Introduction
Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Recently I got 5th Place out of roughly 1150 players at the Regional Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee! Up until this point, I had been playing Lugia/Archeops, and was both getting bored and not seeing the success I wanted to with the deck, so after Orlando, I knew I had to change things up. Leading up to the event, I had been testing a lot of different Lost Box lists, but none felt quite right, as I wasn’t super confident in the Lugia matchup. When OCIC came around, my friend Bodhi Robinson played Palkia/Inteleon to a Top 4 finish, and they suggested I play the deck in Knoxville. After a bit of testing against Lugia, I felt great, and was ready for the weekend.
List
| Pokémon – 21 | Trainers – 32 | Energy – 7 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Sobble | 1 | Training Court | 3 | Battle VIP Pass | 6 | Water | ||
| 3 | Drizzile | 1 | Lost City | 3 | Scoop Up Net | 1 | Wash | ||
| 2 | Inteleon CRE | 3 | Capacious Bucket | ||||||
| 1 | Inteleon SSH | 4 | Irida | 3 | Evolution Incense | ||||
| 2 | Palkia V | 2 | Raihan | 3 | Quick Ball | ||||
| 2 | Palkia VSTAR | 2 | Boss’s Orders | 1 | Level Ball | ||||
| 2 | Articuno | 1 | Thorton | 1 | Pal Pad | ||||
| 1 | Crabominable V | 1 | Escape Rope | ||||||
| 1 | Radiant Greninja | 1 | Hisuian Heavy Ball | ||||||
| 1 | Drapion V | 1 | Emergency Jelly | ||||||
| 1 | Eiscue | 1 | Cape of Toughness | ||||||
| 1 | Manaphy | ||||||||
Card Choices
Crabominable V
Primarily for tankier matchups, such as Arc/Dura or Goodra. Crabominable was an underwhelming card in my run, as I didn’t play against any. However, I was able to deck out two opponents with the first attack, including in my Top 8 win-and-in. Furthermore, Crabominable can help with some routing into Mew decks. While the card may feel bad sometimes, I do believe Cape is a great card in the deck, even without Crabominable, and at that point, making three matchups better in a 14- or 15-round event, for only one deck slot feels worth it.
Lost City
Lost City may seem unnecessary, and a second Training Court or some other stadium is better. However, Lost City allows you to win with a solo Eiscue against Lost Box decks with a Dragonite V, as well as punishing Regis if they have to burn too many stadiums.
Level Ball
Level Ball is a card I have seen cut in some lists, and that’s honestly fair. I like it as a consistency boost, but it is definitely at the top of my cuts list.
Escape Rope
Escape Rope was the main card I wanted in the list for a while, and I had originally cut Level Ball (from Bodhi’s Top 4 list) for it, but eventually we figured it was probably better to cut Roxanne, as Roxanne was having very little usage due to it being limited to the late game. Rope ended up as one of the best cards in my deck. Not only did it provide a non-Supporter pseudo-gusting effect, allowing me to use Raihan in the same turn, but it gave my V Pokemon increased mobility, such as if i started one and wanted to maneuver into a Sobble’s Keep Calling that turn, or if a paralysis-trapped opponent tried to Boss or Serena up a Palkia VSTAR.
Cape of Toughness
The main intention of Cape of Toughness is for Crabominable to be able to withstand hits against Arceus/Duraludon or Goodra, however the card provides a multitude of options against the meta. My most common use for the Cape was either adding HP to my Drapion against Mew, making them need a few extra pieces to deal with it, or to get one more turn of paralysis lock with Articuno. The latter of these is a bit more awkward, as it raises the question: why not just play another Emergency Jelly?
Beyond this usefulness, you can put a cape onto Eiscue, allowing it to survive an extra Dragonite hit, which in combination with an earlier Jelly and a Lost City, can allow you to deal with Lost Box’s out to your Eiscue. Furthermore, against Lugia, if you need to bench a Palkia V, you can Cape the Palkia and force your opponent to find Lost Vacuum immediately, or overcommit onto a Lugia VSTAR and take the KO, opening the door for a paralysis lock. Overall, I think the added utility against more than just Lugia made Cape a better option rather than a second Jelly, however I did still find myself missing second Jelly if the one were prized against Lugia.
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Great article, and congrats on the top 8!
I also played a similar Palkia list at Knoxville, but I played 2x SD Inteleon, 1x QS Inteleon, and played Radiant Alakazam instead of Radiant Greninja to make the math work out for mid-turn KOs. Just out of curiosity, did you ever consider anything similar or do you think Greninja is too vital to cut?
Sorry for the late response, but I think 2 QS is very strong into Lugia (mainly prizing issues), and Radiant Greninja’s attack is very powerful, so that with that and consistency I would go with that. 2nd SD is definitely something I would consider. If you wanted to go with an Alakazam build, maybe the Frosmoth Inteleon list that got top 16(?) at Utrecht is the way to go, they also did well at OCIC if I am remembering correctly.