Power of the white fox |ヒスイゾロアーク|

2022年11月8日 01:59

Introduction

Hello, I'm Lucy (ルーシー)
I'm from Singapore and we recently had our Regionals and 3 Town Leagues for the first quarter of the 2022-2023 Pokémon Championships.

I wanted to make an article on my thoughts of Jade Zoroark Vstar before the format in Singapore is changed by the introduction of Silver Tempest.

Why I chose ヒスイゾロアーク

In Singapore our format for Tournaments is Bo1.
Which can affect the construction and effects of certain decks compared to a Bo3 format.

In a Bo1 format, a deck that will do well in a consistency-based scenario could easily be outpaced and outperformed by high roll decks that only require 1 good draw game.

Such a format that only require a game to win is perfect for decks such as Mew Vmax, and Hisuian Zoroark Vstar that have strong draw power to outpace consistency structured decks such as Arceus Vstar and Palkia Vstar.

The Reason why I chose to pilot the white fox over Mew or Palkia, is due to the higher damage output it can attain, with its strong draw capability.

Deck List

Hawlucha over Gardevoir for Vmax OHKO.

Changed into water variant for better matchups against Kyurem Vmax and Duraludon Vmax.
Empoleon V was a strong counter to Lost Box Variants, Milktank stalls and Regigigas decks.

Beaver was chosen over Trecking Shoes to counter Roxanne as Vstar Power is used early.
Dunsparce was added for better Regigigas match up.
Avery is a good opponent board control.

Results

At Singapore September Regionals. The deck performed better than expected compared to practice.
I beat most of the Lost Box I met and lost due to a misplay of my own making causing a double loss to Milktank Lost Box.
The water energy shined in my Duraludon Vmax match as i was able to one shot a 360Hp Vmax.

Placed 22/131 at Singapore’s Pokémon TCG Regionals. Bo1/ 8 rounds.

+150cp#PTCG pic.twitter.com/2y4IOgxhpC
— Spooky Lucy (@Lucy_1st) September 17, 2022

At a Town League in October I brought the Beaver Water variant to hold up better against Roxanne that I encountered from Regionals, but I dropped out after a 1-2 finish as I knew I would not make it to top 8.

I lost to Duraludon Vmax due to prizing 2 Hisuian Zoroark Vstar thus unable to set up fast enough.
I lost to Mew Vmax due to whiffing my Hisuian Zoroark Vstar 2 turns back to back after researching on each turn.

Reflection

Over all I'm happy with how the deck performed when it did matter at regionals.

The use of the Water Variant is indeed strong against Vmaxs but slows down the deck due to the extra clunk it brings.
Empoleon V could be cut from the deck if Lost Box are not common at events but still a great card to keep against the match ups.
Dunsparce could also be cut if Regis are not common.
Avery could be cut from the deck as the impact is minimal in Meloetta Mew and Palkia has plentiful Pokémon to refill their bench
Diancie could be added to protect Zoroark from boss when starting second.

The speed of setup and turn 2 damage output of ZoroarkVstar is no joke in a meta with other decks that require more setup for a OHKO.
But the performance and consistency of board setup is more reliant on draws compared to other decks in the meta.

Going into the new set.

With the introduction of Silver Tempest, there will be more decks running special energy such as Lugia Vstar.
Which will lead to a larger amount of Duraludon will show up in tournaments.

Zoroark like Mew, will benefit from the addition of V-Guard energy.
To capitalize on the addition Zoroark decks will likely switch from Hawlucha to Gardevoir in order to be able to force a 2 hit from their opponents to take a 2 prize Fox.

Water Zoroark Vstar will likely continue to best Duraludon but wil fall behind Mew as the necessities to OHKO a Mew Vmax with V-Guard will increase.

Base Zoroark Vstar has shown a strong result in Asia's Bo1 format, taking 1st, 4th and 5th at Malaysia Regional 2022.
It will likely continue to show great results after Silver Tempest but will face the same hurdles of prize trade and anti special energy decks.

In conclusion, Hisuian Zoroark Vstar will shine brighter than any other deck that requires good draws, but will face higher inconsitency and harder matchups against anti special energy decks.