Hi there. I share a local Pokemon TCG tournament report where I use Ceruledge ex in the Prismatic Evolutions format. This was in early February 2025 in Toronto. I visit Toronto around once or twice a month to do some shopping and play Pokemon TCG.
Tournament Structure
This Tournament was in a Toronto card store section of a games store. It was a free tournament with three Best of One rounds. You win a Prize Pack Series 5 for each win.
The Prize Pack Series Five cards are mostly playable cards in the competitive Pokemon TCG part of the game. Many players want these packs as the Prize Stamp version of the cards are of higher value than the regular versions. These packs are not for resale but it does not stop Ebay sellers unfortunately.
My Ceruldege ex Deck
I play Cerueldge ex with Palkia VSTAR in this local tournament. Here is my list (or something close to this).
Pokémon: 9
1 Lumineon V BRS 40
1 Munkidori TWM 95
3 Ceruledge ex SSP 36
1 Origin Forme Palkia V ASR 39
1 Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR ASR 40
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Iron Bundle PAR 56
1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169
3 Charcadet SSP 32
Trainer: 13
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
1 Crispin SCR 133
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
2 Jamming Tower TWM 153
1 Iono PAL 185
3 Night Stretcher SFA 61
2 Boss's Orders SHF 58
1 Pal Pad SVI 182
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
1 Secret Box TWM 163
2 Professor's Research SVI 189
4 Carmine TWM 145
Energy: 4
6 Basic {R} Energy SVE 10
2 Basic {D} Energy Energy 15
6 Basic {W} Energy Energy 11
4 Jet Energy PAL 190
Total Cards: 60
Most lists play 3 Jet Energy and a Briar. I go with 4 Jet Energy and cut the Briar for Crispin. Briar seems too situational to my liking and players seem to play around and have me at 1 Prize card instead of two. Crispin can help set up a Radiant Greninja attack or attach two Energy for the turn.
Jamming Towers are good to shut off the effects of Tools. This is mostly for the Gardevoir ex matchup as they rely on Bravery Charms for Drifloon and Technical Machine: Evolution to evolve.
Round One In Ceruledge Mirror Matchup
This time around at the tournament the organizer did not want to yell out the names and matchups. Instead he printed out sheets of matchups. Us players had find our opponents and find an open area to play. It was a bit annoying but okay. (It would have been better if there were actual table numbers to go to when assigned.)
For my first round I have a mirror matchup against another Ceruledge ex player. I win the coin flip and decide to go first. My first turn was actually sub-opitmal in retrospect. I did have a Carmine going first on my first turn.
The mistake looking back was using the Ultra Ball to get Radiant Greninja instead of Squawkabilly ex. The Squawkabilly ex would be going through more of my deck and discarding more energies for the Ceruledge ex attack.
I don't remember the exact details. My opponent gets an okay first turn in terms of setup. It was the later turns where I have a dead hand. The opponent further advances his board state. He reaches a point where he uses Brilliant Blender and has enough Energy in his discard pile to one hit everything I had. At this point I saw no real way to comeback plus my head was dead. I concede. It felt unlucky but I also misplayed the first turn.
Round Two Vs Gardevoir ex
My round two opponent was someone I faced before at this place. He played Gardevoir ex. I think he knew what I was playing as he was near me in the first round.
The exact details of this game escape me as I write this. I do recall playing from behind. The opponent had 3 or 2 Prize cards left for the win while I had 5 left. I do recall having a dead hand for two or three turns until I draw a Professor's Research.
With the Professor's Research I was able to setup my Bench a bit better. I slowly come back in the game getting some key knockouts, putting Jamming Tower in play to prevent Drifloon attacks and so on.
I do recall using Iono to disrupt the opponent's hand down to 2 cards or 1 (I forget). Then I take a knockout. His next turn had him retreating Gardevoir ex to the Bench. At this point he was at one or two Prize cards left and I somehow make it to two Prize Cards left.
When it came to my next turn I think I drew a Lumineon V, bench it to find Boss's Orders. As I had enough energy to knockout his Gardevoir ex, I use Boss's Orders and Ceruledge ex to knockout the Gardevoir ex for the game. I somehow get the comeback win against Gardevoir ex. I don't enjoy playing against Gardevoir ex as the games take a bit too long especially online.
I am 1 win and 1 loss at this point. Going 0 wins 2 losses would have been really really bad.
Round Three Vs Dragapult ex With Dusknoir & Budew
In round three, my opponent played Dragapult ex with a Budew.
He was confused by my hand from a mulligan. The confusion was from revealing a Water Energy and a Fire Energy from my mulligan. He later found out that I was playing Ceruledge ex.
I win the coin flip and decide to go first. (Ceruledge ex should go first as you can use Carmine)
My first turn was actually long lol. It was a good first turn though as I go through almost half my deck with Carmine and Squawkabilly ex.
The opponent's Dragapult ex setup did take time. A Budew was used from him to slow me down with the Item lock. The item lock was annoying to me but not game ending as Ceruledge ex can use Professor's Research or Carmine to setup more.
As I am ahead the opponent tried to stall with Counter Catchers against any non-attackers I had. Jet Energy was useful to keep up the aggression and pressure on him. This is my first turn playing this guy but I have seen him play in the past. In a past game he played Terapagos ex against Regidrago VSTAR. He ended up winning with Counter Catcher or Boss's Orders and Mawile to trap a non-attacking Pokemon to stall and slowly deck out his opponent. I am aware that he has this tendency to stall when he is behind.
The opponent did manage to get one Dragapult ex attack in with a Dusknoir sacrifice. He knocks out my Squawkabilly ex and a single Prize Pokemon I think. A three prize turn from him.
In a later turn I think he tried to trap stall again. This time on my Palkia V. I use Crispin this time to successfully retreat Palkia V to safety and attack with Ceruledge ex for a one hit knockout I think. (I had enough energy in deck for Crispin. Otherwise I may have lost later in the game.) I take my third and fourth Prize cards. Two to go for the win.
He did not have enough setup for a second Dragapult Phantom Dive attack. The Jet Headbutt was confirmation that I could take my last two Prize cards by knocking out this second Dragapult ex. My Ceruledge ex had enough energy for the knockout plus Munkidori ability.
My prize mapping was knocking out his Budew ex, Prize card from his Dusknoir sacrifice, knockout Dragapult ex 1 and 2.
I go two wins and 1 loss. Given that I was almost 0 wins and 2 losses after round 2, I will take this result. The games were not easy. Gardevoir and Dragapult are the top 2 decks in the Prismatic Evolutions format. Ceruledge is not a top meta deck. It is more like Tier 2 or 1.5 but can take wins off of Dragapult and Gardevoir.
After The Three Rounds
This local tournament had 24 players. I think it is pretty difficult to get 3 wins and zero losses and get first. There can be another 1 or two people with 3 wins and zero losses. The tiebreaker would depend on your opponent's win percentage. If your opponent's win percentage is the highest then you win the tiebreaker.
My record after the three rounds is 2 wins and 1 loss. After checking online I find out that my placing was 13th out of 21. I would think that Two wins and 1 loss puts me in the top half or something. It must be the tiebreakers or something.
As the prizing was one Prize Pack per win, I earn 2 Prize Pack Series Five. To my surprise I receive a third Prize pack as a bonus consolation prize of sorts.
Here were some of my pulls from the three Prize Packs. Nothing too crazy but some good playable cards like Earthen Vessel and Buddy Buddy Poffin.
I thought I played okay overall. Losing the mirror match in round one was not good. Round two was a close win against a top meta deck in Gardevoir ex. Winning round three against Dragapult ex was nice. Dragapult ex is another top meta deck in the Prismatic Evolutions format with Budew. The matchup draws I had were not easy so two Best of 1 wins is pretty good I would say.
I have heard that Toronto local Pokemon tournaments are not easy. There is truth to this. There are a lot of players (more specifically Asians) that are willing to put the a lot of time and money into this game. For me I am not all in on this game. There are other things I like and want to focus on. I follow the metagame news, play some local tournaments and collect some swag.
The level of competition is similar to the online client Pokemon TCG Live near or at the Arceus league. The Arceus League is the highest level you can reach as of February 2025. Once you reach there you face other Arceus League players online and have a ELO points.
Thank you for reading.