PJCS2026 Senior Champion Ono Ryusei Recalls Pokemon Champions Finals
The Pokemon Japan Championships (PJCS), the annual tournament that decides Japan’s top Pokemon battler, carried extra weight in 2026 as it coincided with Pokemon’s 30th anniversary. The game division used Pokemon Champions, whose Nintendo Switch version launched in April and smartphone version in June, fueling record excitement. Ono Ryusei captured the Senior category (open to players born 2010-2013), becoming the first Pokemon Champions champion after beating Kitazawa in a dramatic best-of-three final. Both teams shared Aerodactyl, Charizard, Garchomp, and Kingambit, though Ono’s Aerodactyl was built around Mega Evolution with Aerodactylite, while Kitazawa’s was a support set holding a Focus Sash with only Rock Slide.
Match 1 saw Ono take an early lead as Mega Aerodactyl knocked out Kitazawa’s Sneasler and barely survived Kingambit’s Iron Head. But fortune turned when Mega Aerodactyl missed Dual Wingbeat twice in a row on Garchomp, a 90-accuracy move with just a 1% chance of two straight misses, handing Kitazawa the opener. In Match 2, Ono switched to a supportive role with Tailwind and Wide Guard, correctly predicted Kitazawa’s Garchomp switch, and let Rough Skin damage finish off Sneasler. He then deliberately left Kitazawa’s Aerodactyl alive to deny a Mega Charizard Y and Garchomp pairing, sealing a convincing win to force a decider.
In the deciding match, both players stuck with their losing leads, and a failed read on Turn 3 nearly cost Ono everything. His Basculegion was flinched by Rock Slide, while Mega Aerodactyl was paralyzed by Fatal Claw, a crippling status for a speed-reliant Pokemon. Ono still mapped a path to victory, correctly predicting Mega Floette as Kitazawa’s final Pokemon. Sylveon’s Hyper Beam, boosted by Pixilate and Mega Floette’s Fairy Aura, knocked out Kingambit, while Garchomp’s Rock Tomb lowered Mega Floette’s speed. That set up a one-on-one between paralyzed Mega Aerodactyl and slowed Mega Floette, where Rock Slide landed and triggered a game-winning flinch, followed by a clutch Dual Wingbeat, the same move that missed twice earlier, to seal the championship.
Afterward, Ono revealed he and Kitazawa had only met that day, bonding with small talk before the finals and shaking hands despite Ono briefly forgetting their agreement amid the adrenaline. He contrasted this year’s roaring, packed venue with the spectator-free PJCS2022, and described preparing by testing many teams in the unfamiliar Mega Evolution meta before locking in his Aerodactyl-Sylveon-Charizard-Garchomp core. His competitive past includes a runner-up finish in his first PJCS and a Top 4 result the next year, but overconfidence led to a PJCS2024 qualifying failure that reignited his drive. With the WCS, which uses the open team sheet BO3 format he loves, ahead, Ono is balancing training with his final year of middle school. A redemption arc like this is what competitive Pokemon is all about.
