On July 18th we hosted the Debut Tournament for the Pokémon TCG format "Single Gen Showdown!" This was a format that I created, and I was super happy with the result!
The rules of Single Gen Showdown (SGS) are simple: Create a deck in the Standard Format, but all Pokémon must be from the same original generation. This required our players to get super creative, as there are zero current meta decks that already fulfill this requirement. I posted an article when I announced the format with a deck idea for all nine generations, and while a few people borrowed some decks from that, over half the room came to the tournament with deck archetypes of their own creation!
The generation that was the most represented was Gen 1 with six participants, but all six of those decks were completely different. Following Gen 1, two people each played Gen 4, 8, and 9 respectively. There were three generations with only one participant, and they were Gen 2, 3, and 5. All three of these people were entered into a raffle for a $50 JPP gift card for being the only person to represent their generation. Congrats to Brett S. for winning the raffle with his Gen 5 deck! This was definitely an archetype I was surprised to see so few of, especially since it is the closest to a Standard legal deck (Zoroark ex). I expect to see much more on Gen 5 in future tournaments.
We had a very diverse Top 8, with only 2 decks sharing the same archetype. Congrats to our Top Cut: Steve, Jason, Stanley and Andrew! The tournament (and especially the final match) was super interesting to watch, as all of these players were figuring out the format in real time. The finals were an excellent back and forth between Gen 1 and Gen 9, with Steve taking Mega Starmie / Mega Kangaskhan to Victory Road, winning 2-0 vs Jason's Iron Leaves / Teal Mask Ogerpon deck. Check out the Top 4 Decklists below!
Steve's Winning Decklist (Gen 1):
Jason's 2nd Place Decklist (Gen 9):
Stanley's 3rd Place Decklist (Gen 1):
EDIT: Forgot to mention when I first published this article, but shoutout to Stanley for his fourth consecutive Top Cut at a Just Press Play TCG Tournament!!
Andrew's 4th Place Decklist (Gen 8):
Like I mentioned earlier, this was such a fun tournament and I was so glad to see the community come together to try to figure out this format. If you're a player / tournament organizer / anyone who's interested in the format, click here for the complete rules: SGS Tournament Rules
Check our website / socials periodically for more news / events regarding SGS. There will be periodic updates concerning card legality as new cards are released, and I will continue to revaluate regional forms (potential Eeveelution exception???). I also plan on posting a new article with 9 new decklists, so be on the lookout for that!
I'm so excited for the future of Single Gen Showdown. Thank you all for making it possible. :)