Hi there. In this tournament report, I test out a deck in the new post-rotation format with the Perfect Order recent set.
Note: This one is very long. Read and see what you want.
Post-Rotation Stuff
There is a new format in the Pokemon TCG. Cards with the G regulation mark are no longer allowed in standard play. J cards are now legal. You can only play cards with the letters H, I or J in standard tournaments.
With the G cards gone, you no longer have the main decks of Gardevoir ex, Gholengo ex, Charizard ex in the format.
There is also no more Iono for hand disruption, Counter Catcher and Nest Ball.
Deck Choice & List
I had a couple of decks in mind that I really liked. I almost chose to play a Cynthia's Garchomp ex deck or a Lillie's Clefairy ex deck. For this one, I thought that Arboliva ex with Teal Mask Ogerpon ex and Meganium is a solid and consistent deck. This archetype did place second in Japan's Champions League tournament in March 2026.
My deck list is similar to the Japan deck list. I use Max Rod instead of the very popular Unfair Stamp.
Pokémon: 20
4 Teal Mask Ogerpon ex PRE 12
1 Celebi MEG 12
1 Budew ASC 16
2 Smoliv DRI 21
2 Dolliv DRI 22
2 Arboliva ex DRI 23
2 Chikorita MEG 8
2 Bayleef MEG 9
2 Meganium MEG 10
1 Meowth ex POR 62
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
Trainer: 29
3 Bug Catching Set TWM 143
2 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Boss's Orders SHF 58
1 Air Balloon ASC 181
1 Judge FST 235
4 Forest of Vitality MEG 117
1 Max Rod PRE 116
3 Dawn PFL 87
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Energy Switch SVI 173
Energy: 11
11 Grass Energy SVE 9
Key Cards
Arboliva ex, Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, Meganium
These are the main 3 pieces in this Grass deck. Teal Mask Ogerpon ex serves as a small draw engine and as an attacker. Meganium doubles the amount of Grass Energy for you resulting in a more power Teal Mask Ogerpon ex attack. Arboliva ex is a beefy Stage 2 Grass attacker that can target the bench with its Oil Salvo attack at (20 damage times 6).
With the Meganium and Teal Mask Ogerpon ex combo, two Grass Energy cards turns into 4 Grass Energy. Teal Mask Ogerpon ex can hit 270 damage if there are 4 Grass Energy on the Ogerpon (4 x 2 then times 30 damage plus 30 = 270).
Forest of Vitality
Forest of Vitality is a powerful Stadium card for Grass evolution decks. Outside of the first turn, Grass Pokemon can evolve into another Grass Pokemon on the same turn. Normally you have to wait one turn to evolve but not with Forest of Vitality.
You can go from Benching a Grass Basic and then evolve all the way to a Stage 2 Grass Pokemon on the same turn. This is provided you have the physical cards in hand to complete the Grass evolution line.
Dawn
Dawn is a powerful supporter card in certain Stage 2 evolution decks. With this Grass deck, Dawn is really good with the Forest of Vitality. You can search for the entire evolution or parts of it and then evolve quickly.
Bug Catching Set
Bug Catching Set is a good Item card for Grass decks. Look at the top 7 cards from your deck. You may reveal up to 2 of any combination of Grass Pokemon and Basic Grass Energy you find there and put them into your hand. Shuffle the other cards back into deck. If you get lucky, this card lets you get more Grass Pokemon and/or Grass Energy.
Most lists have 4 copies but I think 3 is fine. The fourth spot could go into another Supporter card or Pokemon.
Tournament Format
The local tournament was held at A & C Games near Toronto's Chinatown area and near the University of Toronto downtown campus. Their tournaments are popular as they are free and you get one Prize Pack Series 8 booster pack per win. As of late, it is becoming one hot spot of many stores for Toronto's TCG scene for Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh and Riftbound TCG.
There are 3 best of one rounds at 30 minutes each. Ties result in a game loss for prizing purposes.
Round One
My round one opponent was someone I have faced before. I won the coin flip and chose to go first on my first turn.
I think my opponent bricked. In the first three turns, I saw a Noctowl and a Fezandipiti ex on her side. Maybe she was playing a Tera Box deck or something.
I did manage to get a fast and aggressive Arboliva ex setup in play in turn two. Arboliva ex was there to put a lot of pressure on her Pokemon.
Long story short, I end up taking two prizes at a time. The prize map was 2-2-2 to get all 6 of my prizes. This was a lucky win. I later found out she played an Eevee deck with Flareon ex.
After this first game, we played a practice rematch to pass the time. Due to time, there was no conclusion. She had a better start with Wellspring Ogerpon ex.
Round Two Vs Mega Lucario ex
My round two opponent was someone I faced many times while I am at that place. This may be my seventh or eighth time playing him. This one is different as we are in a new format. We don't know what the other person is playing. (In the previous round, he sat at a different table.)
From the coin flip, I won and chose to go first again. My first turn was something like use Teal Dance from Teal Mask Ogerpon ex to draw 1 card and manual attach one Grass Energy to my active Chikorita. End turn.
The opponent's first turn was really bad. It was attach one Fighting Energy to the single Lunatone in the Active then end turn. His hand must have had no Supporter and a bunch of Energy.
I win in my second turn. There was enough energy in the end for the Teal Mask Ogerpon ex to attack for the knockout. My opponent had no backup Benched Pokemon so I win. This win was in like 3 minutes. Disgustingly good luck to get me two wins and zero losses. I felt bad for my opponent.
I offered a rematch for practice and to pass the time. This second game was less one sided but I did win in the end. The Meganium engine powers up Teal Mask Ogerpon ex so it can hit big damage numbers. Arboliva ex can target Pokemon on the Bench and Active with its 120 spread damage in 20 damage increments six times.
Round Three Versus Raging Bolt ex Post Rotation Version
My round three opponent was someone I faced once before and have traded cards in the past. He is pretty friendly.
I really think this guy is loaded and is willing to pay thousands of dollars in buying something like 3 to 5 booster boxes every set release. His trade binders usually have shiny cards, illustration rares, special illustration rares and such.
Apparently, this guy made top 64 or top 128 at Toronto Regionals tournament back in January 2026. That is what I heard before going into this one. He was 2 wins and 0 losses too. His regional result is nice but I was not too intimidated by this even though I am not highly ranked.
The opponent won the coin flip and chose to go first. His opening Active Pokemon was Mega Kangaskhan ex. My first reaction thought was Raging Bolt ex. It could have been a different deck too. The Mega Kangaskhan ex in the active allowed him to draw 2 cards. Then he benches the single prize Raging Bolt. This confirms what I am up against. His start was good.
My first turn was something like Smoliv active, use Teal Mask Ogerpon ex ability. Then Dawn for the Arboliva ex evolution line with a second Smoliv. I expected a Knockout on a Smoliv from the Raging Bolt the next turn so I get a second one in play.
The opponent does a lot of stuff and ends up Knocking out my Smoliv on the Bench, keeping the Active one alive.
My next turn was something like using Lillie's Determination to refresh the hand. Setup a bunch of stuff and attack the opponent's Raging Bolt with my Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. I thought this was fairly safe as the opponent had no Teal Mask Ogerpon ex in play. The probability of the opponent Knocking out my Teal Mask Ogerpon ex with his own was very low (15% maybe).
Opponent's next turn was play a bunch of stuff but ends up missing the attack on the Raging Bolt ex. I found this kind of shocking but it gave me an opening.
For my next turn, I set up Arboliva ex and Meganium. Do some further setup to ensure a victory on my next turn as I have Boss's Orders in hand to target the Mega Kangaskhan ex. I use one of two Teal Mask Ogerpon ex to knock out the opponent's Raging Bolt ex. I have 3 Prize Cards out of 6 versus the opponents five Prize Cards left out of 6. At this point, I take the lead and feel pretty confident in winning this if there is no hand disruption.
The opponent's next turn was using his own Teal Mask Ogerpon ex to knockout my Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. No hand disruption was used by him. I won the game in my next turn. Boss's Orders to target his Mega Kangaskhan ex and use my second Teal Mask Ogerpon ex with 5 Grass Energy on it for a big attack. (Five Grass energy x 2 from Meganium = 10 Grass Energy for 330 damage.) I collect my final 3 Prize cards for the win.
The early game for me was okay against his super setup. As the game went on, I got better setups while the opponent missed some attacks even with a large hand.
Prizing, Post Tournament Stuff
I end up at 3 wins and 0 losses. This one felt weird as I felt lucky in all my games. There were 2 other guys who got 3 wins and 0 losses. They were near me in my round 3 match. Due to tiebreakers, I placed first as I had the highest opponent's win rate percentage. This is lucky as you cannot control the winrate of your opponents.
With this win, I earn 3 Prize Pack Series 8 booster packs. For placing first, I get this Play Stamped prize thingy.
When the organizer mentioned this prize before round one, some players were going Oooh. For me, I was not sure what this thing was. It is some sort of pin thing.
Here are some of the cards I got from prizes.
After the tournament, I grab a snack, pick up some cards and buy a few cards from other stores. I did manage to find some nice free cards including 2 Japanese Poke Pads and 1 Poke Pad.
There was one Tyrunt illustration rare promo card at 8 CAD with no tax. It seemed like a good buy for a nice art card even though I did not check prices before this.
Thank you for reading.