Exit Strategy — Using the Final Weeks with Lost Origin to Prepare for Silver Tempest

Hello PokeBeach readers! It has been a while, but I am happy to be writing you all another article! A lot has happened since last time, including three Regional-level tournaments. The first of these events was the Lille Regional Championships. This event saw a few surprises, but even those surprises were not that crazy. One of the more notable phenomena was the emergence of [card name=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card], a deck that many players had written off by now, that got second place! Despite this result with an unpopular deck, however, [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] was still the deck that took down the event, further cementing the [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] build’s place in the Standard format.

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

Over the weekend after Lille, there were two more Regional-level tournaments in Southeast Asia, with one in Malaysia and one in Indonesia. The first of these events had one of the most surprising results that we have seen in a long time, with not one but three [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] decks in the Top Eight, but not just that, the deck also ended up winning the event with a perfect 10-0 win-loss record. I was especially satisfied by this particular result, as I have been preaching for quite some time now that Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR will inevitably do extremely well at a large event, and despite being partially correct for the Peoria Regional Championship, the big win in Malaysia really solidified my point. Surprisingly, this was not the only surprise that came out of the Malaysian regional tournament; in addition to the three Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR decks in Top Eight, a [card name=”Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] deck made Top Eight as well! This is Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX’s first Top Cut (in the Masters Division) since Tord Reklev’s second-place finish at the Vancouver Regional Championship several months ago, which is a bit surprising — it makes sense when you think about it, however, both because the deck fell off surprisingly hard following the release of Astral Radiance, largely thanks to a dramatic spike in the popularity of [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card], and also because of the variety of new tools that the deck got with Lost Origin as well as a relatively good Lost Zone toolbox matchup. The results of the final Regional event, which took place in Indonesia, were a bit tamer once again, but this time [card name=”Kyurem VMAX” set=”Lost Origin” no=”49″ c=”name”][/card] took down its first major event since being released. The rest of the results from Indonesia was also pretty tame, but there were quite a few Mew VMAX decks in Top Eight, making up 50% of Top Eight in total.

Unfortunately, these tournaments are marking the very back end of the Lost Origin format, with just the Regional Championship in Warsaw, Poland this weekend remaining. I say unfortunately because, in my opinion, this format is one of the better ones that we have had in quite some time, with a healthy amount of deck diversity and no oppressively strong best deck in format to be named. As we approach the Silver Tempest meta, I am filled with both fear and excitement about the upcoming format. I, along with many of friends that I have spoken with, are a bit concerned about the new [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] decks being a little too strong, but at the same time, I am ecstatic that Archeops, one of my favorite Pokemon, is getting its first playable card since Noble Victories [card name=”Archeops” set=”Noble Victories” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card], as that card is certainly one of my least favorite cards ever printed. Despite the set’s low volume of super impactful cards, Silver Tempest is certainly going to be a hugely impactful set on the Standard format due to just how strong the new Lugia VSTAR deck is. Lugia VSTAR will not be the only big deck in the new Standard format though, and many of the decks from this current format will continue to be strong in the new format. As such, the focus of this article is going to be mostly on those decks that stay good, why they stay good, and how to approach building new versions of these decks. Without further ado, how about we start by taking a look at the decks in the current format and see what stuff is going to stick around and what stuff is going to fall off with Silver Tempest.

What stays good?

[cardimg name=”Radiant Gardevoir” set=”Lost Origin” no=”69″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

As I said previously, the Silver Tempest format will more than likely look very similar to the current Standard format, with many of the top threats remaining at the top, but some decks are definitely expected to say goodbye to Standard. Despite my previous claims about the deck, [card name=”Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] is almost certainly going to fall off in the new format, largely because it just does not hit the necessary numbers against Lugia VSTAR in a remotely reliable or consistent way, a problem that is exacerbated by lists that play [card name=”Radiant Gardevoir” set=”Lost Origin” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card]. The Loving Veil Ability makes it go from difficult to impossible to take a one-hit Knock Out on a Lugia VSTAR without major techs that would negatively impact the deck’s consistency, which simply is not worth doing, as there is no great solution to the problem of Lugia VSTAR being too bulky while also having access to strong single-Prize attackers if it needs them.

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Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR is far from the only commonly played deck right now that is hurt by the introduction of Lugia VSTAR, but it is probably hurt the most by the new powerhouse. [card name=”Kyurem VMAX” set=”Lost Origin” no=”49″ c=”name”][/card] is also hurt in a lot of the same ways, but it exchanges not being able to do enough damage for a poor Prize trade anyway. The next step down when it comes to decks that Lugia VSTAR hurts are the Lost Zone decks, both [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card] and Lost Zone toolbox, as well as [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card]. Both of these decks have the same problem with Lugia VSTAR, being that, even though they can beat Lugia VSTAR, they do struggle to handle the bulk that Lugia VSTAR has. Historically, Lost Zone toolbox has been given problems by boards full of Pokemon that [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] cannot easily Knock Out, and, annoyingly, Lugia VSTAR is extremely good at building boards like that, as the frailest Pokemon in the deck is typically going to be Archeops unless the Lugia VSTAR player gets unlucky and starts with one of their lower-HP Pokemon, such as [card name=”Dunsparce” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”207″ c=”name”][/card]. On the other hand, Giratina VSTAR and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR both struggle to deal with a Lugia VSTAR with a [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] attached to it, as its HP is narrowly pushed outside the damage range that Giratina VSTAR and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR are capable of reaching. With some changes to the current lists that we see, I am sure that both of these decks will remain viable going forward, but they are almost certainly not as strong as they once were.

Finally, there are two prevalent decks that I expect to continue to be just as good if not better than they are currently, being [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Regigigas” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card]. Mew VMAX is a deck that I have sung some high praises about for quite some time, first covering the new [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] build not long before the World Championships. In my opinion, Mew VMAX has a strong claim to being the best deck in the current format, boasting incredible consistency, power, and easy access to game-winning combos like [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] plus [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Cross Switcher” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”230″ c=”name”][/card] plus [card name=”Avery” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], Mew VMAX really has it all. In fact, I think the only thing that is even stopping it from being the best that it has ever been is the existence of [card name=”Drapion V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card], threatening to take down the top dog if it were to ever get too far out of control. Even then, Mew VMAX is able to deal with Drapion V via [card name=”Lost City” set=”Lost Origin” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card] or Path to the Peak if need be, but in many games, it never even comes to that. Remarkably, Mew VMAX gets even better with Silver Tempest, the reasons for which I will explain later. Alongside Mew VMAX, there is Regigigas. Following its incredible results at Salt Lake City, Regigigas has remained at the front of many top players’ minds as a powerful option to contend the meta with the toolbox style of all of its attackers, with notably attackers against every major deck in the format except the Lost Zone decks, which are still decent matchups as it is. In the new format, Regigigas gains yet another good matchup in the form of [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], which a Regieleki can hit for Weakness. Between [card name=”Gift Energy” set=”Lost Origin” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] and the increasingly large number of good matchups, Regigigas’ position in the format is bound to keep getting better and better until it eventually becomes one of the most dominant, if not the most dominant, decks in the format.

What changes?

Now that we have explored how the current top decks are affected by the introduction of Lugia VSTAR, we need to take a look at the greater metagame impact of Silver Tempest as an expansion because, while Lugia VSTAR is certainly the strongest new archetype, there are many new impactful cards in the set.

[cardimg name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I think the one card that people have been talking about the most has been [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], and for a good reason. Reminiscent of the old (or dare I say Ancient!) Technical Machine cards and their Z-Crystal successors, the two Seal Stone Pokemon Tool cards in Silver Tempest give Pokemon V access to a new VSTAR Power depending on which one is attached. While [card name=”Earthen Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] is a strong card, Forest Seal Stone is getting the most attention by far for its applications in Mew VMAX.

Historically, Mew VMAX has never really had access to a good VSTAR Power, as all of the Pokemon came out before Pokemon VSTAR were introduced, so having access to one, especially one that is so similar to Starbirth, a VSTAR Power that is so strong that it won six (of six!) North American Regionals, the North America International Championship, and the World Championship all in the same year. In the case of Mew VMAX, the deck is incredibly combo heavy, and the option to just go find the one piece that you missed at the end of your turn is just absolutely absurd and opens up the option to more reliably dig for massive combos. Far more important than that, however, is the card’s interaction with Path to the Peak. Thanks to a ruling from Japan we know that the way that Forest Seal Stone works is that the Pokemon it is attached to may use the VSTAR power rather than it gaining the VSTAR power. This distinction matters because Path to the Peak does not say that Pokemon with a Rule Box cannot use Abilities, it says that they have no Abilities, and since you cannot lose what you do not have, you can save your Forest Seal Stone search to go find that critical Stadium card following a crippling Roxanne plus Path to the Peak play in the late stages of the game to get yourself unstuck. The ability for Mew VMAX to have this certain out to one of its biggest problem cards is bound to be hugely significant for the future of the Standard format, not just in the Silver Tempest format.

Another significant card in Silver Tempest will be [card name=”Serena” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card]. Now, I want to preface this by saying that I am not so sure that this card is as good as many people think it is and that straight swapping it in for all copies of [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] is bound to go poorly, but I do want to make it clear that I do still think the card is extremely good in some situations and some decks. In general, my rule of thumb for Serena has been that it is good in decks that want to play Boss’s Orders but cannot afford to play a card that is not directly connected to the consistency of their deck, such as Regigigas. In a deck like [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] for example, Serena is bad in my opinion because more often than not the draw will not matter and the consistency of your deck will find you what you need anyway. The one deck that I am not sure of how it fits into this personal rule has been [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card]. While this deck does not really need the extra draw that Serena could provide, Boss’s Orders is one of very few dead cards in the early game that are capable of stopping you from playing the game just by being stuck in your hand, and as a result, playing Serena could be better. Despite this, I do think I am still slightly leaning in favor of Boss’s Orders, but I am not dead set on anything yet.

The final card that I wanted to make sure I highlight is actually not even a new card, but it’s a card that has been around for a little while and I now am starting to believe that the card is getting to the point where it might be one of the most powerful Trainer cards in Standard; [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card]. A trend you may have followed throughout this article is that the decks that I believe are the top three decks going forward, [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], Mew VMAX, and [card name=”Regigigas” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], all rely on Special Energy cards. As such, Temple of Sinnoh is poised to make a dramatic impact on these decks’ game plans if a deck can find a way to abuse them. Conveniently, I already mentioned that [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card] and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR each had good answers to the new Special Energy-reliant decks and, well, this is that answer. From the point of combining [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] with Temple of Sinnoh, you kind of just have to hope that they do not draw out of it, and in most situations, they will not draw out of it, allowing you to sail into an easy victory. In my opinion, this card is definitely set to make a massive impact on the format with the release of Silver Tempest, and I highly recommend that you pick up your copies if you do not have them already.

How can this influence our current metagame?

[cardimg name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”269″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Despite Silver Tempest coming out, many players still have events in the Lost Origin format, including the Regional Championship in Poland last weekend. As a result, those players may want to get applicable testing done with a deck that they believe will continue to be potent in the new format. In my opinion, there is no deck that is better for this purpose than [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card]. The deck will play pretty much identically to how it plays currently, just with a little more consistency and some anti-[card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] protection. In addition, getting experience with this deck is important because, while the deck is extremely simple on paper, navigating all of your routes in certain matchups can prove to be quite difficult, so the more practice one can get, the better. If I was attending the Warsaw Regional Championship this weekend, I would almost certainly be playing these 60 cards, and going forward I would just cut a [card name=”Rotom Phone” set=”Champion’s Path” no=”64″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] for two Forest Seal Stone.

Deck List

[decklist name=”mew again lol” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″][pokemon amt=”12″]3x [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Mew V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”44″]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Avery” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Cyllene” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Battle VIP Pass” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”225″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cram-o-matic” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”229″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cross Switcher” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”230″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ 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]3x [card name=”Rotom Phone” set=”Champion’s Path” no=”64″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Lost City” set=”Lost Origin” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”4″]4x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

In Summary

As the Lost Origin format leaves and we make room for the Silver Tempest format, I cannot help but be a bit sad to see such a fun format go, but time goes on and the new format is sure to be equally interesting in its own way. With the rise of [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], the strength of the current decks is bound to be put to the test and it’s not just about seeing what decks rise to the occasion and what decks fade away along with the rest of Lost Origin.

With that, this article draws to a close. As always, I hope you found this article’s unique style interesting, as I have not written many articles based solely on extensive hypotheticals like this one is. As always, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Twitter (@ICheville), or on Facebook (Zaya Lee)!

Until next time!

– Isaiah

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