Ancient Box Makes a Comeback?!

Hello everyone! There are still a few weeks left of the Stellar Crown format along with a couple of major tournaments, and the meta is starting to develop.

At this point in time, it seems as though Tier 1 comprises of [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”201″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”208″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card], as these are the three best decks that are seeing consistent results. It also just so happens that they are relatively unbothered by [card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card], and are therefore not as vulnerable to the shenanigans presented by the Tier 2 decks.

Tier 2 consists of [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] alongside the plethora of Dusknoir decks: [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”234″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Dragapult ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”200″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Terapagos ex” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”170″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Origin Form Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”208″ c=”name”][/card]. All of these decks are seeing strong results and are certainly capable contenders in the current format. There are a few other decks seeing a bit of fringe play, such as Lost Box and [card name=”Banette ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”229″ c=”name”][/card], but there seems to be one that has been forgotten entirely.

[cardimg name=”Roaring Moon ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”109″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I was reminded of its existence after randomly facing it on ladder, and that got me thinking. Is Ancient Box good in the current meta? Ancient Box has always been a matchup-based deck, most notably being weak to Charizard ex. However, Charizard has not done much in the Stellar Crown format in terms of major tournament results. In fact, it is competing for just a spot on the meta share graphic shown off at Regionals! With Charizard seemingly on the decline, one of the conditions for Ancient Box has been met.

Now we have to consider some other factors. Next is Dragapult ex, another atrocious matchup for Ancient Box. Dragapult has seen middling success and popularity in the current format. It’s certainly a concern, but taking a bad matchup to it isn’t the end of the world if we can beat everything else. Another interesting aspect here is that the [card name=”Pidgeot ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”217″ c=”name”][/card] version is worse for Ancient Box, but Dragapult lists are split between Pidgeot and non-Pidgeot. At the very least, it’s not as bad as if they were all Pidgeot. Nonetheless, Dragapult and Charizard are bad matchups, and that is a bitter pill to swallow.

As far as Tier 1 goes, Ancient Box does pretty well. Having an easy Raging Bolt ex matchup is fantastic, and the Regidrago VSTAR matchup is quite good as well. Lots of them are not playing [card name=”Hisuian Goodra VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] anymore, which would be an annoying card for Ancient Box. The Lugia matchup is the sketchiest among them, but a single tech [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] goes a long way against them, and is probably worth including. Ancient Box also handles the other Tier 2 decks rather well. Terapagos, Palkia, and Snorlax are super manageable matchups. Of course they are losable too, but that’s fine.

Since Ancient Box has always been a deck with polarized matchups, it’s all about selecting the right metas in which to play it. With so many decks in the meta, along with Charizard and Dragapult being in the middle of the pack, it seems like a very reasonable time to play Ancient Box. Yes, it will feel bad to face against those decks, but by percents, Ancient Box has a good matchup spread right now and has potential to make a deep run. It’s also cool that Ancient Box stomps some of the random Tier 3 decks that you might run into, such as Lost Box and Quad Iron Thorns. Here’s my current list.

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Ancient Box Deck List

[decklist name=”abox” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″][pokemon amt=”13″]4x [card name=”Roaring Moon ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Flutter Mane ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Great Tusk ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”97″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”40″]4x [card name=”Professor Sada’s Vitality” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”170″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Explorer’s Guidance ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”186″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”181″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”196″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Night Stretcher” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”61″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Superior Energy Retrieval” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Secret Box” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ancient Booster Energy Capsule” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”159″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”7″]7x [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”158″ c=”deck2″ amt=”7″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

[cardimg name=”Great Tusk ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”97″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

With so little variety in the Pokemon selection, Ancient Box isn’t really a “box” deck, but now it plays [card name=”Secret Box” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] so I think the name is fine. This list isn’t anything too crazy. [card name=”Great Tusk ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] can be a bit annoying at times, but you usually don’t play it down if you don’t intend on attacking with it. Starting with it is usually fine. It can apply pressure with its Land Collapse attack, and the opponent is forced to remove it from the Active Spot quickly, either by gusting or KO’ing it. If they do not, that is more time to ramp damage for [card name=”Roaring Moon ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]. [card name=”Koraidon ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] isn’t bad, but it requires Fighting Energy, which is annoying. [card name=”Walking Wake” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] can at least retreat itself out of the Active Spot, but doesn’t actually do anything. By default, I think Great Tusk is the best option for a filler Ancient Pokemon.

This list plays basically the minimum amount of Ancient cards. We do want to ramp to 290 damage, but we are basically sacrificing the [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”234″ c=”name”][/card] matchup anyway, so we don’t expect to ever get to 330 damage. Cards like [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] and Secret Box help us accelerate to one-shot range on most Pokemon, especially those big chunkers like [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”201″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”208″ c=”name”][/card] with a [card name=”Bravery Charm” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] attached. [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Superior Energy Retrieval” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”277″ c=”name”][/card] can also come in clutch for discarding extra Ancient cards that get stuck in our hand. There are times where you can’t afford to discard stuff out of your hand, especially against hand disruption, and in those cases, Secret Box is very bad. There is certainly a case to be made for [card name=”Awakening Drum ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card]as this deck’s ACE SPEC of choice, as it is also an Ancient card, and drawing cards still contributes to ramping damage. That said, Secret Box is a higher impact card. You also won’t be drawing too many cards with Awakening Drum, since you don’t want to put Ancient Pokemon besides Roaring Moon into play.

I have the Enhanced Hammer in here because Lugia VSTAR is just too big, and that matchup is quite annoying. It’s very close, and probably Lugia-favored without the Enhanced Hammer. The [card name=”Legacy Energy” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card] gives them the edge in the Prize race, but Enhanced Hammer negates that. It basically just says to take a Prize card against Lugia. It’s not too hard to have Enhanced Hammer on the right turn, as this deck draws tons of cards, and you can even find the Enhanced Hammer with PokeStop. Lugia usually won’t be able to make immediate use of Legacy Energy, giving you a bit of time to find the Enhanced Hammer. [card name=”Iron Hands ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”248″ c=”name”][/card]’s Amp You Very Much attack does KO [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card], but they won’t have the full setup plus a [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card] until a few turns in. You also aren’t one-shotting things right away, so that’s another reason why you have time to find the Enhanced Hammer.

For the recovery split I went with two [card name=”Night Stretcher” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] and one [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”276″ c=”name”][/card]. In most cases, you would rather have Night Stretcher in hand, as it helps you chain together attacks and gives you instant value. Super Rod is still great to have in the deck, and it is significantly more overall output than Night Stretcher. Sometimes you also need Super Rod to stop yourself from decking out, as every draw Supporter in the deck burns through cards with no good way to refill the deck. And of course, there’s also the Superior Energy Retrieval. This deck churns through Energy like crazy, you need to recover Roaring Moon a couple times (and sometimes the Radiant Greninja), so I think this is the most appropriate amount of recovery cards.

The last notable thing about this list is three [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”264″ c=”name”][/card]. I think this should just be standard at this point, as this deck loves to snipe off two-Prize Pokemon. Since it’s a single-Prize deck with high damage output, opposing decks can’t really make comebacks against it. For that reason, if Counter Catcher isn’t live, you are already winning anyway. Otherwise, Counter Catcher just makes you win. You will often start out games behind because of the time it takes to ramp damage. You also need Counter Catcher to take advantage of the Pokemon you hit for damage in the early-game when you aren’t doing tons of damage. Otherwise, opponents will hide their damaged Pokemon on the Bench to make you waste your early attacks, so we can’t let them do that.

Strategy and Gameplay

Playing this deck is very straightforward. I think the two most important core concepts are resource management and maximizing attack value.

Resource management is self-explanatory. Spamming Radiant Greninja’s Concealed Cards Ability early is a great way to accelerate your game, but you will run out of Energy if you do so indiscriminately into the late-game. This deck thrives off getting a manual Energy attachment every turn, and whiffing one can be disastrous. Games often come down to the slimmest of margins, so you need to start budgeting your Energy a few turns before the game is going to end.

Count up how much Energy you’ll have access to for the rest of the game, and make sure you have a manual attachment for each turn left. The same goes for Roaring Moon, especially if you Prize one or discard some off PokeStop. Some games require up to six copies od Roaring Moon, so you need to budget your recovery cards appropriately so that you don’t run out of attackers.

Using PokeStop throughout the early-game is fine, but it becomes worse later, especially after using [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] or Super Rod. PokeStop is mostly there to get you to the late-game faster and ramping damage, but you definitely want to stop using it as the deck gets thinner. When the opponent uses [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”269″ c=”name”][/card], pay attention to what cards you can hit off PokeStop to determine if you should shuffle your deck before or after using it.

As for maximizing attacks, it just means that you don’t have to attack every turn. Usually you’ll have to two-shot something in the early-game, but past that, you only want to take one-shots.

Don’t sink resources into multiple two-shots or attack for no reason. Ramping damage is the first priority, and the Prize cards basically take themselves once you dump enough cards. Taking a big one-shot and one Counter Catcher snipe should be enough to close out games in two attacks after you take the initial two Prizes, so look for a precise Prize map like that and have an intentional purpose for each attack.

Sometimes you’ll need Counter Catcher to clean up a damaged Pokemon from your first hit. Chaining attacks from Great Tusk can also win games in some spots, especially against the likes of Regidrago or PokeStop decks once they get low on cards in their deck. The exact threshold depends not only on the amount of cards in their deck, but also the amount of Iono in your opponent’s list and discard pile. You can roughly calculate when you can go in with Great Tusk, and it also depends on if you can chain [card name=”Professor Sada’s Vitality” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”256″ c=”name”][/card]. This won’t come up very often, but it can occasionally close out games.

Matchups

Raging Bolt ex — Very Favorable

As I mentioned before, Ancient Box enjoys a good matchup against [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”208″ c=”name”][/card], which is usually the most popular deck in this format. This matchup is pretty straightforward, and you can still win even if you fall three Prizes behind. The most important thing is to ramp damage so that you can get to that 290 damage threshold as soon as possible.

Your first two attacks probably won’t be hitting for a one-shot, so try and take a two-shot KO in the early-game. [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”264″ c=”name”][/card] helps clean up whatever you damage on the first hit. If you need to Counter Catcher for your second KO as well, that’s fine, as there will probably be some vulnerable Pokemon on their Bench. By the end of the game, you should be one-shotting anything in their Active Spot. You will almost never be using [card name=”Flutter Mane ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] in this matchup. This is a matchup where [card name=”Great Tusk ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] seems like it would be good, as they do not play many ways to refill their deck and they also burn through it quickly. However, [card name=”Roaring Moon ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] is usually better at closing out games than Great Tusk in this matchup.

Regidrago VSTAR — Slightly Favorable

[cardimg name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This matchup is another good one, but it’s not as easy as Raging Bolt ex. Games often play out similarly from your side when it comes to Prize mapping, but you have more things to worry about from them.

Just like with Raging Bolt, taking a two-shot in the early-game for your first two Prizes is standard, followed by a Counter Catcher for two if necessary. However, they have [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] as an attacker, so they won’t simply let you take two Prizes on their Active Spot Pokemon every time. If you’re on even Prizes, Counter Catcher is a valuable resource so that you can efficiently close out games and ignore the Radiant Charizard entirely. As such, if you can Knock Out their Active Spot [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”201″ c=”name”][/card] early, that’s a good way to save Counter Catcher to get around Radiant Charizard. Of course, this isn’t always possible, which is fine. [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card] and Pal Pad are great resources for the same reason. The gust cards must be used in the same way if they play [card name=”Hisuian Goodra VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Noivern ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”246″ c=”name”][/card]. If they have enough Pokemon in play, you can simply snipe around their invincible Regidrago for all of your Prize cards. However, if they are limiting their Pokemon in play and using Goodra or Noivern, you can use two gust effects on the same turn to remove the protection and then one-shot their Regidrago. This is the best way to deal with those techs.

Another constant concern in this matchup is [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”269″ c=”name”][/card], as they play two copies and can potentially reuse it via Regidrago VSTAR’s VSTAR Ability Legacy Star. There’s not much you can do about it besides thin out your deck as much as possible. This does create an annoying conundrum, as you want to commit multiple Roaring Moon to the board to play around Iono, but this opens you up to snipe and spread plays from the likes of their [card name=”Dragapult ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”200″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Kyurem” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card]. This requires a careful balance that depends on various factors on the board state as well as remaining Prize counts. While you normally want to discard [card name=”Ancient Booster Energy Capsule” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] for damage, they can be a useful defensive option if you have any leftover. After they commit spread damage, Ancient Booster Energy Capsule can be strategically attached to deny certain board wipe plays.

Flutter Mane belongs in the discard pile, as it is a bit of a liability being prone to spread damage. However, there are some niche spots where it can shut off Legacy Star or Radiant Charizard’s Excited Heart, locking the high-retreat Pokemon in the Active Spot. Great Tusk can be chained to close out games in some situations, and it’s also an alternative way to deal with Noivern if you must.

Lugia VSTAR — Slightly Favorable

This matchup is still close, but it would be unfavorable without the [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card]. If they put down three two-Prize Pokemon, you can commit to the 2-2-2 Prize map because Enhanced Hammer deals with the [card name=”Legacy Energy” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card]. As usual, two-shotting the first [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card] is fine, ideally followed by one-shot KOs on all the other two-Prize Pokemon. Otherwise, a 1-1-2-2 map should be fine as well. [card name=”Iron Hands ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”248″ c=”name”][/card] can take out [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] for an extra Prize, but usually we still get Radiant Greninja in play to accelerate our game anyway. If they only have one [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card], or just not a lot of Energy in play, you can go around Iron Hands and KO Archeops to punish them, as Iron Hands won’t be able to KO anything else (unless you have Flutter Mane in play, in which case you should either attach Ancient Booster Energy Capsule to it or just KO the Iron Hands). You should never be letting them get four Prize cards with Iron Hands.

Flutter Mane is sometimes useful early to shut off Summoning Star, or later to lock [card name=”Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”216″ c=”name”][/card]. Great Tusk is almost never used in this matchup. As usual, you are exclusively using Roaring Moon in most games. Against the [card name=”Cinccino ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] builds where you’re forced to trade into Cinccino, Ancient Booster Energyy Capsule is a high-value resource to put on Roaring Moon, as it heavily strains their Energy. Not only does each Cinccino need three Energy to KO a Roaring Moon with Booster Capsule, but [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”216″ c=”name”][/card] can’t even be among them.

Most don’t play the [card name=”Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”64″ c=”name”][/card], but if they do, my list instantly loses to it if you put down Radiant Greninja.

Dusknoir — Depends

Against [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”234″ c=”name”][/card] and Dragapult ex, you have two early-game options. The first is to go aggro attacks to apply fast pressure. This is best used if you sense weakness in their opening, and if you think you can blitz a few Prize cards. If your first attacker gets two Prizes, you can snipe off a [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Fezandipiti ex” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card], and then two-shot a big guy for a reasonable Prize map. If you don’t get a fast start, you might be better off going yolo Great Tusk and trying to hit some key resources. The matchups are pretty bad overall though.

Against [card name=”Origin Form Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”208″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Terapagos ex” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”170″ c=”name”][/card] you can go with a more normal gameplan. Against Terapagos, you have to be careful about the [card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Briar” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] play they can use for three Prizes at the end of the game, so ideally you will not have any Pokemon on your board that are in range of a Dusknoir. Flutter Mane and Great Tusk aren’t very useful against Terapagos, but they could have some situational uses against Palkia. Palkia burns through its deck and also requires Abilities, so there are some fringe spots where you can punish them with your secondary Pokemon. In any case, Radiant Greninja is risky to have on the board because it’s in range of Dusknoir. If you can play the game without using Radiant Greninja, you should certainly do so.

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