The headlines
- Andrew Hedrick wins the Puebla Regional. The world champion beats his friend Caleb Rogerson 2-1 in the final, in a Dragapult mirror with the same 60 cards, and closes out Game 3 with a KO on the first turn.
- The podium is foreign: Hedrick and Rogerson, then Nathan Ginsburg (US, Alakazam) and Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (JP).
- Three Mexicans in the Top 8, none in the semifinals. Eder Jarillo finishes Swiss in first place, but meets Hedrick in the quarterfinals.
- Dragapult dominates: it is around 30% of the first phase and puts three of the four players into the semifinals. Two identical lists reach the final.
- For the first time, a Top 8 of a Latin American Regional goes out on the official broadcast in Spanish.
The day
The broadcast resumes at 17:49 Italian time (10:49 in Puebla), when rounds 10 and 11 have already been played. Three Swiss rounds remain, up to round 14, then the cut. It was expected to be “asymmetric,” meaning the Top 8 plus anyone with the points of 8th place, up to eight extra spots. In the end it is a straight Top 8: 8th place has 34 points, 9th has 33.
At stake for the Masters: $10,000, 350 Championship Points and an invitation to the 2027 Worlds in Singapore for the winner, prize money down to the Top 32 and points down to the Top 512. For Worlds, in Latin America you have to finish in the top 125 of the standings, and every Latin American who wins a Regional frees up a spot for the others. In the cut, the better-ranked player chooses who goes first, and the lists are open.
The Swiss standings and the cut
1. Eder Jarillo (MX), 11-1-2, 35 points
2. Caleb Rogerson (US), 11-1-2, 35
3. Nathan Ginsburg (US), 11-1-2, 35
4. Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (JP), 11-2-1, 34
5. Brent Tonisson (AU), 11-2-1, 34
6. Juan Daniel Juárez Nequiz (MX), 11-2-1, 34
7. Eduardo Dueñas (MX), 11-2-1, 34
8. Andrew Hedrick (US), 11-2-1, 34
Missing out on 33 points are Piper Lepine (9th), Aaron Arturo Aguirre Osuna (10th), Calvin Connor (11th), Jonatan Torres (12th) and Fernando Cifuentes (13th). Andrew Zheng, the last unbeaten player until round 12, loses his last two rounds to Rogerson and Ginsburg and finishes 10-2-2. At round 11 Peru's Fabrizio Inga Silva was in front (10-1-0), then loses three in a row. In round 14 several top tables agree to a draw: Jarillo–Rogerson, Dueñas–Tonisson, Torres–Connor.
The Top 8
- Quarterfinals: Hedrick beats Jarillo, Yamaguchi beats Tonisson, Rogerson beats Dueñas 2-1 and Ginsburg beats Juárez Nequiz.
- Semifinals: Hedrick beats Yamaguchi 2-1, Rogerson beats Ginsburg 2-0.
- Final: Hedrick beats Rogerson 2-1. Hedrick receives a warning for a problem shuffling his deck, but the title stays his.
The champion
In the last round of Day 1, Hedrick was 5-2 and at risk of elimination. He played, lost Game 1, then accepted the draw his opponent offered, he who normally never draws: “tomorrow's easy, just don't lose.” From there he never lost another match.
In the final he came back from behind in all three games. In Game 1 a Crushing Hammer and an Unfair Stamp drawn off the top of the deck saved him. In Game 3 he chose to go second: Rogerson had two Fire Energy in the Prizes and no Dreepy in play, and Hedrick KO'd him on the first turn with Judge, Dudunsparce ex and Munkidori. It is the same signature as his World Championship final, won without taking a Prize.
He is now a five-time Regional champion, an International champion and the reigning world champion. According to the booth, he has played all 12 North American events of the season, and he already had his spot at Worlds. Rogerson, very young like him, had already reached a Masters final without winning it. The two train together and polished the list on Friday night.
Who's here and who's missing
- Latin America: Jarillo, Juárez Nequiz and Dueñas bring Mexico into the Top 8, but all of them go out in the quarterfinals. Abraham Castañeda, the star of the round 13 comeback, loses the last round to Yamaguchi. Gabriel Estévez is out in round 12.
- The region's guardians: Fernando Cifuentes, the region's world champion, and Giovanny Sasso are already out of the race for the cut after round 11. Cifuentes finishes 11-3-0, one point short of the cut, Sasso 10-4-0, Miguel Ángel Marín Herrera 7-4-2.
- The outside rivals: Akira Kurasaki drops out of contention early. Piper Lepine, with Alakazam, misses out by a point. Hedrick goes all the way, Tonisson stops in the quarterfinals.
- The rising stars: Emiliano Zapata and Laura Favela had stopped at Day 1 with Top 512-level scores. Shinji Alcalá Okayasu finishes Day 2 outside the cut.
The meta
In the first phase, according to the data shown on broadcast, Dragapult with Dudunsparce is at 14.4% (354 decks), with Blaziken and with Dusknoir at 5.8% each. Counting the rarer variants it comes to around 30%. Behind it come Ogerpon and Clefairy, the “Lilybox,” at 8%, Zoroark at 6% and Alakazam with Dusknoir at 5.6%. In the second phase the Blaziken and Dusknoir versions shrink in proportion.
The booth's read is “Dragapult against all the other ex.” Lillie's Clefairy ex is the key card for beating it, but Dragapult's disruption, that is Crushing Hammer, Unfair Stamp and Budew's Item lock, hurts Lilybox and Alakazam. And not just anyone wins with Dragapult: the order of plays matters enormously. There are 2,466 players in the whole tournament.
The decks seen on broadcast
- Dragapult: Tonisson, in the Dudunsparce version. Castañeda, with Rare Candy, a card that by now almost only the Blaziken version uses. Rogerson and Hedrick, with the same list with Crushing Hammer and Risky Ruins, and Hedrick never goes below nine Energy. Yamaguchi, with three Drakloak instead of four.
- Ogerpon and Clefairy (Gabriel Estévez): Mega Kangaskhan ex, Lillie's Clefairy ex, Raging Bolt ex and Enamorus.
- Mega Sharpedo ex (Diego Ruiz Orta): Tatsugiri, Carvanha, Toxtricity, Pecharunt ex, Munkidori and four Boss's Orders.
- Mega Lopunny ex and Dusknoir (Eduardo Dueñas): a single Bronzong line to block Dragapult's evolution, Mew ex and Clefairy.
- Alakazam with Dudunsparce (Nathan Ginsburg): Genesect, Lillie's Clefairy ex and Battle Cage against damage on the Bench.
The featured matches
- Round 12: Tonisson beats Estévez 2-0. A KO with Raging Bolt instead of Clefairy decides it, leaving Estévez with no Energy.
- Round 13: Castañeda beats Ruiz Orta 2-1. In Game 3 he was at six Prizes to two and comes back with a Boss's Orders drawn with Drakloak.
- Round 14: not broadcast because of an agreed draw. In its place, an exhibition between commentators Pablo and Miguel, won by Slowking 3-0 over Dragapult thanks to Kyurem, and a Senior match: Juan Pablo Á. (Mega Lopunny ex) against Jorge A. (Dragapult), Game 1 to Juan Pablo.
- Quarterfinals: Rogerson beats Dueñas 2-1. In Game 3 Dueñas is left with three Dusknoir in hand and no Dusclops.
- Semifinal: Hedrick beats Yamaguchi 2-1, a spread-damage mirror closed out with Boss's Orders on the first try. For the Japanese player, who needed only the title, no Worlds.
- Semifinal: Rogerson beats Ginsburg 2-0. Game 2 looked lost on Prizes, but Unfair Stamp empties Ginsburg's 19-card hand.
- Final: Hedrick beats Rogerson 2-1. In Game 2 Rogerson levels it with two Munkidori and Phantom Dive, and Game 3 ends on the first turn.
The interviews
- Brent Tonisson: happy to see the game growing in Latin America, with the Regionals in Mexico and now the broadcast. He was aiming for prize money and another Top Cut. It is his first time in Mexico.
- Abraham Castañeda: it was his first broadcast match at a Regional, and the broadcast motivated him instead of making him nervous. He conceded the lost game right away to leave himself time for the third.
- Andrew Hedrick: he had a great time and loved playing the final with a friend. He will go to the São Paulo International and will look for more Regionals in the United States and in Mexico. His closing farewell: “Viva LATAM.”
The interviews recorded in Baltimore and San Francisco also return (Víctor de Velasco, Raúl Merino, Víctor García, Luciana P.), already covered yesterday.
Quick hits
- The broadcast closes at 03:21 Italian time, 20:21 in Puebla, with “See you in Mérida”: the next Mexican Regional, in January, will again be in Spanish.
- Commentator Miguel is the Mexican player with the most invitations to Worlds.
- Nobody in the entire Top 8 got there without ties: that is the price of a 14-round Swiss.
Sources. results and standings for rounds 10-14 and the final Swiss standings from Limitless Labs (labs.limitlesstcg.com/0078); meta, decks, interviews and Top 8 matches: summary and data processing from the Day 2 official live broadcast. Decks as shown or mentioned on the broadcast.