5 best Pokemon TCG decks from EUIC 2024

Pokemon TCG players are winding down from the action of the European International Championship for 2024, but they certainly came away with valuable data on the state of the meta. For the Masters TCG tournament, multiple deck types proved to have an outsized influence on the final results, including many decks that trainers have encountered quite a bit recently.

The best-performing Pokemon TCG decks during the Masters Tournament at EUIC 2024 won't exactly surprise players who have paid attention to the current meta. Be that as it may, they're the top performers for a reason, and when wielded by master players, it's no surprise that the decks below ended up being the top winners in the TCG's European International Championships.

Note: This list is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

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The five best Pokemon TCG decks during EUIC 2024

1) Charizard ex/Pidgeot ex

Charizard ex's aggression led to a Pokemon TCG championship title in the Masters tournament (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Charizard/Pidgeot ex has been an absolute menace since the Pokemon TCG's Paradox Rift expansion, and it continued its reign at EUIC 2024 by being the deck that won Masters, played by Tord Reklev of Norway. This hyper-aggressive deck aims to overwhelm opponents with evolved Pokemon, especially the hard-hitting and durable Charizard ex to wipe the field of an opponent's Pokemon.

Pidgeot ex's Quick Search ability is utilized for search power, allowing trainers to add any card from their deck to their hand. Paired with Boss's Orders, players can control the field, or they can use Quick Search to find additional Pokemon, including more Charizard ex, flooding the bench with strong monsters to force positive battle trades with the opponent until their prize cards are gone.

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2) Lost Zone Giratina VSTAR

Several Pokemon TCG decks have been gunning for its spot lately, but Lost Zone Giratina VSTAR showed that it still has plenty of flexibility to take down countless other decks that it faces off against. As one might expect, the deck operates heavily through cards like Giratina V, Sableye, Comfey, and Cramorant to put cards into the Lost Zone to fuel attacks and various Pokemon abilities.

Meanwhile, support/item cards like Colress's Experiment and Mirage Gate allow for extra Lost Zone dumps and energy searching respectively. With a stocked Lost Zone, Pokemon TCG trainers can bring out Giratina VSTAR and either deal massive damage to opponents' active Pokemon or simply KO them outright with Giratina VSTAR's Star Requiem ability if things get difficult.

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3) Pidgeot ex Control

Pidgeot ex surprised a few Pokemon TCG players by taking third at EUIC Masters (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Obsidian Flames' Pidgeot ex card has proven to be a complement to more than a few decks in the Pokemon TCG's current meta, but can be incredibly capable of locking down the battlefield on its own, and this was proven when the deck ranked third at Masters TCG at EUIC 2024. In addition to setting up quick benches with Quick Search, Pidgeot ex's Blustery Wind can remove stadium cards.

Meanwhile, this deck is complemented by Noivern ex to prevent stadium and special energy cards from being played. Luxray V is used to remove trainer cards from an opponent's hand and to paralyze their active Pokemon, and Chi-Yu ex can regularly mill two cards from the top of an opponent's deck to eliminate cards that may potentially help them.

This isn't to say that this Pokemon TCG deck doesn't have firepower. Radiant Charizard is included to provide extra damage output with Combustion Blast, which gets cheaper as the player loses prize cards. Even Rotom V can deal great damage by placing tool cards into the Lost Zone from their discard pile, increasing Rotom's Scrap Short attack damage by 40 points each time.

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4) Future Hands (Iron Crown ex/Iron Hands ex)

The Pokemon TCG release of Iron Hands ex during Paradox Rift has been a huge boon for some players (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The Pokemon TCG Paradox Rift expansion made waves with the introduction of Iron Crown ex and Iron Hands ex, which work well together and have racked up plenty of tournament wins while also taking fifth and sixth place in EUIC 2024's Masters bracket. The deck archetype starts by using Miraidon to attach energy and power up benched Future Pokemon like Iron Hands/Crown ex.

When Iron Crown ex is played, its Cobalt Command ability activates to increase the damage of Future Pokemon like Iron Hands and Miraidon by 20 points, which can be followed by another 20 from the Future Booster Energy Capsule card. Iron Hands ex uses this to devastating effect by dealing heavy damage, and if it knocks out an enemy with its Amp You Very Much attack, players can take an extra prize.

If Iron Hands is at risk of being defeated, Pokemon TCG players can also equip it with Heavy Baton so its energy cards can be redistributed to other bench Pokemon. Overall, this deck puts a strong foot forward with quick bench establishment and has fallback plans if Iron Crown/Hands ex doesn't get the job done right away.

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5) Roaring Moon ex

The Pokemon TCG's Paradox Rift expansion has introduced the rise of Roaring Moon ex (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Roaring Moon ex has quickly risen through the rankings and tier lists in the Pokemon TCG's post-Paradox Rift meta, and it's not hard to see why it also placed incredibly well in Masters at EUIC. It emphasizes early beatdown against enemy active Pokemon as early as turn one to rack up a prize card deficit against the opponent thanks to Roaring Moon ex's ability to score instant knockouts.

Standard Roaring Moon is added to avoid relying on the ex version too much since its instant knockout attack deals 200 damage to it, and the standard Roaring Moon will grow in damage output as more Past Paradox Pokemon end up in the discard pile. The powerful Radiant Greninja is also utilized to draw two cards during a Pokemon TCG player's turn at the cost of discarding an energy card.

Ancient Booster Energy Capsule protects Roaring Moon and Roaring Moon ex by increasing their HP by 60 and removing the threat of Special Status Conditions. The Artazon stadium card is used to power Roaring Moon ex's Calamity Storm attack, boosting its damage to 220 points, and Professor Sada's Vitality can provide discarded energy recycling while drawing three cards.