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Arceus VSTAR Duraludon VMAX Umrebon VMAX 2nd Place NAIC Report

Hello readers! It’s Ian here, back again after a break from writing and a second-place result at the North America International Championship. This event was a dream come true, as it was the closest I have been to winning an international tournament in the masters division. Today I want to explain everything, from my deck choice to my testing leading up to the event. 

Expectations going into the event 

After taking a break from major tournaments since EUIC (I was in Hartford spiritually), I had slipped down the leaderboard. I was 16th place in North America going into NAIC, with a mere 30 point buffer between me and the person who was 17th. I knew that, in order to keep my auto day 2 qualification and paid trip to Japan, I would need a top 64 finish (at least) in the tournament. This affected my deck choice, as I knew that just getting into day 2 at 6-2-1 would give me a good chance at my minimum goal. With that in mind, I decided to forgo attempting to master difficult decks and instead turn towards straightforward ones. After taking the break that I did, I decided to do something that I had not done in a long time: go to the event early for testing. 

Going early is typically something I advocate for, but in recent years, have not found the time. I would highly recommend allowing yourself some extra time to test on-site before an international championship, but it can be difficult to find that time. In my eyes, the weeks leading up to the event should be spent trying out all possible deck choices, while the last few days should be used to tune deck lists. For this event, I spent a lot of my time testing Chien-Pao beforehand, but once my testing group identified the deck’s sketchy Lost Zone matchup —even with cancelling cologne— I decided to look elsewhere. After weeks of practicing online, mostly using Limitless Tabletop with friends, we were basically down to two decks: Arceus VSTAR & Friend(s), or Gardevoir EX. Arceus VSTAR’s primary appeal is that it doesn’t need to draw very much to win games against most of the metagame. After a lot of testing and theorizing, I boarded a plane to Columbus on Tuesday, met Azul GG (HUGE FAN OMG) and got to work. 

Plans before the event

After landing on Tuesday, I met up with the people who I had been testing with: Natalie Millar, Brent Tonnison, James Cox, Jullian, as well as Raz Wolpe, the person I’d be staying with. We basically played Pokémon all day from Tuesday until Thursday afternoon. Our objectives for the week were to craft the best Gardevoir EX list possible and to find out if any Arceus VSTAR builds were worth playing. The Arceus build that was most appealing to me at that point in my testing was Arceus VSTAR w/ Duraludon VMAX & Umbreon VMAX, as it boasted favorable matchups against the two biggest decks going into the event: Gardevoir EX and turbo lost zone. My rationale was that, if you are facing (and beating) those two decks for more than half of your rounds, you should be able to scrape together some wins against the rest of your matchups and be content. Duraludon VMAX was looking particularly promising, as in my opinion, Lugia VSTAR should had not been playing Urshifu VMAX going into the event. With access to super rod, Gardevoir EX can afford to use Shining Arcana Gardevoir as an attacker more frequently. As a result, along with an ever-growing threat of lost box, Lugia is pressured to make room for more single-prize attackers at the cost of Urshifu VMAX. Without Urshifu VMAX, Lugia has little hope of beating Duraludon. With this in mind, much of my testing revolved around mastering the Arceus/Duraludon/Umbreon vs Gardevoir EX matchup during the week. One major mistake that I made while testing was that most of my practice was against a non-standard deck list for Gardevoir EX. Brent had created a list that included 2 Forest Seal Stone, along with 2 Zacian V, which made the matchup a lot closer and spurred concerns, which were not warranted in retrospect. 

After our week of bootcamp, I had discovered that Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX/Umbreon VMAX felt like a very good play, but had scary matchups in Chien-Pao EX and Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR. However, the good matchups clearly outweighed the concerning ones, and I decided on running with it. With only Raz and myself representing the deck within our group, it made me debate chickening-out on the deck, but I decided to have faith in the results that the deck had been giving me. Another player, Charlie Lockyer, ended up playing the deck after joining us for testing on Thursday. He ended up getting 35th in the main event with the same 60.

The most notable innovation that we made on the deck was the omission of Hawlucha. Hawlucha felt as if it was a win-more card, while we reasoned that just playing another basic energy in its stead would increase the consistency of the deck overall and provide more value. Another contribution was the addition of a single Judge along with a Path to the Peak to create a “cheese package” that would help out the Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR matchup, along with Chien Pao EX (it did end up saving me vs Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR). After some last minute coaching and some dinner, I got ready for bed incredibly nervous, but ready to go. 

Deck List

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Day 1 Notes 

One of the more important things that I did differently this weekend was to make sure that I had enough caffeine throughout the day (but not all at once), along with ample fruit, in order to make sure there was enough good fuel for my body to play a long and grueling day of Pokémon. Another major key to success was my mindset. Taking the tournament one match at a time was critical to my run. Even though I had major pressure on myself to lock up the paid trip to Japan, I knew that, if I didn’t take it one round at a time, I would be overwhelmed and more likely to make mistakes. 

Day 1 Matchups 

Round 1 Lost Zone Box Entei V Bravery Charm (Second) WLW 

Round 2 Gardevoir With Penny (Second) LWT 

Round 3 Turbo Lost Zone Box With Echoing Horn (Second) WW 

Round 4 Fusion Mew (First) WW 

Roudn 5 Arceus Duraludon Biberal (Second) LWW 

Round 6 Gardevoir EX (Second) LWW 

Round 7 Fusion Mew VMAX (First) LWW 

Round 8 Arceus VSTAR Flying Pikachu VMAX Umbreon VMAX (Second) LWL 

Round 9 Hyrbid Lugia VSTAR (Snorlax / Tyranitar V) No Outs (Second) W (Game loss and then concession) 

Day 1 Reflections 

Day 1 went according to plan. I beat the decks that I expected to beat and got lucky once by beating an Arceus VSTAR after going second. My only loss was another Arceus VSTAR, against which I also lost the coin flip, and isn’t something that I can complain about at all. Charlie also made day 2 with the same 60 at 7-1-1 and Raz sadly lost his win and in with the deck for day 2. Raz faced Cyrus Davis round 1 and lost, which is a bit of foreshadowing for later on in the article. After day 1 wrapped up, we found a place to eat, discussed our mostly-successful day and opened a box of One Piece (Chris and Nick Franco owes Raz and I). After having dinner, I got ready for the day of Pokémon ahead of me and went to bed.

Day 2 Matchups 

R10 Turbo Lost Zone Box (Second) WW 

R11 Turbo Lost Zone Box On Stream (Second) LWT

R12 Single Strike Lugia VSTAR (No Outs) (First) WW

R13 Arceus VSTAR Giratina VSTAR (First) LWW 

R14 Arceus VSTAR Giratina VSTAR (Second) WLW 

R15 Turbo Lost Zone Box W (Concession) 

12-1-2 First Seed

T8 Single Strike Lugia (With Urshifu VMAX) (First) WLW 

T4 Gardevoir EX On Stream (With Switch) (Second) WW

Day 2 Thoughts 

One match away. That is all I could be thinking after a long long second day of Pokémon. Every match felt like running the gauntlet and I had to claw my way through so many games where I thought that I was going to lose. After all of that Pokémon, I did the photo shoot for the finals and then went to get dinner with my friends. I played a few games against the Urshifu VMAX/Inteleon VMAX 60 that I was going to have to beat in finals and I felt confident in the matchup, but I knew that anything could happen. 

Finals 

Urshifu VMAX Inteleon VMAX (First) LWL 

That was it. The poor draws that I had in games 1 and 3 sting a ton. I know that I could do nothing about it and was destined to lose. Overall, after an incredible weekend, I can only hold my head high and know that it was not my finals to win, but I still got to be in the finals of the largest western tournament of all time. 

Conclusion 

This was an incredible tournament where I got to be with some of my best friends in the game from across the globe and had a chance at the gold. Considering my modest goal of a top 64 finish going into the tournament, the final result blew away my expectations. I am glad that I chose the “Ian Robb deck” like I knew that I should. 

No Regrets.

In the next few weeks there will be a deck breakdown on Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX Umbreon VMAX posted on the substack.

Until then,

Ian Robb

1. Pokémon (18)

4 Arceus V BRS 122

3 Arceus VSTAR BRS 123

2 Duraludon V CRZ 103

2 Duraludon VMAX CRZ 104

2 Umbreon V EVS 94

2 Umbreon VMAX EVS 95

1 Lumineon V BRS 40

1 Radiant Alakazam SIT 59

1 Spiritomb PAL 89

Trainer (28)

4 Iono PAL 185

3 Boss's Orders PAL 172

2 Adventurer's Discovery FST 224

2 Professor's Research SVI 189

1 Judge SVI 176

1 Raihan CRZ 140

4 Ultra Ball SVI 196

4 Nest Ball SVI 181

1 Switch SVI 194

1 Escape Rope BST 125

1 Choice Belt PAL 176

3 Lost City LOR 161

1 Path to the Peak CRE 148

Energy (14)

4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151

4 Darkness Energy 7

4 Metal Energy 8

2 Fighting Energy 6