Posted by Elena from Gaia Storm on 7/6/2022 to Articles
Hello everyone! This is Elena from Gaia Storm TCG, and welcome to another article here at PoTown Store. I am pleased to be here again because today we will be looking at a unique deck that has recently become a contender in the metagame with the release of Astral Radiance: The fearless Dialga V STAR. As you probably know, Palkia and Dialga are the two iconic legendaries from the Diamond and Pearl generation, and they just received very cool new forms in the videogame Pokémon Legends Arceus. While we can’t deny that Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR is, by far, the most popular deck in the format, Dialga also holds a lot of potentials. Let’s check how this deck works and how it can beat your opponents in just three turns!

The concept: Win by cheating time itself


In the games, Dialga is considered “the God of Time” and is said to have the power to move across different eras. That is why in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, many of the most remarkable Dialga cards we’ve gotten can “cheat” the game status in some way or another, manipulating some time-related elements to give us an advantage during the game. For example, past versions of Dialga could end your opponent’s turn, prevent them from doing specific actions like evolving and even add extra prize cards over and over!

Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR from Astral Radiance truly lives up to expectations. It is an excellent card with a modular attack that deals 40 + 40 damage depending on the amount of metal energy it has attached. Numbers are, of course, a crucial factor for Dialga, but we will get into that a bit later.

Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR

Now, what is important to highlight is its Star Chronos movement. Being a VSTAR power means we can’t use it more than once during a game, but what we get in return is nothing less than an extra turn. I can’t stress how incredible this is. In many other card games (ever heard of Time Walk?), pulling off an extra turn can be a win condition by itself. Luckily, things in Pokémon are a bit more balanced, and attacking with Star Chronos does not mean you will automatically end the game there. As such, Dialga VSTAR needs a deck that is purposely built around making the most out of the VSTAR attack and making sure it leads to victory!

Decklist


Pokémon (12)

Trainers (37)

Energy (11)

2x Crobat V DAA 1824x Metal Saucer SSH 17011x Metal Energy SMEnergy 17
2x Origin Forme Dialga V ASR 1774x Quick Ball SSH 179
1x Zacian V SSH 1952x Training Court RCL 169
2x Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR ASR 1142x Marnie SSH 200
4x Mew CEL 112x Energy Search SSH 161
1x Radiant Greninja ASR 462x Avery CRE 187

3x Boss’s Orders RCL 189

4x Scoop Up Net RCL 165

1x Switch SSH 183

1x Escape Rope BST 125

2x Canceling Cologne ASR 136

2x Ultra Ball BRS 186

2x Battle VIP Pass FST 225

1x Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146

4x Trekking Shoes ASR 156

1x Air Balloon SSH 213

dialga VSTAR decklist

There are slightly different variations of this deck that you can find out there, but they all share the same principle: speed. If you want to win using Dialga, the best way to do it is to exploit Chronos Star during the first turns on the game before your opponent has set up a board and has been able to evolve their basics.

Boss's orders

The direction is pretty straightforward. Use your VSTAR move to KO a V Pokémon, take an extra turn, then use Boss Orders to KO another V Pokémon and leave your opponent without resources to continue in the game. The more time you execute this game plan, the more difficult it will be to win. Sometimes, playing Dialga feels like having a countdown around you, but at least you know that whatever happens will be decided in just a couple of turns.

To get the five energies attached to your Dialga by your second turn, you need to manually attach two and get access to at least three copies of your Metal Sourcers from the Sword and Shield expansion. Not the easiest thing in the world, but that’s the deck has been specifically designed to draw as many cards as possible.

  • The speed engine includes four copies of Mew from Celebrations, 1 Radiant Greninja, four copies of Scoop up Net to reset their abilities and 4 Trekking Shoes (Astral Radiance). This gives the deck a lot of aggression, but you sometimes need to be a bit lucky discarding the energies you need with the Trekking Shoes.
  • One aspect that really draws the attention is that we run very few attackers (2 Dialga VSTAR and 1 Zacian V), but that is enough. You won’t probably have the chance to power up more than one Dialga per game, so it is acceptable to reduce the line. Zacian V is here because it can also provide some additional draw power when going first, but unless you find yourself in a weird spot, you won’t be using it to attack.
  • Boss’ Orders are a crucial piece in this deck that will allow you to win easily and make very effective use of Chronos Star. Remember that you want to ideally use it when you can KO a V Pokémon from your opponent and they will be typically sitting on the bench. Now, when it comes to playing Dialga, there are different “schools of thought”, if that makes sense. Some people prefer to play Boss Orders, while others think Cross Switcher (Fusion Strike) is better. I think it really depends on your style, your testing and the rest of the list because while Cross Switchers are items, drawing too many can sometimes prevent you from opening well in the game.
  • Of course, we couldn’t play this format and expect to do well if we are not prepared to deal with Miltank from Astral Radiance. Miltank has become pretty popular in many strategies because V and STAR cards can’t touch it. To solve this, we only have two options (well, three if you just assume the auto loss and don’t tech against the cow): Either you run a Pokémon that can attack over Miltank like Dialga from Celebrations, or you run something like Canceling Cologne. Both work pretty well. Cologne is more situational, but Dialga clogs your bench, which can be damaging in the long run.

Match-ups


Something I want to make clear is the fact that this deck usually battles against itself and not just against the opponent. You need to sequence your cards well and try to achieve a combination of Chronos Star + Boss Orders. If you have these pieces by your second turn, you can probably win against anything, but if you don’t, the more time you give your opponent to set up, the fewer chances, you will have. Also, your prices can really be a problem. If you price one or two copies of your Metal Saucers, it is impossible to get your Dialga VSTAR going.

  • Against the “big three” decks (Arceus VSTAR, Mew VMAX and Palkia VSTAR), Dialga has a difficult time because they are just very consistent and can power up much more attackers than Dialga. You need to either draw very well or rely on them not getting what they usually do because if they can target your Dialga V down before you have the combo, it is over.
  • You usually have the advantage against one-prizer decks like Inteleon Variants, Malamar or Regigigas. It really hurts them to lose one turn and struggle to take Dialga down in one hit.

Conclusion


Dialga VSTAR will not be one of the driving forces of the metagame, but it is definitely a strategy you need to keep under your radar. If you like to play turbo decks with a very “all-in” style, then Dialga will definitely not disappoint you. Probably the best thing about Dialga is that you will always have the certainty that your games will be over pretty soon… Also, I still need to test Dialga with the new Pokémon GO Set and see if PokéStop helps the deck at all, but from what I’ve seen here and there, it looks good.
Anyways! With that, we reach the end of the article. I really hope that you have enjoyed the read and give Dialga a try. It will prove easily why it is one of the strongest legendary Pokémon ever! Thanks for reading, and remember that you can get all you need to get your Pokémon TCG Online codes cards here at PoTown Store so that you build your Pokémon deck!

About the writer


Elena has been playing Pokémon TCG for years and leads one of the biggest TCG-dedicated channels in the world. You can find her on Youtube & Twitch (@gaiastormtcg) as well as on other social media channels. Don’t forget to check them out!