Wanted to post this since there is some slight changes to the TCG rule set, including a change to asymmetrical top cut.

Pokémon TCG Rules & Resources Updates — September 2026

Pokémon has published its latest updates to the Pokémon TCG Rules & Resources and Play! Pokémon Rules & Resources. Below is a summary of the changes announced today.

Pokémon TCG Rules & Resources

Pokémon TCG Tournament Handbook

• A small clarification regarding the timing for providing a deck list to an opponent has been added.

Pokémon League Rules & Resources

Play! Pokémon Store Handbook

• Clarifies that a Play! Pokémon Store is specifically owned by the store location, rather than an individual Play! Pokémon Store staff member.
• Language regarding the new Play! Pokémon Store Agreement has been updated.

Play! Pokémon League Challenges, Cups, and Prerelease Guide

• The sanctioning window for all events, including Prereleases, is now 7 days instead of 14 days.
• Information regarding server maintenance for Pokémon Champions that may impact League Cups and League Challenges has been added.

Rules & Resources for All

Play! Pokémon Standards of Conduct

• A new Section 6.1.1 has been added, disallowing an individual from simultaneously serving as tournament staff and acting as a parent, guardian, or chaperone for a participant who requires one to be present at the tournament.
• The minimum age for guardians and chaperones has been clarified as 18.

Play! Pokémon Tournament Rules Handbook

• Clarifies that individuals who are not eligible to participate in events that award Championship Points are also not eligible to participate in the World Championships.
• Additional information has been added regarding when a match begins, based on the product being played.
• Eligibility dates for the Junior, Senior, and Masters age divisions have been updated.
• Information has been added stating that, for some tournaments, individuals may be required to play different versions of a game based on their age and location.
• The maximum number of competitors in an asymmetrical top cut is now 16 for Pokémon TCG and 32 for Pokémon VGC and Pokémon GO tournaments run as Swiss.

Play! Pokémon Penalty Guidelines

• Section 4.1.1, Applying Same Penalty for Multiple Infractions, has been added.
• Clarification regarding when a match ends has been added.

Now that worlds is over, I wanted to look at some of the decks that had surprising placements and discuss them. There are definitely some big surprises for me if you take a deeper look into tournament results. This is not going to be every unique deck, just the ones I thought were really interesting and wanted to focus on.

First one I want to highlight is the 30th place deck by Gan Pee Wei Jun. This was a Toxtricity box with Pecharunt, Brute Bonnet, Chi-Yu, and Mega Absol. A heavy count of Munkidori here helps a ton as well I'm sure. There's obviously hand control with the Mega Absol, big damage with the Brute Bonnet, and even retreat lock options with Pecharunt. I see lots of potential here, but also that this would be very difficult to pilot properly. You would need to come in with a plan to each matchup here. Most of the attacking mons having only one copy does also worry me with the potential to lose important pieces to prizing. Still a really cool deck to see place so high at this level of competition.

Second deck I wanted to look at the 50th Place Sharpedo Deck by Shih Wei Chen. This is an archetype that has been all but dead since the release of Phantasmal Flames. Even the list here seems to be built with a straight forward approach in mind. There is 3 Pecharunt Ex in the deck and heavy amount of hand distruption that I find unique to this archetype. I think perhaps the heavy pokemon and supporter count here lets the player get around item lock and play ultra aggressive into the budews we typically see in Pult. They managed to beat every Pult they went against here so I think this one presents some serious potential when discussing Pult counters.

The third deck here is a complete shocker. One that absolutely no one had on their radar or even being in discussion anywhere I saw. That is the 115th placing deck by Alexandre Solé: Mega Chandelure. This deck didn't finish with the best standing but being able to make Day 2 is an achievement in of itself here. This list plays with a 4 of both the Mega Chandelure and the single prize version. The addition of Elgyem here also creates the possibility of moving energy around to really make that psuedo retreat lock happen. With both the Chandelures and Comfey in this list, I see a lot of options to create deck out games and win through a more control style approach. Overall, I really enjoyed the ideas behind this list and I look forward to seeing what else can happen going forward.

The last list I wanted to look at is the 120th placing Mega Venusaur list by Shizuki Nakagawa. This list feels like they take every bit of grass support that's come out recently and throw it in a deck. I do wonder how consistent it is to get setup here with needing up to 3 Stage 2s set up just to get good damage out. I would like to point out that this list has also cut any kind of healing you may see typically in these lists such as Wally's or maybe even a jumbo ice cream. Instead focusing on more search and consistency pieces. Maybe that is what a deck like this needed all along. There does seem to be a big weakness to single prize decks here as most of the losses are to decks like Alakazam and Festival Lead. Overall this seems like a more consistent way to build the deck that I found very interesting, but perhaps the one I'm the least excited to actually try. I would maybe want to cut the Mega Meganium from this if I were to try it.

Please share any other lists that interested you here. I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts on these decks or ways they could potentially be improved.

With the majority of good cards including Ace Specs rotating out, how do you think Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex and Team Rocket’s Honchkrow decks would fare? Given, losing secret box, max belt, even miracle headset could definitely change how these decks work. Been loving the Team Rocket decks, but Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex is kind of difficult for me but I sure am having fun with Honchkrow

I’ve been running this list at various locals with decent success, I know there are improvements to be made so was just looking for some suggestions!

Pokémon: 9 3 Pikipek PBL 66 2 Trumbeak PBL 67 1 Fan Rotom ASC 250 4 Ethan's Cyndaquil DRI 32 3 Ethan's Quilava DRI 33 3 Ethan's Typhlosion DRI 34 1 Victini SSP 21 1 Shaymin DRI 10 3 Toucannon PBL 68

Trainer: 17 1 Secret Box TWM 163 1 Kieran PRE 113 1 Dawn PFL 129 1 Special Red Card CRI 82 1 Night Stretcher ASC 196 2 Air Balloon BLK 79 1 Lana's Aid TWM 155 2 Boss's Orders ASC 256 4 Poké Pad POR 113 2 Prism Tower CRI 111 1 Brave Bangle WHT 80 3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184 3 Lillie's Determination MEG 119 3 Ultra Ball MEG 131 4 Ethan's Adventure DRI 165 3 Rare Candy SVI 191 1 Gravity Mountain SSP 177

Energy: 3 5 Basic {R} Energy MEE 2

Total Cards: 60

The deck has:

4x Litleo from Chaos Rising
3x Mega Pyroar EX from Chaos Rising
3x Turtonator from Perfect Order
3x Furfrou from Perfect Order
3x Vulpix from Chaos Rising
2x Ninetales from Chaos Rising
3x Boss’s Orders
3x AZ’s Tranquility
3x Emma
3x Judge
2x Naveen
3x Switch
3x Poke Pad
3x Ultra Ball
3x Special Red Card
2x Energy Switch
2x Lucky Helmet
12x Basic Fire Energy

Thanks to everyone who’s been helping me out in these posts!

Recently saw the new Sigilyph ex revealed coming in Aura Seeker, and it is yet another hard counter to Mega Lucario ex, hitting for 280 because of weakness (and can KO it with Kieren or Black Belt) and cannot be damaged by Lucario in return, and it resists fighting, so the only way to return KO it is attacking with Hariyama plus a damage mod. Though I kind of doubt Sigilyph will see much play aside from Psychic/Wonderous Patch and Metang box decks (if it's released pre-rotation).

Obviously, Dhelmise is pretty much an auto loss unless you are running Hero's Cape and/or Papaya Berry and some alternate attackers that can be powered up with an Aura Jab that aren't OKHO'd by Dhelmise. When you consider the 170 damage output, it's obvious that this deck was designed to hard counter Lucario.

And with Mew ex coming soon, I don't know how many decks with actually run it, but I would assume any 1 energy attacker (especially megas) will be including a copy. While it seems many think that Mew ex and Dhelmise are supposed to counter Dragapult, they aren't necessarily effective in doing so due to Mew and Lillie's Clefairy's low HP making it an 2 for 2 trade while also spreading damage counters to the bench.

That brings me to my point. Mega Lucario has never been a meta threat. It has 1 top 8 finish in master's division during its year of existence, with it's highest placement being 134th in words master's. Though shoutout to Jones in seniors who won a regional and placed third in worlds with it.

For a deck with such limited competitive success, it just feels that there are so many direct counter cards being printed that will result in it never being competitive despite it having a lot of good support in the format.

I'm curious people's thoughts on this. Is TPCI thinking that post H-block rotation, Lucario would be undisputed BDIF and ruin the format if no counters are printed? It's just hard to imagine it will ever be too much of a threat with Mew ex literally allowing every single deck in the format to hit it for weakness.

I recently picked up the game again after not playing for like 8 years. I have some friends showing me the ropes and showing me limitless and how to find decks.

Having a look around, I found N's zoroark deck. Both my favorite trainer and pokemon so obviously I want to pick up that deck. I started playing it in the pokemon tcg online and had some fun with it.

I want to look into buying the cards to try and play it in some local events but was wondering what version to get or what cards to get as there are many version and would like a version that is more beginner friendly to play!

Been playing around with two versions.

One with:

3 Dudunsparce

4 Tepig

3 Dunsparce

3 Mega Emboar ex

1 Oricorio ex

4 Pignite

2 Emboar

1 Budew

Other with

3 Dudunsparce

3 Tepig

3 Dunsparce

3 Mega Emboar ex

2 Oricorio ex

2 Pignite

1 Budew

The main difference is should I use stage 2 emboar because it has engery acceleration or do I just use 2 oricorio ex. The emboar helps because I don't have a 2 prizer ex sitting on the bench unless I really need it but the 2 oricorio ex allows me to have more trainer cards. I feel the 2 oricorio ex is better but many times they boss or snipe it and just take out a single prizer for the win.

I'm really excited to play my first official event. I'm looking to play alakazam and feel really confident in the deck, the only thing I have is worries for Hide n Seek players which is a pretty big counter now I've dropped the toucannon line. I really don't like having an auto loss I was wondering if putting a 1 1 1 Toucannon line in or some other tech that could help?

I already play Shaymin for Slowking, Psyduck for Dusknoirs, Battlecages for Pult, I do have special energy removal but im not sure what these are for as Slowking im fairly happy with Shaymin and they can just get it back from discard

Any help greatly appreciated!

Still buzzing from that TCG Masters final. As someone who find difficult to face Alakazam, watching that deck get its own medicine and deck itself out felt like poetic justice. He who lives by the draw, dies by the draw. That deck spends the whole game asking “how many cards can I possibly see,” and eventually the answer was “zero, sorry, go fish.”

Massive respect to Diego and his incredible run. Game 1 he had Hedrick on the ropes, but that’s exactly what made Andrew’s win so cool. Game 1 wasn’t won with some flashy bomb, it was won with fundamentals. Thinning his deck, keeping his resources clean.

GG to both.

Made an "Anti ex" deck that I find is fun to play, give people who are ex heavy a run for their money sometimes. Was wondering what your thoughts are on this deck?

Pokemon:

Rowlet 3 PQR

Dartrix 3 SFA

Decidueye 4 SFA

Dwebble 3 DRI

Crustle 3 DRI

Trainers:

Boss's Orders 3 MEG

Judge 3 POR

Team Rocket's Petrel 4 DRI

Bug Catching set 4 TWN

Rare Candy 4 MEG

Dawn 2 PFL

Brock's Scouting 2 JTG

Energy Search 2 POR

Switch 3 MEG

Neutralization Zone Ace Spec 1 SFA

Energy:

Basic Grass Energy 15

I maxed petrel to be able to locate rare candy to speed up baby decidueye or locate neutralization zone and also maxed judge for disruption.

I see every good Mega Lucario player on the internet say that it is actually favored into Dragapult but I constantly lose the match up over and over again. My current strategy is with either the Hariyama or Dudunspare build to try and get Mega Lucario evolved as quick as possible to get 2 prize cards. However usually after the second knockout I just get unfair stamped and lose from their unless I got a really lucky opening hand. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Eri: "Your opponent reveals their hand, and you discard up to 2 Item cards you find there."

From compendium.pokegym.net:

With the release of the Ascended Heroes rulebook: For effects of attacks, if a card uses the phrase "up to X" you can choose any number between 0 and the maximum. For other effects (such as the effects of Trainer cards and Abilities), you can choose any number between 1 and the maximum. However, there is one exception: for any effect that allows you to search your deck or discard pile for any card you want and doesn't specify what kind, you must choose at least 1. If a card uses the phrase "any amount" or "any number" (for example, "discard any amount of Energy from this Pokemon") you can choose 0.

Why is there a distinction for Trainer cards? Why not allow 0 cards to be discarded? You still get to see their hand when your opponent still reveals it.

This matchup seems super tough. I’ve ran into a plethora of Alakazam‘s in Master Rank recently and have been getting my butt handed to me. You can’t exactly go with single prizers only due to most Excadrill builds not running recovery, and losing out on your Metal Makers as you start to evolve to Metagross. Additionally Zam has boss Genesect for game. I’ve tried going first, getting big drill set up and seeing if I can get some mills in early on, but that doesn’t seem to work out either.

For those as obsessed with Lucario as me you probably were wondering how it did at worlds. In the Masters division it had 2 decent placements being 134th and 135th place respectively. Which isn’t half bad for Worlds. Interestingly in the Senior division Mega Lucario got 3rd place out of all the Seniors. Also all the placing builds played Hariyama so maybe it genuienly is the better way to go? Just curious other people’s thoughts on this. I have been a Dudunsparce player for a while now but I’m thinking about giving Hariyama a try again based on these results.

I'm not good at all at building decks since I'm still a beginner in Pokemon tcg so i would really like some tips/recommendations. This is what i made so far, my goal is to make a fun to use deck that's annoying for your opponent, but every time i try it out it doesn't fully work the way I'd like it to. I feel like it's imbalanced in some way, so if someone with more experience would like to have a look and help me with it, I'd be really happy :)

Thank youu!

-POKEMONS-

4x Hisuian Lilligant V

4x Hisuian Lilligant VSTAR

2x Leafeon V (Greening Cells)

2x Iron Bundle (Hyper Blower)

2x Budew (Itchy Pollen)

2x Flutter Mane (Midnight Fluttering)

-TRAINER CARDS-

2x Big Parasol

2x Pokégear 3.0

2x Counter Catcher

2x Ultra Ball

2x Nest Ball

1x Unfair Stamp

2x Forest of Vitality

2x Lost City

2x Kieran

2x Iono

4x Xerosic's Machinations

2x Boss's Orders

2x Gardenia's Vigor

2x Cook

-ENERGY-

11x Basic 🌿 Energy

4x Growing 🌿 Energy

Hi guys,

Could you help me with dragapult strategy? I commonly got without energy and when I put the dragapult my opponent already taken a lot of prizes. What’s my priority with this deck?

This is the list I’ve been playing, I accept any changes to improve

Pokémon: 21
4 Dreepy TWM 128
4 Drakloak TWM 129
2 Dragapult ex TWM 130
2 Torchic DRI 40
1 Combusken DRI 41
2 Blaziken ex JTG 24
2 Munkidori TWM 95
1 Budew ASC 16
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
1 Meowth ex POR 62
1 Moltres PFL

Trainer: 31
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Crispin SCR 133
1 Dawn PFL 87
4 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
3 Ultra Ball MEG 131
3 Rare Candy MEG 125
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Risky Ruins MEG 127
1 Jamming Tower TWM 153

Energy: 8
3 Psychic Energy MEE 5
3 Fire Energy MEE 2
2 Darkness Energy MEE 7

...Is that the ladder is full of people that forgot what Psyduck (ASC 39) does

I've gotten like 3 or 4 free wins since yesterday from people spending a crazy amount of resources getting some sort of duskull/dusknoir set up, while I have Psyduck face up on the board, then immediately conceding.

Remember to read the cards on the board, people! Good luck out there!

Singapore! As announced during the closing ceremonies! Marking only the third time the pokémon world championships have ever been held outside of North America.

Noticed a lot of the Pult builds that placed decently high at worlds don't play Shaymin which seems like you'd insta lose to slowking. Is the gameplan just to dodge the match up considering most players at worlds aren't likely to play Slowking or is there an actual line to consistently win without protection against Trifrost?

I have a challenge coming up this weekend and unsure if I should keep Shaymin in my Chicken Pult or play a different card that's more universal

The deck contains

4x Litleo from Chaos Rising
3x Mega Pyroar EX from Chaos Rising
3x Turtonator from Perfect Order
3x Furfrou from Perfect Order
2x Vulpix from Chaos Rising
2x Ninetales from Chaos Rising
3x Bosses Orders
3x Professors Research
3x AZs Tranquility
2x Welder
2x Dan
3x Switch
3x Nest Ball
3x Poke Pad
2x Energy Switch
3x Ultra Ball
2x Evolution Incense
2x Lucky Helmet
12x Basic Fire Energy

The deck contains 60 cards total so please dont waste time counting. All help is appreciated!

I think Pokémon’s mulligan system could really use an update.

I’m not even talking about changing the current rule where your opponent draws an extra card when you mulligan because you have no Basic Pokémon. What I mean is adding a second step after you get a valid opening hand with at least one Basic Pokémon.

For example, once you have a valid hand, you could choose up to X cards from your hand, put them on the bottom of your deck, and draw the same number of cards. There could obviously be a limit, maybe 2, 3 or 4 cards, so you can’t just completely redraw your hand.

Other card games already have mulligan systems that give players some control over their starting hand. Lorcana, for example, lets you replace cards from your opening hand before the game starts.

Pokémon is already a game with a huge amount of draw and search, so most of the time decks are very consistent. But that almost makes the games where you completely brick feel even worse.

Sometimes you open a hand with technically playable Basic Pokémon, but absolutely nothing that actually lets you play the game. No draw Supporter, no search Item, no way to reach another Pokémon, nothing.

Maybe your only Basic is something like Psyduck or Shaymin, the rest of your hand is dead, and suddenly your entire game depends on your first topdeck. If you miss, you pass, your opponent sets up, and in some cases you just get donked immediately.

There’s not really any decision-making or skill involved in a game like that. You simply opened badly and lost.

Of course, bricking is part of every card game and I don’t think it should be completely eliminated. Deckbuilding consistency should still matter. But I think Pokémon is especially punishing when it happens because there are starting hands where you technically meet the requirement to play, while realistically having almost no chance to participate in the game.

This also matters even more in BO1 tournament formats, where one completely unplayable opening hand can basically decide your entire round.

A limited mulligan after getting a valid hand could reduce these non-games without removing the importance of deckbuilding. If I could put 3 or 4 completely dead cards on the bottom of my deck and redraw them, I might still brick, but at least I would have had an opportunity to make a meaningful decision before the game effectively ended.

I’m curious what other players think. Would some kind of limited hand-fixing mulligan be healthy for Pokémon, or would it make already-consistent decks too consistent?

Been going back and forth on this with a friend and I want some outside opinions.

Say you take a really strong player, someone who actually knows how to sequence, plays the mirror well, reads boards properly, all of it. And you hand them something like Slowking, Hydrapple, Grimmsnarl, Basic Box, whatever the current lower A to C tier stuff is (still Meta but not top Tier Meta). Can that person realistically take 1st at locals and cups on a regular basis, or are they capping out at top 4 / top 8 and get a first place here and there, no matter how well they play?

So how much of a first place finish is deck power vs pilot?