You Have a Good Deck

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve been well. As for me, I’m finally settled into my apartment on campus and looking forward to a (hopefully long) school year. With word of many campuses closing down, I wouldn’t be surprised if UIUC also kicked the can and sent us to all-online early. However, their testing system is working well so far; I predict that we’ll know the true outcome of our ecosystem in about a week once multiple rounds of tests have come back.

You didn’t come here to read about that though—you came here to read about Pokémon! In this article, I’ll be focusing on the results of the Players Cup and what that spells for the future of the format. I hope that you can take away something meaningful, and without further ado, let’s get into it!

Players Cup Results

Bronzong right now #PlayPokemon pic.twitter.com/BALJA3XPhS

— Kyle Sucevich (@Pooka311) August 29, 2020

This past weekend we saw the final 16 players duke it out over the past few days. Here’s a link to the full results from those players; I’ll be covering some notable archetypes and ultimately discuss why I think things panned out how they did.

Finals VOD Links

• Preshow: https://youtu.be/NQPCl7Kus3w
• Day 1: https://youtu.be/XljtVtmFKUg
• Day 2: https://youtu.be/k0nnVdAr-oc

Overview

Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Zacian V dominated the tournament, finishing 1st and 2nd with the same exact list. Kudos to Jack Millar and Matthew Burris for this great accomplishment. I know that when I’ve built decks in the past, it’s been rewarding to succeed and equally rewarding to watch my friends do well with the same deck too. In fact, those are some of my favorite tournaments and best stories!

The most popular deck was ADP/Zacian V, with 6/16 players piloting it. Victor Freitas finished 3rd with a list centered around Tag Call, while most others played the traditional Supporter line with Marnie and Cherish Ball. Heitor Gomez placed 5th with his version, and the remaining four players finished in the bottom half of the tournament. This makes it the worst-performing deck of the expected meta decks going into the tournament.

Another deck that underperformed was Eternatus VMAX. 4/16 players played it, with two of them tying for 7th and the remaining two finishing in the bottom half. Their lists were fairly standard, with deviations in the Energy line. Some chose to play only D Energy and Capture Energy, while others played Hiding D Energy too. The only Special Energy-hatred in the tournament was Dangerous Drill, as no one played Giratina UNM.

Perhaps the most surprising result of the tournament is Tord Reklev’s Inteleon VMAX/Frosmoth SSH deck. His deck relied on taking 2HKOs with Inteleon VMAX consistently, as it caps out at 160 damage. Galarian Zigzagoon and Scoop Up Nets allow it to reach the magical 180 damage to KO a Crobat V, and also 340 for Eternatus VMAX.

If nothing else, it totally reminds me of a “Tord deck”: consistent, straightforward, and flavorful.

Centiskorch VMAX was also played by two people, Marco Cifuentes Meta and Daniel Hugar. They finished 5th and 13th, respectively. Marco’ played a traditional list that made use of key support Pokémon like Crobat V, Dedenne-GX, and Heatran-GX, whereas Daniel’s list utilized Green’s Exploration. Abilities outperformed Green’s, likely due to the extra tools at its disposal. Green’s Exploration is also vulnerable to Marnie.

The last deck at the tournament was Decidueye DAA/Galarian Obstagoon SSH, played by Alex Piney. Frankly, I’m surprised he didn’t finish better considering the field. However, he first lost to Jack Millar and eventually Marco Cifuentes Meta. The deck must be pretty inconsistent playing two Stage 2 lines, and having thin lines of both at that.

The Winner: Metalbox

It needs no repeating; this deck dominated.

This deck was a great meta call because it was able to dismantle and outlast other decks in the format. The damage reduction from Metal Goggles and Full Metal Wall-GX adds up, turning some 2HKOs into 3HKOs when paired with Mallow & Lana. The deck also makes great use of Zamazenta V, allowing it to further defensively bolster its matchups against VMAX opponents. This deck beat half of the field in the deckbuilding stage with Zamazenta V and Bronzong TEU, locking out Centiskorch VMAX, Inteleon VMAX, and Eternatus VMAX. From there, it was just a battle of overcoming ADP/Zacian V.

Against ADP/Zacian V, a good strategy is to slowly set up until they’ve committed Altered Creation-GX. Once that happens, a quick Full Metal Wall-GX stifles them from spamming Energy onto the board with Ultimate Ray. Brave Blade can make quick work of any opposing Zacian V, and you won’t be 1HKO’d in return with a Metal Goggles attached. Some ADP/Zacian V lists were running defensive Tools as well, but then the match turns into a 2HKO war where you can pick off Dedenne-GX or Crobat V on the Bench. You also had additional time to attach Energies to your Pokémon on the Bench while waiting for the Altered Creation-GX to come out.

Decklist Aspects

Jack and Matthew’s decklist is incredibly straightforward. They chose to ensure auto-wins against VMAX and Fire decks with the thick lines of 2 Zamazenta V and 2-2 Bronzong. This protects against bad Prize cards and in case there were any singular techs to counter them. It’s important to note the lack of Crobat V and Dedenne-GX, which would only help the opponent in taking their Prize cards. LucMetal/Zacian V’s greatest strength is its entirely defensive nature, and giving the opponent any easy ways to close out the game is counterintuitive.

One thing that really surprises me about the list is 4 Pokémon Communication. I think this is a smart choice, as it greatly increases the probability of finding Zacian V on turn one without a Supporter. Pokémon Communication is also the only way of searching out Bronzong, which is a necessity to set up quickly against Fire decks.

The last important aspect of the list is the defensive package: 2 Mallow & Lana, 1 Cynthia & Caitlin, and 4 Metal Goggles. Most of this is self-explanatory, but what stands out is the 4 copies of Metal Goggles. Considering that it’s very important to always protect Zacian V, it makes sense and reduces variability. Metal Goggles also blocks Galarian Zigzagoon, which isn’t entirely relevant but is a nice touch.

Different Shades of ADP/Zacian V

Despite sharing an archetype, there were four vastly different Trainer lines within the six players piloting it. Each version revolved around a different card: Tag Call, Crushing Hammer, Pokémon Catcher, and Energy Switch. Each of these tries to give the deck one way or another, whether it be in speed, consistency, or versatility. I’m going to highlight Victor’s and Will’s lists, which were the Tag Call and Pokémon Catcher versions. The other ones are listed on the Limitless website.

Victor’s Tag Call List

One tradeoff from running Tag Call over Cherish Ball is that Tag Call becomes a dead card as the game progresses. Cherish Ball is an out to Dedenne-GX, whereas in this list the best draw card that Tag Call can get is Cynthia & Caitlin. The upside to this is the turn one potential in grabbing Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX and Guzma & Hala. With that, the T2 Altered Creation-GX is all but guaranteed. The single copy of Capture Energy is nice because it adds an out to Zacian V to get out of dead hands when you would otherwise be stuck with just Guzma & Hala.

Red’s Challenge is a cool addition, but I’m unconvinced by its inclusion. My guess is that it’s a flexible 4th Boss’s Orders in that it can grab Great Catcher but also whatever else that’s needed. I’m skeptical of it because Guzma & Hala can grab every other card that I can think of: Aurora Energy, Air Balloon, Metal Goggles, and Giant Bomb. I suppose it’s also an out to Metal Saucer, but I’d rather just chuck down a Professor’s Research to draw one rather than searching it out at the cost of two cards and the Supporter for turn.

Lastly, I really like the niche Tool cards that he included. Giant Bomb and Metal Goggles make a lot of sense with the Guzma & Hala engine, but they also extend the scope of the deck’s damage output and improve key matchups. I don’t think it’s possible for ADP/Zacian V to beat the winning LucMetal/Zacian V list without Metal Goggles because of the negative Prize trade and less consistent setup.

Will’s Turbo List

Will’s list is much different than Victor’s. This list tries for the T1 Altered Creation-GX and closing the game ASAP. The max amounts of Pokémon Catcher make it easy to pick off Dedenne-GX and Crobat V from the Bench, even with an empowered Ultimate Ray. Because the deck has extra reliance on finding the key Items for setting up, Jirachi is necessary.

One noticeable pitfall is that the deck lacks any longevity in dealing with Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Zacian V. So much of the deck’s space is dedicated toward speed, yet it isn’t fast enough to overpower Full Metal Wall-GX. Against other matchups though, the speed does a lot in preying on the format’s reliance on Crobat V and Dedenne-GX. This list does well in mirror because it’s incredibly fast and can KO two 2-Prize Pokémon without wasting a turn swinging into ADP-GX.

Eternatus VMAX

This is Austin Lanham’s 7th place list. Eternatus VMAX is a powerful deck, but easily countered by Zamazenta V. The current counterplay is to attack with Crobat V or Hoopa, but those are settling on slow 2HKOs. At that point, it would be easy for the Zacian V player to pivot into a Zacian V, take a quick KO, and then go back into Zamazenta V. Even if you managed to score a knockout on the Zacian V, it’ll take another turn or two to load up another attacker to counter the returning Zamazenta V.

Aside from that glaring weakness, I like that Austin’s list is almost purely dedicated to speed and consistency. Turbo Patch can help make up for missed Energy attachments and is a burnable card for Crobat V. Viridian Forest is underrated, but well placed in Eternatus VMAX. It’s incredibly important to always land the attachment on an Eternatus V each turn. Viridian Forest can also clear out a card from the hand before Dark Asset.

Looking Ahead

I'm not saying banning ADP will make all your favorite rogue decks good but in my 10 years playing this game I have never seen a single card kill so many decks, ideas and creativity like ADP has.#BANADP

— AzulGG (@Azul_GG) August 31, 2020

There’s unrest in the Pokémon community when it comes to the Standard format. Twitter is blowing up with people calling for an ADP ban, and people defending ADP. If you’ve seen my Twitter, you’ll know that I want to keep ADP and ban Zacian V instead. I won’t reiterate it here, but let it be known that I think Zacian V is a problematic card!

Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Zacian V will be the BDIF moving forward because of its capability to hard-counter its bad matchups and outlast most others. One solution is for Fire decks, namely Centiskorch VMAX, to run 1 or 2 non-Fire type Pokémon to counter Bronzong. Two good examples are Cramorant V and Meowth V. Both Pokémon require 3 C Energy, with the difference being in the damage and downside. Cramorant V discards 2 Energy for 160 damage, whereas Meowth V does a flat 130. Cramorant V can 1HKO through Metal Goggles, so I think it’s a more worthwhile inclusion. Sniping 160 is also good for closing out the game by KOing a Dedenne-GX in other matchups.

ADP/Zacian V will need to include Metal Goggles in order to have a chance against Lucario & Melmetal/Zacian V. 2 copies should be sufficient, especially if the Tag Call/Guzma & Hala engine continues to succeed.

Eternatus VMAX will need to adapt to Zamazenta V… somehow. One idea that I had is to include more Hoopa DAA, but that still only does 30 damage after a Full Metal Wall-GX. I think that the deck will become worse as Zamazenta V becomes more popular, and there isn’t much of a counter other than Sableye V. Even then, it’s difficult to get any sort of damage onto Zamazenta V because of Metal Goggles. It’s likely worth accepting the auto-loss and moving on, despite it being a big auto-loss.

If Eternatus VMAX is shifted out of the meta, then PikaRom could make somewhat of a return. PikaRom is one of the few decks that might be able to overpower Lucario & Melmetal/Zacian V, especially because Reset Stamp + Tandem Shock. Without Crobat V or Dedenne-GX, it’s much less likely to draw into the Switch or Mallow & Lana. PikaRom should also put in work against Centiskorch VMAX, especially against the Abilities version that doesn’t run Hyper Potion.

I really like the concept of Decidueye/Galarian Obstagoon, but it has obvious weaknesses. Looking at the bracket, it appears that Alex lost to Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Zacian V somehow, then lost to Centiskorch VMAX. I think that the deck would be better off solely focusing on Decidueye so that it can include a full 4-2-4 line. It also would be cool to include a 2-2 Bronzong line to auto-win current Centiskorch VMAX lists, almost taking a stall-esque approach rather than a post-SSH release Galarian Obstagoon approach. A stall version of Decidueye just might work with the right way of KOing the counter!

Well, that’s all I have for today’s article! Hopefully I summarized the Players Cup well enough for you to take its results and start testing some post-rotation TEU–DAA. I’m not super excited about this Standard format, but a new format is new.

As always, follow me on Twitter if you’re looking for sparing tweets about Pokémon and random college life. I try to be funny! (Keyword: try.) Nevertheless, I hope you’re doing well amidst all the panic in the world.

Xander

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