Team Up Meta Report: Clear With a Chance of Zapdos

Luke Morsa
February 22, 2019
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The Oceanic International Championship has passed and players are now preparing for Collinsville Regionals. Going into OCIC, we knew that Zapdos variants were going to be strong. Surpassing expectations,Team Dead Draw Gaming’s Isaiah Williams and Daniel Altavilla (along with other members) took a straightforward Zapdos/Jirachi list to 1st place and 8th place respectively. Zapdos/Jirachi won an International Championship, but that does not mean its power level is much different than the other well performing decks from the tournament. 

     

Very rarely do I consider the new winning deck the best deck in format after only one tournament with the newest set, and this is no exception.There were six archetypes in day 2 of OCIC and 3 archetypes in top 8. Aside from the Psychic Malamar and the Ultra Malamars, these 6 archetypes were all very different from one another. I do not believe we have our best deck in standard format yet, but what we do have is a clear and seemingly healthy meta. 


After 1 major tournament with Team Up legal, I believe the top decks of the current meta are Zapdos / Shrine of Punishment variants, Pikachu Zekrom, Zororoc, Ultra Necrozma-GX Malamar, and Psychic Malamar.

Zapdos Shrine Variants

The consistent and linear DDG list had several placings at OCIC, including 1st place. The community knew Zapdos decks would be powerful, but I don’t think players were building their decks trying to beat Zapdos variants previous to OCIC. After winning the IC, this card and the decks built around it might have a little too much attention but the Zapdos Shrine variants are still top picks and strong contenders for Collinsville this weekend.

   

Robin Schulz and Bert Wolters did well with Zapdos Shrine in day 2 as well, but played Rainbow Energy with Buzzwole FLI and Nihilego as backup attackers to Zapdos. Both Buzzwole and Nihilego are very powerful vs Zororoc, possibly Zapdos variants’ biggest enemy out of the high tier decks.

The version of Zapdos that is getting overlooked is Karl Peters’ Zapdos Lycanroc which finished 14th place at OCIC. I have played with it and made some changes, but I can’t settle on a perfect list. The ability to have Bloodthirsty Eyes as an extra gust effect is game changing as the Zapdos variants can burn through Guzmas quickly.

The Zapdos Shrine variants were successful due to the consistent 80-110 damage output per turn, only giving up 1 prize card per attacker (for the most part), and starting to take prizes on their first turn attacking. We’ve had a setting up period in Standard in most matchups, where both players take a turn, two at most, to set up and get their board established before taking prize cards. Zapdos’ attackers and support Pokemon are all basic Pokemon (some aren’t depending on the variant) and Zapdos only needs one energy to attack. The lack of set up needed allows the deck to get going with only a few resources like Nest Ball, Guzma and Lightning Energy.  


I think that the winning list needs to change a bit to be successful at Collinsville, since mirror matches will likely occur and other decks will be prepared.

Wobbuffet is an inclusion that I highly recommend as it can destroy the early game plan of Zororoc players. ZoroRoc players should bench a ditto and an Alolan Grimer turn 1 to ensure they can evolve into Alolan Muk turn 2. Alolan Muk is important because it turns off all basic Pokemon abilities, which means Jirachi’s are rendered useless. Wobbuffet, which has the ability Shady Tail that reads “as long as this Pokemon is on your bench, Prism Star Pokemon cannot attack and have no abilities”, stops your opponent’s Ditto Prism Star from being able to evolve. So if you bench Wobbuffet and also Guzma and Knock Out the opposing Alolan Grimer, your opponent would have to Bloodthirsty Eyes or Guzma your Wobbuffet to the active to be able to evolve into Alolan Muk from Ditto Prism.

Raikou from SHL may be a good tech for this weekend in Zapdos variants and maybe even in Pikarom because of the value you get against other Zapdos decks. For one energy you swing 30, so with an Electropower you one shot opposing Zapdos’. While your opponent’s Zapdos will need an Electropower and Kukui or two Electropower to one shot your Raikou.

Jolteon-GX found its way into Zapdos and Pikarom variants, but it's not really the talk of the town like it was before OCIC. I think including it in Zapdos is respectable due to it dealing 30 for one energy and hits lightning weakness like Raikou, and for its GX attack which prevents damage dealt to it next turn. My problem with it however, is that Zapdos decks are running 3~ Escape Rope which means Escape Rope into Guzma to remove the effect of Swift Run GX is a strong possibility


Pikachu Zekrom


This is my least favorite out of the top decks, but it is undeniably strong. If you have been playing Pokemon TCG competitively for at least 6 months to a year, you should be used to there being at least one deck in the format that is oriented around knocking out just about anything with one attack. PikaRom is unique because it can one shot two Pokemon with its GX attack.

I haven’t tested much PikaRom since OCIC so I don’t feel confident saying which build is optimal. A lot of great players are finding success with different variants, so go with what you prefer.

I personally think that a healing option is important to have in Pikarom. I prefer Max Potion, but Acerola is a fine choice as well. I also think weakness policy should be considered with Lucario-GX getting hype going into this weekend.


Zororoc

Zororoc placed 2nd at OCIC and I believe if Stephane was playing an Alolan Grimer over Absol he would have been more likely to win in the finals and had been champion. Zororoc has been covered countless times by myself and other great content creators, so I have very little new information on the deck. I have been testing this in the past few days and come up with a list I really like for the expected Collinsville meta.

ZoroRocLuke Morsa Ditto Prism Star Alolan Grimer (83) Zorua (52) Zoroark-GX Rockruff (75) Lycanroc-GX (74) Riolu (66) Lucario-GX Tapu Lele-GX Alolan Muk (58) Switch Rescue Stretcher Pal Pad Acerola Nest Ball Cynthia Guzma Mallow Ultra Ball Choice Band Field Blower Judge Pokémon Communication Lillie Wondrous Labyrinth Viridian Forest Lysandres Lab Double Colorless Energy Fighting Energy

Lysandre’s Lab and Field Blower are both for Weakness Policy in Pikarom and Escape Boards in Zapdos variants. Two tech spots to help against two of the most popular decks is well worth it.

Lucario-GX is seeing an uptick in play because it can one shot PikaRom for just one Fighting Energy. Lycanroc-GX is still valuable for Dangerous Rogue-GX and Bloodthirsty Eyes in just about any matchup, so Lucario-GX can’t really replace it. Lycanroc-GX doesn’t do the job versus PikaRom in the same way as Lucario because it needs more energy. Counter Gain is a possibility to fix its energy cost, but if you gained the lead versus PikaRom and need to close out the game, Counter Gain won’t always be active.

Wondrous Labyrinth almost autowins the Lost March matchup and can be effective in various situations in various matchups. It is a nice card to have if you can attach an extra energy to Zoroark-GX and then chain KOs on Zapdos while they cannot attack due to insufficient energy requirements.  


Selecting a Deck

This meta is still wide open, but it is pretty safe to say Zapdos, Zororoc, and Pikarom will all be very popular at the event. I think it is very important to pick a deck that you enjoy and can handle well. As always, I will try to steer you in the right direction by outlining what you should expect others to play and what I would play myself. If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you may be familiar with my matchup spread system where I evaluate a deck’s meta score based on matchups weighted by each archetype’s expected meta share. The current meta and lists for strong decks are currently very volatile and tech dependent that I don’t feel this type of system would give helpful statistics. Many matchups come down to things like “Is PikaRom playing a healing card”, “is Zororoc playing Alolan Grimer”, “Is Malamar playing 1 Giratina or 2”, etc.

Unfortunately I will not be attending the event, but I have three lists that I have tested for friends who are going. If I were to play in the event, my deck choice would be Zororoc or one of the following Malamar variants. Zororoc can handle Zapdos variants well and is even to slightly favored versus PikaRom depending on both players’ lists. The Malamar variants both take favored matchups versus Zapdos variants and opposing Malamars.


Spread MalamarLuke Morsa Shining Arceus Ultra Necrozma-GX Onix (9) Tapu Koko Giratina (97) Inkay (50) Marshadow (45) Tapu Lele Tapu Lele-GX Malamar (51) Mysterious Treasure Viridian Forest Rescue Stretcher Nest Ball Switch Cynthia Guzma Ultra Ball Lillie Acro Bike Shrine of Punishment Psychic Energy Metal Energy Double Colorless Energy

 

Ultra MalamarLuke Morsa Ultra Necrozma-GX Tapu Koko Giratina (97) Inkay (50) Marshadow (45) Jirachi (99) Tapu Lele-GX Malamar (51) Mysterious Treasure Viridian Forest Rescue Stretcher Nest Ball Switch Cynthia Guzma Ultra Ball Lillie Acro Bike Escape Board Psychic Energy Metal Energy Beast Energy Prism Star

While the spread list focuses on Tapu Koko and Shining Arceus to set up damage around the opponent’s board and then finish with Tapu Lele promo or Ultra Necrozma’s Sky Scorching Light GX, it still has one shot capabilities thanks to Onix (versus fighting weak Pokemon) and Ultra Necrozma’s Photon Geyser. The spread variant is very versatile and its worst matchup out of the top tier decks would definitely have to be Zororoc due to Acerola healing their Pokemon and the overall high HP across the board.

The Ultra Necrozma-GX focused list is fit to take care of Zapdos decks more efficiently due to the 2 Tapu Koko. Two Flying Flips and 2 Distortion Door will leave almost all of their Pokemon in knock out range of Sky Scorching Light GX. Although spread is not the main win condition of this Malamar variant, it is the best path to victory vs Zapdos variants. The Tapu Kokos are also useful versus Zororoc to make knock outs with Photon Geyser easier later on. And versus Malamar variants since you can go the Sky Scorching Light route in those matchups as well.


Good luck wherever you are competing this weekend. My next major event is Greensboro Regionals, so expect expanded content soon!