It’s great to be back with another article for everyone! Let’s look over the menace from Stellar Crown: Terapagos ex. This deck has exploded into the metagame, in no small part because it can end games as quickly as turn 3. I’ve been toying around with the lists quite a bit, but I feel I have settled on a 60 that if I were to play a regional tomorrow, I would be very comfortable with. With so many different lines to victory and tricky plays, this deck is one of the harder ones I’ve played, yet somehow it is also mind-numbingly easy when it all lines up. Let’s take a look at the list!

Pokémon (23):   3 Terapagos ex SCR 4 Hoothoot SCR 114 4 Noctowl SCR 115 3 Duskull SFA 018 2 Dusknoir SFA 020 1 Pidgey OBF 162 1 Pidgeot ex OBF 164 2 Fan Rotom SCR 118 1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141 1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 038 1 Manaphy BRS 041

Trainers (32):   2 Iono 2 Professor’s Research 1 Boss’s Orders 1 Briar 4 Nest Ball 4 Ultra Ball 4 Rare Candy 3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin 3 Night Stretcher 1 Counter Catcher 1 Energy Loto 1 Feather Ball 1 Prime Catcher 1 Switch 3 Area Zero Underdepths

Energy (5):   4 Double Turbo Energy 1 Jet Energy

 

Card Counts & Tech Choices

The good thing about these Terapagos ex decks is that they are pretty loose with their card counts and inclusions. If you like the Dusclops, you can play it! If you prefer Hisuian Heavy Ball, you can easily include it for something else and the consistency of the deck shouldn’t drop. I’ve been partial to the Noctowl/Pidgeot split as 3-3/2-0-2, respectively. However, I’ve been coming around on the 4-4/1-0-1 split lately, as during the game, you are really trying to aggressively find your Noctowl more than anything.

The 1-of Jet Energy has been very useful.  Against one-prize decks, you will often find yourself wanting to use Fan Rotom’s Assault Landing attack that deals 70 damage for 1 Energy. This can effectively deal with small basics and leave a Pokémon active that your opponent will not care to interact with. I have also used Rotom to clean up swings into Pokémon like Lugia VSTAR, Regidrago VSTAR, and Raging Bolt ex. This, coupled with a hand reset to 4 or less cards, can usually make closing out the game more difficult for your opponent. I’ve been doing nothing but grinding games with this deck and feel confident this 60 is close to perfect. I wanted to go over some card choices I have here and why I’ve included them, as well as other cards I’ve chosen not to include.

Briar is a new card that also came in Stellar Crown, and it initially was slated to make a huge impact on the metagame. I believe it has shaken up some deckbuilding or strategies going into certain matchups, but I do not believe it has been as impactful as people have made it out to be. While it is still an incredibly effective card, I feel a lot of times that it is dead in the deck. The problem is: you never want to need it and not have it. Because this deck can be fragile, you want the possibility of just ending the game a turn earlier, as a turn later can lose you lots of games. You’ll often find the trouble with this deck is figuring out the best time to play the card, and sometimes you may accidentally overextend to try to pull off the Briar play when it is not always necessary to win. It’s important to remain conservative with your resources and keep in mind that you do not always need to push to win the game that turn. I would say I’ve used this card in about 1 of every 6 games. It’s certainly a card I want to cut but doing so will remove a win condition that you absolutely cannot afford to give up.

Now, let’s look at some cards I’ve decided against playing, but which are common inclusions in other Terapagos lists. I have been waffling between including Dusclops or not. While Dusclops can offer tricky plays versus stall decks or cleaning up Pokémon, I’ve found most games I just never get the chance or the need to play it. The only real benefit I’ve found to playing it is being able to evolve a Duskull and, therefore, reducing the need to find Rare Candy on a subsequent turn. There are a few niche situations I’ve found that I miss it, however, it’s always important to remember that these niche situations are just that, and to maintain consistency over the course of a major tournament, you need the 60 cards that play optimally most often. The space that Dusclops takes up is detrimental to the deck’s strategy in taking multiple fast, aggressive knockouts on your second or third turn. I’ve trimmed a lot of the excess cards in the deck that were only beneficial in super long games, as you are trying to effectively end games by turn 3 or 4.

Bouffalant is a popular addition to the deck, however, I have not found situations where it would help extensively, and the cards you need to cut for it are too important for me to give up. Choosing to play Bouffalant is an entirely reasonable inclusion; I just have not found room for it in this current list. The good thing about Bouffalant is that it greatly improves your Regidrago matchup. I think the easy cut for 1 of the Bouffalant is the Manaphy. The problem is: if your opponent is planning to use Kyurem to wipe some of your board, your Noctowls and Duskulls will still be vulnerable. This is why I feel Manaphy is the better card for this deck. While we’re on the subject, I will say Regidrago (and any Dragapult-esque decks) are going to be rough matchups. Their ability to spread 60 to the bench through Manaphy and other Pokémon is often way too oppressive for Terapagos to overcome.

Colress’s Tenacity is a common option for this deck that came to us in Shrouded Fable. At first glance, you would assume it slots nicely as a little 1-of consistency card when you can just Noctowl for it to get your stadium and a Double Turbo Energy. However, in practice, it will often be a little too slow to implement properly. Being such an aggressive deck, you will want to play a Professor’s Research to draw a bunch of cards. Doing this restricts you from using Colress’s Tenacity, so I’ve included a copy of Energy Loto and I’ve honestly been wildly impressed with how much it has improved consistency. Being able to Research into a Noctowl to use to dig further with an Energy Loto has improved my turn 2 attack statistic to about 82% when it was sitting around 70%. This jump has a substantial impact on the card’s justification. Just as with Bouffalant, I do not think it’s incorrect if someone decides to play Colress’s Tenacity, as it certainly has a home in the deck—It just does not fit what I’m trying to accomplish with the list.

A card that has been in and out of the deck for me is Vitality Band. I think Vitality Band is a good card for this deck. It just has not been good enough to justify. It’s another one of those situations where when it’s good, it’s very good, but it is dead a lot of times, unfortunately. Unlike Briar, the option to have it can be forgone, since you can also find alternate win strategies that play around not having it. The main function it serves is in the mirror match and being able to clear your opponent’s Terapagos for 230 damage. You might think, “what if they play Bouffalant?” Well, you simply pop a Dusknoir on one of their Bouffalant, then resume your big swing. (This is also another reason I have not been able to justify the Bouffalants thus far.) It’s also important to remember that Vitality Band serves a couple other niche situations where you can clean up an Iron Hands ex in one hit, or even use Blood Moon a turn earlier with a Double Turbo+Vitality to hit for 230 to clean up Terapagos or Iron Hands. It can also fix math if you manage to only get 6 benched Pokémon where you can suddenly one-shot Lumineon V. It’s important to keep all these uses in mind if you decide to use Vitality Band, however this specific situation comes up so rarely. It keeps getting cut from my list because it’s supposed to be a good mirror tech, but in the mirror, you can simply swing around it and win the game by sequestering their Duskulls—this renders Vitality Band mostly useless.

I’ve seen a lot of lists playing Pal Pad, and I don’t necessarily think it’s unreasonable. Sometimes, your Ultra Ball discards can be rough and you’ll have to discard your 1-of Briar, or you’ll need to reuse Boss’s Orders. However, I’ve tried to trim this list to be very lean and consistent, and drawing it early game rather than a ball search or other piece to get the turn-2 attack can hinder setup just enough to whiff a knockout. I do not hate playing it, and it’s one of those cards that can easily find its way back in my list, I just have not found the need for it just yet. This opinion may change as I play more games, but I haven’t seen the huge benefit that outweighs the negatives of it taking up space in the deck.

 

 Matchups

Next, I’d like to go over some matchups into some of the most popular decks in the format. I want to preface this next section by reiterating that Dragapult ex and Regidrago VSTAR decks are going to be some of the toughest matchups. Additionally, keep in mind that there’s not one matchup that you want to go second into, so always choose first when given the option or hope your opponent chooses to go second.

The first matchup I want to go over is the mirror match. After testing this matchup extensively with my good friend and testing partner, Eric, we found that it’s literally whoever goes first will win about 95% of the time, with no exaggeration. Essentially what you will be trying to do is ensure you will take the first prize card as well as set up your Duskulls before your opponent can use their Duskulls to knock them out. You will then, in turn, go up on the prize trade being able to do this. The trick here, however, is you need to keep their board as locked down as possible. If they only have 1 Pidgey or 1 Noctowl, you will want to use Dusknoir to knock those out before they can become consistency engines for your opponent. Going first in this matchup means you will be the first person able to take a prize and should be the favoured player to keep taking prizes and keep setting up, while the other player will usually succumb to a lack of Noctowl, drawing cards, and keeping up the prize trade. Unfortunately, if you hit the mirror match and you’re forced to go second, you just have to pray they brick.

The next matchup we’re going to look at is Raging Bolt! Raging Bolt as a deck can be played one of two ways: with Dusknoir or without Dusknoir. The Dusknoir builds have recently started gaining popularity, as they allow Raging Bolt to trade favourably with decks such as ours. The problem with this build of Raging Bolt is that it is inconsistent to pull off the Dusknoir play. This still works in your favour, however if they play Dusknoir, you will need to remain steadfast to avoid putting yourself in a poor board state. If they do not play Dusknoir, your matchup is much better. In this matchup you will be going first, because they will voluntarily choose to go second. During your first turn, you desperately don’t want to start one of your 2-prize Pokémon. You will want to hold your Terapagos in hand, and not play down any 2-prizers. Raging Bolt usually plays minimal, if any, hand reset; and they are even less likely play it turn 1. If they play hand reset turn 1 you can rest easy knowing your prize trade just got unbeatable. Maintain a 1-prize board on your first turn, then blow up the next turn. They will typically take 1 prize on their first turn. This is great for you as it activates Counter Catcher, which is the ideal gust to use the soonest. Prime Catcher will be the gust I try to save for last—you’ll be able to play a Research to have one last push through the remainder of your deck to find it and refill your bench. The trick with this matchup is that you cannot stumble, or else Raging Bolt will take prizes too fast for you to keep up with. Your second turn must see you taking a 2-prize knockout. The only 2-prize Pokémon you can knock out on their bench will be Squawkabilly ex, Fezandipiti ex, or Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. Fezandipiti ex is almost always my first target. It is usually more difficult for a Raging Bolt to recover Fezandipiti and use it effectively the turn after you knock it out when they have not amassed a large hand. I always favour leaving Squawkabilly alone for as long as possible. This is because your opponent will attach Bravery Charm to their Teal Mask Ogerpon or Fezandipiti to keep them out of reach of being knocked out, if they understand the matchup. So, you will want to take them out while they do not have these attached. The Squawkabilly will still be within reach even with a Bravery Charm. The most important part of this matchup is that you take 2 prizes on your second turn, so if Squawkabilly is your only option, that will still be okay. You’ll just then need to play around them potentially attaching Charms to their Ogerpon by setting up Dusknoir to finish them off. This play, however, can cause problems for Terapagos in that you can almost never effectively use Dusknoir, so I typically just forgo using them as much as possible in this matchup. It’ll still be good to set one up if it’s convenient, but I won’t go out of my way to. Your follow up turns will see your Terapagos knocked out, your opponent at 3 prizes. They will probably have played PokéStop to bump your Underdepths, which you will want to re-set up. Then, hopefully your hand has worked out well enough that you can play Boss’s Orders to knock out another benched 2-prize Pokémon. If you use Dusknoir here, then your opponent can simply take their last 2 prizes and win, which is why it’s not useful in this matchup and also where it gets sketchy if they play Dusknoir themselves. Overall, I believe this matchup is a 50/50, due to the games you start a 2-prizer and lose based on that and conversely where you set up perfectly and they can’t do much about it.

The third matchup we’ll be looking at is Regidrago VSTAR. Regidrago VSTAR is a matchup I would consider to be unfavourable. The good news is that going first will significantly increase your chances of winning. In this matchup, you will want to get the Manaphy down to prevent Kyurem from being able to sweep your board and ruin your setup. The side-benefit of cutting Colress’s Tenacity is that Kyurem proper cannot use Tri-Frost for 1 energy. You will aim to spend your second turn targeting down their Regidrago V they’ve put the most energies on. If they have 2 Regidrago V setup, one may have a Fire energy attached, and the other a Grass energy. In these cases, you take the Fire energy, as this will force the most resources out of your opponent to recover. You will then play this matchup like Raging Bolt. The difference in this matchup is that they rarely ever get a turn 1 knock out going second. If they even go for something like that, Terapagos will be able to respond and wipe away a lot of resources that they spent to get that going, so there’s no real worries there. You will be looking to gust around their Regidrago VSTAR, because it is never worth it to setup a two-hit nor a Dusknoir clean up. The ironic part about this matchup is that you will likely need to bench Duskulls to reach 220. Leaving them as Duskulls, however, will lose you the game as your opponent will be able to copy Dragapult ex’s Phantom Dive to take multi-prize turns and win very fast, so you will need to evolve them into Dusknoir as soon as possible. They will be able to use Radiant Charizard very effectively to make it quite difficult to take your last 2 prizes, so ensuring your have a proper board set up through the Phantom Dives will prove challenging, but it is not an impossible matchup by any means.

Dragapult ex is another matchup that will prove difficult for the same reasons as Regidrago, except with one key difference: they play far fewer 2-prize Pokémon. Going first will ideally see you popping a Dusknoir on one of their 2 Dreepy they are likely to start with, then you will chase their other one to set them very far back. If you can manage to knock out all of their Dreepy on your second turn, they will fold immediately. If the Dragapult you are playing against plays Dusknoir keep in mind that targeting those down will not be a good use of resources in most cases. The upshot of that is Dragapult does not consistently set up their Dusknoir. You will try to use your Dusknoir to knock out their Dreepy and Drakloak as much as possible. Keep in mind that Dragapult can effectively knock out all of your Duskulls constantly, restricting your options quite considerably. This is one matchup where Briar can really turn the tables if you can manage to get to 3 prizes and gust their Rotom or Lumineon V to win the game. Unfortunately, this matchup is just rough, so you will need to fight hard to win this one. This is why we try to play as fast as possible to put on as much aggression as possible, so they do not have great responses to our threats.

The next and final matchup I want to touch on is Lugia VSTAR. This matchup is one that if you can squeeze their only Lugia on your second turn, you should be able to sweep from there. The deck is built to consistently get the turn 2 knock out on 2-prize Pokémon, but if they are able to find 2 Lugia V, it will be difficult to rise above this matchup as well. Your outs from here will be to use Dusknoir on their Cinccino, gust their Archeops and restrict their ability to flood the board with energy as much as possible. Iron Hands ex can prove a difficult Pokémon to overcome in this matchup as well, so knocking out their Archeops will be tantamount to winning. Lugia usually plays 4 Boss’s Orders, 2 Lumineon and 10 ways to find the Lumineon, so if they set up Iron Hands ex, it may just be GGs. Play the board, find your out, however tricky it may be. This matchup is the one that sketches me out the most and is my biggest argument for Vitality Band. It’s important to remember you can utilize Jet Energy+Fan Rotom to knock out and Minccino they may start, as well. This may invite Iron Hands, however, Cinccino is a slightly bigger concern in some ways, as it’s one of their only ways to one-shot our Pidgeot ex, Terapagos ex, and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex. From there, chasing their Archeops can prove an effective strategy. Another tech consideration for this deck is a one-of Spiritomb which can swing this matchup and Snorlax stall. This will turn their outs to boss to just the 4 copies proper. Playing a Spiritomb can also restrict their setup as they may need to use it to find a Professor’s Research to discard Archeops, find Jacq for their Archeops, or find Iono to put their hand of 10 energy back in the deck.

Overall, the game plan for this deck is to be aggressive, fast, and to put a chokehold on the game so your opponent cannot play effectively. Accomplishing this will depend a lot on your coin flip if you’re going first or not, and how well you can study each matchup’s setup to best play around their outs to your strategy. You’ll always need to keep in mind that using Dusknoir can put your opponent closer to winning, so ensuring you do not misstep and give them an out to win is key. This deck is one of my top picks for Louisville coming up this weekend because it has proven to be very consistent at doing what it wants to do. Give the deck a try and I’m always around on X (formerly Twitter) for questions or reaching out for feedback on my articles. I also offer coaching services for anyone in the Hamilton area at Dark Fox TCG or abroad via video chat/screensharing with Pokémon TCG Live. I’m excited to travel out to Louisville and I’m feeling pretty confident with the deck thus far! If you are going as well, feel free to stop me to say hello! I wish everyone the best of luck in their future tournaments!

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