2019 Worlds Preview: Meet Team Oceania!

Tomorrow, the 2019 World Championships in Washington D.C kick off! Players from over 30 countries are gathering for the biggest event of the year.

In our aim to provide you with great coverage before, during and after the event, we’re introducing the top players from all competing regions in Day 2 of Worlds. Last Sunday, we presented the North American players, and on Monday and Tuesday we got to meet teams Latin America and Europe. Today, it’s Oceania‘s turn!

Oceania at Worlds

Oceania is a somewhat smaller region compared to others like Europe or North America, but they have great players that stand out every season. On the International stage, Australia’s Zoe Lou became the first women to win Internationals in Sydney. A few months later, Aussie players stormed the North American Internationals by winning in all divisions under the names of Alfredo Chang-Gonzalez (Seniors) and the Kan brothers, Chris (Masters) and Nick (Juniors).

In more recent times, Singapore’s Melvin Keh has established himself as one of the most consistent players in the region — and the world. This 2019 season, he’s placed within the top 8 at 3 out of 4 Internationals. Aussie top-player Luke C. also earned his second day 2 invite this season after getting 2nd at the Oceania Internationals, and similar fate had Graham Ameedee in Columbus.

Whilst most of Oceania’s accolades come from the Aussies and Singapore, players from other countries like Malaysia, Taiwan and New Zealand have also proven great skill throughout the last times. Common names are Ismat Beg, Kevin Ngim, Benjamin Tan and Isaac Lam.

Despite all of this, Oceania is the only region yet to win a World Championships in Masters. In 2017, Australia’s Sam Pandelis came the closest after losing the finals to Japan’s Ryota Otsubo in a really tight 3-game set. To make up for that, Junior prodigy Nick Kan comfortably took the championship after defeating Tomás Serrano of Spain. Having shown the world their strength, we’re eager to see players from Oceania succeed in D.C and, maybe, take their first championship home down under.

Day 2 players

Melvin Keh (2028 CP)

Melvin leads the Oceania CP rank with over 2000 CP, which shows already how great this season has been for him. After placing top 8 twice and semi finalist once during this season’s Internationals, he’s comfortably secured his 4th consecutive Day 2 Worlds invite.

Singapore’s star initiated in VGC in 2015, when he attended a local event. Since then, his constant practice and resilience have allowed him to perform well at most events he has attended, even wining some like Malaysia’s Special Event in 2017 or Hong Kong’s in 2018.

Melvin, known for his solid playstyle and consistency in the game — easily one of the most consistent players of all time, has also been popular recently for using the infamous Shedinja. Last year, he was the first Singaporean to enter the Worlds top cut, placing 12th. After his extraordinary Ultra Series season, if he keeps his momentum going, he’ll be surely en route for a championship.

Graham Amedee (1364 CP)

Another well-known face and the first of 4 Australians in day 2 is Graham Amedee, who just recently placed 2nd at the North American Internationals, losing against 2016 World Champion Wolfe Glick in the finals, though rocking an out of the box team featuring unusual picks like Mega-Medicham. Since then, he’s started a YouTube channel as well.

Graham, from Brisbane, has been active for the last few years, qualifying for his first World Championships last year, where he was a Day 2 invitee as well. His first success at a major event came with his 8th place at Sydney Regionals in 2017, and since then he’s managed to cut 6 more (3 last year and 3 this season), as well as top 16 placements at Melbourne Internationals for both 2018 and 2019.

His great spirit and sportsmanship have been, aside from his skills, one of his main traits as a player. Hopes for a great result on his end are high, and if his latest results impulse him forward, chances are he’ll be in top cut on Saturday evening.

Meaghan Rattle (1124 CP)

Meaghan is the only female player in the world to have earned a Day 2 invite this year. Present within the community for the last few years, she managed to place 28th at Melbourne 2018 as her first major result.

This season, she first cut Brisbane Regionals in the Sun Series. Then, during the Moon Series, she won Perth Regionals and bubbled out of top cut at the Oceania Internationals at 9th place. Despite this, she got enough to get a travel award to Berlin for the EUIC, where she finished 54th. Meaghan’s season has been quite solid as her day 2 invite shows, so we’ll be hoping for a great finish on her end.

Christopher Kan (1079 CP)

Being the former 2011 Seniors TCG World Champion, Chris Kan of Australia has high hopes on winning the championship in two different games for the first time ever. On a side note, his little brother Nick Kan will be looking to win VGC worlds in two different age divisions as well, having won 2017 in Juniors and now aged up to Seniors.

In 2017, he won the first North American Internationals in a head-to-head battle with Paul Chua of the US, and since then, he’s been one of Oceania’s references in the game. He has earned his 3rd consecutive Masters Day 2 Worlds invite this year after having made it to top cut at 4 Regionals in the region, winning Sydney’s in the Ultra Series. With that in mind, it’s hard to expect him flopping at Worlds, but he has no strong placements there yet, so anything can happen.

James Katsaros (1061 CP)

Another well-known Aussie player is James Katsaros. He kicked the season off by winning Brisbane Regionals in Sun Series and then placed 4th at Oceania Internationals during the Moon Series. However, his results during the Ultra Series have been somewhat lackluster, only managing to get top 16 at Sydney Regionals and top 128 at the EUIC.

This will be James’ 3rd time in Worlds day 2, the first one being 2016, which shows he’s an experienced player and an avid GS Cup player. This will be a huge help for James as he tries to turn his fate around at the final event of the season.

Matthias Loong (1041 CP)

Young Matthias Loong is the other Singaporean playing at Worlds Day 2 this year. The first time he played competitively was back in 2017, when he was still a Seniors player. That year, he started getting great placements at events and eventually got himself up to top 4 at Brazil Internationals.

After that, he wasn’t able to play in 2018 as he had to focus on school, but he is back for his first Worlds — and straight into Day 2! He’s shown he’s adapted to the Masters Division dynamics with strong results like his top 8 at Oceania Internationals, which flew him to Berlin, where he placed within the top 32. He’s also collected top cut results at Special Events in the Oceania region. We’ll be expectant to know from him!

Ismat Myron (1041 CP)

The first Malaysian player qualified for the Day 2 this season. After being told about this season’s split Travel Award system, he started to play after Internationals in São Paulo and managed to top 8 two Special Events and win a third one with a Z-Psych Up Kyogre. Then, he got top 16 at the AUIC, securing a travel award to Berlin.

Ismat started to take part in the community as a local events caster for Team Pila-pika back in 2015. Two years later he attended his first official tournament as player and, since then, he’s played 9 Special Events, making it into cut in every single of them.

This weekend he will compete at his first World Championships Day 2. Will we see Malaysia within the top cut countries for the first time?

Kevin Ngim (988 CP)

The second Malaysian player and final Day 2 attendee for Oceania is also a veteran in the game. Kevin has been playing VGC since 2012, but he didn’t have the chance to attend a sanctioned event until 2015.

Since then, he has been able to top cut almost every event he’s played, which has earned him a Worlds day 1 invite every year. In 2017 he flew to Anaheim to play the event, and this is his second Worlds — and first with a Day 2 invite.

Kevin has a strong rivalry with Melvin Keh, so it will be interesting to see them facing each other on stream this weekend.

Day 1 players

For those unaware on how the qualification system works, all players living in Oceania with 300 or more CP at the end of the season get invited to play at the day 1 of the World Championships and may play on the Friday Swiss rounds against other Day 1 qualifiers if they wish to attend. Those with 2 or fewer losses at the end of the day (x-2) will advance to Day 2, where they will play with the top players of each rating zone, automatically invited to Saturday.

The following list comprises all players with 300 or more CP in the Asia-Pacific rating zone, and is based on the official Play! Pokémon leaderboard.

400+ CP

300-399 CP

400+ CP

300-399 CP

Closing words

Congratulations to all Oceania players having qualified for the World Championships! We wish you all the best of luck.

If you’re not attending but will be following their struggle from home, check the Pokémon website for detailed infos on the live stream. If you’re looking for a timetable of the stream times, click here.