Kenneth Tan has played the Pokemon TCG since 2013. He has qualified for the World Championships 4 times, with one Day 2 qualification. Hailing from Singapore, he ended up 29th place at the recent Oceania International Championships (OCIC) 2020 with Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, even appearing on stream against Henry Brand in round 7 of the event.
The Southern Island speaks to Kenneth to find out how he adapted Pikachu & Zekrom-GX to the new meta, his card choices and how to face different matchups.
How long have you been playing Pikachu & Zekrom-GX?
I played Pikachu & Zekrom-GX for the 2019 World Championships in Washington DC, but I did not do very well. I didn’t prepare for a meta filled with Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX with Lightning Charm. I did take the deck to the DC Open later, which netted me a Top 128 finish out of 1024 players.
Subsequently, the post-Worlds meta evolved to being dominated by the Welder Toolbox deck, which Tord Reklev used to a semi-finals finish in the 2019 World Championships. This unfortunately is not a favourable match up for Pikachu & Zekrom-GX. The presence of Reshiram & Charizard-GX with a 300 damage Double Blaze GX attack and worst of all, Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX’s Jumping Balloon means my Pikachu & Zekrom-GX gets OHKOed if I have only 3 Pokemon-GX on the field.
I still feel that the Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is one of the most, or rather the most consistent deck in terms of setting up. It just had to wait for a favourable turn in the meta for its comeback.
Why did you think it was a good choice for OCIC 2020, especially since it was the first event with Sword & Shield?
Consistency was the biggest reason. After testing many various decks, it boiled down to Pikachu & Zekrom-GX or Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V. What held me back from playing Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V was knowing it would most likely make up the majority of the meta and I could not find an edge in the mirror match. The player going first has a huge advantage and I am unwilling to play a deck which ends up relying on coin flips going into a nine round tournament. Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V also almost takes an autoloss to Galarian Obstagoon, a deck which was at the back of my mind going into the tournament.
For the Pikachu & Zekrom-GX mirror, there is no significant advantage going first or second. Rather, it boils down a lot to the micro-decisions made depending on the current board state. It is a deck that can capitalize on opponent’s misplays. The advantage lies with the player who is more familiar with the matchup. There are also no auto-loss matchups, which was another huge incentive.
What is Pikachu & Zekrom-GX’s deck objective?
A turn 1 Pikachu & Zekrom-GX Full Blitz attack will give you a huge advantage, regardless of whatever deck you’re facing across the table. However, not hitting the turn 1 Full Blitz doesn’t mean the game is over. A Pikachu & Zekrom-GX deck’s turn can be very explosive at times and this can only be done if there are sufficient resources in hand. Even if you don’t hit the turn 1 Full Blitz, you can always continue building up your hand with Jirachi’s Stellar Wish and Volkner for the next few turns. What is important is to plan and pick up the necessary pieces for an explosive turn.
Comparing the different Pikachu & Zekrom-GX decks that made Top 32 at OCIC 2020, I’d like to ask your opinion on the following tech choices.
- Cynthia / Professor’s Research
Professor’s Research. Apart from Custom Catcher, there is almost no resources that you want to conserve in the deck. Even so, most of the time you would only require one pair of Custom Catcher to close the game.
- Marnie
I wouldn’t include Marnie as Reset Stamp is good enough, especially since it can be searched out with Volkner. It is not worth the supporter for the turn to draw 2 cards less (compared to Professor’s Research), especially when opponent gets to draw 4 cards, which is relatively hard to lock them into a dead hand.
- Vitality Band / Big Charm
I wouldn’t add Vitality Band. Pikachu & Zekrom-GX doesn’t need the extra 10 damage from Vitality Band. Even at 150 + 10 damage, you still need 2 Electropower to take out Zacian V so I feel it is not worth the spot.
I considered Big Charm, so a Zacian V needs a lot more than just Altered Creation GX and Shrine of Punishment to Knock Out Raichu & Alolan Raichu GX (anything that makes the Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V matchup more favourable should be considered). Aside from that, Big Charm does not make a huge impact in other matchups.
- Techs: Absol, Marshadow and Phione
Absol was a definite must-tech for OCIC 2020. Almost every deck ran Jirachi at the event. Forcing the opponent to burn Switch to Retreat helps a lot, especially during the latter part of the game when locking your opponent’s Pokemon in the Active Spot with Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX’s Paralysis can be a game changer.
Marshadow is not necessarily a must have in all Pikachu & Zekrom-GX decks, especially if you are running 2 Stadium cards. I decided to run Thunder Mountain as my only Stadium and it would spell huge trouble if my opponent played Chaotic Swell. Marshadow can be easily searched via Volkner into a Quick Ball, making it more effective in this deck.
Phione only improves the Mill matchup slightly and becomes completely irrelevant if there are 2 Lillie’s Poke Doll in play. There are also ways to play around Galarian Obstagoon through Paralysis, so Phione diminishes in value for a spot in the deck.
Could you give us a quick rundown of how the deck is played?
Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V
Setup the turn 1 Full Blitz. Only bench the Raichu & Alolan Raichu GX on the turn where you can Full Blitz to charge Lighting Energy onto it. You do not want to pre-emptively Bench it to minimise the chance of it taking Shrine of Punishment damage. The 10 or 20 damage will be huge if you do not replace the Stadium in time. Always try to take out a Jirachi so you will have 5 prizes remaining – a Pikachu & Zekrom-GX using Tag Bolt with 6 Lightning Energy could seal you the game, taking out a Zacian V and a Benched damaged Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX, or a damaged Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX and a Benched Dedenne-GX.
Mewtwo & Mew-GX Psychic
A Pikachu & Zekrom-GX deck has a variety of Pokemon searching cards, so you can avoid your opponent’s turn 1 Gengar & Mimikyu’s Horror House GX into a KO on the following turn. Usually Pikachu & Zekrom-GX would be able to take a KO or two before they can start trading KOs. Towards the mid game, setup more Jirachi to cope with Trevenant & Dusknoir-GX’s Night Watch. Conserve your Professor’s Research in the early game as it would significantly increase your chances of drawing out of the Night Watch and Marnie hand lock combination, especially when you have at least 2 Jirachi on the field at all times.
Mewtwo & Mew-GX / Welder
Most Welder based decks will choose to go second, giving you a huge advantage to setup. Do as much as you can, then pass your turn leaving a Jirachi in the Active Spot. In return, they will need to use Mewtwo & Mew-GX and copy Solgaleo-GX’s Turbo Strike for the KO. Otherwise, they don’t have many attack options at 3 Energy cards. If your opponent decides to use / copy Latios-GX’s Tag Purge, Pikachu & Zekrom-GX now has Tapu Koko V to cope with that.
Stall
For Cinccino Mill Stall, try to setup just 1 Pikachu & Zekrom-GX with 6 Energy cards attached. Keep the KOs going, try to search for multiple Custom Catcher and keep them in hand so that it will get dicarded by Bellelba & Brycen-Man. Custom Catcher is key to pulling off a huge Tag Bolt GX, especially on two Cincinno to significantly hinder their setup.
Pikachu & Zekrom-GX
It depends on which Pikachu & Zekrom-GX build. A Tag Call engine equals a more consistent turn 1 Full Blitz but it loses steam towards the midgame, while an Electromagnetic Radar build would be a lot more explosive. There are no fixed directions in this matchup. Like I mentioned, there are a lot of micro decisions to make in a Pikachu & Zekrom-GX mirror, which can swing the advantage in either player’s direction within a turn or two.
Blacephalon
Playing against the Blacephalon (Fireball Circus) deck can be a hit or miss, but the key here would be trying to setup for a huge Tag Bolt GX while hoping they do not draw off your Reset Stamp. Since they would most likely be taking huge KOs on your Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, the best way to trade would be to try to maximise your Zapdos with Electropower at the start, then Reset Stamp them to 2 hand cards after they take out one of your Pikachu & Zekrom-GX. Electropower does not have any value in this matchup except when you are using Zapdos, since all your other attackers OHKOs Blacephalon. One of the harder matchups if they draw decently.
Galarian Obstagoon
One of the most straightforward matchups. All you’ll need to do is constantly Paralyze Galarian Obstagoon and they won’t be able to use Obstruct. Set up 2 Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX with a Zeraora-GX on bench. You can OHKO all their Pokemon and on turns if they do attack us, you can Paralyze them. They only have 4 Switch cards and it takes 3 hits for Galarian Obstagoon kill off a Raichu & Alolan Raichu GX. Definitely not favourable for them, especially in a deck where it takes some time to setup. If they do use Yveltal-GX to take out one Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX, it just means we can get an easy 2 Prize cards, on top of the Prizes we have taken beforehand while they are still setting up.
Psychic Malamar
Taking out multiple Inkay / Malamar would be the way to go as it would be really hard once they have setup 2 or 3 Malamar on the field. Most of the Psychic Malamar lists run Mew (Bench Barrier), which means setting up a double KO using Tag Bolt GX is not viable. If the meta is filled with Psychic Malamar, Phione would be a good addition to Pikachu & Zekrom-GX to avoid your opponent’s Spell Tag, which steadily builds up damage on your board.
What are changes you would make for the deck now that the meta is defined?
With most Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V running 2 Shrine of Punishment, I would go with 2 Alolan Raichu GX always. If you Prize one of them, it’s game over in that matchup as all your Pokemon do not survive a OHKO from Zacian V.
Additionally, I want to fit Big Charm to prevent a OHKO from Zacian V on the rest of my Pokemon. 2 Tapu Koko V does not seem too viable – After Altered Creation GX, the opponent only needs to take a KO on both Tapu Koko V for the win. No other techs come to mind as it would hinder the deck’s consistency.
Recent major Standard event results have been mixed for Pikachu & Zekrom-GX – two Pikachu & Zekrom-GX decks made Top 8 in Malmo Regionals (another two in Top 16) but none in Puerto Rico, Guatemala and Perth. Why do you think that is?
The hype is on Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V as BDIF, not many people think otherwise. It’s a deck that’s straightforward and easy to use to score points, by far the most consistent deck in Standard format apart from Pikachu & Zekrom-GX. There’s plenty of options for techs in Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V, such as the emergence of Cryogonal in Perth Regionals.
I think Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is fairly even against Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V. Being the most popular deck, it’s quite easy to figure out what your opponent is running so you can play around it. The downside to playing Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is when the meta is dominantly Blacephalon, which was highly played in a number of South American events recently.
With Henry Brand winning the Perth Regionals, the meta might shift back to Mewtwo & Mew-GX toolbox, as that deck has a really good Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Zacian V matchup. If that happens, the meta will become favourable for Pikachu & Zekrom-GX once more.
The Southern Islands 