The final match at the Pokémon TCG EUIC on Sunday ended almost before it had begun. Whereas the previous match had been a tense bout, in the third and final game, Ryuki Okada’s poison-powered deck was able to destroy Nat Millar’s Dragapult Ex build within 45 seconds of match start. Ultimately, not a single attack was used to secure the win.
Whereas most Pokémon TCG matches end when one player is able to KO enough Pokémon to win six prize cards, you can also claim victory if your opponent is out of usable Pokémon to switch into the fight.
This was how Okada won on February 23, pulling off a ridiculous combo that took out Millar’s Dreepy in the very first turn of the game, leaving her with an empty board. Instant knockouts are pretty rare in Pokémon (that’s usually the realm of other TCGs like Yugioh). You can’t attack round one, so typically both players will have a little bit of time to set up their benches before fists, claws, and elemental beams start flying.
But in this match, Okada was able to find just the right bunch of cards to remove the lonely Dreepy. Here’s how it happened…
First, Okada used Oranguru V’s ability Back Order to fetch up the PokéTool Forest Seal Stone and an Ancient Booster Capsule. Then Forest Seal Stone found Precious Trolley, an extremely good card which allowed Okada to fill the bench with five basic Pokémon of their choice.
He was then able to set up a killer combo with those five Pokémon. Latias ex let the player switch Oranguru out for Pecharunt, bringing its ability online. Brute Bonnet, with the Ancient Booster Capsule attached, was able to poison the Dreepy, and then Pecharunt plus Radiant Sneasel’s powers combined meant on checkup the poor defenseless dragon took, not 10 damage, but 80, more than enough to make it see stars.
And that – 45 seconds and zero attacks later – was how Ryuki Okada took the final match at the EUIC Championship 2025 and won the $25,000 prize.
It’s looking like an interesting year for Pokémon play. We’ve already seen a massive shakeup in the meta thanks to the release of the gamechanger that is Budew (in an earlier match between Okada and Millar we even witnessed Budew-on-Budew violence!)
Now the TCG meta is about to change again, as April 11 sees some of the best Pokémon cards rotate out. It’ll be interesting to see what decks are hurt, if any are helped, and if novel new builds like Feraligatr can take advantage of the power vacuum.
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Source: Wargamer
