Ticking Curse — Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR in the Standard Format

Hello PokeBeach readers! Isaiah here, and I am happy to be bringing you another article! Last time, I talked about what happened at the Peoria Regional Championships as well as several different decks that I thought would be great picks for the Salt Lake City Regional Championships. In particular, I focused on [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Regigigas” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card]. In hindsight, these picks were significantly better than even I anticipated, with these three decks taking up six of the Top 8 spots at Salt Lake City! With that said, I would be lying if I said I did not expect to be at least somewhat correct about what would do well!

Salt Lake City Regional Championships Review

The one part of the Salt Lake City Regional Championships that almost nobody saw coming was Regigigas taking up 50% of the Top 8 spots! FIFTY PERCENT!? It is extremely rare for a deck to make up 50% of a Top 8 at any event, but a deck like Regigigas, which many people felt was not an exceptionally strong deck going into the event, taking up half of Top 8 is borderline unheard of. Not just that, but the deck was also piloted by some of the best players in the game, being fellow PokeBeach writer Grant Manley former PokeBeach writer Caleb Gedemer, Azul Garcia Griego, and Drew Kennett, showing that the deck doing well was not entirely a fluke, as some of the best believed that it was a strong play for the event and delivered on this belief with their performance.

Unfortunately, none of the Regigigas players made it to the finals of the event, which, to some people’s surprise, contained two [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] decks. In the end, Hale Obernolte took down the event with his Arceus VSTAR / [card name=”Hisuian Goodra VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card], a deck that has picked up quite a bit of traction since the Peoria Regional Championships. Thanks to its immense bulk and healing capabilities, the deck was able to make quick work of all of the decks in the format with low damage ceilings, like Lost Zone Toolbox or Regigigas, while also doing reasonably well into decks with slightly higher damage outputs, such as Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR. In the past, Arceus VSTAR / Hisuian Goodra VSTAR’s worst matchup has been Giratina VSTAR and [card name=”Kyurem VMAX” set=”Lost Origin” no=”49″ c=”name”][/card], but with two [card name=”Big Parasol” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card] and a [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card], it has become much more easier to pick up the win against those matchups. In all honesty, it is absolutely no surprise that Obernolte won the event, as he definitely had made the best meta call in the entire room.

The Salt Lake City Regional Championships left the metagame for this format in a really interesting place, but unfortunately there will be no more North American events in this format, so it is slightly less significant to myself aside from a few local tournaments over the next few weeks before Silver Tempest releases on November 11. With that being said, there are Regional Championships in Lille, France and Warsaw, Poland, so this format does have at least some relevance on a global scale. As such, the format is going to remain my focus for this article.

One deck that was extremely popular at the Salt Lake City Regional Championships was [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card], which ultimately failed to live up to the expectations set by its Top 8 finish at the Peoria Regional Championships. However, myself and other players certainly feel that the deck is much stronger than the results it put up in Salt Lake City would imply. While I am honestly not certain that the deck is one of the best decks in the format or anything exceptional, I do think the deck is very strong still and it is definitely a deck that I would at least consider for upcoming Regional Championships and other major tournaments. In order to better understand why I feel this way, how about we take a look at what makes Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR so strong.

The Strengths of Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR

[cardimg name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

When [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] was announced, many players considered that the card may be an insanely “broken” or overpowered card. After all, the card was capable of doing 280 damage for a single Energy Attachment, so what changed? Well, many players started to realize the inherent inconsistencies of the deck, noticing that, while [card name=”Gapejaw Bog” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”142″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Damage Pump” set=”Lost Origin” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Gengar” set=”Lost Origin” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] are incredible cards, they are a bit unreliable as means of getting damage in play. However, if you can get the cards you need quick enough, I am sure that most players would agree that the deck is extremely strong.

Of course, to properly understand this, we need to look at what Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR actually does. With its Ticking Curse attack, for only two Colorless Energy, it does 50 times the number of Pokemon in you have in play with damage counters on them. Naturally, any time we see an attack cost of two Colorless Energy, the mind immediately considers [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] and its applications with the attack. Irritatingly, while Double Turbo Energy does provide all of the necessary Energy to power up Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR, it does reduce its damage output by 20. This may seem inconsequential at first glance, needing a sixth damaged Pokemon to take a one-hit Knock Out on most Pokemon VSTAR and needing six Pokemon plus a [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] to still fall short on most Pokemon VMAX (though [card name=”Radiant Hawlucha” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] can make up for the missing damage) is certainly a bit inconvenient.

Now that we have addressed paying for Ticking Curse, the process of applying damage needs to be addressed, after all, most players will not be spreading damage for us via [card name=”Noivern V” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card]’s Boomburst or anything like that. In order to accomplish this, we use Gapejaw Bog, Damage Pump, and Gengar like I mentioned earlier. Gapejaw Bog in particular is incredibly important because of how easy getting damage on the board becomes while it is in play, essentially turning a reasonably difficult task into just filling your Bench. Gengar and Damage Pump act as “the cards you use when you cannot find Gapejaw Bog,” offering the ability to distribute high volumes of damage, whether it be damage from an early game attack like Spit Innocently or from Gengar and Gapejaw Bog, Damage Pump can move it to move you closer to achieving a board full of damage. Additionally, Gengar provides a means of “instant access” to getting damaged Pokemon in play, reducing how badly you need to fill your Bench on a turn that Gapejaw Bog is in play, and alleviating a lot of the stress that comes from setting up your board.

Now that we have covered the deck’s setup and understand our attacking plan, how does this deck actually win? Well, the answer to this is far less interesting than you may hope. For the most part, this decks only game plan is sheer aggression and speed. With an incredibly consistent setup for high damage, the decks biggest strength is being able to rush down Prizes by taking one-hit Knock Outs on Pokemon V repeatedly before the opponent is able to set up. Annoyingly, if this exact strategy fails, the deck completely collapses on itself, making it a perfect example of a glass cannon. With that being said, that certainly does not stop the deck from being good, as many decks in the Standard format just cannot keep up with a Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR rushing down Prize cards before they can even set up. Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR is able to accomplish this goal through a variety of different supporting Abilities such as Dark Asset from [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card] as well as thanks to its incredible VSTAR Power, Phantom Star. Phantom Star is an incredible option for drawing cards in this deck, as it opens up the option to effectively play [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] in addition to any other Supporter that you would want to play in a turn. This makes digging for [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] a breeze, guiding you more smoothly to your win condition.

From this point, we can consider what is the best way to execute the deck’s strategy. One camp is to consider building the most consistent list possible. After all, this is the best way to ensure that we can get ahead like we need to in order to win. However, doing this could create some problems against decks that Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR does not trade favorably into, such as Lost Zone Toolbox. As such, another option to consider is a list more teched out with healing cards and such in order to improve difficult matchups at the expense of consistency. In my opinion, both of these strategies are valid, but the perfect list might be a delicate balance between these two things, as finding that point is the best way to maximize Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR’s win rate. For the remainder of this article, I am going to take a look at a deck list for each of the two main ideas, first starting with the hyper-consistent variant.

Turbo Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR

One of the more typical variants of [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] has been the “turbo” lists built similar to the Turbo [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] deck that dominated the Melbourne Regional Championships shortly after Astral Radiance format. This deck made use of [card name=”Mew” set=”Celebrations” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] to find a ton of key Item cards in a single turn, providing a level of digging unlike anything we have seen since the rotation of [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card]. In Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR, this engine becomes especially strong because of how valuable seeing that many cards can be. Most importantly, though, is that Mew can find [card name=”Damage Pump” set=”Lost Origin” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], accelerating us to our win condition. Funnily, the combination of Damage Pump, Mew, and [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] have an amusing interaction where you can Bench a Mew under [card name=”Gapejaw Bog” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”142″ c=”name”][/card], Damage Pump the damage off onto something else, and then use Scoop Up Net to reset the damage counters by rebenching Mew. Overall, this deck list is designed to be consistent and nothing else, and it does an excellent job at that.

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Deck List

[decklist name=”hisuian zoroark” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Radiant Hawlucha” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”81″][pokemon amt=”19″]4x [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Mew” set=”Celebrations” no=”11″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Gengar” set=”Lost Origin” no=”66″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Hawlucha” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”81″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Diancie” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”37″]3x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Damage Pump” set=”Lost Origin” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Trekking Shoes” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/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]2x [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Gapejaw Bog” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”142″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”4″]4x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

Radiant Hawlucha

[cardimg name=”Radiant Hawlucha” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”81″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

When it came out, I expected [card name=”Radiant Hawlucha” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] to end up being a much stronger card than it ended up being, but in the current format where Pokemon VMAX just are not as prevalent as they were in the Evolving Skies and Fusion Strike formats, the card feels significantly weaker than what it potentially could have been. With that being said, the card does find itself a home in this deck, which aims to take constant one-hit Knock Outs no matter the circumstances. While the most relevant Pokemon VMAX, [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], has 310 HP, many others have 320 or more and Mew VMAX even kind of does because of [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″ c=”name”][/card]. Fortunately, Radiant Hawlucha is the perfect card to make this final jump in damage, as it takes your damage peak from 310 to 340 damage, which is generally the most amount of damage that you need to do against any Pokemon in the Standard format, barring exceptions like a [card name=”Hisuian Goodra VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] after they use Rolling Iron. The best part is at its absolute worst, Radiant Hawlucha is another Basic Pokemon to put on the Bench while you are trying to reach for the one-hit Knock Out.

Diancie

This card is more of a complicated choice in this deck than just adding a little damage, but the importance of its role cannot be overstated. Given the nature of Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR’s game plan, the deck excels at going first, almost as much as an [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] that gets the first turn attachment going first. The aggression almost always converts into a major Prize lead which leads to a quick and easy win. However, you do not always win the coin flip, and of the fifty percent of the time that your opponent wins the coin flip, your opponent will choose to go first a majority of the time. As such, we need a going second game plan, as doing just 10 from [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] is pretty mediocre. This is where [card name=”Diancie” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] comes in.

Now, if you go second, you can turbo for a Diancie instead of making the best board imaginable, resulting in much lower odds of your opponent getting two Prize cards on their first attacking turn, leaving you to still ultimately win the Prize trade if your opponent decides to take a Knock Out on Diancie. The card is perfect for offsetting one of the biggest issues that the Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR deck has, so it is an incredible inclusion to mitigate those problems.

A “Teched Out” Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR Build

As opposed to the previous deck list, this one below is designed to be a bit more complicated. Based heavily off of a list shared by former writer Michael Catron, this deck list aims to remain as consistent as possible while playing tech cards like [card name=”Cheren’s Care” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Big Parasol” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card] to help iron out some of the more problematic matchups. Aside from that, this deck list is pretty standard, aside from the relatively unique inclusion of four [card name=”Cram-o-matic” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”229″ c=”name”][/card], which is a card that fits so well in this deck that it probably should have been a four-of from the start. As always, this deck continues to focus on the aggression against almost every matchup, but it is designed to be able to pivot to a slower game plan if/when necessary.

Deck List

[decklist name=”tech zoro” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″][pokemon amt=”16″]4x [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Gengar” set=”Lost Origin” no=”66″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Eldegoss V” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”19″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Diancie” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Hawlucha” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”81″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”40″]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=”Cheren’s Care” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Damage Pump” set=”Lost Origin” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cram-o-matic” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”229″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”182″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/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]2x [card name=”Big Parasol” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”157″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Gapejaw Bog” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”142″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”4″]4x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

Critical Cards

Eldegoss V

I honestly could not tell you the last time that I typed this card’s name, but at long last it finds itself a home once again. In this particular variant of [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card], reusing your Supporter cards matters marginally more than searching for one with [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card], so [card name=”Eldegoss V” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”19″ c=”name”][/card] is a perfect fit. With the power level of [card name=”Cheren’s Care” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card], getting a third copy of either of these is incredible and too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Cheren’s Care and Big Parasol

[cardimg name=”Big Parasol” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”199″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Both of these cards serve the purpose of trying to make the Lost Box matchup more even. [card name=”Cheren’s Care” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card] is a bit more of a general solution, as the card is incredibly good in general, especially in a deck like this where everything will be damaged anyway. Dropping a Cheren’s Care after your opponent attacks with [card name=”Cramorant” set=”Lost Origin” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card]’s Spit Innocently multiple times can set them back in the match, and possibly even win you the game outright. In addition to the two Cheren’s Care, the deck also includes two copies [card name=”Big Parasol” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card], which is critical as a [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] counter by completely denying the opponent from placing damage counters on the board. This means that your damaged Pokemon on the Bench are completely safe, cornering the opponent into having to attack you for damage until you are in Cheren Care’s range, resulting in a slow but steady victory in the matchup almost every time.

Cram-o-matic

As I mentioned, [card name=”Cram-o-matic” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”229″ c=”name”][/card] somewhat surprised me with how strong it is in this deck, but the card makes a remarkable amount of sense. When we think about this deck in a vacuum, the deck needs to find its unsearchable Stadium card as soon as possible as well as an unsearchable Special Energy card. With two critical combo pieces being completely unsearchable outside of Cram-o-matic, then Cram-o-matic becomes an incredibly strong option to mitigate some of those issues, the most important of which obviously being [card name=”Gapejaw Bog” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”142″ c=”name”][/card]. Additionally, since the deck has so many options to refill your hand size, from [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card]’s Dark Asset to Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR’s Phantom Star, reducing the hand a little bit from Cram-o-matic does not have a particularly negative effect on your ability to play the game. After all, most of the time Cram-o-matic is going to be used as a general search card.

Pokegear 3.0

I am really not sure about the addition of this card into the list. Catron’s deck list played two copies of [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card] and two copies of [card name=”Trekking Shoes” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], but that seemed mediocre so I settled for four copies of the card that I felt could be slightly stronger when bricking. However, I would be unwise to ignore the value of seeing one or even two cards off of a Trekking Shoes, which is another one of the very few cards that can draw Gapejaw Bog. In all honesty, this could alternatively be four copies of Trekking Shoes, but I think they are pretty interchangeable and it probably comes down to personal preference.

Conclusion

Despite its mediocre results at the Salt Lake City Regional Championships, I do still believe that [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] is one of the strongest decks in the game right now due to its immense aggression as well its space for tech cards if needed. Going forward, I would certainly plan on trying it, as I am sure it will do quite well at the Lille Regional Championships and the Warsaw Regional Championships if players can figure out that “happy medium” that I mentioned earlier between consistency and tech cards.

With that, this article draws to a close. As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this article, as it was a joy to write about one of my favorite archetypes right now. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Twitter (@ICheville), or on Facebook (Zaya Lee).

Until next time!

– Isaiah

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