Prereleases for the Pokémon TCG's new Phantasmal Flames set took place last weekend, and players (like me!) rushed to their local game stores to receive a starter deck and a few packs to make modifications, before battling it out to determine who was the very best.
But one fan's packet contained, not one of the four starter decks available at the prerelease, but instead 36 copies of the stamped prerelease Zacian promo.
Fortunately, it looks like everyone knew that the four copies rule doesn't apply in prereleases (people often forget that) and instead of asking for a replacement, the fan gamely constructed a deck with their army of knife dogs.
It's been a bit of a meme over on the Pokémon TCG subreddit this week, with different attendees at the prerelease posting their own perspectives, including the deckbuilder themself.
Reddit user BreakBarrier reveals that their final deck had 25 Zacians, 12 energies, and about three trainer cards. We don't know how the deck performed, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say not well. However, their neighbor on the same table, who also uploaded their perspective, does claim they won their first match.
One of the four decks in the newest Pokémon set's Build and Battle boxes is Zacian themed (alongside a Ceruledge, Flygon, and Toxitricity build) which makes this whole incident a little less bizarre. In fact, Zacian is an absurdly good card for prerelease, as its attack deals a massive 140 damage if your opponent has taken even a single prize card.
Good card or not, though, I wouldn't fancy my chances with a deck composed entirely of the fairy type. You do tend to need at least a couple of Pokémon trainer cards to achieve victory.
Share your own prerelease tales over on the Wargamer Discord. Or check out our guides to the most expensive rare Pokémon cards or all Pokémon sets in order.