Aarni Karjala Wins the Gdańsk Regional, and Dragapult ex Misses the Final
Share
Aarni Karjala from Finland won the Pokémon TCG Regional Championships in Gdańsk, Poland, over the weekend of 31 October and 1 November. He went 14-1-2 in a Masters field of 1,739 players, according to the final standings on Limitless, and Play! Pokémon named him champion on X on Sunday evening.
Finn Lasse Fries from Germany came second on 13-3-1.
The top 8
- Aarni Karjala (Finland)
- Finn Lasse Fries (Germany)
- Vincenzo Cipolla (Italy)
- Miloslav Posledni (Czech Republic)
- Tord Reklev (Norway)
- Nathan Bonavia Zammit (Malta)
- Maciej Chojnacki (Poland)
- Yoann Barszezak (France)
Places 3 to 8 are listed in the order Limitless shows them. The best UK finish was Cho Tsun Leung, who made the top 16 and ended up 9th on 10-1-3.
What Karjala played
Decklists weren't up on Limitless when we wrote this, so we can't give you his 60 cards yet. MetaDeck, which tracks tournament data, posted on X that Karjala won with Slowking and that Fries was on Rocket's Honchkrow in the final. We'll add the list here once it's published.
Dragapult ex was everywhere
Play! Pokémon shared a breakdown of the 322 Masters decks that made day 2. Here are the most played:
- Dragapult ex with Dudunsparce: 107 (33%)
- Teal Mask Ogerpon with Lillie's Clefairy: 30 (9%)
- Teal Mask Ogerpon ex with Meganium: 28 (9%)
- N's Zoroark ex with Zekrom: 25 (8%)
- Slowking with Academy at Night: 22 (7%)
- Festival Lead: 18 (6%)
MetaDeck also reported that three Dragapult decks reached the top 8 and none of them made the final.
What it means for UK players
A week earlier, world champion Andrew Hedrick won the Puebla Regional with Dragapult ex, and a third of the day 2 field in Gdańsk brought it. If you're heading to a League Challenge or League Cup this month, you'll still face plenty of Dragapult. Slowking has a big European win now too, so expect a few more people to pick it up.
At PokePals
Building Slowking, Dragapult or something to beat them? Browse our singles for trainers and support Pokémon. Our Puebla Regional write-up covers the Dragapult side. Got cards you don't play any more? We buy bulk, and our guide to selling Pokémon bulk explains how it works.
Source: final standings from Limitless. Champion announcement and day 2 deck numbers from Play! Pokémon on X (deck breakdown). Deck details from MetaDeck on X.