An Aussie just became the Pokémon TCG World Champion

Congrats Henry Brand!

This past weekend, the three-day Pokémon World Championships tournament took place in Washington DC, where the best Pokémon players from around the world competed for the title of World Champion. And an Aussie took home one of the top spots.

Aussie player Henry Brand took home the title of Trading Card Game World Champion in the Masters Division, after an intense matchup against 2016 World Champion Shintaro Ito. Brand was the first Australian to make it to the finals in the TCG Masters Division — a division for those born earlier than 2003 — and the first Australian to win a World Championship in the division.

“It’s incredible, it really is,” Brand said in a post-match interview, “I’m brought to tears, honestly. I never ever thought I’d get here.”

“It’s taken a lot of bad tournaments, that’s for sure, you know. Luck doesn’t always go your way, it didn’t go Shintaro’s, it went mine. You need to get lucky to win an event, no matter how good you are, no matter how well prepared. I’ve been through that, I’m here, and this is my tournament.”

The Vooks team congratulates Henry Brand on his historic win, and wishes him the best of luck for future tournaments.

You can watch the Grand Final match below.

Oliver Brandt

Deputy Editor, sometimes-reviewer, and Oxford comma advocate. If something's published on Vooks, there's a good chance I looked over it first. I spend way too much on games and use way too many em dashes.