One-Hit Wonder — Two Single Strike Decks from Chilling Reign

[cardimg name=”Tornadus VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”125″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Hello PokeBeach readers! I’m happy to be bringing you another article on the Standard Format! Shortly after my last article, we played the first part of the Regional Qualifiers for the Players Cup IV. Unfortunately, I didn’t do that well with my favorite deck in the Team Up to Battle Styles format, [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card], but I have a few friends who were fortunate enough to make it into the Top 16 of their respective regions. In addition, the second week of Team Challenge Playoff matches have concluded, and my team was fortunate enough to win into the Top 128 mere hours before me writing this.

With the rest of the Team Challenge and the Players Cup IV left to finish, many players, myself included, have their eyes set on how Chilling Reign is going to impact the metagame. Preliminary non-official online events have shown that a lot of the expected new decks are doing quite well, such as [card name=”Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”75″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card]. However, the new format is not without its fair share of familiar faces, with decks like [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] (which I covered in this article) and [card name=”Eternatus VMAX” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card]. [card name=”Decidueye” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”13″ c=”name”][/card] also made a massive comeback recently thanks to numerous new decks omitting any form of an answer or counter.

However, the most interesting new additions to the metagame with Chilling Reign are the new non-top tier decks, like [card name=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Malamar” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card], and new adaptations of old archetypes, like [card name=”Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card]. On this note, we also can address the topics of today’s article: [card name=”Tornadus VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card]. These decks are both new additions to the already existent pool of Single Strike decks, joining [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Stonjourner” set=”Battle Styles” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card], but their presence certainly will not go unnoticed. In my opinion, both of these decks have strong potential to be massive threats in the metagame thanks to their effectiveness when it comes to taking one-hit Knock Outs, as the Single Strike moniker suggests.

With that, let’s take a look at the first of these decks, Tornadus VMAX!

Tornadus VMAX / Houndoom

When I first saw Tornadus VMAX, I immediately thought of [card name=”Primal Groudon-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] as their attacks are nearly identical. Unlike Primal Groudon-EX, Tornadus VMAX has access to the incredibly powerful Single Strike engine. This includes [card name=”Houndoom” set=”Battle Styles” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card], which is one of the more interesting aspects of Single Strike, adding on a powerful form of Energy Acceleration and a great means of ramping up damage thanks to [card name=”Single Strike Energy” set=”Battle Styles” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card]. The immediate concern for this deck is whether or not it is better than the already established Single Strike Urshifu VMAX, as their attacks and goals are similar. In my opinion, Tornadus VMAX has one massive selling point: Energy retention. Unlike Single Strike Urshifu VMAX, Tornadus VMAX is able to operate at the expense of Stadium Cards. This alternative cost alleviates a lot of pressure that would normally exist on the player to find one or more copies of [card name=”Urn of Vitality” set=”Battle Styles” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] on consecutive turns.

[decklist name=”tornadus” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Tornadus VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”125″][pokemon amt=”17″]3x [card name=”Tornadus VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Tornadus V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”124″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Houndoom” set=”Battle Styles” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Houndour” set=”Battle Styles” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”85″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”32″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Bruno” set=”Battle Styles” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Karen’s Conviction” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”144″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Urn of Vitality” set=”Battle Styles” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Welcoming Lantern” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Air Balloon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Switch” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Battle Styles” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Tower of Darkness” set=”Battle Styles” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”11″]4x [card name=”Single Strike Energy” set=”Battle Styles” no=”141″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Powerful Colorless Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”176″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

Three Tornadus VMAX and Three Tornadus V

As our main attacker, it is necessary to play a rather thick line of Tornadus VMAX. I have already covered a lot of the main strengths of Tornadus VMAX, especially in regards to Energy retention. This allows you to setup a backup Tornadus VMAX on your Bench while you are swinging with the one in your Active Spot. This takes this deck a step above Single Strike Urshifu VMAX. The go-to question that probably exists here is “Why play less than a 4-4 VMAX if it is your main attacker?”. That question is answered in two ways. The first of which is that you just do not need more. Since two Pokemon VMAX Knock Outs wins the game anyway, there is no reason to play more than the line that we play. The second reason is a little more complex, and we will get into it when I talk about [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card].

Four Houndoom and Four Houndour

The most important part of any Single Strike deck is Houndoom, without a doubt. Houndoom’s Single Strike Roar isn’t an uncommon Ability throughout the game’s history, being reminiscent of Abilities like [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card]’s Psychic Recharge, but this is one of the extremely rare occasions that you get to search for an Energy card that boosts your damage output. Since this card is so important to our deck’s core strategy of not only powering up Tornadus VMAX’s G-Max Wind Spirit, but also making it do as much damage as possible, we want to max out at four Houndoom and four [card name=”Houndour” set=”Battle Styles” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] (the Single Strike version from Battle Styles for [card name=”Tower of Darkness” set=”Battle Styles” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]) so that we can find the pieces for it as soon as we can to ensure that we can pull off a turn 2 280 damage attack (or more).

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Two Single Strike Urshifu V

[cardimg name=”Single Strike Urshifu V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”151″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

One of the few techs in this deck, Single Strike Urshifu V serves a variety of critical roles. As you may have noticed, Tornadus VMAX has a Lightning-type Weakness which is, to put it bluntly, not good. With [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] remaining a threat in the Chilling Reign format, there is a major need for covering Tornadus VMAX’s problematic Weakness. In addition, Single Strike Urshifu V proves to be a strong secondary attacker for when you are unable to use Tornadus VMAX, such as if you whiff the Tornadus VMAX on a turn, by being easily capable of doing 220 to 240 damage at a moment’s notice. If this situation arises, you also can set up what is commonly called a “eight-Prize game” where you force your opponent to take their Knock Outs in a way that they end up taking “eight Prize cards” instead of the normal six. This can be accomplished by forcing your opponent to Knock Out a Tornadus VMAX, followed by a Single Strike Urshifu V, then followed by a second Tornadus VMAX. Alternatively, they may possibly be forced to Knock Out your Single Strike Urshifu V first, followed by two Tornadus VMAX. Lastly, Single Strike Urshifu V is able to take an easy one-hit Knock Out on [card name=”Eternatus VMAX” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card]. This can be hard for Tornadus VMAX to get a one-hit Knock Out on, covering one of the biggest problems that Tornadus VMAX can face.

One Dedenne-GX

Unlike most decks, I only choose to play a single [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] in this deck. Simply put, you do not have the Bench space to use more copies in a game, so you do not want to bother with more than one. If I had the space, I would consider a [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card] as a second option, but at this time, it does not seem to be worth the spot, especially if I get stuck in the unfortunate situation of starting one and needing to use the other, forcing me to play with three Bench spaces.

Two Bruno, One Karen’s Conviction, and Two Welcoming Lantern

Alongside the standard four copies of [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card], I opted to include two copies of [card name=”Bruno” set=”Battle Styles” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] in this deck. Normally, people would play [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] instead, but I decided against it for a couple reasons. One reason was because a variety of decks will try to take an early, cheap, Knock Out on on a Houndour or other easy-to-Knock Out Pokemon. When this happens, Bruno essentially becomes another way to draw seven cards, giving you more outs to pulling off large combo plays. However, in the situations where you were not Knocked Out on the previous turn, Bruno only draws four cards. This is typically mediocre, but the difference of four as opposed to five cards is well worth the potential value of drawing seven from time to time.

Additionally, one extra benefit of Bruno is that it can be recovered by the recently released Item card, [card name=”Welcoming Lantern” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card]. This is identical to [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], but it can only recover Single Strike Supporter cards. So where you could not recover Marnie, you can recover Bruno. However, the follow-up question to that would be why not play more Supporters? This is where one of my new favorite tech supporters comes in, [card name=”Karen’s Conviction” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”144″ c=”name”][/card].

Karen’s Conviction is extremely important to this deck hitting numbers. As I mentioned earlier with Single Strike Urshifu V, this deck struggles to hit the numbers when it comes to Pokemon VMAX, often falling around 60 damage short. This is where Karen’s Conviction comes in, as it gives that extra push needed to hit the numbers. Additionally, since Karen’s Conviction works with all Single Strike Pokemon, you can play it alongside Single Strike Urshifu V to hit for a quick burst of damage in the very late stages of the game. Going further with the synergy with Single Strike Urshifu V in particular, you can use the aforementioned route for an “eight Prize game” to maximize value out of Karen’s Conviction.

Four Tower of Darkness

This deck’s Stadium Card of choice is Tower of Darkness. Offering a small draw engine similar to that of [card name=”Scorched Earth” set=”Primal Clash” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] in some of the earliest [card name=”Primal Groudon-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] deck lists allows us to dig for the combo pieces we need while also providing a Stadium that fuels [card name=”Tornadus VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card]’s attack. One extra positive of Tower of Darkness is that it can discard Karen’s Conviction and Bruno, which we can recover with Welcoming Lantern.

The Energy Lineup

This deck’s Energy lineup has a lot going on.

The most important Energy in the entire deck is [card name=”Single Strike Energy” set=”Battle Styles” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card] as it makes the deck function. As the only target that [card name=”Houndoom” set=”Battle Styles” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] can search (thanks to an unfortunate ruling on [card name=”Impact Energy” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card]), we need to make sure we maximize our copies of Single Strike Energy to get the most amount of value we can out of our Houndoom. Alongside these four Single Strike Energy, we also max out our copies of [card name=”Urn of Vitality” set=”Battle Styles” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] so that we can ensure that we constantly have fuel for Single Strike Roar. If we do not end up needing Urn of Vitality, we can discard them with Tower of Darkness if need be.

Next, we have three [card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] which are used in the early game to find all of our many important Basic Pokemon, especially Houndour. I typically do not like including Capture Energy in [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card], so including it here felt a little weird. But I decided it would be wise since we need four Colorless Energy anyway, so what form it appears in does not matter.

One of the other advantages of Tornadus VMAX is it is able to use any Energy, so it gets a little flexibility. More importantly, as a Colorless-type Pokemon, it also gets access to [card name=”Powerful Colorless Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”176″ c=”name”][/card], which is essentially another damage modifier to push Tornadus VMAX a little further with its damage output.

The final Energy, [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card] was the main selling point to me for this deck. Triple Acceleration Energy reduces the deck’s reliance on early Houndoom by opening up the opportunity to attack as soon as turn 2 off of your manual attachments alone. Similarly, if you only have two Houndoom in play and you need to power up G-Max Wind Spirit, you are able to use two Single Strike Roar and attach Triple Acceleration Energy. Overall, Triple Acceleration Energy alleviates a lot of the stress that can be put on decks like this one in terms of chaining together attacks during the game’s early turns.

Single Strike Urshifu / Houndoom

Unlike Tornadus VMAX, the non-Pokemon VMAX [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card] is built similar to [card name=”Stonjourner” set=”Battle Styles” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card], that is to take positive Prize trades against as much of the meta as possible. This is done largely by taking two-hit Knock Outs on Pokemon VMAX. Unlike its Stonjourner counterpart, Single Strike Urshifu is fortunately capable of taking one-hit Knock Outs on a variety of two-Prize Pokemon, giving it a little leverage in a variety of matchups, but especially against [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card]. This matchup should swing in Single Strike Urshifu’s favor if you are able to take a Knock Out before the Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Zacian V player can. This deck’s greatest strength certainly comes from how efficiently it is able to start attacking, with Fists of Strife safely dealing 220 or more as soon as turn 2.

[decklist name=”ssu1p” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Single Strike Urshifu” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”108″][pokemon amt=”18″]4x [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”108″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Kubfu” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”93″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Houndoom” set=”Battle Styles” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Houndour” set=”Battle Styles” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”85″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”32″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Bruno” set=”Battle Styles” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Karen’s Conviction” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”144″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Urn of Vitality” set=”Battle Styles” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Welcoming Lantern” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Air Balloon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Battle Styles” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Ordinary Rod” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Tower of Darkness” set=”Battle Styles” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”10″]4x [card name=”Single Strike Energy” set=”Battle Styles” no=”141″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

Four Single Strike Urshifu and Four Kubfu

[cardimg name=”Single Strike Urshifu” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”108″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

As our main attacker, it is necessary to play a 4-4 line of [card name=”Kubfu” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] and Single Strike Urshifu. There is not much to say about what makes Single Strike Urshifu tick, aside from the already addressed topic of excellent damage numbers. On top of the good raw damage numbers, such as 220 being an essentially free number to hit and two-hit Knock Outs being a breeze, Single Strike Urshifu is also a Darkness-type Pokemon. This allows it to hit [card name=”Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”75″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Dragapult VMAX” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] for Weakness, the latter of which can be critical. One interesting aspect of Kubfu is that it has a decent first attack that, while it rarely should come up, can give you a little speed boost if you are struggling to find [card name=”Houndour” set=”Battle Styles” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] early on.

Four Houndoom and Four Houndour

Once again, a 4-4 [card name=”Houndoom” set=”Battle Styles” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] line finds its way into this deck. However, unlike Houndoom in Tornadus VMAX, the two damage counters from Houndoom’s Ability are arguably as important as the Energy itself, thanks to the effect of Fists of Strife. Between keeping Energy on the board and needing less Houndoom in general (this deck needs only two on average), I considered going down to three Houndour and Houndoom, but I never got to do too much testing with this lower count to make sure it was worth it. I would only do so if I felt that I was missing something in the deck.

One Single Strike Urshifu V

Similar to Tornadus VMAX, I included a copy of [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card] as a big hitter with a little more HP. In addition, it continues to fill the role of taking down [card name=”Eternatus VMAX” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] with ease for minimal investment. Single Strike Urshifu V also provides a way to make a “seven-Prize game” happen by forcing it to be the opponent’s last Knock Out. Lastly, in a deck with as many Evolution Lines as this one has, it is really nice to have a Basic Pokemon that is capable of doing a solid amount of damage in the event that it is necessary. All in all, Single Strike Urshifu V continues to be a great backup attacker in Single Strike archetypes.

Pokemon Search Items

One topic that I did not address with Tornadus VMAX was the Pokemon search lineup. With this deck’s more expansive lineup, I felt it was better to address it here, as a lot of the points overlap. It is common for all Standard decks to play four [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] thanks to its versatility and efficiency. In this deck, since we need to find so many Pokemon early on, including these at the maximum count is pivotal to our success. We have four copies of [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] as our secondary search option, allowing us to have more outs to our Basic Pokemon, providing a majority of the search for our Evolution Pokemon, and of course allowing us to put Pokemon back in the deck so they are not discarded with cards like [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card]. To round out our Item search, we play two copies of [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] to find our Evolution Pokemon for no investment. This is a little heavy in comparison to most Single Strike decks, but this deck is slightly different than most Single Strike decks, as it forces you to stream a Stage-1 Pokemon for several turns before closing out a game.

One Ordinary Rod

I wanted to have a second copy of [card name=”Ordinary Rod” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card], but it was such a last second inclusion that I was unsure where to make space for it. Ordinary Rod is great for allowing you to use a fifth Single Strike Urshifu in a game, which should be enough to get you a win, as not many decks can deal with a consistent stream of hits for 220 or more.

Energy Lineup

The Energy lineup is pretty similar to that of Tornadus VMAX, especially when it comes to the four copies of [card name=”Single Strike Energy” set=”Battle Styles” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card]. Unlike Tornadus VMAX, [card name=”Urn of Vitality” set=”Battle Styles” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] is critical to this deck’s success as you will need to use most, if not all of them, to win a game. Urn of Vitality is this deck’s most valuable resource and discarding it should generally be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

There are four [card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] in this deck, which serves the same purpose of finding your Basic Pokemon. But with more Basic Pokemon that are critical to find, its value increases significantly.

Lastly, two Darkness Energy round out our Energy lineup as backup Energy that Kubfu can attach with Training if need be.

Conclusion

Overall, I think both [card name=”Tornadus VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Single Strike Urshifu” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card] boast a ton of potential in the Chilling Reign format thanks to their brutal power, well-positioned type and ability to cover their Weaknesses. Going forward, I expect to see these decks at least occasionally doing well in events solely because of their clear power. I especially hope to see them used in the Team Challenge Rounds thanks to their ability to cover the weaknesses that other popular decks may face.

With that, my article draws to a close. As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this article about two of my favorite decks out of the latest Chilling Reign expansion. I highly recommend giving them a try, as they are a blast to play. If you have any questions about either of these decks, what to play for your upcoming Team Challenge match, or anything else, feel free to reach out in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Twitter (@IChevill), or on Facebook (Zaya Lee).

Until next time!

– Isaiah

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