Hello Cut or Tap readers! This past weekend, the Sacramento Regional Championships took place, and I managed to place in the Top 16 with Regidrago VStar. This tournament was the first event with Surging Sparks legal, and it seemed like many players finally caught on to how good Regidrago VStar was, with it shooting up in play rate from a fairly constant 8% last format to 13% at this event. The deck also filled up much of Top 8, but only made one appearance in Top 4 and none in the finals. This was because of the emergence of Miraidon ex, a deck that had been under the radar for a while, but picked up some new tricks in the last couple of sets and finally looks like it may be ready to shine.
In this article I will discuss why Miraidon ex was so successful, my take on the deck, and its chance for success moving forward.
Miraidon’s Improvements
Miraidon gained a substantial amount in the last couple of sets, with the most important enabler being Area Zero Underdepths from Stellar Crown. This card has two important functions: 1) allowing you to bench a near-unlimited amount of support Pokemon, and 2) swinging for big damage at a cost of just two energy with Raikou V. Miraidon also is not hurt too badly by the opponent removing the Area Zero from play, as you usually do not need the value from it for more than one turn. You simply discard your single-use support Pokemon such as Lumineon V, Squawkabilly ex, your Area Zero-enabler Pikachu ex, or attackers you don’t need anymore. The value mostly comes from the fact that you are able to both abuse the single-use support Pokemon while still getting to bench the multi-use ones such as Mew ex, Fezandipiti ex, and Radiant Greninja while potentially getting a knockout in for cheap. These benefits are also heightened by Secret Box, as Area Zero can consistently be reached on the turn that it is needed.
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