Standard had completely fallen out of my mind for a while until about two weeks ago. I attended a Standard challenge for a breath of fresh air. The deck I was most interested in before I started preparing for Anaheim Regionals was ZoroRoc, so I figured I would pick the deck back up. It worked out very well and I’m actually excited to get back into Standard. I have updated some other decks for the new meta and those lists are also in this piece. I am not entirely worried about Standard, but it still sits in the back of my head since Standard Cups are Challenges are still happening. This piece covers some decks that I have gone over in previous pieces with some changes, but also has a Buzzwole Box deck that I’ve come up with. The deck seems really strong so far, but it’s still in the early testing process. I’ll start with ZoroRoc.
ZoroRoc
| Pokémon – 21 | Trainers – 30 | Energy – 9 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Zorua | 4 | Professor Elm’s Lecture | 1 | Rescue Stretcher | 4 | Double Colorless | ||
| 4 | Zoroark GX | 2 | Professor Kukui | 1 | Counter Gain | 2 | Fighting | ||
| 2 | Rockruff (SM120) | 3 | Cynthia | 1 | Pal Pad | 3 | Unit | ||
| 2 | Lycanroc GX | 2 | Guzma | 3 | Choice Band | ||||
| 3 | Tapu Lele GX | 1 | Judge | 4 | Ultra Ball | ||||
| 1 | Sneasel (UPR) | 1 | Faba | 4 | Great Ball | ||||
| 1 | Weavile (UPR) | ||||||||
| 1 | Ditto (Prism Star) | 3 | Devoured Field | ||||||
| 1 | Muk | ||||||||
| 1 | Oranguru | ||||||||
| 1 | Magcargo | ||||||||
Professor Elm’s Lecture
Alright, I give up, fine, ok, Elm is probably better than Lillie. While I do enjoy getting certain cards turn one to help me set up more, the fact that Elm opens up a few more spots makes it attractive. I also notice that I’ll use Elm multiple times in a game frequently. In three of my games at the challenge I ended up using Elm more than once. I have also added in another fighting to make it a little easier to hit energy on turn one so that not having Lillie to draw extra cards is less of an issue.
I will say though that the Blacephalon and Rayquaza matchups have become harder since cutting Lillie, which is exactly as expected.
Energy line/ Weavile
I am not entirely sure I want to play three unit, but the two Fighting are probably locked in. I’m not too excited about playing more Special energy just because there is a good amount of wacky stuff out there with energy hate. Philip Schulz recently won a Regional with ZoroGyarados (which plays three enhanced hammer), people still use ZoroControl although it might not be the best play, and stall/mill decks like Hoopa are popping back up.
The only reason I like the higher Unit count right now is that Weavile is stronger in this meta than usual. Having more access to attacking with it is great. I expect to use Evil Admonition twice in a game a lot of the time. In fact, at the cup I played a second Weavile instead of the third Lele. Three Lele is the way to go when you play Great Balls as I have explained twice now in previous articles. I’m trying to find a way to get the second Weavile in the deck again since only one of them and three unit is sort of wonky. With that being said, a 1-2 Weavile line is just as wonky. I might cut the Unit for a fighting or some other card. Not sure yet.
Muk is still good
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