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These plays caught their opponents, as well as the viewers, by surprise at the 2025 Pokemon World Championships.
The 2025 Pokemon World Championships saw a number of incredible plays in each format from top players around the world. Some of these caught their opponent off-guard and led to the player carving their way to victory. Others were more tactical, like the selections for a match not being along the expected lines. In this article, we are going to highlight the intelligent and skilled plays that stood out to us at Worlds 2025.
5 Plays at the 2025 Pokemon World Championships That Caught Us Off-Guard
These unexpected plays had us glued to our screens:
- Giovanni Cishcke not using Lunala in the VGC Finals
- DrakenN04’s Crustle getting a 4KO kill streak in the UNITE Finals
- Riley McKay using a Mew Ex to attack in the TCG Finals
- James Evans risks his staying asleep to get to a 3rd game at VGC Finals
- Ved Bamb’s Lapras takes two KOs with a sliver of health at GO Finals
1) Giovanni Cishcke Not Using Lunala in the VGC Finals
2025’s VGC format was played under Regulation I rules, which allow for two Restricted Legendaries on a team. So it was interesting to see Giovanni Cischke, who became this year’s VGC champion, not bring one of his Restricted Pokemon for any of his games in the Finals. He left out his Lunala and instead opted to use his Brute Bonnet as a defensive support. Additionally, his other Restricted Legendary, Koraidon, did not even take the field in the third and deciding match.
2) DrakenN04’s Crustle Getting a 4KO Kill Streak in the UNITE Finals
Crustle is a more niche pick in Pokemon UNITE these days. But someone tell that to DrakenN04 of Peru Unite. At a crucial moment around the eight minute mark, he used his Crustle’s Rock Tomb to take out two opponents back to back. He would do so again at the one minute mark, essentially sealing the game for Peru Unite and winning the MVP award for that game.
3) Riley McKay Using a Mew Ex To Attack in the TCG Finals
Mew ex is a card commonly sent in the Active Spot temporarily after a KO. This is because it can switch out easily for a Benched Pokemon due to having no Retreat Cost. However, once Riley ended up using a Nest Ball to place Lillie’s Clefairy ex on the Bench, he chose to keep it. This is because Mew ex’s move Genome Hacking can copy any of the opposing Active Pokemon’s attacks for three Colorless Energy.
Thanks to Gardevoir ex’s Psychic Embrace, it would get the required Energy easily. And thanks to Lillie’s Clefairy ex, any attack done by a Psychic-type would deal double damage to Dragon-types. Naturally, this included the Dragapult ex his opponent Justin had in the Active Spot. Since Mew ex could copy Dragapult ex’s Phantom Drive to KO it as well as the Benched Munkidori, this play ended up making Riley the Pokemon TCG World Champion.
4) James Evans Risks Staying Asleep To Get to a 3rd Game at Vgc Finals
In the second game of VGC Finals, James Evans was at one point at a huge disadvantage. His Brute Bonnet was gone, and both his Restricted Legendaries were asleep. Giovanni was set to win the match and the title of VGC World Champion. But James took a risk on the chance that his Calyrex would wake up and use Protect. And it worked, leading to James clawing his way back to drag Giovanni to a third match for his eventual title.
5) Ved Bamb’s Lapras Takes Two KOs With a Sliver of Health at GO Finals
Ved “Beezleboy” Bamb had consistently relied on three Pokemon throughout Worlds. These were Shadow Steelix, Galarian Moltres, and Lapras. And the fact that he knew these three inside and out well enough showed in his deciding match against Leo Marin, a.k.a. P4T0M4N.
While he used Steelix and Moltres to force P4T0M4N to use his shields, which left him only with a heavily damaged Lapras. But in the end it was enough, as his Lapras was able to destroy P4T0M4N’s Lapras with a Sparkling Aria and his Cradily with an Ice Beam. This made him the deserving Pokemon GO World Champion.
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