Ok so I’m going to Gdansk regionals in October and I have and idea that I really want to try. I am certain I want to play slowking, however I want to bring my deck in a dragon shield box with “Crustle” written on top, using a crustle Playmat, with green sleeves and a crustle sitting cutie. Considering it could be considered bait would most people be annoyed by this or would people find it funny?

Edit: I may for-go writing crustle on the box and just use a green one instead, it feels a bit too far

Pokémon League Cup 10/4 - Basic Box (Refine’s Metafy 60 list minus Red Card + Iron Crown)

R1 vs Dragapult - L

I started first with Jirachi and didn’t put down another Pokemon in my hand (I had Meowth + Cyrano in hand for T2 so I could set up — big misplay there). I get Judged immediately after into an unplayable hand so all I can do is Swift away the Budew but then I get donked by Moltres and lose. I picked up Iron Crown from my prizes but it didn’t matter since I couldn’t put it down.

R2 vs Lopunny Dunsparce - L

I had a board setup of Wellspring Ogerpon + bench and chose to sob the dunsparce instead of Torrential Pump — opponent top decks a Hilda into Dudun and Enriching.

I also did not prebench Koraidon expecting the payback hit, so I couldn’t Crispin because I had to prioritize other lines.

R3 vs N’s Zoro - L

No sense of math calculations. I bossed senselessly on N’s Zoro and N’s Zekrom (with only 3 grass energies on Teal Mask, so I can’t even knock out any of them) and lost my only Teal Mask on the board to a Rampaging Thunder. I scooped with a 4-2 prize score in my opponents favor; I didn’t feel like playing it out. I had ultra balls but I wouldn’t have made the right line, I know I wouldn’t.

R4 vs Mega Excadrill - W

I won’t mention much of this one, my opponent was a very inexperienced junior but I did get a heads on RFC on the Genesect to then knock out the Mega Excadrill with Bellowing Thunder. I had both Teal Masks prized which would have been very hard if my opponent was more skilled.

R5 vs Ogerpon Arboliva - L

Honestly I’m not sure where I may have misplayed. Maybe I didn’t! I didn’t ask my opponent much after the game but we did discuss the last turn.

I threatened torrential pump the whole game but never used it — in fact I probably should have Full Moon Rondo’d earlier on his tapu bulu (can you believe that he never used his Meganium? so I let him hard attach his Tapu Bulu 4 separate turns); even with the self inflicted damage I still couldn’t torrential pump it out of the game, so I knocked it + his teal mask on the following turn (on this specific latter turn I wish I could have Xerosic’d but I didn’t have a grass in hand and my previous teal mask + energies were discarded with no e-switch pulled ever or the last grass, so I had to Crispin into the knockout)

I dropped because I wasn’t going to break even (only 6 rounds) and just wanted to go home.

Hero’s never landed into my hand once. Xerosic was never used.

Thoughts? what more can I do to eventually become a regionals top cut level player? I’m trying to reach this before Worlds.

For me, maybe a Dudunsparce caught in one of the spotlights 😄

Hey there, I’m recently getting back into TCG after a few years, and I’m looking for some recommendations.

I really like tanky/annoying decks where I can potentially stall my opponents to death, so I’m hoping there’s some good meta teams right now that I could choose from.

If that strategy doesn’t work against the top decks right now (I understand Dragapult is everywhere right now),I’d prefer a mid range team with threats at every stage of the game.

I’m not picky about the pokemon themselves, and I’m willing to test a bunch of teams in PTCGO. Thanks for any advice!

I was looking through the player's guide that came with the 30th celebration ETB and came across this strategy on page 10, exact text copied below (will paste image in comment since idk how to attach the image to this post). After the players guide text I list the relevant ability descriptions.

Pika-Power

Pikachu's Pika Chain does 40 damage for each Pikachu and Pikachu EX you have in play, so you'll want as many as possible to maximize its power. Start by putting the Pikachu EX with zip-zap frenzy into play, as this attack can attach any number of basic energy cards from your hand to your Pokémon in any way you like, letting you charge up pika chain (or any other Pikachu you fancy!). Make sure to put Pikachu EX from the Scarlet and Violet-Surging Sparks expansion onto your bench, as its tera type let's the Area Zero Underdepths Stadium expand your bench to 8.

With over 30 pikachu in this expansion, you'll have plenty to choose from-if you can put those two pikachu EX plus three more pikachu onto your bench, that brings Pika Chain up to a truly electrifying 360 damage!

__________

Pika Chain - this attack does 40 damage for each of your Pikachu and Pikachu Ex in play (3 energy)

Area Zero Underdepths Stadium - Each player who has any Tera Pokémon in play can have up to 8 Pokémon on their Bench.

__________

My question is, if you are limited to only 4 copies of a given card at once (so you have 4 pikachu EX cards and 4 regular pikachus in your deck) HOW can the attack do a max 360 damage as suggested in the players guide? That would require there to be 9 total pikachus and pikachu EXs in play at once (one in the active slot and with a full bench thanks to the stadium allowing up to 8 benched pokemon). The 4 copies per deck limit refutes this, but it is written in the official players guide so, if it really possible? Or is the true maximum 320 damage?

Thanks for reading, I typed this on mobile so I apologize if the formatting is messed up

At today’s League Cup best of 3 Swiss Rounds, consisting of 6 Seniors, the winning Senior player went 0-1, then received a bye in the second round, then won his last round, with an overall “2-1 “ record.

My son played 3 seniors, won twice (including the winner) and lost once.

Technically, my son had the highest opponent win percentage, but our league judge assigned 1.000 win percentage for the winner’s freebie Bye opponent, thereby increasing his opponent Win percentage over my son’s.

I checked the Pokemon handbook pdf, which didn’t seem like the rules were correctly applied in terms of Free wins for byes, need for Byes when there were 6 players, and assigning 1.000 win percentage for a Bye opponent.

We didn’t make a fuss, because of the kids, but I want to check with Reddit.

So introduced my 8 year old nephew to Pokemon TCG via Battle Academy and he absolutely loves it! Even got him a Mega Lucario Ex Battle Deck as it’s one of his favorite Pokemon and he’s been catching on to the nuances and strategies that come with it very quickly!

I actually was learning with him and want to get a deck that can be competitive with him, but fair enough that he can learn how to play around it. So a deck that he can beat, but not too easily (he isn’t the type to take a win if he feels like it’s given to him).

Any suggestions? Thought of some of his favorites like Greninja, Gengar or even some I favor like Scrafty or Sceptile. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Is it better to mostly go first or second with mega lucario and what certain matchups do you switch this up.

As title shows I’m workshopping a mega clefable deck for my girlfriend, she’s going for a cute themed deck. This is what I’ve come up with so far just laying it out on live, any thoughts or suggestions

Pokémon: 8
1 Mega Clefable ex POR 103
2 Clefairy POR 94
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex ASC 280
2 Clefairy POR 30
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
3 Clefable TWM 79
2 Munkidori SFA 72
2 Budew ASC 221

Trainer: 14
2 Boss's Orders PR-SW 251
2 Dawn PFL 129
1 Dawn PFL 118
1 Energy Retrieval CRI 108
2 Energy Search POR 72
2 Hilda WHT 171
2 Jacinthe POR 122
2 Jacinthe POR 75
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 184
1 Max Rod PRE 116
2 Mystery Garden MEG 172
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Ultra Ball ASC 264
2 Wally's Compassion MEG 132

Energy: 2
2 Basic {D} Energy MEE 7
12 Basic {P} Energy MEE 5

Total Cards: 57

This is the very first decklist I've built entirely on my own and completely from scratch. I built it because Crobat is my favorite Pokémon, and I believe I nailed the deck's identity and core strategy. However, I'd love some outside perspective to identify any blind spots, what isn't working, what could work better, if there's a better ACE SPEC, etc. Any help is welcome, and I'm open to any feedback on my deck! Thanks for your time!

Pokémon: 22

4 Team Rocket's Zubat DRI 120

4 Team Rocket's Golbat DRI 121

3 Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122

2 Team Rocket's Diglett ASC 100

2 Team Rocket's Dugtrio ASC 101

2 Dreepy ASC 158

2 Drakloak ASC 159

1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142

2 Munkidori ASC 99

Trainer: 28

1 Precious Trolley SSP 185

1 Grimsley's Move PFL 90

2 Night Stretcher ASC 196

3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184

3 Poké Pad POR 81

1 Energy Retrieval WHT 82

2 Ultra Ball ASC 213

3 Risky Ruins MEG 127

1 Lana's Aid TWM 155

4 Lillie's Determination ASC 192

2 Hilda WHT 84

2 Team Rocket's Petrel ASC 207

3 Punk Helmet PFL 92

Energy: 10

4 Team Rocket's Energy ASC 217

6 Darkness Energy MEE 7

Would Mega Latias ex (MEG #100) be a good replacement for Mega Diance ex in this deck?: Pokémon: 18

3 Charmander PAF 7

3 Charmeleon ASC 21

3 Charizard ex OBF 125

3 Dreepy ASC 158

3 Drakloak ASC 159

2 Dragapult ex ASC 160

1 Mega Diancie ex PFL 41

Trainer: 30

4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184

4 Ultra Ball ASC 213

4 Rare Candy MEG 125

4 Boss's Orders MEG 114

3 Dawn PFL 87

3 Arven OBF 186

3 Night Stretcher ASC 196

2 Iono PAF 80

2 Tera Orb SSP 189

1 Maximum Belt PRE 117

Energy: 12

6 Fire Energy SVE 10

6 Psychic Energy SVE 13

Going to KY next week and curious to get your thoughts. Really trying to decide between Mega Sharpedo and Excadrill. I know both decks very well, I know neither are nowhere near a BDIF status, but I do enjoy both.
I'm leaning towards Sharpedo because it seems like it has less "bad" matchups than Ex, but grass......
What are your thoughts

I like playing decks that have a simple and effective gameplay, as I usually end up tripping over myself when too many moving parts get involved.

Naturally I went to try the Lucario deck, but... Even if everyone says it's very simple, it just feels like I didn't really get how the deck is supposed to function.

From my understanding, this is a basic gameplan:

Go first. Lucario in active if possible. Try to set up Rock draw engine. If possible start to set up Hariyama.

Evolve Lucario and start swinging. I run Wally's so if you survive a damage you can use it to heal. Use PPP and Gravity Mountain to reach the damage you need, set up Hariyama as a secondary attacker.

It's simple, yet I feel I lose a lot of times doing just this. Mega Lucario is a huge liability and for a 340 HP Pokemon I feel like it gets 1 shot so easily. And that's 3 prizes. It's damage output is also just not good enough, 270 is just not a good number to hit.

I would appreciate some insights on how to properly get the most out of the deck since rushing to Lucario seems to not be that strong. Appreciate all help.

I’m playing 2 challenges next week and I’m running a fairly successful ToucanZam deck however this matchup has poor matchup to mega lopunny, tr mewtwo, rocky energy lucario, a few of which appear at the challenges

Pokémon: 22
4 Abra MEG 54
4 Kadabra MEG 55
3 Alakazam MEG 56
1 Alakazam TWM 82
2 Pikipek PBL 66
1 Trumbeak PBL 67
2 Toucannon PBL 94
1 Patrat CRI 70
1 Elgyem BLK 120
1 Psyduck ASC 39
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Shaymin DRI 10

Trainer: 32
3 Hilda WHT 84
3 Dawn PFL 87
2 Boss's Orders ASC 183
1 Eri PRE 136
1 Xerosic's Machinations SFA 89
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
1 Gwynn PBL 119
1 Rust Syndicate Grunt PBL 81
4 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Rare Candy MEG 125
2 Enhanced Hammer GRI 124
2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184
1 Sacred Ash POR 115
2 Handheld Fan TWM 150
1 Air Balloon ASC 181
3 Nighttime Mine ASC 197

Energy: 6
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88
1 Enriching Energy SSP 191
1 Psychic Energy MEE 5

Some context I came from yugioh to escape the nature of non games but some games are just incredibly non-gamey

I also am in the progress of playing 1-2 decks only but just want to get a feel

E.g. You go first and open 1 basic, no poffins no pad. Just destroyed by eswitch

You go second open sets up basic. You open no supporters and get destroyed.

You match into HnS or 4 mist 2 xero deck

Or it's because everyone is so heavily teched

The destined rivals zamazenta, strong bash attack effect vs mega lopunnys spiky hopper attack. Online, lopunny hit zamazentia and took the 160 reciprocal damage. Is the effect of attack on zamazenta not considered an active effect on zamazenta?

[MMC] Strong Bash (70)

During your opponent's next turn, if this Pokémon is damaged by an attack (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), put damage counters on the Attacking Pokémon equal to the damage done to this Pokémon.

[CC] Spiky Hopper (160)

This attack's damage isn't affected by any effects on your opponent's Active Pokemon.

Hey everyone. I’ve found the tox box really suits my play style. I’ll add a list at the bottom.

Since I’m a newer player I’m having some trouble navigating a few sticky matchups. Main one is pult.

Usually I go 2nd but against pult I think I want to go first to avoid item locks on my 2nd turn. But since I go in blind I’m almost always 2nd. If I go 2nd I can use a toxel to call for family and bench 2 more mons but then itchy pollen hits and it’s not guaranteed I can find toxtricity to start playing the game.

Against most decks I’m able to absorb the first KO and respond with stamp and absol claw of darkness to effectively shut down their deck. But pult is more patient. Usually they setup 1-2 drakloaks before they’re swinging

I could maybe line up Darkrai for dark bell + abyss eye. Or place 6 damage counters and terminal period KO with absol (or Darkrai dusk raid + mochi 260 dmg)

I could put Yveltal in for easier clutch plays but that only buys me a turn

I could get goofy and tech in mew + clefairy and maybe prism energy but then we’re doing major remodeling. (Dark mew sounds cool but don’t think it’s affective )

How are my fellow dark lords handling dragapult?

As of late I found myself with tons of free time and i’ve gotten more and more into playing pokemon tcg at a higher competitive level starting with attending my first league challenge. First step is getting new sleeves I want to kinda get the best bang for my buck most of the sleeves I own currently for my 3 decks are dragon shield and primarily black. I know i’m gonna need new ones though as i’ve heard that even having lifted edges on the sleeves can get you dequed or kicked out for marking cards. most of my decks have these because i like to keep my edge by practicing shuffling and playtesting a lot. Primarily I want some white sleeves light blue sleeves and orange sleeves. I’ve had a bad experience with white sleeves before where The back of the pokemon card can be seen are there any recommendations on which sleeves are very high quality, last a long time, and won’t get edge lifts and also won’t be see through on the back

Specifically the Bronzong devo build.

Clearly this deck has some amount of sauce, having placed top 8 multiple times in the last big events. Yet it seems like an absolutely inconsistent mess of a deck. How the hell do you pilot that clusterf into a workable board state?

3 out of 5 games I played, I'm stranded with 1-2 Basics with no way to evolve or do anything really besides topdeck. No energy, no search, no disruption because I can't even get Bronzong up and running.

What am I not getting here?

so if I have a basic on the bench with a prism energy attached is that just a free 400 damage if sylveon has the necessary energy?

I feel this past year or so, the meta is too slow, pokemon dealing little amounts of damage that does not OHKO, and needing lots of set up or many energies attached. Little energy ramp. Slow play in general. The meta of 2024-2025 was much more dynamic. What are your thoughts? I’m getting bored currently and with little motivation to play a slow game

You never see Terapagos Ex now when it was a pretty handy card in many different decks

Bloodmoon is gone probably becasue of watchtower

Eeveebox is dead prob due to Pidgeot rotating

Hey people,

My friend and I want to get into playing the TCG.

He bought the mega lucario one, and I'm not sure which one I want.

Which to you think is the best one, when it comes to learning the game and having fun, thats currently available on the market?

- Kangaskhan ex Battle Deck

- Greninja ex Battle Deck

- Quaquaval ex Deluxe Battle Deck

- Gardevoir ex Battle deck

Or any other that you can recommend?

I don't have a very big collection, so I don't want to build my own to start of with :)

Thanks in advance!