Hello, Cut or Tap readers! I hope you’re all doing well. It’s been a while since I’ve written for Cut or Tap, so I’m excited to bring you a fun yet powerful deck today. In the months leading up to the World Championships, I was pretty set on playing Regidrago VSTAR from early on in my testing, which left me with little to write about. Although I experimented with other decks like Snorlax and Gardevoir, neither of them matched the power of Regidrago. My conviction in Regidrago for the World Championships remained strong, until I stumbled upon a powerful rogue deck the week before the tournament: Blood Moon Ursaluna with Iron Valiant ex.
This deck caught my eye after dominating a few sizeable online tournaments, prompting me to start testing it the week before Worlds. To my surprise, it was destroying everything in my testing – except for Gardevoir ex. Given the anticipated popularity of Regidrago at the World Championships, I was willing to accept a poor matchup against Gardevoir if it meant being favored against everything else. However, two days before the tournament, I realized that the Lugia matchup was also rather unfavorable if played properly by the Lugia player. This revelation led me to set the deck aside for the World Championships, as I believed Lugia would be the second or, at the very least, third most popular deck at the tournament. While taking a bad matchup against Gardevoir was acceptable, having unfavorable matchups against both Gardevoir and Lugia was not. As a result, I returned to my trusty Regidrago, which earned me a respectable 19th-place finish.
At Worlds, I faced just two Gardevoir decks and no Lugia decks. I ended up tying and losing to Iron Thorns ex, the deck which eventually won the tournament. If I had played Ursaluna, would I have performed just as well, if not better, than the Top 32 finish I managed with Regidrago? The world will never know. Fortunately, the upcoming Baltimore Regional Championships will provide me with another opportunity to showcase the power of this rogue deck, should I choose to bring it.
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