The latest changes to the Pokémon TCG metagame have seen certain decks take or solidify their places at the top of the meta while other have seen a decline. Based on stats taken from tournaments of various sizes all over the world, it’s now been determined which decks are currently the most viable.

With the recent release of Crimson Haze [SV5a] as well as the upcoming launch of Mask of Change [SV6], the current Pokémon TCG meta is in something of a transitional period at the moment, especially given the fact that the current rotation is very new.

With three major tournaments just around the corner—Champions League Sapporo from 3-5 May, the Japan Championships from 1-2 June, and the Pokémon North America International Championships (NAIC) from 7-9 June—this upcoming period will be crucial in determining the decks’ pecking order as the world’s best players prepare to face off.

Charizard ex

Is anyone actually surprised? By far the most dominant deck of the current meta, this deck came out on top at two major tournaments over the past few weeks—the Pokémon Europe International Championships (EUIC) and Champions League Aichi. As if those weren’t enough, the Charizard ex deck also clinched the title at three smaller regional tournaments during this same timeframe as well.

Infernal Reign, the Ability of the titular Charizard ex, is ideal for setting up its own Burning Darkness attack or any other attacks from any other Pokémon by loading it up with Fire Energy cards. To expedite this process, the Pidgeot ex card has the Ability Quick Search; that Ability is also a great way to secure any other necessary cards.

Finally, Bibarel is the perfect supporting piece—it has Industrious Incisors as its Ability; using it enables the player to draw cards until the player has five cards in hand. It’s a draw engine that has tremendous synergy with Pidgeot ex.

Lugia VSTAR

This deck has actually found itself in a bit of a slump, topping out at 24th place at EUIC in London and 13th place in Aichi. That being said, it remains to be seen if the new rotation’s meta has genuinely weakened this deck or if it’s just a blip.

Summoning Star, Lugia VSTAR’s Ability, is first used to get Archeops in play without needing to evolve it from Archen. Following this, the player can use Archeops’ Ability of Primal Turbo to load up Cinccino with Special Energy cards.

If done correctly, the player will have turned Cinccino into a little grey fluffy wrecking ball. Its Special Roll attack dishes out 70 damage per Special Energy card attached—likely to allow it to pick up KO after KO.

Lost Zone Box

Although this deck didn’t perform particularly well at both of the two recent major tournaments, it bounced back at two smaller ones with a fourth-place finish at the Perth Regionals and a second-place finish at the São Paulo Regionals. Those results proved that in the right hands, this deck remains a genuine metagame force.

By using Supporter card Colress’s Experiment in tandem with Comfey’s Ability of Flower Selecting, filling up the Lost Zone in a hurry becomes an easy task. Once the Lost Zone is loaded up, the player can then use Mirage Gate to attach Energy cards to the relevant Pokémon.

This deck features attackers of four different types, allowing the player to more easily manipulate weakness and resistance matchups.

In other TCG-related news, check out the Iron Hands ex/Iron Crown ex deck. Alternatively, you can also head over to the SNKRDUNK App via the banner below and find the top trending and latest single cards and boxes.