Roanoke Regionals Recap!

I’m back from Roanoke Regionals! Unfortunately I did not have a great finish in the main event, but I am very happy with my decklist and personal performance. Stall/Control decks seemed to be popular day 1, and a Stage 2 based deck including Gardevoir-GX, Solgaleo-GX(Promo), and Swampert won the event. Piloted by Jimmy Pendarvis, this deck had very little weaknesses and had natural counters to stall and control decks which were more present than expected. It seems like stall archetypes were overlooked by many going into this tournament, so I will be delving into this as well as the deck that I chose to play and the deck that won.

Table of Contents

• Buzzwole/Lycanroc/Alolan Ninetales
• Why I Chose This Deck
• List
• Techs
• Stall Decks
• Why was Stall successful
• Regigigas
• Steelix
• Differences and SImilarities between the two
• Gardevoir-GX & Friends
• List
• Archetype Analysis

Buzzwole-GX/Lycanroc-GX/Alolan Ninetales-GX

In retrospect, I don’t think this was one of the best archetypes for the meta at Roanoke Regionals. Going into the event, I projected that I would play against a combination of Buzzroc, Decitales, Malamar, Zororoc, and Blacephalon along with a couple of rogue decks or less popular decks. Friends who also piloted buzzroc and made day 2 with lists similar to mine had an unfavorable field of stall decks, Granbull, and blacephalon which resulted in buzzroc not having a very good day 2 performance. Although I did not do very well and the archetype buzzroc did not perform well as a whole, I am very happy with the list that I entered with as I feel it was optimal for the meta I had expected to face.

Notable Inclusions

1 Acerola & 1 Max Potion

I had expected Buzzroc and Decidueye to be popular Day 1, and these techs were for both of those matchups.

Leading on either of your Buzzwole in the mirror match to get chip damage on either one or multiple Pokemon and then healing your attacker can undo turns of damage your opponent dealt. For example, it is ideal to go Jet Punch, take damage, Jet Punch, take damage, Acerola/Max Potion & repeat. This can result in you taking multiple prizes in a single turn if you can also Guzma or Bloodthirsty Eyes into other Pokemon to damage in the active. At the very least, it should put you ahead of the game in terms of damage output. In the case of your opponent attaching a second energy to a Buzzwole-GX, you can push for the KO on the following turn whether it be with attach and Multi Switch to your own Buzz or use damage modifiers to take a KO with Sledgehammer or Jet Punch. I originally tried 2 Acerola, but the 1/1 split of Acerola Max Potion made a world of difference because Max Potion can be searched out with Alolan Ninetales’ mysterious guidance.

Vs. Decidueye/Ninetales/Zoroark both Acerola and Max Potion provide great utility, but I believe this matchup is slightly more reactive on Buzzwole’s side than the mirror is for the player with healing cards. The Decidueye player wants to ideally go from 6 to 5 prize cards, and then some turns later go from 5 to 2 prize cards skipping the Beast Ring turns. Decidueye does this by spreading damage around and taking 1 GX and 1 regular knockout in the same turn. The Buzzwole player will usually have 1-2 turns of opportunity to find the Acerola and/or Max Potion. I highly suggest reserving a bench spot for Lele to search out Acerola and/or holding your Ninetales’ Mysterious Guidance for Max Potion. Resetting multiple turns of damage will force the Decidueye player to try skipping Beast Ring turns again or going for straight knockouts opening up beast ring for the Buzzwole player. Either of these scenarios are favorable for Buzzwole which is why Acerola and Max Potion are so valuable for this matchup in my opinion.

The Roanoke Stall variants

Players were well aware of Zoroark Control’s win in Brazil at the LAIC and kept it in mind when preparing for Roanoke. Players and content creators such as myself had come to the conclusion that teching for Zoroark Control was likely not worth it, as Zoroark Control would now be less oppressive due to the lists and strategies being revealed to the public. I believe that this rightful lack of Zoroark Control hate at Roanoke Regionals this past weekend paved the way for other Control-ish variants to see success. It sort of sounds like overcomplicated reverse Psychology, but its the classic "Everyone else will beat it so I don't need to respect it" mistake. That compounds even more because players often want to feel unique and smart, so they will avoid the obvious deck that won last weekend, which leads to players under-respecting the archetype.  

Regigigas Stall

4x Regigigas & 3 Ancient Crystal

Regigigas is the main active Pokemon of this deck. I don’t say main attacker here because, well, you aren’t declaring attacks very often at all with this deck. Regigigas is a basic Pokemon with 180 HP and with Ancient Crystal attached it takes 30 less damage from all attacks. This deck’s strategy is to stall the game long enough for you to either win because of Unown - Hand or win because your opponent has decked out.

3x Lusamine

Every card is here because of its importance either in certain scenarios or to the main strategy of the deck. Lusamine however, is one of the integral cards that allows this “stall” strategy to function the way that it does. The stall player can go Lusamine for Lusamine and Acerola, next turn Acerola, next turn Lusamine for Lusamine and Acerola, rinse and repeat.

With the one of the strategies of this deck being to make a stalemate situation until your opponent decks out, you might be wondering why this deck doesn’t deck out itself without Oranguru UPR. If your opponent Judges or Let Looses your hand away to stop you from winning with Unown Hand then your deck is replenished and you start working towards the 35 card hand again. If your opponent doesn’t modify your hand size, then you can draw for turn, heal if needed, and play Lusamine until you reach the condition of Unown Hand to win. I am sure I am making this out to be simple, but there are many choices that go into making the list appropriate for a specific tournament and also playing it optimally.

This stall variant’s enemy is Judge & Oranguru UPR with basic energy, which when played correctly should force at least a tie. I specify that the Oranguru needs a basic energy to attack with, because a deck of all special energy can be locked out of attacking if enough Faba’s are played by the stall player.

Steelix Stall

Lusamine, Faba, Steven’s Resolve, Unown Hand

All of these cards are fairly important to both variants. As I highlighted earlier, Lusamine is very crucial to stall decks’ ability to chain important supporters like Acerola and Faba. Steven’s Resolve seems almost unfair in these decks, since you aren’t going to attack anyway. Of course Faba is special energy removal like Enhanced Hammer, but it can be retrieved with Lusamine.

Counter Catcher

Counter Catcher should not go unnoticed, as it allows these decks to stall by potentially bringing up an opponent’s benched pokemon that is awkward to have active and might not be easy to move. Stranding a Pokemon like this can give the deck a lot of time to set up. 

Articuno-GX

I get a lot of questions about this card when it is included in any Control/Stall/Mill decks. Articuno-GX is included in both of these variants as a check to your opponent setting up a Pokemon with multiple energy that has the potential to sweep through your board. If you have a hiccup in your game due to poor draws, a bad start, misplays, etc., your opponent could get something like a Buzzwole-GX powered up with 3+ energy or use a Kiawe on Blacephalon-GX. If they have a surplus of energy this could spell trouble for the stall player, as even removing energy will sometimes leave them with enough to use powerful attacks. Articuno-GX’s GX attack discards all of the energy on your opponent’s active Pokemon, which is a fail safe for situations like this.

Differences between Steelix.dec and Regigigas.dec

Shrine of Punishments and Tapu Lele UPR (used in Steelix)

I am a fan of this inclusion in Justin Bohkari’s Steelix list, as it gives the variant a third win condition that the Regigigas deck does not have… actually taking all 6 prizes! Because Lusamine can also retrieve stadium cards, the Steelix player can have a theoretically endless supply of Shrine of Punishments which can help achieve a win condition if your opponent has GX pokemon on the board. Counter Energy and Tapu Lele UPR can be used to move around the damage allocated with Shrine of Punishment tics for a surprising win seemingly out of nowhere.

Metal Frying Pan (used in Steelix) Ancient Crystal (used in Regigigas)

Metal Frying Pan is simply the replacement for Ancient Crystal in the Steelix variant when comparing the two stall variants, since Ancient Crystal works for Regigigas and Metal Frying Pan works for Steelix. These damage mitigators are very good and I highly suggest keeping them in mind if you consider trying other Pokemon as your main active sitters. Metal Frying Pan and Ancient Crystal working or not working on your designated Pokemon to sit in the active spot can be the deciding factor of your decks success.

Oranguru UPR

Oranguru was not included in Catron’s Regigigas list, but was included as a 1-of in Bohkari’s Steelix based stall variant. I imagine this was a sort of fail safe / preference call to guarantee not decking out and/or getting resources back more freely than strictly using Lusamine for Supporters and Stadiums. Opting to not play it is respectable because the pilot doesn’t want to worry about attacking, just chaining supporters and controlling the opponent’s energy.

Roanoke Champion: Gardevoir-GX and Friends

I briefly touched on this archetype last week in my Flipside Gaming Article “Who is in Control”, in my Meta Discussion on my Youtube Channel Celio’s Network   , and on the Super Rod Cast Podcast EP. 91  in which I was a guest.

This archetype has an undeniable board presence when it sets up. Because of the variance of this archetype getting or not getting set up, it was not successful for every player who piloted it. Jimmy Pendarvis became champion with this deck due to a very solid list, skillful piloting, and a bit of luck along the way. I do not want to undermine the deck or player, but I do want to highlight the fact that a double heads off of Timer Ball and double tails off of Timer Ball are very different and can potentially decide how well the deck sets up in a given game.

This archetype has an incredible matchup spread. It’s main weakness is any opposing attacker than can one shot Gardevoir-GX (without using weakness due to Solgaleo-GX removing weaknesses when it is in play) and/or Solgaleo-GX (again, without using weakness to do so). The first things that come to mind are Rayquaza-GX and Solgaleo-GX SUM. I believe that Rayquaza-GX would need two Vikavolt set up turn two to be able to consistently and realistically dish out enough damage to prize race opposing Gardevoir-GXs and Alolan Ninetales-GXs if both players have satisfactory set ups. Solgaleo-GX on the other hand, would likely prove to be an issue to this deck as it swings for 230 damage and then removes its energy, decreasing Gardevoir-GX’s damage output. Blacephalon-GX can sometimes be an issue for this Stage 2 variant, but the one prize monster Swampert CST makes quick work of Blacephalon-GXs with either Fairy/DCE/Choice Band or a Super Boost Energy attached.

I am pleased to see this archetype do well and show the possibilities for good deck builders in this format. Alolan Ninetales-GX LST has made Stage 2 based decks quite powerful and viable yet again. I believe most of the list is fairly straightforward, and I have very little to no critique on the list. The only thing I would consider trying for myself is to play a 2nd Timer Ball as to have it in your hand when you need it more consistently and potentially a 3rd Max Potion for the same reason.

As always, I hope my analysis and opinions can help you progress in the Pokemon TCG. Thanks for reading!