Prerelease
Going into this set’s prerelease, I wasn’t particularly excited about any of these promos or potential Build and Battle kits but the first prerelease event proved me wrong. It’s a fantastic format.
Here are the promos:
Prerelease July 4th, 2026
I got myself a Slowbro kit and managed to pull a Mega Slowbro ex to add to it. I generally don’t think exs should be allowed in prereleases because of their overpowered stats and attacks but after losing to Mega Starmie ex (Perfect Order) and Mega Lopunny ex (Phantasmal Flames) in recent prereleases, it was fun to be on the other side of the fence.
I even pulled a fifth Slowpoke/Slowbro line and considered adding them to my deck but found it difficult to justify two extra cards to cut.
I cut AZ’s Tranquility for Mega Slowbro ex and a Hilda for an extra Psychic Energy (I think those were my only swaps but could be mistaken).
4 Slowpoke PBL 29
3 Slowbro PBL 30
1 Slowbro MEP 83
1 Mega Slowbro ex PBL 31
2 Type: Null PBL 69
2 Sylvally PBL 70
1 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
2 Brock's Scouting JTG 146
2 Hilda WHT 84
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Energy Search POR 72
1 Energy Recycler DRI 164
1 Air Balloon BLK 79
2 Prism Tower CRI 80
4 Basic Psychic Energy
2 Telepathic {P} Energy POR 88
2 Ignition Energy WHT 86
I expected this to be a rough deck because to get good hits, you either need an Ignition Energy that there are only 2 in the deck or need to get your hand down to zero to hit hard with Slowbro. It turned out to be surprisingly easy and the deck ran excellent.
The base kit struggles against Bastiodon a lot but luckily I got Mega Slowbro ex.
Matches
Round 1, won against Bastiodon (1-0)
My first match, I got the perfect start. Got a big All Out attack from T2 onwards and my opponent didn’t manage to set up properly. When they got Bastiodon in play, it was forced to be the active so its ability didn’t hinder my ability to attack.
I did prize my Mega Slowbro and only picked it up as my 3rd prize card so if they had managed to get Bastiodon into play early, I would have been cooked. I’ll take the win!
Round 2, won against Bastiodon (2-0)
Another win against Bastiodon. They managed to set up two Bastiodon. But I had Mega Slowbro in my opening hand and managed to get a couple of KOs with Slowbro before they fully set up and then steamrolled with Mega Slowbro ex to the victory.
Round 3, lost to Dhelmise (2-1)
I misplayed heavily in this game. I knew they had Spiritomb that quadruples damage on two of my Pokémon but I still played down Mega Slowbro thinking I could take them out before they could Spiritomb. That was stupid and I lost. Not sure if I could have won even without the misplay.
The Dhelmise / Hide ‘n’ Seek deck was super aggro and it’s the one mechanic from this prerelease that I’m looking forward to play in Standard as well.
Extra pulls
My amazing pack luck continued after the initial boosters. From the Prize Pack, I pulled another Team Rocket’s Spidops to my Team Rocket Box deck and from the prize boosters I pulled a Lurantis ex and Mega Delphox ex.