Regigigas is a deck that was first born in the U.S. when Stormfront was first released. Regigigas was a very popular deck, with its ability to deal high damage, lock Powers, and tank. At the time, Regigigas was hindered against Machamp, but the colossal still kept going. When Platinum came out, Regigigas lost quite a bit of its power, since Power Spray really slowed down the deck. Ever since, Regigigas was a deck that couldn't be seen in the meta. But, with the release of HS: Triumphant, the many new Trainers and Supporters in the set could let Regigigas come back into the meta.
The List
2 Regigigas (Promo)
1 Regigigas (LA)
1 Regigigas Lv.X (LA)
3 Mesprit (LA)
3 Uxie (LA)
1 Uxie Lv.X (LA)
1 Azelf (LA)
1 Giratina (PL)
1 Regice (LA)
1 Unown Q (MD)
14 Pokemon
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Switch
3 Twins
3 Junk Arm
3 Professor Oak's New Theory
3 Pokemon Rescue
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Expert Belt
2 Seeker
2 Bebe's Search
1 Premier Ball
28 Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums
4 Metal Energy
4 Water Energy
4 Fighting Energy
3 Call Energy
15 Energy
The list, as you can see, is only 57 cards. You are missing 3 cards, and those three cards will depend on your metagame. Feel free to change this list if you want to, since I can't stop you (and I'll probably will never know xD).
The Deck
Even at a glance, Regigigas is quite a lot. Unless you are against a Fighting type, Regigigas' x2 weakness, you will NEVER get one-shotted with Regigigas' 150 HP. At times, Regigigas can even survive the three-shot without healing itself. Fighting weakness is obviously a problem, since you get x2'd to Donphan and Toxicroak G (Promo). Each of them can do at least 120 damage to Regigigas, which is a large chunk of Regigigas' HP. Four retreat is quite bad, but you will obviously never be retreating with Regigigas. So, what's so great about Regigigas? His Power and attack. Sacrifice lets you knock out one of your Pokemon in play (so your opponent gets a prize) in order to remove 8 damage counters from Regigigas, and take two Basic Energy out of your Discard and on to Regigigas. This is a great power, since it lets you Energy accelerate and allows Regigigas to tank, on top of Regigigas' 150 HP. While this is good, never overuse Sacrifice, since your opponent still gets a free prize.
Now for Regigigas' attack, which is quite a lot for how much it costs. The biggie is that Giga Blaster needs one Water Energy, one Fighting Energy, one Metal Energy, and one of any other Energy to attach. It's a lot to setup, but thanks to Regigigas' Sacrifice Poke Power, quickly attach the Energy is not a problem. Anyways, Giga Blaster does 100 damage, and your opponent must discard the top card of their deck. Plus, you get to choose one card from your opponent's hand without looking and discard that card. With an Expert Belt attached, you will most likely get KO after KO against a nice chunk of the meta, and you mill your opponent's hand and deck. It's great, but Giga Blaster can't be used during your next turn. Still, nothing beats that kind of effect if you can quickly attach with Sacrifice.
With only two real choices of Regigigas to run, the Promo Regigigas is the better one. Keeping the same Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat as its Lv.X card, Promo Regigigas also comes with 100 HP. Unless you are paired against a Fighting Pokemon, Regigigas will surely be able to survive any attack your opponent does to you as you try to setup. Promo Regigigas also comes with two attacks, and both are very handy when it comes to board control and damage. Drag Off is Regigigas’ first attack. For three of any Energy, you may switch the Defending Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon. If you do switch or not, the attack does 30 damage, which honestly isn’t much. However, if you take into account that you can control your opponent’s board and do damage, then Drag Off is pretty good. It allows you to KO any Benched Magikarp or Hoppip, and with an Expert Belt attached to Regigigas, Drag Off lets you bring up and one-shot any Benched Garchomp C, which is very helpful later in the game. Or, just bring up a Pokemon with a high retreat, such as Regice or Vileplume to stall and KO.
Regigigas’ other attack is Giga Hammer, which requires four Energy for 80 damage. Getting four Energy on Regigigas shouldn’t be a problem with Sacrifice, accelerating Giga Hammer for you. While you can’t use Giga Hammer during your next turn, you would obviously switch between using Giga Hammer and Giga Blaster. Giga Hammer can most likely help you KO the Defending Pokemon with 80 damage, and 100 with Belt on. Other than that, nothing special.
The other Regigigas, this one is actually not too bad. Regigigas keeps the same Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat as both of the previously mentioned Regigigas’ , with x2 to Fighting and four retreat. 100 HP is solid for a Basic, allowing Regigigas to take a hit before your opponent sets up. Regigigas has a nice Poke Body, since it complements the Lv.X's Power if the situation happens. Recover Mechanism allows you to remove all Special Conditions from Regigigas when attaching an Energy card on it. Since Sacrifice, Regigigas' primary way of attaching Energy and healing, can't be used when Regigigas is affected by a Special Condition, Recover Mechanism is your key way to remove that Special Condition. But while the Body does help Sacrifice, very few decks run on Special Conditions due to the popularity of SP decks.
Gigaton Punch, Regigigas' attack, does 60 for any three Energy. You flip a coin, and if you flip (or roll) heads, you do 80 damage instead, and 20 damage to one of your opponent's Benched Pokemon. Since it's three of any Energy, Gigaton Punch is definitely a great substitute to Giga Blaster when you don't have the right Energy to attack, or if you used Giga Blaster last turn. With Expert Belt, your base damage is 80, and your flip damage is 100, which is definitely a great damage boost after doing 120 with Giga Blaster (with Expert Belt on). The extra 20 also helps surviving Pokemon from Giga Blaster still take damage.
Mesprit LA
You're obviously not going to Sacrifice any of your Benched Regigigas, as that would be a total waste of your main attacker. Instead, the why not Sacrifice the Legendary Pixies from Legends Awakened, with their one-use Power? Mesprit is a staple in Regigigas decks, with its ability to lock. When you play Mesprit, you have the option of using Psychic Bind. If you do use it, your opponent can't use any Poke Powers during his or her next turn. That means no Bright Look, no Time Walk, no Flash Bite, no Setup, and no Powers at all. It definitely slows down many decks, or can stop a plan. And unless you can't use Super Scoop Up or Seeker to reuse Mesprit's Psychic Band, just Sacrifice Mesprit for an 8 damage counter heal and two Energy.
Uxie LA
A staple in every deck, this deck is no different than the rest of the format. Uxie LA is a must-have. With its Setup Poke Power, you draw cards until you have 7 cards in your hand. It's a great draw card, and can usually get you 2-3 cards. If you plan to use Junk Arm or Regice to discard Energy or any other card, then Uxie can probably get you two more cards. With Super Scoop Up or Seeker, you can keep reusing Setup when you need that draw boost. If not, then Uxie is best left as a sacrificial card.
Uxie Lv.X
Uxie Lv.X, along with Uxie's Setup for draw, is another lovely draw card. Trade Off is essentially a Pokedex Handy. You look at the top two cards of your deck, choose one, and put that card in your hand. The other card goes on the bottom of your deck. While it is only two cards, it still supplies a good draw. Imagine if one of those two cards is the card you need? Lastly, Zen Blade lets Uxie be at least a decent attacker. It does 60 and Uxie can't use Zen Blade during your next turn. It's great against Machamp, doing a solid 90 da
Azelf LA
Azelf isn't a staple in every deck, but many decks still use Azelf's amazing Prize-search ability. Time Walk lets you look at your prize cards and choose one Pokemon you find there. You then show that card to your opponent and put any card from your hand face down as your prize card. So if that needed Mesprit or Regigigas Lv.X is prized, Time Walk that card out. Power Spray? Super Scoop Up and Seeker will let you reuse Time Walk. And now with the new notes rule, you can take notes about what's in your prize cards and not show them. Great if you can't remember what cards are in the prize cards, and which card is where. In most cases, after using Time Walk, then Azelf should be Sacrificed to get more Bench space.
Giratina PL
Considering Regigigas having disrupting and locking abilities, Giratina PL makes a great, and can improve a good amount of matchups. Let Loose makes both players shuffle their hands into their deck and draw four cards. Let Loose is great against decks like Gyarados or even SP decks. After the Gyarados player Impersonates for the Magikarp and Regice, you can drop Giratina to force those cards to go back into the deck, putting your opponent back a turn. Against SP, playing Giratina the turn after your opponent plays Cyrus’ Conspiracy forces them to have to topdeck for that Cyrus to continue the SP engine again. If your opponent is able to draw into Uxie or Pokemon Collector? Playing Mesprit before using Let Loose disrupts your opponent’s hand and Power locks your opponent, so they won’t be able to get a decent draw from Uxie for another turn.
Regice LA
If there was a very easy way to search your deck for Trainers and Trainer lock didn't exist, Regice wouldn't be necessary. But, there is no such thing, and Regice is a very vital card in Regigigas decks (it can be replaced with another card, but I'll explain that later). Regice's main use in the deck is to discard Energy from your hand. Regi Move lets you discard two cards from your hand, and your opponent switches his or her Active Basic Pokemon with one of his or her Benched Pokemon. If there is an Active Spiritomb that's locking your Trainers, then Regi Move it out to play your Trainers again. A useless Uxie or Azelf to be used as a prize sacrifice (irony)? Regi Move it out to KO something more worth the KO. The effect is great, and discarding two Energy cards from your hand is a huge boost in Regigigas' Sacrifice. Regice's only main problem with Regi Move is when you need to discard the Energy, but you don't want the Active Pokemon to be switched. That's why Regice's possibly replacement, Registeel, comes in hand (Registeel will be explained in the tech section).
Unown Q
I've seen lists with or without Unown Q, and really, Regigigas can definitely use Unown Q's Power. Quick makes Unown Q a Poke Tool, and you attach Unown Q to one of your Pokemon as a Poke Tool (following the Poke Tool rules). With Unown Q attached to a Pokemon, that Pokemon has one less retreat. Since Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit all have one retreat, in case these Pokemon were to somehow become the Active Pokemon, using Unown Q can bring them back without having to waste an Energy card (but in the early game, discarding an Energy wouldn't be too
Pokemon Collector
From this point on, most of these cards will probably just be staple cards. Pokemon Collector is by far the most vital, since without Pokemon Collector, you'd have no fast way of getting your Pixies, Regice, or Regigigas. Pokemon Collector lets you search your deck for three Basic Pokemon. It's great for the fast Regigigas/Regice grab, and the Azelf, Uxie, or Mesprit when necessary. Really, what you take out depends on the situation.
Switch
Switch is a bit of a weird card in this deck. In case you don't know, you switch your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon. While some people prefer Warp Point since you can disrupt your opponent's Active Pokemon with it, I prefer Switch. With it, after you use Giga Blaster, just Switch Regigigas during your next turn. Bring up something that can retreat (preferably maybe a Pixie with Unown Q attached), retreat, send up Regigigas, and Giga Blaster again gives that fast double mill, and can usually KO your opponent's new Active Pokemon after you KO'ed the previous one (which is why I prefer Switch).
Twins
Face it. Pretty much every game you play, your opponent will get the Prize lead. You have to give your opponent a prize lead to setup with Sacrifice, and if you keep using Sacrifice to tank, your opponent could continue that prize lead. So why not run Twins? If you have more prize cards that your opponent, you get to search your deck for any two cards and put it into your hand. Twins is great for getting the needed Expert Belt, or maybe even the Mesprit when you want to lock. Running three might be overkill, but since you'll be behind prizes early in the game, and behind prizes maybe once later in the game, running two or three shouldn't be a problem.
Junk Arm
You'll need another way to discard Energy other than Regice or Registeel. Junk Arm lets you discard two cards from your hand, and you get to search your discard pile for a Trainer card other than Junk Arm and put it into your hand. So, you not only get two Energy in the discard quickly, but taking out a Trainer gives you the option of taking out a Pokemon Rescue, Expert Belt, Pokemon Communication, any Trainer that you would need.
Professor Oak's New Theory (PONT)
Undoubtedly one of the best draw cards in the format, Professor Oak's New Theory can certainly be used in Regigigas. You shuffle your hand into your deck and draw a fresh hand of six. In case you have a bad start, or you just want to get a new hand, PONT can easily give you that needed draw.
Pokemon Rescue
Instead of running Palmer's or Flower Shop Girl, Pokemon Rescue is probably your best choice. You search your discard pile for any Pokemon and put it into your hand. Pokemon Rescue works very well after you Sacrifice a Mesprit or a Uxie: Just use Pokemon Rescue to reuse their Poke Power. Plus, once Regigigas gets KO'ed, you'll be better off just keeping the Energy in the discard so that once you Rescue the Regigigas Lv.X, you can just Sacrifice to get the Energy that you don't have.
Pokemon Communication
Known as one of the best Pokemon searchers in the format, Pokemon Communication acts much like Bebe's Search. Being a Trainer card (locked by Tomb and Vileplume), you show one Pokemon card from your hand to your opponent and put that card on top of your deck. Then you search your deck for any Pokemon and put it into your hand. While you do lose a Pokemon from your hand, it still lets you search for Pokemon well and doesn't burn your Supporter for the turn.
Seeker
Seeker is a double-edged sword, since both you and your opponent can benefit from its effect. Both players return one of their Benched Pokemon into their hand. This can work both for and against you. You can return a Mesprit, Uxie, or Azelf back into your hand and then play them to reuse their Poke Power. But, your opponent could do much the same, and they can even reuse their Crobat G, Luxray GL, and Garchomp C. So even though Seeker helps you, why run it? Seeker allows you to re-drop Mesprits, so you can continue the Power locking (so your opponent would have to wait to replay their Uxie, Crobat, etc.) Seeker also lets you heal your Regigigas Lv.X after playing Switch to move Regigigas to the Bench, where you can't afford to use Sacrifice and you have a Regigigas charged up on the Bench. Plus, imagine if your opponent has only one Benched Pokemon. Seeker would force your opponent to pick up that Pokemon, so your opponent would only have the Active Pokemon in play. Just Giga Blaster to instantly win.
Bebe's Search
While Pokemon Communication is a great way to search for Pokemon, it falls to a Trainer lock, and can't be used if you don't have a Pokemon in your hand. That's why Bebe's Search should still have a spot in your deck. You shuffle one card from your hand into your deck, and search your deck for a Pokemon and put it into your hand. Nothing much really say, since the card is really self explanatory (take out Regigigas Lv.X).
Expert Belt
One of, if not the best card from Arceus, Regigigas' tanking and aggro abilities are increased thanks to this card. While your opponent does take two prizes when they KO a Pokemon with Expert Belt attached, it doesn't change how good the card's effect is. The Pokemon Expert Belt is attached to gets 20 more HP, and does 20 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon. With Belt attached, Regigigas is an even greater tank with 170 HP, and can KO a very nice chunk of the meta doing 120 damage with Giga Blaster.
Premier Ball
With Premier Ball, you get to search your deck for a Pokemon Lv.X, or your discard pile for a Pokemon. Premier Ball acts as both a searcher and a recoverer for your main attacker, and also gets you Uxie Lv.X when you need it. With Pokemon Communication, Bebe's, and a good amount of draw cards, I'd much rather save Premier Ball for taking Regigigas out of the discard, but that all depends on the situation.
Call Energy
You are running three Regigigas, and eight other Basic Pokemon. Odds are, you won't be starting with Regigigas. While you could waste your Supporter and use Pokemon Collector to search out for Basic Pokemon, Call Energy comes in. While providing one Colorless Energy, Call lets you search your deck for two Basic Pokemon and put it on to your Bench. It lets you take out Regigigas and Regice, so you can save that Collector for the Pixies to actually use their Poke Power. However, if you want to attack faster, you should run Double Colorless Energy, since after Call Energy’s use, you aren’t going to be using it for the rest of the game.
The Strategy
You probably get how Regigigas works by now. Regigigas runs, as I explained before, as a tanking, locking, and aggro deck. Despite the cost of Regigigas Lv.X's Giga Blaster attack, Regigigas is a very fast deck. In most of the games I've played, I've been able to setup Giga Blaster by T3, and even by T2 with a very good. Regigigas has many options thanks to its high versatility, and is able to fit in many techs (Giratina PL, Crobat G, etc.) With four of each of the needed Basic Energy, a good Trainer and Supporter engine, and at least three Uxie, Regigigas can be one of the most consistent decks even when opening with a bad start.
So, how does the deck actually work? Regigigas, as you know, has the ability of locking your opponent's Poke Powers with Mesprits. Fast Mesprit locks early game can eventually ruin your opponent's setup for a couple of turns, and can give you the edge when setting up. Your first Pokemon Collector should always have a Mesprit to make sure you get that fast Power lock. Your other two cards should be either Regigigas, Regice, or Uxie depending on what you have in your opening draw. As you know, Regice is the best way to get Energy in the discard, and after a Regi Move, your hand is definitely small enough to get a good draw out of Uxie. If you need to play Uxie first, then you should still be able to get a good two to three cards out of Setup.
So after this, everything is self explanatory. Use Regice to discard Energy from your hand, and if your opening Basic is a Pixie, it doesn't hurt to attach to the Pixie and retreat, since you could just discard only one Energy and something else with Regice. As you slowly begin to attach to Regigigas, discard Energy, and continue to lock with Mesprit, begin to try to get out Regigigas Lv.X. By the time Regigigas Lv.X is out, you should have two to three Energy on Regigigas. Simply just use Sacrifice to KO one of your Pixies, as you heal off any damage that was done to Regigigas (which isn't common if Regigigas was sitting on your Bench) and quickly attach Energy on to Regigigas. Sacrifice is your fastest way of attaching Energy in the deck, and your Sacrifice should be on a Mesprit so that you can KO Mesprit, play Pokemon Rescue, and continue the lock. If your start is good enough, you could have this done by T2, so you could have a T2 Regigigas Lv.X ready to use Giga Blaster. You simply have to attach an Energy to Regigigas T1, while using Regi Move on either T1 on T2. After attaching to Regigigas again on T2 and using Sacrifice, you can get four Energy on Regigigas.
Once you have Regigigas going, at this point, it all comes down to aggro. You can almost always take a prize with Giga Blaster (sometimes you might need a Crobat G, though) and disrupt your opponent with it. After Giga Blaster, your next step should be to either use Gigaton Punch to hopefully KO they newly brought up Pokemon while damaging the Bench (making it easier to KO that Pokemon with Giga Blaster or Gigaton Punch), or to use Switch/Warp Point to bring Regigigas back to the Bench, a Pixie that you can retreat Active, retreat the Pixie, and do another Giga Blaster to take another prize and continue to disrupt. Always remember to continue the Mesprit lock using Seeker.
Sacrifice, your greatest tool, could actually lead to your loss in the end if overused. Regigigas is a tank, and pretty much with 170 HP and doing 120 a turn (assuming Expert Belt is attached), just about every SP deck gets KO'ed, and any survivors gets KO'ed during your next turn with Gigaton Punch. Regigigas can surely take a hit, and with Mesprit locks constantly happening throughout the game, Regigigas will be able to get KO's while your opponent tries to setup. If you are able to KO your opponent's Pokemon while they are setting up, then odds are you won't need to use Sacrifice often to heal. If Regigigas does have lots of damage on it, then try to use Seeker to pickup Regigigas and continue to setup again if you already have another charged Regigigas in play, instead of having to waste a prize using Sacrifice.
Techs, options, and replacements
Crobat G
Against Pokemon with 130 HP, unless that Pokemon already has damage on it Regigigas won't be able to one-shot it with Giga Blaster, and would have to resort to the two-shot during your next turn with Gigaton Punch or another Giga Blaster. By dropping a Crobat G, you can KO those 130 HP Pokemon with Giga Blaster, doing 130 damage. Plus, with Seeker, you can keep reusing Crobat G whenever necessary to keep getting those one-shots. If not, then either keep on the Bench or use Sacrifice on Crobat G whenever necessary.
Double Colorless Energy (DCE) instead of Call Energy
When I first Cetra's Regigigas article on Pokegym, I felt as if Double Colorless wasn't the best play, and Call Energy was much better. After more testing, Double Colorless Energy helps Regigigas start attacking if you fail to get enough Energy in the discard for Sacrifice, or if you can't get Regigigas Lv.X out. Providing two Colorless Energy, Double Colorless Energy allows you to only need two Energy to use Gigaton Punch, so you can possibly have a T2 80 damage with a lucky flip. DCE is crazy helpful when you want to start attacking early in the game, when you can’t use Sacrifice.
Dewgong SV
Also your Donphan counter, Dewgong can deal with Machamp too. For a Water and a Colorless (you don't have to tech in another Energy type), you do 30 damage. However, if the Defending Pokemon is a Fighting type, then Ice Shard does 80 damage instead. 80 damage gives you the Donphan KO, regardless of Expert Belt and Exoskeleton. 80 to Machamp also helps the matchup if you can keep Dewgong attacking.
Black Belt
Black Belt is a great revenge card. Much like Twins, Black Belt can only be played if you have more prize cards than your opponent, which is easy considering you have Sacrifice. When played, Black Belt lets your Active Pokemon do 40 damage to the Defending Pokemon. That's great since your Giga Blaster would be doing 140 damage instead of 100 (160 instead of 120 with Expert Belt attached). It pretty much gives you a KO, allowing you to one-shot any fully setup Pokemon.
Super Scoop Up over Seeker, or more Seeker
Seeker is a Supporter, so it wastes your Supporter for the turn. That Supporter could potentially have been used for a card like PONT or Pokemon Collector. Seeker also gives your opponent the pickup, so they can pick up any Uxie. Super Scoop Up allows you to choose one Pokemon and return that card back into your hand, but for the price of a flip. Super Scoop Up is also Trainer locked, limiting its use in certain matches. Still, Super Scoop Up can pick up your Active Regigigas Lv.X when you can’t afford to Sacrifice, and if you do get heads, you can replay the Mesprit or the Uxie without having your opponent get an advantage. Super Scoop Up is also Junk Arm searchable. But again, it’s a flippy card, which is why some players might prefer Seeker.
Now, what about running more Seeker? While the sample list says two Seeker, I’ve tested with at least three Seeker before. It works great, allowing you to drop more Mesprit and stopping your opponent from playing those Poke Powers. But again, Seeker uses up your Supporter for the turn, which is why if you don’t mind flips, running Super Scoop Up could be a better option depending on your meta.
Ruins of Alph / Skuntank G
Ruins of Alph and Skuntank G are both intended for any Gengar-based matchups. Ruins of Alph, a Stadium card, makes it so that each player's Pokemon doesn't have any resistance. Against any Gengar builds, it lets Gigas hit them for full damage, which increases Gigas' KO speed on them. On top of that, it can surprise-discard Broken Time-Space, potentially lowering the other deck's speed. Now, Skuntank G's Poison Structure Poke Power lets you Poison both active Pokemon if you have a Stadium card in play. While it doesn't affect SP Pokemon and affects your Regigigas, remember that you have Switch and Regigigas LA to cure the Poison.
So, why is this good for Gengar matchups? Well, if you take a look at the math, it works. A single, un-belted Giga Blaster after doing a Poison Structure with Ruins of Alph in play can one-shot any Gengar (SF) without having to worry about Fainting Spell, a big threat to Regigigas. Against any Gengar Prime, a Belted Gigas Blaster and Ruins of Alph/Poison Structure clears Gengar Prime quickly. The only big problem to this is that you miss the Gengar Lv.X one-shot, and if you're under a Trainer lock, you can't get rid of the Poison easily unless Gigas LA is an option.
Palmer's Contribution
Unless you can KO Vileplume with Drag Off and Giga Blaster, you're going to stuck with any Pokemon Rescue while under a Trainer lock. That means no recovery. Palmer's Contribution lets you take 5 in any combination of Pokemon and Basic Energy from your discard. This lets yo take out a KO'ed Regigigas Lv.X, can fish out some Mesprit from the discard, and even Energy if you have too many in the Discard Pile.
Engineer’s Adjustments
It doesn’t discard Energy as fast as Regice or Junk Arm can, but it definitely gives you a great draw. Engineer’s Adjustments makes you discard an Energy card from your hand, but you get to draw four cards. The Energy discard helps you setup Regigigas Lv.X for Sacrifice, and can also give you that needed draw power.
Warp Point instead of Switch
Warp Point is much like Switch. You get to switch your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon just like Switch, but so does your opponent. Essentially, Warp Point's main use is to fulfill Switch's duties: to keep spamming Giga Blaster. However, Warp Point letting your opponent Switch allows you to hit something on your opponent’s Bench, which can disrupt if your opponent brings up some Pokemon to sacrifice.
Banette PL
If you are willing to tech another type of Energy in (Psychic Energy), then run Banette PL. Banette acts as your Machamp and Mewtwo counter, and can also discard Energy from your hand. Temper Tantrum allows you to discard any number of cards from your hand, and then you get to put one damage counter on each card you discard. If you are able to get out Banette before Regice, then Banette can do the discarding. Banette's Loneliness attack is what deals with Machamp and Mewtwo. For two Energy, you show your opponent your hand. If you have no Pokemon in your hand, then you do 60 damage. If you have any Pokemon in your hand, use Temper Tantrum to get rid of it. Loneliness does a solid 90 to Machamp, while one-shotting Mewtwo Lv.X.
Registeel instead of Regice
Regi Move forces the switch after the discard. Sometimes, that can be a good thing if the Defending Pokemon is a Spiritomb or a Pixie Sacrifice. However, sometimes the forced switch can be a bad thing. If you want to KO the Active Pokemon but you have to use Regi Move, then you would force the switch, resulting in you losing that wanted KO. Registeel has a Power very similar to Regice, but it doesn’t have a Switch. Regi Heal lets you discard two cards from your hand, much like Regice. This can let you get rid of two Energy. But, instead of moving the Defending Pokemon, you get to remove three damage counters from Registeel. It’s a great Power to have if you can’t Junk Arm, or if you don’t want to have a switch with Regice.
Two Regigigas Lv.X instead of one Regigigas Lv.X
Woah, this is new. Two Regigigas Lv.X instead of one Regigigas Lv.X is a very strange play, cutting your Gigas line into 2-2 Regigigas Lv.X instead of 3-1 Regigigas Lv.X. While 3-1 Gigas Lv.X is more consistent when it comes to opening up with Regigigas, against Lostgar, two Regigigas is vital. It prevents your opponent from Lost Zoning your one and only Regigigas Lv.X, which would cripple Regigigas. By having the second Regigigas Lv.X as a backup, the deck can still keep going against any Lost Zone decks even if one Regigigas Lv.X is in the Lost Zone. On top of that, two Regigigas Lv.X helps you draw into it earlier in the game.
Old Amber
What? A Fossil card in Regigigas? It's an odd tech, but Old Amber should only be teched in Regigigas if your metagame is filled with Lostgar. You see, Old Amber is a Pokemon card while it's in play, so you do have the option of picking it up with Lostgar's Seeker Supporter. However, while in your hand, Old Amber is a Trainer card, so Lostgar can't Lost Zone Old Amber. So you can keep playing Old Amber and letting your opponent play Seeker to pickup Old Amber. And if your opponent decides to use Cursed Drop on Old Amber, you can discard Old Amber from play without having your opponent take a prize. Then, just use Junk Arm to pick Old Amber back up. Strange tech, but immensely helpful against Lostgar builds.
Matchups
~ Luxchomp: Slightly Favorable
Sadly, due to the rotation, Regigigas lost its best tool when it comes to dealing with SP decks: Azelf MT. Azelf gave Regigigas a great Luxchomp matchup, but even without Azelf, Regigigas can still hold its own against Luxchomp. Fast Mesprit locks and Giratina can kill the Setup, Flash Bite, Galactic Switch, and Bright Look while if you do run Giratina, you can get rid of the Cyrus’ Conspiracy your opponent decides to take out. It also gets rid of Power Spray, so you can use Sacrifice with having to worry. Once you get Giga Blaster going, and with a Belt on it, you pretty much can KO the entire deck. Drag Off is also great against Garchomp C, being able to bring up the Garchomp before your opponent gets the chance to start sniping.
~Donphan: Unfavorable
Donphan is much faster than you are, even with the Mesprit lock. Plus, Donphan hits you for weakness, and on average they do at least 120 damage to Regigigas. Once Donphan gets Heavy Impact going, then you pretty much lost Regigigas even with Belt attached. The best way to deal with this matchup is to run the Arceus [W] or Dewgong SV tech, which can OHKO Donphan even with Belt attached (you’ll need Belt on Arceus, though). Either way, this matchup is going to be a tough one, considering they have the speed and weakness advantage.
~ Gyarados
-- Slightly Favorable if you sustain a Mesprit lock.
-- Even if neither players can sustain a Mesprit lock.
-- Unfavorable if your opponent can sustain a Mesprit lock.
Both of you are about as fast. Gyarados is T2-T3 deck, and you are a T2-T3 deck. Both of you two-shot each other as well. Without a doubt, this will be a hard matchup, and can go either way depending on both player's opening hand. If you are able to sustain the Mesprit lock first, then you should have the slight edge in the matchup. Keeping that Mesprit lock makes your opponent loose Azelf for prized Magikarp, Uxie for draw, and Regice for powering up Gyarados. Plus, Giratina can disrupt any Impersonated Pokemon Collector that Gyarados does on the first turn, which can help you get a lead in the game as Gyarados tries to get setup. But, if neither player can sustain a Power lock, then this matchup can go either way. While you get the Giratina bonus, your opponent can use Azelf, Regice, and Uxie to setup, and Gyarados' fast recovery can be troublesome to your slower recovery. Now, if your opponent has the Mesprit lock going, then this matchup drops to unfavorable. When they Mesprit lock you, Giratina, Mesprit, Sacrifice, Uxie, Azelf, every Pokemon in your deck becomes useless until the lock stops. Gigas would be greatly slowed down, giving Gyarados the lead.
~Machamp: Unfavorable
It’s Machamp. Face it, you pretty much lose to it. Constant Take Outs will give Machamp the win in simply six turns, and you will have a hard time taking a prize. Running Dewgong as a tech could help against Machamp a bit, since you can do 80 damage to it. Otherwise, it’s Machamp, and you will have a hard time.
~Dialgachomp: Slightly Favorable
Playing Giratina after they play the first Cyrus’ Conspiracy gives a great advantage in this matchup, killing the deck’s engine until the redraw. Just like what I said before, playing Mesprit also helps before playing Giratina. Regigigas Lv.X can also OHKO Dialga G Lv.X with Belt on assuming Dialga doesn’t have any Belt or Special Metal on it. If Dialga G does survive the Giga Blaster, watch out for Poke Turn or Healing Breath on Garchomp C. Garchomp also is a problem when it comes to sniping your open Bench, but Drag Off + Belt handles Garchomp while it sets up. Just like Luxchomp, beware of Power Spray too. Unless you can get rid of it with Giratina, Power Spray might stop you for a turn.
~Vilegar
--Slightly Favorable with Skuntank G/Ruins of Alph
--Unfavorable without Skuntank G/Ruins of Alph
It’s going to be a hard matchup, since Vileplume will block all of your Rescue, Communication, Junk Arm, and Premier Ball. It makes you lose that Sacrifice Mesprit – Rescue lock, and can also stop constant Giga Blasters, meaning that you must depend on Seeker for this. Gengar Lv.X can also get rid of any Regigigas Lv.X. However, with the right techs, you could do well in this matchup. Skuntank G/Ruins of Alph helps you clear out any Gengar SF without having to activate Fainting Spell, which would cripple Gigas if they get heads. Drag Off would help bring up Vileplume as well, which helps when it comes to locking your opponent's Vileplume as the Active Pokemon, forcing Vilegar to manually attach and retreat or by attaching Warp Energy on to Vileplume. Since you can do this at any point when Drag Off is available to you, it can disrupt Vilegar quite a bit. Lastly, if you use Regice to get rid of any unneeded Trainers or Supporters in your hand, you lower Poltergeist's damage quite a bit.
However, if you don't run Ruins of Alph/Skuntank G, then matchup tilts downwards. You'll have to either play around your opponent's Gengar with Drag Off, or you might have to risk Fainting Spell, which is painful against Regigigas for the sheer fact that if Gengar gets that easy KO, it will take a long time for you to recover.
~Chenlock: Usually Favorable
Why the “usually”? Well, Chenlock will be using Judge and Cyrus’ Initiative to try to disrupt your hand. CI is flippy, and how well the card disrupts you really depends on your opening hand and your opponent’s coin flips. Judge is also dependant on your draw. But usually, you can win this matchup. Mesprit drops stops Chatot G from looking through your deck, and three PONT is great for consistency. You can OHKO everything in your opponent’s deck with Giga Blaster too. Giratina stops the SP engine from working as well. The biggest worry is Blaziken FB dragging up your Regice to stall, and Garchomp C Lv.X sniping your Benched Pixies. For Regice, you can Sacrifice on the Bench, so if you have Regigigas Lv.X out then just KO Regice (if you are able to). Garchomp can usually be stopped with Drag Off and Expert Belt. Again, this matchup highly depends on how the game opens, but usually you’ll win.
Conclusion
While Regigigas might have some bad matchups, it happens with every deck. Regigigas is by no means a pickup-and-play deck like Kingdra or Donphan. If you want to play Regigigas, you’ll have to practice. Regigigas is a very good deck, and despite having bad matchups to Machamp, Donphan, and Vilegar, Regigigas can usually trump most of its other matchups thanks to Giratina’s Let Loose and Mesprit’s Power lock. Being fast and hard hitting, Regigigas is a deck that can be a great Cities contender.
This is my first article in a really long time, so I hope I haven’t lost any of the experience I had (I probably did xD). I’d like to say that I need to work on the matchups some more, since I think that they are a bit off, but still relatively close. I’m also hoping to test against more decks now that TM on Redshark has been released. But for now, credits:
-Cetra on Pokegym. His Regigigas article was a huge inspiration
-Lou Cypher: Lou was the guy who first inspired me to become an article writer.
-Jwittz: I watched Jwittz’s video article on TM. When he mentioned Regigigas, I scrambled to test it out. Without him noting Regigigas, I would have never made this article.
Gliscor Out
The List
2 Regigigas (Promo)
1 Regigigas (LA)
1 Regigigas Lv.X (LA)
3 Mesprit (LA)
3 Uxie (LA)
1 Uxie Lv.X (LA)
1 Azelf (LA)
1 Giratina (PL)
1 Regice (LA)
1 Unown Q (MD)
14 Pokemon
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Switch
3 Twins
3 Junk Arm
3 Professor Oak's New Theory
3 Pokemon Rescue
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Expert Belt
2 Seeker
2 Bebe's Search
1 Premier Ball
28 Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums
4 Metal Energy
4 Water Energy
4 Fighting Energy
3 Call Energy
15 Energy
The list, as you can see, is only 57 cards. You are missing 3 cards, and those three cards will depend on your metagame. Feel free to change this list if you want to, since I can't stop you (and I'll probably will never know xD).
The Deck
Even at a glance, Regigigas is quite a lot. Unless you are against a Fighting type, Regigigas' x2 weakness, you will NEVER get one-shotted with Regigigas' 150 HP. At times, Regigigas can even survive the three-shot without healing itself. Fighting weakness is obviously a problem, since you get x2'd to Donphan and Toxicroak G (Promo). Each of them can do at least 120 damage to Regigigas, which is a large chunk of Regigigas' HP. Four retreat is quite bad, but you will obviously never be retreating with Regigigas. So, what's so great about Regigigas? His Power and attack. Sacrifice lets you knock out one of your Pokemon in play (so your opponent gets a prize) in order to remove 8 damage counters from Regigigas, and take two Basic Energy out of your Discard and on to Regigigas. This is a great power, since it lets you Energy accelerate and allows Regigigas to tank, on top of Regigigas' 150 HP. While this is good, never overuse Sacrifice, since your opponent still gets a free prize.
Now for Regigigas' attack, which is quite a lot for how much it costs. The biggie is that Giga Blaster needs one Water Energy, one Fighting Energy, one Metal Energy, and one of any other Energy to attach. It's a lot to setup, but thanks to Regigigas' Sacrifice Poke Power, quickly attach the Energy is not a problem. Anyways, Giga Blaster does 100 damage, and your opponent must discard the top card of their deck. Plus, you get to choose one card from your opponent's hand without looking and discard that card. With an Expert Belt attached, you will most likely get KO after KO against a nice chunk of the meta, and you mill your opponent's hand and deck. It's great, but Giga Blaster can't be used during your next turn. Still, nothing beats that kind of effect if you can quickly attach with Sacrifice.
With only two real choices of Regigigas to run, the Promo Regigigas is the better one. Keeping the same Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat as its Lv.X card, Promo Regigigas also comes with 100 HP. Unless you are paired against a Fighting Pokemon, Regigigas will surely be able to survive any attack your opponent does to you as you try to setup. Promo Regigigas also comes with two attacks, and both are very handy when it comes to board control and damage. Drag Off is Regigigas’ first attack. For three of any Energy, you may switch the Defending Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon. If you do switch or not, the attack does 30 damage, which honestly isn’t much. However, if you take into account that you can control your opponent’s board and do damage, then Drag Off is pretty good. It allows you to KO any Benched Magikarp or Hoppip, and with an Expert Belt attached to Regigigas, Drag Off lets you bring up and one-shot any Benched Garchomp C, which is very helpful later in the game. Or, just bring up a Pokemon with a high retreat, such as Regice or Vileplume to stall and KO.
Regigigas’ other attack is Giga Hammer, which requires four Energy for 80 damage. Getting four Energy on Regigigas shouldn’t be a problem with Sacrifice, accelerating Giga Hammer for you. While you can’t use Giga Hammer during your next turn, you would obviously switch between using Giga Hammer and Giga Blaster. Giga Hammer can most likely help you KO the Defending Pokemon with 80 damage, and 100 with Belt on. Other than that, nothing special.
The other Regigigas, this one is actually not too bad. Regigigas keeps the same Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat as both of the previously mentioned Regigigas’ , with x2 to Fighting and four retreat. 100 HP is solid for a Basic, allowing Regigigas to take a hit before your opponent sets up. Regigigas has a nice Poke Body, since it complements the Lv.X's Power if the situation happens. Recover Mechanism allows you to remove all Special Conditions from Regigigas when attaching an Energy card on it. Since Sacrifice, Regigigas' primary way of attaching Energy and healing, can't be used when Regigigas is affected by a Special Condition, Recover Mechanism is your key way to remove that Special Condition. But while the Body does help Sacrifice, very few decks run on Special Conditions due to the popularity of SP decks.
Gigaton Punch, Regigigas' attack, does 60 for any three Energy. You flip a coin, and if you flip (or roll) heads, you do 80 damage instead, and 20 damage to one of your opponent's Benched Pokemon. Since it's three of any Energy, Gigaton Punch is definitely a great substitute to Giga Blaster when you don't have the right Energy to attack, or if you used Giga Blaster last turn. With Expert Belt, your base damage is 80, and your flip damage is 100, which is definitely a great damage boost after doing 120 with Giga Blaster (with Expert Belt on). The extra 20 also helps surviving Pokemon from Giga Blaster still take damage.
Mesprit LA
You're obviously not going to Sacrifice any of your Benched Regigigas, as that would be a total waste of your main attacker. Instead, the why not Sacrifice the Legendary Pixies from Legends Awakened, with their one-use Power? Mesprit is a staple in Regigigas decks, with its ability to lock. When you play Mesprit, you have the option of using Psychic Bind. If you do use it, your opponent can't use any Poke Powers during his or her next turn. That means no Bright Look, no Time Walk, no Flash Bite, no Setup, and no Powers at all. It definitely slows down many decks, or can stop a plan. And unless you can't use Super Scoop Up or Seeker to reuse Mesprit's Psychic Band, just Sacrifice Mesprit for an 8 damage counter heal and two Energy.
Uxie LA
A staple in every deck, this deck is no different than the rest of the format. Uxie LA is a must-have. With its Setup Poke Power, you draw cards until you have 7 cards in your hand. It's a great draw card, and can usually get you 2-3 cards. If you plan to use Junk Arm or Regice to discard Energy or any other card, then Uxie can probably get you two more cards. With Super Scoop Up or Seeker, you can keep reusing Setup when you need that draw boost. If not, then Uxie is best left as a sacrificial card.
Uxie Lv.X
Uxie Lv.X, along with Uxie's Setup for draw, is another lovely draw card. Trade Off is essentially a Pokedex Handy. You look at the top two cards of your deck, choose one, and put that card in your hand. The other card goes on the bottom of your deck. While it is only two cards, it still supplies a good draw. Imagine if one of those two cards is the card you need? Lastly, Zen Blade lets Uxie be at least a decent attacker. It does 60 and Uxie can't use Zen Blade during your next turn. It's great against Machamp, doing a solid 90 da
Azelf LA
Azelf isn't a staple in every deck, but many decks still use Azelf's amazing Prize-search ability. Time Walk lets you look at your prize cards and choose one Pokemon you find there. You then show that card to your opponent and put any card from your hand face down as your prize card. So if that needed Mesprit or Regigigas Lv.X is prized, Time Walk that card out. Power Spray? Super Scoop Up and Seeker will let you reuse Time Walk. And now with the new notes rule, you can take notes about what's in your prize cards and not show them. Great if you can't remember what cards are in the prize cards, and which card is where. In most cases, after using Time Walk, then Azelf should be Sacrificed to get more Bench space.
Giratina PL
Considering Regigigas having disrupting and locking abilities, Giratina PL makes a great, and can improve a good amount of matchups. Let Loose makes both players shuffle their hands into their deck and draw four cards. Let Loose is great against decks like Gyarados or even SP decks. After the Gyarados player Impersonates for the Magikarp and Regice, you can drop Giratina to force those cards to go back into the deck, putting your opponent back a turn. Against SP, playing Giratina the turn after your opponent plays Cyrus’ Conspiracy forces them to have to topdeck for that Cyrus to continue the SP engine again. If your opponent is able to draw into Uxie or Pokemon Collector? Playing Mesprit before using Let Loose disrupts your opponent’s hand and Power locks your opponent, so they won’t be able to get a decent draw from Uxie for another turn.
Regice LA
If there was a very easy way to search your deck for Trainers and Trainer lock didn't exist, Regice wouldn't be necessary. But, there is no such thing, and Regice is a very vital card in Regigigas decks (it can be replaced with another card, but I'll explain that later). Regice's main use in the deck is to discard Energy from your hand. Regi Move lets you discard two cards from your hand, and your opponent switches his or her Active Basic Pokemon with one of his or her Benched Pokemon. If there is an Active Spiritomb that's locking your Trainers, then Regi Move it out to play your Trainers again. A useless Uxie or Azelf to be used as a prize sacrifice (irony)? Regi Move it out to KO something more worth the KO. The effect is great, and discarding two Energy cards from your hand is a huge boost in Regigigas' Sacrifice. Regice's only main problem with Regi Move is when you need to discard the Energy, but you don't want the Active Pokemon to be switched. That's why Regice's possibly replacement, Registeel, comes in hand (Registeel will be explained in the tech section).
Unown Q
I've seen lists with or without Unown Q, and really, Regigigas can definitely use Unown Q's Power. Quick makes Unown Q a Poke Tool, and you attach Unown Q to one of your Pokemon as a Poke Tool (following the Poke Tool rules). With Unown Q attached to a Pokemon, that Pokemon has one less retreat. Since Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit all have one retreat, in case these Pokemon were to somehow become the Active Pokemon, using Unown Q can bring them back without having to waste an Energy card (but in the early game, discarding an Energy wouldn't be too
Pokemon Collector
From this point on, most of these cards will probably just be staple cards. Pokemon Collector is by far the most vital, since without Pokemon Collector, you'd have no fast way of getting your Pixies, Regice, or Regigigas. Pokemon Collector lets you search your deck for three Basic Pokemon. It's great for the fast Regigigas/Regice grab, and the Azelf, Uxie, or Mesprit when necessary. Really, what you take out depends on the situation.
Switch
Switch is a bit of a weird card in this deck. In case you don't know, you switch your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon. While some people prefer Warp Point since you can disrupt your opponent's Active Pokemon with it, I prefer Switch. With it, after you use Giga Blaster, just Switch Regigigas during your next turn. Bring up something that can retreat (preferably maybe a Pixie with Unown Q attached), retreat, send up Regigigas, and Giga Blaster again gives that fast double mill, and can usually KO your opponent's new Active Pokemon after you KO'ed the previous one (which is why I prefer Switch).
Twins
Face it. Pretty much every game you play, your opponent will get the Prize lead. You have to give your opponent a prize lead to setup with Sacrifice, and if you keep using Sacrifice to tank, your opponent could continue that prize lead. So why not run Twins? If you have more prize cards that your opponent, you get to search your deck for any two cards and put it into your hand. Twins is great for getting the needed Expert Belt, or maybe even the Mesprit when you want to lock. Running three might be overkill, but since you'll be behind prizes early in the game, and behind prizes maybe once later in the game, running two or three shouldn't be a problem.
Junk Arm
You'll need another way to discard Energy other than Regice or Registeel. Junk Arm lets you discard two cards from your hand, and you get to search your discard pile for a Trainer card other than Junk Arm and put it into your hand. So, you not only get two Energy in the discard quickly, but taking out a Trainer gives you the option of taking out a Pokemon Rescue, Expert Belt, Pokemon Communication, any Trainer that you would need.
Professor Oak's New Theory (PONT)
Undoubtedly one of the best draw cards in the format, Professor Oak's New Theory can certainly be used in Regigigas. You shuffle your hand into your deck and draw a fresh hand of six. In case you have a bad start, or you just want to get a new hand, PONT can easily give you that needed draw.
Pokemon Rescue
Instead of running Palmer's or Flower Shop Girl, Pokemon Rescue is probably your best choice. You search your discard pile for any Pokemon and put it into your hand. Pokemon Rescue works very well after you Sacrifice a Mesprit or a Uxie: Just use Pokemon Rescue to reuse their Poke Power. Plus, once Regigigas gets KO'ed, you'll be better off just keeping the Energy in the discard so that once you Rescue the Regigigas Lv.X, you can just Sacrifice to get the Energy that you don't have.
Pokemon Communication
Known as one of the best Pokemon searchers in the format, Pokemon Communication acts much like Bebe's Search. Being a Trainer card (locked by Tomb and Vileplume), you show one Pokemon card from your hand to your opponent and put that card on top of your deck. Then you search your deck for any Pokemon and put it into your hand. While you do lose a Pokemon from your hand, it still lets you search for Pokemon well and doesn't burn your Supporter for the turn.
Seeker
Seeker is a double-edged sword, since both you and your opponent can benefit from its effect. Both players return one of their Benched Pokemon into their hand. This can work both for and against you. You can return a Mesprit, Uxie, or Azelf back into your hand and then play them to reuse their Poke Power. But, your opponent could do much the same, and they can even reuse their Crobat G, Luxray GL, and Garchomp C. So even though Seeker helps you, why run it? Seeker allows you to re-drop Mesprits, so you can continue the Power locking (so your opponent would have to wait to replay their Uxie, Crobat, etc.) Seeker also lets you heal your Regigigas Lv.X after playing Switch to move Regigigas to the Bench, where you can't afford to use Sacrifice and you have a Regigigas charged up on the Bench. Plus, imagine if your opponent has only one Benched Pokemon. Seeker would force your opponent to pick up that Pokemon, so your opponent would only have the Active Pokemon in play. Just Giga Blaster to instantly win.
Bebe's Search
While Pokemon Communication is a great way to search for Pokemon, it falls to a Trainer lock, and can't be used if you don't have a Pokemon in your hand. That's why Bebe's Search should still have a spot in your deck. You shuffle one card from your hand into your deck, and search your deck for a Pokemon and put it into your hand. Nothing much really say, since the card is really self explanatory (take out Regigigas Lv.X).
Expert Belt
One of, if not the best card from Arceus, Regigigas' tanking and aggro abilities are increased thanks to this card. While your opponent does take two prizes when they KO a Pokemon with Expert Belt attached, it doesn't change how good the card's effect is. The Pokemon Expert Belt is attached to gets 20 more HP, and does 20 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon. With Belt attached, Regigigas is an even greater tank with 170 HP, and can KO a very nice chunk of the meta doing 120 damage with Giga Blaster.
Premier Ball
With Premier Ball, you get to search your deck for a Pokemon Lv.X, or your discard pile for a Pokemon. Premier Ball acts as both a searcher and a recoverer for your main attacker, and also gets you Uxie Lv.X when you need it. With Pokemon Communication, Bebe's, and a good amount of draw cards, I'd much rather save Premier Ball for taking Regigigas out of the discard, but that all depends on the situation.
Call Energy
You are running three Regigigas, and eight other Basic Pokemon. Odds are, you won't be starting with Regigigas. While you could waste your Supporter and use Pokemon Collector to search out for Basic Pokemon, Call Energy comes in. While providing one Colorless Energy, Call lets you search your deck for two Basic Pokemon and put it on to your Bench. It lets you take out Regigigas and Regice, so you can save that Collector for the Pixies to actually use their Poke Power. However, if you want to attack faster, you should run Double Colorless Energy, since after Call Energy’s use, you aren’t going to be using it for the rest of the game.
The Strategy
You probably get how Regigigas works by now. Regigigas runs, as I explained before, as a tanking, locking, and aggro deck. Despite the cost of Regigigas Lv.X's Giga Blaster attack, Regigigas is a very fast deck. In most of the games I've played, I've been able to setup Giga Blaster by T3, and even by T2 with a very good. Regigigas has many options thanks to its high versatility, and is able to fit in many techs (Giratina PL, Crobat G, etc.) With four of each of the needed Basic Energy, a good Trainer and Supporter engine, and at least three Uxie, Regigigas can be one of the most consistent decks even when opening with a bad start.
So, how does the deck actually work? Regigigas, as you know, has the ability of locking your opponent's Poke Powers with Mesprits. Fast Mesprit locks early game can eventually ruin your opponent's setup for a couple of turns, and can give you the edge when setting up. Your first Pokemon Collector should always have a Mesprit to make sure you get that fast Power lock. Your other two cards should be either Regigigas, Regice, or Uxie depending on what you have in your opening draw. As you know, Regice is the best way to get Energy in the discard, and after a Regi Move, your hand is definitely small enough to get a good draw out of Uxie. If you need to play Uxie first, then you should still be able to get a good two to three cards out of Setup.
So after this, everything is self explanatory. Use Regice to discard Energy from your hand, and if your opening Basic is a Pixie, it doesn't hurt to attach to the Pixie and retreat, since you could just discard only one Energy and something else with Regice. As you slowly begin to attach to Regigigas, discard Energy, and continue to lock with Mesprit, begin to try to get out Regigigas Lv.X. By the time Regigigas Lv.X is out, you should have two to three Energy on Regigigas. Simply just use Sacrifice to KO one of your Pixies, as you heal off any damage that was done to Regigigas (which isn't common if Regigigas was sitting on your Bench) and quickly attach Energy on to Regigigas. Sacrifice is your fastest way of attaching Energy in the deck, and your Sacrifice should be on a Mesprit so that you can KO Mesprit, play Pokemon Rescue, and continue the lock. If your start is good enough, you could have this done by T2, so you could have a T2 Regigigas Lv.X ready to use Giga Blaster. You simply have to attach an Energy to Regigigas T1, while using Regi Move on either T1 on T2. After attaching to Regigigas again on T2 and using Sacrifice, you can get four Energy on Regigigas.
Once you have Regigigas going, at this point, it all comes down to aggro. You can almost always take a prize with Giga Blaster (sometimes you might need a Crobat G, though) and disrupt your opponent with it. After Giga Blaster, your next step should be to either use Gigaton Punch to hopefully KO they newly brought up Pokemon while damaging the Bench (making it easier to KO that Pokemon with Giga Blaster or Gigaton Punch), or to use Switch/Warp Point to bring Regigigas back to the Bench, a Pixie that you can retreat Active, retreat the Pixie, and do another Giga Blaster to take another prize and continue to disrupt. Always remember to continue the Mesprit lock using Seeker.
Sacrifice, your greatest tool, could actually lead to your loss in the end if overused. Regigigas is a tank, and pretty much with 170 HP and doing 120 a turn (assuming Expert Belt is attached), just about every SP deck gets KO'ed, and any survivors gets KO'ed during your next turn with Gigaton Punch. Regigigas can surely take a hit, and with Mesprit locks constantly happening throughout the game, Regigigas will be able to get KO's while your opponent tries to setup. If you are able to KO your opponent's Pokemon while they are setting up, then odds are you won't need to use Sacrifice often to heal. If Regigigas does have lots of damage on it, then try to use Seeker to pickup Regigigas and continue to setup again if you already have another charged Regigigas in play, instead of having to waste a prize using Sacrifice.
Techs, options, and replacements
Crobat G
Against Pokemon with 130 HP, unless that Pokemon already has damage on it Regigigas won't be able to one-shot it with Giga Blaster, and would have to resort to the two-shot during your next turn with Gigaton Punch or another Giga Blaster. By dropping a Crobat G, you can KO those 130 HP Pokemon with Giga Blaster, doing 130 damage. Plus, with Seeker, you can keep reusing Crobat G whenever necessary to keep getting those one-shots. If not, then either keep on the Bench or use Sacrifice on Crobat G whenever necessary.
Double Colorless Energy (DCE) instead of Call Energy
When I first Cetra's Regigigas article on Pokegym, I felt as if Double Colorless wasn't the best play, and Call Energy was much better. After more testing, Double Colorless Energy helps Regigigas start attacking if you fail to get enough Energy in the discard for Sacrifice, or if you can't get Regigigas Lv.X out. Providing two Colorless Energy, Double Colorless Energy allows you to only need two Energy to use Gigaton Punch, so you can possibly have a T2 80 damage with a lucky flip. DCE is crazy helpful when you want to start attacking early in the game, when you can’t use Sacrifice.
Dewgong SV
Also your Donphan counter, Dewgong can deal with Machamp too. For a Water and a Colorless (you don't have to tech in another Energy type), you do 30 damage. However, if the Defending Pokemon is a Fighting type, then Ice Shard does 80 damage instead. 80 damage gives you the Donphan KO, regardless of Expert Belt and Exoskeleton. 80 to Machamp also helps the matchup if you can keep Dewgong attacking.
Black Belt
Black Belt is a great revenge card. Much like Twins, Black Belt can only be played if you have more prize cards than your opponent, which is easy considering you have Sacrifice. When played, Black Belt lets your Active Pokemon do 40 damage to the Defending Pokemon. That's great since your Giga Blaster would be doing 140 damage instead of 100 (160 instead of 120 with Expert Belt attached). It pretty much gives you a KO, allowing you to one-shot any fully setup Pokemon.
Super Scoop Up over Seeker, or more Seeker
Seeker is a Supporter, so it wastes your Supporter for the turn. That Supporter could potentially have been used for a card like PONT or Pokemon Collector. Seeker also gives your opponent the pickup, so they can pick up any Uxie. Super Scoop Up allows you to choose one Pokemon and return that card back into your hand, but for the price of a flip. Super Scoop Up is also Trainer locked, limiting its use in certain matches. Still, Super Scoop Up can pick up your Active Regigigas Lv.X when you can’t afford to Sacrifice, and if you do get heads, you can replay the Mesprit or the Uxie without having your opponent get an advantage. Super Scoop Up is also Junk Arm searchable. But again, it’s a flippy card, which is why some players might prefer Seeker.
Now, what about running more Seeker? While the sample list says two Seeker, I’ve tested with at least three Seeker before. It works great, allowing you to drop more Mesprit and stopping your opponent from playing those Poke Powers. But again, Seeker uses up your Supporter for the turn, which is why if you don’t mind flips, running Super Scoop Up could be a better option depending on your meta.
Ruins of Alph / Skuntank G
Ruins of Alph and Skuntank G are both intended for any Gengar-based matchups. Ruins of Alph, a Stadium card, makes it so that each player's Pokemon doesn't have any resistance. Against any Gengar builds, it lets Gigas hit them for full damage, which increases Gigas' KO speed on them. On top of that, it can surprise-discard Broken Time-Space, potentially lowering the other deck's speed. Now, Skuntank G's Poison Structure Poke Power lets you Poison both active Pokemon if you have a Stadium card in play. While it doesn't affect SP Pokemon and affects your Regigigas, remember that you have Switch and Regigigas LA to cure the Poison.
So, why is this good for Gengar matchups? Well, if you take a look at the math, it works. A single, un-belted Giga Blaster after doing a Poison Structure with Ruins of Alph in play can one-shot any Gengar (SF) without having to worry about Fainting Spell, a big threat to Regigigas. Against any Gengar Prime, a Belted Gigas Blaster and Ruins of Alph/Poison Structure clears Gengar Prime quickly. The only big problem to this is that you miss the Gengar Lv.X one-shot, and if you're under a Trainer lock, you can't get rid of the Poison easily unless Gigas LA is an option.
Palmer's Contribution
Unless you can KO Vileplume with Drag Off and Giga Blaster, you're going to stuck with any Pokemon Rescue while under a Trainer lock. That means no recovery. Palmer's Contribution lets you take 5 in any combination of Pokemon and Basic Energy from your discard. This lets yo take out a KO'ed Regigigas Lv.X, can fish out some Mesprit from the discard, and even Energy if you have too many in the Discard Pile.
Engineer’s Adjustments
It doesn’t discard Energy as fast as Regice or Junk Arm can, but it definitely gives you a great draw. Engineer’s Adjustments makes you discard an Energy card from your hand, but you get to draw four cards. The Energy discard helps you setup Regigigas Lv.X for Sacrifice, and can also give you that needed draw power.
Warp Point instead of Switch
Warp Point is much like Switch. You get to switch your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon just like Switch, but so does your opponent. Essentially, Warp Point's main use is to fulfill Switch's duties: to keep spamming Giga Blaster. However, Warp Point letting your opponent Switch allows you to hit something on your opponent’s Bench, which can disrupt if your opponent brings up some Pokemon to sacrifice.
Banette PL
If you are willing to tech another type of Energy in (Psychic Energy), then run Banette PL. Banette acts as your Machamp and Mewtwo counter, and can also discard Energy from your hand. Temper Tantrum allows you to discard any number of cards from your hand, and then you get to put one damage counter on each card you discard. If you are able to get out Banette before Regice, then Banette can do the discarding. Banette's Loneliness attack is what deals with Machamp and Mewtwo. For two Energy, you show your opponent your hand. If you have no Pokemon in your hand, then you do 60 damage. If you have any Pokemon in your hand, use Temper Tantrum to get rid of it. Loneliness does a solid 90 to Machamp, while one-shotting Mewtwo Lv.X.
Registeel instead of Regice
Regi Move forces the switch after the discard. Sometimes, that can be a good thing if the Defending Pokemon is a Spiritomb or a Pixie Sacrifice. However, sometimes the forced switch can be a bad thing. If you want to KO the Active Pokemon but you have to use Regi Move, then you would force the switch, resulting in you losing that wanted KO. Registeel has a Power very similar to Regice, but it doesn’t have a Switch. Regi Heal lets you discard two cards from your hand, much like Regice. This can let you get rid of two Energy. But, instead of moving the Defending Pokemon, you get to remove three damage counters from Registeel. It’s a great Power to have if you can’t Junk Arm, or if you don’t want to have a switch with Regice.
Two Regigigas Lv.X instead of one Regigigas Lv.X
Woah, this is new. Two Regigigas Lv.X instead of one Regigigas Lv.X is a very strange play, cutting your Gigas line into 2-2 Regigigas Lv.X instead of 3-1 Regigigas Lv.X. While 3-1 Gigas Lv.X is more consistent when it comes to opening up with Regigigas, against Lostgar, two Regigigas is vital. It prevents your opponent from Lost Zoning your one and only Regigigas Lv.X, which would cripple Regigigas. By having the second Regigigas Lv.X as a backup, the deck can still keep going against any Lost Zone decks even if one Regigigas Lv.X is in the Lost Zone. On top of that, two Regigigas Lv.X helps you draw into it earlier in the game.
Old Amber
What? A Fossil card in Regigigas? It's an odd tech, but Old Amber should only be teched in Regigigas if your metagame is filled with Lostgar. You see, Old Amber is a Pokemon card while it's in play, so you do have the option of picking it up with Lostgar's Seeker Supporter. However, while in your hand, Old Amber is a Trainer card, so Lostgar can't Lost Zone Old Amber. So you can keep playing Old Amber and letting your opponent play Seeker to pickup Old Amber. And if your opponent decides to use Cursed Drop on Old Amber, you can discard Old Amber from play without having your opponent take a prize. Then, just use Junk Arm to pick Old Amber back up. Strange tech, but immensely helpful against Lostgar builds.
Matchups
~ Luxchomp: Slightly Favorable
Sadly, due to the rotation, Regigigas lost its best tool when it comes to dealing with SP decks: Azelf MT. Azelf gave Regigigas a great Luxchomp matchup, but even without Azelf, Regigigas can still hold its own against Luxchomp. Fast Mesprit locks and Giratina can kill the Setup, Flash Bite, Galactic Switch, and Bright Look while if you do run Giratina, you can get rid of the Cyrus’ Conspiracy your opponent decides to take out. It also gets rid of Power Spray, so you can use Sacrifice with having to worry. Once you get Giga Blaster going, and with a Belt on it, you pretty much can KO the entire deck. Drag Off is also great against Garchomp C, being able to bring up the Garchomp before your opponent gets the chance to start sniping.
~Donphan: Unfavorable
Donphan is much faster than you are, even with the Mesprit lock. Plus, Donphan hits you for weakness, and on average they do at least 120 damage to Regigigas. Once Donphan gets Heavy Impact going, then you pretty much lost Regigigas even with Belt attached. The best way to deal with this matchup is to run the Arceus [W] or Dewgong SV tech, which can OHKO Donphan even with Belt attached (you’ll need Belt on Arceus, though). Either way, this matchup is going to be a tough one, considering they have the speed and weakness advantage.
~ Gyarados
-- Slightly Favorable if you sustain a Mesprit lock.
-- Even if neither players can sustain a Mesprit lock.
-- Unfavorable if your opponent can sustain a Mesprit lock.
Both of you are about as fast. Gyarados is T2-T3 deck, and you are a T2-T3 deck. Both of you two-shot each other as well. Without a doubt, this will be a hard matchup, and can go either way depending on both player's opening hand. If you are able to sustain the Mesprit lock first, then you should have the slight edge in the matchup. Keeping that Mesprit lock makes your opponent loose Azelf for prized Magikarp, Uxie for draw, and Regice for powering up Gyarados. Plus, Giratina can disrupt any Impersonated Pokemon Collector that Gyarados does on the first turn, which can help you get a lead in the game as Gyarados tries to get setup. But, if neither player can sustain a Power lock, then this matchup can go either way. While you get the Giratina bonus, your opponent can use Azelf, Regice, and Uxie to setup, and Gyarados' fast recovery can be troublesome to your slower recovery. Now, if your opponent has the Mesprit lock going, then this matchup drops to unfavorable. When they Mesprit lock you, Giratina, Mesprit, Sacrifice, Uxie, Azelf, every Pokemon in your deck becomes useless until the lock stops. Gigas would be greatly slowed down, giving Gyarados the lead.
~Machamp: Unfavorable
It’s Machamp. Face it, you pretty much lose to it. Constant Take Outs will give Machamp the win in simply six turns, and you will have a hard time taking a prize. Running Dewgong as a tech could help against Machamp a bit, since you can do 80 damage to it. Otherwise, it’s Machamp, and you will have a hard time.
~Dialgachomp: Slightly Favorable
Playing Giratina after they play the first Cyrus’ Conspiracy gives a great advantage in this matchup, killing the deck’s engine until the redraw. Just like what I said before, playing Mesprit also helps before playing Giratina. Regigigas Lv.X can also OHKO Dialga G Lv.X with Belt on assuming Dialga doesn’t have any Belt or Special Metal on it. If Dialga G does survive the Giga Blaster, watch out for Poke Turn or Healing Breath on Garchomp C. Garchomp also is a problem when it comes to sniping your open Bench, but Drag Off + Belt handles Garchomp while it sets up. Just like Luxchomp, beware of Power Spray too. Unless you can get rid of it with Giratina, Power Spray might stop you for a turn.
~Vilegar
--Slightly Favorable with Skuntank G/Ruins of Alph
--Unfavorable without Skuntank G/Ruins of Alph
It’s going to be a hard matchup, since Vileplume will block all of your Rescue, Communication, Junk Arm, and Premier Ball. It makes you lose that Sacrifice Mesprit – Rescue lock, and can also stop constant Giga Blasters, meaning that you must depend on Seeker for this. Gengar Lv.X can also get rid of any Regigigas Lv.X. However, with the right techs, you could do well in this matchup. Skuntank G/Ruins of Alph helps you clear out any Gengar SF without having to activate Fainting Spell, which would cripple Gigas if they get heads. Drag Off would help bring up Vileplume as well, which helps when it comes to locking your opponent's Vileplume as the Active Pokemon, forcing Vilegar to manually attach and retreat or by attaching Warp Energy on to Vileplume. Since you can do this at any point when Drag Off is available to you, it can disrupt Vilegar quite a bit. Lastly, if you use Regice to get rid of any unneeded Trainers or Supporters in your hand, you lower Poltergeist's damage quite a bit.
However, if you don't run Ruins of Alph/Skuntank G, then matchup tilts downwards. You'll have to either play around your opponent's Gengar with Drag Off, or you might have to risk Fainting Spell, which is painful against Regigigas for the sheer fact that if Gengar gets that easy KO, it will take a long time for you to recover.
~Chenlock: Usually Favorable
Why the “usually”? Well, Chenlock will be using Judge and Cyrus’ Initiative to try to disrupt your hand. CI is flippy, and how well the card disrupts you really depends on your opening hand and your opponent’s coin flips. Judge is also dependant on your draw. But usually, you can win this matchup. Mesprit drops stops Chatot G from looking through your deck, and three PONT is great for consistency. You can OHKO everything in your opponent’s deck with Giga Blaster too. Giratina stops the SP engine from working as well. The biggest worry is Blaziken FB dragging up your Regice to stall, and Garchomp C Lv.X sniping your Benched Pixies. For Regice, you can Sacrifice on the Bench, so if you have Regigigas Lv.X out then just KO Regice (if you are able to). Garchomp can usually be stopped with Drag Off and Expert Belt. Again, this matchup highly depends on how the game opens, but usually you’ll win.
Conclusion
While Regigigas might have some bad matchups, it happens with every deck. Regigigas is by no means a pickup-and-play deck like Kingdra or Donphan. If you want to play Regigigas, you’ll have to practice. Regigigas is a very good deck, and despite having bad matchups to Machamp, Donphan, and Vilegar, Regigigas can usually trump most of its other matchups thanks to Giratina’s Let Loose and Mesprit’s Power lock. Being fast and hard hitting, Regigigas is a deck that can be a great Cities contender.
This is my first article in a really long time, so I hope I haven’t lost any of the experience I had (I probably did xD). I’d like to say that I need to work on the matchups some more, since I think that they are a bit off, but still relatively close. I’m also hoping to test against more decks now that TM on Redshark has been released. But for now, credits:
-Cetra on Pokegym. His Regigigas article was a huge inspiration
-Lou Cypher: Lou was the guy who first inspired me to become an article writer.
-Jwittz: I watched Jwittz’s video article on TM. When he mentioned Regigigas, I scrambled to test it out. Without him noting Regigigas, I would have never made this article.
Gliscor Out
