My Early Thoughts on the Post-Rotation Format
Hello PokeBeach readers! Isaiah here, and I am happy to be writing another article for you all! Last time, I discussed [card name=”Archaludon ex” set=”Surging Sparks” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] and how I felt it was best to build it in the current format and also how it might change in the new format. Notably, that article was written before the Vancouver Regional Championships happened (although it was published afterward), and my deck list for Archaludon ex / [card name=”Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] was remarkably close to the deck list that ended up finishing in the Top 8 of that event. Personally, I still think this deck is one of the best decks pre-rotation and I expect to continue playing it at my local-level events until I can’t anymore. With that said, rotation is fast approaching, with Journey Together coming out on March 28, about a week after I am writing this, so it is time to get thinking about how the format is going to look on a broad scale. I wanted to make that the focus of this article, making it more of a transitioning piece rather than focusing on any particular deck, as we really do not have enough information to make concrete decisions about what decks are good or bad until after the set has been out for a few weeks. First, how about we look at what we are losing to rotation this year?
What Cards are Rotating in the F Block?
[cardimg name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
In March 2022, the Pokemon TCG community returned to in-person play for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With that return to Pokemon, the first Pokemon VSTAR were released, too, in the form of [card name=”Arceus VSTAR” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] and the rest of Brilliant Stars. With the benefit of hindsight, we can recognize that Arceus VSTAR was one of the most format-defining cards of all time, and one of the greatest, too, making Day 2 of every North American major event from its release until the 2024 North America International Championships. While this card was certainly impactful on its own, it was mostly able to succeed because of [card name=”Double Turbo Energy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card], which is sure to be one of the most missed cards rotating this year. Winning the World Championships every single year it was legal, Double Turbo Energy has certainly cemented itself as one of the greatest Energy cards ever printed, and its rotation is sure to leave a big impact.
Brilliant Stars also re-introduced Bench Barrier to the game in the form of [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] and its Wave Veil. To say this card was one of the most important cards released in the entire Sword & Shield era would be an understatement, allowing people to not get steamrolled by cards like [card name=”Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Kyurem” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card], and perhaps most importantly, [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card]. Radiant Greninja is also rotating, which is sure to be one of the most significant rotations of any card ever. Astral Radiance saw the debut of a variety of impactful cards, including [card name=”Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card], Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR, [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card], and many more, but none was as impactful as Radiant Greninja. Concealed Cards is one of the greatest Abilities for card draw ever printed, since it turns the worst cards in any Pokemon deck, Energy, into new cards, which could end up being cards that are actually useful and powerful. As if that somehow was not enough, Moonlight Shuriken is one of the most powerful attacks of the last few years, gatekeeping many rogue strategies from ever being playable, and forcing decks with low-HP Pokemon to always watch their backs just in case. Of course, some of the best decks that ever used Radiant Greninja were the Lost Zone decks introduced in Lost Origin. [card name=”Comfey” set=”Lost Origin” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Colress’s Experiment” set=”Lost Origin” no=”155″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Mirage Gate” set=”Lost Origin” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] together feel like one of the biggest archetypes leaving us this year, as the Lost Zone engine is easily one of the most unique deck packages we have ever seen, and also one of the most successful.
Unbelievably, Lost Zone was not the most successful deck in the Sword & Shield era — that title belongs to the legendary [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] and its trusty [card name=”Archeops” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card]. Considered by many to be the greatest archetype of all time, Lugia VSTAR finally rotating is a happy sight for many. Others, myself included, are sad to see it go. It’s one of the most fun, unique, and powerful decks that I have ever gotten to play with, and it’s difficult to imagine what a world without Lugia VSTAR is going to look like. Lugia VSTAR was not the only deck introduced in Silver Tempest, though — [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] is also finally rotating out of the Standard format. At one point, I considered this card to be the best card that was never good, but fortunately it finally got to prove itself in its eleventh hour. Both of these decks used one of the most powerful cards of the Sword & Shield era, [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card], which is certainly going to be my most missed card after rotation finally arrives.
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It’s easy to focus on the strongest archetypes, but it’s also important to remember the generic cards we’re losing, as those cards typically end up having the biggest long-term impact. Radiant Greninja was, of course, mentioned already — decks like [card name=”Gholdengo ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]are going to feel a significant change with the loss of Concealed Cards. [card name=”Lumineon V” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] are also massive losses for many of the top decks in the format, but especially [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Dragapult ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card]. The consistency boost both provided was extremely important for many decks, and being able to effectively end the game with an absurd combo if you are ever able to hold onto the effect until the end of the game will be sorely missed.
[card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] is another big loss, as it leaves us with no good Pokemon Tool removal cards in the format, astronomically increasing the value of a wide variety of Pokemon Tool cards. This is most impactful for [card name=”Luxurious Cape” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Hero’s Cape ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card], both of which are sure to see much more play in the new format. It also was a good generic option for removing Stadium cards, but now decks will be forced to play their own Stadium cards if they want to remove their opponent’s Stadium cards, meaning that impactful Stadium cards are more likely to stick around for more turns on average.
Finally, and in my opinion most impactfully, [card name=”PokéStop” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] is also rotating. It is really difficult to succinctly explain why I think that this card is so good and so important, but most of my thoughts can be summarized by the statement that it is the best Stadium card ever printed. Yep, I said it. It’s not Chaos Gym, [card name=”Broken Time-Space” set=”Platinum” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card]. It is PokeStop. There has never been a Stadium card that has shaped the format in the same way that PokeStop has during its legality. So many decks were built on the idea of this insane Stadium card that often effectively says “draw three cards.” Even if you don’t get three cards out of it, thinning bad ones out of your deck that you weren’t going to use anyway is close enough to drawing them, and at least in this case you don’t have to waste an [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] on discarding them. PokeStop effectively created new archetypes, 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 Turbo Lost Zone, all of which would have struggled to accomplish much of anything without the extra dig that a PokeStop provides. The card would of course reach its peak with the release of [card name=”Night Stretcher” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card], turning milling Pokemon or Energy into a good thing. In fact, the card is so powerful that decks that seem like they would never want to play it, such as [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Pidgeot ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card], would sometimes use it while it was on the field just because the card offered a chance of high-rolling into the most absurd combination of cards that one could imagine. There have been few cards as impactful as PokeStop has been over the last few years, and the format is sure to look very different without it.
What Do These Changes Mean?
I have been playing Pokemon for 13 years now, so I’ve seen some impactful rotations, with one of the most notable probably being the 2016–2017 rotation, which saw the departure of XY, Flashfire, Furious Fists, and Phantom Forces. I think there is a good chance that this upcoming rotation has that one beat. While this rotation is not really removing many of the best decks in the game from the format, with many powerhouses like [card name=”Dragapult ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Gholdengo ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] sticking around, major changes will be seen in how decks are constructed. For example, almost any Stage 2 deck could basically shove in a 2-0-2 Pidgeot ex line with a [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Lost Origin” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card], Lumineon V, Forest Seal Stone, and some Arven, and it would probably be a pretty passable deck, but now a lot of the glue that holds that package together is gone. A lot of decks relied on PokeStop and Radiant Greninja as their main draw engines, but both of these cards are rotating. These decks will certainly still be functional, with many still demonstrating top-level success in Japan, but the changes to the format will also force people to consider whether the “old way” of building a deck can still work.
A great example of this will be Gholdengo ex. The average Gholdengo ex deck list only loses a few cards, so modifications for post-rotation legality should be quite easy. However, the cards that it loses are some of the most powerful draw tools in the deck, bringing to mind the question of whether the deck needs something more. Using some Japanese deck lists that I’ve seen as an example, some players are considering [card name=”Dudunsparce ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card]as a supplemental draw engine to balance out the loss of PokeStop and Radiant Greninja. Alternatively, some players have chosen to use [card name=”Drakloak” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] as a the supplemental draw engine while also gaining access to Dragapult ex as a way to answer [card name=”Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card]. Dragapult ex is another deck that has been forced to restructure itself a bit. The loss of [card name=”Lance” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] might not seem too impactful at first, as [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] seems like a suitable if significantly worse replacement, but this comes with a major consequence: you can’t use it to find [card name=”Dreepy” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] anymore. With Lance, four-time Regional Champion Andrew Hedrick has described Dragapult ex as being the most consistent deck he had ever played, but now the loss of Lance makes the deck’s games feel much more swingy. The one perk for all of these decks getting worse is that since everything gets worse, individual decks getting worse feels less disastrous.
[cardimg name=”Kirlia” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”68″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
With that said, not all decks are created equal, and some decks’ restructuring is far more detrimental than others. [card name=”Chien-Pao ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card], although it has not been good for a while now, is a great example of this, as the rotation of [card name=”Irida” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card], and more make the deck virtually unplayable. Another example of this, and perhaps the most prominent, is [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card]. Last rotation, Gardevoir ex saw [card name=”Fog Crystal” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Gardevoir” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card], Mirage Step [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card], and more rotate, and a lot of people thought the deck would never be playable again, but we were all wrong, and the deck would ultimately end up winning two different Regional Championships in the past year. This rotation, however, poses a far more serious problem, as Refinement [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] is rotating this time, so the deck will lose any semblance of draw power that it had access to (because, of course, Radiant Greninja is rotating too!). This will leave the deck incapable of assembling many of the powerful combos that gave Gardevoir ex its identity in the current format. While this is bad on its own, the rotation of Refinement Kirlia also means that the deck no longer has a good way to discard its Energy cards. This is absolutely disastrous and poses an existential threat to the archetype as a whole. Personally, I would not expect Gardevoir ex to see any meaningful success for the time being.
There is a third category of decks coming into play: decks that were rogues before, but will now potentially become top-tier threats in the new format. An example of this is the “attacking walls” deck that has been popular in Japan. Using [card name=”Farigiraf ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Milotic ex” set=”Surging Sparks” no=”42″ c=”name”][/card], Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex, and [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card], these decks aim to deny every deck in the format the ability to attack simply by betting that their opponent probably can’t damage something they play in their deck. This deck was previously not particularly strong, mostly because the format was a bit too wide, and there were some decks, such as [card name=”Miraidon ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], that the deck could not answer sufficiently. However, these decks are going down dramatically in popularity in the new format (in Lugia VSTAR’s case, it will cease to exist), so the deck will finally be able to wall out nearly every deck in the Standard format that is not explicitly teched to beat it.
Another deck that existed but was not particularly notable last format was [card name=”Feraligatr ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card]. This deck has been one of my favorite decks in the post-rotation format and will probably be the focus of my next article. (I do not feel confident enough about the deck to talk about it in depth yet!) It acts as a super slow deck with a pseudo-control strategy in [card name=”Totodile ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”39″ c=”name”][/card]’s Big Bite and Budew‘s Itchy Pollen, but it also has the potential to use Giant Wave for a massive Knock Out when needed. This deck shows a lot of promise in the upcoming format and was really, really close to being good in the last format, but decks like Miraidon ex, Archaludon ex / Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR, and Lugia VSTAR were borderline unbeatable for the deck. With those decks falling by the wayside, Feraligatr may finally have its time to shine. The [card name=”Noctowl” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] toolbox decks also stand to gain a lot in the new format because they do not lose much, but were just a little too slow before. However, now that everything else is slowing down and is less powerful, the Tera Box deck built around [card name=”Teal Mask Ogerpon ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”25″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”64″ c=”name”][/card], and others is looking to be one of the new format’s top threats, and definitely a deck to watch for the Atlanta Regional Championships.
Conclusion
As it does every year, the latest Pokemon TCG Standard format rotation is looking like it will shake things up quite a bit, with many of the decks that have defined the post-COVID era finally leaving the format and making way for the new challengers of the Scarlet & Violet block. While decks like Dragapult ex are sure to stay strong and remain some of the top decks in the game, decks like Feraligatr are finally getting the breathing room that they deserve. This the best way to see that the game is changing, and it is almost certainly for the better. I, for one, will not miss most of the Sword & Shield era, and I am looking forward to what the future holds.
With that, this article draws to a close. As always, I hope you enjoyed giving this article a read, as it was fun to just talk about the state of the game a bit rather than doing in-depth analysis of anything super specific. If you have any questions, be sure to reach out in the comments or on social media.
Until next time!
– Isaiah
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