Pokemon TCG World Championships Recap

Written by | August 17, 2009 | 47 comments | 1,279 views | Rating: 0

The Pokemon Trading Card Game tournament season ended on Saturday with the World Championships. I hope everyone that attended had an awesome time and congratulations to all the winners. I am not sure who/what won in the Junior or Senior divisions, but Masters was taken by Stephen S. with an interesting take on Beedrill over Sami S. using Flygon with Machamp. Here is the winning Beedrill deck list:

Pokemon-24
4 Weedle GE
4 Kakuna RR
2 Beedrill GE
2 Beedrill RR
1 Luxray GL RR
1 Luxray GL LV.X RR
2 Baltoy GE
3 Claydol GE
2 Unown G GE
1 Chatot MD
1 Azelf LA
1 Crobat G PT

 Trainers-30
4 Roseanne’s Research
3 Bebe’s Search
1 Luxury Ball
2 Cynthia’s Feelings
2 Cyrus’s Conspiracy
4 TG’s Invention Poké Turn
1 TG’s Invention Energy Gain
1 TG’s Invention SP Radar
4 Rare Candy
2 Broken Time-Space
4 Night Maintenance
2 Warp Point

 Energy-6
3 Grass Energy
2 Multi Energy
1 Lightning Energy

Beedrill Rising Rivals RR 15 Pokemon Card
I have to admit, 6 total energy makes me cringe a little! I am someone who likes to be on the safe side and play more energy than the majority, but Stephen obviously put a lot of time into testing this deck to make sure it ran smoothly. It is definitely an interesting take on Beedrill and it is really cool to see that a deck like this was able to take Worlds.

My guess is that this deck will see a good amount of play during Battle Roads in the fall. The only major card that came out in Supreme Victors is Blaziken FB LV.X, but with the way a deck like this can cycle and swarm its Pokemon, it may actually have an edge over that matchup.

There are also reports that a Gyarados SF deck made did incredibly well in the Masters division and made it to the top 8 I believe. That is pretty remarkable considering I have never heard anyone talk about that card before.

I am surprised at the variety of decks that were used and did well at Worlds. I thought Luxray/Infernape was going to be hands down the most played deck, but news sources say that there was a cornucopia of different strategies being utilized.

Quite possibly the most intriguing facet to come out of all of this is that all the decks used at Worlds are still tournament legal for another year! This will make next season highly interesting. Normally most people struggle to find decks during Battle Roads because everyone has to start from scratch, but now players can use world class decks from the get-go (Worlds deck lists will be readily available, trust me).

So what are your opinions on everything? What do you think about the medley of decks used at Worlds? What do you think all of this means for this coming tournament season? Let’s get some discussion going. :)

Image Credits: PokeBeach, Pokegym, and Pokemon Paradijs

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  • Dave Hueglin

    Interesting, given a recent article here, that he said he put in Chatot at the last minute and it won him at least three games. Just goes to show that some of the supporter Pokemon still have uses, even with Claydol in the lineup. In fact, he said in one game he didn’t even use Claydol!

    It will be interesting to find out more about the Gyarados deck.

  • Dave Hueglin

    Interesting, given a recent article here, that he said he put in Chatot at the last minute and it won him at least three games. Just goes to show that some of the supporter Pokemon still have uses, even with Claydol in the lineup. In fact, he said in one game he didn’t even use Claydol!

    It will be interesting to find out more about the Gyarados deck.

  • Nick

    My friend used to run a version of the Gyarados deck with Floatzel GL X. It worked pretty well but needed a lot of help in OHKOing anyone. His list may have included Blissey, Sableye, Registeel (I have no idea why), and Houndoom G (not sure why again). This was apparently his list for his nationals so it probably changed for worlds.

    Gyarados works really well as you can easily be doing 90 damage on your first turn (if you go second) by discarding Magikarp with Blissey and Felicity’s, I’m not exactly sure how he easily recycled his Gyarados without Floatzel, but I guess with enough Night Maintenance’s, Pokemon Rescue’s, and TSD’s it’s possible.

  • Nick

    My friend used to run a version of the Gyarados deck with Floatzel GL X. It worked pretty well but needed a lot of help in OHKOing anyone. His list may have included Blissey, Sableye, Registeel (I have no idea why), and Houndoom G (not sure why again). This was apparently his list for his nationals so it probably changed for worlds.

    Gyarados works really well as you can easily be doing 90 damage on your first turn (if you go second) by discarding Magikarp with Blissey and Felicity’s, I’m not exactly sure how he easily recycled his Gyarados without Floatzel, but I guess with enough Night Maintenance’s, Pokemon Rescue’s, and TSD’s it’s possible.

  • yoyofsho16

    Fabien, who got Top 8 with Gyarados, won French Nationals with it (RR wasn’t out at that time).

    As for the Bees list…
    That has got to be the most impressively built list I have ever seen for any deck.

  • yoyofsho16

    Fabien, who got Top 8 with Gyarados, won French Nationals with it (RR wasn’t out at that time).

    As for the Bees list…
    That has got to be the most impressively built list I have ever seen for any deck.

  • Dave Hueglin

    He definitely used Super Scoop Up. I read that he lost a key game when he flipped three heads in a row on 3 SSUs. Ouch!

  • Dave Hueglin

    He definitely used Super Scoop Up. I read that he lost a key game when he flipped three heads in a row on 3 SSUs. Ouch!

  • nardd

    ^^^ you might mean 3 tails?

    As for worlds, it makes sense that a beedrill deck would win, with its ridiculous recovery and consistency. A luxray tech only adds to the strategy, and is quite the feat in a stage 2 deck.

    Gyarados list I am quite intrigued with to see what was in it. There are so many different ways to play it that I’m curious what did so well.

    As for next BR, there will be so many different decks and techs you might as well just play something fun/new, since you can’t really plan around any specific decks (other than speedrill).

    • Dave Hueglin

      Yeah – thanks nardd, I did mean tails!

      Here is a list that someone posted on Pokegym.
      Quote:
      “Here is my decklist I used during the Grinder,worlds:
      (7-1,5th for the grinder, and 4-1 for the worlds).
      Fabien have more or less the same one. but with calls Energy, and without Luxray.
      My only defeat during the main event was against a lock who start t1 with flygon, memory berry and claydol

      Pokémons:22
      4Sableye
      4-4Magikarp/Gyrados
      1-1Baltoy/Claydol
      1-1Luxray gl/Luxray gl lvl X
      1Azelf
      1Unown [G]
      3Crobat G
      1Registeel

      Dresseurs:35
      4Felicity’s Drawing
      4Poke-Turn
      4Pokemon Rescue
      4Roseanne’s Research
      4Super scoop up
      4Broken Time Space
      3Bebe’s Research
      2Buck’s Training
      2Sp Radar
      2Luxe Ball
      1Time-Space Distortion
      1 night Maintenance

      Energies:3
      3Basic Dark Energy

      Dany G.”

  • nardd

    ^^^ you might mean 3 tails?

    As for worlds, it makes sense that a beedrill deck would win, with its ridiculous recovery and consistency. A luxray tech only adds to the strategy, and is quite the feat in a stage 2 deck.

    Gyarados list I am quite intrigued with to see what was in it. There are so many different ways to play it that I’m curious what did so well.

    As for next BR, there will be so many different decks and techs you might as well just play something fun/new, since you can’t really plan around any specific decks (other than speedrill).

    • Dave Hueglin

      Yeah – thanks nardd, I did mean tails!

      Here is a list that someone posted on Pokegym.
      Quote:
      “Here is my decklist I used during the Grinder,worlds:
      (7-1,5th for the grinder, and 4-1 for the worlds).
      Fabien have more or less the same one. but with calls Energy, and without Luxray.
      My only defeat during the main event was against a lock who start t1 with flygon, memory berry and claydol

      Pokémons:22
      4Sableye
      4-4Magikarp/Gyrados
      1-1Baltoy/Claydol
      1-1Luxray gl/Luxray gl lvl X
      1Azelf
      1Unown [G]
      3Crobat G
      1Registeel

      Dresseurs:35
      4Felicity’s Drawing
      4Poke-Turn
      4Pokemon Rescue
      4Roseanne’s Research
      4Super scoop up
      4Broken Time Space
      3Bebe’s Research
      2Buck’s Training
      2Sp Radar
      2Luxe Ball
      1Time-Space Distortion
      1 night Maintenance

      Energies:3
      3Basic Dark Energy

      Dany G.”

  • Xicious

    These are very odd deck lists, I’d love to have played in this worlds because you could get away with any deck except SP for masters at least.

  • Xicious

    These are very odd deck lists, I’d love to have played in this worlds because you could get away with any deck except SP for masters at least.

  • quaziko

    Wow that beedrill list is pretty slick, but it makes a lot of sense…in fact it’s exactly what I was TRYING to do a year ago at Nats, playing Beedrill with Palkia Lv. X…well, it’s pretty obvious that this is much, much better all around.

    Kudos to the winner.

  • quaziko

    Wow that beedrill list is pretty slick, but it makes a lot of sense…in fact it’s exactly what I was TRYING to do a year ago at Nats, playing Beedrill with Palkia Lv. X…well, it’s pretty obvious that this is much, much better all around.

    Kudos to the winner.

  • Woodstock

    Yeah, I would love to meet this guy to give him a thumbs up or a pat on the back lol. Never would I have believe Beedrill would have won it, Like Adam, I was sure there were going to be several Lux’Ape and Fly’Champ variations “swarming” ;) around.

  • Woodstock

    Yeah, I would love to meet this guy to give him a thumbs up or a pat on the back lol. Never would I have believe Beedrill would have won it, Like Adam, I was sure there were going to be several Lux’Ape and Fly’Champ variations “swarming” ;) around.

  • http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/ Politoed666

    This looks like a remarkably standard Speedrill deck… but wait! There’s a 1-1 Luxray GL line stuck in there!

    In my opinion, Luxray GL was an extremely good choice, and I might even have considered sticking in a 2-2 to help deal with multiple important prizes (Azelf can’t do it all!). Taking out the opponent’s drawing support with Bright Look/Beedrill is crazy, and the free retreat on Luxray GL makes it better. I have to say, though, that I’m surprised at the 4x Roseanne’s Research in there… it seems to me that maxing out Bebe’s would be more to the advantage here.

    • Qua

      With 6 energy…4 Roseanne is a must I think

    • WDIF

      4 Weedles, 4 Beedrills, 1 Luxray GL, 1 Lv.X, 1 Crobat G and possibly Chatot and 2 Baltoy. All Azelf targets and no Super Scoop Ups! An amazing feat. 9/10 games you’ll need to drop an Azelf and that might be one of the reasons for omitting Uxie.

      It’s a wonder what else Lux, Bat, 4 Turns, Gain, SP Radar and 2 Cyrus can be teched into. It seems to fit so well here. Only 2 Bees and a Claydol Bright Look = a KO!

      It will be fun trying this deck out and I can’t wait to see the others that did well.

  • http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net Politoed666

    This looks like a remarkably standard Speedrill deck… but wait! There’s a 1-1 Luxray GL line stuck in there!

    In my opinion, Luxray GL was an extremely good choice, and I might even have considered sticking in a 2-2 to help deal with multiple important prizes (Azelf can’t do it all!). Taking out the opponent’s drawing support with Bright Look/Beedrill is crazy, and the free retreat on Luxray GL makes it better. I have to say, though, that I’m surprised at the 4x Roseanne’s Research in there… it seems to me that maxing out Bebe’s would be more to the advantage here.

    • Qua

      With 6 energy…4 Roseanne is a must I think

    • WDIF

      4 Weedles, 4 Beedrills, 1 Luxray GL, 1 Lv.X, 1 Crobat G and possibly Chatot and 2 Baltoy. All Azelf targets and no Super Scoop Ups! An amazing feat. 9/10 games you’ll need to drop an Azelf and that might be one of the reasons for omitting Uxie.

      It’s a wonder what else Lux, Bat, 4 Turns, Gain, SP Radar and 2 Cyrus can be teched into. It seems to fit so well here. Only 2 Bees and a Claydol Bright Look = a KO!

      It will be fun trying this deck out and I can’t wait to see the others that did well.

  • Xicious

    There was practically no sp there, the field was littered with flychamp. Porygon z would have destroyed all day long.

  • Xicious

    There was practically no sp there, the field was littered with flychamp. Porygon z would have destroyed all day long.

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    Hah yeah you’re right, Porygon Z would have done well. Was Flychamp not played at Nationals? Seems like everyone just decided to counter SP (the popular deck), which usually never happens. Normally everyone sticks with what is best.

  • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

    Hah yeah you’re right, Porygon Z would have done well. Was Flychamp not played at Nationals? Seems like everyone just decided to counter SP (the popular deck), which usually never happens. Normally everyone sticks with what is best.

  • Dave Hueglin

    That’s the beauty of the game. No one deck is completely unstoppable. Correctly predicting what decks will be played and making sure your deck isn’t too weak to them would be a huge benefit. In this case though, as he apparently played with and fine tuned the same deck for much of the year, it seems Stephen S. didn’t concern himself too much with the World’s Meta-Game. He just seems to have built an excellent deck that he knew how to play really well.

  • Dave Hueglin

    That’s the beauty of the game. No one deck is completely unstoppable. Correctly predicting what decks will be played and making sure your deck isn’t too weak to them would be a huge benefit. In this case though, as he apparently played with and fine tuned the same deck for much of the year, it seems Stephen S. didn’t concern himself too much with the World’s Meta-Game. He just seems to have built an excellent deck that he knew how to play really well.

  • http://twitter.com/kwisdumb kwisdumb

    Definitely an interesting deck. Big ups to Steve!

  • http://twitter.com/kwisdumb kwisdumb

    Definitely an interesting deck. Big ups to Steve!

  • Aoi Hoshihiro-Stroup

    You know when I heard of this I was a little angry because I knew exactly what happened at worlds, LuxApe got overhyped after Nats and the rogue showed up on top because another deck became less discreet, it kind of got me angry because I would have never guessed it would have came down to Speedrill, but it’s amazing that with JUST this variant with Lux GL and X that it make the deck that much better, so I applaud Stephen Silvestro for that. =p
    This deck is fined-tuned to it’s greatest in my opinion.

  • Aoi Hoshihiro-Stroup

    You know when I heard of this I was a little angry because I knew exactly what happened at worlds, LuxApe got overhyped after Nats and the rogue showed up on top because another deck became less discreet, it kind of got me angry because I would have never guessed it would have came down to Speedrill, but it’s amazing that with JUST this variant with Lux GL and X that it make the deck that much better, so I applaud Stephen Silvestro for that. =p
    This deck is fined-tuned to it’s greatest in my opinion.

  • the rare candyman

    ok, Stephen had an awesome idea … but there’s a few things i just dont get. i know that you bright look up a pokemon and then kill it with beedrill .. can someone please explain the strategy i’m missing?? and it just might be his ‘playstyle’

  • the rare candyman

    ok, Stephen had an awesome idea … but there’s a few things i just dont get. i know that you bright look up a pokemon and then kill it with beedrill .. can someone please explain the strategy i’m missing?? and it just might be his ‘playstyle’

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    You can take out your opponent’s Claydol, which is usually their main source of draw, and it also just gives you easy prizes.

  • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

    You can take out your opponent’s Claydol, which is usually their main source of draw, and it also just gives you easy prizes.

  • Napoleon

    AND you can hit 120 very quickly.

  • Napoleon

    AND you can hit 120 very quickly.

  • http://www.sixprizes.com/pokemon-card-news/pokemon-tcg-world-championships-recap/ Scott Perrotta

    My son was playing luxarill whain I was playing flychamp.I went first and when it was his turn he quadrople rare candied all his weadles to beedrill, equiped his active beedrill , atatched his energy to beedrill Ge and won the game wich makes me conclued beedrill is faster than kingdra LA LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://www.sixprizes.com/pokemon-card-news/pokemon-tcg-world-championships-recap/ Scott Perrotta

    My son was playing luxarill whain I was playing flychamp.I went first and when it was his turn he quadrople rare candied all his weadles to beedrill, equiped his active beedrill , atatched his energy to beedrill Ge and won the game wich makes me conclued beedrill is faster than kingdra LA LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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