The top runs all use slightly different routes, and it's impossible to really say which is the most consistent or the fastest. Key factors in routing are obtaining booster packs (especially Colosseum) as soon as possible, delaying difficult fights as late as possible so your deck strength will be stronger for them, and minimizing deck edit frequency/complexity.

Here's my very simplified personal route, grouped by deck edits:

Charmander/Magmar/Charmeleon/Diglett/Dugtrio Deck:
Heather, Kristin, Brittany, Nicholas, Brandon, (Trainer improve deck edit here), Jennifer, Isaac, Nikki, Michael, Amanda

Pikachu/Electabuzz Deck (Maximum Potions/Defenders):
Sara, Joshua, Amy, go to Rock Club side room

Scyther Deck (Mailbox manip first):
Chris, Gene, Jessica

Diglett/Dugtrio Deck: Ken
Add Rattatas: Murray
(GET THE PROMO MEWTWO AFTER MURRAY)

Promo Mewtwo Deck:
Joseph, Rick, Mitch

Seel/Dewgong Deck: Courtney
Diglett/Dugtrio Deck: Steve, Jack, Rod, Ronald

== more detailed route info ==

Start with a quick edit to add a couple Grass Energy to the deck, to reach a threshold where Mason's aide will give you 10 energy of each type. Then make an edit to remove all Pokemon except Charmander/Charmeleon, Magmar (basically a fragile basic Charmeleon), Diglett/Dugtrio, and maybe Machop (Machop can get scummy turn 1 kills, but Diglett's lightning resistance and 30 damage starting turn 2 makes it better in the long game) and maximize Fire/Fighting energy.

With our starting deck, Grass+Lightning Club is always the best first choice. The Lightning Club duels are way more consistent to win, so if you're doing Full Game or in a race, it's suggested to do Lightning Club first. (Fighting Brandon/Nicholas for 4 Colo packs, then editing before Jennifer, is a good idea) Heather and Brittany have multi-type decks with a lot of variance, which makes them very inconsistent, so we do them first to reset over them as soon as possible. Fighting Michael early is very very difficult; however, his Colosseum packs are nice, and it's early enough that resetting isn't too bad. Ideally, you'll have a Diglett vs. Electabuzz match-up; or he has a Magmar without energy; or just Mankeys. Hitmonchan is not what you want to see. This is a fight where you really cannot take a match-up you can't win.

Water Club used to be done later, but as it's another club with 3 peons to fight, it's good to get its packs early. Also, Amanda's Scythers and Wigglytuffs are best fought with Charmeleon/Dugtrio, so it's good to go to Water Club to edit from the Fire/Fighting deck to something else. Pikachu is a glass cannon, so losing duels is always a threat. Raichu's 20 damage Agility makes it worse against 50/60 HP Pokemon, and evolving is your only way past a Smokescreen, so don't evolve if you don't have to. Always prepare a bench Pikachu if you have one so it's ready to Thunder Jolt. If you managed to get 2 Electabuzzes out of packs, I'd suggest using only both of them, taking out the Pikachus. But if you have only 1 Electabuzz, I would keep the Pikachus in.

Now that I have 3 Medals, which unlocks Mail 6, I do the Scyther manip in the Rock Club side room: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmntcg/guide/u7q9o Scyther duels are generally easy, so I think it's good to get them out of the way ASAP for some nice packs from Jessica and Chris. Plus, you want to open up your Colosseum/Evolution mail packs ASAP. So, two birds with one stone. Be careful against Jessica/Chris's Colorless pokemon. In particular, going second against a Rattata might be a loss...

Now, with some better trainers hopefully, it's time for a Diglett only deck against Ken. His Fire types aren't the biggest threat; his Chanseys are! Ken is fairly easy, as he has quite slow attackers; none of his Pokemon can attack with 1 energy. Be careful of a Magmar Fire Punch or a DCE Tauros Stomp, however. Quickly add Rattatas before leaving Fire Club, to help lose against Ronald 2 and his Hitmonchans. Murray is one of the hardest fights, as his deck has the bulkiest Colorlesses, the walling Mr. Mime, and the threatening Kadabra/Alakazam. Evolving to Dugtrio can be a death sentence if he has a Mr. Mime, but you do want to be able to one-shot Chansey/Kanga/Snorlax/Kadabra, so play wisely. Luckily, Mud Slap can 2-hit all of those threats as well.

Get the Mewtwo for free from the Psychic Club side room, and use it to take out Joseph, Rick, and Mitch. Not much to say there, try to Energy Absorb turn 1 if you have a discard enabler, and be very careful against Mitch's aggro deck. (We used to do Joseph with the Fat Pikachu deck; it's better against Spearows but weaker against Flying Pikachus and Zubats, and would require more overworld travel if done after Water)

You can open Mail 12 (a Trainer-preferenced Colosseum pack) before the Dome if you really want to... Seel/Dewgong is the best choice for Courtney, as Dewgong's 50 for 3 two-shots legendary birds, and one-shots the rest of her Pokemon. Diglett/Dugtrio is better for the rest of the Dome, for obvious reasons against Steve, for Jack's prevalent Chanseys, and to aggro with Mud Slap against Rod's Dratinis and Magikarps and Ronald's Dratinis and Eevees. Switching back to Dewgong after Steve is a good idea if your Dugtrio count is bad compared to your Dewgong count; Seel/Dewgong is generally slower but more consistent, especially if Jack/Ronald get their birds out, while Dugtrio's performance against Chanseys and Diglett's performance against non-bird basics, but low health, makes it faster but riskier.

== common route options == My route is the one I find to be the most logical, with minimal extra Club trips and minimal deck edits. Delaying Michael is probably one of the smarter route changes; the next best spot for him might be after Murray, with a quickish edit to take out the Rattatas and put in Charmander/Charmeleon (or just Magmars if you have a few). Water Club would be easier with more defensive items, so you could do Fire Club third, then the Scyther section? (Murray can't be fought unless you have 4+ medals, so Psychic Club has to be 5th or later) Jessica and Chris aren't necessarily best fought with Scyther; unlike Gene, there's no Weaknesses at play here, just a Resistance to Fighting, and Scyther generally having decent damage output. The Scyther section could also be delayed to after the Psychic Club to increase DCEs/trainer power, and make the deck edits a little smoother (add psychic energy when switching to Scyther), although you should still open mail 1/3/4/6 after 3 medals.

GTNTG's early game does an odd route of Lightning Club: Jennifer, Nicholas, Grass Club: Heather, Kristin, Fire Club: Jessica, and then Water Club. I don't really get it, but he does always save+soft reset before duels, so perhaps Jessica has a lot of good frames after a soft reset when using the default deck? In general, his weird route of extra early peon fights and avoiding club masters having the best time shows that, maybe extra club trips don't matter, and just getting as many booster packs as possible matters more.

Original work not done by Raagentreg