If You Need A List…

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Hello again readers. Today, I’m going to be dropping what I believe to be the optimal lists for almost every archetype. We’re in that little lull that always occurs between the last Regional and NAIC. Yes, there is Origins SPE in-between, but there aren’t exactly a bunch of people attending that event. This has led me to give a general overview of the format rather than an in-depth opinion on one specific deck.

The Post-Madison Tier List

Tier 1

• ReshiZard/Abilities
• PikaRom
• Blacephalon-GX
• Zoroark-GX/Persian-GX
• Green’s ReshiZard

Tier 2

• Blacephalon UNB
• Quagsire/Naganadel
• Weezing
• Malamar
• ZapBeasts
• Granbull

A Few Highlights

1. You’ll notice that I separated the Ability ReshiZard and Green’s ReshiZard. They have different enough matchups to where I consider them different decks. We saw Ability-based ReshiZard dominate at Madison, while Green’s ReshiZard had significantly less high placements. I expect the trend of Ability ReshiZard seeing more finishes than Green’s ReshiZard to continue through the coming weekends.
2. Going forward, I believe that Blacephalon-GX will see a resurgence in play because of how well it can handle the ReshiZard matchup and not immediately lose to the rest of the format.
3. As I predicted in my last article, Zoroark-GX claimed multiple spots in the Top 8 of Madison. I believe that with the right list, Zoroark-GX has the potential to claim another International Championship.

Tier 1

Ability ReshiZard

This is the list that I would be playing in any event that I didn’t have a bunch of time to test for and had to make a quick decision. It’s pretty close to the list that I posted in my previous article, with the most notable changes being a 2nd Eevee & Snorlax-GX and a copy of Fiery Flint. If you want to see an in-depth discussion on the deck as a whole, I encourage you to refer back to my previous article. This is probably the best deck in format currently, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

PikaRom

I think Rahul and Xander pretty much nailed the perfect list for PikaRom. When talking with some of the group that played it, I gathered that they managed to take a winnable matchup against ReshiZard, which surprised me quite a bit. I think this is the deck with the most potential to break open the format. The one change I made from their list was cutting a Zeraora-GX for a Switch. When playing games, I found that I wanted a Switch card that could be searched for with Volkner, but not force my opponent to also switch, like Escape Rope would do. I contemplated cutting the Escape Rope, but there were enough situations where it was good, so I could not justify cutting it.

Blacephalon-GX

Zach Lesage played 59 of these cards and bubbled Top 16 with it. I ended up cutting a Lillie for a Drifblim UPR. In theory, Drifblim allows us to auto-win the Weezing matchup, which feels worth a slot. The Persian-GX is an incredibly cool tech and is very strong. It allows a player to search out Beast Rings or a Welder after the Beast Ring turns are over. I’m going to be honest: I have no idea how Lesage didn’t win the event with his list. I think people are going to start adapting to decks like this, but if they do not, Blacephalon-GX is one of my top picks to win NAIC.

Zoroark-GX/Persian-GX

Alex Krekeler introduced us to the idea that Marshadow-GX can take a 1HKO on an Eevee & Snorlax-GX when coupled with Alolan Grimer TEU, Koga’s Trap, and Choice Band. It also provides a good way to KO a PikaRom, which is one of the deck’s harder matchups. I think that Zoroark-GX has the potential to beat everything in the game when teched correctly, but it requires quite a bit of luck to do so. Zoroark is what I would call the high-roll deck of the current Standard format.

Green’s ReshiZard

I haven’t put much thought into the Green’s version of ReshiZard, because I believe it to be inferior to the Ability version. However, it generally has a favorable matchup against the Ability version and has a much better Zapdos matchup when compared to the Ability version. However, it suffers much worse matchups against decks that are built to counter ReshiZard, such as Quagsire/Naganadel and Zoroark-GX/Slowking. Going forward, I don’t expect people to play this variant as much.

See Also: Rahul Reddy’s Green’s ReshiZard analysis.

Tier 2

Blacephalon UNB

I helped create the list that did well in Madison by contributing the idea of Flareon-GX. The deck is pretty strong overall, but it suffers quite a bit against Alolan Muk + Judge and Let Loose in general. It also suffers from the influx of Water-type counters that supposedly deal with ReshiZard. I think that a few people will try to make the deck good but ultimately fail. A few may sneak into Day 2 of NAIC, but it isn’t the threat it was once hyped to be.

See Also: Connor Finton’s Blacephalon UNB analysis.

Quagsire/Naganadel

I won’t claim to be an expert on how Quagsire/Naganadel is built, but Frank Percic’s list stands out to me as the best one I have seen in a very long time. The idea of Pheramosa & Buzzwole-GX is incredible, and I am amazed that no one had thought of it before now. I changed a few cards from his list, but most of the counts are the same. I decided that I wanted the 3rd Quagsire DRM instead of the Quagsire UNB. I also cut the Escape Board for a 3rd Wishful Baton because of how important it is to find and stick the Wishful Baton.

Weezing

I have never liked Weezing very much because of how badly it loses to any Zoroark deck. However, I still expect people to play the deck and I think that the list I have made can handle the deck’s good matchups rather well. However, Weezing suffers when paired against a player that knows how to beat it, which means that it will generally have a weaker Day 2 finish when compared to other decks. Sure, you may sneak into Day 2, but after that, you’ll be hard-pressed to win enough games to make Top 8. I fully expect people to continue playing the deck because something about the Spread archetype seems to draw a certain crowd in at every event.

Malamar

Malamar is a deck that is underrated in my opinion. It boasts winnable matchups against both ReshiZard and PikaRom because of its ability to take big KOs in one turn. It also has the ability to spam Giratina, which conveniently 2-shots both PikaRom and ReshiZard (with the help of Distortion Door). I’ve opted to split between Ultra Necrozma-GX and Necrozma-GX because Black Ray-GX is very strong in the current meta, but I still want access to Sky-Scorching Light-GX. I’m going to be putting a lot more time into Malamar in the next few weeks, and if it’s as good as I am thinking, then it’s a real contender for “the play” at NAIC.

ZapBeasts

Zapdos has kind of fallen off recently because of Green’s ReshiZard. However, it can still beat Ability ReshiZard, so there’s hope for the deck. This is a list of my own making, but I haven’t had the time or will to test Zapdos yet. I don’t know how well Marshadow & Machamp-GX will actually work without basic Fighting Energy, but I like the card as an attacker against Zoroark and PikaRom. Going forward, we’re going to need to be careful of Zapdos if the amount of play that Green’s ReshiZard sees decreases substantially. I personally do not plan on playing Zapdos, but I’m sure there are people out there who have their hearts set on playing it for NAIC.

See Also: Connor Finton’s ZapBeasts analysis.

Granbull

A lot of people “knew” about Granbull becoming stronger before Madison, but almost nobody took it seriously. Now, there’s a very real chance that it becomes meta-relevant, and it is important to know how to beat it. This list is close to the one that saw play in Madison, with a few changes that may or may not help the deck. The biggest issue I had with the deck was that it only played 3 Ultra Ball while playing 4 Apricorn Maker. Generally, Ultra Ball is the best way to get your hand down to 0 cards, so not playing 4 made no sense to me. Again, this is a deck that I personally don’t see myself playing, but I can see why people are drawn to it.

Final Thoughts

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This was a little bit of an unorthodox article today, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The way I see it, we now have good lists for almost every deck in the game all in one place. This is a major boon when going into NAIC, because it allows us to have easy access to every deck we can reasonably expect to see, and perfect our game plans against each deck.

I believe that it is generally helpful to have an overall understanding of what the meta is going to look like, so here that is real quick. In order of amount played:

Meta Top Five

1. ReshiZard (either variant)
2. PikaRom
3. Zoroark
4. Blacephalon-GX
5. A combination of my “Tier 2” decks

When deciding a play for NAIC, I will be following the guidelines of beating at least 3/4 of the Tier 1 decks, while not losing to every other deck imaginable. With Origins SPE approaching, there is always a chance that the meta will shift and a new deck will emerge. This has happened a few times over the years, with the most notable deck emerging being Darkrai-EX BKP/Giratina-EX AOR in 2016.

Anyway, that’s all I have for you today. Good luck and have fun in Origins or playing in whatever local-level event you might be attending. I have another article before NAIC, so watch out for that in a couple of weeks!

As always, feel free to message me with any questions that you might have about anything related to Pokémon. I also now offer coaching! Either email me (alex.schemanske@gmail.com) or PM me if interested.

Until the next one.

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