After a horrendous first day of controversial disqualifications at the 2023 Pokémon World Championship, the event continued to fall apart during the topcut VGC matches on day two, prompting one of the best players in the world to say he’s “never playing this game ever again.”
On Aug. 12 in Yokohama, Japan, top Pokémon VGC players were fighting for their spot in the finals at Worlds. Some had to claw their way out of an intense and unforgiving day one, while others had done well enough throughout the season to automatically skip to day two.
No one, however, was safe from the single-elimination top cut matches—and that’s when everything took a turn for the worse.
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According to multiple players at the event including 2018 Senior World Champion James Evans and popular Youtuber Freezai, there was a huge disconnection issue in the middle of the top 16 matches that altered the results of that crucial round.
One of the affected players was Emilio Forbes, who won Fresno Regionals earlier this year using Kingambit to perfection. Forbes is one of the most respected players in the VGC community, and based on how well he was piloting his unique Brambleghast team, he was a top contender to win the whole event.
According to Forbes, he was in a winning position in his match when the disconnection happened. This unfortunately led to a sudden death round that would put an end to his impressive Worlds run.
“I’m never playing this game ever again,” the regional champ said in response to how the situation was handled. “My favorite part has to be the judges spitting nonstop platitudes at me before and after, I sure do love socially unaware Pokemon players.” Dot Esports has reached out to Forbes for further comment.
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Like Forbes, fellow competitor Luca Lussignoli also lost after the disconnection. “My team was at a disadvantage against his in the sudden death,” Lussignoli stated after a strong 12-1 run throughout the tournament.
Numerous players spoke out about the sudden death concept, believing it may not be the best solution for these all-important top cut matches in situations involving disconnects out of players’ control. Playing an additional game may be the fairer way to go.
To add to technical issues, production switched over to the new spectator mode for all of the top cut matches on stream. The POVs were accidentally reversed during the semifinals match between Mao Harada and Shohei Kimura, leading to a “super confusing cast,” according to caster Aaron “Cybertron” Zheng.
Overall, the 2023 VGC World Championship has been hit with disaster after disaster, and it’s not even over yet. The final match between Shohei Kimura and Michael Kelsch will be taking place on Aug. 13 in Japan. There’s no telling what might happen next.
