Breaking Down the Pokemon TCG Sacramento Regional Meta (2025)
While regionals are always exciting, the Sacramento 2024 Regional had something special going for it: it was the first major Pokemon TCG tournament where the latest set, Surging Sparks, was legal. As such, there are a lot of interesting learnings to be had from the results of the tournament.
Below, we’ll be looking at everything from deck play share as well as the tournament winning deck that has proven how strong some of the new cards released in the last few sets are.
The meta will never be the same. Let’s dive in.
The venue
I stopped in to check out the venue of the Sac regional and have to say it felt great there. The vibe was strong, people were friendly, and the vendors had plenty of current cards from he latest sets to build up your decks with.
The Terapagos playmat looks really cool and I think having Briar as the Regional promo is very fitting given the trend towards Tera Pokemon in general in the current competitive scene.
Day One Deck Breakdown
One thing that is always interesting to analyze when a new set comes out is how many of the new cards and strategies are going to make it into in-card tournaments. Online, many of the new decks have been dominating tournaments. Decks like the popular Ceruledge ex, for example, or Hydreigon ex have been taking large playshares online.
However, they didn’t make the top decks on either day one or two day two of the Sacramento Regionals. This seems to suggest that despite their popularity in online play where the stakes are lower and players are willing to try new things, when it comes to the higher levels of competition the meta has remained largely unchanged since Surging Sparks, despite added support being granted to the likes of Miraidon ex.
Percentage of Playshare
Surging Sparks Meta – expectations versus reality
While many of the decks that were dominating the playshare online fail to have hit a critical mass in regards to representation at the regionals, there are a few trends that remained true. First of all, Lost Zone Box has made a huge comeback in the meta. This is something we could see in the online tournaments leading up to the regional where Lost Zone Box was one of the top played decks of them all.
This is largely because of the fact that Pikachu ex works really well in Lost Zone Box, giving players a huge leg up on the competition as they can harness its powerful combo of deadly attack with Resolute Heart – an ability that prevents it from being OHKO.
Apart from the Lost Zone Box success story, decks that had been phenomenally popular online like Ceruledge ex did not show up in a big way at the Sacramento Regionals.
One interesting thing to note about the meta, however, is that despite these top-tier decks being the most popular (and indeed many of them making it to day two), more than 40% of the decks played fell outside these popular deck types, showing how diverse the Pokemon TCG meta actually is, and honestly how fun it can be since you never really know what deck you are going to run into next!
Day Two deck breakdown and winners
Percentage of Playshare
Now we’re getting to the really good stuff: day two results. While looking at day one playshare gives you a good idea of what the broader Pokemon TCG playing field is like, looking at day two results gives you a better idea about which decks are the most successful. Qualifying for day two is an accomplishment in and of itself, and these decks more than any other show they have what it takes to make it at the highest levels of competition.
Perhaps to nobody’s surprise, Regidrago VSTAR is still dominating the meta playshare. Not only is it hugely popular and successful, it represented five of the top eight decks. This goes to show you that despite what many may have thought in regards to the shrinking number of Regidrago players, that deck remains the best deck in format overall.
However, it’s not the only interesting thing to be gleaned from day two results. It’s also interesting to see Gholdengo ex making its way into the top deck status on day two. Gholdengo has been making waves in general lately, proving that it is more than just an ani-meta pick and a top deck in its own right.
However, the real success story from the Sacramento Regional is none other than Miraidon ex.
Miraidon ex takes first and second at Sacramento Regionals
Miraidon ex may not have been the most popular deck at this tournament from a playshare standpoint, however you can certainly bet that it will be at future tournaments after taking an astounding first and second place, despite not making it to the top spot from a playshare standpoint.
This is something that was predicted from results from online tournaments where the new way of playing Miraidon ex was showing early dominance in the meta.
Indeed, I updated my guide on how to play Miraidon ex just before the Regional took place because of how strong this deck was already looking due to enhancements from the likes of Latias ex, Area Zero Underdepths (made possible via Pikachu ex) and Miraidon’s overwhelming speed and power. I love that – thanks to new energy acceleration options in the form of Magneton from Surging Sparks – Raichu V has made its way back into Miraidon ex decks, offering a powerful game finisher capable of hitting incredible damage output numbers.
Below, checkout the winning deck list from the 2024 Sacramento Regionals, piloted by the Regional Champion, Landen Kaetler.
Despite some bumps in the road lately, the Pokemon TCG meta feels very fun right now and plenty diverse. While we still have our meta staples, clearly decks can come out of the woodwork and cause some serious issues for top tier decks, and the return of Lost Zone Box helps balance the meta. It’s an exciting time to be playing Pokemon TCG!
