Post Rotation Update — Updating Dark Box
Hey guys, Rukan here. A few weeks passed since my last article, and I finally got to see the community discuss their thoughts of various archetypes on social media. More importantly, players finally started testing for Worlds and I got to try some of my deck ideas in action against living breathing opponents. Today’s article discusses how I’ve seen the post rotation meta develop in the two weeks since NAIC and how I’ve updated Dark Box since I started playtesting. I’ve also tossed in a quick Lost March list towards the end because I found that it might have some potential in the upcoming format!
Social Media Meta
Without any significant tournaments in the Worlds format, any meta knowledge comes predominantly from social media and a bit from the Fight Club group I organize online, where players meet up to play out games every weekday night.
[cardimg name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ align=”right” c=”custom”]The top dog to beat[/cardimg]
During the first week after NAIC, players focused most of their attention on [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card]. These three archetypes retained a lot of consistency cards and offer straightforward aggressive strategies, so players naturally gravitated towards them. As players got to playtest more, many started expressing doubts over whether they could truly build Malamar consistently enough. Malamar requires more setup than the other two archetypes, and thus suffers more from the loss of consistency as well. Blacephalon-GX also struggles much more against Malamar variants now that Let Loose [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card] rotated as well. The threat of Tapu Fini also scared many members of the community even though I saw literally zero decks playing it. So in my opinion, this left Pikachu & Zekrom-GX as the top performing archetype of the three. Results from both my Fight Club group, private playtesting, and general word of mouth seemingly confirmed this.
The second week of playtesting saw more interesting builds crop up. Players got more comfortable with the consistency engines of the format and started branching out. In particular, I saw a large influx of Choice Helmet variants with lots of healing cards. This consisted primarily of [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] and some [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] builds. These tanky builds tend to survive early pressure much more reliably now that Pikachu & Zekrom-GX lost [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] with rotation. It also performs quite well against [card name=”Giratina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] spam from Malamar variants. These healing decks seem like a natural reaction to the fact that Pikarom and Malamar received more hype than Blacephalon-GX in the first week. Leading into the next week, I somewhat expect Blacephalon-GX to see a resurgence as an answer to the tanky archetypes I saw from the second week.
Dark Box – First Build – Sharknadel with Elms
In my last article, I presented a list with four [card name=”Professor Elm’s Lecture” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”213″ c=”name”][/card] and four [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”233″ c=”name”][/card]. At the time I just wanted to try out the engine. But it failed to set up a few too many times and I dropped it for a more traditional Lillie engine. From this experience, I would probably advise against playing similar engines in other archetypes as well.
[premium]
Dark Box – Second Build – Sharknadel with Lillie
Following the Elm’s build, I returned out a more traditional draw engine and found myself setting up much more often.
[decklist name=”Sharknadel” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″][pokemon amt=”23″]3x [card name=”Sharpedo” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”111″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Carvanha” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”110″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Poipole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”55″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x Weavile-GX2x [card name=”Sneasel” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”73″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Darkrai Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x Umbreon & Darkrai-GX1x Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX1x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”24″]4x [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Erika’s Hospitality” set=”Team Up” no=”174″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Tate and Liza” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”166″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”196″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x Cherish Ball2x [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”145″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Ultra Space” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Black Market Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”13″]13x [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”168″ c=”deck2″ amt=”13″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
Sharpedo
When I started testing Dark Box, I mostly tested it against Blacephalon-GX. In that particular matchup, [card name=”Sharpedo” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card] makes a big difference, swinging the Prize race cleanly in your favor. In every other matchup, Sharpedo offers you a fast, efficient, single Prize attacker for your turn two. Sharpedo can literally set up for a single Stage 1 and some manual attachments. Compare that to setting up three Energy on an Umbreon & Darkrai-GX. That would require drawing three Energy manually, discarding one of them, manually attaching two of them, evolving a Naganadel, and then evolving a Weavile-GX. Unfortunately, Sharpedo did not help quite enough against the likes of Pikarom, but more on that later down the article.
Naganadel
I liked Sharpedo so much I ran a 4-4 line of it in earlier builds, with only 3-3 [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card]. But after more testing, I realized my mistake. you want to set up 3-3 Naganadel most games to keep your Energy supply rolling. And after further testing, I realized that I could easily make due with 3-3 Sharpedo. I may consider reducing the Sharpedo line down even further but I worry that I may whiff my T2 attack with Sharpedo much more often with less than a 3-3 line.
13 Darkness Energy
I started with 12 Darkness Energy in previous list, a sensible number I thought. But after testing, I found I whiffed Energy, either in hand or from Sharpedo’s Ability, pretty much every single game. I upped the Darkness Energy count to 14 to compensate and enjoyed that much more, but still ran into some consistency issues related to setup. So for now, I cut it to 13, making room for an additional [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card].
[cardimg name=”Darkrai Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”77″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Ramps up damage even faster[/cardimg]
Darkrai Prism Star
This card is overpowered and a no-brainer inclusion in the deck. With 13 Energy in the deck and four copies of [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”196″ c=”name”][/card], you actually hit 2 Energy with [card name=”Darkrai Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card]’s Ability a significant portion of your turn ones. And when you do so, you immediately setup a big turn two threat for any matchup.
The Tag Teams
Sharpedo and Darkrai Prism Star serve as the early pressure for the archetype. But eventually you want to transition into one of your Tag Teams: Either Umbreon & Darkrai-GX or Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX. Usually I prefer Umbreon & Darkrai-GX due to its GX attack, but Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX still serves an important role in a few niche matchups such as Ultra Malamar, Beast Box, and [card name=”Shedinja” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card].
Onix
While not in the list I posted, I want to bring this tech up because I did test it against Pikarom at one point. Unfortunately, the heavy Retreat Cost usually guarantees you a loss if you ever start it Active in nearly any matchup, including Pikarom. Due to the Retreat Cost, you generally need to find some big combo using Weavile-GX and [card name=”Carvanha” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”110″ c=”name”][/card] just to attack T2, and that never happens. I always found myself wishing I drew Carvanha over [card name=”Onix” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] turn one, even against Pikarom, because it would allow me to pressure my opponent turn two much more consistently.
4-4-1-1 Supporter Line
Last season, I would often run a Supporter count of four [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] and four [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] in most decks, seeing little need for a 9th Supporter. But with [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] rotated out of the format, I struggle a lot more to transition from draw Supporter to the next. During this time, I experimented with a few builds. First, I tried a build with four Pokegear, four Lillie, four Cynthia, and zero [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card]. This build still whiffed draw Supporters a lot, and I quickly realized I could not forego 4 Cherish Ball plus Dedenne-GX in my engine. Afterwards, I tried a build with four Lillie, four Cynthia, one Erika, and one [card name=”Tate and Liza” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card]. I found a comfortable balance with a 10 draw Supporter count, with the Tate and Liza offering an out to some of the status effect shenanigans of the format. But I may still update this Supporter line in the future.
Opinions on the Second Build
I like the second build from a consistency standpoint. In testing, it just sets up and does its job more often than not. But without [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”231″ c=”name”][/card], the deck still loses a lot of games where it sets up because your opponent’s Custom Catcher allows them to pick off a Weavile-GX to both disrupt you and swing the Prize race in their favor.
But, to everyone still searching for some good “core lists” for their playtesting pool, I still highly recommend this one due to its sheer consistency and formidable prize trade properties.
Dark Box – Third Build – Scoop Ups and Custom Catchers
As much as I enjoy consistency, the format really demands Custom Catcher. So next, I sought to build a list that could fit Custom Catcher.
Sharpedo takes a tremendous amount of deck space, and got cut to make room. The Sharpedo line not only consumed six deck slots for the Pokemon, but also demanded a thicker energy Count. I cut an additional two Basic Energy which allowed me to fit both four Custom Catcher as well as four [card name=”Super Scoop Up” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card]. Weavile-GX synergizes very well with Super Scoop Up and the deck simply needs that kind of healing now that it cannot rely on Sharpedo to swing the prize race in its favor.
[decklist name=”Dark Scoops” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Greninja and Zoroark-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”107″][pokemon amt=”18″]2x Weavile-GX2x [card name=”Sneasel” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”73″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Poipole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”55″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x Umbreon & Darkrai-GX1x Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX1x Mewtwo and Mew-GX1x Dragonite-GX1x [card name=”Darkrai Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Greninja and Zoroark-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”32″]4x [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”231″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”196″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x Cherish Ball4x [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Super Scoop Up” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”166″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”145″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Black Market Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”10″]10x [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”168″ c=”deck2″ amt=”10″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
Four Pokemon Communication
Part of me does not like Pokemon Communication that much in this deck, because it does not discard, and this deck wants to discard a lot of Pokemon and Energy. However, it helps find the critical [card name=”Sneasel” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card] necessary for the game plan and helps you find Darkrai Prism Star as well. As such I consider it a necessary four-of in the deck.
Four Acro Bike, Three Cherish Ball, Two Mysterious Treasure
As stated several times already, I needed to make cuts to fit Custom Catcher and Super Scoop Up in the deck. This means I cannot fit a full complement of item based search cards and draw power. I kept the full count of [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card] as the deck runs a lot of moving pieces and Acro Bikes do a better job of finding the right card at the right time, even if that card might not be a Pokemon. The deck needs to run four Pokemon Communication to set up Weavile-GX as quickly as possible and to find Darkrai Prism Star more consistently. This meant I needed to cut either Cherish Ball or Mysterious Treasure. I reasoned the third build does not depend as heavily as Naganadel as past builds so I opted to cut down to two Mysterious Treasure and three Cherish Ball.
3-3 Naganadel
Without Sharpedo, you depend on Naganadel to accelerate Energy. This meant, I first tested the list with a 4-4 Naganadel line, which I liked. The thick line of Naganadel let me set up a bit more explosively, and I always felt better if I ever needed to Dedenne-GX away a few Naganadels to keep drawing. But, I needed to make sacrifices to fit both four Custom Catcher and four Super Scoop ups, so I went down to 3-3 Naganadel as a result.
One Greninja & Zoroark-GX
I excluded this Pokemon in earlier builds because it never hits big numbers in the late game, and I preferred Sharpedo for early game pressure. But now that I cut Sharpedo, [card name=”Greninja and Zoroark-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card] fills the niche role of just hitting your opponent for 90 damage for two Darkness Energy for early pressure. Afterwards, you can keep ramping up its damage or scoop it up to replace it with a different attacker.
Mewtwo & Mew-GX and Dragonite-GX
Russell LaParre presented the idea of Dragonite-GX to me. Combined with Mewtwo & Mew-GX, it allows Dark Box to hit 270 Damage for five Energy, eliminating Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX or Pikachu & Zekrom-GX from the field.
Tyranitar-GX
The current list does not run a copy of [card name=”Tyranitar-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card], but I may consider a copy. As a Stage 2, you would need to cheat it out with Greninja & Zoroark-GX’s GX attack. However, it singly handedly autowins the [card name=”Spell Tag” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”235″ c=”name”][/card] Malamar and Shedinja matchups for you if you run it. So you may consider adding a copy in the future.
[cardimg name=”Tyranitar-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”121″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Finally time to lay the smackdown?[/cardimg]
2 Viridian, 0 Ultra Space
I replaced [card name=”Ultra Space” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] for [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] as this new lists offers much more discard synergy than earlier builds. The Sharpedo builds would front a three primary attacker with that required three Basic Energy. Since you would lose three Energy every single turn, you needed to build a thick Naganadel line to keep recovering said Energy. The new Dark box on the other hand, can theoretically snowball Energy by tanking hits and healing the damage off with Super Scoop Up. As such it does not need thick Naganadel lines as much as previous builds. Instead, it just wants to discard as much Energy as it can during the early turns to accelerate with the few Naganadels you do setup.
10 Darkness Energy
This deck runs a lot less Energy than previous builds, but you simply do not need as many when you do not run Sharpedo. I would typically run seven or eight Energy in a Malamar build, but Dark Box wants more than three Energy during early turns so I went with 10 count instead.
0 Nanu
I did try two copies of [card name=”Nanu” set=”Team Up” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] in early builds. In theory, it would allow me to recover from a Custom Catcher snipe on Weavile-GX, replace a damaged Tag Team with Sneasel to effectively deny two Prizes, or clear a Dedenne-GX off my bench. But I never really pulled the combo off effectively in playtesting, so I cut it for now. I may reintroduce a copy in the future if it feels necessary, but my current playtesting results lead me to believe I would actually prefer a 3rd copy of Sneasel over a 1st copy of Nanu.
Opinions on the Third Build
The third build feels less polished from a consistency standpoint than the second build. With the second build, you could just setup a Sharpedo and start hitting your opponent. In this third build, you rarely do that unless you draw phenomenally well or just start Zoroark & Greninja-GX in the Active. But every deck needs to pay a consistency price to run Custom Catcher these days, so I believe the third build brings me closer to a truly optimal Dark Box list, and of the three builds presented in this article, I think the third build stands the best chance against Pikachu & Zekrom-GX.
Lost March
As mentioned earlier in the article, I also wanted to share a cheeky Lost March list. With players investing in tanky Tag Team archetypes, it could pay off to try out other archetypes with effectively unlimited damage output. Particularly ones that ignore [card name=”Choice Helmet” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”229″ c=”name”][/card]. So allow me to introduce my take on Lost March. It runs three copies of Hoopa from Unified Minds to improve the Malamar matchup.
[decklist name=”Lost March” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″][pokemon amt=”24″]4x [card name=”Jumpluff” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”14″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Skiploom” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”13″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Hoppip” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”12″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Trumbeak” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x Hoopa1x [card name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”30″]4x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Professor Elm’s Lecture” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”213″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Erika’s Hospitality” set=”Team Up” no=”174″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Lost Blender” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”233″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Net Ball” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”234″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”196″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”231″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Escape Board” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”6″]5x [card name=”Grass Energy” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”5″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Boost Energy Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
Four Jirachi
I added four Jirachi and three [card name=”Escape Board” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card] to the list early on and never turned back. Lost March needs something to make up for the loss of [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card], Marshadow, and Tapu Lele-GX. I could run Dedenne-GX I suppose, but [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] faired quite well for me in testing.
When I originally started building the list, I kept both [card name=”Emolga” set=”Team Up” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] and Jirachi, but ultimately cut the Emolga due to space related issues.
Three Hoopa
Without [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card], Lost March cannot really leverage [card name=”Natu” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”87″ c=”name”][/card] as an attacker. And so the deck really needs some extra single Energy attackers to make up for the void. You could run [card name=”Kartana” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”19″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Pheromosa and Buzzwole-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”1″ c=”name”][/card], but I like the new Hoopa from Unified Minds the most. Lost March historically struggled against all Malamar variants, and Hoopa swings that matchup heavily into Lost March’s favor. It hits Giratina for weakness, often for OHKO, while surviving a Shadow Impact. If you trade away your Jumpluffs early on, you could eventually set up an end game with lots of Hoopas that can survive a Sky Scorching Light-GX as well.
[cardimg name=”Jumpluff” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”14″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Let’s get to marchin'[/cardimg]
Six Energy
When I first tried the list, I ran seven total Energy. I reasoned that I would want at least six Energy for single Prize matchups, so seven would help deal with prizing issues. But when I played out actual hands, I found Energy quite clunky. Lost March cannot simply attach Energy to a [card name=”Hoppip” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card], so you often need to hold Energy, which in makes your Lillie less efficient. In response I cut down to the bare minimum six Energy in order to avoid hands where I simply draw too much Energy. I ended up replacing the 7th Energy with a copy of [card name=”Erika’s Hospitality” set=”Team Up” no=”174″ c=”name”][/card], as I found I wanted big hands to push for that one extra [card name=”Lost Blender” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”233″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Trumbeak” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] to reach an OHKO.
Two Lillie, Two Elm’s, Four Cynthia
I like Elm’s in Lost March, as it serves a purpose in both the early and late game. I tried four Lillie and four Cynthia first, but found that Lost March can struggle with clogged hands when it comes to Lillie. As a result I cut the two Lillie for Professor Elm’s Lecture.
Summary
Not much changes from old Lost March lists aside from the transition from Emolga to Jirachi and Natu to Hoopa. But at the end of the day, simple straightforward lists tend to perform the best and this list offers exactly that. I like the concept of Hoopa a lot, I think the popularity of Malamar forces Lost March to run Hoopa to keep up. On the other hand, testing revealed that Lost March still kind of struggles to hit Tag Team numbers so it does not exactly autowin GX matchups. So I would describe this particular Lost March list as offering a reasonably well rounded matchup spread, as opposed to something truly meta breaking.
Closing Thoughts
The Post Rotation format still offers a lot of new archetypes to explore and new tech cards to test. I hope the Dark Box List, Lost March List, and Meta Overview I provided help inspire you to try something a bit off the beaten path. Anyways, that sums up my Post Rotation testing in the two weeks since NAIC. I plan to write another article on [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] later this month, so keep an eye out for that. And if you have any further questions, feel free to message me on the Subscriber’s Hideout.
[/premium]