^ Looks right to me. I think 2006 Worlds format was the best of all time. From best-worst for me:
2006: Literally a dozen decks I can think of made an appearance over the season: Mewtric, Eeveelutions, Queendom, Dragtrode, Metanite, Powtar, Rock Lock, LBS, Delta, Ludicargo, Bancham, and Mynx. There was such an incredible balance in the metagame. So many games were close. There was a lot of skill involved with many great cards like Pow! Hand Extension, Rockets Admin. and Scramble Energy. Flaws? Can't think of any.
2005: While there were a little fewer decks than 2006 viable this season, the incredible amount of skill involved is a huge part of what makes this the second best format all time. Rock Lock had one of the most dominant runs of any deck in history during the Gym Challenge season, winning over half of them. This gave rise to Medicham, which took U.S. Nationals. Both decks were bested by Worlds' best surprise deck: Queendom. 2nd place was Powtar, which would become more popular the following season (although I think it is one of the most underrated decks ever). I guess you could say there was a little less balance this season compared to 2006, but not really. Hard to find many flaws.
2007: I am going to specify I think this format definitely rivals 2005 and even 2006 prior to Diamond and Pearl's release as the best. There were a good amount of decks running around during States and Regionals and there was enough left over from previous seasons to keep a lot of skill in the game. Speed Spread (or Absolutions) stayed under the radar much of the season and was able to capture States, Regionals, Nationals and World Championships. Speed Spread was hardly dominant, however. I think DP's release was bad timing as this season was great before it. Flaws: a lot of reliance on Holon's Castform starts and the beginning of T1 losses coming back into the game (Riolu winning 5 games alone at Worlds Grinder rings a bell).
2004: Not as many people played this season as the following ones, but I definitely think it is a solid format. The only thing that keeps me from putting it higher was Blaziken's early dominance in the season. Not only was Blaziken unquestionably the best deck during Cities, but it became even more powerful with the release of Blaziken ex in Team Magma/Team Aqua. Of course, had anyone actually came up with Magma before the Japanese did, it's possible that Blaziken wouldn't have taken as many States as it did. It was when Hidden Legends debuted that this season got really good. Stadium Challenges, Nationals and eventually Worlds had many different decks. A surprise deck won Worlds and many others did well there or previously (Walrein, Wailord, Bellossom teched into Blaziken).
2008: I really think this format gets a bad rap, especially on this forum. I admit I did not like it at times, but compared to the heap of garbage we've had the last 2.5 years 2008 looks like a great format. I won't say it was great but it was definitely solid. While there were basically three big cards all year that sucessfull decks ran (Gardevoir, Empoleon and Magmortar) there was still quite a bit of skill involved in mirror matches (because that's often what you played). Scramble Energy still being legal was the best part of this format. While Gardevoir dominated the latter part of the season, there is no way it was unbeatable and had it not been the choice of many great players for Worlds, Empoleon could have very well won. And the same goes for U.S. Nationals.
2009-2011. Ever since Luxray GL LV.X came out I feel as if things have gotten worse and worse. More fast cards keep coming out with little to no recovery. Just compare the recovery cards today to those back in 2004-2008:
Twins - LOL, not even close to the same thing as Oracle, are you kidding me? Decks like Vilegar that are somewhat reliant on Twins can crap out early and whiff Energy/stuff. Wouldn't happen with Oracle. No comparison.
Scramble Energy - Double Colorless Energy? Uh, DCE kind of causes some of the donks we have now and it speeds up the format even more. Scramble got decks and strategies built around it.
Pow! Hand Extension - No current replacement.
As far as game design, I think things have gone really downhill. Although, Black and White looks like it could be heading the right direction. The implementation of the new rules in this format would be disastrous, but honestly, this season has been such a mess anyways that it is worth taking a Nationals and Worlds donkfest for (hopefully) years of balance and skill (like in 2004-2008).
Just my thoughts.
2006 format tournament at Worlds, PLEASE! I'll make it happen if nobody else will.
