Hmm. So. Urshifu might have ended up being a bit better than most of us expected, huh?
When Robin Schulz won Liverpool regionals with a Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX / Inteleon deck featuring Galarian Moltres, I fully admit that I didn’t give the deck the respect it deserved. I figured that the deck benefited from the advantage of surprise, but that this success wouldn’t be replicated. For my defense, Robin himself wrote that he felt the deck could be countered, and that he didn’t expect to play it at EUIC (he didn’t, by the way. He was the only member of the Limitless group to play something else than Urshifu in Frankfurt, namely Arceus / Inteleon). After all, while he did win a regionals with it, three other notable players (Pedro Eugenio Torres, Nico Alabas and Fabien Pujol) brought the deck to the same event and failed to make day two with it, suggesting that it had flaws.
However, other players saw the potential in Urshifu that I wasn’t seeing. Many, many players settled on Urshifu as their deck of choice for the EUIC, including most of the Limitless testing group (I include Tord Reklev and Nico Alabas in this group even though they are not technically part of Limitless), some American groups including the one featuring Rahul Reddy, Isaiah Bradner and Justin Bokhari, and the eventual International Champion, Gustavo Wada. Not only did Urshifu see far more play than expected, it also performed incredibly well this weekend, getting five spots in the top 8, including first place. This all happened despite Mew VMAX, one of the best and most popular decks in the format, hitting Mew VMAX for Weakness. This leads to an important question: is Urshifu the best deck in the format? Now that its power has been demonstrated, is it about to win everything, or can it be stopped?
I believe that Urshifu may be a very strong deck that many underestimated, but it’s not unstoppable by any means. Just like Mew VMAX, the metagame simply needs to adjust. Some decks are poorly positioned right now and should probably not see play, while others are still good but will need some changes to better deal with the big Fighting menace hanging around. Finally, there are also decks that have been underrated so far, that could end up being strong contenders going forward thanks to Urshifu’s renewed presence.
My goal in this article is to present and discuss these three categories, and offer some deck lists that should be better suited to the metagame going forward.
The biggest loser from Urshifu’s increased presence in the metagame is Jolteon VMAX. Not only does Jolteon VMAX has a crippling Fighting Weakness and only 300 HP, which means it’s OHKO’d by Gale Thrust (among other attacks), but every non-Mew deck should now be expected to play Manaphy, which makes Jolteon VMAX pretty much ineffective. There has basically never been a worse time to play Jolteon VMAX, and I think it’s a terrible choice for the upcoming Regionals.
Gengar VMAX is another Pokémon VMAX with a Fighting Weakness. It does fare a bit better than Jolteon VMAX because it can actually threaten Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX. However, the Urshifu player doesn’t have to evolve into Urshifu VMAX to threaten Gengar, as Urshifu V’s Hundred Furious Blows will OHKO Gengar VMAX (with a Choice Belt, Quick Shooting damage or self-damage from Houndoom’s Ability), while only risking a two-Prize Pokémon. If the Gengar player tries to use the same strategy, using Gengar V (not VMAX) to deal with Urshifu V, the Urshifu player can use G-Max Rapid Flow to KO Gengar V and a Benched Houndour or Bibarel. Since Gengar was already not the best play before Urshifu’s rise in popularity due to its inconsistency, it should probably be avoided for the time being.
I would also avoid decks that rely on a full Bench to function, Suicune V / Ludicolo being the best example. One interesting development in Frankfurt was that Avery was very successful. Both finalists played two copies of it, and many successful players (including three other top 8 finishers) also ran the card. Avery strongly hurts decks that need many support Pokémon to function. It’s especially effective in an Urshifu deck because Urshifu’s opponent will need to keep Manaphy on their Bench (and Dunsparce if they’re an Arceus deck), meaning they’ll have to get rid of attackers and/or Sobbles and Drizziles. The combination of Avery and Escape Rope is also very effective in dealing with a Malamar deck, for example, even one running Manaphy.
I expect Avery to stay popular and I think it would be risky to play a deck that really struggles with it.
The two main decks in the format (apart from Urshifu) are still Mew VMAX and Arceus VSTAR / Inteleon, and both are still very strong plays. They might just need some small changes to deal with Urshifu.
Many Arceus / Inteleon lists were already running Dark Energy and Galarian Moltres to help their Mew VMAX matchup, so there’s an easy Pokémon to add for the Urshifu matchup: Hoopa V. As a dual-type Pokémon (as long as Path to the Peak isn’t in play), Hoopa V can OHKO Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX. There are ways that Urshifu can deal with it (such as Galarian Moltres V with a Choice Belt attached), but if you play a Big Charm on Hoopa V, it will stay safe unless the opponent can add multiple Quick Shooting to the mix, which is unlikely.
Since you don’t want Path to the Peak to prevent your Hoopa V from hitting Urshifu for Weakness, I think Hoopa V would work well in a shell similar to the Arceus VSTAR / Birds deck that did well in Salt Lake City, with a smaller focus on Arceus itself and a bit more on secondary attackers. Here’s an example:
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ****** ##Pokémon - 18 * 3 Arceus V BRS 122 * 2 Arceus VSTAR BRS 123 * 2 Galarian Moltres EVS 93 * 1 Galarian Moltres V CRE 97 * 1 Hoopa V PR-SW 176 * 4 Sobble CRE 41 * 3 Drizzile SSH 56 * 2 Inteleon SSH 58 ##Trainer Cards - 32 * 1 Cheren's Care BRS 134 * 2 Evolution Incense SSH 163 * 2 Training Court RCL 169 * 2 Boss's Orders RCL 154 * 1 Pal Pad SSH 172 * 4 Quick Ball SSH 179 * 1 Energy Retrieval SUM 116 * 1 Energy Search SSH 161 * 1 Raihan EVS 152 * 1 Klara CRE 145 * 1 Air Balloon SSH 156 * 4 Level Ball BST 129 * 2 Scoop Up Net RCL 165 * 1 Ultra Ball BRS 150 * 1 Choice Belt BRS 135 * 2 Professor's Research SHF 60 * 2 Marnie SSH 169 * 1 Escape Rope BUS 114 * 2 Big Charm SSH 158 ##Energy - 10 * 1 Water Energy EVO 93 * 6 Darkness Energy EVO 97 * 2 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 * 1 Capture Energy RCL 171 Total Cards - 60 ****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******
Since both Galarian Moltres V and Hoopa V have a retreat cost of two, we need to include some switching cards (Air Balloon and Escape Rope) that wouldn’t be in a classic Arceus / Inteleon list. That said, I’ve also added cards that have performed well in more recent Arceus / Inteleon deck lists, such as Big Charm to help Pokémon survive attacks (especially from Mew VMAX) and Pal Pad.
I removed Galarian Zapdos V since I think running too many Pokémon V can become a liability (Zapdos in particular is a horrible start against Mew), and every Arceus deck should be running Dunsparce right now anyway, but it can certainly be added back to the deck.
As for Mew VMAX, it doesn’t need to change much. By nature of its typing, it does very well against Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, to the point that the Urshifu player’s plan will generally be to avoid using Urshifu at all, and simply sacrifice Prizes before they can start using Galarian Moltres to take Prizes.
Obviously, if they don’t put any pressure, Mew doesn’t have to take Prizes, and you can simply use Oricorio’s Glistening Droplets to set up a bunch of KOs. However, Urshifu does have some attackers that can put pressure: Hoopa and, more importantly, Galarian Moltres V. With Energy Switch or Raihan, Moltres V can be powered up in one single turn, and it will then OHKO Mew VMAX.
If you’re the Mew player, the big idea is to use Meloetta to take Prizes early on if possible, forcing your opponent to deal with it, and then avoid giving them an easy KO on Mew VMAX as much as possible, for example by using Psychic Leap to get back in the deck. One card that can help this strategy is Marnie, as it targets one of Urshifu’s weaknesses: its reliance on accumulating cards in hand. Remember that Urshifu lists play Snorlax, which says a lot about their need to setup. With a well-timed Marnie, you can get rid of the cards they’ll have undoubtedly accumulated in hand, forcing them to find Galarian Moltres and the required Energy again. Unless they draw perfectly, even if they get the revenge KO, they won’t have the Boss’s Orders to go with it, so if you attacked with Meloetta on that same turn, your Benched Pokémon should be safe.
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ****** ##Pokémon - 14 * 1 Oricorio FST 42 * 4 Genesect V FST 185 * 2 Meloetta FST 124 * 4 Mew V FST 113 * 3 Mew VMAX FST 114 ##Trainer Cards - 39 * 4 Power Tablet FST 236 * 1 Training Court RCL 169 * 4 Rotom Phone CPA 64 * 2 Rose Tower DAA 169 * 1 Marnie SSH 169 * 4 Ultra Ball PLB 90 * 3 Boss's Orders RCL 154 * 2 Switch SUM 132 * 4 Quick Ball SSH 179 * 1 Choice Belt BRS 135 * 4 Battle VIP Pass FST 225 * 1 Fog Crystal CRE 140 * 3 Elesa's Sparkle FST 233 * 2 Escape Rope BUS 114 * 3 Cram-o-matic FST 229 ##Energy - 7 * 1 Psychic Energy HS 119 * 2 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 * 4 Fusion Strike Energy FST 244 Total Cards - 60 ****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******
You don’t need a specific list to fit Marnie into, as it can be added into pretty much any Mew VMAX list. It feels like lists with two Double Turbo Energy and one Psychic Energy are doing the best right now, so that’s what I suggest, but if you’re more comfortable with a 3-0 or 1-2 split, that doesn’t preclude you in any way from running Marnie. The deck still runs the same, Marnie just helps you a little against Mew VMAX. It’s also another card that can get you out of a Path to the Peak lock and it has synergy with Rotom Phone, so there’s always that!
Finally, there are decks whose viability is increased by Urshifu’s popularity. They might not be entirely new decks, but they’re new to the metagame as the specific context gives them the relevance they used to lack.
The perfect example of such a deck is Whimsicott VSTAR. Whimsicott was definitely playable, and probably underrated, before EUIC. It can beat both Mew VMAX and Arceus / Inteleon, although in both cases, it can have trouble with some variants. If Mew VMAX plays two Basic Energy, Whimsicott has a lot more trouble dealing with it before Mew can take six Prizes. As for Arceus / Inteleon, lists with only Water Energy tend to play two Melony and are therefore more resilient to the Crushing Hammers that are Whimsicott’s main way to slow down Arceus.
However, in Frankfurt, most Arceus / Inteleon lists played a Dark package for Galarian Moltres, which is slightly worse against Whimsicott. Mew VMAX lists usually play only one Psychic Energy, and most importantly, Urshifu’s omnipresence was great for Whimsicott. Its Psychic typing and lack of Dark Weakness means that Urshifu has no way to easily deal with it.
All these factors combined made Whimsicott a very desirable choice for the event, and led Frank Percic all the way to the finals.
While Whimsicott now lacks the element of surprise that surely pushed it over the top, it’s still a strong deck that everyone needs to take into account.
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ****** ##Pokémon - 13 * 3 Bidoof BRS 120 * 2 Bibarel BRS 121 * 1 Crobat V DAA 104 * 4 Whimsicott V BRS 160 * 3 Whimsicott VSTAR BRS 65 ##Trainer Cards - 39 * 2 Marnie SSH 169 * 3 Professor's Research SSH 178 * 2 Avery CRE 130 * 2 Boss's Orders BRS 132 * 1 Peony CRE 150 * 4 Crushing Hammer KSS 34 * 4 Fog Crystal CRE 140 * 4 Ultra Ball FCO 113 * 3 Quick Ball FST 237 * 1 Raihan EVS 152 * 2 Fan of Waves BST 127 * 2 Evolution Incense SSH 163 * 1 Tool Scrapper RCL 168 * 1 Ordinary Rod SSH 171 * 2 Air Balloon SSH 156 * 2 Exp. Share BST 126 * 3 Path to the Peak CRE 148 ##Energy - 8 * 4 Psychic Energy Energy 5 * 4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 Total Cards - 60 ****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******
There’s not much to change in the EUIC list, but I think a Raihan is nice in the list. I know it was excluded on purpose, with Exp. Share instead to keep Energy in play, but now that this is known, I could see more players running Tool Scrapper. Raihan can’t be countered this way, so it is a nice complement to Exp. Share.
Second, there’s an Arceus variant that does pretty well against Urshifu, and that has been, in my opinion, underrated for a while: Arceus VSTAR / Duraludon VMAX. This deck is not the flashiest; in fact, it’s actually a pretty boring deck to play, in my opinion, since there’s not that many lines of play regardless of the situation. That being said, this deck does pretty well against Urshifu, because Duraludon VMAX is a very tanky Pokémon, Urshifu doesn’t deal a lot of damage (and that damage can be mitigated by the healing from Hyper Potion and Crystal Cave) and there’s no easy targets for Urshifu to take Prizes on in this matchup. Also, Arceus / Duraludon usually plays four copies of Marnie, which can disrupt Urshifu’s plan of taking Prizes with Galarian Moltres.
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ****** ##Pokémon - 12 * 4 Arceus V BRS 122 * 3 Arceus VSTAR BRS 123 * 3 Duraludon VMAX EVS 123 * 2 Duraludon V CPA 47 ##Trainer Cards - 35 * 2 Hyper Potion SSH 166 * 4 Crystal Cave EVS 144 * 4 Boss's Orders RCL 154 * 2 Switch SUM 132 * 4 Quick Ball SSH 179 * 2 Big Charm SSH 158 * 4 Ultra Ball BRS 150 * 2 Single Strike Style Mustard BST 134 * 1 Choice Belt BRS 135 * 4 Professor's Research SHF 60 * 4 Marnie SSH 169 * 2 Cram-o-matic FST 229 ##Energy - 13 * 3 Fighting Energy SMEnergy 6 * 4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 * 6 Metal Energy SWSHEnergy 8 Total Cards - 60 ****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******
There’s not that much to Arceus / Duraludon. The one originality in this list is Cram-o-matic. It’s used in the mid and late game as a way to possibly search for important cards such as Boss’s Orders and Hyper Potion. Once you have a couple of Duraludon in play, all the Quick Ball and Ultra Ball in the deck are useless, so Cram-o-matic can recycle them.
In addition to being effective against Urshifu, Arceus / Duraludon is also strong against other decks in the format, such as Mew VMAX and Whimsicott VSTAR. The Mew VMAX matchup is definitely losable, but with many Mew lists playing only one Basic Energy and cutting Echoing Horn, they have no way or dealing with a Duraludon VMAX if you manage to set one up.
On the other hand, the deck has the same issues as usual: sometimes you whiff a turn one Energy, and then there’s just not much you can do about it! That’s something you pretty much have to accept with this deck, but I think best of three makes it more viable.
Finally, there’s a Pokémon that might not be the best around, but can still have an interesting niche in this metagame: Togekiss VMAX. With Double Turbo Energy and Cheren’s Care, it has gained a lot of viability in Brilliant Stars! I have tried to make Togekiss work a lot before EUIC, and I will most likely write a longer piece about it at some point, but I’ll make this short for now. With its Fighting resistance and its access to healing, Togekiss VMAX is well-suited to handle Urshifu. It can outheal Arceus, and it can use Yveltal to remove Mew’s Energy.
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******
##Pokémon - 13
* 2 Eevee EVS 125
* 4 Togekiss V VIV 140
* 4 Togekiss VMAX VIV 141
* 1 Yveltal CEL 19
* 2 Jolteon VIV 47
##Trainer Cards - 35
* 1 Piers DAA 165
* 2 Avery CRE 130
* 3 Evolution Incense SSH 163
* 2 Pal Pad UPR 132
* 2 Cheryl BST 123
* 2 Boss's Orders RCL 154
* 1 Quick Ball SSH 179
* 2 Big Charm SSH 158
* 3 Ultra Ball BRS 150
* 1 Choice Belt BRS 135
* 2 Professor's Research SHF 60
* 4 Marnie SSH 169
* 4 Path to the Peak CRE 148
* 4 Cheren's Care BRS 134
* 2 Memory Capsule VIV 155
##Energy - 12
* 4 Capture Energy RCL 171
* 4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
* 4 Powerful {C} Energy DAA 176
Total Cards - 60
****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******
Togekiss / Jolteon has been the most successful variant of the deck in online tournaments, and it’s easy to see why. Togekiss’s Max Glide helps to find the Jolteon + Memory Capsule combo, which completely shuts down decks using the Inteleon engine. Jolteon is something that should be avoided in most decks because most decks need Manaphy right now. However, Togekiss doesn’t really need it. It’s likely that Urshifu will have to use precious resources to KO a Jolteon with G-Max Rapid Flow, since they can’t function without the Inteleon engine. However, when doing so, they’re not really hurting Togekiss itself, which can keep dealing damage and healing itself indefinitely.
I’ve included Piers in the list above because it can find Yveltal and Double Turbo Energy at the same time, which is great against Mew VMAX. Even in other matchups though, having a consistent way to draw into Double Turbo Energy is usually what Togekiss needs to start a chain of Cheren’s Care.
The main issue I have with Togekiss is that it feels more like the right deck for the previous event than for the next one. Here’s my reasoning: Togekiss excels when decks play few Marnie (since this means you get to keep the cards you searched for), and it could have benefited from the amount of Urshifu. However, the same answers that players might have now to Urshifu might also be good against Togekiss VMAX. For example, Whimsicott VSTAR absolutely annihilates Togekiss, which relies entirely on Special Energy. The same goes for Arceus / Duraludon: while Togekiss can hurt it, thanks to Path to the Peak, it deals very little damage to it, while Arceus / Duraludon will heal the damage and deal more in return, forcing Togekiss to continually heal itself while also having Path to the Peak in play at all times. This is hard to do, and even harder due to Duraludon’s access to Marnie. More generally, I expect more decks to play Marnie now (I recommended it in Mew VMAX, after all!), mostly to disrupt Urshifu’s combos, and that would also hurt Togekiss.
Nevertheless, if the metagame doesn’t change too much, that is, if players choose to imitate rather than counter what did well in Frankfurt, then Togekiss could be a sleeper pick! If you’re not afraid of long games that remain tense up until they actually end, then give Togekiss a try.
There’s one final deck that I have barely mentioned, and that’s because I’m not sure about its place: Rapid Strike Malamar. Due to hitting Urshifu’s Weakness, it’s an important deck to take into account, and all the Urshifu players in Frankfurt were prepared for it: the original game plan from the Limitless players in Liverpool was to use Quick Shooting and Yoga Loop to take multiple Prizes and get rid of all the attackers on the Malamar player’s field. On the other hand, Gustavo Wada’s take on Urshifu was different: no Quick Shooting Inteleon or Medicham V, but instead, two Avery, making it easier to disrupt Malamar’s board.
In this configuration, and with Avery also seeing play in Arceus decks, it is hard for Malamar to be effective. However, I can see a possible scenario in which players eager to try Urshifu start with Wada’s list (definitely the most accessible of all the Urshifu lists in top 8), but make some changes to fit important cards like Manaphy, and end up cutting an Avery, ending up with a deck that has neither a way to consistently limit the opponent’s board or taking extra Prizes with Yoga Loop and which, therefore, becomes weaker to Malamar. If this scenario ends up happening, which I admit is a long shot, Malamar could be the surprise pick for the next wave of events. At the very least, it’s a deck that is definitely too early to bury.
With that, I’ve said everything I had to say about Urshifu and how to deal with it. My prediction is that the deck will settle at a good spot in the metagame, maybe slightly below Mew and Arceus. I expect it to have some top 8 placements in Indianapolis, Joinville and Bilbao, but nothing like its incredible success in Frankfurt. We’ll soon see if I was right!
In the meantime, take care and good luck!
