Singapore 2025-2026 Season Recap + MBL 2026 Recap - Got my 2nd Worlds Invite!

So I meant to do a re-cap of Season 3 and the Master Ball League separately but I've just been so busy with other stuff, I never had time to do it so why not combine the two into one big post together? So here's my re-cap of not just season 3 but the entire 2025-26 season, including a short re-cap on how Seasons 1 and 2 also went and of course the main event, the Master Ball League where I didn't do as well as I hoped but with other results going my way, I've earned my second Pokemon TCG World Championships invite, and it'll be my first Worlds in the USA as well, my first official event in the USA to add to that!

SEASON 1

I called my shot 2 years ago

As I've been saying for the past year or so, the plan was also to push for my Worlds invite in 2026, not 2025 because I didn't really care to go to Anaheim, or Hawai'i before that. I really wanted to go to San Francisco instead. And the last time I said that, I did make it in for Yokohama in 2023!

For the first season in the 2025-26 season, we had just 24 Great Ball Leagues to go along with the 4 Ultra Ball Leagues, which is an upgrade from last season as it used to be just 3 Ultra Ball events. The trade off? There are less points on offer to score in these Ultra Ball Leagues.

So now with the new points payout, I started working out on how to get my Worlds invite, and what is the likely points threshold to get there. The early signs from my calculations were about 210 LP, which would mean that if I could win 7 Great Ball League (7 x 30 LP = 210 LP), I might be quite safe to get my Worlds invite so that was my plan for the season, go for 7 wins! Which is quite a tall task for someone like me as I had only gotten 1 Great Ball League win all of last season. But then again, I wasn't really pushing for the invite last season, much different story this time.

I actually didn't get to play much for season 1 as you might notice the big gap between GBL 7 and GBL 20, I went to Japan for 2 weeks for holiday and before that, I only managed to get into 2 GBLs so I had to pretty much write off this first season and hope I can do well in the UBLs.

I did manage to get my first GBL win in the last day of the GBL period at Brick's Play with Dragapult ex/Dusknoir, it was a meta call choice that worked perfectly for me as I played against two Zards in Rounds 4 and 5! I played four different decks for UBL, trying to find which deck would be the perfect choice for the Premier Ball League. Ended up going with my comfort choice of Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex, and I did make Day 2 before losing straight away in Top 128 Cut, I did write about it here.

SEASON 2

On to Season 2 and I also did write about the entire season here. Long story short, I had a Dawn Zard deck ready for PBL, never played it, waited for the new season to play it, learnt from Oscar Madsen who helped me a lot with the deck and got 3 GBL wins in one week with it that re-started my hopes to make it to Worlds! And I got my best UBL result with it, 7-1 to finish 10th, still no Top 8 though.

And yes, except for one event where I was already tired, I pretty much played only Dawn Zard for Season 2.

SEASON 3

And now onto this latest season, and while Season 2 put me into the picture for the Worlds invite, Season 3 pretty much got me that Worlds invite, and once again, it was really only because of my results in the Great Ball Leagues.

I started off playing Dawn Zard but with how the meta was shaping up, it wasn't the best choice anymore so I went back to the traditional Zard Pidgeot and got T4 at Rowell. I did then end up playing some meta call decks, Gholdengo for a T4 finish at Brints and Raging Bolt with Joltik to almost a T4 finish. 

Then came the crazy day on March 8th. I got declined for all 3 events, and at this point, I had been declined for pretty much every event in March and I need to play in these events to get my last 3 GBL wins. So I got declined at KouritenSG at Chinatown, took the 30 minute train ride to Tai Seng to go to Deckard, got declined there as well and then I had to make this crazy bus ride all the way to Chua Chu Kang, all the way in the West! And I only had 1 hour to make it before registration for walk-ins were closed. I had to rush and ran after two busses to get there, dashing across traffic twice, and made it to ManaPro with 5 minutes to spare! And sure enough, I somehow won that event, with Charizard Pidgeot too, the one with 3 Battle Cages in it!

But the pivotal moment that I think got me my Worlds invite was the final weekend of the GBL events, on March 27th, 28th and 29th. I managed to walk in for Inferno Gaming, taking the risk of going to a smaller event over the bigger event where I might not even get to walk in for hopefully an easier chance to win the event. I did get in and got 2nd with Pult Dusk, losing to Crustle because of some awful prizes but +15 is still something good for me! 

For March 28th, once again I went to the smaller event to give myself the best shot of winning, but only because that's the one I was elected in, still played Pult Dusk and I won that event, getting my 6th GBL win of the season. One more to go and I had two shots at getting that on the last day. And as it was, I did get the last win, on my last event playing my favourite deck of all time, Charizard ex, this time with Dawn, beating an interesting Mega Abosl/Teal Mask Ogerpon deck in Round 5 to get my 7th GBL win, putting me up to 225 points, well past the target of 210 I had set for myself so I was pretty happy to not just reach my target but also hit my goal of 7 GBL wins of the season.

And why did I focus on scoring well at Great Ball Leagues over Ultra Ball Leagues? Lesser rounds for half the points seems much better to me and I seem to have some really torrid luck for these UBLs, I still haven't gotten a Top 8 finish in them.

For the UBLs, the first three I played a Raging Bolt list that wasn't the one people knew about, especially with our 4 Meowths ex in the list that Clifton came up with. I didn't have the best of run but I had been planning to play Bolt for MBL anyways so these games were all a learning experience for me. I played Turbo Ogerpon for the last UBL just to have some fun, didn't expect to get a 6-3 score with it!

MASTER BALL LEAGUE 2026

Why Raging Bolt/Teal Mask Ogerpon?

A good question, why did I go with Bolt. I wasn't really a Bolt player before that, hardly played the deck much to be honest. But I tested a lot for the MBL and everytime, Bolt came up with a good record in these test results which made me think it was the way to go. Yes sure Pult was always the best choice but I wasn't too keen on having my fate decided by mirrors again.

Every time I tested it, it had one of the better scores of any decks I played. And the deck didn't seem to mind whether it was going first or second, both worked well for the deck which was a big plus for me so I had kinda locked not just my Ultra Ball League choices from these test results but also my Master Ball League choice back in April! 

And let's not forget it is best-of-1 format for these UBLs and also Day 1 of Master Ball League, so I had to make sure I had a deck that worked well going first or second. So for anyone who had asked me what the play was and me with my usual answer of "I don't know",  I'm sorry I had to lie a bit but I did know it all along. 

The List

I know what you're thinking....wait this isn't the usual Ian Robb Bolt list. Yes I was testing that too but I just never gelled with it. So I went back to playing Clifton's list instead, as it had lines to help me beat the single prize matchup which I was expecting to see a number of for the MBL.

The one less Mega Kangaskhan ex does mean we start it lesser of the time but it felt fine, as did the 1 Latias ex. Sure prizing it hurts, as it did a few times for me. The Baby Bolt and Koraidon were huge for the deck, giving me outs to deal with single-prize stuff like Alakazam, Festival Lead and Honchkrow. And Baby Bolt is a decent sniper too, especially against Crustle. 

Briar is another card to help with the single prize matchup since we're usually attaching all these energies on Teal Mask Ogerpon anyway! Other than that, it's the usual list. I did play 3 Area Zero Underdephts for Day 1, and switched one out for Jamming Tower for Day 2 as a small meta call which sadly didn't work.

The worst card in the list? If you know me, you know the answer already and it's also why the card is almost hidden in this picture. Unfair Stamp. From testing, I never really got a lot of use out of it, and so many times I kept thinking to myself, would Prime Catcher be better here? Or Hero's Cape? Or Scramble Switch. I did test all 3, and I liked all 3 a lot and if I had the choice, I would have probably gone for Prime Catcher since it works well with Briar and a 3rd gust is great. I accepted defeat, took Unfair Stamp and well it really did nothing for me. The two times I used it in Day 1, it lost me both games.

And now for the fun part of the list, the art choices because I do make an effort for it! 

• Both Lillie's Clefairy ex and Iron Leaves ex were given the Full Art treatment as my alternate attackers, and mainly because I didn't want to get Clefairy and Latias confused again
• Crispin were all in the old reverse-holo art to make it easier to tell them apart, since they're the most important supporter in the deck
• Judge with the new reverse holo, it'll be important in my games, as is Briar, thus the Full Art treatment
• Yellow Border treatment for both Ultra Ball and E-Switch, probably the two most important cards in the deck
• Both Glass Trumpet and Area Zero got the Gym stamp, both interact with Tera on the field
• New XY energies only because I couldn't find my Evolution Grass energies, if not I would have played that instead!

The Run

DAY 1

R1 W vs Max Lim Kwok Yeow

I went: 1st

Deck: Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex

Their final Score: 1-3 Drop

First match of the day and already this fella has pissed me off. Even before we set up for game he says "I'll give you the win, you give me the promo". Sorry but I'm not into that shit, I know I can win. And sure enough I did win because he played really badly. Hey I got my win and I get to keep the promo, sounds like a good deal to me.

Also I don't know how I won from this starting hand!

R2 W vs Ethan Toh Yi Hang

I went: 1st

Deck: Mega Starmie ex/Froslass

Their final Score: 3-3 Drop

We both started Meowth ex but I managed to draw out of it and start swinging into his Mega Starmie for the KO and he didn't have a good response back since I had another Raging Bolt ready to KO his Mega Froslass ex.

R3 W vs Collin Tan Wei Zhi

I went: 1st

Deck: Dragapult ex/Dusknoir

Their final Score: 4-3 (189th)

How do I keep hitting Collin in all these events haha! I knew it was probably a Pult Dusk waiting for me and sadly once again, he had a slow start so I was able to clean up his board from there.

R4 W vs Tristan Tan Yong Cheun

I went: 1st

Deck: N's Zoroark ex

Their final Score: 3-3 Drop

Another game where my awkward starting hand got saved by a really slow start for my opponent so got the dub here.

R5 W vs Gary

I went: 2nd

Deck: N's Zoroark ex

Their final Score: 6-5 (106th)

Sitting at Table 1 for this one so I was abit nervous, especially as this was the win and in for the Day 2 spot, and that was my sole aim for today. I had a normal start for once and got to do my usual gameplan vs Zoroark, so we got the 5-0 start to gurantee my spot into Day 2. Now it's just trying to add as much points as possible for Day 2. That plan didn't go so well...

R6 L vs Saksham Arora

I went: 1st

Deck: Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex

Their final Score: 9-2 (15th)

...because I had a really awkward start here and I had no choice but to put a Khan up front to draw cards. My opponent had 2 energies on board already, managed to get 4 more energies on board from Crispin + Double Teal Mask and got the Iron Leaves ex to get his Khan out of the way (his Latias was prized) to take the 3 prize KO, so I never win from there since I was always on the back foot. I had a chance to come back with Stamp but he drew exactly what he needed to get out of it.

R7 L vs Vincent Quek

I went: 1st

Deck: Okidogi/Barbarcle

Their final Score: 7-4 (76th)

Probably my worst matchup and I still almost got back into the game. I was up 3 prizes but I couldn't close out because my last Boss was prized and he had a Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon on the field for my last two prizes. I had to bank on my Unfair Stamp to help me buy one turn but sure enough, he drew into exactly what he needed to take the win. I thought my Clefairy was safe and then he showed me Power Pro for the KO.

I was happy to make Day 2 but the job still wasn't done and it got tougher for me to make top cut since I will have to start at 5-2. The points standing situation was still looking weird for me, I just needed to make sure, excluding the winner, not more than 4 people would overtake me in the standings. 

I would miss my invite if these were to happen:

- Ricky gets Top 16

- Jasper gets Top 8

- Jeremy gets Top 8

- Anders gets Top 8

- Ryan gets Top 8

- Jon, Kaizer, Shauna, Norman and Evan gets Top 4

After Day 1, a few were eliminated because they didn't make Day 2, aka they are not scoring points (Ricky, Jeremy and Norman). So there was still a small possiblity of me missing cut as 6 people could still overtake me but I had to focus on my own games, 1 round at a time.

DAY 2

R8 LWL vs Syed Farhan

I went: 2nd/2nd/1st

Deck: Dragapult ex/Blaziken ex

Their final Score: 8-3 (42nd)

I had yet another bizzare starting hand in the first round of the day and scooped Game 1 within 2 minutes. My opponent was so confused, "why not play it out?" He was clearly very new to the Bo3 format and I explained to him I had to scoop early to give myself the best chance to get 2 wins from the next 2 games.

Game 2 went perfectly.

Game 3....did not. Another awkward start, I had to get rid of some useful resources just to play the game with Raging Bolt's first attack to discard my hand and draw 6 cards. I took out his Fez thinking his board was weak, and it was. He just so happened to have stamp from no draws in his hand and that stamp lost me the game as I drew into nothing from there. 

R9 WW vs Lim Kim Loong Melvin

I went: 2nd/2nd

Deck: Dragapult ex/Mega Starmie ex

Their final Score: 6-5 (98th)

Both games were actually very close, could have gone either way honestly. His Starmie and Pult made things really awkward for me but managed to get the win both times and both times it came down to like 2-2 prizes or something like that. 

R10 LWW vs Li Guoxiong Jasper

I went: 2nd/1st/2nd

Deck: Team Rocket's Honchkrow

Their final Score: 6-5 (90th)

I saw the pairing and I knew I was in trouble, Honchkrow. One of my worse matchups but I had already practiced this matchup a lot in the lead up to the weekend. I knew my list would give me a decent chance to win if draws were favourable.

Jasper's Macs setup was funny!

Game 1 was the usual game, he just steamrolled me with his set-up. Game 2 he had a much slower set-up and my tech choices came in handy here, both Baby Bolt and Koraidon did their job and I managed to pull off the Briar with Ogerpon for game in Game 2.

Game 3 was much closer, my disruption did buy me some time this time as did attacking with 1 prizers. We did go to time just as he KOed my Koraidon to go down to 2-2 in prizes. Now here's where reading the rules paid off for me, I knew that if we were tied with 2 prizes left at time, the next KO is game, so I called over the judge just to confirm that I just needed to take 1 KO to win and they agreed and I got the KO with Mega Kangaskhan, even though I could have gone for the Briar play again which is what I was lining up for.

R11 LWL vs Hannah Koh Shu En

I went: 2nd/1st/2nd

Deck: Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex

Their final Score: 8-3 (36th)

And we round things off with the Bolt Queen herself. Game 1 I was slow off the block, she took the lead and won from there, I think I scooped with 2 prizes to go. Game 2 was the other way round, I got the first big KO and she scooped. Game 3 was a really weird game, we both were bricking and had to go into Mega Kangaskhan ex even thought we both knew that wasn't ideal in this match. 

She got the first hit in with Passmian and I KOed it. Now I had my prize race sorted, I take either a 2 prizes KO next into a 3 prize KO on her Khan or the other way round. The problem was, she managed to get Stretcher and Fighting to get Passimian back on board and that honestly lost me the game, because I couldn't set up to take a 2 prizer out from that spot because of my rubbish draws.

I played it out as best as I can, and we did hit time but again, I read the rules and this time it wasn't in my favour as she had lesser prizes than me and on her turn so I knew that was game. Didn't even need the judges to tell us what was happening, I kinda explained it.

Ended the day 7-4, not the result I was hoping for, I wanted to get a Top 32 finish to add a few more points to help my cause to get the Worlds invite. But that cause was already helped for me by Round 2. Jasper A lost which meant he couldn't make Top 8 and in the next round, Anders lost which meant now only 3 people can overtake me in the standings which meant I was guaranteed the Worlds invite. 

The funny part was, Anders lost to Anselm, the same guy I had been play testing with for the last 2-3 weeks, and he's the one that punched my ticket to San Francisco. I owe him a nice chicken rice meal at the very least! 

Worlds Invite #2/Season Recap

The Second World Championships Invite is now Guaranteed!

And there we have it. The long nine month grind was over. 

- 33 Great Ball Leagues played

- A further 14 Great Ball Leagues I was declined and failed walk in

- Played in all 12 Ultra Ball Leagues, where I was declined for 8 of them!

- Going to a total of 47 Great Ball League events + 12 Ultra Ball Leagues for the 9 month period

- Spending a total of $810 in event entries (34 x 15 for GBLs and 25 x 12 for UBLs), which is quite painful for me as I'm not making good money at the moment

- All that for a chance to fight for my Worlds invite, and now I've gotten my 2nd World Championships invite, the pain and the grind was worth it!

Now for a bit of a summary of the whole season, these are the decks I played through the 47 events I was in:

And for the decks I scored points with. I scored points with all but one deck, that being Gholdengo ex with Energy Search Pro, everything else scored me some points:

But of course, not all these points are counted for the points standings as we do have a Best Finish Limit of 8, so with the BFL in mind, these are the decks that got me my 225 LP to get me the invite to play at the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco, California, USA!

Yup Charizard carried me this season and it's kinda sad that I don't get to play it for the World Championships. It's also kinda funny, the deck was released during the week of my first World Championships in Yokohama, Japan....and of course I picked up a few to use for playtesting purposes because I knew I was going to play it and it rotated in March. I did at least send it off with a win, and the 7th GBL win of the season too! And if you're wondering, I got 4 GBL wins with Dawn Zard, 2 with Pult Dusknoir and 1 with Zard Pidgeot.

And finally, the final standings of the season!

So these are the 24 players who will be representing Singapore at the 2026 Pokemon World Championships in the Masters, Seniors and Juniors categories from the TCG side of things! We'll do our best to make everyone home in SG proud! Thanks for following along with my crazy season and see you all in San Francisco! 

Kash Top 30 List: My Favourite Decks that I have played so far

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

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

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!

11th - Charizard ex/Dusknoir

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!

10th - Metagross-EX

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!

9th - Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX/Inteleon

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.

8th - Zygarde-GX/Lycanroc-GX

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.

7th - Zoroark-GX/Decidueye-GX

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!

6th - Charizard

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! 

5th - Charizard ex/Noctowl

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. 

4th - Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR

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...

3rd - Reshiram & Charizard-GX

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!

2nd - Centiskroch VMAX

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.

1st - Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex

List: 92nd/647 - 5/3/0 - 2025-26 Singapore Premier Ball League @ Suntec City

Season: 2025-26

Wins: 17 (11 Online + 6 IRL)

And here it is, my favourite deck to play of all time and it just had to be this deck right? I couldn't in good faith put Centiskorch VMAX first for the lone reason that I only got to play it online. I did paly Zard Pidgeot online a lot too, heck I got more online wins with it with 11 but I played it a lot in IRL as well (and 6 wins but sadly no GBL or UBL wins with it so far). For starters I can use a Charmander, my favourite Pokemon! 

But the main part of the deck was Charizard ex, with a good ability that self-charges energy and an attack that can keep doing more damage, sounds familiar? Yup when I read I thought....wait this is a better version of Charizard from Team Up and I played that deck all the time! Infernal Reign lets us attach 3 Fire energy from deck to anyone when Charizard ex is played. Burning Darkness does 180 +30 for each prize your opponent has taken. 5 prize taken from them means it's 330 damage done! Or 380 with Max Belt, that's KOing Mega Venusaur ex!

But what if our opponent chooses not to take prizes? Well have the Dusknoir line to force them to take prizes due to Curse Blast from both Dusclops (5 damage counters) and Dusknoir (13 damage counters). This I felt was the missing piece the deck needed to make it insanely good. And I haven't even mention the engine that runs this deck, Pidgeot ex! Quick Search lets us get any card each turn. ANY CARD. EACH TURN! Which is why most of the time I'm trying to get Pidgeot ex up first before doing anything else. 

And because Charizard ex is a Tera pokemon, that means we can use Briar when they're down to 2 prizes to take an extra prize, and we have ways to make sure they are down to 2 prizes thanks to the Dusk family. I've had the most fun playing this deck and there's a good reason why I've played Charizard ex from the moment it was released till the day it rotates. And right now it's quite un-playable with Dragapult ex being the best deck in the ASC format....and I'm still playing Charizard ex because I still believe I can make it work, even in this sea of Pults. 


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!