Tournament Reports - Pokémon TCG Pocket Week 23

As players spent more time with Shining Revelry, the metagame began to consolidate, with some attempts to counter it. We’ll break down the week’s three biggest tournaments, covering the metagame breakdown and standout lists.

FrogEX Weekly Cup #13

The first major tournament of the week was the 13th edition of the FrogEX Weekly Cup, held on Thursday, with 269 players competing for a $50 prize pool and a possible invite to the end-of-season tournament.

Compared to last week, Gallade ex dropped from the second most played deck to fifth despite decent performances, while Meowscarada surged to fourth.

The top cut generally reflected the global deck representation, with Gyarados ex standing out for its high top 8 conversion rate. However, despite the winning list featuring a Pokémon, the tournament was actually won by a Darkrai ex deck piloted by Alo from the FrogEX team.

Darkrai Greninja is no newcomer: it’s been around since Space-Time Smackdown and has long been the second most popular Darkrai deck, behind Darkrai Magnezone. It deals damage through Druddigon’s Rough Skin, Greninja’s Water Shuriken, and Darkrai ex’s Nightmare Aura. If left uncontested, it doesn't even need to attack to win; when contested, the passive damage from all these abilities is often enough to knock out in retaliation.

The deck runs only Energy, making Darkrai ex its sole attacker with a modest 80 damage output. This often becomes an issue once the first line of defense falls. To bring much needed late-game power to the deck, Alo added a one-of Giratina ex, which combined with Water Shuriken and Cyrus, can take down heavy hitters like another Giratina ex from the Bench and swiftly knock them out.

Giratina ex also goes well with the deck’s stall-heavy strategy, as the deck doesn't need to attack in the first place and can technically win just by pinging the opponent's Pokémon. It also explains why Kangaskhan, which became the go-to 1 point tank at the tail end of Space-Time Smackdown metagame thanks to its attack, has been again replaced by Druddigon.

Despite ending the Swiss rounds as the last seed and suffering two losses to Darkrai ex Giratina, Alo climbed all the way to first place, defeating two Giratina ex Mewtwo decks, one Darkrai ex Giratina, one Gyarados ex, and finally avenging his earlier loss by beating ridzan’s Skarmory Magnezone deck in the finals; which is incidentally another impressive performance.

Skarmory Magnezone is another Space-Time Smackdown-era deck that had fallen off in the following format, likely due to the broader variety of decks and a lack of standout matchups into top tiers. Shaymin had also a terrible effect against its aggressive approach as it brought big Basic Pokémon ex from a 3 turn knockout range to a 4 turn knockout range, which is enough for the Dialga ex to completely overtake the game. But with Dialga ex dethroned by Darkrai and Giratina, the deck might be enjoying a resurgence.

Skarmory Magnezone performs well into slower decks like Giratina ex builds (especially those without Druddigon), and as a full 1-point deck, it's harder for Giratina/Darkrai decks to trade efficiently, especially with the recoil from Chaotic Impact. It also fares well against Gyarados ex—the second most represented deck—as Skarmory can one-shot Manaphy, and Magnezone hits all Pokémon for Weakness.

This list runs one Iono to help evolve the Magnemite line more reliably, but notably doesn't include a single Red, opting instead for one Giovanni. This helps Skarmory reach the key 60 damage threshold needed to KO most Basic Pokémon, though it's a curious call in a meta dominated by big ex Pokémon. Still, the results speak for themselves: ridzan's run shows it paid off.

Pocket Legends League #25

207 players joined the Friday edition of the Pocket Legends League for a shot at the $50 prize pool.

Giratina ex overtook Gyarados ex as the second most played deck. Since most Darkrai ex lists also run two Giratina ex, it's reasonable to say that it's the most impactful card of Shining Revelry by far.

Still, Gyarados ex delivered another strong showing, outperforming Giratina ex in the top cut and tying Darkrai ex for most top 8 placements. But once again, it was a Darkrai ex deck that took the win, this time piloted by Elwood.

Unlike last week’s variants that featured Druddigon, this version runs only Darkrai ex and Giratina ex to maximize consistency in getting both onto the board turn 1. While Druddigon trades for just 1 point, it often ends up giving way to one of the two ex Pokémon, which doesn't make the trade map any better. Plus, Darkrai ex and Giratina ex are strong tanks in their own right, and cards like Potion and Pokémon Center Lady help heal chip damage from Nightmare Aura, so they stay long enough to fully charge and take over the game. This streamlined version has now largely replaced the Druddigon variant across tournaments and even the ranked ladder.

In the finals, Elwood defeated Esdeath, who played one of the three Gyarados ex decks in the top cut.

That Gyarados ex list hasn’t changed a bit from last week—it was already perfected from week 1. Its strengths haven't changed: Manaphy punishes slow Darkrai and Giratina decks, Irida heals damage from Nightmare Aura and more, and Rocky Helmet and Red enable Gyarados ex to one-shot big Basic Pokémon ex.

A surprising list that barely missed top 8 was a Meowscarada build... featuring Wigglytuff!

Built around two Meowscarada lines, this deck also includes a Jigglypuff, and everyone’s favorite Wigglytuff from Shining Revelry. Wigglytuff heals 20 damage from the Active Pokémon each turn, effectively nullifying Darkrai ex’s Nightmare Aura, and also deals a respectable 50 damage for , making it a solid attacker in its own right.

In this format, Meowscarada equipped with a Giant Cape is rarely vulnerable to a one-shot, since it's unaffected by Red. Its main threats come from big hitters like Giratina ex’s Chaotic Impact or Gyarados ex’s Rampaging Whirlpool, when paired with passive damage. While Wigglytuff doesn’t help in those situations, its ability to recover from Nightmare Aura alone was reason enough for yuriisle to include it. Let’s not forget that he’s also the winner of Ursiiday’s Pocket Weekly #18, not just some crazy newcomer that likes the Wigglytuff artwork a bit too much.

This might actually open the door for more Wigglytuff in 1-point decks that have room for a partner to counter Darkrai ex’s growing presence.

Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #23

The biggest TCG Pocket tournament series brought 875 players in the competition, competing for a $400 prizepool sponsored by XP Collect.

Top deck trends are becoming clearer, with Gallade ex nearly vanishing from competition.

After a week of leading in representation in those major tournaments, Darkrai ex Giratina won yet another major event, piloted this time by Bixie.

The deck is nearly identical to Elwood’s, with one Mars cut for a second Pokémon Center Lady. This healing supporter, introduced in Shining Revelry, works alongside Giant Cape to prevent Giratina ex from being revenge KO’d after a Chaotic Impact, especially when softened by Nightmare Aura. Without Druddigon, Darkrai ex and Giratina ex are your only tanks: keeping them alive is critical to winning the point race.

Top 8 featured three Gyarados ex (once again), two Giratina ex Mewtwo "17 Trainer" builds, and another appearance of Alo with his “Froginja” Darkrai list (!). The 7th place list was a Palkia ex deck piloted by bom222243.

This list is similar to the old 4-Palkia ex deck from the Triumphant Light format, but with one Origin Forme Palkia cut. That brings the Basic Pokémon count down to five, on par with Gyarados ex lists. Without a Stage 1 Pokémon, it has room for 2 Leaf, increasing odds of attacking with Manaphy on curve and easily pivoting an unfortunate Palkia starter in the Active without paying a retreat cost.

Slash is efficient against slow decks like Darkrai ex and Giratina ex while also managing opponent's Manaphy in the early game, while Dimensional Storm is a guaranteed OHKO against the two Basic ex thanks to Red. The deck replaces Rocky Helmet with Giant Cape, as Palkia ex is more vulnerable to Nightmare Aura + Chaotic Impact combos than Gyarados ex. In the early game, it can also help get more mileage out of Manaphy's Oceanic Gift, even allowing to prepare for a back-to-back Dimensional Storm.

Where Is the Shining Revelry metagame at?

Shining Revelry introduced an amazing tool for slower decks in Giratina ex, and the metagame has clearly shifted toward Darkrai ex and Giratina ex dominance as a result. Gyarados ex still thrives thanks to the lack of early aggression from these decks and the possible lucky Misty roll to close out the game quickly. Is this shaping up to be another "two-deck" format like the infamous Darkrai ex/Exeggutor ex era from Space-Time Smackdown?

So far, the format still offers relative diversity: around 30% of big tournaments consist of decks with less than 3% meta share. Ironically, this hurts decks like Gallade ex, which can counter Darkrai and Gyarados ex well, but fall flat against some niche archetypes... and Giratina Mewtwo.

Two top 8 Skarmory finishes this week and the consistent presence of Meowscarada in top cut suggest that aggro decks may still have room to grow. Those that can deal consistent 50+ damage from turn 1 (Skarmory, Carnivine, Sudowoodo...), or that offer aggressive options while staying within the 1-point prize trade, will have to be monitored this week. Ultimately, Darkrai ex likely remains the king of the format, but hope for challengers is higher now than it was two months ago.