Peoria Regionals Tournament Report with Arceus/Goodra
By: Cyrus Davis Peoria Regionals Tournament Report with Arceus/Goodra Hello Red Riot Games readers, my name is Cyrus Davis, and this is my first article for Red Riot Games. For those of you that don’t know me, I am a professional Pokemon TCG Player from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I’ve been playing for about 10 years casually, and 3 years competitively. I’ve had a lot of success and experience playing this game at a high level, and hope to be able to share some of my knowledge and expertise with the readers here. In this article, I will be discussing my recent top 16 finish at the 1084 player Peoria Regional Championships where I piloted Arceus VStar/Hisuian Goodra VStar to a very deep run where I eventually tied my win and in for top 8. I decided to play Goodra VStar as it seemed to have a very positive matchup against both Palkia VStar and Lost Zone Box, which I expected to be the biggest threats in day two. It also has a close to 50/50 matchup against both Giratina VStar and Kyurem VMAX and a positive matchup against most Arceus VStar variants. The biggest reason I played Goodra VStar over Duraludon VMAX though, was that the meta for the event was fresh and wide open, so I expected a lot of deck versatility. Rogue decks like Regigigas with Path to the Peak, Lunatone/Solrock, and weird Arceus VStar variants are much more manageable for Goodra VStar than Duraludon VMAX. All of these predictions about the metagame paid off for me big time. Palkia VStar was the most represented deck in day two, Lost Zone Box went on to win the event, I hit three Giratina VStar and two Kyurem VMAX in day 1, and Regigigas with Path to the Peak turned out to be the sleeper pick for the event so day two was full of them. Finally, with an understanding of the metagame that I was expecting and trying to come prepared for, let’s talk about the decklist. https://limitlesstcg.com/decks/list/5592 Card Explanations 4/2 Arceus VStar Four Arceus V I’m sure seems obvious, and that’s because it is; you have to play four Arceus V. Your early game is so exponentially better in most matchups with an Arceus V active to start the game. The two Arceus VStar is also pretty straightforward, most games you’re only going to want to use one Arceus VStar, and you have double Ordinary Rod, so we just play the bare minimum to not straight up lose if we prize an Arceus VStar, and for the situations where you need to pull out the second VStar. 2/2 Hisuian Goodra VStar There is definitely an argument to be made for playing a third Hisuian Goodra V, but it is generally just more important to maximize your odds of opening with an Arceus V than it is to protect against the rare chance that you prize a Goodra V and your opponent gets a turn two knockout on your only one and you don’t have access to one of your two ordinary rods. There are certainly games where you gain an edge by being able to set up two Goodra VStar super early but it isn’t super likely that you prize a Goodra V and starting Arceus V is always going to be step one to a strong early game. 1 Zamazenta V SSH Zamazenta V typically acts as a mostly one trick pony in this deck. I'll touch more on how to use this card in my breakdown of my matches but it is only in the deck as an answer to Kyurem VMAX. In my opinion this is the most reliable answer to the deck and it still only brings you to a close to 50/50 matchup. The Sword & Shield Base Set Zamazenta V is a much better answer to Kyurem VMAX than Zacian V or the Brilliant Stars Zamazenta V as either of those are immediately made useless if your opponent can knock them out with a quick Boss's Orders before they can attack. This Zamazenta V can often sit on the bench and wait for its time to shine as your opponent does not have an easy way to knockout it out in one hit, especially if you can get Radiant Gardevoir into play or a Big Charm to keep it out of Hydro Break range. 1 Radiant Gardevoir This is one of the cards that makes Goodra V feel like a more well rounded deck than Duraludon VMAX. Radiant Gardevoir’s damage reduction is so relevant in almost every matchup when combined with Big Charm, Hyper Potions, Crystal Caves, and Rolling Iron. Keeping your base Vs out of range of Palkia V's Hydro Break. Putting your VStars out of range of Giratina VStar’s Lost Impact or with a big charm, Hisuian Zoroark VStar’s Ticking Curse. Sometimes forcing an extra energy out of a Kyurem VMAX attack. Requiring Mew VMAX players to find an extra Power Tablet for each knockout. Reducing the damage output of Pokemon like Arceus VStar, or Flying Pikachu VMAX, to laughable numbers in combination with Rolling Iron. Even against Lost Box, an early game Radiant Gardevoir can give you a promote to absorb a hit from a Cramorant if your opponent has to play Escape Rope. Radiant Gardevoir had some use or another in almost every set I played in Peoria, Even against Regigigas I was able to leave it active for a turn just to buy time as it didn’t impact the prize trade. 4 Professor's Research/3 Marnie/2 Avery This draw support line did feel very strong but can sometimes leave your hand a little bit lacking. four Professor's Research felt obvious, it's the deepest draw supporter in the game and it is so important that you find all of the pieces you need to set up in the first few turns of the game or that you dig as hard as you can for Hyper Potions in the mid to late game. That being said, Marnie and Avery are what keep your opponent in check. Unlike a committed Stall deck like Mewtwo V-Union, most decks do have a way to beat Goodra VStar, Avery and Marnie are incredibly important tools for limiting your opponent's access to those options especially because they need to play so many of them at the same time to form an answer to the tankiness of Goodra. By the time they manage to have all the right pieces, it'll already be too late and with the pressure 180-200 damage per turn puts on you'll be able to seal the deal. 3 Boss's Orders Ultimately this deck definitely could not afford to play any less than three Boss's Orders but three was just enough. A fourth one could help you hit it more at the right times of course but most games you can get away with just playing one or two and in some matchups you don't need to play Boss's Orders at all. 1 Melony Many lists for this deck played three Melony and less of other draw supporters but I honestly don't know how I could play any less draw supporters other than Melony. Melony is a very strong card in this deck but it's not often that you can recover from a missed energy attachment turn one by using Melony turn two, it's usually easier to just use Trinity Charge. The strongest uses of Melony are definitely getting extra energy on the board for future Hyper Potions and setting up a third attacker without the use of Trinity Nova when your Arceus VStar has gone down already and it is great at doing those two things but most turns you need to play your other supporters to disrupt your opponent or maximize your chances of drawing into game winning healing options. 4 Quick Ball/4 Ultra Ball Not much explanation needed here, you need Arceus V turn one and Arceus VStar turn 2, every game. 3 Hyper Potion You don’t usually need a fourth Hyper Potion but two is definitely not enough, you need to be seeing one Hyper Potion minimum per game and the more the merrier, often you’re going to need to discard one at some point in the game with a Professor’s Research and you want to have the highest possible odds of finding one when you need it, sometimes you’ll even use three in one game. 2 Pokegear 3.0 Pokegear is incredibly powerful in this deck, finding the right supporter at the right time is super important throughout the game to maximize your chances of winning and you have no other way to search them out other than Starbirth which will usually be used for other targets earlier in the game. Two Pokegear was all I could fit but a third would be the first card I’d add if I could play sixty-one. 2 Ordinary Rod Two Ordinary Rod was an incredibly strong improvement for this deck. The main reason for playing double Ordinary Rod was to just draw one more consistently to play around Echoing Horn against Palkia VStar and Lost Box. Double Ordinary Rod also just makes finding access to extra energy throughout the game so much easier and also allows you to recover the Goodra VStar to set up a second one if you prized one or just need an increased odds of drawing into one. 1 Escape Rope/1 Switch Two switching outs is a must in case you prize one and the split between Escape Rope and Switch is very important. Escape is so much stronger throughout the game as your opponent tries to offset your prize trade or force you to attack into something they don’t care about while they try to find an answer to your board; however, having a regular switch is super important as it’s usually a stronger option on turn two into whatever Pokemon V or setup Pokemon your opponent may have opened. 2 Big Charm The synergy between Big Charm and the core strategy of the deck of tanking and healing is clear. Many players have opted for a Big Parasol in the list over the second Big Charm to prevent Giratina VStar’s Star Requiem but in testing, by the time they got to ten cards in the lost zone for Star Requiem, they could easily combo it with a Lost Vacuum to get rid of the Big Parasol. Big Charm is stronger in almost every other matchup, and is much better than Big Parasol in the early game against Giratina VStar. 3 Crystal Cave Three Crystal Cave felt like enough for this event, I think I could have stood to have it more often but overall I was able to find it when it was most important. I think it’s important to note that this card is much stronger than Lake Acuity as Lake Acuity with one use is weaker than Crystal Cave as a recovery card and often your opponent can simply bump the Lake Acuity before you even get a single use out of it, whereas Crystal Cave can secure you a sometimes game changing damage reduction as soon as it comes into play. 4 Double Turbo Energy/5 Metal Energy/4 Water Energy With two Ordinary Rods and a Melony, this energy counter felt like just enough. The Melony being able to recover a water being the main reason for playing four water and five metal. Additionally, with only four metal, setting up a Zamazenta V and a Goodra VStar in the same game becomes much less reliable. Other Options 2-4 Colress’s Experiment Colress’s Experiment is a card that I felt had a lot of potential in this deck going into the event but I didn’t have time to really give it a try and see if it was worth playing over something like Professor’s Research. Sackett Brehmer then went on to go 8-1 in Day 1 of the event with an Arceus VStar/Duraludon VMAX list with four Colress’s Experiment and zero Professor’s Research. Since the event I have experimented with Colress in the list and in initial testing, I missed the Professor’s Research, but I think that Colress is very strong in the deck. Colress allows you to keep crucial supporters for following turns, as well as Hyper Potions, Double Turbo Energies, and whatever else you might want to hold on to. The other strength of Colress is that you aren’t discarding your basic Pokemon Vs to leave them sitting in the discard pile to be brought back with Echoing Horn. Going forward I would definitely add Colress to the deck but I would still play at minimum three Professor’s Research, I haven’t settled on the perfect supporter mix yet but I think the key lies somewhere in cutting two in combination of Avery and Professor’s Research and then also cutting a non consistency card like the second Ordinary Rod, or the Third Hyper Potion. 2 Lost City/4 Crystal Cave/2 Lake Acuity Something that stands out to me as a difference between Peoria and future events and that’s Tord Reklev’s win at Peoria with a Lost Box list that played four Path to the Peak. This deck was already floating around before Peoria but most players seemed to agree that the deck was stronger with PokeStop. Moving forward we have to expect the Path to the Peak build to be most players’ pick due to its success. With this in mind, in addition to the increased popularity of Arceus VStar/Bibarel variants in online events over the past few weeks, I think that playing a higher stadium count may prove to be necessary to keep yourself from getting halted by a Path to the Peak in the first couple of turns. A fourth Crystal Cave is an easy option, the card is definitely strong in the deck, and a fourth copy would certainly not hurt. Lake Acuity is another solid option, the card has its strengths, and there are situations where it is stronger than a Crystal Cave so having access to both cards could be very strong. The third option is Lost City, another interesting innovation from Sackett Brehmer’s Duraludon VMAX list. Lost City improves your matchup against Lost Box exponentially by giving your opponent less access to attackers, namely Radiant Charizard. Lost City also improves your already strong Regigigas matchup and can be a solid disruption card against any other lost zone based decks that might want to recover cards like Sableye, Radiant Greninja, Giratina VStar, etc. 1 Drapion V Drapion V, the almighty Mew VMAX counter. Drapion V does not make Mew VMAX a free matchup by any means but it makes the matchup up so much more winnable, the same way that Zamazenta V makes the Kyurem VMAX matchup more winnable. Overall, Drapion V’s strength against Mew MVAX needs very little explanation but you only have room for either Drapion V or Zamazenta V, and Zamazenta V is tankier, has more uses against other matchups, and can be healed with Crystal Cave. With my meta prediction for Peoria, and my expected meta for future events, Zamazenta V is a no brainer, but if you expect to play against more Mew VMAX than Kyurem VMAX by a significant margin, Drapion V is always going to be your best option. Tournament Report Day 1 Round 1 WW VS Cody Hanson w/Giratina VStar (1-0) Round 2 LWL VS Isaiah Cheville w/Giratina VStar (1-1) Round 3 LWW VS Grayson Rohlfs w/Arceus VStar/Aggron VMAX (2-1) After getting donked game one I wasn’t feeling good. Aggron V’s Merciless Strike can do a whole lot of damage, up to 330 before considering the minimum 10 damage the Goodra VStar will have already taken to activate Aggron V’s attack, and then damage reduction from Rolling Iron and/or Radiant Gardevoir. I should have lost game two but my opponent thought that their Aggron V would be 10 damage short of knocking out my Goodra VStar to win the game because they didn’t factor in their Path to the Peak shutting off my Radiant Gardevoir’s ability. Their Aggron V had already taken a hit and I only had two prizes remaining so instead of attacking with the Aggron V to win the game, they opted to retreat into an Arceus VStar and use Trinity Nova. This Critical miscalculation from my opponent allowed me to use Boss’s Orders to knock out their Aggron V for my last two prize cards to win the game. Game three I had a much better start and was able to capitalize on my opponent whiffing the turn one attachment to take the lead. Round 4 WW VS Mark Dizon w/Giratina VStar (3-1) Round 5 LWL VS Julia Butenhoff w/Kyurem VMAX/Palkia VStar (3-2) These games were really interesting. My opponent won the coin flip so they were starting off with a natural advantage in game one. I tried to set up my Zamazenta V but I my Goodra VStar came too late and with their tech choice of one copy of Ditto V, my Zamazenta was not able to deal with three consecutive Palkia V/VStars, courtesy of Ditto V. Game two I was able to get the turn two Trinity Nova onto a Goodra V, starting attacking with Goodra VStar right away to put pressure on their Palkias, while my Zamazenta V sat on the bench, prepared to deal with Kyurem VMAX as soon as it became a threat, allowing me to win the prize race. In game three I open my Zamazenta V, disaster has already struck, this thing is a sitting duck and can’t do its job if it takes 180 damage from a Palkia VStar right off the back, or worse, gets knocked out by a Palkia V with a Choice Belt. Luckily my opponent doesn’t get the Hydro Break, but my Zamazenta of course takes a hit. Going into my second turn I have nothing going on in hand, my only draw supporter is a Professor’s Research, and I’m forced to discard two Hyper Potions with it. I draw my seven cards, and I have no way to find an Arceus VStar. This is where the game was over, I tried to recover, I got close, but it wasn’t enough without access to one more Hyper Potion. Round 6 WW VS Christopher Passolano w/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX/Zebstrika/Inteleon (4-2) Round 7 LWT VS Daniel Zhou w/Palkia VStar/Inteleon (4-2-1) Round 8 WW VS Nathaniel Kirksey w/Mew VMAX (5-2-1) A very interesting set against a matchup that I did not want to see at 4-2-1 and I’m going second. On my first turn I opt to Trinity Charge onto a Zamazenta V, I know these Mew VMAX lists play one path to the peak but this Zamazenta V can buy me time at least. My opponent gets the turn two knockout on my Arceus V as you would expect but they discard a Cyllene and a Double Turbo energy in the process. This might be my chance, I bench an Arceus V, I bench a Goodra V, I Marnie, and I use Assault Tackle, that’s two Double Turbo Energy down. My opponent finds another energy, but no Path to the Peak, and no Boss, they use Max Miracle, now we’ve got a real chance. I Hyper Potion to heal the Zamazenta V and Assault Tackle again. They find the answer to kill the Zamazenta V. I finished off the Mew VMAX with a Trinity Nova. They play Cyllene after getting it back with Pal Pad on an earlier turn, double tails, they search their deck, no more energy, that’s game. I’m feeling good but not confident, I’m going second again, but I know I have a better shot going first in game three. This game my Zamazenta V is prized so we’re just rolling with Arceus VStars and Goodra. My opponent plays three Power Tablet on the first turn and proceeds to miss the Double Turbo Energy to take a knockout. I responded with a Boss’s Orders on Oricorio, Zamazenta V is the take off the prizes. My opponent finds a two prize KO with a Boss’s Orders on an Arceus V but they’re hand seems clogged and I saw a flash of what I think is their Path to the Peak in their hand, source of the clog I suppose. I use this info to my advantage, I play an Avery to limit their draw further and I Trinity Nova to the Zamazenta V, now they have to hold this Path to the Peak to deal with the Zamazenta but they aren’t going to be able to KO it in one hit easily with three Power Tablet in the discard pile. They set back up, take another two prizes, and I Avery again, this time combined with an Assault Tackle. Now they’re in really hot water, they’ve lost their energy, Ordinary Rod has denied them an Echoing Horn Tablet, they can’t kill my Zamazenta V that now has a Big Charm on it, and they have no more basic Pokemon left to build their bench back up, they dig as hard as they can for some sort of way out but give the turn back to me in a position where I can Boss’s Orders for my remaining prizes or simply Marnie to deck them out so I play the Marnie, and move up to 5-2-1. Round 9 WLW VS TJ Ortiz w/Kyurem VMAX/Palkia VStar (6-2-1) Day 2 Round 10 WW VS Tou Moua w/Arceus VStar/Aggron VMAX/Flying Pikachu VMAX (7-2-1) Round 11 WLW VS Zach Zamora w/Regigigas (8-2-1) Game two my opponent managed to win by stalling me out long enough with Regice to knock out my Goodra VStar with a Regigigas, and then surprised me with the Evolving Skies Regidrago to knock out my regular Goodra V. Games one and three here were very smooth, Regigigas has natural inconsistencies that a deck list Goodra VStar can really capitalize on by putting on pressure, being generally tanky, and disrupting their hand with Marnie. Round 12 WW VS Zander Bennett w/Palkia VStar/Inteleon (9-2-1) Round 13 LWT VS Isaiah Bradner w/Radiant Charizard Lost Box (9-2-2) Game one, I didn't find my Radiant Gardevoir early game allowing my opponent to Rope into my Goodra V twice to hit it with Cramorant before it could attack. I don’t find any Hyper Potions allowing my opponent to clean up my Goodra VStar with a Sableye, followed by knocking out my Arceus VStar, and an Echoing Horn + Radiant Charizard play to finish the game. Game two goes more like I’m used to in the matchup, I stream together Marnies, tank hits with Goodra VStar and healing cards, and my opponent runs out of resources before they can take six prize cards. With only a few minutes left on the clock going into game three, we opt to just ID and hope to win the rest. I’m still feeling good at this point, I’m 3-0-1 in day two, undefeated so far, the matchups at the top tables seem very good for Goodra VStar and I just need to win two more games to make top 8 and just one more to guarantee the Top 32 I was aiming for. Round 14 WW VS Chris Hoag w/Regigigas (10-2-2) Round 15 LWT VS Liam Petrie w/Palkia VStar/Inteleon (10-2-3) I’m feeling good going into this game, I’ve been on stream before, I know the matchup, once I get into the seat I feel confident and comfortable despite all the pressure, it’s just a couple more games of Pokemon. I won’t go super in depth here about how the match played out as it’s available to watch here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KKn5oeGqEw, but in summation, I have three games where I draw very suboptimally, especially in game one and game three, and my opponent draws incredibly well through the series, but misses the game winning Water Energy off of a draw three with Melony to turn a tie into at the end of game three. A tie is not what I was looking for and I felt like I played incredibly well through the day and the series but I ended my weekend with a record of 10-2-3 after going undefeated in day two to bubble into Top 16 at 16th place and secure myself 80 championship points, and some decent prize money.