Ok so I just need to say this, at the start of 2025, I told myself I would try to do a few top 25 lists (it's 2025 after all, top 25 it shall be) of stuff I like and things I'm into. It'll well past the second half of the year and I still have not done one...until now.
So yeah I just had too much to do that it completely skipped my mind until recently. Hopefully I'll have a few more fun ones lined up soon, be it football, or back to my usual Pokemon stuff, or maybe even F1 stuff, or some game stuff, I'm still trying to think of some fun ones. I wanted to start off with football first since the 2025/26 season is kicking of this weekend and it'll be 30 years on from the first time I can remember following an EPL season. I'm sure I watched games before then but don't recall it that much but around 1995 I knew my stuff even as a kid haha.
Honorable mentions
Two entries just missed out but I wanted to share anyway
Manchester United wins the EFL Cup 2023!
Oh wow Manchester United actually won something for once, 7 years since the last trophy too. But this one got me split since it was against Newcastle United. As you all know, I am a Manchester United fan and this list will be very Manchester United heavy but Newcastle United is the other team I like a lot too and they hadn't won anything for well over 60+ years.
So while I was happy to see Manchester United finally win something again, also a bit sad for Newcastle to have that wait going. Also seeing Manchester United win the FA Cup in 2024 was quite something as the team was plagued with injured and they were up against the best team in England, the noisy neighbors Manchester City and somehow we won!
England beating Denmark 2-1 in Euro 2020 semi-finals, first finals since World Cup 1966!
I've always been an England fan since the 1998 World Cup but I'm used to seeing England dissapoint in the big stage, that's all I've ever known from them. Until this match. Denmark lead initially, then England got one back from an own goal.
And then it was extra time. And the big man Harry Kane got the winning goal which meant England were into the finals of the Euro 2020, which means I finally get to see them in a major finals. We don't talk about what happened in the finals, or the 2024 one for that matter. Or the World Cup semi-final vs Croatia in 2018 as well.
And now onto my top 25 favorite moments in football.
25) Manchester United 1-0 Inter Milan
Friendly match in Singapore on July 20, 2019
You might be wondering, why is this random match on here? Well, this is the first, and so far only, time I've had the chance to watch my team, Manchester United, live in person! It wasn't the first time I was watching their opponents Inter Milan either, that story is up next.
But it was so cool to see the team I had been following for years finally playing live! I still am hopeful to go to a game at Old Trafford to watch them play a home game live, but that could be in jeopardy with the news of the new stadium.
24)Real Madrid 1-1 Inter Milan
2014 International Champions Cup match in Berkely, California on July 26, 2014
What's so good about this match you wonder? Well nothing actually. It was a glorified friendly match in the US, and I just so happened to be there at the same time so my cousins got tickets for us to watch a game.
The thing is, I've never watched a football match live up to this point! I've been following the game for a good 20 years or so but never had a chance to watch a game and now this would be the first. And it was two European giants in Real Madrid and Inter Milan. I just watched as a neutral and the game ended in a penalty shootout, so that's always fun. Gareth Bale's goal was quite something to watch live in person too!
23) Brazil 1-7 Germany
World Cup 2014 Semi-Finals
So the story is, this match would happen on a Thursday morning for me and I had my Army reservist but my friend and I had a great plan, let's watch the 2nd half together while we're on our way to camp. So I would watch the first half at home and head off.
And I think you all know what happened. Two of the best teams in the World and somehow, Germany were 5-0 up after 30 minutes. There's still 60 minutes to go! I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I was sure everyone else in the world had their jaws dropped. Still one of the craziest games I've ever seen. I'd never in my life think I'd read a 7-1 score in the semi finals of a World Cup game, and Brazil being the one that got beaten too, and at home as well!
22) Manchester United 5-4 Lyon
Quarter Finals, Leg 2, Europa League 2025
This was quite recent but I had to include it. It's also one of the rare few games I've watched for the last 7-8 years! And I sure picked a good one to watch. The first leg ended 2-2 so United had to win to make it into the Semi Finals and this game was just crazy.
Manchester United lead 2-0 going into half time (Aggregate Score is now 4-2)
Lyon scores two goals in the second half to put the game into extra time (Aggregate Score is now 4-4)
Lyon scores a goal late on in the first half of extra time to go 2-3 up (Aggregate Score is now 4-5)
And they scored again 4 minutes into the second half of extra time, so now Manchester United had to somehow score 3 goals in the next 11 minutes to win this, somehow (Aggregate Score is now 4-6)
6 minutes left to go, Bruno Fernandes scores from the penalty spot! (Aggregate Score is now 5-6)
The final minute and Kobbie Mainoo scores! This now means the game will go to a penalty shootout unless someone scores a goal in the next minutes (Aggregate Score is now 6-6)
And in the dying seconds of the game, Harry Maguire completed the unthinkable comeback scoring in extra time of the final minute of the game! We're into the semi finals!!! (Aggregate Score is now 7-6)
The match somewhat reminded me of the 1999 Champions League final, stealing the game at the end, just as Manchester United did vs PSG a year ago or so as well. This is also my only Manchester United memory from the post Sir Alex Ferguson era on this list because honestly there's not that much to look back on fondly in this new era. And also, I don't watch football as religiously as I used to. I don't even have the football channel anymore so I don't really watch it anymore these days, I just follow the results on socials.
21) 4 Late Game winners vs Manchester City
Ok I'm cheating a bit here but there's four entries combined into one for this one enrty! Because we got them 4 different times haha! Nothing feels good about beating your rivals than a late winning goal, and United did it five times!
Michael Owen
2009/10 - Manchester United 4-3 Manchester City
Scored in the 96th minute
Paul Scholes
2009/10 - Manchester City 0-1 Manchester United
Scored in the 93rd minute
Robin van Persie
2012/13 - Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United
Scored in the 92nd minute
Ahmad Diallo
2024/25 - Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United
Scored in the 90th minute
And let's not forget that wonderful goal Wayne Rooney scored back in the 2010/11 season too, not as late as these one but hey it's still a good one! My personal favourite of the lot is the Michael Owen one, always had been a fan of his even during his Liverpool days and it was cool to see him get that late winner in his first Manchester derby.
20) Wayne Rooney hat-trick hero on debut
So the thing with Manchester United is, they don't really have many big signings...ever. That's always been the case. There's really only a few signings I was hyped about, Rio Ferdinand, Robin van Persie, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.
And oh boy did Rooney make a mark right away. I remember staying up at 3am to watch this game against Fenerbahce and he put the world on notice with a hat-trick right off the bat! He would go on to break the record for the most goals scored for Manchester United, beat Sir Bobby Charlton's old record by 8!
19) Tottenham Hotspur 3-5 Manchester United
2001/02 Premier League game, 29 September 2001
One of the best games I can remember watching. Tottentham were 3-0 up at half time and poor old me is thinking, how the heck is United winning this.
Right off half time Andy Cole got one back. Then Laurent Blanc about 10 minutes later. Ok there's a chance! Ruud van Nistelrooy gets the equalisier near the half way mark and shortly after Juan Veron scores the 4th! And to top it all off, David Beckham scores a screamer to make it 5-3! Brilliant! If you ever get the chance to watch this match, do it!
18) Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal
2011/12 Premier League game, 28 August 2011
From one big win against a London team to another bigger win against a bigger London club, almost 10 years (-1 month off) from that game. And this will always be one of my favourite memories watching football. Arsenal was a team that tormented me during my younger days because they were just that good, and if Manchester United didn't win, it was because of Arsenal.
And also the legendary rivalry between the two clubs, it was always ugly. The match was looking good for United, 3-1 up after half time.
The Rooney scored his second goal from a second free kick (Manchester United 4-1 Arsenal)
Nani then made it 5 just 3 minutes later (Manchester United 5-1 Arsenal)
And 3 minutes after that, Park scored! (Manchester United 6-1 Arsenal)
van Persie got one back for the Gunners not long after (Manchester United 6-2 Arsenal)
Took a while for the next goal to come, but it was Rooney with his hat-trick from the spot (Manchester United 7-2 Arsenal)
And to top it all off, Young scores another screamer to make it 8-2! (Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal)]
Not seen a game quite like this against another top opponent. Or did I?
17) Manchester United 7-1 Roma
Quarter Finals, 2nd Leg, Champions League 2007
Well yes there was another one. Roma beat Manchester United 2-1 in the first leg so they had to win to make it into the semi-finals. And boy did they come out guns blazing!
3 goals in the first 19 minutes put United 3-0 up, 4-2 on aggregate. Cristiano Ronaldo added a 4th just before half time to make it 4-0. He didn't stop there, he made it 5 just 4 minutes after the second half started. Carrick made it 6 with yet another screamer before Danielle de Rossi got one back for the visitors. Evra got a rare goal to make it 7-1. In the Champions League. In the Quarter Finals match. Absolutely domination. And I stayed up quite late to watch this one!
16) Leicester City wins the English Premier League 2015/16!
Well it's not all about Manchester United! This is not just one of my favourite football stories of all time, but maybe of all sporting stories. Leicester City were supposed to be favourites....to get relegated back into the Championships. They were given no hope to staying up, let alone win the whole thing. They had just survived relegation the previous year. Their odds of winning the EPL? 5000-1.
And what happens next is just something else. New manager Claudio Ranieri got them winning games. And they won some more. They were up to 3rd and took a heavy loss to Arsenal in September. Their next loss was to Liverpool...3 months later! By that point they were somehow the league leaders! Their only other loss was to Arsenal again but they took some big wins that season and with two games to go, took their first League win, the biggest underdog story ever told in football perhaps! Hats off to them and I hope we can see more for this in the future.
15) Newcastle United finally wins a trophy! Wins the EFL Cup 2025
As mentioned before, Newcastle are my 2nd favourite team and I've always kept up with their games and whatever they are doing. I don't know why I kept following them but something about them from when I first started following football just kept intriguing me so I never stopped following.
Before the EFL Cup final vs Liverpool, Newcastle had gone 56 years without winning a trophy and it goes to 70 years for a domestic trophy. That's a long time ago. I did stay up to watch this game, just in case there was some magic in the air against the league leaders Liverpool who were in contention of winning at least 4 trophies. And there was magic, Newcastle won 2-1! Even a late goal from Liverpool was not enough to deny the Magpies their first trophy in 56 years. Well played to them.
14) David Beckham's goal vs Wimbledon
1996/97 Premier League game, 17 August 1996
You've all seen this goal. It's been replayed a million times before. But seeing it for the first time blew my 6 year old mind. How can that happen? Is that even possible?
David Beckham scores from the half-way line! It's rare to see shots going in from that far back, and sure we've seen a number of them over the years but seeing this one was a first for me. This was also the start of my David Beckham fandom, I already knew about it as one of the young players but he made an impression on me that day and I've been a Beckham fan ever since.
13) Cristiano Ronaldo's goal vs Portsmouth
2007/08 Premier League game, 30 January 2008
What a special talent this guy was. From his debut, we just all knew it, didn't we. The spagetti-haired kid from Portugal was special. Ronaldo wowed us on his debut and he just kept getting better and better. He won me over after just a few games, I knew this guy was something special. A worthy person to wear the United number 7 jersey.
This might be one of his best goals. The free kick aren't usually always special but this one sure was. It was quite a ways off, and never looked like it would trouble David James. But he struck it so well that even a top goalkeeper like him was just left stranded. I hadn't see a free kick struck quite like that and it was perfect. Beckham has his bendy free kicks which were special, Ronaldo's rocket free kicks were completely something else.
12) Ryan Giggs's goal vs Arsenal
1999 FA Cup Semi Finals
This was during the epic 1999 season but this goal almost never happened. Arsenal had a chance to seal the game in the dying minutes with a penalty but luckily for United, Dennis Bergkamp missed from the spot and the game went to extra time.
Then it happens. An errand ball gets played and Giggs picks it up from the half way line, runs past one defender, runs past another defender, beats two defenders at the same time, evades a fourth and slots the ball past David Seaman to win the match for Manchester United. One of the best goals I've ever seen and it sets up the Treble win!
11) Eric Cantona's goal vs Sunderland
1996/97 Premier League game, 21 December 1996
This goal pretty much sums up Eric Cantona. Perfect. He scored many goals for United but this might be his finest one yet. That or the one against Liverpool in the FA Cup final that I might be mentioning about soon.
He runs around a few defenders, makes a fool out of them, gets around two, moves past after, does a 1-2 with McClair, goes past another and chips the ball way past the goalkeeper. And he just stands there while the crowd erupts. King Eric just turns around looking at the crowd, arms in the air. Poetry in motion. A perfect goal, a perfect celebration for the perfect player.
10) David Beckham's goal vs Colombia
1998 World Cup - Group Stage
There's nothing really special about this goal to be honest. It's a David Beckham special free kick goal. But it was a David Beckham goal....in the World Cup! I got to see my new favourite player score a goal in the World Cup!
This was also the first World Cup I got to watch so there's loads of memories for me of France 1998. My cousin would stay with us to watch the whole event and all 3 of us would also start collecting stickers, something I've tried to do for every World Cup ever since as a tradition. It's also this World Cup that got me into games, FIFA World Cup 98 was the first football game I ever played and it'll always be one of my favourites. Happy memories, especially seeing Beckham score with a red jersey and the number 7, feels just right.
9) Newcastle United 4-4 Arsenal
2010/11 Premier League game, 5 February 2011
One of the best games I've ever watched and hey not a Manchester United one this time! One of the most amazing comebacks ever. Within 10 minutes, Arsenal were 3-0 up, I was watching this game and I thought, oh well another big Arsenal win I guess. van Persie made it 4 after 26 minutes and I was starting to wonder how many will they score.
8) Manchester United wins the 2012-2013 English Premier League
This was a meaningful one, call it version 5 or 6 of Sir Alex Ferguson's era in Manchester United, we can call it the final version. This was his last season in charge and he sure went out with a bang, taking the record breaking 20th English league win.
It was still a really good team. David de Gea was the best goalkeeper in between the sticks since van der Sar. We still had the rock solid defensive pairing of Ferdinand and Vidic. Midfield did look a bit different, with Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Valencia and Kagawa. Up front were van Persie and Rooney, a decent squad to end the Ferguson era. The final match was quite entertaining, a 5-5 draw at West Brom.
Still, this was the 20th league win, something I didn't think I would see happen and Manchester United did it. It's also the last league win and honestly, I don't see the 21st league win happening anytime soon. In fact, Liverpool has a better shot of retaking the record at this rate. Sad times but life goes on.
7) Manchester United ends Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten run
2004/05 Premier League game, 24 October 2004
This was one of my happiest moments in the game. Manchester United hosted Arsenal, who were on quite the run. 49 games unbeaten in the league, which is unheard of. They were the league leaders too and we on a superb run. But if anyone can derail them, it had to be Manchester United.
But this match was also quite heated. The last time these two played, Ruud van Nistelrooy missed a late second penalty to win the game and got mocked by the Arsenal players, a scene I'll never forget because it was ugly. I wanted United so badly to beat them, just because of that. And guess what happens? We get a penalty and van Nistelrooy scores! Sweet revenge. And to top it off, Rooney, on his 19th birthday too, scored late on to seal the deal. The unbeatables were beaten!
And then pizzagate happened but we don't need to talk about that.
6) Manchester United wins the 2008 Champions League
This one isn't quite high on my list but it's all good. I had already seen United win the champions league once so it was cool to see it again, just wasn't as special as the 1999 one. But it was with the newer generation squad with the likes of Ronaldo, Rooney, Carrick, Hargreaves to name a few.
And it was against Chelsea, so for the first time in the Champions League final, it was two English teams so that was cool to see as a fan of English football. But obviously I still wanted United win, and because it was Chelsea too, I wasn't a fan of them at this point. Ronaldo scored then Lampard equalized. The game came down to penalties with Ronaldo the only one to miss when it came to the last kick John Terry.
I do not like John Terry. So I was hoping for a miracle that somehow he'd miss. And it happened, he slipped! United were given a lifeline and van der Sar would save Anelka's shot to give United their 3rd Champions League win, the 2nd time I've seen it!
5) Manchester United wins the 1996 FA Cup
Why the 1996 FA Cup you ask? Well it was against Liverpool. And I think this was the first time that I watched Manchester United play Liverpool in any finals, so it was going to be a war at home (my dad and uncle were both Liverpool fans). Even my cousins were split, one on the right side, one on the wrong side.
So of course I was elated to see us win that, it was the first time I had seen Manchester United win any sort of finals! It was a tight game, with just one goal in it. And it came in the 85th minute thanks to a wonder strike from my favourite player of all time, Eric Cantona. So that win was even sweeter seeing him score that to give us the FA Cup!
4) Manchester United wins the 2006-2007 English Premier League
Version 4 of Manchester United took a while to get going but it sure felt good to finally see them topple the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool to take the league win, which took a while as the last one happened 4 years ago.
The team looked a lot different to what it was after the last win, but dare I say perhaps even better? One of the best Manchester United sides I got the privilege to watch. The back 4 of Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic and Gary Neville might be the best back 4 we ever had? Not to forget Edwin van der Sar in between the sticks! Then there's the likes of Carrick, Giggs and Scholes bossing the midfield and the attacking threats of Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Saha and Solskjær!
The team were perfect, just a joy to watch. Wished they won more stuff though but they getting the premier league after 4 years was a start. The team would end up winning 3 EPLs in a row!
3) Manchester United wins the 1999-2000 English Premier League
We're still on Version 3 of Manchester United as I like to call it but how do you better the Treble winning season? By utter domination of course! This was one of the most one-sided league wins I had seen, no-one could really challenge them.
The team ended with more than 90 points which was a record at that point, and the earliest EPL win, winning it in mid-April! The team didn't change much from the previous year, obviously Schmeichel was the biggest loss but still it was pretty much the same team as before. Cole and Yorke were still killing it up front and we had Giggs and Beckham on the wings and Keane as the boss in the midfield.
Maybe my favourite Manchester United team? Hey I bought the ProStar figures of this team when I was a kid so do I need to say how much I liked this version of Manchester United? And yes I still have it with me.
I had this one! I think I still have most of them at home actually.
2) Manchester United wins the 1995-1996 English Premier League
This one was special to me because this is the first one I remember seeing United win the league. And this was with the Version 2 squad, aka the youngsters! The class of '92 made a mark on the first team. Sure United lost some big players but why not replace them with emerging young players like Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Gary Neville, Phillip Neville and Nicky Butt.
And of course United still had the star man in Eric Cantona and Bryan McClair up front and now joined by the new arrival of Andy Cole. You also had top guys like Roy Keane, Lee Sharpe, and Paul Parker in midfield and the solid defensive line up with Schmeichel in goal and Brue and Pallister in the center, Irwin down the left side, Neville down the right side. A solid team with a great blend of youth and experience.
They did lose the first game vs Aston Villa where some dumb analysist made the stupid remark "You can't win anything with kids". Cantona and co made him eat their words and not only did United win the Premier League with the youthful side, but also the FA Cup, aka doing the double! But how do you better that?
1) Manchester United wins the 1998-1999 English Premier League, the 1999 FA Cup and 1999 Champions League all within the space of 10 days!
By doing the treble of couse. I mean it has to be this one! Version 3 of the squad was in full swing. United now had the scary powerful striking duo of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke and if that wasn't enough to scare people, the backups were Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær! These two would be starters in any other team.
Defensively United looked solid. Legendary goalkeeper Schmeichel was in his last year, Gary Neville and Dennis Irwin on the side and the center back pairing of Ronny Johnsen and new signing Jaap Stam. Ryan Giggs on the left wing and David Beckham on the right wing meant United always had attacks waiting to happen. Roy Keane was the boss in midfield and he worked well with whoever was with him, be it Paul Scholes or Nicky Butt.
And this perfect team was on a mission, do what has never been done before. And within 10 days, United won the Premier League after Arsenal slipped up near the end, beat Newcastle in the FA Cup and the came the Champions League, which might be my favourite moment ever. Initially this post was just going to be about this but I had to include all 3!
United were in trouble, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes were both unavailable and they were up against the German giants Bayern Munich. They scored within 6 minutes and as the game dragged on, I didn't feel good about our chances. Mind you, this was the first time I had stayed up super late to watch a football game (or more like I got up early for this one). And we hit 90 minutes, one goal would bring it to extra time.
David Beckham with the cross, mayhem ensure, Giggs takes a shot, it reaches Teddy Sheringham and he puts it past Kahn to equalize so late on, the 91st minute! There's still a chance! The very next minute, another corner. Beckham swings it, Sheringham heads it, Solskjær taps it and it goes in! "And Solskjær has won it", I'll never forget that call.
Manchester United with the most unbelievable comeback, two late goal in additional time of the game. Hollywood couldn't write a script quite like this. Best memory in football for me easily, and I don't think anything will ever top it in my life.
There'll be a few more of these kind of lists coming soon, I've got a few ideas floating around. Thanks for reading!
It's the final event of the 2024/25 season for us, the Singapore Master Ball League, aka the Championships from the past 2 years or generally, Nationals from years ago. This is the event where the winner earns a World Championship invite and it pays out the biggest points so doing well helps anyone's cause to make it there as well (just a reminder, Top 8 in standings + 2 Finalists from this event).
My season hasn't been great. Sure the first month was amazing, I skyrocketed up to 8th with not much points from the Premier Ball League. Missing all 3 UBLs in the first part of the season is where my season took a big turn for the worse and I never recovered from there. So long story short, my only hopes to make it to Anaheim was to make finals of this event.
I only had two decks in mind, either Dragapult ex/Charizard ex or Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex. I knew the top decks were not for me, aka Gardevoir or Raging Bolt. And I didn't enjoy playing Dragapult with the other partners.
As far back as the Thursday during the week of NAIC, I had made my mind up initially on Dragapult ex/Charizard ex after seeing both Rowan Stavenow and Jesper Eriksen play the deck flawlessly against a number of different matchups during the Masters Cup event that was livestreamed by Limitless.
So I went I got back to our AirBnB spot, I took apart my Dragapult ex/Dusknoir deck and build this exact 60 with the hopes to try it out at a California locals if I had the free time. Sadly I didn't but it would have been funny as the only other time I played in the US, my deck also had Dragapult and Charizard in it!
Then NAIC happened. Nothing really caught my eye until the Seniors finals, my guy Gabriel Fernandez won the thing with Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex with Munkidori! And that deck looked really smooth. So I started testing it on Live as well and put the pieces I needed to build that deck with my Pult Zard deck so I can test them both.
Got back to Singapore, played locals for 3 days straight (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). I ended up testing the 3 lists I was considering. The first was given to me by my friend Vignesh, it was the standard Zard with a few cool techs that I liked.
I went 2-1, all I played were Gardevoirs haha! But the deck worked as well as I hoped. Tried Gabriel's list on Wednesday, went 2-1 as well, only loss was the last round to a Pult Dusk player.
Then I tried the Pult Zard list that Rowan's group played at NAIC, and I went 3-0! And it's not as if I had an easy run that day, I played against Hannah first (spoiler alert, she made Top 8 with this same deck) with her Raging Bolt no Noctowl deck, then I played Ernest, who is still in the chase for the Worlds spot, and he played his usual Roaring Moon Poison deck.
And finally Yi Quan (spoiler alert again, he made Top 16 with this deck too) and he played Grimmsnarl. That felt like my worst matchup and I somehow got the win there! So my confidence was up after that locals and I was ready to lock in Pult Zard, it felt the better choice after studying both deck's matchups against the expected meta.
The List
Yup I just took the same list as the guys that did well in NAIC did. The only thing I was considering changing was Chi Yu in the Hawlucha spot but didn't make that switch in the end. Deck felt great so I had no reason to change it.
4-4-2 Dragapult
Main attacker and draw engine of the deck, 2 Pults were fine but you'll see how that became a problem in one match
2-1-2 Charizard
The back-up attacker but mostly for the late game, also helps to accelerate energies to the Pult lines
1 Fezandipiti ex
1 Munkidori
1 Hawlucha
1 Budew
Fez is too good not to include, great draw engine after a KO which is often but it is an easy target for opponents to boss up
Munkidori works well with the 4 Luminous energy, helps to fix some maths against certain decks
Hawlucha helps to take out 70 HP or 210 HP mons
Budew is there to help stall out the first few turns or in some rare cases, late game as well
4 Arven
Great starting supporter
Rescue Board + Poffin is always a good first start to the game
Having an out to use TM Evolution is helpful for this deck, especially under Budew lock
Can find Unfair Stamp for the turn you need it
4 Iono
Great disruption card, especially late game
But also a great draw card too, don't forget that
3 Boss's Orders
Need I say more? We can be a bit of a combo deck and playing against another one, the best way to stop theirs is to Boss up the thing they're building up to
Many easy targets to pick off
2 Professor's Research
Discard + draw 7 is always good, don't always need it but it comes in handy
4 Ultra Ball
I don't really need to explain this one right?
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin
Helps sets up Dreepys, Charmanders and Budew
2 Counter Catcher
We tend to start off slow and we don't mind giving up a few prizes early so this is a powerful weapon when we need to pick apart their board, or win the game outright
2 Rare Candy
It's mostly for Charizard ex but sometimes you really need to get a Dragapult ex up and running in no time so it's a good fall back plan
1 Unfair Stamp
An item disruption card is scary, just ask anyone who played when Reset Stamp was around
Putting them to 2 cards and can kill off any hopes of a comeback or just stall enough time to make our comeback into the game
Drawing 5 is not bad too
1 Nest Ball
We don't really need a Nest Ball but it's a good out to both Fezandipiti ex and Munkidori, two very useful cards at that
1 Super Rod
1 Night Stretcher
Great recovery options, don't really need more
They will come in handy when you least expect it
1 Jamming Tower
We're not that reliant on Tools but many decks, namely Gardevoir, Grimmsnarl, decks with Bravery Charm are heavily dependent on these tools so it's good to shut those down, and take a cheeky KO sometimes
1 Rescue Board
Great tool for retreating
Many tend to forget the mon that has it with 30 HP left has free retreat, it usually never comes up but be mindful of that
1 TM Evolution
We want our Drakloaks to be up and running right away and we don't really need Budew to start us off every match so TM Evo is super helpful to build our board up too
Can help threaten a Charizard by getting our Charmeleon up as well
5 Fire Energy 4 Luminous Energy
This energy count seems right to me, it helps to fulfill Dragapult's energy for Phantom Dive and for Munkidori to use Adrena-Brain
Day 1 - Singapore Master Ball League 2025 - Swiss Rounds
We didn't know how many rounds there were or how many people there were. I had to calculate the players myself and saw it was 524 by Round 2 with all the Round 1 byes, so I guessed it was 9 rounds. We got the info before Round 3 it was 8 rounds. Plan was still to go x-1 at least but about 12 people at x-2 should make it in.
Round 1
vs Allen Lim (SG) - (0/3 Drop)
Deck: Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex
W
I went 2nd
First round and it's Grimmsnarl. I was a bit worried since I knew how tricky this matchup is. Luckily my opponent misplayed by hitting me early so I had a chance to pull off some cheeky KOs on their Munkidori. Starting off with a win in any major event is always nice!
Round 2
vs Ernest Kang (SG) - (6/2)
Deck: Toedscruel ex
W
I went 2nd
I got worried when I saw just Budew in my hand and knowing Ernest, he loves his Poison decks. And then he flipped over Toedscool and I got confused. I've never seen him play this before! I had to go full in on Zard at one point and pray he didn't have an answer. He's playing a grass deck, of course he did.
His one misplay was moving his energy off his damage Toedscruel ex that already had 200 damage. I needed a lot to take my last 4 prizes and then came the Iono of all Ionos! I drew into Counter Catcher and Hawlucha for the game! Woohoo! Still alive!
I did kinda wished I had Chi-Yu for this game though.
Round 3
vs Clement Loy (SG) - (4/3 Drop)
Deck: Gholdengo ex
W
I went 1st
The funny story here is, Clement already told me he was playing Gholdengo before the event started and I completely forgot when we sat down! Once again, I wished I had Chi-Yu here.
And once again, I caught one misplay. I hit his active Gimmy for 10 with Budew, a few others had damage, he healed from the wrong person so I was able to take a double KO to keep the 2 prize trade going. That's how I won!
Round 4
vs Phoon Yong Sing (SG) - (5/3)
Deck: Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
W
I went 1st
I don't remember much from this game apart from the obvious. He took the first prize, I did counter catcher + Hawlucha and just stayed on 2 prizes from there on. Quite a straight forward game thankfully.
Round 5
vs Brendan Chua (SG) - (5/3)
Deck: Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
W
I went 2nd
Oh this was a fun one. My last bad misplay was also against Brendan and I was a bit worried when I saw him. And then I did my deck check. And I checked it again.
And again. Where are my Dragapults? I prized both of them! How am I supposed to play a Dragapult mirror match....with no Dragapults? So I guess I'm now a Charizard deck with a Drakloak engine haha. I had to make that switch quickly.
And somehow it worked! He was a bit stuck and my Zards carried me that whole game! He couldn't pull of the Dusk bomb combos. I still have no idea how I managed to win that one with no Pults, I didn't see them after taking my next 2 prizes!
Round 6
vs Kaizer Sim (SG) - (7/1)
Deck: Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
L
I went 2nd
5-0, the first time I start this well in a major event and I hit Kaizer. I've never beaten him before so I was a bit worried. And I got more worried when I saw my starting hand, it was not good. Kaizer was up 3 prizes before I could do anything much.
But the comeback was working well! He had to pass one turn which gave me the turn to do what I needed. Take out a two prizer. Then he missed again. Now I was back, all I needed was an out to Counter Catcher, Arven or Boss. And I missed them all. So I had no way to win after that. Back down to x-1 but it was nice while it lasted.
Round 7
vs Jeremy Soh (SG) - (6/2)
Deck: Dragapult ex
W
I went 2nd
We go from one top player to another. I wasn't sure which version Jeremy was playing so that was scary, as I know he can play any of the Pult variants. He had a super slow start which really helped me.
He did make the comeback and it was getting close, a late game Iono almost got me. The funny thing is, I forgot I had game already in hand. All I needed was some way to get energy on board. I was so focused on Zard + Munki taking the KO on his Pult, I completely forgot Boss + Munki also got me game. Oh well at least we got the win and we're still in the running for top cut!
Round 8
vs Low Wei Hao (SG) - (7/1)
Deck: Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
L
I went 2nd
I had a bad feeling when I saw the pairing. I saw the name Low Wei Hao and thought....wait this sounds familiar and then I saw Ricky right in front of me, oh yup. He's another one who I've got a poor record against.
We did have to wait almost 30 minutes before we go to play because of an issue in the last round. And then we played, well one of us did. I had one of my worst starting hands and just never got going because he got to use his dusk bomb 3 times! There's no coming back after that.
I was a bit sad after that because I know being in x-2 is not a good spot, you don't know if you're in or not. At least I got the good news that I finished 20th in the standings so I was safely in thanks to Kaizer and Ricky being my losses.
Woohoo I made top cut! My second top cut at a Nationals event in 3 years, my 4th top cut at a major event too. So far my record is one win and the rest has been losing in the first round (Top 8 and Top 16) so it follows my gameplan I suppose, win or bust. I have to win tomorrow or I'm busted.
Day 2 - Singapore Master Ball League 2025 - Top Cut Rounds
Top 32
vs Poh Jia Hui Daniel (SG) - (7/1)
Deck: Dragapult ex/Charizard ex
LL
I went 1st then 2nd
It's a mirror match up first and I was prepared for it, having read some notes and getting advice from all my friends. I knew what the gameplan was for this match. But it being a mirror match, I was worried about the variance, these type of matches usually comes down to that.
And sadly in this case, it did. Both times I could not set-up while my opponent did. He did keep focusing on setting up a Dreepy and Charmander both times though and that seemed a bit weird to me as I know we should be focusing on Dreepys first. The first game he went first and I didn't have anything much going on when he Iono-ed me and hit me with Budew, I had nothing in my hand to get Drakloaks or TM Evo. I scooped after 11 minutes, I played a bit more just to see if it was really a same 60 mirror or not, I did see him discarding watchtower so it wasn't the same 60.
Game 2, I went second and I was feeling confident....that was until I did my prize check. Two Dreepys in the prizes! That's a big no-no in any Dragapult mirror matches, you need at least 3 on board and ideally 4 to keep the deck running. So only have 2 and likely one to get KOed because he too had Munkidori is a scary feeling. The problem was I didn't have much going in this game either. I got the TM Evo turn 1. He got a Pult up Turn 2 with both energies on it to hit my Fez (yes, I started freaking Fez in this important game) and 30 on both Drakloaks.
Yup it was bad. I did drag the game out as much as I could, ending up with a Zard and a damaged Pult in the end, Iono to 2 to help me with the comeback. And of course he had Boss from it. My heart sank because I was ready to go Game 3 and I knew what to do because I had read the rules about the timing stuff and I knew I had to be as aggressive as possible.
For those who might not know the rulings, I don't blame you because it's confusing but here you go, they gave us this sheet to read up on:
I was devasted. My hopes for going back to Worlds is over for this season. I thought I could make a deep run especially with all the top Grimmsnarl players being on the other side of the bracket so I liked my odds to get to finals but I failed in the first hurdle.
Nothing else hurts than to lose in two games where I couldn't even play while my opponent could do everything and anything they wanted. That's just how it goes sometimes.
But on the flip side I was still happy to make top cut, especially with how bad my season has been since the start of January. The only real high spots has been the Day 2 finish in Melbourne and now this! I haven't had much to smile about lately. Another Limitless entry is always nice!
2024/25 Season Re-cap
Well another year, and another failed season in all honesty. I had set a minimal target for myself to finish inside the top 30 in the standings and for the second year in a row, I missed out by not much, I finished 32nd again!
2025 standings
2024 standings
At least I kept my run of scoring points in most of my events going. 90% last season out of just 10 events, 85% this season from 26 events.
What does annoy me is that I was 1 point off from my target of a Top 30 finish. Why does that matter? The 2nd last GBL I played, I was in a good spot to get a Top 4 finish and I finished 4-1, but because I lost to Noel, I ended up 5th since he was placed 2nd in the standings after the DGL with Eugene. But somehow, on the website, he's placed as first, yet I was still 5th. So those two missing points did really matter for me.
Charizard/Pidgeot was my go-to deck, I played it for all but one event last season and I was planning to do the same this season. And then Budew showed up. Who knows what would have happened had I been abled to just run with Zard the whole way again.
Pult/Zard and Gholdengo were the other two decks that got me some good scores. Gouging Fire was the only one that got me a win, and it was the one and only time I played it!
I still feel I could have done a lot better. 3 Top 4 in my first 4 GBLs of the season and I never reached anywhere close to that after that, so that's something I need to work on, and topping or close to topping these smaller events if I want to do well. But I also need to do well at these UBLs too, of the 5 I got to play, my best result was just 32nd. That's not good enough, simple as that.
Hopes for 2025/26 Season
Well, I'm going to do the same as before, I've got a few targets I want to hit but also just own personal achievements I want to get done:
Play Better
Anyone who knows me knows I'm still not very good, I'm still not satisfied at where I am. I'm still playing silly little misplays here and there. Jeremy once told me my macro-decision making is great, but micro-decision is still not quite there and I know that's one of my main weaknesses. And with that...
Make Better Decisions
Yeah I know, it's one of my biggest weakness. Be it game wise, deck wise or just anything in general. I've made sloppy plays, made bad meta calls, I need to eliminate them
Do Better
The one thing I've been able to show the last two season was my consistency, always scoring points which felt good. The problem is, it's usually just barely inside the points, never fighting for Top 4s or the wins, that's what I need to do to show I can make it make to the Worlds stage
Win a GBL (Minimal Target)
This falls under the minimal target for a simple reason
Winning a GBL means I don't have to worry about not getting to play in a UBL, if anyone should know about this, it would be me
Top 4 in a UBL (Big Target)
This will be part of my main target for the season
Plus I haven't done well in a UBL yet, I need to change that soon
Top 4 in UBL means you get a bye for the MBL, and that usually helps with the event itself
Earn my Worlds invite for 2026 World Championships in San Francisco (Main Target)
Well I'd like to make it to the big time for a 2nd time at least, just to prove I'm not a one hit wonder
And it's in San Francisco! I was just there. North Cali feels like my 2nd home as I have family there and I'd love to play there and also visit them at the same time.
And I always wanted to play in a big event in the US. I haven't had the chance to do so yet and I'd like to do that
And meet up with more of my friends too! Most of them couldn't make it to Yokohama so why not!
Get Sponsored
Get paid or have people helping me to do something I enjoy! Who doesn't want that right? (I'm just joking around, this will probably never happen)
Enjoy the game (Always the target)
I mean, am I not wrong? We love playing this game for a reason, so let's keep enjoying it and make it fun for everyone!
Thanks for reading! To those going to Anaheim next month, all the best to you and for the rest, let's have a great 2025-26 season! I plan on going to San Francisco for Worlds 2026 anyway, just not sure if I'll go as a spectator or as a player.