Every Destined Rivals Prerelease Promo, Ranked
Beginning May 17, 2025, Destined Rivals prerelease events will be taking place at local game shops around the world, and based on the promos you get in the Build and Battle, this format should be an incredibly fun exercise in creative deck building backed by some powerful cards.
Below, we’ll be taking a look at each of the promo cards getting featured in the Destined Rivals Prerelease Build and Battle deck, and highlighting how you can use the strategies included to succeed.
#1 Ethan’s Typhlosion
Ethan’s Typhlosion is easily the strongest promo getting released in the build and battle deck. Assuming you get a fee Ethan’s Adventure cards in your deck, and maybe even more in your booster packs, you should be able to totally destroy your opponent’s. The only potential thing that could stop you in your tracks is the fact that Misty’s Gyarados is around and hits for weakness. Still, manage your resources right and you could manage to even stay ahead of the curve and prize race thanks to Typhlosion’s ability to OHKO anything you face.
One thing to keep in mind is that your Quilava has an ability that lets you search your deck for Ethan’s Adventure supporter cards, making it much, much easier to power up Buddy Blast.
#2 Rocket’s Tyranitar
The Destined Rivals prerelease is certainly setting the stage for the epic conflict to come between trainer and gangster by not letting Ethan’s Typhlosion single-handedly dominate the game. While it’s likely going to make for the strongest prerelease deck, this Tyranitar has a lot going for it, and can certainly keep pace assuming you get the right cards.
The challenge here is going to be evolving Rocket’s Tyranitar as quickly as possible to take advantage of its powerful Sand Stream ability, letting you do significant damage to opposing Pokemon and really punishing the prerelease decks that are only running basic Pokemon.
Breakthrough Tackle may also seem like a high cost attack, but in reality you only need two energy plus a Team Rocket’s Energy to get this attack off, making it quite feasible and a nice tradeoff for doing 180 damage.
It’s not got the same kind of firepower as the Typholosion but can be equally deadly in the right hands.
#3 Misty’s Gyarados
Unlike the Journey Together prerelease that was fairly one-sided in the fact that Hop’s Pokemon held a substantial advantage over the competition, in this prerelease we get three solid attackers to choose from. The third strongest here is Misty’s Gyarados. That being said, this Pokemon does have a few advantages when compared to the others. Its biggest advantage? It’s a stage 1 Pokemon whereas the others are stage 2.
That means you could theoretically power up your Gyarados before your opponent even manages to evolve their comparatively hefty stage 2 Pokemon. Additionally, Gyarados is a water type meaning you could feasibly power it up and defeat opposing Typhlosions easily.
The main weakness here is Splashing Panic – an attack that is going to take some expert deck building and plenty of Misty’s Pokemon to make effective.
#4 Rocket’s Mimikyu
Coming in at dead last is Rocket’s Mimikyu. The funny thing here is that this Mimikyu card in the standard format is arguably stronger than any of the other three Destined Rivals prerelease promos. However, in the prerelease format for Destined Rivals, Mimikyu’s Gem Mimickry attack is essentially useless as there aren’t actually any Tera Pokemon in Destined Rivals. Pocket this one and save it for your constructed deck as Mimikyu will be a staple in powerful decks like Rocket’s Mewtwo ex. For the prerelease, however, you’re safe leaving it out of your deck.
The Destined Rivals prerelease looks like an insanely fun format and I’ll certainly be attending mine at my local game store. To get these cards in their stamped promo form, pick up your Build and Battle via TCGPlayer via the link below!
