Mew MVax is the best aggro deck in standard and it probably would be the best deck in the format if not for Drapion V having a presence. How can you play Mew, without playing Mew? The best analog is Hisuian Zoroark VStar. Zoroark dishes out big one-shots starting on turn two and draws through almost as many cards as Mew does. The difference is that Zoroark does not have a hard counter floating around; Miltank is a counter I will address later. Many people do not see Zoroark as a viable option, but that is because nobody is playing the right list. I won’t make the argument that Zoroark is the best deck in the format, I won’t even argue that it is in the top tier. The entire purpose of this article is to show that there is a much better way to play Zoroark. As I explained in my last article, you do not need to play the best deck to win a big event, you need to play the best meta call. Zoroark can be the best meta-call, but first we need to understand when that would be.
Zoroark takes a rough matchup to anything based around one prize attackers. In other words, for Zoroark to be the best call, we will need to see Regis and Lost Box in smaller numbers. Lost Box just won Warsaw and there were four Regis in top 8 of SLC, but that actually might cause those decks to go down in play soon. The meta is always shifting and we may see widespread adoption of techs that beat both Regis and Lost Box, which is exactly where Zoroark can come in for a deep run. There may not be much hype around Zoroark right now, but we need to have Zoroark ready for the opportune meta that may present itself in the next month or two.
To start, this is my skeleton list. These are cards that every variant of Zoroark should be playing in the Silver Tempest format.
Skeleton
| Pokémon – 13 | Trainers – 36 | Energy – 4 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Hisuian Zoroark V | 4 | Gapejaw Bog | 4 | Rotom Phone | 4 | Double Turbo | ||
| 3 | Hisuian Zoroark VStar | 4 | Professor’s Research | 4 | Ultra Ball | ||||
| 2 | Gengar | 2 | Serena | 4 | Quick Ball | ||||
| 1 | Radiant Hawlucha | 1 | Marnie | 4 | Damage Pump | ||||
| 1 | Lumineon V | 1 | Boss’s Orders | 3 | Choice Belt | ||||
| 1 | Crobat V | 2 | Evolution Incense | ||||||
| 1 | Oranguru | 1 | Ordinary Rod | ||||||
| 1 | Pal Pad | ||||||||
| 1 | Air Balloon | ||||||||
This skeleton is not much of a skeleton; with 53 cards in this list you already have most of what is needed to make the deck work.
Rotom Phone > Trekking Shoes
If there is one thing I want you to understand from reading this article, it is that your Zoroark deck needs Rotom Phone. Trekking Shoes are not a solid alternative and it is not a matter of preference. The biggest struggle Zoroark has in general is drawing into Gapejaw Bog early enough. For this archetype to be able to lean into its strength, (being able to do 280 or 310 on turn two) it needs extra ways to find Gapejaw Bog as fast as possible. Rotom Phone is the best way to help you find Bog. Trekking Shoes will only let you see up to two cards, while Rotom Phone offers five options. It is true that you do not immediately draw into the card you want, while Trekking Shoes does put a card in your hand, but Oranguru can be utilized every turn to create a better version of the same effect. Even if you do not have Oranguru in play, Crobat, Research, Phantom Star, Marnie, or Serena will let you draw the card.
Rotom Phone also does not force you to discard a card to dig deeper. Zoroark is not a deck that has any interest in discarding cards other than the two Gengar. Trekking Shoes are strong in decks that have several copies of cards that are useful from the discard pile. An example of this would be Regis, where you do want to discard your 12 or 13 Energy as soon as you see them, to make better use of Ancient Wisdom. Zoroark is not a deck that is structured that way. When playing Zoroark, almost every time you discard a card using Trekking Shoes, it will make things a little bit harder for you as the game progresses.
The biggest mistake people make with Zoroark is playing Trekking Shoes over Rotom Phone.
Oranguru
With four Research, four Ultra Ball, four Quick Ball, and Phantom Star, you will be discarding loads of cards. To make this less of a problem you will need a consistent way to avoid discarding the most important resources, which is done best by Primate Wisdom. However, Oranguru is also more important in this list than in others because it makes your Rotom Phone engine function. I put a heavy priority on getting Oranguru into play with my Zoroark lists. You will want Oranguru in play as soon as turn one or turn two to avoid discarding key cards like Double Turbo, Pal Pad, and Ordinary Rod.
Eldegoss V/Lumineon V
Much of Zoroark’s power comes from its ability to drag up benched V Pokemon and knock them out. Eldegoss is the best way to recover Serena or Boss, especially in the late game. Eldegoss is also what makes it possible to start a loop against Miltank which is explained bellow. Surprisingly, Eldegoss serves a solid starter when playing second as well. Doing 30 damage (50 – 20 from DTE) and shuffling back in, can allow you to soften up a target and send a Gengar active to avoid your opponent knocking out Zoroark V.
On the other hand, you will want to have a way to search out Serena/Boss in the early or middle game, which is why Lumineon is also needed in the deck. You will usually use either Lumineon or Eldegoss in any given game, but using both is not as common. Sometimes you draw into Serena or Boss early and need to recover one later, other games you can’t find Serena/Boss and need to search one out.
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