2024 Retro Pokemon TCG Rewind
Welcome to the end of the year and with that comes a look back at this year and what has been accomplished by the community. Since the pandemic the retro Pokemon TCG community has grown more and this year has seen some of the fastest community growth. Here I'll highlight the online and in-person taking place in 2024. Mostly this will cover the US events with a handful of events in Japan. I might do a Japanese specific report but I am just way more in the loop about the US community. With that out of the way let's get into the events!!
BASE-FOSSIL 🦴
Base-Fossil is a format that gets a tournament typically at Gencon in Indianapolis, IN each year aaaaaaaaand that's about it but this year the main highlight is the Brew City Old School Showdown that took place in Wisconsin at the Mana Vault on August 10th 2024.
Tricky Gym VOD Prior to BCOSS ⬆️
This year we saw popular Pokemon TCG influencer and Worlds competitor, Andrew Mahone, showing some love to the retro community this year with a couple things. One was being involved in the BCOSS. Prior to the tournament, he promoted the event with a stream and he streamed the event live on his channel
Event VOD ⬆️
You can check out my personal report from the event but I'd say this is the biggest Base Fossil event to happen in the modern era. The Mana Vault was a great location for this kind of event and will be happy to return.
41 players showed up and even some other celebrity players like 3-Time World Champion Jason Klaczynski, modern competitor Jake Gearhart and retro Pokemon TCG YouTuber Kyle Whimsicast made an appearance.
This tournament was flooded with Lickitung decks (including myself) and an anti-meta meta deck won in the end with Edgar's Wigglytuff Hitmonchan Dodrio deck.
Orgehvnds BCOSS Report ⬆️
Base-Fossil has gain more of a dedicated following and I personally enjoy it for the fun numbers game this era creates. This format is so often just managing yours and your opponents number of cards in deck that the tension in games build quick but not as wild as Base Rocket.
BASE-ROCKET🚀
Base-Rocket is a format where if you want to go balls to the wall insane in the membrane skateboardin kickflippin 90s for a Base era format this is what you want. One of the most disruptive formats from the early formats. Rockets Sneak Attack is here for you.
On Oct 20th 18 players came together online to see who can win this event. Wigglytuff just dominated this event. It seems like Doing The Wave is a lot stronger than many of us realize. The quick damage output from this marshmallow is something we should be looking into more for Base-Rocket. 🧐 To me this reads as Energy Removals can be disrupted from the hand easier so DCE can stick on the board longer but the Rockets Sneak Attack is here to ruin your plans.😈
PROP 15 🔥🐴
Prop 15 is a WOTC era format but with Base-Gym format with the limitations of having a max of 10 trainer cards. This limitation adds a unique level of balance and challenge to this format. This year we had TWO prop 15 events take place. The first being day 2 or Sunday of the Brawl City Old School Showdown.
The Prop 15 event had 19 players and I still had a ton of fun even playing into a room that just destroyed me. This event showed the power of Rapidash.
Most of this room's meta was just this crazy Stamp Rapidash.
While Rapidash had a great showing at the BCOSS, the Tcgone tournament that happened later in the year had another Pokemon stand out.
Slowpoke
The Prop 15 TCGone online event took place on Nov 6. While this event wasn't as riddled with Rapidash the stand out of this event was Jason's Slowpoke no question.
This event debuted a few new decks for Prop. Jason would get one of his major finishes this year with a second place finish at this event bringing a Ratlock-like deck that no one has seen before.
I would say this was the most underrated event as this format doesn't have the most popularity but this event brought a handful of additional decks players can try out.
2004 WORLDS 🐟
2004 got 2 main points of focus this year. Once as a stream on Trick Gym (Vod Above⬆️) where a good range of decks are shown off on a clean tabletop stream. If you are new to 2004 this is a great entry point into the format.
The other time 2004 go the spotlight was for the War of '04. This is the second year of this online tournament focusing on the 2004 format taking place on Oct 26.
Event VOD Playlist ⬇️
2004 is a fun year and has had some interesting innovations in the modern era. You will see above not a Groudon but a Gorebyss. Free retreat one prizer with an attack built off of ALL your psychic energies on board? Sign me up. I will show up for the next one. This was one of the best online TCG events of the year with a great variety of decks showing up and I personally say watch the games with Wailord Ex or Exploud/Sceptile as those are the fun ones from this event. That and the last game of the finals. Goes crazy.
2006 WORLDS 🕶️
2006 Worlds got a similar treatment to 2004 as it got a great Tricky Gym Vod ⬆️. The event of note for 2006 would be the 2024 Indiannapolis Regionals 2006 Worlds side event.
Andrew Mahone dominated this Worlds with a classic Dragtrode deck. Punish Ex's and Pigeot players while the prize trade is an automatic uphill battle for this deck. Check out the other lists from the link above and even getting a surprise appearance from Chip Richie here.
RSPK 🏆
RSPK (or Ruby/Sapphire to Power Keepers) is, to me, the most popular retro format. This format has an excited player base due to this format being viewed as the "best" and "the most skill based format" AND having big name players also being excited to play like Jason Klaczynski, Tord Reklev and 2002 World Champion Alex "Chuck" Brosseau (although I don't know if I'd refer to him as "excited" to play). Typically the most hyped event in the retro scene is the regular online tournament series "The Stambler Open". This year we saw 3 Stambler Open tournaments take place. I would say some of the biggest moments in retro came from this series.
SPRING STAMBLER OPEN
This Stambler was more rough around the edges compared to the later Stamblers. This event set the tempo for the rest of the season and solidify Hopkins and Tord as some of the best in the retro scene.
SUMMER STAMBLER OPEN
The Summer Stambler Open was the best online event this year and was one of the wildest events in recent memory. So many different people came out for this event. Jason, Tord, Chuck and even 2023 World Champion Vance Kelley came out getting a Top 8 placement with a low tier deck QuadRay.
This, to me, is the quintessential event of the season. If you don't view the Brawl City Old School Showdown as the biggest US retro event of the year due to the 2 days of retro events, big names like Jason Andrew and Jake Gearhart being there AND it's being live streamed then this would THE event of the year. One of the most anticipated games of a generation.
Alex "Chuck" Brosseau
VS
Tord Reklev
Sadly this one ended anticlimactically. Chuck misclicked at the finals and just gave the win to Tord. The mirror match is very grindy and I can understand on TCGone I misclick all the time. I do feel as though Tord was slightly favored in the match up.
AUTUMN STAMBLER OPEN
The Autumn Stambler Open was a more low key tournament as Chuck and Tord did not play in this event but plenty of players still came out making this the largest online US event this year.
Next let's discuss two of the big Japanese retro TCG events starting with the OK Boomer Cup.
Check out the deck lists above ⬆️
Vicky's Report ⬆️
This is an event I can only speak on from the brief information that I have from word of mouth and the Note reports available. I have seen photos from this event and gives me a BCOSS vibe as this was not the highest attendance event but still very loved by players that went.
Next is one I'm a lot more familiar with and that is the Double Rainbow Cup.
Little River does a great post-event report so I highly recommend checking it out.
Also check out Jason Klaczynski's report from the event. ⬆️
This is the second Double Rainbow Cup tournament and I'd say this is the most exciting in person event this year. Much hype was built around this event even with players from other countries flying out to play.
Finals ⬆️
I would recommend checking out the VODs from this event. Top 16 specifically as that was an exciting game. Jason got to pop off here. This event has some of the most coverage from players at the event but this is like the Mecca of retro to me. This is THE event of the year and I hope to be able to attend in the future.
2010 WORLDS 👁️
NAIC 2024 saw 2 retro side events with the first being the 2010 Worlds side event. This is a format I've become a lot more knowledgable on and is a format I'll be absolutely dedicating time to in 2025. Such a well aged era and a huge amount of nostalgia here for me. A little under 40% of the field was DialgaChomp/LuxChomp. The highest placing Chomp deck was by guest appearance Henry Chao (2024 Baltimore Regionals Winner) getting 5th place.
John Orgel's winning List has so many great pieces crammed into it. For a non-SP deck there's so much going on here. Rare Candy unlocks so crazy additions like Machamp and Dusknoir AND faster Gallade/Gardevoir. The finals reminded me of 2008 Worlds Finals where Gardie/Gallade (played by Jason) vs Blissey (Khan Le).
HGSS BLOCK🪲
This is a format I'm personally not a fan of just because narrow formats are not my personal favorite like 2011 Worlds. I like diverse card and meta pools like 2010 Worlds. HGSS Block is a format that doesn't have a lot of deck varieties.
As expected Yanmega Magenzone just dominated. This was one of the few events where this was a pretty predictable event with not much in surprises overall but a good experiment into seeing how this block can play out. Not a ton of meat here in my opinion.
2014 WORLDS👻
2014 Worlds got some love at NAIC 2024 with the 2014 Worlds side event where surprisingly Genesect Verizion didn't win. In the end we saw Yveltal dominate the field with a list similar to Jason's 2013 Worlds winning deck. Yveltal just conquered this field.
Even seeing appearances from Evan Cole (Retro Enthusiast), Cyrus Davis (NAIC 2023 Champion) and John Orgel (2010 side event winner).
BW BLOCK🔲🔳
The Black and White block is one of the lesser played Blocks in retro due to the unbalanced nature of the format with Mewtwo EX, Darkrai EX and Verizion Genesects being just the best attacks with little to stop them PLUS having not very strong supporter cards making this format not feel as skill based. With that being said this year we saw a BW Block tournament with the finals looking like 2014 Worlds finals. This was one of the more low-key online events. This era has plenty of the nostalgia factor but this era to me is just a casual format. 2012-2014 Worlds format I would put in the same casual category.
In the end 17 players came out to fight for the BW Block title but in the end L took home the W.
SUM-LOT 🎛️
This year SUM-LOT has been on the rise, in terms of popularity from the playerbase. This year the biggest event for SUM-LOT format is the 2024 Louisville Regionals side event.
As promised, here’s the Top 8 decks from the SUM-LOT Tournament at Louisville! 64 players played, and this was what came out on top!
— Simon - #1 Jirachi Enthusiast ✨ (@StarshineSimon) October 14, 2024
1st - James Gillespie - Control
2nd - Evelyn Estridge - Lost March
3rd - Lucas Thiele - Granbull
4th - John Orgel - Gardevoir Swampert Ninetales https://t.co/P3VX6FQ5Zr pic.twitter.com/sNHqcGpQcs
Resource for the event ⬆️
This event saw a a great variety of decks with a crazy 64 player turn out. Glad to see the playerbase coming out for side events of this nature.
SPECIAL THANKS🎉
-Andrew Mahone: Throughout this year Andrew used his platform to show some love to formats that many modern players wouldn't have even known about. Base-Fossil, 2004 Worlds, 2006 Worlds. He helped bring a spotlight to the community that most other people don't have the opportunity to do. Thank you for your time and respect for the community.
-Jason Klaczynski: For many people in the community the reason they are here is because of Jason. That's how I was able to become a part of this community. Jason's blog was my gateway to the real way Ive wanted to play Pokemon for the last 10 years. Jason found a way to convert people to the proper side. Thank you for your passion for the game and your dedicated time to organize event for this community.
-Odysseus+Pip: Thank you to Odysseus and AquaPiplup for organizing and hosting the Stambler Opens. Always glad to see the community coming together for the funnest online event of the season.
-The die hard fans that document all of this: One of the reasons we can still play these formats is because of the great people that have helped preserve these deck lists and meta data and why people like or dislike formats. Part of the reason I wrote my articles is to help document these moments or events that normally don't get much coverage at all. Thank you to those who have the same mindset about this very interesting card game.
-The players: People playing this game is clearly the what keeps this community alive. Thank you for coming out and playing. I sadly can't play in all of these events but if you can come out at all it is appreciated by the community.
This year we saw plenty of ups and downs. This year we saw the debate of Jason vs Tord continue and even intensified more. RSPK has some massive growth this season. The Neo era (or Gen 2) and the XY era (or Gen 6) didn't get specific love this year as these are the least popular eras (the Sword and Shield era is not in this conversation here). Prop 15 got a nice jolt of new decks added to the format. So many wild moments happened this season and I hope you stick around for the next year. Thank you for reading. I'll see you in the new year.