As the summer draws to an end it becomes time for the world's greatest pokémon trainers to gather for the biggest competition of the year. The Pokémon World Championships took place over the weekend in Nashville, Tennessee.

The cowboy-themed event saw a wealth of new trainers claim their positions as the planet's greatest players in their respective divisions. The Card Game (TCG) saw Japan's Naohite claim the top spot in the Junior Divison, while USA's Magnus took the Senior Division's title. TGC's Masters Division saw a dominant performance from Germany's Robin Schulz as he beat Jeff Kolenc of Canada 2-0.

Over in the video game tournaments played on Nintendo 3DS' Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon, the Junior Division saw an all Japanese final as Wonn Lee secured a 2-1 victory over Sota Tamemasa, while the Senior Division was swept up by USA's James Evans.

As is tradition with the Pokémon World Championships, the main event was a showdown for the title of the VGC Masters division. This year's finalists consisted of America's Emilio Forbes and Paul Ruiz of Ecuador.

Paul Ruiz brought a team of Incineroar, Tapu Koko, Snorlax, Gastrodon, Salamence, and Kartana providing a good mix of defensive and offensive options. Emilio Forbes sported a team of Tapu Bulu, Gengar, Landorus, Latias, Politoed, and Incineroar taking a more aggressive approach.

The first round saw a close battle with each player losing pokémon one after another until each side was left with two pokémon standing. It was at this point that Emilio Forbes conceded defeat and forfeited the round unconfident that his Incineroar and Landuros combo could take out Ruiz's Snorlax and Mega-Salamence.

The second round opened with Mega-Gengar and Latias facing off against Gastrodon and Mega-Salemence which led to a swift change on Ruiz's side as he switched Salamence out for Snorlax. As Ruiz inched ahead, Forbes executed a last-ditch effort in the form of Gengar's Perish Song, a move that KOs every pokémon on the field if they don't switch out within three turns. However, a clever read from Ruiz saw him eliminate Forbes' Latias as it switched in at the cost of his own Snorlax. With only one pokémon left against Ruiz's two, Forbes forfeited the final match.

You can check out Paul Ruiz team in the video below and see the strategy that has made him 2018's Pokémon Master. If you want to begin preparing for next year's Pokémon World Championships in Washington, DC, you can preorder Let’s Go! Pikachu and Let’s Go! Eevee on Amazon right now--you never know if it will make an appearance. Alternatively, you can relax by watching Ash Ketchum train and compete in a massive Pokémon marathon on Twitch.