Hello readers! After finishing in the top 4 of Knoxville I wanted to do a tournament report on the event along with a short recap of Charlotte.
Charlotte Recap
I played Miradon EX…… This is probably one of the biggest mistakes that I have made in a long time. There was a variety of reasons why choosing the deck was a mistake. The first was that the deck was not a strong choice for the meta. Having a horrific Charizard EX Pidgeot EX matchup along with not having a strong Lost Zone Giratina VSTAR matchup (around 50-50 or 55-45 very debatable) are reasons why the deck was a poor choice. Having a dominant Gardevoir EX matchup was something I saw as important going into Charlotte but that was incorrect to believe. The second problem with the deck was the fact that it had zero play to it. There is not really any way to come back in a game with the deck. You just have to make sure that you attach your energy to the right Pokemon and hope that your opponent just misses what they need in a close game. Both of these problems are what led to having a poor result at the event (3-3 drop) but luckily I was able to rebound shortly after.
Why did I play Lost Zone Giratina VSTAR?
The deck is the best deck in the format. During the finals of Charlotte regionals game 3 when Vinícius Fernandez prized 3 Giratina V I turned around to Isaiah Cheville and I told him that I would be playing Lost Zone Giratina VSTAR at Knoxville if Fernandez won. Usually, in a diverse standard format, there are 1-2 decks with a lot of flexibility in both how you play them, and how you build them. Lost Zone Giratina VSTAR is currently the best deck at doing this. Being able to have access to the Comfey Mirage Gate engine along with one of the best attackers and some of the strongest one-prize attackers ever printed is a recipe for success. You can both come back in any game and create leads and checkmate boardstates that cause your opponent to have no way to come back into the game. Along with all of this, you have a favorable Charizard EX Pidgeot EX matchup which is the cherry on top for Lost Zone Giratina VSTAR. I ended up deciding to play the deck only 2 days before the event but I knew it would be the best choice.