Strong Showings
Here are some people who I think will have a strong showing, but won't quite make the top 8
-Phil Nguyen (Boomguy)
-Zach Droegkamp (Braverius)
-Andrew Burley (Andykins)
-Brandon Ikin (Toquill)
-Florian Wurdack (DaFlo)
-Arash Ommati (Mean)
-Paul Chua (Paulitoed/Pwny Person)
-Lajos Woltersdorf (Lajos)
Looking at this list, I think it's pretty clear that these are some of the biggest names in VGC. I'm pretty sure all of these people got at least top 4 or better at a regional/national. Also, most of them got their day 2 invites already, so they all turned in pretty impressive seasons. These are the people who will be the weak x-2's or the strong x-3's.
5th-8th Place
Here are the people who I think will make top cut but unfortunately won't win their top 8 match.
Blake Hopper (Bopper)-Bopper has had a very impressive season. He maxed out on PCs in the very talented state of Texas and had regional finishes of top 16/32/64. While his regional finishes don't look impressive, he did manage to earn his world's invite with a very impressive top 4 at US Nationals, beating Wolfe before losing to Rapha in semis. After qualifying for world's last year through LCQ and getting top 4 at the exclusively bo3 US Nationals, it's clear that Bopper thrives in bo3, so top cutting worlds certainly isn't out of the question.
Toler Webb (Dimsun)-What's one way to secure a day 2 invite to worlds? How about winning US Nationals! Yes, for those of you who somehow missed it, Toler won the national championships for the US. But what has he done outside of that? Well how about regionals finishes of top 4/8/32! That means that this guy has top cut 3 major events this year. Throw in a couple PC top 8s and you have the trainer who's second in the US in CP. It's hard to imagine that Toler won't get top 8 after such an impressive season.
Angel Miranda (CT Mikota Misaka)-Everyone's favorite white girl has had a break out season. Focusing solely on VGC this year (Rather than TCG and VGC), Angel has managed to get top 4 at two regionals, three PC wins at arguably the toughest PCs in the world, and snagged a cool 300 points for his top 8 at US nationals. It'll be exciting to see what amazing things Angel has up his sleeves, having already popularized such Pokemon as Clefairy, Swampert, and Landorus-I. Whatever Angel has planned, I don't think the competition will be able to handle it, snagging him a top 8 at his first world championship.
Baris Atkos (Billa)-(Sorry if I butchered the spelling of the last name). It's hard to imagine Billa not top cutting. After all, he does lead the entire world with 1169 CP. Unfortunately, I don't know too much about international player's accomplishments, but I'm pretty sure he top cut like all his regionals/nationals, hence the high CP total, so look for him to be a major threat at worlds
Top 4
Aaron Zheng (Cybertron)-This dude has been on a tear this season. After a lot of people were saying that he was washed up after 2014, Aaron came back strong, immediately winning a regional and getting top 4 at another. Add in a top 16 at a third regional, three PC wins, and a top 4 at US Nationals (Losing to eventual winner Toler Webb), and you have a trainer who's on a roll. And of course, Aaron gets in plenty of practice while recording his RTR series on his Youtube channel. I really think that this has really helped Aaron do well this year, because it forces him to experiment with a lot of different teams, and forces him to think out loud about them, which I think is very valuable for every player.
Sejun Park-Who could forget about this guy? The guy who conquered the world with Pachurisu and Mega Gyarados. I'm not sure about what he's done this year, but I think he won some big tournament with a Mega Blaziken, which people loved. Regardless of whether he sucked or did awesome this year, he's still the reigning world champ, so don't expect him to give up his title so easily. It should be exciting to see what he has in store for worlds this year.
Runner-Up
Wolfe Glick-Is anyone having a more impressive season than this guy? I mean, he's first in CP in all of North America! And how did he get there? How about 4 PC wins, two regional wins, a finals appearance in a third regional, and top 8 at US nationals. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is. He won a regional with Mega Banette and another with Perish Trap. This guy is constantly using very cool and innovative techniques. What else does he have going for him? How about the fact that he has an amazing training partner in Marcus Stadter, one of the best players in Europe. I think we will see Wolfe bringing the hype on stream on Sunday. But who will beat him?
And the Winner is....
Marcus Stadter (Yoshi)-It's Wolfe's partner in crime, co-founder of Eggy Emporium, and the guy who's second in the World in CP. Marcus had an awesome season, as evidenced by his 956 CP. He also won UK Nationals and I'm pretty sure he top cut some other nationals/regionals. According to his NPA post, he beat three world's competitors with a Dewgong, so how can you bet against him? And he get's to work with the top player in North America, Wolfe Glick. I've watched him play a few times on stream this year and I gotta say, it's very impressive. Everyone play he makes seems to be the best possible one, even when there doesn't seem to be a good play to make. That intelligence is what's going to win him the Pokemon VGC World Championships.
Hopefully you enjoyed reading this! Stay tuned for part 2, where I break down specific Pokemon and strategies that I expect to thrive at Worlds. Also, don't forget to check out some of the other great content on our blog!
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