We’ve got an incredible weekend ahead! Ursiiday, in partnership with Grail.gg, is hosting the biggest Pokémon TCG Pocket tournament to date, and it’s set to take the competitive scene to the next level.
The tournament will take place on May 17–18, so if you haven’t registered yet, head over to Limitless for full details and sign-up info. You can also reach out to the community on their Discord server if you need any help.
Tournament Prize Distribution:
$10,000 Cash & 20,000 AMPs
- 1st Place: $1,500 + 10,000 AMPs
- 2nd Place: $1,000 + 5,000 AMPs
- 3rd Place: $750 + 2,500 AMPs
- 4th Place: $500 + 1,000 AMPs
- 5th-8th: $325 + 750 AMPs
- 9th-16th: $175 + 500 AMPs
- 17th-32nd: $100 + 350 AMPs
- 33rd-64th: $50 + 200 AMPs
- 65th-96th: $25 + 150 AMPs
- 97th-128th: 100 AMPs
Now, let’s get down to business—what should you bring to this $10,000 tournament? Below, I’ll highlight some of the top-performing decks you’ll want to study as you prepare for the upcoming meta clash!
Tapu Lele Greninja Giratina ex
The Greninja Giratina ex deck has been a popular one in tournaments, but recently, the Tapu Lele version outperformed the Oricorio and Snorlax versions! This got more eyes on the deck and will likely be one of the top choices among players this weekend.
Tapu Lele Greninja Giratina ex offers multiple ways to pressure your opponent and secure knockouts. Greninja chips away at your opponent’s board with Water Shuriken, softening up targets over time. Meanwhile, Tapu Lele’s Energy Arrow is a powerful sniping tool—it can hit any of your opponent’s Pokémon, even on the Bench, as long as they have Energy attached. It deals 20 damage for each Energy on that Pokémon, meaning the more Energy they stack, the harder they get punished. Combined with Water Shuriken, this can set up or secure crucial knockouts.
Giratina ex acts as the deck’s late-game finisher, delivering a solid 130 damage to the Active Pokémon. When paired with Greninja’s earlier chip damage, it’s the perfect closer to knock out key 150 HP threats and close out the game.
Since we’re running Psychic Energy only, we aren’t looking to attack with Greninja, but unlike other decks, we can go for a Giratina ex on earlier turns to deal those heavy blows.
Darkrai ex Giratina ex
Darkrai ex Giratina ex is one of the most consistent and well-rounded decks in the A3 meta. Darkrai ex applies early pressure with Nightmare Aura, pinging the opponent’s Active Pokémon for 20 damage each time you attach a Darkness Energy to it. Once set up, Darkrai ex transitions into an attacker with Dark Prism, hitting for 80 damage.
While fueling Darkrai ex, you’re also ramping Psychic Energy with Giratina ex’s Broken-Space Below, aiming to reach three Psychic Energy before attaching a Darkness Energy to launch your main attack. Giratina ex’s Chaotic Impact delivers a heavy 130 damage, making it the deck’s primary threat. However, it deals 20 damage to itself, leaving it at 130 HP—more vulnerable to a counterattack.
Red plays a key role in this deck’s strategy, enabling powerful turns where you can one-shot critical threats, remove your opponent’s win condition, or even steal the game outright.
This was the most popular deck this past week, so it is the deck to beat, and players will come prepared for it!
Arceus Crobat Carnivine
Arceus ex Crobat Carnivine has been crushing it in tournaments, showcasing strong synergy and consistent pressure. Arceus ex unlocks the potential of both Crobat and Carnivine through their Link abilities, letting the deck fully capitalize on their effects.
Carnivine serves as the early-game attacker, starting with a modest 20 damage via Vine Whip, which jumps to 50 damage if Arceus ex is on the field, thanks to Power Link. Crobat supports with Cunning Link, dealing 30 damage to the Active Pokémon, ideal for finishing off bulkier targets.
Arceus ex brings extra utility with immunity to Special Conditions, a helpful trait in the current meta. Its Ultimate Force attack deals 70 damage, plus 20 more for each of your Benched Pokémon, reaching up to 130 damage when your bench is full.
With Darkrai ex decks dominating the format, Carnivine stood out as a great tech, perfectly positioned to cleanly two-shot Darkrai with Vine Whip attack, capitalizing on the +20 damage weakness.
Oricorio Greninja Giratina ex
This is another strong Greninja Giratina ex version, using Oricorio to counter the popular ex-type Pokémon! This variant focuses on the Oricorio win condition, using it to stall and chip away at the opponent with Zzzap, dealing 50 damage each turn. Greninja provides backup pressure with Water Shuriken, allowing you to place 20 damage on any of your opponent’s Pokémon, perfect for sniping already weakened Bench targets.
The deck runs both Water and Lightning Energy, enabling Greninja’s Mist Slash for a solid 60 damage when needed. Giratina ex handles its own Energy requirements through Broken-Space Below, so managing Psychic attachments is rarely an issue if you have it in play in the early game.
Irida adds extra value here, healing 40 damage from all Pokémon with Water Energy attached—helping to deny key knockouts and disrupt your opponent’s tempo. Additionally, Shaymin’s Fragrant Flower Garden heals 10 damage from all your Pokémon, providing steady recovery that helps keep Oricorio alive longer, especially against decks like Darkrai ex that rely on ping damage.
Snorlax Greninja Giratina ex
The Greninja Snorlax Giratina deck is performing well in the A3 meta, mainly thanks to the addition of Rare Candy. You’re able to skip the Stage 1 evolution and go from Froakie to Greninja in one turn and start making use of Water Shuriken to deal 20 damage to one of the opponent’s Pokémon. Usually, we use Greninja for its Water Shuriken ability only, however, this list runs Water Energy to also use Greninja as an attacker, dealing 60 damage with its Mist Slash.
Snorlax is a massive tank with its 140 HP, but we have Barry to reduce its attack cost by 2 Energy, meaning we’ll only need to attach 2 Energy to use Collapse and deal 100 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon.
Although most lists I’ve seen are running Water Energy only and relying solely on Giratina ex’s Broken-Space Bellow to ramp Psychic Energy. This list uses both Water and Psychic Energies, making sure it gets to attack with Giratina ex as early as possible. However, you might be punished if you need to attack with Greninja and you don’t have a Water Energy to activate Mist Slash.
Giratina’s Chaotic Impact deals 130 damage, so with Gerninja’s Water Shuriken, you’re one-shotting a 150 HP Pokémon.
Some lists were running Ilima as an option to remove Snorlax from play and prevent the opposing player from KOing it.
Meowscarada Decidueye ex
The Grass deck is a solid choice to bring to tournaments, having two Stage 2 Pokémon as win conditions, so Rare Candy is a must. Meowscarada deals 60 damage with Fighting Claws, but becomes a 130 damage attack against Ex-type Pokémon! Meowscarada is exceptionally strong in the current meta since it can one-shot a Darkrai ex, making use of the +20 weakness.
As for Decidueye ex, it pushes 80 damage with Razor Leader, but can deal 100 damage to one of the opponent’s Pokémon with its Pierce the Pain attack, perfect for sniping Benched Pokémon.
Garchomp ex Rampardos
This deck relies on two Stage 2 Pokémon, making Rare Candy essential for setting up efficiently. Rampardos is the main attacker, hitting for 130 damage with Head Smash. However, the recoil is significant—Rampardos takes 50 damage after getting a knockout, dropping to just 100 HP and leaving it vulnerable to most meta threats. To offset this, Giant Cape is key for boosting its survivability, while Lillie provides valuable healing with a 60 HP recovery, letting Rampardos stay in the fight for another swing.
Garchomp ex serves as a secondary attacker and adds versatility. It’s a bulkier option that opens with Linear Attack, dealing 50 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokémon, perfect for sniping low-HP targets on the Bench. When it’s time to apply pressure to the Active, Dragon Claw delivers 100 damage, allowing you to clean up bulkier threats.
Oircorio Magnezone
The Oricorio Magnezone deck leans on Oricorio as both a staller and potential win condition with its Zzzap attack. Attaching Lightning Energy to Oricorio doesn’t slow the deck down, thanks to Magneton’s Volt Charge, which accelerates Energy and helps set up Magnezone for its powerful Thunder Blast.
Unlike many Stage 2 decks, this list skips Rare Candy, since Magneton’s ability to ramp Energy is too valuable to bypass. The deck also runs 2 copies of Guzma, primarily to counter opponents using multiple Tools, especially disruptive ones like Rocky Helmet or Poison Barb, and to ensure Oricorio can stay safe and continue applying pressure.
We’ve seen this version perform well in major tournaments and make it to the top 4! It is a deck to watch out for and will likely have seasoned players on it.
Incineroar ex Charizard ex
Incineroar ex Charizard ex is currently the strongest Fire-type deck out there. It uses Rare Candy to speed up the evolution of Incineroar ex and Charizard ex, and have a win condition online as early as possible. Incineroar ex deals 30 damage with its Fire Fang attack, but you can later go for a heavier swing with Scar-Charged Smash, dealing 80 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon. If Incineroar ex is damaged, Scar-Charged Smash will deal 140 damage instead.
Charizard ex is the power-house in this deck, using its Stoke to ramp Fire Energy and set up for Steam Artillery to deal 150 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokemon.
Solgaleo ex Skarmory
This deck relies on Skarmory as an early attacker, dealing 50 damage with Metal Arms if you have a Took attached to Skarmory. In the meantime, you’ll be working on evolving into your Stage 2 Solgaleo ex to carry the game, and with Rare Candy in the list, you can skip the Stage 1 evolution to have Solgaleo ex in play a turn earlier.
Solgaleo ex needs two Metal Energy to activate its Sol Breaker attack, dealing 120 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon and 10 damage to itself. Being a 180 HP Pokémon means we’re not too worried about taking the 10 damage, but against the Charizard ex deck, things can be awkward since falling to 170 HP puts us in range of Charizard ex’s Steam Artillery (Solgaleo’s weakness is Fire decks).
Solgaleo ex’s Rising Road ability lets you move it from the Bench to the Active spot without having to discard any Energy from your Active Pokémon. It’s not too useful when swapping with a Skarmory, but in other versions like Solgaleo ex Snorlax, it can be more useful to avoid the 4 retreat cost on Snorlax.
Closing Words
This will be a highly competitive tournament, with most players bringing their A-game for a shot at the first-place prize! Unlike previous Ursiiday Pocket events, the increased prize pool is expected to draw in more participants and raise the level of competition across the board.
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