At the start of your Pokémon TCG Pocket journey, you will mostly be focused on getting as many decent cards in your collection as possible. Once you’ve finally battled some friends and crafted some cards, you’ll be able to make a great deck.

Unfortunately, even a good deck can’t rival some of the best decks anyone can create in Pokémon TCG Pocket. Players have finally cracked down on the game’s meta, so if you want to compete in the big leagues against others online, you should create some of the best decks listed below.

Mewtwo ex deck

• x2 Mewtwo ex
• x2 Ralts
• x2 Kirlia
• x2 Gardevoir
• x2 Potion
• x2 X Speed
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Giovanni
• x1 Red Card
• x1 Sabrina

This Psychic deck becomes unstoppable with this setup if you start the game with the right cards. Your main attackers are your Mewtwo ex cards, but if successful, you should only need to use one to win. Ralts can evolve into Kirlia, which when evolved to Gardevoir has a passive ability to give any Psychic card in the active spot an extra Psychic energy. Since the Mewtwo’s most powerful ability requires four energy but will spend two, you can keep spamming this move each turn even with just one Gardevoir on your bench.

Articuno ex deck

• x2 Articuno ex
• x1 Froakie
• x1 Frogadier
• x1 Greninja
• x2 Potion
• x2 X Speed
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Giovanni
• x2 Misty
• x2 Sabrina
• x1 Red Card

All the Articuno ex deck needs are two of its star players to win, alongside Greninja helping from the bench. Although Greninja isn’t crucial for this deck to work, they can deal 20 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokémon from the bench every turn. Otherwise, Articuno ex’s best move only requires three energy and deals 80 damage to the active Pokémon while simultaneously dealing 10 damage to all benched Pokémon. If you pull a Misty card and successfully gain enough energy on an early turn, Articuno ex is a deadly deck to face off against.

Pikachu ex deck

• x2 Pikachu ex
• x2 Zapdos ex
• x2 Helioptile
• x2 Heliolisk
• x2 Potion
• x2 X Speed
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Giovanni
• x1 Red Card
• x1 Sabrina

The Pikachu ex deck is versatile since all this card needs is three other Lightning-type Pokémon sitting on the bench to get a full output of 90 damage each turn. While it’s best to have two Zapdos (or Zapdos ex), you can try other Lightning Pokémon if you don’t have Helioptile and Heliolisk. You could swap them with two Voltorbs and Electrodes, which have similar health and damage outputs, Pincurchin can paralyze your enemy, or Eevee to Jolteon can deal up to 160 damage if you’re lucky with coin flips.

Dragonite deck

• x2 Dratini
• x2 Dragonair
• x2 Dragonite
• x2 Koffing
• x2 Weezing
• x2 Potion
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Koga
• x1 Sabrina
• x1 X Speed

This is the only non-ex deck on this list, but it’s still just as powerful as the rest. It’s important to ensure you only allow Water and Lightning energy for this deck and not Dark because you won’t be using it for Koffing and Weezing. They’ll act as decoys to tank hits while you start building up to a Dragonite, but can still do damage in the meantime with Weezing’s ability to poison your opponent. Then use Koga to immediately put Weezing into your hand and replace it with your Dragonite. If you don’t have Koffing and Weezing, you can swap them out for any other Pokémon with a good chunk of health to withstand hits.

Venusaur ex deck

• x2 Bulbasaur
• x2 Ivysaur
• x2 Venusaur ex
• x2 Petilil
• x2 Lilligant
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Erika
• x1 X Speed
• x1 Red Card
• x1 Sabrina
• x1 Potion

The Venusaur ex deck is the best Grass-type deck that utilizes Lilligant’s ability to grant extra energy to a benched Pokémon anytime they use their main attack. This will help you build up to a Venusaur ex with enough energy early on. You can then swap in the Venusaur ex that can deal 100 damage while healing itself for 30 HP. We also recommend you bring more Erika cards with you than Potions since Erika can heal 50 HP to any Grass-type Pokémon, while a Potion only heals 20.

Starmie ex deck

• x2 Staryu
• x2 Starmie ex
• x2 Froakie
• x2 Frogadier
• x2 Greninja
• x2 Potion
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Misty
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x1 Sabrina
• x1 Red Card

Starmie ex is one of the most powerful cards in Pokémon TCG Pocket since it has no retreat cost and only needs two energy to deal 90 damage. Pair this with a Greninja or two on the bench so they can both deal 20 damage each turn to any of your opponent’s Pokémon. You should also bring Misty along for a chance to give yourself a bunch of Water energy if the coin flips go your way. If you don’t have the cards for Greninja, you could replace them with Articuno ex or Lapras ex instead.

Charizard ex deck

• x2 Charmander
• x2 Charmeleon
• x2 Charizard ex
• x2 Moltres ex
• x2 Potion
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 X Speed
• x2 Red Card
• x2 Sabrina

The Charizard ex deck relies on the Moltres ex’s Inferno Dance ability that can give your benched Charizard cards extra Fire energy depending on your coin flips. It has 140 HP to tank hits until you’ve finally built up to a Charizard ex, and with four energy it can deal a whopping 200 damage (although it consumes two energy). Since this deck is already so powerful, you won’t need a Giovanni with you.

Blastoise ex deck

• x2 Squirtle
• x2 Wartortle
• x2 Blastoise ex
• x2 Lapras ex
• x2 Potion
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 X Speed
• x2 Misty
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x1 Red Card
• x1 Sabrina

One of the most underrated ex cards is the Blastoise ex. Only needing three energy, its Hydro Bazooka move deals 100 damage on its own, but if your card has two extra Water energy attached, it’ll do 60 more damage. This pairs well with the Lapras ex card since it doesn’t take much energy and can act as a tank while you build up to a Blastoise. If you don’t have a Lapras ex, go for Articuno ex instead. It shouldn’t be difficult to get energy with two Misty cards on hand either.

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The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is an early contender for smartphone of the year already, and it can do so much on its own. But you can also pick up a few accessories to really make the most out of this new smartphone. This includes a pair of earbuds, a wireless charger, a regular charger (since one is not included in the box), and much more.

So, in this article, we have rounded up the best accessories you can buy for the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Best Case for Galaxy S24 Ultra

ESR Kickstand Case

In case you missed our Best Galaxy S24 Ultra Cases, here’s another option that you can grab for your new phone. This is a case from ESR, that is just $25 – though at the time of writing this, it does have a 10% off coupon available. It does come in a few different colors, too, including Frosted Black, Clear Black, and Clear. So if you want a frosted case or a clear one, ESR has you covered here.

This is a stunning-looking case, with cut-outs for all of the usual things like the cameras, charging port, speaker, and S Pen. In fact, it has individual cutouts for each camera, which should help reduce the amount of lint or dust that gets caught along the outside of the cameras.

But perhaps the best part of this case is that it has MagSafe. This means that you are able to use all of your favorite MagSafe accessories with this case on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, despite the fact that Samsung is not using Qi 2 yet. Mophie, ESR, and Baseus all have some really awesome battery packs for MagSafe. I’ve used them all with the Galaxy S24 Ultra with similar cases, and they work incredibly well.

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Best Earbuds

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro

The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are actually newer than the Galaxy S24 Ultra. These launched later on in 2024, alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Fold 6. These are quite the upgrade from the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro but they did stick with the same $249 price tag.

This time around, Samsung decided to borrow Apple’s design. That’s bringing the AirPods design to the Galaxy ecosystem but with a few changes. So, the stem is a triangle shape, which looks cool, especially with the blade lights down the side. However, it makes it a bit harder to use the controls, not the stem, since they are not flat or even round.

But when it comes to the audio quality, it’s pretty good. I’ve used these for the past few months and absolutely love the sound quality of these earbuds. Of course, that shouldn’t come as a surprise since Samsung owns HARMAN now and also uses AKG for its tuning. These also have Hi-Res audio included, which sounds great; not quite on par with audiophile headphones, but for Bluetooth, they are not bad at all.

Battery life here is also quite good. We’re looking at six hours of continuous playback, or about 24 hours with the case. Honestly, I’ve been getting closer to seven or eight hours on a charge myself. But these are perfect to compliment your Galaxy S24 Ultra.

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Best Smartwatch

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra

You picked up the Galaxy S24 Ultra, so why not get the Galaxy Watch Ultra to go along with it? This is the first “Ultra” smartwatch that Samsung has made, and it does take some inspiration from Apple. It’s a round display, with a squircle body. It’s rather unique, and does really grow on you.

Battery life on the Galaxy Watch Ultra is about what you’d expect from a Samsung smartwatch, we’re looking at about 4 days on a single charge. Which is quite good for smartwatches these days.

This is about the same size as the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, even though it is technically a 47mm smartwatch. It does have AI included, which is being used with Samsung Health to give you insights into your health and fitness. And it’ll also help you meet your goals better.

Samsung has included LTE connectivity here, so it’s the same price whether you use LTE or not. Additionally, it does come with the new Quick Button, not to be confused with Apple’s Action Button. This button can be mapped to do a number of different things, including starting a workout.

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Best Power Bank

Baseus 20,000mAh Power Bank

While the Galaxy S24 Ultra already has quite good battery life, you may find yourself needing to top up every once in a while, especially if you’re going to be using your phone quite heavily. For instance, I use my phones quite heavily when traveling or at trade shows like CES and MWC. And that’s where this battery pack from Baseus would really come in handy.

This is the world’s thinnest battery pack, which isn’t something you normally think about with battery packs, but here we are. It has a larger surface area than most other battery packs, but it is also very thin. Making it fit in your backpack a lot better. This is a 20,000mAh capacity battery, which should be able to charge your Galaxy S24 Ultra a good 3-4 times before it runs out of juice. It can also charge up to 100W, which makes this a very versatile battery pack, allowing it to charge your laptop, tablet, or anything else at its full speed.

The best part? There’s a display on this battery pack. We’ve seen this coming to more and more battery packs in recent months, and at first, I really thought it was just a gimmick, but it’s actually extremely useful. With the Blade, you are able to see the actual percentage left of the battery versus only seeing four or five LED lights lighting up. To the right of that, you’ll see the input or output, depending on what you’re doing at the time. And below that is the charging time. So this will either show you how long the battery pack can charge until it runs out or how long it needs to charge to fill up. However, it won’t show you how long your phone will take to charge.

Baseus has included two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports, so you can charge multiple devices at the same time. But remember, the peak output is 100W, so the more devices you plug in, the slower each one will charge. Of course, the USB-A ports will charge fairly slowly anyway because that’s their spec.

But this is a battery pack that you definitely need to have in your bag for traveling and such with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. I’ve ordered one for myself and can’t wait to take this on my next work trip.

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Honorable Mention: Anker Nano Power Bank

This is by far my favorite battery pack these days. The Anker Nano Power Bank is a pretty small battery pack that has a capacity of 10,000mAh. That’s going to be enough to charge your phone at least once, maybe a bit more, depending on how empty it is. But what makes this battery pack so great is the display.

Yes, Anker put a display on its battery pack. And you’re probably like me, thinking it’s a gimmick. But it is anything but a gimmick. You see, the display can show you how much battery is left in a percentage. This is a whole lot more useful than trying to judge the capacity left by four LED lights flashing. It will also show you how long it can charge what is plugged in. Or how long it’ll take for the battery pack itself to fully charge. So, while the display did sound like a gimmick at first, it has come in handy so many times for me.

Anker also has an embedded USB-C cable here, which works as a sort of handle for the battery pack. It’s pretty cool, and it means that I don’t need to pull out a USB-C cable to charge my Galaxy S24 Ultra when I’m on the go. There are a couple of other ports available, including a USB-C port that does input and output (read: charging itself and charging other devices), as well as a USB-A port available.

This battery pack does come in a slew of colors. I do have the mint-colored one, and it’s a pretty good one, actually. It’s a battery pack that I’ve taken on the go with me for the last six or so months. It has gone to Korea, California, New York City, Las Vegas CES, and soon Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress. It comes in a clutch just about every time because it can be used for any phone that I might have in my pocket.

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Best Car Charger

Baseus 65W USB-C Car Charger

Baseus has quietly been making strides with the best phone accessories. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with some of their battery packs as of late. And now they have a new car charger that also looks incredible. It’s also only $15.

This is the Baseus 65W USB-C Car Charger. It has three ports, including two USB-C and a USB-A port. So you can charge multiple devices in the car at the same time. This includes up to 25W max on the first USB-C port, up to 20W max on the second USB-C port, and 20W max on the USB-A port. Add all of that up, and you get 65W. Unfortunately, even while using a single port, you can’t get more than 65W. However, that is likely a good thing, as that kind of power being drawn from your car is probably not a good idea.

Baseus is using a new heat dissipation process that will keep the temperature of this car charger low. So that your devices can keep charging fast, that’s very important when charging multiple devices, as it can really get quite hot putting out 65W worth of juice at a time.

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Honorable Mention: UGREEN 69W USB-C Car Charger

UGREEN has an incredible 69W (nice) USB-C Car Charger that will cost you less than $30. This car charger offers three ports – two USB-C and a USB-A. Allowing you to charge multiple devices at the same time. This makes it a really Impressive option for the Galaxy S24 Ultra. And it can do up to 65W for a single device, making it perfect for something like a laptop that can really take advantage of that speed. The second USB-C port does up to 20W, and the other USB-A does up to 22.5W.

Keep in mind that this is being used in a car, so the power will depend on your car’s specs. You might not even get the full 69W from all three ports when being used. But it’s still a great option to use in the car when charging your Galaxy S24 Ultra.

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Best Wall Charger

Spigen GaN 65W USB-C Charger

Nowadays, Samsung, like many other smartphone manufacturers, does not include a charger in the box anymore. This has caused mixed feelings among consumers. Some argue that if you’re paying $1,299 for a phone, you should definitely receive a charger in the box. On the other hand, if you’ve bought a phone recently, you likely have a bunch of USB-C chargers around your home already, which can work perfectly fine for the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

But that’s where the Spigen GaN 652 65W USB-C Charger comes into play. This is a new GaN charger that provides a lot of advantages. By using Gallium Nitride inside the charger instead of silicon, it’s able to keep the charger cool while using less space. So, in turn, companies like Spigen can offer a faster charger that’s smaller than slower chargers, like this GaN 652 charger here.

It’s a dual-port charger from Spigen that offers two USB-C ports. Now, it does up to 65W total, which means that you won’t get 65W per port. If you use a single port, you will get the full 65W. However, if you’re using both, one will get 40W, and the other will get 25W. However, the important thing to remember here is that the Galaxy S24 Ultra does not have the ability to charge faster than 45W. So you won’t get the maximum speed here, unfortunately, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra won’t hit 45W for all that long. It’s really only for a few minutes when the battery is really low. As it gets more of a charge, it slows down rather quickly to 25W.

So why should you buy this charger for your Galaxy S24 Ultra if the phone can’t even take full advantage of it? Well, it’s USB-C. So it will be able to charge other things, like your tablet, your laptop, and even your smartwatch. It’ll also be future-proof a bit. This is odd to say since we do have phones doing over 100W already. But most are still maxing out at 40W. But it’s a good investment, especially if you have other faster USB-C devices you want to charge – like a laptop.

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Honorable Mention: Anker Ace Foldable Charger

Anker’s Ace Foldable Charger is a really tiny 45W charger that you can grab for the Galaxy S24 Ultra for just $24. It is typically on sale, so you can probably get it for even less. Unfortunately, Samsung has decided to ditch the charger in the box, just like every other manufacturer. This means you’ll need to buy one if you need an extra charger or want a faster one.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra can charge at up to 45W, with PPS (Programmable Power Supply) and PD (Power Delivery). Samsung started using PPS after the whole Galaxy Note 7 debacle with that battery’s issues. Basically, PPS adds even more protection to the battery and charger to keep that from happening now. But this also means that the Galaxy S24 Ultra is not going to charge faster than 45W, and it won’t charge that fast for all that long of a time, unfortunately.

With this charger, you should go from 0-100% in a little over 90 minutes. We tested the Galaxy S24 Ultra with a different 45W charger and got one hour and 35 minutes for a full charge. Not to mention, this charger is also foldable, so it can easily be tossed into your bag and not take up all that much space.

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Best Wireless Charger

Samsung Wireless Charger Trio

In doing research for this buyer’s guide, I was somewhat surprised to see that Samsung has not released new wireless chargers in quite a few years. This Wireless Charger Trio launched in 2020, and before that, it was around 2017, the last time Samsung released a wireless charger. But the good news is that it’s now fairly inexpensive. The Samsung Wireless Charger Trio comes in white and black and is now priced at $50 – it was originally $89.99.

So why are we listing the Samsung Wireless Charger Trio as the best wireless charger if it’s nearly four years old? It’s all in the name. “Trio”. This wireless charger can charge up to three devices at once. This includes a spot for your phone, another for your Galaxy Buds, and another for your Galaxy Watch. Since the Galaxy Watch uses Qi wireless charging and does not have a different standard than the Apple Watch, it can charge on the same spot as your Galaxy Buds, so you could use the middle spot to charge another phone.

Samsung uses multiple coils inside this wireless charger so that everything can charge up pretty quickly and easily. It also has indicator lights at each charging position to help you identify whether your products are charging or if they are fully charged.

The big question here is whether wireless charging will still work with a case. Yes, mostly. Depending on the case, it should still work with wireless charging, but there are some exceptions. Some cases are pretty thick – think OtterBox – and so they are too thick to work with wireless charging. However, if you’re using any of the cases we mentioned in our buying guide, you should be okay with using wireless charging.

Samsung is still only charging wirelessly at up to 15W, which does seem pretty slow, but honestly, I’d buy this and put it next to my bed. Use it to charge up my phone, watch, and buds each night, and it doesn’t matter how slow it charges, as long as it is fully charged by the time I wake up the next morning.

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If you’re looking for an excellent midrange smartphone for yourself or a loved one among all the early Black Friday deals, your search may be over. Google’s Pixel 8a is on sale. It has dropped by $100 to $399.

That’s not quite the lowest price we’ve seen for the handset. It fell to $380 at one point. But this is still a good deal if you’re looking for a great phone that won’t break the bank. This price is for a configuration with 128GB of storage, but 256GB models are also $100 off at $459.

Google

The Google Pixel 8a is our pick for the best midrange smartphone on the market. Both the 128GB and 256GB variants are $100 off for Black Friday.

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$399 at Amazon

The Pixel 8a is our pick for the best midrange smartphone overall. We gave it a score of 90 in our review.

Thanks to Google’s inclusion of the Tensor G3 chip, the Pixel 8a supports many of the same AI features that you’ll find on flagship Pixel devices. We feel that the cameras are excellent, while that 6.1-inch 120Hz OLED display sure looks pretty.

The Pixel 8a has great battery life too. It lasted for 20 hours and 29 minutes in our video rundown test, actually beating out the Pixel 8 by 13 minutes. On the downside, wireless charging is pretty slow as it maxes out at 7.5W.

The bezels are a little thicker than you might like too, but otherwise the design is fairly slick. Another plus point is that the Pixel 8a is IP67-rated for dust and water resistance, so it should be somewhat durable.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

The Game Developers Conference has decided to help Amir Satvat’s Games Community with the equivalent of a $108,000 grant in the form of GDC Expo Passes for game job seekers.

Satvat has become well known in gaming (with more than 100,000 followers on LinkedIn) because he has provided aggregated game job openings and other services for job seekers at a time when the industry has seen at least 33,000 layoffs in the past 2.5 years. More than 2,800 people have credited Satvat for helping them find jobs in gaming.

And now GDC has selected Satvat’s s an official GDC 2025 Industry and Media Partner.

“Thanks to GDC’s generous contribution, we have received 240 passes for the event. In addition, our community’s logo will be featured on the GDC website and onsite signage, with links to amirsatvat.com in all digital versions,” Satvat said in a post. “We will also be recognized as an official partner within the GDC event app, with our logo showcased in event promotions and a post on the official GDC channel. The impact of this generosity in empowering the games community is profound and deeply appreciated.”

He added, “In combination with support from our Foundational Sponsor, OtherSide Entertainment, as well as contributions from David Wohlreich, and Danreb Victorio, we have a total of 285 expo passes to give away. I am also in discussions with six additional potential donors, and if you’re interested in contributing, please DM me. Altogether, these contributions total $128,000 in GDC passes – all for you, made possible by these incredible supporters who wish to see you back at work.”

The drawing for these GDC passes is now open at the following link: https://lnkd.in/e3gkxXWj

The first batch of winners will be drawn on December 16, 2024, with additional winners drawn weekly if there are more donations. Each GDC Expo pass is the equivalent of $449, and it grants access to the GDC’s Expo Hall, Games Career Development Sessions, and over 15 other venues from Wednesday to Friday (March 19-21, 2025). Other expenses are not included.

Those who will be given priority are unemployed, and then underemployed, gamers seeking work in video games.

In other recent news, the Big Games Employment Survey found that 30% of those laid off in games in Europe are still looking for work, and a total of 21% of European gamer company workers have been laid off.

Amazon announced a slew of new Kindles recently, but if you’re not already locked into Amazon’s ecosystem they may not be the best options. If you’re looking for an e-reader that offers more flexibility, our readers can currently buy the Boox Palma at a new all-time low of $234.99 ($45 off) from Wellbots with a free flip-cover case (valued at $16) when you apply the code VERGEBFBOOX45.

Unlike many other e-readers, the Boox Palma runs on Android 11 and comes with the Google Play Store built-in, so you can read in a wide range of apps. That’s really convenient, as all you need to do is, say, download Amazon’s Kindle app, and you’ll be able to access your entirely digital library without needing to go through the long, complicated process of sideloading. You can even download other e-reader apps like Rakuten Kobo, Readwise Reader, The New York Times app, and more.

Aside from offering a lot of flexibility, the 6.1-inch Boox Palma is also unique because it’s smartphone-sized and lightweight. It’s exceptionally portable as a result, so you can easily slip it in and out of your pocket while on the go. The size also makes it just more comfortable to hold with one hand, too, so you can easily carry a coffee and read at the same time while on your morning commute.

It’s worth noting that Boox just announced the Palma 2, however, which comes with a new fingerprint sensor integrated into its power button. More notably, it runs on Android 13, so you can take advantage of newer features like copying and pasting. It also means apps will support its OS longer than the original Palma’s Android 11. But if that doesn’t matter to you and you’re more interested in saving money, the last-gen model is still a good choice.

Today’s attention economy is heavily driven by video content, but the tools to create engaging and insightful videos for your audience aren’t always readily available. The value of quality video content spans all sorts of use case scenarios, from online teachers to individual content creators, from marketing teams to human resources managers and customer support. Vidnoz AI can help you create attention-getting video content for any number of uses quickly and without the need for expensive sets, multiple actors, or even cameras.

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