Making the Case for Roaring Moon ex

Hello everyone! 2024 is almost upon us and tons of Pokemon tournaments are happening soon, with three Regional Championships scheduled in January. The Paradox Rift format is still interesting, with tons of decks to look at and explore. In this article, I will examine a deck that was incredibly hyped upon the release of Paradox Rift but has since become fringe at best: [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card].

[cardimg name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”251″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Roaring Moon ex has two powerful attacks for various situations, both costing two Darkness Energy and a Colorless Energy. Frenzied Gouging takes a guaranteed Knock Out on your opponent’s Active Pokemon at the cost of 200 recoil damage. Calamity Storm is a much safer attack, doing 100 damage plus another 120 if you discard a Stadium card in play. When you combine these with 230 base HP, it’s easy to see why Roaring Moon ex had a lot of eyes on it.

Roaring Moon ex saw a ton of hype as a turbo deck, using [card name=”Professor Sada’s Vitality” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”170″ c=”name”][/card] to power up multiple attackers and use either Frenzied Gouging or Calamity Storm as early as turn one going second. The deck uses [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] as its main engine, along with [card name=”Dark Patch” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Battle VIP Pass” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”225″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Cross Switcher” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”230″ c=”name”][/card]. The hype has settled down, and Roaring Moon ex mostly sees play now as a tech attacker in Lost Zone decks, which use [card name=”Mirage Gate” set=”Lost Origin” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] to power it up, but I still believe that the turbo version of Roaring Moon has potential.

The main struggle the turbo version of Roaring Moon had initially was how linear its strategy was. Since it only had one real attacker, it struggled against anything that could trade well against it. [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] ended up being a tough matchup since it could attack with [card name=”Charmander” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card] and KO a Roaring Moon that just used Frenzied Gouging. [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] ended up being a very tough matchup thanks to [card name=”Gardevoir” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] retaining its Energy when it attacks, so even when you take a KO on their Gardevoir ex, your opponent is never obligated to put another two-Prize Pokemon into play that turn. Players tried to incorporate [card name=”Brute Bonnet” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Ancient Booster Energy Capsule” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] to both give Roaring Moon ex more HP and have a solid one-Prize Pokemon to attack with, but Charizard ex decks play too many [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] to make Ancient Booster Energy Capsule a viable option for defense, and Brute Bonnet ended up being too resource-intensive to use as either an attacker or a Bench-sitting supporter.

Players found a solution to these issues by playing Water Energy and [card name=”Energy Switch” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”82″ c=”name”][/card], letting you attack with [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card]’s Moonlight Shuriken. This gives you a new plan of attack against those Stage 2 decks, since you can KO all of their Basic Pokemon before they get the opportunity to evolve. However, once players caught on that Roaring Moon decks were capable of attacking with Radiant Greninja, most of them would bench [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] to prevent Moonlight Shuriken from wiping their board.

Playing this package came with its issues as well. Energy Switch wasn’t an amazing card to include in Roaring Moon decks, since you rarely had excess Energy in play that you could use. You can play [card name=”Canceling Cologne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] to get around Manaphy, but playing Water Energy didn’t solve the issues the deck sometimes had with consistency. With these problems in mind, this is the Roaring Moon list I have been enjoying recently.

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[decklist name=”Roaring Moon” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″][pokemon amt=”10″]4x [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Mew ex” set=”151″ no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Galarian Moltres V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”97″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Squawkabilly ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Morpeko” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”39″]4x [card name=”Professor Sada’s Vitality” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”170″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ 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=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Dark Patch” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Energy Switch” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”82″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cross Switcher” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”230″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Canceling Cologne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”11″]8x [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”Diamond and Pearl” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”8″][/card]3x [card name=”Water Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”106″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist]This deck is similar to the standard Roaring Moon list. The engine is still the same at its core, with Professor Sada’s Vitality allowing you to power up multiple Roaring Moon ex as early as the first turn. However it does differ somewhat in the consistency engine, including [card name=”Galarian Moltres V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] over [card name=”Trekking Shoes” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card]. This deck will choose to go second in every matchup, as it is important to announce your attacks as quickly as possible. Sometimes you can even use Moonlight Shuriken on turn one!

The rest of the Pokemon line is just built around setting up. You have [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] to find your Professor Sada’s Vitality early on and [card name=”Squawkabilly ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] to completely refresh your hand. [card name=”Morpeko” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Mew ex” set=”151″ no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] both function as free retreaters, as this deck is often in desperate need of pivots thanks to Dark Patch only working on Benched Pokemon. Mew ex lets you draw extra cards with its Restart ability, while Morpeko is an alright attacker, since it gives up one Prize and requires no long-term Energy commitment. Remember, you can also attack with Mew ex’s Genome Hacking attack with Energy Switch.

[cardimg name=”Galarian Moltres V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”177″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Galarian Moltres V has two main reasons for being included in this deck. The first one is to give value to your Energy Switches. Normally, you only have Dark Patch and Professor Sada’s Vitality to get extra Energy into play. This made Energy Switch often useless, but you still needed to play the full four copies to facilitate attacking with Radiant Greninja, so they ended up clogging your hand. With Galarian Moltres V, you can use its Direflame Wings Ability to get extra Darkness Energy into play, which you can then move off your Moltres with Energy Switch. This allows you to essentially convert your Energy Switches into extra copies of Dark Patch. Galarian Moltres V is also a solid attacker in this deck; you can power up its Aura Burn attack over time with Direflame Wings. While the attack itself isn’t great against most decks, the fact that it powers itself up is very helpful against [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] decks, because you often struggle against their [card name=”Judge” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]. Galarian Moltres V is essentially another copy of Roaring Moon against Mew VMAX, since it takes a one-hit KO on an opposing Mew VMAX thanks to its Weakness to Darkness.

Forest Seal Stone is an interesting inclusion in this deck, but I believe that it is fully worth including over Trekking Shoes. Roaring Moon relies heavily on Professor Sada’s Vitality, which creates a similar play pattern to the Lost Zone decks that rely heavily on [card name=”Colress’s Experiment” set=”Lost Origin” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card]. While a ton of players initially experimented with [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Trekking Shoes” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] to help you find Colress, it ended up just being better to use Forest Seal Stone. Pokegear 3.0 isn’t a good option either, having historically never really been worth playing in decks that require you to find a specific Supporter card early, especially when guaranteed options like [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] and Forest Seal Stone exist. I have seen many players choose to play Trekking Shoes over Forest Seal Stone, but I believe Trekking Shoes is a much weaker card. You only really get the full value from playing Trekking Shoes when you include the full four copies, which in this deck would likely mean cutting down on the cards you need for your game plan, like Darkness Energy or Energy Switch. Forest Seal Stone guaranteeing the card you need is very important, as this deck plays a ton of conditional cards. Professor Sada’s Vitality, Dark Patch, and Galarian Moltres V all require you to have Energy in your discard pile, so having the option to use Forest Seal Stone to search for an [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] is very important.

Another small thing I would like to point out is the high Energy count in this deck. Most Roaring Moon lists I have seen only play eight or nine Energy total, but I have found that eleven significantly improves the consistency of the deck. Having Energy in your opening hand is very important, as you often need to discard it with Ultra Ball and Earthen Vessel right away in order to use Professor Sada’s Vitality. Discarding them off PokeStop is also very important, as you can make use of all the Energy in your discard pile! You’ll also need them in the late game for Radiant Greninja’s Concealed Cards Ability, as this becomes your main form of draw support. In addition to all of this, it is very important to manually attach your Energy card every turn. A lot of players tend to undervalue your manual attachment, but it is very useful in this deck.

Another strong card in this deck is [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card]. While Iono doesn’t really seem like it would fit in with the aggressive strategy of this deck, the surprise factor it presents has been very useful. When playing against an aggressive deck like Roaring Moon, many players just hold their hand because they don’t expect any disruption to be present. Having Iono in your list can potentially save a game that would ordinarily be lost, since you can combine a late-game push with an Iono to disrupt your opponent’s hand. There is also very little cost to playing Iono, as you can always play it to refresh your hand in the early game. This aspect of Iono makes it more effective than [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card]. You can also use it twice in a game with [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card]!

Matchups

Gardevoir ex: 50-50

You will often go up two Prize cards against Gardevoir ex. This is because it is very rare for your opponent to take two Prizes on their second turn, and you will often go second and take a Prize on your first turn. Sometimes you run over your opponent very quickly, which usually happens if your opponent gets a poor setup or doesn’t manage to bench Manaphy early. Once you’re ahead by two Prize cards, your opponent will likely take a response KO with a [card name=”Gardevoir” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] with a [card name=”Reversal Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card], preventing you from KOing it with Morpeko. If they aren’t able to remove their Gardevoir ex from play with either a [card name=”Collapsed Stadium” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] or a [card name=”Professor Turo’s Scenario” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card], then it is really important to KO it with either your Roaring Moon ex or your Galarian Moltres V. Ideally you attack with the Roaring Moon here, as it’s nice to leave an unused Forest Seal Stone on the Moltres in play, but sometimes it is difficult to chain Professor Sada’s Vitality, and Moltres is much easier to power up.

At this point you will be at two Prizes remaining with your opponent at four, but they have a Gardevoir powered up to KO a two-Prize Pokemon and have no reason to put another two-Prize Pokemon into play. If you just KO their Active, they can easily find a Gardevoir ex and a [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Celebrations” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card] to take their final two Prizes and win the game. Your best line here is to use Moonlight Shuriken along with Canceling Cologne to win the game that turn. While that seems difficult to hit after being forced down to two cards by Iono, you can pre-attach the Energy to your Greninja and thin your deck as much as possible, to the point where you can somewhat reliably draw two copies of Cross Switcher and Canceling Cologne off their Iono. This line isn’t perfect, as they do have options to remove all Pokemon with less than 90 HP from play. But since you have the potential to either win the game very quickly in the early turns or come back later with Canceling Cologne, the Gardevoir matchup ends up being even.

Charizard ex: 35-75

[cardimg name=”Justified Gloves” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”143″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Charizard ex is a very tough matchup for this deck, which is mostly because of how huge Charizard ex itself is. Calamity Storm doesn’t do enough damage to take a one-hit KO on most of their two-Prize Pokemon, and Frenzied Gouging often leaves you in range of being return-KO’d by a Charmander. While it can seem nice to just take one Prize early in this matchup, as this caps their Burning Darkness attack at 210 damage, this often doesn’t work in practice. Charizard ex decks typically play either [card name=”Defiance Band” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Justified Gloves” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] for the mirror match, which is perfect for this situation: it pushes their Burning Darkness to 240 damage, which takes a KO on Roaring Moon. While Ancient Booster Energy Capsule would seem nice to prevent this KO, Charizard ex decks also typically play two copies of Lost Vacuum. Capsule doesn’t even work to make your Roaring Moon ex survive for an extra turn, since they can play Lost Vacuum the turn after to remove the Capsule and KO the Roaring Moon.

Your best hope in this matchup is to try and race your opponent and force them to continuously power up attacker after attacker. Iono is great against Charizard ex: you even have some lines that involve taking a quick KO on their Pidgeot ex, then using Cross Switcher, Canceling Cologne, and Iono to KO multiple Benched Pokemon and trap your opponent’s Manaphy in the Active Spot. While this matchup is overall very tough, it is winnable with a lot of early aggression.

Mew VMAX: 70-30

Mew VMAX is a very good matchup for Roaring Moon. While they can lock you early with Path to the Peak, Calamity Storm lets you get rid of it pretty easily. Roaring Moon ex itself is great against Mew VMAX, since its 230 HP often means your opponent needs multiple [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”name”][/card]s to take the KO with Techno Blast, and your myriad of high-HP Pokemon prevents them from effectively using Psychic Leap. Galarian Moltres V is a very helpful attacker in this matchup, as its Aura Burn attack takes a one-hit KO on an opposing Mew VMAX. If you manage to take three Prizes with two full-HP attackers set up, you have effectively checkmated your opponent — they don’t have a win condition against that board state, even with an Iono and a Path to the Peak!

Lost Zone Giratina: 50-50

Lost Zone [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG69″ c=”name”][/card] is an even matchup for Roaring Moon. While their late game combo of Roxanne and Path to the Peak is very strong against you, you have a lot of tools to overwhelm them early. Calamity Storm is great against Lost Zone Giratina, as it lines up perfectly to remove their Path to the Peak and KO their Giratina V. This disincentivizes putting Path to the Peak in play in the middle of the game, as you can just Calamity Storm to efficiently remove it. This usually gives you free rein to use your Abilities and power up backup attackers.

Once they evolve into Giratina VSTAR, you have some tough options. If you take the KO on it with Frenzied Gouging, your opponent has a perfect KO with [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card]’s Lost Mine attack. A more interesting option is to actually power up your Mew ex, as its Genome Hacking attack can copy Lost Impact and take a one-hit KO on an opposing Giratina VSTAR without any recoil damage.

Checkmate board states are really common in this matchup. Going to two Prize cards after attacking with a Mew ex and having a powered-up Roaring Moon on your Bench will very commonly block off your opponent’s options to win the game. I would be really careful about benching a Roaring Moon ex without any Energy on it in this matchup, though, as your opponent can use [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card] to bring it up, play Roxanne to reduce your options, and Lost Mine or Moonlight Shuriken to snipe around it. This matchup is even because you have a lot of aggression you can use early, but your opponent has a ton of comeback potential.

Conclusion

Roaring Moon is a very underrated deck right now. It has a ton of speed with Professor Sada’s Vitality, and also a lot of flexibility with the potential to attack with Moonlight Shuriken. I have been enjoying playing this Roaring Moon list recently, and I hope you have fun with it too!

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