- September 3, 2026
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Briggs Theriault, 12, doesn’t just play the Pokémon Trading Card Game. He lives it.
As the 12th ranked junior player in the United States and Canada, and 26th globally, he will talk to a friend about it or imagine states of the game in his head.
“Eats, sleep and breathe Pokémon. Wake up. Building decks," his parent Megahann Theriault said.
When he went to Venice Sports Cards and Collectibles last year, the goal was for him to get into sports cards, but he was more drawn to the Pokémon cards.
“I love competition. I love learning new things. It's just I love the strategy and the learning of the game,” Briggs said.
His passion led him to attend his first event in June 2025. It was just for fun, as it was the final event of the season, but it was where he became aware of the competitive scene.
He formed two goals: to reach the top eight within that season, and to reach the world championships, but also to perform well at them.
The Nokomis resident is now headed for the invite-only 2026 Pokémon World Championships at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from Friday, Aug. 28 to Sunday, Aug. 30.
The event comes shortly before Pokémon celebrates its 30th anniversary in September.
“I think when he first told us that he wanted to chase the World's invite last year, we didn't really even know what that meant,” said parent Gisele Theriault. “We're just like, OK, sign up for a couple of events and and get some points and make it into Worlds.”
But it entailed much more than that, his parents found.
“We showed up at the first event and were really faced with some eye-opening realizations of, it's not as easy as we thought it was going to be,” Gisele said.
So far, Briggs has attended 12 major championship events across 4 countries, including international events in Monterrey, Mexico; Toronto, Canada; and London, England.
The international competitions have involved over 300 kids, with chances to place in the top 64, 32, 16, eight and four brackets, as well as finalists.
Briggs has achieved four Top 16 finishes, two Top 8 finishes, and 1 top 4 finish.
Briggs' interest began at Venice Sports Cards and Collectibles and The Dark Side in Sarasota, the stores he played at every week before heading to leagues around the surrounding towns, playing six nights a week.
The immensely popular game, which has produced over 85 billion physical cards worldwide, centers on battles between the eponymous creatures.
Each player shuffles a 60-card deck, draws seven cards, puts down one Basic Pokémon as their Active Pokémon and up to five Basic Pokémon, and sets aside six prize cards, all face-down.
The Prize cards are generally drawn whenever a player defeats an opponent’s Pokémon, and players can also win if the opponent has no Pokémon left in play and no cards left in their deck when they need to draw.
Briggs has now reached a point where he is staying closer to home as he gears up for the World Championships, practicing at home with friends, or with his coach virtually.
Being homeschooled, he has the flexibility to focus on Pokémon when he has an upcoming tournament, then take care of his other responsibilities afterwards.
Briggs' first regional event was in Monterrey, Mexico. Although he said it didn’t go as planned, he called it “still a really cool event to go to.”
That was where he met his best friend and also realized that other young players were using coaches. His friend's parent recommended Ciaran Farah, with whom he has been training since.
At the next event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in October of 2025, Briggs achieved a Top 16 ranking in his bracket.
Prior to that, he had thought he could make it to Worlds, but that event provided the confirmation. He said it wasn't skill alone, but also having a coach, that made the difference.
"It was more of like, 'How did I do that?" he said. "Like, 'Oh my goodness, I just did this.' Like, I went from not really doing well, to having one of the best finishes you can have in the game. There are some kids that just dream of making Top 16."
Ryan Twardosky, a local Pokémon judge, said Briggs asked “question after question” and, that he would say he is "probably the most thorough player."
Twardosky, who runs the leagues at The Dark Side and Venice Sports Cards and Collectibles, helped Briggs understand some of the game's fundamentals.
Formerly a traveling player, he said it was “awesome” to see someone so new to the game pick it up so quickly and do so well.
“He wants to know everything, like very passionate about the game and everything,” he said.
Gisele said the family jokes the game is "like chess on steroids."
“Just when you think you know what's going on, or you can predict what your opponent's going to do, it's like, it all falls apart,” she said. "It's like as many times as you practice, there's still going to be something you've never seen before."
Megahann notes that, unlike with chess, the pieces keep changing. Every time new cards are released, about every two months, Briggs must learn the new cards, and how they work against his own.
Briggs has fun playing though, and, according to him, one of the best parts has been the community. As he heads to World, he's looking forward to seeing his two best friends, as well as friends from around the world.
“I have multiple friends," he said. "I have a friend in Asia. There's so many I love. It's such a fun community.”
“A lot goes into it that isn’t seen from the surface,” Gisele said. “As a parent, one of my favorite things is sitting there in the in the events, watching him compete, because kids are kids, they laugh and joke around and all that, but when he sits down at that table, his focus and the level that he is able to lock in and analyze the game impresses me every single time we go to an event. It's really neat to see all the hard work that's behind the scenes that nobody sees,all come together, and him be able to put all the pieces of it together in order to have a successful run at an event. That's been one of the coolest things to watch as a parent.”
Briggs has also received help from his friend Taylor Johnson, 18, an employee of The Dark Side and one of the top Juniors when he was in Briggs’ age bracket.
Johnson has helped when it comes to navigating the competitive side of the Pokemon world, including mindset and the confidence.
Johnson, when asked to highlight the major factors to consider, said, “I would say just maximizing the chance to get lucky, skill set of it, what to expect, what to play, like what's a good play for an event, like a comfortable deck."
"Because the main thing in Pokemon right now is, I would say, just pick a deck you like and then just grind games with it," he said.
Twardosky emphasizes that Briggs is good at learning the lessons of his mistakes, and not blaming an opponent or repeating them.
At a Seattle tournament in 2026, Briggs learned one lesson he says he'll carry into the World Championships. After starting off with seven wins and zero losses, he let himself relax too much once he was already guaranteed to enter the Top 16.
“I'm just sitting there, so relaxed. I'm like, it's a party at the table, and actually, I win game No. 1," he said.
He ultimately received fifth place.
“There's no relaxing. I’m so mad at myself for doing that," he said. "Even when you're there, never ever give up. Never."
One of his defining moments was a Los Angeles tournament on his birthday, May 10. At that event, he skipped the Top 16 bracket and moved straight into the Top 8, before finishing in the Top 4 in third place.
“The Top 8 game was exceptionally fun, but it was really in Top 4 that was really exciting, because one of my goals is to win an event, and I felt like that tournament was the closest I've ever gotten,” Briggs said.
Gisele notes that to outsiders, Pokémon might look like merely card games or something for kids to do for fun. But she said the skills he's developed include communication, problem-solving, decision-making, sportsmanship and speaking up.
"It's forced him into a lot of situations,” she said. “Some of them could be uncomfortable, but because it puts him in that environment where he has to navigate it, it now helps build his confidence towards things that will pay dividends later in life. So, from the parent side, the thing that's impressed me the most about him competing in this, is the skill sets he's developed through competition.”
The World Championships also offer a combined prize pool of over $2 million, ranging from $50,000 for first place to $5,000 for places 17-32. Prizes can be set aside for scholarship funds.
It's tough competition: Does Briggs feel confident?
“I do. I very much do,” he said.
He said he wanted to thank “mainly all my friends, my coaches, my family for supporting me, just everyone, the judges, the organizers: everyone that helped me get to where I am.”
