Hi there. Another Pokemon TCG local tournament blog here.
This one is a unique one. I attend a Pokemon TCG Worlds Celebration event. This event is free at A & C Games near Toronto's Chinatown.
Note: This post is long.
Every year in August, there is a Pokemon World Championships in the Pokemon TCG, Pokemon VGC, Pokemon GO and Pokemon UNITE.
At this event at A & C Games, the entry fee is free. Top 8 players in each age division gets one Prize Pack.
The first place winner in each division (Masters age 18+, Seniors and Juniors) wins a stamped Pikachu Promo card. It will also have a WINNER stamp on the card. First place and second place get 2 Prize Packs each.
This local tournament has 3 best of one rounds. For first place, you pretty much have to win every game. Going 3 wins and 0 losses is not first place guaranteed as the opponents' win percentages is a tiebreaker and then opponent's opponent's win percentage.
With 3 best of one rounds, I know that there are players that go hard to try to win promo cards. Best of one rounds also has luck and variance. Winning will not be easy. Getting top 8 is still not bad. Top 8 is most likely 2 wins and 1 loss at least.
When I arrive at the venue, we find out some bad news. The Pokemon Company has not sent the promo cards to the store in time. Whoever wins the promo card has to pick up their prize next week or get in mailed to them (if they are not a regular and live far).
For this event, I went with Hydrapple ex. It is a slightly modified version of the Japanese list that got 3rd a Champions league. I cut out Briar and some other card for a Special Red Card and Judge.
I know Briar is popular in many Hydrapple ex builds. However, I think that Briar is too niche and too limited in use. Judge is good hand disruption for early game once you have a setup. Special Red Card is just good for mid/late game hand disruption.
Team Rocket's Petrel is good for finding any Trainer card (including Stadiums) but I think Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking is better. You can manipulate what the 2 cards you draw with Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking before drawing cards. Petrel finds 1 card.
Decklist
Pokémon: 11
1 Tapu Bulu SFA 6
1 Meowth ex POR 62
2 Bayleef MEG 9
2 Chikorita ASC 8
2 Hydrapple ex SCR 14
4 Teal Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 25
2 Dipplin TWM 18
2 Applin SCR 12
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
2 Meganium MEG 10
2 Celebi MEG 12
Trainer: 13
1 Judge DRI 167
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
1 Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145
1 Poké Pad POR 81
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
3 Forest of Vitality MEG 117
3 Ultra Ball MEG 131
1 Dawn PFL 87
1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165
4 Bug Catching Set TWM 143
Energy: 1
14 Basic {G} Energy MEE 1
Total Cards: 60
I may have seen this opponent before but have never played. From his 2 mulligans, I draw 2 extra cards before my first turn going first.
The opponent's active Pokemon is a Honedge. It is a Doublade deck. I later find out that there is a Eelektrik engine behind it too.
My setup turns were okay and the opponent's was okay too. What caught me off guard was that my opponent somehow was able to one hit Knockout my 330HP Hydrapple ex. He managed to get 6 of any combination of Honedge, Doublade and Aegislash in hand for the Doublade attack. Kind of impressive and made this game weird quickly. This deck is kind of dangerous and I could lose this.
The flaw in the opponent's deck is that energy attachments were not great. It was Basic Lightning Energy only. Me not seeing Ignition Energy at all in this game made me wonder if there were any in deck. I end up winning this one comfortably in the end.
For round two, I face a familiar opponent. This guy is a regular almost every time I make the trip to this Toronto store. He plays non-metagame decks but plays really well for the most part. Facing him is never easy.
This time I am up against Tera Box or some version of Terapagos with Dusknoir. It is an old deck archetype that was kind of popular last year but it is now a rogue deck.
Our first 3 or 4 turns were not very good. Both of us bricked and could not get good draws. When both players have bad draws, whoever gets a good setup first usually wins.
Around turn 5, I start to get decent setup and get a first knockout on a Fan Rotom. My opponent eventually Knocks out my Tapu Bulu.
I think my next Knockout was on his Fezandipiti ex. Then he gets my Meganium with his Terapagos ex.
My response is get enough setup to knockout his Terapagos ex with my Hydrapple ex with a new Meganium in play.
We enter late game turns. My opponent ends up trapping my Meowth ex with a combination of Boss's Orders and Wellspring Ogerpon ex's Sob attack.
My turn in response was kind of crazy and maybe humiliating for the opponent. With a trapped Meowth ex in the Active, I cannot retreat to a new Pokemon but I can attack with it.
With Hydrapple ex, Meganium ex and 2 Grass Energy, I can power up the Meowth ex for an attack. Then I use Boss's Orders on a 60HP Duskull for the last knockout and last Prize.
It is not normal to attack with Meowth ex. Being able to Knockout out something with Meowth ex is really rare.
There were a few spectators who saw this.
My round 3 opponent was diagonally across from me on my left in round 2. He saw my deck and I saw how he played against his opponent on my left.
At first I thought I was against Mega Manectric ex. It turned out there were Crustles also in the deck. One of these control/wall decks. Facing control decks is kind of annoying but these wall decks are more annoying in my opinion. If your deck happens to not have a counter to Crustle then you lose.
Mega Manectric ex is not very common. Many players are not aware of this attacker. With me, I have a practice deck that uses Mega Manectric ex and a practice partner. I am not too thrown off by this.
With this Mega Manectric pairing with Crustle, you need the right kind of multiple attackers to beat this. Mega Manectric ex is to wall off Basic Pokemon attacks with the Flash Ray attack. Crustle shields itself against Pokemon ex. Going up against control decks requires careful thought and planning. It is kind of grindy in nature.
Some control players say that their deck is a skill check deck. In a way yes. Newer players are used to taking knockouts and are not used to slower non attacking decks. But it sounds kind of douchey to me to classify something a skill check deck. (Not everyone spends a lot of time in gaming.)
Gameplay Notes Round 3
Around turn 3 or 4 I did make an error. I forgot that Mega Manectric ex's attack has a shield effect that prevents attacks from Basic Pokemon. Looking back, I wanted to retreat but I attacked with Fezandipiti ex again.
This misplay was not game ending though. Him Knocking out my Fezandipiti ex activated a nasty counter play by me. Unfair Stamp was used to cripple the opponent's hand size and have me take control over the game. Hand disruption is very powerful against decks in general. It is one big weakness in Crustle decks.
I end up winning this one kind of comfortably even though I had all 2 Bayleefs prized at the start. My Knockouts were:
I played well enough for a win. You never really know for sure if your turns were optimal or even good against a control deck. Control decks typically don't have a draw engine. They rely on favourable RNG to wall you out and make it hard for you to attack or play the game.
Wall decks in particular have a bit of a simple gameplay which appeals to some but I think it is kind of lazy. Resource management is crucial here. Play certain cards when needed and with intent. Don't overextend but don't play too scared too.
After this event, I try to see what possible decklist this opponent had. Maybe it was this one from Pokecabook but without Mega Kangaskhan ex.
I sort of feel bad for the guy as he really wanted the win here and get the Pikachu promo card. Then again, I do not want to see a wall/stall player get a tournament win.
It has been a while but I get 3 wins and 0 losses. Yippee. There was another guy who got 3 wins and 0 losses from 3 rounds. I spectated this guy after my round 3 game. He played Team Rocket's Honchkrow and did beat 2 Dragapult decks in round 2 and 3.
This guy got 1st place and I got second. He gets the promo card win due to resistance or opponent's win record.
See? Even if you have all wins and no losses you are not guaranteed first place. I did what I could.
Overall, I am happy with how I played and the matchups I got. No facing against fire decks, Blaziken ex, Moltres or Dragapult ex. Kind of lucky.
With my second place, I do earn 2 Prize Packs. The one pack had some good playable cards like Poke Pad, Meganium for Grass decks, Dawn and Lillie's Determination.
The store also gave out Hololive TCG tournament packs. There was 1 card per pack. I got this thing.
Next week, I try out the Gym Leader Challenge (GLC) casual format. One copy of each card except for Basic Energy. You pick one type, no ACE SPEC cards, no Pokemon ex. Cards from Sun & Moon and later are legal. It sounds interesting.
This particular Sunday was kind of busy in Toronto. The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) has opened. It is a big outdoor fair with amusement park style rides, games, street foods. Each year the street food options get weird and more unhealthy looking.
There is also the BTS KPop concert in the North York side of Toronto. This is near Yorkdale Mall and the Airport.
Yonge and Dundas area was kind of busy. I took a few photos.
There was a Filipino Festival near the Eaton Centre mall. It was at the Toronto City Hall area. They still had the FIFA 2026 World Cup sign here.
Thank you for reading.
