An Evolving Metagame

What’s up Ultimate Guard readers? Our Surging Sparks Pokémon TCG metagame is in full swing, but we always have to look towards the future of the game, right? In Osaka, Japan, there was a recent Champions League event with over 5000 players that featured our English-equivalent of Prismatic Evolutions being legal for competitive play. Well, let’s just say the results were much different than most would’ve expected! Many of us predicted Budew [Prismatic Evolutions] to push Dragapult ex [Twilight Masquerade] to new heights, and that did happen, but Archaludon ex [Surging Sparks] ended up taking a huge surprise win! Furthermore, Ancient Box placed second, and a handful of Ceruledge ex [Surging Sparks] decks placed highly within the top 16! In this article, I’ll be sharing deck lists for some of the top performing decks from Champions League Osaka! Let’s jump into it!

Archaludon ex Deck

The deck that won it all! In a world where there aren’t many decks that can reach its mighty 300 HP, Archaludon ex found a way to tower above the rest of the competition, and use pseudo-healing cards to keep up with the rest of the metagame! Cards like Professor Turo’s Scenario [Paradox Rift], and Scoop Up Cyclone [Stellar Crown] allow you to lift up Archaludon ex, and re-use its Ability to accelerate more Energy in play. This continuous heal, attach, attack loop allows you to stay steady against most decks! If you need a little more exciting turn, queue in Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR [Astral Radiance]. You can use a couple Archaludon ex to power up this mighty Pokémon VSTAR to take an extra turn for a huge four Prize Card sweep! It might look like a cookie-cutter deck list, but it’s tried-and-true! Let’s check out this Metal-tank of a deck!

Dragapult ex / Dusknoir Deck

Dragapult ex is one of the few decks that have gained a new card from Prismatic Evolutions, and that card is Budew [Prismatic Evolutions]. Being able to Item-lock your opponent while you build up Dragapult ex on your Bench is an incredibly powerful strategy, and it gets even better knowing that you have a few Dusknoir [Shrouded Fables] ready to place extra damage counters wherever necessary. It might not be as aggressive as a Raging Bolt ex [Twilight Masquerade] deck, but it can often find win conditions by attacking with Dragapult ex only a few times! With Regidrago VSTAR [Silver Tempest] seeing less play because Budew blocks Energy Switch [Scarlet and Violet], Dragapult ex takes the lead role as one of the big decks in the format! Its an exciting change from our current metagame, but I’m hyped to see this next chapter of competitive play! Let’s check out my Dragapult ex list!

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Lugia VSTAR Deck

Lugia VSTAR [Silver Tempest] is arguably the most successful deck of all time, and it has found the other “playable” card from Prismatic Evolutions getting added to its core list - welcome Regigigas [Prismatic Evolutions to the deck! Being a single Prize Card Pokémon that can swing 330 damage into any Tera Pokémon for only four Energy is a huge add, and I fully expect many players to pick up this deck for upcoming major Pokémon TCG events! Beyond that, that strategy is going to remain the same! Use Lugia VSTAR to summon back discarded Archeops [Silver Tempest], use those Archeops to accelerate Energy into play, and load up whichever attacker works best against your opponent! With Lugia VSTAR lists having many powerful skeleton lists to build off of, here is my take on the updated archetype!

Ancient Box Deck

In a surprising turn of events, Ancient Box found itself all the way in the finals of the Champions League in Osaka, and it largely has to do with many of the decks countering it shifting around in the metagame! With Charizard ex [Obsidian Flames] struggling to use Rare Candy [Scarlet and Violet] because of Budew, Ancient Box has found sturdiness in this new format! In terms of list changes, this deck hasn’t gained anything new from Prismatic Evolutions, but it does use Munkidori [Twilight Masquerade] to counter Budew. You can use its Ability to move damage counters from your damaged Pokémon to your opponent's Active, which can include Budew! At only 30 HP, Budew can be OHKOed with only one use of your Ability, and you can still attack with your powerful Ancient Pokémon, like Roaring Moon [Temporal Forces]! The strategy remains the same - discard a bunch of Ancient Cards, and swing hard with Roaring Moon! Let’s check out my latest list!

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Waiting for an English Release

As fun as it is looking at massive tournaments across the globe, I wanna get my hands on these cards to play with them for myself! The set drops globally this month, and I’m sure the “big” cards from the set, Budew and Regigigas, will shake up our current Surging Sparks format! I’m excited to see how I fare in this new metagame myself as I’m travelling from Montréal to London in February to play in the 2025 European International Championships! I’ll keep all of y’all up to date with the latest metagame trends, decks, and my journey along the way! Thanks for reading, and I’ll catch up with ya soon! - Zach Lesage