The Play Pokemon Charlotte Regionals have concluded after Giratina Lost Zone solidified its spot as the best deck in the format, going undefeated at the tournament against other top-tier decks.
Brazillian Pokemon battler Vincius Fernandez piloted Giratina Lost Zone to a spectacular first-place finish at the Pokemon TCG Charlotte Regionals. The deck beat out Caleb Rogerson’s Charizard deck in the finals.
Rodriguez went undefeated in the tournament against Giratina, Arceus, Charizard, Snorlax, Gardevoir, Miraidon, and Mew. Commentators described Giratina as having “plot armor” after the finishing turn.
Giratina Lost Zone goes undefeated at the Play Pokemon TCG: Charlotte Regionals
As one TCG player put it: “This is such a high caliber of play. This was Vini’s tournament, everyone else was just playing in it.” He credits his four wins against Gardevoir to hand disruption from his Avery card.
WON THE LARGEST REGIONALS OF ALL TIME (Charlotte) UNDEFEATED WITH TINA!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/Ez5tQMXRz7
— Vini Fernandez (@Vincius01763096) January 22, 2024
Rodriguez’s list has been described as “maddening”, as he notably opted for four Switch Carts and no Escape Rope, Manaphy, or Spiritomb. He said he prefers to go second against unknown decks.
Pokemon TCG: Top decks in the Standard Format Meta
The top deck formats have been updated accordingly, and Giratina VSTAR continues to dominate, with Charizard Ex following in the number two spot.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
In this week's Standard format meta update, Giratina VSTAR continues to reign from the top after a second regional win, Mew VMAX and Miraidon ex both slip a couple of spots, and Gardevoir ex climbs back to 4th.#Pokemon #PokemonTCG #PlayPokemon #PokemonCards #ポケカ pic.twitter.com/rbCkt2Nusk
— JustInBasil (@justinbasiltcg) January 22, 2024
Gardevoir ex, and, against expectations, Gholdengo ex, have climbed the rankings to reach the 4th and 6th spots respectively. Miraidon ex and Mew VMAX haven’t performed as well, and both decks have fallen in the rankings.
In terms of usage, LimitlessTCG offers the following figures. Charizard dominates the number one spot with 16.19% use. It’s followed by Giratina Vstar, which accounts for 15.17% of the top decks in use. Next are Gardevoir at 14.17% usage, and, Mew / Genesect at 11.29%.
Spots 5-12 are taken by Miraidon, Lost Box Zone, Snorlax Stall, Inteleon, Roaring Moon ex, Entei, Chien Pao, and, Arceus.
The deck rankings will be impacted by the rotation to the Pokemon TCG Standard Metagame, which will take place on April 5, 2024. Mew, Genesect, Miraidon, Inteleon, Rapid Strike Urshifu, and, especially Gardevoir will suffer losses to their repertoire when the time comes.
Want to read more about some of these decks and how to use them? Take a look at our post on the best decks for the Pokemon TCG Latin American International Championships.