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After 10 days of players exploring the Mythical Island, Christmas didn’t stop them from joining community tournaments. In fact, attendance hit another record! Let’s see how the Mythical Island format is developing.
Pocket Legends League #13
470 players competed for the $50 prize pool in this long-standing tournament series.
Metagame Breakdown
While Pikachu ex had lost ground to newer decks and Mewtwo ex last week, it returned as the most played deck in PLL#13. This was likely a response to the strong showing of Gyarados ex in previous events. After NinoLeo’s win at the Ursiiday Pocket Weekly #8, nearly 30 players brought Brock decks, hoping for similar results.
Players also came up with fresh ideas, including Greninja decks and Fighting Toolbox. The top cut was full of variety: thirteen different archetypes were represented, and six made it to the Top 8.
| Deck | Number in top cut | Number in top 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Pikachu ex | 7 | 2 |
| Gyarados ex | 7 | 1 |
| Mewtwo ex | 4 | 2 |
| Brock | 2 | 1 |
| Aerodactyl ex | 2 | 1 |
| Celebi ex | 2 | 1 |
| Greninja | 2 | |
| Fighting Toolbox | 2 | |
| Arcanine ex | 1 | |
| Charizard ex | 1 | |
| Koga | 1 | |
| Starmie ex | 1 | |
| Pidgeot ex | 1 |
Although Mewtwo ex had a lower conversion rate into the top cut compared to Pikachu ex and the consistently strong Gyarados ex, pain0xe1 managed to win the event with a "Mewthree" deck.
This is the bona fide Mewthree decklist. It features Blue, a card that’s getting more popular, especially in mirror matches where it stops the opponent from taking a KO on Mewtwo ex. Giovanni is also seeing more use as a counter to Blue and for securing KOs against Pokémon like the new Primeape and Exeggutor ex.
Speaking of , Celebi ex made up for its poor first week by placing two decks in the top cut, both using the Exeggutor engine. marurush finished in the Top 8 with one of these lists, even including the new Exeggcute from Mythical Island!
The new Exeggcute is great for setting up Exeggutor from Mythical Island, which is strong against decks like Pikachu ex, Brock, and in the mirror match. marurush included just one Snivy to avoid starting with it or pulling it with Poké Ball, but ran two copies of its evolution to increase the chances of evolving it once benched. Thanks to Exeggutor's bulk, the deck also has more turns to naturally charge up Celebi ex in energy.
This week also saw the rise of Aerodactyl ex, a card that didn’t get much attention when Mythical Island released. GodDragonKingZ made it to the Top 8 with an Aerodactyl ex Primeape deck.
Cost-efficiency in the main identity of this deck, with no attack needing more than 2 Energy. Primeape can hit for 50 damage with just one . Using the fighting toolbox of Hitmonlee and Marshadow, and Giovanni to close out KOs in the early game, it wiped the floor with Pikachu ex decks in the top cut but fell short to Moix's Gyarados ex.
Ursiiday’s Pocket Weekly #9
Not even the holidays stopped players from turning this classic event into a new milestone for Pokémon TCG Pocket. With 1,940 players competing for a $400 prize pool, it set yet another record for attendance!
Metagame breakdown
A larger event meant more deck variety, and many different strategies tried their luck in this historic tournament. Pikachu ex and Gyarados ex were the most popular choices, while Mewtwo ex decks saw a sharp decline.
| Deck | Number in top 32 | Number in top 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Pikachu ex | 7 | 2 |
| Mewtwo ex | 7 | 2 |
| Aerodactyl ex | 5 | |
| Celebi ex | 4 | |
| Gyarados ex | 3 | 2 |
| Charizard ex | 3 | 1 |
| Exeggutor ex | 1 | 1 |
| Blaine | 1 | |
| Alakazam | 1 |
Despite this, Mewtwo ex had an impressive conversion rate into the Top 32 and even took first place. Mamak achieved this win with the same list Mouscat used last week to claim victory at the Pocket Champions Showdown.
Mewtwo ex often struggles with a lack of intermediate attackers before it takes the Active spot. This can be an issue against high-HP Pokémon which can one-shot it, such as Gyarados ex (with Greninja or Druddigon's damaging abilities) and Charizard ex. Jynx fills this gap, dealing chip damage that can even turn into a KO machine against greedy Celebi ex players, thanks to Serperior’s multiplicative effect. Mewtwo ex players feel more and more comfortable in dropping an early game tank like Mew ex—against the declining Pikachu ex deck— for an actual attacker. This trade-off seems to work better in the current metagame.
This tournament was also a breakout moment for Aerodactyl ex, which became the third most-represented deck in the top cut. Celebi ex followed closely, bouncing back from its rough start in Week 1. Its recovery is largely due to the now-standard inclusion of Exeggutor ex, which serves as a strong early-game wall, buying time to evolve Snivy and power up Celebi ex.
But the standout performance came from MERCUR, who built a deck focusing more on Exeggutor than Celebi ex, and brought it all the way to top 8!
The deck ran only four Basic Pokémon: two Exeggcute, three Exeggutor (two ex and one regular from Genetic Apex), and a single Celebi ex, completely skipping the Snivy line. Could Exeggutor have been the best Pokémon all along?
The idea is to bring Exeggutor to the frontline as quickly as possible. Since it doesn’t need much Energy to function, the remaining Energy could be allocated to other Pokémon:
- Celebi ex becomes stronger over time as more Energy is attached to it.
- Mew ex addresses Exeggutor ex’s late-game struggles by copying the powerful attacks it can’t handle, making up for its difficulty against tougher targets.
What is the Mythical Island metagame looking like?
Ten days into Mythical Island, we’re starting to see how the metagame is shaping up:
- Pikachu ex and Mewtwo ex, the top decks from Genetic Apex, are still major players in this format. They’ve been joined by Gyarados ex as the trifecta of the most played decks. Strong but not unbeatable, they leave more room for the rest of the competition than the previous top tiers duo from Genetic Apex
- Archetypes introduced or heavily supported by Mythical Island are proving themselves. Celebi ex, Aerodactyl ex, and Brock decks have all made strong showings as players refine their lists and strategies.
- Even "rogue" strategies can hold their own.
Is this just a brief moment of variety before players settle on the ultimate versions of each deck and solve the metagame? It seems more complicated than that, as prediction games play a big role. For instance, Pikachu ex isn’t outstanding across the board, but its clear advantage against Gyarados ex, combined with its legendary consistency, keeps it highly relevant in the competition.
Another example is strategies. Last week, these were a solid choice with Celebi ex decks expected to show up in large numbers, for more likely "free wins". As Celebi ex’s share declined this week and its decks became more refined, Fire strategies lost a lot of these opportunities. That said, this shift could open up new chances for Fire decks next week as the metagame continues to swing.
With a larger card pool, Pokémon TCG Pocket’s competitive scene could start behaving more like other TCG metagames: fluctuating weekly, driven by trends, rather than being locked into a limited set of “decks to beat.”