Lost Box Wins! Reviewing NAIC and the Optimized First-Place List

Hello everyone! The largest western tournament of all time, the North America International Championships in New Orleans, has just concluded. For this tournament, the most hyped decks were [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”29″ c=”name”][/card], Lost Box, and [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]. Additionally, [card name=”Dragapult ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] received lots of attention, due to its results in Japan as well as Tord Reklev’s MasterClass on the archetype. However, many top players were skeptical of Dragapult, and lists were still far from optimized. Nobody really knew what the best variant of the deck was, let alone the exact list to play. While people tend to gravitate towards new stuff, it’s a risky play for such a large tournament. My group had an inkling that Dragapult wouldn’t make its mark, and therefore strongly considered [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] as a powerful deck that can handle just about everything besides Dragapult. In the end, we chickened out and played a run-of-the-mill Gardevoir list. Gardevoir has no apparent bad matchups, which made it an appealing play.

I was hesitant about playing one of the big four decks, as many other decks could easily tech for them. For the Lugia matchup, it was common to see random [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card] floating around, with some decks even teching in [card name=”Iron Thorns ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card]. Against Gardevoir, decks could easily play [card name=”Jamming Tower” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”153″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card], even when they otherwise wouldn’t. Finally, Lost Box struggled to deal with [card name=”Flutter Mane ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card]techs. [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]has seen a massive surge in popularity lately, plus some top finishes at the recent Japan Championships. It was on everyone’s radar, but seemed to be in an awkward position with its subpar matchups against Gardevoir and Lost Box. All Day 2 lists can be found here for easy reference during the remainder of this article.

Lost Box

Let’s start by talking about Lost Box. This deck clocked in as the fourth-most-played deck at the tournament, with about 9% representation. This was slightly higher than my group’s predicted 7%, and for good reason. Many players ended up including Iron Thorns as a versatile tech card to counter Lugia while also having some utility against Gardevoir, Charizard ex, and Stall / Control decks. [card name=”Spiritomb” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card]  was a more commonly known tech for Lost Box to utilize, but upon reflection, Iron Thorns makes a lot more sense. Lost Box is a powerful, adaptable, and consistent deck that can fight on even ground with just about everything else. The fact that it’s favored against Lugia and Raging Bolt made it a very sensible play for this tournament.

[cardimg name=”Hassel” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”205″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Lost Box had a huge conversion rate, ballooning to 15% in Day 2, and, of course, it ended up winning the whole tournament. In addition to first place, Lost Box saw Top 8 and Top 16 finishes, and there were several more in Top 64. Most lists were following the same formula, making use of the usual Lost Zone suspects in addition to the insanely powerful Iron Hands ex. Some lists still played [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card], though it has somewhat fallen out of favor now that the deck has access to the ubiquitous [card name=”Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card]. Another inclusion that saw some play was [card name=”Hassel” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] as a pseudo–fifth [card name=”Colress’s Experiment” set=”Lost Origin” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card]. While Hassel is sadly useless in the early game, it is typically better than Colress’s Experiment in the mid- to late-game, and Colress is already pretty good.

Andrew Hedrick’s winning list looked to be the cleanest and most optimized version of the deck. Although there wasn’t anything too crazy, he did include the Iron Thorns, realizing that the card offers too much power and versatility for just one tech slot. The more I think about it, the more Iron Thorns fits the bill as the ideal tech card.

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Hedrick’s list played a whopping four copies of [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card], which is highly unusual. This aims to make the deck fast, maximizing the chances of finding PokeStop on turn one, as well as on every subsequent turn if it gets bumped. There is an aspect of diminishing returns here. Too many PokeStop increases the chances of hitting PokeStop off PokeStop, and so each additional PokeStop makes the others slightly weaker. This is one of the reasons why PokeStop hasn’t been seen as a four-of. Lost Box decks usually play two or even one. Some turbo builds have played three. However, Hedrick’s group realized that it’s worth playing four for the extra speed, aggression, and consistency, at the cost of a bit of overlap.

The rest of the list is built impeccably around PokeStop. The three copies of Lost Vacuum further the theme of fast aggression. The current meta is generally weak against fast attacks from Radiant Greninja, Iron Hands, and Sableye, Lost Vacuum greatly increases the chances of reaching critical counts in the Lost Zone before your opponent is ready to deal with it. This deck is gas.

Additionally, Lost Vacuum has perfect synergy with the high counts of PokeStop. With three Vacuum, PokeStop is very likely to find Lost Vacuum within the first two turns. Playing four PokeStop ensures that you’ll have a target for your Lost Vacuum for two extra cards into the Lost Zone. With a previous turn’s PokeStop in play, you will commonly use PokeStop, then Vacuum, then another PokeStop, and possibly even another Vacuum after that.

[card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] have obvious and powerful synergy with PokeStop. The single copy of Pokegear may look weird, but I like the inclusion as a consistency booster alongside the four PokeStop. You have a decent chance of effectively PokeStopping into a Colress’s Experiment at some point during the game, which is quite good. Later in the game, you’re sure to have found Pal Pad and Pokegear, allowing you to set up timely [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] plays to close things out. Everything else in the deck is standard.

Gardevoir ex

Yours truly brought Gardevoir ex to a twelfth-place finish. Not bad, though there were seven other Gardevoir with higher placements. Gardevoir was the dominant deck of this tournament. We predicted Gardevoir to be 10%, but it was 14% overall. This seems high, but it was still only the third-most popular deck (behind Lugia and Raging Bolt). Gardevoir’s conversion rate was also pretty crazy, occupying nearly 22% of Day 2. I was stunned to see six of them in the Top 8, with yet another bubbling at ninth. Gardevoir’s matchup spread is simply unmatched. Although the deck suffers a little from inconsistency, it apparently wasn’t as bad as I thought.

Stephane’s second-place list only differed slightly from the norm. He played the tech [card name=”Klefki” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card], which is a powerful disruptive tool and helps tremendously against [card name=”Iron Bundle” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card], which was a very popular card across archetypes, and one that was very annoying for Gardevoir. Stephane also played Temple of Sinnoh over Enhanced Hammer. This has more applications than Hammer and isn’t countered by [card name=”Roseanne’s Backup” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card], but it’s much more difficult to find as you cannot fetch it with [card name=”Arven” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card]. It can also get easily bumped by other Stadiums or Lost Vacuum. Overall, I still think Enhanced Hammer is better, but of course I am biased since that’s what I played.

[cardimg name=”Hyper Aroma” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”152″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Stephane’s ACE SPEC was [card name=”Hyper Aroma” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card], which was surprising to me. I think the card is unimpressive because its application is far too narrow. [card name=”Unfair Stamp” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] has more uses, is better for consistency, and can save you from the combination of a poor start for you and an aggressive one for your opponent (which is a common losing combo for Gardevoir). That said, not playing Hyper Aroma greatly increases your reliance on [card name=”Technical Machine: Evolution” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card], which can spell disaster against an early Jamming Tower. Unfair Stamp was the more popular ACE SPEC overall, but Henry Chao’s Top 8 list also played Hyper Aroma.

Speaking of Henry Chao, this man cooked big time. Completely omitting [card name=”Drifloon” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Bravery Charm” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] granted him space for other tricky cards. A second Flutter Mane was a very heads-up inclusion. That card was insane for me throughout the tournament, and you can find creative uses for it in most matchups. It somewhat replaces Klefki as an option. Although its lock isn’t as strong as Klefki’s, its extra HP is relevant, and more importantly, its attack is incredible. The two [card name=”Munkidori” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] contribute to this spread mode, as well as the [card name=”Technical Machine: Devolution” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”177″ c=”name”][/card]. I imagine Henry used all of these pieces to crush Evolution-based decks, including the omnipresent mirror match. I, for one, would not be okay with trying to beat this list in the mirror. Finally, we can’t overlook the package of [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Luxurious Cape” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card]. This wall can buy time against the likes of Iron Hands, Charizard, and Raging Bolt. It may seem like Mimikyu doesn’t apply much pressure on its own, and it really doesn’t, but even a weak semi-invincible attacker contributes greatly to spread-damage strategies. With no Bravery Charm, Hyper Aroma, and only one Technical Machine: Evolution, one [card name=”Irida” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] takes the place of the fourth Arven.

Keito Arai’s Top 4 list was somewhere in between the two. He had the second Munkidori, the Klefki, and the trademark Japanese touch of [card name=”Tatsugiri” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card]. He also had a third [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] to accommodate the double Munkidori board. Double Munkidori and Klefki are undoubtedly great additions to the deck. Tatsugiri confuses me a bit. Although it does increase consistency, the way it works is entirely anti-synergistic with the rest of the deck. Seeing as Tatsugiri is a replacement for the absent Radiant Greninja, perhaps its Ability is just good enough that nothing else matters. If so, Keito knew something no one else did, and proved it with a big finish. Aside from these quirky inclusions, the deck follows the standard formula.

The Australian list had a stellar showing overall, placing fourth, seventh, ninth, and 29th. This is insane for one group at an International Championships. Their list was closest to the standard one, but they included Technical Machine: Devolution. My group’s list was only two cards different. We went for the greedy single copy of Darkness Energy. When it’s prized, tough luck. We did not play the Devolution. I’m assuming it’s just a hard tech for the Charizard matchup? Fellow writer Natalie may have some more insights into Gardevoir after her Top 8 run.

Lugia VSTAR

Lugia was the most hyped deck going into this tournament. It is obviously broken, and it has been dominating the major Japanese tournaments. It is notorious for its inconsistency and lack of agency, but its raw power makes up for that. There is nothing more terrifying than a Lugia deck setting up on turn two, so most decks had some sort of tech for the matchup. This fear of Lugia was not unfounded, as the deck was the most popular deck in the room, with nearly 18% of participants trying to summon the stars. However, with many top players avoiding the deck, its conversion rate was laughable; it went down to 16% in Day 2. On top of that, only two made Top 32. It’s safe to say that the deck flopped massively by all metrics. Perhaps the techs were too much for it? Fellow writer Isaiah was actually the second-highest-placing Lugia player, and we had a goofy match in which I got extremely lucky. He was packing three copies of Jamming Tower, which is absolute madness, by the way.

The highest-placing Lugia list inexplicably omitted [card name=”Cinccino ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]entirely. Alex Schemanske’s homebrew version leaned heavily into Iron Hands, with two copies of it alongside two Lightning Energy and an Earthen Vessel. As for KOing Gardevoir ex, he had a [card name=”Drapion V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Wyrdeer V” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card], the latter of which is still an extremely powerful card in Lugia. However, Wyrdeer had started to fade into oblivion because Cinccino usually renders it obsolete. The Drapion inclusion is highly questionable if you ask me, but I find it hilarious that the card saw play after [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] rotated.

Raging Bolt ex

Alongside Lugia, Raging Bolt is the other brain-dead beatstick deck. Its speed, power, and consistency are on another level. Its only weakness is its poor matchup against decks with single-Prize attackers, and it trades inefficiently into Bloodmoon Ursaluna. Even so, I think Raging Bolt was one of the best decks overall, though its matchup spread was a little sketchy. Similar to Lugia, most top players opted not to play this deck. Raging Bolt ended up being the second-most-played deck at 15%. Its conversion rate was weak, only 12% of Day 2. Raging Bolt had one Top 16 and one Top 32 finish. It basically replicated Lugia in hype, popularity, style of deck, and overall results. That is to say, it flopped. It’s hard to see how Raging Bolt will survive in the current meta, as both the decks that made up Top 8 are troublesome matchups for it.

All Raging Bolt lists are similar, built to be streamlined and play to the deck’s strengths of speed and consistency. Interestingly, Brandon Salazar’s 13th-place list played one copy of [card name=”Sandy Shocks ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card] for some extra Energy acceleration. I don’t see the need for this. Shashi Naraine’s 30th-place list had two Jamming Tower to compensate for the Gardevoir matchup, which might be the way to go if it actually works. He also had Flutter Mane over the baby [card name=”Sandy Shocks ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card], which I also think is a good decision. Flutter Mane isn’t quite as efficient an attacker as Sandy Shocks, but it helps a lot against Lost Box and enables a whole variety of neat plays. Since my last article on Raging Bolt, I have since added [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] and Flutter Mane. Sandy Shocks is still a great card, but I think Flutter Mane makes more sense in the current meta.

Miraidon ex

[cardimg name=”Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”202″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Miraidon was largely written off by many players due to its poor Raging Bolt matchup, but we shouldn’t have forgotten how much of a menace this deck can be. Miraidon feasts upon Lugia, which was the most popular deck in the room. Furthermore, a fast Iron Hands is very troublesome for the dominant single-Prize decks Gardevoir and Lost Box. Miraidon was 5% of the field and actually converted well into 6% of Day 2. Mike Gibbs brought a very streamlined turbo version to an 11th-place finish. His list is pure gas, and only features Boss’s Orders and Arven as its Supporter cards. Curiously, even with Arven and [card name=”Town Store” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”196″ c=”name”][/card], there is a complete absence of [card name=”Exp. Share” set=”Battle Styles” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Heavy Baton ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card]. Instead, Bloodmoon Ursaluna cleans up the last two Prizes, which makes sense to me.

Ian Robb placed 19th with a very different version of the deck, taking a more balanced and varied approach. Ian included techs like [card name=”Raichu V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card], Iron Thorns ex, [card name=”Future Booster Energy Capsule” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card], and Heavy Baton. With fewer Energy and no Radiant Greninja, this list relies heavily on its high count of draw Supporters. Three [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card] and four [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Celebrations” no=”23″ c=”name”][/card] are in the list, compared to the zero draw Supporters in Mike’s list. I think both lists are cool and interesting, and I don’t know which is better. Both Miraidon players realized that Bloodmoon Ursaluna makes too much sense in the deck. It’s basically a Miraidon that can be easily powered up, not relying on your limited supply of [card name=”Electric Generator” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card]. Without Ursaluna, the deck was prone to running out of gas, so the card seems to complement the deck perfectly.

Dragapult ex

Dragapult was the big enigma of the tournament. The deck was hyped, but not quite as much as the other decks. Many players didn’t grind the deck enough to figure out how to build and play it, and even among those who did, it fell short for some of them. I wasn’t sure whether or not to respect Dragapult for this tournament, but I was ready to play Charizard and sacrifice the matchup. As it turned out, all Dragapult versions combined made up around 10% of the field, although the Lost Zone and non–Lost Zone versions are usually categorized separately. It only converted to around 7% in Day 2.

Dragapult flopped massively. There was only one to be found in Top 32, and another one in Top 64. The highest-placing Lost Box Dragapult deck was 120th. Tord notably played a tech one-of Dragapult in his Charizard deck and placed 18th, but that hardly counts. Dragapult was probably the worst performer of the entire tournament, especially considering its hype going into the event. Dragapult struggles with many of the top matchups, it was new and unproven, and most top players were not playing the deck. It was set up to fail.

Other

Despite the Top 8 only having two different decks, the rest of Top 32 and even Top 64 was incredibly varied. Snorlax placed tenth and 23rd. [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] of all things placed 14th. [card name=”Chien-Pao ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] stayed strong, with 17th- and 24th-place finishes. Charizard also stuck around at 18th and 26th. Although Chien-Pao and Charizard certainly fell from grace compared to last format’s dominance, they are still strong and relevant decks. [card name=”Iron Crown ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card]got 20th.

This meta has a plethora of different and interesting decks that can see play, but there’s no doubt that Lost Box and Gardevoir completely dominated the tournament. I do think these decks were a bit too powerful, as they overperformed even with the massive targets on their backs. I think Dragapult has somewhat of an opening here, as it is capable of beating those two decks, and would benefit greatly if Raging Bolt and Lugia see less play. Additionally, I think Charizard is still great and was a little underrepresented. Its only real bad matchup is Dragapult, which greatly underperformed. While Lost Box and Gardevoir are the obvious frontrunners of the metagame at the moment, Charizard and Dragapult are the decks that interest me the most, and I’ll be keeping an eye on them.

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