Gym Leader Challenge
2025-2026 Season
October
This was an 8 player event, all Masters. Avery (3-0), having earned their Psychic Badge through win total, returned to their Dragon roots running a variation of Dragobox using the full Garchomp evolutionary line. This combined the early aggression of Double Dragon Energy + Lost City on Raging Bolt with the late game checkmates presented by Garchomp with its Sonic Slip Ability. brooke (2-1) saw Okidogi, lynchpin of today's Fighting decks, hit the Lost Zone early in the badge-determining match. Raven (2-1) brought Wo-Chien back for another successful go, meaning she is just one match shy of earning her Grass Badge. Zack (2-1), now having his Lightning Badge, is trying something new with Dragon, taking notes from Avery in the process.
Metagame
- 2 Fighting (2-4), WR: 33.3%
- 2 Dragon (5-1), WR: 83.3%
- 2 Colorless (2-4), WR: 33.3%
- 1 Grass (2-1), WR: 66.7%
- 1 Psychic (1-2), WR: 33.3%
Top Four
- Avery Murphy on Garchomp Dragobox 🏅
- brooke english on Big Basic Fighting
- Raven Fischer on Turbo Wo-Chien (Grass)
- Zack Elledge on Dragonite/Garchomp
September
This was an 8 player event, all Masters.
Metagame
- 3 Grass (3-6), WR: 33.3%
- 2 Water (4-2), WR: 66.7%
- 2 Lightning (4-2), WR: 66.7%
- 1 Psychic (1-2), WR: 33.3%
Top Four
- brooke english on Aggro Water 🏅
- Raven Fischer on Turbo Wo-Chien (Grass)
- Zack Elledge on Lightning Spread 🏅
- Nolan Freda on Lightning Spread
August
This was a 13 player event, all Masters. brooke (3-0-1) brought its signature Psychic and rallied to an undefeated finish following a tense draw in Round 2 against Bloom (2-1-1) on the Full Grip 3K-winning Hydro Pump. Ross's (3-1) Black Bolt & White Flare tweaks to his Water Mill deck worked well, finishing in Top 4. Taylor (3-1), a local GLC enthusiast and Ross's one loss, proved competitive as well, but could not overcome the Psychic weakness of Fighting in Round 3. The final round was an exhibiton of two different philosophies of Psychic deck construction between the two undefeateds in brooke and Avery (3-1).
Metagame
- 4 Water (7-7-1), WR: 46.7%
- 2 Lightning (1-4), WR: 20%
- 2 Psychic (6-1-1), WR: 75%
- 2 Dragon (4-3), WR: 57.1%
- 1 Grass (1-2), WR: 33.3%
- 1 Fighting (3-1), WR: 75%
- 1 Colorless (1-2-1), WR: 25%
Top Four
- brooke english on Crispin Munkidori (Psychic) 🏅
- Taylor Thering on Fighting Toolbox
- Avery Murphy on Dragapult (Psychic) 🏅
- Ross Higashi on Water Mill
July
This was a 12-player event, 11 Masters and 1 Junior. Nolan (4-0) remained stoic and heroic with his Tyranitar Hitmoncombo deck despite facing every Psychic player in the room, earning his Fighting Badge. brooke (3-1) was the runner up with its well-known take on Crispin Munkidori, running out of steam in a fantastic match against Nolan in the final round. Zack (3-1) is finding his ground with the most popular spread archetype at the moment, and Avery (2-2) has taken a liking to their spin on the traditional Psychic list by incorporating the Rebel Clash Dragapult, a miniature version of Dragapult ex that does respectable damage and places 3 damage counters on the bench however it likes (not to mention the obnoxious Inflitrator Ability!)
Metagame
- 3 Psychic (7-5), WR: 58.3%
- 2 Fire (2-4), WR: 33.3%
- 2 Fighting (5-3), WR: 62.5%
- 2 Dragon (3-5), WR: 37.5%
- 1 Water (2-2), WR: 50%
- 1 Darkness (2-2), WR: 50%
- 1 Dragon (1-3), WR: 25%
Top Four
- Nolan Frieda on Tyranitar Hitmoncombo (Fighting) 🏅
- brooke english on Crispin Munkidori (Psychic)
- Zack Elledge on Lightning Spread
- Avery Murphy on Dragapult (Psychic)