Welcome back, Cut or Tap readers! The 2026 season has finally started, with our first two major events concluding this past weekend. With not much time before the next major, Pittsburgh Regionals, it is important that we analyze these early results and take them into consideration when deciding what to bring in a few days. That’s why I’m here to help! In this piece, I’ll be going over two decks I am extremely confident in, so whether you are preparing for Pittsburgh like me, or just want to dominate your local Cups or Challenges this weekend, hopefully this will be helpful.
Looking back at Frankfurt and Monterrey Regionals, there are several key takeaways. To start (and to no surprise), Gardevoir is still dominating. I think that Gardevoir is simply the best deck in format at this point, given that it has won so many majors in this and recent formats. Truthfully it is getting hard to justify not playing it if your goal is to win the event, as it seemingly always does. However, not everyone is a Gardevoir enjoyer (myself included), and I do think that it is definitely possible to win without playing it.
The next point to take away from this past weekend is how well Tera Box did. Though Gardevoir did end up taking both events, the presence of Tera Box in Cut at both is nothing to scoff at. I believe Tera Box did so well due to its good Gholdengo matchup and the lack of decks that include Shaymin. I think last weekend was the best weekend for the deck to be played yet. I am interested to see how the deck will fare in Pittsburgh, now that it is more established and, imaginably, more people will play Shaymin.
The last thing I want to highlight is how poorly Gholdengo placed. Gholdengo went from being one of the strongest plays (showcased at the World Championships) to getting pretty dunked on this past weekend. This is due to Gholdengo not being a deck that offers many counterplay options, so if your deck has a favorable Gholdengo matchup, there isn’t really much they can do in a normal game.
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