“Honky-Tonk Hoedown” — A Worlds Analysis

By: Jay Lesage · Posted Posted onSep 2, 2018 at 9:32 PM · 0 Comments

What is going on PokeBeach readers! My name is Jacob Lesage, and I just recently hopped off the commercial plane and landed in my hometown after coming back from the 2018 World Championships! This was a jolly of a good time over in Nashville, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way in terms of enjoying myself as a tourist — it was interesting to see the unique culture, food, and location that is Southern USA.

When I wasn’t enjoying the lovely BBQ treats and country music on Broadway Street, I was trying my absolute best in order to BE the very best (like no one ever was). I learned a lot this trip that is still relatively unconclusive, but I’m going to tie up those loose ends as much as I can as we briskly approach the 2019 season. What’s up with the new faces? What went down? I’ll answer these questions as we dive into one buster of an article, and uncover what happened at the 2019 Pokemon World Championships in the beautiful and sunny Nashville, Tennessee. After that, I try my hand at transitioning the deck I played at Worlds — Rayquaza-GX — from Worlds format to the new Standard format.

Worlds in a Nutshell

Getting into Worlds is always good when you’re at a hometown advantage and get a solid sleep — players who are form foreign continents that are further away from the venue continent are at an immediate disadvantage. For example, an Australian player may have a harder time focusing during day one because they only had a few days to recover from a 16-hour time difference. Vice versa, any American player who lives in Chattanooga, TN, has absolutely no time difference, and will sleep like a baby (and will be more focused).

Japanese players are also at an immediate disadvantage, mostly due to their format structure being more complex than ours. The Japanese format consists of some prior expansions being included, as well as sets that are unreleased in every other region of the world. Japanese players conclude their National Championships, and then have to search the depths of our current format in order to muster up the best deck possible, and give it their all. I’m sure that while Japanese players have excellent playing abilities, they also have difficulties discovering what our metagame forecast is in such a limited window of time. Regardless, their consistent success at the World Championships proves to be resilient; it amazes me every year!

Day One

The Friday of Worlds was amazing! People from over 30 countries competing for the title of World Champion? I’m all about it! As everybody went to sit down in their seats, the metagame soon unfolded. I saw the following decks across the tables:

Rayquaza-GX

Notables: [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], lack of [card name=”Latias Prism Star” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Xurkitree-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM68″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card]

People decided that they didn’t feel comfortable against [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], so in an effort to combat it they decided to play Xurkitree-GX. Not only does it block off damage from any Pokemon with Special Energy attached, but it can also hand disrupt alongside Marshadow to bring your opponent down to three cards total. Lighting GX is excellent for bricking your opponent in any unfavourable matchup.

Buzzwole / Garbodor

[cardimg name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Notables: lack of [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card], lack of [card name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card], inclusion of [card name=”Octillery” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card], lack of [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card]

This is a rather new deck on the block, which favoured Buzzwole’s Sledgehammer attack in order to lay down consistent attacks at a lower damage output. Since there are no GXs in the deck — not even [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] — the game will naturally be longer, and Shrine of Punishment will dish out oodles of damage onto the opponent’s field. Some players opted against including Garbotoxin in their lists because they felt it was unnecessary. 

BuzzRoc

Notables: [card name=”Regirock” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card], two Buzzwole-GX, multiple [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card]

Regirock made it into this popular deck because it was able to dish out more damage than Buzzwole at the beginning of the game. Being played as a 1-of, the slight bit of extra damage it was doing provided a major boost for this deck. Multiple Buzzwole-GX and Super Rod were included in an effort to have a better [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Magcargo” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] matchup: Buzzwole-GX to hit big numbers and Super Rod to recover Energy. 

Zoroark-GX / Magcargo

Notables: [card name=”Lysandre Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”110″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Eneporter” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”106″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Articuno-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card]

This deck could handle anything that came its way, but most top tier players favoured Zoroark / Garbodor over it. I’m unsure the reason as to why, because this deck was phenomenal in my testing leading up to this event. Lysandre Prism Star was included in order to Lost Zone Puzzle of Time in the mirror, or to send off key cards to the Lost Zone, such as Psychic Energy against Malamar or perhaps a specific attacker in a matchup. Eneporter was also used in mirror to make your opponent burn additional resources to recover the Energy. Lastly, Articuno-GX was used in the BuzzRoc matchup to discard all Energy on a heavyweight attacker, such as a Buzzwole. It’s key to discard Energy instead of just KO’ing the attacker you’re facing so that you don’t trigger your opponent’s Beast Ring. 

Zoroark-GX / Garbodor

Notables: [card name=”Kartana-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] alongside Psychic Energy

The general consensus is that Stéphane got it right when he took on every challenger at the North American International Championships – however, some players decided to switch out their [card name=”Unit Energy LPM” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] for Psychic Energy in order to have a better matchup against Zoroark / Magcargo. It makes it more difficult to remove Energy, as ZoroCargo will have to use [card name=”Team Flare Grunt” set=”Generations” no=”73″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card] as opposed to [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card]’ing off a Unit Energy. 

Malamar

Notables: two [card name=”Marshadow-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Primal Clash” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card]

Many Malamar decks in day one opted to go for a Fighting-type attacker in the form of Marshadow-GX in order to take out all of the Zoroark they might play. They also included high counts of Acro Bike, a consistency card which helps find Psychic Energy and put them into the discard pile for reuse with [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card]’s Psychic Recharge Ability.

This was basically the metagame in a nutshell — day one was flooded with all sorts of stuff, and seemed to favour those Buzz / Garb / Shrine decks; they’re definitely strong because they can spam attackers until the opponent can no longer keep up, and you can almost always trigger the Sledgehammer turn where you hit for 120+ damage because all of your Pokemon are single-Prize attackers.

[card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] was strong without a doubt, and was able to take down many matchups based on its ability to set up quickly, and run the opponent down to four cards using Marshadow. It suffered against the antagonizing Zoroark / Garbodor deck, which eventually took the tournament by storm. The surprise deck of the tournament was Malamar, which was piloted by a few people. This is still such a mystery to me as to why it did well — I’m curious to hear their reasoning as to why they chose it. Fringe decks popped up, such as [card name=”Magnezone” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”83″ c=”name”][/card] (due to Travis Nunlist’s leak) as well as Zoroark / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] (which decreased in popularity due to its difficulty with BuzzRoc and ZoroCargo).

BuzzRoc was the most popular deck by far in day one. Many players dubbed it “brown [card name=”Greninja” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card]” due to its unstable consistency levels, however it was still piloted by many top players hoping to draw well enough to win.

[premium]

Day Two

Following the first day of play, day two saw a slightly different angle in terms of what players opted to pilot: the rumoured “day two play” was seemingly Zoroark / [insert partner here], whereas Rayquaza was still being highly debated as to whether or not it was viable. Rayquaza had an obscure spot in the metagame because while Stormy Winds was an excellent Energy accelerator, Zoroark / Garbodor was expected in high amounts day two and would take advantage of the massive amount of Item cards in Ray’s discard pile.

Most players decided against Zoroark variants on day one because they didn’t want to play a slower series where it has a high risk of tying. For context purpose: day one players had to have a record of 6-2 minimum (or a culmination equal to 18 match points) in order to advance to the second day. In most cases, if you tie, it’s borderline the same as taking a loss because if you lost twice and tied once (X-2-1), you’d become ineligible to make day two. So, in a nutshell, people’s secret Zoroark lists would have to wait until day two.

Here is the top 8 for reference:

  • 1st: Robin Schulz — Zoroark-GX / Garbodor
  • 2nd: Jeff Kolenc — Psychic Malamar
  • 3rd: Klive Aw — [card name=”Zygarde-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”73″ c=”name”][/card] / Lycanroc-GX
  • 4th: Pedro Eugenio Torres — Rayquaza-GX
  • 5th: Eric Smith — Rayquaza-GX
  • 6th: Nicolas Galaz — Buzzwole / Lycanroc-GX
  • 7th: Shuto Hagaki — Rayquaza-GX
  • 8th: Brian Miller — Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card]

While a couple of Zoroarks did end up making the top 8, none of them were Zoroark / Magcargo — the rumoured best deck in format. This was most likely due to the stable amount of BuzzRoc that carried over from the first day that kept it in check.

I can’t explain the reason why Malamar was played — it doesn’t succeed in beating its best matchup BuzzRoc more than 60% of the time, and Zoroark doesn’t look too bright for it. However, if I did play Malamar, I think Jeff Kolenc’s list was optimal with two copies of Marshadow-GX. Being able to consistently stand up to non-Garbodor Zoroark variants seems extremely strong. All the while having a slightly favoured BuzzRoc matchup? That sounds like a simple path to the quarter-finals.

While I didn’t play in day two, most of the information above was gathered from networking while others were playing — I also had to play through the gauntlet that was day one, where the grassroots of the day two meta was fostered.

Jayquaza — My Worlds Run

I opted to play Rayquaza for the event, because I thought it would be a consistent deck that would give me a great chance of making day two. I wanted to play a game of Pokemon every time I was paired, and also set up an overwhelming boardstate that my opponent would exclaim “yikes” at trying to overcome. When a Rayquaza field blows up with Energy, it can be quite intimidating to stare down; many players scooped early when they realized I had my win conditions on board. Marshadow, as previously stated, was an excellent addition to the deck. It gave me a chance against decks that I deemed unfavourable to play against, such as Buzzwole and Garbodor. Against any Zoroark deck, if Rayquaza went first, it could often pop off, attach many Energy, and then shuffle the Zoroark player’s hand down to four in order to potentially deny them from drawing a Brigette. I ultimately ended up going 2-3 with the list below…

[decklist name=”Rayquaza-GX” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″][pokemon amt=”9″]4x [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Latias Prism Star” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”37″]4x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Primal Clash” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”93″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Wishful Baton” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”128″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”14″]7x [card name=”Grass Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”7″][/card]7x [card name=”Lightning Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”7″][/card][/energy][/decklist][cardimg name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

While I thoroughly enjoyed this deck, there were a couple things lacking from it. Sometimes [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]’s Ability could lose you the game by milling important cards. In my final round of day one, I milled all of my Max Elixir and as a result of that I was unable to keep up with the [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] deck I was facing.

Double [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card] was ahead of the curve in many regards, as it was able to keep my opponent in check whether that was in the late game or in the early game. I’m unsure if you even need [card name=”Wishful Baton” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] with [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] in the deck — I wish I played Puzzles instead. With Puzzle you can find yourself playing upwards of five copies of [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] a game, which means you probably don’t need to trigger Wishful Baton to stay in the game anymore. Likewise, you don’t need [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] as much anymore if you have Puzzles, because you can just recover a copy of any Supporter you need. However, if you do choose to include Puzzle in your list, you’re probably going to want enough shuffle draw Supporters in your deck in order to preserve it.

I didn’t miss [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card] all day. I was never in a position where I needed to use Instruct in order to stay in the game – it would’ve taken up a Bench space that I would have rather used for another Ray.

Here is Pedro’s fourth-place list below for reference:

Pedro’s Rayquaza

[decklist name=”Pedro’s Rayquaza” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Xurkitree-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM68″][pokemon amt=”9″]4x [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Xurkitree-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”37″]4x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Primal Clash” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”93″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Primal Clash” no=”127″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”14″]7x [card name=”Grass Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”7″][/card]7x [card name=”Lightning Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”7″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

Pedro included only one copy of [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card], which I find obscure in a deck where you want to start with something other than Ray. This may have been the correct count though with Puzzle, considering that even though you’re starting Ray, you can spam enough Max Elixir/Puzzle of Time to recover them in order to set up an overwhelming amount of Energy.

Also, Pedro opted to use [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] over any other Tool – this was correct by the merits of the factor I just stated, where you don’t need Baton because of how much you can abuse Elixir.

His Lillie in the deck is far superior to my fourth copy of [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card], however I’m unsure about having zero copies of [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card] in the deck. I enjoyed N as a late game out to disrupting the opponent, and allowing yourself a turn to either clear their board of attackers, or to use Tempest GX with little-to-no drawbacks.

His inclusion of a single [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] over another copy of [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] was also unique, because it allowed him outs to things such as [card name=”Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM101″ c=”name”][/card]’s Moon’s Eclipse GX, which I’m sure came in handy over the course of the tournament. It can also allow him outs against a card such as [card name=”Rockruff” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”73″ c=”name”][/card] with Corner, which would normally trap a useless Pokemon in the Active for a while. In combination with Puzzle, I’m sure Escape Rope opened up many paths of play from Pedro that enabled him to place so highly at this year’s World Championships.

My Final Record

My matchups went as follows:

  • Round 1 – [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM62″ c=”name”][/card] WW
  • Round 2 – Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] WW
  • Round 3 – Buzzwole / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] LL
  • Round 4 – Zoroark-GX / Lycanroc-GX WLL
  • Round 5 – Buzzwole-GX / [card name=”Magcargo” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] LL

Final Record: 2-3 (Drop) 

[cardimg name=”Sylveon-EX” set=”Radiant Collection 2″ no=”RC21″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

For the first two rounds, the tournament went as planned — I was able to execute my strategy against these two decks in order to turn the most common result for that matchup. Round three was a matchup that I deem unfavourable; my deck was unprepared to handle things such as an onslaught of baby Buzzwole, so I ended up taking a loss to several Trashalanche Garbodor in the game.

Round four is where things got out of hand. Playing against Zoroark / Lycanroc is usually a breeze, but it became an issue when in game three he was able to [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] and find a Float Stone to retreat his Active Rockruff, a [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] to remove my Wishful Baton, and then follow it all up with a [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card], Choice Band and [card name=”Sylveon-EX” set=”Radiant Collection 2″ no=”RC21″ c=”name”][/card] to KO my Active with Dress Up.

After that monstrosity, I simply lost to bad discards from the top of the deck against my final round opponent. He ran through me with Buzzwole, however in the second game I was able to muster up a comeback after starting off slowly. I managed to surprise him and take a OHKO on a [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] by running tremendously hot, which left me with two cards in my deck. The following turn, he proceeded to beat me by using [card name=”Slugma” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”23″ c=”name”][/card]’s Magma Ring on my Marshadow in order to deck me out for the win. Excellent series!

While it sucks that I couldn’t make it all the way to day two, I was fortunate enough to learn some life-long lessons that I can take with me on my journey of being a Pokemon master:

  • It’s a card game. After I took my third L back-to-back, I realized a couple things that were key to bouncing back, with the first being the realization that there was no loss this weekend. I only profited knowledge from this event, and had a great time alongside some of my closest friends. The only burn was that I didn’t get the result I wanted, but I have to acknowledge that…
  • There is a significant amount of luck involved. There is a ton of luck involved in Pokemon, and it’s okay to take a loss to somebody who ran hot! Do you get mad when a slot machine doesn’t give you money? It’s difficult to acknowledge sometimes that Pokemon is similar to gambling, however you have a say in the outcome by using your measurable skill. We could be the best player in the world and still lose to somebody when it’s their first game of Pokemon. 
  • Pokemon is designed for new players to enjoy as well as veterans. Pokemon is a business – it’s supposed to make money. The reason why there’s so much luck in Pokemon? So that new players can still enjoy the game regardless of their skill level, and the element of luck makes it fun so that you’re almost always in the game. Veterans get their kicks off of showing off skills and being social; freshmans to the game get their kicks because they have fun, and have nothing to lose (but everything to prove). 
  • Keep trying. Don’t give up! 

The Fate of Rayquaza in Standard

As a deck, Rayquaza will always have a soft spot for me following its success at the World Championships. Unfortunately, following the rotation, it loses many key cards that can’t be overlooked. These cards include but are not limited to the following:

  • Max Elixir
  • Puzzle of Time
  • Professor Sycamore
  • [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card]
  • Float Stone

Many of these cards are integral to how Rayquaza would traditionally get Energy into play. The major hit would be Max Elixir, so provided we can replace Energy acceleration, we should be fine. I haven’t quite gotten around to how I would accelerate Energy, but I have two ideas in mind that have been tossed around my testing circle…

Option A: Vikavolt

[card name=”Vikavolt” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM28″ c=”name”][/card] is probably the most popular version you’ll see of Rayquaza, and for a good reason — it can use its Strong Charge Ability to speed through the deck and set up extremely fast!

[cardimg name=”Rayquaza” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”106″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

However, I feel like besides Energy typing, these two Pokemon don’t have much synergy. A Stage 2 deck combined with a basic Pokemon-GX is typically fine, however Rayquaza will need to use its Ability in order to accelerate Energy, otherwise it’ll fall behind. Discarding resources in a Stage 2 deck can lead to a multitude of problems — like what if you mill a combo piece that you need to get a Vikavolt out? Will you draw enough [card name=”Grubbin” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”13″ c=”name”][/card] on the opening turn while simultaneously setting up Rayquaza-GX? The only real cool option you gain is the Ability to run [card name=”Tapu Bulu-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM32″ c=”name”][/card]. These are all questions that pop into my head, so I’ll deem this deck as debunked — I don’t think it’ll be nearly as successful as it is popular; these two Pokemon just don’t gel well together.

Option B: Rayquaza (as well as the GX)

Here’s an option I propose that many people haven’t talked about: [card name=”Rayquaza” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”106″ c=”from”][/card], in combination with [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]. This little tyrant not only deals chip damage, but also accelerates Energy onto the field, just like [card name=”Latias Prism Star” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card]. The only difference? You aren’t restricted to playing just one copy. If you could play up to four Latias Prism Star, I would do just that, but we can’t always rely on our only copy not being in the Prize cards to accelerate Energy.

Rayquaza requires two Colourless to attack, so you would play [card name=”Energy Switch” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”82″ c=”name”][/card] and Wishful Baton to both power up Rayquaza and also preserve the Energy you used to attack with. This way, you can open up with Rayquaza, and then use Stormy Winds to get an Energy on the Benched GX. Follow that up with an Energy Switch to the Active Rayquaza, and then use Turbo Storm to accelerate. This is all just theory, but it seems like a viable way to pass the “[card name=”Wishful Baton” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card]” from last year’s rotation to this one.

A Brave New World(s)

As I step off the plane onto home turf, it feels good to be back in the land of the free. I’ve enjoyed my time down south doing the whole honky-tonk gig but it’s time for me to get back to the grindstone that is life, all the while balancing Pokemon somewhere in the mix. It’s been difficult mapping out my tournaments because I’m currently serving at a steakhouse that requires me to work most weekends of the month. I’m trying to find an office job so I can begin my marketing career, so if you have any insider information or tips feel free to message me! That way, I can continue to make all of you the great content that I strive for in article form.

I hope that your end to the season was as conclusive as mine, and that you achieved all of your goals that you hoped to achieve. As for myself, I’m still hungry for another big finish, so I’ll be putting in the long nights while my competitors doze off. Until next time PokeBeach, I’ll see you in the 2019 season, and remember: get lucky, and run hot!

-Jacob Lesage

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