What’s up, Cut or Tap readers! I hope y’all are doing well as we begin to close out the 2025 season. Today I am going to be writing about my run at the Portland Regional Championships a little over a week ago. I’ll be going over the Dragapult/Dusknoir deck I played to get 10th place (losing in Asymmetrical Top Cut), analyzing my run in-depth, and … Continue reading “Draga-Pultlandia:” Top 16 Portland Regionals Report

Welcome back, Cut or Tap readers! Today I will be covering a deck that has fallen off since its initial popularity following rotation: Tera Toolbox. I just played Tera Box to 4th place at Portland Regionals, and I think the deck is very underrated at the moment. Being able to capitalize on Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex’s Torrential Pump attack to KO multiple low-HP Pokemon at … Continue reading “The Tera Way:” Tera Box in the Journey Together Format

On the weekend of May 17th, the Pokémon TCG Pocket tournament scene had its largest tournament ever: the Pocket Royale, which had an incredible $10,000 prize pool distributed among the Top 96 out of 2,829 competing players. Since my first article covering the Celestial Guardians expansion, multiple new high-tier archetypes have been discovered to challenge the previous format’s best archetype, Darkrai/Giratina, for spots at the … Continue reading TCG Pocket Royale: Giratina ex Versus Its Counters

Hey everyone, I’m a writer for Cut or Tap, currently ranked 6th in North America for the 2025 season. While Milwaukee was possibly my worst event of the season, the Zoroark deck my group worked on had a standout performance. Zoroark has seemingly come out of nowhere in recent weeks. While the deck is inherently very strong despite its low metagame percentage, it is one … Continue reading “Night Joker:” The Rise of N’s Zoroark

Welcome back, Cut or Tap Subs! Change is in the air as summer approaches for the end of the competitive TCG season. We have experienced an amazing circuit this year, crowning new Champions and old alike. Cut or Tap has been going strong for almost seven years and we have some great new ideas on the horizon! We will be moving to Metafy soon and … Continue reading “Bolt Has a Brain:” Raging Bolt ex for the Journey Together Format

Hello, readers! My name is Rowan Stavenow and today I’m excited to be writing my first article for Cut or Tap. For those of you who don’t know me, I am currently ranked #17 in North America and have been playing straight Dragapult since the Atlanta Regionals. Of course I call it a Dragapult deck, but Itchy Pollen is easily the most used attack in … Continue reading “Allergy Season:” Making the Most of Your Itchy Pollen

Hey, Cut or Tap readers! My name is Jackson, and I’m super excited to be writing my first article for the site. I remember having a membership for the site back in the peak DDG era pre-Covid, and it’s a bit of a full circle moment for me to have the privilege to write for the site myself! I want to take this chance to … Continue reading Deckbuilding for the Meta: Making a Better Deck for the Metagame

Hi, CoT Readers! For those of you who don’t know me, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Jon Eng, and I’ve been playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game for the past 14 years, starting all the way back in the Junior Division. In that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to become known as one of the most consistent players in the game; I was known … Continue reading “Straight Pult Guide:” In-Depth Analysis on Dragapult without Dusknoir

Welcome back, Subs! I’m back from my travels to the land of soul food and R&B which was extremely entertaining for me! As for my results at the tournament, I made Day 2, and landed in the Top 256, which doesn’t replace anything for my Worlds Invite. I did end up going with the Rogue Dengo pile deck that I posted in my last article, … Continue reading “Colorful Friends:” Eevee Box in the Journey Together Format

Hello, Cut or Tap readers! The new Journey Together format is upon us, with Atlanta Regionals revealing Dragapult ex’s dominance in the post-rotation metagame. Not only did Dragapult take Atlanta by storm, making up 30% of Day 2, but Budew showcased its strength in a limited card pool format. With cards like Rotom V, Lumineon V, Forest Seal Stone, and Radiant Greninja rotating, draw power … Continue reading Miraidon’s Surprise Comeback in the Journey Together Format

Hey everyone, I’m Michael Davidson, a writer for Cut or Tap currently ranked 6th in North America for the 2025 season. I have been playing Gardevoir consistently for a decent portion of the season, achieving multiple Top Cuts and having not missed a Day 2 with the deck. Like many others, with the rotation of Refinement, I was very unsure whether Gardevoir would be able … Continue reading Gardevoir & N’s Zoroark: Like Refinement Never Left

Hello Cut or Tap readers, I am excited to be back with another article! Last time I wrote, I talked about my success at a tournament with the Dragapult/Dusknoir deck and gave a breakdown of the list and possible changes. Well, I am happy to tell you that today’s article will share a lot of similarities to the last one – with one big difference. … Continue reading Dragapult ex at Atlanta: How My List was Adapted to Beat Budew

The unknown is scary, and rotation creates so much uncertainty. Many people don’t like change, and the effect of change in Pokemon can be drastic. Even just a few cards joining the Standard format pool can completely alter an entire metagame. I actually enjoy the beginning of brand new formats because there is so much to explore, and the game feels fresh again. I personally … Continue reading Return of an Old Friend: Terapagos ex’s Return

Cut or Tap Subs, how are we feeling for Atlanta Regionals this coming week? I hope you all feel semi-prepped going into this final week and you’re getting close to choosing your deck! My testing has pretty much concluded, with the exception of some fun rogues I’ve been enjoying on the PTCG Live ladder. I’ve spent so much time on the big three and feel … Continue reading “It’s Raining in Magic City:” Gholdengo for Atlanta Regionals

Five months in from its release, Pokémon TCG Pocket is still dominating the mobile space with a constant stream of new impactful expansions and other major improvements to the app. A trading feature was introduced in January which, while still in need of some adjustments, makes card acquisition much easier than before. Most recently, last week’s update included the highly anticipated ranked ladder, including a … Continue reading Pokémon TCG Pocket: The Shining Revelry Metagame

Post Rotation is here! It seems for the past month or so, many of you have been getting ready for the big change, and it’s finally on the horizon. Starting April 11th, Journey Together will become legal for Standard play, and rotation will be happening as well. All F block cards (excluding reprints) will be rotating from the Standard format and won’t be legal for … Continue reading Perfecting the BDIF: Tera Box for the Post-Rotation Format

Welcome back, Cut or Tap readers! We are nearing the end of our pre-Rotation format, and soon will be losing many current staples as well as seeing the release of the Journey Together set. However, there are still a couple of tournaments left in Prismatic Evolutions, and I was even able to take down the one in Vancouver, Canada a couple of weekends ago with … Continue reading The Dragapult ex Debate: How I Won Vancouver and Why the Dusknoir Version is Better

What is poppin’, Cut or Tap Subs! I hope you all have enjoyed the format previously, as now it’s finally time to move on. We have had a wild ride since our last rotation, and I want to give out some awards for the decks and cards that impacted my seasons in these formats. My “RIP to the GOAT” award goes to Radiant Greninja – … Continue reading “T.I. In ATL”: Tera Information for Atlanta Regionals