2018 World Championships: Complete Day 2 Final Standings and Decks

Below are the final standings for Day 2 of the 2018 World Championships, with each player's home country, final record, and deck also listed. You can view decklists here.

1. Robin Schulz (DE), 8-0-2, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
2. Jeff Kolenc (CA), 7-2-1, Malamar/Psychic with 2 Marshadow-GX
3. Klive Jun Jie (SG), 6-2-1, Zygarde-GX/Lycanroc-GX
4. Pedro Eugenio Torres (ES), 6-2-1, Rayquaza-GX
5. Eric Smith (US), 5-1-2, Rayquaza-GX
6. Nicolas Galaz Sanhueza (CL), 5-2-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
7. Shuto Hagaki (JP), 5-2-1, Rayquaza-GX
8. Brian Miller (US), 5-2-1, Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX
9. Martin Janouš (CZ), 5-1-1, Greninja BREAK
10. Michael Bergerac (US), 5-1-1, Rayquaza-GX with Jolteon-EX/Ninja Boy
11. Masataka Hirano (JP), 5-2-0, Zoroark-GX/Gallade/Hammers
12. Fabien Pujol (FR), 5-2-0, Rayquaza-GX
13. Rahul Reddy (US), 5-2-0, Banette-GX/Garbodor
14. Jimmy Pendarvis (US), 5-2-0, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
15. Christopher Schemanske (US), 4-1-2, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor GRI/Banette-GX/Shrine of Punishment
16. Hunter Butler (US), 4-1-2, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
17. Luca Clavadetscher (CH), 4-1-2, Greninja BREAK
18. Marc Lutz (DE), 4-1-2, Buzzwole/Magcargo
19. Joey Ruettiger (US), 4-1-2, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
20. Azul Garcia Griego (US), 4-1-2, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
21. Alessandro Cremascoli (IT), 4-2-1, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
22. Takuya Yoneda (JP), 4-2-1, Zoroark-GX/Gallade/Hammers
23. Seitaro Shibuya (JP), 4-2-1, Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX
24. Jack Millar (AU), 4-2-1, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
25. Ryan Moorhouse (GB), 3-0-4, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
26. Alex Schemanske (US), 4-2-1, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor GRI/Banette-GX/Shrine of Punishment
27. Kristian Hodas (SK), 3-0-4, Greninja BREAK
28. Gustavo Wada (BR), 4-2-1, Malamar/Hoopa STS/Shrine of Punishment
29. Àngel Javier Torres (ES), 4-2-1, Rayquaza-GX
30. Treynor Wolfe (US), 4-2-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
31. Clifton Goh (SG), 4-2-1, Yveltal BREAK/Hoopa SHL/Tapu Koko/Espeon-EX/Eneporter
32. Philip Schulz (DE), 4-2-1 - Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
33. Michael Catron (US), 4-3-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
34. Keith Yong (MY), 4-3-0, Malamar/Psychic with Lycanroc-GX/Fighting Energy
35. Brad Curcio (US), 4-3-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
36. Christopher Wilkinson (US), 4-3-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
37. Ahmed Ali (US), 4-3-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
38. Brent Tonisson (AU), 4-3-0, Zoroark-GX Control with Articuno-GX
39. Santiago Rossi (AR), 3-1-3, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
40. Kosuke Iugoshi (JP), 4-3-0, Zoroark-GX Control
41. Adam Knowles (US), 4-3-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
42. Joey Ho (SG), 4-3-0, Greninja BREAK
43. Michael Pramawat (US), 4-3-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
44. Athavan Balendran (US), 4-3-0, Rayquaza-GX
45. Karl Peters (DE), 4-3-0, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
46. Robert Kinbrum (GB), 4-3-0, Buzzwole/Magcargo
47. Kian Amini (US), 4-3-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
48. Benjamin Pham (NL), 4-3-0, Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX
49. Nitish Doolub (GB), 3-2-2, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
50. Ryan Sabelhaus (US), 3-2-2, Banette-GX/Garbodor
51. Yamil Pietri (US), 3-2-2, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
52. Alex McNeill (US), 3-2-2, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
53. Andrew Tandianus (AU), 3-2-2, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
54. Miloslav Poslední (CZ), 3-2-2, Greninja BREAK
55. Israel Sosa (US), 3-3-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
56. Poet Larsen (US), 3-3-1, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
57. Reuben Fong (SG), 3-3-1, Rayquaza-GX
58. Tom Hall (GB), 3-3-1, Malamar/Shining Lugia
59. Bryan De Vries (NL), 3-3-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
60. Otavio Gouveia (BR), 3-3-1, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
61. Natalia Godinho Fernandes (BR), 3-3-1, Rayquaza-GX
62. Sam Chen (US), 2-1-4, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
63. Tord Reklev (NO), 3-3-1, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
64. William Azevedo (BR), 3-3-1, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
65. Jordan Palmer (AU), 3-3-1, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
66. Patrick Landis (CH), 3-3-1, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
67. Ondrej Skubal (CZ), 3-3-1, Greninja BREAK
68. Adam Hawkins (GB), 3-3-1, Zoroark-GX Control
69. Tait Tran (AU), 3-4-0, Zoroark-GX Control with Articuno-GX
70. Bert Wolters (NL), 2-2-3, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
71. Daniel Altavilla (US), 2-2-3, Zoroark-GX Control with Articuno-GX
72. Yoshihide Makabe (JP), 2-2-3, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
73. Angus Johnson (AU), 3-4-0, Zoroark-GX Control with Articuno-GX
74. Masafumi Ariyoshi (JP), 3-4-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
75. Ian Robb (US), 3-4-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
76. Aaron Van Der Kolk (AU), 3-4-0 - Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
77. Mitch Knuckey (AU), 3-4-0 - Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
78. Itsuku Kito (JP), 3-4-0, Lapras-GX
79. Caleb Gedemer (US), 3-4-0, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
80. Joey Gaffney (CA), 3-4-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
81. Sameer Sangwan (AU), 2-2-3, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
82. Peter Kica (US), 3-4-0, Rayquaza-GX
83. Ryuki Okada (JP), 3-4-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
84. Kidd Starck (US), 3-4-0, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
85. Shane Chee (MY), 2-3-2, Zoroark-GX/Lucario-GX
86. Nico Alabas (DE), 2-3-2, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
87. Stéphane Ivanoff (FR), 2-3-2, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
88. Ross Cawthon (US), 2-3-2, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
89. Heddi Brahmi (FR), 2-4-1, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
90. Gavin Irving (GB), 2-4-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
91. Donguk Jung (KR), 2-4-1, Magnezone/Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX
92. Christian Ortiz (US), 2-4-1, Rayquaza-GX
93. Tomas Just (CZ), 2-4-1, Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX
94. Seb Symonds (GB), 2-4-1, Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX
95. Lyder Iversen (NO), 2-4-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
96. Diego Cassiraga (AR), 1-2-4, Malamar/Hoopa STS/Shrine of Punishment
97. Shintaro Ito (JP), 2-4-1, Malamar/Ultra Necrozma-GX
98. Haruki Satoyama (JP), 2-4-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
99. Ben Osborn (US), 2-4-1, Rayquaza-GX/Garbodor
100. Lance Bradshaw (US), 2-4-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
101. Marcus Guy (US), 2-4-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
102. Connor Finton (US), 2-4-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
103. Tyler Ninomura (US), 2-5-0, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
104. Xander Pero (US), 2-5-0, Banette-GX/Garbodor
105. Blaine Hill (US), 2-5-0, Zoroark-GX/Mismagius
106. Edwin Lopez (US), 2-5-0, Rayquaza-GX
107. Magnus Kalland (NO), 2-5-0, Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX
108. Chris Brown (US), 2-5-0, Rayquaza-GX
109. Ryoma Kimino (JP), 2-5-0, Zoroark-GX Control
110. Carl Sitavi (US), 1-4-2, Zoroark-GX/Mismagius
111. Frank Percic (US), 1-5-1, Rayquaza-GX
112. Brandon Nguyen (US), 1-5-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
113. Chulho Kim (KR), 1-5-1, Zoroark-GX Control
114. Pablo Meza (MX), 1-5-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
115. Riley Hulbert (US), 1-5-1, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
116. Daniel Ross-Brown (AU), 1-5-1, Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
117. Mauro Spanò (IT), 1-5-1, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
118. Jake Ewart (US), 1-5-1, Greninja BREAK
119. Nathan Brower (US), 1-6-0, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX

Did Not Finish:

• Adrian Sado (CA), 1-3-1 drop, Malamar/Psychic with 2 Marshadow-GX
• Damian Ezequiel Anile (AR), 0-3-3 drop, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Zach Lesage (CA), 0-3-1 drop, Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Ben Potter (US), 0-4-0 drop, Lucario-GX/Lycanroc-GX

2018 World Championships: Players Advancing to Day 2

Refresh this page periodically to keep track of all advancements as they occur. As of 8:00 PM CST we believe every qualifier is accounted for below.

Below are the players who achieved 18 Match Points to advance to Day 2 of the 2018 World Championships. Their home country and the deck they used on Day 1 are also listed.

• Ahmed Ali (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Kian Amini (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Athavan Balendran (US), Rayquaza-GX
• Michael Bergerac (US), Rayquaza-GX with Jolteon-EX/Ninja Boy
• Lance Bradshaw (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Nathan Brower (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Chris Brown (US), Rayquaza-GX
• Hunter Butler (US), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Michael Catron (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Ross Cawthon (US), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Alessandro Cremascoli (IT), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Brad Curcio (US), Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX
• Jake Ewart (US), Greninja BREAK
• Nathalia Godinho Fernandez (BR), Rayquaza-GX
• Connor Finton (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Reuben Fong (SG), Rayquaza-GX
• Joey Gaffney (CA), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Marcus Guy (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Tom Hall (GB), Malamar/Shining Lugia
• Blaine Hill (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Riley Hulbert (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Gavin Irving (GB), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Lyder Iverson (NO), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Peter Kica (US), Rayquaza-GX
• Robert Kinbrum (GB), Buzzwole/Magcargo
• Adam Knowles (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Mitch Knuckey (AU), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Memories
• Jeff Kolenc (CA), Malamar/Psychic
• Patrick Landis (CH), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
• Poet Larsen (US), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
• Edwin Lopez (US), Rayquaza-GX
• Alex McNeill (US), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
• Jack Millar (AU), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Brian Miller (US), Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX
• Tyler Ninomura (US), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Brandon Nguyen (US)
• Christian Ortiz (US), Rayquaza-GX
• Ben Osborn (US), Rayquaza-GX/Garbodor BKP
• Karl Peters (DE), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Yamil Pietri (US), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Ben Potter (US), Lucario-GX/Lycanroc-GX
• Daniel Ross-Brown (AU), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Santiago Rossi (AR), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Adrian Sado (CA), Malamar/Psychic
• Carl Sitavi (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Eric Smith (US), Rayquaza-GX
• Israel Sosa (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Mauro Spanò (IT), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Kidd Starck (US), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
• Andrew Tandanius (AU), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Ángel Javier Torres (ES), Rayquaza-GX
• Aaron Van Der Kolk (AU), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment
• Bryan de Vries (NL), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Chris Wilkinson (US), Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
• Treynor Wolfe (US), Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• Keith Yong (MY), Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment

One Week Til Worlds: Analyzing BKT-CST Tournaments

🖉 Tate Whitesell | @twhitesell42

We are now well into exploring the penultimate format of the 2017-18 season: BREAKthrough-Celestial Storm. With the 2018 World Championships just days away in sunny Nashville, Tennessee, players are hard at work trying to define the format and find that "broken" deck.

We've now had three major tournaments or groups of tournaments in this format: the 2018 ARG Invitational; a Team Win and In PTCGO tournament; and the August 18-19 weekend of League Cups. In this article, I'm going to break down the results of each of those.

Disclaimer: I'm not going to attempt to make concrete predictions about the Worlds metagame. That is best left to players with more experience and skill than myself. Rather, this article (and the links herein) is a resource that compiles results and statistics from recent tournaments, so that you can do your own research and come to a conclusion on what's "the play" for Worlds. 

ARG Invitational
Winning deck: Zoroark-GX Control
Top 16 deck breakdown:

• 5 Zoroark-GX/Garbodor
• 3 Rayquaza-GX
• 2 Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX
• 2 Zoroark-GX Control
• 1 Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Memories
• 1 Gardevoir-GX
• 1 Naganadel-GX/Stakataka-GX
• 1 Zoroark-GX/Counters/Magcargo

Coming off its win at the 2018 NAIC, Zoroark-GX/Garbodor continued to see success at the Invitational. All of the ARG lists cut the Kartana-GX that NAIC champion Stéphane Ivanoff used, and three of the five included an Oranguru UPR.

Speaking of Oranguru, Zoroark-GX Control, the Zoroark-GX/Oranguru/disruption deck used by Tord Reklev to reach the NAIC finals, took an early position as the "deck to beat" in this format, with the ARG finals featuring a Zoroark-GX Control mirror match. New lists for this archetype are including Magcargo CST, and some include multiple Crushing Hammer and/or a second Oranguru. However, as we will see in the rest of this article, the deck did not stay atop the format for long.

We saw three Rayquaza-GX decks in Top 16, each constructed slightly differently - mainly regarding the Tool cards used. One played Wishful Baton; one played Fighting Fury Belt; and one played a split of Wishful Baton and Choice Band. None of the Rayquaza-GX decks advanced to Top 8.

ARG also introduced us to the Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine of Punishment/Rainbow Energy archtype. The deck plays no EX or GX Pokémon and relies on building up damage with Buzzwole and Shrine, forcing the opponent to devote resources to taking six Prizes while "on the clock" due to Shrine damage, and cleaning up with Trashalanche. As we will see, this deck took off somewhat at last weekend's Cups and could play a key role in the format during Worlds.

Both Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX decks in Top 16 advanced to Top 4, where both lost to Zoroark-GX Control.


Team Win and In
Total attendance: 232 players

Team Win and In asked me to crunch the numbers on the metagame of their latest tournament. Here's the link to the complete metagame analysis, but below I'll show the most-played archetypes:

While many players took note of Zoroark-GX Control's Invitational performance and brought the deck to the Win and In tournament, we now see that a new deck has arisen to counter it: Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX. Zoroark-GX/Garbodor is also considered by at least some players to have a favorable Control matchup. The meta evolved rapidly in the span of a single week to the point where Control was no longer the "top deck."

Malamar decks were nonexistent in ARG's Top 16 but saw a fair amount of play in this event.

Rayquaza-GX decks were highly played, with the straight "turbo" version being the most common, followed by the version including Garbodor BPT.

Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX is another deck that can go head-to-head with the Control variant, especially with new lists playing few or zero Strong Energy to avoid being disrupted by Enhanced Hammer.

As of the time of this event, Gardevoir-GX and Greninja BREAK also appear to remain as lower-tier but still viable contenders for Worlds.


August 18-19 League Cups
Cups in sample: Ten, 9 with a Top 8 cut and 1 with a Top 4 cut, from five countries. This is on the small end for our Cup samples, but enough CP were tallied that the results are statistically significant.

Click here to view the complete rankings from this Cup sample.

This meta looks similar to the one from the Win & In tournament, with one change: Zoroark-GX Control is even further down the list -- in fact, outside the top 10 CP-earning archetypes.

Buzzwole/Lycanroc-GX and Zoroark-GX/Garbodor are the two best decks in this sample and it isn't particularly close. However, we see the rise of a couple of new or resurgent archetypes in the aforementioned Buzzwole FLI/Garbodor/Shrine as well as Zoroark-GX/Gardevoir-GX. North America Top 16 players Azul Garcia Griego and Rahul Reddy both brought the latter deck to Cups.


I hope that the information provided in this post and all the resources I linked to are helpful to anyone still choosing a deck for Worlds or the Nashville Open. Please contact me on Twitter @twhitesell42, @PokeStats_TCG, or on Facebook if you have questions about the data I've collected or just want to hear more of my thoughts on the metagame.