Surprising Worlds Results! A Meta Shift for Baltimore!

Hello everyone! This year’s World Championships have just concluded, and it was an exciting one! We are going to conveniently ignore the fact that I bombed out of the tournament big time, and look at the decks that did well this year. [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] was expected by everyone to be the best and most popular deck. Interestingly, a very large portion of elite players just decided to rip it in with Regidrago VSTAR, unconcerned with mirror matches or potential counters. My group also recognized the unparalleled power and versatility of the deck, but it felt like it didn’t make sense to play it for this tournament. A part of me wishes that we had, as I was well-versed in the deck and its lines of play. At the very least, it couldn’t have gone worse for me than it did…

[cardimg name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Instead, we played [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] stall. After some more testing, we teched it out to a point where we were relatively fine with the [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] and quad [card name=”Iron Thorns ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] matchups, which were the biggest pain points in considering Snorlax as a play.

In theory, this deck wouldn’t lose to any of the meta decks, making it seem like a broken pick that was sure to perform well, however, we collectively ran into a plethora of bad matchups including [card name=”Pecharunt ex” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”39″ c=”name”][/card] in Ancient box decks, [card name=”Skwovet” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] in [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card], as well as [card name=”Chi-Yu ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] in the mirror. Worlds was supposed to be the tournament where we didn’t run into random nonsense, but complaining won’t solve anything, so life goes on.

The Worlds Meta

Back to Regidrago VSTAR. The deck flooded the field and performed very well, taking up four of the Top 8 spots. This meta development prompted a lot of players to try and counter Regidrago VSTAR, with the obvious response being turbo-aggressive decks like [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]. One Raging Bolt ex made Top 8, but more interestingly, other turbo decks showed up to fulfill a similar role to Raging Bolt ex, but with different attackers. Jesse Parker’s [card name=”Miraidon ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] turned heads as he blitzed through the tournament undefeated until Top 4. Miraidon ex’s sheer speed was enough to box out Regidrago VSTAR, and it had a significantly better matchup against Lugia VSTAR than Raging Bolt ex does. Ryan Harris also made Top 16 with Miraidon ex, with those two being the only top-finishing Miraidon ex decks. I have to say that this was a stellar performance for Miraidon ex considering its low meta share. It wasn’t too hard to figure out that Miraidon ex was poised well going into this metagame, but I did not want to play it due to a personal dislike and bad experiences with the deck. I also thought that playing luck-based decks was a bad move, as it squanders my potential to skill-diff opponents. Of course, with my dismal result, my thought process ultimately amounted to nothing, but I am simply sharing how I made these decisions at the time.

A pure turbo [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] deck happened to appear out of nowhere and take second place, and was not seen anywhere else. This was funny and completely unexpected, but it makes total sense. Just like Raging Bolt ex and Miraidon ex, Roaring Moon ex functions as a fast and aggressive deck that aims to completely shut out [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card]. The list was built purely for speed and consistency, and it looks very fun to play, although I said I wouldn’t want to play a luck-based deck, this would be the one I would have liked to play if I were to do so. While I am a big hater of the [card name=”Judge” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”176″ c=”name”][/card] card, it appears in this list as a clever solve to the [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] matchup. [card name=”Pokémon Catcher” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card] has four copies in this deck, but as long as you’re able to find [card name=”Prime Catcher ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card], you realistically only need to flip one or two heads over the course of a game. Sometimes you don’t need any, but the card just makes sense in here.

A Quad Thorns Surprise

[cardimg name=”Iron Thorns ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”196″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

It’s time for the elephant in the room – quad [card name=”Iron Thorns ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card]. This deck won Worlds on a technicality, but regardless, still earned a Top 8 finish. Iron Thorns ex is a deck that I have an extremely low opinion of. I don’t remember if I even mentioned it in my Worlds preview articles because it just wasn’t relevant enough, however, after arriving in Hawaii, it became clear that people were actually playing this deck, and that we should prepare for it. We built the deck to test and swiftly took it apart because it was so bad. After that, we had second thoughts and re-built it, which is an extreme anomaly. That’s the first and last time we will fully scrap a deck only to come back to it. Well, you’ve probably heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, and boy were we going insane. The deck was still terrible, losing often enough to matchups like Regidrago VSTAR and Charizard ex that it was supposed to counter. We didn’t even bother testing it against [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], but can you imagine if it lost to that too? Would be pretty funny.

The Worlds list made the necessary innovation of playing Prime Catcher and four copies of [card name=”Pokémon Catcher” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card]. We also had arrived at the Prime Catcher conclusion, and Azul mentioned playing Pokemon Catcher, but those didn’t end up making their way into the list before we sent the deck to the scrapyard. While the extra gust effects were clearly a great decision for the deck, I still don’t think it salvages the overall archetype or makes it good. It’s hard to defy the empirical data right before my eyes, however. In addition to the top list, Iron Thorns ex had three more Top 32 spots (and got 33rd), so clearly the deck was doing something right despite its rather low meta share.

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The Rest of the Meta

Now let’s talk about [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card]. Charizard ex was the deck we had locked in until the night before when we switched to [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card]. Charizard ex is simply a great deck, and I’m happy and comfortable playing it. Unfortunately, the more we tested the deck, we fleshed out the [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] matchup and realized that it was, in fact, unfavored. Even a [card name=”Hero’s Cape ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] inclusion did not solve the matchup like we wanted it to. We ultimately could not justify playing a deck that was unfavored against Regidrago VSTAR, however, a large portion of the field was undeterred by this, and Charizard ex ended up being the second most popular deck at the tournament.

There were no Charizard ex in Top 8, but Tord came close by getting 10th with a very interesting and questionable list. I had considered the package of [card name=”Rabsca ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] with [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”151″ no=”17″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Technical Machine: Evolution” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card], but I was too stubborn to abandon [card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card]. While Dusknoir doesn’t do all that much against Regidrago VSTAR or the turbo counter decks, it is completely broken against literally everything else, namely the mirror, [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card], and Lugia VSTAR. The Rabsca strategy seemed too flimsy, and my list hadn’t evolved to the point that Tord’s had anyway. There are a lot of weird quirks about this list, for example, I would never in a million years cut [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card]. Again, the empirical data is staring me down. There were only three other Charizard ex in Top 32, so I think it’s fair to say that the deck underperformed — I presume this is due to the prevalence of Regidrago VSTAR.

[cardimg name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

[card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] was the third most popular deck. Many people expected the deck to be the second-most played behind Regidrago VSTAR, but the margins between Lugia VSTAR and Charizard ex were very close. Lugia VSTAR’s best finish was 9th, with Rahul’s unique and clever list losing in asymmetrical top cut. I think the list is awesome, but ultimately Lugia VSTAR is still an inconsistent mess no matter how you slice it. It’s supposed to be favored against Regidrago VSTAR, but with all Regidrago VSTAR lists playing [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card], the matchup is too close for comfort. Regardless, Lugia VSTAR’s finish was slightly better than Charizard ex’s, with another in Top 16 and three more in Top 32.

Gardevoir ex was the fourth most popular deck overall. I somewhat expected this, even though Gardevoir ex was a terrible play for the tournament due to its atrocious matchup spread (unfavored against Regidrago VSTAR and Charizard ex). Despite my finish with Gardevoir ex at NAIC, I remain the deck’s biggest hater. Nonetheless, Gardevoir ex got one Top 16 and one Top 32 spot, but I’d argue this is a poor showing for the deck given how popular it was. Lost Zone box up and disappeared from the face of the earth, as expected. Lucas Xing squeaked into Top 16 as the lone representative of [card name=”Chien-Pao ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card]. I don’t know how these kids keep forcing Chien-Pao ex when the deck seems to want to die, but I digress. The [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] tech is supposed to salvage games when Regidrago VSTAR inevitably board-wipes you, but I wouldn’t have any idea if it actually works.

Aside from [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]’s Top 8, it only had one Top 32 showing, so not too great. The last deck to mention is Alessandro Cremascoli’s [card name=”Pidgeot ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] control in Top 32. Pidgeot ex control was a terrible play for this tournament, and it loses to Regidrago VSTAR. You know I was trying to play some sort of Pidgeot ex control deck for this tournament, but it just was not working, however, Alessandro is the Pidgeot ex guy, so we kind of just expect him to do well with Pidgeot ex whether it’s good or not. There’s nothing spectacular about the list. If you’re unfamiliar with Pidgeot ex control as a whole, the deck is going to look crazy, however, as far as Pidgeot ex control goes, the list is rather standard.

While the meta was predominantly [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card], there was still quite a bit of diversity in the Top 32, showing that a plethora of decks are at least somewhat viable. It is a bit of a shame that the best-performing decks at Worlds were flippy big Basic decks like [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Iron Thorns ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Miraidon ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card], and Raging Bolt ex (most of them with lots of [card name=”Pokémon Catcher” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card]), but this was the natural progression of the meta in response to Regidrago VSTAR.

Baltimore Meta Predictions

[cardimg name=”Flutter Mane ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Going into the first Regional of the 2025 season, we will be playing with the same format as Worlds. As such, it is reasonable to expect the Worlds results to directly affect the meta for Baltimore Regionals. Despite all the hubbub around Iron Thorns ex, I don’t think the deck will suddenly explode in popularity. A few games with the deck reveal how clunky and inconsistent it is, and it relies entirely on your opponent bricking. Furthermore, the deck is somewhat easy to counter — pretty much any deck can easily tech a [card name=”Flutter Mane ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Canceling Cologne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card]. While these techs don’t give you an instant win by any means, they certainly improve the Iron Thorns ex matchup without sacrificing much elsewhere. For example, I think Raging Bolt ex already should have been playing Flutter Mane over [card name=”Sandy Shocks ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card], and now the case is even more clear.

That said, there will definitely be some degree of representation for Iron Thorns ex, and this will cause many frustrated losses due to the dead drawing that the deck induces. I think Iron Thorns ex is the worst that the Pokemon TCG has to offer, being a deck that relies on flips and for the opponent to brick, but at least we can somewhat prepare to face it. Regidrago VSTAR will almost certainly still be the most popular deck — the deck is fundamentally extremely strong, even though it doesn’t have the greatest matchup spread. This is a very common trend, where the best deck in the format has a poor on-paper matchup spread, but continues to put up strong results because it is inherently broken. As much as I would like to play [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card], I am still very hesitant due to that Regidrago VSTAR matchup. I will probably play it anyway though!

[card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] will maintain its somewhat mid-level of popularity. Some people may get scared off by the Worlds results, as Lugia VSTAR does struggle against Miraidon ex and Iron Thorns ex, however, it is realistically pretty good against everything else. I expect a much lower amount of Charizard ex, but it will probably still be a Top 4 most popular deck. Charizard ex notably does well into the turbo decks that counter Regidrago VSTAR.

The biggest change I expect to see is a large increase in turbo decks, specifically [card name=”Miraidon ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card]. People love playing these decks whenever they get the chance, as we have seen from last season. When these decks are even somewhat reasonably positioned into a meta, their play rate skyrockets dramatically.

[cardimg name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”251″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

While these decks weren’t very big at Worlds, their breakout runs had a huge spotlight, which people aren’t going to ignore. Raging Bolt ex is a bit of a question mark for me — if I had to guess, I would assume that it keeps its low-to-mid meta share. Miraidon ex and Roaring Moon ex are very similar decks that will likely dilute Raging Bolt ex’s meta share.

[card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] only stands to gain from these developments, as it is good against Roaring Moon ex, Raging Bolt ex, and especially Iron Thorns ex, however, I still think Gardevoir ex is positioned extremely poorly, as it still loses to Regidrago VSTAR and can struggle against Miraidon ex. I would expect Gardevoir ex to be less popular than it was at Worlds, but still may see a bit of play.

Tier List

To summarize the expected decks accounting for popularity and overall strength, my tier list would look like this:

Tier S:

[card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card]

Tier 1:

Roaring Moon ex

Miraidon ex

Charizard ex

Lugia VSTAR

Raging Bolt ex

Tier 2:

Iron Thorns ex

Gardevoir ex

List Commentary

[cardimg name=”Pokémon Catcher” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”111″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I have a few thoughts on the various Worlds lists, especially in the context of going forward as the metagame develops. The winning [card name=”Iron Thorns ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] list will likely be copied verbatim, as there’s only so much a deck like this can evolve and adapt to a metagame. The inclusions of [card name=”Pokémon Catcher” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card] provides both aggression and disruption, so I think they were a great choice. The lone copy of [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card] concerns me… I think I would prefer more Iono for consistency as well as that crucial disruption. While [card name=”Judge” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”176″ c=”name”][/card] is more disruptive in the opening turns, it can very well cripple the user as well. This deck lacks draw power, and can easily whiff the cards it needs. Playing tech Supporters like [card name=”Giovanni’s Charisma” set=”151″ no=”161″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Colress’s Tenacity” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] over Iono is a little questionable, if you ask me. I also think the list could do with some more copies of [card name=”Penny” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card], as the card is pretty broken in this deck. [card name=”Canceling Cologne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] is somewhat unnecessary going forward as [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] stall is completely nonexistent — you could keep one copy to beat [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card]’s [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card], but the second copy can easily be cut. Similarly, I don’t think there’s any need for that [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card], although having the option with four [card name=”Arven” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card] in the deck can be nice.

The second place [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] list looks squeaky clean. Going forward and expecting a little more Iron Thorns ex, I would include either a [card name=”Flutter Mane ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] or Canceling Cologne. Even one turn of burst potential should be enough to swing things. Flutter Mane is much easier to find than Canceling Cologne, but since the deck only has [card name=”Pecharunt ex” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”39″ c=”name”][/card] as a switching option (which doesn’t work against Iron Thorns ex), it could be awkward to maneuver Flutter Mane into the Active Spot. Of course, Flutter Mane is much more versatile and may be helpful in random situations, whereas Canceling Cologne is a completely dead card most of the time. If you don’t expect much [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] in the meta, you could also cut the two Judge for Iono to increase overall consistency. [card name=”Iron Bundle” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Mew ex” set=”151″ no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] are other considerations as they are simply useful and efficient supporting cards.

As for Charizard ex, I’m not sure if I could be convinced to play the Tord list, however, as much as I love [card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card], it does seem that the meta is becoming less favorable for it. It definitely could make sense to cut that entire line, adding [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] instead. If the [card name=”Rabsca ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] package does beat [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card], then that surely is the way to go, but I remain highly skeptical. Additionally, it seems that cutting [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card] might be necessary to make space for the Rabsca package.

[cardimg name=”Canceling Cologne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”136″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Most Regidrago VSTAR lists already had [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] for Worlds, but some didn’t, and they almost certainly have to now. While it’s possible to have a multi-Prize turn game plan against the turbo decks, you are still unfavored for a reason, and Radiant Charizard gives Regidrago VSTAR a solid alternative game plan into these types of decks that are popping up. While I was staunchly against the second copy of Canceling Cologne before Worlds, it makes more sense now so that you can destroy Iron Thorns ex (while also more consistently hitting the Canceling Cologne combo)!

That’s all I have for now! Thanks for reading! I hope this meta continues to evolve and develop, and perhaps we will see different decks perform well in the future.

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