Winning With the Little Guys — Another Look at Single-Prize Attackers in Standard

Hello everyone! We’re taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming on Pokemon V and VMAX to bring you an article about Pokemon that only give up one Prize!

When [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] rotated out, I was hopeful that single-Prize decks might be able to make more of an impact, now that they wouldn’t have to deal with the oppressive threat of Altered Creation GX. Unfortunately, the Evolving Skies Standard format wasn’t all that conducive to single-Prize decks either. The big problem for single-Prize decks in 2022 has been Bench-damaging attacks, which tend to tear through them pretty effectively. [card name=”Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Dragapult VMAX” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Jolteon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] have all dominated, taking up a large enough share of the meta to keep single-Prize decks from ever achieving a foothold. During the Evolving Skies format, those decks made up as much of a third of all the decks at any given event — not great when they’re your worst matchups!

Fast forward to today, however, and things have changed quite a bit. The emergence of [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] as the BDIF has shaken things up, and as a result, the Fusion Strike metagame is much more favorable to single-Prize decks. Not only do they tend to have a good matchup against Mew, they also benefit from Mew’s effects on the wider meta. Those Bench-damaging decks tend to have a poor matchup against Mew VMAX, so few players want to play them, and their meta share gets reduced. At the same time, the decks that can do well against Mew VMAX — Dark decks in particular — have seen their meta share rise, which further helps single-Prize decks since they match up well against those particular decks, too. The end result is that single-Prize decks are in a much stronger position than they were during the Evolving Skies format, and it has already begun to translate into stronger tournament results. Given that, I think it’s time to take another look at Standard’s single-Prize options! In this article, I’ll be taking a look at several different decks that I think have potential in this format. 

The Story of Malamar

[cardimg name=”Malamar” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”70″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Back in September, Grant and I wrote enthusiastically about a particular single-Prize deck that has seen a tremendous resurgence lately. That deck was Rapid Strike [card name=”Malamar” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card], and it is an excellent example of how the meta has changed to benefit single-Prize decks. It’s not terribly uncommon for a deck to get better after a new set release, but the interesting thing here is that the lists for these decks haven’t changed all that much — in fact, many of the [card name=”Cinccino” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card]-based lists are within a few cards of the ones in the aforementioned articles. It would be one thing if the deck had gotten a ton of good cards from Fusion Strike, but as it turns out, the deck didn’t gain a single thing! The only thing that has changed is the metagame.

The key to Malamar’s resurgence is exactly what I’ve been talking about — Malamar has one of the best matchups of any deck against Mew VMAX, making it an excellent counter-meta pick. Yes, you’re still going to be in a lot of trouble if you run into Jolteon VMAX or Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, but that’s a much more manageable weakness when you aren’t running into those decks every three games. If you had played Malamar during those initial Evolving Skies days (before the meta got too bad for it), then you’ll be happy to know that the strategy for the deck is completely the same. If you aren’t as familiar with it, and want a more in-depth look at this deck, you should definitely check out those articles, as they go over many of the ins and outs of the archetype. You can find Grant’s article here, and mine here.

Malamar vs. Mew

I’m not going to go terribly in-depth on how to play Malamar, since we have the above articles, but I do want to give some advice regarding the Mew VMAX matchup. For the most part, you’ll want to treat it like your other VMAX matchups. Mew VMAX decks don’t have a lot of alternate attackers  at this point — most decks only run Mew, [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Meloetta” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] — so you don’t have to worry about any shenanigans in that regard. There are two ways they can make your job harder, though.

First, they can attack with Meloetta, so that you have to fight through a single-Prize Pokemon yourself. This effectively makes it so you need an additional attack to win. The other thing they can do is more technical: they can use a pair of [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”name”][/card] to allow a Psychic Leap to OHKO a Malamar. This lets them get their Mew VMAX out of the way, forcing you to take a Knock Out on something else — perhaps another Meloetta. The possibility of that play also means that you can’t necessarily rely on being able to 2HKO a Mew VMAX. So, if you have the choice between missing a turn of attacks so that you can build up to a OHKO, or hitting them twice for a 2HKO, you should go with the first option. That choice is made easier by the fact that many current Mew VMAX lists don’t play Marnie, so it isn’t easy for them to punish that line of play. Mew VMAX is a strong deck, but aside from those two wrinkles, it’s a straightforward matchup.

If you’re looking for a single-Prize deck to play, it’s hard to do much better than Malamar right now. The deck has by far the best tournament results of any single-Prize deck, though to be fair it also has the highest meta share. It certainly isn’t the only option for those who want to shun multi-Prizers! The three decks below are all solid as well.

Galarian Obstagoon

First up for the new decks, we have Galarian Obstagoon, a sleek new Stage 2 deck that, like Malamar, is excellent against Mew VMAX. Here’s the list:

[decklist name=”Obstagoon” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Galarian Obstagoon” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”161″][pokemon amt=”21″]3x [card name=”Galarian Obstagoon” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Galarian Obstagoon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Galarian Linoone” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Galarian Zigzagoon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”117″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”43″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Drizzile” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”56″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Sobble” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”41″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”34″]3x [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Raihan” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Shining Fates” no=”58″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Level Ball” set=”Battle Styles” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”180″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Ordinary Rod” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Energy Search” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Fan of Waves” set=”Battle Styles” no=”127″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”5″]5x [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”Evolutions” no=”97″ c=”deck2″ amt=”5″][/card][/energy][/decklist][cardimg name=”Galarian Obstagoon” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”161″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

If you’ve read my recent article about [card name=”Sableye V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card], the concept here will seem awfully familiar! The strategy with this deck is to use a combination of [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Galarian Zigzagoon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] to put damage on your opponent’s Pokemon so that you can hit them for boosted damage with Merciless Strike. The one-for-150 attack is nice and efficient, especially when it comes with a ton of bonus damage from your Abilities. With that damage output, you should be able to 2HKO any VMAX, and while you can’t quite OHKO most Pokemon V, you should be able to get them close enough to take the Knock Out with your Abilities on the following turn. Galarian Obstagoon is also conveniently a Dark type, which theoretically makes it very strong against Mew VMAX if you can get around their [card name=”Fusion Strike Energy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”244″ c=”name”][/card]. This list plays [card name=”Fan of Waves” set=”Battle Styles” no=”127″ c=”name”][/card] to make sure that’s doable, and with the [card name=”Drizzile” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card] engine, it’s also easy to find it when you need it. 

Like with Sableye, the early-game plan is to find as many Basics as you can, so that you can start evolving as soon as possible into your Obstagoon and Inteleon. Being able to use Shady Dealings to find [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”180″ c=”name”][/card] makes it much easier to get your Galarian Obstagoon into play, so you should reliably be able to attack with it by turn two. As this is both a Stage 2 deck and a single-Prize deck, however, there can be some unique challenges when it comes to making sure you have an attacker every turn. While Galarian Obstagoon’s HP isn’t as small as most single-Prizers, it’s still low enough to get Knocked Out every turn in many matchups. This kind of comes with the territory for a single-Prize deck, as your strategy is to win by exploiting a favorable Prize trade, not withstand any attacks yourself. But, if you have to use five or six attackers to win (not uncommon), that means with this deck that you have to set up that many Stage 2s. That brings us to a pretty big problem: we can only play four Rare Candy! If we want to be able to attack with Obstagoon more than four times, that means we have to be able to evolve naturally via [card name=”Galarian Linoone” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card]. So, when setting up, you are going to want to make sure to have three Galarian Zigzagoon in play, rather than only two. Don’t put down your fourth Sobble! The reasoning here is that by having three Zigzagoon, you can evolve one immediately via Rare Candy (so that you can attack on turn two), and evolve the other two into Linoone. If you do things the other way and only have two Zigzagoon in play, then you’re going to run into an issue getting a sixth Obstagoon into play. That’s because while you can evolve once via Linoone in that case, after that, you’ll have to evolve via Rare Candy if you want to keep attacking every turn. If you have two Zigzagoon on the bench, that gives you the opportunity to evolve into Linoone twice. Additionally, you don’t actually have to evolve them on that second turn in order to get the Linoone benefits, as you can do that later in the game if needed, since you have the “extra” Zigzagoon to evolve in that case. Once you have used both Linoone, then you can put down the fourth Sobble with no worries.

The other interesting thing you might notice about this deck is that it plays [card name=”Raihan” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card], despite the fact that Merciless Strike only requires one Energy. Raihan tends to be a great card in single-Prize decks because you’re getting Knocked Out nearly every turn, especially when you need multiple cards (Rare Candy and Evolution Pokemon) to replenish your attacker. Raihan takes care of our Energy requirement while also letting us search for whatever other piece we need to get our Obstagoon back into play. It isn’t quite as good as [card name=”Rosa” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”204″ c=”name”][/card] was, but it is a bit better than alternatives like [card name=”Skyla” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card]. By playing Raihan, we can also cut down on our count of basic Energy, which helps us fit it in without impacting other consistency cards. Drizzile and Inteleon are nice, but their impact can be reduced later when you start running out of cards like Evolution Incense; Raihan is a nice supplement to Shady Dealings that can get you through in those scenarios.

The matchup spread for this deck ends up a lot like other single-Prize decks, in that it’s best against decks that give you more Prizes per Knock Out. Weakness gives it an excellent matchup against Mew VMAX as well, so that like Malamar, Obstagoon can be a great anti-Mew option. As an added bonus, this deck also an auto-win against [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card], so long as you can get your Obstruct [card name=”Galarian Obstagoon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] into play and attacking. (Note that this doesn’t work against decks like [card name=”Suicune V” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card], however, as they can still damage you with their [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card].) It also tends to be slightly better than average against other single-Prize decks thanks to the bonus damage from Zigzagoon and Inteleon. The deck isn’t quite as consistent as Malamar, and it does have a lower damage cap, but it’s an all-around solid choice nonetheless. 

Single Strike Morpeko

Alright, so far, both of the decks we’ve looked at have been good plays against Mew VMAX. But let’s say you really don’t like Mew. Maybe the thought of playing against it at all makes you angry. Not only do you want a deck that auto-wins against Mew, you also want a Pokemon whose angry appearance matches your own deep-seated rage. If that oddly specific description fits you, then I imagine you were the inspiration for the new [card name=”Morpeko” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] card! This new Single Strike deck is fun; it’s explosive; and, yes, it beats Mew. Here’s the list:

[premium]

[decklist name=”Angry Beans” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Morpeko” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”179″][pokemon amt=”17″]4x [card name=”Morpeko” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”179″ 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]2x [card name=”Abomasnow” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”10″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Snover” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”9″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”37″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Bruno” set=”Battle Styles” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Shining Fates” no=”58″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Karen’s Conviction” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”144″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Level Ball” set=”Battle Styles” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Urn of Vitality” set=”Battle Styles” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Rescue Carrier” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Cape of Toughness” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Air Balloon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Old Cemetery” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”6″]4x [card name=”Single Strike Energy” set=”Battle Styles” no=”141″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Aurora Energy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist][cardimg name=”Morpeko” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”179″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Morpeko is a nifty deck that feels quite reminiscent of the old [card name=”Spiritomb” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card] decks from before the rotation. The idea here is that you want to get a bunch of damage onto your Morpeko by using [card name=”Houndoom” set=”Battle Styles” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] to power it up, after which you can hit hard with Explosive Discontent. Morpeko is a Single Strike Pokemon, so it can benefit from [card name=”Single Strike Energy” set=”Battle Styles” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card]. By using Single Strike Roar twice, you’ll get four damage counters on your Morpeko, so that you can hit for 160 damage. You can get that pretty much every turn without too much trouble. If you use an effect to give Morpeko more HP, such as [card name=”Cape of Toughness” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Abomasnow” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card]’s Toughness Boost Ability, you can get even more damage on it, and hit even harder if you need to. It’s possible to get a Morpeko with eight damage counters and four Single Strike Energy, which is enough to OHKO a VMAX! That kind of adjustable damage output can make Morpeko a tricky deck to deal with, even if you aren’t weak to it like Mew is. 

Like with any other Single Strike deck, it’s important that you establish your Houndoom as quickly as possible; otherwise, you’ll be very limited in the amount of damage you can do. Morpeko is thankfully a Basic Pokemon, so you can focus all of your efforts in the early-game on finding a bunch of [card name=”Houndour” set=”Battle Styles” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card], plus a [card name=”Snover” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”9″ c=”name”][/card] if you can. If you’re up against a deck that uses Inteleon, you’ll want to prioritize the Snover more, as Abomasnow is particularly critical in those matchups.

Once your Houndoom are out, every turn will be about the same. You’ll use Single Strike Roar to get damage on a Morpeko, dig for another Morpeko and an [card name=”Urn of Vitality” set=”Battle Styles” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] for the future, and then attack for 160 or more damage. Against single-Prize decks, 160 per attack will typically be your goal. Against decks that play Pokemon V, you’ll be more effective if you can get six damage counters (three Energy) per attack onto your Morpeko, as that will be enough for an OHKO.

In addition to our Houndoom, we also play [card name=”Old Cemetery” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] as a way to damage our Morpeko by attaching to it, almost as if our hand was a Houndoom as well! This makes it easier to hit those higher damage numbers, as Old Cemetery can act as an additional Houndoom beyond what we have on the board. We can hit that magic 320-damage number even with only three Houndoom in play, or the 220 needed to KO a Pokemon V even when we have only two. By playing Old Cemetery, you also have the potential to attack on turn one for 80 damage, which is a play you want to go for if you can.

While your strategy with Morpeko tends to be straightforward, you definitely have to be cautious when playing against any deck that uses [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card], as it can be easy for them to KO you with Quick Shooting due to the damage you put on yourself. Against these decks, you need to be able to get your Abomasnow into play, otherwise your opponent will be able to take multiple KOs on most of their turns. Even when you do have Toughness Boost activated, you’ll still want to make sure to limit your self-damage if possible, so your opponent can’t immediately KO you with Quick Shooting and then take another KO on whatever you bring into the Active Spot. Sometimes the self-damage is unavoidable, but the more you can avoid it, the better chance you’ll have. Sure, you still won’t want to run into [card name=”Jolteon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], but Toughness Boost does give you a chance against the more linear Inteleon decks. 

The nice thing about this deck is that it beats Mew VMAX nearly every time. A Morpeko with 40 damage and two Single Strike Energy can OHKO a Mew VMAX, and they don’t play any way to KO multiple Morpeko at once, so the matchup ends up heavily in the Morpeko player’s favor. Morpeko admittedly has a more questionable matchup spread overall — now is not a great time to be bad against Inteleon — but it is the absolute best play against Mew, and it remains strong against most non-Inteleon decks. If your local meta is heavily centralized, Morpeko can be a strong anti-meta play.

Dragapult: The New One!

Finally, I want to take a look at the new [card name=”Dragapult” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], which is the star of the “other” Fusion Strike deck. This list is largely based on the current turbo-style Mew VMAX lists, adapted for a Dragapult core. The Genesect V engine and strategy goes well with the Pokemon-finding needs of this deck. The end result is a Stage 2 deck that is remarkably fast and consistent. Here’s the list:

[decklist name=”FST Dragapult” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Dragapult” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”130″][pokemon amt=”14″]4x [card name=”Dragapult” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Drakloak” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Dreepy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”128″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”42″]3x [card name=”Raihan” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Shining Fates” no=”58″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Battle VIP Pass” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”225″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Fog Crystal” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”140″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Cram-o-matic” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”229″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”180″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Ordinary Rod” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Switch” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Vitality Band” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Old Cemetery” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”4″]4x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”Evolutions” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist][cardimg name=”Dragapult” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”130″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

With a full board of Fusion Strike Pokemon, Dragapult can hit for 180 damage, which isn’t bad for a one-Energy attack from a single-Prize Pokemon. It can also take advantage of all of the standard Fusion Strike benefits, like Power Tablet and Genesect V. While you won’t be able to OHKO most Pokemon VMAX with this deck, the added damage from Power Tablet makes it so you can consistently KO Pokemon V, and you can theoretically OHKO a Mew VMAX by playing four Power Tablet in a turn with a [card name=”Vitality Band” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card] attached. For the most part though, you’ll be playing the same 2HKO game against Pokemon VMAX as the other decks in this article. Where this deck has an advantage over those other decks is in terms of speed and consistency. While there will occasionally be some dud hands early on, most every other game will give you a full board — an attacking Dragapult, some evolving [card name=”Dreepy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card], and several Genesect V — by turn two. 

Your ideal early board will look something like three Dreepy and three Genesect V, or perhaps four and two. Like with the Galarian Obstagoon deck, you want to make sure you have at least three Dreepy so that you can evolve via [card name=”Drakloak” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] a few times. The Dreepy are slightly more important for the following turn, but you will often have to get the Genesect first so you can draw into more Pokemon-searching cards. After that, you want to dig hard for your Evolution Pokemon, your Rare Candy, and your Energy in order to start attacking. From that point on, your main goal will be to replace your Dragapult whenever it gets Knocked Out, so you can attack turn after turn!

As in the Obstagoon list, our use of Raihan helps us to lower our Energy count substantially, and since we have [card name=”Fog Crystal” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card], it isn’t too hard to find an Energy to kick things off. This deck has no draw Supporters, as all of your draw power comes from Genesect V, but Raihan can supplement things for when you need a particular card from the deck. This deck’s strategy is the most straightforward of these four, as you only have one attacker, and little to do outside of searching for Pokemon every turn. The one other thing I will say is that when using [card name=”Cram-o-matic” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”229″ c=”name”][/card], try to avoid discarding your Rare Candy or [card name=”Ordinary Rod” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] unless it is an absolute emergency, as those are the cards that will lose you games if you don’t have enough of them. Other than that, you simply want to stay aggressive, with both your attacks and your use of cards. 

Of the decks in this article, this one has the best chance against the Bench-damaging decks that tend to wreak havoc on single-Prizers, since it has enough HP to withstand a KO from either [card name=”Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Jolteon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], and it’s fast enough to set up multiple Stage 2 Pokemon before they can apply too much pressure. This deck also has great typing against Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX in terms of both Weakness and Resistance, which is a huge help in that matchup. It does have the worst matchup when going into Mew VMAX, as unlike the other decks it can’t actually get a OHKO, but it’s still a strong matchup due to the favorable Prize trade.

Final Thoughts

The success of single-Prize decks is necessarily going to be dependent on the meta, so if you’re planning on playing one of these for a large event, the meta trends are important to watch. If Mew VMAX remains dominant, and if Bench-damaging decks remain subdued, then single-Prize decks are a strong anti-meta play. However, if the meta shifts, and things start to look more like they did during the Evolving Skies format, then you’re going to want to avoid them until the meta shifts back again. Each of these decks is thankfully on the easier side when it comes to learning them, so I definitely recommend giving them a try if you can. They are also pretty cheap, so they can be easy to add to your arsenal of decks without breaking the bank. 

With that, we’ve come to the end of this article! Thanks for reading, and as always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to message me, ask me in the comments, or ask all of us writers in our PTCG Subscriber’s Hideout! Best of luck, and stay safe!

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