2018 World Championships

2018 World Champion Robin Schulz
Dates: August 24-26
Location: Music City Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Day 1 Attendance: 525 Masters (56 advanced to Day 2)
Day 2 Attendance: 123 Masters
Format: Standard BKT-CES

This World Championships featured eight Swiss rounds on Day 1. Players who earned 18 Match Points advanced to Day 2 alongside players with a Day 1 bye; those players then played seven Swiss rounds before a Top 8 cut. 

Statistics

Day 2 Top 32 CP share
View raw data / Since Worlds does not award CP, PokéStats used a different system to create this chart. Under this "Worlds Points" system, 1st = 6 points, 2nd = 5 points, T4 = 4 points, T8 = 3 points, T16 = 2 points, and T32 = 1 point. 

Complete Day 2 deck frequency
"Other" includes decks used by only one player during Day 2. These are: Lapras-GX, Lucario-GX/Lycanroc-GX, Magnezone/Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX, Malamar/Lycanroc-GX, Malamar/Shining Lugia, Malamar/Ultra Necrozma-GX, Rayquaza-GX/Garbodor BPT, Yveltal BREAK, Zoroark-GX/Lucario-GX, and Zygarde-GX/Lycanroc-GX. 

 Day 2 Top 32 placements
Day 2 W/L/T statistics
Only shown for decks represented by three or more players in Day 2

 Day 1 decks on stream

Day 2 player breakdown by country
Complete Day 2 final standings
View (includes decks)


Day 1 advancements
View players and decks that achieved 18 Match Points on Day 1


Notes
  • Day 1 of the tournament saw Japanese players - usually well-represented at the top tables - struggle, while Australian players put up an unusually strong showing, with several being among the first to qualify for Day 2. Many Japanese players opted to play the Zoroark-GX Control deck, while Australia brought the Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment deck that many of the country's top players had been working on. 
  • None of the 2017-18 season's top 10 CP-earning players made it into Top 8 at these Championships. The highest finisher among those 10 was Jimmy Pendarvis (14th place). (The 11th-highest CP earner, Pedro Torres, did finish in Top 4.) 
  • Robin Schulz became the first World Champion to go undefeated in matches throughout Day 2 and Top 8 since Yuta Komatsuda (2010). Schulz also went undefeated in games (6-0) in Top 8. 

Streamed matches
TCG matches were shown at twitch.tv/pokemon and twitch.tv/pokemontcg. Casters were Cora Georgiou, Jeremy Jallen, Josue "Crimz" Rojano, Kyle Sabelhaus, Kyle "Pooka" Sucevich, and Kenny Wisdom. 

Day 1:

 Round 1 / watch
Round 1 - backup / watch
Round 2 / watch
Round 3 / watch
Round 4 / watch
During game 1, the stream switched to the backup match when John Roberts II was called for an illegal decklist and given a match loss.
Round 4 - backup / watch
Round 5 - main stream / watch
Round 5 - TCG stream / watch
Round 6 - main stream / watch
Round 6 - TCG stream / watch
Round 6 - TCG stream - backup / watch
Round 7 / watch
Round 8 - not streamed

 Day 2:

 Round 1 - main stream / watch
Round 2 - main stream / watch
Round 3 - main stream / watch
Round 3 - TCG stream / watch
Round 3 - TCG stream - backup / watch
Round 4 - main stream / watch
Round 4 - TCG stream / watch
Round 5 - TCG stream / watch
Round 6 - TCG stream / watch
Round 7 - TCG stream / watch
During game 1, the stream switched to the backup match when Alessandro Cremascoli was called for an illegal decklist and given a match loss. This saved Pedro Torres from a severely unfavorable matchup and sent him into Top 8.
Round 7 - TCG stream - backup / watch
Top 8 - watch
Top 4 - match A / watch
Top 4 - match B / watch
Finals / watch

 Decklists
All Top 8 decklists are available at pokemon.com.

[Day 1] Athavan Balendran, advanced to Day 2 - Rayquaza-GX
For Day 2, Balendran cut a Lightning Energy and added a Xurkitree-GX to finish 44th overall. 

[Day 1] Christopher Wilkinson, advanced to Day 2 - Zoroark-GX/Garbodor

[Day 2] Jeff Kolenc, 2nd - Malamar/Psychic

 [Day 2] Klive Aw Jun Jie, 3rd - Zygarde-GX/Lycanroc-GX

[Day 2] Eric Smith, 5th - Rayquaza-GX

[Day 2] Brian Miller, 8th - Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX
Player notes:
  • "I felt confident in the deck as long as I dodged [Rayquaza-GX]." 

 [Day 2] Martin Janouš, 9th - Greninja BREAK

[Day 2] Michael Bergerac, 10th - Rayquaza-GX
Player notes:
  • On the 8 Grass/7 Lightning Energy split: "Tempest GX is too important. I'd use it almost every other game. You want Grass in hand to attach to the Active." 
  • On whether the Jolteon-EX was useful outside of the mirror: "No, and I only faced 1 mirror out of 15 rounds! That being said, [Ninja Boy] kept winning me games. Ninja Boy into Oranguru to kill a Hoopa [SHL]. Ninja Boy into Rayquaza-GX to Tempest GX a dead hand. Ninja Boy [a damaged Rayquaza-GX] into a non-GX to KO it and put my opponent on odd Prizes."

 [Day 2] Fabien Pujol, 12th - Rayquaza-GX
Player notes:
  • "...against any Zoroark-GX variant, you set up your board and [play] Marshadow in the same turn. After Marshadow it's hard for Zoroark to find Brigette and another Supporter."
  • "Puzzle [of Time] was super good, [but] risky because you can mill them. That's the most risky part of the deck."  

[Day 2] Rahul Reddy (13th) and Xander Pero (104th) - Banette-GX/Garbodor

[Day 2] Zoroark-GX/Garbodor - 14th, 19th, and 20th place
Jimmy Pendarvis, Joey Ruettiger, and Azul Garcia Griego all played this list. 

[Day 2] Christopher (15th) and Alex (26th) Schemanske - Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor GRI/Banette-GX/Shrine of Punishment

[Day 2] Luca Clavadetscher, 17th - Greninja BREAK
(The Snorlax shown is not part of the deck.)

 [Day 2] Marc Lutz, 18th - Buzzwole/Magcargo

[Day 2] Alessandro Cremascoli, 21st - Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment

 [Day 2] Takuya Yoneda, 22nd - Zoroark-GX/Gallade/Hammers

[Day 2] Ryan Moorhouse, 25th - Zoroark-GX/Garbodor

[Day 2] Clifton Goh, 31st - Yveltal BREAK/Hoopa SHL/Tapu Koko/Espeon-EX/Eneporter

[Day 2] Keith Yong, 34th - Malamar/Psychic with Lycanroc-GX
Player notes:

[Day 2] Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX - 35th, 36th, and 43rd place
Brad Curcio, Christopher Wilkinson, and Michael Pramawat all played this list. 

[Day 2] Brent Tonisson, 38th - Zoroark-GX Control with Articuno-GX
Player notes:
PokéStats talked with Charlie Lockyer, part of the testing circle for this list, who played the same 60 as Tonisson. Here's what he had to say:
  • "Myself and Zaya Lee" came up with the Articuno-GX inclusion; "it was so fun [but] we only got to use it once." 
  • PokéStats noted the similarity between the Articuno-GX tech and Lockyer's and Daniel Altavilla's Tapu Fini-GX tech in Drampa-GX/Garbodor from Worlds 2017. Lockyer: "Yep lol that's why we did it... busted water GXs."
  • Isaiah Williams did not test with Lockyer's and Tonisson's group but also played Articuno-GX in this deck during the Nashville Open. Lockyer: "We thought [Williams] was playing the 4 Crushing [Hammer]/Houndoom-EX variant, which...was ok but [Articuno-GX] was more consistent." 

[Day 2] Tom Hall, 58th - SPAS: Malamar

[Day 2] Jordan Palmer, 65th - Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
Player notes:
  • "All the other [lists] were 0-2 cards different... * the 4th Ultra Ball and the Garbotoxin were the only cards that changed... extra Field Blower, Shrine, and Cynthia were cards that some of the others had instead." *All of the Australian players in Day 2 played this deck except for Angus Johnson, Brent Tonisson, and Tait Tran, who played Zoroark-GX with Articuno-GX. 

[Day 2] Daniel Altavilla, 71st - Zoroark-GX Control with Articuno-GX
Isaiah Williams played this list with a Gladion and 3rd Brigette instead of the 2 Crushing Hammer to finish 6-1-1 at the Nashville Open. 

[Day 2] Caleb Gedemer, 79th - Zoroark-GX/Garbodor

[Day 2] Donguk Jung, 91st - Magnezone/Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX

[Day 2] Riley Hulbert, 115th - Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
On Day 1, Hulbert played this list with a third N instead of the second Buzzwole FLI. 

[same list both days] Robert Kinbrum, 46th - Buzzwole/Magcargo
Player notes:
  • Asked why he chose this deck over Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX, Kinbrum said: "Mainly because this guarantees what you need for your turn/next turn and...is more consistent overall." 

[same list both days] Jake Ewart, 119th - Greninja BREAK

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