Introduction
Hello readers! This is Ian Robb and today I am reflecting on my run at EUIC last weekend. Going into the tournament, I had two major goals: get points towards the top 16 race for Japan and win the event. By round nine, I achieved six wins and two losses. I knew I had secured the minimum amount of championship points that I needed, and my second goal became my first priority. If I tied the last round, I would have had to win every single round in day 2 of the competition in order to win the tournament (Alex Schemanske ended up doing this). With this in mind, I decided to play the last round of day 1 instead of offering an intentional draw. Unfortunately, I lost round 9. This was somewhat devastating, but, once day 2 concluded and top 8 started, I found out that I secured a top-4 finish for the NAIC stipend and the weekend was great again.
Why I played Lugia VSTAR
In my last article, I did not really mention Lugia VSTAR. At the time, I thought that I would be playing Gardevoir EX or a Lost Zone variant. However, following further testing/refinement of Lugia, my attitude changed.
There were a few key reasons that I chose to play Lugia. First and foremost, the deck’s engine concerned me initially, but this criticism proved naïve after extensive testing. I’ve realized that, in some ways, Lugia has become more consistent than it was pre-rotation. The reintroduction of Professor Burnet is a critical factor in this assessment. With the format slowing down, Lugia can further concentrate on guaranteeing double Archeops on turn two. Before rotation, Lugia often needed more by turn two and couldn’t afford to utilize Burnet. In this sense, Lugia doesn’t need to be as greedy post-rotation, as it has the time to pursue a safer route for double Archeops.
Aside from my consistency epiphany, I found myself impressed by Lugia’s matchups against Lost Zone variants and Gardevoir. Early pressure by high-HP Pokémon is difficult for Lost Zone to cope with, and the ability to trade favorably against Gardevoir EX and Zacian V with single-prize Pokémon is potent against Gardevoir. With these two major pieces of information in mind, I decided to sleeve up Lugia and give it another go.
Deck List
0 Duraludon VMAX answers
This was a calculated risk. I considered this to be a worthy gamble, as I was not expecting Duraludon VMAX to be relevant enough to warrant the deck slots, especially deep in the tournament. Overall, I am happy with this decision, as my main goal was to beat the expected metagame going into the weekend. I did end up losing to back to back Duraludons, but it was a part of the risk that I took.
1 Radiant Tsareena
The vegetable itself. This card was absolutely useless for me throughout the entire tournament. In theory, the card is useful against Lost Zone decks when they use Sableye’s Lost Zone or Radiant Greninja’s Moonlight Shuriken. One of Lost Zone’s strategies against Lugia is to split damage between the two Archeops on the bench, with a combination of Moonlight Shuriken and Lost Mine, in order to knockout both Archeops within two turns. Radiant Tsareena’s healing prevents this line of play, as it involves exact math. In my opinion, the Lost Zone matchup is already favorable, so I considered excluding Tsareena for another Collapsed Stadium, but I changed my mind in the end.
1 Escape Rope
This was the Mawile tech that I chose to run. The theory behind Escape Rope is that you can use it in tandem with a supporter, such as Boss’s Order or Judge, in situations where those cards are impactful. Meanwhile, other answers to Mawile, such as Penny, are incapable of such combos. Additionally, as a Mawile tech, Escape Rope provides more value in other matchups than Penny. The Hisuian Goodra VSTAR matchup is a salient example of this. Thorton is another good answer, but, in my opinion, it is only better if Duraludon VMAX is also included.
2 Professor Burnet
This was one of the final inclusions to the deck and it was incredibly useful throughout the tournament. From my testing with Lugia, aside from starting with Ultra Ball and two Archeops, I noticed that some of the best starting hands almost always involved Professor Burnet. Whether it was found via Lumineon V or just drawn naturally, Burnet kept proving its worth. Having two increased the odds of finding it, so it was a worthwhile inclusion.
4 Professor Research
Originally the deck included a mixture of 5 cards between Professor Burnet and Professor’s Research, but, after cutting the second Collasped Stadium, space was found for both.
2 Mesagoza 1 Collasped Stadium
Mesagoza is a terrible card. The card itself is not very powerful in a vacuum, but it serves two purposes that makes it a mainstay in the deck:
Mesagoza serves as a counter stadium for Path to the Peak. With Mew VMAX’s reliance on Judge and Path to the Peak to handle Lugia, playing heavy stadiums is necessary.
Mesagoza is another way to find Pokémon. In the absence of Quick Ball and Evolution Incense, any way to search out your Pokémon is needed, even terrible ones.
3 Gift energy
History repeats itself: Gift Energy is what sold me on Lugia. In the previous format, the card was already incredibly powerful in Lugia, but other energies took precedence. Having the space for more colorless energies allows you to run 3 Gift. Playing multiple Gift Energy oftentimes protects the deck from Roxanne and Judge. This is particularly relevant against Mew and the mirror match. If the card was less popular, Roxanne would be a staple in Lugia for the mirror match.
3 V-Guard Energy
V-Guard is a very powerful card considering the current metagame. Gardevoir, the mirror match, and Mew all struggle to one-shot a Lugia VSTAR with a V-Guard Energy. Considering the limited selection of special energy in the current format, playing more than 1 copy of this card becomes viable.
Day 0 (Thursday)
I landed in the UK Thursday morning and was incredibly tired. I went and had some incredibly mediocre Fish n Chips with some friends before check-in. After arguing about Nest Ball versus Great Ball the day before, I submitted my deck list and felt ready to go.
Day 1 Matchups
R1 1st Mew WW
R2 1st WLW
R3 (Stream) 1st LZB Articuno WLW
R4 1st Goodra WW
R5 2nd Arceus Duraludon LL
R6 2nd Lugia Duraludon LL
R7 1st Lugia LWW
R8 1st Mew Path WW
R9 1st Lugia LL
Day 1 Recap
I was incredibly satisfied with how the deck ran. The round 3 stream match was really fun! I faced a long time friend Ryan Antonucci. One interesting note about the match was that we already set up our game before being told that we were going to be the lunch break stream match. They had us put our decks away in the order that we drew the cards, so that our board-state wouldn’t be destroyed. Once they took our decks, we went to get lunch and joked about the hands that we had. I had two Capturing Aromas and nothing else, while Ryan had a completely dead hand. Overall, the match was boring, but in game three I made a major misplay using my Radiant Tsareena to make my Lugia VSTAR go from 220 Damage on it to 200. This allowed Ryan to lock my Lugia VSTAR in the active for a turn with Artiucno’s Wild Freeze. Although I was still able to win, this misplay made the match a lot closer than I would have liked it to be.
Losing to back to back Duraludon decks stung a lot, especially because they were my first losses of the day, but that was a part of the risk that I took playing no techs. Losing to the mirror in round nine was unfortunate, but there is not much that I could had done in the match. The most important thing to me for the event was that the deck would function, which it did, so it went down to matchup roulette plus luck of the draw.
A Major Mistake
The major mistake that I made going into the event was that I expected people to respect Lost Zone a lot more than they did. Both of the decks in the finals had terrible matchups against Lost Zone variants, but it did not matter, even though it was the most popular deck. This mistake cost me, as more Duraludon showed up than I expected. It did not surprise me that zero decks running Mirage Gate, as a way to use a toolbox of attackers, made it into the top 8. That variant of Lost Zone needs to draw incredibly well off Judge. This did not change the fact that it was the most popular deck archetype in the room, but it underperformed compared to its percentage of the meta.
New Metagame Thoughts
The biggest surprise to me from the weekend was Gardevoir performing well. This deck, despite my initial faith in it, was a terrible meta call, with poor Lost Zone and Lugia matchups. This gambit did pay off for Tord Reklev, as he ended up making finals, but I do expect the deck to become worse. With both of the finalists’ decks having unfavorable Lost Zone matchups, I expect LZB to increase in popularity as a result.
The other big surprise was that Arceus/Duraludon VMAX ended up winning the whole tournament. Alex Schmanske took the risk of playing a matchup roulette deck with a terrible Giratina VSTAR and Lost Zone Box matchup, but it paid off in the end. With the amount of Lugia near the top tables, it made sense that Duraludon could do well, but it was not the result that I was expecting.
Conclusion
Overall it was an exciting weekend! Being a part of the largest single-flight tournament of all time and preparing for a brand-new format in the middle of the year was fun. It was taxing trying to learn about all these new decks, but it is something that I would enjoy having happen again.
With this finish, I finished 4th place in North America in the quarter, which was the first time I have ever done that! On top of that, I am 11th in the Japan paid-trip race and I am incredibly lucky to be in that position this year. I do plan on trying to have another piece out in the next few weeks about some of the more interesting decks in the format that I have been considering, like control.
Props and Slops
Props
Hanging out with the regular crew
Seeing the building that inspired Duraludon in the video games
Getting championship points
Woogia
Being on stream
Owning Andrew Hedrick in 2011 HGSS-NVI format
Alex Schemanske finally getting his big win
Finishing 4th in the NAIC stipend quarter (First time I have ever gotten a t4 stipend!)
Slops
Mediocre Fish and Chips
Dura Demons
Lugia mirror
The guy next to me on my flight to England
Pokémon: 9
2 Tyranitar V BST 97
1 Yveltal FST 175
2 Lumineon V BRS 40
1 Stonjourner BST 84 PH
4 Lugia V SIT 138
4 Archeops SIT 147
1 Radiant Tsareena SIT 16
3 Lugia VSTAR SIT 139
1 Pumpkaboo EVS 76
Trainer: 12
2 Professor Burnet PR-SW 167
2 Mesagoza SVI 178
1 Escape Rope BUS 114
2 Nest Ball SVI 181
4 Professor's Research SVI 189
4 Capturing Aroma SIT 153
2 Urn of Vitality BST 139
1 Urn of Vitality BST 139 PH
1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137
3 Boss's Orders BRS 132
2 Judge FST 235
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
Energy: 4
3 Gift Energy LOR 171
3 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
4 Single Strike Energy BST 141
3 V Guard Energy SIT 169
Total Cards: 60