Tournament Reports - Pokémon TCG Pocket Week 16

After a week of Space-Time Smackdown where Exeggutor EX turned from underdog to meta tyrant, week 3 sought to answer the question: Are we in a palm tree meta until we get new cards, or are there twists and turns we haven’t seen yet?

The sheer bulk of the namesake palm tree in conjunction with access to Erika, combined with the pressure coming from Tropical Swing + Rocky Helmet and the lategame threat of a stacked Celebi EX, makes it incredibly difficult to answer without either outright one-shotting Exeggutor EX, exhausting its supply of healing, or pressuring absurdly quickly before there’s time to set up. As a result, Exeggutor EX/Celebi EX lists are still the most prevalent force, with both high representation and conversion rates throughout the week.

FrogEX Weekly Cup #6

645 entrants entered FrogEX's Weekly Cup #6, and as expected, the field was absolutely littered with Exeggutor EX/Celebi EX:

Exeggutor EX decks made up nearly half of the top 32 cut, over half of the top 8, and 3 of the top 4, giving an excellent conversion rate considering that the deck made up just over 23% of the metagame.

This list, piloted by 2 of the top 4 players (lincedorado and Demon Wings) is a permutation of the standard list, opting to run the second Giant Cape instead of the second Rocky Helmet. Celebi EX has also mostly supplanted Yanmega EX as the second attacker, as the three slots saved by replacing a full set of the Stage 1 Line with one copy of Celebi EX opens up as much room as possible for the extensive trainer support shell. However, despite Exeggutor EX running rampant in the top cut, the winning list was a variant of Darkrai EX/Magnezone, making some much-needed adjustments in order to address its generally poor matchup into its grassy foe:

The winning list, piloted by Robs, made several alterations compared to the previously stock lists that dominated week 1. Notably, Kangaskhan completely replaces Druddigon as the tank of choice, thanks to its ability to threaten meaningful damage into Exeggcute leads. 25% of the time, the eggs can be cracked open by a 60-damage Dizzy Punch before being given the chance to evolve. The move to 2x Rocky Helmet adds to the plan, as it becomes exceedingly dangerous for Exeggcute to attack into Kangaskhan when going second; 75% of the time, the followup Dizzy Punch will one-shot at base HP. Leaving the Exeggcute in play after an average 30-damage Dizzy Punch without attacking or evolving is still risky thanks to the threat of Cyrus into Darkrai EX and Nightmare Aura to clean up. This forces Giant Cape to be attached to Exeggcute instead of Rocky Helmet, enabling extended pressure in the event that the Exeggutor EX comes online and forcing Erika to be played much earlier.

Arguably, the most notable breakout archetype of the week made its widespread debut here. The biggest weak point for Exeggutor EX builds is Exeggcute's 50 HP, as exploited by the Kangaskhan/Rocky Helmet combination mentioned above. What if we could attack for 50 right off the bat?

Meet Skarmory/Magnezone! Mathador22 and LucasRaphael both piloted this list of the archetype to 2 top 16 finishes. The plan is to go as fast as possible and either secure knockouts on Exeggcute, use Sabrina to drag out Celebi for early pressure, or to force Erikas and Potions out as quickly as possible to clear the way for the followup Magnezone and Heatran. The biggest feather in this deck's cap is its matchup spread against the traditional counters to Exeggutor EX from the Mythical Island Metagame: neither Gyarados EX nor Charizard EX want to fight Skarmory. In fact, Skarmory/Magnezone had an eye-watering 77.7% winrate against both decks, while holding a very slight edge against Exeggutor EX!

Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #16

In keeping with its reputation as the premier large-scale weekly tournament, 1651 entrants competed for a $400 prize pool. While Exeggutor EX's representation and conversion numbers continued to soar, the metagame started to show signs of being able to answer it, as its winrate started to trend slightly downward:

Despite making up almost half of the top 8, Exeggutor EX had only one representative in the final four and was absent from the finals. The reason why isn't tricky to spot: 2 of the top 8 competitors ran identical versions of Exeggutor EX's hardest counter: Charizard EX!

Tournament winner Felipe R and top 8 finisher Yunikin ran this build of Charizard EX that went for maximum consistency over tech options. You won't find Potion or Shaymin here to combat Darkrai EX; we're setting palm trees on fire with Crimson Storm. The single copy of Dawn gives an additional bit of speed, allowing Charizard EX to come into play at 4 energy, knock out something, and then get a boost from a benched Moltres EX to polish off the final points. Felipe R overcame osci running the aforementioned Skarmory/Magnezone list to secure the top finish. Additionally, VForVaro took the next step forward, rampaging through both Exeggutor EX and Charizard EX with the most direct target at both in Gyarados EX:

Perhaps the most interesting anecdote of the event was top 32 finisher Nhakho as the only competitor who brought Machamp EX:

In the absence of more competitive interest in the archetype, we can simply point to the 4-0-1 record against Exeggutor EX and similar success against Magnezone archetypes. The Machop-Machoke-Machamp EX evolution line is the best stage 2 at attacking on curve when going second, and the namesake EX finisher has exactly what you want in this Giant Cape metagame: 180 HP and an efficient, consistent, huge damage attack in Mega Punch, which will hit Magnezone for weakness and a one-shot at base HP. Previously, Machamp EX was completely dominated by Mewtwo EX, which has effectively gone extinct from the competitive landscape. Whether this finish is a fluke or a sign of unexplored metagame space remains to be seen.

BEC Exeggutive Series 6/8

The sixth edition of the Blazing Exeggutor Crew tournament brought together 532 players. With placements in the upcoming Exeggutive Tournament and its $1000 prize pool on the line, competitors reacted accordingly and, appropriate to the name, Exeggutor EX had yet another high-representation, high-conversion showing:

The top 8 was a microcosm of the Space-Time Smackdown meta, with almost a clean 50-50 split between Darkrai EX/Magnezone and Exeggutor EX. In an Exeggutor EX vs Darkzone final, DDaviSS took down the top placement running the "Standard" Celebi EX Variant over NinoLeo's Kangaskhan/Darkzone, showing that the alterations aren't a panacea:

However, that's far from the only story from this event. Notably, this is the first major event this week where Exeggutor EX had a sub-50% overall winrate. Secondly, a new face has entered the top 4:

You saw that correctly - Dialga EX has arrived! Arguably the single most-hyped Pokémon EX in Space-Time Smackdown, Dialga EX builds have largely failed to land due in large part to how long it takes to get off the ground and attacking for significant damage. Yabociteee gives Dialga EX its first major placement, partnering it with the previously unseen Lickilicky EX. Lickilicky EX is as glacially slow as Dialga, requiring 4 energy to attack and sporting a painful retreat cost of 4 - compare to Dialga EX's more common partners in Mew EX and Yanmega EX, which can both attack at 3 energy and have a much more manageable retreat cost of 1. Even Lickitung is slow and clunky, requiring 3 energy to threaten a measly 50 damage.

However, what Lickilicky EX lacks in speed, it makes up for by being incredibly bulky, sporting 160HP. It also has the highest theoretical damage ceiling compared to other attackers powered by Dialga EX's Metallic Turbo, as Licking Fury starts at 100 and scales... well, forever, if you flip enough heads! With just one heads flip, Lickilicky EX knocks out Magnezone, Darkrai EX, Moltres EX, Celebi EX, and anything else hovering at the 140HP breakpoint or lower. Notably absent from Yabociteee's list is previous Dialga EX staple supporter Dawn, replaced by a copy of Giovanni in order to squeeze through more breakpoints. Yabociteee sported the second-highest overall record at 14-2, losing in the end to tournament victor DDaviSS.

Pocket Parti Cup

The Kings of Aeos Island hosted Pocket Parti Cup to close out our 500+ entrant events for the week - 504 competitors entered to compete for the $100 prize pool. Unlike the other events here, the top cut was much smaller, down to top 16.

This event is the clearest sign that Exeggutor EX can be answered - even extrapolating to top 32, its top cut percentage roughly matched its representation, and its top 8 performance fell flat. The top 8 had 6 unique archetypes, which is a stellar sign. That being said, Preluxe took the top finish with the standard 2 Rocky Helmet Exeggutor EX build. However, zVerum made it to the final round with week one meta darling Palkia EX!

The primary difference compared to early builds is the copy of Sabrina in addition to Cyrus to ensure an extra gusting effect, which many builds were not running in the archetype's infancy. Sabrina, in fact, seems to be making a comeback in a few lists that completely dropped her for Cyrus, including idugahole running the "other" Darkrai EX list to top cut:

2 copies each of Sabrina and Cyrus, in addition to the Giovanni, ensures that the opponent is left on the back foot more often than not. Given that Weavile EX needs to strike fast and secure KO's to be worth the 2 point risk over playing Magnezone, this evolution makes complete sense for the archetype.

Where Is the Space-Time Smackdown Metagame at?

Exeggutor EX is shaping the metagame in its 3-headed smiling image, but answers are being found. That said, hard counters are limited - Charizard EX is the hardest counter that Exeggutor EX has, but it has striking matchup holes when it's not fighting its preferred prey. As an example, Charizard EX had a 47% winrate even counting matches against Exeggutor EX, where it boasts a 70% winrate. Its winrate against the rest of the field plummeted to 40%, meaning its pilots are counting on running into Exeggutor EX as much as possible to secure a top finish. Among the other archetypes currently being run, its matchups are fairly even, even in a metagame where adjustments are being made to specifically combat it.

Skarmory burst onto the scene this week, and despite not taking down any large events, its impact on the meta might ironically be in helping Exeggutor EX stay dominant. Even with the slight matchup edge against Exeggutor EX, Skarmory's best matchups are Gyarados EX and Charizard EX - aka Exeggutor EX's other weaknesses. Incidentally, its worst matchups are the Darkrai EX chip damage machines that Exeggutor EX feasts on. Meanwhile, the Fighting Toolbox decks that helped define the first two weeks of Space-Time Smackdown have disappeared as quickly as they stormed onto the scene, thanks in no small part to getting flatlined by Exeggutor EX. Skarmory is almost a strict upgrade, keeping Fighting Toolbox's strong matchups while significantly improving in its singular worst one.

As it stands now, the metagame has crystallized into Exeggutor EX as its baseline, Charizard EX and Gyarados EX as its counters trying to go heavily over the top of it, Skarmory/Magnezone as the speed demon going under all three, and Darkrai EX/Magnezone occupying the remaining space. Any new developments are going to try to carve out a niche in those margins. With less than 2 weeks until the expected release of A2a, and with archetypes like Weavile EX, Dialga EX, and Palkia EX making strides, we're excited to see what the future holds!