Hi there. Normally, I don't go over regional tournament results for Pokemon TCG. This one was in Toronto which is near me. I do not play in regionals as I think it is a bit of a grind. Travelling a lot to play and try to win points for a World Championships invitation seems too much for me.
Note: This is a long post.
I do know of some people who I have played against in the past that have attended this event. Two friends I know of played the same deck and did well. One got a top 120 finish out of 2270 players while the other guy did really well with a top 40 placement. The guy with the top 40 finish is someone I see regularly when I visit Toronto. We have mutual respect for each other and skill. It has been a while since I played him though.
There were a few other people I knew too. Two guys got top 180 placements. Some other people I knew of were there but did not make day 2 which was around top 416 with at least a 5 wins and 3 loss record. Each match was 45 minutes in a best of 3 format. There were a lot of games played here.
It turned out that some of the regular people I face when I visit Toronto are actually really good players. Downtown Toronto Pokemon TCG competitive scene is actually good.
Popular Decks At Toronto Regional Tournament
Information taken from Limitless TCG and the Labs version of Limitless TCG.
The metagame now is dominated by these 4 decks. These are:
- Gholdengo ex With Solrock & Lunatone
- Gardevoir ex (With Jellicent ex and without it)
- Charizard ex with two main Variants (Noctowl and Pidgeot ex versions)
- Dragpault ex
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There were a few other top decks but they weren't popular. Decks like N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex and Mega Absol with Mega Kangaskhan ex were in the mix.
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Winning Deck & Player
Another Gardevoir deck and player wins a regional tournament. I blame Munkidori, Counter Catcher and Iono for making decks like Gardevoir ex and Dragapult ex good for almost one year. Putting away my frustrations aside, here is the decklist.
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For a deck archetype focused on the Gardevoir ex engine, having 2 Ralts looks so greedy too me. If one Ralts is prized and not in deck then you have one Ralts that is vulnerable early game.
The decklist looks like your typical Gardevoir deck list except for the one Team Rocket's Watchtower. A lot of people were hostile against Noctowl engines and Charizard ex with Noctowl decks that won the previous regional tournament in Stuttgart.
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Runner Up Deck & Player
A lot of people were shocked, confused or even annoyed that a Raging Bolt ex player made into the top cut elimination stage. Then andres estefano gajardo lopehandia made it to the finals with Raging Bolt ex. A good handful of pros and Youtubers had Raging Bolt ex low on their tier lists as a top deck. Either the Youtubers were bad or did not want to give Raging Bolt ex credit. (I don't trust many Pokemon TCG youtubers anyway)
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Andres from Chile did lose to a Gardevoir ex deck in the finals. Gardevoir is generally a bad matchup for Raging Bolt ex though.
This list is not your typical Raging Bolt ex list though. There is no Squawkabilly ex. Instead there is Mega Kangaskhan ex. We have one copy of Wellspring Ogerpone ex with 1 Water Energy and a Vitality Band.
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Sandy Shocks ex is included too. Not all Raging Bolt ex lists include this. This Sandy Shocks ex is good for Fighting Energy recovery and is good against Mega Kangaskhan ex and Mega Lopunny ex.
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Some Other Decks
In this section, I would like to highlight some other decks. There are some uncommon decks that have made day 2 of this big tournament. Sometimes these uncommon decks can get some sneaky/surprise wins or land favourable matchups.
I used Limitless labs for the decklists.
Rank 8 out of 2270 - Gholdengo ex Deck By Justin Templer
Even though Gholdengo ex was the most popular deck in this tournament, only one Gholdengo ex player made it to the top 8.
The one copy of Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking is included here. In the past Gholdengo ex lists used to have the Codebreaking card a staple before Solrock and Lunatone came along. Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking helps with placing 2 cards from your deck to the top of your deck before you draw with Gholdengo ex or Lunatone.
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As there were many Gholdengo ex players at the event, it is the player skill that is important too.
Rank 22 out of 2270 - Mega Kangaskhan ex with Bouffalant
This is an alternate and hyper defensive version of the Mega Kangaskhan ex deck with Mega Absol ex. With this version, there is no Mega Absol ex but you have Bouffalant to increase the defense of Basic Normal Pokemon including the Kangaskhan.
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It is very difficult to do one hit knockouts on a Mega Kangaskhan ex with Bouffalant. The only two decks in the metagame that do one hit knockouts are Gholdengo ex and Raging Bolt ex. If the opponent does not do one hit knockouts, you transfer the damage over to the opponent with Munkidori abuse.
This version of the deck includes 2 copies of Moltres, one Brave Bangle and 2 Fire Energy to deal with Gholdengo ex decks.
I may do separate post covering this deck in more detail.
Rank 43 out of 2270 - Miraidon ex with Iron Hands + Magneton
Miraidon ex themed decks are not very popular even with the inclusion of Zekrom ex from the Black Bolt set in the Summer 2025.
This version of Miraidon ex is a turbo version where you have 2 Magnemites, 2 Magnetons, 2 Squawkabilly ex and 2 Iron Hands ex. Turbo decks like this are sort of all-in. You hope to get Iron Hands ex powered up on turn 1 or 2 to put early game pressure on the opponent. The Amp You Very Much gets you two prizes if you Knock Out something with 120 HP or less.
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Jesse Parker is a Miraidon ex specialist. I think he has playing this archetype for at least a year. He lost to Justin T (rank 8) for a chance at top 16. One win is the different between his rank of 43 and a top 16 spot. Getting a win is a big rank difference where 1 win is 3 points, a tie is 1 point and a loss is 0 points.
Rank 133 out of 2270 - Festival Lead Deck With Seaking
You do encounter this Festival Lead Deck every once in a while. It is not a popular deck but some people like it. It is a relatively cheap deck to build, it has single prize Pokemon (non Pokemon ex), the Thwackey search engine is kind of overpowered in some ways and you can potentially punish slow starts from the opponent.
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To prevent Dusknoir knockouts, the Psyduck is there to prevent that. One Rabsca is there to prevent damage counter placements from Dragapult ex attack.
Good job to this deck and the player for rank 133 out of 2200+ players.
Rank 141 out of 2270 - Slowking Deck
Slowking is another single prize deck that is seen every once in a while. When it gets going, it is dangerous but it can have consistency issues.
The one interesting card inclusion is this Armarouge. This is not common in Slowking decks.
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Rank 253 out of 2270 - Mega Venusaur ex With Meganium
The metagame right now is not great for Mega Venusaur ex with one hit knockout decks like Gholdengo ex and Raging Bolt ex. Ceruledge ex decks pose a bit of a threat to Grass decks.
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Mega Venusaur ex is an okay alternative deck in a big tournament. This deck has some good matchups and can be pretty hard to beat when it gets going. I see this deck as okay now but better when rotation happens in April 2026.
Rank 131 out of 2270 - Cynthia's Garchomp ex
Cynthia's Garchomp ex is not a very popular deck. This deck is very focused on getting the Garchomp ex out as its main attacker. The Cynthia's Rosalias are there for boosting damage. Gabites are good for searching for more Cynthia's Pokemon.
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Fighting is a good type as it has a type advantage over some Dark Pokemon and Normal types with Fighting weakness. The Garchomps are weak to Grass Pokemon but not many popular decks run Grass attackers.
This player and deck managed to sneak in a good placement at rank 131 out of 2200 something players. Very respectable for a rogue archetype that is fairly cheap to build. This deck could be even better once Gardevoir ex and one hit knockout decks like Gholdengo ex and Raging Bolt ex go away from rotation.
Rank 55 out of 2270 - Ceruledge ex By Ross Cawthon
Ceruledge ex is generally considered as not a great deck. The game plan is predictable in going through your deck fast to power up Ceruledge ex for its first attack. As Ceruldege ex is a Fire type, it counters nicely against Gholdengo ex and this deck can really put pressure against slower setup decks.
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Ross is a veteran at the Pokemon TCG game. He made this deck work really well.
Closing Notes
When it comes to deck analysis, there is more to it than looking at decklists. Player skill is important too. A non top 5 popular deck with a good player like the Chilean Raging Bolt player runner up can have amazing results still. A new player with the most popular deck may not do very well.
Yes, the top 8 decklists are good but the players using them are very good. Sometimes people get high placings because of good matchups. You have to look at what matchups people had too.
Even though a deck may not get top 8, it does not mean its bad. There are some good alternative decks that can place in the top 200.