Delta Reign Takes the World Stage at LAIC

Every season needs a first big test, and this one arrives fast. The Latin America International Championships, known to everyone as LAIC, run from Friday, November 20 to Sunday, November 22 in São Paulo, Brazil, as the first International Championships of the 2027 season. The prize pool holds more than $500,000 USD [about $712,000 CAD], World Championships invitations are on the line, and Salamence flies over the weekend as the event mascot. The calendar makes this year special: Delta Reign becomes legal for tournament play on the very morning the event begins, so the newest set walks straight onto the biggest stage in the game with no warm up.

A New Set With No Warm Up

Delta Reign reached shelves on November 6, and its cards become tournament legal two weeks later, on November 20, which is opening day at LAIC. Anyone who brings one will be playing it in a major event on the first day anyone legally can, with no Regional results to copy and no proven lists. It is the purest form of deck building the game offers.

The card everyone will be watching is Mega Rayquaza ex, numbered 084 of 103 and illustrated by takuyoa. It is a Basic Colorless Pokemon with 280 HP. Its Ability, Ruler's Roar, fires when you play it from your hand onto your Bench, letting you look at the top four cards of your deck and attach a Basic Energy you find there to it. Its attack, Storm Emerald, does 50 damage for each Fire Energy and each Lightning Energy attached to all of your Pokemon, so a wide board deals enormous damage. The risk matches the reward, because a Knocked Out Mega gives up 3 Prize cards.

The Champions Set the Bar

Standing in the way is the deck that owned the autumn. Dragapult ex won in Louisville, where Canadian Riley McKay took the title in a field of 2,927 players, and the same style of list won again in Puebla, with six Dragapult decks in the Top 8. Gdańsk offered hope, with Slowking beating the Dragapult crowd in the final. A new deck does not get to be interesting at LAIC. It gets to be tested against the best deck in the room.

Watching From Home Pays in Packs

You do not need a plane ticket. The TCG stream starts at 8:30 in the morning Atlantic time on Friday, and the final begins at 10:00 on Sunday morning, friendly hours for viewers in Canada. Watching the official Twitch stream with Drops on also stocks your Pokemon TCG Live collection. Thirty minutes earns a code for four Delta Reign booster packs. Forty five minutes earns a Raikou ex playset, two copies of the Special Illustration Rare print and two of the regular print. Sixty minutes earns Salamence deck cosmetics and an avatar jacket. Every code stays good until December 21.

Raikou ex, numbered 033 of 103 and illustrated by aky CG Works, is a Basic Lightning Pokemon with 200 HP. Its Power Rush attack hits for 200, with a coin flip that can rest it the following turn. An attack that searches your deck for an Energy card on the first turn of the game makes it a tempting partner for the Lightning Energy that Storm Emerald counts.

So clear the weekend calendar. A brand new set, the strongest field of the season, and a Canadian champion in the hunt make LAIC the first chapter of the 2027 story. By Sunday night, we will all know what Delta Reign is made of.