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The 2024 Pokemon World Championships were held in Honolulu, HI from August 16-18. Aussies were well represented across all 3 divisions of the TCG competition, with 21 Juniors, 22 Seniors and 101 Masters representing Australia.
Tournament Structure:
The World Championships were played over 3 days, with Swiss rounds beginning on Friday August 16. Each of the 3 Divisions went through 8 rounds on Day 1 (except for Juniors who had 7 rounds on Day 1, and their 8th round of Day 1 the morning of Day 2). Many of the top players during the season earned a first round bye and started round 2 with a 1-0-0 record.
After the Day 1 Swiss rounds, anyone who had earned 18 match points moved on to Day 2. For context, A win is worth 3 points, a tie worth 1 point, and a loss worth 0 points. In order to make Day 2 you had to either win at least 6 of your 8 rounds to reach the threshold, or you could finish 5-0-3 and that would get you to 18 match points.
Day 2 continued with 4 extra rounds for Masters and 2 extra rounds for Seniors and Juniors. At the end of those rounds, a Top cut was made, which included the Top 8 players in the standings, seeded into a single-elimination bracket to determine the winner. This was the first year that an asymmetrical cut was used to determine the top 8. This means that if players were tied at 8th place, they would all move on to the top cut and would play in the single elimination bracket. In Masters, there were 9 players who made the top cut. In Seniors it was 15 players, and in Juniors 14 players.
Top Cut matches were played out on Saturday afternoon, until there were two finalists left in each division. The finals were held in front of a massive audience of spectators on Sunday, with 3 new World Champions crowned by the end of the day.
The Masters division included 1147 total players.
Below is the top cut for the Masters Division along with the results from the Top Cut.. In total, 9 players made the cut: With Fernando Cifuentes from Chile winning it all playing Iron Thorns EX.
There was controversy during the Quarterfinal round between Ian Robb and Fernando Cifuentes. After winning the round 2-0, Ian Robb made a gesture that was deemed inappropriate and he was retroactively given a match loss, meaning Fernando moved on to the Top 4 and eventually winning the title after being given his second-chance opportunity.
We had 7 players from Australia qualify for Day 2 in Masters, with James Goreing earning his way into top cut as the only Australian representative. He finished in 6th place overall.
For a full list of all the Australian Masters Division competitors, you can visit here.
The Seniors division included 403 total players.
After 8 Swiss rounds on day 1, 48 people qualified for Day 2. A further 2 rounds were played on day 2 with 15 players qualifying for top cut. Below is the complete list of the Top Cut players as well as the Top 8 results. The tournament was won by US competitor Evan P. who piloted Regidrago to victory.
22 players represented Australia in the Seniors Division, with 1 player, Thomas H. making it to Day 2 and finishing in 32nd place, which was good enough to earn prizing! Below are the full results from all 22 worlds competitors from Australia.
The Juniors Division had 385 total players.
Day 1 of the Juniors Division saw 7 Swiss Rounds played, with the 8th round of Day 1 moved to the morning of Day 2 due to delays. After 8 rounds, 41 competitors were left standing for 2 more Swiss Rounds in Day 2. 14 players moved on to top cut, with Sakuya O. from Japan taking the championship piloting Ancient Box. Below is the top 14 as well as the results from Top Cut.
Australia was represented by 21 Junior competitors. Only 2 players made it to Day 2 with Kingsley C. finishing 26th and in the prizing, and Gustavo G. just missing out on prizing finishing in 35th place. Below are the full results from our Aussie Juniors.
