Flying to the Top — How I Got 2nd Place at Baltimore Regionals and Lugia in Stellar Crown!

Hey PokeBeach readers! Hopefully your 2024-25 Pokemon season is off to a great start and you have been having fun with Stellar Crown. We had our first Regionals of the season in Baltimore, and I actually managed to take second place with [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card]! I think many people were surprised at the results of the tournament, especially with Henry Chao’s [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] deck that took me down in the finals. It just goes to show that even when a format looks “solved” there is lots of room for innovation. Not only did Henry surprise everyone with Gardevoir, but a group of Canadian players took the event by storm with a deck focusing on [card name=”Noivern ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”153″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card], taking advantage of many decks’ inability to make it through these wall Pokemon. If there is a lesson to take away from Baltimore, it is that the stagnant/solved formats are the ones where there is often the most room for you to innovate. When a metagame is easy to predict then it is much easier for you to counter it or to just pick a deck that will be solid into a lot of popular matchups!

I thought today I would break down how I achieved my big finish, and teach you a few tricks about how I metagamed for Baltimore! After that I want to go over Lugia in the Stellar Crown format since I think it will continue to be a very strong deck!

My Baltimore Run and Metagaming

[cardimg name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Heading into Baltimore there were only two decks I was really considering, [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] and Lugia. On my flight to the tournament I was leaning towards Regidrago since on paper it was the best deck in the format. It doesn’t have any truly unwinnable matchups, and has lots of room for skill expression. In a 2300 person tournament, your average opponent normally won’t be a Worlds caliber player so playing the best deck with lots of options to outplay my opponents was appealing. However, it felt like most of matchups for Regidrago would have had me at a slight disadvantage on paper. I also predicted aggressive decks such as [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Miraidon ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] to be somewhat popular. All three of those matchups are an uphill battle and rely on your opponent missing a two-Prize Pokemon Knock Out at some point of the game. No matter how well I play, there is a chance my opponent just hits what they need and I wouldn’t have a chance to win. Besides the known bad matchups, Regidrago is the most popular deck in the format with the biggest target on its back. Anyone who is trying to cook for this tournament would surely have techs for Regidrago in mind. All of this kind of turned me away from Regidrago. I knew the deck was still a great play for the tournament, as shown by two Regidrago players making top cut, but it just wasn’t the right play for me.

That brings me to Lugia. I think Lugia is a deck that always ebbs and flows in the metagame. The deck is always extremely powerful,  but needs the right set of circumstances for it to succeed. Lugia was one of the decks that underperformed at the World Championships relative to its play rate and expectations going into the event. In my opinion, the main reason for this was how many players had [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] in their decks. These cards are Lugia’s biggest enemy and your opponent rocking one of these cards can significantly flip matchups. However, Temple of Sinnoh / Enhanced Hammer are very targeted tech cards that only see use against Lugia normally. In a metagame where Lugia isn’t super popular, it doesn’t make much sense to include a tech for it. A lot of deck lists are super tight and players want each deck space to be as impactful as possible. I predicted that there would be a large decrease in Special Energy hating cards. If a majority of the player base was predicting a low Lugia play rate, then it is only logical that there would be a decrease in techs for Lugia. I also was paying close attention to deck lists from online tournaments and top players. It seemed my prediction had some weight behind it as I was consistently seeing lists without Temple of Sinnoh and Enhanced Hammer.

The next thing that was appealing about Lugia was its matchup spread. The only decks that I would be scared to play against were the Lightning-type Pokemon decks, [card name=”Miraidon ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Iron Thorns ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card]. Both these decks saw success at the World Championships so it could look scary to have them as bad matchups, but I didn’t expect either of them to see large amounts of play. In the case for Iron Thorns, I think the linearity and perceived lack of fun would turn players off from the deck. For Worlds, players will play whatever deck gives them the best chance of winning the tournament, but at something like a Regionals most players want to have fun, and Iron Thorns doesn’t really scratch that itch for most players.

When looking at Miraidon, I just didn’t think the deck was a good play for Baltimore. [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] and Ancient Box were receiving large amounts of hype, and both are poor matchups for Miraidon. An increase in Raging Bolt and Roaring Moon decks, and a perceived decrease in Lugia decks also did not make Miraidon an appealing deck. I figured many players would reach the conclusion I did and sleeve up one of the other aggressive decks instead. If people did play Miraidon, I expected them to have trouble reaching the top tables. So I knew if I could get off to a good start Miraidon would probably be far away in the rear view mirror!

When picking a deck for a tournament I see a lot of players fall into the trap of trying to beat everything instead of just making a consistent list and focusing on your good matchups. I fully accepted that if I sat across from Iron Thorns or Miraidon that I was probably in for a rough round. Luckily my gamble paid off and I was able to completely avoid both these decks during my tournament run!

Finally, I always preach to play what you know. Lugia VSTAR is one of my most played decks the past few seasons and I was confident I could pilot the deck at a high level. I would probably be more experienced with my deck than 99% of opponents I could sit across from.

With all of these factors in mind I decided to lock in Lugia for my tournament run. The next thing I had to figure out was my deck list.

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How I Made My Baltimore List

[decklist name=”Ciaran’s Lugia” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Squawkabilly ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”169″][pokemon amt=”20″]3x [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Cinccino ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Minccino ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”141″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Wyrdeer V” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Iron Hands ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”70″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Squawkabilly ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”23″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”175″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Capturing Aroma” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”153″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Mesagoza” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”17″]4x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Gift Energy” set=”Lost Origin” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Jet Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”190″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Mist Energy ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Legacy Energy” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist]This is probably one of the most boring lists I have ever played to a tournament, but I don’t think I could have been as successful if it wasn’t! I went all-in on consistency with this build, and completely ignored tech cards. [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card] has a reputation for being a bit difficult to set up sometimes so I wanted to make the odds of getting a double [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] Summoning Star on turn 2 as high as possible!

I played Lugia at NAIC and definitely struggled with consistency. My list was a bit more teched out for that tournament, including cards like [card name=”Jamming Tower” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”153″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Roseanne’s Backup” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]. This tournament I traded in techs for a higher Supporter count and [card name=”Mesagoza” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card] as my Stadium of choice. While tech cards can be incredibly powerful, you don’t get the chance to use them if you can’t set up! Lugia is debatably the strongest deck in the format once it gets going, so I figured I don’t need techs if I am just pulling off my strategy consistently. I’d say over the weekend I probably got turn two double Archeops in ~80% of my games!

[cardimg name=”Squawkabilly ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”264″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Another adaptation I made with this list is running [card name=”Squawkabilly ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”75″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]. I see a lot of lists running [card name=”Carmine” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card], and I’ve always thought the card is super mediocre. The only scenario where Carmine is a strong card is your first turn if you are going first. If I run one copy of the card, my odds of opening with it in my hand are roughly 1/9. If I assume I’m going first in half of my games, then I am getting full Carmine value roughly 1 in every 18 games! Every other situation a [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Celebrations” no=”23″ c=”name”][/card] will just be stronger. So normally you need to to use [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] to fish out the Carmine on turn 1. If that is the case, I would much rather just grab Squawkabilly. Not only does it draw an extra card, but if you use it when going second you can even play a Supporter! A cool play I pulled off a couple of times is to combo [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] with Squawk and Seize to get two [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] in the discard on turn 1. I also hate having to waste [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] on Carmine as you normally want to use it to grab [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card]. I probably used Squawkabilly in 10-15% of my games over the weekend, but it was always game saving whenever I used it. Squawkabilly is the main reason I opted for Nest Ball over [card name=”Great Ball” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card], but playing Nest Ball also had the added benefit of making it easier to find Lugia V on turn 1.

My 61st card was [card name=”Iron Bundle” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card], and I actually had it in my list until 11 PM the night before the event. The card is really strong when your opponent puts something undesirable in the Active Spot and is searchable off of my 12 Pokemon search Trainers. In the end I decided to cut it for [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”250″ c=”name”][/card], a card that seems underwhelming on paper. Jacq is a card that you don’t use every game, but just having the option to turn Lumineon into double Archeops is invaluable sometimes. It also can grab Lugia VSTAR and [card name=”Cinccino ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]. In the end it just went back to my guiding principle that consistency trumps all. I legitimately think I would have lost three or four rounds if I didn’t have the card, so I was super happy I included it. I could have also cut the 4th copy of Boss’s Orders for the Iron Bundle since they do similar things, but once again I valued the consistency of targeted gust when I need it.

My list ran really well in a majority of my rounds, and I even started the tournament off by winning 12 straight games in a row en route to a 6-0 start. The metagame ended up shaking out how I expected and I felt like I had a chance in every matchup as long as I set up. I think I only lost one or two games all weekend where I got a strong set up. I lost a couple of games/rounds to poor openings, but I expected that to happen a few times over the course of so many games.

I don’t normally walk away from a tournament feeling like I played the optimal 60, but I truly believe I did that in Baltimore. I played a no frills list that allowed me to consistently set up and let my play take centre stage. I predicted the metagame perfectly and only faced one deck that played a Special Energy tech ([card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card]), and it wasn’t until Top 4. Even with the Enhanced Hammer in my opponent’s [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] deck, I was able to navigate around it due to my high count of [card name=”Mist Energy ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card]. While I wasn’t able to win the whole tournament, I think I displayed what a consistent list and great meta call can lead to!

My Lugia Approach for the Stellar Crown Format

[decklist name=”Stellar Crown Lugia” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Squawkabilly ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”169″][pokemon amt=”19″]3x [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Lugia V” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Cinccino ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Minccino ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”141″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Wyrdeer V” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Iron Hands ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”70″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Raikou V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”48″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Squawkabilly ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”24″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”175″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Fates Collide” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Capturing Aroma” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”153″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Mesagoza” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”17″]4x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Gift Energy” set=”Lost Origin” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Jet Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”190″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Mist Energy ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”V Guard Energy” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Lightning Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Legacy Energy” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist]This list is pretty similar to what I played in Baltimore, but focuses a bit more on Basic Pokemon, adding [card name=”Raikou V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”48″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Lightning Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] in place of a 1-1 [card name=”Cinccino ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] line and a [card name=”Mist Energy ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card]. From looking at online results and my initial testing of the Stellar Crown format, I have reached the conclusion that there is going to be a large uptick in decks that play [card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card]. Unfortunately, the Cinccino line are sitting ducks for Dusknoir to pick off. Cinccino is still a super powerful card so I didn’t want to cut it completely, and having the option to use it in non Dusknoir matchups will still be fruitful. Rahul Reddy got 9th place at the World Championships and Top 8 in Baltimore with the 1-1 line, so it is proven that it can work.

[cardimg name=”Raikou V” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG41″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The [card name=”Raikou V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”48″ c=”name”][/card] is an interesting inclusion for the Stellar Crown format. We are going to see a lot of decks using the [card name=”Area Zero Underdepths” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card] Stadium card that allows players to have eight Pokemon on their Bench if they have a Tera Pokemon in play. With opponents having such large Bench sizes, it will make doing big damage with Lightning Rondo much easier. If your opponent has eight Pokemon on their Bench and you have five Pokemon, then Lightning Rondo does a whopping 280 damage! That should be enough to take out almost every basic two-Prize Pokemon and many evolved Pokemon as well!

Raikou V is also a super strong attacker into [card name=”Pidgeot ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card]. Many decks rely on the card such as [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Dragapult ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], and some [card name=”Terapagos ex” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] decks. The ability to not only efficiently take two Prize cards, but also cripple the consistency engine of your opponent is super strong. To help make the Raikou play more consistent and use it alongside [card name=”Iron Hands ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”248″ c=”name”][/card], I have added [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] and a basic Lightning Energy to the deck. Not only does Earthen Vessel help search out the Lightning Energy, but it is another option to discard [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] from your hand!

If all of these Dusknoir decks end up flopping or getting pushed out of the meta, then I would just make a return to my Baltimore list. Stellar Crown didn’t really add any new cards for [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card] to take advantage of. I think Lugia is a deck that doesn’t need to be overthought, and a consistent approach will always be the best way to play the deck.

This list has tested really well for me so far, and I don’t foresee Lugia ever becoming a super weak play in the format. With all these new decks to worry about, most players are still choosing to not include a Special Energy tech in their decks. If this trend continues, then it bodes super well for Lugia! The more Lugia flies under the radar the higher you can fly with the deck!

Concluding Thoughts

Hopefully you enjoyed today’s article. I thought it would be helpful for you to see into my thought process when picking and building a deck for a major tournament. Baltimore felt like a tournament where I had super strong preparation and I felt super confident before the tournament even began. My preparation was rewarded with above average draws and I was luckily able to take advantage! Even when you select a strong deck for a tournament you still need matchups, draws, and general luck to go your way. Baltimore was one of those weekends where everything came together and I was able to capitalize on the opportunity.

I also wanted to give a shoutout to my Top 4 opponent, Emmet Hurley. He told me before our match he gave my last article on Roaring Moon a read before the tournament and it helped him with his preparation for Baltimore Regionals. When he told me that before the match, I assumed he was playing a list similar to the one in my article, so you can imagine how surprised I was when he pulled out an [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] to steal game one from me! Emmet was a super nice opponent who played great Pokemon all weekend, so it was awesome to see him have success with [card name=”Roaring Moon ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]!

I am not playing a major tournament again until LAIC, so most of my Stellar Crown testing will be at locals and through spectating the various Regionals taking place around the World. The set seems like it is going to be a major shake up for the meta, and I am excited to see the impact it will have on the format. I personally have been messing around with [card name=”Terapagos ex” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card], but please let me know what you have been running!

That is all I have for you today. Hopefully you learned something new, and are looking forward to hearing from me again soon. But until then, best of luck in all of your games and thanks for reading!

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