Winners Of PokeBeach’s March TCG Cup Crowned: Deck Lists And Interviews!

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

The tournament was played in the Standard format, which at the time was XY through BREAKpoint.

Interview with the Champion

Coming in first place is Harry Smith from London! He will be walking away with a BREAKpoint booster box from TCGplayer.com. Here’s our interview with him.

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

I have a mere 20 CP as, unfortunately, I don’t have much time to travel to tournaments outside of London. I’m fairly new to the TCG too, so I haven’t yet tried for a Worlds invite. However, winning this event has given me some confidence, so I’m going to try a bit harder to pick up points in the future.

What deck did you play for the March TCG Cup?

I played Turbo Darkrai – a mix of Darkrai-EX, Yveltal-EX, and Malamar-EX that makes use of Max Elixir to get Energy on the board quickly.

My choice was heavily influenced by Trevenant – at the U.S. Winter Regionals where BREAKpoint was legal, Trevenant decks collected the second biggest share of Championship Points. On the back of this I figured people would adapt it for the Standard format.

What was your favorite card in your list?

Energy Switch was definitely my favorite card in the deck! It was the perfect partner in crime for Max Elixir and had great synergy with my main attackers. Every time I drew the card it gave tricks up my sleeve – first turn Evil Ball / Dark Pulse, a more powerful Evil Ball and a sudden Dark Head to name a few. It really put in work.

What was your most exciting game?

Personally, my most exciting game was against Yveltal / Zoroark / Gallade. About halfway through game one, it was on a knife edge at four Prizes each. My Active Yveltal-EX couldn’t Knock Out my opponent’s Yveltal-EX (he had three Energy to my two) and would’ve been KO’d next turn. However, I managed to pull off a combination of an Energy attachment, Reverse Valley, Max Elixir, Energy Switch, and Giovanni's Scheme to take the KO. It was a very satisfying coming together of the jigsaw and I rode the momentum from there.

The most exciting match, however, was against Seismitoad-EX / Huntail / Archie’s Swampert – what a deck! I lost the first game as I completely underestimated Huntail. My opponent was able to slow the pace of the game with Seismitoad whilst building up Energy on his side of the board and preparing a Huntail. In the following two games I started with lone Hoopa-EX – somehow, in both games, I was able to get him out of the Active spot before being Item-locked and from there I targeted benched Clamperl. It was a very tense series.

What kind of decks did you play against?

Well, there’s a funny thing – I ran into zero Trevenant! Instead, I played against the following:

• Seismitoad-EX / Giratina-EX
• Manectric-EX / Raikou
• Greninja BREAK
• Seismitoad-EX / Huntail / Archie’s Swampert
• Yveltal / Zoroark / Gallade

Would you make any changes to your deck or list?

I would like to find space for Yveltal from BREAKthrough. Fright Night is a very appealing Ability that switches off your and your opponent’s Tools – it’s a great way of dealing with Fighting Fury Belt. Plus, Pitch-Black Spear is a fantastic attack. All in all it’s a versatile card.

Hoopa-EX is good in theory but I didn’t play it down once during the tournament; it just always felt like Lysandre bait. If I wanted to tweak the list, he would be the first to get the chop.

What kind of decks give your deck trouble? Which are good matchups?

Oddly enough, Garchomp is a big problem! With a Strong Energy and Muscle Band it OHKO’s everything in the deck apart from Baby Yveltal, which can’t do much back and is 2HKO’d anyway. Garchomp decks often run Focus Sash as well which gives me a real headache.

Night March is good against this deck, as it is against most things really! Joltik hits Yveltal for Weakness, so I’m reliant on Darkrai-EX and Malamar-EX. Baby Yveltal used to be effective against Night March but, thanks to Fighting Fury Belt, that’s no longer a guarantee. Night March is always the favorite in the Prize-race.

As for good matchups; the deck is consistent against most Pokemon-EX decks as it hits hard every turn and, with Fighting Fury Belt, is fairly durable as well. Having main attackers with different Weaknesses and Resistances is a big plus as you can tailor your approach to your opponent’s typing. Once the Energy is spread across the board it’s hard for the opponent to stem the flow of damage.

The deck is also good against Trevenant of course!

Why did you decide to participate in this tournament?

I want to get involved in more tournaments and, not having much time at the weekends to travel, this was a perfect opportunity to compete against other good players. I really wanted to test myself but I didn’t think for one second that I’d actually win!

Many thanks to PokeBeach and TCGplayer for organizing events like these!

Congratulations, Harry!

Other Top Finishers

Coming in 2nd, 3rd and 4th places were John Mostowy (Serperior), Andrew Wamboldt (urwatueatandi8arceus) and Grant Manley (grantm1999). All three won a bunch of BREAKpoint booster packs. Their deck lists can be seen here:

John Mostowy

Andrew Wamboldt

Grant Manley

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 soon!

Creative Deck Winners

As part of the tournament, PokeBeach’s article writers voted for the premium members who they felt used the most creative deck lists.

UrWatUEatAndI8Arceus, PMJ, SaxMaster69, Gengar Master, and Yog each walked away with several BREAKpoint booster packs or a Premium Promo Collection from TCGplayer.com. The decks we saw these players use include Entei / Emboar-EX, Garchomp, M Mewtwo-EX, Trevenant / Meowstic, and Aromatisse / Techs.

For every tournament, the top five premium members who come up with the most creative decks will win booster packs and promo products.

Want to Become a Premium Member?

May’s tournament will be posted on May 1st, and March’s tournament is currently underway. Each tournament awards up to four booster boxes of product to top finishers plus promo products and additional booster packs to premium members.

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, double the amount of booster pack wins, 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 here 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!

In the future, you can always use our navigation menu 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.)