Pokemon World Championships 2023 VGC and GO Highlights (Day 1): Hot start for Pokemon's biggest event

The Pokemon World Championships 2023 kicked off on August 11 and will conclude on August 13. The tournament is being held at the PACIFICO Yokohama Convention Center in Yokohama, Japan. It will feature competition across Pokemon VGC, Pokemon TCG, Pokemon GO, and Pokemon Unite. Participants are fighting for a hefty cash prize and the title of world champions.

This article is meant for fans who couldn't follow the games at the Pokemon World Championships 2023 live or those who simply wish for a refresher before heading into the following day. It covers some of the highlights from Day 1 of the competition.

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Pokemon VGC Highlights: Pokemon World Championships 2023 Day 1, August 11, 2023

Pokemon VGC winners

All winners (depicted in bold text) from the broadcasted matches were as follows:

• Ondrej Skubal 1-2 Andres Flores
• Miguel Lopez 0-2 Shintaro Ito
• Jose Marzan 1-2 Shinji Mori
• Mike Fouchet 0-2 Alex Krekeler
• Hermanni Hietalahti 0-2 Bastian Silva
• Xander Pero 2-1 Jihun Choi
• Jesper S.H Eriksen 0-2 Brennan Kamerman
• Cyrus Davis 2-1 Angus Johnson

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Pokemon VGC standings

Placement	Player	Standing
1	Jeremy Parson (USA)	5-0
2	Justin Burns (USA)	5-0
3	Kai Yazawa (Japan)	5-0
4	Kentaro Matsumoto (Japan)	5-0
5	Luka Trejgut (USA)	5-0
6	Michael Kelsch (Germany)	5-0
7	Neil Patel (Canada)	5-0
8	Simone Sanvito (Italy)	5-0
9	Yuta Takahashi (Japan)	5-0
10	Abdullah Mahayyuddin (Canada)	5-1
11	Emilio Forbes (USA)	5-1
12	Federico Camporesi (Italy)	5-1

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Pokemon VGC Highlights - Day 1

1) Patrick Donegan's Snow team dominates Giovanni Costa

Patrick Donegan vs Giovanni Costa (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The snow-based team is one of the most interesting combinations that have come up with Regulation D. It uses Articuno to sweep via the accuracy-boosted Blizzard and the Snow Cloak ability to evade attacks.

The team was used by Patrick Donegan at the Pokemon World Championships 2023 to sweep Giovanni Costa's side, which even had a Tera Fire Iron Hands.

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2) Wolfe Glick gets unlucky and caught by multiple flinches

Wolfe Glick vs Shiliang Tang (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Wolfe Glick, one of the biggest personalities in the franchise, lost out on an important match after his Gyarados flinched on two important occasions.

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Pokemon GO Highlights: Pokemon World Championships 2023 Day 1, August 11, 2023

Pokemon GO winners

The winners (depicted in bold text) from the broadcasted matches on Day 1 are as follows:

• CrecentAngels 2-0 Statastan
• Kakuzatoho 1-2 Inadequance
• Arrohh 2-0 Birdpower13
• Scaffo99 0-2 ItsANX
• ElCheasdasd 2-0 VikRioja
• mikeymorgs 0-2 babohoosop293
• YAKOBERVITCH 0-2 ValiantVish
• LyleJeffsIII 0-2 ItsAXN
• paulasha97 0-2 P4T0M4N
• Andriss96 0-2 Luminous0430
• ISHIKAWABOY 1-2 Nesabethan
• IceCr1s 0-2 Inadequance
• DankeyChan 2-0 Richie1409
• Zarddy 1-2 ChiodoSH01
• TonTonBatteuse 2-0 phantomaceX
• DankeyChan 0-2 wdage
• qihuan123 2-1 XjeraldX
• Robdrogo 0-2 ChiodoSH01
• Jonyoa 2-1 LNDsTSteiner
• Buhtti 0-2 Auburnnnn

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Pokemon GO standings

Placement	Player	Standing
1	babohoosop293	6-0
2	ElCheasdasd	6-0
3	ItsAXN	6-0
4	Inadequance	6-0
5	Luminous0430	4-0
6	Nesabethan	6-0
7	Arrohh	6-0
8	chiodoSH01	6-0
9	qihuan123	6-0
10	Auburnnnn	6-0
11	Avrip	6-0
12	RicFlareon	6-0

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Pokemon GO Highlights - Day 1

1) ItsAXN perfectly catches a Surf on his Lanturn

Scaffo99 vs ItsAXN (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Catching Charged Attacks is an essential part of battling in Pokemon GO. ItsAXN managed to do just that at the Pokemon World Championships 2023. He switched out his Shadow Alolan Sandslash for a Lanturn, who takes very little damage from Water-type attacks.

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2) TontonBatteuse's Shadow Charizard takes down Lanturn and Noctowl with perfect energy management

TonTonBatteuse vs phantomaceX (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Blast Burn, one of the most powerful Fire-type attacks in Pokemon GO Battle League, was able to take down Lanturn and Noctowl off the back of efficient energy management by TonTonBatteuse at Pokemon World Championships 2023.