The Unstoppable Arceus — An Overview of Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR

Hello everyone! We’ve just had another exciting weekend of Pokemon, with multiple Regional Championships further showing the development of our post-rotation format. In addition, our first post-pandemic season of Cups and Challenges is underway, finally giving us a full slate of tournaments after a few years of limitations.

[cardimg name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”184″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

At the Regional events this weekend, two of the four — Singapore and Portland — were won by [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card] decks. So far, three of the five major post-rotation tournaments — Singapore, Portland, and the EUIC — have been won by Arceus VSTAR, despite the fact that Arceus hasn’t seen nearly as much play as decks like [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card], Lost Box, and [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card]. At Portland this weekend, Arceus wasn’t even one of the top five decks in terms of meta share. So how has this deck been able to perform so far above expectations?

Since it came out, Arceus VSTAR has been a remarkably versatile card. Star Birth gives a burst of consistency to any deck that doesn’t need to use some other VSTAR Power, while Trinity Nova provides incredible Energy acceleration, as well as a solid amount of damage. With the Colorless Energy requirement of Trinity Nova, you can play it with pretty much anything, which means that if there’s any card that’s particularly excellent against the meta, Arceus can be an easily included engine to allow it to be usable. There are a lot of VSTARs and VMAXs that are solid, but can struggle with getting enough Energy to be effective. Trinity Nova tends to solve that problem entirely.

At the EUIC, this Energy acceleration was used to power up strong anti-meta cards in [card name=”Duraludon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Alolan Vulpix VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”34″ c=”name”][/card], cards which could wall off entire decks single-handedly. This method works extremely well in some formats, particularly if the top decks can be exploited by the conditions of those anti-meta Pokemon. When Lugia VSTAR decks can’t damage Duraludon VMAX, for instance, or Gardevoir decks can’t hit through Snow Mirage, these kinds of Arceus decks can turn those matchups into near-autowins.

If you have a deck that can automatically defeat the meta’s top decks, then you have a deck that can see incredible success — as these Arceus decks did at the EUIC. For such a deck to work, however, the environment has to be right. You have to have a solid understanding of the meta, the top meta decks have to have those weaknesses to take advantage of, and the other players need to not tech to solve those weaknesses. After the success of Duraludon VMAX and Alolan Vulpix VSTAR at the EUIC, that last criterion is a bit trickier to find, since players of decks that can’t hit around those Pokemon know that they need to have a tech to solve that problem, or they’ll lose to anyone copying the EUIC strategy. That isn’t to say it can’t still work — several players this weekend did have strong performances with lists similar to Alex Schemanske’s — but it is more difficult.

[cardimg name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”212″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

What’s interesting about the winning lists from this weekend is that they took nearly the opposite approach with their Arceus decks. That is, rather than focus on anti-meta Pokemon, these Arceus decks simply aimed to power up an extremely strong Pokemon — Giratina VSTAR — and beat the opponent with superior damage output. The Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR build isn’t nearly as meta-dependent, nor is it easy to tech against, since Giratina’s strategy of “hit hard” works pretty much the same way against any opponent. That isn’t to say that Giratina VSTAR doesn’t have good matchups — it certainly does — but rather, that there isn’t any simple way for an opponent to change their deck around to beat it.

So, unlike the Duraludon VMAX / Alolan Vulpix VSTAR approach, there won’t be an immediate decline in meta outlook for Giratina VSTAR, even though it just won two Regionals. This makes it an extremely intriguing play for this format, especially in tournaments where you might not know how exactly the meta will look. At League Cups, the meta can swing wildly by area; some might be a fairly standard representation of what you might see at a large tournament like a Regional Championship, whereas others are completely off the wall. If you travel for a Cup, or haven’t been familiar with what the local players have been playing, or are in one of those crazy areas where you don’t know what to expect week to week, then it can be nice to have a solid deck that isn’t dependent on encountering a particular meta. Going forward, I would expect Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR to continue to be a strong play, one which you’ll definitely want in your arsenal of decks.

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My Giratina VSTAR List

Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR proved to be an excellent play this past weekend, as it won both the Singapore Regional League and the Portland Regional Championships. As I said, this version of Arceus VSTAR isn’t so much an anti-meta deck, but a straightforward, hard-hitting deck. The plan here is to use Arceus VSTAR to power up a Giratina VSTAR, then to out-trade your opponent with Giratina’s high damage output. The simplicity of the main strategy allows the deck plenty of flexibility in terms of its Trainer line, which means that you can also play a decent amount of disruption in the form of [card name=”Judge” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”176″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]. The end result is that Arceus / Giratina is an incredibly well balanced deck: well oriented to beat many meta decks, while also having high enough inherent stats to deal with most random stuff that you might encounter.

Here is the list of Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR that I have been playing:

[decklist name=”ArcTina” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″][pokemon amt=”16″]3x [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Arceus V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Giratina V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Bidoof” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG29″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Skwovet” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”30″]4x [card name=”Judge” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”235″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Cheren’s Care” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Raihan” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”181″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Shining Legends” no=”62″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Switch” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”194″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”211″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Cleansing Gloves” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”14″]4x [card name=”Grass Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist]This is a fairly standard Pokemon lineup; this is the exact one that was played in Landen Kaetler’s winning list, as well as in the highest-placing EUIC list. You can potentially add some other Pokemon to this, such as [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Pumpkaboo” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Dunsparce” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”207″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Drapion V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Radiant Gardevoir” set=”Lost Origin” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card], but I personally prefer the less techy Pokemon lineup in this list. Part of it is that you can’t actually use Lumineon V, Drapion V, or Radiant Gardevoir while Path to the Peak is in play, so it’s hard to get value out of them given that Path is this deck’s Stadium of choice. In addition, the Radiant Gardevoir is best against the Giratina VSTAR mirror match, in which case they can simply put Path to the Peak into play themselves. Dunsparce is a meta call, but not many Fighting Pokemon are seeing play right now, so I wouldn’t consider it necessary. Likewise, not many decks are currently playing Path to the Peak, so you don’t need an out to it yourself in the form of Pumpkaboo.

A lot hinges on whether or not you can get an Arceus V with an Energy on the first turn, so you want to have all four Arceus V to give you a full twelve outs to finding it. You’ll typically set up two Arceus VSTAR and one Giratina VSTAR in a match, so the lines of each match that. The 2-2 line of Giratina VSTAR and [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] protect well against poor Prizes, though you’ll rarely use more than one of each.

[cardimg name=”Skwovet” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”222″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Finally, we have the [card name=”Skwovet” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card]. Skwovet, when played with Bibarel, gives you a way to completely refresh your hand. Without Skwovet, it can be fairly easy to find yourself with a clunky hand in the mid-game, which can limit your ability to draw with Industrious Incisors and find the card you need. With Skwovet, however, if you ever get into that situation, you can simply toss everything to the bottom, draw a card, and then draw back up to five with Bibarel. Of course, if you truly believe, Skwovet can get you what you need even without Bibarel … but that tends to be more of an emergency play than a reliable one.

When it comes to the Trainers in this deck, Arceus has a bit of flexibility. Once the deck is set up, it doesn’t need much on a turn-by-turn basis, and since you have Bibarel and Skwovet, you don’t necessarily need consistency Supporters to get what you do need. As a result, it tends to be more effective to have a solid number of disruption Supporters or tech Supporters. This list certainly goes heavy on those Supporters, with a full four Judge and a supporting lineup of [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Raihan” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Cheren’s Care” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card].

Judge by itself isn’t necessarily the strongest, but when you can use it over and over again with Path to the Peak in play, you greatly increase the chances that your opponent will find themselves stuck after at least one of them. Judge is versatile as well; you can use it early on to disrupt your opponent’s setup, and it’s still solid later on in the game. With Bibarel, you aren’t too worried about only drawing four cards yourself, since you’ll end up drawing a few more anyway. To make things even more disruptive, I also have one copy of Roxanne for use in the late game. Cheren’s Care is a great Supporter against any matchup that can’t OHKO you, whereas the Raihan gives you some extra Energy acceleration in a pinch. The Raihan can be a lifesaver in the case that your energized Arceus V somehow gets KO’d on turn two; without it, you would almost certainly lose in that case. This list also plays one Pal Pad so you can use the Cheren’s Care more than once, or to recover your [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] so you can reliably gust when you need to.

[cardimg name=”Cleansing Gloves” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”136″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The Items in this deck also aren’t anything too crazy, with eight Pokemon-searching Items, a few Switch for mobility, the aforementioned Pal Pad, and a pair of damage modifiers. A major addition that Landon Kaetler had in his list was a copy of [card name=”Cleansing Gloves” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card], which I have also adopted in this list. This card makes the Gardevoir ex matchup a good bit easier; specifically, it makes it so Giratina VSTAR can OHKO Gardevoir ex. With how much Gardevoir ex has emerged as a popular play after the EUIC — it was the most played deck in Portland, for instance — I appreciate any effort to make that matchup more positive.

Cleansing Gloves is the same as [card name=”Choice Belt” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] against [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Celebrations” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card], but it is naturally worse against Lugia VSTAR and Arceus VSTAR decks, so it is a bit of a meta call. If you are expecting to run into Gardevoir, then Cleansing Gloves is worth playing, but if Lugia and Arceus are more common in your area, then you will want to cut the Cleansing Gloves for another copy of Choice Belt.

One difference that I do have here from Landon’s list is that Landon played [card name=”Trekking Shoes” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], whereas my list does not. I’m personally not a fan of the card in this deck; in general, I believe that it can be replaced with other consistency cards or other tech cards to shore up your worst matchups. Part of my dislike for this card comes from the fact that this deck doesn’t have any way to take advantage of its discarding effect. When you play Trekking Shoes in a deck with [card name=”Melony” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] or in something like [card name=”Regigigas” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], then it makes a bit more sense, since you can gain from both the draw and discard effect of the card, but in this deck, you can’t benefit from the latter.

Path to the Peak is an excellent Stadium in this deck, as aside from your use of Starbirth, Path doesn’t hurt you at all, whereas it can hurt quite a few opposing decks, especially when you combine it with the heavy counts of Judge in this list. The four Path to the Peak also give you plenty of ways to bump any [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card] you might encounter, which can be important early.

The Energy line in this list is straightforward: you have an even four each of Psychic and Grass Energy, four [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] to make things easier, and two [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] to make things harder for your opponent. The V Guard Energy is particularly good in the mirror match, as well as against Lugia VSTAR and Mew VMAX decks.

General Gameplay Strategy

Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR is admittedly one of the simpler decks to play. Your attacks are all fairly straightforward, as all of your damage is direct damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon. You have few Abilities, and only two different attackers, so you don’t have to think about which ones to set up nearly as often. Most of the tricky part of the game comes during the setup turns; once you do get going, you’re mostly just using Bibarel to try and find a particular Supporter or one of your damage modifiers.

On the first turn, your goal is simple: find an Arceus V and attach an Energy to it. If you can’t do that, the whole game plan falls apart pretty quickly! If you’re going second, you’ll ideally want that Energy to be a Double Turbo Energy so that you can use Trinity Charge, but as long as you can set up so that you can use Trinity Nova on your second turn, you’ll be in good shape.

Ideally, you’ll also be able to find some other Basics so that you can evolve those up as well, but without that first Arceus, none of them are going to get you too far. If you can’t find any other Basics, that’s typically fine too, since you can still find them and accelerate Energy to them on the second turn, then evolve them afterward. When you use Trinity Charge or Trinity Nova, you’ll typically want to split up your Energy among your Benched Pokemon, so that you don’t lose the entire effect if your opponent can KO one of them on their turn via Boss’s Orders. If you have a Giratina V and an Arceus V, the best move is to attach one Psychic Energy and one Grass Energy to the Giratina V, and then one Energy to the Arceus V. The Energy you attach to the Arceus should be whichever one you have more of remaining.

When you are going second, one decision you may have to make is whether to play Judge on your first turn to disrupt your opponent, or play Professor’s Research to instead focus on setting up your own board. Which one to use depends on the board state (both yours and your opponent’s) and how many outs you have left to Arceus VSTAR. What you need to ask yourself is, “How much trouble will I be in if I don’t set up, and how much trouble will I be in if both me and my opponent do set up?” In some scenarios, you’ll be in a position to win so long as you set up; this tends to be the case in more positive matchups. In others, you might need to be able to set up before your opponent in order to win the Prize race, so you’ll need to take the risk and try to disrupt your opponent with Judge. One of the nice things about this deck is that you tend to be able to fully set up so long as you can find that Arceus VSTAR, since you can use Starbirth to find any pieces you need. So, if you already have Arceus V in play, then your odds go up for being able to draw out of the Judge. If you’ve managed to do any deck searches at all, then you should make sure to count your Arceus VSTAR and Ultra Ball, as well as your draw Supporters, so you can get an idea of how likely you are to find that Arceus VSTAR. The more outs you have left, the safer the Judge play is. In general, I recommend going for the Professor’s Research play unless you already have a decent setup before playing your Supporter; if you can’t find Arceus V, then any disruption will hurt you as much as or more than your opponent.

Once your Arceus is set up, then you’ll want to turn to making sure you can find the other cards you’ll need during the remainder of the game. That is, you’ll want to set up a Bibarel and get Skwovet into play, so you can maximize your odds of being able to find Boss’s Orders, Cheren’s Care, or your disruption cards. When attacking, the rule of thumb is that you should attack with Giratina VSTAR against a Pokemon that can be OHKO’d by Giratina VSTAR but not by Arceus VSTAR; otherwise, you should attack with Arceus VSTAR. The only exception to this is if you are trying to play around Fighting Weakness, but otherwise, that’s how you should approach your attack strategy.

Matchup-Specific Strategies

Overall, Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR has a robust matchup spread, which is impressive considering this is the build that isn’t trying to tech to beat the meta! Your general gameplay strategy doesn’t change all that much from matchup to matchup, which can be helpful for when you face off-meta decks. That is, you already will have a game plan in mind, even if you don’t quite know what to expect from your opponent. Even so, here are some notes on what to expect against some of this format’s most popular decks.

Vs. Gardevoir ex

Against Gardevoir ex decks, there are two main paths that you will try to exploit to beat them. The first is that you will be able to trade favorably with them early on, as Gardevoir’s early damage output isn’t enough to be all that threatening. This means that you should be able to get an early lead in Prizes, especially if you can use Cheren’s Care to prevent a KO at some point in the early game. It is worth noting that Gardevoir can turn the tide, however. They can start getting OHKOs with Gardevoir, turning the Prize trade in their favor, and with [card name=”Sky Seal Stone” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card], they can make it so one of their three KOs can come against Bibarel or Skwovet. If you don’t have Cleansing Gloves, they can make it so you need six attacks to win, which gives them plenty of time to get those three KOs.

So, you will also want to utilize the second path to besting Gardevoir ex: your disruption. Gardevoir can be weak to early-game disruption; if you can prevent them from being able to effectively set up their [card name=”Ralts” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card], then you can set them back several turns. If you can get Path to the Peak to stick at any point, then that’s a turn where they won’t be able to use Psychic Embrace. With Arceus’s natural early advantage in this matchup, any bonus turns you can get with your disruption will be able to push you to victory. If you can’t use Judge to slow your opponent down, your second strategy should be to use Boss’s Orders to try and take out your opponent’s Kirlia; this will slow down their setup, weaken their ability to draw out of future uses of Judge, and take a potential attacker off of the board. Likewise, if you can put Path to the Peak down early, you can stop your opponent from using [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card]’s Concealed Cards, which can slow them down as well. In general, anything you can do to disrupt them, you’ll want to do. If you can get a KO against a two-Prize Pokemon (such as if they put Zacian V or Lumineon into play), you’ll want to do so as soon as possible, or they may be able to pick that Pokemon up off of the board with [card name=”Penny” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card].

Vs. Lugia VSTAR

[cardimg name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

For both players in this matchup, V Guard Energy will be critical. On your end, you can make it so that the Lugia player needs all four of their [card name=”Single Strike Energy” set=”Battle Styles” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card] in order to OHKO one of your VSTARs; on their end, they can make it so that you can’t OHKO Lugia VSTAR Without a Choice Belt, and you can’t OHKO [card name=”Tyranitar V” set=”Battle Styles” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] without using Giratina VSTAR.

This is another matchup where early-game disruption can be critical; they can’t do anything if they can’t get Path to the Peak out of play, and Judge can make it so that Lugia’s natural early-game inconsistency is even worse. You will win a not-insignificant number of games by simply locking them with Path to the Peak early and winning in a blowout. For the matches that don’t end that way, however, you’ll have to be smart and figure out how to out-trade them. Without Dunsparce, Arceus VSTAR can be OHKO’d by [card name=”Stonjourner” set=”Battle Styles” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card], though doing so uses up some of the Single Strike Energy they’ll need to OHKO your Giratina VSTAR. So, you’ll have to be a bit careful, though you’ll still want to focus on Arceus early to set things up.

In the later stages of the game, your goal with your disruption will be to stop the opponent from being able to find their [card name=”Urn of Vitality” set=”Battle Styles” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card]; if they can’t find that, they’ll be more limited in what kind of damage they can do. Lugia doesn’t have much as far as mid-game draw power goes, since they’re so focused on the early game, so they can brick fairly easily off of Roxanne. Overall, this matchup is tricky, but winnable thanks to your disruption abilities.

Vs. Lost Zone Box

[cardimg name=”Cheren’s Care” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG58″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Lost Box decks tend to be varied, but your approach against them doesn’t change all that much. You’ll want to use Judge early and often, particularly after they’ve used [card name=”Colress’s Experiment” set=”Lost Origin” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card], so that you can slow down their setup. The more extra turns you can get that way, the better your odds will be of winning in the end. Arceus tends to win this matchup with its bulkiness; it isn’t easy for your opponent to KO your Arceus VSTAR, and with Cheren’s Care, you can push that advantage even further.

Against some variants, Giratina VSTAR won’t be all that useful; it doesn’t add much against [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] builds or variants without [card name=”Dragonite V” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Galarian Zapdos V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card]. In matchups where you don’t need it, simply try to set up three Arceus VSTAR (though you’ll have to make sure none are in the Prizes). If your opponent does play either of the aforementioned Pokemon V, or is on something like Lost Box Giratina or Lost Box [card name=”Hisuian Goodra VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card], then you’ll want Giratina VSTAR to help ensure that you get 2HKOs, or, in the case of Zapdos, avoid getting OHKO’d. The tougher matchups are those that can OHKO you, specifically the Sky Seal Stone variant with either Dragonite V or Galarian Zapdos V. That deck can beat you with three attacks if you put Bibarel or Skwovet into play, so you’ll want to avoid doing that, as well as avoid discarding them (otherwise they can be brought back with [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card]). Other Lost Box variants will take at least a turn longer to win, so if you can disrupt them early to slow them down, or if you can use Cheren’s Care to erase a turn of attacking, you should be able to win. Path to the Peak can be quite effective in shutting down Radiant Greninja, which tends to slow down the opponent further. All Lost Box matchups tend to be pretty close, but if you can slow them down a bit in any way, you should be able to win.

Vs. Mew VMAX

Against Mew VMAX, tankiness and disruption are once again key factors. With V Guard Energy, Mew VMAX will need four damage modifiers in order to get a OHKO. Since they can only realistically pull that off once, this means that they’ll need five attacks in order to win, whereas you can win with three or four. Giratina VSTAR can potentially OHKO Mew VMAX if they don’t have [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”42″ c=”name”][/card] in play, and you can also shorten the game up by getting three KOs against their [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card]. Judge plus Path to the Peak is particularly effective in this matchup, since Mew players rely on using Fusion Strike System for their draw power. In this matchup, you won’t deviate much from the normal strategy, except that it can be a good idea to play Path to the Peak on turn one, even if it stops you from using Starbirth.

Vs. Miraidon ex

Miraidon can be tricky, but once again, Judge and Path to the Peak go a long way in making this a favorable matchup. If you can stick Path to the Peak in play, then your opponent won’t be able to OHKO your VSTARs, and so you’ll be able to out-trade their Basic Pokemon V. Even if you don’t, though, you’re still trading two-for-two, so you’ll still be fine so long as you can get the first KO. One thing to remember is that Arceus VSTAR can’t actually OHKO Miraidon ex, so you’ll need Giratina VSTAR in this matchup. V Guard Energy also doesn’t help you, so Path to the Peak is important. If you can, KO their [card name=”Regieleki V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card], so you can try to limit Miraidon’s damage output in the case that they do find their counter Stadium.

Vs. Arceus VSTAR

Like Lost Box, Arceus VSTAR decks can be quite varied, but the good news is that the Giratina VSTAR build tends to be one of the best for the Arceus VSTAR mirror match. The anti-meta variants don’t have anything that stops Giratina VSTAR, as it can’t be walled by Alolan Vulpix VSTAR or Duraludon VMAX. In those matchups, you have OHKO capability, whereas they can only get 2HKOs, so you should win most of the time.

In the Giratina VSTAR mirror match, the important factors will be which player can best utilize Giratina VSTAR, whether either player can prevent OHKOs with V Guard Energy, and whether either player gets an advantage by getting to use Star Birth while their opponent cannot. If you go first, then you’ll want to use Star Birth immediately, then play Path to the Peak to prevent your opponent from doing the same. If you go second, it can be a good idea to preemptively play your Path to the Peak, thus ensuring that neither player can use Star Birth. If either player has Pumpkaboo, they’ll have an advantage in this regard, but using Pumpkaboo still requires your opponent to use up some resources to find it. A player who can attack multiple times with Giratina VSTAR will almost certainly win, so you’ll want to use Boss’s Orders to target your opponent’s Giratina whenever possible. If you can hit it right after it was accelerated to with Star Birth, then you can mitigate the advantage that your opponent will have. If you do get into a 2HKO war with Arceus VSTAR, then you’ll want to make good use of your Cheren’s Care. As you might expect, the mirror match is even, but you can give yourself an advantage through smart play.

Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR in the Future

Looking forward to our next format, Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR also finished in the Top 4 of Champions League Niigata, so it will surely remain a contender. That list looked quite similar to the lists we have in our current format; the only card that was added that we don’t have yet was Iono. So, Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR looks like it should continue to be a solid play going forward. Of the decks coming out, none particularly impact this deck’s strategy, and since this deck plays Bibarel, it already has a strategy against the late-game Iono that most decks will have to adapt to. If you’re looking for a deck that you can play through the end of the year, Arceus / Giratina is a solid option.

For now, the fact that Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR isn’t a meta-dependent deck bodes well for it in the near future. Even though it just won two events, there isn’t much that other people can do to tech against it, so this isn’t a deck where its success would scare me off of playing it for future events. As such, it should be a strong option for any upcoming League Challenges, League Cups, or any Regional Championships you might find yourself at. If you haven’t tried this deck yet, I certainly recommend giving it a chance!

We’ve now come to the end of this article, but if you do have any questions, be sure to ask, either here or in our PTCG Subscriber’s Hideout! As always, best of luck, and stay safe! Thanks for reading!

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