Big Basics:
| Pokémon (11) | Trainers (37) | Energy (12) |
| 2x Garbodor 3x Trubbish 3x Landorus EX 2x Cobalion 1x Cobalion EX |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 4x Skyla 2x Colress 1x Bianca 4x Hypnotoxic Laser 4x Pokemon Catcher 4x Float Stone 3x Ultra Ball 2x Max Potion 1x Heavy Ball 1x Switch 1x Scramble Switch 2x Virbank City Gym |
4x Fighting Energy 4x Prism Energy 4x Blend Energy WLFM |
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Prominent earlier in the season, Big Basics relied on hitting hard early with efficient attacks like Landorus EX’s Hammerhead and trying to shut off opponent’s strategies with a thick line of Garbodor. Different variations of the decks saw success, with some lists opting to use Mewtwo EX instead of the Cobalion lines to target different metas. While its success dwindled towards Nationals and Worlds, it still proved viable, being able to hit key weaknesses and Garbodor becoming more impactful.
Blastoise:
| Pokémon (14) | Trainers (35) | Energy (11) |
| 4x Blastoise 1x Wartortle 4x Squirtle 3x Keldeo EX 2x Black Kyurem EX |
4x Skyla 3x Professor Juniper 3x N 1x Colress 1x Cilan 4x Superior Energy Retrieval 4x Rare Candy 3x Pokemon Catcher 3x Ultra Ball 1x Level Ball 1x Heavy Ball 1x Energy Search 1x Tool Scrapper 1x Computer Search 4x Tropical Beach |
9x Water Energy 2x Lightning Energy |
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Since its release Blastoise was a key part of the metagame, and just kept getting stronger with the Plasma sets offering key cards like Black Kyurem EX and Superior Energy Retrieval. It aimed to set up an early Blastoise with heavy counts of consistency cards like Skyla and Tropical Beach, with the end goal of hitting high numbers with high HP Pokemon turn after turn.
Darkrai:
| Pokémon (10) | Trainers (40) | Energy (10) |
| 4x Darkrai EX 3x Sableye 2x Keldeo EX 1x Mr. Mime |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 4x Dark Patch 4x Hypnotoxic Laser 4x Pokemon Catcher 3x Random Receiver 3x Energy Switch 3x Ultra Ball 2x Bicycle 2x Enhanced Hammer 2x Dark Claw 1x Energy Search 1x Tool Scrapper 1x Computer Search 2x Virbank City Gym |
10x Dark Energy |
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Darkrai continued to have incredible success throughout the season after winning the previous years World Championships, and only gained powerful cards like Hypnotoxic laser to add to its Arsenal. With the release of Plasma Freeze, many opted for a more oppressive approach with this deck, opting for cards like Absol. However Jason Klaczynski won his 3rd World Championships with this disruption focused build, relying on heavy Enhanced Hammer and Sableye counts to take advantage of the formats focus on Special Energy cards.
Darkrai / Garbodor:
| Pokémon (12) | Trainers (37) | Energy (11) |
| 4x Darkrai EX 2x Garbodor 2x Trubbish 2x Keldeo EX 1x Sableye 1x Absol |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 2x Colress 2x Skyla 4x Dark Patch 4x Pokemon Catcher 3x Float Stone 3x Hypnotoxic Laser 3x Ultra Ball 2x Dark Claw 1x Exp. Share 1x Max Potion 1x Computer Search 2x Virbank City Gym 1x Tropical Beach |
11x Dark Energy |
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Appearing occasionally throughout the season, Darkrai Garbodor aimed to take advantage of Darkrai’s high and consistent damage output, while slowing down opponent’s strategies with Garbotoxin. Garbodor also improved the decks poor matchup against Blastoise. Takuya Yoneda made an incredible run with this deck at the World Championships, qualifying through the Last Chance Qualifier and then going undefeated all the way to the Top 8 of the tournament.
Flareon:
| Pokémon (25) | Trainers (27) | Energy (8) |
| 4x Flareon 1x Leafeon 1x Espeon 4x Eevee 2x Drifblim 3x Drifloon 1x Garbodor 2x Trubbish 4x Audino 1x Landorus EX 1x Terrakion 1x Mr. Mime |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 2x Colress 4x Ultra Ball 3x Enhanced Hammer 2x Random Receiver 2x Pokemon Catcher 2x Float Stone 1x Super Rod 1x Computer Search 2x Tropical Beach |
4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Fighting Energy |
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Dylan Bryan made an incredible run at the World Championships with this rogue archetype, losing only to Jason Klaczynski in a close T16 match. The deck aimed to get as many Pokemon in the discard as possible to charge up Flareon’s Vengeance attack, while setting up the various tech cards for different matchups. Drifblim and Enhanced Hammer improved the decks troublesome Plasma matchup, while Garbodor helped deal with ability reliant decks like Eelektrik and Blastoise.
Garchomp / Altaria:
| Pokémon (18) | Trainers (33) | Energy (9) |
| 4x Garchomp 2x Gabite 3x Gible (Sand Attack) 1x Gible (Tackle) 3x Altaria 3x Swablu 1x Emolga 1x Mr. Mime |
4x N 4x Professor Juniper 2x Colress 2x Skyla 1x Bianca 4x Rare Candy 3x Level Ball 3x Pokemon Catcher 3x Hypnotoxic Laser 2x Switch 2x Super Rod 1x Dowsing Machine 2x Virbank City Gym |
5x Fighting Energy 4x Blend WLFM Energy |
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Ross Cawthon took this archetype which had never really found its footing earlier in the year all the way to a surprise T64 finish at the US National Championships. He managed to found a niche in the metagame for it to be successful as the formats increased reliance on special energies could be easily punished by Garchomp’s Mach Cut. The increased popularity of Blastoise meant that Garchomp could also take easy prizes on their Black Kyurem EX by hitting for weakness.
Gothitelle / Accelgor:
| Pokémon (19) | Trainers (37) | Energy (4) |
| 3x Gothitelle 1x Gothorita 4x Gothita 2x Accelgor 3x Shelmet 1x Dusknoir 1x Dusclops 2x Duskull 2x Mew EX |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 4x Skyla 4x Level Ball 4x Rare Candy 3x Pokemon Catcher 3x Float Stone 2x Ultra Ball 2x Pokemon Communication 1x Tool Scrapper 1x Town Map 1x Super Rod 1x Dowsing Machine 3x Tropical Beach |
4x Double Colorless Energy |
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GothGor became a huge worry for many with the release of Float Stone in Plasma Freeze, allowing for a perfect lock to become much more achievable. Despite staying relatively quiet in European Nationals, it took over US Nationals with Edmund Kuras winning the event and many more reaching T16. It aimed to set up a fast Item Lock with Gothitelle’s Magic Room ability, with the end goal of paralysing your opponent each turn with Accelgor’s Deck and Cover attack. Dusknoir’s Sinister Hand Ability meant you never had to actually knock out the active Pokemon, and could take knockouts where and when you wanted to.
Ho-oh:
| Pokémon (13) | Trainers (35) | Energy (12) |
| 2x Ho-oh EX 3x Landorus EX 2x Keldeo EX 1x Darkrai EX 1x Mew EX 1x Shaymin EX 1x Cobalion EX 1x Cobalion 1x Terrakion |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 2x Skyla 2x Colress 4x Ultra Ball 4x Pokemon Catcher 4x Energy Switch 3x Float Stone 2x Enhanced Hammer 2x Max Potion 1x Scramble Switch 1x Energy Search 1x Random Receiver 1x Tool Scrapper |
5x Fighting Energy 3x Dark Energy 2x Prism Energy 1x Metal Energy 1x Grass Energy |
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Seeing success earlier in the season, most notably Kyle Sucevich’s incredible run at City Championships, this deck abused Ho-oh EX’s Rebirth Ability to provide easy energy acceleration alongside Energy Switch for a wide variety of attackers. Shaun Kauffman adapted this list for the US National Championships where he reached an impressive T64 finish.
HoverToxin:
| Pokémon (11) | Trainers (41) | Energy (8) |
| 4x Sableye 2x Darkrai EX 2x Garbodor 2x Trubbish 1x Sneasel |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 2x Skyla 1x Ghetsis 4x Pokemon Catcher 4x Float Stone 3x Hypnotoxic Laser 3x Ultra Ball 3x Crushing Hammer 2x Enhanced Hammer 2x Random Receiver 2x Dark Patch 1x Tool Scrapper 1x Super Rod 1x Energy Search 1x Switch 1x Life Dew 2x Virbank City Gym |
8x Darkness Energy |
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Dustin Zimmerman took this adapted Darkrai Garbodor list all the way to Top 4 of the World Championships. It focused heavily on Sableye and disruption rather than the aggression most Darkrai variants had moved towards and took advantage of a format filled with Special Energy cards and Abilities. Sableye’s Junk Hunt allowed it to keep a constant string of Energy disruption with the Hammer cards, while also ensuring you had consistent ability lock and prize denial with the tool cards.
Klinklang:
| Pokémon (18) | Trainers (32) | Energy (10) |
| 2x Klinklang (PLS) 2x Klinklang (BLW) 1x Klang 4x Klink 3x Keldeo EX 2x Darkrai EX 2x Cobalion EX 2x Cobalion |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 4x Skyla 4x Rare Candy 4x Max Potion 3x Heavy Ball 3x Ultra Ball 2x Pokemon Catcher 1x Dowsing Machine 3x Tropical Beach |
4x Prism Energy 4x Blend Energy WFLM 2x Metal Energy |
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With the release of Plasma Storm, Klinklang gained a new tool to help it once again compete. Klinklang PLS’s Plasma Steel made the deck streamline towards Metal attackers like Cobalion, and made it extremely difficult for many decks to find an answer, especially if not specifically teching for this deck. Michael Slutsky took this variation to US Nationals, going undefeated all the way to T64.
Rayquaza / Eelektrik:
| Pokémon (15) | Trainers (33) | Energy (12) |
| 3x Rayquaza EX 4x Eelektrik 4x Tynamo 2x Keldeo EX 1x Raikou EX 1x Rayquaza |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 3x Colress 4x Ultra Ball 4x Level Ball 3x Pokemon Catcher 3x Float Stone 2x Super Rod 1x Energy Search 1x Max Potion 1x Dowsing Machine 3x Tropical Beach |
8x Lightning Energy 4x Fire Energy |
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Eelektrik shifted focus with the release of Rayquaza EX, allowing the deck to hit huge numbers every turn once setup while being less affected by N. The release of Float Stone in Plasma Freeze meant the deck could Rush In with Keldeo EX every turn and reset Rayquaza with ease. Eelektrik’s Energy acceleration also allowed it to fit in tech attackers to make matchups easier like Rayquaza DRX or Victini NVI.
TDK:
| Pokémon (11) | Trainers (36) | Energy (13) |
| 2x Thundurus EX 4x Deoxys EX 3x Kyurem 1x Absol 1x Keldeo EX |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 2x Skyla 2x Colress 1x Bianca 4x Pokemon Catcher 4x Hypnotoxic Laser 3x Colress Machine 3x Float Stone 2x Switch 2x Team Plasma Ball 1x Ultra Ball 1x Max Potion 1x Computer Search 2x Virbank City Gym |
4x Prism Energy 4x Blend Energy WLFM 4x Plasma Energy 1x Lightning Energy |
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The most popular deck to come out of Plasma Freeze, TDK took advantage of the lack of restrictions on going first, and allowed you to hit insane numbers starting from turn 1 with the help of Deoxys EX’s ability and Thundurus EX and Kyurem’s strong attacks. The strong type coverage in such few Pokemon made a lot of decks unable to keep up, and also meant that the deck could easily fit in techs like Absol, Lugia EX and Max Potion to aid in certain matchups. Energy acceleration through Colress Machine and Raiden Knuckle meant that keeping consistent damage throughout a game was easy and allowed for Kyurem to get insane value for a 1 Prize Pokemon.
Terrakion ex / Garbodor:
| Pokémon (10) | Trainers (40) | Energy (10) |
| 4x Terrakion EX 3x Garbodor 3x Trubbish |
4x Professor Juniper 4x N 2x Skyla 1x Bianca 1x Colress 4x Pokemon Catcher 4x Enhanced Hammer 4x Float Stone 3x Energy Switch 2x Switch 2x Ultra Ball 1x Level Ball 1x Heavy Ball 1x Eviolite 1x Energy Retrieval 1x Max Potion 1x Dowsing Machine 3x Tropical Beach |
10x Fighting Energy |
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Alex Hedge took this interesting rogue to a T8 finish at the World Championships in the Senior Division. Terrakion EX provided energy acceleration to itself, hitting for important weaknesses against Darkrai EX and Thundurus EX, while Garbodor shut off Pokemon with key abilities like Blastoise and Eelektrik. The small Pokemon line allowed it to play powerful tech Trainers like 4 Enhanced Hammers, hoping to prey on the formats reliance on Special Energy further.
Turbo Lugia:
| Pokémon (10) | Trainers (38) | Energy (12) |
| 3x Lugia EX 3x Thundurus EX 4x Deoxys EX |
4x Professor Juniper 3x N 2x Colress 4x Bicycle 4x Colress Machine 4x PlusPower 3x Pokemon Catcher 3x Switch 3x Ultra Ball 2x Team Plasma Ball 2x Random Receiver 1x Tool Scrapper 1x Dowsing Machine 2x Float Stone |
4x Double Colorless Energy 4x Plasma Energy 2x Prism Energy 2x Lightning Energy |
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While most Plasma lists decided to focus on Kyurem, Jose Marrero decided to focus on Lugia EX and it’s powerful Overflow ability – taking it to T16 at US Nationals. The release of Plasma Freeze allowed Lugia to hit key numbers with a combination of Deoxys EX’s Power Connect and PlusPower, and this list focuses on hitting that as quickly and consistently as possible.
Pokemon TCG Archive 