Metagaming Blockholm — Metagame Evolution and Snorlax Control

Hey everyone! It’s Charlie and I’m happy to be back with another article. I just graduated from college and competed in Stockholm Regionals last week. It’s been tough to fit Pokemon into my busy schedule, but I’ve almost completed my Worlds invite now! Heading into Los Angeles as my last Regionals of the season, I’m within striking distance of my invite and hope to finish it either there or at NAIC. In a metagame that’s becoming increasingly diverse with every tournament, this means a good deck choice will be almost as important as playing well for the first time this format. After Indianapolis, we saw that [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] was not invincible, as only Ian Robb made Top 8 with the deck. We also saw an explosion of [card name=”Chien-Pao ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] decks at the top tables, with four in Top 8 and another three in Top 16! Grant Shen’s second-place list was exactly 25% of the event’s Top 16, which is unheard of in recent formats, especially when the deck was not seen as the BDIF going into the event. Lastly, [card name=”Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] was the big surprise of the event, as Andrew Hedrick was able to take it all the way to first place! Many of us had tried Dialga in combination with the new [card name=”Metang” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] to accelerate Metal Energy, but nobody had quite cracked the right way to build the deck yet. Andrew’s build was very consistent and had a favored matchup into the dominant Chien-Pao list as well as a solid Charizard matchup. While I don’t think this result is representative of Dialga’s place in the format, it’s nonetheless extremely impressive and shows that there’s still a lot of room for growth in this new format.

Today, I’d like to examine the topic of how formats grow and evolve, how discourse around metagaming has changed over the years, and how to “read the meta” and predict the best play for an event. I’ll take you through my process for this, including how different kinds of decks are affected by meta trends and when trying to predict the meta is even the right decision.

How Does a Metagame Evolve?

I started playing Pokemon in 2010, and to say that the game is different nowadays would be an extreme understatement. While a lot has changed within the game, including how cards are designed and how successful strategies look, the biggest changes have been outside of the game, and have everything to do with access to information. Back in 2010, some players were able to go on incredible runs because they just had better decks than their opponents. There was no Pokemon community on Twitter/X, no online tournaments, no Limitless for easy list access, not even Virbank City Gym or HeyFonte groups on Facebook. SixPrizes was the first article site for Pokemon and it was just a year old back then; we didn’t get the first PokeBeach articles until 2015. The best ways to access information were the PokeGym forums and the original HeyTrainer website, and this information didn’t update in real-time anything like today’s sites do. Players could go entire formats without a good list getting figured out for their favorite deck, with one notorious example being Frank Diaz in 2010, dominating events with CurseGar while nobody else could find the right 60.

As the information age evolved in Pokemon, we saw format development accelerate significantly. Once article sites were a dime a dozen and posting your list after an event became standard practice, almost every player in the game had access to top lists pretty much immediately. After the first Regionals of a format, we could reasonably expect the winning decklist to see significant play at the next one. This led to counters being much easier to develop and the metagame generally changing much more from tournament to tournament.

Lately, the metagame has started to develop even faster. The introduction of widely prevalent online tournaments made it much easier to get in relatively competitive games between events, and the open-list format plus publicly available results meant everyone could see what was doing well. While some players would hold back their best decks from these events, many also took it as an opportunity to try new things in a more real-world environment, which put them on display if they succeeded.

Alongside this, many streamers and YouTubers now create content pretty much constantly, giving players access to more high-quality information than ever. Just this season, we saw Caleb Rogerson take a Charizard list to the finals of the 2000+ person Charlotte Regionals that Azul Garcia Griego had posted on YouTube just three days before under the title “How I Would Play Charizard ex Right Now!” Caleb is an incredible player, but I’m used to a world where better players plus better decks equals better results, not better players plus good decks equals better results. What I mean by this is that the best players used to also have a significant deck advantage over average players on top of their skill advantage, and nowadays I feel they almost exclusively rely on skill advantages. There are obviously exceptions to this, notably at the beginnings of new formats (especially around ICs), where the best players often keep their cards close to their chest and we see the best lists only after the event. Two notable recent examples are Tord Reklev’s two strongest recent performances, his second-place finish at Worlds 2023 with [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] and his first-place finish at EUIC 2024 with Charizard ex. Both of these lists were completely new at the time and incredibly strong, quickly becoming the standard way to play the deck after his success. This is mostly just another example of Tord’s greatness, but if people knew about these lists ahead of time, I think the makeup of the metagame at both tournaments would have been extremely different.

[cardimg name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG69″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

One last example I want to talk about is the hype for Lost Zone [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card] going into Worlds 2023. In the west, Giratina was seen as an inconsistent, clunky deck, and it saw almost no success at NAIC. The only talk of it I remember was Henry Brand playing a version of it with four [card name=”Jet Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card] and going 6-3 (believe it or not, this was the first time a list like this was played by a top player outside of Japan!), and otherwise it was just crickets. Azul also went on record many times calling it unplayable and talking about how he didn’t understand its success in Japan at all. However, as Worlds approached, Giratina started to have some success in online tournaments and people began to refine the lists. In the long two-month gap between NAIC and Worlds, we saw Giratina ascend from practically nothing to one of the top three decks.

In years prior to online tournaments, I don’t think this ever would have happened. Giratina may have succeeded a lot more at Worlds too if it hadn’t seen a meteoric rise from unplayable to Tier 1 entirely through social media and online tournaments. I know that I personally observed this rise and started testing the matchup much more with the [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] deck I brought to Worlds. Without this information, I likely would’ve been caught off guard and destroyed by it. Was this discovery inevitable? I’m not sure, but it definitely came faster than in the past due to how information is shared in this new era.

In conclusion, the metagame changes faster than ever nowadays, sometimes over a matter of days rather than from tournament to tournament. This means it’s more important than ever to be tuned into the trends in the meta, following social media and online events (to an extent), and testing your deck against the most popular lists to be best prepared for a large event.

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When and When Not to Counterpick

I’ll define counterpicking as picking a deck not based on its raw strength, but instead specifically to counter the meta that you expect. A quintessential example of this is the [card name=”Articuno” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] deck I played at 2022 Toronto Regionals. [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] decks made up an unbelievably high percentage of the metagame, with the only other big decks being [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], Lost Zone Box, and [card name=”Regigigas” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] at the time. The Articuno deck was absolutely exceptional at beating Lugia VSTAR, especially the list Tord had just won LAIC with the week prior. Lugia could play techs for you, notably [card name=”Bird Keeper” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] combined with [card name=”Eldegoss V” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”19″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Espeon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”65″ c=”name”][/card], but I took a bet that these wouldn’t be in most lists since copying Tord was the route most players would take. I then included two copies of [card name=”Drapion V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card] to destroy Mew decks and [card name=”Eiscue” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] for Lost Box and Regigigas. My plan was to beat exclusively those decks, and take a likely loss to everything else. In a highly centralized metagame like this, hard counterpicking can pay off big when you read the meta right. I was also very fortunate in my matchups, getting paired against a whopping eight Lugia VSTAR and one Mew VMAX on Day 1. (I finished 7-1-1, losing to one Lugia and IDing with another after losing Game 1.) All in all, this strategy works the best in metagames with a single big deck or a small collection of decks that are so much stronger than everything else that the entire format develops around them.

In contrast, I think the format we’ve been living with ever since D block rotated (so April 2023 to now) has been much worse for counterpicking. Deck diversity is at an all-time high, and prior to rotating to F-on in April 2024, it wouldn’t be unusual to hit nine different decks over nine rounds at a Regionals. This is simply way too much to build a rogue meta-counter deck for, and we saw way fewer off-the-wall strategies succeeding. The best move at the time was to get good at a single powerful meta deck, adjust a few cards based on the meta you expected, and just roll with it. My pick for this was Gardevoir ex, which I played to almost every event prior to rotation (except my Top 8 at Vancouver Regionals, when I decided I couldn’t handle the stress of Gardevoir for another event and chose [card name=”Miraidon ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] instead).

In the beginning of this new format, it looked like Charizard ex would be the dominant force of a mostly centralized metagame. It won both EUIC and Orlando Regionals, the largest two events outside of Japan ever, in back-t0-back weekends with a single difference in the decklist. However, we saw in Indianapolis that we’re in for a lot more variation than we thought. People have begun to beat Charizard without throwing every other matchup, meaning there could be a lot more change on the horizon soon.

What’s Next for This Format?

As the format changes over the next few events, I’m expecting some lower-tier decks to see more success as they’re further refined and Charizard’s dominance wanes. I also expect to see a strong resurgence for decks that were hyped at the beginning of the format and then flopped at the first few events. While I think Lugia VSTAR may have to wait until the next set for another moment in the sun, we saw Chien-Pao ex prove why it’s a dominant force in Indianapolis and make good on some of the hype from before EUIC. I think the next deck to do this will be Control, including both pure [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] variants and [card name=”Pidgeot ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] variants. Lots of the hard counters for Control are being phased out of lists in favor of more universally applicable cards, so there could easily be an event in the near future that Control sees lots of success at.

I’d like to share the Block Snorlax list I played in Stockholm to a Top 64 finish after starting 7-1-1. In a metagame full of Charizard and Chien-Pao alongside newer decks like Dialga, there was an opening for a consistent Block list to wipe the floor before people added their counters back. As we saw in Stockholm, this strategy worked great, as Azul Garcia Griego was able to take down the whole event with the same deck! Here’s the list I played:

[decklist name=”blockholm1″ amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″][pokemon amt=”10″]4x [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”58″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pidgeot V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Chi-Yu ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”40″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”97″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mantine” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”34″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Sandshrew” set=”151″ no=”27″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”48″]4x [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”84″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Hisuian Heavy Ball” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Bravery Charm” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”173″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Defiance Vest” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Hero’s Cape” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Arven” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Penny” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Miss Fortune Sisters” set=”Lost Origin” no=”164″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Eri” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Erika’s Invitation” set=”151″ no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Cyllene” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Team Yell’s Cheer” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Artazon” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”2″]2x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”Call of Legends” no=”89″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

I liked this decklist a lot, as it focused on maximum consistency and minimizing unnecessary counters to decks I didn’t expect. While I did include [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card], I expected Lugia VSTAR to be a non-factor and chose not to include cards like [card name=”Giacomo” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card] that were utterly useless in every other matchup. Other extraneous inclusions like [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”168″ c=”name”][/card] were also excluded, as they were mostly to make Charizard ex a slightly better matchup, but, as I’ll explain in a minute, the matchup was already very favorable without these. Without playing every tech card on the planet, Block is one of the decks with the most space to allocate for consistency cards, as all you really need to operate is Snorlax and [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card]. I’ll explain some card choices below.

Four Snorlax

Snorlax is one of the most powerful cards in the entire format right now. While it may just sit there with 150 HP and never attack, its Block Ability preventing your opponent from retreating is unbelievably strong. When the original Block [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”101″ c=”name”][/card] was released back in 2013, most decks didn’t play nearly as many support liabilities, and [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Legendary Treasures” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] existed to turn Block off. Nowadays, literally every deck plays at least one card that’s pretty much dead weight when trapped in the Active Spot, giving Snorlax a win condition against the entire format. Combined with so many powerful Trainer cards to disrupt your opponent, Block is able to block any route your opponent may find to victory!

One Rotom V

Rotom V is the engine that makes this deck tick. Instant Charge allows you to end your turn by drawing three cards, which is absolutely the strongest end-of-turn draw that has ever been printed, blowing even [card name=”Tropical Beach” set=”Black and White Black Star Promos” no=”BW50″ c=”name”][/card] out of the water. Rotom allows you to amass a hand of pretty much every card in your deck, giving you access to literally every combo you play and making it very hard for your opponent to escape the lock. Many decks only can escape through [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Professor Turo’s Scenario” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card], both of which prevent the opponent from playing [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card] to disrupt your hand on the same turn. With Rotom on the field, the entire engine runs smoothly and makes it so you basically never run out of steam.

One Pidgeot V

[card name=”Pidgeot V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] is simply the best target for [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], and also enables an infinite anti-deckout loop with Vanishing Wings, meaning you don’t even need to have a [card name=”Cyllene” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] loop to keep yourself from losing to mill. It’s by far the best second Pokemon V to play in the deck and will be in every list forever.

One Chi-Yu ex

[card name=”Chi-Yu ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] is a fun replacement for [card name=”Crabominable V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] since it has a Retreat Cost of one, and can actually attack for damage too! The main reason we include this card is to finish the game when the opponent has two or fewer cards in deck. It’s also very important for Control mirrors because you’d otherwise have no way to win the game.

One Mimikyu

[card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”37″ c=”name”][/card] has Safeguard, and having Safeguard in a Stall deck should be almost self-explanatory. Putting it in the Active Spot against Charizard ex forces them to retreat, removing Energy from play and likely bringing another Pokemon into the Active Spot that can’t do nearly as much damage. I’d like to include a second copy going forward, but when I tested this the day before Stockholm, I elected not to play one at the time. You can certainly get away without it.

One Mantine

[card name=”Mantine” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”34″ c=”name”][/card] is your replacement for [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] after rotation, allowing you to put a Pokemon from your opponent’s discard pile onto their Bench. This is useful for putting [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] and other Pokemon into play, since your opponent will oftentimes try to discard them if they draw them in order to play around [card name=”Erika’s Invitation” set=”151″ no=”160″ c=”name”][/card]. Mantine is a must-include right now since having the option can win games against decks that don’t put their liabilities in play.

One Sandshrew [cardimg name=”Sandshrew” set=”151″ no=”27″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

[card name=”Sandshrew” set=”151″ no=”27″ c=”name”][/card] was the new inclusion for Stockholm that took the deck from solid to absolutely broken. Sandshrew prevents opponents from using Item or Supporter cards to put Trainer cards back into their deck, which stops [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card], Cyllene, and [card name=”Team Yell’s Cheer” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card] from recovering valuable Trainers. While this makes the mirror decidedly non-infinite and gives you an advantage against anyone not playing Sandshrew, it’s mostly here for Charizard lists that try to use Pal Pad or Team Yell’s Cheer to recover Professor Turo’s Scenario or Boss’s Orders. With a limit on the number of these cards they can play in a game, it’s much harder for them to win consistently.

Two Hisuian Heavy Ball

Double [card name=”Hisuian Heavy Ball” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] was a very strong inclusion this past weekend, and enabled me to pretty safely get away with only one of each Basic Pokemon besides Snorlax. If two Pokemon were in the Prizes, you could retrieve both, and it was very easy to play Hisuian Heavy Ball almost exclusively to check your Prize cards. This time save was very underrated; it made it so all I had to check on my first search was my Pokemon. Going forward, I’m not sure if this is the right count — double Rotom might be better — but I liked it a lot in this list.

Two Temple of Sinnoh

The biggest thing differentiating my list and Azul’s list was the inclusion of Temple of Sinnoh. These were almost entirely for Giratina VSTAR decks, but were also helpful against Lugia. Temple was mostly dead weight for me all weekend since I didn’t play against either of these decks, but it helped once against an Arceus deck by making their [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] significantly less valuable. I know some members of Azul’s group regretted not including Temple, but you do need to include multiple copies of it for full effect, so I understand their logic in cutting it.

For the rest of the Trainers, I think most choices are relatively self-explanatory. I chose to max out consistency cards like [card name=”Penny” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] and play an extra Iono to draw out of bad starts, but everything else is standard. Next, I’ll share my updated list going into Los Angeles, which takes inspiration from the strengths of my list and Azul’s:

[decklist name=”Blockholm” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Sandshrew” set=”151″ no=”27″][pokemon amt=”13″]4x [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”58″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”97″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Pidgeot V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Chi-Yu ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”40″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mantine” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”34″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Sandshrew” set=”151″ no=”27″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mawile” set=”Lost Origin” no=”71″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”45″]4x [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”182″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Hisuian Heavy Ball” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Bravery Charm” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”173″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Defiance Vest” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Hero’s Cape” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Arven” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Penny” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Eri” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Miss Fortune Sisters” set=”Lost Origin” no=”164″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Erika’s Invitation” set=”151″ no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Cyllene” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Team Yell’s Cheer” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Artazon” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”2″]2x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”116″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist]I only made a few minor changes, but I think this is much better positioned for Los Angeles now that Block is respected as a Tier 1 deck again. Here are the biggest changes I made:

One Mawile

This is the only piece of the deck that wasn’t in either Azul’s list or my list. [card name=”Mawile” set=”Lost Origin” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] is included for the Ancient Box matchup, taking it from relatively unfavored to nearly an auto-win. Ancient Box’s strategy is to put four [card name=”Flutter Mane” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] into play alongside two [card name=”Roaring Moon” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], giving them two powerful attackers and four Pokemon that can turn off Block and retreat back into Roaring Moon. With Mawile, you’re able to trap a Flutter Mane with Tempting Trap, making this strategy completely invalid. I did beat the Ancient Box I played against in Stockholm, but that was because my opponent put Radiant Greninja into play, which makes the game completely free. Including Mawile gives you a great chance into one of the decks I think is best positioned for LA, since Ancient Box has such a good matchup against Lost Zone variants and Chien-Pao ex.

A nice bonus of Mawile is also its effectiveness into [card name=”Minior” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card]. If we see a resurgence of this card, which feels like it was printed specifically to counter Block, Mawile with a [card name=”Defiance Vest” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] can wall it out completely. I hope that’s not the only thing people play to counter Block, or they’ll be in for a rude awakening!

Two Rotom V, Two Mimikyu

I decided to switch to double Rotom/Mimikyu over double Heavy Ball. This gives you more ways to find the card, and, more importantly, now there’s no need to recover the card in the same turn if it’s Knocked Out. The value of your [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”name”][/card] goes up dramatically on the turn they KO either one of these, so having access to a second makes it so much easier to recover. Both of these are also not bad starters; they’re nowhere near as good as Snorlax, but much better than something like Sandshrew or Mantine.

Three Pal Pad

I went up to a third Pal Pad as I realized it’s better than the second Cyllene. I was steadfast in including two Cyllene to make sure the loop was never interrupted by bad flips or Prizes, but since Pidgeot V already gives you infinite recursion, there’s really no need for this extra safety, and I’d rather be able to use my Pal Pad more liberally. It’s such a good card to play on any turn, even to refill your deck with just one Supporter that you’d like to increase your odds of hitting with [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card], and it also shuffles your deck, which is better than putting it on top in the Control mirror. All in all, Pal Pad is simply broken in this deck, and playing more is always going to be good.

Two Bravery Charm, Two Defiance Vest

I heavily considered playing this split in Stockholm myself and eventually decided it wasn’t necessary. It’s mostly good for the Dialga matchup to make Metang take longer to KO a Snorlax, but it can be useful against [card name=”Charmeleon” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”8″ c=”name”][/card] as well. I think this is correct now if you play carefully with your [card name=”Bravery Charm” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] and use [card name=”Hero’s Cape” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] wisely. I almost played three Bravery Charm and two Defiance Vest, which I think is definitely too much, but the two/two split is solid.

One Boss’s Orders, One Iono

I borrowed this idea from Azul’s list to make space for the new Pokemon; one Boss’s Orders is really all you need to play the game. It’s weaker in the Control mirror, but everywhere else you’re able to use [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card] to full effect, so you don’t need a Supporter to do the same thing. The second copy of Iono wasn’t that good for me in Stockholm anyway, and most lists were already at one, so I was very happy to cut it knowing that there’s another Rotom V in my deck because of it.

Two Temple of Sinnoh

Azul’s list also included three [card name=”Eri” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] and three Erika’s Invitation, which is very strong since it gives you more ways to see your opponent’s hand, but it’s definitely not necessary to win. I chose to cut those to keep Temple of Sinnoh going forward, which will be very good if we see a resurgence of Giratina VSTAR in response to Azul’s success.

Conclusion

[cardimg name=”Minior” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”201″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Overall, the idea of this list is to add some of the techs back in anticipation of more counters, which we did with Temple and Mawile. The 100% no-frills approach was a perfect call for Stockholm (and part of me wishes I cut the Temple as well), but it doesn’t work in a format where Block is a known quantity. I think Block is still in a great position going into LA; I don’t expect anyone to add egregious counters to their deck like [card name=”Gengar” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] since they take up way too much space. If Minior is seen as a perfect solution by most players, they’ll struggle against newer Block lists and just make their deck worse overall. I think the actual way people will “counter” Block will be just playing decks with better matchups into it, like Giratina VSTAR has always had. Block is one of the few decks that has space to tech for almost everything, though, so don’t write it off as a great choice for LA even though it might see more counters!

Thank you very much for reading this article; I hope you learned something about the history of metagaming in Pokemon and a bit about Block in today’s meta. As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions on X (@C4_TCG) or in the Subscribers Hideout. I hope to see you again in the next one!

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