5 major highlights from Pokemon World Championships 2023

The Pokemon World Championships 2023 has come to a close, with countless players congregating in Yokohama, Japan, to battle for supremacy across multiple Pocket Monsters titles. Across the entire three-day championship event, big-name trainers and relative unknowns carved out a path until only a few select players remained at the top as worldwide champions this year.

With so many Pokemon games being competed in across the event, it can be tough to keep up with all of the best moments throughout. Although capturing every exciting moment may be tough to do, it certainly doesn't hurt to examine some of the most notable of this year's championships.

For Pokemon fans who haven't caught Worlds 2023 quite yet, now seems like a good time to take a look at some of the most thrilling moments.

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Five of the best highlights from Pokemon World Championships 2023

1) Shohei Kimura dominates Masters VGC grand finals

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet finally took center stage for the first Worlds in the two games' history, and there was plenty of intense competition to be had. By the time Masters grand finals had arrived, fans witnessed a matchup between newcomer Michael Kelsch and Japanese VGC champion Shohei Kimura.

Although Kelsch put forward a valiant effort, Kimura's masterful and clutch use of Amoonguss' spores and Chien-Pao's Icicle Crash rendered Kelsch's team hobbled. Kimura built on his momentum from there and never looked back, hammering away at Kelsch's flinched or sleeping Pokemon with the likes of Urshifu.

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2) Michael Kelsch's rise through the VGC ranks

Although Michael Kelsch didn't manage to win Worlds 2023 in VGC, the fact that his rise to the grand finals was so meteoric is certainly worth mentioning. After placing exceptionally well across multiple regionals in Europe, the German native trainer made one of the most memorable runs in Worlds history all the way to the grand finals against Kimura.

Considering that Kelsch only just began his competitive Pokemon VGC career roughly eight months ago, the fact that he came so insanely close to winning it all is commendable in and of itself. Kelsch will undoubtedly be a player to watch when Worlds 2024 kicks off in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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3) Hacking controversies in VGC

While tons of Pokemon trainers progressed through the VGC tournament at Worlds 2023 in a legitimate manner, this year's competition was also stricken with several players getting flagged for cheating. Specifically, multiple players were found to have Pocket Monsters on their team that were manipulated and who had stats that aren't normally attainable.

The debacle didn't appear to be handled as well as it could've. Some players simply had their hacked Pokemon removed and could continue the tournament, while others were suspended outright. Some players who had legitimate teams even reported that their teams were influenced by the "hack check" implemented by officials.

Although the main broadcast stream obviously didn't focus on this, the sheer number of players attempting to tip the scales in their favor doesn't bode particularly well for the VGC community. Hopefully, enforcement can pick up the pace to deal with what might arrive during the tournament circuit next year.

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4) Luminosity become two-time Unite champions

Repeating as champions isn't an easy thing to do in any competitive game, and Luminosity Gaming had a tough battle ahead in Pokemon Unite at Worlds 2023. However, the North American team flexed its knowledge and skill when it reached the grand finals against the Phillipines' Odd Man Out squad.

Luminosity continued its dominance as the Unite team to beat by sweeping Odd Man Out 3-0 in the grand finals. Although the team hailing from the Philippines put up an admirable fight in games one and two, they collapsed in the deciding match. With the master stroke in game three, Luminosity became back-to-back Pokemon Unite world champions for 2022-2023.

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5) A nail-biting TCG finals finish for Vance Kelley

A clash of incredibly capable meta decks in the TCG grand finals ensued during Worlds 2023, with Vance Kelley's Mew/Genesect deck squaring off against Tord Reklev's overwhelming Gardevoir ex deck. The first match boiled down over 40 minutes before Tord took a risk with his Gardevoir and opened himself up to Vance securing his win condition with Genesect.

The counterplay factor came back strong in match two as Tord stormed back to take round two, leading to a sudden death between the two accomplished Pokemon TCG players. Time expired, but with both players having the same amount of prize cards remaining, the battle continued.

At long last, the stalemate was broken when Tord prepared a combo and secured a bench knockout and prize card, but needed one more turn to secure the win. As he passed to Vance, the eventual champion activated Power Tablet to move his Mew Vmax to the active spot. He then triggered Boss's Orders, drawing out and taking down Tord's Zacian V to secure his world championship crown.