Eighth grader Spencer Perez-Dormitzer has the rare distinction of being in the top eight of the senior division Pokémon players in the world, actually he’s number five.

The 13-year-old Mattapoisett resident is now someone to be reckoned with in the highly competitive subculture of Pokémon Trading Card Game battles.

But first, what is Pokémon TCG? Basically it’s a card game where players choose 60 of their cards to create a deck against which they play others.

The trick is to collect and assemble decks of cards that can combat opponents, and those who are serious about it have numerous decks that they use for different strategies.

“You have to predict what kind of people are going to be playing what decks,” Spencer explained.

Spencer and his younger brother Ethan, who came in ninth in his age group at the World Championship in 2014, got into Pokémon three years ago.

“A friend showed us and we got hooked,” said Spencer.

Soon the two were playing in tournaments.

His first year, Spencer said, “I made top four out of states, which was really good in my eyes.” He also made it to the World Championship, though the following year he didn’t qualify.

This year Spencer made it to the top four in regionals, “which is insanely good,” and it gave him the points he needed to qualify for the World Championship in San Francisco last month.

With two of four kids who are really into Pokémon (the others are too young to play yet), Spencer’s parents, Jason and Marissa, have gotten used to the fact that it comes with road and plane trips.

“Pokémon, when you get competitive, gets really travel intensive,” said Jason.

During the past Pokémon season, Jason took the kids to a regional tournament in Florida and drove eight hours to another competition in Pennsylvania, so he wasn’t sure if they could make it all the way to California.

But, said Jason, “The lights were a little too bright.”

Scraping together airline points, they made it happen with Ethan coming along, too.

The event, held Aug. 18 to 20, was the second time Spencer competed at the top level, playing against other junior-high aged kids from Japan, Indonesia and Brazil.

Getting ready he said, “I’ve heard about a lot of the players and I feel intimidated.”

Each match is the best of three games, and Spencer got off to a rocky start. With one win and two losses, he had to win three consecutive games to advance.

Spencer said having his little brother along helped him out in a big way, but don’t tell Ethan that.

“I’m so glad he came,” said Spencer. “He kind of yelled at me to play a certain deck and I'm happy he did.”

Spencer won several games. Then his luck ran out and the luck of the draw, for once in the two days, did not go his way.

It would have been nice to win, but Spencer is pretty happy with his top eight status, which comes with swag and some prestige. He won $5,000 in scholarships, a new backpack and playing mat as well as special playing cards.

He’s also a force to be reckoned with in a game where titles also come with a certain level of respect.

“Before this tournament, I wasn’t the best player in the world. I was some guy who's pretty good, but I’m intimidating now.”