Hello, Cut or Tap readers! Today I am going to be discussing a couple builds of Lost Box Giratina VSTAR, their strengths and weaknesses, and some important notes on playing the deck, since they feel quite a bit different from some of the more aggressive builds in the past.
Before getting into Giratina builds, I want to give a brief overview of my NAIC run. I decided on Arceus Duraludon Umbreon for a few reasons: it was consistently powerful, had a solid matchup spread, and could finish three games in a timely manner. With this, I felt fairly confident on a good finish. I was 6-2-1 at the end of Day 1, and 10-4-1 after Day 2, netting me a disappointing 40th place. In hindsight, the deck felt good, and was a good call as seen by Bodhi’s success with the same 60 in Seniors, but unfortunately this placement was not enough to keep me in Top 16 North America. Overall, though, I am still pretty pleased with my first full season in Masters, and there is still Worlds in a month to look forward to!
As seen in Japanese events, Lost Zone TIna has become a staple of the meta since rotation, with many high placements in Champions Leagues and the Japan Championships. However, until recently, it hasn’t seen too much play in the western world. With the rise of Arceus decks, Tina has been put into a strong position heading into local events for the 2024 season, and the 2023 World Championships and Yokohama Open.
With that being said, I am highlighting a few different lists, and will be going over what I like and dislike about each, as well as how one may be better than the other in a given meta, or how the tech cards should change. One note is that, unlike the fast-paced Lost Origins meta, most of the time these Tina builds will need to take a turn or two to utilize Abyss Seeking; this makes up for the lower switch card count, and the lack of the Lost Vacuum to ramp up the Lost Zone count. This early game can seem slower, and even when your opponent is able to respond to an early Giratina V, you are able to punish them for being ahead with Giratina’s high damage output, and the strong disruption provided by Iono and Roxanne.
After upgrading to Stage 2 you will see the rest of Piper’s article, an audio file of Andy Hyun narrating this article, and PTCGL friendly deck exports at the bottom of the article: 
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