Posted by Tablemon on 8/11/2022 to Articles
Alola trainers! Welcome back to the PoTown Store Blog! The Pokemon TCG World Championships are drawing closer than ever, and it's time to get more serious, which is why we are going to take a look at my most updated Palkia VSTAR decklist!

Palkia VSTAR was public enemy number one heading into the last tournament of the season, NAIC, which prompted a lot of curious Lightning Pokemon to be played, leading to Flying Pikachu VMAX being crowned the Champion over Palkia itself in the finals. However, the metagame for Worlds will include other Pokemon decks that weren’t seen then due to the release of the Pokemon GO set. Now, that set didn’t shift things too much in the grand scheme of things. However, it has made it so that the metagame is a lot more widespread, and all eyes are now more on Arceus VSTAR with Inteleon rather than Palkia VSTAR. This means less Flying Pikachu VMAX and other decks, putting Palkia VSTAR in a very unique position.

Decklist


Pokémon (16)

Trainers (37)

Energy (7)

1x Galarian Zigzagoon SHF 1511x Roxanne ASR 2067x Water Energy Energy 3
1x Manaphy BRS 414x Cross Switcher FST 230
3x Origin Forme Palkia V ASR 1674x Irida ASR 186
1x Radiant Greninja ASR 463x Capacious Bucket RCL 156
3x Sobble CRE 413x Quick Ball FST 237
3x Drizzile SHF 991x Path to the Peak ASR 213
1x Inteleon SHF 1001x Choice Belt ASR 211
3x Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR ASR 1924x Battle VIP Pass FST 225

2x Level Ball BST 129

1x Tool Scrapper RCL 208

1x Pal Pad SSH 172

1x Boss's Orders BRS 132

1x Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146

1x Marnie CPA 56

2x Scoop Up Net RCL 165

1x Melony ASR 242

3x Evolution Incense SSH 163

1x Echoing Horn CRE 136

1x Training Court FST 282

1x Cheryl BST 159

Palkia VSTAR decklist

How does the deck work?


If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? This is the second place list from NAIC played by Isiah Bradner with a small change, a Cheryl for Tool Scrapper, which I will explain a bit later in the article.

Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR

The 3/3 Palkia VSTAR and 3/3/1 Inteleon line might seem odd and greedy, and… you’d be correct. Normally we’d want 4/3 and 4/3/2 of each, respectively, but we have to cut some corners to make sure we can fit everything in here. The Hisuian Heavy Ball helps compensate for the corners we are cutting, hereby acting as if it were that 4th Sobble or 4th Palkia V.

Radiant Greninja ASR 46

For support, we have Radiant Greninja, which is a great attacker whilst providing extra draw through Concealed Cards. We also have Manaphy to protect our bench in the mirror matches and Galarian Zigzagoon’s Headbutt Tantrum Ability to get us those key KOs that we would otherwise miss out on.

Irida

Of course, it’s no surprise that we have 4 Irida, it gets us plenty of options along with a Battle VIP Pass if we lose the coin flip and go second. We also have the expected Quick Balls, Level Balls and Incenses to help us power through the deck and set up our Pokemon, both Palkia VSTAR and Drizzile + Inteleon to help facilitate other useful cards like Cross Switcher to gust, Tool Scrapper to remove pesky Big Charms or Team Yell Horn to get a sneaky KO and add +20 damage to our Subspace Swell attack.

Roxanne

We have disruption with Marnie and Roxanne, along with Boss’s Orders to combine as a single Gust effect instead of needing the two-card Cross Switcher combo. The key card I mentioned earlier, though that distinguishes itself from other lists, is Cheryl.

Cheryl

I personally think it is an underrated card and can be easily combined with Palkia VSTAR’s Star Portal Ability to act as a ‘soft’ Cheren’s Care. It’s not easy to plan for, and it’s not easy to take advantage of, but if pulled off, it can be game-changing against any deck that doesn’t OHKO Palkia VSTAR.

Matchups:


Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR: Even

Of course, you’d expect a mirror match to be even, right? However, the Cherly play can sometimes actually make it, so you have an advantage in the mirror match if you ‘soak up a hit and then heal it away. If both players have Manaphy, neither should be able to utilize Radiant Greninja, and that’s where the Cherly would make a big impact.

Mew VMAX: Favorable

You have Roxanne + Path to the Peak to seal up the game late game, but with no Manaphy on their side, Radiant Greninja can easily set up damage on a Mew and KO Meloetta, then a Palkia VSTAR finishes off Mew VMAX, and then you gust KO a Genesect V. Pretty straightforward and effective.

Arceus VSTAR / Inteleon: Even

Palkia is aggressive, and Arceus is defensive. By limiting their bench to only 2 Pokemon, you can’t threaten OHKO, but they also lose a lot of utility with only access to one Shady Dealings per turn. Cheren’s Care is key, as would Cheryl. The matchup is harder without Cheryl, for sure, though.

Arceus VSTAR / Flying Pikachu VMAX: Unfavorable

Flying Pikachu VMAX is a big threat to Palkia VSTAR as you’ll never be able to OHKO it, and thus you’ll struggle to bypass it. Going first is very impactful in this tough matchup.

Arceus VSTAR / Duraludon VMAX: Unfavorable

The low bench plus multiple healing options means this is a very tough matchup. You rely on early pressure to destabilize them, but the low bench makes this a very tough matchup.

Blissey V / Miltank: Favorable

You apply a lot of pressure early and have the perfect Miltank counter with Inteleon, so this is a pretty straightforward matchup for this deck where you need to be as aggressive as possible.

Mewtwo V-Union: Unfavorable

This matchup is very tough if they can get to the perfect setup of only a Mewtwo V-Union in play with a Tool Jammer attached. If that happens, then your best bet is applying pressure every turn and hoping they eventually misplay or have terrible luck with their coin flips on Cyllene.

Conclusion


Palkia VSTAR is one of the biggest threats not only for Worlds but in the Pokemon TCG Online, and Pokemon TCG Live ladders. It was recently announced that there would be a new product containing one copy of each Palkia V and Palkia VSTAR, which means it will contain a Pokemon TCG Online code to access them. You’ll be able to find these PTCGO codes at PoTown, meaning you’ll be able to build this Pokemon Online deck fairly easily once they come out in October! Thanks so much for reading my newest article, and best of luck in your games!