Pokemon TCG Player Competes in North American International Championship With Jumbo Deck

A Pokemon Trading Card Game player got inventive with his Pokemon card deck this weekend during the North American International Championships. A player named Matthew Verive entered the North American International Championships, the highest regional championship in North America, with a deck made up entirely of promotional jumbo-sized cards. The 60-card deck contained only Pokemon cards, as The Pokemon Company has never printed jumbo Trainer or Energy cards. Verive pulled out of the tournament after one official match, in part because none of his Pokemon could actually attack due to a lack of energy. 

Verive did receive a deck check while competing, but his deck was considered legal as the official Pokemon card rules do not specify that cards have to be a normal size. However, the judges told Verive that if he hadn't dropped out of the tournament, his deck would have likely been disqualified for having "marked cards." Since the jumbo cards are promotional only, they aren't printed to the same standards as normal Pokemon cards, which means that some cards were easily identifiable. 

Talked with the judging staff afterwards, and if I didn't drop, I might have received a DQ – for marked cards! The oversized cards aren't cut to as high a standard as regular cards, so some cards could understandably be identified.

— Matthew Verive (@immewnity) June 24, 2022

Obviously, this was a non-viable gimmick deck, but Verive noted that he almost certainly had caused a change to the rules. Speaking with IGN, Verive noted that he expects the rules to change shortly to specify card sizes. 

With the North American International Championships finished up, attention now turns to the Pokemon World Championships, which will take place in mid-August in London. The Pokemon World Championships will feature tournaments for the Pokemon video games (referred to as VGC), the Pokemon Trading Card Game, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Unite, and Pokken Tournament. Champions will be crowned in three separate divisions, each of which are determined by age.