The Champion!
What’s poppin’ TCG Park readers? Did you get a chance to watch the 2022 Latin America International Championships this past weekend? If so, you’ve probably learned that our very own Tord Reklev won LAIC and has successfully won his fourth International Championships – one from each region to top it all off! The deck that he piloted was a consistent take on the undisputed best Pokemon TCG deck in our Silver Tempest format, Lugia VSTAR / Archeops, and it seemingly worked well! In this article, I will be going over the core strategy of the deck, explaining some of the cool inclusions in his deck, and sharing the decks that Tord used to win his other International Championships! If you are in Europe and looking to start gathering the cards to build Tord’s winning Lugia VSTAR list, consider picking up a Silver Tempest Booster Box and checking through our singles section. That being said, let’s check out Tord’s LAIC winning LAIC list!
Lugia VSTAR / Arceops
The strategy of Lugia VSTAR might seem simple at first, but it can end up being a complex act of balancing your important resources. You’ll need to get out a Lugia V out quickly to be able to Evolve it the following turn and use Lugia VSTAR’s Ability to get out two Archeops. Getting out Archeops will require you to get them in the discard pile, and you’ll likely have to use a few of your Trainer cards to make that happen. You can easily search for Archeops with Evolution Incense and Ultra Ball, but you’ll still have to discard them at some point in order to summon them back from the discard pile. Luckily Tord’s deck features many ways to discard cards – Quick Ball, Ultra Ball, Serena, Professor’s Research, and even Lugia V. Once you get Archeops in your discard pile, you’ll want to summon them into play (it is ok to summon them with only one in the discard pile if you really need to) and start powering up your Pokemon. I’ll jump into some of the different tech cards that Tord played after we check out this list:
Pokémon – 19
| 4 Lugia V SIT 138 |
| 3 Lugia VSTAR SIT 139 |
| 4 Archeops SIT 147 |
| 1 Radiant Charizard PGO 11 |
| 1 Yveltal SHF 46 |
| 1 Stoutland V BST 117 |
| 1 Lumineon V BRS 40 |
| 1 Oranguru SSH 148 |
| 1 Pumpkaboo EVS 76 |
| 1 Dunsparce FST 207 |
| 1 Manaphy BRS 41 |
Trainer Cards – 26
| 4 Professor’s Research BRS 147 |
| 2 Marnie CPA 56 |
| 2 Serena SIT 164 |
| 2 Boss’s Orders BRS 132 |
| 4 Quick Ball FST 237 |
| 4 Ultra Ball BRS 150 |
| 4 Evolution Incense SSH 163 |
| 1 Lost Vacuum LOR 162 |
| 2 Choice Belt BRS 135 |
| 1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137 |
Energy – 15
| 4 Powerful Colorless Energy DAA 176 |
| 4 Aurora Energy SSH 186 |
| 4 Capture Energy RCL 171 |
| 2 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 |
| 1 Hiding Darkness Energy DAA 175 |
Hot Techs
While most Lugia VSTAR lists will quickly mimic the winning list above, there are quite a few hot tech cards that Tord played to victory. Once you get past the whole Lugia VSTAR / Archeops strategy, this deck turns into a toolbox-style deck that often tries to limit the amount of two Prize Card Pokemon on your Bench to take advantage of the prize trade. Here are some of the awesome cards on Tord’s list!
Radiant Charizard
While this card is typically played in Lost Zone toolbox decks nowadays, Radiant Charizard is immensely popular in Lugia VSTAR decks. Archeops allows you to power it up quickly, and as the game progresses, its Energy cost reduces due to its Ability. The best thing about this card is that it can go through a Radiant Gardevoir and V Guard Energy to OHKO almost anything.
Yveltal
I originally thought this card wouldn’t see any play, but Yveltal has found a home in Lugia VSTAR. Similar to Radiant Charizard, this card plays with the Prize Card count and can OHKO anything. Just be careful of the Pokemon you attempt to KO with Yveltal because it costs five Energy, and that is a lot – make it count!
Stoutland V
Stoutland V is the way for Lugia VSTAR to beat single Prize Card decks! You slap a few Powerful Colorless Energy on your Stoutland V and get to draw an extra Prize Card in the process. It is a great way to steal a game from your opponent!
Other International Championship Victories
Tord is largely considered the best active-playing Pokemon TCG professional, and most consider him the greatest player of all time. Regardless of where you stand on the subject, he is a well-accomplished player in his own right and is the only player to win one of each Internationals – LAIC, OCIC, EUIC, and NAIC. I thought it would be fun to look back at the other three decks that he used in the past to win all of these events! Let’s check them out!
NAIC 2017
If there were a moment when Tord started to make a big name for himself, it would be at NAIC 2017. Tord had already picked up some momentum from making the semi-final at the London Internationals earlier in the season and followed it up with another semi-final appearance in Sheffield a few months later. Tord took the same Drampa-GX / Garbodor deck that he played to a previous quarter-final appearance at Liverpool all the way to a championship win in Indianapolis. This is where we learned more about Tord’s signature consistency style (many four-of counts of many powerful cards), and we didn’t even know that he would win the next two Internationals in a row… let’s check out his list:
Pokémon – 15
| 3 Drampa-GX GRI 115 |
| 4 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60 |
| 4 Trubbish BKP 56 |
| 3 Garbodor GRI 51 |
| 1 Garbodor BKP 57 |
Trainer Cards – 32
| 4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107 |
| 4 N FCO 105 |
| 2 Lysandre AOR 78 |
| 1 Brigette BKT 134 |
| 1 Teammates PRC 141 |
| 4 VS Seeker PHF 109 |
| 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135 |
| 2 Field Blower GRI 125 |
| 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130 |
| 1 Super Rod BKT 149 |
| 4 Float Stone BKT 137 |
| 4 Choice Band GRI 121 |
Energy – 13
| 5 Psychic Energy 5 |
| 4 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136 |
| 4 Rainbow Energy SUM 137 |
EUIC 2017
Tord played his take on Zoroark-GX / Golisopod-GX to take the title of Champion in London, United Kingdom. His deck (as per usual) focused on consistency and was able to take down the whole event!
Pokémon – 20
| 4 Zorua SLG 52 |
| 4 Zoroark-GX SLG 53 |
| 1 Zoroark BKT 91 |
| 3 Wimpod BUS 16 |
| 2 Golisopod-GX BUS 17 |
| 3 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60 |
| 1 Tapu Koko PR-SM 30 |
| 1 Mewtwo EVO 51 |
| 1 Mr. Mime GEN 52 |
Trainer Cards – 33
| 4 N FCO 105 |
| 4 Guzma BUS 115 |
| 3 Brigette BKT 134 |
| 3 Acerola BUS 112 |
| 2 Professor Sycamore BKP 107 |
| 4 Ultra Ball SLG 68 |
| 4 Field Blower GRI 125 |
| 2 Enhanced Hammer GRI 124 |
| 2 Choice Band GRI 121 |
Energy – 7
| 4 Double Colorless Energy SLG 69 |
| 3 Grass Energy 1 |
OCIC 2018
At the very next International Championship Tord took his trusty Zoroark-GX and replaced Golisopod-GX for Gardevoir-GX. That strategy seemed to pay off, and Tord won the whole event in Sydney, Australia. Like his last list, this one played three copies of Tapu Lele-GX allowed him to demonstrate how his deck is supposed to work successfully.
Pokémon – 20
| 4 Zorua SLG 52 |
| 4 Zoroark-GX SLG 53 |
| 4 Ralts BUS 91 |
| 2 Gardevoir-GX BUS 93 |
| 1 Gallade BKT 84 |
| 3 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60 |
| 1 Mew-EX DRX 46 |
| 1 Giratina PR-XY 184 |
Trainer Cards – 32
| 3 Brigette BKT 134 |
| 3 N FCO 105 |
| 2 Professor Sycamore BKP 107 |
| 2 Mallow GRI 127 |
| 2 Guzma BUS 115 |
| 4 Ultra Ball SLG 68 |
| 4 Puzzle of Time BKP 109 |
| 3 Rare Candy SUM 129 |
| 2 Evosoda GEN 62 |
| 2 Field Blower GRI 125 |
| 1 Max Potion GRI 128 |
| 1 Enhanced Hammer GRI 124 |
| 1 Choice Band GRI 121 |
| 1 Float Stone BKT 137 |
| 1 Parallel City BKT 145 |
Energy – 8
| 4 Double Colorless Energy SLG 69 |
| 4 Fairy Energy 9 |
On to the Next One
Winning is an absolutely amazing feeling, and I’m sure we all know that Tord will be in the finals sooner than later, but there are many events going on around the world! As for this weekend, there are Toronto, Stuttgart, and Brisbane Regionals happening! I will personally be attending Toronto Regionals, and word on the street is that Tord will be there too! I hope to get a chance to play him and many other great Pokemon players at that event! If you ever need a one-stop shop for Europe, consider picking up some products right here at the TCG Park! I appreciate everyone reading this and hope to see you all around at future events!