Team CGC Trading Cards Placed Top 4 in the Pokémon Portland Regional Championships!

Team CGC Trading Cards is back on top! Earning their first Top 4 placing since Azul Garcia Griego’s win at OCIC, the team faced 1,088 Master-level competitors at the Pokémon Portland Regional Championships on May 5-7.

Representing Team CGC Trading Cards, Grant Manley placed 3rd (12/3/2), Azul Garcia Griego placed 19th (10/3/2), Caleb Gedemer placed 123rd (6/3/0) and Daniel Altavilla placed 180th (5/3/1). Kidd Starck was unable to attend the event, but we hope to cheer him on at the Hartford Regionals.

The European International Championships gave the team an opportunity to experiment with some of the new Scarlet and Violet cards; however, at the Portland Regionals, they reduced these cards and returned to their more frequented Lost Zone Box deck formula. Despite potentially easier opportunities to play with Lugia VSTAR or Gardevoir ex, a week of rigorous testing convinced them to stick with their successful strategy — this time implementing the Raikou V and Dragonite V.

When asked for comment, Caleb Gedemer shared their strategy going into Portland: “While still in London (for EUIC), the team whipped up a “turbo” Lost Box deck and ran some games while rooting Azul on as he played in day two. Surprised to see that Kyogre was still viable, it was something in our back pocket going into the next major event following the Internationals.

“Lost Box’s matchups remained mostly the same, though the rise of Judge and Path to the Peak in many decks could spell trouble, depending on how you drew with the four random cards. Forest Seal Stone sped the deck up considerably, and while it might not take extra Prizes like Sky Seal Stone, it keeps the flow of Colress’s Experiment plays coming. Grant finished in the Top 4, losing a heartbreaking series to a winnable matchup in the very last minutes.”

Team CGC Trading Cards was assembled by Danny Oesterreich in 2022, and is comprised of seasoned players Daniel Altavilla, Azul Garcia Griego, Caleb Gedemer, Kidd Starck and Grant Manley. The team will compete next at the Hartford Regional Championships, at the Connecticut Convention Center, in Hartford, Connecticut on May 19-21.

Please join us in wishing the team the best of luck throughout the season and keep an eye out for new updates on the team’s performance by following their Instagram @teamCGCcards and the CGC Trading Cards social channels, @CGCcards. You can also watch the events live on the Pokémon YouTube and Twitch channels to see players do battle.

To learn more about the formation of Team CGC Trading Cards, click here.