Worlds is Over, We Survived: Looking at New Standard

What’s up Flipsiders!  I am back from 2017-2018 World Championships and I am in testing mode for the new standard format! Rotations are always very exciting for me since I love building new decks, and I am here to guide you through the beginning phases of constructing new lists for SUM-CST. Note that I have played 50-100 games of SUM-CST, so I am still in early testing.

What Did We Lose and How Do We Replace It?

With this rotation, Professor Sycamore and N are both no longer in Standard Format. This is the first time since April, 2011 that Standard Format does not have a Supporter that allows you to discard your hand and draw 7. One of the most interesting things about deck building right now is deciding which draw supporters are best in the absence of these two staples of the past.

Cynthia: Cynthia is almost guaranteed to be a default 4 of in all decks right now. To have versatility, I have been trying out 3 in some Zoroark-GX based decks, but I have 4 in every non-Zoroark-GX based deck. This is hands down our best draw support in Standard Format.

Copycat: As of now, I like Copycat primarily in decks that are not using Zoroark-GX. It seems that this is where you get the most value from this card, as Zoroark-GX decks usually have more cards in their hand than say a Malamar or Buzzwole deck.

Wicke: In my current deck building preferences, Wicke is Copycat’s counterpart. While I like Copycat when playing against Zoroark-GX, I like Wicke to be in my deck while playing Zoroark-GX myself. Since Zoroark-GX decks will frequently have hand sizes around 8-11 cards, Wicke can get you a fair amount of value that Cynthia would not.

TV Reporter: The only deck that I have tried this in and kept it in through testing is Zoroark-GX/Banette-GX. Since Banette-GX can do more damage for the number of supporters in your discard, TV Reporter can potentially boost your damage more by counting as a supporter itself and adding another supporter to the discard if you choose to discard one as the required discard for using TV Reporter.

Professor Kukui: It is possible that with a large selection of draw support to replace Sycamore and N, that a card like Kukui could become more widely used. The card only allows you to draw two cards, but your attacks do 20 more damage for the remainder of the turn as well. So while it does not draw you nearly as many cards as Professor Sycamore, decks that need extra draw power and another damage modifier may benefit from this Supporter.

Acro Bike: Not a Supporter card, but it does allow you to see two new cards and keep one of them. I think many archetypes will have a problem digging and thinning through their decks because Sycamore is gone, so this card could replace that draw power in some archetypes. Malamar variants come to mind as a potential archetype to use Acro Bike since they will need more draw power with Sycamore gone and they can benefit from discarding energy with Acro Bike.

Judge: This one is mostly a replacement for N, as shuffling your opponent’s hand into their deck is such a powerful option to have. While Judge cannot put your opponent’s hand to a lower size in the end game like N could, Judge is still a good supporter to have if you know your opponent just searched something with an attack (like Alolan Vulpix’s Beacon or Sylveon-GX’s Magical Ribbon) or if they have a lot of cards in their hand.

Float Stone: Losing Float Stone will likely lead to Guzma being a 4 of in most decks and non tool cards like Switch and Escape Rope see an influx of play to move Pokemon around without retreating. Escape Board is a possible replacement but only for some archetypes and Pokemon, as it only removes 1 energy from the retreat cost of the Pokemon it is attached to.

Buzzroc lost… a lot of cards

Buzzroc, a popular archetype for more than half of the 2017-2018 season, is walking away with a few wounds from this year’s standard format rotation. Looking at a typical Buzzroc list from Standard Format, going into SUM-CST the deck loses Max Elixir, Professor Sycamore, N, Strong Energy, Super Rod, Remoraid and Octillery, Float Stone, and also the option of using Regirock-EX. It is going to take a lot to make this deck survive, but I think that it can. I have been hard at work with a Buzzroc list that utilizes Magcargo from CST along with a few different ways to draw cards to pair with the Smooth Over Ability of Magcargo. We lost Strong Energy, but a couple of Double Colorless Energy to make attacking with Lycanroc-GX easier may be a good energy replacement although it serves a different purpose. Because there is currently no good replacement for Max Elixir, in my opinion the best thing to do is to make the deck more consistent and capable of getting a Beast Ring or two off on the turns they are live.

I don’t want to focus too much on lists in this article, but I wanted to give everyone an example of something I am working on for the new rotation. This list looks fairly different than anything we’ve seen done with Buzzwole before, but everything is there for a reason and it has been testing better than expected. I have only logged about a dozen games with this list so far, but I can say that it looks like it kept its positive matchups vs. Zororoc and ZoroGarb.

Zoroark Control lost control

Simply put, the Zoroark Control I knew and loved is not even a deck anymore in Standard Format. We lost Team Rocket’s Handiwork, Delinquent, Parallel City, Team Flare Grunt, Red Card, Puzzle of Time… I think I can stop there. While we’re on the topic, Puzzle of Time rotating out is a massive hit to all Zoroark-GX variants. Prior to this rotation, lists could run several one ofs and thinner counts of important cards like utility supporters (Guzma and Acerola), tools, and energy cards. I expect to see successful Zoroark-GX variants to run less one of trainer cards and focus into a more concentrated Trainer lineup. For example, instead of 2 Guzma, 1 Acerola, 1 Kukui, 1 Plumeria, 1 Mallow, we may see something more like 3 Guzma 3 Acerola 2 Mallow.

Garbotoxin is Gone

Garbodor Garbotoxin shut off all abilities while it had a tool attached to it, which caused Field Blowers to be played more heavily when Garbotoxin was strong in the meta. With Garbotoxin and Parallel City rotated to expanded, two of the biggest reasons for decks to play Field Blowers are gone. I anticipate players to be playing 0-2 field blowers in their decks, allowing for passive tools like Body BuIlding Dumbbells and Metal Frying Pan to have a lot of potential in the beginning of our new standard meta. Weakness Policy may also be able to fix matchups if decks are reducing their field blower counts.

Items Everywhere

One of the best things to do when a rotation happens is to evaluate the strongest cards from before the rotation. Garbodor GRI was a key part of the NAIC and Worlds winning deck ZoroGarb, and we still have it in standard. I fully expect a large amount of players to become side tracked with new cards, new decks, and new combinations and build decks that are very reliant on item cards. Because of Nest Ball being an obvious replacement for Brigette, Acro Bike being a good item to draw extra cards, and other items like Switch, Escape Rope, and Pal Pad gaining potential viability I expect there to be an immediate increase in items.

Abysmal Hands

Octillery BKT has rotated, leaving us with a small pool of draw support Pokémon to choose from. We have Zoroark-GX and Oranguru (SUM) as our strongest draw support at the moment. Magcargo goes nicely with both of these cards, but Magcargo on its own is not draw support. I have been testing 2-2 / 3-2 Lines of Zoroark-GX as draw support instead of Octillery and it has seemed fine. Zoroark-GX is still a very good attacker / partner for an archetype, but it can also act as a background draw engine. Slightly related to this, is the fact that bench space is no longer being affected by Parallel city in standard. Having said that, zoroark-GX can possibly coincide along multiple Stage 1 pokemon because of the freedom of bench space. For example, it’s a very real possibility to have 2 Zoroark gx for draw on the bench while also having attackers like Golisopod-GX and Garbodor GRI set up.

Closing thoughts

I’ll be back next week with a couple of lists and top calls for Philadelphia Regionals, but before this ends I will give a few first impressions on decks for this format.

• Metagross GX seems really great if it sets up 3 metagross before the mid game really kicks in. I’d say 3 metagross before your opponent has taken 3 prizes is good.
• Zororoc has been running all over most decks in testing.
• Zoroark Decidueye is good again, but potential too slow if Zororoc becomes a popular choice.
• ZoroGarb is still very powerful but is having trouble dealing with Zororoc.
• Baby Buzz/Regirock/Garb/Shrine is still viable
• Scizor-GX is really good and I think a perfect list for the card could go far.