Standard Rayquaza GX/Zeraora GX with Team Up Updates

[Duo]

Hello all. I've been playing Rayquaza GX for fun/casually and have really been looking forward to Team Up to make some updates to, in my opinion, significanly improve the deck. Here is the list I've currently landed on.

Pokemon x13

Rayquaza GX x4
Zeraora GX x2
Tapu Lele GX x2
Shuckle x2
Shaymin Prism Star x1
Tapu Koko Prism Star x1
Latias Prism Star x1

Supporter x12

Cynthia x4
Lillie x3
Guzma x3
Erika's Hospitality x2

Item x19

Ultra Ball x4
Mysterious Treasure x4
Wishful Baton x4
Acro Bike x2
Rescue Stretcher x2

Viridian Forest x3

Energy x16

Grass Energy x8
Electric Energy x8

Here are some changes that I've done from my previous lists and a few reasons why:

+ 1 Shaymin Prism Star
+ 1 Tapu Koko Prism Star
+ 1 Lisia
- 1 Zekrom (Dragon's Majesty)
- 1 Tapu Koko Promo
- 1 Sightseer

This was a set of changes I had most been looking forward to for a while. Shaymin Prism Star is effectively a 5th Rayquaza GX in a deck specifically built for charging Rayquaza GX to hit hard enough to even OHKO every Tag Team GX currently printed by Turn 2 or Turn 3. As a 1 prize Pokemon, this is a no brainer one of the best tech cards to play in this deck. If Shaymin Prism Star gets a GX/Tag Team KO anytime, that's a huge win.

Tapu Koko Prism Star is a multipurpose tech card that can either act as a supplemental energy booster or a one prize attacker. It's a really cool addition to the deck that reduces complete reliance on Zeraora GX's GX attack, or simply just running out of energy acceleration options afterward.

Lisia becomes included in the deck now that it runs 4 Prism Star cards, and all 4 of them are pretty valuable as strategic options. Since Rayquaza GX's ability blindly discards 3 cards, it'll be troublesome if those end up being Prism Stars. Lisia gives you the ability to guarantee your Prism Stars prior to playing down Rayquazas. In most games, you only ever need 2 out of 4 of your Prism Stars to complete a situational strategy. Being generally able to search for these so that you can use Mysterious Treasure and Ultra Ball on non-Prism Star cards gives this deck more reach. More options is nice.

I can part ways with a Sightseer since it's a supporter I very rarely use. 2 copies was overkill, especially in a deck with 4/4 Mysterious Treasure/Ultra Ball for energy discard outlets already. I almost always reach for T1 Lillie and Cynthia everywhere else I need draw power, anyway. Tate & Liza I actually find to be important as a Switch card that is more versatile than a 4th Guzma since it can also be a draw supporter. This deck charges a majority of its energy through attacking which demands that you have the correct active Pokemon early on, and sometimes you just can't get energy on the active to free retreat via Zeraora GX's ability and still have enough energy to attack the same turn to accelerate energy onto your bench. Tate & Liza (as well as Thunder Mountain Prism allowing Zeraora GX to GX attack for free) help mitigate these energy concerns.

+2 Viridian Forest
-2 Devoured Field

Devoured Field used to be run primarly for Ray GX to hit those awkard 190s and 220s (mostly 190s) and deal with stadium wars. Viridian Forest, however, can speed up this deck's energy game 2-fold by discarding one energy from hand to be used by Shuckle/Latias/Zeraora/Tapu Koko Prism and still having energy to attach. This also gives you more control over what energies you attach in case you need more Grass to enable Shaymin Prism Star, or more Electric to enable Zeroara GX, etc. Speed and control over your energy pool from one card while also working with Stadium wars sounds like a sweet deal to me. Devoured Field also benefits Dark type Pokemon, and to my understanding Zoroark GX is still very much a thing. The +10 damage helps Zoroark more than it helps me, especially with OHKOing my 1 prize Pokemon by allowing them to hit 130 (Shining Lugia/Tapu Koko Prism Star/Latias Prism Star). With Black Market coming out in the same set as this, this becomes an even bigger concern.

Viridian Forest does make Blacephalon better (I'm assuming people still play that quite a bit), but stadium wars are here to stay so long as Prism Star Stadiums exist, and I'd rather play a stadium that has the most benefit for my deck. Viridian Forest is just strictly better than Devoured Field since energy management is the gateway to both set up and damage output for this deck.

+1 Tapu Lele GX
-1 Pal Pad

Less to do with Team Up coming out and just a change I wanted in general, I've found that the 1 copy of Pal Pad I used to run was fundamentally useless. Even if I recover 2 supporter cards into my deck, I usually never have a way to access them afterward anyway, especially when I only had 1 Tapu Lele GX that I usually already used by turn 2. But before that, running 1 copy of a card that can't be searched in any way in a deck where I usually blind discard 9 cards to Ray's ability on average per game made it something that I just could never rely on even if I was in a situation where I wanted it. I saw it in the discard pile more often than my hand. I would rather have more control over the timing and usage of my supporter cards than recover cards that I might not even see again anyway, and it's not like this deck is short on draw supporters - it has 9 of them. Having only 1 Tapu Lele GX is just way too restrictive, especially with three 1 of supporters.



Currently, the only card in this deck I'm questioning is the Shining Lugia. I feel like there might be a better tech Pokemon to play here, but I haven't found anything that I'm genuinely convinced is better in most scenarios. It's just an incredibly solid, consistent attacker that hits good numbers without having awkward drawbacks. I don't -think- there are any Tag Team GX's worth running in this deck, but if people feel otherwise I'm all ears.

 

[Lord Goomy]

I don’t get why everyone thinks Shining Lugia is so great. I’d go for a Switch instead.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi Duo,

Nice list. Consider these modifications:

Pokémon:
- 1 Shining Lugia (not worth the effort with Shaymin Prism as an alternative)
- 1 Tapu Lele GX (one is sufficient most of the time since you do not have the bench space anyways)

Trainer:
- 1 Sightseer (we have better options now and you have enough discard with the search items and Viridian Forest which is awesome in this deck)
- 1 Tate and Liza (we have better options now)
- 1 Lisia (you will draw into Prism easily)
- 1 Wishful Baton (three is sufficient)
- 1 Thunder Mountain Prism (not worth it just for Zeraora GX without Choice Bands in the deck)
+ 1 Lillie (best turn one supporter without the need to use Tapu Lele GX for it)
+ 2 Erika's Hospitality (one of the three best draw supporters)
+ 1 Viridian Forest (this stadium is nuts in this deck)
+ 3 Acro Bike (speed kills in this deck)

Hope this provides some initial assistance.

 

[Duo]

I think I'll take some of these suggestions to heart while discluding some others. I'll just talk about the ones I don't want to change from my personal playtesting.

-1 Tapu Lele GX - This is a change that is okay most of the time, but when its prized/my starter Pokemon/gets thrown out by Ray GX ability, it's a change that has led to me auto losing via bricking. I actually do play both Tapu Leles sometimes, especially when I know I have enough board presence to close out a match, get KO'd and have a new space on bench. Comes up pretty often, and usually for Guzma to win games.

-1 Lisia - My point still stands that I want to grab my Prism Star cards prior to Ray GX ability shenanigans whenever circumstances allow for it. I've sent Latias Prism to the lost zone far too many times. The issue isn't whether or not I think I'll draw into my Prism Stars - the issue is that I'm just as likely to mill them. This is kind of just an unignorable issue with Ray GX's ability.

-1 Wishful Baton - I've playtested with 3 before and I don't think it's enough. Even at 4 copies I've had games where I don't even get a single one in play, whether they're in my prizes or in my discard from Ray GX.

+1 Lillie - I've been very satisfied with 3 copies of it so far. I have a personal habit of not playing max copies of conditional cards. Lillie isn't useless outside of T1 in this deck, but she also isn't my priority over Cynthia or Erika after T1.

I like Acro Bikes, but since I'm being a bit stubborn as per usual, I don't really have room for the 3 copies unless I dump Lisia and the Tapu Lele GX (Wishful Baton is non-negotiable in my eyes, but I'm going to keep playtesting the Lisia & 2nd Lele for a while). Just my general mind set is that I prefer to build my deck to have as many resource options as possible to deal with multiple board/deck/hand state situations, not just match up. I've always wanted 3-4 Acro Bike in this deck, but I'm just not okay with losing resources for them.

I also forgot that Erika's Hospitality existed completely so it's not that I thought it was a bad supporter - I just forgot about her. To be clear on her playability ruling, I can play her when I have up to 4 cards in hand after playing her right? So the best hand size you could possibly get after playing her is 10 (4 left, +6 opponent Pokemon).

Also I'd like to defend the Shining Lugia a bit still. It was very useful when Zoroark GX and Buzzwole GX were very active. I'd like to assume at least Zoroark GX is still very active with Zoroark GX/Decidueye GX? Shining Lugia can 2 hit KO Zoroark GX (and Decidueye GX), and even with a full bench in standard, Zoroark GX needs Devoured Field or Kukui in order to OHKO Shining Lugia. A 1 prize basic Pokemon that can dance toe to toe with a 2 prize evolution Pokemon is always a fair exchange. Also, with -20 Fighting resistance, Shining Lugia is really good at eatting Jet Punches. Shining Lugia isn't the best 1 prize attacker ever, but this deck in particular struggled a lot with no seriously good 1 prize attackers until Shaymin Prism. It's also a good Pokemon to send after stuff like Smooth Over Magcargo to cut off some utility without leaving a 2 prize Pokemon in the active to get counter KO'd. It's a solid card when played in the right situations, and that's exactly what a tech card needs to be.

EDIT: Ran a few tests and can say that I'm comfortable with getting rid of the Lisia, but not the 2nd Tapu Lele GX. Lisia is fine if and only if I have another supporter in hand ready for next turn. With this, I've scratched the Shining Lugia and Lisia for +2 Acro Bikes as the best middle ground I can make based on my playstyle & playtest results.

Decklist has been fully updated in original post.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi Duo,

Nice list. Shinning Lugia became a lot less effective since Lightning became rather decent with the new set. Pikachu & Zekrum GX is another reason Tapu Lele GX counts tend to decrease since it can become an easy prize on the bench and Pikachu & Zekrum GX are faster than it seems. I personally also prefer more copies of stable supporters instead of being forced to search for it with Tapu Lele GX. Other than Tapu Lele and the fourth Wishful Baton our speed lists look rather similar.

 

[Duo]

Yeah, I've been holding onto Shining Lugia since there wasn't very strong Lightning presence which has changed with Team Up. No Lightning in the meta (even casually to a degree) was a huge plus for it that's gone now.

I'm just a huge fan of Lele, particularly in a deck that runs 8 search cards to find it when most decks can only run 4 Ultra Ball. With 2 Leles and 8 search cards, that's 10 ways to guarantee selection over the 4 different supporter cards in the deck. That's just huge consistency, and I'll always argue that consistency is worth 2 prizes. I also like to bring up the fact that if people have time to go for your Lele's any sooner than the last 2 prizes and not something else, you probably don't have much board presence to begin with and lost to bricking more than a Lele KO.

I imagine if P&Z's GX attack actually becomes a meta influencing problem, people will just start running some copies of Sky Pillar. Not a universal fix since it can be removed before GX attacking, but it might hold the deck hostage for 1-2 more turns. I want to believe there are some Pokemon with anti-bench abilities too, like the old XY Mr. Mime (not sure if a similar Pokemon has been reprinted). As for the purposes of Ray GX, assuming your deck is running properly, even if you get Electripower/Choice Band KO'd by the first attack, a properly set up Ray GX field will have at least 2 more attackers ready to counter OHKO a P&Z and that just drops 6 energy into the discard for your opponent. 240 is a really easy number to hit for Ray GX/Shaymin.

Just depends on how the game is running for both decks.


EDIT: Now considering running 2 Nest Ball instead of 2 Acro Bike. Nest Ball can search Zeraora GX and all 3 Prism Star Pokemon without any consequences from not playing them from hand. Nest Ball offers more search & selection, but it is limited to grabbing exclusively Pokemon while Acro Bike could potentially dig you into a different card you need.