Image courtesy of Andrew Mahone

Pokémon TCG Live, the official digital client of the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), has released a new game mode called Trainer’s Trials, a refreshing take on the card game, where players can compete in alternative formats which rotate every two weeks.

For the weeks of May 8th to May 22nd, the featured format will be Gym Leader Challenge (GLC), one of the most popular alternative formats of the Pokémon TCG.

This week, we’re featuring Andrew Mahone, the creator of the Gym Leader Challenge format and a Worlds competitor six times, finishing 9th in 2015 (his very first Worlds!) and 22nd in 2023. Since then, he’s become a father and has taken a step back in the World Championship grind and has instead refocused his efforts in creating Pokémon TCG content under the handle Tricky Gym.

What Is the Gym Leader Challenge?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most physical card games suffered heavy losses. Metagames were stale due to cards not being able to be released in a timely fashion. And even worse, in-person events were put at a standstill due to the risk of infection.

Enter: Andrew Mahone. “In the time I’ve spent with the Pokémon TCG, I have become fascinated by game and format design. It started with me building my own cubes to battle with friends, but during the pandemic – everything changed!”

“I couldn’t meet up with my cube group to draft anymore and the Standard format was getting increasingly dull. So one day while streaming Pokémon TCG Online (the former digital client), I decided to challenge my viewers to build decks that abided by a special set of rules,” he narrated.

The 60-card deck needed to be from a single type, cards with rule boxes were not allowed, and only one copy of each card was allowed, barring Basic Energy. These rules became the backbone of what we now know as the Gym Leader Challenge format.

“The results were amazing. Myself and my community had so much fun building decks and trying new strategies! I made a website to easily share format rules and the ban list, and from there the format took off! Now GLC is the most popular alternative format in the Pokémon TCG and is played by leagues all over the world!

In fact, in Regionals across the world, GLC side events fire off, garnering hundreds of players at a time; and oftentimes, more than one pod needs to be fired to address the clamor for more GLC competition.

How Do You Deckbuild in GLC?

To recap, the formal rules of the Gym Leader Challenge now are the following:

• Only one of each card with the same name per deck (except Basic Energy)
• No Rule Box cards or ACE SPEC cards
• Only one type (color) of Pokémon per deck
• Cards printed from Black & White–on (AKA the Expanded card pool)
• No cards on the Ban List

With no rule box Pokémon, GLC is a format worth exploring with a fresh set of eyes. Every tournament, players dig up some new bulk card and incorporate it in their decks, fully knowing the niche pick can and will take games from unsuspecting opponents.

As cards date back from 2011, with the release of Black & White, all the way to the current expansions in Standard, the choices for which Pokémon to include are massive.

“I definitely recommend picking your favorite type and starting there. When you divide the potential card pool into a tenth, everything becomes much more manageable. I also recommend checking out the getting started guide on gymleaderchallenge.com! It’s true that there are a lot of cards to choose from, but the exploration is part of the fun!” Mahone stated.

Another resource to use is the Cardboard Warriors website, which posts the latest GLC tournament recaps, plus standout decklists. Ben Morse also covers the tournament scene, along with his own tournament reports.

Best of all, since rule box Pokémon tend to be the pricier parts of the deck, GLC decks tend to err on the cheaper side.

GLC Staples

While Pokémon choices may vary, there are still some cards which stand above the rest and have become format staples. We’ll focus on Trainer cards here, as these can be used in any GLC decks we plan to build.

For Supporters, we have effects such as Arven, Ball Guy, and Skyla to search up specific cards. Meanwhile, we can run Boss’s Orders or Lysandre (only one of them!) and Guzma for gust effects. For disruption, we can utilize Iono, Marnie, and N.

As for Items, there’s plenty of them! VS Seeker is a must-have for most decks, while Escape Rope is a great way to get out of a sticky situation. Field Blower is an amazing control card, and Battle Compressor helps decks become more consistent, or set up the discard pile for some recursion.

Meanwhile in the Tools department, Float Stone and U-Turn Board are the most used pivot options, while Fighting Fury Belt and Muscle Band can provide an unexpected damage modifier to take key KOs on the defensing Pokémon.

There’s a lot more staples waiting, and if you’re an old player who took a break from the game, you’ll be surprised at which cards you have that still see play in this format!

On Similarities to Magic: the Gathering‘s Commander/EDH

As the Gym Leader Challenge is a singleton, mono-energy format, comparisons can be drawn to Magic: the Gathering‘s EDH or Commander format, which uses 100-card singleton decks represented by a Commander, which restricts the colors the deck can use.

“I don’t think it’s possible to talk about a singleton TCG format without referencing EDH. In so many ways, Magic: the Gathering has laid the groundwork for every other TCG that exists, from card design to tournament structure — and of course — to alternate formats like cube drafts and Gym Leader Challenge,” Mahone declares.

Admittedly, Mahone is a die-hard fan of alternative formats. He loves drafting cubes and creating wacky alternative deckbuilding restrictions; Gym Leader Challenge just happens to be one several he has conceptualized. “I have never played EDH and I don’t own a Magic collection myself. I do enjoy drafting Magic, however, and appreciate the game from a design standpoint,” he continues.

“I would say that I was not only inspired by EDH with the creation of Gym Leader Challenge, but also by the random alternate formats that judges use for their annual Professor Cup within the Pokémon TCG.”

As Pokémon TCG Live introduces the GLC format, a new restriction arrives: only sets from Sun & Moon onward are legal in the digital client, which means that Black & White-era cards will not be playable. This now provides a brand-new deckbuilding challenge for players.

For Mahone, though, building new decks is always his most favorite aspect of the format. “Building a singleton deck that operates well is a challenge in the Pokémon TCG! But when you are able to whittle all the cards you want down to the perfect 60, it’s a super rewarding feeling.”

When asked for Mahone’s favorite GLC deck or archetype, he admits “I don’t have a favorite GLC deck! I love playing them all!” Though we all know it’s some variant of a Lightning deck (just look at Tricky Gym’s logo!), he confesses he loves how each deck has their own playstyle and identity. “Getting to explore those differences in gameplay in GLC is super rewarding! I try to keep one of each type of deck built at all times, and my goal is always to make each type as strong as it can possibly be.”

From the name itself, Gym Leader Challenge can be a challenge. At Full Grip Games, players are even encouraged to bring different types per week, acting as some sort of Gym Leader who specialize in one single type. If they win a tournament with that type, they gain a badge on their GLC cards, with the goal to obtain as many stamps as possible in a season.

For the readers, which Pokémon TCG type is your favorite? What pet cards are you excited to build around in the Gym Leader Challenge? What decks will you be playing in the Pokémon TCG Live GLC weeks?

Next week, we’ll look into some of the top GLC decks, and some decklists that can be played in the Pokémon TCG Live implementation of GLC. Meanwhile, if you’re a new player, the Dragapult ex League Battle Deck might be the perfect product for you. If you want to see some of the most promising decks in the Journey Together meta game, we have you covered in this Atlanta Regionals recap.