The headlines
- In front after nine rounds: Bartosz Skrobacki (PL), Cho Tsun Leung (UK) and Jan Hausmann (DE), all at 8-0-1. At 8-1 are Mees Brenninkmeijer, the only one at 8-0 after the first phase, Nathan Bonavia Zammit, Jose Antonio Araquistain Gómez, Jonas Oertel, Léo Michonneau, Kacper Dolny and Tim Eisenblätter.
- About 320 players in phase 2, out of 1,739 Masters entered. Among them 31 Italians: the best, at 6-1-2, are Gabriele Amore, Tommaso Visani, Fabrizio Tallone, Cristian Lombardo, Michelangelo Meulli and Samuele Roma.
- The "comfort pick" pays off: Aleksander Rutowicz and Alberto Conti, with their Dragapult Dusknoir, are the faces of the day. Rutowicz is 7-1-1, Conti 6-2-1.
- The meta: Dragapult is 29% of the room, but unusual decks make it to the top: Mew ex Box, N's Zoroark, Greninja ex, Team Rocket's Mewtwo and an unbeaten Okidogi.
- Play resumes tomorrow, Sunday, November 1, at 11:20 with the rest of phase 2 and then the Top Cut.
The event
Gdańsk is the third European stop of the season and the last of the 30th Anniversary format, which for the booth changed little compared with Pitch Black. The formula is the one from Nice: eight Swiss rounds on Saturday, then phase 2 with at least 16 points, and finally the asymmetric Top Cut (the top 8 plus anyone with the same points as 8th place). The first round of phase 2, the ninth, is already played tonight. At stake are $10,000 and 350 Championship Points for the Masters winner, and the invitation to the 2027 Worlds in Singapore. The studio is in Halloween costume, and the broadcast opens with the replay of Game 3 of the Nice final, won by Luc Gantner against Maxime Launay.
Standings at the end of the day
- 8-0-1: Bartosz Skrobacki (PL), Cho Tsun Leung (UK), Jan Hausmann (DE).
- 8-1: Mees Brenninkmeijer (NL), Nathan Bonavia Zammit (MT), Jose Antonio Araquistain Gómez (ES), Jonas Oertel (DE), Léo Michonneau (FR), Kacper Dolny (PL), Tim Eisenblätter (DE).
- 7-1-1: among them Cristina Aguilera Gonzalez, Aleksander Rutowicz, Tord Reklev, Brennan Kamerman, Pablo Gutiérrez Ruiz, Brent Tonisson and Rune Heiremans.
- Italians: six at 6-1-2 (Amore, Visani, Tallone, Lombardo, Meulli, Roma). Alberto Conti, Filippo Colamorea, Matteo Fellico and Emanuele Sirini are 6-2-1.
- Other names: Edwyn Mesman, European champion in London, is 6-1-2. Noel Schmid is 6-2-1, Juho Kallama and Maximilian Knuth 7-2.
The unbeaten count shrinks round after round: 128 after round 3, 57 after round 4, 27 after round 5, 13 after round 6, 4 after round 7 and only Brenninkmeijer after round 8, who then loses to Skrobacki in round 9. Italy was for a long time among the countries with the most players at a perfect record: 16 at 3-0, behind only the United Kingdom, then nine of the 57 at 4-0, the top nation. Ties stay between 12% and 16% of the tables: the low at 11.9% in round 6, the high at 16.1% in round 8.
The Italians
The Italian day starts strong and thins out in the afternoon. Alberto Conti, 2024 Gdańsk champion, wins the round 5 showcase match against Japan's Keito Arai (NAIC Top 4) and is 5-0. In his interview he says he fears only one deck, N's Zoroark. Then he loses two rounds in a row and finishes 6-2-1. Filippo Colamorea follows the same path: 5-0, then 6-2-1. Gabriele Amore stays unbeaten until round 8 (6-0-2) and loses only in the ninth. Tommaso Visani ends the first phase at 6-0-2, then loses to Pablo Gutiérrez Ruiz.
The protagonists
- Mees Brenninkmeijer opens the day with a textbook round 4 against Joan Esmandia: Full Moon Rondo on the first turn Knocks Out the lone Munkidori, then he closes Game 2 with zero cards in hand. His Basic Box with Mew ex and Latias ex "has never lost to Dragapult". He is the only 8-0 of the first phase.
- Aleksander Rutowicz, Lille 2025 champion and the home player, comes back against Piotr Pazera and his Alakazam, then beats James Cox with a seven-Prize turn: two Curse Blast and a Phantom Dive. "I don't usually do well at home," he says. He is one of the three players to watch picked by the studio, the only one to reach phase 2; Emma Hagen and Luca don't make it.
- Noel Schmid loses Game 1 with three N's Zoroark in the Prize cards and comes back against Pablo Gutiérrez Ruiz with N's Purrloin and Rampaging Thunder for exactly 290 damage.
- Cristina Aguilera Gonzalez and Jan Hausmann, both 7-0, tie the round 8 showcase match 1-1-1 between Festival Lead and Basic Box. Game 1 is decided by a Kieran drawn at the last moment, Game 2 by Torrential Pump removing all the Thwackey, Game 3 by the clock.
- Nathan Bonavia Zammit, the first Maltese player to win on air, beats Maximilian Knuth's Dragapult 2-0 with Greninja ex: Mirage Barrage on the second turn in Game 2 and a chain of Meowth ex, Hilda, Rare Candy and Mega Froslass to close.
The meta
- Dragapult is 29% of the room and remains the deck to beat: everyone interviewed says so, from Schmid ("at a Regional you go to beat Dragapult") to Bonavia Zammit. The versions with Dusknoir (Conti, Rutowicz) and with Crushing Hammer coexist. The answers seen on air are early pressure (Budew, Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, Festival Lead) and locking Items.
- Hide 'n' Sneak is the third most played deck, its best placement; Alakazam is around 4-6%; N's Zoroark is back among the top six.
- The unusual decks are the story of the day: Brenninkmeijer's Mew ex Box leading the first phase, Slowking with Munkidori and two Crispin for Kamerman, Kallama's Team Rocket's Mewtwo, Mega Starmie with Mega Froslass, the only Okidogi in the room unbeaten at 6-0-2, and a Halloween-themed Dragapult with Team Rocket's Crobat.
- The cards of the day: Unfair Stamp and Judge to take cards away, Crushing Hammer against decks that attach Energy from hand, Legacy Energy in one-Prize decks, Grand Tree and Tool Scrapper as answer cards.
The showcase matches
- Round 4, Brenninkmeijer beats Esmandia 2-0 (Basic Box against Dragapult Blaziken).
- Round 4, Rutowicz beats Pazera 2-1 (Dragapult Dusknoir against Alakazam Dudunsparce).
- Round 5, Conti beats Arai 2-0 in the Dragapult mirror.
- Round 6, Rutowicz beats Cox 2-0, with the seven-Prize turn. On the side table Kamerman beats Kallama (Slowking against Team Rocket's Mewtwo).
- Round 7, Schmid beats Gutiérrez Ruiz 2-1 (N's Zoroark against Mega Starmie and Mega Froslass).
- Round 8, Aguilera Gonzalez and Hausmann 1-1-1 (Festival Lead against Basic Box).
- Round 9, Bonavia Zammit beats Knuth 2-0 (Greninja ex against Dragapult). On the side table Reklev beats Nicolai Stiborg.
The studio
- Reklev or Hedrick? The afternoon's debate: Reklev has five International titles, Hedrick a Worlds title and a string of Regionals since 2022.
- The segments: Nice recapped, the search cards (Poffin, Poké Pad, Ultra Ball), the London European Championship with the record 3,988 Masters and Edwyn Mesman's title, the outsiders of the 2025 Worlds, and the history of Worlds from Ross Cawthon in 2005 to Cody Walinski in 2016.
- The moments of the day for the booth: Mirage Barrage on the second turn, Rutowicz's seven-Prize turn, the three N's Zoroark in Schmid's Prize cards and the three Psychic Energy in Knuth's Prize cards.
Quick hits
- Decks played "because you feel at home with them" win: Conti, Rutowicz, Schmid (Zoroark since January) and Bonavia Zammit (Greninja since Turin) all say so.
- Unlucky Prize cards decide two showcase matches: three N's Zoroark for Schmid, three Psychic Energy for Knuth. The first comes back, the second doesn't.
- For the booth phase 2 is a new tournament: even an 8-0 is not safe, as Brenninkmeijer shows in round 9.
Sources. summary and data processing from the official live broadcast of Day 1 (11:35–19:54, Italian time); results of rounds 1-9 from Limitless Labs (labs.limitlesstcg.com/0079), round 9 provisional (161 matches out of 162 finished); Masters winner of London 2026 from the official results of the event.