A German player impressed at the Pokémon World Championship 2023 with his outstanding performance and fought his way to the finals.
What kind of tournament was it? The Pokémon World Championships took place in 2023 in Japan. In addition to Pokémon GO and the Trading Card Game (TCG), there was of course the VGC World Championship, where the best players of Scarlet and Violet competed against each other.
In the VGC format, trainers participate in double battles, sending out two Pokémon onto the field simultaneously. They have a total of four out of their six Pokémon available for the battle. The trainer wins the final by winning two out of three duels.
The final of the VGC World Championship took place on Sunday, August 13, 2023, and was streamed live on Twitch and YouTube.
Kelsch is the first German in the World Championship Final
Who is it about? Michael Kelsch alias “MichaelderBeste” is a German Pokémon trainer who successfully qualified for this year’s Pokémon World Championships.
He paved his way to the Pokémon World Championship at three regional tournaments in Europe. In Bochum, he achieved a strong eighth place, in Utrecht, he was among the top 32 players, and in Malmö, he made it into the top 64.
For Kelsch, it was his first participation in a Pokémon World Championship. Although he started watching the championships every year five years ago, he had never had the chance to participate in the tournament himself until now.
However, the lack of World Championship experience did not stop Kelsch from sending one trainer after another home and making his way to the finals – an achievement no German Pokémon player had ever accomplished before him.
How did the final go for Kelsch? Kelsch lost the World Championship final against the Japanese player Shohei Kimura, who would ultimately claim the championship victory in his home country. Kimura won the encounter with 2:0.
Which Pokémon did Kelsch use? Among his six Pokémon, Kelsch chose the giraffe Pokémon “Farigiraf”, the three legendaries “Wulaosu”, “Baojian”, and “Heatran”, the ghost dragon “Katapuldra”, and the drumming gorilla “Gortrom”.
In Match 1 against Kimura, Kelsch used Farigiraf, Katapuldra, Gortrom, and Baojian. However, in Match 2, he opted out of the plant gorilla Gortrom and instead used Wulaosu.
Apparent problems were caused by the opponent’s Hutsassa, as the plant poison monster repeatedly put Kelsch’s Pokémon to sleep with the move “Spore”.
