It’s been a busy stretch in the Pokémon TCG competitive scene, with the dust still settling from the North America International Championships and players already turning their attention to the World Championships. Meanwhile, the upcoming Pitch Black expansion is generating serious buzz — not just for its headline Mega Darkrai ex, but for a handful of cards that could genuinely shake up a format that’s starting to feel a little one-note. Here’s your weekly round-up.
Dragapult ex and the NAIC Aftermath
If you’ve played a single game of Standard recently, this won’t surprise you: Dragapult ex is the undisputed king of the format. According to PokeBeach’s Isaiah Bradner, the deck made up the majority of the top cut at the recent North America International Championships, and current data from Limitless TCG backs that up emphatically — Dragapult ex currently commands a staggering 49.2% meta share, more than the next six archetypes combined.
Bradner notes that while other decks are still putting up results — his friend Ben Dobberstein finished Top 32 at NAIC with Hydrapple ex, for instance — the broader picture is hard to argue with. Hydrapple ex, despite being a genuinely strong deck, struggles to assemble its combo pieces consistently and can stumble against unexpected threats like Mega Lucario ex. According to Limitless, Hydrapple ex currently sits at just a 4.8% meta share, a long way behind the ghostly dragon at the top. Other contenders like N’s Zoroark ex (8.0%), Crustle with Mysterious Rock Inn (6.1%), and Slowking with Seek Inspiration (5.6%) are carving out niches, but nobody’s truly threatening Dragapult ex’s throne right now.
The format isn’t quite a “one deck or bust” situation at the Regional level, but Bradner draws a compelling parallel with Worlds history. He points out that good players tend to gravitate towards good decks, and at an invite-only event like the World Championships, that effect is amplified dramatically. When Gholdengo ex was the top dog heading into the 2025 Worlds, it jumped from roughly 15% at Regionals to about 25% of Phase 1 at the main event. Regidrago VSTAR saw a similar spike in 2024. Given that Dragapult ex is, in Bradner’s words, “much, much better” than either of those decks were in their respective formats, he expects something closer to the infamous 2022 Worlds — where Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR was reportedly played by over 50% of the field in Phase 1.
Pitch Black: The Format’s Potential Reset Button
Here’s the good news for anyone tired of facing down Dragapult ex every other round: the format won’t stay static. The upcoming Pitch Black expansion — based on Japan’s Abyss Eye set — looks set to be one of the most impactful releases in recent memory, a welcome change after the relatively gentle ripples caused by Perfect Order.
According to Bradner’s breakdown, the set’s marquee card, Mega Darkrai ex, might not live up to its billing as the star attraction. Instead, all eyes are on a new archetype called Hide ‘n’ Sneak (initially translated as Ghost Veil). Bradner describes it as “very reminiscent of Night March from over a decade ago” — high praise and a warning in equal measure. For those unfamiliar, Night March was a notoriously aggressive strategy from the XY era that used cheap, disposable attackers to rack up enormous damage by filling the discard pile. If Hide ‘n’ Sneak captures even a fraction of that energy, it could be exactly the kind of fast, ruthless gameplan needed to knock Dragapult ex down a peg.
Beyond the headline contender, Bradner also flags Mega Excadrill ex as a sleeper pick from Pitch Black, tying it to the existing Metang rogue deck that’s been quietly doing work on the fringes of the competitive scene. The article’s deeper analysis of that connection sits behind PokeBeach’s premium paywall, but the implication is clear: Steel-type strategies could be getting a significant boost, potentially giving the format a much-needed new axis of competition.
With Worlds on the horizon and a set release that could redefine the metagame, the next few weeks promise to be some of the most interesting in recent Pokémon TCG memory. Whether Dragapult ex adapts and survives or finally gets dethroned, one thing’s certain — deckbuilders have plenty to chew on heading into the biggest tournament of the year.
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