Promos & kits
I’m most excited about Ampharos (it’s in my top 3 all time favourite Pokémon) and both Delphox and Crobat look good too, especially for the prerelease format. I hope I don’t open Goodra, fingers crossed.
Bulbapedia has all the kit lists. The fact that only Ampharos and Delphox come with Rare Candies feels bad for the other two. Crobat at least has 2 copies of Grimsley’s Move that can cheat a Crobat into play if you get lucky. There’s no set up for it though so it’s really luck based.
Delphox has 2 copies of Waitress which can be good energy accelerator (Supporter: Look at the top 6 cards of your deck and attach a Basic Energy card you find there to 1 of your Pokémon. Shuffle the other cards back into your deck.).
Mega Greninja ex is the chase card in this set. It’s a stage 2 so hopefully nobody gets to actually play it because it’s way too strong for prerelease like any ex really is.
Delibird seems solid addition to any deck if pulled from a booster as it gives you really good energy acceleration ({c} Happy Present: Each player may attach up to 3 Basic Energy cards from their hand to their Pokémon in any way they like (your opponent attaches first).) It’s a bit of a gamble as your opponent can do the same but I still think it’s good tempo.
14.5.2026 Prerelease
My first (and likely only) prerelease took place on Thursday, 14.5. at the local game store. I had initially missed the registration as this prerelease snuck up on me surprisingly but I managed to grab one of the last spots.
I got the Crobat kit but a friend kindly traded me the Ampharos promo afterwards so I got what I went looking for.
Round 1, I barely lost after a bit of misplay in the final turn against a Goodra/Keldeo deck. I managed to get my board set up super well, even hit Crobat off of Grimsley’s Move (Look at the top 7 cards of your deck and put a {D} Pokémon you find there onto your Bench. Shuffle the other cards and put them on the bottom of your deck. You can’t use this card during your first turn.).
Round 2, I got a bye so didn’t get to play unfortunately.
Round 3, I barely beat an Ampharos deck in another really tight match. I kinda learned how the deck runs in this match and managed to string Quilfish + Punk Helmet into Crobats more effectively than in first game. Ended up on 10th place with a 2-1 record (with 1 bye).
As seems to be my prerelease luck, I didn’t pull anything magnificent from the kit boosters. But I did pull a IR Metang which is gorgeous and a Goodra and Delphox so I ended up with one of each kit Stage 2s — albeit only two of them with stamps.
From the prize boosters, I pulled a Mega Dregalge ex and a full art Mega Floette ex which was very nice.
While I didn’t pull any exs to add to my deck, this time luckily I also didn’t play against anyone who did. Exs and especially Mega exs can make prerelease a miserable experience so I was happy to evade them.
Deck
1 Fennekin CRI 11
4 Zubat CRI 49
4 Golbat CRI 50
3 Crobat CRI 51
3 Qwilfish CRI 52
4 Poké Pad POR 81
1 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184
1 Switch MEG 130
2 Iris's Fighting Spirit ASC 190
2 Grimsley's Move PFL 090
2 Urbain ASC 214
1 Surfer ASC 200
1 AZ's Tranquility CRI 76
1 Lillie's Determination ASC 192
2 Punk Helmet PFL 92
8 Basic {D} Energy MEE 7
I took the kit and swapped a few dark energies (as everything in deck attacks with single Dark) and brought in Fennekin for Pokemon search and AZ’s Tranquility for extra mobility. I’ve learned my lesson in limited Pokemon (drafts and prereleases): if you can play a basic that searches for Pokemon or draws cards for 1 energy or cheaper, you play it.
Crobat was a challenging deck in this format. Goodra and Ampharos both one hit KO it and it only does only 80 (+ potential poison and Punk Helmet damage) so it can’t KO back. With no gust (like Boss’s Orders) or bench snipe, it’s too easy to retreat to bench and deny a prize.