Chandygor:
| Pokémon (26) | Trainers (24) | Energy (10) |
| 4x Mew Prime 2x Vileplume 3x Oddish 2x Chandelure 2x Lampent 3x Litwick 3x Accelgor 2x Darkrai ex 1x Terrakion 1x Pichu 1x Relicanth 1x Smeargle 1x Shaymin |
4x Twins 4x Sage’s Training 4x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Professor Juniper 4x Pokemon Communication 4x Rare Candy 1x Tropical Beach |
4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Rainbow Energy 2x Prism Energy |
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Chandygor aims to set up a perfect lock against your opponent, centred around Accelgor’s Deck and Cover Attack. It aims to use Mew’s See Off or Relicanth’s Prehistoric Wisdom to send Accelgor to the lost zone, so that Mew can copy its attack with its Lost Link Poke-Body. While doing this it wants to setup both Vileplume to prevent them using any cards like Switch or Pokemon Catcher to attempt to break the lock, as well as Chandelure for its Cursed Shadow Ability. This allows you to control the amount of damage you do per turn, and means you can knockout Pokemon coming back into your turn. Twins allows you to pick and choose the combo pieces you need while you’ll inevitably be starting off from behind.
CMT:
| Pokémon (12) | Trainers (35) | Energy (13) |
| 3x Celebi Prime 3x Mewtwo ex 2x Terrakion 2x Smeargle 1x Shaymin 1x Tornadus ex |
4x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Professor Juniper 1x N 4x Junk Arm 4x Dual Ball 3x Random Receiver 3x Pokemon Catcher 3x Switch 2x Pluspower 2x Eviolite 2x Skyarrow Bridge 1x Energy Retrieval 1x Energy Search 1x Revive 1x Potion |
6x Grass Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy 3x Fighting Energy |
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Stefan Tabaco managed to take this popular archetype to a Top 8 finish at the World Championships, where it was the only deck in the Top 8 not to feature Darkrai ex. The deck focused on having strong starts with Celebi Prime and Smeargle to accelerate energy and setup as quickly as possible. With the format relying heavily on Darkrai ex and Mewtwo ex , this archetype allowed you to counter each with its own Mewtwo ex and Terrakion.
Darkrai:
| Pokémon (6) | Trainers (40) | Energy (14) |
| 4x Darkrai ex 2x Smeargle |
4x Professor Juniper 4x Professor Oak’s New Theory 4x Random Receiver 4x Ultra Ball 4x Dark Patch 4x Pokemon Catcher 4x Junk Arm 3x Eviolite 3x Switch 2x Potion 2x Pluspower 2x Skyarrow Bridge |
10x Darkness Energy (Basic) 4x Darkness Energy (Special) |
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Popularised by Tom Dolezal following his Top 8 finish at US Nationals, Sami Sekkoum would go on to make Top 8 at the World Championships with the same concept after going undefeated in Swiss rounds. The deck focuses on getting a Darkrai ex attacking as soon as possible, often even on turn 1, with its pure consistency. This is often enough to power through any deck which doesn’t get an optimal set up.
Darkrai/Mewtwo:
| Pokémon (11) | Trainers (35) | Energy (14) |
| 3x Darkrai ex 3x Mewtwo ex 3x Smeargle 2x Shaymin |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 1x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Random Receiver 4x Ultra Ball 4x Junk Arm 4x Dark Patch 3x Pokemon Catcher 3x Eviolite 2x Pluspower 2x Switch 1x Skyarrow Bridge |
10x Darkness Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy |
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Variations of this deck started to appear around US Nationals, and completely dominated the World Championships, with it taking 6 of the 8 top spots. Jay Hornung notably took Top 4 at both tournaments with this deck, making only minor changes to his list. The deck revolved having the two best attackers in the format together, and was built to allow them to both attack consistently when appropriate. Tech cards often varied between lists as Junk Arm allowed a lot of diversity.
Entei ex:
| Pokémon (9) | Trainers (40) | Energy (11) |
| 4x Entei ex 2x Mewtwo ex 1x Smeargle 1x Shaymin 1x Terrakion |
3x Professor Juniper 3x N 3x Professor Oak’s New Theory 4x Junk Arm 4x Eviolite 4x Potion 3x Pokemon Catcher 3x Switch 2x Ultra Ball 2x Heavy Ball 2x Energy Search 2x Energy Switch 2x Random Receiver 1x Max Potion 1x Pluspower 1x Lost Remover |
7x Fire Energy 2x Fighting Energy 2x Double Colorless Energy |
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Curtis Lyon used this deck to win the Canadian National Championships. It basically functioned as a tank deck, as Entei ex’s Grand Flame allowed it to charge other Entei ex’s on the bench, while hitting a solid 90 damage. Mewtwo ex prevented opponents from trying to set up a big Mewtwo ex to KO Entei, and Terrakion gave the deck a bit more power against Darkrai ex.
Klinklang:
| Pokémon (16) | Trainers (33) | Energy (11) |
| 3x Klinklang 2x Klang 4x Klink 2x Darkrai ex 2x Groudon ex 1x Kyogre ex 1x Shaymin ex 1x Cobalion |
4x N 4x Professor Oak’s New Theory 4x Max Potion 4x Eviolite 4x Heavy Ball 3x Junk Arm 3x Rare Candy 2x Pokemon Catcher 2x Random Receiver 1x Pokemon Communication 1x Revive 1x Copycat |
4x Prism Energy 4x Rainbow Energy 3x Metal Energy |
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John Roberts II took this deck to a surprise victory at the US National Championships, combining a simple concept with consistency and innovative tech attackers. The deck became hard to beat once it set up, as the format mostly revolved around 2HKO’s, which could be easily punished with Max Potion. Darkrai provided a strong attacker while giving the deck free retreat, allowing it to switch attackers with ease. Groudon ex was obviously strong against Darkrai ex, but also combo’d well with Kyogre’s Dual Splash. Kyogre was strong against setup decks, allowing you to potentially KO two Pokemon at once (liked Oddish or Tynamo). The strength of the deck against an unprepared format was apparent, and caused Lost Remover to become a much more common tech in decks.
Meganium:
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (27) | Energy (12) |
| 2x Meganium Prime 2x Bayleef 3x Chikorita 2x Vileplume 3x Oddish 2x Darkrai EX 2x Mewtwo EX 1x Kyogre EX 1x Groudon EX 1x Blissey Prime 1x Chansey 1x Pichu |
4x Pokemon Collector 4x Sage’s Training 4x Twins 3x N 3x Seeker 4x Rare Candy 4x Pokemon Communication 1x Tropical Beach |
4x Rainbow Energy 4x Prism Energy 2x Double Colorless Energy 2x Grass Energy |
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Functioning similarly to Klinklang, Meganium tried to take advantage of a different typing and abusing the power of Vileplume to protect the support Pokemon from cards like Pokemon Catcher as well as denying the many powerful Trainer cards in the format. To do this however, it sacrificed consistency as it couldn’t use cards like Heavy Ball, and relied on using Supporters like Seeker for healing.
Mewtwo/Eels:
| Pokémon (16) | Trainers (32) | Energy (12) |
| 1x Eelektross 3x Eelektrik 1x Tynamo 3x Tynamo 3x Mewtwo ex 2x Smeargle 1x Raikou ex 1x Zekrom 1x Shaymin |
4x Professor Juniper 4x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x N 4x Junk Arm 3x Dual Ball 3x Pokemon Catcher 2x Switch 2x Max Potion 2x Level Ball 2x Pluspower 1x Super Rod 1x Random Receiver 1x Skyarrow Bridge |
8x Lightning Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy |
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Kevin Nance took this deck to 2nd place at the US National Championship. The deck provided energy acceleration throughout the game, and focused primarily on Mewtwo ex as an attacker as it would be more often able to win the “Mewtwo War”. However Eelektrik’s Dynamotor also means that you can have access to a lot of versatile attacks, like Raikou ex’s Volt Bolt. The on board setup meant that it would be one of the strongest decks in the format against a late game N.
Mewtwo / Terrakion:
| Pokémon (11) | Trainers (36) | Energy (13) |
| 4x Terrakion 3x Mewtwo ex 2x Shaymin 1x Tornadus ex 1x Smeargle |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 3x Professor Oak’s New Theory 4x Junk Arm 4x Pokemon Catcher 4x Dual Ball 4x EXP Share 3x Pluspower 3x Switch 2x Random Receiver 1x Super Scoop Up |
9x Fighting Energy 4x Double Colorless Energy |
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Favoured mainly by Asian and European countries, this deck aims to cut out the middle man of Darkrai ex and focus more on directly countering the opposing Darkrai’s and Mewtwo’s infesting the meta. The space this provided allowed it to hit combo pieces easier with more consistency as well as power cards like EXP Share.
Mismagius / Vileplume:
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (27) | Energy (12) |
| 2x Vileplume 1x Gloom 3x Oddish 2x Mismagius 2x Misdreavus 2x Darkrai ex 2x Mewtwo ex 2x Terrakion 1x Kyurem ex 1x Shaymin ex 1x Virizion 1x Smeargle 1x Unown CURE |
4x Pokemon Collector 3x Sage’s Training 3x Professor Oak’s New Theory 3x Twins 2x N 2x Seeker 1x Black Belt 4x Rare Candy 3x Pokemon Communication 2x Pokemon Center |
4x Prism Energy 4x Rainbow Energy 3x Double Colorless Energy 1x Rescue Energy |
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Functioning similarly to the Klinklang deck, Mismagius allowed the powerful ability on a Stage 1, meaning it could also fit a Vileplume line. Vileplume’s Allergy Flower Poke-Body attempts to slow down the rest of the formats heavy reliance on trainer cards while you could pick and choose attackers for any given situation.
Quad Terrakion:
| Pokémon (4) | Trainers (44) | Energy (12) |
| 4x Terrakion | 4x Professor Oak’s New Theory 4x N 3x Professor Juniper 2x Copycat 4x Heavy Ball 4x EXP Share 4x Junk Arm 4x Pokemon Catcher 3x Pluspower 3x Lost Remover 3x Switch 2x Pokegear 3.0 2x Revive 2x Ruins of Alph |
11x Fighting Energy 1x Rescue Energy |
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Roland Allen won Australia’s National Championships with this deck only playing 4 Pokemon! Its low Pokemon count allowed it to fit as many power trainers as possible, while also being incredibly consistent. It preyed on a format filled with Darkrai ex and Eelektrik decks.
Scizor / Vileplume:
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (25) | Energy (14) |
| 3x Vileplume 3x Oddish 2x Scizor Prime 2x Scyther DEX 2x Virizion 2x Darkrai ex 2x Terrakion 2x Shaymin 1x Terrakion EP 1x Shaymin ex 1x Unown CURE |
4x Pokemon Collector 4x Sage’s Training 3x N 3x Seeker 2x Twins 2x Cheren 4x Rare Candy 3x Pokemon Communication |
4x Metal Energy (SP) 4x Rainbow Energy 3x Prism Energy 3x Metal Energy |
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Jason Klaczynski and Jimmy Ballard both managed to get T32 with different variations of this archetype at US Nationals. It tried to counter the formats reliance on special energy cards like Double Colorless Energy, Darkness Energy and Prism Energy while providing a decent attacker in Scizor Prime. Vileplume attempted to slow opponents setup and lock them out of another key component of decks while you slowly set up, and the deck played strong tech attackers like Terrakion to deal with opposing Darkrai ex.
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