How to Win a Regionals — Bochum and the Future

Hello! As you may have either heard, or gathered from the title of this article, I won the Bochum Regional Championship last weekend! This is my first Regional win in the Modern era, which started in September 2016. (Before the 2016-17 season, Regionals in Europe were small, one-day events, with the prize for first place being a single booster box (and no cash). They were more similar to today’s League Cups than to Regionals, and many European players that were active at the time, including myself, won a bunch of them, but we all silently agree that they “don’t count” as Regionals wins.) Despite having got wins at Internationals and Special Events, my success at Regionals was always more limited, so it’s nice to get a big win there!

I consider myself a consistent player: I make Day 2 at almost all major events I attend (I’ve actually been on an unbroken streak since the OCIC last February, except for the Bolzano SPE which didn’t have a Day 2). However, there’s a big leap between getting to Day 2 and reaching the Top 8 of an event, let alone winning. So I started wondering: how did I manage to win this one? What was the difference with Cologne, Sheffield, or Paris, to only mention this season’s major events?
I’ve managed to identify three factors that seem to be the key to success: intensive training, a good understanding of the metagame, and luck. In this article, I will delve a bit deeper into these factors and their importance, but it’s not going to be a theoretical lecture. On the contrary, I want to use these three elements as starting points to explain practical stuff: the changes I made (and didn’t make) to my decklist, my analysis of the Bochum metagame, and what it means for the format in the future, especially Sao Paulo Regionals.

Before we start, I should mention that I won’t explain the [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] deck I won Bochum with in detail in this article. This is because I’ve already written a guide to the deck. I recommend you give it a read if you want to learn more about the deck, its strengths and weaknesses compared to Blacephalon / [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”Team Up” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], and more!

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Training

[cardimg name=”Bodybuilding Dumbbells” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”161″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Intensive training is the easiest factor to mention, and honestly it’s kind of a cliché to say that to win, you need to practice more. Of course, it’s not as easy as this, but it’s definitely part of it. Whenever I’ve done well at an event, it’s partly because I’ve had enough practice with the deck to know how to play it against everything. At the North America International Championship last year, I had played [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Dewgong” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card] almost exclusively since Unbroken Bonds came out, so I was ready for anything! On the other hand, there have been events where I didn’t practice enough. For the Paris SPE, I defaulted to [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card], a deck I knew was good, but I wasn’t especially good at. I reached Day 2, but once I got there, I lost against players who knew more than me how to play with and against Pikachu and Zekrom-GX.

More than any player, Tord Reklev is famous for training hard: he supposedly practiced ten times as much as most competitive players before EUIC 2017, and that led him to find the best way to play Zoroark-GX, to optimise the list, and to prepare for every matchup. This brought him his second International Championship win and started Zoroark-GX’s reign over Standard.
I can’t claim to have prepared that much for this event. However, I did have more free time than usual and put it to good use by testing several decks on TCGO. I want to stress that I didn’t test every deck: you don’t need to have a perfect mastery of every concept in the metagame to perform, although it helps to have played a couple games with every expected decks to understand better how they win and how they lose when you’re playing against them. But I stopped playing [card name=”Garchomp and Giratina-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] after a couple games since the deck wasn’t clicking for me. I didn’t try [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] again since I thought it wouldn’t be a good call, and the deck didn’t give a lot of room to outplay opponents. I didn’t even play a single game with [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Moltres and Zapdos and Articuno-GX” set=”Hidden Fates” no=”44″ c=”name”][/card] because I felt like even if I liked the deck, I wouldn’t have time to learn how to play it perfectly before the event.
Instead, I focused my efforts on the four decks I talked about in my latest article.

I initially wanted to play Pikachu and Zekrom-GX, but as I played it, I felt like I didn’t have a lot of control over my games. In some matchups, like Garchomp and Giratina-GX or [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card], I would win or lose games seemingly randomly, depending on whether I drew what I needed. Usually, that’s where I would change the list: for example, if I lost games because I couldn’t find my [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card], I would add another copy to help in these situations. However, the list was so tight that adding any card meant sacrificing another which would help in some important situation. In the end, I had to resign myself to not play Pikachu and Zekrom-GX.
I thought I would go back to my trusted Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / [card name=”Keldeo-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] deck, but I kept having bad games. This deck can have awkward hands but still draw out of it, and it’s better in best of three since one bad start doesn’t lose you the round, so I didn’t lose all confidence, but as I wrote last week, I felt the metagame was not going in the deck’s favor, so I wasn’t enthusiastic at the prospect of playing it.
Then, I decided to give Baby Blacephalon another try. After a couple games online, I hit a [card name=”Roxie” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”205″ c=”name”][/card] / Garchomp and Giratina-GX deck that used [card name=”Mismagius” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card]’ Ability on the first turn, giving me a Prize, then passed their turn with Garchomp and Giratina-GX Active. I responded with Fireball Circus for 300 damage. That’s when I messaged my friend Ithiel Arki, who made most recent improvements to the list ([card name=”Cherish Ball” set=”Unified Minds” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Switch” set=”Evolutions” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card], mostly: see last week’s article!), to tell him I was probably going to play Blacephalon.

His latest version of the decklist featured 17 Fire Energy (compared to the list in that article, [card name=”Rosa” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”204″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Beast Energy Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] were cut for two additional Fire Energy), approaching Ability [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] levels, in an attempt to, quote unquote, “unlock [card name=”Victini Prism Star” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”7″ c=”custom”]Victini[/card] ‘s potential”.
The idea was solid, as 17 Energy meant you could have two on Victini Prism Star, one in your last remaining Prizes, and still have 14 in the discard to KO any Tag Team Pokemon-GX. Cutting Beast Energy Prism Star seemed strange at first, but I liked it: there were several scenarios where a Fire Energy was better. For example, there was a game where I had to discard Beast Energy Prism Star to [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] early on. Had it been a Fire Energy, I could have use [card name=”Fire Crystal” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] to get it back, but since it wasn’t, I could only use Fire Crystal for two Energy and whiffed the KO. Beast Energy Prism Star only helps you if you actually draw it, so you need to play around it for it to work. Let’s say you have a Blacephalon with one Energy, and Beast Energy Prism Star would help you get a faster KO. On the other hand, with only Fire Energy in the deck, decisions are easier: you don’t have to play around the need to draw Beast Energy off a late-game [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card], you can take one more Fire Energy from your deck with [card name=”Fiery Flint” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card]. To put it in a simpler way, Beast Energy Prism Star only has value when you attach it, after you’ve drawn it, something you can’t control and can mess up your plans. On the other hand, Fire Energy is useful in the deck (for [card name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] and Fiery Flint), in the discard (for Fire Crystal and Infinity) and even in your hand (for Fireball Circus).
However, I felt like the new decklist was a bit inconsistent: having 14 Energy in the discard doesn’t mean anything if you can’t find Victini Prism Star to attack with! I felt like if we wanted to improve Victini Prism Star’s damage output, having a way to search for Victini Prism Star was necessary. That’s why I decided to keep Rosa in the deck (and not play another Supporter such as [card name=”Bill’s Analysis” set=”Hidden Fates” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card]).

Overall, I’m very happy with these changes. Rosa saved me a couple times throughout the tournament, and the Energy count was perfect. I did miss the 17th Energy in my second game against Bryan de Vries, though: I was left with nothing but a Victini Prism Star, and I couldn’t get the KO on his Mewtwo and Mew-GX because my last Energy was Prized, meaning that I could only hit for 260. Ithiel (and Mathieu Vidal, another French player) both made Day 2 with the 17-Energy list, so it has merit.

Luck

[cardimg name=”Missing Clover” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”168″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Saying you need luck is not very constructive advice, I know. And I certainly don’t mean to imply, as some players do, that the game is only or mostly luck, because I don’t believe that. However, there is luck involved both in the game (the cards you draw, the coins you flip) and the metagame (the decks and players you’re paired against) and it would be dishonest to deny that. Just as the player who likes to tell his friends all about his bad Prizes between every round must make the difficult decision of taking responsability for his losses and not blaming everything on luck, I also need to acknowledge that I had some luck during that event that helped me, even though I would prefer to claim that I won everything due to pure skill. I dodged [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”Team Up” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] Control, a terrible matchup, until Top 8. There, my opponent, Jesper Eriksen, had a decklist error that meant he was playing no Stadium, which completely changed the matchup since he had no way of removing [card name=”Heat Factory Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card] from play. My friends playing [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card] didn’t have the same luck, and they all had to face Pidgeotto at least once.

Since that’s all there is to say on that topic, I’ll move on, but remember that acknowledging the existence of luck and of its impact on the game doesn’t mean you should blame your losses on luck! Sometimes, there’s truly nothing you can do about a loss, but most of the time, you could have played better, even if it was only by sequencing your actions differently to give you slightly higher odds of drawing your one out to win. When in doubt, assume that you didn’t play perfectly and think about the other lines of play you could have taken: that will help you much more than the alternative.

Understanding the Metagame

I talked about how practice was very important, and it can help to choose the deck you play, but how can you be sure it’s the right deck? The exact same decklist can be very strong and very weak in different metagames, and that’s why having an understanding of the metagame you’re heading into is important. That’s more or less doable depending on the event. International Championships are harder to predict because players from different regions may have very different ideas about what’s strong, and tournaments at the beginning of a format can also be more chaotic since the meta isn’t settled yet.

Thankfully, it’s easier than ever to find results from both major events and League Cups, and therefore to predict what will be played. This is where I start talking about the results from Bochum aside from my own performance.

These were the most played decks in day 1 and their share of the day 2 metagame:

• [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] – Day 1: 14.2% ; Day 2: 18.1% ; Conversion rate: 13.8%
• [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] – Day 1: 10.4% ; Day 2: 6.9% : Conversion rate: 7.2%
• [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Keldeo-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] – Day 1: 9.7% ; Day 2: 8.3% ; Conversion rate: 9.3%
• [card name=”Garchomp and Giratina-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] – Day 1: 9.2% ; Day 2: 5.6% ; Conversion rate: 6.6%
• [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] – Day 1: 9.1% ; Day 2: 2.8% ; Conversion rate: 3.3%
• Blacephalon – Day 1: 7.3% ; Day 2: 12.5%; Conversion rate: 18.8%
• Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] – Day 1: 6.9% ; Day 2: 4.2% ; Conversion rate: 6.5%
• Ability [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] – Day 1: 6.5% ; Day 2: 2.8% : Conversion rate: 4.7%
• [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] – Day 1: 4.8% ; Day 2: 15.3% ; Conversion rate: 34.4%

Given that there were 662 total players and 72 of them made Day 2, the total conversion rate is 10.9%, which means that any deck with a lower conversion rate did worse than average. Many decks that were highly expected ended up in these ranks.

As I wrote last week, Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX performs best when it’s not expected to do well. Its success at League Cups in early January meant that people expected the deck and, as I thought, they did adapt to it. Some Garchomp and Giratina-GX decks included [card name=”Gengar and Mimikyu-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card], whose Poltergeist attack can be absolutely devastating against a deck that usually plays around 45 Trainers. Pedro Eugenio Torres made Top 4 with an Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Keldeo-GX list that included a 1-1 line of [card name=”Alolan Ninetales” set=”Team Up” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card]. This is a card that Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX can’t do anything about. It can remove its Energy with Faba to try to force the opponent to bench something else, but Pedro’s list also featured a Fairy Energy (that could be grabbed with [card name=”Rosa” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”204″ c=”name”][/card] and could also be played on [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Team Up” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card]) so Alolan Ninetales would eventually be able to KO every Pokémon in the Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX deck. Given that several Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX lists cut [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] and only ran [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card], they had no way to even KO [card name=”Alolan Vulpix” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”39″ c=”name”][/card] before it evolved.
Alolan Ninetales was also useful against Garchomp and Giratina-GX, another deck that most people identified as a major threat. Thanks to its Ability, Alolan Vulpix is hard to KO on the Bench, so it can survive and wall Garchomp and Giratina-GX (but also Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / [card name=”Moltres and Zapdos and Articuno-GX” set=”Hidden Fates” no=”44″ c=”name”][/card]for example).

On the other hand, Mewtwo and Mew-GX, Blacephalon variants, and especially Pikachu and Zekrom-GX all performed very well. The latter two were surprising to most viewers, but if you read my latest article, you knew that Pikachu and Zekrom-GX was going to come back! As for Blacephalon, its success was due to its good matchups against most Tag Team Pokemon-GX decks, including Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Moltres and Zapdos and Articuno-GX, Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX, and Ability Reshiram and Charozard-GX. Blacephalon / Pidgeotto also benefitted from a good matchup against Pidgeotto Control, another deck that had a strong showing (24% conversion rate). I should mention, though, that by its very nature, Pidgeotto Control is more likely to be played by experienced players, so a better conversion rate than average is to be expected.

What Now?

Understanding the results from Bochum is all good, but what does that mean for the future? It’s a bit hard to predict yet, but I can imagine the following will happen:

• [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card] will rise in popularity. More players will pick up the deck, especially given that it’s rather cheap. However, people will also include more counters to Blacephalon in their decks: I expect [card name=”Cryogonal” set=”Unified Minds” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] to be back in Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Keldeo-GX lists, for example.
• [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] will also rise in popularity, as a reaction to Blacephalon’s success. I don’t think Malamar is as good a counter to Blacephalon / Green’s Exploration as people believe, but it’s perceived as such, and that’s what matters! Also, it is as good a counter to Blacephalon / [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”Team Up” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] as people believe, so there’s that.
• Pikachu and Zekrom-GX will be picked up more. Now that it’s found success again, players will accept it again as a good deck and some will go back to it. It helps that Pikachu and Zekrom-GX tends to do well against Malamar (with techs such as [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Unified Minds” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Absol” set=”Team Up” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Lysandre Labs” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card])!
• Garchomp and Giratina-GX will evolve, or should I say, continue to evolve. It already started including techs like Gengar and Mimikyu-GX, and since the deck plays Green’s Exploration, the [card name=”Tag Call” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card] engine, and [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card], there’s a lot of room for more techs. For example, [card name=”Marshadow and Machamp-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”82″ c=”name”][/card] could be included to improve the Pikachu and Zekrom-GX matchup.

Are you looking for more specific advice, such as a list? Try this.

[decklist name=”TinaChomp Dojo” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Garchomp and Giratina-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”146″][pokemon amt=”12″]3x [card name=”Mismagius” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”78″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Misdreavus” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Garchomp and Giratina-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Gengar and Mimikyu-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”53″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Lucario and Melmetal-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”120″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”58″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”38″]4x [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Cynthia and Caitlin” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Guzma and Hala” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”193″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Mallow and Lana” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”198″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Faba” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”173″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Lt. Surge’s Strategy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Tag Call” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”182″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Dusk Stone” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Switch” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Energy Spinner” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”170″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Great Potion” set=”Unified Minds” no=”198″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Karate Belt” set=”Unified Minds” no=”201″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Counter Gain” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”170″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Wait and See Hammer” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”192″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Martial Arts Dojo” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”10″]3x [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Metal Energy” set=”XY” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Unit Energy LPM” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

This list was played by Mike de Goed, who made Day 2 at Bochum Regionals, and Remy Loenen, who beat me in round 3. I was very impressed by the list when I faced it. It is very teched out and I’m not sure yet how necessary each tech is to the deck–my initial instinct is to remove some cards that feel unnecessary, like [card name=”Wait and See Hammer” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card], to include more consistency cards, like the fourth [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card]. However, I do love the addition of [card name=”Martial Arts Dojo” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] to the list. Since this list doesn’t play [card name=”Roxie” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”205″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Weezing” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card], it can instead use Martial Arts Dojo to deal more damage and reach some counts. For example, it allows Calamitous Slash to deal 200 damage even without prior damage, which gets the KO on [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card]. Even if you’re not behind in Prizes, you still get a additional 10 damage boost, which means that you can KO a [card name=”Latios-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card]. It also counters players who try to reduce damage with Choice Helmet. I wouldn’t be surprised if Martial Arts Dojo became a common inclusion in[card name=”Garchomp and Giratina-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] lists for this reason.

Finally, if we’re talking about where the game is headed, we need to talk about V and VMAX Pokémon.

No, I’m not talking about Zacian V, Tapu Koko V, Morpeko V, or any of these other powerhouses that will change the game when Sword and Shield is released. I’m talking about Meowth VMAX, which is legal next weekend. Does it have a spot in the metagame?

V (and VMAX) Pokémon are not Pokémon-GX, even though they feel the same. They can’t be searched by [card name=”Cherish Ball” set=”Unified Minds” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card] or Tag Call, so they’re hard to access. This issue will be solved when Sword and Shield comes out, thanks to Quick Ball and Evolution Incense. However, in the meantime, it means that Meowth V and Meowth VMAX can only be searched out with [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card].
On the other hand, V Pokémon are also immune to anti-GX cards, such as [card name=”Choice Helmet” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Keldeo-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card]. When Sword and Shield is released, we can expect these cards to become unreliable and be removed from lists (except Great Catcher which will still be good enough to be played). However, in the meantime, these cards are played and Meowth Vmax could find a niche in the metagame as a high-HP, high-damage attacker that isn’t walled by Keldeo-GX or [card name=”Alolan Ninetales” set=”Team Up” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card].

This is uncharted territory, but here’s what that could look like:

[decklist name=”Meowth Vmax” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Alolan Meowth” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”118″][pokemon amt=”18″]4x [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x Meowth VMAX (SWSH #SWSH005)2x Meowth V (SWSH #SWSH004)2x [card name=”Ninetales” set=”Team Up” no=”16″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Vulpix” set=”Team Up” no=”15″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Heatran-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”25″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Victini Prism Star” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”7″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”24″]4x [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Mallow and Lana” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”198″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Cherish Ball” set=”Unified Minds” no=”191″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Switch” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Escape Board” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Giant Hearth” set=”Unified Minds” no=”197″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Heat Factory Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”18″]18x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”18″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

I think Meowth VMAX is at its best in a [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”custom”]Welder[/card]-based deck. (Note that unlike Great Catcher, [card name=”Ninetales” set=”Team Up” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card] works against V and VMAX Pokémon, so it’s likely to see play after Sword and Shield.) The Ability [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] shell fits it, since it can act as a non-Pokemon-GX attacker instead of [card name=”Turtonator” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card]. I chose to include a [card name=”Mallow and Lana” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”198″ c=”name”][/card] since the deck plays several high-HP Pokémon that could benefit from it, and the additional mobility is always good in a deck with [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Escape Board” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] .
Unfortunately, VMAX Pokémon are not Stage-1 Pokémon despite evolving from Basic Pokemon, so they can’t evolve from [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card].

Will Meowth VMAX find a place in the metagame? If so, will that mean a decrease in Keldeo-GX’s popularity? I don’t know yet, but I can’t wait to find out!

Thanks for reading this article. As always, I wish you the best of luck in your games, whether that’s for Dallas, Sao Paulo, or any other event. If you have questions about this article, or about the [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card] deck that I played, don’t hesitate to ask them in a comment! I’ll do my best to answer quickly.

–Stéphane

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