Complexity Card Gaming - Pokémon

London hosted the largest ever Western Pokemon Trading Card Game just over a week ago, and our very own Bert Wolters was able to finish in the Top 8 of over 2,500 players - losing to the eventual winner in a long fought match.

What makes this achievement even more impressive is that Bert has recently been taking a break from the game but that proved to be no issue, along with playing a very complex deck and having a brand new format to think about, truly showing just how strong of a player Bert is! Make sure to follow Bert here: https://twitter.com/BertWoltersTCG

He gave us some great insight, along with a breakdown of his matchups:

"You might be surprised to see me up here. Believe me, I'm just as surprised! I decided to approach the game more casually this year, as I had an extremely frustrating '22-'23 season, where I lost so a bunch of win-and-ins, put too much pressure on myself and ended up frustrated and not enjoying the game anymore. So take it casually is exactly what I did. I only played 3 cups and 2 Regionals this season before EUIC and I enjoyed not putting too much pressure on myself. But a couple of weeks before EUIC I got that itch again; a new format with rotation and interesting decks, I was excited to pick up the game again. I was especially inspired by seeing Pidgeot control been played on stream for the Utrecht SPE and how insanely good the deck seemed, also in post-rotation. I loved the way Pidgeot gives you control over the game, how Radiant Zard can punish aggressive decks and people concentrating resources on one Pokémon, and how the deck leads to longer games with more decision, giving you more opportunities to outplay your opponent.
The only thing was that I've never played control in a major event before, so I decided I had to go full focus and commit to the deck with about a month to go before EUIC. Luckily, I have a couple of friends in my testing group who like and are experienced playing control (shoutouts Steffen and Dillon), so I had some people to bounce around ideas and techs leading up to the tournament.
In the end, we decided to focus on consistency, 2 Ultra Ball, 3 Snorlax as a good starter, and a cheeky TM Devo to catch Chien Pao and Zard (with Gengar) off guard.
And with that, it was time for day 1.

R1 Ancient Box WW
R2 Zard WW
R3 Lost Tina WW
R4 Snorlax WW
R5 CPao WW
R6 Zard LL
R7 CPao WW
R8 CPao WW
R9 CPao WW
8-1

I finished day 1 with a crazy 8-1 record, but I do realize I've grotten quite lucky with my matchups, especially hitting 4 Chien Pao in the last 5 rounds. My only loss was a Zard running Gengar, where I prized my TM Devo and didn't get set up game 2. My friends are all really excited and already see me making top 8, but I know my luck with matchups is not likely to continue in day 2.

R10 Iron Hands LWT
R11 CPao WW
R12 Iron Hands LWW
R13 Zard (Tord) T
R14 Pidgeot control LWT
R15 Lugia W
11-3-1

So day 2 definitely gave me some tougher matchups, but with some clean play ik some crazy matches I'm able to gather enough points to make it to top 8!
In top 8 I have my rematch with Tord, whose deck is teched well for the matchup. I have a rough start game 1, while he gets off to the races quickly and takes a big lead. I'm able to make it close by surprising Tord with a TM Devo play late game, but I don't have Pidgeot set up to fully capitalize on that, so I lose game 1. Game 2 I brick, so it is Tord who moves on to top 4.

T8 Zard LL
11-2-3
8th place

In the end, I'm still in disbelief I made it this far, top 8 in the largest Pokémon event ever! What a journey it has been.
Shoutouts to my team CCG, and our sponsors. Shoutouts to the Groningen crew, Steffen, Dillon, Priya, Mick, and David, and Bryan, for playtesting and hanging out. Shoutouts to Alessandro for the advice and making top 4, well deserved! And thanks to everyone for the support and nice messages!
See you all next season 😉"

As always, thanks to our sponsors Cardmarket-Pokemon and Ultimate Guard!

~ Complexity Card gaming - Pokemon

Last weekend, Dortmund hosted yet another massive Regional Championship in the Paradox Rift format, and our very own Benji Pham was able to finish in 3rd place with Lost Zone Giratina!

Check out what he had to say about his matchups and deck below!

"R1 Win vs Miraidon
R2 Win vs Roaring Moon
R3 Win vs Arceus/Regigigas
R4 Tie vs Gardevoir (Stream)
R5 Win vs LostZard
R6 Win vs Charizard/Pidgeot
R7 Win vs Gardevoir
R8 Loss vs Entei/Valiant
R9 Win vs Gardevoir
R10 Loss vs Gardevoir
R11 Win vs Lost/Tina
R12 Win vs Roaring Moon
R13 Win vs Iron Valiant
R14 Tie vs Gardevoir
R15 Win vs Charizard/Pidgeot (Stream)
R16 Win vs Gardevoir (Stream)
R17 Loss vs Gholdengo

I decided to play LostTina, because I think the deck is among the best decks in the format. I played the deck at Liverpool Regionals as well, and made day 2 there. I havent really played any games between Dortmund and Liverpool, but there is some good content out there regarding Lost Tina which I used to prepare for the event.
I changed 2 cards compared to the Liverpool List. I added a second Pokegear and Spiritomb instead of Iono and Devolution TM. I wanted to play Spiritomb because I did not win vs the Mews & Roaring Moons I played against at Liverpool Regionals, and Spiritomb improves those matchups. At Dortmund I did not play against any Mew, but I beat both Roaring Moons I played against.
I had a lot of close matches, and luckily I was able to win most of them. The run ended in a very close top4 match vs Gholdengo. I think it would have been a great match for stream, as it went back & forth a lot and it ended up going to time. Eventually I lost game 3, because my 3rd Grass Energy was in my last 2 prizes and I needed a Grass Energy to be able to take my last 2 prizes. I had a Mirage Gate in my hand, so I needed to find a Super Rod. After digging with 2 Comfey, Greninja, Colress and Pokestop, I could not find a Super Rod for the win; unfortunately, they were in my bottom 7 cards.
In the end I am very happy with the result. My season didnt go too well, and now I finished 3rd at one of the biggest Regionals ever in Europe.
Thanks everyone for the support, I received a lot of support and kind messages; much love for everyone that supports me & CCG. My next event will be EUIC (hopefully). See you all there!"

As always, thanks to our sponsors Ultimate Guard and cardmarket for the continued support!

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

This weekend was Europe's turn to break records, with Liverpool hosting the largest ever European Regional Championships with over 1500 players in attendance!

Giratina VSTAR was finally dethroned as both the most popular deck in Day 2 and the victor of the tournament, with Charizard taking the first title and Mew VMAX, piloted by Fabrizio Inga Silva, taking the tournament down overall, beating out Giratina in the final piloted by Brent Tonisson - congratulations Fabrizio!

With 147 players making Day 2, you can find all of the lists on Limitless's website: https://limitlesstcg.com/tournaments/396

You can also catch the VoDs of the tournament over on the Official Pokemon Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/pokemontcg/videos

Two of our players also made day 2, with Steven taking Gardevoir to 35th place and Benji bring Giratina to 91st place - congratulations Steven and Benji!

As always, thanks to our sponsors cardmarket and Ultimate Guard!

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

This weekend saw the biggest ever Western Pokemon Regional Championships take place in Charlotte, North Carolina with well over 2000 players sleeving up their decks ready to compete for an automatic Worlds invitation.

After a gruelling 15 rounds and top 8 cut, the finals saw Vinícius Fernandez playing Giratina VSTAR face Caleb Rogerson playing Charizard Pidgeot. Despite prizing all 3 Giratina V in the final game, Vini was able to navigate his way through the game and be crowned as the winner of the largest US Regional of all time - congratulations Vini!

As always, you can find all of the decklists from Day 2 here: https://limitlesstcg.com/tournaments/395

And you can catch up with the VoDs over on twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/pokemontcg/videos

Next weekend we have the first European Regional Championship of the calendar year taking place in Liverpool, which is once again expected to break records - our team will be attending so make sure you say hi to anyone you spot, and best of luck to anyone taking part this weekend in any of the various games taking place!

As always, thanks to our sponsors cardmarket and Ultimate Guard!

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

Portland was the home of the first American Regional Championship of 2024 this weekend, another huge tournament with plenty on the line as we approach the release of Paldean Fates at the end of the month!

A total of 1498 players took part in the TCG Masters division, with 151 players advancing to the second day of play.

As the Top 8 was whittled down, Jon Eng and Sam Hough took each other on in a Giratina VSTAR mirror match, with Jon overcoming his curse and winning the tournament - congratulations Jon!

You can find decklists for the tournament here: https://limitlesstcg.com/tournaments/394

As well, make sure to check out the Official Pokemon Youtube and Twitch channels to watch VoDs from the tournament!

As always, thanks to our sponsors Cardmarket-Pokemon and Ultimate Guard!

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

This weekend we saw the first Paradox Rift legal tournament in the West with the Latin American International Championships taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The blazing heat wasn't off-putting for people as over 1200 players attended the event with the hopes of becoming the first International Champion of the 23-24 season.

The finals came down to two hugely impactful Paradox Rift cards, in Iron Hands and Iron Valiant, with Juho Kallama piloting Miraidon playing Iron Hands up against Noah Sawyer playing Entei Iron Valiant. The 3 game final concluded with Juho becoming the eventual Champion - Congratulations Juho!

All of the Day 2 decklists can be found over on Limitless's website: https://limitlesstcg.com/tournaments/404/statistics

You can also catch the VoDs for the tournament here: https://www.twitch.tv/pokemontcg/videos

Gdansk is the host to the next major event, taking place in just 5 days time! Make sure you say hi to the team if you see them there!

As always, thanks to our sponsors cardmarket and Ultimate Guard

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

With The new season now well underway, there are still points to be grabbed before the major events return. Team member Jack was able to win a League Cup last weekend with Lost Zone Giratina, a deck that is incredible popular as of late, taking down fellow teammate Tamao for the win in an all CCG final. Check out his matchups below:

R1: Miraidon Regieleki WW
R2: Arceus Giratina WW
R3: Lost Zone Giratina WW
R4: ID
R5: ID

T8: Arceus Giratina W
T4: Lost Zone Giratina LWW
Final: Turbo Lost Box WW

As always, thanks to our sponsors Cardmarket-Pokemon and Ultimate Guard.

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

As the 2024 season fast approaches, we wanted to share the final Pie Chart of the 2023 season, that of the World Championships held in Yokohama a couple of weeks ago. This was the first time the tournament had been held in Japan which made for a truly impressive and unique Worlds experience.

A star studded Top 4 bracket comprised of Azul Garcia Griego, Tord Reklev, Vance Kelley and Michael Pramawat made for a spectacular final bracket, and as Michael and Azul were eliminated, it looked like there was a chance that Tord would complete the Infinity Gauntlet of tournament wins. However, Vance Kelley playing Mew VMAX was able to take down Tord’s Gardevoir deck and become the brand-new World Champion – congratulations Vance.

The decklists for the second day of the tournament have been released and collated as usual on Limitless: https://limitlesstcg.com/tournaments/375

The tournament was streamed, and you can find the VoDs here: https://www.twitch.tv/pokemontcg/videos

We are all extremely excited about returning for the 2023-2024 season, with the Barcelona Special Event taking place in just a few weeks time. Between now and then there is also the first American Regionals taking place with the brand new Obsidian Flames cards legal for the first time in a major event, so make sure you keep an eye on our social media for all the latest results with these brand new cards as we all begin our journey towards Hawaii 2024!

As always, thanks to our sponsors Cardmarket-Pokemon and Ultimate Guard.

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

🌈 Coming Soon! 🌈

We announced new colors for Ultimate Guard's Cortex Sleeves last month, but now we're happy to let you know that they'll be available for Japanese Size too!✨

New vibrant colors include: Orange, Purple, and Petrol!

Perfect for daily play, these sleeves provide both privacy and seamless shuffling.
Face even the lengthiest battles with confidence and resilience. ⚔️

From casual game nights to intense tournaments, Cortex Sleeves are your ultimate companion!

As the season draws to a close, the largest Western tournament in the circuit, the North American International Championships (NAIC) took place in the city of Columbus, Ohio recently. With an astounding attendance of 1,897 players, everyones eyes were on the tournament in preparation for the World Championships, as participants battled it out for the coveted title.

The finals ended up with 2 decks that not many people expected fighting for the prize, Cyrus Davies playing Rapid Strike Box up against Ian Robb playing Arceus Umbreon Duraludon. Both of these players eager to take the crown, it was Cyrus who was able to clutch the victory to become the winner of the largest ever tournament in Western Pokemon history – congratulations Cyrus!

For those who missed the NAIC streams, the tournament was streamed by the official Pokémon Trading Card Game channel on Twitch. You can catch up on all the matches here: https://www.twitch.tv/pokemontcg/videos

And as always, LimitlessTCG have compiled the top 32 decklists from the tournament, which can be found here: https://limitlesstcg.com/tournaments/360

As the North American International Championships conclude, the Pokémon TCG community can look forward to the World Championships taking place in less than a month! Make sure you say hi to the team who will be playing for the grand prize in Yokohama, Japan!

We would like to thank our sponsors for their continues support, cardmarket and Ultimate Guard.

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

A fun Complexity Card Gaming - Pokémon x Limitless TCG draft with a new unique format ahead of NAIC!

Take a look at the rules for this 'Auction' draft and let us know who you think has the strongest team?

For those interested, a template is included in the comments!

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

As Paldea Evolved draws near, Malmo was the host to the final Regional Championships in Europe. 473 players took part and fought it out to be one of the last Reginoal Champions of the season!

The final came down to a Mew mirror, with Fusion Mew up against DTE Mew. Lasse Puisto, playing Fusion Mew was able to defeat Konsta Kallama playing DTE Mew in an all Finland Final - Coongratulations Lasse!

The event was streamed by Limitless, and the VoDs can be found here: https://www.twitch.tv/limitless_tcg/videos

They've also gathered all of the Day 2 decklists which can be found here: https://limitlesstcg.com/tournaments/338

This weekend we have the final European Major taking place in Turin!

As always, thanks to our sponsors Ultimate Guard and cardmarket.

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

Local events are back, and Team Captain Alex Dao was able to win Norwich's League Cup at Athena games a couple of weekends ago - here's his list and some thought about his deck:

"Athena League Cup

Following the results of EUIC, SableZard was always going to have a rough time vs Arceus decks with Lost City and there would be an uptick in Gardevoir decks.

Wanting a similar deck that had that late game big hitters, I reverted to Moltres rather than Radiant Charizard.
The dark typing was great into a tournament dominated by Gardevoir and Mew but also does the usual Lostbox things: threaten with the early Cramorant as well as mirage gate attackers in Greninja and Snorlax!

Special thanks to fellow CCG teammate Joe for the quick discussion confirming the thought process behind it (and list)!

R1: Lost Giratina WW
R2: Arceus Chesnaught WLT
R3: Lost Giratina WW
R4: Arceus Duraludon Vulpix LWT
R5: Gardevoir WW

Top 8: Gardevoir WW
Top 4: Lost Giratina WW
Final: Gardevoir W"

As always, thanks to our sponsors Cardmarket and Ultimate Guard!

Make sure you look out for us at Malmo regionals this weekend!

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

Alex was able to carry Sablezard, the deck that most of the team pilotted, across the finish line on Day 1 and was ready to compete in Day 2 at EUIC.

You can check out his list, and some thoughts about the deck below:

"A new format with new cards AND a rotation? It was an exciting time in the build up to EUIC!

Having not played for quite some time with lots of things going on, I relied heavily on my friends and how I ended up doing was a testament to speaking to and testing with them.

I was quite limited to a couple of decks but eventually landed on either Lost Goodra or SableZard. Both, I felt were really strong into the format being shaped by the online results in the run up to EUIC but felt with SableZard we had a list I was really comfortable with. Some pre-EUIC nerves and poor online variance almost deterred me but I stuck with it and ended up with the list below.

Day 1 I think went as well as I could’ve hoped. At 6-2, I agreed to ID to make it into my first IC day 2 as by then it was a very long day of 9 rounds.
Day 2 I started off well with two wins but quickly ran out of steam and ended the overall tournament in 67th place out of over 1500 players. Shame I couldn’t bubble into top 64, but I was super happy I got to where I was.

The event was great, back in my home city once again after Worlds. Fingers crossed we’re back here again next time!
(Although please next time give me the chance to go to the Pokémon Center with stock available!)

Thanks to all my opponents, friends and everyone else who did come up to say hi throughout the weekend."

As always, thanks to our sponsors cardmarket and Ultimate Guard

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

Last weekend we saw the team take part in the European International Championships, the first Scarlet and Violet tournament in Europe.

3 of our players made Day 2, the first of which was Benji Pham who has been performing exceptionally so far this season!

You can find his list and thoughts on his Lost Zone Giratina deck below:

"Going into a new format with a new expansion is always really interesting, especially if it's combined with rotation.

Before I started playtesting, I was mostly hyped for the new Gardevoir ex from Scarlet & Violet. In theory the deck has everything that I want a deck to have: Drawpower, OHKO potential and not having to worry about energy requirements, as with Gardevoir ex you can attach as many psychic energy from the discard as you want. Besides Gardevoir, I have tested a lot of other different decks as well.

Most of the times, I choose my tournament deck a few days before the tournament. This time I did not know which deck to play until the evening before EUIC. I narrowed it down to Giratina, Goodra and two Gardevoir variants. In the end I decided to play Giratina/Comfey as I had the most games played with it, and it also had the highest winrate from the decks that I tested.

Day 1 went pretty well with a 7-2-0 record; day 2 not so much. After 6 rounds on day 2, I finished with a 8-5-2 record. Which resulted in me finishing 107th out of 1525 players in the biggest event in EU so far.

I really enjoyed playing at this event, and hopefully EUIC is in London again, next year. I want to say thanks to everyone that supports me and see you at the next event!"

As always, thanks to our sponsors Cardmarket-Pokemon and Ultimate Guard!

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

This weekend we saw the first western Scarlet and Violet tournament that took place, and with it we crowned a brand new European International Champion.

The tournament brought about a huge amount of exciting changes to the Trading Card Game, with a rotation of the first few sets of the Sword and Shield block, changes to how key mechanics worked and the return of ex Pokemon to the TCG for the first time in a few years.

And whilst there were plenty of familiar decks around, many looked very different from their pre-rotation counterparts. With Lugia losing a huge amount of ball search cards, Lost Box losing powerful tools like Scoop Up Net, and incredibly strong cards like Gardevoir ex looking to make an immediate impact on the game, it was going to be a tournament to remember.

Over 1500 players took part in the largest tournament ever hosted in Europe, and 158 of those players made it all they way through to Day 2. As the Top 8 concluded, we saw a brilliant showdown between two fantastic players in the final - Alex Schemanske, a player who’s already had to settle for second once so far this season, playing the ever reliable Arceus VSTAR alongside Duraludon VMAX, Alolan Vulpix VSTAR and Drapion V, was up against Tord Reklev, the player who just can’t stop winning International Championships, playing the new deck on the block, Gardevoir ex. And as the finals played out, it looked like it could go either way but in the end Alex was able to break the second place curse and win his first International Championships – Congratulations Alex!

The breakdown below shows off all of the decks that made Day 2 at the tournament, of which you can find the lists here: https://limitlesstcg.com/tournaments/351

The tournament was streamed by the official stream team, of which our very own Joe Bernard was a part of – you can find the VoDs for the tournament here: https://www.twitch.tv/pokemontcg/videos

The other section of the pie chart below is comprised of Arceus Duraludon, Rapid Strike Box, Arceus Pikachu, 2 different types of Control and Miraidon Flaaffy!

Our whole team took part in the event and 3 of our players made Day 2 – make sure you check back over the week to hear the thoughts of Benji and his Giratina Lost Zone list, Alex and his Charizard Lost Box list and Sander and his latest Control list!

As always, a huge thanks to our sponsors Ultimate Guard and Cardmarket-Pokemon

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon

Wow! What an amazing time at the Pokémon European International Championships in London!

The whole team (with Joe behind the desk!) competed in the first return to London since Ondrej was crowned World Champion back in August 2022!

Everyone performed really well with some strong performances and some just missing out on a place beyond Day 1!

We ended up with THREE players in Day 2 with the following records:

Alex: 9-4-2 (Top 128)
Benji: 8-5-2 (Top 128)
Sander: 10-3-2 (Top 32)

Congratulations to everyone who participated alongside the team at one of the largest events EVER outside of Japan!

As always, thanks to our sponsors Cardmarket-Pokemon and Ultimate Guard for the support!

Look our for more of our usual posts coming this week!

P.s. We also got to showcase our brand new playmats at EUIC! 😍 (more exciting updates to come for the team!)

We’re all heading into London for this weekend’s Pokemon European International Championships

Make sure you say hello if you see any of the team around, and keep an eye on our social media for the latest records of the team!

We even have some brand new swag we’re excited to show off too, including some brand new playmats with the first glimpse of our new redesign…

As always, thanks to our sponsors cardmarket and Ultimate Guard

Hi everyone!

The full team were in full flow at Bochum Regionals last weekend with multiple members going on stream and multiple making it into Day 2!

All working hard towards that invite for the World Championships in Yokohama now we have those dates released!

The next event for us will be Utrecht Special Event coming up on 18-19th March!

As always a special thanks to our sponsors Ultimate Guard and Cardmarket-Pokemon!

Need some last minute Control tips from the master himself ahead of Orlando Regionals? Sander managed to make Top 8 in the last Silver Tempest Regional and Control still seems very potent going into Crown Zenith, so make sure you brush up ready for tomorrow!

"I went for an Yveltal-counterbox for the Liverpool regional. This type of deck is ofcourse very much fits my playstyle, and it's something I've played previously at LAIC. This deck in particular lives and dies by how effectively it can counter the changing tide of the meta. Leading up to the regional, I was trying out all sorts of different techs and engines. I felt like I had a good grasp of which adaptations to the deck worked and which were a bit too speculative. A week before the event I was quite happy with how the list had shaped up. To my advantage the eye of the public had almost entirely shifted away from Yveltal/Eiscue based decks and towards new threats in the meta like Vikavolt, Aerodactyl and growing succes & popularity of LZB.
I ended up on the Greninja engine for consistency, a Flying Pikachu/Big Parasol/Thorton package for LZB and Regis, double Eldegoss loop for ArcDura, Yveltals and disruption trainers for Lugia and Mew, Miltank for miscellaneous Arceus decks. Regieleki was a nice find, as it served a triple purpose; extra carddraw via Speed Lightning, more Galar Mines and Boss as a strong strategy in any resource based matchup, and extra Colress or Nets for the lone Pikachu gameplan.
At the regional itself, I had some very unexpected and strange situations come up, which all barely fell in my favor.
I played against a Palkia Inteleon, and after playing with Regieleki to chain Boss's and Galar Mines (this ate up all his Nets), I Thorton'd into lone Pikachu VMax when he had taken 5 prizes. Pika then KO'd his only Palkia VStar and 2 Aqua Bullet Inteleons, but was left on the verge of dying with 290 damage on him & Quick Shooting Inteleon ready to finish the job. While not intended for this use, Echoing Horn came in clutch here; letting me Horn Palkia V and Boss KO it for my final 2 prizes when facing a board otherwise filled with 1 prize pokémon. Horn Boss to eek out a prizerace, definitely the first time I've used this otherwise traditional mainly aggressive utility of the card!
Then later playing against a LZB Ray deck... that played his own Miltank. This caused a peculiar stalemate, as Flying Pikachu VMax and Miltank are sat not hurting eachother. This made the game devolve into a deckout race. With my Bruno (in for this purpose), I have 1 big deckreset. However, to find the Pikachu VMax pieces I ofcourse dug quite hard, unaware of the Miltank tech. LZB Ray lacks shuffle draw, but does play 2 Rod and a Energy Recycler. To get enough shuffle deckvalue from Rods, he had to let me take a couple KOs to shuffle the extra pokémon back in deck. Then by manual retreat some times, Energy Recycler got the max value too. This eventually led my opponent to have exactly 1 card more in deck than me, after my Bruno reset had been used. However, I was down to needing just 2 prizes, and the all the Rods and Recyclers were now gone. I was able to intentionally wait till I drew my 2nd to last card, and Eldegoss Boss his Rayquaza. Even with 2nd Ray Rope Boss in hand, my opponent also drew his 2nd to last card going into his turn, so not enough energies could ever be left to Mirage Gate. Even with the lone Pikachu lock broken, the deckout situation had rendered the burst OHKO potential of the Rayquaza deck void. On the following turn I drew my last card in deck, and used 2nd Eldegoss for Boss to close out the game. The craziest thing about this game was that on turn 1, I noticed both my Pikachu VMax and Peonia were prized. I contemplated instantly scooping, however I had the means to attack with Thumping Snore turn 2 in hand, so I figured I might as well give the 33% chance to draw one as first prize a shot. On turn 2 I attacked with Snorlax, got Pikachu VMax as prize, then ended up barely beating the unexpected Miltank tech.
Lastly, on my win-and-in for top8, I got into a very tricky situation up against Regis piloted by Rahul Reddy. I had Pikachu with Parasol out, but had been unable to clean up my bench. His own Regieleki with Electromagnetic Sonar recovered an Escape Rope, setting up for the win with Rope Serena Belt Regigigas hit. Checking the discard pile, I noticed there were 3 Rods, 3 Nets and a Regice & Regirock in the discard. Since only the opposing Regieleki had any energy as of now and none were ready on Gigas, I was able to Boss KO the Regice hoping for no 3th Rod in the Regi list. There wasn't so Ancient Wisdom was momentarily turned off. Ofcourse his Sonar Regieleki had been Bossed out of harms way and was alive and well. It simply recoverd a Rod, ready to combo for the gamewinning KO on Pika the following turn. However, there was now a benchspace open were Regice had been, so again I hoped for no 4ht Net to be present either in the Regi list and used Echoing Horn to bench a 2nd Regirock while using Pika to KO the Regieleki. Everything would have been in place for my opponent to recover the last necessary Regis and go for the Gigas Rope Serena Combo, except for the 2nd Regirock now locking out Ancient Wisdom. I stopped using Max Balloon to make sure not to KO a Regirock, and the game was over. After, Rahul showed me he had the 4th Net in his last 2 remaining prizes.

In the top8 I finally fell to Stéphane on LZ Goodra. I used the same strategy I was running to beat ArcDura, using a double Eldegoss loop with double Capes and Colress to have a chain of 230hp walls. Stéphane had the Zigzagoon to overcome it, ending my tournament run.

Matchups:
R1 vs Lugia WW
R2 vs Lugia WLT
R3 vs Regis WW
R4 vs PalkIntel W
R5 vs Regis W
R6 vs Regis WW
R7 vs LZB Ray WLT
R8 vs Lugia WW
R9 vs LZB Ray w Miltank W
7-0-2
R10 vs Mew DTE WLT
R11 vs LZB Ray WW
R12 vs Mew Fusion WLT
R13 vs Regis W
R14 ID
9-0-5
Top8 vs LZ Goodra WLL
"

As always, thanks to our sponsors cardmarket and Ultimate Guard!

~ Complexity Card Gaming - Pokemon