Gedemer’s Last Thoughts — Going Down Under
The second Internationals of the season is almost upon us. Australia is going to be the first major event to feature the Sword & Shield expansion — it’s always a highlight of the season to bring some of the new cards to life. The purpose of this article will be to drop a rundown of what the metagame is looking like before the big event. Whether you’re attending yourself or going to a different tournament this weekend, this piece will be useful to further acquaint yourself with “what’s good” and make sure you’re ready to win some games. Here’s the big picture of decks you should expect at this event along with how important facing them might be:
The Decks
Primary Threats
- Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Zacian V | Article
- Blacephalon / Jirachi
- Cinccino Mill | Article
- Mewtwo and Mew-GX / Malamar
- Pikachu and Zekrom-GX
Secondary Threats
- Blacephalon-GX
- Lucario and Melmetal-GX / Zacian V | Article
- Mewtwo and Mew-GX / Welder | Article
- Welder Toolbox
Tertiary Threats
- Cinccino Control | Article
- Florges Mill
- Frosmoth Toolbox | Article
- Galarian Obstagoon
- Malamar Toolbox
- Morpeko V / Lillie's Poké Doll
The Guide
These aren’t the only decks out there though, there are some other solid choices to choose from. But these are the most popular decks, the ones that most players will gravitate towards especially on short notice. I can’t thoroughly review every deck, but I’m going to glance over the other decks I’ve mentioned at the top of this article. Each deck will be followed by my rating out of five, along with its “trend” (down, neutral, or up in terms of potential success) as well as why.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
If you'd like to continue reading, consider purchasing a PokeBeach premium membership! If you're not completely satisfied with your membership, you can request a full refund within 30 days.
Each week we post high-quality content from some of the game's top players. Our article program isn't a corporate operation, advertising front, or for-profit business. We set our prices so that we can pay the game's top players to write the best content for our subscribers. Each article topic is carefully selected, goes through multiple drafts, and is touched up by our editors. We take great pride in our program!