Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

What Decks are smart to play at Regionals? What decks will see the most play?

i like burdn of a day

i like burdn of a day

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As many people have probably noticed, Kingdra has died out. Machamp has gotten popular, and Dialga G w/ Techs[No official name for the deck yet lol] is the current BDIF or the closest we've had to a BDIF since City's. What will we see rise to the top 16 at regionals and what will we see sink to the bottom of the tiers? Post your opinions here!

My thoughts on this is that Machamp will continue to gain popularity as it did in the last week of regionals, and so will Gengar. Dialga G and Legos will probably see the most play, but not all of them will be able to stand up against machamp.
 
i like Palkia more than the Dialga w/ Palkia combo, i can add in more techs and play Honchcrows Toxitank and other things. Unown J is a beast is all i can say.
 
I just dont get the attraction to the Dialga G/Palkia G deck. I have seen some very good players using it and frankly for a basic X deck its awfully slow even with the energy gains. I really doubt we will see too much of the Dialga G/Palika G at Regionals. I think its been proven to be a failed experiment.
 
JandPDS said:
I just dont get the attraction to the Dialga G/Palkia G deck. I have seen some very good players using it and frankly for a basic X deck its awfully slow even with the energy gains. I really doubt we will see too much of the Dialga G/Palika G at Regionals. I think its been proven to be a failed experiment.
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How is it slow? I don't see how a deck that can consistently pull off t2 50 + 10 spread to the bench is slow. I used it at VA states and went 9-0, my deck being one of the fastest at the tourney. Its deffinitly not slow. I wouldn't exactly call it a failed experiment either.
 
DarthPika said:
How is it slow? I don't see how a deck that can consistently pull off t2 50 + 10 spread to the bench is slow. I used it at VA states and went 9-0, my deck being one of the fastest at the tourney. Its deffinitly not slow. I wouldn't exactly call it a failed experiment either.
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Well you must have a better list, but a lot of the top players here in Washington used it, and it was not up to the usualy quality and consistancy of the decks that they usually use in State level events. I will be very suprised to see theese same players sticking with this deck at states. I can't imagine that they were too happy with them. Yes they did well at Sates with it, but a lot of theese players would have winning records at States./Regionals if you gave the an unmodified theme deck to use. I faced one deck in States and I was down 3-0 to it to start the game and came back to win, Now that should never happen to a good deck, I just dont see any synergy to pairing Dialga with Palkia G. Besides the fact that they are both SP pokemon thier pairing in a deck makes even less sense then Mario. At least thoes two pokemon use the same energy. Dialga shuts off bodies and hits big, while Palkia lmits bench size,and snipes. No real synergy of abilities or attacks there.
I suppose Palkia helps cover Dialgs Waekness, but what fire decks are played anymore? Yes you can use energy gain, PokeTurn and Power Spray with them, but that can be said about any SP deck. And using Energy Gain means you cant Unown G yourself leaving you very vaunerable to Machamp. I just dont see how this deck is worth of being played by top tier players. Usually you expect to see them playing a more effective deck then this. It was just a dissapointing deck I thought.
 
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JandPDS: Really? Like I don't wanna sound like a jerk or anything, but you really need to stop talking. Palkia/Dialga is currently the BDIF. It's the hardest deck to beat currently. It's extremely efficient as it can shut down powers and bodys while dealing out decent damage pretty fast, Palkia G Lv. X helps clean up the bench of Mesprits and Uxies and allows for a stable power lock, while Dialga stops bodys, can deafen lock you from setting up, or dish 2 for 70.

It's a fairly complicated deck to play but it's very efficient. Many good players will be using this for Regionals or at least teching against it.
 
I think Dialga G w/techs and NO palkia is the BDIF. Palkia doesn't do it that much good. its much better IMO to play Toolbox with 1 less Weavile Honchkrow Skunktank and Toxi G and a 3-1 Dialga G lvX line and 2-4 Mesprit, otherwise known as Dialga G w/ Techs. Palkia Is OK for Juniors, Maybe OK for Seniors, but im not sure its any better than OK.
 
Professor Elm said:
JandPDS: Really? Like I don't wanna sound like a jerk or anything, but you really need to stop talking. Palkia/Dialga is currently the BDIF. It's the hardest deck to beat currently. It's extremely efficient as it can shut down powers and bodys while dealing out decent damage pretty fast, Palkia G Lv. X helps clean up the bench of Mesprits and Uxies and allows for a stable power lock, while Dialga stops bodys, can deafen lock you from setting up, or dish 2 for 70.

It's a fairly complicated deck to play but it's very efficient. Many good players will be using this for Regionals or at least teching against it.
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Listen if you like it play it. I am not telling you not to. But I have seen it, and its not the BDIF. Not even close. It autolooses to Machamp. And I really dont see how constantly sending your Uxies and Mesprits to the lost zone is of any use at all. If you could get them back and use them again maybe, but once they are gone they are gone. And in a mirror match they will just Power spray away your ability to do that anyways.

And yes it does decent damage fast, but decent is just average, and that is with Energy gain. That card can be easily delt with with Pachirisu or Mismagnius. So not much to worry about there. I can almost guarentee you that this deck will have little success at Nationals or Worlds this year. (Of course last year I would have said the same about Blissey) I could be wrong about that but I dont think so. I really do nto see what is so hard about this deck to beat it. It has almost no donking ability. It is a B asic set up deck, and that is kind of an Oxymoron. Basic decks shold be Fast, real fast. I am more scrared of my opponent flipping over a Horsey or Machop then I am of a Palkia or Dialga G SP. I play Dialga G in my deck, I know how game changing it can be. and I have won games just with it. But my deck is not built arouund it. and Franky Palkia is truely the weak sister. Lost of pokemon have better spread attacks then it does. And why do 80 damage to one bech. for 2 water when yo could run Blastiose and to 60 to two pokemon for the same energy discard. When facing this deck once you clear the fields of Dialga it will have a hard time to come back. But there are a lot worse decks being plaed then this one. so if you do like it keep playing it by all means. But its in no way going to dminate this year any way close to ways top decks in years past did. IF this deck is the best deck out there. Then this is a down year for Pokemon.
 
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I've tried Gechamp. If you get an OK to amazing start, you blow your opponent away. if you get a miserably bad to not good start, its hard to make a comeback. having 2 stage 2 lines has its ups and downs.
 
Jand, you are making the mistake of making your entire opinion of the deck of the ones you saw. It's very possible that you saw bad/slow builds, but a well built one really is close to being BDIF. Don't underestimate the power of 50+ 10 spread to the bench T2 on, with a possible 80 snipe, bat drops, power lock thats amazingly good, body lock, poketurns, broken trainer engine, the fact that Palkia lv.x is a 120 HP basic among other things. One that REALLY focuses on either Palkia or Dialga should be so consistent its stupid, and it will also be quick. I agree that Champ is bad for it, and unless all the Palkia/Dialga players get creative I don't think its a very safe play for regs.

BTW, all the good Palkia/Dilga decks will focus on either Palkia or Dialga, and use the other one as more of a tech line. For example, a Palkia deck would run 3-1 Palkia and 1-1 Dialga. A Dialga deck woud run 3-1 Dialga and 1-1 Palkia. Having both gives the deck a LOT more options, but having to many of both can clutter it and slow it down.
 
DarthPika said:
Jand, you are making the mistake of making your entire opinion of the deck of the ones you saw. It's very possible that you saw bad/slow builds, but a well built one really is close to being BDIF. Don't underestimate the power of 50+ 10 spread to the bench T2 on, with a possible 80 snipe, bat drops, power lock thats amazingly good, body lock, poketurns, broken trainer engine, the fact that Palkia lv.x is a 120 HP basic among other things. One that REALLY focuses on either Palkia or Dialga should be so consistent its stupid, and it will also be quick. I agree that Champ is bad for it, and unless all the Palkia/Dialga players get creative I don't think its a very safe play for regs.

BTW, all the good Palkia/Dilga decks will focus on either Palkia or Dialga, and use the other one as more of a tech line. For example, a Palkia deck would run 3-1 Palkia and 1-1 Dialga. A Dialga deck woud run 3-1 Dialga and 1-1 Palkia. Having both gives the deck a LOT more options, but having to many of both can clutter it and slow it down.
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That's not true. Palkia/Dialga usually runs some sort of 3-1/3-1 or close to it. They don't run 1-1 as that would not be that helpful. A Dialga deck doesn''t run Palkia.

I expect to see the following decks and pretty much.

Palkia/Dialga
Dialga + Techs
Machamp
Regigigas

I really don't see anything being as popular as those 3 are. I mean I am sure there are a few decks that can beat all 3 but against random decks they might have issues.

Drew
 
Legos and Dialga are a lot better than what is given credit for. A ton of the really solid players in the US are playing one of these two variants. I've seen this deck accelerate and I've played it at two states events with losses only to a random Luxray, an Obama/Manec (due to my own stupidity), Mirror, and Machamp.

Out of all of these, Luxray doesn't get seen anymore, Obamatric is heavily in Legos/Dialga's favor, Mirror match bases on which G Deck you're using, and Machamp is obviously an auto loss. Truly, the only list you can argue to be a bad matchup was Machamp, which I know Holton and Fulop can both agree with me on, since they lost to the exact same list I did, and they were using the Dialga lists. Fulop went undefeated in swiss with his variant (Not ignoring his ability as a great player), and Holton went 6-1 with his. Fulop lost in T4 versus said machamp, Holton in T2. I don't see the argument at hand here if two solid players can cut with the deck, and it has been working around the world. I'm sorry, you saying Legos/Dialga is not a good deck is like arguing that Gardylade was bad. Mind you, said Machamp player also got paired up with every G deck in the top cut after his T16, and I'm not knocking the player as he's good, and his list was very fluid, but I know if he were to come up against a less favorable matchup, I think that Ohio states would have been much different.

I agree it isn't the safest choice for regionals unless your metagame is firmly going to counter Machamp, and I'm even opting to play something different to stray from that terrible yet annoying auto-loss.

Anyways, my rant aside, on topic;

Dialga G variant of G (Like it or not, it will still be seen, and I know some high end players will be ballsy enough to try to fight the few playing Machamp.)
Legos (Palkia variant. Its still good, just has a hard time versus Dialga mirror. For the same reason that Dialga will see play, this one will also.)
Gengar (Platinum set has made Gengar a lot better, it beats Machamp and can beat Kingdra. It also has a pretty solid matchup versus most G decks.)
Kingdra (This deck is not dead yet, contrary to popular belief. A good list can still put up a fight against a large majority of the meta game and will add to the slaying of Machamp decks everywhere.)
Obamatric (Only truly stopped by Dialga G Level X, this nasty guy stops Kingdra dead and can frustrate the heck out of Machamp.)
Regigigas (While not cutting as much, this guy is still a threat.)
AMU (Surprise deck at regionals. It's certainly gained a large portion of its speed back, and I would not be surprised to see more of this.)
Machamp (Love it. Hate it. Its around whether you like it or not. Counter it if you're scared of it.)
 
Machamp isn't an auto loss.
You should play 1 Unown G, and then you have Mesprit lock along with Power Sprays. If you get those going, then you stop their setup. Also, a G'd Uxie can act as a sufficient wall, hitting 50 for 1 and then 50 and bounce the next turn.
Also, a G'd Palkia/Dialga can last a while depending on their flips.

I dunno, maybe I just got lucky, but I felt it was a matchup in my favor when I played Tina in States.
 
Professor Elm said:
Machamp isn't an auto loss.
You should play 1 Unown G, and then you have Mesprit lock along with Power Sprays. If you get those going, then you stop their setup. Also, a G'd Uxie can act as a sufficient wall, hitting 50 for 1 and then 50 and bounce the next turn.
Also, a G'd Palkia/Dialga can last a while depending on their flips.

I dunno, maybe I just got lucky, but I felt it was a matchup in my favor when I played Tina in States.
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You got lucky as she is a skilled player. Player skill being equal a good Machap list should beat a good Dialga G/Palkia G list 4 out of 5 times. One G is not ennough, not when they can Warp Pt, Pokeblow up your bench for the OHKO. Enjoy this while you can next set Hippodon X will make this pairing completely unpairable.

Unlesss... anyone know the Japanese ruling on Sand Reset? If it gets power sprayed on one turn can it be used the following turn?
 
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