Bearhug:
| Pokémon (28) | Trainers (20) | Energy (12) |
| 2x Ursaring Prime 3x Teddiursa 4x Yanmega Prime 4x Yanma 2x Sunflora 2x Sunkern 2x Vileplume 1x Bellossom 2x Gloom 3x Oddish 1x Roserade 1x Roselia 1x Jirachi |
4x Pokemon Collector 4x Copycat 4x Judge 2x Professor Juniper 2x Professor Oak’s New Theory 4x Pokemon Communication |
4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Rainbow Energy 4x Grass Energy |
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Xander Pero won US Nationals with this rogue deck in the Junior division. It tried to completely lock the opponent out of trainers from turn 1 using Teddiursa’s Fake Tears attack, into setting up Vileplume to do the same with its Allergy Flower Poke-Body. Sunflora allowed the deck to setup attackers consistently, as well as the Oddish line, and Yanmega and Ursaring Prime provided great attackers against a stunted opponents setup.
Kingdra / Yanmega:
| Pokémon (25) | Trainers (27) | Energy (8) |
| 4x Kingdra Prime 2x Seadra 4x Horsea 4x Yanmega Prime 4x Yanma 2x Jirachi 1x Blissey Prime 1x Chansey 2x Cleffa 1x Tyrogue |
4x Pokemon Collector 4x Copycat 4x Judge 2x Professor Juniper 4x Pokemon Communication 4x Rare Candy 3x Pokemon Reversal 2x Junk Arm |
3x Psychic Energy 3x Rainbow Energy 2x Rescue Energy |
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Reaching the height of its popularity as US Nationals, and achieving a T4 finish piloted by Dylan Lefavour, this deck was incredibly strong against the untested format. Focusing on consistency and low energy attack costs, both Kingdra and Yanmega were able to spread damage for little cost exactly where it wanted it to. This allowed you to either take cheap prizes early on while stunting setup, or set up damage for Jirachi’s Time Hollow attack later in the game.
Lanturn / Yanmega:
| Pokémon (17) | Trainers (31) | Energy (12) |
| 3x Lanturn Prime 3x Chinchou 3x Yanmega Prime 3x Yanma 2x Zekrom 1x Shaymin 1x Cleffa 1x Pachirisu |
4x Pokemon Collector 3x Professor Juniper 3x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Judge 3x Copycat 4x Pokemon Reversal 3x Pokemon Communication 3x Pluspower 3x Junk Arm 2x Defender |
8x Lightning Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy |
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Piloted by Tsuguyoshi Yamato, this deck tried to take advantage of the formats weakness to both Lightning and Water with Lanturn Prime and its Underwater Dive Poke-Power. This would prove to be effective against the common use Yanmega, Kingdra, Donphan and Reshiram focused decks in the meta. Yanmega provided a strong attacker which required no energy commitment to start the game, meaning you could slowly build for a big Powerful Spark later on.
LostGar:
| Pokémon (23) | Trainers (25) | Energy (12) |
| 4x Gengar Prime 2x Haunter 4x Gastly 2x Magnezone Prime 1x Magneton 2x Magnemite 3x Mew Prime 2x Spiritomb 1x Mr. Mime 1x Mime Jr. 1x Cleffa |
4x Pokemon Collector 4x Twins 4x Seeker 4x Pokemon Communication 4x Rare Candy 2x Switch 1x Junk Arm 2x Lost World |
9x Psychic Energy 3x Rainbow Energy |
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Lostgar was infamous for being over-hyped upon the release of Lost World and it fell flat quickly. However Franco Takahashi managed to make a deep run at US Nationals with this variant to the surprise of many after the mid season rotation. The goal was to use Gengar to send opponent’s Pokemon to the lost zone with either Hurl into Darkness or with its Catastrophe Poke-Body, and win by using the Lost World Stadium. It had other methods to send Pokemon to the lost zone like Mew or Mime Jr. to achiever the same win condition.
Magneboar:
| Pokémon (19) | Trainers (26) | Energy (15) |
| 3x Magnezone Prime 1x Magneton 3x Magnemite 2x Emboar 1x Pignite 3x Tepig 2x Reshiram 2x Cleffa 1x Rayquaza & Deoxys Legend 1x Rayquaza & Deoxys Legend |
4x Pokemon Collector 3x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Twins 1x Fisherman 4x Pokemon Communication 4x Rare Candy 3x Junk Arm 2x Switch 2x Energy Retrieval |
9x Fire Energy 4x Lightning Energy 2x Rescue Energy |
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David Cohen won the World Championships in the Masters division with this deck focusing on raw firepower. Emboar’s Inferno Fandango ability allowed it to accelerate energy to either Reshiram or to charge up Magnezone’s Lost Burn attack. Magnezone ontop of being a great attacker provided a lot of consistency with its Magnetic Draw Poke-Power which combo’d well with cards like Junk Arm to thin the hand. Rayquaza & Deoxys Legend also provided a great way to take extra prizes against decks you would normally trade inefficiently with.
Mew Box:
| Pokémon (30) | Trainers (18) | Energy (12) |
| 4x Yanmega Prime 4x Yanma 4x Mew Prime 2x Vileplume 2x Gloom 2x Oddish 2x Jumpluff 2x Muk 2x Cleffa 1x Tyrogue 1x Spinarak 1x Jirachi 1x Zoroark 1x Crobat Prime 1x Gengar Prime |
4x Pokemon Collector 4x Judge 4x Copycat 2x Professor Elm’s Training Method 4x Pokemon Communication |
5x Psychic Energy 4x Rainbow Energy 3x Grass Energy |
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An interesting toolbox focused deck that relies on using Mew’s See Off attack to set up a variety of attackers in the Lost Zone like Muk and Jumpluff so it can copy them with its Lost Link Poke-Body. It tries to disrupt the opponent as much as possible using Vileplume in combination with Sludge Drag, leading into sniping around the defending Pokemon with Yanmega’s Linear Attack, or just completely locking them out the game with attacks like Spinarak’s Spider Web.
Prime Time:
| Pokémon (20) | Trainers (29) | Energy (11) |
| 3x Yanmega Prime 4x Yanma 4x Magnezone Prime 1x Magneton 4x Magnemite 1x Kingdra Prime 1x Horsea 1x Jirachi 1x Cleffa |
4x Pokemon Collector 3x Judge 2x Sage’s Training 2x Twins 1x Copycat 4x Pokemon Communication 4x Rare Candy 4x Pokemon Reversal 4x Junk Arm 1x Switch |
5x Lightning Energy 4x Psychic Energy 2x Rainbow Energy |
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This deck dominated US Nationals, with Justin Sanchez winning the tournament and continued to perform very well at Worlds. It focused on the great synergy between Yanmega and Magnezone, with both their attacks and abilities complimenting each other. Magnezone’s Magnetic Draw not only brought a lot of consistency, but also made it easier to consistently match hands with the opponent to allow Yanmega to attack for 0 energies. This also allowed you to slowly build up energies on the bench to charge up a powerful Lost Burn attack. Kingdra Prime fixed a lot of numbers up, especially in combination with Linear Attack, and Jirachi allowed you to take cheap prizes later in the game.
Reshiphlosion:
| Pokémon (18) | Trainers (29) | Energy (13) |
| 4x Typhlosion Prime 2x Quilava 4x Cyndaquil 3x Reshiram 2x Ninetales 2x Vulpix 1x Cleffa |
4x Pokemon Collector 4x Professor Juniper 1x Sage’s Training 1x Twins 4x Pokemon Communication 4x Junk Arm 3x Rare Candy 3x Pokemon Reversal 3x Pluspower 1x Energy Retrieval 1x Revive |
13x Fire Energy |
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Simple, consistent and powerful, Reshiphlosion relied on just its raw strength to win games. Being able to recycle Reshirams using Blue Flare each turn as a basic with 130HP is often too much for many decks to deal with, especially in combination with PlusPowers to hit key numbers against cards like Magnezone. Ninetales helped both with consistent draw but also put fire energies in the discard to activate Typhlosion’s Afterburner Poke-Power.
Sharpedo:
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (27) | Energy (12) |
| 3x Sharpedo 3x Carvanha 2x Cincinno 2x Mincinno 2x Weavile 2x Sneasel 1x Slowking 1x Slowpoke 1x Mandibuzz 1x Vullaby 1x Unown DARK 1x Cleffa 1x Tyrogue |
4x Pokemon Collector 3x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Sage’s Training 1x Professor Juniper 4x Pokemon Communication 3x Junk Arm 3x Pokemon Reversal 3x Pluspower 2x Dual Ball 1x Switch |
4x Darkness Energy (SP) 3x Darkness Energy 3x Double Colorless Energy 2x Rescue Energy |
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Justin Williams took this interesting Rogue to a T128 finish at US Nationals and it quickly became a fan favourite. Although relying on luck, Sharpedo has a 25% chance to completely lock your opponent out of a game by removing their hand entirely. Cards like Weavile and Slowking aided with the hand lock aspect of the deck while Cinccino meant you had a consistent attacker throughout a game.
Stage 1s:
| Pokémon (19) | Trainers (29) | Energy (12) |
| 3x Donphan Prime 3x Phanpy 3x Yanmega Prime 3x Yanma 2x Zoroark 2x Zorua 1x Tyrogue 1x Manaphy 1x Bouffalant |
4x Pokemon Collector 3x Professor Juniper 3x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Judge 4x Pokemon Communication 4x Junk Arm 3x Pluspower 3x Pokemon Reversal 2x Switch |
9x Fighting Energy 3x Double Colorless Energy |
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While the Pokemon line often differed between variants of this deck, the premise remained the same – overwhelm the opponent with many of the powerful Stage 1 Pokemon the format had to offer. Its most notable achievement came from Kyle Sucevich taking it to an impressive 2nd place finish at US Nationals.
The Truth:
| Pokémon (27) | Trainers (22) | Energy (11) |
| 2x Vileplume 2x Gloom 3x Oddish 2x Reuniclus 2x Duosion 3x Solosis 2x Donphan Prime 2x Phanpy 2x Zekrom 1x Blissey Prime 1x Chansey 2x Pichu 1x Cleffa 1x Suicune & Entei Legend 1x Suicune & Entei Legend |
4x Twins 4x Sage’s Training 3x Pokemon Collector 2x Seeker 1x Copycat 1x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Pokemon Communication 3x Rare Candy 1x Tropical Beach |
4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Rainbow Energy 2x Fighting Energy 1x Fire Energy |
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Ross Cawthon took this iconic rogue deck all the way to 2nd place at the World Championships to the surprise of everyone, losing only to Magneboar in the finals. It aimed to play from behind to abuse cards like Twins to set up a soft lock of Vileplume and Reuniclus. When both of those were set up, you can use any attacker appropriate to the matchup, and move any damage its taken to the bench with Reuniclus’s Damage Swap Ability. From here you could either heal the damage with Seeker or Blissey Prime, or put them on Zekrom, powering up its Outrage attack.
Tyranitar:
| Pokémon (24) | Trainers (24) | Energy (12) |
| 4x Tyranitar Prime 3x Pupitar 4x Larvitar 2x Serperior 2x Servine 2x Snivy 3x Cleffa 1x Jirachi 1x Shaymin 1x Tyrogue 1x Unown DARK |
4x Pokemon Collector 4x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Twins 3x Professor Elm’s Training Method 4x Rare Candy 4x Pokemon Communication 2x Switch |
4x Darkness Energy 4x Rainbow Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy |
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James Arnold made T8 at US Nationals with this list. It focuses on tanking with Tyranitar abusing its high HP and low Energy cost spreading attack, alongside Serperior and its Royal Heal Ability. Jirachi can finish off knockouts towards the end of the game as well. Unfortunately the deck lost a lot of power as players started to realise how powerful an attacker Magnezone was, and it fell out of favour by Worlds.
ZPS:
| Pokémon (10) | Trainers (36) | Energy (14) |
| 4x Zekrom 2x Pachirisu 2x Shaymin 1x Reshiram 1x Bouffalant |
4x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Professor Juniper 2x Copycat 1x Seeker 4x Dual Ball 4x Junk Arm 4x Super Scoop Up 3x Pokegear 3.0 3x Pokemon Reversal 3x Pluspower 3x Defender 1x Revive 1x Energy Retrieval |
11x Lightning Energy 3x Double Colorless Energy |
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One of the most hyped decks to come with the announcement of Black & White, players quickly noticed the combination of Pachirisu’s Self-Generation and Shaymin’s Celebration Wind Poke-Powers, allowing Zekrom to get a turn 1 Bolt Strike. However the deck quickly failed to live up to expectations and was often just outlasted by the more successful slower decks of the format that could often completely nullify the turn with a Baby Pokemon. However, Edward Kuang still took this deck to a 1st place finish at Canadian Nationals.
Pokemon TCG Archive 