How to Play the Most Well-Rounded Deck — Giratina VSTAR
As this Standard format draws to a close, we still have about a month left until rotation. I’ve been playing some Giratina VSTAR lately and I wanted to discuss it one last time, at least before rotation.
Giratina VSTAR has consistently been a Top 3 deck in the Paradox Rift format. It is known for having an array of matchups that are neither good nor bad — Giratina has a decent shot at beating just about anything. Unfortunately, the inverse is also true, as it has very few slam-dunk matchups. Giratina is a well-rounded and anti-nonsense deck. It is difficult to counter, and has ways to deal with just about any situation. It has the potential to be aggressive and fast if it draws well, but is even better known for its comeback potential. Giratina has massive damage output, lots of skill expression, disruption, and different attackers. Its consistency isn’t the greatest, but at least most of the Pokemon in the deck can draw cards. Giratina often has slow starts, but thanks to its Abyss Seeking attack and Comfey‘s Flower Selecting, it usually isn’t completely dead in the water.
Today I want to talk about how to play Giratina VSTAR into Charizard ex and Gardevoir ex, which are two of the most popular matchups. This article will delve into detailed and technical aspects. I won’t discuss the deck list this time. Most Giratina lists are similar at this point, and Natalie covered it very well in her article here. I agree with basically everything she discussed about the list in that article. I am currently playing the standard list with no techs, three Water Energy, and four copies of Switch Cart as the only switching options. I don’t have any spicy cards, but instead some spicy gameplay tips.
Because of the various routes this deck can take, the way to play it is highly dependent on the matchup and what the opponent is doing. Let’s get into the meat and potatoes.
Vs. Charizard ex
Charizard ex is a very close matchup. To be honest, I’ve felt favored going into this matchup whether I am on the Charizard side or the Giratina VSTAR side. I think it is slightly in Giratina’s favor on average. Charizard is a better deck, but Giratina has lots of fun options for the matchup. Keep in mind that every game and every situation are different, and adaptability is the name of the game. That said, here are some key points to use as rules of thumb:
- Use Star Requiem on a clean Charizard ex. This is the most efficient use of Star Requiem. It gets you two Prizes, and it is your only way to one-shot a Charizard ex.
- Always keep track of Charizard ex’s current damage output, as well as Radiant Charizard later in the game. You want to make them hit into Giratina for a two-shot as much as possible, and try to avoid giving them convenient one-shot options. As soon as Radiant Charizard comes online, it should be heavily disrupted by Path to the Peak and Roxanne. Radiant Charizard is a threat, but it usually can’t attack you.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
If you'd like to continue reading, consider purchasing a PokeBeach premium membership! If you're not completely satisfied with your membership, you can request a full refund within 30 days.
Each week we post high-quality content from some of the game's top players. Our article program isn't a corporate operation, advertising front, or for-profit business. We set our prices so that we can pay the game's top players to write the best content for our subscribers. Each article topic is carefully selected, goes through multiple drafts, and is touched up by our editors. We take great pride in our program!
