Hey everyone! It’s Isaiah back with my first Battle Styles deck review! As I was looking through the set, one card stuck out as majorly overlooked: Victini VMAX. Let’s get into the deck!
When I was looking through the set, I was thinking about how I could find a card that could challenge the current BDIF, Eternatus. When I came upon Victini VMAX, I was shocked! This card was basically a better Eternatus VMAX – it attacks for two Energy, two-shots almost the entire format and can’t be one-shot! These are all things Eternatus does. However, Victini VMAX has an advantage over Eternatus in deckbuilding and typing. Eternatus relies on Benched Pokemon to do damage, all Victini needs is two attachments. Victini is also Fire, which means it can take advantage of Welder, Giant Hearth and other Fire-type attackers. Finally, Victini hits for Weakness against Lucmetal, which is generally a hard matchup for Eternatus. After realizing all the pros, I knew that Victini was going to be insane!
Here’s my first draft of the deck:
##Pokémon - 17 4 Victini V SSH 25 4 Victini VMAX 4 Jirachi TEU 99 2 Dedenne-GX UNB 57 1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX UNB 20 1 Eldegoss V RCL 19 1 Crobat V DAA 104 ##Trainer Cards - 32 4 Welder UNB 189 3 Professor's Research SSH 178 3 Boss's Orders RCL 154 4 Switch CES 147 4 Scoop Up Net RCL 165 4 Quick Ball SSH 179 3 Pokémon Communication BLW 99 2 Reset Stamp UNM 206 1 Cherish Ball UNM 191 4 Giant Hearth UNM 197 ##Energy - 11 11 Fire Energy 2
Four Victini V and Four Victini VMAX
Victini is the main attacker of this deck so you want to max out the line to ensure you can get it out on turn two. Victini is obviously extremely efficient against all Pokemon V: Eternatus, Centiskorch, Zacian, Urshifu, you name it! Requiring just two Energy to attack is insane and a chunky 310 HP makes sure you survive an attack. You should make sure to play four of the old Victini V. Spreading Flames is such a good attack in any Fire deck, and Energy Burst is a great two prize attacking option. Instead of playing like a traditional Welder deck, this deck plays more like Eternatus: you attach Energy one by one and go for consistent two-shots to win the game.
One Reshiram & Charizard-GX
Reshizard is such an insane card! I have played a ton of Welder decks in the past year, and in every one of them, Reshizard was the MVP. A turn one Double Blaze GX puts on pressure that few decks can answer. This is especially important in the ADP matchup. Unfortunately, Victini VMAX cannot even two-shot ADP! Luckily, Reshizard steps in to save the day! Reshizard allows you to attack on turn one and either take two Prizes or hit into ADP, both of which are great situations for you. Finally, Reshizard is great against Pikarom. Almost all their attackers are GXs, which are hard for Victini to KO. Reshizard allows you to two-shot consistently and can even get a one-shot with six Energy! This card is so good, every Fire deck should play a copy.
Four Jirachi
Jirachi has been the heart and soul of Welder decks for over a year now, and this deck is no exception. The option to grab any Trainer card you want out of your top five gives you unparalleled consistency. Add on Scoop Up Net and Switch, and you’ll have no problems finding Welder! Jirachi is also amazing because it somewhat Reset Stamp-proofs you. If you have a Jirachi down, you can use Stellar Wish to see five extra cards and hopefully find something you need.
Four Welder and Three Professor’s Research
Because Victini doesn’t need Welder to attack you can afford to play a Professor’s Research on your first turn! This skyrockets the decks consistency, ensures you find your Victini VMAX, and allows you to dig for Reset Stamp on the final turns of the game. Of course, you still play four Welder! Welder allows you to play around Crushing Hammer and is the only way you can realistically attack with Reshizard. It is also an okay supporter to play on your turn because this deck is so low maintenance you can probably find whatever you need by just drawing three cards.
Four Quick Ball, Three Pokemon Communication and One Cherish Ball
This is the optimal search count for this deck. Of course, you want to max out on Quick Ball to find your basics early game. Quick Ball is also amazing because you can grab all your support Pokemon! Dedenne, Crobat, Eldegoss, Jirachi – you name it, Quick Ball can grab it! Poke Comm is a needed search card in this deck to find Victini VMAX. However, Poke Comm can sometimes be a dead card in your hand, so I included a Cherish Ball over the fourth. Cherish Ball can be instantly used to grab Charizard or Dedenne and is the perfect card in your opening hand. I would love to play more than one Cherish Ball, but because you need to find Victini VMAX with Poke Comm, I don’t think there’s room.
Four Switch, Four Scoop Up Net and Four Giant Hearth
This deck wants to do one of two things: attack with Victini or attack with Reshizard. With such simple goals, you have plenty of room to max consistency! This deck plays four Switch and Scoop Up Net so you can easily move Jirachi out of the Active Spot, maximizing your Stellar Wish. Four Giant Hearth is another count I love. Giant Hearth is one of the essential cards for this deck – when you have it in play you should easily be able to spam Victini, and when you don’t, it becomes much harder. The fourth Giant Hearth was so important to getting that turn one Double Blaze GX that I couldn’t bring myself to cut it.
Two Reset Stamp
Even though Reset Stamp has seen a recent decline in play the effect is still as powerful as ever! Reducing your opponent’s hand size to anywhere from three to one is too good not to take. This is especially good in VMAX matchups (such as the mirror and Centiskorch) where you can put them down to one Prize card and force them to miss an attack as a result. Reset Stamp is imperative to this deck because without it you would play no hand disruption. Finally, Reset Stamp is so great because it is an Item. This means that even if you play a Professor’s Research or Welder you can still Reset Stamp! One of my personal favorite plays is to use Boss’s Orders on a Jirachi, Stamp my opponent to one, and KO the poor Jirachi! This most likely will leave your opponent without any support Pokemon on board, so hopefully the Reset Stamp can buy you a turn.
Eternatus – 60/40
Victini VMAX comes into the format boasting a great Eternatus matchup that few other decks can. In this matchup, you will try to rotate between Victini VMAX while two-shotting their Eternatus. Early game, all you need is Energy to attack, while Eternatus needs a full board. This means they need to dig through their deck on the first few turns to make sure you can fill your bench. This forces them to find a Boss at least every other turn, which is hard to find on top of making sure they can attack each turn. Another great asset in this matchup is Reset Stamp. Your opponent will always go down to at least three Prize cards, and often two or one. Reset Stamp makes it realistic for your opponent to miss Boss’s Orders on the final turn, especially if your opponent has already used a few Crobat. Funnily enough, your opponent should be trying to switch between VMAXs as well, so if you can Boss’s Orders to take easy Prize cards you should. You’re favored because you can attack easier, and if it comes down to it, you can always Reset Stamp them out of the game!
ADP – 60/40
This matchup revolves all around one card: Reshiram & Charizard-GX. Setting up Double Blaze GX on the first turn will often put you extremely far ahead in this matchup. After you use Double Blaze, you’ll want to attack with Flare Strike to either finish two-shotting ADP or to use it to take two Prize cards. Then, over the next few turns, you should be able to easily win the game! After you KO their ADP with Reshizard, you should transition into using Victini VMAX to finish off the last few KOs because it one-shots without needing a switching card each turn. If possible, don’t bench any support Pokemon on turn one or two – ADP will eat them for lunch! Otherwise, Reshizard should be able to carry you.
Pikarom – 50/50
Pikarom is another matchup where Reshizard shines! You should open this game by using Victini VMAX to KO Boltund. This will force your opponent into attacking with a TAG TEAM. To respond, must hit with Victini VMAX and Welder to set up Reshizard. On the following two turns, you can Boss whichever three-Prize Pokemon you already attacked to go down to one Prize card and then Boss any benched two-Prize Pokemon to finish off the game. Reset Stamp is, of course, very good in this matchup. Pikarom often needs huge combo turns late game to keep up and Reset Stamp can stop them from having those big turns.
I hope you all enjoyed this article! Victini VMAX has a ton of potential in this format, and I can’t wait to start playing it online. Good luck to everyone playing in either the Players Cup or a Team Challenge event this weekend! As always, feel free to message me on Twitter with any questions.
Stay safe everyone,
Isaiah
