Pokemon Pocket Tournament Meta Report – December 23

Hello everyone! The Pokemon Pocket community tournaments are thriving, with hundreds of players joining from around the world! Participants bring their favorite decks—or the latest meta choices—for a chance to win it all.

This is our first tournament Meta Report since Mythical Island expansion came out, so it'll be interesting to see how the meta changed up with the new cards/decks.

In this article, I'll break down the two largest tournaments held on December 21-22 (Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #8 and Pocket Legends League #12), analyzing the meta distribution, the top performers, and the underdogs!

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Deck Distribution

Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #8 (1529 Players)

Pocket Legends League #12 (688 Players)

a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir continues to dominate the tournament scene in meta representation, having the highest number of players in both tournaments. Many players are including 1 copy of a1a-32-mew-ex as an alternative damage dealer to close out games.

a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior and a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing are fighting for second place. The two new decks saw a lot of play in this week's tournaments. a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior has a slight edge, especially with the community having high expectations for the Grass-type deck.

a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing is more of the underdog here, being a Single Point deck and a better version than the old a1-165-arbok a1-177-weezing.

a1-96-pikachuex saw a massive drop in popularity this week. We have different versions of a1-96-pikachuex like a1-106-zebstrika, a1-95-raichu, and a1-104-zapdosex that usually rivaled a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir. The a1-106-zebstrika version seems to be the players' favorite a1-96-pikachuex variant this week.

a1a-18-gyarados-ex had a great tournament representation this week. The Pokemon Pocket community has been divided about a1a-18-gyarados-ex, but we a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja being a popular choice among players. There was also a less popular version of a1a-18-gyarados-ex that paired him with a1-76-starmieex.

Top 32

• a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja had an amazing showing in both tournaments. In the Ursiiday's Pocket tournament, a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja completely dominated, with 12 players making it into the top 32! Despite a1a-18-gyarados-ex having overall less popularity than a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir, a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior, and a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing it had the highest number of players in top 32.
• Three different other a1a-18-gyarados-ex lists also made it to the top 32, a1a-56-druddigon, a1-76-starmieex, and a1-7-butterfree.
• We're used to a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir being way ahead of other decks in these tournaments but looks like the Psychic deck has a lot of competition this time around.
• a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika was the strongest version this past week.
• An awful performance from a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior and a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing. Despite being the second and third most-played decks in Ursiiday's Pocket, none of the a1a-3-celebi-ex and a1a-55-scolipede players made it to the top 32!
• In the Pocket Legends League, only 1 a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior made it to the top 32, and none of the a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing managed to go far.
• Less popular choices like a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1-142-primeape and a1a-45-golem a1a-56-druddigon fought their way into the top 32.

Top 4 Decks

Tournament	First Place	Second Place	Third Place	Fourth Place
Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #8	Golem Druddigon	Arcanine ex Moltres ex	Pikachu ex Raichu	Charizard ex Arcanine ex
Pocket Legends League #12	Arcanine ex Moltres ex	Gyarados ex Druddigon	Mewtwo ex Gardevoir	Ninetails Rapidash

• a1a-45-golem a1a-56-druddigon wins first place in the Ursiiday's Pocket tournament, an off-meta deck that no one expected it to perform this well.
• a1-41-arcanineex a1-47-moltresex had a good showing, winning Pocket Legends League and finishing second in the Ursiiday's Pocket. The a1-36-charizardex a1-41-arcanineex version also ended in fourth place in Ursiiday Pocket.
• None of the a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja decks managed to make it into the top 4. However, one a1a-18-gyarados-ex list with a1a-56-druddigon made 2nd place in the Pocket Legends League.
• Only one a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir made top 4 in the Pocket Legends League.

Ursiiday's Pocket First Place

The a1a-45-golem a1a-56-druddigon wins first place in Ursiiday's Pocket tourney. This list is also using a1a-47-marshadow and a1-154-hitmonlee for the extra damage.

This deck has no Ex Pokemon, using a1a-56-druddigon as an early tank to take hits and deal 20 damage with its Rough Skin ability. The plan is to stall out the game as you evolve into your Stage 2 a1a-45-golem. From there, a1a-45-golem should carry the game, going for the Guard Press attacks to deal 120 damage and weaken opponent's upcoming turn, taking 30 less damage when the opponent attacks a1a-45-golem.

Pocket Legends League First Place

The a1-41-arcanineex a1-47-moltresex is still crushing it in tournaments, playing way more aggressively than the Charizard version.

a1-41-arcanineex only needs 3 Energy to start going for the On Rush attacks, and being a Stage 1 Pokemon, you'll likely have him ready to attack more often than Stage 2 a1-36-charizardex. We want to have a1-47-moltresex in the Active spot early in the game to use Inferno Dance and ramp up the Fire Energy.

However, the list added a new Pokemon to its arsenal, using a1a-32-mew-ex as an alternative if your opponent has a Pokemon with a high-damage attack in the Active spot. The list also has a1a-66-budding-expeditioner to put a1a-32-mew-ex in your hand and have a1-41-arcanineex join in its place.

Ursiiday's Pocket Second Place

The a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja is the popular version among players, however, none of them made top 4. Instead, we had a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1a-56-druddigon with 1 copy of a1-83-articuno make 2nd place in a 1500+ player tournament.

a1a-18-gyarados-ex is the main damage dealer, using a1-220-misty to attack on earlier turns by getting more Water Energy attached to a1a-18-gyarados-ex. Rampaging Whirlpool deals 140 damage, so you'll rely on a1-223-giovanni to knock out 150 health Pokemon like a1-129-mewtwoex.

Rampaging Whirlpool can discard an Energy from one random Pokemon, and if it hits the opponent's Pokemon, you can slow them down and even prevent them from attacking.

This a1a-18-gyarados-ex with a1-7-butterfree made top 16 in Ursiiday's Pocket. It's running a1a-56-druddigon for the early stall and using a1-7-butterfree's Powder Heal to keep your Pokemon in play for more turns and forcing opponents to attack more, buying you time to win the game with a1a-18-gyarados-ex.

Pocket Legends League Third Place

a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir is now running a1a-65-mythical-slab to look at the top of your deck and draw the card if it's a Psychic Pokemon, if not, you have to place it at the bottom of the deck. This increases the odds of finding the Pokemon you need, making it more consistent to level up into a1-132-gardevoir and start ramping Psychic Energy.

a1-129-mewtwoex is the main win condition, dealing 150 damage with its Psydrive, but since you're forced to discard 2 Psychic Energy, you'll rely on a1-132-gardevoir's Psy Shadow to attack again with a1-129-mewtwoex on the upcoming turn.

a1a-32-mew-ex is now here to backup a1-129-mewtwoex, giving you another potential attacker, especially if opponent has a Pokemon in the Active spot worth copying its attack.

Ursiiday's Pocket Third Place

a1-96-pikachuex a1-95-raichu adds a1a-27-electabuzz and a1a-30-dedenne to its list. a1-96-pikachuex is the main damage dealer early in the game, pushing 90 damage if your Bench is full of Pokemon.

a1a-27-electabuzz is an option if you're trying to target an opponent on the Bench, dealing 40 damage to it with Thunder Spear.

a1-95-raichu is how you finish games, using a1-226-lt-surge to move your Lightning Energy to a1-95-raichu and go for the 140 damage winning attack.

Pocket Legends League Fourth Place

The aggressive a1-43-rapidash a1-38-ninetales fire deck wants to go for early attacks and get knockouts before the opponent gets the game plan online. the new a1a-12-magmar also plays aggressively, dealing 80 damage for only 2 Fire Energy, but the downside is you'll be forced to discard them.

a1-38-ninetales and a1-221-blaine are the reasons why this deck works. a1-38-ninetales is your strongest attacker, dealing 90 damage Flamethrower and discarding 1 Energy, which means you can keep using it every turn.

As for a1-221-blaine, it gives a +30 damage boost to your a1-43-rapidash, a1-38-ninetales, and a1a-12-magmar attacks, allowing you to knock out higher health Pokemon.

Underdog Inclusions

Aerodactyle ex Primeape

This deck wants to have a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex in play as early as possible to make use of Primval Law ability, preventing opponent from evolving their Active Pokemon. This can disrupt their game plan, especially if you move a Pokemon they want to evolve to the Active with a1-225-sabrina. They're forced to retreat that Pokemon and use up resources to evolve it.

a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex's Land Crush only deals 80 damage, so it can be slow to get a knockout on higher-health Pokemon. a1-142-primeape is another early attacker, dealing 100 damage if it's damaged. promo-17-mankey is perfect here since it self-damages with Reckless Charge, setting the stage for the a1-142-primeape 100 damage attack.

One copy of a1a-32-mew-ex if you want to take advantage of Genome Hacking to copy the attack of the opponent's Active Pokemon.

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Closing Words

A lot of diversity in the first week of Mythical Island, and the underperformance of a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior and a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing decks despite being two of the most-played decks in these tournaments means players have yet to solve the meta, and there's still lots of room for the Mythical Island meta to evolve.

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