Decks:
Abomasnow / Ampharos: 
| Pokémon (25) | Trainers (21) | Energy (14) |
| 4x Spiritomb 4x Abomasnow 4x Snover 3x Ampharos 2x Flaaffy 3x Mareep 2x Uxie 1x Unown Q 1x Unown G 1x Chatot | 4x Pokemon Collector 3x Cynthia’s Feelings 3x Bebe’s Search 2x Underground Expedition 1x Copycat 1x Judge 3x Rare Candy 2x Pokemon Communication 1x Luxury Ball 1x Warp Point | 4x Water Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Call Energy 2x Lightning Energy |
Making T16 at the World Championships, Morten Gundesen took many by surprise with this interesting spread deck. Spiritomb allowed it to setup consistently while slowing down the opponent, while Ampharos’s Damage bind would lock many decks relying on Poke-Powers in the later game. The thick Abomasnow line allowed a constant barrage of spread attacks as well as paralysis aided by the release of Double Colorless Energy.
CurseGar: 
| Pokémon (24) | Trainers (25) | Energy (11) |
| 1x Gengar Lv.X 2x Gengar SF 1x Gengar AR 2x Haunter 3x Gastly 2x Claydol 2x Baltoy 1x Nidoqueen 1x Nidorina 1x Nidoran 1x Dusknoir 1x Duskull 1x Uxie 1x Azelf 4x Spiritomb | 3x Judge 3x Roseanne’s Research 2x Pokemon Collector 2x Bebe’s Search 2x Felicity’s Drawing 3x Rare Candy 2x Warp Point 2x Expert Belt 2x Pokemon Communication 1x Night Maintenance 1x Luxury Ball 2x Moonlight Stadium | 5x Psychic Energy 4x Call Energy 2x Warp Energy |
Frank Diaz used this list to both Grind into Worlds, and finish 3rd at the main event. The early game involves setting up your board quickly with Spiritomb’s Darkness Grace while slowing your opponent down with its Keystone Seal Poke-Body. It then wants to spread early damage with Gengar’s Shadow Room, while trying to set up the other Gengar to Shadow Skip. This eventually allows you to both hit for 80 each turn with Expert Belt, while leaving a Trainer locking Spiritomb active at the end of each turn, ontop of all the small damage modifications and tricks the deck offers.
DialgaChomp: 
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (27) | Energy (12) |
| 1x Dialga G Lv.X 2x Dialga G 2x Garchomp C Lv.X 2x Garchomp C 1x Uxie Lv.X 2x Uxie 1x Claydol 1x Baltoy 1x Crobat G 1x Dragonite FB 1x Drifblim FB 1x Bronzong G 1x Toxicroak G 1x Spiritomb 1x Unown G 1x Unown Q 1x Azelf | 4x Cyrus’s Conspiracy 3x Pokemon Collector 2x Bebe’s Search 1x Judge 1x Aaron’s Collection 4x TGI Poke Turn 3x TGI Energy Gain 2x TGI Power Spray 2x TGI SP Radar 1x Pokemon Communication 1x Night Maintenance 1x Expert Belt 1x Warp Point 1x Switch | 4x Double Colorless Energy 3x Metal Energy (SP) 2x Metal Energy 2x Psychic Energy 1x Warp Energy |
DialgaChomp saw a decent amount of play throughout the season, and Kyle Sucevich managed to pilot it to a T4 finish at US Nationals. Dialga G’s powerful Deafen attack slowed your opponent down enough for you to set up your own board. The end goal was usually to build up a tanky Dialga G Lv.X with Special Metal Energies and an Expert Belt, making it hard for your opponent to deal with. Garchomp C Lv.X’s Healing Breath also allowed you to continuously heal Dialga for little cost, while also sniping any threats on the bench with Dragon Rush.
Donphan: 
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (28) | Energy (11) |
| 4x Donphan Prime 4x Phanpy 2x Claydol 2x Baltoy 2x Uxie 1x Manectric 1x Electrike 1x Entei & Raikou Legend 1x Entei & Raikou Legend 1x Regirock 1x Relicanth 1x Azelf | 4x Pokemon Collector 3x Bebe’s Search 3x Judge 1x Roseanne’s Research 1x Felicity’s Drawing 4x Super Scoop Up 3x Pokemon Communication 2x Expert Belt 1x Bench Shield 1x Warp Point 1x Luxury Ball 1x Night Maintenance 3x Stark Mountain | 7x Fighting Energy 4x Multi Energy |
This deck focused on Donphan’s ability to hit hard quickly, and ability to survive multiple hits. The combination of Stark Mountain and Super Scoop Up allowed it to both get maximum value out of cards like Expert Belt, but set up game swinging turns involving cards like Entei & Raikou Legend. As it didn’t need much to set up and keep going, it played high copies of cards like Judge to try to stunt the opponent’s setup as much as possible. Manectric doubled as an alternative attacker as well as a way to prevent you damaging your own bench with its Electric Barrier Poke-Body.
Flygon / Torterra: 
| Pokémon (26) | Trainers (20) | Energy (14) |
| 1x Torterra Lv.X 2x Torterra UL 1x Torterra SF 2x Grotle UL 3x Turtwig UL 1x Flygon Lv.X 2x Flygon 1x Vibrava 2x Trapinch 2x Claydol 2x Baltoy 1x Nidoqueen 1x Nidorina 1x Nidoran 1x Azelf 1x Bronzong 4 1x Spiritomb 1x Uxie | 4x Bebe’s Search 4x Roseanne’s Research 4x Rare Candy 3x Expert Belt 2x Pokemon Communication 1x Luxury Ball 1x Night Maintenance 1x Memory Berry | 4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Grass Energy 3x Call Energy 2x Psychic Energy 1x Fighting Energy |
David Sturm won Germany Nationals with this deck and went on to reach T32 of the World Championships. It focused on slowly building towards an end game of a tanky Torterra with an Expert Belt healing 60 damage a turn with Giga Drain, while having 180HP and Nidoqueen’s Maternal Comfort healing even more. Flygon provided an alternate attacker and manoeuvrability throughout the game. This list is a modernised take on the deck by Evan Cole from this article.
Garchomp SV: 
| Pokémon (22) | Trainers (27) | Energy (11) |
| 1x Garchomp Lv.X 3x Garchomp 2x Gabite 4x Gible 1x Dusknoir 1x Duskull SH 2x Claydol 2x Baltoy 2x Crobat G 1x Unown G 1x Chatot 1x Uxie 1x Azelf | 4x Bebe’s Search 2x Pokemon Collector 2x Roseanne’s Research 2x Judge 1x Palmer’s Contribution 4x Rare Candy 2x Pokemon Communication 2x Expert Belt 2x Pokemon Reversal 2x Warp Point 1x TGI Poke Turn 1x Luxury Ball 2x Broken Time Space | 4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Call Energy 2x Cyclone Energy 1x Psychic Energy |
Mark Garcia took this rogue archetype to a surprising T8 finish at US Nationals. The release of Double Colorless Energy and Expert Belt made both Guard Claw and Speed Impact very strong attacks for low energy costs which could often OHKO other Pokemon in the format efficiently. Garchomp’s high HP also proved to be troublesome for the formats general reliance on low damaging but disruptive attacks. Cards like Cyclone Energy, Pokemon Reversal and Warp point tried to ensure that you had a constant favourable prize trade, taking cheap knockouts each turn, while also comboing well with Dusknoir’s Dark Palm.
Gardevoir / Gallade: 
| Pokémon (25) | Trainers (22) | Energy (13) |
| 1x Gardevoir Lv.X 3x Gardevoir 1x Gallade 2x Kirlia 4x Ralts 1x Machamp 1x Machop SF 1x Unown G 1x Claydol 1x Baltoy 1x Azelf Lv.X 1x Azelf 1x Uxie 1x Dusknoir 1x Dusclops 1x Duskull 3x Spiritomb | 4x Bebe’s Search 4x Roseanne’s Research 2x Looker’s Investigation 1x Judge 1x Lucian’s Assignment 3x Rare Candy 2x Expert Belt 2x Moonlight Stadium 1x Warp Point 1x Night Maintenance 1x Luxury Ball | 5x Psychic Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy 3x Call Energy 1x Fighting Energy |
Argued to be the true best deck in format, Gardevoir returned to its former glory in 2008 with the release of cards like Expert Belt, Spiritomb and Double Colorless Energy. Spiritomb slowed down your opponent in the early turns while setting up your board quickly with the goal to start locking your opponent out of Poke-Powers with Gardevoir’s Psychic Lock attack. Telepass and Claydol gave the deck insane consistency in the mid-late game and dealing 80 a turn while locking Poke-Powers would eventually be too much for decks to handle.
Gliscor: 
| Pokémon (26) | Trainers (30) | Energy (4) |
| 4x Spiritomb 1x Gliscor Lv.X 3x Gliscor 4x Gligar 2x Claydol 2x Baltoy 1x Luxray GL Lv.X 1x Luxray GL 1x Uxie Lv.X 2x Uxie 1x Azelf 2x Unown Q 1x Crobat G 1x Unown G | 4x Pokemon Collector 4x Roseanne’s Research 2x Bebe’s Search 2x Cynthia’s Feelings 1x Palmer’s Contribution 4x TGI Poke Turn 3x Time-Space Distortion 2x PokeGear 3.0 2x Switch 1x Premier Ball 1x Luxury Ball 4x Broken Time Space | 4x Call Energy |
This deck started appearing and performing well at smaller events earlier in the season especially against unprepared opponents. It focused on setting up a perfect lock using Gliscor Lv.X’s Shoot Poison Poke-Power, then using Gliscor’s Burning Poison to return the cards to the hand while promoting a Spiritomb to prevent the opponent playing trainers. Unfortunately this strategy relied too heavily on a single Poke-Power, and a lot of decks had answers to prevent this like Mesprit, Power Spray or Gardevoir’s Psychic Lock. The lock could also be broken with hand disruption Supporters like Judge or Looker’s Investigation.
Gyarados: 
| Pokémon (23) | Trainers (33) | Energy (4) |
| 4x Sableye 3x Gyarados 4x Magikarp 2x Uxie 2x Crobat G 1x Luxray GL Lv.X 1x Luxray GL 1x Regice 1x Combee 1x Mesprit 1x Azelf 1x Azelf 1x Unown Q | 4x Pokemon Collector 4x Felicity’s Drawing 2x Bebe’s Search 1x Judge 1x Cynthia’s Feelings 4x Pokemon Rescue 4x Super Scoop Up 4x TGI Poke Turn 3x Expert Belt 1x VS Seeker 1x Luxury Ball 4x Broken Time Space | 3x Warp Energy 1x Cyclone Energy |
Continuing to perform well throughout the season after its surprise appearance at the 2009 World Championships, Gyarados only got stronger with the release of Expert Belt – allowing it to hit a whopping 110 damage for 0 energy and 150HP on a stage 1. The AMU lock continued to grow stronger as the format seemingly relied more on Basic Pokemon, especially Pokemon SP. Sableye allowed the deck to setup consistently and quickly, and Felicity’s Drawing and Regice allowed you to get Magikarps into the discard pile to power up Tail Revenge.
Jumpluff: 
| Pokémon (26) | Trainers (28) | Energy (6) |
| 4x Jumpluff 3x Skiploom 4x Hoppip 1x Luxray GL Lv.X 1x Luxray GL 3x Claydol 3x Baltoy 2x Crobat G 2x Uxie 1x Chatot 1x Regice 1x Azelf | 3x Bebe’s Search 3x Roseanne’s Research 2x Pokemon Collector 1x Judge 4x Pokemon Communication 4x TGI Poke Turn 3x Rare Candy 1x Night Maintenance 1x Warp Point 1x Expert Belt 1x Luxury Ball 4x Broken Time Space | 4x Grass Energy 2x Multi Energy |
Performing particularly well in lower age groups, this deck focused on rushing down the opponent with a quick Mass Attack from Jumpluff – often as early as turn 1. The efficiency of the attack made it easier to focus on setting up multiple Jumpluffs with the help of Claydol’s Cosmic Power, with the hope to overwhelm the opponent and take easy prizes. Luxray GL Lv.X allowed you to either target down potential threats or take cheap prizes throughout the game.
Kingdra: 
| Pokémon (22) | Trainers (31) | Energy (7) |
| 3x Kingdra Prime 1x Kingdra 2x Seadra LA 4x Horsea LA 1x Donphan 1x Phanpy SW 1x Dusknoir 1x Duskull SH2 3x Claydol 3x Baltoy 2x Uxie | 4x Roseanne’s Research 4x Bebe’s Search 2x Judge 1x Palmer’s Contribution 4x Rare Candy 4x Pokemon Communication 4x Warp Point 3x Expert Belt 1x Luxury Ball 4x Broken Time Space | 4x Water Energy 2x Multi Energy 1x Fighting Energy |
Performing particularly well at US Nationals, this deck took advantage of low attack costs with high damage outputs like Kingdra’s Dragon Steam or Donphan’s Earthquake. This combined with their high HP and cards like Judge to disrupt their opponent usually gave it a strong matchup against the formats shift to low HP and low damage output attackers. Kingdra’s Spray Splash allowed you to set up key numbers and increase the general damage output of the deck.
LuxChomp: 
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (26) | Energy (13) |
| 2x Luxray GL Lv.X 2x Luxray GL 2x Garchomp C Lv.X 2x Garchomp C 1x Entei & Raikou Legend 1x Entei & Raikou Legend 1x Uxie Lv.X 2x Uxie 1x Azelf 1x Chatot 1x Roserade GL 1x Toxicroak G (PR) 1x Ambipom G 1x Bronzong G 1x Lucario GL 1x Crobat G | 4x Cyrus’s Conspiracy 3x Roseanne’s Research 1x Bebe’s Search 1x Aaron’s Collection 4x TGI Poke Turn 3x TGI Energy Gain 3x TGI SP Radar 3x TGI Power Spray 3x Pokemon Communication 1x VS Seeker | 4x Call Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy 3x Lightning Energy 1x Fire Energy 1x Psychic Energy |
Arguably the most popular deck of the format, and winning both the Masters and Seniors age group at Worlds, LuxChomp was the consistently the deck to beat. It’s aggression with low cost attacks, disruptive abilities and ability to target the bench made it difficult for most decks to keep up. It had a lot of possible techs to include to improve most matchups and hit for key weaknesses against the format too. The deck could also switch gears to more of a control focused deck especially against other SP decks.
Magnezone: 
| Pokémon (23) | Trainers (23) | Energy (14) |
| 4x Spiritomb 1x Magnezone Lv.X 2x Magnezone 1x Magnezone Promo 2x Magneton 4x Magnemite 2x Claydol 2x Baltoy 1x Blissey 1x Chansey 1x Uxie 1x Azelf 1x Unown Q | 3x Roseanne’s Research 2x Pokemon Collector 2x Bebe’s Search 2x Felicity’s Drawing 2x Judge 3x Pokemon Communication 3x Rare Candy 2x Expert Belt 2x Warp Point 1x Luxury Ball 1x Night Maintenance | 8x Lightning Energy 4x Metal Energy 2x Warp Energy |
Functioning similarly to CurseGar, Magnezone could use Gyro Ball with an Expert Belt to deal 80 damage a turn while retreating into Spiritomb to Trainer lock the opponent. Magnezone Lv.X provided a higher damage cap while also paralysing the opponent as well. Magnezone saw success particularly in international tournaments, winning Finland’s National Championships and reaching T8 at Mexico Nationals. Evan Cole brought light back to this archetype recreating a list similar to this.
Regigigas: 
| Pokémon (20) | Trainers (26) | Energy (14) |
| 2x Regigigas Lv.X 2x Regigigas 1x Uxie Lv.X 3x Uxie 3x Mesprit 1x Abomasnow 1x Snover 1x Azelf 1x Azelf 1x Relicanth 1x Regice 1x Giratina 1x Crobat G 1x Unown Q | 3x Pokemon Collector 3x Roseanne’s Research 3x Felicity’s Drawing 2x Judge 1x Bebe’s Search 4x Super Scoop Up 2x Pokemon Communication 2x Warp Point 2x Time Space Distortion 2x Expert Belt 1x Premier Ball 1x VS Seeker | 4x Double Colorless Energy 3x Water Energy 3x Metal Energy 3x Fighting Energy 1x Psychic Energy |
Regigigas saw limited play throughout the season, partially due to the difficulty of both creating a good list, and also learning how to play each matchup correctly. Despite this, it’s considered a top contender in hindsight by many players. The main focus of the deck is to tank with a Regigigas Lv.X with an Expert Belt, while repeatedly locking your opponent out of Poke-Powers with Mesprit’s Psychic Bind. Regigigas’s Sacrifice Poke-Power would then both setup it’s main attack, heal itself and clear a bench space all in one. It had a lot of tricks up its sleeve however, including using Drag off with an Expert belt to OHKO or 2HKO bench sitters with ease like Garchomp C or Claydol.
Sablock: 
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (28) | Energy (11) |
| 4x Sableye 2x Garchomp C Lv.X 2x Garchomp C 1x Uxie Lv.X 2x Uxie 2x Crobat G 1x Honchkrow 1x Murkrow 1x Honchkrow G 1x Toxicroak G 1x Dragonite FB 1x Chatot G 1x Azelf 1x Unown Q | 4x Cyrus’s Conspiracy 2x Pokemon Collector 2x Judge 2x Cyrus’s Initiative 1x Bebe’s Search 1x Aaron’s Collection 1x Felicity’s Drawing 4x TGI Poke Turn 4x TGI Power Spray 3x TGI Energy Gain 2x TGI SP Radar 1x Luxury Ball 1x VS Seeker | 4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Darkness Energy 2x Dark Energy 1x Psychic Energy |
Sablock was popularised by Con Le after winning US Nationals and going on to reach T16 at the World Championships. As the name implies, it focused on starting Sableye to disrupt the opponent starting from Turn 1, or even just get a cheap donk. Failing this however, it aimed to lock the opponent out of the game turn 1 by using Impersonate to copy a disruptive Supporter like Cyrus’s Initiative or Judge or just set up its own board. Garchomp C Lv.X allowed the deck to further stunt any slow setups by picking off any potential threats before they had a chance to establish, or just take cheap prizes.
Shuppet Donk: 
| Pokémon (19) | Trainers (37) | Energy (4) |
| 3x Uxie 1x Shuppet 1x Dunsparce 4x Unown R 3x Crobat G 2x Unown Q 2x Mr. Mime 1x Mankey 1x Regice 1x Mamoswine GL | 4x Pokemon Collector 2x Buck’s Training 4x Poke Blower + 4x Poke Drawer + 4x Pokedex Handy910is 4x Super Scoop Up 4x Pluspower 4x TGI Poke Turn 2x Warp Point 2x Time-Space Distortion 2x Expert Belt 1x Luxury Ball | 3x Rainbow Energy 1x Psychic Energy |
As the name suggests, this deck aimed to take advantage of the limiting turn 1 rules and attempt to donk your opponents Pokemon on the first turn. It tried to fit as many cards that would either increase your damage output, or increase your consistency to pull this off. Failing this, the deck still had a “Hit and Run” strategy where you would do as much damage as possible with Expert Belts, Pluspowers and other damage modifiers, then go into a wall like Mr. Mime or Mamoswine.
Steelix: 
| Pokémon (14) | Trainers (32) | Energy (14) |
| 3x Steelix Prime 3x Onix 2x Blissey 2x Chansey 3x Pachirisu 1x Uxie | 4x Professor Oak’s New Theory 4x Engineer’s Adjustments 3x Volkner’s Philosophy 3x Judge 4x Life Herb 4x Moomoo Milk 4x Pokemon Communication 3x Pluspower 2x Expert Belt 1x Luxury Ball | 4x Call Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Metal Energy (SP) 2x Metal Energy |
Erik Nance managed to make a surprisingly deep run with this rogue Steelix deck at the World Championships. It tried to take advantage of the formats lack of high damage output and reliance on shutting down Poke-Powers by not relying on any itself. Steelix would slowly build up to be too bulky to knockout with Special Metal Energy, Life Herb and Moomoo Milk, while dealing lots of damage each turn with Gaia Crush in combination with an Expert Belt. Unfortunately he faced one of the few answers, Infernape 4 Lv.X, in T32 and couldn’t overcome the weakness.
Tyranitar: 
| Pokémon (25) | Trainers (23) | Energy (12) |
| 3x Tyranitar Prime 2x Pupitar 3x Larvitar 4x Spiritomb 2x Claydol 2x Baltoy 1x Nidoqueen 1x Nidorina 1x Nidoran 1x Uxie Lv.X 2x Uxie 1x Azelf 1x Shedinja 1x Nincada | 4x Roseanne’s Research 3x Bebe’s Search 2x Judge 1x Lucian’s Assignment 1x Palmer’s Contribution 3x Rare Candy 2x Expert Belt 1x VS Seeker 1x Luxury Ball 1x Memory Berry 2x Broken Time Space 2x Moonlight Stadium | 4x Double Colorless Energy 3x Darkness Energy 3x Dark Energy 2x Psychic Energy |
Played by Colin Peterik at US Nationals, this deck aimed to tank with a high HP Tyranitar Prime with the aid of Expert Belt and Nidoqueen’s Maternal Comfort. Darkness Howl provided a strong early spread attack to setup numbers, while Double Colorless made Megaton Tail and Ruthless Tail easy to setup. Shedinja gave the deck an answer to Donphan Prime.
Pokemon TCG Archive 