Pokémon TCG players around the world are traveling to Columbus, Ohio, for the 2023 North America International Championships. It’s the final International Championships of the year and the first premier event to feature Scarlet & Violet—Paldea Evolved. The format for this tournament will carry over to the 2023 Pokémon World Championships in Yokohama, Japan, so competitors and spectators alike will be watching to find out which decks will come out on top.

Our Power Rankings panel of experts believes in the power of the heavy hitters from the previous Standard format, but it remains to be seen which decks will perform best in Columbus this weekend. Speculate along with them and catch a full weekend of action on Twitch.tv/PokemonTCG from June 30 to July 2.

The new Gardevoir ex deck from Scarlet & Violet ended up performing better than most people expected, including a second-place finish at the Europe International Championships. With Scarlet & Violet—Paldea Evolved, it’s likely to become the best deck all around due to many new and returning cards raising its power level.

The first card, Super Rod, allows a player to recover Pokémon from the discard pile without having to use a Supporter. That's great for a deck that aims to play the long game and might need to get its attackers back after they get KO'd.

Reversal Energy is also a fantastic way to power up your Pokémon when you're behind on Prize cards. It acts as a 90-damage boost for Gardevoir, allowing it to reach up to 330 damage when you add in the extra Psychic Energy from Gardevoir ex's Psychic Embrace. Gardevoir is a scary attacker for any deck in the format.

Finally, there's Iono, the perfect Supporter for Gardevoir ex. In the first few turns, it's a draw Supporter that doesn't discard key cards, unlike Professor's Research. Later in the game, Iono acts as disrupter, especially against Lost Box and other fast decks, which allows Gardevoir ex to come back from a Prize deficit. Gardevoir ex might not draw too many cards itself off a late-game Iono, but that can be supplemented by Kirlia's Refinement.

All in all, Gardevoir ex is able to beat more consistent decks that take Prizes faster than it does, which makes it the number one threat for NAIC. — Stéphane Ivanoff

Despite what its name may lead you to believe, Lost Zone Box is a very successful deck. An iteration of this deck has earned a place in the Top 4 at every International Championships this season—including a win at the Oceania event!

The strength of Lost Zone Box comes from its powerful draw engine in Colress’s Experiment and Comfey’s Flower Selecting Ability. These cards create a hand advantage and put cards in the Lost Zone, thereby enabling Cramorant to apply pressure in the early game and Sableye to establish a checkmate position by putting loads of damage counters on the opponent’s Pokémon.

The enduring success of Lost Zone Box can be attributed to how much it can be customized without losing its consistency. Mirage Gate enables players to include a variety of attacking Pokémon to suit the metagame. For example, players may choose to include Drapion V to Knock Out Gardevoir ex in one hit, the new Luxray to take advantage of the shared Lightning-type Weakness of Lugia VSTAR and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR, or just choose to do loads of damage each turn by focusing on Giratina VSTAR.

The anticipated rise of the Gardevoir ex deck and the Chien-Pao ex / Baxcalibur deck offers new opportunities for Lost Zone Box because Radiant Greninja can take two Prize cards at once by Knocking Out low-HP Pokémon like Ralts, Kirlia, and Frigibax with Moonlight Shuriken. The deck also receives a boost to consistency from the latest Pokémon TCG expansion in the form of Jet Energy.

There are a lot of decisions to make when designing and playing Lost Zone Box. If we see this deck in the Top Cut of the 2023 North America International Championships, I predict that it will be in the hands of an experienced competitor. — Ellis Longhurst

For most of the 2023 Championship Series, Arceus VSTAR has been waiting in the wings for its chance to shine. Sure, it found its way into the winner’s circle once in a while—mostly accompanied by Duraludon VMAX—but it’s not been a major player this year. Giratina VSTAR, too, has had an on-and-off season; it’s mostly been sidelined since the release of Sword & Shield—Silver Tempest. While everyone suspected that Arceus and Giratina could be a good pairing, it’s a duo that finally got a big win at the Portland Regional Championships in early May.

What’s not to like? Arceus has the advantage of one of the most helpful Abilities ever printed in Starbirth. And although it consumes your VSTAR Power for the game, Giratina’s Star Requiem is mostly inaccessible in a deck without Comfey. The magic number for Knocking Out much of the format’s Pokémon VSTAR population is 280, which makes Lost Impact very strong indeed. The final encouraging factor here is the deck’s lack of notable Weakness exposure—Fighting types are at a low point right now, and Giratina obviously has no Weakness at all!

The deck has faded somewhat since winning Portland, so what’s with the new hype? It all has to do with Iono, which promises to be one of the more transformational cards in recent memory. In particular, it works quite well with the Bibarel from Sword & Shield—Brilliant Stars, which is the traditional draw engine of choice in Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR. Bibarel is excellent insurance against your opponent’s Iono—a very, very valuable trait for NAIC. — Christopher Schemanske

The Ruinous Legend Chien-Pao ex, in combination with Baxcalibur and its Super Cold Ability, brings back one of the most iconic archetypes in the history of the game. It’s been around so long it’s often referred to as Rain Dance, named after the Blastoise in the original Base Set!

The core game plan is simple: Get Baxcalibur into play, attach as much Energy as needed to Chien-Pao ex, and Knock Out the opponent’s Active Pokémon regardless of its HP. Chien-Pao ex’s Shivery Chill Ability makes it easy to find the necessary Energy cards, and setting up Baxcalibur isn’t difficult either thanks to Irida. After the Energy cards have hit the discard pile, use Superior Energy Retrieval to bring them back and continue attacking.

This deck can do even more than that! Chien-Pao ex will generally be the main attacker, but there are a lot of other strong Water-type Pokémon that can be used alongside it, most importantly Radiant Greninja and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR. Having alternative strategies will be particularly important against decks like the Lost Zone Toolbox that don’t care about being Knocked Out every turn. Expect Chien-Pao ex decks at NAIC to play more like a Water Toolbox rather than a classic big-damage deck.

It’s always exciting to see how the new decks perform and how players decide to approach them, so Chien-Pao ex is definitely a deck I will be following closely this upcoming weekend! — Robin Schulz

Lugia VSTAR is still an extremely powerful deck, even after rotation took away most of its best Special Energy cards and attacking options. The deck has survived so far mostly thanks to Single Strike Energy and Tyranitar V, letting the archetype still hit for big enough numbers to one-hit-KO most Pokémon in the format. Using Archeops’s Ability to accelerate up to 2 Special Energy cards from the deck every turn—twice—is a real challenge for any deck to overcome. This strategy allowed the deck to win the final Regional Championships of the season in Fresno, right before the release of the next expansion, Scarlet & Violet—Paldea Evolved.

This expansion introduces multiple new Special Energy for Lugia to add to its arsenal, most notably Jet Energy and Therapeutic Energy. One of the few things the deck has not had access to before was an easy way to switch between Pokémon. This was Lugia VSTAR’s biggest vulnerability and spawned multiple counterstrategies to take advantage of this fact in the past. Some decks used Articuno from Sword & Shield—Silver Tempest to Paralyze lock the deck repeatedly, as Lugia VSTAR did not play cards that switched Pokémon out of the Active Spot or remove Special Conditions. Others tried to drain the deck empty of all Energy cards, using Yveltal from Celebrations and Boss’s Orders to trap a Pokémon that could not attack in the Active Spot.

Strategies such as these will no longer work against Lugia VSTAR with the introduction of the new Special Energy. Special Energy also enables more use of Snorlax from Sword & Shield—Lost Origin, as both Energy cards are great for waking up the Sleeping Pokémon. I’m excited to see a potential new Lugia VSTAR variant focusing on Colorless Special Energy instead of Single Strike Energy as we head into the final International Championships of the season! — Tord Reklev

Stéphane Ivanoff: For the first time since it was released in Sword & Shield—Fusion Strike, Mew VMAX isn't a part of our top five. But don't be fooled—it's still a deck to watch out for! The reason that we’ve ranked it so low is because the new Spiritomb is an excellent counter to Genesect V's Ability, which is central to the deck. Despite that, it would be a mistake to declare Mew's reign over, especially when it recently won Japan's National Championships.

Yes, Spiritomb is an issue, but not all players will be using it. Plus, if Genesect V has a Fusion Strike Energy attached, it is unaffected by Spiritomb's Fettered in Misfortune Ability, so it can still use Fusion Strike System. There's one more trick up Mew VMAX players' sleeves: by using Eiscue, they can KO Spiritomb on the Bench, making it a non-factor.

This is not to say that Spiritomb is useless. It does make Mew VMAX's life much harder, but it's still kicking. With so many players having invested their time and energy in the deck, it will surely have a presence at NAIC. Will it shine again, or will it finally be shown to be outclassed? That’s something we’ll find out soon.

Ellis Longhurst: The North America International Championships is, arguably, the most exciting Pokémon TCG event on the calendar each season. Historically, this event has attracted more competitors each year than almost any other Pokémon TCG competition in the world. Unlike the World Championships, the NAIC is not invitation-only. This means that local heroes have the opportunity to face off against the world’s best, cause an upset, and record their names in the annals of the Pokémon TCG. It is also the final opportunity for players to earn the Championship Points they need to qualify for the World Championships, which this year are being held for the first time in Japan, the ancestral homeland of Pokémon. I imagine that emotions will run higher than ever for competitors at the 2023 NAIC.

You may have noticed that Mew VMAX is absent from this edition of the Power Rankings. Popular opinion is that the new Spiritomb from the Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Paldea Evolved will keep Mew VMAX quiet by shutting down Genesect V’s Fusion Strike System Ability. However, the success of the Fusion Strike Energy-focused build of Mew VMAX at the 2023 Japan Championships has given competitors a lot to think about. My psychic powers tell me that this is not the last we’ll see of Mew VMAX.

Tord Reklev: Scarlet & Violet—Paldea Evolved is one of my favorite expansions in years, which is natural since my favorite format is from the original Pokémon ex era back in 2006. Cards such as Rocket’s Admin. and Scramble Energy have been reincarnated as Iono and Reversal Energy. These types of cards naturally create interesting games, as it’s no longer a given that players will take an available Knock Out, and they must carefully consider whether taking the Prize advantage will be advantageous with their current board state. We might see stalemates with both players are holding off on a Knock Out until they can avoid retaliation occurring more often.

Iono also introduces another level of difficulty by challenging a player’s memory. Since both hands are shuffled to the bottom of the deck, players now must decide whether they want to find a way to shuffle the deck before they continue to draw cards. Depending on which cards were shuffled to the bottom, it could affect the chances of finding the crucial pieces needed for the turn.

I couldn’t be more excited about the direction the game is heading! I believe the North America International Championships will provide us with some incredible matches!

Christopher Schemanske: Sword & Shield—Battle Styles through Scarlet & Violet has been one of my favorite formats ever. The viable decks and the fun, interactive matchups they’ve provided have been a blast and have sparked awesome battles between top players. It’s especially notable how many different decks found success at Regionals, which I believe is a testament to the strength of the diverse strategies that have appeared throughout this format.

Scarlet & Violet—Paldea Evolved, though, is shaking up the landscape. In fact, I don’t remember a single expansion changing so much about the metagame in one fell swoop. New Pokémon ex like Chien-Pao ex are introducing new strategies that will change the metagame and reshape how the existing competitors find success. More than anything, though, the impact of Iono can’t be underestimated. Decks have been playing large counts of Judge in recent formats, and while that was nice, the hand disruption offered by Iono will take things to a whole new level. I consider this an existential threat to the current version of Lost Zone Box, which relies heavily on building up a large hand.

There’s one area in which our panel has it wrong, though: I believe that Mew VMAX should not be counted out. I would personally rank it no lower than third on our list—its strength hasn’t changed at all, and I don’t believe for a second that Spiritomb will manage to finish Drapion V’s mission of eliminating Mew from the metagame. Disrespect Mew at your own peril.

Robin Schulz: Back in London at the 2022 World Championships, the game designers announced a renewed focus on comeback mechanics for the Scarlet & Violet Series. While we didn’t see much of it in the Scarlet & Violet expansion, Scarlet & Violet—Paldea Evolved more than delivers in that aspect!

Iono and Reversal Energy are two of the strongest comeback cards we’ve ever seen, and they have the potential to change the way the game is played. Don’t be surprised if someone on stream at NAIC passes their turn instead of taking an available Knock Out—that can now be the correct play to avoid a Reversal Energy-aided counterattack too early. Navigating these situations will be no easy task for players!

I think most of you would agree that games are the most interesting when you can’t tell who’s going to win until the very end, and a card like Iono helps make that happen. One player might be up in Prizes, but as long as they still need cards from their hand, a well-timed Iono will almost always have the potential to turn things around. N from Black & White—Noble Victories is one of my favorite cards of all time, so I’m very happy that this effect is now back in the Standard format.

I’m confident in saying we’re in for some very exciting games at NAIC this year, so don’t miss the action!