The first post-rotation Champions League for 2025 has taken place in Japan, giving us a sneak peek at what Pokémon TCG decks are likely to be at the top of the leaderboard when the rest of the world catches up in April. This Feraligatr list featuring Munkidori won first place, so it looks like we’re going to have to take the big blue gator a lot more seriously!
For a single prize attacker, Feraligatr does a lot of damage. It can power up its own Giant Wave attack with Torrential Heart, afflicting itself with five damage counters to dish out more pain. Before you attack, Munkidori can offload some of the counters from your own Pokémon to the enemy, pushing your damage potential up to 310 – enough to handle all but the very highest HP Pokémon.
With Relicanth on the bench, your tactical options are dramatically multiplied. You can use Croconaw’s lower power Reverse Thrust attack, still boosted up by Torrential Heart, to switch to Mimikyu or Milotic ex for protection; or you can use Totodile’s Big Bite to ‘retreat lock’ the opponent, preventing them from switching out.
More-or-less the same Feraligatr deck made waves online a few weeks ago when it won a Kyoto City League, but like most people, we thought this was a bit of an anomaly, and assumed the strategy would be a neat but off-meta deck. However, in the weaker landscape which arrives when the oldest Pokémon cards rotate out in spring, it’s proven to pack a real punch.
For most of the world, the annual Pokémon TCG rotation, when older cards are removed from the Standard format, takes place on April 5, 2025, but in Japan it happens early: they rotated on January 24. The first big tournament since then, Champions League Fukuoka, took place at the weekend, on February 15-16.
And Feraligatr, piloted by the player Hiromu Sasaki, took the first place prize. This deck takes a while to set up, and would stand no chance against the best Pokémon cards played right now. But after rotation, the meta is looking a lot slower. It’s notable how many wall decks that try to prevent all damage from the opponent there were in the top 8 and top 16 of the recent tournament.
Without as many reliable draw engines like Radiant Greninja, and with Budew slowing down decks that would previously have skipped to their final evolutions, defensive decks are king, which seems to be what has allowed a more controlling build like Feraligatr to come out on top.
For more trading card game news, follow us on Google News, or check out our guides to the most expensive rare Pokémon cards or the newest Pokémon set.
Source: Wargamer
