Pokémon's 2026 European International Championships are taking place at the end of the week, and over in the Pokémon TCG there are three favorite decks that are expected to dominate the contest. Personally I'm hoping for an upset, maybe Crustle can rustle up a win or Alakazam can pull a surprise victory out of the hat.
But assuming nothing surprising happens, these are the decks to be looking out for. I expect they will be pretty familiar to most of you.
3. Gholdengo ex
For the Pokémon player who just likes drawing cards, Gholdengo steps up to the plate. The star of this deck has been around for a long time, but this archetype only recently received the pieces it needs to really shine. Those include the duo of Solrock and Lunatone for a premier draw engine, and Genesect to help fetch the golden ghost. Then you simply pitch all your excess energy cards into the bin to deal as much damage as is needed, followed by trainer cards that can retrieve them all so you can have another go.
2. Dragapult ex
Dragapult wins games with pure power, with its two-energy Phantom Dive attack that deals 200 HP damage and can bully the bench as well. The gameplan is fairly simple, but tried and tested: simply Itchy Pollen your opponent while you set up, then dive, dive, dive away until nothing is left on your opponent's board.
While it also works well with Charizard, the leading Dragapult strategy pairs your heavy hitter with Dusknoir. The combination of the Phantom Dive splash damage, plus Dusknoir's dramatic self-destruct can be enough to catch out low-HP ex Pokémon, or soften up a dangerous Pokémon so that Dragapult can take it out in one swoop.
1. Gardevoir ex
The gameplan for Gardevoir is the same as it's been for years: Gardevoir piles on damage counters in order to fuel itself up with energy, then a troop of Munkidori takes it off, turning it into extra damage for your foes.
Over the years this deck has received a number of tools that have kept it at the top of the leaderboard, winning tournament after tournament. Most notably, Lily's Clefairy ex helps the deck counter Dragapult, delivering brutal OHKOs. There's also a recent Jellicent ex build using the card from White Flare, which can item lock the opponent.
What's your favorite deck right now? Let us know over on the Wargamer Discord.