Tournament Reports - Pokémon TCG Pocket Week 29

While multiple tournaments took place this week, this report exclusively covers the standout: the Grails.gg Pocket Royale $10k, hosted by Ursiiday. With a $10,000 prize pool, plus additional currency for the Grails.gg game distributed among all players, it set a new record for prize support in Pocket history. Famous content creators from both TCG Pocket and other games were invited, alongside legendary TCG players like Tord Reklev. The event drew a record 2,829 players, shattering the previous record of 1,995 (set during Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #10) and coming close to the symbolic 3,000-player mark.

With an unmatched variety of decks on display, we’ll highlight several that made a major impact during the event. But first, here’s the overall metagame breakdown:

Giratina ex and Darkrai ex combined for 50% of the meta: an all-time high in this format after already dominating last week. This time, the third most represented deck wasn’t Arceus ex (still respectable at 9%), but instead Meowscarada-based decks, rising to 12%.

The no-ex revenge

It turns out Meowscarada was a strong meta call. It had the best conversion rate of any archetype, with half the top 8 playing the deck. Bixie, a two-time Ursiiday’s Pocket Weekly winner, piloted Meowscarada all the way to the finals.

The list is fairly standard: max Meowscarada, plus one Decidueye ex. The owl can act as an early-game threat or a late-game closer. Ideally, both Meowscarada are knocked out before Decidueye ex comes in, forcing the opponent into an unoptimal point trade (1-1-2).

Capitalizing on Rare Candy to bring powerful Pokémon into play quickly, Meowscarada is especially effective at picking off common threats like Darkrai ex and Giratina ex (right after Chaotic Impact). It can do this as early as turn 4, making it a strong counter to the slower decks that made up half the meta. Leaf Cape, alongside healing from two Erika and a Lillie, also helps Meowscarada survive hits that would normally knock it out in two turns.

While the growing presence of non-ex Pokémon reduces the value of Fighting Claws, Meowscarada can still two-shot popular partners of legendary generation 4 Pokémon, like Greninja and Crobat. Decidueye ex adds another angle, dealing solid damage (80 with Razor Leaf, 100 with Pierce the Pain). Under Leaf Cape, it is nigh impossible to one-shot in the current format.

Deck analysis

While running 1 of each stage 1 in addition to 2 Rare Candy makes Sprigatito's Cry for Help less likely to get the proper stage 2 in time, it also spreads the risk by securing more chances to be able to evolve at all in the absence of Rare Candy, even if it takes an extra turn.

• Running one of each Stage 1 in addition to two Rare Candy lowers the chance of hitting Stage 2 off Cry for Help, but limits the risk to not being able to evolve at all: if you miss Rare Candy, you can still use a stage 1, even if it takes an extra turn to get the stage 2 online.
• Bixie used the Lunala pack Rowlet, which enables Decidueye ex to snipe any Pokémon next turn. Some others, like mvbds (3rd place), opted for the Solgaleo pack Rowlet. Its 20 damage to the Active Pokémon is more effective against decks like Greninja Orciorio that commonly use Shaymin (Space-Time Smackdown).
• Running a rather low number of 5 Supporters, Bixie chose Red Card over Mars, which makes sense: Mars shines when the opponent KO an early exposed Pokémon ex, disrupting their hand. But Meowscarada decks usually present both non-ex attackers early and save Decidueye ex for last. That makes Red Card the more appropriate disruption tool.

Bixie lost the first round to their worst matchup, Charizard ex, but then went on a tear, beating top meta decks including Giratina ex Greninja, Darkrai ex Giratina, Arceus Crobat, and other Meowscarada variants, until ultimately falling in the finals… to another non-ex deck.

Congratulations to Narumi for winning the event with Oricorio Magnezone!

Who would have thought a non-ex deck would have taken over a metagame filled with Big Basic Pokémon ex, and this without even running Rare Candy? Only 37 players brought Oricorio decks, yet two of them made it to top 4. The deck uses straightforward attackers: Oricorio to wall ex decks, and Magnezone as an all-around efficient versatile damage dealer.

Deck analysis

• Shaymin (Space-Time Smackdown) is the highlight of Narumi's deck. It drastically reduces chip damage from Nightmare Aura and Water Shuriken, which is one of the few ways Darkrai ex and Giratina ex Greninja can handle Oricorio. It was also played by ij77, the semifinalist on the same deck.
• 2 Giant Cape bumps Magnezone to the very relevant HP ceiling of 160HP, which makes it resistant against a one-shot from Rampardos's Head Smash and Giratina ex's Chaotic Impact + Nightmare Aura/Water Shuriken.
• With a similar number of Supporters as Bixie, Narumi preferred Mars over Red Card, likely because their deck plays for the long game rather than fast tempo swings.

Narumi breezed through day 1 and crushed four different Meowscarada decks in day 2. (ij77 did the same.) The matchup is clearly in Oricorio Magnezone’s favor: Meowscarada struggles to deal with either attacker efficiently, while Magnezone two-shots Meowscarada even through Erika healing.

King of the hill

The tournament featured a relatively small number of Swiss rounds given the massive number of entrants. Logically, 12 rounds would be expected for an event with 2,829 players. In competitive TCGs, more Swiss rounds are typically preferred to reward consistency over matchup luck in the top cut. This event, however, focused on an extended top cut to offer a more enjoyable viewing experience. In a sea of late-round intentional draws, let's celebrate the only undefeated player at the end of Day 1: Sparza.

Sparza played a fairly standard Charizard ex (Shining Revelry) list, with one Incineroar ex tech. Unlike the Meowscarada deck, the optimal point map of this deck is 2-2 (2 Pokémon ex in a row), ideally evolving the Active Pokémon as soon as possible and then use the second one if the opponent successfully took down the giant early-game threat.

Red is included to guarantee one-shots on Giratina ex or Darkrai ex when they have Giant Cape equipped. Red Card over Mars might seem odd, since the deck mostly gives up 2-prize Pokémon. But considering that KO’ing an opponent’s bulky Active Pokémon ex is both difficult for the opponent and potentially game-ending for you anyway, Red Card offers immediate disruption without consuming the Supporter slot. It resonates more in a deck that also rely on Iono to rebuild a hand until it gets both the Rare Candy and appropriate Stage 2 Pokémon.

Fully taking advantage of the field, Sparza destroyed seven Meowscarada decks (six during Swiss) along with various other meta decks. However, their undefeated run came to an end in the top cut, falling to one of the most anticipated decks of the event: Giratina ex Greninja with Tapu Lele.

Where are the Gods (now)?

Giratina ex Greninja with Tapu Lele had one of the best win rates among the most represented decks throughout the tournament. K1ngHungry achieved the best finish for the archetype, making it into the top 8.

His list was nearly identical to MST’s winning list from Ursiiday’s Pocket Weekly #27. One notable tweak was cutting Pokémon Communication for a second copy of Red Card, trading a bit of consistency (specifically in setting up Greninja, a more “optional” part of the deck) for extra disruption. This tech is more effective in a metagame dominated by Stage 2 decks like Meowscarada, where hand disruption can easily throw off an opponent’s evolution curve, and might have been instrumental in securing this performance: only 2 other lists out of the 30 Giratina ex Greninja Tapu Lele total lists ran 2 hand disruption effects. It wasn't enough unfortunately to win over Bixie, who K1ngHungry lost to in top 8.

Darkrai ex Giratina, the second most represented archetype and typically a strong performer, struggled heavily this time due to the sudden spike in Meowscarada decks. The best finish for the deck came from none other than James Cox, a seasoned professional Pokémon TCG player, who also reached the top 8.

His list was standard overall, running 2 hand disruption, 2 Rocky Helmet, and 1 Giant Cape. The most notable deckbuilding choice included cutting on Potion entirely, instead running Guzma and a second Sabrina. Guzma is a game-changer against Meowscarada (James beat two during the event) and is also strong against other Darkrai ex Giratina builds (even though he ironically faced very few of them). Sabrina forces the opponent in more inconvenient scenario that takes advantage of decks with low Basic Pokémon count and those trying to force a 1-1-2 point map.

As for Arceus ex, while none made it past top 64, the archetype still posted the second-best win rate among all decks. Specifically, the Dark Arceus ex variant stood out as the best-performing version.

BrokenBall was the top Dark Arceus ex pilot, just one rank ahead of Valden from FrogEX, who also ran the deck. This version tries to bring Crobat online early to push fast aggression if Arceus ex is here too. With a turn 3 Rare Candy, the deck can deal 80 damage on turn 3 using Cunning Link + Darkness Fang. It also runs Darkrai ex to make full use of Energy and includes Giratina as another win condition. If you open with Arceus ex or Darkrai ex, you can simply attach an Energy and pass with Broken-Space Bellow, mimicking the setup patterns of Darkrai-Giratina decks.

Spicy performances

In a tournament this massive, even with an already well-established metagame after two weeks of Celestial Guardians, there's always room for surprise contenders; either unexplored archetypes or sharp meta calls for the specific event. This time, Psychic decks made quite the impression, with EdgyFellow’s Gengar list pushing him to a top 32 finish.

While Psychic Toolbox decks have mostly featured Banette, Gengar from Triumphant Light emerged as a better option. Previously under the radar, its Hypnoblast attack (usable on turn 4 with Rare Candy) delivers an average of 105 damage for 2 Energy, making it one of the highest damage outputs for a non-ex Stage 2 with minimal setup, thanks to the 50% sleep chance (there are few ways in the game to clear the condition).

Even in neutral scenarios, Gengar's Hypnoblast can two-shot Darkrai ex. With the help of a one-of Giovanni, it also threatens a two-shot on Giratina ex. The key to its recent success lies in the strong support from Celestial Guardians: Tapu Lele for sniping benched Giratina ex, Oricorio as a revenge attacker, and Lillie for healing. Giant Cape boosts Gengar out of range from Chaotic Impact + 20, and while a 2nd copy might have helped, space was needed for consistency (Iono) and disruption (Red Card, Guzma) tools.

A very good top 32 performance completed with two other competitors making it to day 2 with different lists of the same archetype! It might gain in traction for the rest of the format. But it wasn't the only deck to impress.

Tamahagane ran a similar shell but swapped out Gengar for Togekiss as the primary attacker. After a turn of setup (and assuming it isn't gusted), Overdrive Smash offers the strongest 2-Energy attack among non-ex Stage 2s. Paired with Cynthia, it rivals or even surpasses the raw power of most ex Pokémon.

The list mirrors EdgyFellow’s closely, with Togetic taking the place of Iono for consistency. Togetic brings solid Stage 1 damage and can attack on curve. Lillie was replaced by Mars, leaning further into disruption. Tamahagane feasted on the Meowscarada-heavy field, beating four of them during Swiss. They also defeated four Giratina ex Greninja Tapu Lele decks before finally falling in top 64 to the fifth one, piloted by MagikarpFish.

In top 64 still, PedraKill impressed by piloting the most overlooked Stage 2 Pokémon ex in the format: Infernape ex.

As with many Charizard ex and Incineroar ex builds, Turtonator was the deck's partner. While Turtonator is high-maintenance, it comes online quickly with Kiawe. Although skipping a turn to use Kiawe is a drawback, it's often acceptable when played on turn 1 or during setup turns for Flare Blitz.

Infernape ex is less popular because it can’t attack going first with a Rare Candy on turn 3. But unlike Charizard ex and Incineroar ex, it can hit for full damage from turn 4. closing games faster and denying opponents a turn to develop. Its free retreat gives it more flexibility overall as well. Flare Blitz delivers knockout power against nearly any threat, and the advantage is crucial against the rising Meowscarada population.

PedraKill went 5-1 vs Giratina ex and 2-0 vs Darkrai ex, proving the deck’s value against slower archetypes. Ironically, they were eliminated in top cut... by Meowscarada Decidueye ex. This might’ve come down to a coin flip, as both decks tend to perform significantly better when going second.

Where Is the Celestial Guardians metagame at?

This tournament showcased far more deck diversity than the Giratina ex/Darkrai ex stalemate we've seen in previous weeks. Meta calling, the practice of anticipating the metagame to gain an edge, clearly paid off: Meowscarada, the strongest counter to Big Basic Pokémon ex decks, had an incredible conversion rate. Ironically, it worked against them in the finals by a better deck against non-ex strategies: Oricorio Magnezone. This surprise win marks the archetype’s first major tournament victory, and what a debut!

The underperformance of Darkrai ex and Giratina ex this event suggests a growing need for Big ex decks to incorporate non-ex attackers. These not only help break through Oricorio walls, but also reduce exposure to Meowscarada’s Fighting Claws, which specifically punishes ex-heavy builds.

Giratina ex remains one of the cards of all time. It's the only Pokémon capable of accelerating Energy while going first, historically the weakest position in Pokémon TCG Pocket. However, the rise of cards like Tapu Lele and Meowscarada, both of which being much better when going first, might signal a shift back toward a metagame that favors going second, though decks like Charizard ex and Rampardos can still easily capitalize on early-game tempo either way.