National Treasure

The Complete Testing Tier List, Work-in-Progress Concepts, and Steam Siege Salutations

What is going on SixPrizes! I hope you’re having a swell week and not stressing too much about your deck for Nationals. I’ve been swimming in the think tank trying to come up with a sure-fire deck for Standard but with so much Item lock and protection attacks to account for I think I’ll have to take some sort of bad matchup among the top/high tier decks.

With this in mind, I want to bring you my complete tier list of testing decks, a few decklists that have performed well at Nationals across the globe, and potential strategies I believe are still unexplored. I received quite a few positive messages from readers last month regarding my “game plan” sections of my tournament report so I’ll try to dive a bit deeper into my turn-by-turn thinking for the matchups that aren’t incredibly linear.

Tier List

Top Tier

High Tier

  • Mew Toolbox
  • Water Toolbox
  • Vespiquen/Vileplume

Mid Tier

Top Tier

aj sandshrew mountain top epic 3-2 night marchpokemonscreenshots.tumblr.com
“To infinity, and beyond! … or something.”

Night March

Sitting at number 1 on the tier list, Night March has been a destructive force in the Standard format the entire year and it even got help from Fates Collide. Oddly enough, Mew FCO has not been game-changing for the lists that have been successful the past couple of weeks of foreign Nationals. Many players have opted to still only play 4 copies of Double Colorless (and no basic Energy) then add 1 or 2 Mew FCO to their lists to boost up their attacker count (… or completely forgo the use of Mew altogether).

After testing the deck myself, I feel like the inclusion of basic Energy isn’t necessary and I found myself rather playing tech 1-of Item cards in place of a heavy Mew or Energy line. I do however recommend testing out the Maxie’s/Gallade BKT/Marowak FCO engine as Marowak has carried many test games against Seismitoad-EX and Giratina-EX variants and I believe it is the most optimal build to play going into a major tournament.

Since many of the successful Night March lists are extremely similar, I want to highlight the list that took 1st place at Swedish Nationals this past weekend since the winner had quite the intricate build.

Here is Tobias E.’s list as provided by Benjamin Pham on Facebook:

Pokémon – 19

4 Joltik PHF
4 Lampent PHF
4 Pumpkaboo PHF
2 Mew FCO
2 Remoraid BKT 31
2 Octillery BKT
1 Shaymin-EX ROS

Trainers – 36

3 Professor Sycamore
1 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
1 AZ
1 N

 

4 VS Seeker
4 Battle Compressor
4 Puzzle of Time
4 Trainers’ Mail
4 Ultra Ball
2 Fighting Fury Belt
1 Escape Rope
1 Float Stone
1 Target Whistle
1 Startling Megaphone
1 Town Map

 

2 Dimension Valley

Energy – 5

4 Double Colorless
1 L

Now, I can’t speak to the exact reasons as to why Tobias choose to play such a creative list, but my first thought when I saw the list was “this deck should not lose the mirror match.”

Key Cards

2-2 Octillery BKT

octillery-breakthrough-bkt-33The 2-2 line of Octillery is huge in the Night March mirror as it provides an optimal, consistent draw engine without putting a potential 2-Prize Pokémon on the Bench (such as Shaymin-EX). The biggest benefit I see here is the tempo control. The Octillery line in the mirror match can control the tempo of the game since N/Judge are now both legal in the Standard format.

I try to visualize different game states in my mind to see from both players’ point of views in order to justify the inclusions of techs or new engines. With Night March mirror in mind, I like to think of myself at 4 Prizes to 4 Prizes having just played N or Judge with an Octillery established and I just cleared my opponent’s only Energy from the board. From my perspective, I’m at an advantageous position in a game state I believe I can consistently reach with this list, with the option to repeat said game state multiple times throughout the same game with the help of Puzzle of Time and VS Seeker. No matter what comes down from the opposing side, they’ll have to hit an extremely strong hand off my N to swing momentum back in their favor.

Looking from the opponent’s point of view, I need to take out the Octillery line as soon as possible to keep this constant hand control from taking me out of the game — without benching any Shaymin-EX — but if he’s able to get another Octillery in play during the mid to late game stages, I’ll want to save a Hex Maniac, wait until I have a win condition in my hand, then play Hex and Knock Out their attacker, forcing them to rethink playing a potential N or Judge and shuffling my win condition.

2 Dimension Valley

Again, I believe he built this specifically to gain an advantage in the mirror match so he opted to play a lower count of Dimension Valley, which makes it less likely they will clog his hand and hinder Octillery’s Abyssal Hand. He more than likely used multiple copies of Mew FCO to mimic Joltik in matchups where his Dimension Valley was easily replaced so it didn’t hurt the consistency of stringing 1-Energy attachment attackers.

Other Options

Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick, Gallade BKT, Marowak FCO

As mentioned many times before, Gallade BKT provides a solid answer to Jolteon-EX which this deck struggles with. The new combo piece I want to discuss is Marowak FCO which I think is one of the best inclusions Night March can have for Nationals as it counteracts the steady rise of Seismitoad-EX we seem to be witnessing. Water Toolbox, Metal, Mega Rayquaza, and Mew Toolbox can utilize the power of Quaking Punch without taking up a lot of deck space and in doing so could dictate the entire pace of the game, especially since most Night March decks are choosing to play zero copies of Promo Jirachi.

Matchup Mindsets

Many of the Night March matchups were highlighted extremely well by Sorina Radu in her latest article. I want to give a few more pointers against decks that aren’t as popular at the moment but I believe will shake things up at Nationals.

Bronzong BREAK

This is quite the tough matchup, even with the high speed advantage Night March has over Metal decks. Normally you’d think “just string Hex and you win.” While Hex Maniac is ridiculously strong against this deck, it usually isn’t an “instant win” card if your opponent is sitting on a loaded Aegislash-EX and Genesect-EX FCO with a Fighting Fury Belt.

When I’m piloting against Metal variants I like to use Dimension Valley early to attack with Pumpkaboo while having Mew FCO or another Pumpkaboo on the Bench to broadcast my need for Dimension Valley. Usually this procs my opponents to play down a turn 3 or 4 Sky Field and begin loading up their Bench with Shaymin-EX and Bronzor thinking they can clear off any extra Pokémon-EX once Sky Field is replaced, but I try to switch gears and begin using Lysandre/Joltik to pressure said Shaymin-EX and any Bronzong that may have Energy attached until I can clean up the final couple of Prizes with Hex Maniac on the Active Aegislash-EX or Genesect-EX.

Be mindful that Bronzong BREAK can be dropped at any time for a quick 60 to 90 spread depending on how many Bronzong are on board, so you’ll want to conserve your Fighting Fury Belt for Benched Night Marchers if you anticipate losing the Active Pokémon in the upcoming exchanges.

Jolteon-EX Variants

Almost every Night March deck is sporting a single copy of Target Whistle and it is your main counter against Jolteon-EX. Most of these Jolteon decks are looking to create a board state with a single Jolteon-EX in play and no Bench. With this in mind, take any sort of KO presented to you in the early turns of the game. Your opponent might be lucky enough to never play a Professor Sycamore or Ultra Ball to discard any Pokémon for you to use Target Whistle on. If you’re running an Escape Rope in your list, you can set up a game-changing turn of Target Whistle, Escape Rope, and Lysandre to KO a Jolteon-EX that used Flash Ray the turn before.

Greninja BREAK

dat boi frog unicycleppt.wz51z.comComing in at second on the tier list is Greninja BREAK due to inconsistencies (it is an Evolution deck and one that does not play many Basic Pokémon, meaning you will mulligan many times throughout the course of a major tournament). Greninja BREAK has an absurd Ability allowing it to spread Bench damage which enables the deck to make amazing comebacks against anything in the format that doesn’t run Garbodor.

The main issue I see with the deck is the same as any Stage 2/3 deck in this format, which is being able to establish your Evolutions without falling too far behind.

With this in mind, Nicklas Danielsen found success at Denmark Nationals last weekend making Top 4 and I believe this was because of his inclusion of 3 Hard Charm in his build. The following is just my guess at what Nicklas played, but he’s assured me there were at least 3 Hard Charm in his list and that they swung multiple games into his favor throughout the day.

Pokémon – 17

4 Froakie BKP
4 Frogadier BKP
3 Greninja BKP
1 Greninja XY
3 Greninja BREAK
2 Jirachi XY67

Trainers – 35

4 Professor Sycamore
1 Ace Trainer
1 Fisherman
1 Skyla
1 Wally
1 Shauna
1 Lysandre
1 N

 

4 VS Seeker
4 Dive Ball
3 Trainers’ Mail
3 Hard Charm
2 Ultra Ball
2 Sacred Ash
1 Level Ball
1 Professor’s Letter
1 Startling Megaphone

 

3 Rough Seas

Energy – 8

8 W

Key Cards

1 Greninja XY

greninja-xy-41-ptcgo-1Some players have chosen to forgo playing any copies of Greninja XY as Greninja BKP is critical toward the success of the deck and having 1 Retreat Cost on their Greninja BREAK from Greninja XY is too costly during the late game to play. While I don’t exactly hate the concept of playing 4 Greninja BKP, Greninja XY offers the ability to reach quick KOs on targets that would require Muscle Band in combination with multiple Greninja BREAK in play.

One thing that many players seem to be overlooking from Greninja XY is his attack Mist Slash which has destroyed in games I’ve tested against any deck using Glaceon-EX as their main attacker against Greninja. While you might be thinking “Why not just use Giant Water Shuriken?” I’ve found games become extremely close and come down to whether or not the Glaceon-EX player is able to get off well-timed Hex Maniacs and take a huge lead in Prize exchanges, making it impossible for me to mount a comeback.

2 Jirachi XY67

I’ve always liked a heavy count of Jirachi in decks without Pokémon-EX. I usually find myself being able to deck out an opponent who fails to utilize their Double Colorless Energy count correctly and I’m able to run them out of Energy before they can take their final Prize. Greninja is no different; I usually use Jirachi early to stave off the rush from Night March, Vespiquen/Vileplume, or Trevenant BREAK until I’m able to get Frogadier or Greninja online.

3 Hard Charm

With the recent success seen from the Water Toolbox deck (Seismitoad-EX, Manaphy-EX, Regice AOR) Nicklas opted to play a heavy count of Hard Charm in order to counteract the speed the deck gains from turn 1/2/3 Grenade Hammer, changing the matchup from even to favorable if he is able to get the Hard Charm down on a Greninja before it turns into a BREAK.

While it’s not specifically intended for Night March or Yveltal/Zoroark/Gallade, this inclusion can make for awkward exchanges from decks that need the steady string of attacks to reach a 2HKO or 3HKO on Greninja BREAK. I can say after testing the matchup quite a bit from the YZG side it feels like a Hard Charmed Greninja BREAK is invincible.

Matchup Mindsets

While I do believe Greninja BREAK is a skillful deck to pilot, it has a genuinely linear mindset when approaching many of the matchups of the Standard meta. I’m going to keep these as short and sweet as possible.

Night March

Use Jirachi to stall out your opponent’s early aggression then play Ace Trainer or N once you’re able to establish multiple Greninja BREAK on board, and begin sweeping your opponent with Abilities before they can string Hex Maniac on you. Try to keep your Startling Megaphone for the late game when you’ll need to clear Fighting Fury Belt to take a lead in Prize exchanges.

Greninja / The Mirror

Try to bait your opponent to stop Shadow Stitching for a turn by feeding them a solid KO on a Greninja (by purposely skipping a Rough Seas) but if they don’t take the bait then proceed to stall out trading Shadow Stitches and Rough Seas and finally use Shauna to deck your opponent out.

Trevenant BREAK

Use your Items ASAP and utilize Rough Seas to nullify any early damage done through Silent Fear. Don’t forget about possible Wobbuffet plays that could be made during the mid to late game, so play ahead of this by consistently retreating between your Greninja BKP, allowing yourself time to get more heals in.

Water Toolbox

Get Hard Charm down only on your Greninjas as Frogadier can be 1HKO’d with Grenade Hammer even with one on. Consistently punish your opponent’s Shaymin-EX and Hoopa-EX with damage (they can’t be healed with Rough Seas). Remember to play around Articuno by retreating and healing.

Bronzong BREAK

You both should have relatively slow early turns until you can start using Shadow Stitching and Giant Water Shuriken on their powered-up attackers until you find a turn to start sniping off Bronzong efficiently.

Mega Rayquaza/Jolteon-EX

Similar to Night March, use Jirachi XY67 to regulate their early-game rush then unload on their Shaymin-EX once you’re finally able to establish Greninja BREAK. I try to hold off playing Rough Seas at all as I think my opponent will be able to sit on leftover Sky Field and I’d rather keep their Shaymin-EX or Hoopa-EX on the Bench for me to snipe off.

Yveltal/Zoroark/Gallade

Only use Frogadier to bring out 2 Frogs onto your Bench. Try to maintain your Bench size to be relatively low and clear off any Yveltal XY that get 2 Energy attached as Darkness Blade can surprise you when you’re extremely focused on Zorua and Zoroark.

Glaceon-EX Variants

Get a Hard Charm down on a Frogadier ASAP and evolve it into a Greninja XY so you can poke Glaceon with Mist Slash and Water Shuriken then turn it into a Greninja BREAK the following turn for a nice KO through Crystal Ray. This will work even with a Rough Seas in play, so establishing the Greninja XY is critical toward seeing success. While your Abilities do hurt Glaceon-EX, your opponent can use Hex Maniac to stall your potential damage so you’ll want to prep a Sacred Ash (or Super Rod) + Dive Ball turn should you end up losing the Greninja XY before he can finish the job.

Trevenant BREAK

The final deck in top tier is Trevenant BREAK which has lost its steam in the past couple of Nationals weekends but it is one of the main driving forces that has sculpted the meta the way that it is. The strength of turn 1 Forest’s Curse cannot be ignored, as well as the constant spread of damage dealt through Silent Fear, forcing players to covet a deck that can either explode with Items in one turn or play Rough Seas and win out the long game. With that in mind, here is what I believe the optimal testing list for Trevenant should be:

Pokémon – 15

4 Phantump BKP
4 Trevenant XY
3 Trevenant BREAK
1 Wobbuffet PHF
3 Shaymin-EX ROS

Trainers – 37

4 Professor Sycamore
3 Wally
1 AZ
1 N
1 Lysandre
1 Team Flare Grunt
1 Delinquent

 

4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
3 Trainers’ Mail
3 Red Card
3 Crushing Hammer
1 Enhanced Hammer
2 Float Stone
1 Super Rod

 

4 Dimension Valley

Energy – 8

5 P
3 Mystery

Key Cards

3 Red Card

red card xy 124
It’ll take you out of the game.

After playtesting for Regionals I have a newfound respect, love, and hate for Red Card. The control and variance this card offers to an opponent playing against Forest’s Curse is ridiculous and completely unfair. I would have ideal opening starts against Trevenant and be completely wiped after they turn 1 Red Card/Wally me into a mediocre or dead hand and I proceed to draw/pass for a few turns until I hit a Professor Sycamore and eventually lose. I’ve also enjoyed the benefit of being able to throw down this card at any given moment to increase my draw off Shaymin-EX’s Set Up or pitch it as an easy Ultra Ball discard given I have a strong read on my opponent’s hand.

3 Crushing Hammer

While I do not enjoy playing any sort of coin-flipping card, Crushing Hammer has won me over in Trevenant BREAK builds for the Standard format as hitting that crucial one heads during the early-game phase has set my opponents extremely far behind. Imagine that particular time when your opponent got off that turn 1 double Max Elixir and Energy attachment only for you to remove two of the Energy with Crushing Hammer/Enhanced Hammer and/or Team Flare Grunt, allowing you to keep your Trevenant BREAK alive for an extra turn or two to win the game.

I now think of it in the way that Exeggutor PLF used to win games off hitting critical Crushing Hammers against Virizion-EX or wind up winning the game off some successful turn 1 coin flips.

1 Delinquent

While Delinquent isn’t exactly overwhelmingly controlling (as your opponent is able to control which cards are discarded) I want to include this in any of my Trevenant BREAK lists as it serves for a strong way to play around Rough Seas.

Other Options

3-4 Bursting Balloon

If you opt not to play any sort of hand control, I recommend reverting back to the Bursting Balloon build which pioneered the deck’s outbreak of success at Florida Regionals. The damage helps deal with Rough Seas decks a little better (a turn without Rough Seas combined with damage from Silent Fear and Bursting Balloon allows Wobbuffet to reach some nice KO ranges against high HP Pokémon).

2-2-2 Mega Alakazam/Spirit Link

Playing Bursting Balloon over control should also see some success paired with the Mega Alakazam line. Similar to what Wobbuffet offers, Mega Alakazam can help against heavy HP matchups and apply pressure to opponents so early that they’re unable to mount a comeback after 2 or 3 turns of Silent Fear/Forest’s Curse. I’m not particularly fond of this build as I believe opening an Alakazam-EX hinders my game plan because I’ll have to find a Mystery Energy in order to optimally retreat it (attaching a Float Stone would cut off the Spirit link) and overall I think it hurts the turn 1 Forest’s Curse goal.

Matchup Mindsets

At the risk of sounding extremely ignorant, I want to be blunt: you try to Item lock turn 1 and control your opponent’s Energy with Crushing Hammer and Red Card against nearly every matchup. If your opponent plays Rough Seas, try to remove it with Delinquent or your own Stadium.

High Tier

mew hitmontop toyaxew.tumblr.com
Mew’s got some toys.

Mew Toolbox

This deck has been sitting under the radar for some time and has been seen as a sort of “fun but not good” concept but I’ve found it to be extremely strong in testing. The idea of this deck is fairly straightforward: have a bunch of optimal Basic Pokémon that can win matchups through their various attacks and copy them using Mew, a non-EX attacker. A majority of the lists I’ve seen have opted for a rush build using Max Elixir paired with Glaceon-EX, Jolteon-EX, and Seismitoad-EX to take advantage of matchups’ weaknesses but this past weekend Dylan Chen took 1st place at New Zealand Nationals with a build that opted for hand control and tech 1-of Supporters over speed.

Here is Dylan’s winning list as posted on the Virbank City Facebook group:

Pokémon – 13

2 Mew FCO

2 Zorua BKT 89
2 Zoroark BKT
2 Seismitoad-EX

1 Jolteon-EX

1 Umbreon-EX

1 Manectric-EX
1 Shaymin-EX ROS

1 Jirachi XY67

Trainers – 38

4 Professor Sycamore
2 Lysandre
2 N
1 Skyla
1 Delinquent
1 Pokémon Center Lady
1 AZ
1 Giovanni’s Scheme

 

4 VS Seeker

4 Ultra Ball
4 Trainers’ Mail

2 Red Card

2 Fighting Fury Belt
2 Float Stone

1 Muscle Band

1 Startling Megaphone

1 Level Ball

1 Super Rod
1 Escape Rope

 

2 Dimension Valley

Energy – 9

4 Double Colorless

3 L
2 D

Key Cards

2-2 Zoroark BKT

zoroark-breakthrough-bkt-91
“Mind Jack??” *mind blown*

Most lists choose to play nothing but Basic Pokémon, however Dylan included 2 Zoroark in his list to act as a sweeper and a way to switch his Active Seismitoad-EX or Umbreon-EX with Mew FCO to diversify his attacks. Playing Game 1 against opponents who didn’t know Zoroark is in the deck, I can imagine how many surprised faces Dylan might’ve seen as his opponents over-benched themselves in the early game just to get punished by an unexpected Mind Jack.

1 Umbreon-EX

If you anticipate playing against any M Rayquaza or M Sceptile decks, Endgame would swing those matchups in Mew’s favor, but without Max Elixir I don’t see my opponents putting themselves into position to get hit with that attack. Umbreon’s first attack is much more beneficial for Mew FCO to copy for some early-game setup.

2 Red Card

I discussed my feelings on Red Card earlier in this article, but seeing it included in Dylan’s Mew Toolbox build complements the concept of Item lock and Red Card having such a strong influence in the early game against Night March and many other heavy Item-based decks.

Other Options

I’m not particularly fond of the Pokémon lineup Dylan chose to play, but his success speaks volumes to the potential of the deck. With this in mind, I want to post my own personal list after analyzing the strategies he presented.

Pokémon – 14

3 Mew FCO

2 Seismitoad-EX
2 Jolteon-EX

1 Glaceon-EX
1 Manectric-EX

2 Shaymin-EX ROS

1 Hoopa-EX AOR

1 Jirachi XY67
1 Regice AOR

Trainers – 36

4 Professor Sycamore
2 Lysandre
2 N
1 Delinquent
1 Pokémon Center Lady
1 AZ
1 Giovanni’s Scheme

 

4 VS Seeker

4 Ultra Ball
4 Trainers’ Mail

3 Fighting Fury Belt

2 Red Card

1 Float Stone
1 Startling Megaphone

1 Super Rod

1 Escape Rope

 

3 Dimension Valley

Energy – 10

4 Double Colorless

3 L
3 W

Additions

1 Regice AOR

This was an extremely easy inclusion as Resistance Blizzard provides problems for so many Mega decks. It enables free wins against opponents who aren’t prepared to play against it.

1 Glaceon-EX

Similar to Regice and Jolteon-EX, Glaceon-EX can take free wins against decks that are ill-prepared to attack with anything outside of an Evolution. While this card won’t win the Greninja matchup by itself, including a Hex Maniac in the list can make it difficult for Greninja to KO Glaceon-EX outside of using Giant Water Shuriken.

1 Hoopa-EX AOR

After playing with the deck a bit, it seems critical that you hit a turn 1 Quaking Punch while you build up the rest of your Pokémon-EX, meaning I’ll want to use an early Ultra Ball to grab Hoopa-EX and fill my Bench for some quick options.

Matchup Mindsets

Night March

Try to get the board state where you have no Pokémon on your Bench or in the discard pile then start attacking with Jolteon-EX. If this isn’t feasible early, then use a combination of Quaking Punch and Red Card to take a solid Prize lead against their deck while giving yourself control until you can begin sweeping with Jolteon-EX.

Greninja

Control the early stages of the game with Quaking Punch and replace their Rough Seas ASAP then put a Fighting Fury Belt on Glaceon-EX and use Pokémon Center Lady to keep it alive and sweep a hefty number of Prizes. Most of the Greninja lists play 2 copies of Jirachi so plan to play 3 basic Energy on your Glaceon-EX so they can’t break the lock without investing significant resources.

Trevenant BREAK

Ironically Item lock done through attacks puts a lot of strain on Trevenant BREAK. Quaking Punching them early in the game until you can start sweeping with Glaceon-EX and Jolteon-EX is my ideal game plan. I try to keep myself from benching any Mew until they’re needed to attack that turn as they’re easy pickings for Silent Fear.

Water Toolbox

Jolteon-EX gives this deck tons of problems. Their best option is to force you to deck out through Regice but using Mew to copy Flash Ray ruins that game plan.

Mega Rayquaza/Jolteon-EX

Resistance Blizzard destroys this deck. Try to use this attack ASAP without any other Pokémon on your Bench. Using the Mew to copy it could do next to nothing if they Lysandre the Benched Regice.

Bronzong BREAK

This is a 50/50 matchup and you have no surefire answer to control them the entire game. I would look to use Lysandre on a Benched Bronzong then string Quaking Punches to chip away at their Evolution lines then use Jolteon-EX to start sweeping their Aegislash-EX and Genesect-EX FCO. Pokémon Center Lady is ridiculous in this particular matchup for Jolteon-EX since he has Resistance to Bronzong and you’ll be able to mitigate their damage output depending on how quickly they set up their Bronzong BREAK.

Water Toolbox

manaphy pastelmanaphy.tumblr.com
The new darling of the PTCG community.

This deck has caught popularity throughout the community with its recent victory at German Nationals piloted by Chrisowalantis Amanatidis. The deck is extremely quick and has pulled off a turn 1 Grenade Hammer in 7-of my last 10 test hands. What I enjoy the most about the deck is its ability to switch from control (through Quaking Punch) to overwhelming damage (through Grenade Hammer) allowing me to adapt to any given scenario.

What makes this deck only high tier (and not top tier) is its tough matchups against rogue decks like M Sceptile, M Rayquaza, Vespiquen, and Jolteon-EX variants which often flood the early rounds of major tournaments. The list I’m providing is my personal take on the deck which is 3 cards different from that of the winning list.

Pokémon – 13

3 Seismitoad-EX

2 Manaphy-EX

2 Regice AOR
1 Articuno ROS 17
1 Aegislash-EX
3 Shaymin-EX ROS

1 Hoopa-EX AOR

Trainers – 35

3 Professor Sycamore
2 Lysandre
1 Judge
1 N
1 AZ
1 Xerosic

 

4 VS Seeker

4 Ultra Ball
4 Max Elixir
4 Energy Switch
3 Fighting Fury Belt
3 Trainers’ Mail

 

4 Rough Seas

Energy – 12

12 W

Key Cards

2 Regice, 1 Articuno

Chrisowalantis played the reverse of this count, using Articuno to pressure opposing Shaymin-EX given that he could Lysandre them up then Quaking Punch or Mineral Pump, dictating his opponent’s action the following turn: deal with the Articuno or remove the Shaymin-EX from play before it gets picked off for 3 Prizes. While I think Articuno is strong, I anticipate many players using decks that take hard losses to Regice at Nationals and I want to ensure I have one not Prized for those matchups.

1 Aegislash-EX

Aegislash-EX was played as a 1-card win condition against any Vespiquen/Vileplume decks that don’t play Hex Maniac or Toxicroak-EX to answer it.

1 Judge, 1 N

I’m torn between this and keeping the Judge count at 2. Loading up a turn 1 Seismitoad-EX for Grenade Hammer then playing Judge is extremely powerful. Logic dictates this will not always occur and I want N to drop an opponent down to 1 or 2 cards during the late game. That 2- or 3-card difference could swing the final turns in my favor given the proper board presence.

Other Options

Maxie’s/Gallade BKT

As of right now the deck has no solid way of dealing with Jolteon-EX aside from using Regice to stall them to a deck-out or tie, so adding a few Battle Compressor, Maxie’s, and Gallade BKT could solve this issue. While it is a risky change and might not be completely necessary, I’ve experimented with it a bit and am usually able to procure Gallade by turn 2 or 3 after dropping an Energy Switch, W Energy, Regice, and Lysandre.

Glaceon-EX

While I didn’t include it in this list, I’m considering playing a copy of Glaceon-EX as a great turn 1 play vs Vespiquen/Vileplume. Powering it up against them with a small Bench could completely win the game. I choose to play Aegislash instead as it forces my opponent to not prize their potential Toxicroak-EX, and Glaceon-EX might have to sit on my Bench for a few turns if I’m going second and they get the turn 1 Item lock. This would leave it vulnerable to Lysandre and negate its purpose.

Matchup Mindsets

Night March

articuno-roaring-skies-ros-17
It’s a game changer. (Delta joke.)

Use Seismitoad-EX to Quaking Punch control them in the early stages of the game then load up an Articuno to take a nice double Prize against Pumpkaboo and Joltik. I tend to play toward more control should my opponent get off to a slow start, meaning given the opportunity to Lysandre/Grenade Hammer a Shaymin-EX, I’d opt to take a two- to three-turn Quaking Punch KO against the Night Marchers/Mew then finish the game off with Grenade Hammers.

Greninja BREAK

If your opponent is using the Hard Charm variant, this is going to be a weird back-and-forth exchange with Articuno Tri Edge flips potentially deciding the game. I like to rush Grenade Hammer ASAP if my opponent seems to be off to a strong start, but if they have a mediocre beginning I try to use Quaking Punch to control their Dive Ball/Ultra Ball and hold off ever playing my own Rough Seas. Once they drop their Rough Seas down, it’s time to start Grenade Hammering Greninja into submission. I tend to play extremely conservatively with benching my Shaymin-EX and Manaphy-EX as they’re easily picked off by Greninja BREAK should they be able to make one before you reach an unstoppable game state.

Trevenant BREAK

Rough Seas makes or breaks this matchup. If you’re lucky enough to go first and start streaming Grenade Hammers on your opponent, they’ll fall to far behind in Trevenant counts to keep up with the pace of your deck. Since you’re playing a high Energy count, I don’t believe they’ll be able to remove all your Energy on board and put you in a game state where you can’t make a solid comeback. Try to play more conservatively with your benching if you’re playing until the Silent Fear pressure. Leave your 1 Seismitoad-EX Active for a few turns until it reaches around 90 or 120 damage then finally bench another one. This will buy you extra turns to hit that Rough Seas or Supporter you need to swing momentum back in your favor. Far too often I’ve seen people throw down Shaymin-EX and Manaphy-EX turn 1 against this deck when they’re just not necessary at the time.

Water Toolbox / The Mirror Match

Use your Seismitoad-EX to Grenade Hammer against the Pokémon with the most Energy on your opponent’s side of the board. I tend to leave a fodder Pokémon Active to retreat and constantly heal while I punish any extra Shaymin-EX/Manaphy-EX my opponent might’ve benched with my own Grenade Hammer. Should your opponent be playing well and conservatively, I try to set up a Grenade Hammer into Tri Edge play against the opposing Seismitoad-EX until they’re forced to play down Manaphy-EX or Shaymin-EX. Regice can help quite a bit in this matchup, but considering they have their own Regice and Articuno, I try to save them until the late stages of the game where I can take the turns to manually attach to them rather than burn my Max Elixir and Energy Switch to load them up.

Mega Rayquaza/Jolteon-EX

Resistance Blizzard destroys this deck should your opponent create a game state where you have your Regice against their Jolteon-EX then use Articuno to put it to Sleep. Assuming the Sleep sticks, bait the opponent to AZ then overextend resources take a KO on Articuno or threaten the Jolteon-EX with a follow-up Resistance Blizzard or Tri Edge. Try not to play down Rough Seas should your opponent look to create the Jolteon-EX stalemate against you.

Vespiquen/Vileplume

After being pioneered in the early stages of the Standard format by Andrew Wamboldt, this deck became a wrecking force until Trevenant BREAK was released. Much like the strength of Trevenant’s Forest’s Curse on turn 1, this deck supplies a consistent Item lock with a hard-hitting non-EX attacker in Vespiquen. I believe this deck has lost a majority of its followers due to its bad matchup against Trevenant BREAK and the increase of tech Aegislash-EX in lists simply to combat the original build of this deck. While it may not be played in high numbers, this deck remains a threat to the format and should be tested with and against if you’re looking to improve your final lists before Nationals.

Pokémon – 28

4 Oddish AOR
4 Gloom AOR
3 Vileplume AOR
4 Combee AOR
4 Vespiquen AOR 10
4 Shaymin-EX ROS

4 Unown AOR

1 Bunnelby PRC 121

Trainers – 28

2 Professor Sycamore
1 Misty’s Determination
1 AZ
1 Lysandre

 

4 Ultra Ball
4 Acro Bike
4 Trainers’ Mail
3 Battle Compressor
2 Float Stone

1 Level Ball
1 Revitalizer

 

4 Forest of Giant Plants

Energy – 4

4 Double Colorless

Key Cards

1 Misty’s Determination

mistys-determination-breakpoint-bkp-104
It’s like a Great Ball for anything.

I tried to build this deck in a manner where I can regulate any sort of unlucky variance I may run into with Acro Bike or opening with a bunch of Double Colorless Energy and a Professor Sycamore. Misty’s Determination has done wonders in playtesting, allowing me to keep important resources I may have been unlucky enough to draw into early in the game but also let me dig for a combo piece such as Vileplume or Float Stone.

1 Revitalizer

As I mentioned earlier with this list, I want to accommodate for any unfortunate circumstances that might present themselves on my first turn. Playing the single copy of Revitalizer allows me play a bit more recklessly with my Grass Pokémon discards or decision making when hunting for copies of a particular card.

Matchup Mindset

As you might’ve seen with my previous matchup mindsets, I left out Vespiquen/Vileplume as this deck is extremely linear and the Item lock from Vileplume creates such a simplified game state where you’re just hoping to go first and set up your combo. Try not to evolve into your Vileplume without attaching a Float Stone to it as your opponent can simply Lysandre it and try to deck you out.

Mid Tier

These decks are placed in the mid tier as I believe they all have the potential to win major tournaments but they either take an extremely tough matchup amongst the top tier or inherent inconsistencies keep them from reaching the 1st place trophy.

Mega Rayquaza/Jolteon-EX

M Rayquaza went on a winning streak during the State Championships on the East Coast courtesy of Jose Marrero and Connor Finton. The deck can overwhelm any current deck in the meta given its ability to consistently set up on turn 1 and Hex Maniac the opponent out of Shaymin-EX. While the deck does play Jolteon-EX, it still takes a tough matchup to Night March/Maxie’s which has only gained more incentive to be played with the release of Marowak FCO.

Bronzong BREAK

As I mentioned in my previous article, I think Metal decks have a huge amount of potential with the release of Bronzong BREAK, Bronzong FCO, and Genesect-EX FCO. Paul Su was able to take home 2nd place at the New Zealand Nationals using a straightforward and consistent list. While I do like Paul’s list, I’ve become a huge fan of playing Zoroark BKT and Heatran PHF in my Standard format Metal deck as they allow you to switch between stronger non-EX attackers than Bronzong BREAK.

Yveltal/Zoroark/Gallade

The ole YZG never dies! With the high increased love for Greninja BREAK decks over the past few months and the strength of Glaceon-EX, I believe the number of YZG will see a steady decline in play. Those matchups are extremely tough if your opponent plays conservatively but I really enjoy using this deck against Trevenant BREAK and Night March as you can steadily control the pace of the game since you have no Pokémon-EX attackers. I highly recommend using Kevin Baxter’s list from States as your initial testing build then grinding out any swaps you’d like.

Work-in-Progress Concepts

Since this is my final article before Nationals, I want to drop random strategies and concepts I believe are unexplored, untapped, or forgotten in the Standard format. I’ll be testing these ideas in the next few weeks and figured I’d should share them in case someone else can make that breakout deck of Nationals much like Pyroar and Wailord-EX of the previous two years.

– Garbodor has been forgotten. I’ve noticed many high-level players have forgotten that Garbodor exists in the Standard format and are neglecting to play copies of Xerosic or Startling Megaphone in decks where Abilities are critical toward success. I’m not sure if it should be paired with a lock variant, Seismitoad-EX, or just a pure speed beat-down deck but I think it can surprise quite a few people at Nationals.

Max Elixir’s potential has been barely tapped in the Standard format. I remember my first time seeing the Water Toolbox deck on stream I said “Pshhh what does this deck even do?” then Chrisowalantis dropped 3 W Energy on a Seismitoad-EX in one turn and I about fell out of my chair. I’ve been exploring new concepts to pair with Max Elixir, mainly Flareon-EX, Darkrai-EX BKP, and Xerneas BKT but I feel like I’m missing the potential of something in our current card pool that could be fleshed out into a success.

M Audino-EX and M Altaria-EX have potential that is being overlooked. I look at both of these Megas and know that in some form I can get them to compete with Night March and Greninja but I’ve yet to test enough to mine out the best build for them. Both can support the use of Max Potion extremely well given the proper engine (either Bronzong or Aromatisse). Since they’re so tanky, playing a copy of Pokémon Center Lady could also increase their survivability against steady damage streaming decks like Trevenant BREAK. Finally, both have options to play around attack locks like Jolteon-EX and Glaceon-EX meaning you can have at least a 50/50 shot against decks that are hoping to run into just the mainstream meta.

Steam Siege Salutations

Before I go, I want to talk about Pokémon’s recent announcement that Steam Siege will be legal for the World Championships 2016. I am ecstatic over this announcement as I find the number of lock decks in the current format to be overwhelming and disheartening to the point where I was hoping Pokémon would give us something to answer this madness. Well, they have delivered in the form of Pokémon Ranger and possibly Karen, depending on whether or not it is printed in the set.

I’ve always loved tournaments played in an unexplored meta. The best testing circles, deck builders, and pilots are often rewarded for their creativity along with their play. This is an amazing step in the right direction for the future of Pokémon TCG and I’m hoping they continue this trend to give more decks viability as we have a lot of cool BREAKs and Megas that have been cast aside due to the strength of Night March and Trevenant BREAK.

Conclusion

greninja pikachu high five brighterkotaku.com
Greninja was even recently voted most popular Pokémon (more popular than Pikachu!).

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on the upcoming Nationals meta. I anticipate Night March and Greninja BREAK to be by far the most popular decks. Building a deck to beat them or at least take a 50/50 matchup against them is critical toward success.

As I believe many other players will do, I’m willing to take the risky matchups against Vileplume variants. I can only account for turn 1 Item lock so much when I’m deciding which deck to pilot. I believe most of the turn 1 Item lock decks outside of Trevenant BREAK are too reliant on going first and hitting their setup to control most of the top and mid tier decks, meaning they should take losses against positive matchups just from missing their crucial combo pieces. This Nationals is looking to be a stressful format full of diversity which means we’ll have to take an unfavorable matchup somewhere in the testing circle in order to take home the trophy.


That’s all my time! Sorry I wrote quite a lot of detail but I’m hoping you found it useful in some sort of way for your Nationals prep. If you see me Nationals, please feel free to chat with me, meet the Some1sPC crew, or discuss deck choices as I’m never one to push away people genuinely trying to learn. Good luck and I’ll see you all at Nationals!


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