Tournament Reports - Pokémon TCG Pocket Week 19

Week 2 of Triumphant Light saw a mix of major tournaments and a record number of medium-sized events (150-400 players). In the end, the Generation 4 deities are taking over! Let’s break down how the metagame evolved by analyzing the biggest tournaments of the week.

FrogEX Weekly Cup #9

The first major event of the week, FrogEX Weekly Cup, reached its 9th edition. Players competed for a $50 prize pool and qualification points for the exclusive FrogEX Invitational later in the season.

With last week’s results in mind, 554 players entered the tournament, bringing a relative majority of Dialga ex decks paired with Arceus ex, followed by its biggest counter, Lucario Rampardos, and finally, Water-type decks such as 18 Trainers Palkia ex.

Dialga ex delivered as expected, making up nearly half of the Top 32 and half of the Top 8, marking a strong sign of consistency. In the end, Izrenato claimed victory with it:

Nothing particularly unconventional; Izrenato opted to play one of each Shaymin, with an X Speed to completely nullify Arceus ex and Dialga ex’s retreat cost when Shaymin (Triumphant Light) is in play. This allows to avoid losing tempo by attaching Energy just for retreating.

A rare highlight of the event was the strong Top 8 performance of Infernape ex, a deck that had previously struggled to find its place in the meta. Nomppie piloted it to a deep run, proving that the big ape might be ripe to take over the meta.

Infernape ex shines in this metagame because Dialga ex + Arceus ex is the deck to beat. Thanks to its Flare Blitz attack and type advantage, it can one-shot both of these Pokémon.

The deck also benefits from Triumphant Light’s "Link" engine. Heatran is a big companion for Infernape ex: not only is it a reliable tank, but Ragin’ Mad Strike doubles in power when Heatran is hurt. Since it boasts 110 HP, Dialga ex can’t just Metallic Turbo through it. If the deck goes second, back-to-back Ragin’ Mad Strikes (one with extra damage) can basically one-shot the legendary Pokémon. With Arceus ex nullifying its retreat cost thanks to Speed Link, Heatran becomes a strong switch play after a Flare Blitz (or provides an additional Energy for Dawn plays). It seems like Infernape ex has finally found the partner it was missing, tho at the cost of running Arceus ex, a terrible starter for this aggressive deck.

Since Flare Blitz sometimes falls short of a one-shot (against Pokémon with Giant Cape, or with higher HP like Palkia ex), two Rocky Helmets and Rotom complement the aggressive strategy. Nomppie’s deck went 4-0 against Dialga ex but ultimately lost in Top 8 to an 18 Trainers Palkia ex deck.

Speaking of, perhaps the biggest surprise of the tournament was Whizzy's Palkia deck, which reached the finals.

Palkia ex decks are usually built in two ways:

1. 18 Trainers for an explosive start.
2. Manaphy + Vaporeon to quickly power up Dimensional Storm.

Whizzy took a different approach, going all Basic with 2 Manaphy, 2 Palkia ex, and 2 Origin Forme Palkia, a seemingly unremarkable Pokémon that's very reminiscent of Baby Mewtwo in the Genetic Apex metagame.

Like Baby Mewtwo, Origin Forme Palkia boasts 120 HP, making it an efficient tank that can stall opponents by absorbing hits; with a Giant Cape, it can even survive a full-power Ultimate Force. It also benefits from Water’s incredible support engine, including Manaphy, Misty, and Irida, to quickly accelerate in Energy and to gain in staying power. And just like Mewtwo, thanks to the type-specific support, it can uses its attack, Zone Smash, which deals 90 damage on average, peaking at 120—enough to two-shot most Pokémon and occasionally land one-hit KOs.

This variant could prove more effective than Palkia ex 18 trainers for many reasons:

• Manaphy is one of the strongest openers, especially in a format with few turn 1 50-damage attackers.
• The deck's ideal point trade: 1 (Manaphy) - 1 (Origin Forme Palkia) - 2 (Palkia ex) stretches out the game in favor of Palkia ex's power building, especially thanks to both Palkia's bulk.
• It’s less vulnerable to Sudowoodo, the new tech against big basic Pokémon ex and partly responsible for the success of decks in the meta

Whizzy was the only player running this list—apparently invented by Danico—and managed to push it all the way to the finals. His success paved the way for players to adopt this approach...

Hooglandia & Spragels Open

Jeff Hoogland and Spragels teamed up once again to host an Open tournament celebrating the new set. The event featured a $375 cash prize pool, along with Poké Gold, Pack Hourglasses, and giveaway codes provided by The Pokémon Company International, totaling over $1000 in prize value. A massive 867 players joined the competition.

The Top 3 decks of the event Dialga + Arceus, Lucario + Rampardos, and Palkia were also the only three different archetypes to make the top cut. This time, Slashu claimed victory, running the exact 4 Palkia list that Whizzy had used to reach the finals at FrogEX Weekly Cup.

Just a week ago, this deck didn’t even exist in the meta. Now, it has claimed 1st and 2nd place in two of the week's biggest tournaments. But Palkia ex decks can take many forms.

mitimiti piloted this deck to Top 8. At first glance, it resembles a standard Palkia ex + Vaporeon build. However, a closer look reveals a distinct strategy: it runs 2 Glaceon ex and just 1 Vaporeon, with only a single Palkia ex. The deck centers around the Eeveelutions, particularly Glaceon ex in the early game. Fueled by Manaphy, Glaceon ex applies passive 10 damage every turn without attacking (and unlike Poison, they can't be bypassed by retreat strategies). Vaporeon adds in flexibility to the deck, should the need arise: in the early game, to move Energies collected by Manaphy to Glaceon ex for a stronger setup; in the late game, to move them from Glaceon ex to Palkia ex for a powerful finisher.

Before this performance, Glaceon ex has struggled to make an impact, and its Weakness—which would have been almost irrelevant in previous formats—now becomes a major liability against Dialga ex decks. Ultimately, Mitimiti’s run ended in Top 8 against one of these Dialga ex lists.

This was also the best-performing Dialga deck of the tournament, played by Ciccio for a Top 4 finish. His more aggressive approach to the archetype could serve as a promising roadmap for the future.

Compared to traditional builds, Ciccio cut Potions in favor of extra Tools, for both survivability and damage output for big Basic Pokémon ex... but also to account for the inclusion of one-of Skarmory, an early-game attacker capable of dealing 50 damage as early as turn 2 when equipped with a Tool.

The change paid off—Ciccio didn’t drop a match to the four Dialga + Arceus decks he faced. Could Skarmory be the answer in mirror matches, taking advantage of Dialga ex’s slow early game?

Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #19

The 19th edition of the biggest TCG Pocket tournament series took place at the same time, with 1,177 players making similar deck choices overall when competing for the $400 prizepool.

The top cut conversion mirrored that of Hooglandia’s tournament:

1. Dialga ex far ahead of the rest
2. Lucario Rampardos as the main counter
3. Palkia ex trailing behind, despite a big overall share of the meta

This time, Dialga ex completely dominated, and the finals were a mirror match where Renta emerged victorious.

All three Dialga ex decks in the Top 4 included Mew ex as a one-of.

• Mew ex has always been a strong partner for Dialga ex, as it can be charged via Metallic Turbo and follow up with Genome Hacking to handle big attackers.
• With Palkia ex gaining popularity and Rampardos constantly preying on Dialga ex, Mew ex is once again an auto-include.
• Turning into a 3rd Arceus ex in the mirror match, Giovanni further improves it as Mew ex can one-shot Arceus ex by hitting the exact 140 damage threshold.

Renta stood out as the only top cut player running two copies of Giovanni, and it paid off—he won all 10 mirror matches he played.

While the Top 16 was entirely dominated by the top 3 decks, one standout performance came from Kaito F, who a Dark Arceus ex deck—a variant that had largely failed to impress until now.

This version builds on the Druddigon + Darkrai ex strategy from the previous metagame’s Darkrai ex deck, but Triumphant Light adds a crucial new piece: Crobat. Its Cunning Link ability deals 30 passive damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon every turn when Arceus ex is in play. This stacks with Darkrai ex’s Nightmare Aura and Druddigon’s Rough Skin, for a constant stream of passive damage that wears down opponents over time. Arceus ex isn’t just a support piece—it can step in as a strong attacker to close games, something Darkrai ex lacked in the Space-Time Smackdown metagame.

Despite finishing 2nd in Swiss, Kaito F’s top 64 exit meant his run went largely unnoticed. However, the fact that he never lost a single match to the 5 Dialga + Arceus decks he faced should make players take notice. This performance might be a sign that Dark Arceus ex could become a real contender in future tournaments.

Where Is the Triumphant Light metagame at?

The metagame continues to revolve around big Basic Pokémon supported by Energy acceleration, with the rise of Palkia ex this week further cementing this trend. Initially, Articuno ex seemed like the go-to 18 Trainers deck, but Palkia ex has proven to be the better choice, both in its 18 Trainers variant and the 4 Palkia version. The deck fully exploits the toolbox and hits the 150 damage threshold to succeed in this format.

Palkia ex’s rise pushes out decks further out of competition, despite their theoretical advantage against Dialga ex. decks such as Leafeon ex and Exeggutor ex also failed to establish themselves, even though they should have had an edge against decks, which have been the second-best performing archetype overall.

Meanwhile, Lucario Rampardos and Gallade ex remain strong options because they counter Dialga + Arceus. They could however face greater challenges if less ex-dependent techs and strategies start to gain traction.

With the Big Basic ex meta being firmly in place, there could be opportunities for low-to-the-ground aggro decks to make a return. Three Basic Pokémon—Skarmory, Carnivine, and Sudowoodo—can now hit for up to 50 damage on turn 1. Could this be enough material to shake up the deity-dominated format? The coming weeks will tell.