Images courtesy of The Pokémon Company International

Dragapult ex

has put the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) metagame on a strangehold, with the recent Atlanta Regionals having five Pults in the Top 8 cut. However, Gardevoir ex

 still took down the field of dragons, posing itself as one of the top threats in the Journey Together meta.

Let’s welcome some old and familiar faces:

Gardevoir ex

The death of Gardevoir ex

has been greatly exagerrated. Despite losing its draw engine in Kirlia

, Gardy has shown up yet again in two spots in the top cut, one notably piloted by Gardevoir’s strongest soldier Henry Chao. He took the whole event down, and cemented his legacy as a three-time regional champion — all in one season, and all with Gardevoir ex

!

This time, the Gardy faithful (except for that one regional where he played Gholdengo ex

, but we don’t talk about that) has recruited a new ally to help him in drawing cards: N’s Zoroark ex

. This innovation comes from Isaiah Bradner, who also won last month’s Stockholm Regionals with the same Pokémon, pre-rotation.

The deck has also gained Lillie’s Clefairy ex

, which lets most attackers in the deck answer Dragapult ex

.

Of course, we have to include the play that sealed the deal:

A year ago, the loss of Shining Arcana Gardevoir

was thought to be the death of Gardevoir. This year, the loss of Refinement Kirlia

was thought to be the death of Gardevoir. Despite all these, the Embrace Pokémon remains the champion.

Dragapult ex

Another tournament, another week where Dragapult ex

dominates top cut. This silly dragon is undoubtedly one of the best decks in the format, comprising over 25 percent of the field in Day 2, and five decks in the Top 8 cut.

Just like in Prismatic Evolutions, the deck has splintered into two approaches: the tried-and-tested Dragapult ex

– Dusknoir

line, or the up-and-coming Pure Dragapult ex

list, utilizing Munkidori

to transfer damage back in mirror matches and wherever else the monkey shows up. Justin Templer, one of the best Seniors Division players, produced the Pultnoir deck’s original concept, and Andrew Hedrick piloted the Drixty to a Top 2 finish in Masters Division.

The Pure Dragapult variant has a stellar win rate against most matchups, only being slightly unfavored into Pure Archaludon ex

variants. Meanwhile, the Dusknoir

build can aggressively take prizes and has an easier time punching through a field with several Hoothoot

in play, or just setting up a Counter Catcher

play to snipe two Drakloak

in the mirror. 

Terapagos ex

A Pokémon with low damage output, Terapagos ex

has reverted to its old pals Bouffalant

, which was the preferred way to play the turtle during Stellar Crown. Along with Bravery Charm

, this gives Terapagos ex

an effective 340HP, making it extremely hard to take down. Hence, the deck has been nicknamed Tank Terapagos, or Tankpagos.

The deck was innovated on by Luke Morsa, better known as Celio’s Network, who brought the deck to a Top 4 finish at the Tournament of Doom “Regionals”. It has since gained popularity as it has a great matchup versus Tera Box, one of the most popular decks in the format, while going toe-to-toe with Dragapult ex

.

Keaton Gill ran a copy of Volcanion ex

to apply Burn and then swing with Pagos to score a OHKO versus Gholdengo

. In Seniors, Ethan Graham ran a Precious Trolley

variant to grab the entire squad and chain Noctowl

together. Since the deck folds to Unfair Stamp

, specially after it KOs a Budew

, he chose to run a Genesect

to nullify the disruption ACE SPEC, while also blocking Energy Search Pro

.

Gholdengo ex

A recent meta development in the latter part of the Prismatic Evolutions meta was the addition of Munkidori

in Gholdengo ex

to prevent Dragapult ex

from taking out two Dengos in the same turn. The deck’s biggest strength is Coin Bonus making it difficult to disrupt.

Grant Manley also ran Drakloak

for additional filtering, plus a miser’s copy of Dragapult ex

for the Walls or Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex

matchup, or for other unexpected ways to take multiple prizes.

Meanwhile, Bodhi Robinson ran the more typical variant with no Pults, and instead utilized a baby Gholdengo

to answer the Wall

, or to begin the prize trade.

Honorable Mentions

Poison Archaludon ex

nabbed several spots in the Top 16. Using the poison package of Brute Bonnet

, Pecharunt

, Ancient Booster Energy Capsule

,  Binding Mochi

, and Perilous Jungle

to output higher damage numbers that what’s expected from the bridge — and of course, the deck can just steal games through a donk.

Meanwhile, there was an Eevee Box deck piloted to a Top 16 finish, which utilized Flareon ex

and Sylveon ex

to either take aggressive knockouts, or play a slower control game using gusts and Angelite to clear the board. With Lillie’s Clefairy ex

backing up Sylveon ex

, it can also pick up an easy OHKO versus Pult. This deck was the creation of Nathan Stratford, who spread it around in their local Utah meta.

Despite all the techs against Dragapult ex

, it still remains one of the most consistent decks in the metagame, while Munkidori

remains as one of the most prolific Pokémon in the format, seeing play in six of the eight decks in Atlanta! The monkey has caused an arms race, where if we cannot Adrena-Brain damage counters away from our own Pokémon, we’ll eventually lose the game.

With the rise of Gardevoir once again and the continued proliferation of Dragapult, will enterprising players be able to find a deck that counters both?

Looking for more Pokémon TCG articles? Check out which old cards have spiked in popularity due to the new post-rotation metagame in Journey Together here. If you want to see more decklists, here’s an early look at what the Journey Together metagame looked like before the Atlanta Regionals.