Welcome back, Subs! I hope your trip to the islands was full of adventure, or you enjoyed the show that Pokemon provided for you at the World Championship.
Once again, I regretfully inform you about another mediocre finish at the World Championship by yours truly. I played Iron Thorns ex with Pokemon Catchers, the same deck as the eventual champion, Fernando. I was only paired to counter decks, or decks prepared for Iron Thorns, which was not only shocking to me but extremely unlikely. For example, my first win in the tournament was against Gardevoir ex with Minior and Super Effective Glasses. These events unfortunately ended my run in the 7th round, placing me at 4-3 before I dropped my final round. I’m not upset with my deck choice, as plenty of Iron Thorns made Day 2, and of course the eventual Champion played the exact variant I was.
However, what I do regret is not recognizing how many players were prepared for Iron Thorns or even tested against it. I figured the deck was decently under the radar and definitely under-prepared for in my mind. This would not be the case, as some Regidrago lists were including two copies of Canceling Cologne, Raging Bolts included Flutter Mane, and even Charizard ex decks included Canceling Cologne AND Flutter Mane. My assumption of Iron Thorns being under-teched and under-prepared for was blown out of the water, which is a pretty big reason my success had dwindled.
Enough about my sob story – let’s get into some meaningful information. This piece will go over our new Shrouded Fable format and the decks emerging out of the World Championship. We’ll be going over five decks that have cemented themselves as contenders for our short new format, with lists and tech options.
After upgrading to Stage 2 you will see the rest of Hunter Butler’s article and an audio recording of this article narrated by Andy Hyun: 
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You must have a Stage 2 Membership or greater to see the rest of this post. If you don't have a Stage 2 account, you can Sign Up for one here.