It’s almost never the case that just one Pokémon TCG single-handedly establishes a deck as a viable contender in the metagame. Yet, this is exactly what’s happened in the case of the Toedscruel/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex deck. Prior to the Portland Regionals in May 2024, the deck had only ever been used once in an official tournament: Brandon Light used it at the Sacramento Regionals in November 2024 and finished just 200th.

However, in Portland, Ray Chen took the deck to 12th place, drawing a great deal of interest from the Pokémon TCG community in the process. Chen then backed that result up by taking the same deck to fifth place at the Pokémon North America International Championships (NAIC), proving that the deck did indeed have a place in the meta.

Strategy

The main attacker of the deck is the Toedscruel ex card from the ex Special Set [SVP1]. Colony Rush, Toedscruel ex’s attack, dishes out 80 damage for two Grass Energy cards plus 40 more for each of the player’s Benched Pokémon which has a Grass Energy card attached as well. Additionally, its Ability of Protective Mycelium protects all of the player’s Pokémon with Energy cards attached from all additional effects of opposing Pokémon’s attacks.

The card used to power up Colony Rush as well as expand the range of Protective Mycelium as well as the Teal Mask Ogerpon ex card from Mask of Change [SV6]. It provides the same Energy-ramping function that it does in the Raging Bolt ex deck via its Ability of Teal Dance. One key difference between its role in this deck and in the Raging Bolt ex deck, however, lies in the fact that it doesn’t matter how many Energy cards are attached to each Pokémon as long as they all have at least one.

Part of the appeal of this deck lies in its matchup advantages against several current metagame staples such as the Charizard ex, Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex, and Dragapult ex decks. The Toedscruel/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex deck’s main type of Grass takes advantage of type matchups against the Charizard ex and Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex decks while Protective Mycelium shields the player’s Benched Pokémon from the spread damage inflicted by the Dragapult ex deck.

Price

The total price of all the cards in the Toedscruel/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex deck is 7,900 JPY (~US$54).

In other TCG-related news, check out the Pokémon Center Kanazawa Open Commemoration Special Box. 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.

Follow us on:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Pinterest
• Twitter