Prague Regionals: Dragapult Won Everything

The regionals in Prague were on the 25th and 26th of April, and we saw the Dragapult deck win a whopping 49.31% of the time, with a share of 30.58% across the 1,370 players. According to Limitless TCG, anyway. Nearly a third of the room on the same deck, winning half its matches. When the maths looks like that, you don't need me to tell you it's the deck to beat.

Dragapult / Blaziken: The Plot Twist

Next was Dragapult Blaziken which brings in a fresh twist, with Blaziken EX's ability to bring any energy back from your discard pile, helping you come back swinging. We're also seeing Unfair Stamp being played, which inhibits your opponent's ability — causing both players to shuffle their decks, but with the player of the card getting to draw 5, whilst the opponent only gets to draw 2. Makes for a solid swing and breaks decks up nicely.

Day Two: Poland vs. Germany

Ultimately on day two, it was Mateusz Łaszkiewicz from Poland playing Dragapult / Dunsparce who took the win.

Although it didn't quite defeat Mateusz, Elmar from Germany played a Crustle deck which is super good at combating Dragapult with its Mysterious Rock Inn ability — prevents all damage from EX Pokémon to Crustle. Which, if you've built a solid rotation deck full of Dragapults, is tricky to overcome. Fair play to him for running it.

The Rotation Shift: Less Shuffling, More Searching

Destined Rivals, Perfect Order, Mega Evolutions Base and Phantasmal Flames have all brought in excellent cards which has caused the rotation to focus more on abilities, and less on the shuffle-and-draw mechanics of the previous rotation (think Arven, Iono etc).

Whilst there are still elements of it in this new set, more of it is about searching for cards you need:

• Team Rocket's Factory
• Buddy-Buddy Poffin
• Ultra Ball

...and aiming to come out swinging after round 2. Setup speed is everything now. The decks that can execute without relying on raw draw power are the ones topping tables.

Top Decks at a Glance — Prague

Data from Limitless TCG — Prague Regionals, 1,370 players.

What to Watch Next

If you're building for the next event, I'd recommend having both a Dragapult list and a Crustle counter-list ready. The meta is still settling, and the players who understand the rotation shift — from shuffle-draw to search-and-swing — are the ones who'll do well.