A Blast from the Past — Ancient Box in BRS-TEF

Hey everyone! It’s Charlie and I’m happy to be back with another article. I’ve been really excited for rotation to hit and finally get a fresh format. Trying to build cool new decks and innovate is what makes Pokemon so fun for me, so moving on from what appears to be a relatively solved format has already gotten me excited for the future. In this article, we’re going to cover one of the decks that I’ve been having the most fun with, which is the new Ancient Box!

Ancient Box’s History

Attacks fueled by a specific number of cards in the discard pile have seen success in many different forms. One of the most dominant decks ever, Night March, was based around the powerful attacks of [card name=”Joltik” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Pumpkaboo” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”44″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Lampent” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”42″ c=”name”][/card] increasing in damage as more of them hit the discard pile. We’ve also had more general applications of this concept, like [card name=”Vespiquen” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Flareon” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card]’s powerful Revenge attacks that did 10 more damage for each Pokemon in your discard pile. Temporal Forces gives us a new take on this idea with [card name=”Roaring Moon” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]’s Vengeful Fletching, which does 10 more damage for each Ancient card in your discard pile. Unlike other versions of this attack, there are Ancient Pokemon, Items, Tools, and Supporters, which gives you a lot more versatility in what kind of cards can increase your damage output. We also have a brand new [card name=”Koraidon” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] that does 30 damage for each Ancient Pokemon you have in play, which is a strong early game attacker when you don’t have enough Ancient cards in your discard pile yet. Pairing both of these attackers with [card name=”Ancient Booster Energy Capsule” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] gives them either 190 or 200 HP, which is very high for a single-Prize Pokemon, even evading an OHKO by [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card]’s Burning Darkness before you take any Prize cards! These cards combine to create a very fast and powerful deck that also gets stronger as the game goes on. Let’s get into my first draft of a list:

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[decklist name=”Ancient Box” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″][pokemon amt=”15″]4x [card name=”Roaring Moon” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Koraidon” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Flutter Mane” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Cobalion” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”126″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”35″]4x [card name=”Professor Sada’s Vitality” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”170″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Explorer’s Guidance” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Grant” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”144″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Trekking Shoes” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”145″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Awakening Drum” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”141″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ancient Booster Energy Capsule” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”159″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”10″]7x [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”7″][/card]3x [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”120″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist]I built this list with one goal in mind: dump as many Ancient cards in the discard pile as possible and hit for a lot of damage. Let’s get into the card choices:

Four Roaring Moon

Roaring Moon is our main attacker, and when having more in the discard pile fuels our attack, there’s never a reason not to play four copies. Honestly, there has never been a deck I’ve played before besides Night March where I thought having access to eight or more of these cards would be good. It’s good to have them in play and good to have them in the discard pile, so your goal is to see as many as possible throughout the game and do whatever you need with it in a given situation. Never dare go below four copies of this card unless you’re playing a different deck!

Four Koraidon

Koraidon is the weaker attacker here, but it’s much better in the early game. Your goal is to use Koraidon to do chip damage to big Pokemon ex, have your opponent take at least one KO, then use another Koraidon to chip damage another big Pokemon ex. This will theoretically give you the chance to sweep with your Roaring Moon army later in the game and dominate the Prize trade. The worst case scenario with this card is to just discard it, which is a great thing because that’s plus 10 damage! Four copies are also a must here and should never go fewer.

Four Flutter Mane

This card is interesting because it’s by far the weakest attacker of your three Ancient Pokemon, but [card name=”Flutter Mane” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] plays some niche roles and is great discard fodder. The main reason I included four copies here instead of other Ancient Pokemon like [card name=”Great Tusk” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Sandy Shocks” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] is because of the one Retreat Cost. Being able to move a Flutter Mane with only a [card name=”Professor Sada’s Vitality” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”170″ c=”name”][/card] and still attack with another attacker is huge. There’s an argument for playing [card name=”Rescue Board” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] as well to give one Flutter Mane free retreat, but I haven’t used it enough to justify the slot at this point. Furthermore, Flutter Mane shuts off your opponent’s Active Pokemon’s Abilities, which can be surprisingly good if you start it or get it out early. [card name=”Miraidon ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] could be your opponent’s starter and they may just have to pass without using Tandem Unit, or you could get Flutter Mane in the Active Spot and watch your opponent fail an Infernal Reign after using [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card] to get Charizard! The Ability lock isn’t amazing because of its limitations, but it’s better than the other Ancient cards in my opinion and its downsides are way less problematic. Lastly, its attack lets you do 90 damage and place two damage counters on your opponent’s Benched Pokemon, which can be useful because you spend a lot of the early game trying to set up KOs while you discard your Ancient cards. Flutter Mane is overall a good choice in this slot; I could see an argument for Sandy Shocks as it’s the most efficient early game attacker, but as of now I’ll stick with four Flutter Mane.

Two Cobalion

[cardimg name=”Cobalion” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”126″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This card is in here for [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] and that’s about it. Boosting your damage by up to 60 can be enormous for [card name=”Cobalion” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] when we’re talking about a 330 HP monster. While you might not get OHKOs with them immediately, boosting up an attack from Flutter Mane to a max of 150 damage or an early Roaring Moon hit to a number like 180 damage can secure consistent 2HKOs in the early game. Then, as your Ancient cards add up in the discard pile, Cobalion can push you over the edge to get a huge, potentially game-winning OHKO on a Charizard ex. You play 29 Ancient cards and you need 20 to hit the OHKO on Charizard, which is very doable near the end of the game. I love playing two copies of Cobalion and I think it takes the Charizard matchup from terrible to slightly favorable.

One Radiant Greninja

This is the deck’s main draw engine. You’ll notice a theme here with discarding cards to get more good cards, and [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] lets us turn our Energy into more cards. You will try to use Concealed Cards almost every turn to make your hand larger and potentially get more Supporters to play, which is surprisingly easy to do given the amount of ways we play to find Energy. Even without the ability to attack, Radiant Greninja pulls its weight and more in this deck as you try to set up a win as fast as possible.

Four Nest Ball

This Item card is unfortunately the best search card this deck has access to; I would kill for the ability to use [card name=”Techno Radar” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”180″ c=”name”][/card] but that’s sadly locked to Future Pokemon. Regardless, four copies of [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”181″ c=”name”][/card] are a must since we need to get out as many Basic Pokemon as possible in a short amount of time. The reason we play Nest Ball over [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] is because we already have so many ways to discard cards from our hand that we literally cannot afford to discard any more cards. Nest Ball may not be [card name=”Battle VIP Pass” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”225″ c=”name”][/card], but it definitely works to get us off the ground.

Four Pokegear 3.0

This is my main choice of consistency item over [card name=”Trekking Shoes” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] because every Supporter in the deck lets us discard more cards (in one way or another). Finding more [card name=”Professor Sada’s Vitality” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”170″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Explorer’s Guidance” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] gets you through your deck faster, so it was a pretty quick choice for me to include four copies of [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card]. I guess I could see a world where Trekking Shoes gets one of these slots back, but it’s simply not powerful enough when it only nets you one card and discards another while Pokegear 3.0 can somewhat reliably get you three new cards or two new ones and four additional cards in the discard pile.

Four Earthen Vessel

This item is one of only two Ancient Item cards, and it’s the only one that’s not an ACE SPEC, so playing four copies of [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] feels required. Luckily it has a built-in way to help us discard cards and find Energy, which is important both for attacking and for fueling Radiant Greninja. Until they come out with better Ancient Items, Earthen Vessel will be a four-of and I won’t consider cutting down on it at all.

Three Counter Catcher

This is our gust card of choice since this deck almost always gets behind in the Prize trade. If we’re ahead, it’s likely we won’t be ahead for long or we can win without playing gust cards, and if we’re behind, we likely need to be able to hit a target that already has damage on it, so [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card] is pretty much always the best gust card. I tried [card name=”Pokémon Catcher” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card] but didn’t like either enough to keep them; gust isn’t so powerful here that you’ll flip for it and Boss’s Orders oftentimes ends up in the discard pile when you need it. I would keep this count at three copies for now and maybe consider dropping it to two, but since one often finds itself in the discard pile from [card name=”Explorer’s Guidance” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] or another card. Stick to three copies in the deck.

Two Trekking Shoes

Now this is one card I’m considering cutting, but it’s done solid in my games so it gets to stay for a bit longer. Having the choice to just see another card and potentially discard something using [card name=”Trekking Shoes” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] is really good; if you see Professor Sada’s Vitality or Explorer’s Guidance you keep it, if you see anything else dig for one more. As I said before, I think Pokegear 3.0 is definitely better, but Trekking Shoes feels better than any other card I could put here when building a deck designed for pure speed and consistency. Maybe after some refinement I’ll end up without Trekking Shoes, but as of now I think it’s a strong card and at least deserves two slots.

One Super Rod

Playing only one copy of [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”name”][/card] is definitely light on recovery options, but you almost always fill your Bench with the important attackers early, so only having one way to recover stuff feels ok. Since Professor Sada’s Vitality gets back Energy cards, the main purpose is to just recover one extra Roaring Moon, your Radiant Greninja, or a Cobalion if it got Boss’s Orders KO’d. You can also throw some Energy in the deck to draw more, but it’s extremely unlikely you’re using this card to get back Flutter Mane or Koraidon late in the game. I would consider another copy, but as of now playing carefully with my single Super Rod has been enough to 0utlast my opponents.

One Awakening Drum

With the triumphant return of ACE SPECs came a lot of hype for the first one revealed, which was [card name=”Prime Catcher” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card] of course. Prime Catcher is stupidly broken, but Creatures knew what they were doing and released some domain-specific ACE SPECs that are also broken, and [card name=”Awakening Drum” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card] is one of them. Drawing a card for each Ancient Pokemon you have in play on an Item is crazy! If you don’t have any Cobalion down, there’s a reasonable chance this card just draws you a free four to five cards. That effect on an Item with no drawback that also fuels your damage output is definitely more powerful than Prime Catcher could be in this deck. With ACE SPECs, there’s only gonna be a few decks that debate which one is better, and this isn’t one of them.

Four Ancient Booster Energy Capsule

Our Ancient Tool card is [card name=”Ancient Booster Energy Capsule” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card], which gives us +60 HP and resistance to all Special Conditions. With 130 and 140 HP attackers, this effect is surprisingly powerful at preventing OHKOs from larger attackers. Putting your HP up to 190 or 200 gets you out of range from Burning Darkness before you take any Prizes, giving you potentially another turn to set up chip damage and get ready for a big sweep. The worst case for this card is still just ending up in the discard pile and giving you +10 damage, so four copies is definitely a good decision in my opinion.

Four Professor Sada’s Vitality

[cardimg name=”Professor Sada’s Vitality” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”256″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This Support card is very reminiscent of [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card], which was a ridiculous Energy acceleration Supporter that also drew you three cards. I don’t know if Professor Sada’s Vitality is quite as good as Welder, but it’s the main way that you power up your attackers and dig deeper into the deck, so playing four copies is a 100% must. I have considered [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card] too as a way to put more of them back into the deck, but since that reduces your damage output a bit, I decided it’s not worth it and other cards like [card name=”Dark Patch” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] would likely be better. Your goal is to play either Professor Sada’s Vitality or the next card I’ll talk about on every turn; if you can do that you have a good shot to win.

Four Explorer’s Guidance

Explorer’s Guidance a reprint of [card name=”Hapu” set=”Unified Minds” no=”200″ c=”name”][/card] with the Ancient tag, but that tag makes all the difference in making this card much better than its predecessor. Getting to discard four cards with a single Supporter and add two cards to your hand that are likely pretty strong is a very good effect in a turbo deck like this one. In the early game, you usually just use this to dump every Ancient card you see besides other Supporters and cards you can dump later like Earthen Vessel, grabbing yourself some Energy to draw more and other powerful cards to gain an advantage. This Supporter is not good in a vacuum, but it serves its purpose extremely well in this deck and it’s the reason you can get to 20+ Ancient cards in the discard pile so fast.

One Grant

Why would we be playing [card name=”Grant” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”144″ c=”name”][/card] without any Fighting-type Pokemon, you ask? Grant has an extremely unique secondary effect that lets you recover it from the discard pile at any time if you discard two cards from your hand. If you need to dump a bunch of Ancient cards that ended up in your hand very fast, simply recover Grant and discard them! You can choose to play Grant to re-discard it or just discard it with Earthen Vessel or something, giving you an option throughout the entire game to potentially add 20 damage. This can make or break some games, so even though it’s a Supporter you rarely ever want to play and gives you literally no benefit to play down, it serves a unique purpose that can turn it into double [card name=”PlusPower” set=”Black and White” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] in the most desperate moments.

Three PokeStop

This should have been the Stadium of choice from the start for a deck like this. I understand why some people thought [card name=”Artazon” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] was the better choice in the beginning, but just getting to see more cards and go faster is always going to be better here. Your deck plays 19 Items that you can grab, and almost every other card is Ancient or an Energy, which are both good to get in the discard pile. [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] accelerates your game plan a lot, but I couldn’t find space for four so three copies will have to do for now. I would be surprised if a different variant of this deck saw success without PokeStop; keep at least three in the deck if you want to move at the pace of your opponent.

Seven Darkness Energy and Three Fighting Energy

Darkness Energy is way more important than Fighting Energy, and with four Earthen Vessel, you can basically access whatever Energy you want at any time, so a seven/three split felt appropriate. There’s an argument for eight/two, but at that point you risk Prize cards becoming a big issue when you want to use Koraidon, so this felt like a safer split. I think 10 Energy is plenty by the way; you have four search cards for them and four Supporters that attach two of them each.

Other Considerations

One of the big things missing from this list is a Switch effect; at this point it folds to [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] if they can trap Radiant Greninja or Cobalion. I don’t know of many easy ways to add them; the Japanese list from the Fukuoka Champions League played one [card name=”Jet Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card], but that really didn’t feel like a difference maker to me. Another thought is potentially trying a build that focuses on [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Celebrations” no=”23″ c=”name”][/card] its main engine since you see more total cards, but the fact it isn’t an Ancient Supporter hurts that idea a lot.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading about my first take on the new format and my Ancient Box list! I think this deck has a lot of potential; I’m not going to EUIC so I still have a bit of extra time to refine my decks before Orlando Regionals, but I think this deck could be a sleeper pick to do well. For all of you going to EUIC, I recommend testing a lot starting now because the format is going to change a lot more than some expect! As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on X (@C4_TCG) or by commenting under this article. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you again!

-Charlie

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