2025 Re-cap

Just wanted to do a short re-cap of my Pokemon TCG adventures in 2025. Unlike 2024, I actually have stuff fo talk about this time.

A brief summary of the year, I got my first GBL win and I ended the year with 5 GBL wins, I made top cut at both of the major events held in Singapore, I travelled to Australia to play in a TPCi regional for the first time since OCIC 2020, and made day 2 in that event! I got my biggest online win so far out of 300 players. 

It was cool to add 3 more entries to the limitless page and as per tradition, they’ve all been different decks even though they kinda mix all together anyway! I mean it’s hard enough for a Singaporean player to be featured on Limitless due to the lack of major events we have (just 2) so to have 3 new ones to my name feels like an extra bonus. 

It really was a great year, not as great as 2023 but I don’t know if anything can ever top that. But I’m just happy I finally got the Zard Pidgeot entry on there after 2 years of trying.

January - Triple Declined for UBL

The year didn’t start so well for me. I was doing well in the first season of GBLs and put myself in a good spot to challenge for the top 8 spot for the world invites. Then January happened. 

I got declined for all 3 UBLs. It’s ok, I can walk into one right? Nope I failed the walk-in for all 3 too. So missed the first 3 UBLs and I was out of the top 20. And then Budew showed up and making me change decks too because Zard was not in a good spot.

February - First GBL win!

At this point I was still jumping around decks and one of the decks I really liked playing was Gouging Fire ex. Was it a good deck? Well it’s no Tier 1 or 2 deck but I liked playing it!

I played it for a Tournament of Doom and out of 171 players, I actually won it! It was a really good run and gave me the confidence to try it out for a GBL a few days later and I ended up winning that too, which was my first Great Ball League win so far since the new changes of events were introduced at the start of this season back in September.

March - Finally getting to play in UBLs

Well not much happened in March to be honest but I will point this out, I finally got elected to play in a UBL. To be fair I was guaranteed to play in one because I won a GBL and for doing that, you get a R1 bye for a UBL.

And how did I do in those events? Well not that great to be honest. 32nd out of 220 with Gholdengo, 72nd out of 260 with Gardevoir (this was the painful event where I started 4-0 and ended 4-4) and finally 43rd out of 300 with Lugia. I just wanted to play a deck with the VSTAR marker one last time before rotation hit us. 

April - My biggest online tournament win

April meant it was time for the new rotation. I was ready for it and I had been testing the Terapagos ex/Bouffalant deck by buddy Luke Morsa had been working on. He did quite well with it in one event that was convinced me to give it a go too. 

So for the Tournament of Doom on April 5th, my first online event in the new rotation, I went in with no expectations. And somehow ended up winning the whole thing out of 306 players! That is by far my biggest online tournament win yet, and as some of you may know, I do play in a lot of them, won 70+ events by now but not with one featuring 300+ players!

I was not expecting to do this well with a deck I hadn’t really played that much from the new rotation too. I mean I had practiced with it but not actually played it to a tournament yet so it was a nice surprise to win it and with a deck not many had known about too.

May - My first Day 2 finish at a TPCi major event

To be fair I didn’t do much in May. GBLs wasn’t going well for me and the other missed UBL in January meant I was losing touch with the leading contenders. And I was about to miss yet another UBL but this time, so would many of my friends too because we were all travelling to Australia for the Melbourne Regional.

But again I still wasn’t sure what to play for this event so I landed on Dragapult Dusknoir because it felt a better deck  to play in a bo3 setting than a bo1 setting. And even with the limited amount of games I had with the deck, I managed to make Day 2 for the Melbourne Regionals!

Day 2 didn’t go so well, one win shy of making some money from a top 32 finish but I’m glad that I can prove ri myself that I can do well in a TPCi regional. It was also my first one outside of Asia too! Hopefully I can do it again in the future. 

It was cool to play against players not from Singapore once again and I even got the chance to play against two of the very best players in the world, Kaiwen Cabbabe and Daichi Shimada. Sure enough they were the two that handed me my two losses in Day 1.

June - Top Cut at Singapore Master Ball League

I actually spent most of June in the US for my cousin’s wedding but I did bring my deck with me just in case I got the chance to play in an American local. The one deck that caught my eye was the one Rowan Stavenow won an invitational event with Dragapult Charizard.

After watching the streamed games I built the deck having brought all the pieces to build and started practising with it. Rowan and his crew had a decent run at NAIC and I decided just to keep with that same list for the Master Ball League.

I had one of my best runs, starting 5-0 as well, of the whole year in that event to make it into the top 32 cut, I couldn’t believe my luck, having struggled in every UBL I played this season yet somehow it was the big one, the MBL that it goes right. Sadly I lost to the mirror in Top 32 to two dead hands, it happens.

July - In my Rouge era with Charizard ex/Dusknoir

There wasn’t much for me to play for in July. Our MBL was over so the season was done and dusted. I wasn’t going to Worlds in Anaheim so I didn’t need to test much. But sure enough, I kept grinding and playing even in the off season.

But I was more having fun with one of my favourite decks to play with this year. It was a rouge variant of Charizard ex and Dusknoir, that’s it! You want to build up as many Dusknoir as possible, destroy their board state and having Zard clean up and since Dusknoir gives your opponent prizes, it helps Zard to do more damage.

I ended up winning two small online events with it and also two local gym events with it. It was fun seeing people confused by what version of Zard I was playing. 

August - Winning small events with Gholdengo

I got an online tournament  win with Dragapult Dusknoir out of 27 players, then an online tournament win with Gholdengo (also just 27 people), and a local qualifier event for some team event, also with Gholdengo. The less said about that specific event late on in October the better, I haven’t been that upset by a TO in a long time.

September - Nothing much happened here

Yeah, that’s really nothing for me to talk about here, nothing happened. I didn’t win a local event or an online event and our season had just restarted with me only playing in 2 GBLs, and just one Top 8 finish to show for it. 

Why only 2 you ask? Well I got declined for most of the ones I could go to and the rest? Well I wasn’t in Singapore as I went to Japan for a short trip with the fam.

October - GBL Win #2

Honestly, I almost had nothing to talk about for October as well if not for the GBL event that happened at Brick’s Play, which was also the last GBL of the first season of the 2025-26 season.

I still had no clue what to play so I just went for what looked like the most powerful deck to play, Dragapult Dusknoir. I don’t trust Gardevoir and Zard still wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. 

And it worked out better than I expected! I won my first GBL of the new season but my second for the year of 2025. I got super lucky to be fair, my last two games were against Charizard Pidgeot and since I’m the Zard guy, I knew how Pult beats it and it helped me to get the win. 

The GBL win also meant I earnt a Round 1 bye for an upcoming UBL, aka I don’t have to worry about stupid lotteries declining me as usual.

November - Top Cut at Singapore Premier Ball League

November wasn’t the easiest start of the season for me. I ended up playing 4 different decks for the first four UBLs of the season (Zard, Joltik, Gholdengo and Pult). I used my GBL bye for the 3rd event and that’s the one I got my best UBL results so far….just 18th. I still haven’t cracked the top 16 yet.

So I wasn’t feeling the most confident going into the PBL. My choices were to stick to my usual Charizard Pidgeot, play what I felt was the best deck for that format in Gholdengo Lunatone or go completely rouge with a new deck, Dawn Charizard with Noctowl. 

I ended up going for my comfort pick in Zard Pidgeot. My brother was the one that pointed out to me that it was my last major event I could play that deck in, so I had to right? And it worked out quite well.

I made the top 128 cut, having survived two brutal games of bad prizing (both Charizard vs Gardevoir and both Charmeleon vs Dragapult). Unfortunately, the theme of me losing the first round of cut or winning an event continues…

…I didn’t win the event so yes I lost in Top 128 to a mirror match where I started slow and couldn’t pull off the big 4-prize KO for game turn in time. That’s just how it is sometimes, just have to deal with the cards you’re dealt with, and it being bo1 too.

December - GBL Wins #3, #4 and #5, all within 5 days!

And now for the last month of the year and maybe my favourite period of this whole year. I had my deck in mind for the second round of GBLs to start but I wasn’t sure how good or bad it will be because it was the new Charizard Dawn Noctowl deck I had been testing for a bit. And then Stuttgart Regional happened.

Dawn Zard actually won it from a player who got the list from my friend Oscar who had been helping me with the list as well. So now I knew if it could do well in the biggest stage, maybe I can get some decent results from my GBLs. My first event didn’t go so well, starting 0-2 but I did climb back to go 4-2.

And at the next event, I won my 3rd GBL of the year! And in the very next day, I won my 4th GBL of the year! I didn’t do so well the day after that but 2 days later, I got my 5th GBL win of the year! 

3 GBL wins in the space of 5 days (or say 3 City League wins or 3 League Challenge wins) was something I didn’t think was possible for someone like me to do. If it was one of the top players I’d believe it. Especially since it was Bo1 setting and the luck of variance can really put you out of the game before you can even do anything.

I won all 3 with the same 60 card list too and I got two other online tournaments win with Dawn Zard too, I could have made it 3 but I lost in the same 60-mirror due to my own bad mistake. Still I’m happy with the recent run of results and it’s giving me a realistic chance to achieve my goal for this season which is to earn my 2nd World Championships invite. I was planning to go anyway since it’s in San Francisco but it would be better to go as a player and not as a spectator.

And if you’re wondering how I ended my year of 2025? By playing Pokemon TCG of course, but for once, in Japan! I hadn’t really had much chances to play in Japan before but I had the chance to play at Toreca Camp’s New Year’s all-night test event. 

So went the clock struck midnight and 2025 became 2026, I was playing Pokemon TCG! Sure it was in a different language but the game is still the same! I wish you all a great year ahead for 2026! Thanks for reading.

Kash Top 25 List: Best Pokemon cards released in 2025 (stats based)

It’s almost the end of 2025 and it’s a good time to look back and reflect on the year, and in this instance we’re looking at cards that were released in 2025. Loads of cards were introduced this year, including the return of not one but two different mechanics, Trainer’s Pokémon and Mega Evolution Pokémon (now with a different ruling).

So as per the yearly tradition now, I wanted to rank the best cards released this year and that will be based on stats from results of big major IRL events and also online events featuring 256 or more players. And I wanted to use a points system to rank these cards.

The way I did the points was quite simple:

• 1st - 5 points
• 2nd - 3 points
• 3rd and 4th - 2 points
• 5th to 8th - 1 point

And if you see the average points and was wondering how I calculated it, quite simple:

• Points scored from each set (termed as S1 to S5)/Events in each set
• The total of the average/how many sets they were played in = Average Points Scored per Sets

The tournaments included in these are any event that is recorded on Limitless for this year that had cards released this year (so no Korean League Season 2, Rio de Janerio, Birmingham and San Antonio). Also included are any Play Limitless online tournament that hit 256+ players. If I had included 128 like I used to, there would be too many and it might dilute the information, and there were just enough to make everything look perfect as S3 and S4 were lacking in IRL tournaments, so online had the most events, especially in S4, to help make the numbers more event. If anyone was wondering:

• S1 (BRS to PRE)
• 8 IRL events
• 4 Online events
• S2 (SVI to JTG)
• 15 IRL events
• 6 Online events
• S3 (SVI to DRI)
• 6 IRL events
• 7 Online events
• S4 (SVI to BLK/WHT)
• 6 IRL events
• 28 Online events
• S5 (SVI to MEG)
• 9 IRL events
• 16 Online events
• S6 (SVI to PFL)
• 5 IRL events
• 8 Online events

Results are as of December 24th, so any online events that were to happen between then and 31st, unfortunately I just don't have enough time to update it all and I don't think it will change this list much anyway.

For the results:

• Wins are wins, pretty easy
• Top 4 will be results from 2nd, 3rd or 4th, not including wins
• Top 8 will be results from 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th, and nothing from the above included

Some cards just missed out and honestly it wasn’t that much of a miss. Cards like Flareon ex, Maractus, Tool Scrapper, Team Rocket’s Petrel, Battle Cage, Mega Lopunny ex and Mega Mawile ex all just missed out on this list.

And with that, here are the best 25 cards released in 2025, not done by any sort of opinion or favoritism, just good old statistics and numbers, my favourite! And why just 25? 2025, that's why. We need to keep the gimmick going. Again. For another year. Because why not, I love it!

As for the "saw play in" sector for the cards, I will keep it to 5, not to make the list any more messy than it might already be. For the ones latter on in the list, I usually put the top 5 decks that used it the most from lists on Limitless.

#25 - Team Rocket's Watchtower - Destined Rivals (DRI)

Type: Stadium

Total Points: 44 (26th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 0.61 (26th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - 11 / Avg - 0.84
• S4 - 9 / Avg - 0.26
• S5 - 14 / Avg - 0.56
• S6 - 10 / Avg - 0.77

Wins: 3

Top 4: 8

Top 8: 12

Saw play in:

• N's Zoroark ex
• Dragapult ex/Charizard ex
• Gholdengo ex
• Cynthia's Garchomp ex
• Iron Thorns ex/Crustle

We start off with my least favourite stadium card in the game right now, Team Rocket's Watchtower. Its sole purpose is to slow down decks utilising colourless Pokémon as their engine. The good news is that there are loads of decks who are very reliant on the likes of Pidgeot ex, Noctowl, Squawkabilly ex and Mega Kangaskhan ex just to name a few. And let’s not forget the new Meowth ex coming soon which has the same ability as Tapu Lele GX and Lumineon V.

But it’s not just the engine, some attackers are affected by it too. Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex cannot use it’s ability to pay less energies to attack when Watchtower is live. On the flip side, Slaking ex can attack as its ability will be canceled out by Watchtower.

#24 - N's Zoroark ex - Journey Together (JTG)

Type: Stage 1 Pokémon ex

Total Points: 55 (21st)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 0.47 (30th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - 11 / Avg - 0.52
• S3 - 5 / Avg - 0.38
• S4 - 23 / Avg - 0.67
• S5 - 13 / Avg - 0.52
• S6 - 3 / Avg - 0.23

Wins: 3

Top 4: 12

Top 8: 14

Saw play in:

• N's Zoroark ex
• Gardevoir ex
• Archaludon ex
• Gholdengo ex

A Zoroark ex card with the Trade ability is back, but it's not the same as the previous one. That one was amazing with a great attack, this one copies attacks from your bench. And they aren't all that great to be fair but still enough for N's Zoroark to have some presence in the meta. 

The one good thing about N’s Zoroark ex is it’s very flexible deck, it can play just about any techs and one list won’t look like the other, with so much room to play the game differently, be it a slow controlling game or keeping tempo wit your opponent or even going aggressive to run them off the game.

#23 - Crustle - Destined Rivals (DRI)

Type: Stage 1 Pokémon

Total Points: 51 (23rd)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 0.49 (27th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - 7 / Avg - 0.53
• S4 - 25 / Avg - 0.73
• S5 - 17 / Avg - 0.68
• S6 - 2 / Avg - 0.15

Wins: 3

Top 4: 11

Top 8: 12

Saw play in:

• Crustle
• N's Zoroark ex
• Mega Kangaskhan ex/Bouffalant

There will always be an annoying card like Crustle in the format, we just cannot escape it. Crustle is one of those decks that simply asks one question, “do you have an out to KO Crustle?”. Honestly there’s not much to talk about this, you either have an answer or you just lose to it.

#22 - Levincia - Journey Together (JTG)

Type: Stadium

Total Points: 54 (22nd)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 0.49 (27th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - 00 / Avg - 0.00
• S3 - 2 / Avg - 0.15
• S4 - 45 / Avg - 1.32
• S5 - 2 / Avg - 0.08
• S6 - 5 / Avg - 0.38

Wins: 3

Top 4: 11

Top 8: 13

Saw play in:

• Gholdengo ex
• Gholdengo ex/Joltik Box
• Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex

The 2nd of two stadium cards on this list and it only really got good when Gholdengo ex got better in the latter half of the year. It is a good way to recover energies without relying on Superior Energy Retrieval, especially when you can’t use it under item lock from either Budew or Frillish.

I’m surprised it’s not seen more play in other decks using Lighting Energy, recovering 2 for free from a stadium is good value. Gholdengo still makes the best use of this because it does want to have as many energies as possible in hand.

#21 - Charmeleon - Phantasmal Flames (PFL)

Type: Stage 1 Pokémon

Total Points: 26 (30th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 2.00 (13th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - Not Released
• S6 - 26 / Avg - 2

Wins: 1

Top 4: 6

Top 8: 7

Saw play in:

• Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
• Charizard ex/Noctowl
• Dragapult ex/Charizard ex

Hang on, what is a normal looking Charmeleon doing on here? It's attack only does 40 damage, what's so special about it you ask? Well, the 110 HP is quite big for a Stage 1 Pokemon! 

And so far all Charizard ex decks, be it the Pidgeot ex build, the Noctowl build or even the Dragapult ex build, they’ve all preferred to use the 110 HP Charmeleon and this likely to stay until rotation in April.

#20 - Hoothoot - Prismatic Evolutions (PRE)

Type: Basic Pokémon

Total Points: 83 (15th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 0.68 (25th)

Points

• S1 - 00 / Avg - 0.00
• S2 - 38 / Avg - 1.81
• S3 - 17 / Avg - 1.31
• S4 - 18 / Avg - 0.52
• S5 - 9 / Avg - 0.36
• S6 - 1 / Avg - 0.07

Wins: 5

Top 4: 15

Top 8: 22

Saw play in:

• Tera Box
• Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
• Flareon ex/Noctowl

You might be asking, what the heck is a Hoothoot doing on here? If you remember from last year's list, Jewell Seeking Noctowl just missed out because it came out late and Tera-style decks didn't do much last year. It sure has made an impact this year, especially in the current format. 

So why this Hoothoot? 80 HP protects it from being KOed by the combination of Hawlucha and Dragapult’s Phantom Dive which is only 70 damage. And you need the Hoothoot to stick around to get Noctowl going so it’s perfect for it’s role.

#19 - Jellicent ex - White Flare (WHT)

Type: Stage 1 Pokémon ex

Total Points: 75 (18th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 1.31 (21st)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - 15 / Avg - 0.44
• S5 - 30 / Avg - 1.2
• S6 - 30 / Avg - 2.31

Wins: 7

Top 4: 12

Top 8: 12

Saw play in:

• Gardevoir ex/Jellicent ex
• Dragapult ex

Jellicent ex is another one of those item-locking mons but it's not from an attack this time, it's from its ability while in active, and it also locks Tools cards! So it’s a very difficult 270 HP mon to deal with under both item and tool lock. The only way to get out of it is KOing it or gusting around it. 

The attack is not bad too, 80 for 2 energy or 160 energy for 4 energy. And with those stats and numbers in mind, it was always bound to be a natural partner with Gardevoir ex and Munkidori. 

Garde helps to charge it and Muncie moving damage around all whilst your opponent might not be doing much because of the double lock. It is a scary threat to deal with.

#18 - Dawn - Phantasmal Flames (PFL)

Type: Supporter

Total Points: 31 (29th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 2.38 (10th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - Not Released
• S6 - 31 / Avg - 2.38

Wins: 2

Top 4: 6

Top 8: 8

Saw play in:

• Charizard ex/Noctowl
• Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
• Alakazam/Dudunsparce
• Mega Venusaur ex

Maybe my favourite supporter card released this year not named Lillie's Determination. I knew Dawn was good the moment I read it. Basic, Stage 1 and Stage 2 Pokémon search, it had to be good right? So I knew what deck I wanted to build around it, Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex but the Stage 1 was the missing piece and then it hit me, Noctowl! 

But I wasn't the only one with that idea, Oscar Madsen also had the same idea and we know the story now, Dawn Zard won Stuttgart Regional! Dawn is the main engine for that deck. 

But it’s also a great tech card for stuff like Pult Dusk, Zara Pidgeot and Mega Venusaur. It’s also the perfect card for a deck like Alakazam. While Dawn Zard uses Noctowl to set up the deck, Dudunsparce helps to draw more cards for this deck that wants as many cards in hand as possible.

#17 - Genesect ex - Black Bolt (BLK)

Type: Basic Pokémon ex

Total Points: 109 (13th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 1.5 (20th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - 55 / Avg - 1.62
• S5 - 34 / Avg - 1.36
• S6 - 20 / Avg - 1.53

Wins: 6

Top 4: 21

Top 8: 31

Saw play in:

• Gholdengo ex/Lunatone
• Gholdengo ex/Joltik Box
• Gholdengo ex

What is it with Genesects and it always getting playable tech cards haha! This version pretty much flipped the fortunes for one Gholdengo ex. 

It was always a decent deck but once Genesect ex was released, it pretty much became one of the top tier decks in the format and as of writing, it is still one of the top decks of the current format going into it’s final few months of Gholdengo.

Being able to just search our two evolution metal Pokémon is just a great ability which is why Gholdengo as been thriving so far. I do think Genesect can find a place in annother evolving metal decks for the next few years but none of them might be as good as Gholdengo ex.

#16 - Mega Absol ex - Mega Evolutions (MEG)

Type: Basic Pokémon Mega Evolved

Total Points: 78 (17th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 1.87 (16th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - 61 / Avg - 2.44
• S6 - 17 / Avg - 1.31

Wins: 5

Top 4: 16

Top 8: 13

Saw play in:

• Mega Box
• Tera Box
• Mega Kangaskhan ex/Bouffalant
• N's Zoroark ex

Mega Absol ex was initially overlooked by many upon release but not by the legend Tord Reklev who introduced to us the brand new Mega Box deck which is one of the most powerful decks in the current format. And it’s got two incredibly good attacks too. 

Terminal Period may look awkward needing 6 damage counters on your opponent’s active Pokémon but let’s not forget that Munkidori exists which makes it easy to get those 6 damage counters onto their active Pokémon. 

Claw of Darkness is probably the big selling point, as you can not just look at your opponent’s hand and then discard one card, and if they have a small hand size, especially after an Iono, it could be a game ender. 

#15 - Frillish - White Flare (WHT)

Type: Basic Pokémon

Total Points: 101 (14th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 1.81 (18th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - 15 / Avg - 0.44
• S5 - 44 / Avg - 1.76
• S6 - 42 / Avg - 3.23

Wins: 8

Top 4: 20

Top 8: 15

Saw play in:

• Gardevoir ex
• Gardevoir ex/Jellicent ex
• Pidgeot ex Control
• Mega Box
• Dragapult ex

Wait hang on we just saw Jellicent ex, why is Frillish ahead of it? Quite simply, it's the Psychic version of Budew and spoiler alert, it's quite high up on this list for a good reason. And more decks can simply just use one Frillish for the item lock, and you don’t need Jellicent ex. 

In fact, I dare say Frillish is a better item locker than Jelicent ex. Garde decks often likes to use Frillish to keep the item lock going along with Munkidori moving damage to make it really tough for your opponent to set up with all that in mind. If it was a Jellicent, all you need is a gist to play items again, same can’t be said for Frillish.

#14 - Lunatone/Solrock/Fighting Gong - Mega Evolutions (MEG)

Type: Pokémon / Item

Total Points: 75 (18th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 1.92 (14th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - 52 / Avg - 2.08
• S6 - 23 / Avg - 1.77

Wins: 3

Top 4: 15

Top 8: 27

Saw play in:

• Gholdengo ex/Lunatone
• Ceruledge ex
• Bloodmoon Ursaluna/Lunatone
• Mega Lucario ex/Hariyama
• Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex

The first of two shared entries on this list and there was no reason to separate Lunatone, Solrock and Fighting Gong. Apart from Cynthia's Garchomp, any deck playing one of those cards are likely to play the other two. 

Fighting Gong lets you search for either a Fighting energy or a Fighting Pokemon. And most of the time, if it’s not for the energy, it’s either for Lunatone or Solrock. Lunatone draws you 3 extra cards by discarding a Fighting energy while Solrock was on the board. Solrock does 70 damage if Lunatone was on board. 

So they’re all connected! 3 great cards all working well together, and decks that made the most of these 3 cards were Gholdengo and Ceruledge. And yes Gholdengo has now become one of the top decks of the game because of firstly Genesect and now all 3 cards here. Because of them, Gholdengo can now play other Ace Spec cards and have an alternate attacker in Solrock, sometimes on Turn 1!

#13 - Mega Diancie ex - Phantasmal Flames (PFL)

Type: Basic Pokémon Mega Evolved

Total Points: 46 (25th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 3.53 (6th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - Not Released
• S6 - 46 / Avg - 3.54

Wins: 4

Top 4: 8

Top 8: 6

Saw play in:

• Gardevoir ex
• Gardevoir ex/Jellicent ex

A Psychic-type attacker that isn't weak to Dark? Yup Mega Diancie might have been the missing piece for Gardevoir ex. One of Gardevoir’s biggest issue was not being able to keep up with some Dark decks (which honestly is not true, it still had so many other counter-play).

Diancie is effectively a 300 HP basic thanks to its ability and with Bravery Charm, it becomes 350 HP! Garland Ray is also a great attack, hitting 240 for just the cost of discarding 2 Psychic. And let’s not forget, Gardevoir is a deck that loves their energies in discard pile. And with Munkidori, Diancie can get some big KOs, even on 300 HP mons.

#12 - Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex - Destined Rivals (DRI)

Type: Stage 2 Pokémon ex

Total Points: 130 (9th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 1.64 (19th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - 36 / Avg - 2.77
• S4 - 42 / Avg - 1.23
• S5 - 39 / Avg - 1.56
• S6 - 13 / Avg - 1

Wins: 7

Top 4: 27

Top 8: 33

Saw play in:

• Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex/Froslass
• Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex

It's another good Dark-type attacker in this Gardevoir-dominated year we've seen but Marnie's Grimmsnarl sure sticks out more than the rest. Technically I could have put Spikemuth Gym on here too since it only really works with this deck but I have too many shared entries already on here.

A Stage 2 mon hitting for 180 and 30 to another bench mon, sounds familiar? Yup it’s kinda like the old Darkrai EX that would hit 90 and snipe 30. And with the likes of Munkidori and Froslass, you can keep adding these numbers to either board wipe your opponent or set up enough numbers for a TM Devolution plays.

#11 - Mega Kangaskhan ex - Mega Evolutions (MEG)

Type: Basic Pokémon Mega Evolved

Total Points: 83 (15th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 2.08 (12th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - 60 / Avg - 2.4
• S6 - 23 / Avg - 1.77

Wins: 5

Top 4: 17

Top 8: 17

Saw play in:

• Mega Box
• Tera Box
• Pidgeot ex Control
• Mega Kangaskhan ex/Bouffalant
• Mega Lopunny ex/Dusknoir

Mega Kangaskhan ex is not just a good draw supporter for many decks, it can also be a tanky attacker too, usually in it's own deck or Mega Box. And with stuff like Latias ex, you can easily draw 2 cards and then retreat into any other attacker. That’s the drawing bit.

The attacking bit? 200 +50 for each heads you flipped until you hit tails, which means it can do 500 damage if you’re really lucky. But even with the first tail flips, 200 is already a lot of damage. 

And it could be 230 thanks to Munkidori. And with cards like Bouffalant, Bravery Charm and Jumbo Ice Cream, it becomes a near untouchable monster to deal with, with effectively 410 HP!

#10 - Brock's Scouting - Journey Together (JTG)

Type: Supporter

Total Points: 203 (6th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 1.85 (17th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - 57 / Avg - 2.71
• S3 - 35 / Avg - 2.69
• S4 - 88 / Avg - 2.59
• S5 - 14 / Avg - 0.56
• S6 - 9 / Avg - 0.69

Wins: 12

Top 4: 38

Top 8: 53

Saw play in:

• Dragapult ex
• Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• Gholdengo ex/Joltik Box
• Dragapult ex/Charizard ex
• Flareon ex/Noctowl

Any Supporter card allowing you to search for Pokemon is always worth a look, just like Jacq, Hilda, the previously mentioned Dawn or stuff like Bridgette or Korinna from back then. Brock's Scouting is the latest to join the list, and it gives you the option to search for 2 Basic or 1 Evolution Pokemon.

For decks like Dragapult, it’s great early game to get a Budew or Dreepy down even after Itchy Pollen is in effect, or one Drakloak to get your engine going. For Joltik decks, they tend to go for Latias ex and Miraidon ex which in turn gets Joltik and another lighting attacker to set their whole board up. 

#9 - Yveltal - Mega Evolutions (MEG)

Type: Basic Pokémon 

Total Points: 115 (11th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 2.71 (9th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - 93 / Avg - 3.72
• S6 - 22 / Avg - 1.69

Wins: 8

Top 4: 23

Top 8: 22

Saw play in:

• Mega Box
• Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex/Froslass
• N's Zoroark ex
• Froslass/Munkidori
• Crustle

Initially Maractus would have made this list but then Yveltal showed up later in the year and it's now the preferred choice for the retreat-lock attack. 

And perhaps the one thing it has over Maractus, apart from the bigger HP amount, is simply Yveltal having free retreat! That works perfectly with Pecharunt ex in mind, giving you a free out for…oddly enough…another retreat lock attack! Or decks that need to retreat to use it’s attack again, this could work with them.

#8 - Ralts/Kirlia - Mega Evolutions (MEG)

Type: Basic Pokémon / Stage 1 Pokémon

Total Points: 114 (12th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 3.17 (7th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - 66 / Avg - 2.64
• S6 - 48 / Avg - 3.69

Wins: 10

Top 4: 18

Top 8: 21

Saw play in:

• Gardevoir ex
• Gardevoir ex/Jellicent ex

So yeah we got a new Ralts and Kirlia and they're both better than the previous ones we started with at the start of the year. Ralts two attacks are nothing special but you got the choice of either drawing one extra card, or doing 10 damage.

As for Kirlia, it’s also got two good attacks but most of the time, if it’s used, it will be the first attack. Call Sign let’s you search for 3 Pokémon and put it into your hand so you can set up the perfect board the next turn, with one of them surely being Gardevoir ex which is what the deck needs to get going!

#7 - Hilda - White Flare (WHT)

Type: Supporter

Total Points: 165 (7th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 2.3 (11th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - 79 / Avg - 2.32
• S5 - 55 / Avg - 2.2
• S6 - 31 / Avg - 2.38

Wins: 13

Top 4: 28

Top 8: 30

Saw play in:

• Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• Flareon ex/Noctowl
• Alakazam/Dudunsparce
• Conkeldurr
• Dragapult ex

As mentioned for Brock's Scouting earlier, any Supporter card that searches for Pokemon is usually very good. But Hilda doesn't just do that. While it does search for an Evolution Pokemon, it also search for an Energy card. Not just Basic, any energy card! 

So for decks like Dragapult, it can search out Dragapult ex AND Neo Upper Energy, allowing Pult to attack right away. It also work for decks like Flareon to get the missing energy for Flareon or whoever might be attacking. 

The new Mega Lopunny ex decks is also very reliant on Hilda to get Mega Lopunny or Dusclops/Dusknoir and with Jet Enegy, it can destroy and opponent’s board right away.

#6 - Shaymin - Destined Rivals (DRI)

Type: Basic Pokémon 

Total Points: 222 (5th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 2.95 (8th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - 80 / Avg - 6.15
• S4 - 69 / Avg - 2.03
• S5 - 54 / Avg - 2.16
• S6 - 19 / Avg - 1.46

Wins: 14

Top 4: 42

Top 8: 52

Saw play in:

• Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex/Froslass
• Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
• Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• Gardevoir ex
• Ethan's Typhlosion

We finally got a bench protector back in the game but with a bit of a catch this time around. Shaymin protects your benched Pokémon from attack, sounds like the old Mew or Manaphy or Mr Mime right? 

Well not quite, it only protects Pokémon without a Rule Box, so your Pokémon ex are not protected. A nice change I’d say and hey Shaymin has saw play in loads of decks. The irony being that the one that used it the most is a deck that attacks the bench too, that being Grimmsnarl. 

And with the likes of Scream Tail, Fezandipiti ex and Wellspring Ogerpon ex still such a big threat in the current meta, Shaymin will continue to be an answer for decks suffering from snipe attacks.

#5 - Psyduck - Promo (PR)

Type: Basic Pokémon 

Total Points: 144 (8th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 3.66 (5th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - 102 / Avg - 4.08
• S6 - 42 / Avg - 3.23

Wins: 9

Top 4: 33

Top 8: 22

Saw play in:

• Mega Box
• Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
• Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex/Froslass
• Crustle
• N's Zoroark ex

Probably the hardest card to find on this list, because I myself do not own one of these. Psyduck was released as a 3-pack blister when Mega Evolution so it was tough to find. And it was super playable too with the top deck in mind during that time.

Psyduck shuts down ability that has Pokémon knocking itself out to use the ability and guess who takes the hit from this? Yup Dusclops and Dusknoir, the main thing helping Dragapult ex. Charizard Pidgeot is another one but the irony being it also using Psyduck, some of them habe started cutting Dusknoir as a way to help with the Pult matchup so Psyduck was the answer for them too.

#4 - Lillie's Clefairy ex - Journey Together (JTG)

Type: Basic Pokémon ex

Total Points: 433 (4th)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 4.07 (4th)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - 145 / Avg - 6.90
• S3 - 40 / Avg - 3.08
• S4 - 119 / Avg - 3.5
• S5 - 82 / Avg - 3.28
• S6 - 47 / Avg - 3.61

Wins: 30

Top 4: 77

Top 8: 104

Saw play in:

• Gardevoir ex
• Tera Box
• Joltik Box
• Gardevoir ex/Jellicent ex
• Flareon ex/Noctowl

Lillie's Clefairy ex has been a welcomed addition to many decks this year and it's just a generally good card. The ability is already so good, giving your opponent’s Dragon Pokemon, a typing known to have no weakness, now having Psychic weakness when Clefairy on board meant stuff like Gardevoir ex now had an easier way to deal with Dragapult ex. 

But it’s not just the ability, the attack is amazing too. The last time we saw a Rondo attack was with Entei, Suicune and Raikou Vs, all theee of them seeing play at one point or another during their time. You hit for as many Pokemon on both boards and adding Clefairy, if both boards are full, that’s an easy 220. 

And that number can keep going up if Area Zero Underdepths is in play, and with your board full, it goes up to 280 which can knock out many big attackers like N’s Zoroark ex and Ceruledge ex. And if your opponent’s board is full, that means Clefairy does 340, enough to KO even Charizard ex! 

And it’s quite splashable, just needing a Psychic and colourless to attack and there’s plenty of ways around that. Clefairy is here to stay and will always be relevant since Dragapult isn’t going away anytime soon.

#3 - Budew - Prismatic Evolutions (PRE)

Type: Basic Pokémon 

Total Points: 673 (1st)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 5.87 (3rd)

Points

• S1 - 95 / Avg - 7.92
• S2 - 161 / Avg - 7.67
• S3 - 98 / Avg - 7.54
• S4 - 202 / Avg - 5.94
• S5 - 77 / Avg - 3.08
• S6 - 40 / Avg - 3.07

Wins: 46

Top 4: 115

Top 8: 172

Saw play in:

• Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• Dragapult ex
• Gardevoir ex
• Dragapult ex/Charizard ex
• Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex/Froslass

Yup, Budew. You know it. You either love it or hate it. A 30 HP mon that hit for 10 and item lock for free and has free retreat, how can it not be good? It’s been the perfect partner for decks that like to play the comeback game but building their board and playing the slow game initially, mainly Pult, Garde and Grimm.

It’s the perfect turn 1 attack for most of these decks to stop your opponent from setting up by preventing them from using cards like Poffin, Nest or Ultra Ball and also Rare Candy. Speaking of which, one thing Budew has over Frillish (apart from the energy cost and the retreat cost) is that it is searchable through Buddy-Buddy Poffin, something the 80 HP Frillish is not.

But it’s not just a great early game attack, it’s also a great late game attack to stop your Gholdengo opponent from using Superior Energy Retrieval or other decks from using Prime/Counter Catcher. We will keep seeing Budew until it rotates, we won’t be able to escape it. It’s Itchy Pollen season!

#2 - Air Balloon - Black Bolt (BLK)

Type: Tool

Total Points: 465 (2nd)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 6.12 (2nd)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - 239 / Avg - 7.03
• S5 - 164 / Avg - 6.56
• S6 - 62 / Avg - 4.77

Wins: 23

Top 4: 96

Top 8: 128

Saw play in:

• Gholdengo ex/Lunatone
• Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex/Froslass
• Gholdengo ex
• Gholdengo ex/Joltik Box
• Tera Box

Air Balloon is back and if not for the next card, might have been the best card released this year! It’s just a great pivot card and many decks have made good use of it. A lot of decks that used to rely on Rescue Board all swapped to Air Balloon since its release. 

Two decks that have made the most of it are Gholdengo ex decks and decks that are reliant of Munkidori, be it Marnie’s Grimmsnarl, Froslass/Budew, Mega Kangaskhan/Bouffalant or even Gardevoir. 

It makes the most sense in Gholdengo as you can make the most use of it’s Coin Bonus ability as it draws an extra card while being in the active and with Air Balloon, you cam draw up to 4 cards which is always a good thing.

#1 - Lillie's Determination - Mega Evolutions (MEG)

Type: Supporter

Total Points: 464 (3rd)

Average Points Scored per Sets: 11.97 (1st)

Points

• S1 - Not Released
• S2 - Not Released
• S3 - Not Released
• S4 - Not Released
• S5 - 318 / Avg - 12.72
• S6 - 146 / Avg - 11.23

Wins: 31

Top 4: 86

Top 8: 106

Saw play in:

• Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• Gardevoir ex
• Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
• Mega Box
• Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex/Froslass

Of course it had to be Lillie's Determination and for the first time since I started doing these lists back in 2019, it's not an Item card that tops the list. Well there's a good reason for that, there were no real good item cards released this year. But they did print perhaps one of the best Supporter cards ever in Lillie's Determination.

Shuffle and draw 6 is nothing new to us, we got that in older cards like Professor Oak's New Theory and Cynthia. What makes this better is that if you have not taken a prize card, it becomes 8 cards instead so now there is an incentive to not take prize cards but instead build your board state by seeing more cards in hands, which is why the slower set-up style decks have all used it, especially the 5 mentioned above.

A lot of these decks like to build their board first, sit behind one or two Budews, use Lillie’s for about 2-3 turns to get the perfect set-up and then launch an attack. It’s not bad in the late game too. With Iono you’re limiting yourself to maybe 2-3 cards. Lillie gets you 6 which is sometimes just enough to get you to a winning position. 

That’s all I got for the cards released this year and that’s it for me this year too! I wish you all the best for the upcoming new years in 2026. Thanks for reading and enjoy the new years! 

3 GBL Wins in 1 Week??? - Singapore PTCG Season 2025/26 Season 2

So I had one crazy week this past week (Dec 14-21 2025). I went from still being on the outside looking in trying to have a shot of making it back to the Worlds Championships for the second time, to having a decent shot of actually doing just that, which as mentioned before, was my hopes for this season anyway. 

I didn't bother much with Hawai'i or Anaheim because they're too expensive but San Francisco is perfect for me, especially since it's the one place in America I keep going to anyway (and I don't have to worry about finding for a place to stay too).

But yeah, I somehow won my 2nd GBL of the season, which is already more than what I got last season. And I won a 3rd the next day. And I won a 4th two days after that! And all that were done with the same 60 card list, that being Charizard ex/Noctowl, aka Dawn Zard. 

The same deck that won the recent Stuttgart Regional (apart from one card) and also, the same concept of a deck I was secretly testing for the Premier Ball League back in November so I was pretty comfortable with it. I ended up playing that for 5 GBLs, scoring points in all 5 and as for the 6th GBL, I was too tired and switched to a different deck and got no points out of it.

The List

Nothing special about the list, except I cut the 4th Nest Ball for a Pidgeotto as an out to item lock stuff, namely Dragapult decks and Gardevoir decks with their Budew and Frillish nonsense. I mean it's not the greatest answers because they can still Iono my Pidgeotto away after I have taken it from a Fan Call but I still need an out to get my Pidgeot ex up and going anyway and that's the best one, especially with the Singapore meta in mind.

Everything else is just normal. The 4 Dawns is the engine for the deck so the 3-3 Noctowl just helps everything to work the way it should and we have our main support in Pidgeot ex and sometimes Fezandipiti ex and the two main attackers in Charizard ex and Terapagos ex. Fan Rotom can take some cheap prizes early on in the game and Pidgeot ex itself can be a good attacker too. And of course we still do have the Dusknoir line to either take a prize or help set-up some big plays, sometimes with Briar in mind.

I've seen a few people trying out Unfair Stamp and Counter Catcher in place of the 2nd Iono and Prime Catcher, I'm personally not a fan of it. The deck is trying to be as aggressive as posssible in most games so we usually don't have time to use Counter Catcher. And I've just never been a fan of Unfair Stamp personally, that card has lost me way too many games it should have helped won me so I'd rather just not play it anymore. Sure Boss and Stamp sounds fun but you can also do Prime and Iono anyway.

Before my first GBL of the season, I was sitting in 17th which was not a bad spot I'd say, mostly thanks to my GBL win at Brick's Play. I felt I hadn't really done well at that point in all honestly, with only one other Top 8 finish and most of my points coming from UBLs and PBL, but they were all single-digit scores so it wasn't good enough for me.

GBL #3 Season 2 @ Mint Condition - 12th/40 - 4/2/0 (+8 LP)

• R1 L Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• R2 L Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• R3 W Charizard ex/Noctowl
• R4 W Gholdengo ex/Lunatone
• R5 W Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• R6 W Gardevoir ex

Not the best of start to the season so far, especially starting 0-2 after meeting two Dragapults. Sure the match-up is bad but if I can have a decent start, I know I can beat them. The problem was I had a dead hand both times, and to make things worse, I prized Pidgeotto in one matchup and Charmeleon in the other.

Even my R3 game wasn't looking good at one point, I had a slower start then my opponent but then he made a mistake by using his Dusknoir to take out my Charizard instead of going after my lone Duskull on bench which gave me the opportunity to go for the Dusk Bomb + Briar play for the win.

Everything else after that went smoothly. My R4 opponent bricked and I took a giant lead. My R5 opponent had a slow start for a Pult player and I managed to take all 6 prizes with Terapagos ex! The last game was a tricky one but my Klefki bought me enough turns to make a comeback to win it at the end.

I ended up 12th, the lowest resistance of those on 4-2 purely because I started 0-2 and one of the guys that beat me dropped so I had no shot of making Top 8 here. I still felt a bit vindicated that at least the Pidgeotto addition did help me in my games today.

GBL #4 Season 2 @ Happyland Collectibles - 1st/32 - 4/0/0 (+30 LP)

• R1 W Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• R2 W Ceruledge ex
• R3 W Alakazam/Dudunsparce
• R4 W Alakazam/Dudunsparce

You could tell how annoyed I was seeing a Pult at R1 again but this time, I had one of my better starts, I had my board set-up near perfectly and then I noticed something while I was doing my deck check....where are my Pidgeots? Yup I prized both of them. So I had to change my set-up a little bit but thankfully it still all worked out in the end, and I never did use a Pidgeot in that match.

R2 was looking bad initially, all I had was Klefki and I was praying my opponent didn't have a way to donk me. He went to grab Squawkabilly ex and tried to use it's ability before I had to remind him of what Klefki did. And that pretty much won me the game because I did top deck a Dawn to set up while my opponent couldn't do much.

R3 was Alakazam, a weird matchup. He had a very slow start and prized his Psyduck so my Dusks were able to destroy his set-up before he could get anything going. Not the same for R4, although my opponent was bricking at one point. He had taken an Alakazam but didn't evolve. He had 11-12 cards in hand and I don't know why, I went for an Iono that turn when he had already struggled to get an Alakazam going and that almost cost me the game. 

Thankfully I got my Klefki/Prime at the right time after that Iono to go down to 2 prizes while he was at 4 prizes, and with him getting an easy KO on my Zard and going down to 2, all I needed was to up my 2nd Zard and get Briar for game and I got it from my Noctowl off the Fezandipiti.

There was no 5th round here because the other x-0 player lost to a downpair which meant I was the only 4-0 player at the end of Round 4, which means the event ended one round early as there was a clear winner!

Finally got my 2nd GBL win of the season, and in my head I was telling myself, "2 down, 6 more to go". I knew my realistic chance of making it to Worlds is probably get 8 GBL wins if possible, knowing my luck with UBLs and hopefully a good enough showing at the MBL.

GBL #5 Season 2 @ Mint Condition - 1st/32 - 5/0/0 (+30 LP)

• R1 W Ceruledge ex
• R2 W Mega Box
• R3 W Charizard ex/Noctowl
• R4 W Charizard ex/Noctowl
• R5 W Mega Kangaskhan ex/Bouffalant

First up was against a Ceruledge and he had a slow start and couldn't quite comeback from it. R2 was Mega Box which was a bit tricky, he had some really well timed Penny(s) to make it harder for me to get the KO, Terapagos was the MVP here for setting me up to win the game, as did Klefki.

Two mirror matches up next, my opponent in R3 went first which made things tricky for me. He couldn't get around my two Duskull trap near the end of the game which won me the game. Similar story for R4 but he had a slower start so I got to reach that point much faster. 

The last round was Tank Khan which I knew was a tough matchup, and I saw my starting hand and I thought....welp I'm cooked, no 2-peat for me haha. And my opponent has two Bouffalants and passes! So now I had a chance to try to take advantage of this by setting my Terapagos ex up to take out the first Bouff and hope he doesn't have a way to get anything else down. He got a Stretcher and I had to KO another one. 

Then he top decks Arven to set up his board but by this point, I had taken 3 prizes on just Bouffalants which meant his Mega Kangaskhan wasn't as tanky as it should be and I managed to get the KO on it with Zard + Dusknoir. 

Two GBL wins in two days is just crazy, especially with how variance can play such a big factor in these games, and it being a bo1 format for us here in Asia! I wasn't expecting this at the start of the week, especially with how that first GBL went for me. "3 down, 5 more to go", I just have to believe I can do it.

GBL #7 Season 2 @ Cardboard Collectibles - 11th/32 - 3/2/0 (+8 LP)

• R1 W Mega Kangaskhan ex/Bouffalant
• R2 L Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• R3 L Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• R4 W Gholdengo ex/Lunatone
• R5 W Gardevoir ex

R1 was tricky as this Khan Bouff player did manage to set up very early and got some Pennys at the right time to deny me some big 3 prize KOs and they also had a Golduck down at one point! But Terapagos and Charizard did apply enough pressure for me to get the double KOs I needed to win the game.

R2 and R3 were pretty much the same. Both vs Dragapult, both I had a dead starting hand, both I got stuck after an Iono + Budew. Both I just drew pass the whole way with no set-up. Those were really painful, I was hopeful of a 3-peat, I knew it was near impossible with the amount of Pults that day but I still wanted to think I could do it but alas it wasn't to be.

R4 vs Gholdengo was a smooth game for me, managed to get the big KO for game. R5 vs Gardevoir was anything but smooth, I went for a greedy play that almost cost me game but using Dusknoir then Stretcher to re-use it to KO two Ralts and then attacking the active Ralts. I almost forgot I had given her two prizes and with her Mega Diancie, she could easily take her last 2 prizes just from it. Thankfully my Iono bought me enough turns to go for the Prime + Briar for game. Not the best of days but 8 points is still ok I guess, better than most of my UBL and PBL scores funnily enough.

The 2 GBL wins had jumped me up from 17th all the way up to 6th, which is good enough at the moment. If I can stay there for the rest of the season, as mentioned before, it's the top 8 in standings who gets the Worlds invite so that would be the best scenario for me. I've done it once before back in 2023, maybe I can do it again in 2026?

GBL #8 Season 2 @ G28 Trading - 1st/32 - 5/0/0 (+30 LP)

• R1 W N's Zoroark ex
• R2 W Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
• R3 W Future Box
• R4 W Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
• R5 W Ceruledge ex

R1 was tricky and not just because it was against N's Zoroark, I finally figured out why people said it was tough to play at G28 as we were sitting outside an you could feel the heat. And also the rain when it started to drizzle just for a bit. My starting hand had 2 Area Zero which was not a good thing as I knew he played that silly Watchtower card and sure enough, he used Iono and put the Watchtower down Turn 1. Thankfully I drew into Dawn and Rare Candy so I could get my Zard up and bench a Charmander to use Blazing Destruction to discard the Watchtower. He couldn't respond to my setup after that turn and managed to win from there but it was looking real tricky there.

R2 my opponent had a complete brick unfortunately so I got to get my Pidgeot and Zard up and took all my prizes as quickly as possible. R3 was a strange one, my opponent flipped over the mini Miraidon that I hadn't seen in forever, it was Future Box! So I knew in this matchup I didn't want to focus on getting Pidgeot up first but instead get the Terapagos up. I managed to get the clean KO on his Iron Hands with Terapagos ex. I was getting ready to set up for my Zards but I saw he was setting up a lot of Grass energies on his side so I decided to hold off and just focus on Terapagos + Pidgeot to get the next 2 prizes and have Zard up to take the final prizes to deny the Iron Leaves play.

R4 was up against Dragapult, the matchup I didn't want to see but I was bound to hit one as of the x-0s left, it was me, Ceruledge and two Pults. Thankfully he didn't get Budew down turn 1 but I also did not get my Pidgeot up Turn 2 with my weird starting hand. The big moment of the match come down to him setting up for a 3-prize on my Terapagos ex and Fan Rotom and I knew I could get around it with Pidgeot ex attacking his Pult with Blustery Wind and discarding my stadium to discard some of my benched Pokemon, I just needed to make sure I got two extra Pokemon on bench to discard the two obvious targets for him and managed to get there with Noctowl.

He did make things a bit hard by Turo-ing his Pult, all I needed was Zard to hit into it for the KO but his other Pult only had one energy on it so a 2-shot was still good enough to get me the win. Thankfully the other Pult at x-0 lost so it was Ceruledge for R5. And that was my 3rd GBL win in 5 days, how is that possible??? 

"4 down, 4 to go!" Now I actually do have a chance to make it to the World Championships in San Francisco next year thanks to these 3 GBL wins coming at the perfect time for me, especially since I'll have to miss the next few ones due to prior commitments (aka holiday). 

Don't really need to mention the GBL at Brints, I decided to change it up and play Dragapult which was a bad mistake, I started 0-3, climbed back up to 3-3 and only finished 29th out of 64 players. I was tired after the G28 GBL and honestly, I probably should have gone home and rest and not play again, which is why I have this rule for myself to just play one event a day because I knew this would happen if I tried to play 2 in one day.

I just hope I had done the deck enough justice with the triple GBL win, I always believed in the Dawn concept before anyone even knew about it. And of course big thanks to Oscar Madsen for building these lists and helping me out initially too! He showed the first version of Dawn Zard back in October and I was already building the same list to try out myself. The man is just goated when it comes to deck building!

And hey I'm still playing Charizard ex which is my favourite deck and has been for the past 2 years at this point. Sadly I won't ever get to play it in a major event again but hey, I might as well strike while the iron is hot and try to give Charizard ex the best send-off I possibly can before it does rotate in April.

And it's not just IRL, I've been doing quite ok with this deck online too with my usual antics on Play Limitless. Sure, I don't have a good result on a big online tournament just yet but I've gotten two wins so far and bubbled out of decent finishes 7 times. I'm not even joking, 7 times! My score with Zard Noctowl online so far is 66-32 which is not bad I'd say, especially with how weird things can get online (a number of these losses are also down to bugs in the game).

I hope I can keep this run going, it's not easy winning these events, let alone trying to get into them! I missed out at yesterday's GBL even though there was a 50% chance to get in. That's just how it is sometimes. I just hope I can play well enough to get the last 4 GBL wins of the season somehow, I don't know how realistic it is but I'll try to get there. I do probably need one good UBL run to help me get there too. 

On a personal note, I've already beaten my points score from last season which was 129, and hopefully I've done enough to better the 32nd place in the standings that I got for the 2023-24 AND 2024-25 seasons. Would be nice to repeat the 3rd place in the standings for 2022-23 but I know that's unlikely to happen. Of course, I could make my life a whole lot easier if I were to somehow get finals at MBL but that is still a long way to go, but for right now these GBLs have my full focus. Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great time with the upcoming holiday period and a great 2026 moving forward!