Posted by Zach Lesage on 10/1/2021 to Deck Lists

Evolutionary Greetings

What’s up PoTown Store readers? Have you been keeping up with all of the amazing pokemon online decks in our new format? To keep everyone up with what’s going on in the game, we’ve recently had our yearly Rotation, and have said goodbye to some awesome cards from Team Up to Cosmic Eclipse. That being said, we’re now in our Post Rotation filled with cards from Sword and Shield to Evolving Skies cards. Evolving Skies, our newest set, has offered our Pokemon TCG metagame many new decks to play with. Most notably, many of the new “Eevee”-lutionPokemon are powerful and dominating the top tables. In this article, I’ll be going over Jolteon VMAX (Evolving Skies), and sharing everything I know about the deck. The origins of the deck, the best lists available for the deck, the strategy, and matchups. If you’re looking for any cards to build this deck on PTCGO, be sure to pick up some PTCGO codes right here at the PoTown store. Let’s look into the origins of this deck.

A Showdown Showcase

Jolteon Vmax

While the origins of some decks are founded by the community as a whole, it seems like Jolteon VMAX was created by our 2019 Pokemon TCG World Champion Henry Brand (@BenryBrand). He piloted this deck at the Sableye Showdown and was able to come first. While most players viewed this deck as a weaker version of Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX (Battle Styles) or tried to test other “Eevee”-Lution Pokemon, such as Leafeon VMAX (Evolving Skies), Jolteon VMAX went relatively untested. Brand saw that Jolteon VMAX’s Max Thunder Rumbleattack could effectively hit for 200 damage a turn, 100 to the Active, and 100 to a Benched Pokemon, and it had a similar damage output to Dragapult VMAX (Rebel Clash). Depending on how you look at it, Jolteon VMAX might be better than Dragapult VMAX and Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX by stats alone. It has free retreat, attacks for a single Energy because of Elemental Badge (Evolving Skies), and it will likely do more damage throughout an entire game. There are arguments for choosing one of the above decks due to typing advantages in the metagame, but on paper alone, this deck is absolutely wild. Let’s look at Brand’s list:

Jolteon VMAX / Inteleon Deck


Pokémon (20)

Trainers (32)

Energy (8)

1x Galarian Zigzagoon SHF 1514x Marnie SSH 2004x Speed Lightning Energy RCL 173
3x Jolteon VMAX EVS 513x Professor's Research SSH 2014x Capture Energy DAA 201
4x Sobble CRE 412x Boss's Orders RCL 1892x Lightning Energy Energy 4
4x Drizzile SHF 991x Cheryl BST 159
1x Inteleon CRE 434x Evolution Incense SSH 163
3x Inteleon EVS 2274x Quick Ball SSH 216
4x Jolteon V SWSH1514x Level Ball BST 181

2x Scoop Up Net RCL 207

1x Tool Scrapper RCL 208

1x Energy Search SSH 161

2x Elemental Badge EVS 147

4x Path to the Peak CRE 148

decklist

The Strategy

Inteleon

After looking at Brand’s list, I decided to scour the Play Limitless website, and I eventually stumbled upon Michael Catron’s (@Spoink2HS) Jolteon VMAX list. He seemingly took off where Brand stopped with the deck and found a bunch of cool cards to add to the list. The strategy of this deck is to be lightning-fast and attack with Jolteon VMAX ASAP. You can use Drizzile (Shining Fates) to grab an Elemental Badge or Energy Search (Sword and Shield) to start attackingwith Max Thunder Rumble quickly. Galarian Zigzagoon (Sword and Shield) allows you to place a damage counter on one of your opponent’s Pokemon and that opens up the bonus effect of sniping the Bench for 100 damage. After a few turns, you’ll likely have Inteleon (Chilling Reign) set up and you can start focusing damage pings with Quick Shooting to stop anything in your path. Speaking about a path, this deck also has Path to the Peak (Chilling Reign) to stop your opponent’s Abilities in play and that can further boost you ahead of your opponent. Let’s check out Catron’s list and see what his list looks like:

Jolteon VMAX / Inteleon Deck


Pokémon (20)

Trainers (33)

Energy (7)

1x Chatot RCL 1424x Marnie PR-SW 1213x Lightning Energy EVS 235
1x Galarian Zigzagoon SHF 1511x Cheryl BST 1594x Speed Lightning Energy RCL 173
4x Jolteon V PR-SW 1514x Level Ball BST 181
3x Jolteon VMAX EVS 513x Elemental Badge EVS 147
4x Sobble CRE 414x Evolution Incense SSH 163
4x Drizzile SHF 991x Escape Rope BUS 163
1x Inteleon CRE 431x Energy Search SSH 161
2x Inteleon EVS 2271x Boss's Orders RCL 189

3x Scoop Up Net RCL 207

1x Tool Scrapper RCL 208

2x Professor's Research SSH 201

4x Quick Ball SSH 216

4x Path to the Peak CRE 148

decklist

The Matchups

Path of the Peak

Every deck has its strengths and sometimes matchups are determined by Weakness, but I’m going to share my experiences with some of the tops played archetypes in the game. The underlying strategy of focusing on preferably Pokemon VMAX and trying to draw all six Prize Cards at once can certainly be effective, but some small things might change matchup to matchup. Even though you might’ve hit a poor matchup, like Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, you still can outspeed these decks sometimes. Just keep on the pressure and anything is possible.

Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX

This is unfortunately one of the gatekeepers in this format that attempts to block Jolteon VMAX out of the tier one circle. The issue is with your Weakness to Fighting-type Pokemon, Gale Thrust hits for an OHKO for a single Energy card. That being said, your only chance at winning this matchup will be cutting them off of all resources, such as sniping Sobble (Chilling Reign) early or attempting to draw all six Prize Cards by focusing on your opponent’s Pokemon VMAX before you lose. Every deck has a handful of poor matchups and this one is rough.

Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX

This is actually a matchup that I got to experience the other day on my Youtube channel and I was able to come out on top! Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX will attempt to get around Path to the Peak, but many lists are running low amounts of Training Court (Rebel Clash) and Pumpkaboo (Evolving Skies) so you might start the game by locking them completely. The goal is to focus on two Pokemon VMAX and hit them with Max Thunder Rumble three times each. You can use Galarian Zigzagoon or Inteleon to get the bonus effect off to outspeed your opponent.

Single Strike Urshifu VMAX / Umbreon VMAX

This matchup is similar to Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, but Single Strike Urshifu VMAX (Battle Styles) is slightly slower and requires more Energy. That being said, Single Strike Urshifu VMAX is still a Fighting-type Pokemon and Jolteon VMAX still has a Fighting-type Weakness. Like most matchups on this list, the goal is to OHKO two Pokemon VMAX and draw six Prizes in one turn by Knocking them both out at the same time.

Suicune V / Ludicolo

Suicune V (Evolving Skies) is another one of those matchups that focuses on Weakness, but at least it’s not on your side. This matchup is wildly favorable because, with a Galarian Zigzagoon damage ping to a Suicune V, you can OHKO it with Max Thunder Rumble, and rip a Drizzile off the Bench. This type of damage output is unparalleled so as long as you set up, you should be in the clear.

Zacian V / Zamazenta V

Zacian V (Sword and Shield) might seem tough to deal with, but you have a few ways to get around the obstacles that they throw at you. Crystal Cave (Evolving Skies) can be tricky, but you wanna hold your Path to the Peak to get around it. This will stop them from healing and you can get through Zamazenta V’s (Sword and Shield) Dauntless Shield Ability too. Focus your damage on Pokemon you can OHKO to isolate them from the rest. Inteleon is really good at getting those extra damage counters down and getting closer to KOs.

Happy Testing

I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading about this awesome “Eevee”-Lution Pokemon and learned a thing or two about our Post Rotation metagame. This new Sword and Shield to Evolving Skies metagame is refreshing for most of the community and myself as a content creator. With all of the extremely powerful Tag Team Pokemon gone, this format seems like you can play pretty much any deck to great success. I look forward to covering more of these pokemon online decks in the future and helping our community understand this exciting format. If you’re missing any cards to build Jolteon VMAX or any other deck, feel free to pick up some PTCGL codes right here at the PoTown store. Happy testing and have a great day!

About the Writer

Zach Lesage is a contributing writer for PTCGOStore.com. As a Toronto local, he has been playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game since 2005 and creates Pokemon content as his full time career. As Zach Lesage PTCG, he creates YouTube content, streams on Twitch, and provides hot takes on his Twitter. With multiple prestigious accomplishments in the game, such as the 2020 Players Cup 2 Champion and the 2020 Oceania International Championships Finalist, he has proven his success in the game. Outside of the game, he travels the world, enjoys the culture of designer streetwear, and is a professionally trained chef. You can catch him at most Pokemon events and follow him on Twitter @ZachLesagePTCG.