Welcome to Staten News — where the most-played deck in the room doesn't always get the trophy, and presale prices don't always go up.
Dragapult was the deck to beat at the Nice Regional this weekend. Luc Gantner of Switzerland won the 2,336-player Masters event with Ogerpon / Clefairy, and the two Dragapult builds in the Top 8 finished fifth and sixth.
🏆 The Nice Top 8
Here's how the Masters bracket shook out on October 17 and 18, per Limitless (deck names are the Pokémon Limitless lists for each player, not official archetype names):
1st: Luc Gantner (Switzerland), Ogerpon / Clefairy
2nd: Maxime Launay (France), Dhelmise / Banette
3rd: Paulo Mimoso (Portugal), Hydrapple
4th: Oscar Rivas Perez (Spain), Seaking / Thwackey
5th: Yuya Kogai (Japan), Dragapult
6th: Tord Reklev (Norway), Dragapult / Dudunsparce
7th: Rob van de Vijver (Belgium), Mega Absol / Mega Audino
8th: Luka Levain (France), Hydrapple
Six different archetypes in eight seats. That's a healthy format, or at least a confusing one.
📊 What the Meta Data Says
Dragapult made up 19.7% of the full field, and another 5% played Dragapult Blaziken. Slowking was next at 7.3%, then Basic Box at 7.0%, Dhelmise at 5.5% and Festival Lead at 5.2%.
Slowking is the quiet loser here. Seven percent of the room and zero Top 8 seats. Hydrapple went the other direction and put two decks into the cut, which is a lot of conversion for a deck that didn't crack the top of the field's usage chart.
The read for anyone heading to the next Regional is simple. Dragapult is still the deck you prepare for. It just isn't the deck that's closing out events. When a deck is a fifth of the room, every other list in the building is teching against it, and that shows up in the bracket.
The weekend before in Louisville, Riley McKay of Canada won a 2,927-player Regional. Two straight majors, two different winners from outside the host country.
💸 Delta Reign Presale Keeps Cooling
Sealed prices for Mega Evolution: Delta Reign are still drifting lower ahead of the November 6 release. Here's the TCGplayer market price as of October 19, per TCGCSV:
Booster Box: $237.87
Booster Box Case: $1,508.58
Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Box: $405.44
Elite Trainer Box: $103.76
Build & Battle Box: $69.71
Booster Bundle: $67.35
Booster Pack: $11.22
The booster box is down 4.22% over the past seven days, per Outof.games tracking of TCGplayer data. That's the second straight week of cooling after boxes traded 53% over MSRP on October 16.
Now run the pack math. A 36-pack booster box at $237.87 works out to about $6.61 a pack. A loose booster pack is going for $11.22. The Booster Bundle lands at $11.23 a pack. The case, meanwhile, prices each box at about $251, about $14 more than buying boxes one at a time.
Translation: the presale market is charging a 70% premium for buying one pack at a time. That's casino math, and it usually narrows once real product lands in stores.
There's no singles market yet. TCGplayer only lists sealed product for the set so far. Mega Rayquaza ex leads the set alongside Mega Golurk ex, Mega Malamar ex and Mega Golisopod ex, per pokemon.com, and the chase-card prices won't mean much until people are actually opening packs.
🔨 The Auction Everyone's Watching
Goldin's Pokémon 30th Anniversary auction runs through Sunday, October 25. The headline lot is a PSA 8 1997 Japanese Promo Gold First Place Trophy Pikachu, the only copy in PSA's census. Pre-bids had already passed $1 million including buyer's premium as of October 7, per ICv2.
The rest of the lineup isn't filler either: a PSA 10 2000 Black Star Eevee League Promo, a BGS Pristine 10 Skyridge Gengar, and a sealed EX Deoxys booster box.
A one-of-one trophy card crossing seven figures before bidding even heats up tells you where the top of the hobby is. The money at that level isn't cooling. It's the presale speculators at the bottom who are getting squeezed.
📅 On the Calendar
Saturday, October 24: Delta Reign Build & Battle Boxes at select Play! Pokémon Stores
Sunday, October 25: Goldin's 30th Anniversary auction closes
Friday, November 6: Delta Reign release
This is the stretch where presale prices meet real supply. Build & Battle weekend gives the market its first look at actual cards, and that's usually when the sealed premium starts getting honest.
Sources: Limitless, Nice Regional standings, Pokémon, Delta Reign release announcement, TCGCSV, TCGplayer price data, ICv2 on Goldin's 30th Anniversary auction
This is not financial advice. Always do your own research before buying or selling collectibles.
— The Bandicoots 🃏🔥