Welcome back, Subs, and all praise to the most high! We’ve just finished this string of on-and-off tournaments, taking us from Portland to Charlotte then Liverpool, now heading into a double-Regional weekend for Melbourne and Knoxville. A fantastic time to be a Pokemon fan, and a tougher time to be a competitor.
As stated over my last few articles, the meta has shaped up to an RPS format, so that leaves room for some rogues to start to seep through the cracks. This piece will detail a few Arceus lists that have had success, from Portland all the way to Liverpool. We’ll go over why Arceus makes sense in this format, and what partners are best.
(Disclaimer of honesty: I want to inform you guys that I will not be considering an Arceus deck for Knoxville. I think it’s decently positioned and has some good matchups, but I just don’t like Judge/Path-reliant decks such as Mew Vmax.
To begin, why is Arceus sneaking into Day 2 and Top Cuts? First and foremost is the dedication of Arceus players that keeps them playing it, such as Makani Tran, Joe Turrentine, and the Stratford brothers. A big appeal to Arceus decks is the built-in consistency of Starbirth to allow a stable early game, while energy acceleration from Trinity Nova allows your attackers to be powered up throughout each game.
After upgrading to Stage 2 you will see the rest of Hunter Butler’s article and an audio recording of this article by Andy Hyun: 
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You must have a Stage 2 Membership or greater to see the rest of this post. If you don't have a Stage 2 account, you can Sign Up for one here.