Welcome back, Cut or Tap readers! After only about a month of tournaments, the Prismatic Evolutions format is coming to an end with Vancouver Regionals being the last major tournament in North America before rotation on April 11th. In this article, I will be covering my top three deck choices for Vancouver Regionals (and Fortaleza Regionals on the same weekend), however I’m sure they will still be top choices for Stockholm and Brisbane Regionals toward the end of March.
After Miraidon ex dominated Mérida Regionals and the Puerto Rico Special Event, many expected the deck to stay at the top of the metagame and dominate EUIC as well. While the deck saw a high playrate at EUIC, none were able to convert into the Top Cut. Since the deck was on a hot streak of insane placements, many players teched Klefki into their Gardevoir and Dragapult lists as a way to slow down Miraidon. Additionally, many top players chose to bring decks with a favorable matchup into Miraidon, including Gholdengo ex, Lost Zone Box, and Snorlax Stall. With these decks seeing success at the top tables, it was hard for Miraidon to make it into the Top Cut.
The Top Cut was made up of a combination of Terapagos ex/Klawf, Dragapult ex (with and without Dusknoir), Gholdengo ex, Archaludon ex/Dialga VSTAR, and Snorlax Stall. Seeing no Miraidon, Gardevoir, or traditional Archaludon ex lists in Top Cut was certainly a surprise, however many of the decks that succeeded capitalized on a metagame centered around Dragapult/Dusknoir, Gardevoir, and Miraidon. Moving forward, I expect Terapagos ex/Klawf and Gholdengo to rise in play rate, reaching around 5% play rate or more at Vancouver Regionals. With these decks seeing more play and Dragapult, Gardevoir, Miraidon, and Archaludon all still being fairly popular decks, everyone is left to wonder what will happen next.
With Terapagos ex/Klawf winning EUIC alongside four additional Top 32 finishes, it is clear that this deck is the most successful deck (and a fairly surprising one at that) to come out of the largest International Championships to date. Terapagos/Klawf capitalizes on being the best deck to utilize Budew’s Item lock, combining its 10 damage with Poison damage, Radiant Sneasler to amplify Poison damage, and Binding Mochi to deal an additional 40 damage. Using Budew on Turn 1 going second has a high impact on the ability of slow decks like Dragapult and Gardevoir to set up properly. By taking multiple early prize cards with Budew, the Terapagos/Klawf archetype puts itself in a good position to close out the game with Terapagos ex, Kieran, and Munkidori to allow for potential one hit KOs on Stage 2 ex Pokémon.
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