“Recent” Event 1 (2024.08.11): Brew City Old-School Showdown featured almost 20 players battling 15/3, but it is my understanding that very few competitors worked on new decks (or tested if they brought a deck not on Jason’s blog). It is my opinion that the event should not bolster the current iteration of Fire Blaine’s Rapidash / Wigglytuff / Muk as the top deck of the format, as it should lose to more combat-focused Lightning Wigglytuff / Dodrio decks or more consistency-focused decks that leverage Big Basics.

“Recent” Event 2 (2024.10.06): The TCGOne Prop 15/3 Mega Battle happened shortly after Brew City OSS and reaffirmed Lightning Dodrio decks as a top competitor but also introduced Psychic Slowpoke / Brock’s Mankey / Muk Lock as a metagame-defining deck (as well as a few other lists).

Decks must both be able to disrupt lock decks and withstand aggressive decks with the best attackers in the game to be competitive. The tricky part is many lock/stall decks play high-damage-dealing Pokemon and aggressive decks may play Pokemon or Trainers to stall out the game while they setup to win. Counterplay to commonly played strong cards will go a long way toward winning games, and access to a single card in a matchup may be the difference between winning and losing (see my introduction to deck-building in 15/3 for more information on commonly played cards and their potential counters)!

The Metagame Summarized – December 2024

Dodrio decks with Big Basics (and sometimes additional Evolution lines) dominate due to their ability to play multiple Gust of Wind and Super Energy Removal (as well as other disruptive Trainers and hefty dose of Item Finders) instead of two or three Pokemon Traders. The Big Basic strategy is its own form of consistency: each Pokemon drawn operates effectively with just an energy or two. Also, Rocket’s Zapdos and Electabuzz are a tyrannical pairing (making Clefable one of the better Evolutions with its ability to one-attack KO the Rocket’s Zapdos and hit other bruisers for a single energy). These decks look to win games through high efficient gameplay with hard-hitting attacks supplemented by smaller bits of disruption.

These Dodrio Big Basic decks may be rivaled by opponents with hard-hitting Evolutions (and the Pokemon Powers they wield) along with type resistance and toolbox approaches. Dragonite, Blastoise and Venusaur are three Pokemon that could support an effective game plan against Big Basics and disruptive Trainers. Koga’s Pidgey, Dark Dragonair and Dark Dragonite open up playing specific Pokemon with niche application without playing too many consistency trainers. Primarily, these decks look to survive the early game and then overpower their opponents usually while leveraging one or more Pokemon Powers and game-warping Trainers.

The Evolution-based and/or toolbox decks (and Dodrio decks that introduce Evolutions or types of Energy) have to contend with the lock strategies: high amounts of Energy Removal, Slowpoke, Brock’s Mankey, Muk, Aerodactyl and Dark Vileplume. Muk may also be included in decks that take more of a Big Basic or Evolution approach (at the cost of making those decks slightly worse against other Big Basic decks). Lock decks require careful management of resources to beat (and having some cards dedicated to the match-up will help immensely).

It’s important to consider that decks operate on a spectrum of strategies, varying their approach as they draw cards and anticipate their opponents’ actions. Be flexible and be successful: the Prop 15/3 metagame is still evolving and there is a lot of room for exploration. I hope to share my journey testing decks and ideas in further posts and updates to this blog. Enjoy brewing and battling!

So with the above in mind, with the understanding that a few cards changed can move decks across tiers, my view of the end of 2024 metagame was as follows:

Tier 1 – Top Decks

Lightning Dodrio

Almost the same list that won the TCGOne Prop 15/3 Mega Battle, this deck looks to attack effectively with Rocket’s Zapdos and Electabuzz or build resources with Kangaskhan while assembling attackers on the bench. Repeated Gust of Wind, Defender and Super Energy Removal give the deck many options to come out favorable when trading attacks. A single Scoop Up is to prevent Kangaskhan from getting stuck in the active (and provide some additional ability to prevent the opponent taking a prize). The deck may consider switching some of the basics and playing Grass and/or Potion Energy over some number of Lightning Energy.

[LINK forthcoming]For more insight on this list (both playing or playing against it) as well as possible cards to play, see the Deck List Details page. See the Big Basics Deck Strategy Spotlight page for ideas on similar decks.

Psychic Slowpoke / Brock’s Mankey / Muk Lock

Tier 2 – Contender Decks

Lightning Wigglytuff / Dodrio

Some of the best cards from the Super Trainer Showdown in 2000 are still among the best today. The Mana Vault’s Sam B. played this archetype to convincing records at both the Brew City OSS and the TCGOne Mega Battle. There are a lot of possible Trainer configurations to consider.

For more insight on this list (both playing or playing against it) as well as possible cards to play, see the Deck List Details page [not yet created]. See the Big Basics Deck Strategy Spotlight page for ideas on similar decks.

Tier 3 – Unproven Decks

Water Misty’s Poliwhirl / Clefable / Muk Stall

Misty’s Poliwhirl can supplement Energy Removals while Muk turns off Pokemon Powers. Clefable threatens Rocket’s Zapdos. I would like to see how this deck develops with more testing.

For more insight on this list (both playing or playing against it) as well as possible cards to play, see the Deck List Details page [not yet created].

Fire Blaine’s Charmander / Brock’s Mankey / Muk Lock

Blaine’s Charmander and Blaine’s Vulpix combine to remove possibly every Energy card from the opponent. I haven’t seen this deck in action much so cannot comment on how viable it is.

For more insight on this list (both playing or playing against it) as well as possible cards to play, see the Deck List Details page [not yet created].

Lightning-Fighting Dark Dragonite / Clefable / Dodrio