Tournament Meta Report: February 17, 2025 – Space-Time Smackdown (A2)

Hello everyone! The Pokémon Pocket community tournaments are ablaze with thousands of players from around the world joining in! Participants are bringing their favorite decks—or the latest meta choices—for a chance to win it all.

This is our third week of A2 Space-Time Smackdown meta, and things have been heating from the previous week! The meta is starting to settle in and players mostly are using the best decks more than ever. There have been a lot of top performers from last week but they are now being countered because of their popularity. Will the counters succeed or will the former champions reign supreme?

In this article, I'll break down the two largest tournaments held on February 16-17 (Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #16 and BEC Exeggutive Series!), analyzing the meta distribution, the top performers, and the underdogs!

Deck Distribution

Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #14 (1651 Players)

BEC Exeggutive Series! (532 Players)

a1-23-exeggutorex A1a-003 is still the most played deck for another week due to its incredible performance from last week. The addition of tools such as A2-147 and A2-148, along with focusing on keeping a1-23-exeggutorex alive with PROMO-001 and A1-219, has proven to be incredibly effective in today's meta.

The most popular version runs it with just a single A1a-003 as a backup finisher in case A1-023 is knocked out. Other popular versions run a single A1a-032 to counter its worst matchup, A2-111, while A2-007 is preferred if you want a more stable damager than A1a-003.

With the rise of a1-23-exeggutorex is also the rise of one of its strongest counters, which is A2-111, being the second most played deck in Ursiiday's tournament and third most played in BEC Exeggutive Series.

It is now solidified that A2-110 A2-053 is one of the top decks in today's meta, garnering a lot of top finishes and making it the best version of A2-110, overtaking other versions such as A2-110 A1-089 and A2-110 A2-099 with fewer top finishes.

A new contender joining the top ranks had only one making it into the top 32 of last week's Ursiiday's tournament. But now, it is the fourth most played deck in both tournaments, which is A2-053 A2-111. It looks like its consistency and incredibly aggressive 50 damage on early turns have attracted a lot of competitive players.

A1a-018 A1-089 is slightly picking up momentum with fighting decks being not that successful anymore, which is A1a-018's worst matchup of A1-154.

A2-061 has also been picking up a lot of attention, being the seventh or eighth most played deck in both tournaments. It looks like the new trend is now using consistent and stable decks over explosive decks since most players want to end up in the top cut rather than be blown out early.

a2-49-palkia-ex a1a-19-vaporeon is on it's downward trend since the deck's highroll playstyle is showing its cracks on longer tournaments where consistency matters more but when it wins, it wins hard.

The a2-119-dialga-ex A2-007 has fallen off with not too much showing on Ursiidays and a few numbers on BEC Exeggutive Series.

The most notable off-meta choices are A2-029 A1-047, which had a decent showing in Ursiiday's tournament but were non-existent in the BEC Exeggutive Series. However, BEC featured A2-095 A1-154, which is the 8th most played deck, as well as some A2-114 A2-111.

Top 32

• Looking at the top 32 of both tournaments, A2-110 A2-053 has overtaken a1-23-exeggutorex for the number one spot, although they're pretty close. In Ursiiday's tournament, A2-110 A2-053 has 3% of its competitors making it to the top 32, while a1-23-exeggutorex A1a-032 has 6% of its competitors making it to the top 32, and the a1-23-exeggutorex a1a-3-celebi-ex variant has 3.5% of its users converting in the top 32.
• In the BEC tournament, however, A2-110 A2-053 has 12% of its competitors reaching the top 32, while only 8% for a1-23-exeggutorex a1a-3-celebi-ex. This makes it a close call between the two, making them the top goliaths of this expansion.
• With more and more a1-23-exeggutorex dominating the field, there were a lot of players wanting to counter it with A1-036, although they didn't convert well in the top 32 since they also have to fight other matchups where A1-036 doesn't have an inherent advantage.
• The new popular A2-111 A2-053 has been pretty successful with a lot of showings in the top 32. It fares well in most matchups while notably being able to one-shot an A1a-001. I expect the deck will rise even more in popularity because of its success this week.
• A2-061 may also rise up in numbers with a decent showing in both of these tournaments.
• Most notable non-meta decks that appeared are the A1-146 deck and also the new variant of A2-119 using A2-125 reaching the top in BEC.

Top 4 Decks

Tournament	First Place	Second Place	Third Place	Fourth Place
Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #16	Charizard ex Moltres ex	Skarmory Magnezone	Darkrai ex Magnezone	Exeggutor ex Celebi ex
BEC Exeggutive Series!	Exeggutor ex Celebi ex	Darkrai ex Magnezone	Dialga ex Lickilicky ex	Darkrai ex Magnezone

• A1-036 made first place in the largest tournament of this week, putting a1-23-exeggutorex down in their high table and proving how it's still a good counter, especially if you want to beat a1-23-exeggutorex.
• Despite having huge representation, a1-23-exeggutorex a1a-3-celebi-ex only had 2 slots in both of the top 4, while the other did get first place, so it is still an impressive showing.
• A2-110 A2-053 has 3 slots in the top 4 of both tournaments, showing its stance as a strong deck for the format.
• A2-111 ending up in second place is definitely the result it needed for players to pick up the deck even more.
• A2-119 A2-125 getting third place is an impressive feat despite the field being overwhelming with a1-23-exeggutorex and A2-053.

Ursiiday's Pocket First Place

If you're itching to just beat a1-23-exeggutorex, then I have good news for you. A1-036 has won first place from a pool of 1600+ players! Although the deck didn't convert as well compared to a1-23-exeggutorex and A2-110, this is still an impressive showing and proves its effectiveness against beating a1-23-exeggutorex.

The notable difference from this list is they run 1 A2-154 to transfer A1-047's energy to give A1-036 an extra energy if you're ever needing another Crimson Storm. If you also can't bring out A1-036 yet, you can transfer energy to A1-047 if you're ever needing to attack with it.

BEC Exeggutive Series! First Place

a1-23-exeggutorex a1a-3-celebi-ex also won first place—surprise! This result shows how strong the deck is. Compared to last week's first place where it's running A2-022, it has been streamlined even more to just running 2 of the a1-23-exeggutorex line and just 1 a1a-3-celebi-ex. This is to make sure you have a high chance of drawing A1a-001 into a1-23-exeggutorex and tanking your way through most threats while a1a-3-celebi-ex will be your backup finisher in case a1-23-exeggutorex goes down.

One notable difference in this list compared to other streamlined decks is it's not running A2-146, which helps you find a1-23-exeggutorex much more consistently, and opts for A1a-068 instead. Nevertheless, the core of the deck is already quite formidable, and a few changes to the Supporters and Tools still make it effective.

Ursiiday's Pocket Second Place

We're definitely gonna feature one of the strongest showings this week with A2-111 A2-053, a deck that's being picked up by a lot of players because of its incredible results, proven by its second-place finish. A2-053 is one of the top cards today because it can generate energy on its own, making it a solid win condition. This is paired with one of the strongest early game hitters, if not the best, A2-111, which does 50 damage for 1 energy as long as it has a tool attached. This is highly consistent since we're running 4 tools.

A2-120 will be your alternative win condition and something you can put energy into since A2-111 only needs 1 and A2-053 doesn't need too much. This combination is highly consistent and aggressive, making it a top deck today.

BEC Exeggutive Series! Second Place

We can't leave out the best deck besides a1-23-exeggutorex without showcasing A2-110 A2-053. The list is the same as the guide I have also written, which you can check here. The guide explains how the deck works and proved its impressive results with a second-place finish.

A2-110 A2-053 is consistent enough to win any matchup because it doesn't rely on an all-in game plan. Instead, it excels with all the damage the deck presents. The deck has proven to be highly consistent with an incredible conversion rate from the tournaments.

BEC Exeggutive Series! Third Place

Incredible showing of A2-125 ending up in 3rd place. The game plan is to ideally start with A2-119 loading up energy for your A2-125 or A1a-032 depending on the enemy you are facing, such as A1a-032 for A1-036 and A2-125 for most other matchups. Unlike the typical A2-007, A2-125 has its damage potential much higher, enabling it to deal 140 to 180, knocking out most opponents with good flips. Starting off with A2-124 is the reason it's not consistent enough and might lead you to losses very early on.

Underdog Inclusions

22nd Ursiiday's Pocket

A A1-146 deck finishing in the top 32 is definitely an impressive performance considering the deck hasn't had much of an appearance in competitive tournaments. The list is pretty much a simple A1-146 line with some of the fighting basics for early options. The addition of A2-146 helps find the A1-146 line easier, and the double A2-148 helps with the aggressive start and also helps with some higher HP thresholds.

9th BEC Exeggutive Series!

Presenting one of the best results for the new A2-061 deck with the 9th place finish. You will see how many Supporters it has for different options in the game. It is incredibly frustrating to play against because you have to think about all the Supporters they can use. With the addition of the new A2-155 paired with the old PROMO-006, you will definitely have to keep this in mind if you don't want your cards to run out!

20th Ursiiday's Pocket

There has been a lot of showings for A2-095 A1-154 at the BEC tournament, but no one made it to the top 32. However, someone made the top 20th in Ursiidays', which is an incredible feat. The list is also pretty compact, similar to the A1-146 list, foregoing any other lines and just using A1-154 and A1-198. With 2 A2-150, the game plan is simply hitting the back while A2-095 finishes them off, making it hard for your opponent to establish their win condition. I imagine this deck will have a hard time dealing with a1-23-exeggutorex since A2-095 only does minimal damage to it, but let's see how this deck performs in the future!

Closing Words

The meta is indeed stabilizing with prominent decks consistently rising to the top. However, it's refreshing to see new faces like A1-146, A2-111, and A2-125 doing well.

If you're interested in checking out all the other decks that performed in the tournaments, you can explore them below:

• Ursiiday's Weekly
• BEC Exeggutive Series

Thank you for reading and see you next time!