My Vivid Voltage journey & results - Sticking with the trusted formula the entire format (4 months worth) - Centiskorch VMAX

So Centiskorch VMAX did a whole world of good for me back in the Team Up to Darkness Ablaze format and with Vivid Voltage (and Shining Fates for that matter), not really giving us any new stuff to work with, I thought why not stick with Centiskorch and keep making it better for this particular format. I enjoy playing the deck, and I have said that I will continue to play Welder until the day it rotates, so why not keep representing the Skorch Gang at these online events? 

So I pretty much decided early on that I was mainly going to focus on Centiskorch for the entire TEU to VIV/SHF format just to see how I could keep improving on the deck and also to prove the doubters wrong about the deck. Everyone has this weird illusion that the deck is bad and it's easy to play but once you see the results, you'll know the truth. And I can say for a fact, just because it's a Welder deck, it's not that easy to make Centiskorch work, you don't just stack all the energies on one guy and attack, that's just stupid.

But first of, I might as well share the backbone of the deck that I have been playing for the past 4 months (and also the previous 3 with the Darkness Ablaze format). I wanted to see how I could use one base list, work on it for an entire format and see how far my friend Thomas Brophy and I can push it, use the deck to it's most potential and get the very best out of it. 

And I'd like to think we did prove that the base-line works but I never expected it to have seen as much success as it has, and with many others playing the base-line list too which makes me really happy and proud. That just shows that people believe we made something that was good but also consistently getting high placings. I've tried to make my own lists work many times before so it felt good to know this one was well received by many others (and that hey, maybe I can make something work). But of course, without the help of Thomas, Jake Pilch, Alex Schemanske, Josh Frink and a few others, this would have never taken off as it did. 

The Deck

The base line I'd like to think are made up of these 50 cards that have been a constant the entire time I've played Centiskorch VMAX in this format. So no matter how the list looks like, these cards will 100% be in them:

Pokemon: (14)

x2 Jirachi - TEU
x2 Volcanion - UNB
x3 Centiskorch V - DAA
x3 Centiskorch VMAX - DAA
x2 Dedenne-GX - UNB
x1 Crobat V - DAA
x1 Eldegoss V - RCL

3-3 Centiskorch V-VMAX has been a constant for me, you don't need a 4-4 line since you're heavily reliant on the support Pokemon in the deck. I have tried the 4th Centiskorch V but whenever I try it, I seem to have a much harder time to get them out, which is weird is the odds of getting them should be better but it never works out that way. 2 Volcanions have been fine so far to help get the first turn Flare Starter or to counter stuff like Decidueye or Altaria.

As for the support Pokemon, I personally prefer 3 Jirachi but 2 is a definite must no matter what. 2 Dedenne-GX to help you speed things up as would Crobat V does (I personally prefer having 2 of them). And of course Eldegoss V to get you the Welder you need or the game winning Boss, or even that Bird Keeper to help you get out of a mess.

Trainer & Energy: (36)

Search: 
x4 Quick Ball
x3 Pokemon Communication

Switch Outs:
x4 Scoop Up Net
x4 Switch

Fire Energy Engine
x3 Giant Hearth
x1 Fire Crystal
x4 Welder
x11 Fire Energy

Gust
x2 Boss's Orders

7 search outs doesn't sound much but it works well for me, 4 Quick Ball is a must and 3 Pokemon Communication is alright, if there was extra space a 4th Comm would be ideal.

8 switch outs is perfect. The deck relies heavily on Jirachi so you need the 4 Nets but the tech options like Zigzagoon and Giratina will come in handy. 4 switch is a must.

The 2 Boss's Orders have been alright, I recently tried 3 and it just never quite worked strangely enough so I prefer the Great Catcher and Phione as my other gust options.

As for the Fire engines, 3 Giant Heart is a must, and I personally prefer to have 2 Fire Crystal which helps against Swell and even help in niche situations whenever one big attacker goes down. 11 energy seems to be the perfect number for the deck. And of course, 4 Welder is a must. Need I say more? Without Welder, you can't hit for crazy amounts of damage or draw more cards.

Now with the base-line set, it's time to fill up the last 10 spots in the decks with various tech options to choose from so this is what I've got for the last few spots in the deck at any given time:

Spot #1 - Alternate Attacker

• Reshiram & Charizard-GX (My Preferred Choice)
• Heatran-GX
• Talonflame V

Spot #2 - Chance of Comeback

• Cramorant V (My Preferred Choice)
• Reset Stamp

Spot #3 - 3rd Consistency Booster

• 3rd Jirachi TEU (My Preferred Choice)
• 3rd Volcanion UNB

Spots #4, #5, #6 - Single Prize Tech Options

• Galarian Zigzagoon SUM (My Preferred Choice)
• Giratina UNM (My Preferred Choice)
• Phione CEC (My Preferred Choice)
• Marshadow UNB
• 4th Jirachi TEU

Spot #7 - More Support

• 2nd Crobat V DAA (My Preferred Choice)
• 2nd Eldegoss V RCL
• Professor's Research
• Marnie
• 4th Pokémon Communication

Spot #8 - Additional Supporter

• Bird Keeper (My Preferred Choice)
• Mallow and Lana

Spot #9 - Additional Item

• Great Catcher (My Preferred Choice)
• 2nd Reset Stamp

Spot #10 - Additional Energy

• 2nd Fire Crystal (My Preferred Choice)
• 12th Fire Energy
• Ordinary Rod

So just to make it easier for anyone, I'm not saying you should follow this, you can pick a different card from those spots or just mix and match and take whatever you please, those are just my reasoning for those cards. I mean for the most part Reset Stamp was the must include in my deck and now it's just not even a preferred choice for these additional spots, just to prove that it can be a mix and match however you like it.

For the additional attackers, I personally prefer Reshiram & Charizard-GX as it can apply early pressure to stuff like PikaRom and even Eternatus at times and can be annoying to deal with late on. Heatran-GX is good to absorb all of Centiskorch VMAX's energy but I'd rather not go down that route, that just tells me the Skorch is not even doing it's job. 

I've been cutting Reset Stamp because Stamp IS A LIE. So I'd rather get Cramorant in as my comeback attacker but it's also very useful as a first attacker against stuff like Eternatus VMAX and even in the mirror match.

As for the 3rd spot of Volcanion vs Jirachi, I prefer Jirachi to get out stuff I need like Quick Ball or Comm or Giant Hearth since you're most likely going to made to go first so I'd rather make full use of Jirachi whenever I can.

As for the tech spots, Phione, Giratina and Galarian Zigzagoon are the choices for me. Goon helps with many numbers you need to hit and can help stop some stuff from working. Giratina helps massively against LMZ and even decks like Eternatus and Coalossal that heavily relies on special energies. As for Phione, it's amazing. It pretty much helps you beat ADPZ without ever needing to hit the big boy and catch people out when they bench just one thing. 

For the additional support, I prefer the 2nd Crobat over Eldegoss or Research or even Marnie since you'll likely get Marnied or Stamped and an additional Crobat gets you out of bad hands. You can even try a 4th comm to get some of these stuff but that's the 61st card in my deck most of the time.

Bird Keeper > Mallow & Lana every time. I just prefer it since I can draw additional cards of it too. 

If I need another item, it's always going to be Great Catcher since it helps massively against PikaRom, ADPZ and Blowns.

As for the last spot regarding energy, I'd go for the second fire crystal since you're bound to hit Swells and with Cramorant as a new addition, it makes perfect sense to me. And now with that, onto the journey that was the Vivid Voltage/Shining Fates format.

Week 1 (Nov 14th - 15th 2020)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 1st - PokeX S3 Online Challenge #4 - 8/2/0

PokeStats Points: (5 points total)

• 1st - PokeX S3 Online Challenge #4 - Centiskorch VMAX - 5 points

PokeX S3 Online Challenge #4

Winning one of the first TEU-VIV events felt great, I usually don't start a season off quite well. I'm typically a slow starting, always struggling at the start and finding my footing only later on. We tried Talonflame V to see if it was any helpful and while it did help in a few games, I found it wasn't the biggest of help. 

Week 2 (Nov 16th - 22nd 2020)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 4th - Coffee Cup #4 - 4/2/0
• 7th - PokeMob Standard #1 - 4/2/1
• 7th - Atlas VIV Mini 2 - 5/2/1

PokeStats Points: (3 points total)

• 7th - PokeMob Standard #1 - Centiskorch VMAX - 2 points
• 15th - E&D's S2 Qualifier #2 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

Coffee Cup #4

I just was never a fan of Stamp, be it 2 or 1, in Centiskorch so I thought I'd cut one to add in space for more stuft to try out. I wanted to test if Dubwool was a viable alternate attacker seeing as it could take a clean KO on PikaRoms and Mew3 but this is when people starting to play Big Charm so that idea was out. Tested Ordinary Rod over the 2nd Crystal more to see if I can keep recycling Heatran for some quick damage and it worked a few times.

Week 3 (Nov 23rd - 29th 2020)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 7th - Jal Cup #5 - 4/2/0

PokeStats Points: (1 point total)

• 12th - Chrollo's Flygon Open - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

Jal Cup #5

I took Great Catcher out to see if Phione would be better and right from the get-go I could tell Phione might become a mainstay in the deck, it single-handely won me my Top 8 game in the Jal Cup. But I did regret taking Zigzagoon out for the 2nd stamp, the Goon would have come in handy in certain matches.

Week 4 (Nov 30th - Dec 6th 2020)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 9th - PokeMob Standard #3 - 5/1/1

PokeStats Points: (1 point total)

• 9th - PokeMob Standard #3 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

PokeMob Standard #3

I needed to be sure if Zigzagoon was really needed and while I did alright, I was pretty sure it had earned it's merit and I still wasn't keen on the 2nd stamp. 

Week 5 (Dec 7th - 13th 2020)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 5th - Atlas VIV Mini #5 - 6/2/1

PokeStats Points: (3 points total)

• 5th - Atlas VIV Mini #5 - Centiskorch VMAX - 2 points
• 15th - PokeMob Standard #4 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

Atlas VIV Mini #5

Same list as above and by this point I was pretty sure on how the perfect 60 should look like for the next few weeks.

Week 6 (Dec 14th - 20th 2020)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 4th - E&D's S2 Qualifier #5 - 6/2/1

PokeStats Points: (5 points total)

• 4th - E&D's S2 Qualifier #5 - Centiskorch VMAX - 3 points
• 11th - Atlas VIV Mini #8 - Eternatus VMAX - 1 point
• 16th - DaxPTCG Stones Series Weekly #1 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

E&D's S2 Qualifier #5

After losing to a few PikaRoms, I had to get Great Catcher back in and I sure missed it, it came in super helpful to get me into top cut of E&Ds. By this point I was pretty happy with the list but I kept losing to dead draws, either off Marnies or Stamp so I wasn't completely happy with the list yet. I was also having doubts on whether Heatran-GX should be the alternate attacker.

Week 7 (Dec 21st - 27th 2020)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 1st - Hegster S3 Top Deck 16 - 10/2/0
• 2nd - E&D's S2 Qualifier #6 - 8/2/0
• 2nd - Coffee Cup Invitational - 4/1/0

PokeStats Points: (11 points total)

• 1st - Hegster S3 Top Deck 16 - Centiskorch VMAX - 5 points
• 2nd - E&D's S2 Qualifier #6 - Centiskorch VMAX - 4 points
• 13th - Chrollo's Holiday Bash - Reshiram & Charizard-GX - 1 point
• 16th - Chrollo's Tournament #4 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

Hegster S3 Top Deck 16

And now it's almost perfect. I decided to cut a Stamp for a 2nd Crobat V to help me get out of dead draws and it paid off right away, helping me to win Hegster S3.16, getting me out of a few bad hands on many occasions. By this point I was happy with 59 cards of the deck apart from Heatran-GX, even though it could have won me the game in finals earlier, I still for some reason wasn't getting much use of it. And that's when we (Thomas, Jake and myself) thought, why not go back to Reshiram & Charizard-GX?

Week 8 (Dec 28th 2020 - Jan 3rd 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 3rd - Advant-Edge Tournament #5 - 7/2/0

PokeStats Points: (4 points total)

• 3rd - Advant-Edge Tournament #5 - Centiskorch VMAX - 3 points
• 16th - Mew Squad Tournament #1 - Eternatus VMAX - 1 point

Advant-Edge Tournament #5

And here we have what I would say is the perfect 60 for our deck in this format. I had tested ReshiZard-GX in the deck a couple of times in the TEU-DAA format and thought to myself, wait this could actually be better than Heatran since ReshiZard can give cheese out some donks and it was helpful to take out support Pokemon like Crobats and Dedennes and it worked right away. It gave me a top 4 finish on my 31st birthday too!

Week 9 (Jan 4th - 10th 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 1st - Coffee Cup S2 #1 - 7/0/1
• 2nd - Hegster S3 Top Deck 18 - 10/2/1
• 7th - Atlas VIV Mini 14 - 6/3/0
• 7th - Sunday Open - 7/3/1
• 11th - GGToor Chill TCG Showdown #2 - 9/3/1

PokeStats Points: (9 points total)

• 2nd - Hegster S3 Top Deck 18 - Centiskorch VMAX - 4 points
• 7th - Atlas VIV Mini 14 - Centiskorch VMAX - 2 points
• 7th - Sunday Open - Centiskorch VMAX - 2 points
• 11th - GGToor Chill TCG Showdown #2 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

Every tourney this month

So I made myself this challenge to play the same 60 for every tournament I could enter in the month of January, just to see how good it really was and if there was any changes I could make to make it even better. The only thing I found I might be missing was Cramorant V which I thought would be helpful in the mirror but at this stage, no-one was really playing Centiskorch VMAX anyway apart from us.

Week 10 (Jan 11th - 17th 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 4th - Coffee Cup S2 #2 - 5/2/1

PokeStats Points: (0 points total)

• Nothing here to see :(

Week 11 (Jan 18th - 24th 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• Nothing here to see :(

PokeStats Points: (0 points total)

• Nothing here to see :(

Week 12 (Jan 25th - 31st 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 2nd - Garnai Nameless Tourney #2 - 4/0/0

PokeStats Points: (1 point total)

• 12th - Hegster S3 Top Deck 24 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

Nothing for these 3 weeks since I spent 10 days away for my Army reservist so the only time I got to play was the weekends. I didn't play much during Week 10 as I was preparing myself for the army stuff and when I did play, I just didn't do so good sadly.

Week 13 (Feb 1st - 7th 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 2nd - Hegster S3 Top Deck 26 - 7/1/2
• 2nd - Gazerbeam Tourney of Dreams #2 - 10/2/1
• 6th - Garnai Cup #0 - 4/2/0

PokeStats Points: (10 points total)

• 2nd - Hegster S3 Top Deck 26 - Centiskorch VMAX - 4 points
• 2nd - Sunday Open - Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V - 4 points
• 14th - Advant-Edge Tournament #9 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point
• 15th - Professor Oak's Paradise S3 #4 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

Gazerbeam Tourney of Dreams #2

For Gazer's tourney, since ADP was banned, I took Phione out since that was my ADP counter and put Dubwool in thinking it'll help vs PikaRom and Mew3. Although I made it to the finals again, I just couldn't take it home. Dubwool didn't help much either. Also a funny note, I finished 2nd in the Sunday Open with ADPZ, losing to Thomas who played the usual 60 we had been for the month of January.

Week 14 (Feb 8th - 14th 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 2nd - Hegster S3 Top Deck 27 - 9/1/2
• 2nd - Advant-Edge Tournament #10 - 6/2/1
• 4th - Hegster S3 Top Deck 28 - 6/2/1

PokeStats Points: (12 points total)

• 2nd - Hegster S3 Top Deck 27 - Centiskorch VMAX - 4 points
• 2nd - Advant-Edge Tournament #10 - Centiskorch VMAX - 4 points
• 4th - Hegster S3 Top Deck 28 - Centiskorch VMAX - 3 points
• 16th - Chrollo S3 #2 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

Hegster S3 Top Deck 27

Same list but now I was starting to wonder if Giratina and Stamp were needed. I was never a fan of Stamp to begin with since I felt it usually helped my opponent out more than it did to hinder them. As for Giratina, with LMZ not seeing much play and Etern not using special energies, I wasn't sure if it was needed anymore.

Week 15 (Feb 15th - 21st 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 3rd - Garnai Cup #1 - 6/2/0
• 9th - Hegster S3 Top Deck 30 - 5/2/0

PokeStats Points: (8 points total)

• 3rd - Garnai Cup #1 - Centiskorch VMAX - 3 points
• 8th - Mew Squad Tournament #7 - Mewtwo & Mew-GX/Welder Toolbox - 2 points
• 9th - Hegster S3 Top Deck 30 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point
• 12th - E&D's S3 Showdown #1 - Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX/Zacian V - 1 point
• 16th - Atlas VIV Mini #24 - Pikachu & Zekrom-GX - 1 point

Garnai Cup #1

Decided to put Cramorant V in Giratina's place with the rise of others playing Centiskorch since Cram helps massively in the mirror match. This is where I realised Giratina was still useful to slow other decks down when needed.

Week 16 (Feb 22nd - 28th 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 2nd - E&D's S3 Qualifier #4 - 6/2/1
• 4th - Coffee Cup Season 2 Invitational - 2/1/0
• 6th - Hegster S3 Top Deck 31 - 7/2/1

PokeStats Points: (10 points total)

• 2nd - E&D's S3 Qualifier #4 - Centiskorch VMAX - 4 points
• 4th - Mew Squad Tournament #9 - Turbo Zacian V - 3 points
• 6th - Hegster S3 Top Deck 31 - Centiskorch VMAX - 2 points
• 14th - Jal Cup #8 - Centiskorch VMAX - 1 point

E&D's S3 Qualifier #4

Hegster S3 Top Deck 31

I decided to mess around with a few stuff from tourney to tourney, playing with and without stamp, with and without Giratina while keeping Cramorant in more for the mirror match.

Week 17 (Mar 1st - 7th 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 1st - E&D's S3 Qualifier #5 - 8/1/0

PokeStats Points: (5 points total)

• 1st - E&D's S3 Qualifier #5 - Centiskorch VMAX - 5 points

 E&D's S3 Qualifier #5

Back to the original list and it got me my first tourney win after 6 straight 2nd place finishes in finals so that was nice to end that run. 

Week 18 (Mar 8th - 14th 2021)

Top Centiskorch Results:

• 1st - Saturday Night Nitro - 10/2/0

PokeStats Points: (10 points total)

• 1st - Saturday Night Nitro - Centiskorch VMAX - 5 points
• 7th - Hegster S3 Top Deck 36 - Centiskorch VMAX - 2 points
• 8th - Hegster S3 Top Deck 35 - Centiskorch VMAX - 2 points
• 13th - Chrollo S3 #5 - Reshiram & Charizard-GX - 1 point

Saturday Night Nitro

Went back to Cramorant but decided to take Bird Keeper out with PikaRom starting to see less play and it worked out nicely in the Nitro event. Was my 50th win in a PTCG tourney too.

And finally the PokeStats TEU-VIV/SHF Invitational:

Thomas and I decided to go back to the orginal list without Cramorant V, thinking it'd do well. I used 30 of my in game tickets to play in 8-man pod tourneys to practise for the event, winning 16 of them so I felt confident going into it. I went into this event as the 2nd place qualifier so I was putting too much pressure on myself to finally get a big result in a big event.

But alas it just wasn't meant to be. I never found the time to rest up before the event, and since it started at my 12am (and I had to get up at 5am the morning prior), I was going in very fatigued. In fact I was struggling to keep my eyes open at 11.30pm while watching the F1 Bahrain GP too. 

We won the first set vs my good friend Joshua Sutherland, he played Lucario & Melmetal-GX. It went smoothly for me, winning 2-0. Then on to winners R2 where I lost to eventual winner Vitor Lugon. I prized 6 energies in Game 1 and 4 energies in Game 2. So yeah that was fun. The event was closed decklists as well.

Now we're moved down to Loser's bracket for Round 2 vs my good buddy Tate Whitesell and his Ditto VMAX deck. It wasn't the cleanest of games for either of us, I made a horrendous error of not benching a Centiskorch V thinking I played Cramorant in the deck only to realise it after my turn was done (it was my 3am at this point and I wasn't really out of it physically and mentally). I got a bit lucky that he missed the KO so I got the win there.

Round 3 of losers I played Jonathan Smiley and his EggRow deck, again I didn't play well in this set and got a bit lucky in Game 3 when he couldn't find his Rillabooms after I KOed the first two.

Round 4 of losers I was up against Eddie Bulmer and his Eternatus VMAX deck. And this is where I was completely out of it. I for some reason chose to go 2nd in Game 1 not realising I'm playing against a guy who's only been playing Eternatus! I managed to beat him Game 2 but the two other games in the set were a shocker. I pretty much played myself into a losing situation by going after the wrong attackers and then in the last game going for the risky play since I missed energies, not realising there were two Crystals in my hand, which pretty much meant game over for me. I ended up 9th, so yup, I still can't break into a top 8 finish at a big invitational. I just can't seem to do well in them and I honestly don't know if I ever will.

And now onto the next format, TEU-BST. Even though Centiskorch will pick up at least 3 bad matchups now, I'm still going to try to make it work at least. Thanks for reading!

And one last fun stat, the points I scored with each deck from this past PokeStat TEU-VIV season: 

Kash Top 15 List: Cards from Battle Styles

Battle Styles is out today! And that means new cards for us to play in the game with. And in this new set, we've got a brand new mechanic called Rapid Strike and Single Strike, which are in a similar vein of the old Team Plasma cards. And since I'm not 30 anymore, no need to continue with the Top 30 gimmick so I'm going back to the 15 I used to do for a bit. 

Just wanted to share my initial impressions and ideas of the 15 best cards I could find from the set and cutting to 15 was a bit tricky as I had 23 on my initial list and wanted to get in many more stuff. Honorable mentions to these cards:

• Billowing Fan (Similar to Enhanced Hammer but goes to the bottom of opponent's deck)
• Korrina's Motivation (New draw supporter!)
• Tower of Waters (Free retreat for some big attackers)
• Empoleon V (This will be incredibly irrritating to deal with)
• Cherrim (Energy accelerating to smaller Grass attackers)
• Kingdra (I like this card but sadly I do like Stage 2 attackers too so you know)
• Primeape (Could do ridiculous amounts of damage for not much)
• Energy Recycler (It's back! The dream of Charizard TEU could still be alive?)

Prices taken from Troll and Toad on release day (Mar 19th 2021). 

#15 - Single Strike Scroll of Scorn - 133/163 - UC - $0.35

Similiar to: Any Outrage Attacker

It's Outrage but in the form of a Tool so that's good for any Single Strike attacker. The better part? It costs only one Fighting Energy to do possibly a lot of damage. Who doesn't like a second or even a third attack in some cases? More options is always a good thing.

It works well for things like the new Single Strike Urshifu VMAX as it'll have 330 HP, and with SS Energy and Houndoom doing 20 to yourself for attaching energy, you could be doing a lot more damage than what your opponent is expecting.

#14 - Bronzong - 102/163 - RH - $3.99

Similiar to: Klingklang BLW

Metal Transfer is back and with Metal typing still being possibly one of the best typing going in the game at the moment, now they've got another tool to play around with. There's plenty of different ways to make full use of Bronzong, offensively and defensively as well. 

It could help speed up attacks after using Metal Saucer or other ways to get energy onto the board and move them all to your attacker. Or it could be paired with things like Cheryl to heal your evolved attacker and start swining again. This will see play and not just in Metal decks too since it doesn't specify just basic Metal energy. 

#13 - Corviknight VMAX - 110/163 - UR - $16.99

Similiar to: Zeraora-GX

One deck that will definitely make full use of the aforementioned Bronzong is Corviknight VMAX. It's not the first Hyper Beam style attacker in this format but it does have free retreat, in a similar vein of how Zeraora-GX used to work.

And it's ability prevents stuff like Phione gusting you, Zigzagoon/Obstagoon pinging you for a few damage counters or better yet, Giratina to take out your Metal Coating Energy, giving Fire decks a much harder time. And if that's not enough, the combination of this with Brozong and Cheryl is sure to cause any deck a lot of headaches.  

#12 - Tower of Darkness - 137/163 - UC - $0.35

Similiar to: Scorched Earth

Good ol' Scorched Earth is back in the form of Tower of Darkness which is only going to help Single Strike decks. These decks will be filled with Single Strike cards so it won't be an issue for you to keep drawing cards. 

But be mindful, it could also help the opponent if they have some as well. This card will get much better once Chaotic Swell is rotated.

#11 - Cheryl - 159/163 - UC - $0.49

Similiar to: Pokemon Center (Base Set)/Max Potion

Max Potion hasn't been in standard for some time but Cheryl is the closest like for like replacement we have for it, but it only works on Evolved Pokemon.

There is the downside of having to discard all the Energy from them but it's easily worked around. Decks with Bronzong won't mind it as they can move their energy around, have just a single energy attack such as Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX  or as a defensive move to stop an opponent from winning late on. 

#10 - Octillery - 037/163 - RH - $3.99

Similiar to: Persian-GX?

It's been a while since we've seen an Octillery card that helps to boost the consistency of a deck and this one is especially helpful for Rapid Strike decks. 

Searching for any Rapid Strike card is just too good to ignore. Need an attacker? Octillery has your back. Need the Fan to send your opponent's energy into the deck? Octillery will get you there. Need to find a Supporter urgently? You know who to call. Octillery will only get better as more Rapid Strike cards gets released. 

#9 - Houndoom - 096/163 - RH - $1.79

Similiar to: Rillaboom SUM?

Houndoom is an energy accelerator from the deck in a similar vein to Rillaboom, Charizard or Vikavolt but this one helps to attach the Single Strike Energy, giving you 20 more damage, but at the cost of 2 damage counter to the person receiving said energy. 

Most of the time, you're not bothered by placing damage counters to yourself. In fact, it helps to speed up damage from Scroll of Scorn. And unlike Octillery, this ability can be used more than once so a hound of Houndoom (no pun intended) will speed the game up for you in no time.

#8 - Kricketune V - 006/163 - UR - $4.49

Similiar to: Oranguru SUM

Instruct is back. The downside is that Kricketune V is a two prize pokemon so that makes things easier for your opponent to snipe and take prizes off. 

The upside is the additional effect of having Kricketune V as your active. There will be many times where you are Marnied or Stamped down to 1 or 2 cards and with Kricketune in the active spot, it can just get you out of those trick situations. Instruct saw loads of play so surely Exciting Stage will see similar amounts of play.

#7 - Victini VMAX - 022/163 - UR - $15.99

Similiar to: Garchomp BKP

Of course I have to represent my Fire gang! Victini VMAX may not be the best fire attacker at the moment but once rotation hits, it will be. And the plus side? It's one Fire deck that isn't heavily reliant on Welder for once due to only needing two energies to attack!

Having Spreading Flames it super helpful but Max Victory is an attack many decks might fear. Hitting 220 for just two energies can be quite painful for many decks to deal with, especially those needing to evolve their attackers. Don't be surprised to see many Boss plays from Victini VMAX to pick off any Vs in sight. 

#6 - Single Strike Urshifu VMAX - 086/163 - UR - $34.99

Similiar to: Reshiram & Charizard-GX 

Single Strike Urshifu reminds me somewhat of ReshiZard in that it can hit hard very quickly and like the GX, it can get past anything. That's the plus side of G-Max One Blow since it's not a GX so you can keep hitting it, that is if you can find some way to quickly recharge all your energies right back. 

270 damage is not joke as it takes out most Tag Teams. But do remember that it is a Single Strike Pokemon. The SS Energy gives you 20 more damage so you can easily reach up to 350 damage! And you still have things like Vitality Band and Fighting Dojo to increase those numbers even further.

#5 - Escape Rope - 110/163 - UR - $0.49

Similiar to: It's a reprint!

Escape Rope is back! This has seen play everytime it was in Standard format and is a staple for many decks in Expanded as well. An item card that gives you the option to not only gust around your opponent but also lets you switch your Pokemon? Rope will be played for many different reasons, offensively and defensively. 

Add to the fact that the meta currently has many Hyper Beam style attacker (Reshiram & Charizard-GX, Zacian V, Corviknight VMAX) and attackers that need to move into the active like Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, it just shows how helpful Rope will be in many different decks. 

#4 - Single Strike Energy - 141/163 - UC - $0.75

Similiar to: Strong Energy

We all remember how good Strong Energy was back in the day. 20 additional damage for your fighting attackers made them kings of said format. Now add Darkness to those typing and SS Energy might just be even better.

Still not convinced? Houndoom accelerates them from the deck and can be used more than once. And there's also Vitality Jar that recovers these energies back into the deck. Single Strike will be hard to deal with, especially with how easy it is to get these energies up and running into your attackers.

#3 - Rapid Strike Energy - 140/163 - UC - $0.75

Similiar to: Double Dragon Energy

It's not quite Double Dragon Energy but Rapid Strike does offer two different energy typing at the cost of two energies as well for the price of one! 

Any ways to attach additional energy has always been good. Double Colourless Energy, DDE, Triple Accleration Energy have all seen play in the past. So expect this to see play as well. And it's easily searchable if you need it through Octillery's ability.

#2 - Level Ball - 129/163 - UC - $0.49

Similiar to: It's a reprint!

Level Ball is back. Smaller basics now have an additional ball search to use and we have seen Level Ball used in the past to much success and it should still do that even in the era of the Three Prizers.

Decks like Mad Party, Stage 2s, Control or those needing to set up evolution techs will be more than happy to make full use of Level Ball.

#1 - Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 088/163 - UR - $49.99

Similiar to: Golisopod-GX

Me personally, I prefer Rapid Strike Urshifu over Single Strike Urshifu and it's not just because I picked that in my video game too. Hitting for insane amount of numbers is nice but the ability to plan around specific situations just appeals to me more of these two.

Gale Thrust is an attack we've seen in the past in Golisopod-GX and that saw a lot of success so expect RS Urshifu to make full use of it as well, especially with Bird Keeper, Escape Rope, Switch and even free retreat of the Tower of Waters will help you get continous Gale Thrust in. If the 150 for one energy attachment is already not appealing enough, 120 to two Pokemon with G-Max Rapid Flow is the icing on the cake, especially if you're up against a Tag Team Pokemon, since the numbers are just perfect (150+120).

Not my longest list but I will admit I did forget this until a few days ago so it might look a bit rushed but I just wanted to share the info on release day. Thanks for reading and enjoy the new cards in Battle Styles!