The World of Kash: 2023

Showing posts with label 2023. Show all posts

Thursday, August 22, 2024

2023-24: Growth of Pokémon TCG - Singapore and around the World

I know you like numbers and stats, and you know I like numbers and stats that may be useless, maybe boring, maybe very interesting to others, that's why we're all here aren't we? And since the 2023-24 season has officially ended this past weekend with the World Championships in Hawai'i, why not look back at the past season with some stats and numbers.

Growth of the Game - Singapore

I wanted to share some stats from our local Singapore events to show how big the game have gotten over here. The more events I play in, the more new faces I have noticed which is always a good thing for the game! I've been keeping track of results for the last two years and now I can finally put them to some statical use from both the 2023-24 season and the 2022-23 season.

Players who played in all Regional League events:
2023-2024: 132
2022-2023: 78
Increase: 69.23%

Players who played in all major events (Regional League + Championship):
2023-2024: 116
2022-2023: 65
Increase: 78.46%

Players who played in at least 1 major event (Regional League or Championship):
2023-2024: 537
2022-2023: 304
Increase: 76.65%

More players = more numbers! I'm not surprised to see a big increase in players competing in major events here with so much at stake. But I do feel the number could be a lot bigger and there is two simple ways to fix it:

Announce the Regional/Championship dates early!

Quite obvious this one. How many players have missed major events because of the late announcements for all the events. I missed the first regional because I had already booked a trip to Japan and a month before the event, they finally announced the dates. Or how about when 6-7 of our players went to Perth for their regional, booked their travels, only to find out weeks later we've got a regional too, so they had to miss it for Perth.
Whoever is in charge of all this, be it TPC Japan or Maxsoft, it's not that hard. Just give us the dates! I had to worry about missing two events last season and going into this season, I still have to worry about missing this biggest event because of prior commitments.

No waitlist

I think this one is also quite obvious. Why is there a waitlist for a major event? Those of us who are playing want to compete for the chance to go to Worlds, and these major events give out more points than Town Leagues, and byes for the Championship events. Just host them at bigger venues, problem solved.
Even more so for the Championship, this is the one where the finalists earns the right to compete at the World Championships. So for me, everyone who wants to play in it, should get to play in it. Imagine being in the top 4 running, you don't get picked by the lottery and miss out because you weren't the first few on the waitlist. A whole season's work ruined just like that.

But how many players do we actually have? I shared how many competed in events, but what about the total player base here in Singapore?

Total number of Players this season:
2023-2024: 615 (559 Masters, 30 Seniors, 26 Juniors)
2022-2023: 336 (Shared field)
Increase: 83.04%

Total number of Players (Masters) who scored points once this season:
2023-2024: 274
2022-2023: 152
Increase: 80.26%

Percentage of players scoring points once this season:
2023-2024: 44.55%
2022-2023: 45.23%
Increase: -0.68%

I'm repeating myself but I have to. For me it's quite simple, more players means more chances of people not scoring points so although I'm not surprised this number went down, it's still relatively the same! It's still about 45% of our players scoring points for both seasons so far.

Town League Stats

And now for Town Leagues, aka our version of League Cup/League Challenge combined into one. No top cut, just 6-8 Swiss rounds, and we only get 10 of them a season so far. I wanted to showcase players attending a certain number of Town Leagues because, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the lottery. If we could play every event, we probably would. But that's not how the system works for us here.

So I chose to highlight 3 different sets of numbers. Players who played in 3, 5 and 7 events. I think 3 is good to show how many true active player we have currently in Singapore. Those who got to play in 5 are the ones likely to apply for most events, when they have the time and try to push for bigger results, I'd say they're more active than the average players. And then we have 7 or more. These are likely the most active players we have in Singapore, they will apply for every event, and if given the chance, they will play in all of them, just comes down to the luck of the lottery draw. Most of the top players tend to be in this group as well.

Played in 3 Town League events or more
2023-2024: 105
2022-2023: 92
Increase: 14.13%

Played in 5 Town League events or more
2023-2024: 51
2022-2023: 49
Increase: 4.08%

Played in 7 Town League events or more
2023-2024: 13
2022-2023: 18
Increase: -27.78%

These numbers don't surprise me one bit. More players have played in 3 events, about the same for 5, and less for 7 events or more, which makes sense considering there are more players in the scene now so it's harder for more of us to play in these Town League events.

These town leagues have been getting bigger as well so I wanted to show the increase in numbers from the 2022-23 season and compared to the 2023-24 season. I can't make a true direct comparison from one event to the other because of all the shops that hosted a Town League in the first season, only one shop hosted a Town League in the second season, and it wasn't even in the same venue! As for Regionals/Championships, we'll save that for later.

Town Leagues in 2022/23 Season

TL #1 @ Toys Terminal - 45
TL #2 @ Goodness Gracious Gaming - 32
TL #3 @ Brick's Play - 32
TL #4 @ Rowell Pte Ltd - 46
TL #5 @ 1collectibles - 32
TL #6 @ Sanctuary Gaming - 72
TL #7 @ Kavdean's Den - 87
TL #8 @ Rowell Pte Ltd - 68
TL #9 @ Sanctuary Gaming - 72
TL #10 @ Kavdean's Den - 96

For this past season, I've been keeping track of not just how many players played, but also how big the waitlist was. I didn't keep track of that last season so I couldn't make the comparison but at least we have some numbers to work with for this one.

Town Leagues in 2023/24 Season

TL #1 @ Agora Hobby

Played: 105

Limit: 80
Waitlist: 97

Total number of players applied: 177 (Limit + Waitlist)
% Players who applied and played: 59.32%

TL #2 @ Rowell Pte Ltd

Played: 64

Limit: 64
Waitlist: 105

Total number of players applied: 169
% Players who applied and played: 37.86%

TL #3 @ Active Games Collection

Played: 64

Limit: 64
Waitlist: 105

Total number of players applied: 169
% Players who applied and played: 37.86%

TL #4 @ ManaPro

Played: 64

Limit: 64
Waitlist: 80

Total number of players applied: 144
% Players who applied and played: 44.44%

TL #5 @ Games Academia

Played: 64

Limit: 64
Waitlist: 87

Total number of players applied: 151
% Players who applied and played: 42.38%

TL #6 @ OneUp Skates

Played: 97

Limit: 96
Waitlist: 104

Total number of players applied: 200
% Players who applied and played: 48.5%

TL #7 @ Agora Hobby

Played: 90

Limit: 104
Waitlist: 66

Total number of players applied: 170
% Players who applied and played: 52.94%

TL #8 @ Rowell Pte Ltd

Played: 66

Limit: 72
Waitlist: 80

Total number of players applied: 152
% Players who applied and played: 43.42%

TL #9 @ ManaPro

Played: 64

Limit: 64
Waitlist: 99

Total number of players applied: 163
% Players who applied and played: 39.26%

TL #10 @ Agora Hobby

Played: 105

Limit: 104
Waitlist: 79

Total number of players applied: 183
% Players who applied and played: 57.38%

Oh yeah we had a few Town Leagues with just 32 players and with the vast amount of players we have now, I cannot see that happening again. The 3 shops that hosted 32 players, they were much smaller so that's all they could hold. SG's 72 is much bigger that the 64 limit many shops have at the moment which is always nice but they didn't host this season. Kavdean's Den's 2nd TL had the biggest numbers, that was the plus. The minus was that we were all crammed into this space they had, we shouldn't have to deal with that so it didn't feel as big as say SG's or Rowell's.

The most interesting number for me was the percentage of players who applied and got to play in the event. Only 3 events were there more than 50% of the players who applied that got in, and all 3 events were held at Agora Hobby. Apart from one event, every Town League has had at least 150 players applying just to play in a Town League. And these numbers will only continue to grow with more players coming into the game.

I personally think the 64 person Town League events just won't cut it anymore, we'll need even more. More people are going to start missing out on these events, especially the ones competing at the very top of the standings. The issue is space, that's really it. Agora, Rowell and OneUp were the only ones to have more than 64 players in their events. I'd like to see these Town Leagues maybe happening in Community Centres or any places that has enough space to host maybe 128 players, that seems like a good amount.

Town League Winners - How Did They Do?

But as I've heard before, do these Town Leagues even matter? Let's have some fun and look at how each Town League winner has ended up during the season, and I've got two seasons worth of data to share so why not? (Town League winners earnt 250 CSP just in case)

2022-2023 Town League Winners

TL #1 @ Toys Terminal - Lim Jit Min (Regigigas Toolbox)

Season Ranking: 2nd - 2310 CSP

TL #2 @ Goodness Gracious Gaming - Mickey Chia Wee Keat (Arceus VSTAR/Hisuian Goodra VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 9th - 1450 CSP

TL #3 @ Brick's Play - Marcus Tan Yi Shuan (Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 29th - 805 CSP

TL #4 @ Rowell Pte Ltd - Melvin Chan (Regigigas Toolbox)

Season Ranking: 24th - 985 CSP

TL #5 @ 1collectibles - Amir Rafie (Mew VMAX)

Season Ranking: 44th - 575 CSP

TL #6 @ Sanctuary Gaming - Isogai Toshiyuki (Lugia VSTAR/Archeops)

Season Ranking: 7th - 1530 CSP

TL #7 @ Kavdean's Den - Isogai Toshiyuki (Lugia VSTAR/Archeops)

Season Ranking: 7th - 1530 CSP

TL #8 @ Rowell Pte Ltd - Tan Yong Siang (Lost Zone Box)

Season Ranking: 1st - 2610 CSP

TL #9 @ Sanctuary Gaming - Teo Yuan Shao (Hisuian Arcanine V)

Season Ranking: 38th - 655 CSP

TL #10 @ Kavdean's Den - Jason Phua (Miraidon ex)

Season Ranking: 19th - 1100 CSP

So the top two in standings did get a win but other than that, only Mickey and Iso were in the running for the top 4 spots at any time during the season, meaning that 5 of those wins went to players just playing for fun, for the glory of that one event or just didn't have the results they needed for the rest of the season. So it can matter when you're in the running. What about this season?

2023-2024 Town League Winners

TL #1 @ Agora Hobby - Devansh Sunil Koppar (Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 39th - 725 CSP

TL #2 @ Rowell Pte Ltd - Dennis Piay (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 4th - 2420 CSP

TL #3 @ Active Games Collection - Fumiyuki Okunishi (Lost Zone Box)

Season Ranking: 53rd - 625 CSP

TL #4 @ ManaPro - Koh Wee Siang (Lost Zone Box)

Season Ranking: 51st - 650 CSP

TL #5 @ Games Academia - Fayyadh Salleh (Lost Zone Box)

Season Ranking: 125th - 250 CSP

TL #6 @ OneUp Skates - Keenan Jacob Victor (Klawf)

Season Ranking: 13th - 1375 CSP

TL #7 @ Agora Hobby - Jackson Tham (Zoroark Toolbox)

Season Ranking: 44th - 700 CSP

TL #8 @ Rowell Pte Ltd - Raymond Huynh (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 27th - 950 CSP

TL #9 @ ManaPro - Bryan Quah (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 1st - 3140 CSP

TL #10 @ Agora Hobby - Jesse Chow Ching Sheng (Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex)

Season Ranking: 86th - 425 CSP

Again, only two of our Worlds qualifiers on this list and apart from them, Keenan was the only other one in contention at one point or another. So 7 Town Leagues wins went to players who were not in the running for the top 4 spots! That's 7 out of 10 event winners! And of those 7, Ray is the highest placed at 27th, and he only competed for half the season, his first points scored was his win at TL #8. In fact, our TL #5 winner Fayyadh only played once this season, and won that Town League.

So maybe Jeremy was right, Town Leagues don't matter? Quite clearly anyone can have a good day and that be the only one they have the whole season. Of our top 4 qualifiers, they have a combined finish of 7 top 4 results the whole season, which shows how much more important the Regional League and Championships are, 3 of the 4 players scored the bulk of their points from Regional Leagues, the lone one? Won the championship, although he also had a top 4 finish at a Regional League.

Also, don't ask me why you keep seeing Lost Box here, it's a Singapore thing. Well the game sure is booming here in Singapore, but what about the rest of the world?

Growth of the Game - Overseas

Let's look at the attendance numbers for the TPCi regional, SPE and international events comparing the ones from the 2023-2024 season to that of the previous season (2022-2023). Obviously some events weren't in the 2023-2024 season so I took what was the next closest event to them for comparison sake.

NORTH AMERICA

Pittsburgh
2023-2024: 1778
2022-2023: 1088 (Baltimore)
Increase: 63.41%

Peoria
2023-2024: 1703
2022-2023: 1084
Increase: 57.10%

Sacramento
2023-2024: 1427
2022-2023: 903 (Fresno)
Increase: 58.02%

Toronto
2023-2024: 1543
2022-2023: 1061
Increase: 45.42%

San Antonio
2023-2024: 1985
2022-2023: 1224 (Arlington)
Increase: 62.17%

Portland
2023-2024: 1498
2022-2023: 1088
Increase: 37.68%

Charlotte
2023-2024: 2133
2022-2023: 1170
Increase: 82.31%

Knoxville
2023-2024: 1367
2022-2023: 1139
Increase: 20.02%

Vancouver
2023-2024: 985
2022-2023: 526
Increase: 87.26%

Orlando
2023-2024: 2369
2022-2023: 1485
Increase: 59.53%

Indianapolis
2023-2024: 2342
2022-2023: 1154 (Fort Wayne)
Increase: 102.94%

Puerto Rico SPE
2023-2024: 180
2022-2023: 127
Increase: 41.73%

Los Angeles
2023-2024: 2073
2022-2023: 846 (San Diego)
Increase: 145.03%

NAIC
2023-2024: 2692 (New Orleans)
2022-2023: 1897 (Columbus)
Increase: 41.91%

Average Increase: 64.61%

Only 4 events were higher than the average but that number might be spiked up from the South Cali event, so realistically, we'd probably be looking at 9 events that increased higher than the average (about 55% I would say). So the game is still growing in the US. They have the 2nd biggest player base outside of Japan, so it's good to see. I will say, I am interested to see if these numbers do keep growing or not with the new ranking system when it comes to qualifying for worlds since everyone has to keep playing on or accept fate and not bother trying so hard.

EUROPE

Barcelona SPE
2023-2024: 577
2022-2023: 292 (Bilbao SPE)
Increase: 97.60%

Lille
2023-2024: 855
2022-2023: 573
Increase: 49.21%

Gdansk
2023-2024: 997
2022-2023: 722 (Warsaw)
Increase: 38.09%

Stuttgart
2023-2024: 982
2022-2023: 745
Increase: 31.81%

Liverpool
2023-2024: 1518
2022-2023: 761
Increase: 99.47%

Dortmund
2023-2024: 1348
2022-2023: 767 (Bochum)
Increase: 75.75%

Utrecht SPE
2023-2024: 860
2022-2023: 694
Increase: 23.92%

EUIC - London
2023-2024: 2605
2022-2023: 1525
Increase: 70.82%

Stockholm
2023-2024: 675
2022-2023: 473 (Malmo)
Increase: 42.71%

Bologna SPE
2023-2024: 1008
2022-2023: 544 (Turin)
Increase: 85.29%

Average Increase: 61.47%

Half the events on here had seen a higher increase compared to the average, but then comes the math part. There's only 10 on here, very likely it'd be half anyway, 5 were higher, 5 were lower. At least the numbers worked out quite well. The thing that helped here is while you had some events having bigger numbers from before (Spanish SPE and Liverpool), you also had some that did increase, but not by much (Stuttgart, Utrecht SPE).

LATIN AMERICA

Curitiba
2023-2024: 379
2022-2023: 253 (Porto Alegre)
Increase: 49.80%

LAIC - Sao Paulo
2023-2024: 1263
2022-2023: 976
Increase: 29.40%

Goiana
2023-2024: 536
2022-2023: 263 (Natal)
Increase: 103.82%

Sao Paulo
2023-2024: 1142
2022-2023: 765
Increase: 49.28%

Buenos Aires SPE
2023-2024: 160
2022-2023: 114
Increase: 40.35%

Bogota SPE
2023-2024: 130
2022-2023: 76
Increase: 71.05%

Santiago
2023-2024: 892
2022-2023: 729
Increase: 22.36%

Lima SPE
2023-2024: 145
2022-2023: 123
Increase: 17.89%

Mexico City SPE
2023-2024: 252
2022-2023: -
Increase: -

Average Increase: 47.99%

Again the numbers worked out nicely, half the events were higher but if we take a look, only two events were higher than 50%, Bogota SPE and the second Brazilian Regional, the latter which is a bit hard to figure out because the numbers are not true to show since we're comparing two different regionals but it's the closest one I could use to compare. So the numbers for Latin America events aren't as big as the previous two. 47.99% average is still a big increase for the game, so that's a positive!

OCEANIA

Brisbane
2023-2024: 388
2022-2023: 182
Increase: 113.17%

Melbourne
2023-2024: 531
2022-2023: 242 (Sydney)
Increase: 119.42%

Perth
2023-2024: 257
2022-2023: 96
Increase: 167.71%

Average Increase: 133.43%

Now we're starting to see big numbers as all 3 Australian Regional events went up by double their previous amount. And you might notice I compared Melbourne Regional to the previous Sydney Regional instead of Melbourne OCIC. IC tends to bring out even more players than regional so it wouldn't be a fair comparison but even then, Melbourne Regional had 3 more players than OCIC 2023, which is freaking impressive I would say.

I do feel bad for my OC friends, even with these big increase in numbers, we're still only talking about 3 major events for them, surely they should get 1 or 2 more.

ASIA

Time to see how much bigger our Asian events have been compared to a year ago. This one will be a bit trickier since Asia events are more limited than the rest of the region, and it's not as if you can simply register and get in, you still need to win a lottery to compete in the event so numbers won't be as big as the other places, especially Japan.

JAPAN

Yokohama
2023-2024: 3102
2022-2023: 3166
Increase: -2.02%

Kyoto
2023-2024: 2800
2022-2023: 2843
Increase: -1.51%

Aichi
2023-2024: 2931
2022-2023: 3140
Increase: -6.66%

Japan Championships
2023-2024: 2078
2022-2023: 1963
Increase: 5.86%

Average Increase: -4.33%

I expected to see a small number here. Japan's events tend to have the same numbers most of the time, the numbers did drop a bit this year. The only one that increase was the Championships itself and it's much harder to get into that event than the usual Champions League events. I've only got numbers to work for Japan so there's that. Now onto my home region, South East Asia (SEA).

SEA

INDONESIA

Regional 1
2023-2024: 420
2022-2023: 221
Increase: 90.05%

Regional 2
2023-2024: 371
2022-2023: 230
Increase: 61.30%

Regional 3
2023-2024: 143
2022-2023: 187
Increase: -23.53%

Championships
2023-2024: 479
2022-2023: 335
Increase: 42.98%

Average Increase: 42.45%

The only nation that got 3 regional leagues last year was Indonesia and their numbers have been increasing which is great to see. Yes you may spot a decrease for Regional 3 but there's a big reason for that. It was held in Bali, a holiday destination, not really one for players is it? That's why there was a big decrease in numbers for that one.

PHILIPPINES

Regional Q3
2023-2024: 243
2022-2023: 103
Increase: 135.92%

Championships
2023-2024: 366
2022-2023: 133
Increase: 175.19%

Average Increase: 155.55%

I've only got two numbers to work on for the Philippines, but they both look good! The numbers have doubled in both the Regional League and the Championships for our friends in PH. I can see that number going even bigger next season.

THAILAND

Regional Q3
2023-2024: 380
2022-2023: 495
Increase: -23.23%

Championships
2023-2024: 561
2022-2023: 577
Increase: -2.77%

Average Increase: -13%

This one surprised me, the numbers went down for Thailand and I'm not too sure why that happened. They do have a much bigger player base then most of us so it could just be the lottery hitting them hard here but this one puzzles me and I'm not sure why.

MALAYSA

Regional Q1
2023-2024: 367
2022-2023: 124
Increase: 195.97%

Regional Q3
2023-2024: 516
2022-2023: 177
Increase: 191.52%

Championships
2023-2024: 702
2022-2023: 270
Increase: 160%

Average Increase: 182.47%

Maybe the one with the biggest increase in numbers is our neighbours up north in Malaysia. Both the regionals were almost triple of that from the previous year! Triple! That's a huge boost in numbers. And it gets better, the Championships saw 702 players, that's the biggest number I've seen for an SEA event ever! 700+, that is amazing to even just say it. Can you imagine if we had an SEA-circuit? An SEA international event could easily get 2000+ players from the first four numbers I showed and I haven't even added Singapore into the mix yet!

I wonder if Malaysia will be the first one to get a thousand players in any major event in SEA? I can see it happening soon.

SINGAPORE

Regional Q1
2023-2024: 235
2022-2023: 130
Increase: 80.77%

Regional Q3
2023-2024: 342
2022-2023: 189
Increase: 80.95%

Championships
2023-2024: 343
2022-2023: 212
Increase: 61.79%

Average Increase: 74.50%

And finally, home sweet home Singapore. We may not have big increase in numbers like Malaysia or Philippines, but they are getting bigger! Consistently increasing by 60%+, which is good to see. My one issue is the fact that from Regional 3 to Championship this year, the number of players went up to just 1, from 342 to 343. As I said before, I didn't think the venue was big enough to host a championship event and I sure hope we get something bigger, get more players in. I can honestly see a Singapore championships with 500+ players in it. We just need a space for it, and we got a few options, so I hope the people in charge would consider it.

If we had a bigger venue for the championship, I can easily see the increased number being the same as the regionals, aka 80%. That would have meant the championships would have had at least 381 players, still a decent number I'd say!

Major Event Top 4 Point Scorers - How Did They Do?

And for the final numbers, we know that Town Leagues don't matter that much, how about the Regional League? Well yes, I don't even need the show the numbers to know the answers but I will still do so. Obviously the championships matter, but do they impact the standings too?

2022-2023 Major Event Top 4 Finishers

RL #1 @ Yishun

Winner: Tan Yong Siang (Lost Zone Box)

Season Ranking: 1st - 2610 CSP

2nd: Wong Wei Kit (Mew VMAX)

Season Ranking: 26th - 875 CSP

3rd: Isogai Toshiyuki (Kyurem VMAX/Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 7th - 1530 CSP

4th: Kang Yu Xian

Season Ranking: 4th - 1840 CSP

RL #2 @ one-North and Pokemon Center Changi Airport

Winner: Kashvinder Singh Mann (Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 3rd - 2155 CSP

2nd: Lim Jit Min (Gardevoir ex)

Season Ranking: 2nd - 2310 CSP

3rd: Lee Hwee Liang (Lugia VSTAR/Archeops)

Season Ranking: 11th - 1375 CSP

4th: Eujun Gan (Hisuian Goodra VSTAR Lost Zone)

Season Ranking: 21st - 1000 CSP

Championships @ Dhoby Ghaut

Winner: Dionsius Lee (Mew VMAX)

Season Ranking: 8th - 1500 CSP

2nd: Ryan Tan Ye Kai (Gardevoir ex)

Season Ranking: 6th - 1535 CSP

3rd: Choy Kwok Hoe (Mew VMAX)

Season Ranking: 5th - 1660 CSP

4th: Bjorn Soh Cai Wei (Lugia VSTAR/Archeops)

Season Ranking: 14th - 1275 CSP

All 4 guys who finished in the top 4 had at least one top 4 finish at either of the regional league events. Kwok Hoe did almost change everything, had he gotten into the finals, he would have replaced Yu Xian for 4th in the standings. And of course, Dion, who didn't score any points all season, won the whole thing and jumped to 8th. Not that it mattered, he got his Worlds invite! The two lowest finishers in the standings (Wei Kit and Eujun) didn't play much during that season.

2023-2024 Major Event Top 4 Finishers

RL #1 @ Toa Payoh

Winner: Joey Ho (Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur)

Season Ranking: 9th - 1605 CSP

2nd: Bryan Quah (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 1st - 3140 CSP

3rd: Leong Jun Hao (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 3rd - 2510 CSP

4th: Ao Yichen (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 2nd - 2605 CSP

RL #2 @ Suntec

Winner: Aaron Tan (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 5th - 1760 CSP

2nd: Dennis Piay (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 4th - 2420 CSP

3rd: Dionsius Lee (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 17th - 1150 CSP

4th: Evan Chiang (Miraidon ex)

Season Ranking: 10th - 1560 CSP

RL #3 @ Suntec

Winner: Bryan Quah (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 1st - 3140 CSP

2nd: Lok Wei Ye (Charizard ex/Bibarel)

Season Ranking: 14th - 1375 CSP

3rd: Farrell Lee Jia Sheng (Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 24th - 975 CSP

4th: Loh Win Soon (Ancient Box)

Season Ranking: 7th - 1705 CSP

Championships @ one-North

Winner: Ao Yichen (Giratina VSTAR)

Season Ranking: 2nd - 2605 CSP

2nd: Bjorn Soh Cai Wei (Lugia VSTAR/Archeops)

Season Ranking: 6th - 1725 CSP

3rd: Benjamin Isa Roberts (Lost Zone Box)

Season Ranking: 12th - 1400 CSP

4th: Gerald Ong Wei Kai (Roaring Moon ex)

Season Ranking: 16th - 1205 CSP

Apart from Farrell, everyone who got a top 4 finish at a major event this past season finished inside the top 20 in the points standings. So yup, these major events are the most important events for us players here in South East Asia.

Thanks for reading and one last stats to share, and that is the yearly Worlds Top 64 finisher stats!

Worlds Top 64 Stats

Monday, January 1, 2024

Kash Top 23 List: Best Decks of 2023

Ok so this was a late minute idea I had so why not roll with it. I was going to include a small bit for the best decks of 2023 as a side part for my best cards list I did earlier but the idea became a bit bigger than I expected so why not do I separate post for it?

Every event included here is either a major event or an online event that had more than 128 players with a top 8 cut at least. The points I used are as follows, (5 points - 1st, 3 points - 2nd, 2 points - Top 4, 1 point - Top 8).

#23 Gardevoir ex/Mewtwo V-Union

1st Place Santiago Regional - Pedro Pertusi

Points (IRL): 5 (27th)

Points (Online): 24 (19th)

Wins: 2 (1 IRL + 1 Online)

Top 4: 6 (0 IRL + 6 Online)

Top 8: 5 (0 IRL + 5 Online)

We start our list with a deck that didn't see much play after the first quarter of the year. Mewtwo V-Union was one of the new partners for Gardevoir ex initially, be it in this build or the Reversal build. This list technically did get Gardevoir ex it's first major event win.

#22 Vikavolt V

1st Place San Diego Regional - Gibson Archer-Tang

Points (IRL): 11 (20th)

Points (Online): 13 (24th)

Wins: 1 (1 IRL + 0 Online)

Top 4: 5 (1 IRL + 4 Online)

Top 8: 8 (4 IRL + 4 Online)

Vikavolt V was only present in 2023 for the first quarter of the year as it was part of the 2023 rotation with all cards under the D regulation rotating with the release of Scarlet & Violet set. It did win the first major event of the year and was still giving people headaches with it's item lock shenanigans.

#21 Lost Zone Box (Amazing Rare Rayquaza)

1st Place Sydney Regional - Brent Tonisson

Points (IRL): 16 (18th)

Points (Online): 12 (26th)

Wins: 2 (1 IRL + 1 Online)

Top 4: 6 (4 IRL + 2 Online)

Top 8: 5 (3 IRL + 2 Online)

Another deck affected by rotation was the build of Lost Box that focused on not one but two Amazing Rare cards, Raikou who could hit 120 to the active and the bench and Rayquaza who could easily hit 320 damage if it had 4 different basic energies on it. Mirage Gate was a god sent for the AR cards but such a shame that they never got much time together.

#20 Regigigas

4th Place 2023 Oceana Internationals - Rahul Reddy

Points (IRL): 10 (21st)

Points (Online): 20 (22nd)

Wins: 1 (0 IRL + 1 Online)

Top 4: 7 (3 IRL + 4 Online)

Top 8: 9 (3 IRL + 6 Online)

Regigigas is technically still around but it was hit by rotation. Before, the deck solely relied on Aurora Energy to get any attacker it wanted. Rotation hit the deck hard with Aurora Energy leaving the format. The deck did make a small comeback by playing all basic energies alongside Luminious energy but it was not truly the same as before.

#19 Roaring Moon ex

1st Place - Brandon Baughn - TOURNAMENT OF DOOM! PORTLAND BOUND!

Points (IRL): 0

Points (Online): 21 (20th)

Wins: 1 (0 IRL + 1 Online)

Top 4: 4 (0 IRL + 4 Online)

Top 8: 8 (0 IRL + 8 Online)

One of the new decks to hit the scene with the release of the last set of the year, Paradox Rift. It hasn't had a top 8 finish in an IRL major event yet but has had many big online results, the biggest being the win at the Tournament of Doom just last week. The deck doesn't lose much in the upcoming 2024 rotation so it could still be a threat for the next year.

#18 Snorlax Control

1st Place Gdańsk Regional - Łukasz Mazurkiewicz

Points (IRL): 10 (21st)

Points (Online): 25 (18th)

Wins: 2 (1 IRL + 1 Online)

Top 4: 3 (0 IRL + 3 Online)

Top 8: 19 (5 IRL + 14 Online)

Welp control decks are back, it was bound to happen. The one that has made the biggest impact is the Snorlax build. The introduction of cards like Erika, Counter Catcher and Lux Cape have only helped to make the deck not just a pain to deal with in regards to KOing a Snorlax but also in it's ability to continuously trapping a Pokémon you don't want in the active spot.

#17 Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur

1st Place - Singapore Regional League Vol 1 - Joey Ho

Points (IRL): 12 (19th)

Points (Online): 39 (15th)

Wins: 2 (1 IRL + 1 Online)

Top 4: 10 (1 IRL + 9 Online)

Top 8: 20 (5 IRL + 15 Online)

Chien Pao showed up on the scene mid-way through the year and is still trying to reach the higher tier of the game. It has had some good results but hasn't been consistent enough compared to the other top decks. Many expected CP to do even better with the release of Paraodox Rift, giving it a new partner in Iron Hands ex. So far, it has done the opposite.

#16 Lost Zone Box (Radiant Charizard)

1st Place Stuttgart Regional - Christian Fontenot

Points (IRL): 19 (17th)

Points (Online): 34 (16th)

Wins: 2 (1 IRL + 1 Online)

Top 4: 10 (3 IRL + 7 Online)

Top 8: 18 (7 IRL + 11 Online)

SableZard has been present throughout the entire year and the lists you will see from the start of the year, to the start of the 2023 rotation and to the recent Stuttgart Regional, the deck has continued to evolve to keep up with the meta. It has gained a lot of new cards from this year that keeps giving the deck more ammunition going against the meta.

#15 Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Snorlax)

1st Place Sacramento Regional - Alexander Flatos

Points (IRL): 20 (16th)

Points (Online): 46 (12th)

Wins: 3 (1 IRL + 2 Online)

Top 4: 15 (4 IRL + 11 Online)

Top 8: 14 (6 IRL + 8 Online)

This is the first of three Lugia lists you'll see and it was the third variant to show up, which proves how powerful the combination of Lugia VSTAR and Archeops is when it can spawn 3 very different yet very succesful versions of the deck. The Snorlax built had the least results of the 3 but still won a regional! The original Amazing Rare Yeltal variant lost a lot of special energies to rotation but as the year went on, more new special energies emerged which has now allowed Snorlax and this variant to join in on the fun.

#14 Hisuian Goodra VSTAR (Lost Zone)

1st Place Fort Wayne Regional - Maxwell Johnson

Points (IRL): 33 (12th)

Points (Online): 44 (13th)

Wins: 3 (1 IRL + 2 Online)

Top 4: 14 (7 IRL + 7 Online)

Top 8: 26 (10 IRL + 16 Online)

Hisuian Goodra was a top deck going into the year and even after rotation, it still has scored big results in IRL and also on the online scene. It's best result came before rotation when it had Scoop Up Net, Air Ballon and Big Parasol around but the deck clearly has been able to adapt ever since.

#13 Miraidon ex

1st Place 2023-24 Latin America Internationals - Juho Kallama

Points (IRL): 38 (10th)

Points (Online): 43 (14th)

Wins: 4 (4 IRL + 00 Online)

Top 4: 14 (4 IRL + 10 Online)

Top 8: 28 (8 IRL + 20 Online)

Miraidon is a deck that since the release of Scarlet and Violet, has only continued to gain more ground as the year went on. It saw little success initially before Worlds 2023 when the Path variant first showed up. And with the release of Paradox Rift, it has now gained Iron Hands ex to make the deck quite possibly one of the best decks in the game right now due to it ability to put pressure on many opponents as early at Turn 1!

#12 Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex

1st Place San Antonio Regional - Azul Garcia Griego

Points (IRL): 32 (13th)

Points (Online): 57 (11th)

Wins: 6 (3 IRL + 3 Online)

Top 4: 19 (6 IRL + 13 Online)

Top 8: 14 (3 IRL + 11 Online)

Hey it's one of my two favourite decks from this year. It has a Charmander in it, this deck is already awesome. Apart from my biasness, this has been the go-to way to play Charizard ex ever since it won the Curitiba Regional in Brazil. The deck has only continued to get better and better as the year went on and it won the last TPCi major event of the year in San Antonio. The deck also doesn't lose much to the upcoming rotation so we can expect to see Charizard ex being a big presence in the meta throughout the next year.

#11 Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX

1st Place 2023 European Internationals - Alex Schemanske

Points (IRL): 43 (9th)

Points (Online): 53 (12th)

Wins: 7 (3 IRL + 4 Online)

Top 4: 17 (8 IRL + 9 Online)

Top 8: 22 (11 IRL + 11 Online)

One of Arceus VSTAR's main partners last year was Durlaudon VMAX and the pair did help Alex Schemanske break his winless-streak at EUIC this year. The deck kept Lugia on it's toes and well neither are a big presence in the meta right now, it has done enough to get as many results as it did in the year 2023.

#10 Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR

1st Place Portland Regional - Landen Kaetler

Points (IRL): 37 (11th)

Points (Online): 72 (10th)

Wins: 5 (2 IRL + 3 Online)

Top 4: 22 (7 IRL + 15 Online)

Top 8: 32 (10 IRL + 22 Online)

Hey it's my other favourite deck from this year! I got my first regional win with it and also went 5-3 at Worlds Day 1 with it. The deck has stayed relatively the same throughout the year, with Iono being the biggest addition. The gameplan was always simple. EA Sports (Energy + Arceus Turn 1), Starbirth into what you need and then go Path + Judge and you ask your opponent the big question "can you get out of this".

#9 Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX

1st Place NAIC 2023, Columbus - Cyrus Davis

Points (IRL): 23 (15th)

Points (Online): 101 (6th)

Wins: 10 (3 IRL + 7 Online)

Top 4: 20 (1 IRL + 19 Online)

Top 8: 24 (6 IRL + 18 Online)

Rapid Box did have a slow start to the year with little to no results but that soon changed as the year went on. And with Lugia's disappearance from the meta, it has now helped Rapid Box to be one of the best counter decks to the current meta, having answers to pretty much every deck. The recent addition of TM Devolution makes the deck and even scarier threat for set-up decks going against it.

#8 Lost Zone Box (Kyogre)

1st Place Pittsburgh Regional - Andrew Estrada

Points (IRL): 48 (7th)

Points (Online): 76 (9th)

Wins: 9 (2 IRL + 7 Online)

Top 4: 24 (11 IRL + 13 Online)

Top 8: 25 (12 IRL + 13 Online)

It's the typical lost zone deck but with Kyogre as the end-game winner. Your whole plan was to run through the deck as quickly as possible, take the first few prizes and set the board up to the point Kyogre would take the last 2, 3 or 4 prizes. It worked at the start of the year, and it's still working at the end of the year, with it's recent win at the Kyoto Champions League.

#7 Mew VMAX (Fusion)

1st Place 2023 World Championships - Vance Kelley

Points (IRL): 67 (6th)

Points (Online): 89 (8th)

Wins: 13 (8 IRL + 5 Online)

Top 4: 28 (11 IRL + 17 Online)

Top 8: 29 (4 IRL + 25 Online)

This is the deck that won the 2023 World Championship yet it's only 7th on this list which goes to show you don't need the best deck to achieve the biggest results. Sure, Mew Fusion was the right play for the meta during Worlds but it has gotten 8 major wins this year, which proves that no matter the format, no matter the counters, the deck always finds a way to win! Quite straight forward, you set Genesect up to help you draw your deck as quickly as possible and with Meloetta, you are able to put pressure very early on.

#6 Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Single Strike)

1st Place Fresno Regional - Regan Retzloff

Points (IRL): 81 (4th)

Points (Online): 91 (7th)

Wins: 10 (4 IRL + 6 Online)

Top 4: 36 (18 IRL + 18 Online)

Top 8: 38 (17 IRL + 21 Online)

The second Lugia variant on this list and the one players turned to when rotation hit. Sure it's not the same as the first variant but with the likes of Tyranitar V, Single Strike Urshifu V, Yveltal and Stonjourner, there was enough attackers for Lugia to support the Single Strike crew. The numbers don't lie, it got the 4th most points IRL.

#5 Mew VMAX (DTE)

1st Place 2023 Philippines Championships - Joshua Doctolero

Points (IRL): 76 (5th)

Points (Online): 110 (5th)

Wins: 9 (5 IRL + 4 Online)

Top 4: 38 (13 IRL + 25 Online)

Top 8: 54 (25 IRL + 29 Online)

The second Path + Judge deck on this list and the preferred option for that strategy, it is 5th on all 3 of my lists after all. Quite straight forward, you set your Genesects up to help with your draw power, lock your opponents with Path and you can choose when to get out of it with your 4 Lost Vaacuums. Funny how Path went from being a Mew killer to being part of the reason why the deck has been so succesful this year.

#4 Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone)

3rd Place 2023 World Championships - Michael Pramawat

Points (IRL): 48 (7th)

Points (Online): 233 (1st)

Wins: 20 (1 IRL + 19 Online)

Top 4: 53 (13 IRL + 40 Online)

Top 8: 55 (12 IRL + 43 Online)

Giratina Lost Zone is one of those decks that will always divide opinions. The best deck or just a pile? Consistent or just not enough? And here's the funny part, even my lists has divided opinions on it. It was only the 7th best deck IRL but had the highest score for any deck Online! The deck did gain a lot of new cards that made it a deck no one wanted to touch into one of the most popular decks. Four of them were the top four cards on my 2023 Best Cards list!

#3 Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Amazing Rare Yveltal)

2nd Place 2023 Oceania Internationals - Regan Retzloff

Points (IRL): 87 (2nd)

Points (Online): 111 (4th)

Wins: 14 (5 IRL + 9 Online)

Top 4: 38 (17 IRL + 21 Online)

Top 8: 42 (23 IRL + 19 Online)

The final Lugia on the list and the one that cause mayhem last year and it dominated the start of the year. I mean it scored the 2nd most points of any decks IRL and it was only played for 3 months, need I say how dominant this deck was during that period? Lugia and Archeops showed up in the last set of 2022 and this was the preferred variant. Many of it's main attackers lost the energies they needed to make them work. Aurora Energy for Yveltal (also rotated), Powerful Energy for Stoutland and Speed for Raikou (also rotated).

#2 Turbo Lost Zone Box

1st Place São Paulo Regional - Felipe Solís

Points (IRL): 84 (3rd)

Points (Online): 139 (3rd)

Wins: 17 (5 IRL + 12 Online)

Top 4: 39 (17 IRL + 22 Online)

Top 8: 49 (20 IRL + 29 Online)

The main way to play Lost Box this year has been the Turbo build. You want to get to 7 into the lost zone as quickly as possible and it's been done many times over with the likes of Comfey, Colress, and Lost Vacuum accelerating those numbers. The deck has changed a number of times throughout the year, included all sorts of tech cards but it still one of the best decks in the game, especially in the year 2023.

#1 Gardevoir ex

2nd 2023 Place World Championships - Tord Reklev

Points (IRL): 100 (1st)

Points (Online): 184 (2nd)

Wins: 19 (3 IRL + 16 Online)

Top 4: 51 (22 IRL + 29 Online)

Top 8: 71 (31 IRL + 40 Online)

The best deck of 2023? Well it had to be Gardevoir ex didn't it? Even thought it only had 3 major wins IRL, the 22 Top 4s and 31 Top 8 finishes are quite telling. 16 online wins with 128+ people also helps to show that the deck works in both a bo3 format and a bo1 format. The combination of Gardevoir Arcana, Zacian V, Cresselia, Scream Tail and even Gardevoir ex itself has caused all sorts of decks problems and some say it's one of the hardest decks to pilot correctly so when it does well, you know that player has earnt it.

I wanted to do a few more lists, one to show how the decks fared up in IRL and Online and also a fun little list for the Singapore side of things, not just decks but players too because I had the info and well, why not?

Top 10 Decks IRL

Gardevoir ex - 100
Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (AR Yveltal) - 87
Turbo Lost Zone Box - 84
Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Single Strike) - 81
Mew VMAX (DTE) - 76
Mew VMAX (Fusion) - 67
Lost Zone Box (Kyogre) - 48
Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) - 48
Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 43
Miraidon ex - 38

Top 10 Decks Online

Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) - 233
Gardevoir ex - 184
Turbo Lost Zone Box - 139
Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (AR Yveltal) - 111
Mew VMAX (DTE) - 110
Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 101
Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Single Strike) - 91
Mew VMAX (Fusion) - 89
Lost Zone Box (Kyogre) - 76
Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 72

Top 10 Decks in Singapore

Lost Zone Box - 12,850 CSP
Gardevoir ex - 9,675 CSP
Mew VMAX - 9,250 CSP
Lugia VSTAR - 7,920 CSP
Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone) - 4,700 CSP
Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur - 3,410 CSP
Charizard ex - 3,125 CSP
Miraidon ex - 2,715 CSP
Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 2,255 CSP
Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 2,230 CSP

We do love our Lost Box here in Singapore so it's no surprise to see it being the best deck of the year for us. Gardevoir being 2nd is no surprise either, it's always been one of the most popular deck in any official events. Mew as the 3rd highest also doesn't surprise me, we have many die-hard Mew players here. It's not as popular as it once was but it did win our nationals event.

Top 10 Players in Singapore (Masters)

Kashvinder Singh Mann - 2,005 CSP
Lim Jit Min - 1,960 CSP
Dionsius Lee - 1,760 CSP
Choy Kwok Hoe - 1,745 CSP
Tan Yong Siang - 1,685 CSP
Keenan Jacob Victor - 1,625 CSP
Ryan Tan Ye Kai - 1,610 CSP
Joey Ho - 1,575 CSP
Bryan Quah - 1,530 CSP
Kang Yu Xian - 1,380 CSP

This one was just for fun and what I noticed is that most of the players on this list had at least two big results during the year to put themselves high up on the list. I do find it pretty cool that I had the most points scored this year (2023), I honestly didn't expect to see that.

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Kash Top 23 List: Best Pokemon cards released in 2023 (stats based)

You know the deal, it's the end of the year, I like to do re-caps, we got some good cards this year, I'm a stats and numbers guy, let's mix it all and see what happens! Here's my best 23 cards that got released from the year 2023. Yes I know, how original right.

For average score, it's divided by the amount of events in that specific format and further divided into the quarter it's in (1 for Paradox Rift, 3 for Paldea Evolved, 5 for Crown Zenith).

Some cards came close but didn't quite make the list, as I felt that they either didn't make enough of an impact to be included or made an impact to the meta for a short period or in the case of stuff like Raikou V, it started showing up once the meta allowed for it to thrive. So since I've only got a top 22 list, these are the ones that didn't make the cut, started with the bottom of the list up to the 23rd card on the list.

*These results were recorded on the 29th of December, so unfortunately the last Tournament of Doom results aren't included here.

#23 - Hawlucha - Scarlet & Violet (SVI)

Total Points (IRL): 63 (14th)

Average Points (IRL): 0.92 (28th)

Total Points (Online): 105 (16th)

Average Points (Online): 1.1 (30th)

Wins: 12 (6 IRL + 6 Online)

Top 4: 26 (8 IRL + 18 Online)

Top 8: 46 (17 IRL + 29 Online)

Saw play in:

Lost Zone Box
Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX/Umbreon VMAX
Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone)
Miraidon ex

Ever since Galarian Zigzagoon rotated, Hawlucha pretty much took over it's spot as the math fixer for decks. It doesn't quite do the same job as Goon as you can only hit the bench, but you do get to hit two targets. Decks that have made the best use of Hawlucha this season as primarily been Lost Zone box decks, to help set up the perfect math for Sableye to take two prizes in one go on opposing Comfeys. The other one that usually uses it are Arceus decks, to help the deck reach the perfect number (10 + 180 for Trinity Nova + 30 for Choice Band = 220 on many basic Vs).

#22 - Sky Seal Stone - Crown Zenith (CRZ)

Total Points (IRL): 83 (11th)

Average Points (IRL): 1.02 (27th)

Total Points (Online): 100 (17th)

Average Points (Online): 0.87 (32nd)

Wins: 9 (6 IRL + 3 Online)

Top 4: 37 (13 IRL + 24 Online)

Top 8: 54 (23 IRL + 31 Online)

Saw play in:

Lost Zone Box
Vikavolt V
Gardevoir ex
Miraidon ex

Remember this card? Yes one of two cards on this list that was released this year and has a yellow border! Sky Seal Stone has not seen much play as the year went on but at the start it was a dangerous tool to have. By using it, any basic V taking prizes on a VSTAR or VMAX takes an extra prize. And it has been highly effective with these situations in mind:

Drapion V taking 4 prizes on Mew VMAX for no energy cost!
Dragonite V taking 3 prizes after KOing a damaged VSTAR or VMAX after Cramorant or Sableye had done the early work
Raikou V usually taking 3 prizes on Lugia VSTAR
Zacian V tends to take the final 3 prizes in Gardevoir decks with the ability to knock any VSTAR or VMAX out

#21 - Bidoof - Crown Zenith (CRZ)

Total Points (IRL): 50 (17th)

Average Points (IRL): 0.73 (32nd)

Total Points (Online): 151 (11th)

Average Points (Online): 1.31 (23rd)

Wins: 8 (2 IRL + 6 Online)

Top 4: 43 (10 IRL + 33 Online)

Top 8: 60 (15 IRL + 45 Online)

Saw play in:

Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR
Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR
Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur
Charizard ex/Bibarel
Klawf/Hisuian Electrode V
Arceus VSTAR Box decks

Yes, as you live and breathe right now, be it in 2023, 2024 or 2027. This is a Bidoof card, and it made the list as one of the best card released in the year 2023. Don't @ me.

It is that good to be fair. Bidoof's ability alone is the reason why decks are able to use the Bibarel engine with no worries about losing Bidoof. Before, stuff like Radiant Greninja could easily take two of them out by Turn 2. But with it's ability, it cannot be hit by damage from bench, which means it cannot be hit by Greninja. Doesn't mean it's safe from Sableye but you should have a Bibarel by turn 2 anyway! In all fairness, Bidoof is on the list purely by association with Bibarel, one of the best draw supporting pokemon in the game right now.

#20 - Technical Machine: Devolution - Paradox Rift (PAR)

Total Points (IRL): 17 (30th)

Average Points (IRL): 2.13 (15th)

Total Points (Online): 66 (26th)

Average Points (Online): 2.64 (10th)

Wins: 6 (2 IRL + 4 Online)

Top 4: 14 (2 IRL + 12 Online)

Top 8: 17 (2 IRL + 15 Online)

Saw play in:

Lost Zone Box
Mew VMAX
Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX
Entei V/Iron Valiant ex
Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex

The first Paradox Rift card to make it onto the list and quite easily my least favourite card released this year. This is the evolution deck killer/Stage 2 killer so I'm already not a fan of this card. Remember Espeon ex's first move from back in 2016? Yup this is Miraculous Shrine in the form of a tool card, meaning anyone with one energy can use it.

It's mostly seeing play in decks that are able to spread damage around, namely Lost Zone Box decks, Inteleon VMAX decks and Iron Valiant decks. You try to be in a position to spread enough damage to evolve everything and take prizes for having enough damage counters on all the basic versions. The deck that suffers from this the most are Charizard ex decks because most of them does tend to play 2 different Stage 2 Pokemon after all!

#19 - Bravery Charm - Paldea Evolved (PAL)

Total Points (IRL): 43 (19th)

Average Points (IRL): 1.63 (20th)

Total Points (Online): 97 (18th)

Average Points (Online): 1.39 (22nd)

Wins: 9 (4 IRL + 5 Online)

Top 4: 11 (5 IRL + 6 Online)

Top 8: 47 (10 IRL + 37 Online)

Saw play in:

Miraidon ex
Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
Lost Zone Box
Control decks
Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur
Entei V/Iron Valiant ex
Klawf/Hisuian Electrode V
Turbo Roaring Moon ex

Bravery Charm is similiar to Big Charm from the previous rotation. It is a card with just one line and adds more HP. The difference is, it only works on Basics but now they get +50 HP and not 30 with the previous card. Many Basic-only decks have used it to keep their attackers out of danger, be it a now 250 HP Raikou V, 280 HP Dragonite, 280 HP Iron Hands ex, 290 HP Roaring Moon ex, 200 HP Snorlax or even a 130 HP Sableye. It's one of the best defensive tool cards in the game.

#18 - Mew ex - 151 (MEW)

Total Points (IRL): 47 (18th)

Average Points (IRL): 2.53 (11th)

Total Points (Online): 74 (24th)

Average Points (Online): 1.53 (21st)

Wins: 6 (4 IRL + 2 Online)

Top 4: 22 (7 IRL + 15 Online)

Top 8: 33 (9 IRL + 24 Online)

Saw play in:

Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
Miraidon ex
Lost Zone Box
Gardevoir ex
Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur
Charizard ex
Roaring Moon ex
Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR

The only card from the 151 set to make this list, of course, is Mew ex, the card that is pretty much named after the set. And it's easy to see why it's the best card from the 151 set. Not only does Mew ex have a great ability but also it's only attack can be a scary one to deal with.

Restart allows you to draw cards until you have 3 in hand? Remember Oranguru from Sword & Shield base set? Yup it's the same, and you may remember how good Oranguru was in many decks. Mew is seeing play in many decks for the same reason, for the extra draw, especially to save yourself from late game Ionos.

The attack is also very similar. Genome Hacking copies your opponent's active pokemon attacks. Remember Zoroark BREAK from BREAKthrough? Yup it's Foul Play! And that has always been a dangerous threat. Albeit that was for one Dark energy and Mew needs 3 colourless which is why you do see it being used in decks that can accelerate energies easily like Archeops, Miraidon, Lost Box and Charizard to name a few. Being able to copy your opponent's attack, be it Greninja's Moonlight Shuriken to hit 90 on two of their bench or Charizard ex's Burning Darkness to one-shot them if they have gone down to 1 prize remaining. It will continue to see play until the day it rotates. Sounds familiar? Yup Mew VMAX. There's something about Mew huh?

#17 - Penny - Scarlet & Violet (SVI)

Total Points (IRL): 90 (9th)

Average Points (IRL): 1.51 (24th)

Total Points (Online): 125 (14th)

Average Points (Online): 1.3 (24th)

Wins: 12 (5 IRL + 7 Online)

Top 4: 39 (17 IRL + 22 Online)

Top 8: 62 (25 IRL + 37 Online)

Saw play in:

Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
Mew VMAX
Gardevoir ex
Lost Zone Box
Control decks
Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex

Speaking of remembering cards, do you remember Acerola or Cheren's Care? Penny has a similar role to both as it scoops up it's intended target from the field. But like Cheren's Care it has a catch, it can only be used on Basic pokemon. Decks like Lugia and Gardevoir initially played it as a counter to Mawile trapping one of their support Pokemon as those decks don't play switching cards.

Lately it's seen play in Charizard alongside either Entei V or supporting Pokemon that are Vs (Lumineon or Rotom). Entei can take some hits and when the time is right, scoop it up to prevent easy prizes. Preventing easy prizes is the main reason control decks uses Penny. They will attempt to make Snorlax a hard unit to take down, sometimes even needing to 2-shot it and when the time is right, Penny will scoop up one Snorlax to get the next one in and repeat the process.

#16 - Mesagoza - Scarlet & Violet (SVI)

Total Points (IRL): 92 (8th)

Average Points (IRL): 1.53 (23rd)

Total Points (Online): 121 (15th)

Average Points (Online): 1.3 (24th)

Wins: 12 (5 IRL + 7 Online)

Top 4: 46 (21 IRL + 25 Online)

Top 8: 44 (16 IRL + 28 Online)

Saw play in:

Lugia VSTAR/Archeops

Sure a few decks have played Mesagoza a few times but this card has seen play almost exclusively in Lugia VSTAR decks. It's PokeBall on a Stadium card. Flip a coin, if heads, you get any Pokemon. If tails, try again another turn. It is a natural fit for Lugia decks as it's one of the few decks that people like to term as a "run-hot" deck and a coin-flip stadium is perfect for it. If you do get heads, you can easily set your board up by either getting the Lugia VSTAR you need or the last Archeops needed to be discarded.

#15 - Squawkabilly ex - Paldea Evolved (PAL)

Total Points (IRL): 41 (21st)

Average Points (IRL): 1.59 (22nd)

Total Points (Online): 141 (12th)

Average Points (Online): 1.97 (13th)

Wins: 9 (4 IRL + 5 Online)

Top 4: 34 (5 IRL + 29 Online)

Top 8: 54 (7 IRL + 47 Online)

Saw play in:

Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX
Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX
Miraidon ex
United Wings Box
Lost Zone Box
Roaring Moon ex
Klawf/Hisuian Electrode V
Entei V/Iron Valiant ex

Need I say more about ol' Squawk? It's Dedenne-ex, discard your hand, draw 6 cards. There is one catch, Squawkabilly ex can only be used on the first turn. That's the con. The pro? You can activate the ability on your first turn whenever you want, which means you can start it as your active and still use the ability unlike Shaymin ex, Tapu Lele-gx, Crobat V or Dedenne-ex as previously mentioned.

And sure enough it's already seen play in all sorts of decks and will continue to do so. It does have an interesting move as well, Motivate can charge 2 energies which can work in tandem with discarding energies from your hand from your own Squawk & Seize. I've seen a few people Motivate to charge up an Iron Hands ex, it's a valid strategy after all!

#14 - Professor Turo's Scenario - Paradox Rift (PAR)

Total Points (IRL): 24 (27th)

Average Points (IRL): 3 (9th)

Total Points (Online): 90 (21st)

Average Points (Online): 3.6 (8th)

Wins: 8 (2 IRL + 6 Online)

Top 4: 21 (4 IRL + 17 Online)

Top 8: 25 (5 IRL + 20 Online)

Saw play in:

Gardevoir ex
Charizard ex
Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX
Mew VMAX
Control decks

I had mentioned Penny not long ago but there is a reason why Penny has seen less plays in non-Control decks since the release of Paradox Rift and it's purely because of Professor Turo's Scenario. It's a reprint of the old AZ card from Phantom Forces. You just put one of your Pokemon into the hand but you discard everything else that was attached to it. Now decks like Gardevoir, Charizard and Mew can use it to scoop up non-Basic Pokemon to not just stop from getting stalled by heal up a damaged attacker.

#13 - Charizard ex - Obsidian Flames (OBS)

Total Points (IRL): 53 (16th)

Average Points (IRL): 3.05 (8th)

Total Points (Online): 82 (22nd)

Average Points (Online): 1.67 (19th)

Wins: 8 (4 IRL + 4 Online)

Top 4: 29 (11 IRL + 18 Online)

Top 8: 28 (8 IRL + 20 Online)

Saw play in:

Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex
Charizard ex/Bibarel
Charizard ex (Lost Zone)
Charizard ex/Gallade
Charizard ex/Arceus VSTAR

Probably my favourite card to be released this year. The main reason? I CAN FINALLY PLAY A CHARMANDER IN A DECK AGAIN WOOHOO!

But yeah it's been a while since we got a good Stage 2 Charizard card. Sure, the last one was the Vivid Voltage Charizard with Leon but it wasn't that good. The last good one is one of my all time favourite cards, Charizard from Team Up. And there are some similarities here. They're both stage 2, they both accelerate energies to each other and they both can do an insane amounts of damage just for 2 Fire Energy. So of course I became a big fan of Charizard ex even before I played the deck.

Traditionally, we don't see a lot of main attackers being in these lists, it's usually a tech Pokemon or a main card in the deck that helps it running (aka Gardevoir ex). The cool thing about Charizard ex is that it doesn't just have one good deck, it's done well with five different versions! When a card is that good and can be played in so many different ways, it's bound to be successful and it did just win the San Antonio Regionals so long may the reign of Zard continue. And that's my one biased entry on the list done.

#12 - Spiritomb - Paldea Evolved (PAL)

Total Points (IRL): 57 (15th)

Average Points (IRL): 2.35 (12th)

Total Points (Online): 131 (13th)

Average Points (Online): 1.92 (15th)

Wins: 9 (3 IRL + 6 Online)

Top 4: 37 (10 IRL + 27 Online)

Top 8: 56 (17 IRL + 39 Online)

Saw play in:

Lost Zone Box
Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone)
Hisuian Goodra VSTAR (Lost Zone)
Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR
Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX
Gardevoir ex
Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX
Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR
Snorlax Control
Klawf/Hisuian Electrode V

The Mew killer? Whether it was or not, Spiritomb was certainly impactful. Being able to cancel out Basic V's ability is a lot stronger than people might have first imagined as Spiritomb has found a home in all sorts of decks to stop many things in their path. Some of it's intended targets include:

Genesect V - Probably the main target but helps to slow Mew VMAX down
Lumineon V - Got caught in the crossfire with the release of Spiritomb and was played to prevent Lugia from hitting stuff like Research or Burnet
Raikou V/Entei V - They can't draw an extra card because of it
Rotom V - Decks like Control or Charizard can't draw extra cards because of it
Pidgeot V - Control decks can't do a continuous loop if Spiritomb is in the field
Drapion V - Cannot attack for free vs "Style" decks if a Spiritomb is around so be mindful if you play both
Zacian V - Cannot attach energy at the end of the turn
Leafeon V - Same as above
Sylveon V - Cannot search for an item at the end of the turn
Galarian Moltres V - Can't attach energy to itself

#11 - Jirachi - Paradox Rift (PAR)

Total Points (IRL): 39 (24th)

Average Points (IRL): 4.88 (5th)

Total Points (Online): 96 (19th)

Average Points (Online): 3.84 (6th)

Wins: 13 (4 IRL + 9 Online)

Top 4: 20 (5 IRL + 15 Online)

Top 8: 24 (7 IRL + 17 Online)

Saw play in:

Gardevoir ex
Lost Zone Box
Charizard ex
Klawf/Hisuian Electrode V
Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone)

We go from a hard counter to Genesect to a hard counter to Sableye mainly. Sableye has been a menace in the format since last year, picking off a lot of set up decks due to it's ability to easily reach 10 in the lost zone and getting 12 damage counters around. This is where Jirachi comes in. Jirachi has already won me many games vs Lost Zone decks just for it's sheer presence stopping Sableye doing what it wants to.

Stellar Veil prevents damage counters from being places by attacks, so the three that have been affected the most by it are Sableye, Medicham V and Cresselia and many decks, especially set-up decks, will continue to rock Jirachi in their lists just to make sure those three will not wreck havoc on their bench.

#10 - Arven - Scarlet & Violet (SVI)

Total Points (IRL): 88 (10th)

Average Points (IRL): 2.14 (14th)

Total Points (Online): 167 (9th)

Average Points (Online): 1.69 (18th)

Wins: 13 (7 IRL + 6 Online)

Top 4: 51 (14 IRL + 37 Online)

Top 8: 72 (20 IRL + 52 Online)

Saw play in:

Gardevoir ex
Miraidon ex
Mew VMAX
Charizard ex
Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur
Snorlax Control
Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX

Probably my favourite supporter released this year! Arven is similar to Volkner and Skyla from past rotations, picking up and item and in Volkner's case, a Lighting energy. Arven's addition to the Item is the ability to pick up a Tool card. Initially Arven saw very little to no play at all, only Gardevoir and Miradion decks were running it and usually it was a one off.

Then came Charizard and Arven became the Supporter of choice. I should know, I called Charizard ex playing 4 Arven in the future in one of my streams in an Obsidian Flames tournament! I was fortunate enough to be one of the first people to get a top 8 finish for a Charizard decks with multiple Arvens in a 128+ player online tournament and now Arven is easily a 4-off. As the year went on, we kept getting more playable Tool cards to the point where more decks are starting to use Arven to make use of them. Inteleon decks now play Arven to have an easier out to get TM: Devolution. Need I say more?

#9 - Reversal Energy - Paldea Evolved (PAL)

Total Points (IRL): 65 (13th)

Average Points (IRL): 2.58 (10th)

Total Points (Online): 158 (10th)

Average Points (Online): 2.31 (11th)

Wins: 17 (3 IRL + 14 Online)

Top 4: 37 (13 IRL + 24 Online)

Top 8: 51 (19 IRL + 32 Online)

Saw play in:

Gardevoir ex
Lugia VSTAR/Archeops (Snorlax)
Zoroark Toolbox
Charizard ex/Gallade

Reversal energy would have easily been the best special energy card we got this year if not for another card that got released in the same set. When you are behind on prizes, it becomes a triple Rainbow energy when attached to an evolution Pokemon that doesn't have a rule box. 3 energies! I can't stress how powerful that actually is, to the point that we saw a different version of Gardevoir that relies on going behind on prizes so Shining Arcana Gardevoir and Gallade can hit hard later on.

Gardevoir isn't the only beneficiary of Reversal Energy. The other most popular partner for it is Luxray, also from Paldea Evolved. Luxray can be placed onto the bench if you are behind on prizes. So naturally Reversal is the perfect partner for it and it has seen lots of play in Lugia decks but has also been a one off in decks like Mew VMAX and Lost Box! I'm curious to see what other evolved pokemon will be able to make best use of this in next few rotations.

#8 - Beach Court - Scarlet & Violet (SVI)

Total Points (IRL): 109 (4th)

Average Points (IRL): 1.92 (18th)

Total Points (Online): 195 (8th)

Average Points (Online): 1.99 (14th)

Wins: 22 (9 IRL + 13 Online)

Top 4: 49 (17 IRL + 32 Online)

Top 8: 77 (26 IRL + 51 Online)

Saw play in:

Lost Zone Box
Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone)
Miraidon ex
Hisuian Goodra VSTAR (Lost Zone)

Beach Court has seen play mostly in just two types of decks, decks that utilise the Lost Zone engine or Miraidon decks and it makes perfect sense once you see the decks. One of the biggest issue for these Lost Zone decks was having to attach an energy to retreat your Comfeys. With Beach Court, that is now not an issue and Lost Zone decks continue to play it till this day for that very reason.

Miraidon decks also like having Beach Court as most of it's attackers not named Iron Hands ex all have 1 retreat cost, and with Beach Court, it becomes free. Often times you will see them have a Raikou up front, draw a free card and then retreat into the next attacker. But you have to remember, it works both ways! I have seen people lost games before because they tried to trap their opponent's support Pokémon and place down their own Beach Court, not realising the opponent can also use it! It can happen!

#7 - Gardevoir ex - Scarlet & Violet (SVI)

Total Points (IRL): 97 (6th)

Average Points (IRL): 2.07 (16th)

Total Points (Online): 213 (6th)

Average Points (Online): 2.26 (12th)

Wins: 21 (4 IRL + 17 Online)

Top 4: 54 (20 IRL + 34 Online)

Top 8: 74 (27 IRL + 47 Online)

Saw play in:

Gardevoir ex
Gardevoir ex/Mewtwo V-Union

I have done another best of 2023 list and it's a small one but just for the best decks and who tops it? Gardevoir ex. It was a top tier deck the moment it was released in Scarlet & Violet and four sets later, it's still a top tier deck even if things haven't been looking good for Gardevoir ex in this new format.

With Psychic Embrace, all sorts of attacks have benefitted from Gardevor's ability to charge them up. Sure you have to put 2 damage counters but you get as many energies as you'd like to a certian amount (till you have 10-20 HP). We've seen all sorts of attackers but they have been all good:

Shining Arcana Gardevoir - the ideal partner in the deck, 60 + 30 for each energy is quite scary when you can keep adding more energies to yourself to do as much as 300 damage!
Zacian V - Has the same attack as Arcana Gardevoir
Cresselia - Can snipe the opponent's bench by moving 20 damage counters from all of your Pokemon to one of theirs
Scream Tail - The more damage counters it has, the more damage it can do and with the addition of Luxuary Cape, it can reach up to 360 damage! Not just that, you can hit anything on their board!
Drifloon - Does have a similar attack to Scream Tail but only hits the active. It can technically do 480 damage with Cape!
Mewtwo V-Union - It now has an easier way to attack right from the moment it was summoned
Deoxys VSTAR - A recent inclusion to combat Iron Hands ex, it's VSTAR attack Star Force hits 60 for each energy on both sides, 4 on the Iron Hands is already 240, enough to KO it
Mew ex - Well you can use their attack!

#6 - Counter Catcher - Paradox Rift (PAR)

Total Points (IRL): 76 (12th)

Average Points (IRL): 9.50 (4th)

Total Points (Online): 205 (7th)

Average Points (Online): 8.2 (4th)

Wins: 20 (6 IRL + 14 Online)

Top 4: 52 (13 IRL + 39 Online)

Top 8: 59 (16 IRL + 43 Online)

Saw play in:

Charizard ex
Gardevoir ex
Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone)
Lost Zone Box
Snorlax Control
Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur
Miraidon ex
Klawf/Hisuian Electrode V

It has returned! Released initially in 2017 in the god awful Crimson Invasion set, the card was one of the better cards out of that set. Once again it's been released in the final set of the year but Paradox Rift is no Crimson Invasion, but still Catcher is one of the best cards from the set, if not, THE best.

It's quite simple, yet so effective. If you are behind on prizes, you can gust up any of their Pokemon. It is a natural fit for decks like Charizard, Gardevoir and Control decks as they want to be behind on prizes. Decks that can utilise Arven or Irida like Miraidon or Baxcalibur will have a Catcher as well as it's easy to find! Snorlax Control is probably the biggest abuse of the card. You are never taking prizes so you will be able to trap any of their Pokemon in the active and the deck has ways to recycle some cards so you'd be able to play Catcher way more than you really should be able to haha!

#5 - Artazon - Paldea Evolved (PAL)

Total Points (IRL): 101 (5th)

Average Points (IRL): 4.03 (6th)

Total Points (Online): 214 (5th)

Average Points (Online): 3.1 (9th)

Wins: 19 (6 IRL + 13 Online)

Top 4: 57 (17 IRL + 40 Online)

Top 8: 86 (31 IRL + 55 Online)

Saw play in:

Lost Zone Box
Gardevoir ex
Charizard ex
Snorlax/Pidgeot Control

Easily the best stadium released this year. This is the perfect card for set up decks like Charizard, Gardevoir and Lost Zone decks so it's no wonder that these are the main ones to use Artazon. It's basically nest ball but with the catch being it can only be a non-rule box basic. These decks love playing it and many of their opponents have not mind having them in the field either!

It has already been a huge help for these decks, especially Charizard and Gardevoir as you want to fill up your bench with many of these "little basics" like Charmander, Pidgey, Ralts, or even your support Pokemon like Manaphy, Jirachi or Mew. Artazon is here to stay!

#4 - Jet Energy - Paldea Evolved (PAL)

Total Points (IRL): 95 (7th)

Average Points (IRL): 3.83 (7th)

Total Points (Online): 351 (4th)

Average Points (Online): 5.1 (5th)

Wins: 25 (2 IRL + 23 Online)

Top 4: 89 (24 IRL + 65 Online)

Top 8: 92 (28 IRL + 64 Online)

Saw play in:

Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone)
Lugia VSTAR/Archeops
Lost Zone Box
Arceus VSTAR decks
Charizard ex (Lost Zone)
Charizard ex/Bibarel
Entei V/Iron Valiant ex

This one card has turned Giratina VSTAR Lost Zone, a deck nobody really wanted to play by the end of 2022, into quite possibly the most played deck by the end of 2023. When attached, it switches that Pokemon into the active. The obvious target here is Comfey, you can easily pull off 3 Flower Selecting Turn 1 because of this. It's also good to get Giratina into play to get early Abyssal Seeking and hey it's another energy you can use to discard for Lost Impact!

Another deck that uses it a lot is Lugia. No matter if it's paired with Snorlax, the Single Strike attackers or the newer Iron Hands with Vessel, they all get to use another Special Energy to satisify their attack. It's also been seeing play in decks like Charizard to help get things like Mew into the active or get Bibarel out of the active. The newest deck to use it is Entei with Iron Valiant and it makes perfect sense. You want Entei in the bench to use Magma Basin to attach a Fire energy, move your Iron Valiants around to spread some damage, get the Jet Energy onto Entei and attack (don't forget to use the ability)!

#3 - Super Rod - Paldea Evolved (PAL)

Total Points (IRL): 241 (3rd)

Average Points (IRL): 9.56 (3rd)

Total Points (Online): 660 (3rd)

Average Points (Online): 9.53 (3rd)

Wins: 61 (16 IRL + 45 Online)

Top 4: 160 (42 IRL + 118 Online)

Top 8: 221 (60 IRL + 161 Online)

Saw play in:

Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone)
Gardevoir ex
Charizard ex
Lost Zone Box
Chien-Pao ex/Baxcalibur
Gholdengo ex
Snorlax Control

Super Rod is back! It was technically first released in 2000 in Neo Genesis but with a very different effect. The effect we now know first showed up in 2011 with the release of the Noble Victories set. It has since gotten a re-release in 2015 with BREAKthrough and now 2023 with Paldea Evolved. And everytime it's been good!

Once again it's the set-up decks that are the big winners from having Super Rod, decks like Gardevoir, Charizard, Baxcalibur and Gholdengo have all benefitted from it. But perhaps the biggest winners are the Lost Zone decks. The deck really missed Ordinary Rod since it rotated and while Super Rod recovers one less card, 3 is still good enough! Sometimes being able to shuffle 3 energy cards is better than what Ord Rod was able to do. This is also another card that has turns Giratina VSTAR fortune around. In fact, all four cards in the top four of this list all feature in Giratina decks. No wonder it's a top deck right now compared to last year.

#2 - Iono - Paldea Evolved (PAL)

Total Points (IRL): 265 (2nd)

Average Points (IRL): 10.57 (2nd)

Total Points (Online): 861 (2nd)

Average Points (Online): 12.47 (2nd)

Wins: 72 (19 IRL + 53 Online)

Top 4: 213 (46 IRL + 167 Online)

Top 8: 269 (63 IRL + 206 Online)

Saw play in:

Pretty much every deck other than Lost Box Kyogre, Roaring Moon ex and any Turbo style deck

We were bound to have one of these cards right. A hand disruption supporter card! Two of the most effective types of these cards in the past were N and Marnie. N shuffle cards into the deck and you draw cards equal to the prizes you have. Marine shuffled your hand into the bottom of the deck. You draw 5, your opponent draw 4. So what if we take the best part of Marine (shuffle hand onto the bottom) and the best part of N (draw = number of prizes) and we get Iono.

I don't really have to say much for Iono honestly, she had made an instant impact on the meta. Pretty much every deck plays Iono, be it a 4-off or a 1-off. The only decks not using Iono are the true Turbo decks. Iono has already won many people many games, be it the person using it or the person receiving it! Trust me, I should know, Iono cost me $200 when I Iono-ed them to 1 on back to back turns only to have them get their exact answer twice! Like N and Marnie before, Iono will continue to be a big presence in the game, and often times decide games by herself. Your eyeballs are mine, caught in my Electroweb. Whosawhatsit? Iono!

#1 - Nest Ball - Scarlet & Violet (SVI)

Total Points (IRL): 594 (1st)

Average Points (IRL): 12.34 (1st)

Total Points (Online): 1262 (1st)

Average Points (Online): 13.45 (1st)

Wins: 119 (42 IRL + 77 Online)

Top 4: 350 (106 IRL + 244 Online)

Top 8: 444 (138 IRL + 306 Online)

Saw play in:

Literally every deck except Gardevoir ex

On any other year, Iono would have easily been the best card released in the year. Unfortunately for her, one card escaped her gaze. Electro-web? Net? Nest? Get it? Well, Nest Ball is back! First released in 2017 in the Sun and Moon base set (also the reason why I have WAY too many Nest Balls on me), it makes it's grand return 6 years later in the Scarlet and Violet base set.

Nest Ball sees play in basically every deck except for Gardevoir ex. Search your deck and put a Basic into play. Very simply, very effective. All decks play it for a reason. There's honestly not much more to say. When a card sees play in almost every deck, you know it's good and that's why Nest Ball is the best card released in 2023! Thanks for reading!

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Thursday, August 22, 2024

2023-24: Growth of Pokémon TCG - Singapore and around the World

Monday, January 1, 2024

Kash Top 23 List: Best Decks of 2023

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Kash Top 23 List: Best Pokemon cards released in 2023 (stats based)