To the surprise of no one attending the Pokémon World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii, Regidraco is currently dominating attendance with a quarter of the field whipping out the Dragon-type. Still, a few things there might come as a surprise as the competition heats up.
Over 25 percent of decks are running the Regidraco format, either lost box or VStar using Ogerpon Teal Mask, with Lugia VStar and Charizard ex in second and third place. 277 people were using Regidrago on day one, with only 35 remaining, according to stats provided by the Pokémon team on X/Twitter.
Lots of players predicted Regidraco, Charizard, and Gardevoir would dominate Worlds this year, and for the most part, a lot of the decks we expected to appear do make up the six different deck types on offer. But there is one deck in particular that appears to have come out of nowhere and is staking a claim for a surprise victory.
Iron Thorns ex, commonly known as quad Thorns, is unique in that it uses just four Pokémon in the entire deck. It’s an unorthodox but strong pick and is useful against many of the meta decks currently left in the format—so long as the deck doesn’t come across any Mimikyu.
Other decks appearing in the top six feature Raging Bolt/Ogerpon ex and Gardevoir ex. Both are sample decks and in the right hands have a chance at going far in the tournament as well, so long as they come across decent matchups.
As day two progresses, it seems likely at this point that at least one Regidrago player will make it to the top eight. We’ll need to wait for day two to finish to get an entire of which decks will be fighting for the Masters crown on Championship Sunday, Aug. 18.
