It's Pokemon Day (Feb 27 2026 as I'm typing this but it may be released at a later date) and it's the 30th anniversary of the first Pokemon games, Red version and Green version which were released today 30 years ago in Japan (Feb 27 1996). As someone who has been playing the game ever since it first hit our shores overseas in 1999 and also playing the TCG since Base Set in 1999, you know it's always a fun time when Pokemon Day rolls around!
So I wanted to a do a short special Top 30 list of my favourite decks I've played so far. Not my best decks, not my most successful, but just the ones I've really liked playing. And well my most successful ones are the ones I liked the most I guess!
30th - Arceus VSTAR/Charizard VMAX
List: 1st/57 - 8/2/0 - Online - LIGA INTER #1 - SEASON 2
Season: 2021-2022
Wins: 3 (Online)
I've only actually played this deck 4 times, 3 times online and once IRL with a bunch of proxies because I never did own Charizard V, Charizard VMAX or Charizard VSTAR but I still wanted to give it a try. But this deck, although it's probably not good, it was fun to play!
I got to combine playing my new favourite card in Arceus VSTAR with one of my favourite mons! And it's kinda funny that I only played this deck 3 times online....and won all 3 events!
29th - Zapdos/Jolteon GX
List: 1st/8 - 3/0/0 - Project EXT Locals
Season: 2018-2019
Wins: 2 (IRL)
This deck was cool to play. I wished I had tried out Zap Beast more though, that deck looked really cool but for some reason I never played it much. But the whole combo of Jirachi finding your stuff, and then going into Zapdos to hit for big numbers was neat. You had loads of ways to switch Zapdos out to attack, 4 Guzma, 4 other item switch outs and even Acerola!
Jolteon was nice attacker at times too and of course we can't forget the Tapu Koko package with the stadium, the Prism energy attacher and also Tapu Koko-GX for some big damage at the end of games! Cool deck.
28th - Miraidon ex
List: 1st/157 - 9/1/1 - Online - TOURNAMENT OF DOOM! WORLDS WORLDS WORLDS
Season: 2023-24
Wins: 4 (3 Online, 1 IRL)
When this deck works, it was actually a lot of fun to play. And this was the famous winning list where I was paying attention to what was happening at Worlds 2024 and also playing in Doom at the same time so I wasn't really paying much attention to my games....and still somehow won the whole event!
Generator makes the deck click and since you've got Iron Hands ex in this one, you can get an Amp You Very Much off turn 1! This deck also has one of my favourite VSTAR move of all time....from the Forest Seal Stone tool card! I didn't play Miraidon much but it was fun to mess around with it a few times.
27th - Lost Zone Box/Radiant Greninja
List: 1st/106 - 8/1/1 - Online - Pokémon Battle Park
Season: 2023-24
Wins: 4 (3 Online, 1 IRL)
I didn't always enjoying playing Lost Box but this version was at least bearable enough for me to try and actually have some fun with it. The deck had some many ways to take big KOs right off the bat, and even two prizes KOs from either Radiant Greninja, Dragonite V or if you're really lucky and you hit the nuts, a Turn 1 Sableye!
And you had so many ways to get cards into the lost zone, be it from Comfey's ability, Colress and Lost Vacuum. Loads of different attackers too which for me is always fun because it gives you options to win in many different ways as possible and no two games are always the same! The deck can be frustrating to play too, sometimes you get two really important stuff from your Flower Selecting choices and you regret why you ever chose to play the deck.
26th - Pikachu & Zekrom-GX
List: 1st/17 - 5/0/0 - Online - PokeX Tag Bolt #5
Season: 2019-2020
Wins: 3 (2 Online, 1 IRL)
It's probably many others favourite Tag Team deck, it never was mine. It is a fun deck, and a very a good deck too! PikaRom was just such a good attacker that it can set up many different attackers, or set itself up for Tag Bolt GX, and that attack was scary if you got it off! 200 to the active and 170 to the bench if you got the 3 extra Lighting attach, and there's usually always a Dedenne-GX on your opponent's bench, this was the era where almost everyone did play it!
And there are some cool cards in this deck too. Of course it has Jirachi was my favourite card during that time for the consistency boost but also you had Reset Stamp. I still call Unfair Stamp as Reset Stamp by accident a few times, and there's a good reason for it! Your opponent drew cards equal to how many prizes they had and you had so many ways to get it, either from Jirachi or Volkner. This deck was one of the best Reset Stamp users during this time.
25th - Dragapult ex/Charizard ex
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List: 26th/524 - 6/3/0 - 2024-25 Singapore Master Ball League @ Suntec City
Season: 2024-25
Wins: 1 (IRL)
I've always liked playing Charizard ex, Dragapult ex has always been strong no-matter who it was paired with and together, the deck always seemed good! Sure it's probably better as their own decks but I enjoyed playing it whenever I had the chance. I build this list when I was watching NAIC during my cousin's wedding in California and at that moment, I decided this was going to be my MBL list.
And I made top cut with it! Sure I lost right away in top cut but hey the deck worked with the little amount of practice I had, it was one of my best results last season too! And this deck did play Unfair Stamp, which is even better than Reset Stamp. Both shuffle, you draw 5, your opponent draw 2 so if they took an early KO, you could easily punish them and destroy their board in no time. I'm still enjoying playing this deck right now even though it's not as good as it should be I feel!
24th - Dragapult ex/Dusknoir
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List: 67th/563 - 5/2/0 - 2025 Melbourne Regional @ Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Season: 2024-25
Wins: 1 (Online)
I've gone from one Dragapult deck to another, and the one most people enjoy playing, and some might say their favourite deck. Or heck I could even say Singapore's favourite deck, everyone plays it here! It's just a really powerful deck that is prone to dead drawing, I should know. But when it works, it can actually be quite fun to play.
And I found this out when I chose to play it for the 2025 Melbourne Regionals. I didn't know what to play for the event and thought this deck might just be the one for me. I didn't know how to play it perfectly but I did enjoy learning how to play the deck on the fly and made Day 2 at the event! I will probably end up playing this more in the future since it will still be legal. Maybe it'll go up my list the next time I do it? Or not even on the list.
23rd - Dragapult VMAX
List: 2nd/154 - 8/4/0 - Online - Sunday Open
Season: 2019-2020
Wins: 3 (Online)
And we end this trio of Dragapult entries with the OG Dragapult! I always liked this one a bit better. It had a one energy Shred attack and the same attack as Dragapult ex, Max Phantom did 130 to active and 5 damage counters to your opponent's bench in any way you like. Sure now it's 200 and 6 but at that time, 130 + 5 was really good!
And this deck had so many ways to put damage counters on your opponent's board, the main one being Horror Energy. If your opponent's active hit it, 2 damage counters go back to them. Spell Tag puts 4 damage counters after the mon that has it gets KOed. Zigzagoon put one damage counters to anyone when played. And of course, the best part of the deck is using Shrine of Punishment to destroy these GX and EX mons. This deck was really fun to play, and a true spread deck! Oh and it's another deck that plays Jirachi too, plus points for me.
22nd - Lost Zone Box/Radiant Charizard
List: 1st/6 - 3/0/0 - Brick's Play Locals
Season: 2023-2024
Wins: 3 (2 Online, 1 IRL)
I know this wasn't the most favoured version of playing the Lost Box deck but personally, this was my favourite! I always felt this version of the deck was just more consistent and you can attack with Radiant Charizard really quickly too. Oh but what if it's prized? No worries, we have Hisuian Heavy Ball! (And if they are both prized, well that's just unlucky).
This deck also had TM Devo which was cool as you can set up numbers from hitting 110 with Cramorant or spreading damage around with Sableye and then go for a board wipe! And yes there is a Crisis Punch for some cheeky last turn KOs. But most of the time these are easy fodders for the Lost Zone with the double (sometimes triple) Lost Vacuum! I honestly wished I had played this deck more.
21st - Gouging Fire ex
List: 1st/32 - 5/0/0 - 2024-25 Singapore Great Ball League S2 #12 @ Concept City
Season: 2024-25
Wins: 3 (2 Online, 1 IRL)
This was never the best deck, but I had so much fun playing it and I managed to win a 170-person Doom online event with this AND got my first GBL win last season with it too! This was one of the funnier aggro decks I played, using both the usual Entei and the old Entei aka Gouging Fire!
Gouging Fire could hit for 260 for just 3 energies attached and we had easy ways to get these energies, be it Magma Basin or Sada or even Energy Switch! And of course we had Radiant Greninja to help not just get these energies into the discard pile but also help draw cards from it. Not the best deck to utilize Munkidori but it sure came up a number of times.
20th - Gholdengo ex/Energy Search Pro
List: 32nd/220 - 5/2/0 - 2024-25 Singapore Ultra Ball League S2 #1 @ Kreta Ayer Community Club
Season: 2024-25
Wins: 6 (3 Online + 3 IRL)
Ok I know I know, the Lunatone version is better. But come on now, how many decks can say they used every basic energy available in the format? Not many can and this Gholdengo ex deck not only did, but it was quite good too! I always liked playing this version more and Energy Search Pro is an amazing card, getting potentially 8 cards out of the deck was always quite valuable and helps to get some big KOs.
And with all these energies the options are endless. 2 Water energy meant we could do a snipe attack with Radiant Greninja, Dark on Munkidori to use Adrena-Brain and a few other lists later on played an extra Lighting energy for the new Levincia card in place of the rotated Greninja. Before this season, this got me my best UBL score!
19th - Terapagos ex/Dusknoir
List: 1st/63 - 8/1/1 - Online - Silver Squad Standard “Lille Regionals 2025”
Season: 2024-25
Wins: 2 (Online)
This deck was really cool. It works in a similar way to how Dawn Zard works, just a super aggro deck that uses Noctowl to piece up some combo plays. There's also Pidgeot to help us get any card we want each turn and with Double Turbo Energy, Terapagos only needs one energy attachment to start attacking.
And of course, we have Dusknoir in this deck and yes sometimes this deck could just board wipe some boards out of nowhere. Even big attackers are not always safe from the combo of Dusknoir and Terapagos. And of course we got the biggest combo card of them all, Briar! The more I talk about this deck, it's like I'm talking about Dawn Zard, aren't I?
18th - Arceus VSTAR/Inteleon
List: 1st/25 - 4/0/0 - Goodness Gracious Gaming Locals - Southern Island Qualifiers
Season: 2021-22
Wins: 4 (2 Online + 2 IRL)
This version of Arceus was super consistent and I really liked it. Your only target to power up other attackers from Arceus is other Arceus but hey that's all you need sometimes! And if Arceus isn't the preferred attacker, well we got the Inteleon line which pretty much makes this whole deck work so smoothly.
We've got the Drizzle for Shady Dealings to get one Trainer card which is such a good ability, and sometimes more than enough to set up Arceus for the turn to use Starbirth to find any 2 cards. And Inteleon does the same, but for 2 Trainer cards.
And we can re-use it all over again thanks to Scoop Up Net. Let's not forget about the other Inteleon with the Quick Shooting ability that just puts 2 damage counters on any of your opponents. Sounds familiar doesn't it? That is usually enough to help Arceus VSTAR take down any other V mons.
17th - Suicune V/Ludicolo
List: 1st/71 - 6/1/0 - Online - ATLAS - Turtwig Den Series Challenge 6
Season: 2021-22
Wins: 1 (Online)
We go from one Inteleon deck to another. This one is also a combo deck but with Suicune V now attacking almost everything. It hits for + 20 for as however many mons are in play which can go up to 220. Still missing some damage? No problem, we got Ludicolo that when played, lets our basic mons hit for an extra 100 damage that turn which is nuts.
And how this deck work so well? Yup it's because of the Inteleon line. The double Quick shooting helps Suicune to reach the numbers it needs or just set up plays for double KOs a turn. Melony is one of my favourite supporters, it's a bit like Welder, you attach a Water from discard to a V mon and draw 3 cards.
And you're always drawing an extra card from Suicune's ability too. And let's not forget, Suicune can become an annoying threat to opponents to deal with because of Cape of Toughness giving it an extra 50 HP. I really liked this deck, I wished I had more success with it though.
16th - Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX/Inteleon
List: 1st/37 - 7/1/1 - Online - Southeast Asia Open #26
Season: 2021-22
Wins: 4 (Online)
And yes we round up this trio of Inteleon decks with probably my 2nd favourite version of Inteleon to play, with Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX! It hits for 150 if it moves from bench to active which isn't very hard to do as we have the stadium that gives our Rapid mons -2 retreat cost and Escape Rope.
But the real selling point is the second attack, G-Max Rapid Flow to hit 120 to two Pokemon at the cost of discarding all your energies. It does have an awkward energy cost but Rapid Strike Energy solves it and thanks to Melony and Octillery, you can get the attack up and ready in no time!
And sometimes we can set up some numbers to be just perfect for the dreaded Yoga Loop from Medicham V, which puts 2 damage counters on anyone and if that mon is KOed, we get an extra turn which is really broken, think of Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR and how good their V-STAR attack was. The deck had so many ways to set up numbers, either from Urshifu's attack or from Inteleon's Quick Shooting ability.
15th - Ultra Necrozma-GX/Malamar
List: 6th/24 - 3/2/1 - Project EXT League Cup
Season: 2019-2020
Wins: 2 (IRL)
I know many people liked the pure Malamar version more but I always had a soft spot for the Ultra Necrozma-GX version, and it got me better results too anyway! Malamar's Psychic Recharge meant you could attach a Psychic Energy to one of your bench and if you had 2 Malamars, you'd get 2 charges!
It's often paired with Giratina to have a scary 1 prize attacker and the scary part is it's ability, if it's in discard, you can put it on the bench and put 1 damage counter on two of the opponent's bench Pokemon. And with Ultra Necrozma's Sky Scorching Light GX attack, you can wipe out any 60 HP and with Giratina's help, 70 HP mons off the board, the catch is you can only use it if both players were still at 6 prizes.
And there's plenty of one-off attackers for the eck to use, like a typical Malamar deck and it's been paired with so many different things, not just the ones in this picture. Stuff like Necrozma-GX, Tapu Koko, Lunala Prism Star to name a few. I always liked using Ultra Necrozma-GX because it hit for 80+ for all Psychic energy you had to discard, which can sometimes be up to 4 if we had 4 Malamar on board, and that's reach some big numbers, let alone 3, hitting 260!
14th - Tapu Bulu-GX/Vikavolt
List: 1st/7 - 3/0/0 - Project EXT Locals
Season: 2017-18
Wins: 3 (IRL)
Ah good ol' Vikabulu. Not the best deck I've played but it sure was one of my favourites. The game plan was simple, set up Vikavolt to use Strong Charge to attach a Grass and Lighting energy to anyone on board, usually Tapu Bulu-GX and it hits for some big numbers. And we're maxing out as many consistency cards in this deck to make sure we get enough to set up these Vikavolts, sometimes even 2. Later builds had Lillie to get up to 8 cards in hand going first!
Tapu Bulu-GX had a really good attack. If we discarded all energy attached to it, it would hit for 180. And that would become 210 with Choice Band, which is enough to KO guess who? Yup the format defining pokemon that was Zoroark-GX! There's also Tapu Koko-GX to get some big KOs especially with the GX move. There were a few one off attackers as well but it works because of Vikavolt! I had so much fun playing this, not much success but hey it's all good!
13th - Zoroark-GX/Lucario-GX
List: 1st/13 - 3/0/0 - Project EXT Locals
Season: 2017-18
Wins: 2 (IRL)
Now this is a deck I really wished I had played more of. Of the 3 times I played it for locals, I went 3-0 twice and 2-1 in the other event, it was that good especially since I wasn't really a good player at this time. We've got Zoroark-GX to just keep drawing us cards with trade, aka N's Zoroark ex for you current players. But Zoroark-GX was just better, it's attack hits for 20 for each pokemon on your side, so 120 for just one attachment.
That meant it was splashable with just about any attacker. One of my favourite pairing for Zoroark-GX was Lucario-GX. It would hit for 120 for just one attachment if it evolved that turn. 120 becomes 150 from Strong Energy and then 170 from Diancie Prism Star. If that's not enough, Professor Kuki draws us 2 cards and we do 20 more damage, so now we're up to 190. And if we're up against an EX or GX mon, we've got Choice Band to hit for 220. All from just one energy attachment!
Lucario-GX also had a great GX attack, hitting for 30x each damage counter on it. And there's plenty of ways to keep Lucario-GX attack for big damage, mainly from Acerola. And hey, this deck did play 4 Puzzle of Time which meant we can re-cycle an Acerola or another Strong Energy or another attacker back into the deck. Also this deck has one of my favourite cards of all time, Evosoda! You can evolved one of your Pokémon by searching for the evolution from deck! Can we please have this be reprinted sometime soon? This deck was really cool, I wished I played it more.
12th - Volcanion-EX
List: 1st/13 - 3/0/0 - Project EXT Locals
Season: 2017-18
Wins: 1 (IRL)
Speaking of decks I wished I had played more, good ol' Volcanion-EX. I didn't play it as much as I really should have, because it was so good! Both Volcanion just made the deck work. Volcanion's Power Heater did 20 while attaching two a Fire energy to two of your benched Pokemon. And how do we get those Fire energy in discard? Say it with me now, Steam up!
Volcanion-EX's ability was just too good. Steam Up lets us discard a Fire energy and our basic Fire pokemon does 30 more damage that turn. With two Steam Ups, Volcanion could hit for 80 while attaching those Fire energy we just discarded. And there was plenty of ways to use those Fire energies, be it Prof Letter (modern day Earthern Vessel), Energy Retrieval or just drawing from it from our supporters or supporting mon, even Starmie had an ability that was similiar to Energy Retrieval.
And Volcanion-EX isn't a bad attacker itself. 130 and you can't attack next turn which is no problem, since there are 4 Float Stones and 4 Guzma to constantly move around our attackers. And if we're not moving, we can hit for big numbers. Choice Band lets us hit 30 to EX and GX, and plus two Steam Ups, we're doing 220, and a 3rd for 250 which is knocking out most GX pokemon at that time! One of my favourite decks and it's not even in the top 10!
List: 1st/14 - 3/0/0 - Inferno Gaming Locals
Season: 2024-25
Wins: 4 (2 Online + 2 IRL)
I always loved the pairing of Charizard ex and Dusknoir. Charizard does more damage for each prize card your opponent takes and how can we acheieve that if they're not taking prizes? From Dusclops' and Dusknoir's Curse Blast ability. Then your opponent has to take a prize because we knocked our own pokemon out while spreading some damage too, sometimes good enough for Charizard ex to take a big KO out of nowhere.
Sure it's mostly seen with the Pidgeot ex build but I did play around with just Charizard and Dusknoir for the longest time and honestly, it was some of the most fun times I've had playing Pokemon, just trying to reach for big combos and big KOs. We'd usually sit for a turn to get TM Evo up to get a Charmeleon or Dusclops ready and the turn after that, you could be taking 3 prizes just like that! One of my favourite fun decks of all time for sure and hey I got a couple of wins out of it too!
List: 1st/17 - 3/0/0 - Qishan Locals
Season: 2016-17
Wins: 2 (IRL)
Ah Metagross-GX. Good memories from this one. This was the deck that made me go....wait maybe I can be good at this game after all! Took me about a year or so to win my first locals and it was with Metagross-GX. Geotech System was just such a good ability, letting you attach a Metal AND Psychic energy from discard to your Active Pokemon. And this is where the fun begins.
Oh I have to give a special shoutout to Alolan Vulpix, it had the attack Beacon for no energy cost, searching out 2 Pokemon! It was the best way to set up a Metagross while just sitting on Vulpix to seach out more stuff. Then we attack with Metagross-GX with Giga Hammer for 150 (180 with Choice Band) and can't attack next turn. No worries, we just retreat and go into the next Metagross-GX, fully charge it up from two use of Geotech System.
And we often play a lot of Max Potion to heal up the damage Metagross we just retreaed and Max Potion would heal off all damage from a Pokemon at the cost of discarding all energy, see the combo we're doing here? Attack, retreat, heal, attack, rinse and repeat! And I haven't even mention it's broken Algorithm-GX attack, searching up for 5 cards and put into hand. Sure you are at the mercy of N but if your opponent doesn't disrupt your hand, you can build off some insane combos right after!
List: 1st/105 - 10/1/1 - Online - Master Ball #13 Series #2
Season: 2021-22
Wins: 4 (Online)
When it comes to Inteleon decks, I think Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX will always be my favourite way to play the deck. Sometimes paired with Suicune V but it’s all about Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX’s attack Max Lance, hitting 10 +120 for one Water discarded or +240 for two.
These numbers can go up thanks to Inteleon’s Quick Shooting and of course we got the Shady Dealing package in here to make the whole deck work. And you didn’t always need to use Max Lance, the first attack is already good, 10 +30 for each of your opponents benched mons.
I did forget to mention why that line works and it’s because of Sobble letting you search for other Rapid Strike mons and put them on the bench, making it easier to use Drizzle later on. And it was quite easy to set it up with 4 Level Ball and 4 Evo Incense. Max consistency, that’s why I really liked this deck.
List: 1st/15 - 3/0/0 - Project EXT Locals
Season: 2017-18
Wins: 3 (IRL)
Good ol' Zygarde. When I first read the card I thought....wait this could be good. And sure enough it was good. My friend Rauf built a list and I was the first victim of Zygarde-GX and I saw right away how good it truly was. So I, along with a few others, jumped on the Zygarde-GX train, one of them being Klive who went on a superb run of results that year, along with a Top 4 finish at Worlds!
Cell Connector does 50 and attaches 2 Fighting Energy to Zygarde-GX, meaning it can swing for 130 with Land's Wrath by Turn 2, or Verdict GX for 150 and Zygarde-GX can't be hit by damage the next turn! And how do we get those energies on board? We've got Ultra Ball and Scorched Earth to discard energies!
And because this is a fighting deck, the damage can go up even more! Strong Energy gives us +20, so does Diancie Prism Star, meaning with one Double Colourless Energy attachment, Zygarde-GX can already KO most basic mons with 70HP. And if it's not in active, Lycanroc-GX can gust around and we've also got Guzma. I really liked this deck.
List: 4th/32 - 5/2/0 - Singapore Pro Circuit - 2018 Autumn Invitational
Season: 2018-19
Wins: 2 (1 Online + 1 IRL)
Easily my favourite way to play Zoroark-GX! I wished I had spent more time playing it, this was the deck that really made me see the game in a whole new level and I learnt so much even from my short time playing it. After seeing my friend Clifton get Top 4 at LAIC with this deck, I had to try it out. I had always liked Decidueye-GX with it's ability to just hit 20 damage anywhere and Zoroark-GX to draw but something always felt missing for this deck.
Then can Alolan Ninetales-GX, it's ability got us 2 Item cards, most of the time one of them would be Rare Candy. But it's not just a good support mon, it's also a good attacker. Snowy Wind hit for 70 to active and 30 to bench, and we have Decidueye-GX to ramp up those numbers. And this was a deck that did like to play from behind, with stuff like Counter Catcher and Counter Gain!
And I'm sure you're looking at this picture, seeing that Magcargo and wondering...where the heck is Slugma? Well with Ditto Prism Star, we don't need it. Ditto Prism Star can evolve into anything, so most of the time it'll be Magcargo to fix our top deck but if we don't need Magcargo, it can just be an extra out to get Zoroark-GX or Alolan Ninetales-GX. Anytime there's a retro event in this format, this has always been my go to deck and I even won a retro online event with this deck!
List: 3rd/22 - 3/1/1 - League Challenge at 2019/20 Singapore SPE
Season: 2019-2020
Wins: 5 (IRL)
Yup, this is my favourite single-prize attacker of all time and nothing will ever change that. When I first read Charizard from Team Up I thought to myself....this cannot be real? I've finally see a playable Charizard card! Roaring Resolve attaches 2 Fire energy from deck to Charizard, while putting 2 damage counters to yourself to activate the ability. But that's not all.
The attack is stupidly good too. We have to discard all Fire energies attached and it does 30 +50 for each Fire energy discarded. And the ability already gets us 2, and with a manual attachment, we're swinging for 180! And if you play Welder to attach 2 fire energy from discard to Charizard, that number goes up to 280, KOing even the scary monster that is Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX (it's not on my list for a good reason).
But this deck had some cool ways to play too. We had either Salazzle or Zebstrika to discard something from hand to draw cards, helping our Welder to be useful. If not that, we had Ninetales from Team Up with the awesome Nine Temptations ability, discard 2 Fire energy to gust anything up to the active. This will always be my favourite one-prizer deck, I had so much fun playing it, and I won 5 locals with it too and got Top 4 at a League Challenge that featured players from all around Asia too!
List: 1st/32 - 3 different GBLs from 2025-26 season (S2 GBL4, GBL5 and GBL 8)
Season: 2025-26
Wins: 9 (4 Online + 5 IRL)
And here's my current favourite deck to play right now, it's Dawn Zard! When I first read Dawn, the lightbulb went off. I can get a Basic, Stage 1 and Stage 2? Charizard ex is my Stage 2, probably Charmander or Duskull or Fezandipiti ex is my Basic but who fills the roll for Stage 1? That's when Noctowl came in.
This is where Dawn truly shines. After setting up with Fan Rotom, we can get Terapagos ex, Noctowl and either Pidgeot ex or Charizard ex to have our board set up perfectly in just Turn 2! The 3 Noctowl line was the perfect number for this deck to set up early game and also right at the end, especially for the Briar turn in combination with Dusknoir or Prime Catcher.
And sometimes we don't even need to attack with Charizard ex, Terapagos ex itself is a good attacker, especially since the deck played Area Zero Underdepths. And it's got the Dusknoir pieces to pull off some whacky combo and also Klefki, that little thing has helped me more times than I can remember. 4 online wins and 5 IRL, with 3 of them actually being GBL wins in the same week too, this deck will always have a special place with me from now onwards.
List: 1st/189 - 9/2/0 - 2022-23 Singapore Regional League Vol. 2 @ NTU Alumni Club
Season: 2022-23
Wins: 12 (8 Online + 4 IRL)
What more do I need to say about ArcTina? This is the deck that got me my first major win and set me up to get my first Worlds invite, and of course, I had to play it at my first Worlds Championship. Was it a good deck? Not really, it had never won a major event before the Singapore Regional, and funnily enough, after I won, my friend Landen Kaetler won in Portland with it too on the same day!
Arceus VSTAR has always been one of my favourite cards, Starbirth gets us any two cards and Trinity Nova hits for 200 while attaching 3 energies onto any of our V pokemon, be it another Arceus VSTAR or Giratina VSTAR which is usually the closer because Lost Impact does 280 while sending two energies into the Lost Zone (1 if you choose Double Turbo Energy).
So how does this deck actually win? Well, we have 3 Path to the Peak to shut off other V Pokemon's ability and 4 Judge to constantly disrupt their hand. But it shuffles my hand too right? That is where our good buddy Bibarel comes in, drawing us cards until we have 5 in hand. But it gets better, if our cards were bad, we can just use Skwovet, shuffling our hand into the bottom of our deck and drawing one card, and combo-ing it with Bibarel, we can pretty much draw what we need if we played everything in the right order, especially with a Boss play. That's why I chose to play this deck for Worlds, mostly for comfort but I knew I could make it work. I was one win short...
List: 1st/19 - 4/1/0 - League Challenge @ Pokebar
Season: 2019-2020
Wins: 8 (IRL)
ReshiZard! Some of you might be surprised not to see it at #1 but there's good reasons for it. I mean for the longest time it was my favourite deck of all time but then two other decks showed up. I picked up this deck in time for the Singapore SPE, not really expecting much from the event and got my first ever top cut in a Major event with it!
And then came this turbo version of ReshiZard that was popularized by Tord Reklev at the 2019 World Championships, when I saw it, I jumped on it. Reshiram & Charizard-GX had 3 really good attacks! Outrage would hit 30+ whatever damage counters you had on ReshiZard. Flare Strike would hit for 230 and you couldn't attack the next turn which wasn't a big issue as we had Switch and Super Scoop Up. And then the big one, Double Blaze GX, 200 normally but with 3 additional Fire energy, it would do 300 damage instead and ignore all effects on the other side.
And now you're wondering, why are we playing 18 Fire energies here. Well this is a turbo deck and it's finest. Ninetales with the broken Nine Tempations discards two Fire energies to gust. Heatran-GX can jump into the active when played and hit for 130, or with Hot Burn GX, 50x each Fire energy on it, and that number can go way up especially in the late game. We also had two really good stadiums. Giant Hearth gets us 2 Fire energy from deck at the cost of discarding one card, sometimes another Fire energy. Heat Factory Prism Star is similar to the previously mentioned Scorched Earth stadium, but now we can only discard Fire to use it, but we draw 3 cards!
And then we have the MVP of this deck, Victini Prism Star. Infinity, appropriately named btw, hit for 20x each Fire energy in our discard, which can sometimes go up to 15, aka hitting for 300 from a single prizer! And then you shuffle the energy back into the deck but sometimes you just need it for the end game. And I really enjoyed playing this deck, it got me my first and only League Challenge win, my first Singapore Invitational win, 6 other local wins, a Top 8 at the Singapore SPE with an older build, my only ever Top 4 finish at a League Cup event and a whole bunch of CP earnt with it, at least 200!
List: 1st/209 - 10-2-0 - Online - Hegster Season 3 - #16
Season: 2020-21
Wins: 10 (Online)
Ah yes my ol' pal Centiskorch VMAX, the deck that made me well known during the pandemic. This was a card when I read it, I thought....hang on this could actually be good right? G-Max Centiferno hits for 40 +40 for each Fire energy on Centiskroch VMAX. So with the two needed to attack, we're already doing 120 base damage. But it gets better, if we did damage, we get to attach a Fire energy onto it, so the damage output goes up!
And it goes up even more considering we play the absolute best Supporter card ever printed, Welder! Attach 2 Fire energy from discard to any pokemon and draw 3 cards! So we can reach up to 280 with 6 energies on Centiskorch VMAX and it's not that hard to do, especially if we started with Volcanion Turn 1 going 2nd and use Flare Starter to attach 3 Fire energies to Centiskorch V!
And this deck had a lot of support. We had the Jirachi to find any Trainer card from the top 6 of our deck, Dedenne-GX to discard and draw 6, Crobat V to draw up to 6 (why is it all 6?), Eldegoss V to get a Supporter card from discard back into hand and it's usually to use Welder again or for Boss, which is why I called it Eldeboss! And let's not forget big bag Heatran-GX, that could do way more damage because of Centiskorch VMAX and Welder piling alot of energies on the field.
Another piece I liked in this deck was Scoop Up Net, it was one way for us to re-use Jirachi, or to use Galarian Zigzagoon to put 1 damage counter on any of your opponent's Pokemon or to re-use Giratina to discard special energies. PokeComm is another card I've really missed in current format, swapping a Pokemon for another Pokemon, what a great effect. I managed to get 10 online tournament wins with this deck which is quite a huge number for me, as I don't often win events in the first place! I really wished I got to play this deck IRL, what could have been.
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List: 92nd/647 - 5/3/0 - 2025-26 Singapore Premier Ball League @ Suntec City
Season: 2025-26
Wins: 17 (11 Online + 6 IRL)
Those are my favourite decks I've played so far for the last 10 years or so, hope I did most of them some justice at the very least. Thanks for reading!
