Fresh off the Gardevoir wars of 2008, the DP-ON format introduced a new Tier 1 powerhouse from the Legends Awakened set: Kingdra.
Kingdra quickly rose to dominance, while Gardevoir's popularity waned due to the loss of key cards like Scramble Energy and Double Rainbow Energy. To remain viable, Gardevoir decks relied on Weavile for energy acceleration to compensate for their high energy costs and relatively low damage output.
In November 2008, the release of Stormfront (SF) introduced several powerful cards into the metagame, many matching Kingdra's fast-paced style. Gengar and Machamp emerged as popular choices. Meanwhile, Dusknoir and Tyranitar decks retained the slower setup gameplay familiar to players from 2008. AMU and Abomasnow also found some success, but in a format with the fast turbo tools of Rare Candy, Uxie, and Claydol, swift Stage 2 decks dominated the competitive scene.
This was also when I started playing in Juniors! I played Gengar Dusknoir Mewtwo
In February 2009, Platinum Base (PL) changed the game completely. SP decks won more than half of the State Championship events that year. SP was very flexible, making it hard to counter. Even though Machamp was a strong answer with its Take Out attack, SP decks still dominated the format. The main SP variations were Toxicroak/Skuntank focusing on speed. Or Dialga G/Palkia G which could use Mesprit, Uxie and Giratina to draw and disrupt then Lost Cyclone them away with Palkia.
Regionals were heavily influenced by SP decks and the strategies designed to counter them. Gengar and Machamp were often combined into GeChamp, a deck built to be fast and strong enough to take down SP. During this time, SP, Gengar, and Machamp dominated, winning nearly all events. Many National Championships, including the UK Nationals, were played in the DP-PL format.
In May 2009, the final set of the 2009 World Championships format, Rising Rivals (RR), was released, reshaping the metagame just ahead of US Nationals in June. The set significantly broadened deck possibilities, and with only a few major tournaments left, players kept their strategies under wraps.
Flygon became a major focus, recognized as a dominant Stage 2 Pokémon in a format driven by speed and disruption. Many believed it had the potential to rise to the top. Meanwhile, SP decks gained powerful new tools, such as SP Radar, Infernape, and Luxray, which would become arguably the strongest DP era Pokemon now offering an easy one-hit KO on Palkia G. Beedrill also received a strong new support card, enabling the speedy SpeeDrill deck, which added another turbo option to the metagame.
The metagame was uncertain. Some players thought Flygon’s raw power would push it to the top, while others believed that the new SP tools would outpace it.
In early June, results from overseas nationals (ones played in DP-RR) showed Flygon performing strongly, especially when paired with Weavile to accelerate its energy. Canadian Nationals echoed this success, with Flygon, powered by Weavile, claiming half of the Top 4, while Infernape and Beedrill also made appearances.
Heading into US Nationals, the metagame remained undefined. Players across the country relied on their own testing and expertise to make their picks from the five decks below.
Palkia Lock (aka Legos)
Infernape Luxray (aka LuxApe)
Flygon Weavile (aka Dark Flygon)
Beedrill (aka SpeeDrill)
Gengar
The tournament was won by Kyle Sucevich, who used Luxray/Infernape, with second place going to a Luxray variant specifically designed to counter Palkia Lock. Palkia Lock had become a dominant force in the top cut, shutting down many evolution decks by consistently stopping Claydol and Uxie with its power lock. However, the Infernape—a completely new SP variant—topping Palkia Lock decks led many players to believe that Palkia Lock would see less play at Worlds, with Luxray/Infernape emerging as the SP variant of choice.
Notably absent from the top tables were Flygon decks, as many were too slow and fragile to keep up with the disruption of Palkia Lock. Turbo decks also struggled due to the a tough matchup against Palkia Lock. However, Gengar made a surprising showing, with two top 8 placements, despite the deck being regarded as less rewarding for skilled players.
In Japan, SP decks were even more favored than in the US, setting the stage for a heavy SP presence at Worlds in San Diego that year and testing groups had been refining strategies with the goal of catching players off guard
One day before Worlds began, an event known as ‘The Grinders’ took place, with 457 Masters competing for their last chance to qualify for the 2009 World Championships. The event also served as a showcase for new archetypes.
The tournament was topped by a Flygon variant called Psychic Flygon (Psygon), which combined Flygon with Nidoqueen for healing, Dusknoir for disruption, and Mewtwo to counter SP. Flygon also had the option of using Upper Energy to accelerate energy when it inevitably fell behind on prizes. Nidoqueen provided strong answers to the spread damage of SP, Gengar and Kingdra.
Two other top 8 finishers in the Grinder combined a Luxray attacking line with Palkia Lock, maximizing consistency while providing a strong counter to the Mirror and applying early pressure in other matchups.
Flygon's unexpected victory in the Grinder, after being absent from US Nationals, was a surprising turn of events that left players questioning the metagame once again. As Worlds approached the following morning, new variations with Flygon with Nidoqueen emerged, along with rumors of secret decks and more Flygon variants. Once again, players were uncertain about their deck choices, and many stayed up into the early hours, making last-minute adjustments to their decklists before submission.
The first surprise of Worlds was the popularity of Palkia Lock SP. Many players had spent the past few months honing this variant, feeling confident in its consistent strength. After US Nationals, players expected Luxray/Infernape to be the SP deck of choice, but the use of Azelf with Downer Material made the matchup a 50/50 for skilled Palkia players like Ross Cawthon, Pablo Meza, and Jayson Harry. Palkia Lock’s biggest weakness was Machamp, yet very few Machamp decks made it to the top tables.
The second surprise came when several top players unexpectedly brought Flygon with new tricks. In the US Nationals metagame, Flygon hadn’t quite found its footing, but now it appeared in three main variants: Flygon Lock with Palkia, Flygon/Machamp with its built-in answer to SP Pokémon, and Flygon/Weavile, which now incorporated Psychic Pokemon from Psygon.
The real hero of the Flygon story, however, was Nidoqueen. Its Maternal Comfort Poké-Body removed 10 damage from each of your Pokémon between turns. This not only shifted the 2-hit KO math but also countered SP’s spread strategy, allowing Flygon to rotate between walls and attackers to prevent it from getting knocked out despite its high energy requirements. This also hurt Turbo decks like Gengar and Kingdra, as their spread attacks lost significant value against Nidoqueen.
Flygon Lock, as the name suggests, also had a major trick up its sleeve: Memory Berry. This allowed Flygon to use Trapinch’s attacks to disrupt opponents’ boards, while Flygon LV.X’s Poké-Body, Wind Erosion, accelerated the deck-out win condition of its stall strategy. This was the ‘secret deck’ many US players had kept under wraps for Worlds. Tyler N, the Grinder winner, was credited with creating the deck, though he chose not to play it in the Grinder.
As the top 8 settled, two very unexpected decks emerged. First, French Gyarados via Fabien Garnier, despite winning French Nationals the deck was ignored by US players, though it would later be recognized as one of the top decks in the 2009 metagame. The second surprise came from Stephen Silvestro, who piloted Beedrill—not the usual Speedrill variant, but one that included Luxray and the SP package. This gave it a counter to Palkia Lock, which was a tough matchup for the deck.
Stephen had previously played Beedrill with Luxray at US Nationals, but at the time, it still struggled against Palkia Lock, as he wasn’t using Luxray’s attack and couldn’t capitalize on Palkia G LV.X’s weakness. With Luxray now attacking, Beedrill had its counter to Palkia Lock and could handle matchups against Flygon. However, Stephen’s eventual 1st place finish wasn’t without challenges—he started the event 0-2, highlighting the deck’s potential inconsistency, and nearly lost to Fabien’s Gyarados, after Fabien lost multiple coin flips.
As the event wrapped up, it left more questions than answers. Aside from the three rogue decks in the top 8, we saw Dusknoir in 10th place, another French Gyarados in 13th, and Machamp/Lumineon in 21st, piloted by the Canadian National champion. After worlds, the meta would be shaken up again via Garchomp C closing the book on the DP-RR format with Supreme Victors (SV). It's not very often half of the top 4 and top 8 decks are running new strategies, but that is exactly what makes 2009 my favourite retro format.