Hi there. Here is a Pokemon TCG local tournament blog post by me. On December 28, 2025 I played Raging Bolt ex again with the Solrock & Lunatone engine.
Tournament Format
At A & C games, the regular local tournament had a free entry with 3 best of one round. For every win you get one Prize Pack Series 7 booster pack. They sometimes do extra prizing to clear out inventory and to help out the players.
Decklist
Pokémon: 10
1 Latias ex SSP 76
3 Raging Bolt ex TEF 123
2 Lunatone MEG 74
1 Slither Wing PAR 107
3 Teal Mask Ogerpon ex PRE 12
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
2 Solrock MEG 75
1 Raging Bolt SCR 111
1 Sandy Shocks ex PRE 56
1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169
Trainer: 16
2 Fighting Gong MEG 116
2 Boss's Orders SHF 58
1 Battle Cage PFL 85
1 Energy Retrieval SVI 171
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
1 Energy Switch CRZ 129
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Pal Pad SVI 182
1 Penny SVI 183
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
2 Area Zero Underdepths PRE 94
2 Iono PAL 185
4 Professor Sada's Vitality PAR 170
1 Crispin SCR 133
3 Ultra Ball SVI 196
3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
Energy: 3
5 Basic {F} Energy SVE 6
3 Basic {L} Energy SVE 4
5 Basic {G} Energy SVE 9
Total Cards: 60
Round One Versus Mega Kangaskhan ex + Bouffalant
During turn one, I thought I was facing a regular Mega Kangaskhan ex deck with Mega Absol ex.
 |  |
It turned out that I am up against Mega Kangaskhan ex with Bouffalants with the Curly Wall ability. There is also Munkidori to bounce damage back if you deal damage but don't take knockouts. I don't like playing against decks like this. It is mainly because of Munkidori abuse and hyper defensive strategies.
 |  |  |
The Bouffalants make it such that the Colourless Basic Pokemon take 60 less damage from attacks from the opponent's Pokemon. Most of these decks do attack while there are a few that annoy you by removing key resources from you and stall you out for the long win. This opponent went with the standard Mega Kangaskhan ex + Bouffalant build.
In theory, this matchup is not easy because of the Bouffalants. I do play a Sandy Shocks ex to combat these type of things but the Bouffalants makes it that I cannot one hit knock out the Mega Kangaskhan. I would be short of 10 damage after applying x2 weakness.
My opening turns were not great. I would have loved a more aggressive setup to take a Mega Kangaskhan ex knockout with my Raging Bolt ex.
I end up losing this one in the end. Maybe I played a bit too cautiously and scared. I could have hit the Mega Kangakshan ex with some damage and then finish it off one with a Sandy Shocks ex.
|  |
Round Two Versus Gholdengo ex + Solrock & Lunatone
Somehow I am up against a Gholdengo ex deck with 0 wins and 1 loss also.
 |  |  |  |
With Solrock, Lunatone, Genesect ex and Fezandipiti ex, this deck can draw a lot of cards. Lots of cards means lots of options. They also run at least 3 copies of Boss's Orders to target done anything they want. Because of this, this deck is the number one most popular deck in the Phantasmal Flames. It is easy to use for the most part and has easy consistency and firepower. Critics would argue that this is a low skill meta deck. I kind of agree.
For me as a Raging Bolt ex deck user, I am not favoured but I can win.
I end up losing this one. My gameplay was not even bad here. I did the best I could. Boss's Orders along with enough energy and drawpower just bails out Gholdengo ex decks out of bad positions. Me hitting with a non Pokemon ex is not enough if the deck carries 3 to 4 copies of Boss's Orders.
 |  |
Round Three Versus Store Employee & Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex
Before the tournament started, there were an odd number of players. With an odd number of players, one lucky player gets a bye/free win per round. I think this store employee was the last minute player entered in this free tournament.
I was actually not looking forward to this match. The store employee was an organizer/judge a few weeks ago as the main guy working there was on vacation in Japan. This employee has seen me play before and I have seen his deck in round two. I did not know that he was also 0 wins and 2 losses before this match. I don't know what his matchups were.
 |  |  |
My last turn consisted of using Iono to search for more cards and using Fezandipiti ex. I just needed one Fighting Energy for the final knockout on his Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex and take the last two prizes. I do end up getting one Night Stretcher to retrieve a Basic Fighting Energy.
This match was a long one that was almost 30 minutes. For a 0 wins 2 losses match this was not an easy matchup at all. My opponent was saying my deck was pretty scary. I responded by saying that his Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex deck was tricky to play against too. It is a slow, tactical and grindy matchup.
There are some good players that you end up facing in the losers matchups. The level of play at this store has gone up compared to last year.
Post Tournament & Prizes
After starting with 2 losses, I do end up with 1 win and 2 losses. The decks I played against were not easy ones. No meme decks. I definitely did not play perfectly in some moments but I did what I could. This local tournament felt more like a League Challenge as there were some good decks.
In the previous week, I have played against all 3 of my opponents before. This time around, all 3 of my opponents were new to me.
The store gave away an old Prize Pack Series 5 pack to all participants. Here is what I got.
As I got 1 win, I get one prize pack Series 7. The store doubled the winnings today though. One win meant 2 Prize Packs. Here is what I got from these two packs. Nothing too crazy.
After the tournament, I did some Boxing week related shopping. I did manage to find an Umbreon ex for 5 CAD with no tax added. There was also a Leafeon ex for 5 CAD with no tax. Usually the market price of this is 7 or 8 CAD in the Toronto area. Not bad. I may plan to switch to a Flareon ex deck. This is to combat the rampant amount of Gholdengo ex decks.
 |  |