Canada's Riley McKay, the 2025 Pokémon TCG World Champion, won the Louisville Regional Championships (Kentucky, USA) on Sunday, October 11, without losing a single round: 15 wins and 3 draws in a Masters field of 2,927 players. He played Dragapult ex and beat Austin Charles in the final, who was on another Dragapult build paired with Blaziken. Results and decklists are on Limitless TCG, and Liquipedia lists the prize: $10,000 and 350 Championship Points.
A Regional ruled by Dragapult
Half of the top 8 played some version of Dragapult: McKay, Charles, Henry Chao and Leo Orozco. The rest of the cut was Evan Campbell (Mega Sharpedo with Toxtricity), Rahul Reddy (Dhelmise with Banette), Jeremy Chestnutt (Ogerpon with Hydrapple) and Sawyer Melban (Mew ex with Clefairy). Along the way McKay faced Dragapult seven times in Swiss and never lost: five wins, two draws.
It is his second major win in just over a year. In August 2025 he took the World Championships in Anaheim with a very different list, the Gardevoir ex deck we break down card by card. A reigning world champion winning a Regional of almost 3,000 players is rare: these top 8s usually change faces every weekend.
The winning list and what it costs
The list is built around three Dragapult ex, whose main attack spreads damage counters across the opponent's Bench, plus two Munkidori that move damage around when they have Darkness Energy attached. What sets it apart is the disruption: four Crushing Hammer to strip the opponent's Energy and one Unfair Stamp for comeback turns. Fezandipiti ex and Meowth ex provide support.
- Dragapult ex · Ascended Heroes 160 · ×3 · €1.54
- Munkidori · Ascended Heroes 99 · ×2 · €0.26
- Crushing Hammer · Perfect Order 71 · ×4 · €0.13
- Unfair Stamp · Twilight Masquerade 165 · ×1 · €10.19
- Meowth ex · Perfect Order 62 · ×1 · €5.25
- Fezandipiti ex · Ascended Heroes 142 · ×1 · €4.36
Using our Cardmarket reference prices as of October 12, 2026, the 51 non-basic-Energy cards, in the exact printings from the list, add up to about €35. The priciest is Unfair Stamp (€10.19), followed by Meowth ex (€5.25) and Fezandipiti ex (€4.36); each Ascended Heroes Dragapult ex sits around €1.54. The winning deck of one of the biggest Regionals of the year costs less than a booster box.
What it means if you play in Europe
The last major European event, the Frankfurt Regional on September 26 (2,793 players), went to Alakazam with Dusknoir, but Dragapult already put three decks into that top 8. Louisville confirms it as the deck to beat in the current format, and one of the cheaper ones too. If you want to build it, check what you already own first: your TCGJoin collection shows which cards you have, and the set pages list every card with its price.