big flip if that flips heads
Now you can just gone 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 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 over pond now
things are going to get just a little bit more difficult as that friendly face or
maybe the evil face if you've been itchy pal and a little bit too much.
Purdue 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 dreamy out of the active as well. Now that Nathan has
committed this energy to the mega kangaskhan EX, this mega kangaskhan 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 Dragonpool has very far
moved away from the rare candy Dragapult Crispin Day. So this Mechakangus gone is going to get a ton
of mileage which is going to give Nathan some time to kind of move around to Breton'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. Gonna use this recon directive first trying to maximize his
outfit. Finding Pokemon. Really taking the card. Saw Monkey Dory in the top. I wonder if that was
as the cards like, you know, it's another Tricloak, an excellent find.
There is a high chance that we're going to see double recon directive
and potentially that attachment to retreat.
That 3B did come down this turn, so it only put two Tricloak into play.
Does already have the energy on the bench, and it's very unlikely
that that Tricloak 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 Lily'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 a 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't just gone 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 away 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 some 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 Meowth.
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 trade
against this Dragapult 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 Jax 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 Kengis Khan 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 enamor.
So it only had one energy committed to it.
The mega Kengis Khan is healthy. It gets to use run air in for at least two turns.
There's going to be plenty of card draw, thanks to that Fezendipity on the bench.
I'd like this approach from the one-priser.
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.
We've got to imagine if Brent can play something like on fair stamp
as well as bring up a Pokemon like Fecedipity,
while not taking a knockout, activating that ability.
We can 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 Teal Mask Ogre Pawn,
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 Moultres I was about to talk about coming down.
This could actually be a nice way to kind of scare Nathan off
of even putting Teal Mask Ogre Pawn into play.
Bit of an interesting route for Brent.
Schooling to let his opponent go down to four prize cards,
but brings up this Moultres, a one prize Pokemon capable of setting
Mechakengis gone up for a two hit KO.
There's the fighting wings.
Mechakengis gone just 180 HP left.
And a pretty solid back line here for Brent.
Two recon directive, 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, there 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 DragonPult EX can come in and take a massive amount of prize cards.
Like you said, at least Fezendipity is on the bench floor next turn,
but it feels like Mega Kangaskhan here is in grave, grave danger.
Great spot for Brent, to be honest.
He is on a two turn clock to potentially close this game out.
Knockout on Mega Kangaskhan with a Phantom Dive,
and 120 damage residually thanks to those six damage counters
would be enough to knock out Enamorous if he can play a boss's orders.
It looks like Brent has taken the lead even though he's fallen behind.
It just doesn't feel comfortable if you're Brent.
There's no energy on the board, Ethan.
Now, Brent, 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, Brent needs to find a weird mix of a
Crispin into a Dracapulte X to at least start the prize race.
But the problem is the rest of the board, it's just not comfy yet.
A Rosa here would be excellent.
Rosa's encouragement would allow two 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 Benstra cloak
Meaning bosses orders could be played on the following turn has the Rosa in hand these there an energy
There's an unfair stamp Brent now just needs to find an attachment to one of these two cloak
And he'll be in a pretty solid spot
It's not even just the drag cloak 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 cloak ready to go potentially because one thing that
Brent knows about basic bots is that there's always a Lily's Clefairy waiting in the wings.
Incredible turn for Brent. Fully powers up a Dragonpole, gets a Bench Dragloak ready and plays on fair stamp to shuffle Nathan's hand
as well as he is into the deck. Nathan will only get two cards. Brent is going to get five
And there is not a mega Kangas gone 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 time.
The problem is even if Nathan wanted to get set up once again that would require potentially fetching another me out.
That is just another piece of food for this Dragonball to go on ahead and take some more prize cards here.
So Brent moving pretty quickly now we went from a board Ethan that really was not comfortable at all.
at all to now a board that feels almost like a checkmate, if you will.
So we'll see Enamaris put up to just 40 HP remaining.
60 HP, rather. It does have 120 HP.
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 and energy and champow.
There's another mega tank is gone in the hand at least but the problem is Brent's already sitting one boss's orders away on
Multiple Pokemon to get it done right already has like you said the energy or the damage counters
Excuse me on to the Latios and the Fezzendipity
It's really just a choice and if you look at Brent kind of already flashing in he already hasn't in hand
So with no special red card because it was already discarded the beginning of the game
He might just have it in hand
We may be flipping coins here, ladies and gentlemen.
When 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.
Use the Crispin, it's going to allow the energy
to be accelerated to Mega Kangaskhan,
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 Brent.
You know, usually when you play Mega Kangaskhan,
and you go for this rapid-fire combo on TCC 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 Dragonfall.
So here we go, rapid-fire combo.
And immediately does not find it,
and just gonna pick cards up, understands the game is a wrap.
Brent Tonneson in quick fashion, taking game number one.
And this is the thing with Basic Box.
Realistically even, it has the answer for everything you put in front of it.
But unfortunately, if you do not start Mega-Kangaston,
you don't really have the ability to unlock what this deck really can 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.
Big takeaways from that game, Brent.
Responding expertly to early pressure,
even without the help of crushing animal.
That game number one.
We're not starting at Mega Kangascon.
Did get into it and had a couple of cool plays.
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.
And honestly, I love the way that Pultrace is not just used as a counter to Teal Mask Ogre Pawn.
It 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
first 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
asymmetrical top cut for a reason.
Look at that beautiful crowd out
there, Ethan. I know some people
are hyped to see TCJ.
Brent Tonneson one game away
from hoisting that Pikachu
trophy and potentially moving
on to incredibly big matches
in his career.
and the first player,
Christmars will go out.
Most likely see 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 mech at hand.
Ready to hop into game number two
and build one of the worst starters in the deck for Nathan.
It's going to be that iron leaves EX.
And the draw for turn didn't help him.
There is nothing in this hand.
Just an attach pass.
sitting on at least a salad hand stadium plus Lily's determination can start to at least funnel through the deck of it. Look at the way that Brintz 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,
do you miss something like a buddy-buddy pop-up?
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 semifinalists
does find the buddy buddy puff in.
That's going to allow two more to repeat to come into play.
And there's additionally but do plus an energy and it's he pilot is going to stay.
And 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, Ethan.
There's not even a grass energy to at least start powering up this iron leaves.
So now Brent's is 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.
And one crushing hammer, but the rest of it, right?
The A-Spec 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 but do out of the deck.
as he would technically thin a card even though he has one in his hand.
A many 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 Pallan immediately putting on the pressure on turn number one.
And then going into Brent's second turn already has Ultimaul and another Lily's in hand
but draws the Mega Kangaskhan.
So now here we go, finally able to find the Stadium Bump
and going into Mega Kangaskhan to draw some cards.
What actually need to find Serena or something
to get at least basic Pokemon out of the deck onto the bench,
but at least having Mega Kangaskhan 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 starting off with an evolution, an attachment, and a lily's determination.
And while prize cards end up in ticking, while Megakinggus 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 Megakinggus gone damaged 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 floats in play as they were just drawn, it's starting to feel that way already.
Recon directive. Find a Crispin. That would be an excellent supporter for the following turns.
Unfair stamp. No, not quite. Looks like Dragapult EX, so has that for the following turn,
and an ultra ball, which can find the third drink.
Loak, a perfect turn to followed from that current 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 ultra ball.
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
You don't have to tunnel into Crispin 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
It's got to stay composed and gotta try to think about how to get out of the situation
It's so strangely enough that the perfect combinations of cards 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 young strong 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 cipher maniac you use your supporter and you're not attacking
Grispen found definitely a big deal.
Meka Kanga's gone, 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.
Thing is, you want to keep them in the deck
as long as possible too.
Just because Budu can always come back
and lock those energies into place,
and then you wouldn't be able to use something
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 overpond and the prize is each
game. It's hard to find those cards if you're not using a supporter like Cyrano.
So here we go. Knockout 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
he would like to vent that festivity 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, Ethan.
More, I mean, the deck is completely unlocked, dare I say.
I mean, you have three draft cloaks with recon directive.
You can fire off and attack this turn.
And if the unfair stamp is in hand, like I think you did say,
it's gonna be less cards.
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 Fezantibiti,
but Fezantibiti 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.
Fidori comes into play.
Two damage counters, thanks to the risky ruins.
We are going to see Phantom die powered up
on top of a Crispin.
excellent to make sure we can fire off consecutive attacks.
This is 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,
It 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 Laodios.
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 Adrenalbrain. It will bring this Kangaskhan to 230,
meaning an Adrenalbrain plus boss on the following turn will be able to take it out with that residual damage.
There it is, a try to bring to the active, phantom die for 200, brings this kengis gone to just 70 HP remaining,
one damage counter for sure on the Lodias, and that iron leaves now also going to be in range of being KO'd.
Many players at this moment would probably try and get into their lilies clifari as quickly as possible and take out the looming thread,
but unfortunately lilies clifari 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 going to stop this five-price turn from essentially happening at this point.
So now it's up to Nathan to either get this mega-kangaskhan out of play,
or try to find a way to get another attacker that could potentially survive a phantom dive.
There is the ultra ball. See energy in switch in hand for Nathan.
Did that decide to put a psychic energy on that mega-kangaskhan? So as it stands,
we cannot see an attack from Lily's Clefairy unless this Cypher Maniac grabs pieces.
So there is the Cypher Maniac. We'll grab the psychic energy as well as another
train, excuse me, and a card from the deck. Looks like Fezendipity. Sorry, the Clefairy in hand,
so it can at least use that flip descriptability to draw a few cards.
And 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 prize map is pretty
clear for Brent to close this game out. Yeah, that's the problem with this deck
into a deck like Dragapult. Well, yes, it does have the answer. If you're not the
one who has multiple attackers ready to go, you can go up to 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 Wellspring Mask Ogrebond is going
to come into play. Okay, we can fire off and attack this turn, double energy
switch in the hand, flip the script, and we'll see Double Dracloak 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 drippy in play, if Dragapult EX goes down on the following turn,
there's no backup attacker. This wellspring mask Ogreplon would go down next turn,
but the thing is if Brent already has boss's orders in hand, 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.
Considering which Pokemon to promote into the active spot, wouldn't 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 Pokepad?
He's able to find another Pokemon.
It is the Monkey Dory.
As it stands, the fourth Trepey is in the prize cards
for Brent, so cannot even establish another one
unless he can find a Night Stretcher this turn.
But honestly, I'm looking at the board, Ethan.
Is there not a five prize turn that is potentially lined up
at this point with the second Monkey Dory being grabbed
moving at both damage counters over before Brett were to retreat.
The five is guaranteed.
The issue comes down to that final prize card.
Willis Clifari 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 Mechagang has gone.
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 KOed.
We'll see the Multra is 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 Fezantipiti, 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 Fezantipiti and Megacangus gone.
It 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 Erend.
But that means there's no way to switch into Lily's Clefairy 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 Serano 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 Dragobolt, but with Maltres.
The question is with what, though?
It wouldn't matter.
Bosses' orders can take out two different Pokemon this turn.
If the Meowth 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 attachment and just hope that Brent doesn't have.
That's it.
Bosses orders, KO's, the bench EX, wellspring 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 unfold.
Clearly it's good enough to make it to top eight.
It's just that when you play so many one ofs,
the chance of breaking is way too high for this deck.
Absolutely well deserved for both players.
Congratulations of course to 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's set play 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 Dragonpole.
Has Lily Stupheri, has Wellspring Mask Ogre Pond,
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 start.
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 Liliths but very attacked 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.
We'll trace to take the final KO,
even after Nathan Turbidin, both for Cloak,
it seemed that no matter what twist and turn
and what problems were thrown at Brent,
he was able to respond and the bosses ordered.
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 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 you do? Brent is now the recipient of a Pikachu trophy,
and maybe much more to come. Let's throw it down and here from our latest semi-finalist.
I think it's a good one.
Later semi finalists Brent
Tonneson has blessed us with
another cracking game against
all of how we feeling
advancing to top four. I feel
surreal. Yeah, I'm I mean, it
does feel like bad to beat
someone who's our friend and
one of my logicals. Yeah, I
think the fun fact was he
to get his invite for the first
time and now he's playing a top
eight of love. 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 like
we've definitely had some
discussions on things. I think
he was one of the players who
told me should stick with both
to play for this event. Wow.
That is an amazing tip bit. So
going up against that matchup.
How did you approach it in your
Well, in the matchup, generally, if you attack at 6-5, or when they're at 5 price guys, 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 1, but it's start wasn't strong enough that
I was able to stall a turn later, and that converted into a win.
Oh, we love to hear it as 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 shout outs before I let you off?
Well, I have to shout out my sponsor PSA and I guess all my friends and family for supporting me.
Thank you so very much. We're going to jump over to Pablo C. He has 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.
Nationals he had a very good season for 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 very dominating fashion
The the games were very straightforward. It was Dragon Pulse attacking over and over and the
The threat of the enamorist 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
You didn't see any Tielmask overpun, so Nathan's deck probably not working to his fullest potential
In this particular round, which of course these cards, the Enamorous and Lilith Clefairy
The Tielmask 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 second game end.
Ticket game was a little bit better for him. We can pull off this really cool play with a double energy switch
Into the well spring overpond who 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't be dealt
by Lillis 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
Tonneson advancing into the top four really impressive run by Brent so far I
don't know what's gonna 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
livestreamed right here and so we do have our casters ready to go. Ross and Joe
take it away.
We're going to have to wait until we figure out our finalist here at the Pokemon trading card game world championship
2026 in San Francisco to 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 of my we I mean myself Ross and the lovely Joe
But our Joe 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 centre tomorrow,
our players can already pat themselves on the back, they've already earned a coveted Pikachu promo from the World Championships.
But 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 obviously it's either the bracket, 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 Crosskull there as well.
And a couple of those big, basic box decks.
So, a little bit of variety, but still a lot of Dragapok.
The thing that jumped out to me more than the deck here, unnamed.
This is one of the most star-studded top eights
I think we've ever had at a world championship.
You know, we've got a player returning from top eight last year in Mataesh.
We've got Brent Tonneson, the championship point leader from last year.
We've got Henry Chow, who won three regionals last season,
with Gardevoir, Andrew Hedrick, who was just looking up in profile, right?
Five 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 starting lineup here.
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. But Diego Casaraga, I mean, his first World Championship top eight was in
2007. He's been doing this for a long time. Oh, yes. It is in four top cut at the World Championships for Diego, of course, one with
Gada won GX back in 2017, looking to become only the second player ever to repeat as a world champion.
We saw Jason Kuzinski win three times, most recently in 2013.
Diego hoping to add his name to that list of repeat champions, but whoever wins now,
from these four players, there is a great story that is going to be told,
because 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 thrushing hammer,
Dragapult with thrushing hammer,
Dragapult with Dusterwark 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 third, top four.
It is going to be Diego against Henry,
Alakazam against Dragapult.
Look at their records, 11-0 and 11-1.
we've got 11-0 on one sorry add 11-1 season win lost there that is a pretty happy 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 in very different areas
yeah certainly different areas that just shows how the government Gardevoir has been in all
all the titurations and pilots today are both on very different decks altogether.
Alakazam has been a through story for the entire weekend at Z cross,
where it's the test of his Dussamart build or the various other builds of Alakazam.
Diego has sort of swept through the field quite nicely.
You can see those accomplishments, the quality of the stuff, that little bits.
It's not just those 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 Guard of War.
In 2017, other world championship was Diego with Guard of War.
Here, we've got Alakazam and Dragapult.
And Diego here, trying to stop us having
an all-Dragapult final of the world championship.
I think, leading him to 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 Jammin' Coward in his list, but Diego has four copies of the battle page.
That can shut down a lot of the trickery that Henry has been his deck with Curved Blast and with Phantom Dive down the counter placement.
So Diego trying to manage that stadium war is going to be vital and Henry capitalizing on the
potentially only one turn he has of full value with all of his affinities 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 Larrisade can be a little bit awkward for Diego at times
especially alongside that copy of safe match, the area as well in the Fires
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 4s, don't go anywhere. As soon as this Top 4 is done,
we will go to the second, but right now we've got Henry and Diego there with a
fist bump and we are rolling here in the Top 4 on a Pokemon training card game.
world championships. Henry goes first with a dream being an energy and then a pass to Diego. It's not
much, but it's just about enough. And I got a quick peek at Henry's hand as well. He does have at
least a cloak on the next turn and I believe a little 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 popping. He wants to find as many of those
Abra 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 straight forward build even plays two copies of the ace nullifier jenisette
Trying to 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 ab 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 hands to do huge damage.
But, someone like an Unfest out making you shuffly handed
to get back and drawing two cards.
Absolutely devastating.
Can't be played if there is an ace nullifier,
Janna-Sek on the board to try and turn it off.
to that summing, we will absolutely be looking for as we go.
Early doors, you just want your Abra to evolve,
and you're done sparse to evolve up to draw some cards later.
Yeah, so often we talk about hand destruction
being a way to limit your opponents out
towards doing things, but not only does hand destruction
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.
It's like it's going to be the early Fesendipity on the bench.
We do have an energy attachment, so we can get a teleportation attack in if we wish.
It's going to be a way to try and shift your Abra out of the line of fire,
and is in fact going to go into his Fesendipity yet.
Diego is holding onto one of his air balloon.
Henry Scherringoff, he had four track-loaking in the hand.
Unfortunately, when you've got four 3P on the bench,
four track-loak, amazing, but at 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 for 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 bars
that can KO themselves to drop more damage counters
and you try to build up into those turns
where you take multiple KO's.
Nice eight cards from Lily then as there's already the buddy buddy Poffin in hand for Henry and picks up a couple more
So we'll be able to really go wide on this bench
Having the threat of multiple curse blasts in addition to
Phantom Divers 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 turn.
That is something we need 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 guard that stops damage counters being placed on bench Pokemon, not the active,
by effects of attacks or abilities.
So both the residual damage from Phantom Dive and the damage counter some cursed blasts will all be stopped by battle cage.
battle gauge. That makes it absolutely huge. So timing that is going to be crucial. But
with four of them, it really comes out 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 Fesendipity EX, setting Henry up for a potential bosses orders later down
the line alongside Phantom Dive for a clean knockout. Very nice. We see our first at Duns
Pass. We're going to get that runaway draw that allows you to draw three cards and then
return to Duns Pass to your deck. Genesect, Bosses, 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. Diego is
certainly happy to see that as well. Speaking of which, here comes Dawn. Go and grab yourself
a basic Pokemon and a Stage 1 and a Stage 2. It's ideal for an archetype like this where
all of your Pokemon also have draws stapled onto them.
So you're going 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 Kadabra.
We've got an Alakazam, the basic.
Well, there's a few different options here.
It depends where you're going to be going.
A lot of the time, done's possibly the option.
Yeah.
There's always 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 at 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 going to see an evolution up into Kadabra.
That's going to 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 out to remember it.
Now, Kadabra can use Super Sidebot for 30 damage into Badoo 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 Geneset 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.
Battlecage 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. You know, hope it's not gonna get KO'd. Good 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 find his stadium bump,
he could knock out the Abra as well.
But he does have to work on getting rid of that battle 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 Pokémon,
a non-Rulebox Pokémon.
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
Vulture ball in the hands so I could either find the mouth EX or we could just guarantee that dragapult EX right now
So it's a strange situation when that battle cages up the main selling points of dragapult is that damage capital placement really?
And now you're basically, you know the same as just using your
Jet headbutt attack because you can knock out this done sparse pretty cleanly
Although initiating that prize race can still have his advantages
you're denying potential draw from Runaway draw later on in the game from Diego and
at the same time you're
Storing a pretty high hit point poke one into the active position before Diego has had a chance to really start motoring through his deck
Absolutely, we do see the dragapult is the choice off of the ultra ball with a fire energy in hand
That does mean Henry is gonna be able to phantom diamond if he wishes
We're now going to see a boss that was already in hand on the Kadabra, and that means that we are going to see the free retreat from the Bidu.
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 was really well timed from Diego too.
Otherwise, you know, he could be completely in an awful position with no Abra whatsoever, just Bessintipity and Dunsbar.
You can see already the value of this stadium card.
And it's going to be Diego's
priorgative to really keep this in play
for as long as possible.
As we see a reload of Buddy Buddy Poppin now,
some of his locked up items are now released
because the itchy pollen 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 attacks
with his Alakazam.
Absolutely.
If you want a quick maths lesson, here's what you do.
You look at the HP of the Pokemon 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 hands
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. His only real means of Pokemon recovery as he's not playing
Night Stretcher 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. I'm just trying
to reestablish as big of a bench as he can. Kataphrah coming into the hand. He can also
reestablish and Abra all a done sparse. 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 stack 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. For the second you take your first
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 casts to get a KO.
Here comes a Genesect, and we are going to see a buddy-buddy poppin.
You're right, Joel. Just been having a spy of the deck list.
Both of those, you're sacred, Ashley and Lana's aid.
They're both played as one-offs.
So there's no recovery right now.
Now, 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 you have access to this turn
that can evolve.
We do see access to the Enriching Energy,
the VM manual attachment this turn.
That draws four.
Keep casting your cards.
Yeah, four draws there.
But it's an A-Spec.
You don't often see, but it's pretty perfect
for the Alakazam deck.
It's fantastic for Alakazam,
but that kind of confirms that
will not be an attack coming.
So unfortunately, there's no wonderous act
or anything like that.
You've 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 be 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 Fubgates begin to open?
Can he access?
access to another boss's orders.
It's definitely intriguing.
I kind of love that.
I love bosses' orders on to Kadabra here.
Like you're already doing well.
Just press the advantage.
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 loke.
And this is what's wonderful when you're playing dragapult.
A turn where you've got a dragapult attacking
and you can just get a free energy down.
Essentially now turns that dragapult
to a single energy attacker. Here comes your poker pad to go and search presumably a dust
lots 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 Kadabra
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 cage. So you boss up the Abra
And then you could curse Blast the Abra, exactly.
And then it's Dante Diego to re-promote his Geneset.
That would be the only line there.
Oh, I mean, bring up the Cadabra, 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 Cadabra.
We're actually going Pes and Dipty here.
I like this as well.
It's just two prizes.
You get a prize racing here.
This is what you say. You go down to three prize cards and then you say that your one stadium bump will give you a means towards a three prize turn
With cursed blast and phantom dive damage counter basement. 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 the 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
Who needs more than one?
At least at the moment, not Henry.
Here comes the poker pad for Diego.
Still no Alakazam attacking.
We finally have one.
We can attach 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.
It might just be KO the Dragapult and hope,
but we might try and do something.
I mean, what other options does he have, Joe?
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 boss spots,
but it feels like your prize race is running away from you anyway at that stage.
There's going to be lucky helmets onto the Geneset, 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, it could all come down in this game number one here. Diego has had a
fairly slow start, and it's really starting to show now. Absolutely has. Right now that Abra is
at Abra's initiative. Abra's only got 50 HP, so that is going to be easily KO'd,
but a residual damage from a phantom dive. A dust mark could take out that Kadabra,
and then obviously the KO on the active would be three 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 going to see a 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 Dundspast
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 Duns Pass 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, but Alexander does it on its own.
Oh, that too.
I'm pretty sure we can't evolve that Duns Pass.
New idea.
Diego is making sure.
Let's figure out what's been played this turn.
There are judges at the table.
The Pokemon professors can figure it out and it is just going to be a straight KO on the Dragapop
But that was never the pinch turn this Joe is the pinch turn three retreat Purdue in the active
Can we get?
Well, I mean we need to get obsidian bump and I think
Well, is there 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 ten shy from a phantom dive
two prize KO in addition to a Cursed Blast KO.
That's what I'm seeing, unfortunately,
that Duns pass is the lowest HP thing on the bench,
and it's got 60.
You can evolve them 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 at this stage to bump the stadium?
Like, 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.
There's only one Crispin in his list.
He'll also just 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 with a three-gond 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.
Two pretty useless cards.
You could even just burn this buddy when he pop in
or use it for ultral fodder at this stage.
Absolutely you could.
It's not going to get you too much.
You've got all the basics you really need
at this point in the game.
So it is going to be ultral 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 smells a lot like fodder to me, Joe.
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,
try and fit 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 Dragapult rolling.
We see, is that Lily's determination?
No, that's also part of his desktop part right there.
Okay.
It is going to be the flit,
or the Fezzentipity EX,
brought into the hand for Henry.
He may not even either stadium at all this game.
If Henry uses Crispin this turn,
he could use that Boss' 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'd 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 get another Pokemon,
presumably a Dragapult.
Feels like you probably need one of those.
Yep, that's Dragapult EX.
So Henry's 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-piled KO is plenty for Henry here,
as we see him finally promote that dragapult, EX.
He's attached to the bench, he's done everything he needs to do.
Henry Chow 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 dragapult.
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 battle cage. Right now it's over to Diego and essentially
it's not the nicest, but it's K.O. 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 a wonderful night stretch.
Yeah, 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 supporter coming in clutch for Diego. Making like that a little bit more awkward for
Henry. Diego is knocked out with 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
as well. They can bosses orders up the Genesects and Cursed Blast the Active with a Duss Noir
and then you will have Phantom Dive. Oh yes, my apologies. Okay, so we're going to need a boss
or a Stadia. 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're already, you know, you've got the initiative right now, but Diego's got to be
feeling a little bit like this is still doable. If I can take two prizes here, you know, next
I can care like the pheasant if T2 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 area already got rid of it
So here we go KO on the dragonpole Diego down to two prizes remaining bosses orders in hand
Diego is looking like he's probably going to win the game next turn Joe is Henry gonna stop him
There it is. I mean night stretcher has come into the hand Ross
I think that's the final piece that rewakrya here stretch of a dragonpole to EX psychic energy to the trick look
And because we already have Dustmorrow in hand, we can use that boss's orders.
Here we go. Boss is going to bring the Genesect in the active.
Battle Cage does not stop. Cursed Blast on the active.
Now we KO the Genesect. Go down to 1 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 1 game to 0 lead here
in the top 4 of the World Championships.
1 game away from looking at sport on-stage in the chase centre tomorrow.
Things were pretty smooth for Henry Chow in that game number one.
Never even required to bump Battle Cage.
So rare to see the Dragonfall just doing 200 damage a turn was enough in this instance, Cross.
But it felt like Diego wasn't sputtering in those opening stages.
Henry had some really good early game bosses orders to disrupt the main draw power that Diego had access to,
in addition to the main attacker that he tried to work towards.
Diego was lacking those rare candy, some of those strange archetypes where you feel like
for example most people always have it, but in that breach they have, in their hand, but
because you're not selecting the cards you're practicing, you're just simply touring on the
top of the deck, sometimes even with high counts of these cards, you can just miss them.
Okay, well let's take a look back then at what Henry did to take victory in that first game.
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 but that was on the
pheasant dip to going down the free prize cards remaining plenty of options for if the battle
cage wasn't there but it always was here goes 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 battle gauge only protects the bench so I can just boss
to call us up something in the active KO it with curse blast from the dust war and then that means
something gets promoted to get KOed by the dragon bolt and then Henry takes a pretty clean 1-0 victory
in the end but Diego knows he did not have the best draws in that first game especially when
Alakazam is a 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 a little bit quicker slow down
down the evolution on Henry's side, who does not play Rare Candy, so you know you're not
really going to be facing down a plan to die for a number of turns.
I should give a bit more breathing room to Diego in this second game.
And let's not forget he started his only EX Pokemon as well, and Henry really quickly
capitalised on that positivity, so 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 positivity start and that he had a slower start under the
the Ipsu Pollen lock, a skill like this next game is going to be a lot closer.
Even though Chendo is from Ipsu Pollen was absolutely cute in the end,
because with no extra damage counter to splatter around,
that's what led to the KO on the Fezzan Difty.
So, yeah, very important point.
We have seen a Mulligan from Diego.
There won't be a second Mulligan, there's at least an Abra in hand.
You do have to have a basic Pokemon to start a game of 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, almost like a lucky apology.
Sorry I made you wait a bit, so I didn't have a basic.
Have an extra card to make your investment.
And here is a fist bump, and here is game two, Abra against 3P,
Alakazam against Dragonpole, 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 A-spec, the Enriching Energy.
So it may well be that this poker pad will search out a Don's Boss
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.
No, Diego is going to go for the Don's Pass, first of all, which is no bad thing.
He's already holding onto some supporters for the next turn,
so Diego'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.
deal. Those prize cards, not the worst, you are lacking one of your
appra, one of your Alakazam, and again that lana's age has found its way into the 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 Dragapop is it just doesn't
put on very much early game damage. It takes a couple of turns to get rolling.
is why Badoo 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 Dunsparse,
we've got the Aberrini 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.
One ball cage well players have opened necklace at this date 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 gonna be looking to get his but do one that's not the six exact start Diego wanted bunch of cards
It's nice, but not many Pokemon so Henry here using a buddy buddy pop him doing that opening game search
Of course remember that there are six cards that are put down as price 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 set to 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 Fesendip TEX obviously can be a good way for him to go deeper into the deck when he's trying to close out games,
but it might not be too concerning for a little while.
Overall, pretty nice prize cards for both players.
The one pleasant if you make me a little bit nervous,
but you're almost certainly going to have something prize every game,
and you'd rather not have prize.
It's not the end of the world.
So Henry there does make a couple little notes of what is prize,
and 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.
Henry's already looking like in a really good position.
He's got one buddy buddy poppin. I think he's also got a poker pad in the hand as well as a lilies 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 you here
Seeing the value of chaining item lock against Diego really saw Diego start and when I don't think you've got all that much going on
So I'm just gonna make sure you are item locks 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
Well, just a shuffle up from Lily's determination. No prize cards taken means eight new cards coming out for Henry Chow here
We've already got an energy on the active dripping and another dream be down as well
What can we get from these eight cards to make things better? It's already picture perfect
It's 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 drippy if he wishes and can already start to put some drakloak into his hands
And even one of each energy one fire and one psychic for good measure after buddy buddy puffing to get basics
And then you've got your poker pad
I think there's an octable in there as well to go and get your revolution Pokemon
Just a read and even the unfair standard your opponent dares to take a prize
Yeah, just really good hand. This is one of the big sort of pitfalls you can have whilst using that early budgie
sort of teasing Diego saying I'm gonna use that item lock. I know your cadaver
can take a knockout on this buddy easily but then you're holding on to that
aspect you can instantly punish them so Henry throw in 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 folk now and
guarantee them for next time. Well there's the itchy ball and there will be no
item cast from Diego does get that telepathic energy which is actually huge
Go and search out a couple of basic psychic Pokemon 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 cadavera drawing the alakazam
Drawing the dunce bus 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 gonna see?
It is a Genesect.
Do we have a tool to attack?
Because the only works one is 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 tall, that would be absolutely huge.
Any tall would do.
There it is, lucky helmets.
Nice, okay, this is fantastic.
This is exactly what I was saying a second ago.
Yes, you're item locked,
but you have a bunch of just natural draw,
and that means you can vent to Genesect,
attack to tall, all of a sudden, ace nullifiers online.
You can care the Badoo,
but Henry isn't then allowed to go and use unfair stamp,
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 deck, so it may as well take advantage
of the hilder while you can, but I have to think that with the Lucky Helmet pick-up
you do go for this early prize card.
I think you probably do, and you know, at this point you were open deckless, right,
do you know Henry's not playing any rare candy?
So that Kadabra, it seems pretty, so.
Yeah, you've got bow cage,
and that Kadabra should be pretty safe.
Yeah, it's, I can say, from my side here.
So if you go and search out what Alakazam
and Enriching Energy, which is exactly what Diego's doing,
that's probably seven cards to all 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 unfair stamp
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 hits an abracadabra.
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 cloak.
Freshly evolved, give access to a protract, which is not going to help too much here.
But there is an ultra ball, so I think photo is probably the right word.
Yeah, we're going to throw the threat away as well as a Duster War.
We'll put a stash that for later in the discard pile with your night stretches
and the third recloak coming into play.
Henry with a pretty perfect turn 1 and 2 here.
I think that's just a three-recon directive.
This is the power of Dragonport at play.
This is absolutely what you are looking for.
A couple of cards coming at a hand here.
Well, not coming at a hand, being a recon directive.
You get to have one of them,
And that is a Rosa 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 drag loak.
This seems like there is a judge in hand,
which is going to be very important later on.
For now, it's just a...
Let's hit you, Colin.
Yep, seems like a decent play.
You're allowing Diego to have this early pressure.
You're hoping that you can springboard 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 you can psychic draw with to Kadabra now as well
He's hoping that he can sit on this large hand size for as long as possible
There's even the bosses orders pickup now for Diego
Does he want to chase down those energy on the bench to a cloak?
Seems like a pretty good option. It's gonna say I think you probably do because the problem is you already K
I'd want to do you got an Alakazam in the active you 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 Dragpoke with the energy on.
Telepathic energy onto Canavera for the time being. Will allow you to search to get any other basic psychic?
Yeah, I like to 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 Mr.
Cloak. He really does not. You only actually need five in hand. You've easily got five.
So it was the boss onto the drag look 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
Thanks to that boss's orders on the previous term forcing Henry into a line via Crispin here rather than anything else
And instantly one energy is going to go on to the cloak and now we will recondiretive
Is that the stadium bump coming into the hand?
This is where things get spicy.
Yeah, jamming tower is in hand, but 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, he 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
evolve into Dragapult this turn. I'm pretty sure he should go for just a single prize board and
continue to itchy pollen here. I think ultra balling into a dust pops. 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 Dragapult but he might even be sacrificing it here alongside a roses
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 Tricoloc
this turn, evolve into these dust globs and say that I can have a big swing turn with
Dust Noir jamming tower and a knockout later on.
There's the itchy pollen.
One psychic on each draculate with a fire in hand to make sure you've definitely got
what you need next turn, energy wise. So, itchy pollen Diego is still item lock, there
There is no access to items. Diego, taking a prize is 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 going to be when they decide to go faster?
You know, are we going to see a judge? Are we going to see a jamming tower?
Are we going to see all of this coming down in one turn?
Really, it's just making yourself as well prepared for that as possible.
Ooh, I like this. This is creative, getting the enriching energy onto Genesects,
because it wasn't an air balloon coming onto the Genesect.
You have to be aware that its one retreat cost can be awkward at times.
Jiggo has drawn into a gunsparse. That's handy.
He does also have access to Dawn in hand of this turn, as well as Bosses' orders.
But you need to sort of hold onto these cards, seeing as though he's just grown such a substantial hand.
He's also drawn into those air balloons.
So you could consider putting Fezantipity down proactively,
expecting the Flipkates to open pretty soon.
I do like the enriching energy on the Genesect, but I've got to ask you, Joe.
You can't now cycle it like you can on a the Duns bass that could come back to bite later. All 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 you're limiting Henry's draw
You're forcing extra attachments out of him
I even see the Fezzan dipty and air balloon 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-decklist.
You know Rose has gone. You know Crispin has gone.
You know that both of these energy on the Tricloak is everything that's there.
Now, there's no guarantee you care 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.
Oh, it's 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
All play the judge here in this case
He's gonna give himself just four cards and a recon directive to at the very least find a dragapult
to get to 30x this turn.
Yeah. And if the Dragapult goes
down, you lose the game. That
is it. You're not recovering
from that. So, this is a turn
I think where you have to just
judge and hope it works out.
Diego can refill his hand. We
seen these decks do that.
There's two Kadabra ready to
evolve. There's a Duns Pass
ready to evolve. There are a
bunch of drawing options. You
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
We could curse blast the active Alakazam thanks to some early itchy pollen. That's in range of a knockouts
It is it's awesome. You could also phantom dive after the facts
You would be giving Diego potentially more cards with 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 as the light stretcher.
That presumably is going to be...
Oh, it's retreating, actually.
But not thinking that's going on the active.
Yeah.
Could it 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.
They 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
into enough to take out this Dragapolte X.
Well, we need 16 cards.
If we get to 16 cards, this game is over.
You will need to put the Alakazam down,
but you'll do that anyway to draw extra cards.
Get to 16 cards in hand.
You will end up winning this game.
That Dragapolte goes down.
You have one prize card remaining,
and there really won't be much for Henry to do at that point.
But 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 Pokemon 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 mangley play these Pokemon down.
You're only going plus two on each of these.
So I think Kenry'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 link.
Oh, absolutely. I'm not saying it was a wrong decision. I'm just saying, I'd really, you know, if I was Diego, we'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 pass.
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 a telepathic energy onto the Kadabra, and you guys have a quick look at the decks. If there are any basic psychic Pokémon we may want to grab out.
There is an Abra there.
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 size.
So he may end up promoting the done sparse
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 no monkey glory,
putting damage counts into players far less scary for him.
And that's a substantial chunk as well
being hit into this Dragapult EX.
Well, you've got to think, Diego's winning in two,
if he's winning, he's 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 Drippy.
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 Jamiro 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.
Just 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,
Diego has to build quite a few cards here.
He's got a top deck, the Duns
bar, but he has plenty of draws
before that. First of all, we've
flipped the script from Pesendipity,
but it is looking more and more
favourable for Diego at this
stage. He has a Cadabra 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. Reedy is Alakazam.
You only need six cards in hand.
Cards in hand is no longer an issue.
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 Duns boss in hand. And I kind of love the fact that here
you need six cars in hand now. Oh, and that 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 Diego had constructed,
whilst also going down to just one-file club remaining.
So, Henry could see the lighting on the wall, he had six-file cuts to it,
or five-file cuts still to take.
Not going to get it done there.
Diego, coolies, with a much better draw in this game number two,
made light work of Henry's board there.
Absolutely, yes!
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-fellifier genocide,
making sure there will be no unfair stamp.
And from here, it was Henry Tran who set up,
and Diego just ruining it.
We saw the faucet orders, KO'ing 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.
And you 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 free.
Henry Chow, who made his name last season
winning three regionals with Gardevoir.
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 third and final game will be joining us in the Chase Center tomorrow for the World Championship Final.
It doesn't get bigger than this one. Just one game away from fighting it out in the Chase Center.
And there is the fist bump. We are off game three. It all comes down to this.
And it is going to be, it looks like Henry going first,
3-P against Abra.
And I'm not seeing much in the hand.
I see a Duskoal as well as one poker pad.
Will this be for a second 3-P?
And just hope that Lee's determination can help you out.
Orchid, try and hold this for a guaranteed triploque
on the next turn of the game.
An age old question for those Dragapult players.
Henry, opps to pass.
Well, we've got a 3-P and a Duskoal.
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 going to have a look to figure out which cards 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 still 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 DustGull on Henry's side of the board.
So he may try and look towards getting multiple Abra into play,
because you don't want your only Abra to be cursed blasted too early.
No, absolutely not. That 50 HP is terrifying,
and one of the main reasons is DustGull drops five damage counters
when it uses cursed blast.
Now we have gone and gone two dunce 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 have selected three targets, but we will,
I think there's additional ball search available to him.
Just weighing up the options of what's better.
Yeah, I don't think he's actually got three, I think.
Yeah, oh, 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. Oh, no, it's gonna be a telepathic energy.
Yeah, as you said, Ross.
Love this.
Hilda's gonna get an Evolution Pokemon, Anna's energy,
and has to be telepathic energy.
We're just gonna 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 Badoo on the horizon.
Yeah, nice to see that Cadabra coming into the hands.
So, looks like Dio's hand is already pretty well sorted.
And some additional Abra coming into play.
This is a really picturesque turn one, going second for Diego right now.
Oh, I saw the Dedenne.
You're not for this matchup.
Yeah, I wouldn't go to Dedenne personally, and I think Dedenne's 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 Pokémon.
Do we get another basic 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, Genesect.
So Diego is 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.
He 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 on fairstands once in this whole series,
and it is going to be just 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.
You're already holding onto that air balloon.
You can feel pretty confident with that line of play.
Henry is going to poke a pad out of one drag look,
but he tries to hold this poke pad 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.
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'll 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.
Dust Glocks and bosses orders. Not ideal, but you play two Dust Glocks free bosses orders.
You'll probably be able to work around them just fine.
but 2-4 Psychic Energy when you need it to attack with Dragonbolt.
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.
He's brought us 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 1 Pokémon
and needs to start seeing some buddy-buddy Poffin,
as well as energy this turn, if he wants to initiate
an itchy pollen item block.
Failing that here, 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've said it before, but it bears repeating.
All of those Pokemon, the Ego'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 3P in hand.
Yep, for Henry, at least.
It's a pretty strong hand.
Oh, we're... Sorry, Joe. I dropped your legs.
We're out of a dustclops.
He's out of a dustclops to try and potentially take out,
presumably the Abra with the energy on,
hasn't made the decision yet,
But he'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 Abra with the energy attacks is no more on Diego's bench
Henry then has a easy recon director choice of ultra ball or ultra ball
I'd take Ultima personally.
Yep, good shout.
And it is going to be the Buddy Buddy pop in now.
In addition to, there's already Drepi in hand,
and there's already a Boudou in hand.
So Henry Ken easily reloaded Dustgoal as well as a Drepi.
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 Dustflops during the game.
Much more aggressive than most players, I would say.
I've been surprised in this tournament, a lot in a bad way,
But I've been surprised by the situations in which Henry has decided,
hey, it's turn two, I'm going to use Dust Globs to take something out.
We saw it on a Badoo in a previous game, and it 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 Trogloak,
and that means that we do get a Badoo into the active,
and it is going to be an itchy pull-in, 10 damage,
but far more importantly, there's 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 Janus act
Yeah, 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 there were a couple catapult already in the hand and a dawn has just found its way into the hand in addition to
One of his two copies of battle cage
Two in those prize cards. Let's 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 and alify a Genesect.
And that will be a board save that he can once again repeat.
Yeah, absolutely. He's got that air balloon to attach to the active to enable free retreat.
Are we lacking energy right now?
Well, I was just about to say, Joe, I don't think we've got an energy right now.
So that's a tough break look how many cards are in that hand and yet. No
It's gonna be a dawn to go and grab a basic a stage one and a stage two
It's coming down to a 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 gonna be one in there, but not yet
What is it? Well, there's only
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 Kattabra. We've got the
air balloon to both turn on
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 pick up 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 Blast,
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 KO'd on the previous turn.
So now his board is looking a little bit more stable here.
Absolutely huge.
Like, with the energy there,
it would have put your whole turn back.
So when you get to the end of the game,
you're like, oh, I would have won with one more turn.
Well, that's where the turn went.
But not to be.
The telepathic energy did come out.
We see a dunce pass being popped down
to replace it, a dunce pass.
Battlecage comes down to turn off all of those shenanigans.
You've already seen one cursed blast.
Enough of 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 Cyborg for 30, get the KO on to that, but do start the price race,
but there will be no unfair stamp because Ace nullifier on that Jettasek 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 of 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...
Well, the buddy who has just been knocked out, my apologies.
But it is forcing him into a dust globs play here,
unless he's going to 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 2-1 win and we will see them again in the chase centre tomorrow on stage and I'm telling you you don't want to 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 a turn for Henry.
So confirmation that there's not going to be much of an attack going on this turn.
Unless you value something like a Cursed Blast, we can reload perhaps a Budu here to continue to item lock.
It's been something Henry has tried to maintain for a lot of this game.
So, if you continue to item lot, you continue to feed your opponent prizes.
That Purdue 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 power to your big potential multi-prize term.
So, all three of those one-offs are still in the deck. There's no options.
Yeah, and that's one of the key choices from Henry this tournament
to have all three options of disruption. Players normally cherry pick two of those.
It's almost all with the unfair stamp and it's either 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 recloak that he can evolve into and is also going to hold on to the Fezantipiti in his
hand for now. He does already have energy that he can commit this turn. I think essentially what he
he wants to do is force Diego down to three prize cards.
It's almost allow Diego to go down to three prize cards
so that he has both Judge and the special red card
that he can work into this game.
He's got the stadium.
He just drew the jamming tower off of that recon directive.
So that is going to give that one turn,
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-glops.
You can use that to evolve the active.
I think that's just the pass.
Yeah, it has to be a pass.
Now you're threatening on all fronts.
You're saying, I want my draw powers to stick around.
So if you want to boss his orders,
I at least still have access to my dust noir.
If you just take out the dust-glops,
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 Dragapult EX.
Let's see how Diego wants to respond to this.
Can he leave it in Erie 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 Dunsparcy to play would be very handy as well.
If you can find that Erie supporter card, it could be massive.
You can try and catch Henry off kilter.
You can catch that special red card.
card, if you can catch something else in that hand, you can really slow him down, you can
catch the A-Spec here, I'm not sure if Special Red card is in her blood. No, not at the moment,
but the hero's not to know that, that's what he's trying to work towards. Absolutely. Let's
pick up that Fesendiptex, could be a Pokemon that he also tries to weave in, he's got another
air balloon in hand, so it could be another Pokemon, he decides to bench here, knowing
that once you take this knockout, you're going to be in range of that Special Red card, so
You do want to have the script to help you burst back into some cards.
Absolutely do. Here comes a poker pad.
That's going to go and search out a non-robot's Pokemon.
It is going to be that Genesect.
He's lying out there.
Probably just as a discard for later,
or even just to add a card into hand,
so you've not got, you know, there's not much else right now.
It's not going to do much good at this precise moment.
We've got a Genesect. It's already doing its job.
But like we've got two Kadabra down
that could evolve up into Alakazam and draw a bunch of cards.
Look at this, the second copy of Genesep coming into play.
Oh my word, he is not getting unfestamped this turn, Joe.
That means it's a boss' 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 unfestamp,
even if there's a Dustawar getting into the equation with Jamming Tower.
Diego, if you want to have a safe board, that's how you do it.
And even draw three cards with another evolution here of Alakazam.
Diego finding a spot to use Boss' orders again, targeting down the energy.
Diego going down to three prize cards, with double Genesect developed.
I never have ever seen double Genesect on the board at the same time,
but it means that unfair stamping.
You might as well discard him an Ultra Ball now, I'm afraid, Henry.
It is not going to do you any good for the rest of this game.
We've got a Dust Gloats, we've got two Drag Cloak.
It seems like we're grabbing a Night Strat,
dropping that was from a Recon Directive,
And then we're going to get what's on the body pop and on Lily's determination from the second one.
It looks 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 card.
Judge feels pretty poor this turn.
Does feel... I mean, you really need energy at this point.
That's the problem is, if you attach one energy at a turn, that just tells Diego,
Hey Diego, KO this one!
This is the one you want!
So you need someone 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 three prize cards away from booking his spot to a second world championship final
Here comes a poker pad. That's gonna search out another Pokemon for Henry here
Honestly, I'm just so pleased with the play from Diego last time the second ace nullified Janisette
Also with the air balloon is just incredible because Henry was slowly trying to creep towards this play where you
You know, you can't just blow up
the Genesect on the bench so you can unleash your
unfair stamp 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 of them to dust.
I'll play down the jamming tower, and then Cursed Blast
will get rid of the Genesect on the bench
and you 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
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.
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.
We're not in hand now. There's no judge at the special red card.
We are just going to see an ultriball. Still holding on to that unfair stab.
Still holding on to a little bit of hope that maybe we can use it here.
Oh, we didn't go to the discard.
Well, we've just seen an ultriball to get rid of some pieces
and then a lilies determination for a fresh hand here.
Henry unable to use Judge, didn't value any of the supporter card instead,
is going to go for the lead determination, 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 Cursed
Blast Pokémon. That's not good for that just yet. It's not there yet. Drawn back into the
unfair stuff, but hasn'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
I mean, I suppose maybe you do, but do it again, because you just don't want the
drag load being KO'd either way, but do stay there, and it is going to be a pass
over to Diego. At the very least, the KO and going down to two prizes is on the
board. Can we see maybe a boss's orders to take out the drag load 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.
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. You're
already safeguarded around the unfair stamp. You've done pretty much everything he needs
to do. He's holding on to that boss's orders as well, so could just continue to take out
energy. There it is.
Oh, there it is. You go after the drake cloak, you get rid of the energy, and now they can't
the next turn. And they can
play on first up next turn, so
it's exactly special red card is
the only thing that you are
worried about. We take the KO
and Diego goes down to two
prize cards remaining. One
Dragaport KO away from the
space of the World Championship
finals. Does Henry have a way
back still five prize cards to
take? Drag out goes into the
active top deck. No help. It's
going to have to come down to
this recon directive. Ross
a shake it 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 casts. It's not 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 takes to Crispin. That's going to give Enes his only other
supporter card and that's pretty useless. Neither supporter 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.
And that's going to put Diego down to one prize card remaining. I think Diego's played
two BOSS so far, right? And there are two in the deck. So BOSS is now out for Diego.
There will be no more gusting, no more BOSS's 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, KO smaller Pokemon.
He hasn't had to reach a tall energy onto the drag cloak and a second one
and then a retreat into Badoo 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 draw cards for the Lucky helmet.
has plenty of draw right now. Henry was really wobbling on that final turn, almost
retrieved 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 won 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? It almost feels like at this point, what are you looking for?
You get an energy, you get a dragapult, you find your jamming tower,
and you just hope that Diego is 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 are my outs? 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.
Do we also already have the Dragapult EX in the hand as well?
There we go.
We have the stadium though.
Can you consider playing this card,
but you have to be so careful about when you do.
Here comes the only stadium that Jamming Tower comes down.
We do see Dust Noir, and it is going to be a judge.
Finally, we get some hand disruption.
Henry has got to get a Dragapult,
and this is Henry's last stand here.
You get Dragapult, 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 Dragapult and I'm making a huge comeback.
And it's looking ugly here, but just a couple of turns of Phantom Diver 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 two evolution, there's a poker pad coming out
I'm not even sure if he has access to the Dragapult EX just yet, his own judge.
We've got a dawn coming down, we do have a dust block.
Even if Henry can find this Dragapult in the first place, there's a knife-stretcher in the hand, so that's okay.
Okay, so that's going to get you towards the Dragapult, that's going to be big.
And he picks up the special red card as well.
Oh, I love that. You've got to take special red card, surely.
Yeah, so you can judge Phantom Dive this turn, then 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 him Diego to have a fairly poor
Forecard hand from judge, but he's gonna set up the cadabra 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 throw the Alakazam already?
Do we draw 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 her this last Dragon Pulse yet 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
Fersen Dipty. That can go down and draw you three extra cards. Go and get a
Stage 1 Dedunce, plus not doing anything, but it's 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 Flippensburg, 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.
Okay, that's a lot of cards here.
And the Enriching Energy to draw four.
We can get three more off the Dundsparse,
and then three more off the ground 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 Hiko on the fresh dragonpole,
And Diego Casaraga is back to the Pokemon training card game.
World championships, we'll see him in the chase session tomorrow,
trying to be the second player ever to repeat as a massive individual world champion.
Wow, Diego, you're doing it again.
The immortal words of J-Witz, go, Diego, go.
Oh, 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
tower. We had the judge. We have special red card. Lock the next turn in. But then Diego
somehow to enrich the energy and it's better than the others. Oh, 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 and he was getting in there with Phantom Dive even with the battle
cage established. He was able to go up three fries guards before Diego was even
able to initiate any sort of attack. Absolutely battle cage was there but
battle cage was absolutely not doing anything like you needed it to. We had this
big turn at the end where you use the cursed blast to KO the active the
battle cage will not protect big KO off the game too 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 picking apart the bench using Boss's orders to take out the
Drakloak that Henry really wanted to stay on the board. And then when we finally saw Dragapok come
up, Diego is able to just draw a whole bunch of cards. 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.
a mouse situation. Henry going early with Cursed Glass trying to just limit those Abra as much as
possible. Knowing that you have to keep replaying these low hit point Pokemon, Henry trying to find
situations where he could get three Pies Glass later on in the game. That's why he was getting so
aggressive with those Bust Glocks, but Diego, with a much better opener here, was able to weave in
a knockout early on with a Kadabra whilst getting the Estellified Geneset online, and that was really
Hiddering Henry. He was really desperately trying to leave him that A-Spec for Diego with that second copy of the
Genesis copydown that there was going to be no shenanigans from Dostanowar and that was such a crucial play and here we see
Diego going, no, I know you judged me last turn and I know that the Jamming Tower turned off Malachi helmet, but
I think I can still get to 16 cards. No, 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 wild 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. Yeah, you're 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 that 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
But 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 kids watching him play in the world championships
Just that lovely kind of father-son moment. I absolutely get those feelings
But they don't watch me play in the world championships either 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 drag-a-pult not winning world since year
That's one down. Who to go? We have a Dragapult mirror match in the other side of our top four.
It's the Brent Posson 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,
and we went, any of these four players would be a great story, winning worlds.
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,
to it and any of them would still make a great story, but Diego repeating as world champion.
The last time we saw that was Jason Kluzinski winning his third world championships, that
was in 2013. That was before we even started casting Joe.
That's a long time.
That's a long time ago, man.
It feels like a completely different game at this stage and that's once 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. Entirely different
from back in 2007, he was playing B'Net EX with some evolutions, but there was things
like 70 damage being a good number, 90 hit points on 2 prize EX Pokemon at that stage.
Now we're looking at 320 hit point 2 prize Pokemon. We've covered a long way, but Diego
still finds the way to pinpoint a meta game and really catch it on there.
Still, you can see the love of the game. Give a little bit of love to Henry Chowbell.
Last season, the Gardevoir player. When Gardevoir was the best deck around, Henry Chowbell's
the best Guard of War player, free regional wins, and going into this season that 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 Dragofolt and going, no, I'm still a great player.
It's going to be five minutes to learn the deck, would you? And I adored his deck list,
a great choice for the weekend. And he really utilised those cursed blast Pokemon in a very
different way and 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's 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. Huge congratulations 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 Graduli 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 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, no, no, it wouldn't change anything.
It's just that it's working.
But with my teammates, we're the team of the Mazos.
We practice a lot and we put in the best songs.
No, he won't change anything because everything has been working so far
and everything is thanks to his team members.
Oh, that's amazing.
Let's give a huge shout out to that team.
Do you want to give us some specifics?
No.
Say hi to my family and all my friends.
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?
Rest. Rest, 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. One last big old cheer for Diego, our first finalist!
We're going to 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 going to say this is a preview for the Latin regional streams.
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 finally enough the very first turn
really decided that game one, benching that for Zendipity 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 bodyu, putting 10 damage, 10 damage can be the difference between advancing to the World Finals
or possibly not, and that 10 damage from the bodyu, 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 um to Henry in game one. They were able to make a
comeback but by in order to maximize his chances of winning a well-timed area was part of his plan. He
he was against the rope, he was stuck in this situation where he needed Henry to ultimately
whiff in the crucial moment the turn of Dostnore was happening and Erie 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 sidekick the Dostnore 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 dosnor, found the dragon bolt,
utilized dosnor 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 paying enough and Henry managing to pull out the win and then in game two we saw another
very crucial boss disorder's pressure by Diego. He was able to consistently apply his 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 plays 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 drivable this still forced Henry to have to take it
slow and steady and then we have 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 Dothnor you cannot get attacked by on first step,
giving you the freedom to take down the energy once again forcing Rosen'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 balls 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 Crispin 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, Gaby and Fareed. So let's take it away over there as we head back
to our next Master's Top 4. 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's Amy.
We're going to take you around some of the activities
that everyone can enjoy here.
So in the Alola region, trainers
can work part time to rescue Tsukumuku
by chucking 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 a 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 Yukimuku real good.
She didn't do it.
But you know what?
They both worked really hard.
Farid's going to get that bonus for working in Lola.
Good job everyone.
Saving the Pukimuku.
Okay trainers, we are outside at the Pin Rani station and what pin have we just got ourselves?
We got the Rathorn! Beautiful little Rathorn pins, one available for 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 Furfrew hair salon and Misty is helping me out with a new
look. We're getting some cute braids and they've got loads of different styles you can pick from
pair tips, silk, glitter, accessories, braids galore. There's so much goodness gracious. There's just
so much. So we're going to 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 for 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 Bee.
We talk about science, education, and bee 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.
No, girl.
All right, well, tell me, what's a 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 environment.
Any particular reason why you're using poppy seeds?
Our 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 Yobo Buena Gardens.
Make sure to check it out.
But from us, that's a wrap.
And then there were three welcome back in Pokemon fans to the trading card game competition
here at the World Championships 2026 in San Francisco, California.
We've got Diego Casiraga waiting to play his final match tomorrow, but we've got to
to determine who his final opponent will be.
That's going to be our job for the next 75 or so minutes.
Chifritj here in the desk with Kyle Pukasukovich.
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, dragapult 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 drag-a-pult 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
of becoming world champion.
Let's get down to that stage where our players
are getting set up and determine who will be playing
in arena tomorrow.
Brent Tonneson facing off the Andrew Hedrick.
As you alluded to, Kyle, it is a mirror match.
Dragapult DX alongside the Everador crushing hammer.
I mean, Andrew Hedrick was really the person who made this deck.
We had the rotation in the standard format.
Players were using Dragonfall 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,
that 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 the season of North American International.
And even though there's been a new set released a couple of new sets since that first
La regionals where he won with this archetype the deck has really not changed that much a couple of new cards put 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
Fred Tonneson six-time regional champion Andrew Hedrick five time regional champion
Of course one NAIC a couple seasons ago as well
So, take a look here, Chip.
Neither player had really had 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.
Brent has played plenty of Dragapult this year,
though most often it has been Dragapult
alongside Dustin or a change up for him
heading into this event.
Prize 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 those hiding out in Andrew Hedrick's presence.
Big thing right off the bat,
you do need a psychic and a fire type energy
to use Dragon Ball DX's Phantom Dive Attack.
You mentioned only three psychic energy in Fred's deck.
So we 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 Puka, 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 Dripie 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 Draklox,
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, this is a star stud at the 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 opponent's plays on the next turn,
knowing that Badoos that she pollen more than likely,
plays out plenty of item cards.
Cookipad included in that, and now Ultra Ball,
fetching out a Meowth EX.
Crucially discarding some maybe important cards,
a crushing hammer it looks like,
and a D'dunsparse 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 Dragapult decks dozens and dozens of times at this point.
There's probably not a situation that's come up that he has not encountered.
So he's got to be the most experienced Dragapult 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 you're 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 for his decisions, perhaps a little more difficult.
Considering that Meowthie X being forced into play early,
and sure enough, nobody found at the start.
it will be a pair of Drippy 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 Bidou before the risky ruins,
that put it out, makes it so that, yeah, that Bidou 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 Ichi 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 Bidu, having a monkey Dory to put into play,
as well that powerful Adrenaline Brain ability,
and then 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 remaining,
He'll be able to now draw eight cards.
Looking to find perhaps an energy
should he want to retreat and use Ichi Paula.
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
but do in this dragapult deck.
But a lot of players at this event
went back to to the do 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
I think it was Andrew himself was the original player to go down to the
single
copy of the do and that's made most of the community follow suits
the Brent here will actually attach an energy to the monkey
Dory and use Adrenbrain 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 into Dracloak, benching down that monkey Dory and using Meowth E-Acts,
that last ditch catch, fetching a supporter from the deck.
And he'll be able to grab Willy's determination to get an eight cards of his own.
Yeah, I think Monkey Dory is one of these cards we'll be seeing a lot of in this match here chip
Of 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 I 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 is now
He can play any cards like poplapad that he draws off of this the least determination and immediately that first card scene
Was one of those hooker pad pookers
So Andrew will be able to find out a another
Cloak should he want to buddy buddy Poffin also found here 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 every 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 playing speaking of more than one Andrew has found his second
Kloak off of this Poképad, so he'll still get one more peek into the deck here.
With his Bidu 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, Fuka.
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 could be a big deal.
This is also a challenging situation for Andrew because Brett has that monkey
Dory set up already. Again, your inclination is to use itchy pollen
whenever you can, but if you do that,
you know, adrenaline, 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 know, you have to be sitting here thinking,
my Purdue is gonna get knocked out and I'm gonna 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 on to 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 Ichi Pollen.
Absolutely, often these mirror matches
can come down to one player using that Ichi Pollen,
preventing the use of item cards.
All the other fails to find their Drakloak.
Seems like we're gonna 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 Adrena 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 Andrew is pretty much saying,
I'm going to 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, stamped.
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 you're putting S3 or fewer prize
cards, but judge you can use that whenever a lot of times it does catch
your pun off guard. But what just a pass absolutely nothing on the other end of
the judge for Brant Thomas in and an incredible draw for Andrew Hedrick. He's
got himself a drink cloak. He's got Dragonbolt DX and he also has a lilies
determination. What a disaster for Brent can't even retreat the Meowth EX or
or even attached to a benched Drakloak or anything like that,
the judge ended up disrupting him more than his opponent.
Now, Indra 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 Rekondirective with this active Drakloak,
and 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 Rekondirective 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 the draculc.
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 Lillie'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 adrenabrainability 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
to find one recon directive.
Number two, Monkey Dorian's 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 onto in this point.
And now, Puka, recon directive 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.
Yikes.
This seemed like such a promising turn.
He draws so many cards, and he just doesn't find a psychic.
It's 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 up of all this.
These are the thin margins that come up in these dragapult mirror matches sometimes.
Checking the discard pile.
Have any psychic in here that I can night stretch her back to my hand?
No.
Look at the deep 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 hand.
So getting to conserve night stretcher even better.
Is it better to retreat this Drakloak and use Ichi 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
Yeah, 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 going to get knocked out
So maybe this is an opportunity
For it Andrew to lock down Brent's options
It is still a very awkward situation for Brent with the Meowth EX in the active spot
You know energy on his bench Pokemon. It's gonna be a few turns before he can start attacking
But I'm sure Brent was actually kind of happy with how that played out
It's 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 Puka as both players have gotten an okay 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 Brain is available to him,
Recon Directive number one, and now number two.
Seeing a handful of more cards.
Looks like a fire energy will be held onto.
But still no Phantom Dive.
He's gonna try to get himself prepped up
and is actually going to promote his Bidu here.
He will retreat Meowth into the Bidu.
He can use Adrenaline Brain to move some damage counters over.
He's gonna ping pong 20 over to the Dracloak on Andrew's side
and Itchy 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 Paulin
is Andrew cannot use unfair stamp on his turn.
It's going to 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 price 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.
I don't see a Crispin, 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.
That'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 apiece for these players.
Andrew taking down that Badoo and the Monkey Dory, Brent,
pushing up his Drakloak, plays a Buddy Buddy Poffin,
finally able to play out these item cards he has been holding on to.
He's going to get another Dreet Beat 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.
I'm 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,
there's no energy in play.
So if he wants to get off a Phantom Dive on this turn,
we 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 of recon directives.
He could also get Fezendipity 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 Pokepad.
He could get another drip look,
but he wouldn't be able to evolve that
Treepy that just came into play,
but he will replenish his board with another Monkey Dory.
Other thing to call out,
now there are two Darkness Energy in Brent's discard pile.
The other plays too, 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 bail out. You can flip a couple heads. You can always get back into the game
There is a roses encouragement
Look hard the book of these players do play in their decks also a night stretcher
Being offered as an option. It will be the roses hung on to for Brent. Yeah
Here it is, crushing hammer, Puka.
Gonna be a flip of the coin for Brenton, 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 Rosa's encouragement seems like a great card to have here,
but you can't use it unless your opponent has fewer prize cards remaining.
The 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 going to 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 Adrenal Brain.
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 the only thing that would make it any better would be if he could Adrenaline Brain.
He's not going to be able to retreat and Adrenaline Brain, however, so he's only going to have
to be content taking down a Drakloak.
That's like he founds his second Crispin here as well.
Yeah, also want to mention that Brent decided to move the damage off of his Dreebeat with
Adrenaline Brain, knowing that Andrew could not Adrenaline Brain and Phantom Dive in the
same term. So he 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 you're moving
damage from? Where are you moving them to? There's so many small things that go
into these Dragapult matches. And also which energy cards you pull out at a
given time from the deck with a Crispin committing a darkness energy to
retreats this Meowth means it's one less that's available for a future Adrenal
Brain. That is gonna be his play however as Crispin attaches the dart 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 are made and it's gonna 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 treat be 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
Adrena brain, Andrew 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 as Dracloak
and plays a lily's 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 dragon pulp 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 added 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
for 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 Thomason on this turn
and in this game.
Now Brent may be asking the question to Andrew. Are you feeling lucky? If you
Remember back to when Andrew Hedrick won NAIC a couple of 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.
And it'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.
You know, Brent 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 kind of 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 turn.
Let's look at these top two, unfair stamp.
One of those offered up, of course, no KO happens, so we'll not take that.
It's going to be bosses orders held on to 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 stamp back in the mix before the recon directive number two.
One more thing to mention, just small differences between these two players' decklists.
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 Dragonbolt matches as well.
Well, simply having access to more energy cards sometimes is the difference.
Pokipad taken off of the final recon directive for Andrew this turn,
and he's got a night stretcher in the hand.
He's going to choose to play it.
He's going to get that Badoo back in play.
Does take some damage from that risky ruins.
Is he going to itchy pollen this turn, Poka?
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, because that Padoo 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, and 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 itchy pollen,
it really limits what your opponent is able to do on this turn.
He will use itchy pollen, locking those item cards down,
and Brent Tonneson's hands.
So he'll kick off his turn with Recon Directive.
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 and attack this turn with Dragapult.
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 Adrenal Brain,
you need to evolve to drag-up-holt-EX and play the roses in 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.
So you're going to potentially influence what Andrew
would decide to promote in this situation.
We'll see Brent retreat that monkey Dory and he'll use that roses encouragement
to bring back the psychic he just discarded along with the fire.
They 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 going to 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 Meowthie X.
And with Monkey Dory, he'd be able to take his final three prize cards in win game one.
Yeah, Andrew set that up perfectly.
That Monkey Dory had five damage counters remaining on it after the Adrenal Brain moved 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 Thesendipity EX plus Adrenal Brain was enough there.
And that was a clinic from Andrew Hedrick in that first game of how to approach a track
of full beer match, I suppose.
We're going to bring Pablo Mesa in to give some thoughts on that game one of top four.
I mean, they were died by the crushing hammers, right?
They didn't go Brent Robinson's way, I can believe Hedrick flipped at least one head
stop at.
that can be the difference, but I do want to say that extra energy that Andrew Hedrick is playing,
I think if you're playing a base of 9 senses early success in the post-rotation minigame,
I generally think that could possibly give him an edge here, just because you find
energies a lot earlier, you find energy more often, you're able to easily, easier pay between
tough as well so that time energy I generally think could be the difference
and it might have played a role in this match in particular.
That extra energy as well being a darkness energy makes it all the easier to use
Monkey Dory which is such an important piece of this mirror match getting ready to get into game number two here.
Now Rint did get to choosing game one first versus second and it 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 Hedrick has a mulligan.
again so shuffle his hand back in 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 of the Pokemon CCG when you draw
that opening hand or seven you do have to find at least one basic to get the
game rolling and dreams on it do that first time around that means Brent will
have an additional card to work with on his first turn let's get into it
the 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.
Andrew wins.
He will join in Diego Casiraga in the finals tomorrow
at the Chase Center in the big arena.
Brent needs to win these next two games
if 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 when it's often if a Buddy Buddy Poffin is there,
that is to grab immediately.
But still, this poker pad allows him to get down a drippy,
try to get into the next turn, looking at those prize cards.
Anytime an energy prize, you got to definitely make
note of that.
Lilies, Boss, Crusher, I mean, these are all good cards,
but you gotta prize something.
Yeah, exactly.
All right, I think we'll probably see, you know,
both players be able to play the game here at least,
which is great to see.
It's all about, well, there's no question about it.
You're gonna get itchy pollen.
Brent did start with it, both players,
starting with this key Pokemon that has been
emblematic of the Pokemon TCG.
with the last couple seasons and it is just a pass.
It's going to be over to Brent now on his opening turn.
See what he's got to work with.
Of course, able to play a supporter card here.
I'm sure he's looking for a buddy buddy puffin.
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.
Brent playing around the risky ruins on Andrew's side.
That really burned him in the first game
and 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
There's a full evolution line of Dragapult hiding out there.
One Drippi, one Draclote, and that one Dragapult.
And also a crushing hammer in his prizes.
He does match Andrew Hedrick in that aspect.
Chip, that does not 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 Drippi,
but no supporter on his end.
and Andrew Hedrick immediately into Lulee's determination.
Yeah, I can't see it right now,
but 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, it does have a trick cloak for next turn,
at least can start using recon directed,
but no energy attachment.
Didn't play a supporter card.
Isn't great.
And on the other side, he's looking a little bit better
for Andrew.
Looks like he's going to get a druck hook into play,
uses recondirective, gets an energy attachment for turn.
He's got another Drepien 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 onto 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.
And there is the Meowth EX.
That must have been his top deck this time, Puka.
He'll immediately use that last-ditch catchability,
search the deck for a supporter card,
and snap out that Lily's determination.
Whew. That's a nice reset for Brent here.
We've already got the one Dracloak in play, which is nice, drawn a lot of cards, so probably
not too unlikely to draw another one.
Looks like we're going to have ourselves a nice little Dragon Fault 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.
Fessendipity and a basic fire energy, the potential options.
Looks like he does already have a psychic in hand to get his attachment for turn.
Andrew, Pablo called it out.
He's 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 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 itchy pollen takes it down.
First prize card of this game goes to Bram.
Of course, Andrew does have two energy on this Drakloak already.
He's defined Dragapult EX in order to use Phantom Dive on this turn.
Ideally, he would pair it with like a boss's orders to go after a higher impact benched Pokemon here.
With that flip the script, he's 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 Dragonbolt was one of those two available cards.
You're right, Chip, and I don't see one in hand right now.
Miaofex, that probably won't help here.
You could use it to find a Lily's determination.
Maybe draw the Dragonbolt 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
Dracloak 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, likewise from Andrew there.
This is not a situation where the Fezendipity EX will be particularly
powerful once your opponent has your cloak 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.
It's gonna take that KO on Badoom. Tie this game up. Five prizes remaining for each player, Dragapult EX.
He can 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 could get rid of both energy on the bench and knockout this active, he could 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.
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 it.
Chris, and he's going for the judge.
Yeah, all he needs is Dragapult EX.
He can use Adrena Brain to move two damage counters,
then Jet Headbutt for the knockout.
And this is a twofold play here for Brent
as he's getting 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 not get ahead of ourselves here, Puka.
Finding a dragonpole may not be the easiest thing for Brent
with one in 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 turn.
Two cards from this recon directive.
He's got an energy and a buddy-buddy poffin available.
He's going to hold on to the fire.
That'll be really nice on his next turn.
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, and 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
Dripie, Brent is able to bounce it over
to the active of Andrew Hedrick with Adrenal Brain.
And now Jet Headbutt on Dragapult EX
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 disrupt and try to draw through the deck.
But before playing his unfair stamp,
we're going to see the use of our directive,
looking at these top two.
He finds himself a poker 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 Dragoflates.
I think he's hoping maybe I'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. Let's really get a the highest impact outcome here
Brent is in a really
Challenging situation if he gets hit by the unfair stamp though just the one to 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.
It's just the one Dragapult. He has no recon directives anymore.
Ultra ball 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 Ultra Ball 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, Rosa'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 flip 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 Dragapult 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.
Here it 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 of 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 going to fetch out Ed Driepe here.
This will take a little damage from the risky ruin,
but should he get a darkness synergy established,
will be able to move that damage back over.
This is going to be a tough decision for Andrew on where
to put damage from both Adrenal Brain and Phantom Dive.
I think you can look at it very quickly and say,
oh, you can knock out Dreepee, move a damage counter over
there with Adrenal 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 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 on to
the bench hook a pad played right away from Brent we'll get him a second
trickle into play living off of these recon directives
yeah and with just no energy in play besides the one on the monkey Dory 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?
But what else can he do?
He'll go through the deck and try to find some piece.
It looks like a fire energy was found.
So perhaps at minimum a jet headbutt could happen and try to start chipping away at a dragon bolt.
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 Dragonbolt to me active is going to go down.
That just does not feel good, Chip.
Sacrificing a Dragonbolt EX, two prize cards to go with it.
This would feel better, I think,
for Brent if he had a second Dragonbolt
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 get rid of that energy.
But even if he just finds a boss's orders,
he could get rid of that energy in play from Brent.
Here is the crushing hammer in hand,
and he's going for it, flipping the black 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 with Phantom Dive, he'll be able to knock out the Monkey Dory here, Puka.
This is looking really tough for Brent.
Andrew is going to steamroll 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 free 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 Brent the chance he needs to win this game.
And 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.
Another thing is the Rosa's encouragement to be able to power up his drag-and-pull 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 and use a poke pad, search
through the deck, then out a non rule box Pokemon looks like Badoo, getting into the mix even
here in the late game, just taking it out of the deck of course, and there's still a
lot of cards he can draw here, couple of recon directives also that flip the script of the
as Indipity, he'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, four, Brent Tonneson, I see a psychic energy knight stretcher,
Ultra Ball can guarantee a dragapult this turn.
He's going to 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 going to 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 and see that recon directive
Looks like a buddy buddy puffin as one
Reconna directive number two, but he 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 drag-a-fold 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 his following turn.
What is it going to be?
He's going to use Monkey Dory as a part of this sequence and move energy over from this
side to the other.
Excuse me, a damage counter.
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 Bryn Thomas.
Congratulations to Andrew Hedrick, he's gonna head to the J center tomorrow in the big arena.
One more match, he'll go up against Diego to see which player will be crowned world champion.
It feels like so many accomplishments he has, anytime 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 comes to the scene in this like
who's the era of the game 2022 and onward.
He has been a dominant force, five regional titles.
One IC can now a chance to become the world champion.
Yeah, and he really showed off his skills
in this Dragapult mirror match here, you know, Brent did have some unfortunate things happen
starting with the Meowth EX, not always drawing exactly what he needed, but hey, that's going to
happen sometimes. And, you know, maybe Brent against some other players may have 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 prayer. It was a boss's orders for the win. In game number one, a similar story. In game number two,
but not before, some resistance on Brent Tonneson'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 head
headbud in order to take the KO.
What a huge turn this was.
I mean, it seems like there was no way
that Andrew was going to be able to come back from this.
Yeah.
Seemed like two crushing hammers,
knocking out all the energy.
But then right away, a crushing hammer from Andrew
was able to power off the Dragonbolt EX
and just was able to swing this game,
put himself in a position to find the Foss's 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 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 OK, though.
Glad to be up here and it was really fun.
Same. Honestly, it seemed like every single
in your court. Where are
moments where you're like, Oh,
no, that's looking a bit fishy.
Yeah, definitely some scary
moments on a game two when he
went in with the judge went
through my Drake look. I mean,
I didn't have to draw kind of
well to respond to them, and I
was able to do it and put myself
in a really good spot to win.
Yeah, you honestly played
flawlessly. I couldn't see
anything that could have
possibly made that any
different. Honestly, it was
just a fantastic set to watch,
That is such a tricky matchup, but the finals is going to be a little different.
Have you got any thoughts going into that?
Yeah, I mean, I've definitely played against Alakazam's in testing too,
but I'm going to 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, former world champion right back in the finals.
I can't win it one 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,
I'm going to be up all night
just excited to watch. So you
make sure you get plenty of
rest. Have you got any shout
outs before I leave you to rest
and get some last minute
practice in against Alakazam?
Yeah, I mean, so it's all my
friends who played the deck with
me. I show my parents were
supporting me and shot at the
poke call or two. Absolutely
Thank you so much. Andrew
Hedrick. Everyone bringing the
heat with Dragapult having
a lot of fun. I'm going to
bringing the heat with Dragapult,
having birthed the fantastic crushing hammers build
from this man's excellent brain.
We're 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 and 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 card.
It's a massive Pikachu trophy as well.
But the run does come just short.
Yeah, it hurts to get that far in 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 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,
Andrew 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,
would it be Andrew Hedrick being the one to get that victory,
five-time regional champion, an IC 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.
Of course, 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 taken down the world championships.
It's been a while since we've seen one of these veterans like Diego take the crown.
We're going to want to 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.
We will be crowning so many world champions tomorrow.
Make sure you turn in at 9 AM Pacific Time.
You're not going to want to miss it.
And if you're not in Pacific Time, look it up.
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.
We have a full day of Pokémon reactions.
That's the book!
He's gonna bring to the outfit to the act.
He's gonna cast life.
He's gonna KO with Moltres on the head reach out.
bring basket overpond and Brent Thomason.
Hedrick finds, lost his order, he will win the game
and punch his ticket into championship Sunday.
And Drew Hedrick.
Jacob, don't let the tick tick cause it's hot.
Will they take a hold of the front strugger hole
that Diego got the wrong reason for it?
Ah!
Music
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Music
You