The Pokemon Trading Card Game is showcasing the top decks being played at the 2025 Pokemon World Championships, featuring some truly fearsome strategies taking over the tournament. The massively popular trading card game has been abuzz with excitement as the multimedia monster-catching franchise is hosting its biggest competitive event of the year. The annual competition features top-level tournaments for games like the main-series Pokemon video games, Pokemon TCG, and Pokemon GO alongside smaller competitions for other Pokemon games. Now, Pokemon is highlighting some of the best decks in the trading card game.

The card game branch of the beloved franchise has seen plenty of powerful decks emerge throughout the Scarlet and Violet era, based around some fan-favorite creatures. Decks like "Gardevoir ex" and "Charizard ex" have been mainstays of the meta since early on in the game's current era, frequently capturing high finishes at competitive events. The recent Standard format rotation in April has also allowed some other decks to thrive, with strategies centered around "Gholdengo ex" and "Raging Bolt ex" seeing success. Now, the best of the best are on display at the Pokemon World Championships.

Pokemon TCG Giving Out Special Promo Pikachu
Pokemon TCG Giving Out Special Promo Pikachu Card

The Pokemon Trading Card Game is giving fans the opportunity to pick up an exclusive Pikachu promo card to celebrate the upcoming World Championships.

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The Pokemon Company shared a breakdown of the top decks at the Pokemon TCG World Championships on its official social media accounts, detailing which decks are thriving in the tournament. Gholdengo ex has easily been the darling of the tournament in terms of representation, seeing a 29.9% playrate with 38 different players. Two other decks boast playrates above 10% of the tournament's playerbase, with "Dragapult ex/Dusknoir" and "Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex" seeing 16.5% and 12.6% pick rates, respectively. Gardevoir ex stands as the only other deck with more than 10 players, sitting at a 9.4% playrate with 12 picks.

Pokemon TCG Reveals Top Decks at 2025 Worlds

  • Gholdengo ex: 29.9% play rate, 38 picks
  • Dragapult ex/Dusknoir: 16.5% play rate, 21 picks
  • Raging Bolt ex/Teal Mask Ogerpon ex: 12.6% play rate, 16 picks
  • Gardevoir ex: 9.4% play rate, 12 picks
  • Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex: 4.7% play rate, 6 picks
  • Dragapult ex/Munkidori: 4.7% play rate, 6 picks

The spread of decks represented at the World Championships features plenty of the perceived best decks in the Standard format. Gholdengo's "Make It Rain" attack is a powerful tool for dishing out quick KOs, especially when paired with the new "Genesect ex" from the recent Black Bolt expansion. Dragapult ex's "Phantom Dive" Attack allows it to excel at dismantling an opponent's Bench, while Raging Bolt ex boasts similar high-damage potential to Gholdengo for quickly taking Prize Cards.

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The Pokemon World Championships serve as a fitting conclusion for the Scarlet and Violet era, with the next evolution of the TCG on the way. September will welcome the launch of "Mega Evolution" to kick off the next era of the card game, officially seeing the return of Mega Pokemon to the Pokemon Trading Card Game. The Pokemon Company has confirmed that the set will feature 10 different Mega Pokemon, including powerful cards like "Mega Gardevoir ex" and "Mega Lucario ex" among others. The next era of the Pokemon TCG is on the way soon, with lots of exciting changes to come.

PokemonTCGFranchisePage
Pokemon TCG
Franchise
Pokemon
Original Release Date
October 20, 1996