I will try to keep this as short as possible.

This was a challenge at my regular locals(small, 10 people) , so I already knew and enjoyed playing with the regulars. This time a couple new people came which is always great to see.

For one of my games, I was against one of the new guy who was playing Slop box (I think it’s called). I was excited because it’s the first time I’ve seen the deck in person.

Anyways, this guy was super serious, wouldn’t talk much, eyes tracking my every move, shuffling my deck after I shuffled my own. It made me super nervous.

Fast forward to near the end of game, I knocked out his 2 prize Latias but accidentally reached to draw 2 cards off my deck instead of my prize cards, he called it out (rightly so) and I put it on top of the deck. The cards never made it to my hand and I importantly never saw them. To add more context, I was playing Zam so there was less than 10 cards in deck at this point of the game.

I said I was sorry and asked him if he wanted me to leave the cards on top or shuffle. He said shuffle, so I did and we carried on. I ended up winning. He immediately got up and started to speak to the shop owner.

Next began like a 10-15 minute conversion with the shop owner who called a head judge on his phone. I already said 5 minutes in that I am okay to concede as it was my mistake (and I’m really here to have FUN) but the conversations continued. My opponent just kept digging for reasons for it to be a two prize penalty (he would have won if it was the case).

The shop owner and head judge eventually ruled that because we can’t prove I looked at the cards I drew and the shuffling of the deck does not give me any clear advantage, the actions after the mistake in the game were fine to do so (the owner offered to look at the CCTV 😭 to my opponent). My opponent kept pushing but that was the final rule, it just left the entire night feeling sour, especially because I know I made the mistake but my opponent was out for blood. He came 2nd place in the end and I cost him 1st (I came fourth which I was proud of since it was my second challenge)

Is this normal? Will games where I get nervous and tired at the end of the day require me to never make a mistake? Do players seriously do this?

Another week another regional. As we return to North America, thousands were there to witness another Pult mirror match in the grand finals, along with the crowning of the Regional World Regional Champion Andrew Hedrick.

Top Cut

The now infamous Hedrick 60 takes another win. His list has not changed at all since Louisville, which was itself only a 1-card difference from his list at Baltimore or his list at Worlds (so it’s more like the Hedrick 59). The philosophy of no gimmick counters like Moltres or Dudunsparce ex continues to work out for him. I’d be remiss to not mention the minor (?) controversy which happened during the finals regarding his play which perhaps should’ve let to a punishment, but I won’t dwell on it further. Feel free to make up your own mind on this. As for Dragapult itself, there were 6 of them total in the top 8 (feel free to groan), 5 of which were Hammers and a single Dusknoir at 7th playing the Patrat build popularised by Henry Chao at Worlds. The best Blaziken variant is all the way down at 28th.

Nathan Ginsburg’s Alakazam Dunsparce made top 3 running a much heavier Lillie’s Clefairy package than what was considered standard before: 2 Clefs, 3 Wondrous Patches, and 3 Lillie’s Pearl (extra as an attachment for Genesect). The Flutter Mane also finds itself here as a Festival Lead counter. Obviously this went all in on the anti-Pult matchup and worked out splendidly for him, beating every Pult he faced up until the semifinals. This list is also shared by Piper Lepine, who barely finished out of cut at 9th. In contrast, the highest placing Alakazam Dusknoir is at 58th, quite a ways away, as perhaps that variant’s surprise factor is wearing thin.

Eduardo Dueñas was the final top cut participant with another Lopunny Bronzong Dusknoir deck. This deck took a bit of a dip at Nice but proves yet again to be a contender. This build is extremely similar to the list that got top 8 at Frankfurt, trading out a few situational cards for more mobility in Latias as well as 2 Mist Energies.

The Usual Suspects

Prism Box is the most successful Basic Box variant at this tournament, piloted by aaron arturo aguirre osuna. The list is more interesting than normal because it also runs Crispin as a light hybrid build to make the coloured energies easier to find. The 'pure' Crispin variant has its most successful appearance at 32nd.

We have a lot of high-placing N’s Zoroarks here, 12th being the best result by jonatan torress. It’s another N’s Purrloin + Mochi list, in contrast to some others who preferred Punk Helmet for their math fixing.

Rounding out top 16 is Angel Daniel’s Hydrapple Meganium. Compared to the 3rd place at Nice this one runs more Meowth ex + Celebi for a better early game consistency at the slot cost of Poke Pads & Briar, but it’s just Hydrapple otherwise.

I’ll give Dragapult Dudunsparce its own slot here for its 18th finish by Jonathan Fabrizio Bellucci Lanciano. This one is more similar to the winning list at Prague half a year ago with Hero’s Cape than Martin Bech’s 20th place list (which is much more similar to Tord’s list at Nice), and also features a Yveltal for clutching purposes, along with double Judge for Alakazam and even a Lillie’s Clefairy for the mirror.

Dhelmise Spiritomb got 19th in the hands of Jorge Alejandro Sánchez González. It’s not as good as the previous majors but top 32 is still quite good, signalling a decent long-term prospects for the archetype. This list is near identical to Maxime’s at Nice except for an extra Pokegear for more consistency.

Jeancarlo de Jesus Sanchez Bolon’s Slowking found itself at 25th this tournament, much further from cut than usual. The deck itself hasn’t changed from the standard, if running 1 Mew can be considered the standard.

Right below is Sanjeev Viswan’s Crustle at 26th. This one gets an extra line for running the 1-of Gravity Gemstone, but otherwise unremarkable.

The last of our top 32 is Ciaran Farah’s 29th place Festival Lead. It’s the Dipplin version.

The Wider Metagame

In top 128 there were some other frequent decks that placed decently well.

• Rocket’s Honchkrow at 45th. Rocket’s Mimikyu is slowly finding its way into more and more lists, along with the occasional Hilda.
• Mega Excadrill at 49th.
• Rocket’s Mewtwo at 59th.
• Mega Lopunny Froslass at 62nd.
• Mega Lucario Hariyama at 74th. In this tournament, it looks like Unfair Stamp has become the primary Ace Spec for the archetype.
• Mega Sharpedo at 77th.
• An honest-to-goodness Joltik Box at 84th. I’ll give this one a bit of a rundown since you don’t see it very often. It runs the Rocket’s Kang + Articuno package for Zam, Passimian for Basic Box, and 2 Pikachu ex + Lightball as its nuke. This same player, Angel daniel Cardenas eduardo, has been running this archetype for a long time, and I’m genuinely glad that he managed to find decent success with it here.
• Marnie’s Grimmsnarl at 91st. Deck is barely relevant but it’s here.

Other Day 2s

• Hand-based Chandelure at 297th.
• Mega Chandelure at 347th.
• Arboliva Meganium at 163rd.
• Starmie Froslass Dusknoir at 135th.
• Mega Absol Audino at 184th.
• Archaludon Metang at 150th.
• Jellicient Dusknoir at 289th.
• Joltik Eelektrik Manectric at 344th.
• Beedrill at 346th.
• Cynthia’s Garchomp at 244th.
• Clefairy Box at 246th.
• Hop’s Trevenant at 270th.
• Okidogi Barbaracle at 256th.

Summary

The metagame is currently at a stand still, as there weren't enough good pieces from 30th (it was a collector's set after all) to really shake anything up. We can only hope Talonflame / Mega Rayquaza breathes some fresh air into the format, but there’s no guarantee. If the upcoming tournaments don’t have anything interesting to talk about, I’ll probably skip coverage on them until LAIC.

I miss G block.

We got into pokemon by the typical story...my son 6 at the time started collecting the cards with his friends, then he wondered how to play, so we learned together playing in our kitchen and we really got into it, built really good decks and then started going to our local to play others, he met a bunch of kids and got along well, I ended up meeting a few dads who had gotten into the game same as I had, we had a blast. Every week playing local and a lot of nights at home testing out ideas and moves battling each other.

He was playing charizard and I was playing raging bolt or dengo. He won a local tournament with his charizard deck!

We learned so much, we had always feared Gardevoir and just got stomped by him regularly but we learned to battle him pretty well eventually. I got pretty decent at beating him with gholdengo/lopunny.

Then rotation happened.

We went to some pre-releases, they were fun, my son was bummed to lose his charizard deck, but we rolled with the punches. We pivoted, me into a post rotation bolt deck (missed my Sada's/earthen vessels lol) and him into lucario or he would just play my bolt deck (better than me ha!). But it just wasn't the same. We missed the old format. We missed the classic MUs we had fallen in love with. Yep, we even missed ol stinky Gardevoir. The game started to feel more lame than the one we had learned. My son kind of burnt out on it and without his enthusiasm the cracks started showing in the hobby, like it just wasn't fun enough for me to sustain.

The thing about being in a chapter...you never really know it's a chapter until it's over. Now looking back on it, I can see it for what it was, a really sweet chapter with my son learning to play pokemon and collecting cards (he got full art Meowth in a pack!), building decks, having him lean over my shoulder watching me play and whisper some really brilliant move into my ear, how proud I was when he won the tournament and how stoked he was about it all.

The chapter is over, we don't play the game anymore, the binders are all stored away for him to remember about 15 years from now, the nostalgia is already setting in.

I love that we still have some pokemon cards scattered around the house. I use them as bookmarks. It makes me smile to see the characters scattered around ❤️

I’ve seen some lists that seem interesting from that deck and I would like to try it, but when I was watching some lists I noticed that there is not any bench protection, so I wondered how do you deal with M-Starmie, Zoroark, or Slowking?

Given the absolute state the TCG is in, finding single packs is almost impossible in my area and I’ve heard mixed things about buying online due to scammers.

I play the TCG pocket version and love that. But I really want to learn the game and compete in my local scene with some friends as it’s pretty popular but I’m not really sure how else to get my hands on an even remotely viable deck. Are any of the “battle ready” decks worth the money? And are any of them viable?

Hi everyone. I am a student sponsoring a Pokémon TCG club at my school. It has a lot of kids who want to build decks, but I'm underfunded and the kids aren't willing to donate cards that may be useful. Also, what formats do you recommend, if a format is recommended? Should we have a ban list? Should we allow proxies? Should we focus more on teaching newbies or getting the people who know how to play to build viable decks? I need a bit of help and can't manage it on my own.

Pre release was super fun at my store. Lost all day thanks to the bugs but the pack ripping got me cool stuff I actually wanted.

One issue though that I think is important enough to make a post about it: guys can we be more mindful that not everyone wants you to look through their deck after losing and listen to your advice?

I played against this guy, he was very friendly and all but after our match was over, he asked if I wanted any tips. Which is fine! Respectful to ask.

I gently decline as I'm trying my own thing with the deck and say that to him.

Which he replies by saying "oh yeah that's cool... So listen I studied all the decks and lists and I know the best combos if you want I can help you with that".

Huh? I thought I was clear. So I say again. No thank you, I want to figure this out on my own, I'm going for a funny gamble strategy, etc.

He then proceeded to ask about the cuts and inclusions I made and that I should run this card and that card and that this card wasn't good and BRO.

If I wanted your advice, I would say so. I ask every so often on locals night.

Not everyone wants to listen to you repeat the 1 hour guide on the decks made by your favorite YouTuber.

Hey all! Still newbie here, but slowly learning stuff.

My decklist:

Pokémon: 18

4 Dreepy ASC 158

4 Drakloak ASC 159

3 Dragapult ex ASC 160

2 Munkidori ASC 99

2 Budew ASC 16

1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142

1 Meowth ex POR 62

1 Moltres PFL 14

Trainer: 33

4 Lillie's Determination ASC 192

3 Boss's Orders ASC 183

2 Crispin PRE 105

1 Rosa's Encouragement POR 84

1 Judge SVI 176

4 Crushing Hammer POR 71

4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184

4 Poké Pad POR 81

3 Ultra Ball ASC 213

2 Night Stretcher ASC 196

1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165

2 Special Vest M6 65

2 Risky Ruins MEG 127

Energy: 9

3 Psychic Energy MEE 5

3 Fire Energy MEE 2

3 Darkness Energy MEE 7

(Yes, I know special vest isn't technically out yet. But owner of our locals is already allowing us to play with the cards if we can get our hands on it, which I did).

The two local players that I struggle with the most in my store are a Mega Lucario and Mega Excadrill. Could I get some tips on what my gameplan should be in those matchups?

I asked a similar question before, but only for Mega Lucario. And since I've tweaked my deck since then with Moltres etc, thought I might as well ask again. Thank you all for any tips!

(Also please, don't comment stuff like "Dragapult players don't deserve advice lmao" like one did in the previous post. Just trying to do my best at my local place.)

I went to a Delta Reign pre-release over the weekend and had so much fun! I practiced a bit on TCGL but it was my first time playing in person, so it took me a bit to adjust and I ended up winning 2 of 3 (would have been 1 of 3 but the second guy made a huge mistake and handed me the win)

I got the Enamorus deck and really liked it, big fan of that playstyle. I'd really like to play again before the next pre-release, but I prefer the more casual vibe of the pre-release event as opposed to a super meta, highly competitive environment, so now I'm wondering where I go from here?

I'm assuming the first step would be to upgrade to a 60 card deck since it sounds like 40 card decks are exclusively for pre-release events. I would really like to build out the Enamorus deck since I'm already familiar with it and enjoyed it a lot. Once I'm there, what sort of events/format should I look for in my area? Any other advice?

I'm running mega lucario while still learning the game, here's my list:

Pokémon: 6

3 Solrock MEG 75

2 Makuhita MEG 76

3 Mega Lucario ex MEG 77

2 Lunatone MEG 74

3 Riolu MEG 76

2 Hariyama MEG 73

Trainer: 14

3 Ultra Ball SVI 196

4 Poké Pad ASC 198

2 Judge POR 76

4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119

2 Air Balloon BLK 79

2 Gravity Mountain SSP 177

1 Battle Cage PFL 85

2 Boss's Orders MEG 114

4 Fighting Gong MEG 116

2 Wally's Compassion MEG 132

1 Switch MEG 130

4 Premium Power Pro MEG 124

1 Scoop Up Cyclone PLB 95

Energy: 2

13 Basic {F} Energy MEE 6

Total Cards: 60

Will any of the new cards help or improve the deck when they're legal?

after many prereleases I wanted to join some actual tournaments in my local store and I think about playing pult and still gotta grab unfair stamp and a few other cards. Do you guys think thats actually worth it since pult rotates in march? And what could I play after pult? My favorite deck in the past was raging bolt but i also liked dipplin.

So I'm one of approximately 4 people on this planet that like the big boar guy and I'd really like to make it work somehow.

(I know it's off-meta but I'm tired of this format and just looking for fun lists to play at this point)

It looks decent on paper: 380hp bulk, although you can technically subtract 60 due to the attack's recoil. Still leaves it with some decent tank potential against everything that isn't MegaDrill or hits for weakness. Hits for 320 within a type that has decent energy acceleration (Oricorio, Baby Emboar).

Obviously you'd need some healing - Jumbo Ice Cream, potentially the new Rice Balls and maybe a Wally. Although running Oricorio makes Wally more difficult. From fiddling around I had the feeling that running both Mega and BabyBoar is not feasible because you need those two Stage 2s in play that are competing for the same line to boot.

I guess you could splash a bit of Dark and run a Munki for that theoretical 30hp heal per turn?

I'd probably also add at least two copies of Boss to deny them pivoting their multi-prizers from the active.

This is what I'm currently running, although I'd appreciate any ideas.

Pokémon: 10

2 Mega Emboar ex ASC 31

1 Munkidori TWM 95

2 Oricorio ex PFL 18

3 Dunsparce JTG 120

1 Dudunsparce ex JTG 121

2 Dudunsparce TEF 129

1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 92

1 Chi-Yu TWM 39

3 Tepig WHT 11

1 Pignite WHT 12

Trainer: 15

2 Boss's Orders ASC 183

3 Poké Pad 30C 126

3 Lillie's Determination ASC 192

4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144

1 Energy Retrieval SVI 171

1 Air Balloon BLK 79

2 Battle Cage PFL 85

1 Special Red Card CRI 82

1 Night Stretcher SFA 61

2 Switch MEG 130

2 Hilda WHT 84

1 Dawn PFL 87

3 Jumbo Ice Cream PFL 91

3 Ultra Ball 30C 128

3 Rare Candy MEG 125

Energy: 3

8 Basic {R} Energy MEE 10

1 Neo Upper Energy TEF 162

2 Basic {D} Energy MEE 15

I mostly moved over to other hobbies but want to still have a couple decks for casual locals since it's how most of my friends get together weekly before drinks.

Preferably something that will stay largely unaffected by rotation, doesn't have to be meta or a top10 or whatever deck on limitless, just something fun and easy for locals that i can just leave in my bag and play if i feel like it.

Anyone else get unreasonably annoyed when someone concedes the match instead of letting me finish my game winning turn???

I know im taking it too serious, but I want to actually finish my win ..

Honest question, don't kill me :D

For example if you watch the meta share from this weekend Regional in Mexico.

Day 2 was Pult Hammers as the most and then Slop Box with Clefairy, HnS and even Slowking.

I understand that many great players are piloting the deck. I do.

But when you compare to Pult Noir or Pult Blaziken, the difference come down to 7-9 cards. You drop the "other" line and the candies (and maybe Dawn), for four cards that are a coin flip, a third Pult and maybe more energies.

But then you are exposed. No?

Like how do you deal with a Slop Box when a Clefairy on the board is always a danger, even coming straight from hand.

Or how to you deal with HnS OHKO you easily with the same Clefairy? Same for Slowking. Not usual but can happen.

Besides N'Zoroark and the Megas (Sharpedo/Lucario), most of the decks aiming for Pult (which is like the remaining 80% of the room), actually should be harder for Pult Hammer than any of the other two. Still.. Hammers is top time after time.

After attending my first prerelease (thank you all for the great advice in that post) I am now all in on wanting to continue to learn and build my own decks.

I have purchased a few pre-made decks (mewtwo Ex and the 3022 battle academy) to be able to practice and learn about deck synergy and structure.

But when wanting to build my own, I have a few questions.

I want to find some use for my bulk, but I see that a lot of those cards are no longer legal for standard decks. How strict is that for regular/casual play/open game nights? Am I just out of luck for a bunch of older cards I have?

Also, what is the typical count of each type (Pokémon, trainer, item, stadium, energy, etc.) what should my format be on average?

Thanks all!

Hello,

Making a deck with both relicanths,

Tyrantrum, Aurorus, Archeops and carracosta.

Thoughts on trainers? Fossil Quarry is a for sure stadium

Bubbly and rocky energy

Hilda

This is just to be fun but still trying to make it work! LMK your thoughts!

My local scene is organizing an event for new players and I'm preparing 9 decks (3 SPA, 3 ex, 3 Mega) for new players to pick and try.

Zoroark is too difficult as of now, even for me (never played the deck, but I knowthe game)

Can someone suggest a list that is straight in gameplan (no tomes, no weird plays) and people can pick up and at least try to win with?

And before you say "but Zoroark is difficult!": I know. But N is like super mega popular and everyone wanna play cool dark edgy zoroark.

Please help me!

So I want to take the delta rain, magmortar and electivire build and battle deck and flesh it out. But i'm new to the tcg and i've never built a deck before. I went 3-2 at my pre release with

3 magmar

3 magmortar

1 heatmor

3 electabuzz

2 electivire

2 Hilda

4 Lilly

2 Grisham

2 energy retrieval

3 pokepad

6 fire energy

6 electric energy

The only things I think I wanna add for sure are the mega rayquaza ex and like maybe zinnia

Playing mostly Zam Clefairy for the past days since there are way too many Hide N' Sneaks around for Dusknoir to handle but cant decide between the last card. Flutter Mane is a nice tech into Fest Lead and the 4th cage seems a bit overkill as it's usually a dead card in my hands but it save me in a lot of Pult matchups. I just want to hear your thoughts about both cards

Pokémon: 10

3 Alakazam MEP 9

2 Dudunsparce TEF 129

1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 288

4 Abra MEG 54

1 Lillie's Clefairy ex ASC 280

3 Dunsparce JTG 120

4 Kadabra MEG 55

1 Flutter Mane TEF 78

1 Shaymin DRI 185

1 Genesect SFA 40

Trainer: 15

3 Hilda WHT 164

1 Eri TEF 199

2 Air Balloon MEG 166

4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin MEG 167

1 Special Red Card CRI 82

1 Lana's Aid TWM 219

1 Night Stretcher MEG 173

2 Rare Candy MEG 175

2 Boss's Orders ASC 256

1 Lillie's Pearl JTG 151

4 Poké Pad POR 113

2 Wondrous Patch POR 117

1 Sacred Ash POR 115

4 Dawn PFL 118

3 Battle Cage PFL 116

Energy: 3

4 Telepathic {P} Energy POR 88

2 Basic {P} Energy MEE 13

1 Enriching Energy SSP 191

So i'm planning on making a new deck soon. I'm looking into this card combo for a competitive deck:

- mega golurk ex

- mew ex

- legendary pyroduct

- max belt

- ...

I haven't found a good draw engine for it yet.

It can OHKO almost everything and cancels the self-damage/10card rule.

Would you guys think it'll be any good?

Like what the title says, Basic Box or Raging Bolt is a deck I have been interested in but I got overwhelmed with everything in the deck. However, I know that with practice I could get better. I wanna know if it would be good or a wise choice to commit to this deck or should I just go for Dragapult?

Hello there! My LCS is organizing a Halloween event and part of it is a halloween themed challenge (so basically, decks with a Psychic/Dark core only proxies allowed). I'm pretty new to the game and have no idea what deck to build (I have only played Lucario and Lopunny, but I also enjoyed Basic Box). I could really use some ideas for a good deck that fits the requirements! (instead of failing miserably at creating one without knowledge lol) Any ideas?