Pokemon Pocket Tournament Meta Report – December 30

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.

The Mythical Island meta is still evolving as players experiment with the new decks. Last week, a1a-3-celebi-ex had lots of hype to carry the Grass-type decks and crush the popular meta decks. However, things didn't end up exactly as players predicted, with a1a-3-celebi-ex extremely underperforming, and decks that weren't on players' radar like a1a-18-gyarados-ex and a1a-45-golem, showing better results.

In this article, I'll break down the two largest tournaments held on December 28-29 (Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #9 and Pocket Legends League #13), analyzing the meta distribution, the top performers, and the underdogs!

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Deck Distribution

Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #9 ( Players)

Pocket Legends League #13 ( Players)

a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja barely surpasses a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir in meta representation in the Ursiiday's Pocket tournament. However, it came in second to a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir Pocket League Legends. Looks like a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja's amazing performance last week has brought a new rival for a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir.

Historically, a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir managed to beat every rival that tried to overtake its throne. So we'll see how a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja fairs in the upcoming weeks against the best deck in the meta.

a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior and a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing did not meet players' expectation last week. Those two decks saw a huge drop in popularity this week, after an awful performance in tournaments. However, many players have not given up on the archetypes and are still experimenting. The a1a-3-celebi-ex a1-23-exeggutorex version is seeing more play in these tournaments.

More players are picking up a1-96-pikachuex decks again, especially with a1a-18-gyarados-ex gaining popularity, it's the best time for Lighting-type decks to shine. a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika is the community's favorite version, followed closely by the a1-95-raichu version.

Last week, a1a-45-golem a1a-56-druddigon managed to win first place in Ursiiday's Pocket tournament. Whether that was a fluke or not, we'll find out in the upcoming weeks as players test out the deck themselves in tournaments. a1a-45-golem a1a-56-druddigon is in the top 5 most-played decks, overtaking a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior, a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing, and a1-36-charizardex a1-41-arcanineex decks.

Although a1-36-charizardex a1-41-arcanineex decks saw a lot of success last week, the number of players bringing them didn't go up. This might be due to the Water-type deck, a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja, gaining popularity and players worried about the matchup.

I've been keeping an eye on the a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1-142-primeape in smaller tournaments this past week, and many players have been going far in these events. Some players noticed it and we see the deck rise in popularity a bit, but I'm still expecting it to rise more next week.

Top 32

• a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja had a solid performance this week in Pocket Legends League. However, in the Ursiiday's Pocket tournament, the deck was overtaken by a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika in the top 32.
  If we take another look at the top 32 Pocket Legends League, yes a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja is in the top, but if combined a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika and a1-96-pikachuex a1-95-raichu, looks like we have a tier in the top 32!
• As always, a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir has a great showing in these tournaments but isn't dominating the scene.
• a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika and a1-96-pikachuex a1-95-raichu held up well this week.
• Two a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior managed to sneak into the top 32 in Ursiiday's Pocket tournament. The a1-23-exeggutorex version had an overall better showing in both tournaments, especially when you factor in that it has less players than the normal a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior version.
• a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing still isn't managing to perform at all in these tournaments, with only 1 player making it through to the Pocket Legends League top 32.
• As expected, a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1-142-primeape showed in the top 32, proving it's a deck to keep on players' radar for upcoming events. Despite having low meta representation, 5 a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1-142-primeape players made the top 32 in both tournaments. Also, a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1a-32-mew-ex and a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1-198-farfetchd are other variants that made top 32. So in total, we had 7 a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex decks making it to the top 32.
• Unfortunately, a1a-45-golem a1a-56-druddigon didn't perform to the community's expectation, with only 2 players making the top 32 in Pocket Legends League.
• Less popular decks that made top 32: a1a-59-pidgeot-ex a1-188-pidgeot, a1-198-farfetchd a1a-47-marshadow, and a1-89-greninja a1a-56-druddigon, and a1-76-starmieex a1-84-articunoex.

Top 4 Decks

Tournament	First Place	Second Place	Third Place	Fourth Place
Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #9	Mewtwo ex Gardevoir	Pikachu ex Zebstrika	Pikachu ex Zebstrika	Gyarados ex Greninja
Pocket Legends League #13	Mewtwo ex Gardevoir	Pikachu ex Zebstrika	Gyarados ex Greninja	Pikachu ex Zebstrika

• a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir takes first place in both tournaments, reminding us why it's considered the best deck in Pokemon Pocket.
• The a1-96-pikachuex and a1-106-zebstrika deck had an impressive performance this past week, securing 2nd and 3rd place in Ursiiday's Pocket and 2nd and 4th place in the Pocket Legends League. This version appears to be the strongest build currently, with the Raichu variant as a solid alternative.
• Two a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja players made top 4. The Water-type deck is now rivaling the top meta decks, especially since it can knock out a 160-health Pokemon with a1-89-greninja's Water Shuriken as backup damage.

Ursiiday's Pocket First Place

The a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir list that won first place in the Ursiiday Pocket tournament runs a1-127-jynx over a1a-32-mew-ex.

So it solely relies on a1-129-mewtwoex as the main win condition, dealing 150 damage with its Psydrive attack. Since you're forced to discard 2 Psychic Energy, you'll rely on a1-132-gardevoir's Psy Shadow ability to give a1-129-mewtwoex an extra Energy to ensure you can attack on the upcoming turn.

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

a1-127-jynx's attack depends on the number of Energy on the opponent's Active Pokemon. For each Energy they have, a1-127-jynx will deal an extra 20 damage, which could get you the knockout.

Pocket Legends League First Place

The first place a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir in Pocket Legends League has a1a-32-mew-ex as an alternate damage dealer, perfect if you copy an attack with high damage.

This list also has a1a-67-blue, which protects your a1-129-mewtwoex from a 150 damage attack.

Ursiiday's Pocket Second Place

a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika crushed it this weekend, mainly relying on a1-96-pikachuex as an aggressive attacker. a1-104-zapdosex is another option for high-damage attacks, but it will rely on Coin flips. a1-106-zebstrika's Thunder Spear is great if you're trying to target a damaged Pokemon hiding on the Bench.

a1-96-pikachuex decks were always one of the strongest choices in tournaments, and they've managed to keep Water-type decks from taking over the game. It is now a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja's turn to survive the Lightning-type deck.

Ursiiday's Pocket Fourth Place

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, but you have a1-89-greninja's Water Shuriken as backup damage to knockout higher-health Pokemon. You can knock out a1-129-mewtwoex in one turn, removing an important win condition your opponent relies on.

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.

Underdog Inclusions

9th Place Ursiiday Pocket Aerodactyl 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.

This list runs the new Mythical Island a1a-42-primeape, needing only 1 Fighting Energy to attack with Punch for 50 damage. a1a-47-marshadow is another damage dealer, perfect when one of your Pokemon was just knocked out. The Revenge attack goes up to 100 damage, letting you knock out a Pokemon, and getting you closer to winning the game.

29th Place Pocket Legends League Farfetch'd Marshadow

14th Place Pocket Legends League Pidgeot ex Pidgeot Rapidash

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Closing Words

A lot of changes this week as players experiment and figure out the Mythical Island meta. Remember, this is a small expansion and it had a massive impact on the tournament scene. Things are looking interesting, and I'm curious to see if a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1-142-primeape sees more play this upcoming weekend.

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