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Japan Dominates 2015 Pokémon World Championships — Winners Crowned In Boston

By Asma M
Published on: 15:01 PST, Aug 23, 2015

Three Pokémon Masters were crowned World Champions of the Pokémon video game today in Boston, Massachusetts at the 2015 Pokémon World Championships. Japan dominated the competition in the teen and adult Masters division, as the top four competitors hailed from the land of the rising sun. Shoma Honami won out in the end to secure the globally respected title. Mark McQuillan from Great Britain and Kotone Yasue from Japan have also earned their places in Pokémon history as the 2015 Video Game Champions in the Seniors and Juniors divisions, respectively.

This year, trainers were challenged to compete in Pokémon Omega Ruby and PokémonAlpha Sapphire. It was the second year for players to build and battle teams from these complimentary games, which meant players had to come up with some new tricks since these games saw their competition debut at last year’s World Championships. 2014 Masters World Champion Se Jun Park from Korea surprised the world with his team that employed a seemingly harmless, yet shockingly deadly Pachirisu.

Shoma Honami certainly figured out how to do just that. His team consisted of Amoongus, Cresselia, Kangaskhan, Heatran, Landorus, and Thundurus. The Pokemon Company gave an official breakdown of his overall strategy.

“Reminiscent of a popular strategy from 2013, Shoma used Cresselia’s Trick Room to help accelerate Amoonguss, who in turn used Rage Powder and Spore to protect Heatran. Amoonguss also uses Sunny Day to increase Heatran’s damage (in 2013 Tyranitar served this purpose).”

To take on potential mirror matches and to take down other Amoongus, Shoma looked to Thundurus as his counter measure.

Shoma’s tricky Thundurus is set up very defensively by holding Safety Goggles and knowing Protect—perhaps a counter to the many Amoonguss Shoma expected to face.

And the rest, as they say, was history.

Like several popular eSports events, Pokémon Worlds is an invitation-only competition. To prepare and qualify, players across the globe earn Pokémon Championship Points at officially sanctioned City, Regional, State, and National tournaments. Players who collect the minimum number of Championship Points in their respective age divisions earn an invite at the exclusive event. Although only dedicated trainers compete at the event, many fans attend to participate in side events and enjoy the heated battles in person.

World Champions of the future can already begin earning points for the 2016 World Championship Series at official Pokémon Play! events being held now and until the end of the season next year. The 2016 World Championships will be held in San Francisco, California.

[Image courtesy of The Pokémon Company via Twitter]

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