Stéphane’s Champions League Miyagi Analysis

As many of you know, I like to look at results from all around the world when I’m deciding which deck to play. In the past, I’ve noticed that good ideas can come from players that are not famous, and these ideas often get discarded too quickly by other top players. To give only one example, Belgian player Brent Coosemans reinvented Blacephalon / Green’s Exploration in the early 2019-2020 season, when that archetype was thought to be dead after rotation, and did well at two regionals in a row with the deck. After he posted about it (and, to be honest, after I got destroyed in the finals of a League Cup by one of his countrymen playing the deck), I tried out the deck myself, and that eventually led to me winning Bochum Regionals in January 2020 with the deck, which was still considered overall as a rogue deck. (The full story is a bit longer and involves other French players improving the deck, but that’s not really the topic today.)

It won’t come as a surprise that the country I’ve borrowed the most ideas from is Japan. Beyond having a gigantic player base, Japan also gets the cards before the rest of the world, so by the time we’re starting to play a format, they’ve already dabbled in it for months. In the past, rotation often didn’t align between Japan and the Western world, so we weren’t playing exactly the same format, making it harder to simply copy decklists. And even when our formats do align, it doesn’t mean they’ve been solved in Japan. Our Silver Tempest (or Crown Zenith) format, for example, was played in Japan earlier, but there were still significant changes between Japan’s metagame and ours: we developed Lost Zone Toolbox variants around Amazing Rayquaza, Goodra VSTAR played a much more significant role in our events than in Japan, we improved Lugia VSTAR’s efficiency by running a 3-2 line, etc.
Despite that, I’ve found it very useful to look at results from Japanese events for inspiration. This has served me very well in the past: my two International Championships wins used Zoroark-GX variants that were popular in Japan and underplayed in the rest of the world. In 2018, Japanese player Kosuke Uegishi got second place at a Champions League with Zoroark-GX / Garbodor at a time when Sky Field was still in the Japanese format. Fabien Pujol, alongside other French players, then adapted that deck to the Western format to create the deck that would win NAIC 2018 and, later, Worlds. In 2019, I became obsessed with Triple Acceleration Energy variants of Zoroark-GX when they started appearing in Japan, and played Zoroark-GX / Dewgong all format long, although it was Henry Brand’s Naganadel-GX idea which gave the deck the push it needed to win NAIC that year.

I’m sure that, with this context, you understand that I’m always on the lookout for ideas from Japan, and regularly look at decklists from City Leagues to see if there’s anything new to try out.
The latest major event was Champions League Miyagi, which assembled almost 2500 players in the Masters division alone. Japan is one mini-set (SV1a Triplet Beat) ahead of us, but while there are some notable playable cards in that set, such as Jet Energy (a Special Energy that, when attached to a Benched Pokémon, moves it to the Active Spot) and Artazon (a Stadium that lets players search a non-Rule Box Basic Pokémon in their deck and Bench it once per turn), the meta has still remained largely the same; the new cards add a bit more power to existing decks, and don’t create new archetypes. For this reason, I think the results from Miyagi are fairly applicable to our current format.
That’s why, today, I’ll look at the decks from the tournament’s top cut (Japan uses a top 16 rather than a top 8) and analyse what to take away from it!

A quick metagame breakdown

You can find the results from Champions League Miyagi on LimitlessTCG. The top 16 decks were:

• 7x Lugia VSTAR / Archeops
• 3x Lost Zone Toolbox
• 2x Miraidon ex
• 1x Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR
• 1x Gardevoir ex
• 1x Mew VMAX
• 1x Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone)

As you can see, Lugia VSTAR was especially dominant, which surprised me as the deck was not supposed to get these kinds of results after rotation. Miraidon was the deck that actually won, although it was a bit surprising, as it didn’t have great results before that. The rest of the top cut is comprised of the usual suspects.

One thing to note (that’s important enough that my notifications would be filled with people talking about this if I didn’t mention it) is that Japanese tournaments are played in a best of 1 format, even in top cut. This increases the impact of randomness on the tournament (in popular language, it “increases variance”), which can account for some surprises (if the best player can be eliminated from the tournament early on by bricking in two rounds, then it stands to reason that an average player can get lucky as well). That said, I would be wary of using the bo1 argument to explain any surprising result. Japanese tournaments are huge and you can’t get to the top 16 simply by luck; in my experience, there’s a lot to lose by throwing away Japanese tournaments just because they’re best of 1.

Miraidon’s surprising win

Miraidon is a powerful concept of a deck, but it has issues against the smaller Pokémon against which its high damage output is meaningless. Specifically, Lost Zone Toolbox tends to be an issue that all Miraidon decks need to tech for.
Rather than using Luxray V and a heavy Judge count or Klefki (to hide behind after using Regieleki V’s Switching Bolt), the two most common solutions, the champion, Shin Inageta, chose to run Magnezone VSTAR.
Magnezone VSTAR’s Electro Star attack deals 90 damage to two Benched Pokémon, which can grab two Prizes in one turn by Knocking Out Pokémon such as Comfey and Sableye. This is of course stopped by Manaphy, but it’s possible that some Lost Box players were caught by surprise and didn’t know what Magnezone VSTAR does, in which case they wouldn’t have benched Manaphy. Or maybe, knowing they were against a Miraidon deck (which usually doesn’t deal Bench damage), they sent Manaphy to the Lost Zone early, and got punished. This is one situation where the tournament being best of 1 can really change things: if you get caught by surprise by such a tech, there’s no games 2 and 3 to adapt your strategy.
That said, even if a Lost Box player plays down Manaphy, Magnezone V can still use Magnetic Tension to bring it Active and KO it (thanks to Weakness), which then threatens Electro Star again on the next turn. Combined with a Judge, this puts a lot of pressure on the Lost Box player.

One more factor that may have contributed to Miraidon’s success is Lost Box’s lack of success. After its win in the previous Champions League (as well as in competitions in other Asian countries), Lost Box was the deck to beat, but the metagame adapted to counter it. That opened a path for Miraidon to reach victory.

The other Miraidon deck in the top 16 was much more surprising. It didn’t play Regieleki VMAX but instead opted for a heavy Flaaffy line alongside two copies of Raichu V. This deck has a very high damage output, but no plan against Lost Box except relying on Judge. It’s hard to recommend such a list in an unknown metagame.

Pokémon – 15

3 Miraidon ex SVI 81
3 Regieleki V SIT 57
3 Regieleki VMAX SIT 58
2 Raikou V BRS 48
2 Magnezone V LOR 56
1 Magnezone VSTAR LOR 57
1 Drapion V LOR 118

Trainer Cards – 32

4 Professor’s Research SVI 189
2 Boss’s Orders BRS 132
2 Judge SVI 176
2 Arven SVI 166
4 Electric Generator SVI 170
3 Ultra Ball SVI 196
3 Nest Ball SVI 181
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
2 Escape Rope BST 125
1 Energy Recycler BST 124
2 Exp. Share SVI 174
1 Choice Belt BRS 135
1 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156
3 Beach Court SVI 167

Energy – 13

13 Lightning Energy 4

Lugia, everywhere

As mentioned above, Lugia VSTAR was the dominant deck at least at the high tables of the tournament. Lugia tends to have a good Lost Box matchup, and that can likely explain how it did so well.

There were two different builds of Lugia / Archeops represented in the top 16.

The first build uses a variety of Colorless Energy: Double Turbo Energy, V Guard Energy, Gift Energy, and four copies of the new Jet Energy which isn’t available to us yet. This build relies on Colorless attackers: Lugia VSTAR itself, but also Snorlax which is very good against Lost Box due to its immunity to Sableye’s Lost Mine. Thanks to Jet Energy, it’s possible to switch out an Asleep Snorlax. The deck can then finish the game with Wyrdeer V for a big KO. One player also included the new Luminous Energy in order to use Radiant Charizard as an attacker at the end of the game.

Pokémon – 18

4 Lugia V SIT 138
3 Lugia VSTAR SIT 139
4 Archeops SIT 147
2 Lumineon V BRS 40
2 Snorlax LOR 143
1 Wyrdeer V ASR 134
1 Radiant Charizard CRZ 20
1 Drapion V LOR 118

Trainer Cards – 28

3 Professor’s Research SVI 189
2 Boss’s Orders BRS 132
2 Serena SIT 164
2 Judge SVI 176
1 Professor Burnet PR-SW 167
1 Penny SVI 183
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
4 Capturing Aroma SIT 153
2 Nest Ball SVI 181
1 Echoing Horn CRE 136
2 Choice Belt BRS 135
3 Mesagoza SVI 178
1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137

Energy – 14

4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
4 Jet Energy SV1a 72
2 V Guard Energy SIT 169
2 Gift Energy LOR 171
2 Luminous Energy SV1a 73

This build is very interesting and is probably the more consistent and the better against Lost Box of the two. However, it really needs Jet Energy to work, and is therefore irrelevant to our current format. Note that by the time we get Jet Energy in our next set, Paldea Evolved, we’ll also have the recently revealed Therapy Energy which is even better to prevent Snorlax from becoming Asleep. This is likely to lead to an updated variant of this list.

The other build is the one that you’ve probably seen: it uses Single Strike Energy and various Single Strike attackers such as Tyranitar V, Stonjourner, and Yveltal. This deck also runs Jet Energy but doesn’t rely on it as much as the previous variant because it doesn’t run Snorlax. This deck has more potential, notably because the duo of Tyranitar V and Stonjourner can hit Pokémon from decks such as Miraidon, Gardevoir and Mew for Weakness, but it’s also less consistent, since it needs to run situational recovery cards (Urn of Vitality). Radiant Tsareena is used to remove damage counters from the field against Lost Box. For example, it prevents the play of Moonlight Shuriken into Lost Mine that could be used to KO both Archeops in two turns.
I have to say that I find the inclusion of Roxanne pretty optimistic. It’s not easy to find that card at the right time: even though the deck runs Lumineon V, it usually seeks to remove it from play rather than Benching an additional one. However, despite my distate for the deck, it’s evidently working well.

Pokémon – 17

4 Lugia V SIT 138
3 Lugia VSTAR SIT 139
4 Archeops SIT 147
2 Lumineon V BRS 40
2 Tyranitar V BST 97
1 Stonjourner BST 84
1 Radiant Tsareena SIT 16

Trainer Cards – 29

4 Professor’s Research SVI 189
3 Boss’s Orders BRS 132
2 Judge SVI 176
1 Professor Burnet PR-SW 167
1 Serena SIT 164
1 Roxanne ASR 150
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
4 Capturing Aroma SIT 153
3 Urn of Vitality BST 139
2 Nest Ball SVI 181
2 Mesagoza SVI 178
2 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137
2× Choice Belt

Energy – 14

4 Single Strike Energy BST 141
3 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
2 V Guard Energy SIT 169
2 Gift Energy LOR 171
2 Jet Energy SV1a 72
1 Regenerative Energy SIT 168

Is ArcTina a contender?

Arceus / Giratina is not an unknown deck by any means, but it’s not on most players’ top 5. In Aichi, it was popular but couldn’t reach the top 16. However, in Miyagi, it managed to reach top 4 (and one could argue that, without a critical misplay on stream, it would have reached the finals).

Pokémon – 16

4 Arceus V BRS 122
3 Arceus VSTAR BRS 123
2 Giratina V LOR 130
2 Giratina VSTAR LOR 131
2 Bidoof CRZ 111
2 Bibarel BRS 121
1 Skwovet SVI 151

Trainer Cards – 31

3 Professor’s Research SVI 189
3 Judge SVI 176
3 Boss’s Orders BRS 132
1 Raihan CRZ 140
1 Cheren’s Care BRS 134
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
2 Capturing Aroma SIT 153
2 Switch SVI 194
1 Escape Rope BST 125
1 Pal Pad SVI 182
1 Choice Belt BRS 135
3 Path to the Peak CRE 148
2 Lost City LOR 161

Energy – 13

4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
4 Grass Energy 1
4 Psychic Energy 5
1 V Guard Energy SIT 169

The principle of the deck is simple: attach Energy with Arceus VSTAR, then use that Energy to power Giratina VSTAR’s Lost Impact. The deck uses Judge and Path to the Peak for disruption and, as such, is a successor to Arceus / Flying Pikachu, the deck that won Worlds in 2022. (In fact, some Arceus / Giratina decks also run Flying Pikachu VMAX.)
Arceus VSTAR got a small upgrade upon rotation, as it was able to replace its Quick Ball with Nest Ball. It can also run Bibarel with the Bidoof from Crown Zenith which is immune to Moonlight Shuriken (and other snipe attacks, though they are rare in the format). The specific list above runs two interesting cards.
First, Skwovet can be used alongside Bibarel. If your hand is filled with unplayable cards, you can simply send it back to the bottom of your deck, draw a card, then use Bibarel’s Ability to get a new hand. This is not a new combo, and people talked about it as soon as Skwovet was released, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it actually be successful.
The second original card is Lost City. Originally used to counter Radiant Charizard and Regigigas (and Drapion V in Mew decks), Lost City has fallen off in usage after rotation. One reason for this is that without Ordinary Rod, the only ways to recover Pokémon from the discard (apart from Rescue Carrier, which is limited in usage) are Supporters (mostly Klara), which don’t fit in many decks. Therefore, there’s no need to send Pokémon to the Lost Zone if they can’t be recovered anyway.
Lost Box decks do use recovery, though. Sending powerful attackers such as Sableye, Dragonite V or Galarian Zapdos V ensures that the ArcTina player won’t have to deal with these Pokémon again, and can provide an edge in the Lost Box matchup.

Arceus / Giratina is not the kind of deck I enjoy a lot, and it has limited outplay potential, but it’s a solid deck that I’m sure will see play at EUIC, including in day 2. You can use this decklist as a starting point!

Which Mew version?

Mew VMAX is one of the best decks around, but it also has a target on its back, which explains why it’s not performing as well as it raw power would suggest: many decks are running Drapion V (or other attackers, in the case of Lugia) to deal with it.
There are two variants of Mew, and the Fusion Strike Energy variant seems to be the most popular overall after rotation. Meloetta gives the deck a lot of power as early as turn one, and Fusion Strike Energy also protects Genesect V against opposing Klefki.
However, the Double Turbo Energy variant with heavy disruption is still around! The list above plays three Judge, Roxanne, and four Path to the Peak. This gives the deck powerful game plans against many top tier decks. Against Lugia, the combination of Judge and Path to the Peak can severely disrupt the opponent’s setup and prevent a turn 2 Summoning Star. Against Lost Zone decks, repeated Judge prevent the opponent from accumulating resources. Against any deck with Drapion V, like Miraidon, Path to the Peak can protect Mew VMAX for just long enough to take enough of a lead that the opponent can’t come back.
This list does have trouble with some cards, especially Klefki, but it’s, in my opinion, the best way to play Mew right now.

Pokémon – 11

4 Mew V CRZ 60
3 Mew VMAX FST 114
4 Genesect V FST 185

Trainer Cards – 45

3 Judge SVI 176
3 Boss’s Orders BRS 132
1 Roxanne ASR 150
4 Power Tablet FST 236
4 Battle VIP Pass FST 225
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
4 Cram-o-matic FST 229
4 Lost Vacuum CRZ 135
2 Feather Ball ASR 141
2 Nest Ball SVI 181
2 Escape Rope BST 125
1 Switch Cart ASR 154
1 Echoing Horn CRE 136
1 Pal Pad SVI 182
2 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156
2 Choice Belt BRS 135
4 Path to the Peak CRE 148
1 Crystal Cave EVS 144

Energy – 4

4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151

The paradox of Aggro Gardevoir

The Gardevoir deck that made top 16 is very different from the lists that saw success at Champions League Aichi. For one thing, the deck doesn’t play the full Kirlia line, opting for only three Kirlia. It also doesn’t play Manaphy, and only three Level Ball. On the other hand, it has three copies of Rare Candy and of Gardevoir ex.
This deck has an interesting approach: evolve into Gardevoir ex on turn 2 thanks to Rare Candy, and attack with it for 190 damage, or 220 with a Choice Belt, which the deck plays two of. These 220 damage are enough to KO some important targets such as Lugia V, Giratina V, Raikou V, etc. With two Serena (and a Boss’s Orders), Gardevoir ex can KO these Pokémon on the Bench as well.
With this approach, Gardevoir ex can try to take early Prizes and actually race other decks, using its high HP to win the exchange. If it gets KO’d, a Benched Ralts or Kirlia can evolve into Gardevoir ex and take its place.
Without Manaphy, the deck is weak to an early Radiant Greninja, but if it can limit its Bench, it can actually try to leave the opponent without two easy targets, then use the usual strategy of Judge and Cresselia to make life harder for the opponent.

Pokémon – 16

4 Ralts ASR 60
3 Kirlia SIT 68
3 Gardevoir ex SVI 86
2 Gardevoir CRE 61
1 Zacian V CEL 16
1 Cresselia LOR 74
1 Mew CEL 11
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46

Trainer Cards – 32

3 Judge SVI 176
2 Serena SIT 164
1 Worker SIT 167
1 Professor’s Research SVI 189
1 Boss’s Orders BRS 132
1 Klara CRE 145
4 Battle VIP Pass FST 225
4 Fog Crystal CRE 140
3 Level Ball BST 129
3 Ultra Ball SVI 196
3 Rare Candy SVI 191
1 Pal Pad SVI 182
1 Picnic Basket SVI 184
2 Choice Belt BRS 135
1 Temple of Sinnoh ASR 155
1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137

Energy – 12

12 Psychic Energy 5

This is the kind of decklist that I like to see. Not only is Gardevoir my favorite deck in this format, this list is also a novel approach that makes daring choices. Upon seeing it, I immediately loaded the deck on Limitless Tabletop to play out a few hands. Would I play the deck as is? Probably not. There are many cards that I want to try in this list, such as Arven which can grab Rare Candy (or Ultra Ball) and Choice Belt for the turn two attack, Sky Seal Stone to keep the powerful combination with Zacian V in the late game (and would also be nice with Arven), and Roxanne for a stronger comeback option. However, I find it fascinating that it’s possible to do well with a list without a fourth Kirlia or Manaphy. It suggests that there are ways to succeed in this format that are far from the most conventional decks.

The state of Lost Box

Finally, a quick word on Lost Box. Three of them made top 16, and they all lost in top 8. Two of them were the Sky Seal Stone variant, similar to the build that won the Champions League Miyagi; in fact, Shizuya Yamamoto, the Aichi winner, was one of these two players. He ran a very similar build as his previous winning one. The other player had a similar Pokémon line, but played Cross Switcher and Cancelling Cologne (which together allow a player to bring up Manaphy and cancel its Ability to take a double KO), as well as Jet Energy.
The third Lost Box to make top 8 was a Turbo Dragonite V variant which I discussed in my last article, which also ran Kyogre.

Overall, there’s nothing particularly new to report on this deck, and this review is already long enough that I don’t think there’s much to gain in looking at every single card choice.

So I guess that marks the end of this analysis! Overall, it doesn’t seem like this tournament was very innovative, but there are several key points to take away:

• Lugia was very strong, in part thanks to the addition of Jet Energy (irrelevant to our current format), but in part due to its good matchup spread. It’s definitely a deck to watch out for, although I don’t think it will have the same success at EUIC.
• Lost Zone decks are still around, whether it’s Turbo Lost Box, Sky Seal Stone Lost Box, or Giratina. They underperformed compared to the previous major event, which can be explained by the fact that they were the most expected decks.
•  Miraidon is capable of winning a 2500-player tournament. I feel like its Lost Box matchup is still shaky without the element of surprise, but it’s still a good deck.
•  I feel like the best Gardevoir list hasn’t been found yet. There are so many options that it’s hard to decide how to build the deck, and the deck is hard to play perfectly so I think that players (myself included) might not recognize the perfect list even if they stumbled across it. It’s possible to build Gardevoir to have a favorable matchup against Lost Zone decks, but can it beat other decks in the metagame (like Lugia and Mew) at the same time? If someone can figure it out, they hold the key to this format.

I can’t wait for EUIC to see what everyone has cooked up!

Stéphane