The Milk Man — Standard’s Underappreciated Hero
Hello PokeBeach readers! Isaiah here, and I am happy to be writing another article! In a previous article, I talked about the [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] deck going into the Milwaukee Regional Championship and the North America International Championship. As expected, Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR was especially successful, with multiple in the Top 8 of both events. Even I was able to see some success with Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR / [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] at the Milwaukee Regional Championship, finishing 55th. One of my losses in Milwaukee was to the eventual second place finisher, Conner Lavelle, and his [card name=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card], which got me to realize how incredibly powerful Miltank is in the current format, but before I get to deep into that, how about we take a more broad look at the meta first.
An Astral Radiance Meta Snapshot
[cardimg name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
To put it briefly, the Astral Radiance metagame seems to be much of the same from the Brilliant Stars metagame. Decks like [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], which won a large grassroots event shortly after Astral Radiance released, as well as various [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] decks, one of which won the North America International Championship, remain good. However, I would be lying if I said there was no change whatsoever. Most notably, [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] is at the front of many players’ minds, and for good reason. Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR is one of the most powerful attackers in Standard right now, capable of hitting for as much as 260 damage for two Energy while having access to one of the strongest VSTAR Powers in the game. In the online tournament space, it has one of the highest win rates in the game, pushing 58%.
With an established “Big Three” decks, the format has room for a variety of rogue decks or specially tailored counter decks. In the Brilliant Stars format, we saw an excellent example of this with Stéphane Ivanoff’s Lille Regional Championship–winning deck, which was a sort of “counter toolbox” deck featuring [card name=”Galarian Moltres” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Galarian Zapdos V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card] that aimed to take down the frontrunners of that format. I think that this same archetype remains viable in the Astral Radiance format, but it will need a variety of changes to deal with [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] and other new threats.
In addition to changes being made to old anti-meta strategies, we’ve seen some new strategies emerging. One of these, which has caught myself and many other players by surprise, is the [card name=”Regigigas” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] deck. Regigigas occupies a unique niche, offering a way to counter every single meta threat thanks to convenient typing across all of the Regis, with [card name=”Regirock” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”75″ c=”name”][/card] for Arceus VSTAR, [card name=”Regieleki” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] for Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR, and more. This deck saw its first play at the same Astral Radiance format grassroots event that I mentioned earlier, and it has been seeing a pretty steady stream of success since then. At that same event, another rogue deck emerged, which was [card name=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card]. Before I talk about this new deck, we need to take a look at how absurdly good the new Miltank card is.
What makes Miltank so good?
[cardimg name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
In Darkness Ablaze we saw the release of [card name=”Decidueye” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”13″ c=”name”][/card], and later a similar [card name=”Altaria” set=”Champion’s Path” no=”49″ c=”name”][/card] in Champion’s Path, and both of these cards saw a fair amount of play for the first year of their legality. With the rotation to the Sword and Shield-on format, however, both Pokemon fell off in popularity, largely thanks to the variety of spread decks like [card name=”Jolteon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] in the Evolving Skies format and the explosion offered by the [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] engine being able to easily take down such walls if needed. At the end of the day, Decidueye and Altaria just needed too much of a commitment, and didn’t bring nearly enough of a reward. This problem would be made even worse in the Fusion Strike and Brilliant Stars formats, with the emergence of not only many single-Prize attackers like [card name=”Galarian Moltres” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] but also [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] with its Max Miracle attack, which cuts through Deep Forest Camo and Miraculous Charm.
However, unlike Decidueye and Altaria, [card name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] completely removes the high-commitment-low-reward issue by being a Basic Pokemon. It can reasonably be splashed into almost anything (albeit with varying efficacy) and still be of use for buying a little extra time if not completely walling out select strategies. Throughout the game’s history, there have been a variety of wall Pokemon like Miltank (often called Safeguard Pokemon), from [card name=”Wobbuffet” set=”EX Sandstorm” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card] to [card name=”Sigilyph” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] to the more recent incarnations like Decidueye and Altaria, but one thing has remained constant: the Basic Pokemon have almost always been far more useful. Miltank’s case is made even stronger by having a good attack as well. Rout has been an extremely common type of attack throughout the game’s history, with [card name=”Absol” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card]’s Mind Jack being the first that I saw after learning to play. While in the current format a ceiling of 110 damage is not particularly strong, being able to deal a reasonable amount of damage for two Colorless Energy is perfect for a Safeguard Pokemon. Most notably, it is just strong enough to be able to pretty easily take a one-hit Knock Out on [card name=”Sobble” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Drizzile” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card], which can slow down the opponent’s strategy, while also removing one of the biggest threats to Miltank before it can become an issue: a fully-evolved [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card].
Making the best use of Miltank is a more difficult task than one would think, though. Unlike some old Safeguard Pokemon, playing a Quad Miltank deck will not be particularly effective in 2022, since there are so many ways to deal with the card if necessary. From here, there are two other options: you can play it as a one-of tech option, or you can make a strategy still dedicated to Miltank, but with an alternate attacker to deal with problem cards. At this point, there is not a particularly popular deck that does the former, but there is one deck that does the latter, being [card name=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card].
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The Blissey V / Miltank Deck
[card name=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] has been at the front of my mind pretty much since the card released. At first glance, the card seems pretty underwhelming, effectively being just a big body that can do a ton of damage with a few turns of setup, but in reality, the card is an absolute monster once it starts building its momentum. In the card’s early days, Blissey V saw some fringe play in Standard, but in Expanded a lot of people started putting time into it because of [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card] boosting the card’s damage output drastically. That was enough to make people realize that a form of Double Colorless Energy in Standard could put the deck over the top. Once [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] released, many players expected the deck to finally have its time, but it once again flopped, continuing to struggle getting Energy cards into the discard and being Knocked Out shortly after finally building up an attacker. While the issue of getting Knocked Out after you establish an attacker persists, it can be helped by a combination of healing cards that were already present in the format, and we now have [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] to help with the problem of filling the discard pile with Energy cards. Now that the deck has a more efficient option to quickly establish a discard pile full of Energy and maintain such a discard pile turn after turn, Blissey V suddenly turns from being a card that you can deal with one time over a few turns to a card that needs to be dealt with quickly or risk it easily getting out of hand.
Alongside having access to a ton of HP thanks to [card name=”Cape of Toughness” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card], healing in the form of [card name=”Hyper Potion” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card], and a massive damage output with Blissful Blast, this deck also has the ability to use conventional disruption cards like [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] or the newly released [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] alongside [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] to render the opponent unable to use their Abilities. While this group of strategies is powerful on its own, [card name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] is able to round out a lot of the deck’s main issues, turning some potentially problematic matchups into favorable matchups as well just being an all-around useful single-Prize Attacker. The deck list that I have chosen to talk about is one that 2016 World Champion Shintaro Ito used to make Top 8 in a relatively large online tournament shortly before Milwaukee Regional Championship. As I mentioned earlier, Blissey V / Miltank also ended up getting second place at the Milwaukee Regional Championship in the hands of Conner Lavelle, further proving the deck’s strength.
Deck List
[decklist name=”blisstank” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″][pokemon amt=”7″]4x [card name=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Yveltal” set=”Celebrations” no=”19″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”37″]4x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Avery” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Cheren’s Care” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Cape of Toughness” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Hyper Potion” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”166″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Team Yell Towel” set=”Shining Fates” no=”63″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”16″]4x [card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Lucky Energy” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”158″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Powerful Colorless Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”176″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
Card Inclusions
Four Blissey V
Simply put, it is borderline essential to play four copies of [card name=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card], as it is your main attacker as well as far and away the best starter in the deck. The card has a pretty mediocre damage output in the early game, but when it has been out for a few turns, it quickly turns into a menacing threat. Alongside Blissey V’s strong attack, its Ability also has some niche applications, largely against decks that play [card name=”Yell Horn” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card], such as [card name=”Durant” set=”Battle Styles” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card]. There really is not much else to say about Blissey V, aside from the fact that you could consider [card name=”Dunsparce” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”207″ c=”name”][/card] to mitigate its problematic Fighting-type Weakness.
One Miltank
I have already talked quite a bit about why [card name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] is a good card and its applications in general, so there is not a lot left to say, but I do want to make some notes.
First, Miltank is huge in this deck as a sort of safety-net attacker that can buy you a little time in the early or midgame if needed. In addition, it acts as a strong single-Prize attacker for the sake of playing a seven-Prize game, meaning that it can be used to force the opponent to take an extra Knock Out that they would not normally need. As a result, the deck only really needs a single copy to accomplish the goals that it needs to. It is either a decent single-Prize attacker or an unbreakable wall.
There is not a lot that Miltank completely walls, but one thing that it does wall effectively is the variety of [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] variants that focus on [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card]. In Arceus VSTAR decks with [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card], Aqua Bullet is an easy in-house answer to Miltank, but with Bibarel this is not the case. Bibarel’s attack is mediocre at best, and most Arceus VSTAR decks with Bibarel do not incorporate many single-Prize attackers, making a perfect window for Miltank to end the game by itself.
Radiant Greninja
As I said earlier, the power of [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] in this deck cannot be overstated. It is the perfect card to be both the deck’s non-Supporter draw engine and an efficient way to fill the discard pile. Notably, with [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card], you can draw some extra Energy and discard some extra Energy for the early game to keep fueling Blissey V’s attack, but I do not know that I would use this option frequently, as you only have one copy of Scoop Up Net and it is important to use it wisely.
Note: It may seem obvious, but do not forget that you cannot use Concealed Cards under the effect of [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]!
Yveltal
I have been really back and forth on whether or not [card name=”Yveltal” set=”Celebrations” no=”19″ c=”name”][/card] is worth including in this deck in the games that I have played, but as of now I have not found a great replacement, so it gets to stick around. Cry of Destruction is probably one of the strongest disruption attacks that the game has ever seen, with the potential to remove up to three Energy from your opponent’s board for a very minimal resource investment. However, in this deck, Cry of Destruction is not just a disruption effect but also a major defensive tool in the [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] matchup, removing the opponent’s ability to have four [card name=”Fusion Strike Energy” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”244″ c=”name”][/card] in play to deal 280 damage with [card name=”Meloetta” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card]’s Melodious Echo attack.
Two Cheren’s Care
In this deck, [card name=”Cheren’s Care” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card] has a few unique uses. First, it is a solid option for healing an attacker, be it Blissey V or Miltank, while also removing the Pokemon from the board should you want to make it as hard as possible for the opponent to take all six of their Prize cards. Given the nature of Blissey V wanting to be a single big threat, removing a second copy from your board is critical to ensuring your opponent has to deal with the copy you want them to deal with. Additionally, a unique use that Cheren’s Care has in this deck is as a form of Energy recovery. For example, I was recently playing against a Mew VMAX deck and I wanted to be able to use Cry of Destruction from Yveltal, but I did not have access to a [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card]. As such, I chose to attack with Blissey V’s Blissful Blast, attach a Double Turbo Energy with its effect, and wait for the opponent to hit me. Once they did hit me, I was able to put Yveltal on my Bench, play Cheren’s Care, and attach the Double Turbo Energy I had recovered to use Cry of Destruction.
Three Hyper Potion, Three Switch Cart, and Two Team Yell Towel
[cardimg name=”Hyper Potion” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”166″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
This is what I like to call the deck’s healing package. Overall, it is pretty basic and it was actually a bit smaller than I expected to see in a Blissey V deck, but in my games, it has been a perfect amount.
[card name=”Hyper Potion” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card] is by far the deck’s best healing card. In the current format, most decks need to take a two-hit Knock Out on Blissey V with a Cape of Toughness attached, and due to its astoundingly high HP, a single Hyper Potion can frequently be enough to turn that two-hit Knock Out into a three-hit Knock Out, and at the cost of just a single Double Turbo Energy.
Next, there is [card name=”Switch Cart” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card]. Switch Cart is more of a generic switch-out than an actual healing card, but the 30 damage can sometimes be significant, and you can easily retreat a Radiant Greninja back into Blissey V to continue attacking. Also, in some cases, you can get exceptionally fortunate, Switch Cart into another Blissey V, and use a weak Blissful Blast to take a Knock Out to have a second Blissey V built up at the same time, which can be game-winning on its own.
Finally, [card name=”Team Yell Towel” set=”Shining Fates” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] is a perfect complement to Hyper Potion. If healing 120 is not quite enough, it is typically narrowly short, which makes Team Yell Towel a perfect play. Healing the opponent’s Active Pokemon can be an unfortunate drawback, but if you time it right, you can play the card when the healing is inconsequential, making that the card almost strictly beneficial for you.
Four Path to the Peak
In this deck, a full four copies of [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] is absolutely necessary, as it solves most of your problems across the board. As always, it is an excellent tool for slowing down the opponent, especially if they are playing [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], or even if they are playing [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card]. In addition, the card is a great counter-Stadium in a variety of matchups, especially against [card name=”Temple of Sinnoh” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card], which can be a significant issue if you do not have an immediate answer to it. The best part of Path to the Peak, though? Blissey V’s Ability almost never matters and Radiant Greninja’s Ability is only critical in the early game, so Path to the Peak rarely hurts you.
Energy Lineup
The Energy in this deck can be split into two categories: damage Energy and effect Energy.
The damage Energy in this deck are [card name=”Powerful Colorless Energy” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”176″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card]. I call these the damage Energy because they are the only Energy cards that allow Blissey V to gain more than 30 damage with their attachment, and as a result, they are very important. When you choose to read Blissful Blast as effectively “During your next turn, this attack does 90 more damage,” turning that into as much as 150 more damage is absolutely incredible.
[card name=”Capture Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Lucky Energy” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card] are this deck’s effect Energy, meaning that they are played solely because they have a valuable effect. Capture Energy’s strength is pretty clear at this point, but I do wish to point out that attaching a Capture Energy to a Blissey V and immediately grabbing Radiant Greninja is one of the strongest opening plays that this deck has access to. Once things get rolling, however, Lucky Energy starts to become even more valuable. Usually you will prefer to attach a damage Energy with the effect of Blissful Blast, but when you are unable to, Lucky Energy is a great alternative, as it comes with the promise of more cards for big plays during the next turn.
Conclusion
Now that the North America International Championship has concluded, there are a variety of new decks at the front of the format, from the newly dominant [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] to the ever-present [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] decks. Regardless of which Pokemon V they use, though, they still can be met with the new threat of [card name=”Miltank” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card]. Going forward, I am not certain which deck will be able to use Miltank the best, but if [card name=”Blissey V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] is not a great start, I am not sure what is.
With that, this article draws to a close. As always, I hope you enjoyed giving this article a read, even if it discussed a pretty simple deck. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Twitter (@ICheville), or on Facebook (Zaya Lee).
Until next time!
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