Jasmin holding her Giratina V card. — *Jasmin holding her favorite attacker: Giratina V.*

I had the chance to chat with Jasmin Kirchherr: a Germany-based Pokemon TCG player who is one of the few to meet the difficult qualification requirements for this year’s Pokemon TCG World Championships. What is especially incredible about Jasmin’s journey is that she was able to achieve this feat on her very first season as a competitive Pokemon TCG player.

Getting an invite to Worlds means Jasmin has proven herself to be an exceptional Pokemon TCG player, and will get to compete in the exclusive World Championships taking place this August in Honolulu – a dream-come-true for many trainers.

In this interview, Jasmin highlights what it looks like to make it as a competitive player, her love for the game, and what’s next in her Pokemon journey.

The Interview with Jasmin Kirchherr

Question: What do you do aside from playing the Pokémon TCG?

Jasmin: Besides playing the Pokémon TCG competitively, I work at a university as a licensed psychotherapist for children and adolescents. On top of that, I am involved in teaching psychology students and conducting research.

By now, the Pokémon TCG takes up most of my free time and I tend to spend almost every weekend playing the game, which I absolutely love. I am also one of three league leaders of a Pokémon league in my area in which I plan and organize local Pokémon TCG events.

Q: How did you get into the Pokémon TCG?

Jasmin: Pokémon has always been a huge part of my life. I learned to read by playing Pokémon video games when I was young and I have played every single game since. I also used to collect trading cards with my boyfriend.

Then, at some point, I thought: why shouldn’t I give the Pokémon TCG a try? I hadn’t played any trading card game before.

In March 2023, I went to a hobby tournament in a Pokémon League for the first time and I had so much fun! Ever since, I started spending my weekends in the Pokémon League regularly (accompanied by several cute mimikyu plushies, e.g. Sir Mimikyu), but I still wasn't playing competitively at that point.

Once challenges and cups were returning after the pandemic, I was slowly getting involved more and things went quite well. I gained my first championship points and started competing in the TCG with my first SPE in Barcelona in September 2023.

Q: What did the grind to earn a Worlds invite look like for you?

Jasmin: When I was earning my first championship points, I had no intention of qualifying for the World Championships. That's why I didn't even think about the CP threshold and how to get there. I simply kept playing until I realized that I was earning more and more championship points – eventually I decided to simply give it a go and try to qualify for the World Championships.

I was playing tournaments in Pokémon Leagues pretty much every weekend to keep improving as a player. As of now, I am also part of a testing group with some friends. We usually meet before major events to test and discuss matchups.

Q: How do you feel about the changes being made to the Worlds Invite system?

Jasmin: After all the discussions on X about this year's World Championship qualifying structure, I was already expecting some changes. As I've only played the Pokémon TCG competitively for one single season, I don't believe I'm in a position to judge specific changes.

All in all, however, I do think that it’s up to TPCi to decide on how big or exclusive they want their World Championships to be. Personally, these changes are not having any impact on how much I enjoy playing competitively. This season, I finished 75th in Europe (5th in Germany) – so hopefully, if I continue to improve as a player and on a personal level, I might have a chance to qualify again. If my performance is good enough to qualify, then I'll see that as a bonus for the season and will be extremely happy – if it doesn’t suffice, I'll keep on working to improve.

Q: What deck or decks did you play during the season?

Jasmin: The first deck I ever played was Turbo Lost Box – and I'm actually not sure what made me start playing that deck specifically. When I saw Comfey's ability for the first time, I thought: What is this? Why should I put cards away from my deck forever? That doesn't make any sense…haha!

Once I understood the (very powerful!) mechanic behind Lost Box, I had tons of fun playing it. When the season started, I spent most of my time playing that deck until Iron Hands ex came out in November 2023, at which point I switched to a Lost Box variant with Charizard ex, which I played for a few months. It was a lot of fun and got me my first Day 2 at Gdansk Regional. Towards the end of the season, I magically discovered the beauty of Lost Tina, which has been the most enjoyable deck for me so far. I absolutely love playing it.

Since I've only played Lost Box all season, I was really afraid to pick up another deck without Comfeys. I just couldn't convince myself to try something different, out of fear that I might not be able to be good at it. So after I had secured my Worlds Invite, I finally felt confident enough and switched to playing Snorlax Stall at NAIC, growing and improving as a player, overcoming my concerns.

Q: What are the advantages of Lost Box and how did that help you stand out in a competitive field?

Jasmin: In general, the Lost Box mechanic is very powerful! I particularly like the fact that Lost Box is so versatile and adapts whenever the meta changes. On top of that, it can be combined with various bigger attackers (e.g. Dragonite V – I miss you, buddy!).

What helped me the most to stand out in a competitive field was that I had so much practice with the deck, as I hadn’t played any other deck, so I was able to improve my play style gradually, also improving my pace of play (which can be very helpful to get more wins and less ties).

Q: Now that you’ve made it to world’s, what would you say it takes for someone to achieve this?

Jasmin: In my opinion, the most important thing is to play a deck that suits your own playstyle, to have game plans for every matchup and to test them in detail! In this context, I really enjoy benefitting from my testing friends’ experiences and knowledge.

Recently, I started practicing for the World Championships, and I came to realize that it is really important to play different decks in testing sessions, in order to get a deep understanding of how these decks function and hence understand how to successfully counter these decks. Overall, it is crucial to learn in which order you have to take your actions – it can also be helpful to discuss possible plays with an open hand within a test group.

On a personal level, I think it's essential to have the ability to critically reflect on your plays. The games I've learned the most from are those that I've lost. When losing, I reflect on the reasons behind my misplays and appreciate the lessons they teach me for future games. Being self-critical while also not being too harsh to yourself can be challenging – it’s something I’ve only started to be conscious of and need to improve on even further.

Q: What’s next for you in the Pokémon TCG world? Any new goals or ambitions

My primary goals include performing consistently well at major events, reaching Day 2 more often and, above all, maintaining my love and enjoyment for the Pokémon TCG.

My takeaways from my interview with Jasmin

Jasmin had a lot of great things to say in our interview about her Pokemon Journey so far so it’s almost difficult for me to break down all of my takeaways. Below I’ll highlight my biggest takeaways from the interview.

The impact Pokemon has on us

For starters, I like the way she highlighted how impacted by Pokemon she was at a very early age. Those who are new to Pokemon or who maybe didn’t grow up with it could easily miss just how important this “phenomenon” actually is to people. Jasmin even learned how to read from playing the games so needless to say it seems to have been a very important part of her life.

I can relate to that as well as Pokemon was also a massive part of my life and helped kindle the desire for adventure I still have today.

Stick with one deck

On the TCG specific side of things, Jasmin’s advice about playing one deck and really mastering it and also gradually adapting it as the meta changes is crucial. With so many options out there, it’s easy to get shiny new object syndrome and go for whatever ace new deck comes out. Doing so, however, makes it hard for you to ever master the ins-and-outs of any given deck or strategy. It’s much better to master one deck and improve it and yourself over time.

Learn from your defeats

Jasmine also highlights a very important aspect of self improvement in Pokemon TCG and in life: it’s vital to critically evaluate your performance and learn from it. It’s all too easy in a game heavily impacted by chance to simply get mad about bad luck after a difficult loss. It’s far harder and more rewarding to learn from it and improve.

Lastly, her attitude towards the Pokemon TCG as a competitive game is something we can all learn from: the important thing is to learn and grow our own skills, regardless of what changes come to the competitive circuit.

To learn more about Jasmin, give her a follow on X!

A Pokémon TCG Player’s Journey to Worlds in Her First Season