Foreword from Phinn Lynch

Registeel Genesect is the perfect meta call for London, with positive matchups against everything in the current meta. This article is a quick read that covers the deck’s matchups and list. Michael and I worked hard on this list with some input from Connor Pedersen – who, by the way, is the best senior in the game – to come up with a very consistent build that does not require a very high level of skill to pilot.

This deck is the best play for the average player who may not know what to pilot. I felt this was an important target to hit because my Darkrai Zoroark build is not a good choice for players who did not get enough practice with the deck. This deck is a great call for higher level players as well. If I were going to the event, I have no doubt this is what I would play. So please, since Michael and I cannot go, do this list some justice and give it a shot!

Introduction & Background

Hi everyone, Michael Perez here with a new archetype! I got the idea for this deck a couple weeks back, when Phinn and I decided to hit my hometown Reno, Nevada for a league cup. Phinn won with and I made top 8. On the next day, we went to Lower Lake, California for another cup, where Phinn got 2nd and I placed first. For both days Phinn played Gardevoir and I piloted Greninja. The lists we used are both in this article. Because the shop holding the event didn’t have singles, they couldn’t give us Crimson Invasion packs. They were hosting a pre-release subsequently; we decided to stay for it, using our store credit to pay our entries.

My deck featured Escavalier, Accelgor, Cacturne, Raichu, and Registeel. Phinn built a Gengar deck with a poisonous Salazzle, and while we were testing before the first round he facetiously said: “I should just play straight Registeel.” I guess it got me thinking. After we each won our three rounds at the pre-release (taking first and second once again) we got in the car and I took the 2 hour drive to look back on the day. For some reason, the idea of Registeel stuck with me. When we got home I began rummaging through the binder looking for a good partner for Registeel. I came to Genesect EX. It reminded me of Phinn’s old Darkrai EX/Yveltal deck that was big during regionals last season.

This deck’s engine works just like Darkrai’s. It uses Registeel’s Junk Arm and Max Elixers to assure Genesect’s Rapid Blaster will propel the pilot through the match. This isn’t a deck where prizing one thing will lose you the match; it is not dependant on any one card. Setting up Zoroark early on is important, but even in games where it does not come into play, you can still win by conserving the right draw cards and Guzma until the last couple turns.

Having the ability to put on early pressure and set up multiple attackers at one time without worrying too much about ability lock, or the number of items in the discard pile makes the games about 20 minutes each while playing at a moderate speed. You are given ample time to make the right technical decisions no matter the time constraint. This is an advantage that Garbodor and Gardevoir do not have.

This deck seems to set up in a way that often allows me to continue charging up attackers while using Guzma in the early game to take out a threat on the bench, allotting even more time for setting up with a Registeel active. In games where you can pull this off, I believe you are highly unlikely to lose (as long as you’re still managing resources correctly).

List

The deck is relatively straightforward. Like I mentioned above it has a similar setup as the old speed Darkrai EX deck. One of the things that excited me most about the deck is Genesect EX’ ability, Drive Change: ‘Once during your turn, you may put a tool card attached to this Pokemon back into your hand.’ Considering Registeel’s hefty 3 retreat cost and Genesect’s frustrating 2, having the ability to put down and pick up those Float stone is very useful for saving tools from Sycamore and increasing consistency. The same goes for the other tools in the deck: Choice band and Fighting Fury Belt.

Though this archetype is young, the list has gone through several changes. Here’s the current list:

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