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The 2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships were held at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista hotel in Orlando, Florida in the United States from August 15 to 17, 2008. They were the fifth World Championships event hosted by Play! Pokémon. In addition, this year featured the Pokémon Video Game Showdown 2008, which would evolve into the annual Video Game World Championships starting in 2009.
The event used the EX Holon Phantoms onwards Modified Format. The second day of the tournament featured seven rounds of Swiss Pairings for all three divisions. The top 32 players in each division were then seeded into single-elimination tournaments on Sunday to determine each division’s World Champion.
Single-elimination brackets
Junior Division
Jun Hasebe, of Japan, was the defending Junior Division World Champion. Jun finished in sixth place, losing in the quarterfinals to eventual runner up (and future World Champion) Takuto Itagaki.
Tristan Robinson, of the United States, claimed victory with a 10-2 record, defeating Takuto in the final.
Senior Division
Jeremy Scharff-Kim, of the United States, was the defending Senior Division World Champion, but chose to withdraw from the tournament after completing five rounds.
Dylan Lefavour, of the United States, posted a 9-3 record to win the tournament, along the way defeating 2005 Junior Division champion Curran Hill in the semifinals.
Masters Division
Tom Roos, of Finland, was the defending Masters Division World Champion, and finished 35th in Swiss Rounds.
Jason Klaczynski made history by winning his second World Championship with a record of 10-2. Jason is the only person to have achieved such a feat in the TCG (Ray Rizzo would win three Video Game (Senior/)Masters titles from 2010-2012). His path to victory included the defeats of the top two players from the 2008 U.S. National Championships.
Invitation structure
| Junior | Senior | Masters | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 World Champions | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| National Championships | Juniors | Seniors | Masters |
| Argentina | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Australia | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Austria | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Belgium/Luxembourg | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Canada | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Chile | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Czech Republic | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Denmark | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Finland | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| France | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Germany | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Italy | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Japan | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Malaysia | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Malta | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Mexico | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Netherlands | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Norway | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Philippines | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Portugal | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Singapore | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Slovenia | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Spain | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| South Africa | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Sweden | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Switzerland | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| United Kingdom | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| United States | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Premier Ratings | Juniors | Seniors | Masters |
| Ratings APAC Zone | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Ratings LA Zone | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Ratings NA Zone | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Ratings EU Zone | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Last Chance Qualifier | Juniors | Seniors | Masters |
| Guaranteed Invites | 25 | 22 | 12 |
Previously, there were four guaranteed invites per division in the Last Chance Qualifiers: however, due to unprecedented numbers of players, Pokémon Organized Play announced an additional 47 invites into the World Championships. Similarly, it was announced at the United Kingdom Nationals that fourth place in each division would, in addition to the top three finishing players, receive an invitation to the championships.
There were, in total, 435 invites announced (also known as Travel Awards) for the 2008 World Championships; 145 in each division. Of these, Pokémon Organized Play sponsored and paid for 41 Travel Awards, including the top four finishers in last year's World Championships. After the announcement of various additional invitations, there were at least 485 invitations available for the World Championships.
Event Pokémon
External links
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