Hi there. I have a Pokemon TCG tournament blog. I made a trip to Toronto to pick up a card order, do some shopping and play at a local tournament there.
The tournament had 3 rounds of best of one matches. For every win, you earn one Prize pack.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pokebeach.com%2Fnews%2F2025%2F07%2FPrize-Pack-Series-7.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=40d1a0165e975d8099d8434cd7fe5738af06930d85df451b6c9f737280ca7e1f
Raging Bolt ex Decklist
My deck was Raging Bolt ex with the Noctowl engine. It was either this deck or Gholdengo ex. I like attackers with one hit knockout power. Raging Bolt ex has a good variety of attackers that in theory should have a good matchup spread.
Decklist
Here is the decklist. I may be off by one or two cards compared to my online decklist.
Pokémon: 21 1 Mew ex MEW 151 3 Raging Bolt ex TEF 123 1 Latias ex SSP 76 3 Teal Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 25 1 Koraidon SSP 116 1 Slither Wing PAR 107 1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38 1 Ditto MEW 132 2 Fan Rotom PRE 85 3 Hoothoot SCR 114 3 Noctowl SCR 115 1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169
Trainer: 27 3 Earthen Vessel PRE 106 1 Pal Pad SVI 182 1 Prime Catcher PRE 119 4 Ultra Ball MEG 131 4 Nest Ball PAF 84 3 Area Zero Underdepths PRE 94 4 Professor Sada's Vitality PRE 120 1 Boss's Orders MEG 114 1 Professor Turo's Scenario PRE 121 1 Iono PAL 185 1 Crispin PRE 105 2 Night Stretcher SFA 61 1 Energy Retrieval WHT 82
Energy: 12 6 Grass Energy SVE 9 3 Fighting Energy SVE 14 3 Lightning Energy SVE 12
I made a few changes compared to the usual Raging Bolt ex lists. Instead of Judge, I use Iono for hand disruption when needed.
The single prize Raging Bolt is popular for attacking the bench. With 100 HP Kirlias in Gardevoir decks, I think this Raging Bolt is not too useful. Instead I use Slither Wing. I think it is more correct to use Slither Wing and Koraidon even though it is not popular. Slither Wing has good firepower and its Burn effect bypasses Pikachu ex's ability.
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Round One Vs Teal Mask Ogerpon ex + Hydreigon ex
My first round opponent was someone who I played against before three weeks ago. He played a different deck this time around. His deck was Teal Mask Ogerpon ex + Noctowl + Hydreigon ex. This deck is not very common and I have played it once. I have a bit of an idea of how the deck performs but it is hard to figure out the type of combos this deck can do.
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To spare the details, I did end up losing this match up. Looking back I should have targeted his Pidgeot ex and have used a Noctowl of my own. There was one turn where he got this combo of Energy Switch, Hilda for Hydreigon and Neo Upper Energy. Then he could use the Obsidian attack to hit 130 on the Active Pokemon and my 2 Hoothoots.
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I definitely could have played better in this matchup.
I later found out that this guy ends up at 3 wins and 0 losses in the end. First round matchups can be tricky as you can get a really good opponent early on.
Round Two Versus Zoroark ex + Crustle
My round two opponent was someone I've seen often at this store but never really played until now. His deck was a Zoroark ex + Crustle deck.
My opening turns were not that great but workable. The opponent had a worse hand and board state. My first two knockouts were on his two N's Zorua with my Teal Mask Ogerpon ex.
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The next two prizes involved me using Slither Wing + Fan Rotom to take down a Crustle with a Luxurious Cape tool.
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Prize 5 of 6 was me using Boss's Orders to take down a Munkidori. I used Pal Pad to recycle the Boss's Orders so I can use it again for the final knockout.
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Prize 6 out of 6 was me topdecking Boss's Orders again for the win. This win was straightforward as long as I managed resources correctly against a Crustle wall that makes this matchup somewhat unfavourable.
I am 1 win and 1 loss. This is much better than 0 wins and 2 losses.
Round Three Versus Miraidon ex
The round three opponent was someone I faced against before a several months ago. The environment was different back then and we had different decks.
I am up against Miraidon ex with Iron Hands ex, Zekrom ex and the Eelektrik engine.
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Our first turns was us doing some setups with no attacks. I found out quickly that he ran 2 copies of Mew ex, 2 copies of Squawkabilly ex and 2 copies of Switch. This was some turbo aggressive build of Miraidon ex.
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My opponent gets the first two prizes with Iron Hands ex's Amp You Very Much attack on my Fan Rotom. I respond with a revenge Knockout on the Iron Hands ex with a Teal Mask Ogerpon ex.
Then the opponent uses Zeraora to knockout my benched Fezandipiti ex. The opponent is at 2 Prize cards left with me at 4.
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My next turn was me using Prime Catcher, Iono and Raging Bolt ex to knockout his Zekrom ex. Looking back, this was a mistake. I should have used Slither Wing + Prime Catcher to knockout the Zekrom ex. His Pikachu ex was another good target as well.
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I lose in the opponent's next turn as I found out that he had a Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex and 1 Energy to knockout my 240 HP Raging Bolt ex.
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Prizing
My record was 1 win and 2 losses. I did feel that my games were not easy. The second round win was kind of lucky as my opponent did not have a good start. My rank was something like 8th out of 14. There were 2 people with 3 wins and 0 losses, 5 people with 2 wins and 1 loss. I got eighth as I was the best out of the 1 win and 2 losses group. Best as in my opponent's win record was the highest.
My gameplay was good except for those key moments in the 2 losses I got. It is like playing the break points poorly in tennis.
For my prizing, I got win Prize Pack Series 7 booster pack. Area Zero Underdepths and the Dark Energys are playable but I have quite a few already. No real pulls in this one unfortunately.
One of the guys at the local tournament was sharing that his one friend is 1 win and 11 losses overall in the Phantasmal Flames Prerelease events. Starting on Nov 1, 2025, Phantasmal Flames prerelease events have started. This event was on Nov 2, 2025 Sunday. If this guy has 1 win and 11 losses overall in prereleases, then that must have meant that his guy has been to 4 prerelease events so far in the first 2 days. (Each prerelease event has 3 rounds.)
There are some players, collectors and maybe scalpers that go to prerelease events to gain as many cards as possible before the set release. Some guys are willing to spend the money and time to go to multiple prerelease events. With this Phantasmal Flames prerelease, I am sure people are chasing Mega Charizard ex cards. The Gold one is the rarest card in this set.
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In a week or so, I am likely to write up a prerelease tournament blog for a Phantasmal Flames prerelease event. I was not able to go to 2, so one it is. (One better than none.)
Thank you for reading.