It’s Good to Know Karate

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Good morning SixPrizes readers and welcome back to another article! It’s great to be back, as always, after a necessary break after the World Championships. For those who don’t know, I managed to finish 30th, snagging another Top 32 result to add to my list of accolades, with a rather unique deck, Green’s ReshiZard with Fighting Dojo and F Energy to deal with TAG TEAMs. The combo came in handy to take down two Ability ReshiZard decks to put me at 4-2, at which point I took an intentional draw to secure a Top 32 berth.

Now that a month has passed and the 2019–20 competitive season is in full swing, we are looking ahead to the first major event in the US, Atlantic City Regionals (and Cologne) (and São Paulo). What has changed since the World Championships? (1) Malamar has seen a resurgence at League Cups and (2) Ability ReshiZard has been crowned King of the Format, even though Mew Box won the World Championships. But what is a god to a non-believer? Who don’t believe in anything?

Green’s Dojo ReshiZard

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As the format has settled I’ve noticed that Green’s ReshiZard has fallen by the wayside in favor of more aggressive options for the Best-of-1 League Cup/Challenge format. In the Best-of-1 format, matches are often decided by the initial coin flip and the first couple of turns, so playing the most aggressive, board-controlling deck is correct. But the Best-of-3 format introduces another level of skill and deck building, which is where my favorite deck in this Standard format shines.

Green’s ReshiZard placed Top 8 at Sheffield, proving that it has potential, but few have faith in its power after seeing it crumble to Ability ReshiZard time and time again. Why do I believe that my Green’s ReshiZard list can handle Ability ReshiZard? Let’s take a look!

Card Choices

1 Lugia-GX

Why do we have a 2-Prize attacker in a deck that doesn’t want to give up 2 Prizes and tempo back to the opponent? Because Lost Purge-GX is such a strong GX attack. The only reason you should be using Lugia-GX is to get rid of a big threat that you otherwise don’t think you can handle, such as a ReshiZard with 6 Energies on it or a Mewtwo & Mew-GX with a lot of Energy on it as well.

I’m not completely sold on this card yet, but it has piqued my interest and I’ve enjoyed the few games I’ve put in with it thus far. My favorite play has been wiping out 3 Energy cards and a Giratina LOT from a Malamar deck, leaving them in a panic to find another attacker when their 2nd Giratina is left in their Prize cards.

The verdict is still out on this one, but for now it’s a flex slot.

2 Power Plant

My list originally sported only 1 copy of Power Plant, but after watching the meta develop, it feels like 2 is absolutely necessary. PikaRom, Ability ReshiZard, and Mew Box all heavily rely on using Dedechange as well as other Abilities. Stopping them is crucial for buying enough time to capture the tempo of the game because those decks are naturally faster than Green’s ReshiZard.

The card has other uses, like against Keldeo-GX in QuagNag decks that have been increasing in popularity due to their type advantage over the top decks.

1 Martial Arts Dojo, 1 Energy Spinner, 1 F Energy

This is the inclusion that set my deck apart at this year’s World Championships. How did I come up with something so clever? I didn’t—I was playing on PTCGO ladder a week before the Big Show and at ~4 AM I was going up against a mirror match when my opponent dropped this saucy combo on me and I was left speechless. I held boot camp right afterward at my house, so I began to obsess over this combo. I managed to work it into the final list because of the incredible comeback potential it provides. Being able to swing for 270 with Flare Strike and 1HKO almost any TAG TEAM in the game, when behind, coupled with a Reset Stamp, can swing the game back into your favor. And with Stealthy Hood, you almost always force Ability ReshiZard to get ahead in the Prize race, allowing you to snag an easy 3-Prize turn and Reset Stamp at the same time.

1 Stealthy Hood

I wanted to keep this card under wraps until Atlantic City, but given that it isn’t a secret anymore, I’m going to share my insight on it. Ability ReshiZard became the most aggressive deck and deck to beat, so Mew Box decks began playing a Wobbuffet LOT to deal with Victini p. This led me to start thinking about Stealthy Hood to get around this limiting factor.

I then began to ponder other uses it could have. Giratina’s Distortion Door and Ninetales’s Nine Temptations were the two biggest effects to deny that came to mind. Nine Temptations is how Ability ReshiZard wins games, by picking off your threats and capturing tempo completely. What if they had that sealed off? What if they had to wait for you to bring up your attacker and give you all the time in the world to set up?

That’s where sitting and waiting while building up your hand becomes incredibly strong, especially in tandem with the Dojo Combo to take out a ReshiZard and find your other 3 Prizes on Dedenne-GX and a 1-Prize attacker that will inevitably be brought up. Stopping Nine Temptations is game-winning and I think this card will shift the entire metagame moving forward.

0 Lusamine, 0 Lysandre Labs

These are my 61st and 62nd slots right now. I would like to include them to improve the Malamar matchup as well as have a 3rd Power Plant if a situation calls for it. Lusamine has been underwhelming in my testing, but Blaine Hill claimed it was instrumental to his Top 4 finish at this year’s World Championships, so it must have merit.

Lysandre Labs is a card that I have admittedly tested very little but have wanted to put into the deck for a while. It seems to have use in the current metagame with Malamar making a resurgence.

2 Mixed Herbs

This count may appear suspect, but the more I’ve played the deck, the less useful Mixed Herbs has been in any matchup that isn’t Malamar. The 2 copies ensure that you can deal with Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX’s Paralysis, but any more and you find yourself being Reset Stamped into dead cards toward the late game. My point is that they’re situational cards that aren’t playable early and can clog up your hand.

Reset Stamp PikaRom

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As many of you know, the deck that I had the most success with last year was PikaRom. Since the World Championships, I haven’t given it a fair chance because I believed it to be too slow and reliant on your opponent to miss an attack for you to succeed. However, I’ve decided to give it another chance.

The deck is still powerful and boasts consistency but falls to many of the top decks in the format. What can we do to give us a chance? Play the Judge version? I don’t like the Judge version because it sets you as far behind as your opponent, and as a turn 1 Supporter, Judge doesn’t feel that amazing.

How about Lillie? Lillie still doesn’t feel strong and most times you can’t get a lot of value out of it. Kaiwen Cabbabe did win the Melbourne SPE with a Lillie-based version of PikaRom, but that results seems to be the exception.

So what do I think is the best PikaRom list right now? Here we have it!

Card Choices

1 Hoopa UNM, 1 Tapu Fini UNM, 0 Zapdos TEU

Hoopa has become a versatile tech because of the splashable damage it provides in many matchups, namely against Malamar and Ability ReshiZard. Tapu Fini is included because I believe that having a 1-card tech to significantly improve a matchup is worth the slot. The matchup against Blacephalon is normally even, but including 1 card to almost auto-win it is invaluable. I want Zapdos in this list, but I am hard-pressed to find space for this classic addition to the deck. The tech 1-Prizers are better and there aren’t any other cuts to be made from the list.

4 Volkner, 3 Cynthia

I have always been an advocate for heavy Volkner in PikaRom decks because I believe it to be one of the best Supporters in the game right. Being able to get an Energy and any Item from your deck is too good to not use every turn. Early game an Electromagnetic Radar is all you need to set up your board, and Jirachi can help you fetch the Pokémon Communication to find Tapu Koko {} or Stadium Nav to grab Thunder Mountain {}.

Cynthia feels like the best option for a Supporter because my list plays heavy Reset Stamp and accepts the fact that we may fall behind early but stabilize toward the mid game. Judge and Lillie don’t gain any value when you’re hurting yourself, and most times you’re getting only 1 or 2 cards from Lillie.

3 Reset Stamp

Being able to grab this card with Volkner makes it one of the best cards in the deck. Being able to Reset Stamp your opponent twice in the late game can be crippling and force the one turn that you need to get back into the game and use Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX to steal it. This weekend in Top 8 of my League Cup I ended up losing Game 1 to a Reset Stamp + Paralyze play that I didn’t draw out of, and at that point I realized how strong the 3rd Stamp is in the deck.

3 Switch, 1 Escape Board

Escape Board doesn’t feel amazing in this format where decks are playing Lysandre Labs and some are even sporting copies of Absol TEU. I opted to go the 3 Switch route to make sure we have a mobile board, even through Power Plant shutting off Thunder Clap Zone. This also lets us play greedier and aim to get that coveted turn 1 Full Blitz.

2 Energy Switch, 1 Tag Switch

When I first was experimenting with this deck I wanted to have heavier counts of these cards, but as I began testing I realized that they hit the discard pile without any use more often than not. I find myself using 1 Energy Switch and maybe the Tag Switch to set up a big play, but with heavier counts you find yourself relying on them and making a big play that isn’t necessary. PikaRom thrives on using Full Blitz and setting up another big attacker, in our case Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX.

1 Thunder Mountain p, 2 Lysandre Labs, 1 Stadium Nav, 0 Power Plant

Thunder Mountain {} and Stadium Nav are staples in this deck as Stadium Nav acts as a bridge to Thunder Mountain {} that you can grab with a Volkner. Lysandre Labs has become the best Stadium in this deck because it helps your Malamar matchup and GardEon matchup by a lot.

The only other consideration for a Stadium is Power Plant. Power Plant gives you a chance against Keldeo-GX-based decks which this deck currently doesn’t have a great answer to. A timely late-game Reset Stamp paired with Power Plant can stick Ability ReshiZard and Mew Box decks with a hand that they can’t do anything with. This is a scary scenario for any deck to be staring down, so it may make its way into the deck as I continue testing.

Conclusion

If Atlantic City was tomorrow, I would be turning in a decklist for either Green’s ReshiZard or Mew Box. I think those are the two strongest decks that allow the most outplay potential in the format. I am frankly scared to play Ability ReshiZard because its consistency is suspect and most top players will bring answers for it into the tournament.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m back to content creation and streaming Monday through Thursday @ 8 PM EDT at twitch.tv/thefleeee, so come hang out, ask me questions, and watch my gameplay with these decks.

Thank you guys for reading, and if you have any questions please feel free to message me on Facebook or @thefleeee. As always, see you guys for my next article and good luck at your events! I’m at 123/500 CP for the season and I’m shooting for Top 16 as my end goal for the season. Set your goals early and shoot for the invite, everyone!

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