Welcome to Staten News — where the best player in the world keeps bringing the most popular deck in the room, and keeps winning with it anyway.
Andrew Hedrick won the Puebla Regional Championship last weekend. 2,234 players in Standard, and the reigning World Champion took Dragapult all the way through, per Limitless.
Same deck he won Worlds with in August. Same deck more than a third of the field is playing.
🐉 Dragapult Isn't a Meta Call Anymore
Per Limitless, Dragapult holds 36.64% of the current Standard meta. The next closest deck, Basic Box, sits at 8.85%. Slowking (7.58%), N's Zoroark (7.52%) and Alakazam (6.32%) fill out the rest of the top tier.
Hedrick's season reads like a stock chart with one ugly quarter. 1st at Worlds on August 28. 25th at Baltimore in September. 145th at Louisville on October 10. Then 1st in Puebla. Dragapult at every single one of them.
A 145th didn't make him switch. Two weeks later, the trophy explains why.
The field isn't hopeless. Luc Gantner won Nice on Basic Box two weekends ago with 2,336 players in the building. It's just outnumbered. When one archetype is four times more popular than the next, every other deck is built around beating it, and the best Dragapult pilots still find a way through.
📉 The Delta Reign Bleed Stopped (For Now)
Last week's prerelease weekend knocked the Build & Battle Box down 23% and the Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Box down 16.4% in three days. Since Monday, nothing on the board has moved more than 1.5%.
TCGplayer market prices via TCGCSV, Monday (Oct. 26) to today (Oct. 28):
Booster Box: $237.61 to $235.36
Elite Trainer Box: $106.18 to $105.54
Booster Bundle: $55.83 to $55.02
Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Box: $295.00, unchanged
Build & Battle Box: $52.53 to $52.52
The pack math barely moved either. The booster box works out to $6.54 a pack across 36 packs. The bundle runs $9.17 a pack. The regular ETB still trades at more than double its $49.99 retail.
These are thin presale markets, so a single listing can swing them. Flat is still information. The panic sellers from prerelease weekend look done, and the real supply hasn't shown up yet.
🎂 30th Celebration Is Holding Its Price Tag
The premium side of the November 6 board didn't flinch either:
Classic Collection Pack: $297.48, unchanged since Monday
Ultra-Premium Collection [Night]: $583.71
Ultra-Premium Collection [Day]: $543.72, down from $547.37
Ditto Premium Collection: $191.49
Figure Collection [Mew]: $167.52
Figure Collection [Mewtwo]: $158.75
Nearly $300 for one pack. That's not a booster anymore. That's a collectible with a booster inside it, priced by people who already know they aren't opening it.
🗓️ Nine Days
Delta Reign and the 30th Celebration premium wave both release November 6. Prereleases run through November 1. The Build & Battle Box follows November 20, and the Binder Collection and ex Tins land December 4.
When a presale board goes flat nine days out, buyers are waiting on print size. If November 6 shows up thin, a $235 booster box looks cheap in hindsight. If it shows up in volume, last week's Build & Battle drop was the preview. Possible either way? Absolutely. Guaranteed? Not even close.
Friday, we launch it. Every upcoming Pokémon product, every presale price, and a ping on your phone a week and a day before each drop. Free, no account needed. See you Friday.
Sources: Limitless tournament results, Limitless: Andrew Hedrick player page, Limitless Standard meta share, TCGplayer market data via TCGCSV
This is not financial advice. Always do your own research before buying or selling collectibles.
— The Bandicoots 🃏🔥