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Learn how the 2025 Pokémon TCG Masters NAIC Champion bucked his previous luck and won his first International Championship title.
Winning a Pokémon Trading Card Game International Championship is no easy feat: only three Trainers per age division can earn the title each year. In 2025, the latest Trainer to be enshrined as a North America International Champion in the Masters Division is none other than Isaiah Bradner, a player who was famous for consistently strong finishes but lacked an international crown in the Masters Division—until now.
Bradner finished second to Azul Garcia Griego at the 2022 North America International Championships and second again to Tord Reklev at the 2024 Europe International Championships, but the 2025 North America International Championships title was all his. Through consistent testing, peak gameplay, and the support of some of his best friends, Bradner was able to put all the pieces together for his biggest win yet.
Bradner shed tears after defeating Riley McKay in the 2025 NAIC TCG Masters Finals. He delivered his full impassioned reaction to the masses in New Orleans, including an anecdote about how he forgot his watch in a crucial match that went to time. “I was just super excited above all else. I really let the emotions flow on stage,” Bradner said in an online interview with Pokemon.com. Up to that point, he’d worked hard to keep them down and stay focused until he made the winning play.
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“I was blessed to be in the moment and want to honor the importance of situations like that,” he said while discussing his big win at NAIC. Bradner had won the 2019 North America International Championships in the Junior Division, but this one felt different. “I definitely enjoyed the win back then, but winning this year as a Master felt like a bigger culmination of all my effort.”
Still, much like he did on stage, Bradner went on to comment on how he made mistakes in the second and third game of the final set. It’s that type of mindset that got Bradner and his testing group to the Gardevoir ex deck list that inevitably won the crucial mirror match in the final.
“The Gardevoir ex list was a culmination of months of work, so the final version we played probably only had 100 hours put into it,” he said of his winning deck list.
Bradner is underestimating his efforts there: some competitors might not ever put 100 hours into an entire archetype, much less one list that’s already been refined over the latter half of a season. Bradner and McKay both played decks focused around Gardevoir ex in the Masters Final. But unlike McKay, Bradner also played four copies of Munkidori as well as two unique cards not found in most deck lists—Technical Machine: Turbo Energize and Energy Switch—to fully capitalize on Munkidori’s Adrena-Brain Ability. The way they got to that configuration was arguably even more unexpected.
“The Gardevoir ex list was a culmination of months of work, so the final version we played probably only had 100 hours put into it.”
“We originally started testing the deck with Drifblim, a card that a lot of people probably don’t know about,” Bradner laughed.
And Bradner could be right about that. Drifloon from the Scarlet & Violet expansion has been a common inclusion in Gardevoir ex decks for its hard-hitting Balloon Blast attack, but its Evolution from the same expansion has seen almost no competitive play.
“[Drifblim] spreads 8 damage counters and was being tested as a counter to Shaymin. It already evolves from Drifloon, so it was just an extra space,” he said. “Eventually, we landed on four Professor’s Research, four Munkidori, and two Arven as the best way to play the deck. We figured we didn’t really need Drifloon anymore either because of all the Munkidori damage.”
A few uses of Adrena-Brain can deal with Shaymin more easily than Drifblim can, and that Ability is already one of the strongest available in the Pokémon TCG. The adjustments made were also due to the expected popularity of Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex, a deck that Bradner and company initially struggled against in testing until Henry Chao suggested they “just play a bajillion Munkidori” to deal with Froslass’s incremental damage combined with Budew’s Item lock. At the event itself, Bradner went 4–0 against Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex, including a crucial win against two-time Regional Champion Piper Lepine that proved the strength of their conclusion.
Playing the Pokémon TCG usually means finding friends to help you get stronger along the way. Friends that will listen to you gripe about your last round, friends that practice with you for hours on end, friends that cheer you on during your biggest matches. Bradner was alone when he won on stage, but there were plenty of people backing him up along the way.
“I just want to shout-out all my friends and everyone in my testing group…especially Henry Chao who I’ve been so happy to test and play Pokémon with.” Other players in Bradner’s testing group include Michael Davidson, Andrew Hedrick, Rahul Reddy, and Caleb Rogerson, among others.
“After EUIC [this year], I reached out to Henry and Hedrick (Drick) about working together for the following year,” Bradner said. “I had known Drick for a while, and we often talked about decks and the game. I had just met Henry, but I could tell he was an amazing player who I would love to work with. More importantly, we all really enjoyed hanging out together.”
“I just want to shout-out all my friends and everyone in my testing group…especially Henry Chao who I’ve been so happy to test and play Pokémon with.”
After Bradner won the Stockholm Regional Championships this year, he and his friends decided to continue working together to achieve excellent results at a variety of Regional Championships for the remainder of the season. Competitive Pokémon is more than just winning and losing, it’s about challenging each other and growing together.
There are more than the players actively helping him now; Bradner owes his start with Pokémon to his childhood friend Luke among others.
“I also really want to shout-out my childhood friends for getting me to play Pokémon,” he said. These friends were people Bradner met when he was nine years old, and there’s one moment from his first time playing that still sticks with him.
“It’s funny, Luke actually mentioned wanting to play with Prize cards, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that. But then he explained what Prize cards actually were,” Bradner laughed. “Yeah, I want to thank them for getting me into Pokémon in the first place.”
Every Champion has to start somewhere after all, and this one is still just getting started. Bradner now has Regional and International Championships titles under his belt, but there’s still one trophy left to go in Anaheim, California.
Since his big win, Bradner admittedly hasn’t thought much about testing his latest deck list or practicing for the World Championships. It takes a lot to win at an International Championships, and even the best players need to take time to recharge, especially if they’re a student at Dartmouth College.
“I’m a college student and not usually at home so right now I’m enjoying my time at home with my siblings and parents,” he said. “We enjoy playing a lot of puzzle games together. I also play Ultimate Frisbee for my school, so recently, I got my brother to play with me in a summer league, and it’s been a lot of fun.”
When Bradner isn’t slinging damage across the board with Munkidori’s Adrena-Brain, he’s out there tossing frisbees with the best of them, including his own testing group. Once he’s done relaxing, he doesn’t anticipate that his preparation for Worlds will change in any way despite the increased competition.
“I don’t view preparing for Worlds as very different from preparing for a Regional or an IC because I’m practicing with the same intensity all year long,” he said. “I’ll play against Hedrick on [Dragapult ex] or Caleb on [Gholdengo ex], so I’m already practicing against the best players on the best decks.”
Not to mention that Bradner has already come close to becoming a World Champion. Last year, he finished in 5th place in Honolulu, Hawai’i, with arguably the strongest deck in the tournament: Regidrago VSTAR.
“I don’t view preparing for Worlds as very different from preparing for a Regional or an IC because I’m practicing with the same intensity all year long.”
“My placement at Worlds was amazing, but losing the Top 8 match is what really stuck in my mind,” he said. “I felt like I was the best [Regidrago VSTAR] player in the room and could have won the whole thing. The difference between Top 8 and Top 4 is also massive.”
Even sharing that personal disappointment, Bradner’s positivity shone through with a bright smile. He knows what he’s capable of, and this year’s World Championship in Anaheim, California, is an opportunity to do even more. Gardevoir ex is arguably the strongest deck in the upcoming Standard format, and Bradner has already proven that he can pilot a popular deck to massive success.
There’s no telling what he and his testing group will come up with. One thing’s for certain: Bradner is going to be in the mix to win it all, and he’s going to push for it with a golden smile.
Don’t miss the action when the 2025 Pokémon World Championships kickoff on August 15!
Source: Pokemon.com and The Pokémon Company
Source: Pokemon
