Now that the Pokémon Latin America International Championships (LAIC)—the first major tournament of the 2024-25 Pokémon TCG tournament circuit—is in the books, a clearer picture of the current metagame and the decks which are dominating it has begun to develop.

Even at this early stage of the season, certain decks have already positioned themselves as the decks to beat, achieved impressive results in the hands of their players, and posed the biggest threats at many different tournaments for almost every opponent.

These decks are currently on top of the Pokémon TCG meta:

Regidrago VSTAR

As of right now, there’s no doubt whatsoever that the Regidrago VSTAR deck is the Best Deck in Format (BDIF) following a dominant performance at LAIC. In São Paulo, both finalists used this deck; in fact, six of the top 12 players brought the Regidrago VSTAR deck to the tournament. There’s a clear gap between this deck and the rest of the pack at the moment.

It all starts with Apex Dragon, the sole attack of Regidrago VSTAR which enables it to use any attack of any discarded Dragon-type Pokémon card. The main attacks channeled by Regidrago VSTAR via Apex Dragon are Dragapult ex’s Phantom Dive and Kyurem‘s Trifrost which allow the player to inflict major spread damage.

Teal Mask Ogerpon ex is another key element of the deck’s strategy. Its Ability of Teal Dance, when combined with Energy Switch, can be used to accelerate the Energy ramping process and quickly load up Regidrago VSTAR, potentially allowing the Dragon-type member of the Legendary giant quintet to unleash Apex Dragon before the opponent even has a chance to set up.

Raging Bolt ex

This deck served up a disappointing performance at LAIC, topping out at just 29th place in the hands of US player Nathian Beck. That being said, its poor showing in Brazil was likely to have been just a blip as shown by its otherwise excellent results so far this season, highlighted by a Louisville Regionals title. It’s also had two top-10 finishes at both the Korean League Season 1 and Singapore Premier Ball League as well as a fourth-place finish at the Buenos Aires Special Event.

The Raging Bolt ex deck plays at a rapid pace, largely due to the early-game draw engine capabilities of the respective Abilities of Teal Mask Ogerpon ex (Teal Dance) and Squawkabilly ex (Squawk and Seize). Further adding to this is Supporter card Professor Sada’s Vitality which not only allows the player to draw three additional cards; it also places Energy cards on one or both of Ancient Pokémon duo Teal Mask Ogerpon ex and Raging Bolt ex.

The deck’s titular Raging Bolt ex card in turn enhances the effect of Professor Sada’s Vitality after attacking with its Bellowing Thunder attack. The more Energy cards from the player’s Pokémon are discarded, the more damage the attack inflicts. Those discarded Energy cards can then be reattached accordingly by playing Professor Sada’s Vitality; the three extra cards are certainly a nice bonus as well.

Charizard ex

Despite this deck’s recent decline, it nevertheless remains a bona fide force to be contended with in most tournaments. Five of the top 25 players at LAIC, including two of the top 10—Jackson Ford of Canada in fifth and Brazilian Rafael Yuiti in 10th—played the Charizard ex deck. The deck’s recent highlights also include second place at the Philippines Premier Ball League and fourth place at the Louisville Regionals.

Charizard ex’s Ability of Infernal Reign is used to power itself up as soon as it evolves, attaching Fire energy cards to prepare its Burning Darkness attack. Since Burning Darkness gains in power as the opponent takes more Prize cards, it can easily be used to either swing the momentum and kickstart a comeback or as a finishing move in the late game to close out the W.

Cursed Blast, Dusknoir’s Ability, pairs nicely with what Charizard ex brings to the table because Cursed Blast sacrifices Dusknoir and thus lets the opponent take a Prize card as it deals 130 damage to an opposing Pokémon. Finally, Pidgeot ex’s Ability of Quick Search is ideal for landing just the card for the situation as it allows the player to select any card from the deck.

In other TCG-related news, check out Black Bolt and White Flare. 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.

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