Welcome back, subscribers, to our beginning coverage of the Prismatic metagame in preparation for EUIC. In this piece I will detail a deck that has been not only competitive but extremely fun to play. I’ve enjoyed its iterations throughout the Stellar Crown format, and now with some new inclusions, we can stand up to the rest of the format. We will go over new strategies combatting the TCG’s newest big three: Gardevoir ex, Dragapult ex, and Miraidon ex. I will also teach the intricate math of this deck and what new pieces can add to it. Before going over the deck, we will review the Merida Regionals results, meta, and what to expect this to mean for the upcoming Puerto Rico SPE and the highly anticipated EUIC.

Merida Results

Up until this tournament, the meta was pretty predictable. Online events have been going on for weeks, as well as the Japanese tournaments held up until their rotation. Dragapult, Gardevoir, and Lugia had held the majority of success throughout this 3-5 week period which birthed a very interesting Top 8 at the Merida Regional. The week leading up to Merida, a few decks started seeing some slight success, one of them being Miraidon. Miraidon has an interesting meta position when you think about those top three decks I mention. Since Miraidon’s birth into competitive play, it has been favored into Gardevoir, thanks to Iron Hands’s Amp quickly dispatching prizes while keeping on the pressure with efficient attacks like Raikou’s Lightning Rondo. Now with the addition of Magneton, we can even score a KO on Gardevoir ex with our Raichu V. Dragapult has similar issues with early Amps, since Iron Hands targets down the Stage 1 draw engines both of these decks utilize.

Lastly, we have the incredible weakness advantage into Lugia Vstar, which doesn’t have much of a chance even with a thicker Cinccino line. This sparked extreme interest in Miraidon’s popularity, as well as one last key point I’ll make on the deck. Budew has been a corner piece to rounding out this meta. Itchy Pollen’s disruption against decks like Charizard ex and Terapagos ex/Dusknoir variants has left some of Miraidon’s toughest matchups in the dust. A perfect storm for Miraidon eventually led it to be the victor of the first event in Prismatic, giving Azul his 8th Regionals win. An impressive feat that probably will never be met unless Michael Pramawat wants to come out of retirement. (C’mon Pram – you can do it!) Talent is an understatement when you look at the players that chose to pilot Miraidon. Azul GG, Leandro Fernandes, Rafael Yuiti, and Caleb Rogerson all have a mountain of accomplishments together. This should show that the top player’s opinions on this format is that Miraidon is the best choice.

Among the other top decks, Gardevoir and Dragapult only claimed two spots of the Top 8. Two top American players, including Cut or Tap writer Michael Davidson, had some interesting list inclusions between their respective variants. Let’s start with Michael’s Gardevoir, which was heavily inspired from Henry Chao’s influence. Ace Spec choice has been a controversial topic for Gardevoir decks for some time. Secret Box, Precious Trolley, and Unfair Stamp have all seen Regional success, but this time they chose the older companion, Hero’s Cape. Now I won’t claim to be an expert on this tech as I haven’t tested it in this format, but I have to imagine it’s for creating a huge Gardevoir ex that Dusknoir+Dragapult cannot KO. Obviously Hero’s Cape can also boost the damage of our Scream Tail and Drifloon damage caps, which could be relevant but feels less useful. Michael also included three copies of Munkidori, which until this finish has only seen success in Japan. Not only does this increase your odds of setting up double Munkidori thanks to the third copy, but the third Munkidori also unlocks new swing plays like KO’ing Dragapult ex with Drifloon and Duskull in the same turn. Using three Adrena-Brain also allows you to KO 90HP Stage 1’s like opposing Kirlia or Drakloak. Lastly, it opens the possibility of doing 280 with Gardevoir ex on targets like Regidrago Vstar or Pidgeot ex. The last item I’ll mention is that Michael decided to include three copies of TM:Evo, which is the highest count seen so far. Having more outs to drawing it in the beginning turns is nice, also allowing for more Turn 1 Iono’s if Arven is simply too weak for your first setup turn.

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