Hello SixPrizes readers! It’s great to be writing for all of you again! Since I last wrote, Winter Regionals have come and gone and we are now onto State Championships. We got our first crack at States this past weekend. The XY-GEN format is still new and wide open for fresh ideas.
I had the chance to participate at Texas for Week 1 and I only played against the same deck twice in nine rounds! (That means I played against eight different decks.) With so many viable decks it is hard to narrow down the right one to play. Some of the decks that performed best were Night March, Yveltal variants, Seismitoad variants, Mega Manectric, and Vespiquen/Vileplume.
Instead of just saying what the best deck is, I am going to make a top 10 list of what I would possibly consider playing this upcoming weekend and expect to see. Before we jump into the top 10 I want to go over a few honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions
Mega Manectric
I want to point out that even though Manectric did the fourth best at State Championships this past weekend, it does not make my top 10. The reason for this is that I do not feel it has a particularly strong matchup spread. It has trouble against anything that techs in Gallade and it even has trouble with Night March. It has favorable matchups against Seismitoad and Trevenant decks but I do not think that is enough for it to merit a spot on my list.
Trevenant
Trevenant did not perform very well during Week 1-of State Championships. The loss of Jirachi-EX from Expanded does hurt the deck’s setup significantly in my opinion. I also think this deck just loses to not going first. One turn of Items against Trevenant is enough to start hindering them. You can search for your Lysandre as well as Hex Maniac on turn 1 and slowly grind their deck down. I do not see Trevenant ever making a large impact on the metagame as long as Dark types remain prominent.
10. Garchomp
Pokémon – 15 4 Gible BKP |
Trainers – 37 4 Korrina 2 Lysandre 1 Professor Birch’s Observations 1 Hex Maniac
4 Rare Candy 1 Enhanced Hammer
|
Energy – 8 |
The first deck I want to talk about is Garchomp. I previously wrote off Garchomp as a slow, mediocre deck until I had the chance to play against one at Texas States. My opponent, Ryan Harris, chose not to run the commonly included Octillery line. He instead opted for more tech cards. Not running Octillery also means you do not have to run switching options since everything in the deck now either has one or free retreat. I am a big fan of this take of the deck over the Octillery version. I think this is the only way to run it.
The deck does very well against Night March which made a large showing at the first week of State Championships. Since this deck plays no Pokémon-EX, you force your opponent to take 6 Prizes. It can even feel like more than 6 because of Focus Sash. This deck has solid Manectric, Yveltal, and Night March matchups but can struggle with several other decks such as Trevenant and Greninja which is why this deck is at #10 on the list.
9. Wailord
Pokémon – 9 |
Trainers – 49 4 Professor Birch’s Observations 4 Team Flare Grunt 3 Cassius 1 Xerosic 1 Shauna
3 Float Stone 1 Heavy Ball
|
Energy – 2 |
Now here is a deck that has not been talked about since the 2015 World Championships. I believe Wailord can thrive in the correct meta. I played against a Wailord deck at 3-0-1 which means it was having decent success.
The list I played against was much more Item heavy than the one above. It played Crushing Hammer and Super Scoop Up. I do not like these cards because they rely on coin flips to succeed and can make you have less cards than your opponent overall if enough are played unfavorably.
I included a Lugia-EX to prevent an Yveltal-EX from 1HKOing your Wailord. If they do manage to KO your Wailord with a giant Yveltal they will be heavily set back once it gets Knocked Out by Lugia since they will have lost nearly every Energy in their deck. Lugia can also deal with pesky Bunnelby from either Burrowing your deck or shuffling cards back in theirs.
The Aegislash-EX is for Vespiquen/Vileplume and that alone. Vespiquen/Vileplume does not run any basic Energy nor does it run a way to deal with Aegislash such as Hex Maniac. Yes, they can use Bunnelby but you also have Lugia for that. Yes, the matchup is still probably bad but it gives you a chance in what would normally be an auto-loss. I think it is worth the spot, especially since the deck cropped up during the first week.
Durant is our substitute for Hugh. This deck was thought to be gone because of the card’s rotation. Durant does an excellent job of filling its spot though. If your opponent does not play around Durant then it is even better than Hugh since Durant’s attack randomly discards until your opponent has 4 cards left in hand. This can make for some crucial discards and win you the game very fast.
This is a sleeper deck in my opinion. It made Top 8 at Illinois States so maybe it can make a comeback.
8. Aromatisse
Pokémon – 14 |
Trainers – 35 4 Professor Sycamore 1 Lysandre 1 Xerosic
4 Trainers’ Mail
|
Energy – 11 |
I almost played this deck last weekend. Max Potion has been reprinted yet I have seen little to no talk about Aromatisse. Fighting Fury Belt also give this deck a boost as it makes your Pokémon very difficult to be 1HKO’d. The deck’s main attacker is Giratina-EX with a few tech attackers. Giratina is good in almost every matchup, whether it be preventing your opponent from playing Special Energy, Tools, or even Stadiums.
Seismitoad is in the deck because you never know when you might want to Item lock your opponent and it is easily splashed in. Yveltal is in the deck to help deal with the Trevenant matchup and serve as a late-game finisher. Jolteon-EX is a great starter as it has free retreat and can make a turn 1 Geomancy that much easier. It can also steal games if your opponent does not have a way to deal with it.
I feel this deck has all the right tools to have a fair chance against most of the decks in the current format.
7. Primal Groudon
Pokémon – 10 |
Trainers – 39 4 Korrina 3 Professor Birch’s Observations 1 Xerosic 1 Lysandre
2 Enhanced Hammer 1 Hard Charm
|
Energy – 11 |
This is a modified version of the Groudon list that made Top 4 at Florida Regionals last month. The main thing the deck loses in the transition from Expanded to Standard is Tropical Beach. Losing Beach does hurt its setup a little but not enough to count this deck out. Scorched Earth can be run to help with consistency.
Night March doing very well Week 1 may lead to a rise in Seismitoad decks which could make Groudon a strong play. Groudon can even compete with Night March thanks to Enhanced Hammer and Focus Sash. I do think this deck has potential to do well and I wouldn’t be surprised if it topped one or two State Championships this weekend.
6. Mega Rayquaza
Pokémon – 15 3 Rayquaza-EX ROS 60 |
Trainers – 38 2 Professor Sycamore 1 Lysandre 1 Xerosic 1 Judge
2 Battle Compressor
|
Energy – 7 4 Double Colorless |
This is the list I played this past weekend. A similar list piloted by Jose Marrero, also won Georgia States. (It’s pretty good!) I started off the day 5-0-1 with this deck. I ended up 5-2-2 due to silly misplays such as not evolving the Rayquaza that I had in my hand or playing an Ultra Ball for a Shaymin when I had no Bench space. Two of the last three games of the tournament could have been easily won if I had played with a better mind.
I favor Jolteon-EX over the commonly played Manaphy-EX because Manaphy is such an awful Pokémon to start with. Manaphy does not have free retreat and does not really add anything to the deck that a Float Stone would not. Jolteon-EX however has free retreat, higher HP, and gives you a fighting chance against Night March. You can steal games if the Night March player runs no counter to Jolteon-EX. Night March would normally be your worst matchup and probably still is but now you can at least you have a chance without affecting consistency at all.
I am strongly considering playing this deck again. It has even to favorable matchups against almost every deck in the format with the exception of Night March and possibly Trevenant. Give this deck a try!
5. Yveltal/Zoroark/Gallade
Pokémon – 14 |
Trainers – 34 2 Lysandre 1 Xerosic 1 Judge
1 Startling Megaphone
|
Energy – 12 8 D |
Yveltal earned the second most Championships Points Week 1 behind Night March. I am sure Yveltal will always be a strong contender among the other popular decks. It gets something new almost every set release.
The most recent set — BREAKpoint — gave it Darkrai-EX BKP, Max Elixir, Reverse Valley, and Fighting Fury Belt. There are only 2 copies of Max Elixir in this build of the deck because the attackers focus more on single Energy attachments. You will probably be in a stronger position if you are able to stream your non-EXs over Pokémon-EX in this deck. Max Elixir can make for those surprise attacks which can be very strong.
Reverse Valley gives this deck just a little bit more damage and Fighting Fury Belt makes your Pokémon last just a little bit longer. This deck might do better by just running Muscle Band due to the fact that Fighting Fury Belt does not work on Gallade or Zoroark. I do like a split though.
This deck will continue to thrive and is a strong contender for upcoming State Championships.
4. Greninja
Pokémon – 18 |
Trainers – 35 4 Brigette 1 Lysandre 1 Judge 1 AZ
4 Ultra Ball |
Energy – 7 7 W |
Here’s one of the most hyped decks to come from the new set. This deck is a powerhouse once it sets up. That is the main struggle however. Setting up can be slow as you are essentially setting up a Stage 3 Pokémon. The deck can be overrun early and can have trouble with Item lock. It does do well against almost everything that does not have Item lock though.
Some of the deck’s stronger matchups include Yveltal, Night March, and Manectric decks. Those are three of the top four performing decks for State Championships so far. This deck is worth testing based on that alone.
I do prefer the Rare Candy version of the deck over the Wally version as I find it more consistent throughout the game.
3. Vespiquen/Vileplume
Pokémon – 28 4 Combee AOR |
Trainers – 28
4 Acro Bike 4 Ultra Ball 1 Red Card
|
Energy – 4 |
This was surprisingly the fifth best performing deck over the weekend. I do not think this deck saw a heavy amount of play but the sheer strength of the deck gave it several top finishes. This deck was originally created by Andrew Wamboldt during City Championships. I tried this deck myself at a Cities and was very impressed by its consistency to get a turn 1 Vileplume, Red Card, and KO. I do not think this deck has a bad matchup if you go first. Aegislash-EX heavily counters it but Aegislash can be very difficult to search out under Item lock.
I expect to see this deck to become more prominent as State Championships progress.
2. Seismitoad/Giratina
Pokémon – 9 2 Giratina-EX AOR |
Trainers – 44 2 Team Flare Grunt 1 Xerosic
4 Ultra Ball
|
Energy – 7 |
This is the list piloted by Jeffrey Cheng to a first-place finish at Oregon States. I can see this as a strong play for Week 2 to counter the heavy amount of Night March. The list runs a 1-1 Slowking to give some added disruption but it is not a focus. It’s a nice non-EX to throw off the Prize trade if your opponent chooses to target it. It is my favorite thing about this list. This deck’s damage output is not very high but it can grind your opponent down till they have little to no resources left.
This is one of my top choices for Week 2-of State Championships for sure. I also expect it to be on the radar of other players as well.
1. Night March
Pokémon – 17 |
Trainers – 39 1 Hex Maniac 1 AZ
|
Energy – 4 |
I am sure it is expected that Night March would be at the number one spot on the list. The deck had the most top finishes by a very large margin. Fighting Fury Belt and Puzzle of Time add more to this deck than any other. Night March no longer has to play basic Energy. Fighting Fury Belt solves the Prize trade issue with Yveltal XY and also gives a much needed solution to Bats. There is a reason that Night March dominated Week 1.
That’s not to say that Night March is without bad matchups. Both Item lock and Giratina’s Chaos Wheel give the deck quite a bit of trouble. The deck can now fold quickly to a Chaos Wheel due to its lack of basic Energy. The deck does have the power to end games very quickly though with Target Whistle and its ability to 1HKO on the first turn.
There are several ways to run this deck. Vespiquen and Milotic also make great partners for this deck and are equally as strong.
This should be the number one deck to look out for. Every deck that you consider playing should have a way to deal with Night March.
Conclusion
Well, that’s all I have for you guys today. It was a pleasure as always writing for you. I hope you found what I had to say useful at your upcoming State Championships. My final words of advice are play something that you are comfortable with and that you play well. Do not necessarily play what you think the best deck is if you do not know how to play it well.
If you have any questions always feel free to ask down below. Hopefully I will see some of you guys at upcoming States. Good luck to everyone!
Brandon Cantu
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