Winners of PokeBeach’s March 2017 TCG Cup Crowned! Deck Lists and Interview!

PokeBeach’s March TCG Cup is over and the winners have been crowned!

This month was PokeBeach’s largest monthly tournament yet, with 96 players participating. The tournament was played in the Standard format at the time — Primal Clash through Sun & Moon.

Interview with the Champion

First place this month goes to Anthony Bulone, from Marlboro, NJ! Because he is a premium member, he will be shipped 2 booster boxes by TCGplayer.com!

Here’s our interview with him:

How well are you performing in Play! Pokemon tournaments this season?

I currently only have 40 Championship Points. This is actually the first tournament I have ever won besides a Cube draft with Base Set cards.

Why did you decide to participate in this tournament?

My friend Josh told me about it and I forgot about the registration so I paid for a premium membership and it paid off. He actually came in 6th in the tournament. He is Nobodyshero2727.

What deck did you play for the March TCG Cup?

I played M Rayquaza-EX with Magearna-EX. It’s a powerhouse and I knew I would be able to take a bunch of wins with it.

What kind of decks give yours trouble? Which are good matchups?

Anything Lightning is hard to deal with, specifically Zebstrika. Also, decks that can Parallel City, Garbodor, and N to one or two cards are tough to come back from.

What kind of decks did you play against?

I played against a M Scizor-EX deck round one, then a M Pidgeot-EX deck round two. Round three I played against Tauros-GX / Garbodor with Parallel City, then Turbo Dark in round four. Round five I played against TheAnticipationEevee who also had Turbo Dark. Round six I lost to killrnite with a Decidueye-GX / Lugia-EX deck (my only loss), and then round seven I played against a Jolteon-EX / Glaceon-EX / Garbodor deck.

What was your most exciting game or match?

My most exciting game would have to be my third round game against Tauros-GX / Garb because I had to keep setting up my bench with Dragonite-EX after having my Bench size reduced. All of my games were extremely fun but this would be the one that sticks out the most.

What was your favorite card in your list?

My favorite card in the list is Puzzle of Time because it opens up so many opportunities. I can get back an Escape Rope and a VS Seeker for whatever I need or just get a Mega Turbo and Double Colorless after a knockout to get another knockout. The combos are endless and that’s why it is so great. It also helped me when I was dead drawing because I was able to look at my top three cards and put Professor Sycamore on top.

Would you make any changes to your deck or list?

In real life, I will probably put Jirachi Promo into the deck over Magearna Promo, but they both seem pretty good. I would need to test against more meta decks, but it seems like it would be better against Decidueye-GX / Vileplume, although the Jirachi could still be KO’d by Feather Arrow.

How does Guardians Rising and affect your deck? Is it still viable?

Mega Ray gains another valuable benchsitter in Tapu Lele-GX. Tapu Lele has a great attack for one Energy attachment which can be helpful but the reason to play it would be for its Ability that allows you to grab a Supporter from your deck. It just adds even more consistency to the deck. I think Mega Ray is still viable unless Tapu Koko-GX becomes really popular, which I don’t necessarily see happening.

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I wanna make a shoutout to Magearna Promo for being there when I couldn’t get a Jirachi Promo online. I actually used it as an attacker a couple of times and it helped against Glaceon-EX. Also, none of my success in this tournament would have been possible without the help of my friends at Jinx Collectibles, my local card store. This is where I began to play the TCG and the owner and his sons have helped me hone my skills as of late.

Thanks guys! Can’t wait for April’s tournament!

Congratulations, Anthony!

Here is the deck list he used to win the tournament:

Other Top Finishers

Coming in 2nd, 3rd and 4th places were Alex Mei (TheAnticipationEevee), Blair Zwarich (killrnite) and Mustafa Tobah (PwnzorProd). All three won a bunch of booster packs from the latest expansions, but Blair and Mustafa both got a huge increase in the prizes because they are premium subscribers. You can see how many packs each of them earned at the top of this page. Their deck lists can be seen below:

Alex Mei

Blair Zwarich

Mustafa Tobah

The top finishers also earned Prize Wall points on TCGplayer.com, which allows them to exchange their points for even more products like booster packs and promo boxes.

Everyone in the Top 32 of PokeBeach’s monthly tournaments will also receive Prize Wall points via e-mail. Be sure to check your inboxes!

Creative Deck Winners

As part of every tournament, PokeBeach’s article writers voted for the five premium members whom they felt used the most creative deck lists, and each of them earned some additional booster packs or a promo product.

Seng vang, Frosstoise, trainer3369, Derek2727, and Dave Sontag, each walked away with several booster packs or a specially-selected Pokemon promo product from TCGplayer.com. The decks they played were Passimian, Machamp-EX / Ariados, Xerneas BREAK / M Latios-EX, Yveltal / Vileplume, and Darkrai-EX / Dragonair respectively.

Want to Become a Premium Member?

May’s tournament will be posted within the last week of April, and April’s tournament is currently underway. Each tournament awards up to 7 booster boxes of product to top finishers plus promo products and additional booster packs to premium members. The prizes for premium members received a huge increase too, so don’t miss your chance to play in the next tournament!

If you’re interested in becoming a premium member, be sure to check out this link. All premium members get reserved slots in the tournaments, a huge increase in prizes, double the amount of Prize Wall points, a chance to win even more product for using creative decks, and of course all the other benefits that go along with having a premium membership, including weekly articles from the game’s top players and deck help from said players. A premium membership is extremely diverse!

Thanks, TCGplayer!

All of these prizes are brought to you by TCGplayer.com. Their online store offers the cheapest Pokemon cards on the Internet from thousands of different sellers — you will find no better deals! So be sure to check them out any time you want to purchase or sell Pokemon cards!

You can always check the “Sets” tab at the top of our website to access their store.

(Note: The Pokémon Company International is not a sponsor or endorser of PokeBeach’s tournaments, contests, or prizes, nor does the company or its affiliates have any formal association with PokeBeach. Our activities are by fans, for fans, and are not sanctioned or approved by TPCi.)