Hello! This is James Simms and today I want to talk about my favorite deck in Standard currently and probably one of my favorite decks of all time: Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR/Inteleon. I've played this deck to success in the Sword & Shield - Astral Radiance format already, and I wanted to look at how this archetype currently with BDIF status evolves using the new expansion releasing in early September: Lost Origin.
New Water Pokemon
Unfortunately, there aren't too many great new Water-Type Pokemon releasing in Lost Origin that could slot into an Origin Forme Palkia deck. The best one I can muster a reason to play would be Glastrier. Glastrier's first attack for [W][C] Deals 40 Damage and prevents your opponent's active Pokemon from attacking their followin turn if it's a basic. This is obviously similar to Eiscue from Evolving Skies that already saw some play in the Sword & Shield - Astral Radiance format to counter both Regigigas and Blissey V/Miltank Decks when those were at the height of their popularity. However, Eiscue had no other use besides those 2 Matchups. Glastrier, on the other hand, has a 2nd attack for [W][W][C] that deals 130 Damage and then 30 Damage to itself. This is an actually useful attack that can finish off things that your Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR couldn't or to force your opponent into weird prize situations that allow yourself to Roxanne your opponent as soon as possible. Unlike Eiscue, Glastier would have more uses outside of just a couple niche matchups that could potentially make it more useful in an Origin Forme Palkia deck.
New Trainer Cards
Unlike the new Water Pokemon, there are quite a few trainers I can see fitting relatively well into and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR deck. The first one is a new Item card, Lost Sweeper. Lost Sweeper forces you to Lost Zone a card from your hand but in return allows you to put either a Tool Card or Stadium Card in play into the Lost Zone. This is just a generally good card, that can help you hit through Big Charms or get rid of an opponents' Choice Belt so they can't OHKO your Palkia VSTAR. Something that I could also see happening is a version of Palkia VSTAR being created that uses multiple Path to the Peak and multiple Lost Sweeper that attempts to play Path to the Peak to disrupt the Opponent on their turn, but uses a Lost Sweeper to Lost Zone the Path to the Peak on their turn, giving them access to Star Portal and Concealed Cards again. This style of deck has seen success before, in decks like Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX that used Marshadow to Discard a Path to the Peak and then play another one to turn off their opponent's abilities, or decks like Zoroark/Garbodor that turned off all abilities with Garbotoxin, and then used Field Blower (Which is a very similar card to Lost Sweeper) to turn them on again when needed. I could see Lost Sweeper being used in higher counts for this reason in an Origin Forme Palkia Deck, but I could also see Lost Sweeper in lower counts, such as to replace the typical non-Path Stadium that most Palkia decks play currently. I'll put a decklist for a heavy Lost Sweeper Build of Palkia Inteleon at the bottom of this article.
Another trainer that I think some Palkia/Inteleon decks could merit is a copy of Colress's Experiment. Colress's Experiment allows you to look at the top 5 cards of your deck, put 3 of them into your hand and then Lost Zone the other cards. This card has already seen plenty of success in Japan in decks that utilize what I've been coming to call "The Lost Zone Engine", but I think Colress has a spot in some other decks because in a vacuum, it's just a very strong card. Obviously, the card does not read Draw 5 Cards. That's an effect that could potentially rival Marnie and even Professor's Research. Instead, it reads Take the best 3 cards out of the top 5 cards of your deck. This is still very strong; usually there are only 2 or 3 cards out of the top 5 that you actually need. So if you think about it, Colress kind of does say Draw 5 Cards. (I did my best to explain that and put it into perspective, I hope you understand what I mean here). Currently in Palkia decks, most are leaning towards heavy counts of Irida and 0 Professor's Research and 0 Marnie, but sometimes when Playing Palkia/Inteleon I ca't help thinking, Man it sure would be nice If I had a draw supporter here. Colress's Experiment gives you that aggressive dig that a Professor's Research or Marnie would, without having to sacrifice your hand, which is one of an Inteleon deck's most precious resources. I can see Colress's Experiment fitting well into a Palkia deck, but no more than a 2 count I'd imagine.
The Finals Trainer I think have reasons to play is supporter card Thorton. Thorton allows you to swap a Basic Pokemon from your discard Pile with 1of your Basic Pokemon in play, and all Energy, Damage Counters, attached cards, and turns in play remain on the new Pokemon. This I can see having many uses in a Palkia deck. The first one is that it allows you to use Star Portal onto a Basic Water Pokemon like Sobble or Radiant Greninja for example, and then use Thorton to turn that Pokemon into a non-water Pokemon that you couldn't Star Portal onto initially. There are tons and tons of options for this combo, but the ones I can think of working well off the top of my head would be a Dubwool V or Cramorant V. Dubwool allows for some very high damage in combination with Choice Belt and Quick Shootings later in the game, while Cramorant provides a high damage snipe that could be useful in some scenarios. Thorton also has a cool use in that you don't need to get Palkia V out onto the board turn 1 every single game. Thorton would make it so that on turn 2 you can simply turn one of your Sobble or even a weak Pokemon you don't want in every single game like Manaphy into a Palkia V, ready to evolve into a VSTAR and start attacking. The catch with Thorton for most decks would be that you don't get to draw any cards when pulling off this combo. However, Palkia does a very good job at supplying itself with Energy by using Star Portal, and Radiant Greninja can easily take care of putting energy cards into the Discard Pile for you.
Aaaaaaand that's it! I hope you all enjoyed this little bit of writing, I always enjoy doing these!
James
Palkia VSTAR/Inteleon/Path to the Peak Decklist:
3 Origin Forme Palkia V
3 Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR
4 Sobble
3 Drizzile
2 Inteleon (Shady Dealings)
1 Radiant Greninja
1 Manaphy
1 Galarian Zigzagoon
4 Quick Ball
3 Capacious Bucket
3 Scoop Up Net
3 Level Ball
2 Lost Sweeper
2 Evolution Incense
1 Battle VIP Pass
1 Pal Pad
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball
1 Ultra Ball
1 Choice Belt
3 Path to the Peak
3 Irida
2 Boss's Orders
2 Melony
1 Marnie
1 Roxanne
7 Water Energy
New Water Pokemon
Unfortunately, there aren't too many great new Water-Type Pokemon releasing in Lost Origin that could slot into an Origin Forme Palkia deck. The best one I can muster a reason to play would be Glastrier. Glastrier's first attack for [W][C] Deals 40 Damage and prevents your opponent's active Pokemon from attacking their followin turn if it's a basic. This is obviously similar to Eiscue from Evolving Skies that already saw some play in the Sword & Shield - Astral Radiance format to counter both Regigigas and Blissey V/Miltank Decks when those were at the height of their popularity. However, Eiscue had no other use besides those 2 Matchups. Glastrier, on the other hand, has a 2nd attack for [W][W][C] that deals 130 Damage and then 30 Damage to itself. This is an actually useful attack that can finish off things that your Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR couldn't or to force your opponent into weird prize situations that allow yourself to Roxanne your opponent as soon as possible. Unlike Eiscue, Glastier would have more uses outside of just a couple niche matchups that could potentially make it more useful in an Origin Forme Palkia deck.
New Trainer Cards
Unlike the new Water Pokemon, there are quite a few trainers I can see fitting relatively well into and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR deck. The first one is a new Item card, Lost Sweeper. Lost Sweeper forces you to Lost Zone a card from your hand but in return allows you to put either a Tool Card or Stadium Card in play into the Lost Zone. This is just a generally good card, that can help you hit through Big Charms or get rid of an opponents' Choice Belt so they can't OHKO your Palkia VSTAR. Something that I could also see happening is a version of Palkia VSTAR being created that uses multiple Path to the Peak and multiple Lost Sweeper that attempts to play Path to the Peak to disrupt the Opponent on their turn, but uses a Lost Sweeper to Lost Zone the Path to the Peak on their turn, giving them access to Star Portal and Concealed Cards again. This style of deck has seen success before, in decks like Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX that used Marshadow to Discard a Path to the Peak and then play another one to turn off their opponent's abilities, or decks like Zoroark/Garbodor that turned off all abilities with Garbotoxin, and then used Field Blower (Which is a very similar card to Lost Sweeper) to turn them on again when needed. I could see Lost Sweeper being used in higher counts for this reason in an Origin Forme Palkia Deck, but I could also see Lost Sweeper in lower counts, such as to replace the typical non-Path Stadium that most Palkia decks play currently. I'll put a decklist for a heavy Lost Sweeper Build of Palkia Inteleon at the bottom of this article.
Another trainer that I think some Palkia/Inteleon decks could merit is a copy of Colress's Experiment. Colress's Experiment allows you to look at the top 5 cards of your deck, put 3 of them into your hand and then Lost Zone the other cards. This card has already seen plenty of success in Japan in decks that utilize what I've been coming to call "The Lost Zone Engine", but I think Colress has a spot in some other decks because in a vacuum, it's just a very strong card. Obviously, the card does not read Draw 5 Cards. That's an effect that could potentially rival Marnie and even Professor's Research. Instead, it reads Take the best 3 cards out of the top 5 cards of your deck. This is still very strong; usually there are only 2 or 3 cards out of the top 5 that you actually need. So if you think about it, Colress kind of does say Draw 5 Cards. (I did my best to explain that and put it into perspective, I hope you understand what I mean here). Currently in Palkia decks, most are leaning towards heavy counts of Irida and 0 Professor's Research and 0 Marnie, but sometimes when Playing Palkia/Inteleon I ca't help thinking, Man it sure would be nice If I had a draw supporter here. Colress's Experiment gives you that aggressive dig that a Professor's Research or Marnie would, without having to sacrifice your hand, which is one of an Inteleon deck's most precious resources. I can see Colress's Experiment fitting well into a Palkia deck, but no more than a 2 count I'd imagine.
The Finals Trainer I think have reasons to play is supporter card Thorton. Thorton allows you to swap a Basic Pokemon from your discard Pile with 1of your Basic Pokemon in play, and all Energy, Damage Counters, attached cards, and turns in play remain on the new Pokemon. This I can see having many uses in a Palkia deck. The first one is that it allows you to use Star Portal onto a Basic Water Pokemon like Sobble or Radiant Greninja for example, and then use Thorton to turn that Pokemon into a non-water Pokemon that you couldn't Star Portal onto initially. There are tons and tons of options for this combo, but the ones I can think of working well off the top of my head would be a Dubwool V or Cramorant V. Dubwool allows for some very high damage in combination with Choice Belt and Quick Shootings later in the game, while Cramorant provides a high damage snipe that could be useful in some scenarios. Thorton also has a cool use in that you don't need to get Palkia V out onto the board turn 1 every single game. Thorton would make it so that on turn 2 you can simply turn one of your Sobble or even a weak Pokemon you don't want in every single game like Manaphy into a Palkia V, ready to evolve into a VSTAR and start attacking. The catch with Thorton for most decks would be that you don't get to draw any cards when pulling off this combo. However, Palkia does a very good job at supplying itself with Energy by using Star Portal, and Radiant Greninja can easily take care of putting energy cards into the Discard Pile for you.
Aaaaaaand that's it! I hope you all enjoyed this little bit of writing, I always enjoy doing these!
James
Palkia VSTAR/Inteleon/Path to the Peak Decklist:
3 Origin Forme Palkia V
3 Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR
4 Sobble
3 Drizzile
2 Inteleon (Shady Dealings)
1 Radiant Greninja
1 Manaphy
1 Galarian Zigzagoon
4 Quick Ball
3 Capacious Bucket
3 Scoop Up Net
3 Level Ball
2 Lost Sweeper
2 Evolution Incense
1 Battle VIP Pass
1 Pal Pad
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball
1 Ultra Ball
1 Choice Belt
3 Path to the Peak
3 Irida
2 Boss's Orders
2 Melony
1 Marnie
1 Roxanne
7 Water Energy
