Regigigas LV.X has received a mixed reception since its introduction to the tournament scene after the release of Stormfront in 2008. A lot of players have steered clear of the colossal Pokémon due to the sacrificial nature of the deck, and the difficulty in mastering the complex strategy of giving away Prize cards in exchange for a superior setup and offensive position.
Tomi Sjoblom from Finland took the deck to new heights after the World Championships this year in Hawaii. He finally finished in the Top 16 in the Masters Category – a great achievement with a relatively underplayed deck.
I had the pleasure of playing Tomi in a friendly match after the tournament had ended to see how he utilized Regigigas in his deck. This re-sparked my interest in the card after my initial enthusiasm for it in 2008-2009, when I played Regigigas in City Championships.
The only glaring reason why Regigigas has become increasingly more of a liability to play in the current tournament environment is because of the rotation of Unown G (GE), which aided greatly in various standoffs against Gengar SF’s “Shadow Room” attack as well as the even more deadly Machamp SF’s “Take Out”.
However, with the release of HS: Triumphant, there are a lot of cards which help Regigigas make up lost ground in order to become a valiant contender in this unpredictable Metagame before City Championships this coming Holiday season.
Before we go any further, let’s take a look at the basic strategy of a Regigigas deck.
(If you already know this, you can skip ahead to the next section.)
Basic Strategy
Regigigas is a deck that requires a great deal of practice and patience to become good with, as one false move may cost you the game.
First of all, the primary objective is to setup your Regigigas LV.X, while hindering your opponents’ side of the table to stop them steamrolling your delicate buildup. Methods of disruption revolve around playing various Pokémon with coming into play powers, which we will go over later. When playing the deck, it is imperative to keep your Regigigas alive throughout most (preferably all) of the game.
The way to do this is to use the LV.X’s Poké-power “Sacrifice” in order to heal 8 damage counters and attach two basic energy cards from the discard pile to him. This is not only a useful power to heal your tank, but is a form of energy acceleration so that you may start smashing your opponent with his high energy, high damage attacks.
Why is Regigigas a viable contender now?
Regigigas has been seen in some lights to be a slow/clunky deck, but with the release of HS: Triumphant, these weaknesses are covered in the form of the following cards:
1. Junk Arm
This card allows for an early double energy discard, which allows Regigigas to become a heavy hitter by turn 2 or 3. The way this works is that you can get the basic energy back out of the discard with the LV.X’s Poké-Power “Sacrifice,” and attach them to him. The re-use of a trainer card from the discard also helps immensely for a quick and efficient setup. Junk Arm’s effect is also invaluable late game in order to recycle your resources from earlier in the game.
2. Twins
Wow. The synergy with Regigigas’s strategy of sacrificing prizes for position is accentuated to an incredible degree here. Using the power “Sacrifice” to give your opponent a prize lead, then laying down Twins to find any two cards from your deck allows for an even greater degree of game control. If timed correctly, Twins can be devastating for your opponent.
3. Seeker
As illustrated in my previous article, Seeker is an incredibly playable card. In Regigigas, its primary use is to maintain a Power Lock on your opponent with Mesprit (LA) or to keep up a steady draw with Uxie (LA).
So, it’s pretty clear these cards have clear synergy with the deck, so without further ado, let’s see a skeleton list.
Skeleton List
|
Pokémon – 13 3-1/2-2 Regigigas LV.X |
Trainers – 26 3 Pokémon Collector
4 Junk Arm 3 Dual Ball |
Energy – 13 4 Double Colorless |
Total: 52 cards
As you can see, there is a split with regard to what Regigigas lines to run. I feel that this is down to personal preference as each Pokémon distribution has its own strengths and weaknesses.
3/1 Line:
| Strengths– More likely to open with Regigigas, making a turn 2 LV.X more likely. – Allows for more variation as to what Basic Regigigas’ to run in the deck. |
Weaknesses– Only 1 LV.X in the deck. Possible for your only primary attacker in the deck to be prized. – Only one primary attacker in the deck to be utilized effectively, which leaves 2 basic forms left over that can’t be utilized for maximum potential. |
2/2 Line:
| Strengths– 2 LV.X primary attackers to use. – Less likelihood of a piece of a playable Regigigas line to be played. |
Weaknesses– Less variety of basic Regigigas to utilize in various situations. – More often a slower setup than a 3/1 variant. |
The main problem with deciding whether to play a 2-2 line or 3/1 line is your preference of what Regigigas you want to play, and what type of disruption you’re trying to achieve.
Let’s see what playable Regigigas there are in the format at the moment:
This is probably the most used Regigigas over the course of the deck seeing play, and quite rightly so. His attack, “Gigaton Punch” swings for 60 and on a coin flip it does 80 and 20 to one of your opponent’s benched Pokémon. This may seem a bit lackluster for three energy, but with a DCE and a basic energy, this beast can be swinging on turn 2 without a “Sacrifice” from the LV.X.
The built in Body is very nice as well as it allows you heal status conditions without having to send Regigigas out of the Active Spot – a huge inconvenience as he has a Retreat Cost of 4.
Regigigas LA 15
At first glance, this guy looks like a beast! 120 HP! 120 damage! What’s not to like? Oh… wait a sec…
First of all, his Poké-Body is a huge inconvenience, meaning you won’t be able to attack with him until halfway through the game. His attack seems good, hitting for 120, BUT only if they don’t have any damage counters on them already. As a result of this you are not able to use Crobat G to reach the magic number of 130. This means the only realistic way of adding damage to 1HKO 130 HP Pokémon (like Kingdra, Machamp SF, and Gyarados) is to play an Expert Belt on him – making him a 2 Prize liability.
This guy just has way too many drawbacks to make him a plausible addition to a Regigigas deck.
Regigigas “Drag Off” DP Promo
This fella has been causing quite a stir in recent Regigigas builds (Tomi Sjoblom ran three in his T16 World Championships list). He is incredibly disruptive due to his first attack – “Drag Off.” Using this attack can put your opponent in seriously compromising positions, as you force them to promote fragile Pokémon, either to allow you more time to build up, or take cheap KOs.
In combination with Expert Belt, Regigigas can take out numerous 30-50 HP basics or even KO a Garchomp C due to its double weakness to Colorless.
This guy’s second attack isn’t too shabby either, swinging for 80 for 4 colorless. With the energy acceleration form the LV.X’s Power as well as your ability to use Double Colorless to pay for the attack cost, this Regigigas packs quite a punch.
These two other Regigigas in the format at the moment are extremely sub-par in their attacks as well as energy requirements, so I won’t discuss them to any further extent, as they would be undesirable to play in any Regigigas list.
Personally, I like to play a 3-1 line with 2 Drag Off Promo and 1 LA Gigaton Punch as I feel it maximizes consistency while increasingly versatility with regard to which Regigigas is right for a certain situation. However, feel free to go with whatever you feel most comfortable to play.
Now, to explain the other cards in the list:
Mesprit LA
This card is here to keep up a pretty constant power lock with his Poképower “Psychic Bind”. There are numerous ways to reuse his power, either with Seeker, or by a slightly more complicated method. By Using Regigigas LV.X’s Sacrifice to KO Mesprit and then getting it back out of the discard pile with a Pokémon Rescue straight to your hand, it allows you to play him back down and use “Psychic bind” again for another turn of Power shutdown for your opponent.
Uxie / Uxie LV.X LA
A huge source of draw-power for the deck. It’s also a valuable asset to have in the unfavorable struggle against Machamp, as he is weak to Psychic.
Smeargle UD
A very nice opener or early game helper. The ability to see your opponent’s hand is huge, as you can decide how or if to lock them as well as using their supporters to setup your own side of the field faster.
Azelf LA
Pretty self explanatory. Use his power to find various Pokémon hiding in your prizes (e.g. Regigigas, Regigigas LV.X, or Mesprits).
Unown Q MD
Useful to retreat those undesirable starters and have Smeargle promoted to the Active Spot to help you set up faster.
Pokémon Collector
To get out your basic Pokémon consistently and set up effectively.
Seeker
Used mainly to re-use your coming into play powers (Mesprit/Uxie).
Twins
To increase your strategic position when losing the game on prize count.
Dual Ball
An extremely useful card in this deck. It allows you to get basic Pokémon out of your deck without using up the Supporter for that turn. This allows you the ability to use a Seeker, Pokémon Collector, or Twins the same turn.
Another neat trick, is because Dual Ball is a trainer, it can be re-used with Junk Arm. This is incredibly beneficial early game, as it gives you the capacity to fill your bench at an alarmingly fast speed.
Junk Arm
As I mentioned earlier, this card acts as a catalyst for Regigigas LV.X’s Poké-power as well as re-using trainers from earlier in the game.
Luxury Ball/Premier Ball/Pokémon Communication
All used to search out Pokémon from the deck as well as increase consistency. These are all useful cards that can also be re-used with Junk Arm.
Pokémon Rescue
Allows you to recover the Pokémon you KO with Regigigas’ “Sacrifice” and put them back in your hand. This is a preferred means of recovery for the deck as opposed to Palmer’s as Pokémon Rescue is recyclable with Junk Arm as well as the fact that there won’t be a great deal of basic energy in the discard pile after moderate use of “Sacrifice”.
Expert Belt
This card is a must-play with Regigigas. As your preference is that your giant Pokémon never bites the dust, this is a great way of keeping him out of KO range. A 170 HP attacker, swinging for 80-120 damage a turn is nothing to laugh at!
Techs
As you may have seen, my skeleton list only has 52 cards, allowing room for 8 extra cards. While it may seem as if that’s a great deal of space, there are a lot of techs that can be crammed into a Regigigas deck to give it an edge on the competition. However, it depends on what structure you want to give to your list. The choices of tech can be broken down into three categories; Supportive, Offensive and Disruptive.
Supportive Techs
These techs will allow your Regigigas to stay alive even longer or allow you to set up more rapidly by contributing to a defensive strategy.
pokemon-paradijs.com1. Poké Healer +
Playing two of these cards down at the same time will let you heal a Regigigas by 80 damage & all special conditions, negating the need to use “Sacrifice” that turn. The fact that you can re-use Poké Healer with the effect of Junk Arm could allow you to use the 80 damage healing effect up to four times a game as opposed to two.
2. Regice LA
Regice’s Poké-Power, “Regi Move,” is most commonly seen in Gyarados decks, but it definitely has its place in Regigigas as well. His Power will allow you to place Energy in the discard pile to fuel up Regigigas LV.X’s “Sacrifice.” He also causes minor disruption if your opponent has a basic Pokémon active, as it forces them to switch out.
3. Chatot MD
Chatot is an excellent resource to use when you’re under heavy trainer/power lock yourself due to its “mimic” attack. Hand refreshing is invaluable when you’re in a difficult position.
4. Shaymin UL
In combination with assorted backup attackers, Shaymin is a great way of powering them up by taking energy off Regigigas and onto the new active Pokémon. The fact you can move the energy in one fell swoop can really take your opponent by surprise so that you may gain upper hand in the game.
5. Warp Energy
Getting Regigigas out of the Active Spot without paying the Retreat Cost is a valuable resource to have as it won’t force you to pay the four Retreat Cost. The fact that Warp Energy gets around trainer lock is a massive bonus as it lets your Regigigas get out of compromising situations under a disruptive disadvantage.
Offensive Techs
Some people say that the best defensive is a good offensive, so what better way to improve your Regigigas deck than to implement a backup offensive strategy in case your main titan starts to struggle?
1. Relicanth SV
An underused card in today’s format, which in this case, is a good thing. The element of surprise is critical in using Relicanth to its maximum potential. He snipes one of your opponents Pokémon for 30× the number of Tools and Stadiums they have in play. As the deck already runs F Energy, this guy is very splashable, and an effective way of taking that last Prize card or two needed to secure a win.
As a lot of decks at the moment run Energy Gain, Unown Q, or Broken Time Space, there shouldn’t be a lot trouble finding a reason to use him.
2. Abomasnow SF
A tech used by Tomi S at Worlds this year, he was primarily used as a Mewtwo LV.X / Machamp SF / Entei-Raikou Legend counter. His body reduces all damage dealt to your Pokémon by 20, which allows all your Pokémon with Powers with 70-80 HP (Crobat G, Smeargle, Uxie, Azelf, Mesprit etc) to survive with 10-20 HP left instead of being KO’d by an Entei-Raikou “Thunder Fall.”
His spread attack allows you to setup KOs for later on in the game with Regigigas DP Promo’s “Drag Off” attack. An obscure, but helpful tech in dealing with troublesome Pokémon on your opponent’s side of the field.
3. Palkia G LV.X
A practical tech in being able to un-clog your Bench space by using Palkia’s “Lost Cyclone” Poké-Power. This is also disruptive for your opponent, forcing them to Lost Zone Pokémon they would have preferred to have “Seekered” up in order to re-use their powers later on in the game (e.g. Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit).
As the deck already runs W Energy, Palkia G LV.X has the ability to snipe off your opponents Pokémon, and then have Energy in the discard pile for Regigigas LV.X’s “Sacrifice” the following turn.
pokemon-paradijs.com4. Dialga G LV.X
My favorite tech in a Regigias deck. This card addresses a lot of the problems the deck faces. His Poké-Body “Time Crystal” disables all non-SP Poké-Bodies. This is a great counter for Mewtwo LV.X as the deck runs no evolved Pokémon on a skeleton list.
Vileplume (UD) & Spiritomb (AR) are very troublesome for Regigigas as they prevent you playing your trainer cards. Dialga G LV.X shuts off this inconvenience and lets you carry on smashing your opposition. His attacks aren’t too bad as a backup option either!
Deafen, when used in certain situations, is game changing. The same is true with “Remove Lost”, as it has the potential to wipe that crucial energy on your Opponent’s active off the field for the rest of the game!
5. Crobat G
This guy is a pretty obvious choice in combination with Seeker. He lets Regigigas reach the magic numbers to KO certain 110 and 130 HP Pokémon with his “Flash Bite” Poké-Power.
6. Skuntank G & Galactic HQ
An interesting choice of tech. In order to incorporate these cards fully into your deck, you should probably have a Regigigas LA (Gigagton Punch) focused build, as his Poké-Body “Recover Mechanism” will negate any effect the Skuntank G’s “Poison Structure” will have on you. This build is far more effective against some of the deck’s less favorable matchups such as Gengar SF & Machamp.
The one downside is that it is near useless against any SP lists, making them dead cards in your deck.
7. Black Belt
I personally don’t like the inclusion of Black Belt in my own list, due to the resources it requires to be most effective. Being down in prizes, using your supporter for the turn as well as only adding 40 damage with no added benefits makes it far inferior to Twins in my opinion. Use this at your own peril folks!
Disruptive Techs
The final kind of tech that I’m going to talk about is the disruptive one. The ability to put your opponent in a poor position and keeping them there is a tempting strategy, and one that Regigigas can implement effectively.
1. Giratina PL (“Let Loose”)
This card is the epitome of disruption for a lot of decks in the format at the moment. Forcing them to shuffle in and draw four cards may not seem deadly, but consider if your opponent is under power lock, being hit for about 100 damage each turn AND only have four cards in their hand.
Their ability to recover from this offensive barrage is severely diminished as you can also destroy their hand with Regigigas LV.X’s “Giga Blaster” attack – leaving one card fewer in their small hand as well as discarding their topdeck. The fact he is searchable (Pokémon Collector, Pokémon Communication, Luxury ball etc.) and doesn’t take up your Supporter for the turn makes him a superior choice to Judge in this deck.
If you tire of him taking up bench space, you can always discard him with Regigigas LV.X’s “Sacrifice”.
2. Slowking HS
This guy can pull off neat tricks when included in a Regigigas list. “Second Sight” allows you to re-arrange the top cards of either player’s deck. This can be used to prevent your opponent from topdecking an out to your power lock or to choose out of three cards which one to discard with Regigigas LV.X’s Giga Blaster attack.
3. Chatot G
Much like Slowking’s “Second Sight,” Chatot G’s Poké-Power allows you to look at the top 4 cards from your opponent’s deck and re-arrange them.. the advantage to using this as opposes to Slowking is that Chatot is a basic Pokémon with a decent 0 energy attack. The downside is that his power only works once when he comes into play, forcing you to use a Poké Turn or a Seeker to re-use the Power later on in the game.
4. Warp Point / Pokémon Reversal
I REALLY like the inclusion of 1 or 2 of these cards here. Added disruption for your opponent is never a bad thing, and it allows you to KO a more vulnerable target. The best part of this? These are trainers! Meaning they are re-usable with the effect of Junk Arm! Hurray!
Depending on what direction you want to take your Regigigas list in, the inclusion of a few of these techs will improve your deck to an extremely noticeable degree.
Something to bear in mind is that if you include a lot of a certain card, for example Pokémon SP; adapt your deck build to compensate. A great way to do this would be the addition of Poké Turns! A lot of LV.X Pokémon in your deck? More Premier Balls perhaps! Well, I think you get the idea. Just adjust the deck to suit the cards being played as well as your personal preference.
Matchups
I feel that this section is rather inaccurate as I feel Regigigas can deal with a lot of the decks in the format at the current time. Obviously there are unfavorable cards to be going against, and these “problem cards” are the things I’d like to address rather than decks themselves, as a lot of the time, matchups are inaccurate as they don’t take into consideration the skill of the player.
Problem Cards
1. Machamp SF / Prime
This has to be the absolute most difficult matchup for the Regigigas player, as the SF Machamp can 1HKO your tank for 1 F Energy. Utilising your Uxie to the fullest extent is key here, in order to exploit Machamp’s Psychic weakness.
The inclusion of evolution lines as well as maintaining a pretty much constant power lock is imperative to prevent them from setting up / recovering.
2. Donphan Prime
Another nasty opponent for Regigigas to deal with. The key here is to exploit his Water weakness with the inclusion of Abomasnow or Palkia G LV.X. A suitable substitute would be Dialga G LV.X, as he’ll shut off the Donphan Prime’s aggravating Poké-Body.
pokemon-paradijs.com3. Toxicroak G (Promo)
This guy can literally spring out of nowhere to stop you steamrolling an SP deck. The best thing here is to be prepared for him, keeping Regigigas fresh from damage, maintaining power lock, and keeping their board control under strict scrutiny as they can’t one shot your Regigigas LV.X without the use of Powers. If the worst happens and Regigigas falls, be ready for a return KO with your Uxie LV.X.
4. Power Spray
On the topic of Pokémon SP, be on the lookout for Power Spray as they can prevent you from using the LV.X’s “Sacrifice”. Utilizing Smeargle is a great way of “fishing out” those pesky sprays by looking at your opponent’s hand and deciding if the hand is a threat at the time.
5. Gengar SF
This Pokémon is going to be hitting you for a minimum of 6 damage counters a turn. A good way to minimize the impact this annoying ghost will have on you is not to overextend. The Gengar player will be rubbing his hands with glee if he sees a bench full of Uxies / Azelfs / Mesprits as he’ll not bother targeting your Regigigas, but will pick off your benched liabilities.
Gengar also has resistance to Colorless, making your attacks less effective, so be careful when adding up damage and don’t run into Fainting Spell with an Expert Belted Regigigas LV.X. Attempt to play around it by using “Psychic Restore” with Uxie, and putting him to the bottom of the deck, so your opponent doesn’t get to use “Fainting Spell.”
6. Vileplume UD / Spiritomb AR
Trainer lock is a huge problem for Regigigas, as you won’t be able to use Junk arm or any of your search cards. Your best bet is to try to get out a Dialga G LV.X, or bring up the Vileplume using “Drag off” from the DP Promo and attempt to KO it.
7. Mewtwo LV.X
You pretty much scoop to this card unless you run a Mewtwo counter. As I mentioned earlier, Dialga G is invaluble in this situation, as it renders Mewtwo LV.X’s Poké-Body useless, leaving him open to attack. The inclusion of evolution cards such as Abomasnow could also act as effective counters as well.
So… is Regigigas the next BIG thing?
As versatile and disruptive as Regigigas is, I can’t see this deck becoming too popular in the near future. This is because I feel the deck is very complicated to play in a competitive environment, and not all players have the necessary skill to adapt to a deck where a misplay could cost them the game.
Most games with Regigigas come down to the last couple of prizes, so don’t expect games to be 6-0 sweeps.
I’m, not saying don’t play Regigigas – quite the opposite. The deck has a great deal of potential, and if you’re patient and practice with it a lot, you’ll find out for yourself!
Hope you enjoyed the read and see you next time!
Tom H.
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