Well the new Battle Styles to Scarlet & Violet rotation is fully underway, we've now been playing the new 2023 Pokemon TCG standard rotation for a month now, so we should have enough information to figure out what are the best decks going forward and what to look out for the next month or so.
With that in mind, I wanted to showcase the best 15 deck currently in the game, but not just show the list, I also wanted to showcase how much these decks are worth. There are still many new players entering the game or current players looking for something new to try out. Even I am always on the lookout for newer ideas to test out. I'll also add a little new thing to these lists where I showcase the deck's 3 best matchups and 3 worst matchups so you know what to look out for and maybe knowing what decks your deck is bad against, perhaps find something to help improve those matchups.
Prices for the decks/cards are based off prices on TCGPlayer as of 18th May 2023, and based off USD. Lists are all on Limitless. Best and worst matchups are taken from Trainer Hill. For matchups, Lost Zone Box with Kyogre will be lumped together with Lost Zone Box with Radiant Greninja as the later. The order of the decks you see here are from the lowest performing to the highest performing on Play Limitless.
Results from here, especially the ones making up the Limitless Points, are based off events from EUIC up till now, including Aichi Champions League, Surabaya Regional League and Thailand Regional League, all of which were played in the same format as this.
15) Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 7th Place Portland Regional - Anthony Perez
Wins:
Top 4s:
Top 8s: 2
Total Limitless Points: 44
Deck Cost: $44.57
Best Matchups:
- Gardevoir ex/Mewtwo V-Union - 73.7%
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 66.7%
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 57.1%
Worst Matchups:
- Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - 32.6%
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 33.3%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja - 37.7%
This deck is starting to gain some traction having scored two Top 8 finishes at major events as of late. While it lacks the higher out-put of Regieleki VMAX, it does gain a constant energy attacher in the form of Flaaffy. It can also get big KOs thanks to Raichu V. Miraidon ex and Raikou V are the two most expensive pieces in the deck, going for $2.39 and $6.62 each.
14) Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 10th Place Philippines Championships 2023 - Mickel Paul Kinomes
Wins:
Top 4s:
Top 8s:
Total Limitless Points: 12
Deck Cost: $43.87
Best Matchups:
- Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - 66.1%
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 60%
- Gardevoir ex - 50%
Worst Matchups:
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 31.4%
- Mew VMAX - 35.5%
- Gardevoir ex/Mewtwo V-Union - 37.5%
One of the fun/budget decks on this list that have seen some success so far this season, which is better than the other Origin Forme VSTAR deck (Palkia). The deck's whole plan is to set-up the ideal board state to start taking KOs, especially with Dialga's Star Chronos.
The most expensive pieces of the decks are the 3-3 Dialga (cost a total $18 at least) and of course Radiant Greninja, which is the same story for many other decks.
13) Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 1st Place EUIC - Alex Schemanske
Wins: 1
Top 4s:
Top 8s: 2
Total Limitless Points: 130
Deck Cost: $86.35
Best Matchups:
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 73.6%
- Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 58.2%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja - 56.5%
Worst Matchups:
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 33.3%
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 39.4%
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 40%
Arceus/Duraludon is still alive but instead of being a tank deck, now it's formed into a toolbox style deck. It's already seen success with the likes of Alolan Vulpix VSTAR back in EUIC and most recently with Umbreon VMAX in Portland.
Still, the deck has proven results and with Arceus being back into the limelight, it's price has gone up. The 4-3 Arceus line itself will cost $56.76 but everything else is affordable.
12) Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 12th Singapore Regional League - Keenan Jacob Victor
Wins:
Top 4s:
Top 8s:
Total Limitless Points: 37
Deck Cost: $56.58
Best Matchups:
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 70.5%
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 66.7%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja - 62.5%
Worst Matchups:
- Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 26.5%
- Gardevoir ex/Mewtwo V-Union - 40%
- Gardevoir ex - 45.8%
Another fun deck on this list that isn't really a budget deck for a good reason, it plays two different VMAXes! Like Dialga, this deck hasn't seen much success but more than Dialga so far, on two occasions almost hitting Top 8.
It's not the easiest deck to play as you have a lot of lines to take for a variety of matchups, and you have to keep track of the numbers on the board. Even though Rapid Strike Urshifu is quite affordable because of the theme deck, the same cannot be said about Inteleon VMAX, the 3-3 line almost costing $22.
11) Gardevoir ex/Mewtwo V-Union - 25th Place Portland Regional - Grant Shen
Wins:
Top 4s:
Top 8s: 1
Total Limitless Points: 124
Deck Cost: $68.15
Best Matchups:
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 62.5%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 61.2%
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 60%
Worst Matchups:
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 26.3%
- Mew VMAX - 42.7%
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 43%
It's the other Gardevoir deck! This one is twice the amount of the usual Gardevoir ex decks and there are 4 culprits for it, Mewtwo V-Union, all 4 pieces costing a total of $33.93. It plays differently to the normal Gardevoir as you can also go for the disruption route with Klefki and set up a board state to have Mewtwo V-Union clean house at the end.
10) Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 16th Place Portland Regional - Kian Amini
Wins:
Top 4s: 1
Top 8s: 2
Total Limitless Points: 191
Deck Cost: $45.02
Best Matchups:
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 68.6%
- Miraidon ex/Regieleki VMAX - 62.7%
- Gardevoir ex - 62.5%
Worst Matchups:
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 26.4%
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 29.5%
- Gardevoir ex/Mewtwo V-Union - 38.8%
SableZard is back but so far it hasn't had the big results that either the Greninja/V Mons variants or the Kyogre variants of Lost Box has had so far (apart from EUIC). The deck, unlike other Lost Box decks, has a linear gameplan in mind but it works most of the time, if it hits the right matchups.
The deck isn't that difficult to build either, just Radiant Charizard, Sableye and Battle VIP Pass being the slightly costlier cards in the list and it's probably stuff you already own if you have other decks so just change a few stuff and you have a pretty good deck ready to go!
9) Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 1st Portland Regional - Landen Kaetler
Wins: 2
Top 4s: 1
Top 8s: 4
Total Limitless Points: 235
Deck Cost: $86.17
Best Matchups:
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 60.6%
- Gardevoir ex - 59.7%
- Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - 58.3%
Worst Matchups:
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 38.1%
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 44.9%
- Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 46.2%
Now here's a deck that near and dear to me, it gave me my first ever Regional event win just two weeks ago! ArcTina is one of the best decks to utilise the Path + Judge strategy and it's quite simple. The gameplan is EA Sports as I call it.
If you have Energy (E) and Arceus (A), you're in the game (Sports). Then you try to disrupt with Path and Judge and finish games off with Giratina VSTAR. It is one of the more costlier decks with the Arceus line going for about $57 and the Giratina line about $15. Don't forget to pick up that 6 cents card called Skwovet, it might just win you games!
8) Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - 5th Place London Cup - Öjvind Svinhufvud
Wins:
Top 4s: 2
Top 8s: 2
Total Limitless Points: 372
Deck Cost: $41.31
Best Matchups:
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 67.4%
- Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 62.2%
- Miraidon ex/Regieleki VMAX - 60.9%
Worst Matchups:
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 33.9%
- Giratina VSTAR - 41.7%
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 41.7%
Goodra is still sticking around and still Rolling Ironing everyone in it's path! It didn't lose much in the rotation so it's almost the same old trusted Goodra. Rolling Iron is an annoying attack to deal with as it makes Goodra takes less damage. Goodra isn't the most expensive attacker too, the 3-3 line only costing $15 so it's an affordable choice and in fact, one of the cheapest decks on this list.
7) Miraidon ex/Regieleki VSTAR - 8th Place EUIC - Robert Kinbrum
Wins:
Top 4s:
Top 8s: 1
Total Limitless Points: 76
Deck Cost: $71.12
Best Matchups:
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 56.6%
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 55.6%
- Giratina VSTAR - 53.8%
Worst Matchups:
- Mew VMAX - 35.4%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 37.3%
- Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 38.6%
Miraidon is the new aggro deck of the format, and it's gameplan is quite simple, set up the lighting guys, hit your energies and start attacking and often times you can start hitting for 220 by Turn 1 itself, which is knocking out a number of V Pokémons.
And the deck is very consistent thanks to Miraidon's ability to search out two Lighting type Pokémon to be put onto the bench. The Regieleki line will be the hardest ones to get as they cost at least $26 and even the 2 Raikou Vs are costing a total of $12! Everything else apart from Forest Seal Stone shouldn't be too difficult to get.
6) Giratina VSTAR - 2nd Place Bogotá SPE - Jonathan Torres
Wins:
Top 4s: 2
Top 8s:
Total Limitless Points: 151
Deck Cost: $56.91
Best Matchups:
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 59.0%
- Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - 58.3%
- Gardevoir ex - 52.8%
Worst Matchups:
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 41.8%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 43.2%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja - 43.7%
Technically you could say Giratina is also a lost box deck, it just has a 3-3 VSTAR line to go with it. The gameplan is similar but you do have a heavy hitter to take down opposing Vs and ex Pokemons thanks to Giratina VSTAR, including it's ridiculously good Star Requiem VSTAR move.
The Giratinas themselves will cost you around $22 to get, and the likes of Sableye and Radiant Greninja are the cheapest cards to get either. And the deck does play 4 Battle VIP Pass, not the cheapest items to get but it certainty gets the job done.
5) Mew VMAX - 1st Place Philippines Championships - Joshua Doctolero
Wins: 1
Top 4s: 5
Top 8s: 6
Total Limitless Points: 422
Deck Cost: $50.53
Best Matchups:
- Miraidon ex/Regieleki VMAX - 64.6%
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 64.5%
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 58.8%
Worst Matchups:
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 43.2%
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 46.6%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja - 46.7%
Mew VMAX is still a big favourite for many in the game despite the vast amount of counters it has to face in the game. Even then, Mew VMAX is so consistent it can usually beat those tricky matchups too.
Wins in Philippines Championship and Indonesia Championship (technically not in this format but one set ahead of us) proves that Mew VMAX is still a very good choice. It's not hard to build too thanks to have a league battle deck released last year (even though the Mew line does still cost around $22 altogether).
4) Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 3rd Place Bogotá SPE - Gabriel Smart
Wins: 2
Top 4s: 7
Top 8s: 6
Total Limitless Points: 756
Deck Cost: $80.40
Best Matchups:
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 73.5%
- Miraidon ex/Regieleki VMAX - 61.4%
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 58.7%
Worst Matchups:
- Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - 37.8%
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 41.8%
- Gardevoir ex - 47.1%
Easily the BDIF last time out and while some thought Lugia might not be as good in this new rotation, early results are suggesting otherwise. It's got the most Limitless Points in this format so far so that is saying something!
The gameplan is simple, get Lugia VSTAR to set up the two Archeops and start to attack with a variety of attackers for all sorts of decks. It does come with a heavy price, the Lugia line will cost you at least $60, the most of any lines mentioned on this list so far. Everything else however is quite affordable so still a decent deck to pick up.
3) Gardevoir ex - 2nd Place EUIC - Tord Reklev
Wins: 1
Top 4s: 6
Top 8s: 8
Total Limitless Points: 448
Deck Cost: $38.54
Best Matchups:
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 56.4%
- Miraidon ex/Regieleki VMAX - 55.3%
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 54.2%
Worst Matchups:
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 37.5%
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 40.3%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja - 43.1%
Gardevoir is back and of course we've got yet another decent Gardevoir ex in the game. Gardevoir decks want to play the long game, they will have to take a while to set-up but once it does, it can start to clean house.
Kirlia helps a lot with that thanks to it's Refinement ability, one of the best abilities in the game (just look at what Zoroark GX did all those years ago). And surprisingly enough, it's the second cheapest deck on this list! The Gardevoir ex isn't even the most expensive Pokémon in the deck, that goes to Radiant Greninja, Cresselia and the other Gardevoir.
2) Lost Zone Toolbox/Kyogre - 5th Place Portland Regional - Alex Schemanske
Wins:
Top 4s: 2
Top 8s: 3
Total Limitless Points: 180
Deck Cost: $33.33
Best Matchups:
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 62.3%
- Miraidon ex/Regieleki VMAX - 59.7%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 57.8%
Worst Matchups:
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 37.5%
- Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - 43.2%
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 43.4%
We go from the second cheapest deck to build on this list to the cheapest deck to build on this list and some might say one of the best decks going so far. It's the standard Lost Box Ninja deck but with Kyogre to finish up games and often times these lists don't play Vs to make it even more difficult for people to win the prize race.
Lately more Kyogre variants are starting to add the usual Vs see in the Ninja built but they all work towards the same game plan. Win the Lost Zone race, get to 7 first, hit the mirage gates, get to 10 first and be the first to attack with Sableye, which is the second most expensive Pokémon in this deck after Radiant Greninja. If you're looking for a cheap option, this might be the one but this is also one of the hardest decks to master.
1st) Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja - 2nd Place London Cup - Brent Tonisson
Wins: 4
Top 4s: 6
Top 8s: 5
Total Limitless Points: 589
Deck Cost: $66.41
Best Matchups:
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 62.3%
- Miraidon ex/Regieleki VMAX - 59.7%
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 57.8%
Worst Matchups:
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 37.5%
- Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - 43.2%
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 43.4%
And finally to the typical version of Lost Box Ninja decks we tend to see lately that some are calling the Turbo build. It's gameplan is the same as before, try to hit 7 into the lost box but this version can easily get that done by Turn 2 thanks to stuff like Lost Vacuum and Forest Seal Stone. Raikou, Dragonite and Drapion have proven to be the best choice of attackers for these types of decks to deal with the current meta and just to deal with V mons.
The Dragonite itself is going for around $14 as it is a promo card and the Raikou isn't the cheapest card to get either. Even stuff like Forest Seal Stone, Battle VIP Pass and Nest Ball will cost more than the usual item cards. Still, it's worth the investment as it has a proven track record so far.
So here's a short review of the decks:
Deck prices (as of 18th May 2023) from cheapest to most expensive:
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Kyogre - $33.33
- Gardevoir ex - $38.54
- Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - $41.31
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - $43.87
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - $44.57
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - $45.02
- Mew VMAX - $50.53
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - $56.58
- Giratina VSTAR - $56.91
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja - $66.41
- Gardevoir ex/Mewtwo V-Union - $68.15
- Miraidon ex/Regieleki VMAX - $71.12
- Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - $80.40
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - $86.17
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - $86.35
- Lugia VSTAR/Archeops - 756
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Greninja - 589
- Gardevoir ex - 448
- Mew VMAX - 422
- Hisuian Goodra VSTAR - 372
- Arceus VSTAR/Giratina VSTAR - 235
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Radiant Charizard - 191
- Lost Zone Toolbox/Kyogre - 180
- Giratina VSTAR - 151
- Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX - 130
- Gardevoir ex/Mewtwo V-Union - 124
- Miraidon ex/Regieleki VMAX - 76
- Miraidon ex/Flaaffy - 44
- Inteleon VMAX/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - 37
- Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR/Magnezone - 12
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