CGU 10k Recap, Urshifu VMAX, and Evolving Skies Favorites
Hey everyone! This is Charlie, and I’m super happy to be back with another article! For the first time in a while, I recently attended an in-person Pokemon tournament when I went to the 127-player CGU 10k(?) event in New Jersey. I’m from the area and was already planning to be there to see family, so luckily those weekends lined up and I was able to play in the event and see lots of old friends. I played a pretty standard Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX list, which Mike Fouchet gave me on the morning of the event, because I had yet to do much testing for the current Standard format. In an unfamiliar environment where literally not a single set that existed during my last in-person tournament was legal for play, I was still able to pick up a Top 16 finish after going 5-1-2 in Swiss rounds. In this article, I’m going to talk about how that event went, how the new Standard format looks, and go into a few preliminary thoughts on some Evolving Skies cards. Overall I’m extremely excited for this new format; it’s looking to be much more skill-based than the format we’ve been playing throughout most of the online era. Without further ado, here’s the Urshifu list I played to a Top 16 finish at the 10k:
4 Rapid Strike Urshifu V, 3 Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX
I chose to go for the 4-3 line here to make it easier to find Rapid Strike Urshifu V in the early game, but also because I never needed a fourth VMAX unless I had discarded a bunch of stuff early. This line felt optimal for the way this list plays. The fourth Urshifu V might be cuttable, but you would have to add a recovery option like an Ordinary Rod.
4 Sobble, 4 Drizzile, 2 Inteleon SSH, 2 Inteleon CRE
While the 4-4 Drizzile is pretty obvious, the 2/2 split of Inteleon isn’t seen as often. Most people tend to go 3/1, 2/1, or even 4/0 in favor of the Quick Shooting Inteleon. (I saw this last one in a few Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX variants.) From experience, I can say I absolutely love this 2/2 split and feel that it’s optimal in almost every situation. There are rarely any scenarios in which you need both Quick Shooting Inteleon out at once, and having the options to use the Shady Dealings Inteleon twice in a game is actually incredible. I used both of these way more than I used both Quick Shooting Inteleon throughout the event, and even just having it as Prize insurance is enough for me to want two of each. I love this split and think it fits perfectly in an Urshifu list like this one.
4 Research, 3 Marnie, 3 Boss’s Orders
Four Professor's Research is an absolute staple in this, and I’d actually like a fourth Marnie as well to help with disruption — it’s the only good disruption card in the format right now — but otherwise this felt consistent enough. I added the third Boss's Orders right before the event because I was worried about running out, but this was overkill, and looking back, I should have kept the count at two. This deck hits the Bench so much, the third Boss is hardly necessary, and sometimes Escape Rope does the job just as well when you need to push a target to the Bench in order to hit it harder with a Passimian-boosted G-Max Rapid Flow.
1 Cheryl
Cheryl is so good. That’s honestly all that needs saying. I wish I had an option in this list to recover the single Cheryl, or even just played a second copy. Using this to heal all the damage off all your Evolution Pokemon is absolutely wild, and sometimes wins games outright. It’s especially potent against decks that rely on 2HKOs, like Zacian V and Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX variants. You can just wipe away all their damage after a Rapid Flow! I used this to heal 310 damage off an Urshifu in one critical moment during the event, and it almost won me a game I otherwise had no business winning. Cheryl is an absolutely insane card that needs to be getting more attention right now.
4 Quick Ball, 4 Level Ball, 4 Evolution Incense
This consistency engine is pretty powerful. I love having Level Ball back in the format, and the reprint was timed well now that we have the Inteleon engine all over the place. I honestly wouldn’t cut down on a single thing in this and would 100% recommend keeping it exactly as it is. Don’t try to take shortcuts just because you have Drizzile options! Consistency is and will always be king.
2 Escape Rope, 2 Air Balloon, 1 Switch
The 2/1 split between Escape Rope and Switch was another last-minute change: Mike originally had two Switch and one Escape Rope, but I wanted another Escape Rope so I could push things I hit with Gale Thrust to the Bench in order to hit it with a boosted Rapid Flow. This count felt right even though the third card not being a regular Switch hurt me a few times. The two Air Balloon feels good as well — I could have gone with something like Tower of Waters as a main switching option, but Stadiums can be easily countered, and Tool Scrapper is marginally less common than those counter-Stadiums.
1 Energy Search
Wow, it’s been a while since this card was relevant! With Professor's Letter and Energy Spinner now both relics of the past, Energy Search is making its comeback. It’s extremely good here, as it provides you with a way to search Energy with Drizzile. I’d honestly want a second one of these in a list, but space is just barely too tight to permit it. Missing Energy attachments is one of the worst things that can happen to this deck, so having options like Energy Search is always super helpful.
1 Telescopic Sight
Telescopic Sight lets you get OHKOs on Crobat V without using Inteleon snipes, lets you OHKO other Basic Pokémon V with the help of one or two Inteleon snipes, and also helps a lot when trying to pull off two consecutive boosted G-Max Rapid Flow attacks against Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX variants. It also comes in handy when you put it on stuff like Passimian, boosting Fling to a powerful 80 snipe damage. You really don’t need more than one of these, so I wouldn’t recommend adding another, but including one is still more than worth it in this format.
1 Path to the Peak
Since this deck barely relies on Pokemon V Abilities at all (Crobat V‘s Dark Asset is the only one), Path to the Peak being in play rarely hurts us. Why not include one? Path to the Peak is searchable with Shady Dealings and hard-counters many draw engines, like those of Zacian and Shadow Rider Calyrex, so playing this along with a Marnie in the late game can be devastating for these decks. I find it especially useful in the Shadow Rider Calyrex matchup, and without it that matchup becomes almost impossible. With all the extra disruption it gives you, this is a great tech for a deck like this.
4 Fighting Energy, 4 Rapid Strike Energy
Four Rapid Strike Energy is an obvious choice, but I only went with four Fighting Energy because I never struggled to find them. We play an Energy Search to get us out of a jam, but otherwise drawing into them is usually sufficient for our Energy needs. I might want a fifth Fighting Energy, or a different basic Energy engine entirely (which I’ll talk about more in a bit), but this felt alright in the list. While it would be a nice luxury, there’s no immediate need to boost this count.
That’s it for the deck I played. Now I’ll mention a few things I might have wanted to include had I tested it more before the event.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
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