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The 2008 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships were held at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista hotel in Orlando, Florida in the United States from August 15 to 17, 2008. They were the fifth World Championships event hosted by Play! Pokémon. In addition, this year featured the Pokémon Video Game Showdown 2008, which would evolve into the annual Video Game World Championships starting in 2009.

The event used the EX Holon Phantoms onwards Modified Format. The second day of the tournament featured seven rounds of Swiss Pairings for all three divisions. The top 32 players in each division were then seeded into single-elimination tournaments on Sunday to determine each division’s World Champion.

Single-elimination brackets

Junior Division

Jun Hasebe, of Japan, was the defending Junior Division World Champion. Jun finished in sixth place, losing in the quarterfinals to eventual runner up (and future World Champion) Takuto Itagaki.

Tristan Robinson, of the United States, claimed victory with a 10-2 record, defeating Takuto in the final.

Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship Match 1 Joey Gaffney 17 Tristan Robinson 17 Tristan Robinson 9 Jacob Tamm 9 Jacob Tamm 8 Emily Chan 17 Tristan Robinson 5 Sean Goh 29 Simone Zucchelli 21 Joshua Simon 5 Sean Goh 13 Olliver Barr 29 Simone Zucchelli 29 Simone Zucchelli 17 Tristan Robinson 3 Takuto Itagaki 3 Takuto Itagaki 14 Andrew Lin Sun Choong 3 Takuto Itagaki 11 Ty Wheeler 6 Jun Hasebe 6 Jun Hasebe 3 Takuto Itagaki 26 Heikki Kettunen 31 Noah Lawson 10 Kazuho Mizuta 10 Kazuho Mizuta 18 Olivier Marcant 31 Noah Lawson 31 Noah Lawson





Senior Division

Jeremy Scharff-Kim, of the United States, was the defending Senior Division World Champion, but chose to withdraw from the tournament after completing five rounds.

Dylan Lefavour, of the United States, posted a 9-3 record to win the tournament, along the way defeating 2005 Junior Division champion Curran Hill in the semifinals.

Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship Match 1 Aziz Al-Yami 17 Malik Hisyam Bin Zaihan 1 Aziz Al-Yami 24 Keegan Cox 8 Paul Atanassov 8 Paul Atanassov 8 Paul Atanassov 5 Jonathan Bristow 29 Nicholas Kolibas 12 Garrett Farrington 12 Garrett Farrington 13 Justin Bokhari 29 Nicholas Kolibas 29 Nicholas Kolibas 8 Paul Atanassov 30 Dylan Lefavour 30 Dylan Lefavour 19 Takashi Yoneda 30 Dylan Lefavour 22 Tord Reklev 6 Andy Meier 6 Andy Meier 30 Dylan Lefavour 7 Dylan Bryan 2 Curran Hill 23 Tim Hornung 7 Dylan Bryan 18 Christian Miller 2 Curran Hill 2 Curran Hill





Masters Division

Tom Roos, of Finland, was the defending Masters Division World Champion, and finished 35th in Swiss Rounds.

Jason Klaczynski made history by winning his second World Championship with a record of 10-2. Jason is the only person to have achieved such a feat in the TCG (Ray Rizzo would win three Video Game (Senior/)Masters titles from 2010-2012). His path to victory included the defeats of the top two players from the 2008 U.S. National Championships.

Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship Match 32 Esa Juntunen 16 Agustin Pugliese 32 Esa Juntunen 24 Kyle Sabelhaus 25 Jimmy O'Brien 25 Jimmy O'Brien 25 Jimmy O'Brien 5 Sami Sekkoum 20 Khanh Le 12 Frank Diaz 12 Frank Diaz 20 Khanh Le 20 Khanh Le 29 Morten Gundesen 20 Khanh Le 30 John Silvestro 19 Jason Klaczynski 19 Jason Klaczynski 19 Jason Klaczynski 22 Tom Dolezal 6 Yacine Sekkoum 6 Yacine Sekkoum 19 Jason Klaczynski 7 Takae Suzuki 15 Gino Lombardi 23 David Atanassov 7 Takae Suzuki 15 Gino Lombardi 15 Gino Lombardi 2 Matthew Koo





Invitation structure

Junior Senior Masters 2007 World Champions 4 4 4 National Championships Juniors Seniors Masters Argentina 2 2 2 Australia 2 2 2 Austria 2 2 2 Belgium/Luxembourg 2 2 2 Canada 4 4 4 Chile 2 2 2 Czech Republic 2 2 2 Denmark 3 3 3 Finland 3 3 3 France 4 4 4 Germany 4 4 4 Italy 4 4 4 Japan 5 5 5 Malaysia 2 2 2 Malta 2 2 2 Mexico 4 4 4 Netherlands 4 4 4 New Zealand 2 2 2 Norway 4 4 4 Philippines 2 2 2 Portugal 2 2 2 Singapore 2 2 2 Slovenia 2 2 2 Spain 2 2 2 South Africa 2 2 2 Sweden 2 2 2 Switzerland 2 2 2 United Kingdom 4 4 4 United States 8 8 8 Premier Ratings Juniors Seniors Masters Ratings APAC Zone 4 4 4 Ratings LA Zone 2 2 2 Ratings NA Zone 25 25 25 Ratings EU Zone 20 20 20 Last Chance Qualifier Juniors Seniors Masters Guaranteed Invites 25 22 12

Previously, there were four guaranteed invites per division in the Last Chance Qualifiers: however, due to unprecedented numbers of players, Pokémon Organized Play announced an additional 47 invites into the World Championships. Similarly, it was announced at the United Kingdom Nationals that fourth place in each division would, in addition to the top three finishing players, receive an invitation to the championships.

There were, in total, 435 invites announced (also known as Travel Awards) for the 2008 World Championships; 145 in each division. Of these, Pokémon Organized Play sponsored and paid for 41 Travel Awards, including the top four finishers in last year's World Championships. After the announcement of various additional invitations, there were at least 485 invitations available for the World Championships.

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