Shockingly, not a single player from Japan made it to the top cut in the Masters Division this season.
☆ NintendObs Event – Pokémon World Championships 2016.
The Stage is Set at the Video Game World Championships
An exciting day of battles in San Francisco set up three legendary showdowns on Sunday.
August 20, 2016
Today’s battles began with 55 Junior Division players, 67 Senior Division players, and 107 Masters Division players remaining in contention for the Pokémon Video Game World Championships. The world’s strongest video game players moved on to single-elimination top cut brackets by making it through some tough Swiss rounds with two or fewer losses. Now two Trainers in each age division stand one victory away from the title of World Champion.
In the Junior Division, American Cory Connor will battle against Shu Harasaki of Japan after the TCG Masters finals conclude tomorrow. Both players made it to the top cut of last year’s Junior Division World Championships, but neither was able to win the championship. Shu finished third last year after a close battle in the semifinals, while Cory finished in fifth place after a surprising loss in the quarterfinals. The winner of this match will perhaps be the most successful Junior Division Trainer in Pokémon Video Game World Championships history, so be sure to tune in to see these prodigies battle it out.
The Senior Division will also feature a showdown between the United States and Japan. The United States’ Carson Confer will battle it out with Japan’s Yuki Wata in tomorrow’s second video game battle. This battle will feature a classic matchup between two of the most popular pairings of restricted Pokémon from the 2016 Video Game Championships season. Carson’s Groudon and Kyogre pairing will take on Yuki’s Groudon and Xerneas team in what is sure to be a memorable match.
In one semifinal match, Eduardo Cunha of Portugal battled it out with Jonathan Evans of the United States. Eduardo was the first Portuguese player to make it to the top cut of the Video Game World Championships in the Masters Division, and he’s certainly made the most of his opportunity to make Pokémon history. In the end, Jonathan Evans came out on top and moved on to battle in the final match of the 2016 Pokémon World Championships tomorrow afternoon.
On the other side of the stage will be two-time US National Champion Wolfe Glick. The American player made it to the finals after facing off in a mirror match with his close friend, Markus Stadter of Germany. Both used the same rogue team of Kyogre, Hitmontop, Gengar, Raichu, Bronzong, and Rayquaza to go from the opening rounds on Friday to the semifinals of the World Championships. This match will be a shot at redemption for Wolfe Glick, who made it to the finals of the 2012 World Championships against with his famous Exeggutor team, but ultimately lost to Ray Rizzo.
Twenty-four players in all made it to the top cut of the Masters Division this season. The story of last year’s tournament was one of similarity. Seven of the eight players in the top cut hailed from the country of Japan, and nearly all of them used teams built around Mega Kangaskhan and Landorus. The story was more than a little different this year—eight different countries were represented in the top cut, including the first Masters Division video game top cut appearances by Hong Kong and Argentina. Shockingly, not a single player from Japan made it to the top cut in the Masters Division this season.
We also saw a marked increase in the variety of Pokémon in the top cut. As expected, Groudon and Xerneas were the most common pairing of restricted Pokémon, but they only were only selected by eight of the top 24 Trainers. Instead, four players selected Groudon with Kyogre, Rayquaza with Kyogre, and Rayquaza with Xerneas, and each of the combinations of Xerneas with Kyogre, Groudon with Yeveltal, and Rayquaza with Groudon also proved powerful enough to qualify for the top cut in the Masters Division. These teams contained a number of unconventional Pokémon playing supportive roles on their teams. Raichu, Hitmontop, Volcarona, Gyarados, Manectric, Arcanine, Suicune, Scrafty, Scizor, and Meowstic all stood out as exciting performers.
You can check out all of the Masters Division top cut teams here. Make sure to tune in to Pokémon.com/Live to watch each of the final matches live tomorrow. The Junior Division finals will follow the TCG Masters finals tomorrow, and the Senior and Master Division finals will happen after that. And don’t forget to check out Pokemon.com/Strategy for more coverage of the Pokémon World Championships during and after the event.
— Pokémon News
Source: Pokémon.
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