Singapore Master Ball League 2025 - Made Top 32 Cut! + Season Review

  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.

The problem was, I hadn't played much Pokémon TCG since the UBLs. My last event was a win-a-box event at some card show 3 weeks prior to the MBL and the very next day I headed off to Sacramento Francisco, California for my cousin's wedding. So when I landed back in Singapore, I had touched cards in two whole weeks with only 4 days to play test and decide my deck.

Deck Choices

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.

Season 1

• PBL S1 - Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex - 6/2 - 70th (5 LP)
• GBL S1 #01 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S1 #03 - Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex - 4/1 - 3rd (12 LP)
• GBL S1 #05 - Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex - 5/1 - 2nd (15 LP)
• GBL S1 #06 - Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex - 5/1 - 7th (10 LP) - Declined but Won Lottery
• GBL S1 #08 - Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex - 4/1 - 4th (12 LP)
• UBL S2#01 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• UBL S2#02 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• UBL S3#03 - Declined & Lost Lottery

Season 2 

• GBL S2 #01 - Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 4/1 - 5th (10 LP)
• GBL S2 #04 - Miraidon ex - 4/2 - 9th (8 LP)
• GBL S2 #05 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S2 #07 - Dragapult ex/Dusknoir - 2/4 - 34th
• GBL S2 #11 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S2 #12 - Gouging Fire ex - 5/0 - 1st (30 LP)
• GBL S2 #13 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S2 #14 - Dragapult ex/Charizard ex - 4/3 - 20th (6 LP)
• GBL S2 #20 - Archaludon ex - 4/2 - 8th (10 LP)
• GBL S2 #22 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S2 #24 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• UBL S2 #01 - Gholdengo ex - 6/2 - 32nd/220 (15 LP)
• UBL S2 #02 - Gardevoir ex - 4/4 - 72nd/260 (8 LP)
• UBL S2 #03 - Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 5/3- 43rd/300 (10 LP)

Season 3

• GBL S3 #01 - Terapagos ex/Noctowl - 6/2 - 18th (6 LP)
• GBL S3 #04 - Gholdengo ex/Dudunsparce - 3/2 - 7th (8 LP) - Declined but Won Lottery
• GBL S3 #08 - Gholdengo ex/N's Zoroark ex - 3/2 - 12th
• GBL S3 #09 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S3 #10 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S3 #11 - Dragapult ex/Dusknoir - 2/4 - 36th
• GBL S3 #13 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S3 #14 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S3 #15 - Dragapult ex - 3/2 - 11th (8 LP) - Declined but Won Lottery
• GBL S3 #16 - Dragapult ex - 4/2 - 15th (8 LP)
• GBL S3 #23 - Gholdengo ex/Dragapult ex - 3/3 - 12th (8 LP)
• GBL S3 #29 - Miraidon ex/Joltik Box - 4/1 - 5th (10 LP)
• GBL S3 #30 - Declined & Lost Lottery
• GBL S3 #31 - Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex - 2/3 - 16th (8 LP)
• Melbourne Regional 2025 - Dragapult ex/Dusknoir - 6/3/2 - 67th/563 (80 CP)
• UBL S3 #2 - Miraidon ex/Joltik Box - 6/3 - 34th/300 (10 LP)
• UBL S3 #3 - Tera Box - 3/5 - 119th/253
• MBL S3 - Dragapult ex/Charizard ex - 6/3 - 26th/524 (25 LP)

Some stats for the season:

Decks played:

Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex

Events: 5

Combined Scores: 24-6 (80% win rate)

Points Scored: 54 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 3

Top 8s: 4

Lugia VSTAR/Archeops

Events: 2

Combined Scores: 9-4 (69% win rate)

Points Scored: 20 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 1

Miraidon ex

Events: 3

Combined Scores: 14-6 (70% win rate)

Points Scored: 28 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 1

Dragapult ex/Dusknoir

Events: 3

Combined Scores: 10-11-2 (43% win rate)

Points Scored:  LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 

Gouging Fire ex

Events: 1

Combined Scores: 5-0 (100% win rate)

Points Scored: 30 LP

Wins: 1

Top 4s: 1

Top 8s: 1

Dragapult ex/Charizard ex

Events: 2

Combined Scores: 10-6 (63% win rate)

Points Scored: 31 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 

Archaludon ex

Events: 1

Combined Scores: 4-2 (67% win rate)

Points Scored: 10 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 1

Gholdengo ex

Events: 4

Combined Scores: 15-9 (63% win rate)

Points Scored: 31 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 1

Gardevoir ex

Events: 1

Combined Scores: 4-4 (50% win rate)

Points Scored: 8 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 

Terapagos ex/Noctowl

Events: 1

Combined Scores: 6-2 (75% win rate)

Points Scored: 8 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 

Dragapult ex

Events: 2

Combined Scores: 7-4 (64% win rate)

Points Scored: 16 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 

Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex

Events: 1

Combined Scores: 2-3 (40% win rate)

Points Scored: 8 LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 

Tera Box

Events: 1

Combined Scores: 3-5 (38% win rate)

Points Scored:  LP

Wins: 

Top 4s: 

Top 8s: 

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.