Players of the Pokemon trading card game competed against a deck of Jumbo cards in the North American International Championship
A Pokemon Trading Card Game player named Matthew Verive competed at the North American International Championships with a deck made of novel jumbo cards because the rules never said he couldn’t.
As discovered by IGN’s Joshua Yehl, Verive’s novelty 60-card jumbo deck was shown to the tournament judges, who “debated and ruled that it was legal because the card size was not specified in the rules.”
This madman entered the North American TCG Pokémon International Championship with a 60-card deck made entirely of novelty jumbo cards. The judges argued and ruled it was legal because the card size was not specified in the rules.😂 pic.twitter.com/82qwN2UAuY
– Joshua Yehl (@JoshuaYehl) June 24, 2022
His deck includes Pokemon like Lance’s Charizard, four Pikachus, six Snorlax, eight Eternatus, four Dubwool, a few Sobbles, Scorbunny, and Grookey, etc. As Joshua notes, “the funniest part of this hilarious drama is a Pokémon that never prints any Trainer cards or Jumbo Energy so all he can do is play Pokémon but not attack.”
Speaking of cards, this is the deck in its full glory! I can’t arrange it all in one picture. The temporary deck “box” is on the left. pic.twitter.com/eSSOqJAwxs
– Matthew Verive ➡️ NAIC (@immewnity) June 24, 2022
As for how he played in the tournament, Verive said that he “lost game 1, my opponent beat game 2 (just to tie game 3, for fun), and then got his deck checked.” He then officially lost game three and then gave up, like he “was meant to be no matter what.”
For those who want to follow Verive in building a jumbo deck to play in the tournament, he cautions that no one should follow him on this journey as he hopes “the rules will be out soon.” modified to clarify the size of the playable cards.”
Although Verive could not win the tournament, Nathan O. won the Juniors Division, Rune Heiremans won the Senior League, and Azul Garcia Griego has won the Master Division.
For more on Pokemon Trading Card Game make sure Read our guide on how to check Pokemon card value and appraise your collection.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and more Convulsions.
