The Return of the Charmander deck! (Battle Styles to Obsidian Flames format recap)

 A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, a 10 year old kid named Kash picked up his first GameBoy Colour, booted up Pokemon Red, chose Charmander as his started and they set off on a journey. And they....oh wait wrong story but there are some similarities! 

Everyone knows the story, Charmander is and will always be my favourite Pokemon, from the beginning of Pokemon during the Gen 1 days back in 1999 until now! It's still Charmander for me. And now that I play the card game, of course anytime there is a chance to play Charmander in a deck, I will jump at it. The Charizard has to be playable though. 

For a while it never happened until Team Up Charizard showed up. It had the amazing Roaring Resolve ability (charge 2 energies but put 2 damage counters on yourself for it) and Continuous Blaze Ball could hit for all sorts of damage, starting with just the 2 for 130! I played that deck the moment it came out, won $162 with it at our local invitational with it, actually scored CP with it at a league challenge and used it at my first TPCi regional. Great memories playing that deck.

So imagine my excitement when I saw Tera Charizard ex. My first thought was "hey I can play Charmander in a deck again!". And then I read the card. And my next thought was "this is giving me TEU Charizard vibes". Self energy attachment, hit for big amounts of damage and is a Stage 2? Check, check and check! I've always said TEU Charizard was my favourite card to play so you know I have to give this one a good go. I was ready to give up ride with ArcTina and drop every other deck just to play Charizard ex.

Two months and flown by and I sure have played loads of Charizard ex and now with the new set released, I initially thought it might not stand a chance but I have thankfully been proven wrong so the Char-family is here to stay! And big brother Charmeleon will have a part to play soon. Before that I wanted to re-cap my journey of the BST-OBS (and 151) format whenever I chose to play Charizard ex because of course I did play other stuff. The fun thing here is, I played at least 4 different versions of Charizard ex so I'll run through all of them.

The first basic version: ChariZard Arceus Pidgeot (ZAP)

I'm not sure where or how I got this list, I probably stumbled upon it from one of Japan's City League results. The set was out on August 11th and if you remember, it was Worlds week and I was in Yokohama getting ready to compete in my first Worlds so no Obsidian Flames stuff for me yet. I would have to wait 15 days for my first chance to play Charizard ex anywhere and the first was in an online tourney.

This was the most hyped variant initially. The idea was to get a turn 2 setup with Arceus VSTAR getting either Rare Candy or Pidgeot ex and Jacq to give you the ideal Turn 2 Board State of Arceus VSTAR, Charizard ex and Pidgeot ex. Arceus is the ideal first attacker before going into Zard. 

I actually managed to win an online tourney in my first attempt playing the list and I was a fan of it right away. I wasn’t much of a fan of Jacq or Magma Basin. 

It was also during one of these events playing this first list where I chose to stream it and decided to make some comments on the whole Charizard ex archetype, basically I felt this version wasn’t right and felt there is and should be a better way to play Charizard ex. Some of my comments from that stream where as follows:  

• “Jacq feels unnecessary, there must be better Supporters than this”
• “Why doesn’t Zard decks play Arven, that has to be the perfect Supporter for it”
• “Why not 2 Arven? No, 3 Arven! Yeah 3 Arven sounds really good. I can get Rare Candy and say Choice Belt for KO? Sign me up!”
• “Do I really need Arceus just for Starbirth? It feels like a waste. It’s just sitting there waiting to be the final 2 prizes.”
• “How I wish I was playing Arven right now in the game”
• “Ok I got it! We play Charizard but with Bibarel! I mean come on it has to work. I get to draw cards under Path unlike Pidgeot”
• “Where’s the fucking Manaphy in this deck???”
• “Bibarel and Arven sounds kinda cool actually”
• “Wait I can use Arven to get Forest Seal Stone and Rare Candy. Imagine putting that Stone on a Pidgeot V to get a Pidgeot ex! Haha the birds flies in pairs! And then we yeet the other one back.” 
• “I think we can fit more Tools here. Vitality Band sounds good for Chien Pao and Miraidon. Heck even Vengeful Punch could work! Maybe not”

As it was, some of these things did come true! I was calling out my shots on how Charizard could be played and not to toot my own horn, but I did get some of these spot on with how Zard ended up being played this format, be it the Arvens, the Forest Stone, and even now Bibarel for the new format! 

Results:

• Tournament: Obsidian Flames Standard (Aug 26) - 6/0/0 - 1st/30
• List as above
• Changes in List:
• -1 Charmander, -1 Charmeleon, -1 Jacq, -1 Fire Energy
• + 1 Manaphy, +1 Raihan, +1 Nest Ball, +1 Vitality Band
• Tournament:
• Xaria's Testing Tourney #7 (Aug 31) - 4/0/1 - 2nd/28
• Changes in List:
• -1 Charmeleon, -1 Radiant Charizard, -1 Jacq, -2 Magma Basin, -2 Double Turbo Energy
• +1 Charizard ex, +1 Radiant Greninja, +1 Manaphy, +1 Colress, +1 Nest Ball, +1 Artazon, +1 V Guard Energy
• Tournament: 
• Tournament of Doom (Sep 2) - 4/3/0 - 31st/139
• Changes in List:
• -1 Jacq, -1 Magma Basin, -2 Double Turbo Energy
• +1 Manaphy, +1 Raihan, +1 Switch, +1 V Guard Energy
• Tournaments:
• Locals (Sep 5) - 3/0/0 - 3rd/34
• Changes in List
• -1 Charmeleon, -1 Radiant Charizard, -1 Jacq, -1 Lost Vacuum, -2 Magma Basin, -1 Fire Energy, -1 Double Turbo Energy, 
• +1 Radiant Greninja, +1 Manaphy, +1 Arven, +1 Nest Ball, +1 Super Rod, +1 VitalityBand, +2 Pokemon League HQ,
• Tournaments: 
• Xaria's Testing Tournys #10 (Sep 6) - 3/1/1 - 5th/28
• Changes in List
• -1 Jacq, -1 Magma Basin, -1 Fire Energy
• +1 Colress, +1 Super Rod, +1 Vitality Band, 
• Tournaments:
• Xaria's Weekly #3 (Sep 9) - 5/1/2 - 4th/38
• Changes in List
• -1 Radiant Charizard, -1 Jacq, -1 Lost Vacuum, -2 Magma Basin, -1 Fire Energy, -1 Double Turbo Energy
• +1 Manaphy, +1 Colress, +2 Nest Ball, +1 Vitality Band, +2 Pokemon League HQ
• Tournaments:
• Obsidian Flames Standard (Sep 9) - 1/1/1 - 24th/38
• Changes in List
• -1 Charmander, -1 Radiant Charizard, -1 Jacq, -2 Magma Basin, -1 Fire Energy, -1 Double Turbo Energy
• +1 Manaphy, +1 Radiant Tsareena, +1 Arven, +1 Super Rod, +1 Switch, +1 Vitality Band, +1 Collapsed Stadium, 
• Tournaments:
• Local (Sep 12) - 1/2/0 - 18th/26
• Changes in List
• -4 Charmander (OBF), -1 Pidgeot ex, -1 Colress, -1 Jacq, -1 Lost Vacuum, -2 Artazon, -1 Magma Basin, -2 Double Turbo Energy
• +4 Charmander (MEW), +1 Charizard ex (MEW), +1 Manaphy, +1 Entei (OBF), +1 Iono, +1 Worker, +1 Super Rod, +2 Lost City, +1 Fire Energy
• Tournaments:
• Deck Out Mondays (Oct 10) - 5/3/0 - 15th/148
• Changes in List
• -4 Charmander (OBF), -1 Charmeleon, -1 Mew, -1 Radiant Charizard, -1 Iono, -1 Escape Rope, -2 Magma Basin, -1 Fire Energy, -3 Corless
• +4 Charmander (MEW), +1 Manaphy, +1 Bidoof, +1 Bibarel, +1 Jacq, +1 Professor's Research, +1 Echoing Horn, +1 Defiance Band, +2 Artazon, +2 Jet Energy
• Tournaments:
• The Lost League 2024 Series - Challenge #2 (Oct 14) - 1/2/0 - 60th/76
• Matchups:
• Ting Lu ex W
• Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) WWWWTLW
• Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur WWLWLL
• Arceus VSTAR/Flying Pikachu VMAX W
• Charizard ex/Arceus VSTAR/Pidgeot ex W
• Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX WLLL
• Mew VMAX (Fusion) WWWW
• Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR WT
• Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX W
• Charizard ex (Lost Zone) LWL
• Miraidon ex LW
• Trurbo Lost Zone Box WTW
• Meowscarada ex W
• Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Single Strike) W
• Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Snorlax) WL
• Snorlax Control T
• Mew VMAX (DTE) WWWW
• Hisuian Goodra VSTAR (Lost Zone) T
• Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR W
• Tinkaton ex W
• Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex L
• Gardevoir ex WW
• Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX L
• Results with deck:
• Tournaments Played: 10
• Wins: 1
• Top 4s: 4
• Top 8s: 5
• Total Record: 33-13-5 (64.71% Win Rate)

Rapid Strike Charizard ex

Well this was a fun idea I wanted to try to see if it had any legs. I did only play it once but it wasn’t that bad, it just didn’t feel that good either. 

The Octillery package does mean we have more outs to Path. I did like Horn though, possibly KOing Lumineon or some Basic V for the last two prizes. Fun idea, shame it didn’t last long.

Results:

• Larger Scale Test Tournament (Sep 3) - 5/2/0 - 6th/63
• List as above
• Matchups:
• Mew VMAX (Fusion) W
• Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) LWWL
• Arceus VSTAR/Hisuian Goodra VSTAR W
• Turbo Lost Zone Box W
• Results with deck:
• Tournaments Played: 1
• Wins: 0
• Top 4s: 0
• Top 8s: 1
• Total Record: 5-2-0 (71.43% win rate)

First version of Arven Zard aka Arc-less Zard

One of my friends from my discord testing group showed me this list and I was hooked right away:

So of course, me being me, I wanted to give it a try. Played a few ladder games, gave the guys my feedback and the first list we came up was this:

The main addition was Arven, and with it we thought we could set up even quicker than the usual ZAP (ZardArcPidgeot) lists. We also had Lumineon and Entei as targets to use Forest and I thought Entei was the best addition. Not only is it another way to draw cards but we could VIP for it Turn 1, possibly use Arven Turn 2 to get Forest to set up Pidgeot and Charizard!

And it’s also a pretty good attacker too, and a tanky one at that being 230 HP, out of range for many stuff in the format that could hit for 220, namely Miraidon. Vitality Band did come in clutch as I expected, helping to get a return KO on Chien Pao especially! Raihan was my own addition, I thought it could be another way to get Zard to set up under Path. Didn’t work as well as I hoped. I did like Town Store in the list but we kept wondering if we really needed it if we were already playing Arven. 

I played this in the Pokemon Battle Park event (4th Sep) and somehow got it into a top 4 finish, 3rd out of 149 players. This deck was for real and hopefully it proves to people that Charizard doesn't need Arceus as I initially thought. We’ll come back to this variant soon.

Results:

• Tournament: Pokemon Battle Park (Sep 4) - 7/2/1 - 3rd/149
• List as above
• Changes in List:
• -1 Charmander, -1 Radiant Charizard, -1 Vitality Band
• +1 Charmeleon,  +1 Radiant Greninja, +1 Vengeful Punch
• Tournaments:
• Full Heal Obsidian #4 (Sep 6) - 6/2/1 - 5th/152
• Changes in List:
• -1 Professor's Research, -1 Escape Rope, -1 Super Rod, -1 Vitality Band, -1 Town Store, -1 Fire Energy
• +1 Charmeleon, +1 Cheryl, +1 Vengeful Punch, +1 Magma Basin, +2 Jet Energy
• Tournaments:
• Pokemon Battle Park (Sep 9) - 2/2/0 - 40th/84
• Matchups:
• Miraidon WWW
• Mew VMAX (Fusion) WW
• Gardevoir LWLWTW
• Toedscruel ex W 
• Turbo Lost Zone Box WLL
• Charizard ex/Arceus VSTAR/Bidoof T
• Lost Zone Box (Kyogre) W
• Mew VMAX (DTE) WL
• Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Single Strike) WW
• Charizard ex/Arceus VSTAR/Pidgeot ex LW
• Results with deck:
• Tournaments Played: 3
• Wins: 0
• Top 4s: 1
• Top 8s: 2
• Total Record: 15-6-1 (68.18% win rate)

Charizard ex with Buddy Catch Gallade

A small part of me did think while building my first few Charizard ex lists, “what if I paired it with Refinement Kirlia?” I didn’t think much of it, then had this idea to test it with Shining Arcana Gardevoir. “Hey this gives me another out to attach energies!”

I was still playing around the idea of it, mainly Gardevoir but with 1 Gallade to fetch out supporters. The biggest idea I wanted to do was to use Cheryl (found by Gallade) on a damaged Zard, heal it, manual attach and then hopefully attach another through Gardevoir’s Shining Arcana ability. And then Yokohama Champions League happened and the deck that caught my eye was the Zard with Gallade that made top 8. 

The additions they had that I liked in the list was 4 Jet Energies. Which means I can use Mew even more times over a game! The 1 Reversal energy was a cool idea I didn’t think about, giving you a way to hit for 160 and move it to another Gallade. That combo helped me win a game I shouldn’t have won against Miraidon. The support line was a bit thin for my liking but I did get why 4 Iono was played since you had access to it with Gallade.

Results:

• Tournament: Pokemon Battle Park (Sep 4) - 7/2/1 - 3rd/149
• List as above
• Changes in List:
• -1 Charmeleon, -1 Jet Energy
• +1 Hisuian Heavy Ball, +1 Reversal Energy
• Tournaments:
• Deck Out Thursdays (Sep 14) - 6/0/1 - 1st/76
• Changes in List: 
• -1 Charmeleon, -1 Kirlia, -1 Professor’s Research, -1 Jet Energy
• +1 Worker, +1 Arven, +1 Vitality Band, +1 Reversal Energy
• Tournaments: 
• Pokémon Battle Park (Sep 17) - 7/2/1 - 2nd/103
• Locals (Sep 19) - 2/1/0 - 15th/30
• Matchups: 
• Charizard ex (Lost Zone) W 
• Charizard ex/Gallade LWW
• Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) WWWLW
• Snorlax Control W
• Lost Box (Radiant Charizard) W 
• Wishcash/Claydol W
• Miraidon ex WWT
• Blaziken VMAX/Zeraora V W
• Gardevoir ex WT
• Mew VMAX (DTE) WW
• Entei V/Moltres W
• Mew VMAX (Meloetta) W
• Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur LW
• Turbo Lost Zone Box L
• Results with deck:
• Tournaments Played: 4
• Wins: 1
• Top 4s: 3
• Top 8s: 3
• Total Record: 22-5-1 (78.57% win rate)

Lost Zone Charizard ex

The other way people were hyping up on how Zard could be played was with the Lost Zone package. My good friend Gazerbem2k was one of the first to jump on it, we played each other in an online tournament and he utterly destroyed me to the point where I sent a simple message back to our discord testing group. “Guys I think Lost Zard might just be better.”

I took his list, changed a few stuff around, played one tourney with it and stopped. 9 days later, Barcelona SPE happened and we had our first top 4 finish at a big TPCi event for Charizard ex. 

Results:

• Tournament: Pokemon Battle Park (Sep 8) - 4/2/0 - 18th/97
• List as above
• Matchups: 
• Miraidon ex W
• Mew VMAX (DTE) W
• Gardevoir ex L
• Mew VMAX (Fusion) W
• Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur W
• Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) L
• Results with deck:
• Tournaments Played: 1
• Wins: 0
• Top 4s: 0
• Top 8s: 0
• Total Record: 4-2-0 (66.67% win rate) 

Me being the Charmander guy that I am, I jumped onto that list to try it out right away to see how it was compared to the other versions.

They added in Water energies to have Greninja be an additional attacker, mainly for Gardevoir and other set up decks. I liked the two Jet energies in the list which meant getting a Turn 1 attack with Cormorant even higher. That combined with Zard should take our anything.

The best part about the deck is having multiple different ways to win games. You don’t always have to solely rely on Zard when you have 2 Cramorant and 2 Sableye that can get you there. In fact Sableye’s Lost mine can easily set up the perfect number for Charizard ex to take some big KOs your opponents might not be expecting to. I wasn’t a fan of ink having 3 Charmanders but this is more of a toolbox so it’s fine most of the time. 

Results:

• Tournament: Xaria's Testing Tournys #14 (Sep 14) - 3/2/0 - 4th/12
• List as above
• Changes in List:
• +1 Boss's Orders, +1 Raihan, +1 Ultra Ball, +1 Nest Ball
• -1 Roxanne, -1 Mirage Gate, -1 Hisuian Heavy Ball, -1 Water Energy
• Tournament: 
• Xaria's Testing Tournys #15 (Sep 18) - 3/1/1 - 2nd/18
• PokéDeck Torneio Semanal #23 (Sep 21) - 3/2/0 - 12th/53
• Pokemon Battle Park (151 Legal) (Sep 22) - 8/0/2 - 1st/89
• Changes in List:
• +1 Pidgeot V, +1 Boss's Orders +2 Nest Ball, +2 Lost Vacuum, +1 Forest Seal Stone, +1 Vitality Band, +1 Town Store, +2 PokeStop, +1 Jet Energy, +1 Psychic Energy
• -1 Escape Rope, -2 Miragate Gate, -1 Hisuian Heavy Ball, -2 Artazon, -1 Beach Court, -2 Fire Energy, -3 Water Energy, -1 Cramorant
• Tournament:
• Moujii's Dojo Season 2 #9 (Sep 23) - 0/2/0 - 68th/75
• Changes in List:
• +1 Boss's Orders, +1 Klara, +1 Raihan, +1 Nest Ball
• -1 Roxanne, -1 Mirage Gate, -1 Fire Energy, -1 Jet Energy
• Tournaments:
• Pokemon Battle Park (Sep 24) - 6/2/1 - 3rd/96
• Locals (Sep 24) - 1/2/0 - 12th/20
• Deck Out Mondays (Sep 25) - 0/2/0 - 143rd/164
• Locals (Sep 26) - 3/0/0 - 3rd/33
• Changes in List:
• +1 Boss's Orders, +3 Raihan, +1 Ultra Ball, +1 Nest Ball, +1 Lost Vacuum, +1 PokeGear, +1 Path to the Peak, 
• -1 Roxanne, -3 Mirage Gate, -1 Hisuian Heavy Ball, -1 Beach Court, -3 Water Energy
• Tournaments:
• Locals (Nov 7) - 2/1/0 - 8th/30
• Matchups:
• Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur WLWW
• Gardevoir ex LWWWWWWWL
• Mew VMAX (Meloetta) W
• Miraidon ex WWW
• Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX W
• Alakazam ex W
• Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR W
• Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Snorlax) WT
• Arceus VSTAR/Togekiss L
• Lost Zone Box (Kyogre) WW
• Charizard ex (Lost Zone) WLW
• Turbo Lost Zone Box LWLL
• Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX WChien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur WLWW
• Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) WLWLWLW
• Charizard ex/Arceus VSTAR/Pidgeot ex L
• Results with deck:
• Tournaments Played: 10
• Wins: 1
• Top 4s: 5
• Top 8s: 6
• Total Record: 29-14-4 (61.7% win rate)

4 Arven in Charizard ex (the new most popular way to play Zard)

Did I or did I not say Arven was perfect for Charizard. Imagine my happiness seeing William Azevedo win the Curitiba Regional in Brazil with the now termed Arven Zard (I still liked our name of Arcless Zard). And we weren’t that far off from the list they ended up with compared to our last list we had worked on.

The stuff they added in that we didn’t have were a few but still impactful enough. The biggest being Penny. You could attack with Entei V first, let it take a hit and then scoop it up, denying easy prizes for your opponent while advancing your game. Lost City was the other big thing they added which seemed alright to me. It does help Vs Gardevoir when you can easily take out the Shining Arcana Gardevoirs and they are sent to the Lost Zone, denying them an attacker. The other target being Sableye or lost zone stuff in general like Dragonite V, Radiant Charizard or even Cramorant at times.

This was pretty much my go-to deck for most of the format, and it was the one I chose to play for the one local event with points on the line (aka Town League) that I knew I was going to get to play in. If I was playing in the Singapore Regional this weekend, I would have played a version of this too. Unfortunately I'm not in Singapore so I guess I won't get to show what I can do with a Charizard ex deck when the stakes are high. It sucks but since I'm stuck here in Asia Pacific region, there's not really much I can do about it when it comes to events.

Results:

• Tournament: Locals (Oct 1) - 2/1/0 - 10th/27
• List as above
• Changes in List:
• +1 Mew ex
• -1 Mawile
• Tournaments:
• Locals (Oct 2) - 1/2/0 - 15th/26
• Deck Out Mondays (Oct 3) - 1/2/0 - 96th/167
• Changes in List:
• +1 Vengeful Punch
• -1 Mawile
• Tournaments:
• Kitchen Showdown #5 (Oct 5) - 4/3/0 - 27th/106
• Singapore Town League #2 (Oct 8) - 4/2/0 - 13th/64 (+100 CSP)
• Locals (Oct 31) - 1/2/0 - 13th/14
• Late Night 147 (Nov 1) - 2/2/0 - 62nd/125
• Changes in List: 
• -1 Mawile, -1 Professor's Research, -1 Forest Seal Stone, -1 Fire Energy
• +1 Super Rod, +1 Pal Pad, +1 Vitality Band, +1 Vengeful Punch
• Tournaments: 
• Tournament of Doom (Oct 7) - 4/2/0 - 20th/110
• Changes in List:
• +1 Echoing Horn, +1 Vitality Band, +1 Vengeful Punch, +1 Super Rod
• -1 Mawile, 1 Professor's Research, -1 Forest Seal Stone, -1 Fire Energy
• Tournaments:
• Locals (Oct 7) - 1/2/0 - 10th/11
• Changes in List:
• +1 Pidgeot V, +1 Iono, +1 Vengeful Punch, +1 Path to the Peak, +1 Collapsed Stadium
• -1 Mawile, -1 Entei V, -1 Professor's Research, -1 Penny, -1 Lost Vacuum 
• Tournaments: 
• Locals (Oct 12) - 2/1/0 - 7th/17
• Pokemon Battle Park (Oct 13) - 2/2/0 - 42nd/72
• Changes in List: 
• +1 Vitality Band, +1 Vengeful Punch,
• -1 Mawile, -1 Forest Seal Stone
• Tournaments:
• Pokemon Battle Park (Oct 14) - 0/2/0 - 43rd/56
• Changes in List:
• +1 Pidgeot V, +1 Iono, +1 Nest Ball, +1 Collapsed Stadium, +1 Artazon
• -1 Mawile, -1 Entei V, -1 Professor's Research, -1 Penny, -1 Ultra Ball
• Tournaments:
• Hobbyists United Weekly Tourney #7 (Oct 18) - 1/2/0 - 9th/12
• Changes in List:
• +1 Bidoof, +1 Bibarel, +1 Pidgeot V, +1 Iono, +1 Nest Ball, +1 Vengeful Punch, +1 Collapsed Stadium
• -1 Pidgeot ex, -1 Entei V, -1 Mawile, -1 Professor's Research, -1 Penny, -1 Ultra Ball, -1 Forest Seal Stone
• Tournament:
• Morning TCG Weekly #26 (Oct 19) - 6/0/0 - 1st/45

• Changes in List:
• +1 Iono, +1 Lost City
• -1 Mawile, -1 Professor's Research
• Tournament: 
• Pokemon Battle Park (Oct 29) - 3/2/0 - 19th/71
• Changes in List:
• +1 Iono
• -1 Mawile 
• Tournament:
• Grandslam Invitational #5 (Local Event) (Nov 4) - 4/1/0 - 2nd/19 (+$225)
• Matchups:
• Gardevoir ex WLLLWWWLLWW
• Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) LLWLLWW
• Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur WLWL
• Turbo Lost Zone Box WLWWLLWW
• Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Snorlax) LWWL
• Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Single Strike) LW
• Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Charizard ex) L
• Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX WLWLL
• Miraidon ex LWLLWL
• Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR W
• Gengar VMAX W
• Arceus VSTAR/Alolan Vulpix L
• Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex LWWW
• Mew VMAX (DTE) WW
• Hisuian Goodra VSTAR (Lost Zone) LW
• Lost Zone Box (Radiant Charizard) W
• Regigigas W
• Arceus VSTAR/Leafeon VSTAR W
• Darkrai VSTAR W
• Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR L
• Results with deck:
• Tournaments Played: 15
• Wins: 1
• Top 4s: 2
• Top 8s: 3
• Total Record: 38-28-0 (57.57%)

Charizard ex with Arceus VSTAR and Bibarel

I did try to make one work early on, it was working alright. I just don’t know why I didn’t keep trying it out. I did have stuff like Arven, Skwovet and even Victini ex in there. 

I did go 3-1 with it but maybe deep down inside I felt it wasn’t right. A month later and we’re back to playing a version of ZardArcBibarel, but this one has a result to show for with Juan Cardenas getting the highest placement for a Zard player in Sacramento. 

The biggest thing that popped up was the two Panic Masks in the list and the more I thought about it, it made some sense. You could hit Chien Pao or Miraidon or whoever and leave them at 40 HP or less and with Panic Mask attached, they can’t attack. The only way around is well, getting around Charizard or using Lost Vaccum which most of them don’t usually have. Didn’t help much in mirror match though. The 4 Lost City was interesting. Them not having a Super Rod was my biggest gripe with the list.

Results:

• Xaria's Testing Tourny #8 (Sep 4) - 1/2/0 - 23rd/35
• List as above (1st picture)
• Changes in List: (2nd picture)
• Tournament: 
• Battleground TCG Grand Opening (Oct 18) - 2/2/0 - 24th/49
• Changes in List: (compared to 2nd picture)
• +1 Radiant Charizard, +1 Super Rod, 
• -1 Panic Mask, -1 Fire Energy
• Tournament:
• Discard Pile Weekly #33 (Oct 19) - 2/1/0 - 17th/30
• Matchups:
• Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) LL
• Charizard ex/Arceus VSTAR/Pidgeot ex WW
• Arceus VSTAR/Slaking V W
• Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur WL
• Turbo Lost Zone Box L
• Gardevoir ex W
• Spidos ex L
• Results with deck:
• Tournaments Played: 3
• Wins: 0
• Top 4s: 0
• Top 8s: 0
• Total Record: 5-5-0 (50%)

Charizard ex with just Bibarel

I wanted this to be a thing for the longest time, even at the start of the format. I tried a few times and failed. And then Oscar Madsen showed up at Lille Regional and got a good finish with his list. It took me 5 seconds and I was won over with his list. 

It’s just Zard and Bibarel, but with a few interesting techs. I liked the Cramorant in there as you can easily get your Lost Zone counter go up to 4 with Lost Vacuum and Colress. It’s a good way to set up some numbers for Zard. Hawlucha is a cool inclusion that can help fix some awkward numbers for Zard, namely stuff with 210 or 270 HP. 

The biggest thing I liked in the deck was the 3 Path to the Peak and 3 Lost Vacuums. Just like how Mew DTE works, you use your ability then use Path so your opponent can’t use theirs. And then you can get rid of it on your turn to use another one then hit the Path back again. I always had this feeling Zard could utilise Path and this proves it is possible. This isn’t the only time I will talk about Charizard with Bibarel, I’ll save one at the end for a list in the new format.

Results:

• Morning TCG Weekly #21 (Sep 7) - 3/1/0 - 43rd/95
• List as above
• Changes in List:
• +1 Charizard ex, +1 Cramorant, +1 Hawlucha, +4 Colress, +1 Level Ball, +2 Lost Vacuum, +1 Switch, +3 Path to the Peak
• -1 Skwovet, -1 Radiant Greninja, -1 Victini ex, -3 Arven, -2 Nest Ball, -1 Super Rod, -1 Choice Belt, -1 Vitality Band, -2 Artazon, -1 Magma Basin
• Tournament:
• Pokemon Battle Park (Oct 22) - 5/2/0 - 7th/63
• Changes in List:
• +1 Cramorant, +1 Hawlucha, +4 Colress, +1 Level Ball, +2 Lost Vacuum, +1 Switch, +3 Path to the Peak
• -1 Skwovet, -1 Radiant Greninja, -1 Victini ex, -3 Arven, -2 Nest Ball, -1 Choice Belt, -1 Vitality Band, -2 Artazon, -1 Magma Basin
• Tournaments:
• Locals (Oct 24) - 2/1/0 - 12th/28
• Torneio semanal Pokedeck #28 (Oct 26) - 4/1/0 - 9th/52
• Tournament of Doom! (Oct 28) - 2/2/0 - 44th/104
• Locals (Oct 29) - 1/2/0 - 12th/16
• Matchups:
• Turbo Lost Zone Box LW
• Noivern ex W
• Chien-Pao ex WWWWL
• Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) L
• Charizard ex/Arceus VSTAR/Pidgeot ex W
• Miraidob ex WWW
• Mew VMAX (DTE) W
• Snorlax Control LL
• Ting-Lu ex W
• Mew VMAX (Fusion) W
• Alakazam ex W
• Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Snorlax) L
• Gardevoir ex WLL
• Darkrai VSTAR L
• Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex W
• Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR W
• Results with deck:
• Tournaments Played: 6
• Wins: 0
• Top 4s: 0
• Top 8s: 1
• Total Record: 17-8-0 (68% win rate)

Recap of Charizard ex's Timeline so far

• WEEK 1 (release date) Aug 11 – 13 (I'm in Japan)
• WEEK 2 Aug 14 – 20 (I'm still in Japan)
• WEEK 3 Aug 21 – 27 (Back home but yet to test)
• WEEK 4 Aug 28 – Sep 3 (Start testing)
• WEEK 5 Sep 4 – 10 (Yokohama CL – Zard Gallade appearance + Pittsburgh Regional)
• WEEK 6 Sep 11 – 17 (Barcelona SPE – Lost Zard arrives)
• WEEK 7 Sep 18 – 24 (Sep 22 – 151 release date) (Arven Zard wins) list copied
• WEEK 8 Sep 25 – Oct 1 (copied best LZ Zard, practicing Town League with Arven Zard)
• WEEK 9 Oct 2 – Oct 8 (Town League! Lost win & in for Top 4, still got Top 16 for +100CP)
• WEEK 10 Oct 9 – 15 (Sacramento Regional, ArcBibZard is top Zard)
• WEEK 11 Oct 16 – 22 (Lille Regional, ZardBib is here)
• WEEK 12 Oct 23 – 29 (Azul top 4 with Arven Zard)
• WEEK 13 Oct 30 – Nov 5 (GSP #5 Invitational, using Azul's list to win $225)

Win Rates for each variants of Charizard ex

1. with Gallade (78.57% - 28 Games)
2. with Arceus VSTAR/Pidgeot ex/Octillery (71.43% - 7 Games)
3. with Pidgeot ex v1 (2 Arven) (68.18% - 22 Games)
4. with Bibarel (68% - 25 Games)
5. with Lost Zone v1 (No Jet Energy) (66.67% - 6 Games)
6. with Arceus VSTAR/Pidgeot ex (64.71% - 51 Games)
7. with Lost Zone v2 (with Jet Energy) (61.7% - 47 Games)
8. with Pidgeot ex v2 (4 Arven) (57.57% - 66 Games)
9. with Arceus VSTAR/Bibarel (50% - 10 Games)

I wished I played the Gallade version more, that seemed to be my most succesful Zard list, the 3 times I played it online, I got 3 top 4 results with it. I wished I did better with both the second versions of Lost Zard and Arven Zard, I put in a lot of games with them with not much to show for it. 

And here's a sneak peek of the next Zard deck with the new Paradox Rift format.

I've already played it in an online tournament to a 5-3 score. As you can see the deck is a bit different and for once, we aren't relying on Pidgeot ex or Arceus VSTAR. We're back to my old friend Bibarel because of Technical Machine: Evolution. With it, I can get my Charmander and Bidoof evolved by using it as an attack into a Charmeleon and Bibarel by the end of my first turn! 

And with Town Store and Arven, there are plenty of outs to make it happen. And the TM works on anyone, you can easily put a Jet Energy on Mew, use Mysterious Tail to grab a VIP Pass, Ultra Ball or Rare Candy, and then use TM Evolution on Mew to get two of the benched evolved. It is also the reason we're now playing 3 Charmeleons. The deck is already so much fun, I've always enjoyed playing Zard with Bibarel even though I've not had any results to show for it. I'm hoping to change that soon.

Hope you enjoyed reading my stories with my Charmander deck and how I tried every possible version of it and I'm still going to try it out as long as it's possible. Thank you for reading!

1 win short of making Day 2 - My First Worlds Experience (Worlds 2023)

 One week ago I got to live out a dream, competing in the Pokémon World Championships! It was something I always wanted to do ever since I got back into playing the card game and even when I was just casually playing the video game, I always thought, how could would it be to play in the World Championships.

I didn't know if I would ever get there, especially with the new changes to the structure in Singapore but thankfully after many years of trying, we got there for Yokohama in 2023! And the best one too, since I've always been asking for a World Championship to be held in not just Asia but Japan specifically, it is the home of Pokémon after all and for that to be my first Worlds? Couldn't have asked for a better one!

The Week before Worlds

The week leading up to Worlds, I actually didn't do much, if any, playtesting at all. I had already decided I would stick with Arceus/Giratina as my deck choice for Day 1 of Worlds, something I had already planned a month in advance. I tested Lost Zone Giratina as much as I could to convince me otherwise and it didn't do that so ArcTina it is. 

All I did was writing down notes and theories on matchups I would likely face, my game plan for certain decks and stuff I should do. Other than that, didn't play test at all. I just wanted to relax and not stress about the whole thing. Like I had mentioned before, I wasn't too bothered about what the result may be, whether I do well or not, I just wanted to have fun and enjoy my first Worlds.

All I really did was just not playing, no testing, just sightseeing around Tokyo with my family. I got into Japan on the Tuesday, so I really only had Wednesday to go around a few places. I did go to Ikebukuro on Thursday to check out the Pokémon Center and sure enough it was packed! And since I wasn't staying in Yokohama, I couldn't test with anyone I knew anyway! While walking around Yodobashi, I was finalising my list and with the help of Jeremy, we got the 60.

The Deck

Pokemon:

x4 Arceus V

x3 Arceus VSTAR

x2 Giratina V

x2 Giratina VSTAR

x2 Bidoof

x2 Bibarel

x1 Skwovet

x1 Spiritomb

Quite simple here, it is just the core that has worked before and why change something this good. Sure it would be nice to have a 4th Arceus VSTAR but I don't own a 4th one. Spiritomb was there to counter Mew and Lugia decks. Bibarel and Skwovet are still too broken not to use in my view.

Supporters:

x4 Boss's Orders

x4 Iono

x3 Judge

x1 Professor's Research

x1 Raihan

4 Boss just made sense to me and works well for ArcTina. Raihan was a fail safe in case an Arceus gets knocked out right away. Research was a backup choice when I have nothing else to search out for from Starbirth and it actually helped me a lot in my games. The Iono-Judge count was the last thing I debated on, I just wasn't sure if 4 Iono was the right call or 4 Judge. After much thinking, I felt 4 Iono made the most sense as I would prefer to use it in the early and late game while Judge would be perfect if I have a board set up after Starbirth or in the mid game.

Items/Tools/Stadiums:

x4 Nest Ball

x4 Ultra Ball

x1 Switch

x1 Escape Rope

x1 Choice Belt

x1 Cleansing Gloves

x4 Path to the Peak

The first five on this list are quite obvious, most ArcTina lists will play the same stuff. Cleansing Gloves was in to deal with Gardevoir and Mew, two decks I expected to see more of. And of course, 4 Path works so well with the 7 disruption supporters in decks.

Energies:

x4 Grass Energy

x4 Psychic Energy

x4 Double Turbo Energy

x2 V Guard Energy

4-4 Grass & Psychic energies are quite obvious. 4 DTE is a must, especially to increase your odds to get a Turn 1 Trinity Charge. 2 V Guard felt like the right move with Giratina VSTAR (Lost Box) becoming more popular in time for Worlds so that felt like the correct choice.

And if you notice, I tried to colour code my deck in a way. The 7 disruption supporter cards are the only silver bordered cards in my deck to make it easier for me to count them for prize checking. Both ball search cards had a red background, I even used my older Escape Rope and Switch so they could stand out, same for Gloves which was one of the only reverse holo cards in my deck. So a lot of thought was put not just into the 60 card decks but also the arts chosen for the deck!

So yup, I decided to go back to my comfort deck, I knew how to play the deck against pretty much any deck in the meta and I didn't want to tie my games, which is why I kept Lost Tina for Day 2 if I made it there, and it was gonna be a wild list too! Oh well. I glad I made the right decision to stick with what I knew.

Thursday Mess - Registration + Pokémon Center

Also while we're on the pre-Worlds, the check in for Worlds itself on the Thursday was a mess. I was lucky that my friends were in line and helped me got in if not I would have been near the back of the line inside the hall, which was still lucky because there were people in the line that were outside the hall in the scorching sun which is not very fun, I should know living in Singapore.

After registration was complete, next up was the Pokémon Centre Worlds store for us. That was another mess in it of itself. The fact that us players were some of the later ones to get in was already not a good idea because most of the good stuff were already sold out before we got there. In my opinion, the players who earned their spots to Worlds SHOULD be the first ones to get into the Pokémon Center, not some influencers who get paid to do all that stuff or the ones who were lucky enough to win a ticket to get in early. It doesn't feel fair for the players who are the main focus of this Worlds to be the last ones in, it makes no sense to me.

So of course I didn't spend much at the Center because the stuff I really wanted were all out of stock. No Yokohama jersey (the main thing I wanted), no dice box, and the Wave playmat that looked really cool was out of stock when I was there. So I didn't buy much to be fair, since there wasn't much for me to get.

I will say this, they gave us A LOT of goodies in the competitor's welcome kit which I truly appreciate, I was not expecting to get that many stuff so that was nice. They even gave us a Ramen Bowl! And I guess I got a new bag to use too, so thank you Pokémon for that!

Biggest Fear

Don't screw up. Don't mess up. Think through your games. That's what I kept telling myself, because I am in the same room as the very best players from around the world, I didn't want to make myself look bad or stupid against all these pro players. That was my number one fear but I know I could control that. I can't control the second one however.

The other big fear I had was actually, potentially, going on stream! I was worried that it might actually happen because, after all, I am that PokéStats guy everyone knows about online. I didn't want to have that this early since, technically, I have been on stream ever. I don't know how I've managed to skip it but in my entire playing time, I have never once been on stream for an official tournament. I did worry that it might happen here if I were to do well but when my name was left out of the players to look out for from the Asian region, I was thinking to myself, I guess they don't know who I am haha! Maybe I'll escape it.

Also, I know some of my friends were upset that my name wasn't on there but trust me, it's all good. I'm still a nobody at the end of the day. If I was playing in the US or Australia or Europe, maybe I might be featured more and have my name there. But because I play in a region that honestly doesn't matter to anyone, why would anyone care about any of us? We have little to zero coverage on any of our events, so why should anyone care about players from our region. I've been on a personal mission to change that and put eyes on our region but unfortunately, I haven't had any success on that so far.

Friday - Day 1 - The Matches

R1 vs Dany Graells (UAE) - Zoroark Toolbox/Bisharp/Hisuian Arcanine W 1-0

Errr well yeah I was not expecting my first round at the World Championships to be up against...checks notes....Bisharp??? The moment I saw Zorua and Gapejaw Bog, I kinda knew what I was going up against because I have actually read this Bisharp before.

So I knew his game plan was to keep putting damage counters on his Pawniards so I decided to go after them right away. Then he discards a Trevenant that says I can't take prizes when I KO it so that changed my gameplan a bit. I still had saved enough Bosses and Ropes to take the first game, which went on for a good 30-35 minutes! We never finished game 2 and I made a play where I chose not to take my 5th prizing knowing he had no way to take his last prize by doing that, giving me the win since I won Game 1. First win at Worlds in Round 1, pretty good start I'd say!

R2 vs Shuuya Kawasaki (JAP) - Mew VMAX WW 2-0

These were some rather quick games actually. We both bricked in Game 1 but I managed to get out of my bad hands first, and got my Tomb down to make him even more stuck. Game 2 I got Tomb out at the perfect timing along with Path and he just hand no answer for it. 2-0 at my first Worlds so far, I could not have asked for a better start than this!

R3 vs Juan Andree (CHI) - Gardevoir ex LL 2-1

And then I hit the first familiar name to me. I've known Juan during the online days and I know how good he truly is. And it showed here. But before the match I got a bit of a scare. I saw someone holding the "match on stream sign" and they were heading towards us. I was thinking, oh crap please don't be us. Luckily for me it was the table before us that went on stream!

He got all 4 Ralts out in both Games 1 and 2, and even had a sea of 4 Kirlias on board game 2. I just had no shot of winning either games with my slow start compared to his rapid starts. 2-1 is still not so bad, still in it!

R4 vs Konsta Kallama (FIN) - Mew VMAX LWL 2-2

This is where my days starts to unravel a bit. I knew about Konsta and had guessed he would still be on Mew and I was right. But my start was extremly bad in Game 1 and I had to scoop early because I could see the writing on the wall. It was a role reversal for Game 2, he scooped early knowing I pretty much had game.

Game 3 was going well for me, I managed to hit into two of his Mew VMAXes so I knew I just needed to find boss to clear them up since the last Mew had evolved. I still had all 4 bosses so I was still feeling confident about winning the set. Somehow I never did find those 4 bosses, even with the Skwovet/Bibarel draw, I just whiffed everything and that cost me game, so I had to hit into his 3rd Mew VMAX knowing it was just a wasted hit. 

I pretty much had game on board and needed to find any of my Bosses and it never showed up. Now at 2-2, which meant I had to win my last 4 games to have any shot of making Day 2, I was on my last life now.

R5 vs Jose Marrero (USA) - Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR/Umbreon VMAX WW 3-2

I was in a must win situation for every game and my next opponent was Jose, everyone knows who he is so I don't need to say more. I told myself before the game, just remember why you're here. Win or lose, it doesn't matter, just have fun and even if I don't make Day 2, it's ok. I still made it to Worlds, that was the dream so might as well just enjoy the rest of the day no matter what happens. Just have fun right?

Those two games went perfectly for me, I went second both times but got Arceus + DTE to set up my Giratina both times to seal the game. Pressure was off since I had already accepted my fate, 4 wins in a row in a bo3 setting, something I hadn't played in over 3-4 years, is a near impossible task for me so might as well just play for the love of the game and enjoy my time here. If it happens, cool! If not, it's perfectly fine.

R6 vs Ryuto Hadano (JAP) - Mew VMAX WLW 4-2

I was up against Ryuto next, one of my favourite opponents of the whole day. He was super cool! I saw Mew again and this time I really wanted to win especially after what happened against Konsta. Game 1 went perfectly for me. Game 2 I had a dead hand and scooped after the 2nd turn. 

Game 3 was really close, it came down to Bibarel finding me the boss I needed to win the set and stay alive in the running for Day 2. At this point, of the Singapore contingent, Jit Min was out but the 3 of us (Yong Siang, Yu Xian and myself) were all on the same boat, we all needed to win our last 2 games to put ourselves into Day 2 which I thought was a pretty cool feat. We don't get to play bo3 games all that much and here we are, all 3 still in the fight! I think that says a lot about our players here in Singapore.

R7 vs Ryuya Tamaki (JAP) - Miraidon ex/Flaaffy LL 4-3

And then came the killer blow. The first and only Miraidon I would go up against and game 1 was over before it really ever got started. I started with only an Arceus, energy attachment pass. He managed to get the first turn attack with Miraidon to well...Miraidonk me.

Second game was equally painful. I put myself in a really good spot to win that game, it came down to me just needed Choice Belt to get the last KO and take the game to Game 3. I counted my cards left in deck and knew I had very high odds of hitting my Choice Belt, it just cannot be one of the last two cards.

Sure enough, it was the last card. I extended my hand and that was my hopes of Day 2 dashed. Even though I should still be happy that I'm playing in Worlds, there was that little part of me that was just heartbroken and disappointed that I came so close only to get eliminated with 1 round to go. I couldn't hide my disappointment but I also had to be there for my friends and cheer the other two on. Unfortunately we all lost in the same round, so all of Singapore's hopes crashed in Round 7. I think we still did amazing to even be in the running when we have such a huge disadvantage against the rest of the field since we're playing in their bo3 settings. Good effort for Team SG I'd say!

R8 vs Arthur Trutzschler (NED) - Gardevoir ex WLW 5-3

The last round didn't matter much since we were out of the running but I still wanted to play out and just have fun. I knew who Arthur was since my job with PokéStats meant I had write down names of most of the top players from almost every region and Arthur is someone I knew about so it was cool to play against him. We had a fun game too and it came down to him not being able to set up Ralts in game 3 for me to take the win.

I felt satisfied to finish my first Worlds Championships with a 5-3 score, much better than what I was expecting! I would have been happy with 3! And I got more wins than losses which is my aim for every tournament, and this being a bo3 tournament, I think that proves that I can hang with these guys who play bo3 all the time! 

Most importantly, I had fun! In fact I'd say it was the most fun I had playing games ever! Sure it was the World Championships but just something about it meant I was enjoying my games all the time. I was never stressed once (other than possibly being on stream) and I think for the first time in a long while, I didn't make any big misplays from any of my games. 

All the games I lost, I lost because my opponents were just better or I just dead drew, not from my own doing so that was a personal win for me. And a fun fact, all 3 guys who beat me all made Day 2 so that's quite cool to know, and just shows I did not have an easy ride on Friday.

If that was the only time I ever get to compete at a Worlds Championship, I left satisfied with how it went.

Saturday and Sunday - Day 2 & 3 - Just a Spectator

Since I didn't make it to Day 2, I had no reason to go to Yokohama right? Wrong, I still made the 75 minute travel from Korakuen to Yokohama just so I can enjoy watching as a fan of the game and because hey, for once I actually go to do my PokéStats reporting live on site! And as an extra added bonus, I borrowed my brother's camera to try to get some cool photos of the guys and girls playing in Day 2, of which I didn't get much sadly.

But probably the most fun thing for me was just hanging out with friends I've known for many years through the online scene but only really meeting them in person for the first time! And because I wasn't playing, I even got to hang out and chit chat with some of them. I especially wanted to say hello to the people I met through the online days from the Hegster era and I did get to do that, including Ethan himself. During the pandemic I pretty much played against most of them in a whole host of online tournaments so it was cool to finally meet them all in person. I would try to name them out but I'm afraid I might miss out some, but you know who you are and it was nice to finally meet in person!

I even got to see some friends again, be it from Asia or the ones I met from OCIC back in 2010 like Rahul Reddy (who I bumped into for the next two days at random spots in Toyko haha, that was cool)! And because I'm a fan of the game itself, I had to say hello to the people who have inspired me to be a better player and whose videos, podcasts, streams or otherwise have helped me along the way, such as people like Chip Richey, Joe Bernard, Andrew Mahone, Azul Garcia Griego, Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, Isaiah Bradner, Stephane Ivanoff and Mike Fouchet. Probably the more surprising thing for me was that they all knew who I was so that made the meeting extra special.

And of course I had to say hello to as many of the PokéStats crew that were there in Yokohama! Those were the ones I was looking forward to saying hello to the most since I talk to these guys and girls all the time, be it Zaya, Loc, Jeremy and even the Australian crew, it was cool to finally meet Matty, Jake & Julian and always a pleasure to meet Chasi, Brent and Henry again, all legends in my eyes. Probably my favourite moment was seeing Kaiwen again after a few years and he had nothing but the nicest of things to say about my progress for the last few years and that really made my day to know someone of his calibre would say that to me, that really meant a lot.

There was plenty of stuff to do out of the venue as well. Outside of the venue they had some stuff which I sadly didn't see much of. The closest mall, Queen's Square, was filled with Pokémon stuff. Be it the Pokémon art on a few walls and even benches, the TCG card walk which stretched out for many areas around the place and at a mall nearby too. They even had a real life SS Anne which I never got to see but hear it was cool, they even had the trash cans! And there were many Pokémon figures around, of which I never caught them either. I just didn't have a lot of time in Yokohama sadly.

It was really cool to see Yokohama turn into a Pokémon festival, wherever you turn, there is something Pokémon related going on. The malls had screens for the streamed matches for all 4 games which I thought was awesome. My favourite bit might be seeing all the arts for every single Pokémon lined up, especially in Queen's Square where they had some of the big EXes, Vs, Tag Team GXex, GX and current day exes on display and of course I caught my favourite bit where they had Reshiram & Charizard GX, Arceus VSTAR and Giratina VSTAR all together! It was as if that corner was made just for me.

There were some cool moments too, someone gave me a Korean Centiskorch V (the special art with Kabu on it), I even got asked to sign a card for the first time which was cool! Some of the friends who I've known for what seems like forever asked me to take a photo with them which is always a nice feeling so thank you Mark, Julius, Zaya, David, Ryuto & Joshua. The place was so huge that I didn't get to meet many more people that I wanted to say hi to as well which was sad. Hopefully I can fix that in the future.

I decided not to play any of the side events during both days, I just didn't have the feels to play in any of them but when I saw the Singapore crew playing 2010 retro, the itch was there. So I had to jump in on the fun for Sunday when Kai Wainwright asked if I wanted to play and of course I was up for it. I jumped into those games with little to no idea what any of those cards did and it was just so fun to play because all the games were long, just the way it should be like the old days. It really did remind me of the older days when I first started playing the game.

And of course, it was cool to see a lot of the Singapore gang actually at Worlds! Since it's the closest Worlds to us, it was nice to see at least 20+ of my locals actually make the trip and I got to hang out with most of them during the weekend and even on my last day in Japan when we went card shop hopping around Ikebukuro with Peke! That was fun, and they were always so supportive of me during the event which I can never thank them enough. And of course it was cool to bring my family along for the trip and let them see what this crazy that is Pokémon is really like for once.

What's next?

Honestly who knows. Hawaii is where Worlds will be for 2024. I'm not gonna do the thing that everyone does and say "see you in Hawaii" because how can I? Everyone else just needs to hit a certain amount of points and they've got their invite. I won't know my fate until the end of June or July, which is why I booked my flights to Japan just weeks before Worlds because that's when I knew I qualified! It was so late there was no hotels to book in Yokohama thus why I stayed in Tokyo.

I'm still going to try my best and do the best I can for the 3-4 major events we will have here in Singapore and whatever happens, it shall be. I've got my Worlds invite so for me I've already achieved the dream, anything else is a bonus. But to tell the truth, there really is nothing more for me to do here. I really had fun playing the games this past weekend because that's how Pokémon should be played, not based on luck in a bo1 setting. I always said I preferred bo3 and my point was proven last weekend. Also I will just say it but it was a little disappointing to see little to no coverage about our SEA players from the Maxsoft or Pokemon Asia crew, they said they were planning some stuff and I saw nothing. No mention of us at Worlds or even an interview. And people wonder why we get no coverage here when even our own people don't want to feature us.

I'm really not looking forward to playing in official events with bo1 setting again, it's just not how things should be done. I will try my best in these events but now I can just play for the fun of it and the love of the game. Also because I might actually have to miss the Singapore Championships in June due to my schedule which means I may have little to no hope of making Worlds next year. So who knows, maybe I'll try to show up at one of the other Internationals. Melbourne isn't far away from Singapore and Vancouver isn't far away from Ohio. We shall see.

I did mention about dreams in the game previously, and I now have achieved the main one, playing the World Championships. The next one? I'd like to play Pokémon TCG in as many different countries as possible. I don't know how I will do it or go about doing it but I would love to make an adventure out of it. For me it would be cool to try my hand at an European or an American regional and test myself against players from that region just to see where I stand. It won't be right away since, well, I do need to start making money first!

Thanks for reading my Worlds post and because I'm me, I thought I should end with some stats from Worlds regarding the top 64 finishers. Enjoy!

1 week to go till Worlds 2023 - My feelings going into the biggest tournament of my life

 It's just one week to go. 7 more days until I find my table, sit across a good player and it'll probably hit me, oh shit I really am at the World Championships. 

Players from all around the world will gather in Yokohama to compete for the right to be the 2023 Pokémon World Champion, be it in the Trading Card Game, the Video Game Championships, Pokémon Go, Pokémon United, whatever it may be, whatever age division it may be, we're all going to Japan for the same reason. To enjoy the game of Pokémon and hopefully be the one to lift the Pikachu trophy. 

There'll be people who have been there 3 times, perhaps 5 times, maybe 10 times or even some who have been there for every single event. Me? It'll be the very first time after 7 years of trying since I got back into the game and thought, hey let's try to make this work. It was never going to happen right from the off unlike many others, I didn't know anyone, I didn't know what to do and I just thought it was normal. I'm new to the game, it probably will take me a while to get used to everything. Little did I know right?

How do I feel going into easily the biggest tournament of my life? A little bit excited but also very VERY nervous. I'm excited that I get to see all my overseas friends that I've made from playing the game, mostly online, and likely meeting them for the first time too. That's the part I'm most looking forward to. And of course the playing part, that's why I'm going there after all. It's just the idea that I will be playing against the very best players around all around the world, that's the part that makes me a little nervous.

All these guys and girls I'll see in the hall in Yokohama, most of them will be well known names in the community. We've all seen them in action, we've all heard about them. These are truly the top players. They know what they're doing. And it doesn't matter if it's one of the more well known names or someone you might not have heard of, they probably have been coached by those guys or are in a team to help speed up their learning curve.

And then there's me. I do feel a little out of place compared to everyone else. I didn't come from another card game to know what to do at the right time, I don't have a coach to teach me how to properly play the game, I don't have a sponsor or a team to show me the ropes or help me with cards or lists. I'm just me. And that's why I do feel a little nervous going into next week. These guys and girls all know what they're doing and honestly, half the time I don't even know what I'm doing. I'm not the most confident person in case you haven't known, I am still working on it.

Unlike these guys and girls, I haven't played in a Regional or International event with bo3 for the first phase in 3 years, that's something I need to get used to just for this event since the switch from TPCi to TPC Japan. You can say maybe I'm the underdog going into every round and that's probably my mentality, they're all used to this, I'm not. It's a completely new world I'm stepping into next week, I just have to try my very best against all of them. On the bright side, hey I at least get to play bo3 games and not the god awful bo1 games we are forced to play in Asia, and I hate it.

Preparation for this event has been going ok. I actually had a good idea of what deck I'd play one whole month before Worlds and now that's we are a week away, it is still the same two decks on my mind. Everyone in my locals have been very nice enough to help test with me, share ideas and see what we can come up with, which I truly appreciate. I've been invited to a few testing sessions which is a first for me, now I see how the rest does it. I still have a few more days of testing with the people I trust the most with before I head off to Japan.

I don't have much expectations going into Worlds to be very honest. Win the whole thing? I know I'm not at that level yet and there's hundreds of players who are at that level. I just want to know where I stand against these giants of the game. Of course I'd love to make it into the Day 2 field but even if I don't, that's completely fine. I've already done the hard part of surviving the painful Asian qualifying system just to get there. To me it's a privilege that I get to even play in this Worlds. Not all of us will get that chance since only 4 to 5 of us out of the 300+ players in Singapore can make it there.

Whatever happens, I'm just happy I can finally have a chance to play in the World Championships, that's been one of my goals ever since I got back into the game and I get to check that off my list in a week's time. Most importantly, I just want to have fun and enjoy playing the game with everyone else and do all my friends, family and my country proud no matter what happens. Win, lose or draw. See you in Yokohama!

My Road to Worlds 2023 - How I Survived the Toughest System (Season Recap)

This is a recap of how my 2022-2023 season went, the first full one I've had since the 2018-2019 season since those of us in Asia never got to finish the 2019-2020/2022 season due to the TPCi/Asia split. And as you may have heard (or seen from the title), I am one of the lucky ones to qualify for the Pokemon World Championships in Singapore's circuit. 

I am just one of 5 of us making the trip to Yokohama because our invites are now limited (4 from finishing top 4 in the standings and the championship winner who hadn't even scored a point going into the event). Confused? Don't worry I'll try my best to explain it and give a re-cap of how my season went, it was truly and a roller coaster of a ride, lots of ups early on, then downs in the middle and the biggest of ups at the end. This is our first full season under TPC Japan's jurisdiction so going into it, we still had no idea how our new system worked or what we were aiming for.

• The System
• The First Quarter - Starting Strong (Sword & Shield - Lost Origin)
• The Second Quarter - Sliding Away (Sword & Shield - Silver Tempest)
• The Third Quarter - The Comeback (Battle Styles - Scarlet & Violet)

• +Singapore Championships 2023 Recap
• The Fourth Quarter - On to Worlds! (Battle Styles - Paldea Evolved)
• The Results

The System

Our system is a little different to what most of you are used to under the TPCi system. For the rest of the world, the route to Worlds is quite simple:

• Score a certain amount of points to qualify
• In the case of Masters:
• US/Canada - 350 CP
• Europe - 250 CP
• Latin America - 200 CP
• Oceania - 200 CP
• Middle East & South Africa - 200 CP
• If you were to finish in the top X spots, you would earn a Day 2 invite to Worlds
• US/Canada - Top 16 players
• Europe - Top 22 players
• Latin America - Top 12 players
• Oceania - Top 4 players
• Middle East & South Africa - Top 2 players

That's how to qualify in the TPCi format. In the TPC format however, things are a little different and it also depends on where you are. 

• Japan:
• Champions League Top 4 Finishers - Day 1 Invite
• Top 40 in CSP Standings - Day 1 Invite
• Championships Top 16 Finishers - Day 2 Invite
• South Korea
• 4 Masters earn Day 2 Invite
• 17 other Masters earn Day 1 Invite
• All based on CSP earned in 5 events, likely Korean Leagues
• Hong Kong (Traditional Chinese circuit)
• Top 16 in CSP Standings - Day 1 Invite
• Championships Winner - Day 2 Invite
• Top 2 in CSP Standings - Day 2 Invite
• Taiwan
• Top 2 in CSP Standings - Day 2 Invite
• Championships Top 4 - Day 2 Invite
• Top 24 after the first two - Day 1 Invite
• Hong Kong (English circuit)
• Top 2 in CSP Standings - Day 1 Invite
• Championships Winner - Day 2 Invite
• Indonesia
• Top 4 in CSP Standings - Day 1 Invite
• Championships Winner - Day 2 Invite
• Thailand
• Top 4 in CSP Standings - Day 1 Invite
• Championships Winner - Day 2 Invite
• Singapore
• Top 4 in CSP Standings - Day 1 Invite
• Championships Winner - Day 2 Invite
• Malaysia
• Top 4 in CSP Standings - Day 1 Invite
• Championships Winner - Day 2 Invite
• The Philippines
• Top 4 in CSP Standings - Day 1 Invite
• Championships Winner - Day 2 Invite

Complicated isn't it? So while the rest of the world have their "chase for Day 2 invites", the rest of us here in Asia are chasing and fighting like crazy the whole year, just for a Day 1 invite and with limited invites available to us, which is why I firmly believe we have the hardest/most difficult qualifying system in all of Pokémon TCG. 

And for those wondering, how do we score CSP points in these events? Using the system we use in Singapore (which is the same for the rest of South East Asia - The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand), we can score points in 3 events, Town Leagues (similar to League Challenges), Regional League (more like League Cups than Regionals), and the Championships (similar to the old Nationals):

• For Town Leagues
• 1st - 250 CSP (1 to 3 players)
• 2nd - 200 CSP (4 to 8 players)
• 3rd to 4th - 160 CSP (9 to 16 players)
• 5th to 8th - 130 CSP (17 to 32 players)
• 9th to 16th - 100 CSP (33 to 64 players)
• 17th to 32nd - 75 CSP (65 to 100 players)
• 33rd to 64th - 50 CSP (101+ players)
• For Regional Leagues
• 1st - 1000 CSP (1 player)
• 2nd - 800 CSP (2 players)
• 3rd to 4th - 600 CSP (3 to 4 players)
• 5th to 8th - 400 CSP (5 to 32 players)
• 9th to 16th - 200 CSP (33 to 64 players)
• 17th to 32nd - 150 CSP (65 to 128 players)
• 33rd to 64th - 100 CSP (129 to 250 players)
• 65th to 128th - 75 CSP (251 to 500 players)
• 129th to 256th - 50 CSP (501 to 800 players)
• For Championships
• 1st - 1500 CSP (1 player)
• 2nd - 1200 CSP (2 players)
• 3rd to 4th - 1000 CSP (3 to 4 players)
• 5th to 8th - 800 CSP (5 to 32 players)
• 9th to 16th - 600 CSP (33 to 64 players)
• 17th to 32nd - 400 CSP (65 to 128 players)
• 33rd to 64th - 200 CSP (129 to 250 players)
• 65th to 128th - 150 CSP (251 to 500 players)
• 129th to 256th - 100 CSP (501 to 800 players)
• 257th to 512th - 50 CSP (801+ players)

From looking at the points pay out, my friends and I figured out that anyone with two top cut placements in 2 of the 3 major events this year would likely end up in the top 4 of the standings. And as you'll see later, that was indeed the case for us this year!

Also I won't do a recap for many events apart from the major events, especially the Singapore Championship as I meant to write about that event separately but thought I might as well just combine it with this.

The First Quarter - Starting Strong (Sword & Shield - Lost Origin)

We started our season in September but unlike the others, we didn't play in the Sword & Shield to Astral Radiance format, we were the first outside of Japan to play Sword & Shield to Lost Origin format in official events. I actually hadn't tested that format much myself and I had already settled of playing an Arceus/Flying Pikachu/Bibarel deck for the first Regional event because I knew I would have a hard time getting any of the new cards in time for the event (and that was proven right).

Singapore Regional League (1)

• Deck: Arceus VSTAR/Flying Pikachu VMAX/Bibarel
• Record: 5-3
• Finish: 29th/131 -> 150 CSP
• Total CSP after event: 150 CSP
• List:

This was part meta-call on my part and part-not having the new Lost Origin cards to play since it was a week after the set release. The Zamazenta idea came from my good friend Luke Morsa (Celio's Network) and it was meant to help out vs Kyurem but it helped in other cases. 5-3, top 32, good start to the year thanks to trusty old Arceus!

Town League September (1)

• Deck: Arceus VSTAR/Aggron VMAX
• Record: 4-2
• Finish: 8th/45 -> 130 CSP
• Total CSP after event: 280 CSP
• List:

I just wanted to have some fun after the Regional so I brought my "fun deck" Arceus/Aggron which had been doing well in a few events, Worlds included. And it was really decent, only loses were to an auto-loss (back to back Regis) and it smashed everything else thanks to Aggron.

Town League October (1)

• Deck: Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR
• Record: 6-1
• Finish: 2nd/32 -> 200 CSP
• Total CSP after event: 480 CSP
• List:

I had been playing ArcTina a lot during the run up to this event and it felt right. Even my one loss could have been a win had I not been stupid and took the wrong cards out of Starbirth thinking I had some other stuff in hand. First real good result of the season with a deck I really liked! Too bad I didn't get to play it much since I didn't win the lottery for the next event.

Town League October (2)

• Deck: -
• Record: Not Elected
• Finish: Not Elected
• Total CSP after event: 480 CSP

So the first thing you may notice is the last event, yes all of our events now are lottery based so if you win the lottery, you get to play in the event. The sad part is the event I missed was the closest venue to me, it was literally 5 minutes away from my house yet that's the one I didn't get to play in!

The season started off really well. Top 32 finish in the Regional event gave me confidence that yes, I'm still decent at the game after 2 years of not playing it. And to back that up with a Top 8 finish with a rouge deck (Arceus/Aggron) and then finishing 2nd with Arceus/Giratina, that gave me hope that maybe, this could be the year I get my invite. 

I had a 100% points conversion rate after the first four events of the year and was sitting sixth in the standings, behind the 4 guys who finished top 4 in the Regional and Jit Min who won the first Town League. All 3 event I scored points at where with Arceus VSTAR decks too which was cool, I had only really been playing that up till that point of the season. 

The Second Quarter - Sliding Away (Sword & Shield - Silver Tempest)

Well this is the point where my season took a downhill dive. I was hopeful after the first three events of the season but this part of the season almost broke me. Nothing I tried worked. 

Town League November (1)

• Deck: Giratina VSTAR
• Record: 2-4
• Finish: 34th/46
• Total CSP after event: 480 CSP
• List:

First event playing Lost Zone decks and I had been playing Tina at locals quite a lot. Too bad the result was just piss poor. Started off 2-0, lost to a first time player using Kyogre because my last gusting option was prized while they top drew their boss for game, that was in Table 1 too so the curse is real. Lost the next 3 games as well due to bad draws or going 2nd in the mirror.

Town League November (2)

• Deck: -
• Record: Not Elected
• Finish: Not Elected
• Total CSP after event: 480 CSP

Town League November (3)

• Deck: Giratina VSTAR
• Record: 4-3
• Finish: 20th/72 -> 75 CSP
• Total CSP after event: 555 CSP
• List:

Tried again with Tina and this time I did score some CSP points but it was still an annoying deck as I was one win away from a top 8 finish. My last round was against Lugia (a really bad matchup and my two previous losses were to two other Lugias) but this game went way better for me and I managed to get a Roxanne on him to put myself just one prize away from winning and thinking he'd have no chance of winning since he'd already use 2 gust. 

But of course my Roxanne gave him the last gust to put him into top 8 and me down to 20th. Roxanne is a lie. The Unown V was my own funny tech to combat Duraludon and did win me two games to be fair! Looking back, I probably should have just stuck with ArcTina and not try Tina especially after the first failed attempt. I knew how to play ArcTina well, Tina was just completely different and didn't work well for me. 

Asia Open Singapore (No CSP awarded in this event, we were fighting to win an automatic top cut spot in our Championship event)

• Deck: Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX
• Record: 2-3 Drop
• Finish: Drop/193
• Total CSP after event: 555 CSP
• List:

I hated this one. Just had too many bad hands early on for me to do the ol 2-3 drop since there was no points at stake and I wasn't enjoying myself.

Town League February (1)

• Deck: Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja
• Record: 3-4
• Finish: 59th/87
• Total CSP after event: 555 CSP
• List:

My first and only official event playing Lost Box and there's a good reason why. God this deck sucks. The outcomes are truly dependent on whether you go first or second or if you prize Colress. I played 5 mirrors, went first in one, and out of 7 games, I prized Colress twice in 5 of them. Unplayable games.

Town League February (2)

• Deck: Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
• Record: 3-4
• Finish: 47th/68
• Total CSP after event: 555 CSP
• List:

I finally caved in and decided to play the BDIF for a tourney for the first time (and last time) of this season. I generally don't play a deck that is considered the BDIF, I tend to prefer playing the stuff that can counter all the good decks or my comfort choices, which are never the BDIF either. For this past few years it's been Arceus for me and before that in the online days, it was Centiskorch. Lugia didn't treat me well, so many losses were to bad first hand, getting donked by Raikou or drawing into 6 energies after a research.

Town League February (3) - Didn't even apply to join, I was in California during that time

Town League March

• Deck: Mew VMAX/Meloetta
• Record: 3-4
• Finish: 51st/96
• Total CSP after event: 555 CSP
• List:

Decided to play Mew Meloetta for the first Scarlet and Violet event for a simple reason, I didn't have any of the new cards. If not I would have played Arceus/Giratina easily so I had to go for Mew. Once again it didn't treat me well. 3 games I started a lone Mew and passed. It was not fun.

Out of the six points scoring events we had, I only scored points in one of them. I went 5 months without scoring any CSP! I went from being one of the guys who had the best shot of overtaking the initial top 4 guys to....nothing. I just wasn't comfortable with any deck in this format which is why I kept jumping from one deck to the next, just looking for anything that worked for me and nothing did. I couldn't play my trusty old Arceus decks because of the new Lugia deck so I had to look elsewhere. 

I was down to 16th in the standings, being overtaken by guys who hadn't scored much during the first three events and it made me question myself, especially after a 3rd straight event of having a 3-4 score and no points to show for my efforts. Am I actually ready to push for a Worlds invite? Am I really as good as people say I am? I was having doubts after this format and I knew I had to work doubly hard to get back into the fight.

The Third Quarter - The Comeback (Battle Styles - Scarlet & Violet)

After a painful 5 months of playing in a format I really did not like, I was looking forward to the release of the new Scarlet & Violet set, which also meant the new rotation would come into effect. Hopefully new cards meant a renewed chance to keep the hopes up of making it to Worlds but the road was tricky now that I had dropped down to 20th in the standings and needing a big result in the last two major events.

Singapore Regional League (2)

• Deck: Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR
• Record: 9-2
• Finish: 1st/189 -> 1000 CSP
• Total CSP after event: 1555 CSP
• List:

Singapore Championships 2023

• Deck: Mew VMAX
• Record: 7-2
• Finish: 12th/212 -> 600 CSP
• Total CSP after event: 2155 CSP
• List:

If you'd like to read what happened at the Singapore Regional League, you can read it here. Still couldn't believe I won a Regional, my first big win in Pokémon TCG! That win jumped me up from 20th to 2nd in the CSP standings. The job wasn't done though, I knew I still had to do well in the Championship to get that Day 1 invite by finishing in the top 4 of the standings. The guys behind me in the standings could still jump me but from what I heard from many friends my situation was clearer than most, a top 16 finish would get me over 2000 CSP and that should be enough to keep me in the top 4 of the standings.

My preparation for the Championships was more or less the same as the Regional, but with more playing time IRL and my own self testing than online on PTCGL due to the release of Paldea Evolved so I couldn't really play online to practice for the event. 

But my approach was different, I wasn't planning to go all out to win the event like I did for the Regional. I knew I just needed to play it safe to get the 8-0, 7-1 or 6-2 score I needed to get into the top 15 cut. So I had decided quite early on I would play Mew DTE because it was the most consistent deck. 

Yup I even named my deck “Path to Japan because of Path to the Peak, the most important card in my last two decks. Sure testing didn't go so well and I did keep thinking if I should go with another deck or go back to my comfort deck with Arceus VSTAR but chose to play it safe just to get the safe score I needed for top 16, since that should get me that Worlds Day 1 spot. My job got made easier since I started with a 2 round bye thanks to my Regional win.

• Round 1 - W Bye
• Round 2 - W Bye
• Round 3 - W Gardevoir
• Round 4 - L Mew DTE (59 card mirror vs Anselm who helped me the most with the list)
• Round 5 - W ArcTina
• Round 6 - W ArcTina
• Round 7 - W Mew Meloetta (Round was repaired, initially got Gerrard with SableZard, a horrid matchup. Ended up beating the new Singapore Championship winner Dion in this round)
• Round 8 - W Mew DTE (Same opponent from my Top 16 game at the Regional)
• Top 16 - WLL Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja (Lost City went...lost in Games 2 and 3 and cost me a shot to make it to Top 8)

Making the top 15 cut with a 7-1 score was just amazing, finishing up 6th before Top 16 cut, the dream of making Worlds was very alive. And I did that with Mew VMAX, a deck I hadn't really played much of so it made it even more sweeter because now I had proved that I could do well with different deck. Making back to back top cut appearances with two different decks showed I was no one trick pony like some people might have thought. 

Me being the stats and numbers guy that I was, I calculated every possible scenario that could happen in Top Cut to see what could stop me from getting the Worlds invite and as it turns out, only one specific scenario had to happen. Kwok Hoe had to win the whole thing with Yu Xian making Top 4 and Jit Min advancing into Top 8 meant I would miss out. 

During Game 3, I was getting a bit nervous, looked around and saw Kwok Hoe winning his match. 5 minutes later, I looked back at the top cut standings and saw Yu Xian lost which meant that I had clinched my first World Championship invite!!! I was getting a bit too excited but I still had a game to play so I had to re-focus. Game 1 went perfectly but Games 2 and 3 were decided by the fact that my Lost City just never showed up. I was disappointed to make it through, of course I'd like to go on and win the whole event but after sitting by myself trying to avoid everyone after my loss, it hit me. I am going to Worlds! I finally made it after 7 years of trying. Dream come true!

The Fourth Quarter - On to Worlds! (Battle Styles - Paldea Evolved)

Now that the hard part is done, time to look forward to my first World Championships event in Yokohama! But before getting there I still had two events to look forward to in the lead up to Worlds 2023 and the first one had already finished.

I played in the GSP Invitational #3, a local circuit made by the legend Jeremy Leong to give us something to look forward to when playing at local events. This was only my third event in the PAL format, the first two being locals days before and even though I had played in PAL events online, I never took them seriously since I was focused on the Championship event. 

I had been testing Gardevoir a lot going into that event but didn't feel fully confident with the deck so went back to ArcTina for this event and just bubbled out of top cut in 9th:

• R1 L Lost Box Ninja (match was recorded, my Iono + Judge still weren't enough)
• R2 W ArcTina (I had the slow start, decided to use my Arc V to power up two Tinas and it worked)
• R3 W Giratina
• R4 W Gardevoir
• R5 L Chein-Pao (terrible setup and I prized 5 energies)

And now all there's left are the last two big events of this season. Firstly the Summer Asia Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I'll be there! I mean it's the same format as Worlds so it sounds like the perfect practice for those of us going so I had to go plus it'll be my first time travelling for a Pokémon event since OCIC in Melbourne back in 2020. 

And after that, a second travel but this time to Japan for the World Championships! I'm truly looking forward to it as it'll be my first Worlds and also the first event since previously mentioned OCIC event that I will get to play against players from outside of Asia since all of our events are country locked and region locked for Asia Open. 

I've missed having the chance to play against the peeps from North America, Latin America, Europe, Oceania and elsewhere because we simply don't have any opportunities to do so. There's no incentive for us to go to an IC now anyway since we wouldn't score points from it. But I did enjoy going to OCIC for that reason, because I got to play against so many different players from many different regions, including the defending World Champion (2019) himself! 

This was from the league challenge the Sunday of that OCIC. I looked around all those names and thought, "oh wow, these are all great players, what the heck am I doing here?". We had:

• the reigning World Champion himself Henry, 
• former OCIC winner Pedro, 
• the Kamerman brothers (Owyn and Brennan) who both have been killing it this year, 
• Isaiah, one of the best in the game right now and he's had many big results since the return of regionals/ICs, 
• Yoshiyuki, one of Japan's best and he won the most recent Champions League event after a 0-2 start,
• Francesco, I actually played him in the OCIC event itself on Friday and he's had many top finished, even a 5th place finish at a Players Cup
• Kaiwen, top 8 Worlds finisher in 2019 and 2022, need I say more,
• and so many more, lots of well known Australian players in there too like Ying, Michael and Jake 

At least now if I see my name mixed in with great players, I know I have earned the right to be there. I did finish 9th in that league challenge, one place off from points in Australia so that would have been cool. That's probably the thing I looking forward to the most, having the opportunity to test myself against the best around the World. The even sweeter part? I can finally meet my overseas friends in Japan as well, that's the bonus of making it to Worlds!

I always wondered if I'd ever add another good result to go with my Singapore SPE top 8 finish back in 2019 and in the space of 2 months, there's two more entries on here, with 3 different decks as well!

What's the play? I truly do not know yet. There's still a month to practice and that is what I'll be doing, also for the Asia Open! I plan to take that seriously to get me into the mindset of Worlds. Got no real expectation going into Worlds, it's my first one and honestly, I don't care what the result will be, to me it's already a huge privilege that I get to play in it since only 4 or 5 of us get to do so due to how the system works. I just want to enjoy the whole atmosphere since I may never get to do so again (it's difficult trying to make it to Worlds when you have to beat 300+ others with only 4-5 spots available anyway) so I might as well take it all in. I'm just excited that after 7 years of trying, I finally made it!

See you in Yokohama! 横浜でお会いしましょう!

The Results

Standings after the 2023 Singapore Championships:

So the five of us going to Worlds are:

•  Yong Siang (grinded through Day 1 last year to make Day 2 in his first Worlds event), 
• Jit Min (multi-time Worlds competitor, you all know him), 
• Yu Xian (first time Worlds invitee, one of our best players in the last few years, finished 5th in last year's Championship event so he bubbled out of an invite), 
• myself (first time Worlds invitee) 
• and Dionsius (won the championship event in only his second ever PTCG event). Dion is the one with the Day 2 invite.

Sure I'm happy I got my first big win in Pokémon TCG and made the World Championships but as you can see, there is still room for improvement. I'm the guy with the worst Win % record of anyone in the top 12 not named Dion so clearly I need to work on that. I just had one too many bad results, including that run of 3 straight 3-4 results which did not help. The win sure helped, it catapulted me from down in 20th to straight up in 2nd in the standings!

Decks I used:

Arceus VSTAR/Flying Pikachu VMAX -> 5-3 (1 event, 150 CSP) 6.96% of points

Arceus VSTAR/Aggron VMAX -> 4-2 (1 event, 130 CSP) 6.03% of points

Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR -> 15-3 (2 event, 1200 CSP) 55.68% of points

Giratina VSTAR -> 6-7 (2 events, 75 CSP) 3.49% of points

Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX -> 2-3 (1 event, 0 CSP)

Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja -> 3-4 (1 event, 0 CSP)

Lugia VSTAR -> 3-4 (1 event, 0 CSP)

Mew VMAX -> 10-6 (2 events, 600 CSP) 27.84% of points

This was my other problem, that is 8 different decks used in 11 events on record here. Clearly the deck I was most comfortable with was Arceus decks and I probably should have just stuck with that. I just didn't find a deck I liked in the middle part of the season when Lugia showed up and made Arceus near unplayable. I need to find something that's just comfortable for me to play the whole way, like how I played ReshiZard for almost a year and how I would only play Centiskorch online for a good full year.

The moment I started trying out other stuff was when my season started to take a downfall. Mew was the only other deck that did well for me this season but my best deck was clearly Arceus/Giratina, I only played it twice, got 2nd at a Town League and 1st at a Regional League, the 2nd biggest event in Singapore so far, and both were played in two very different formats (and rotation) too! Now it's time to start training for the World Championships, never thought I'd say that!

Thanks for reading and to everyone who's helped me through this journey, thank you for your friendship, your support and your help, you lot have helped me become a player good enough to make it to the World Championship and I am eternally grateful for it, be it playing the game or just hanging out at the events. All of it!