Hey guys, I have been running Charizard since mid-last season to a great degree of success, but in this article I want to give you my analysis on a deck which has been revitalised with the release of HS: Triumphant. It is called Regigigas Lock.
There have been 2 versions of Regigigas deck since its the release of the LV.X back in Stormfront. Regigigas Lock and Regigigas Beatdown. The beatdown variant is centred around speed and getting the 150 HP-190 HP colossus out as soon as possible and running through your opponent with sheer power.
The lock variant concentrates more on keeping your opponent under your strict control courtesy of cards like Mesprit LA, Judge, and Giratina PL “Let Loose.”
The attack “Drag Off” on the promo Regigigas also aids in this lock, by pulling active your opponents heavy retreaters or bench sitters, such as Bronzong G and Typhlosion Prime to name a few common ones.
Personally I think the lock variant is more competitive in todays format, considering Regigigas isn’t exactly a speedy deck and the locking aspect allows you to bring your opponent down to the same level or less speed than you are running at.
Also the damage output of Regigigas is particularly underwhelming, even the LV.X, as its attack costs three specific energy and a colorless to deal 100, admittedly with some disruption, but when for example Donphan Prime and Kingdra Prime can deal 60 for 1 energy, you can see that damage output isnt what Gigas excels at.
A major debate in this deck is whether to run a 3-1 line or 2-2 line of Regigigas LV.X.
Originally I tested with 2-2 but there were times when I had the Level X in my hand without the basic form. 3-1 appears more consistent given that I run Azelf, Premier Ball, Bebe’s Search, and Pokemon Communication in the list below, allowing me to obtain it from anywhere, except the Lost Zone. Premier Ball also allows me to use the same Regigigas LV.X twice, or up to 4 times if necessary because I also run Junk Arm.
Anyways without further ado, on to the list:
|
Pokemon – 17
3 Sableye SF |
T/S/S – 30
4 Pokemon Rescue |
Energy – 13
4 Water |
*Personally I hate Super Scoop Up as a card due to its unpredictability and the fact that even with four in a deck, on average two will whiff, therefore I choose to run 2 VS Seeker which is more versatile in that it can reuse Seeker (a guaranteed SSU for one of your benched Pokemon), or any other Supporter I need at the time.
However with 3 Junk Arm, Gigas could be one of the rare decks that can afford to run less than 4 SSU. For this reason you could exchange theses Vs. Seeker for SSU. Let me know what you guys think.
**During testing this was vaguely useful for consistency, although you could drop these and increase all basic energy counts to four.
Now for an overview of all the components of the deck and optional techs you could include that aren’t in my list:
Firstly, let me explain that Super Scoop Up is a card I hate because I don’t like to leave games to chance, yet 3-4 is considered staple in Regigigas.
I accept that it can win games, but it is situational, be sure to test with it, but in my view its not essential if it doesnt suit your playstyle.
Here’s why – A Belted Regigigas LV.X with 170 HP and the ability to remove 8 damage every turn with Sacrifice, particularly given the lock your opponent is under should never be KO’d by anything other than Machamp SF.
The main purpose of Super Scoop Up would be to reuse Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf’s single use Poke-Powers, yet the introduction of Seeker will allow you to do this without the coin flip. Seeker is also versatile in that if your opponent only has one benched Pokemon, they must return it to their hand and you can proceed to knock out their active for the game. (Yes, Seeker is my favourite card from Triumphant.)
So with the absence of Super Scoop Up cleared up, on with the card analysis:
Sableye SF is the ideal starter of the deck. Impersonate for no energy ensures a consistent start to the game, by grabbing a Supporter from the deck, discarding it and utilising its effect. More often than not you will be using Pokemon Collector to ensure a good set up, however there are many possibilities and in this deck Sableye is also great late game to use supporters like Twins and Seeker. You may prefer 4 for consistency but I also run 1 Jirachi RR which can act as a starter.
Jirachi RR is in my view a very underrated card. The ability to reuse a Supporter you have played during the turn also for no energy is fantastic. Early game Detouring a Pokemon Collector is the most efficient way to set up, and Twins and Seeker also work really well with Detour.
Twins with Detour will net you a four card pull and then a further card from your deck when Jirachi is knocked out due to the Poke-Power “Final Wish.”
Any five cards from your deck is game changing, but if you can repeat this twice, then you can chain Twins for a 9 card pull.
Jirachi also has free retreat and a fairly irrelevant attack called Swift costing a single Metal for 20, which can be decent given that you run Metal energy.
You could run 4 Jirachi and drop the Sableye, which I’ve considered, but Sableye improves conistency.
Mesprit LA is for me the most essential card in a Regigigas deck, except Gigas itself. It is the base for your locking, upon the drop preventing your opponent from using any Poke-Powers during their next turn. Common Poke-Powers you shut off include Unown Q’s “Quick,” forcing them to waste an energy to retreat their starter Pokemon, Uxie’s “Set Up,” almost exclusively the staple draw power of the format, therefore vastly cutting your opponents speed, and Garchomp C LV.X‘s “Healing Breath,” critical in almost every competitive SP deck.
As you see the possibilities are endless and Mesprit is essential for the deck. The advantage of using Mesprit in Regigigas opposed to any other deck is that it doesnt take up valuable bench space. Regigigas LV.X’s Sacrifice can knock out benched Mesprits to heal itself and charge it with energy, and then with 4 Pokemon Rescue you can constantly reuse Psychic Bind.
“Sacrifice” + 4 Pokemon Rescue + 2 Seeker + 2 VS Seeker + 3 Junk Arm + Detour + 3 Mesprit = A maximum of 18 turns of Power Locking.
Admittedly not only is this unlikely, but you might dedicate some of the cards mentioned to reuse Azelf’s, Uxie’s, and Giratina’s Powers, but against most decks if you can power lock them for just the first 4-5 turns of the game they will have difficulty setting up.
Azelf LA
Essential because you run 6 copies of single Pokemon excluding Azelf. The ability to look at your prizes also shouldnt be overlooked. Again after being dropped Azelf is Sacrifice bait, and can be reused as much as necessary in the same way Mesprit can.
Uxie LA
Not a great deal to say about this wondrous card. Staple draw in the modified format, allowing for a fast set up and can be reused repeatedly. Also a lure for TGI: Power Spray when facing SP decks which is perfect given that you can reuse Uxie’s Power repeatedly and it prevents the Power Sprays being used on other Pokemon like Regigigas LV.X, Azelf, Mesprit, Unown Q, Regice, Giratina etc.
Unown Q MD
Has the almost sole purpose of allowing the active Sableye to retreat for free. I only run one to reduce the chance of being donked, due to starting with it, and I can Pokemon Rescue it to reuse it if necessary.
Giratina PL “Let Loose”
Originally I despised this card. It has a Judge effect when you play it on your bench, although this isn’t why I disliked it. It’s more because of that atrocious 3 retreat cost. With Luxchomp dominating metagames across the world they could simply Bright Look it and set up whilst you wait for a Warp Energy/SSU/Warp Point or some way of returning it to the bench.
However in Gigas this isn’t a problem. Once you have Gigas set up you can Sacrifice the Giratina they pulled active and promote a different active Pokemon.
Let Loose is extremely disruptive and particularly lethal turn 1-2 in combination with a Mesprit drop to lock their powers. You also have the ability to reuse this Power more than Judge itself.
The absolute ideal combination when set up is Psychic Bind, then Let Loose then Giga Blaster. Their hand is dropped to 3 and their Powers are locked.
Regice LA
Regice is my only method of discarding energy to bring back with Sacrifice under trainer lock. It can be Sacrificed once it has done its duty. Also it is particularly useful for cycling out their active Spiritomb which is keeping me under trainer lock.
Regigigas LA “Gigaton Punch”
I run one of these partly because Recover Mechanism gives you some chance against decks like Glisctomb, but also because it has the most powerful attack of all four modified Regigigas.
Gigaton Punch deals 60 damage for 3 colorless energy and 80 with a 20 snipe on the flip of heads. As mentioned with Super Scoop Up I hate flips, but in this case there is no disadvantage if you flip tails. 60 for 3 colorless on a basic isn’t half bad.
Regigigas “Drag Off” Promo
At first I completely underestimated this card, but then I realised how disruptive it was by itself. Drag Off does 30 for 3 Colorless which is horrible, but before doing damage you can bring up one of their benched Pokemon much like the Gust of Wind of yesteryear. With an Expert Belt commonly played cards like Garchomp C are OHKO’d or you can bring up a heavy retreater giving you time to set up.
In combination with Psychic Bind and Judge you can really lock your opponent up.
4 Colorless for 80 is reasonable on a basic Pokemon, although you cant use it on consecutive turns. More often than not you will have a Belt attached though and you will alternate between this attack and Giga Blaster when fully set up for 120 with two discards then 100.
Regigigas LV.X
The colossal kingpin of the deck with a mammoth 150 HP for what is effectively a stage 1, 170 HP with a Belt. The Poke-Power Sacrifice is what makes this card stand out from other huge stage 1 cards like Gyarados/Wailord. It gives Gigas a way of keeping itself alive without the need for cards like Poke Healer +.
Amazingly, “Sacrifice” serves 5 purposes in this deck:
1. It heals Regigigas X so it can last an entire game
2. It charges it up with energy more efficiently
3. It discards unwanted bench Pokemon to create space for new ones
4. It discards pokemon like Mesprit which you can then Pokemon Rescue from the discard pile and reuse its Poke-Power Psychic Bind 5. It puts you behind on prizes making Twins accessible most of the game.
In a word, fantastic.
Giga Blaster is also a brutal attack. Yes it is costly, but Sacrifice helps to deal with speed issues. 100 damage for WMFC is relatively unimpressive, however you also get to discard a random card from your opponents hand and another from the top of their deck. This aids in disruption and is the main attack of the deck.
A Belt takes many of the SP Level X cards like Blaziken FB LV.X, Luxray GL LV.X, and Dialga G LV.X into OHKO range of this card, so it is a given, although some people may prefer to include Crobat G for the crucial extra damage drops and the ability to reuse them.
Now onto the Trainers and Supporters
Pokemon Rescue
Really a no brainer. With Sacrifice discarding your Pixies, and Giratina, Pokemon Rescue allows you to get them back the same turn and drop them again to use their one use Poke-Powers. Pokemon Rescue also gives the main discarding engine Junk Arm something to bring back
Pokemon Collector
A staple in almost every deck right now, early game the optimum search early game is probably Uxie, Mesprit and Regigigas but it really depends on your field and hand. You may want to max these out.
Twins
The second best card to come out of Truimphant in my opinion. Even if you disagree there is no doubt Twins will find its way into many archetypal decks, and its necessary in Regigigas because with Sacrifice you will be behind on prizes for most of the game. The combination with Jirachi is particularly broken as mentioned earlier in the article.
Junk Arm
The primary discarding engine for the deck. Its main function is to discard energies to retrieve with Sacrifice, however it is also really useful to use cards like Pokemon Rescue, Luxury Ball, Pokemon Communication again.
Judge
Essentially a Supporter version of Let Loose. Advantages are that Sableye can use it turn 1 with Impersonate if you dont have Giratina in your hand and also it can be used after a Giratina drop if you drew a poor hand.
Luxury Ball
Basically there is barely one deck in the modified format that shouldnt have a single Luxury Ball in it
Premier Ball
Premier Ball allows you to search out your lone Regigigas X from the deck without using your supporter for the turn. Also it lets you recover Regigigas X from the discard pile if it somehow gets KOd.
Pokemon Communication
The main Pokemon search in the deck and it comes in trainer form. Normally I would give a dominant spot to Bebe’s Search for consistency, however, not only can Sableye Impersonate for it if necessary, but I also need a Trainer in the discard pile in order to use Junk Arm.
Bebe’s Search
The most consistent Pokemon search in the format and pretty self explanatory really.
Expert Belt
Meant for only one Pokemon – Regigigas LV.X. It becomes an even more monstrous tank with 170 HP and its damage output increases from average to high. Critically it allows you to get OHKOs on the common SP LV.X’s.
Seeker
Seeker is in my view the most influential card from the Truimphant expansion. It obviously allows you to reuse the single use Poke-Powers you have, but it is more versatile than that. See my earlier analysis.
VS Seeker
A card that provides the deck with even more options. It is somewhat down to personal choice whether you include this card in your build.
Cyrus’s Conspiracy
I have tested this card in Regigigas for many months and I am still debating whether to include it. Its undoubtedly one of the best Supporters in the whole format, and provides consistency in a deck running 3 different types of basic energy. It also nets you the crucial supporter for use the following turn, but this may make it too slow. Many players might drop these 2 to increase the number of basic energy in the deck.
Next I will discuss cards absent from my decklist that could work in a Regigigas Lock decklist. Remember my list isn’t definitive, it’s just created to suit my playstyle. Here are other cards to consider for your Regigigas build:
Crobat G PL
Ideal in Regigigas due to the ability to reuse its Flash Bite w. Pokemon Rescue, Seeker etc. The extra damage counter can be particularly crucial against SP LV.X’s, although I run Expert Belt to ensure OHKOs. From my list you could drop an Expert Belt to include one of these guys.
Black Belt
In my opinion an overhyped card from Truimphant, that can take advantage of the Sacrificing in the same way Twins can. However I think using the Supporter for the turn to deal 40 extra damage is a real waste when Expert Belt adds 20 damage every turn and also increases HP by 20.
Chatot G SV
A particularly nasty card from Supreme Victors that adds to the disruption and can be used in combination with Giga Blaster to discard a crucial card from the top of their deck.
Snowpoint Temple
Improves the survivability of all of your Pokemon making Regigigas LV.X even more of a tank. Also is a great counter stadium to Broken Time-Space slowing your opponents set up even further.
Great Ball
I think I am going to replace Pokemon Communication with Great Ball in this deck. A massively underrated card and can search your deck for any Pokemon other than Regigigas LV.X
Warp Energy/Warp Point
Can be useful to get a hefty Regice/Giratina to the bench in times of desperacy. Also can be used in combination with Seeker to return an active Gigas to your hand guaranteed, although with Sacrifice and 150-170 HP it should never be KOd.
The final card I am going to mention I am considering including in my personal build – Abomasnow SF.
If you are facing a Donphan Prime, Mewtwo LV.X or Machamp deck, with this list your only saving grace from an autoloss is disrupting them early with Mesprit in combination with Giratina/Judge and praying they don’t set up.
Abomasnow SF changes all this by countering all three cards in one go. Unless any of these decks are large in your metagame I wouldn’t recommend this mod, although it only requires a 1-1 line.
It uses Water Energy and Double Colorless Energy that are already in the deck and upon evolving it will deal 60 damage with paralysis that will allow you to KO Donphan Prime and Mewtwo LV.X without reply the following turn and leave you 10 HP from KOing Machamp that can be made up by an Expert Belt or a Crobat G drop.
It hits Donphan Prime for weakness and should be able to take out 2 or 3 of their 3-4 Donphan Prime before being KO’d.
Its Poke-Body that reduces all damage dealt to your Pokemon by 20 is ideal against Machamp SF because it has always been known to be a low damaging deck that destroys basics but struggles against the rest of the metagame.
Machamp Prime might change this, but you can disrupt enough to ensure they will never have a Machamp Prime with 4 energy on it.
Other than Drag Off its your only chance against Mewtwo LV.X due to its Body that prevents all damage done to it by basic Pokemon. Even Drag Off wont help you against a lone Mewtwo LV.X at which point without Abomasnow you have lost.
Finally its attack for DCE spreads 20 damage to all of your opponents non-Grass or Water Pokemon. This has great synergy with Drag Off, allowing a Belted Gigas to OHKO common bench sitters like Uxie, Azelf etc.
In my opinion every aspect of Abomasnow SF has great synergy with the deck and counters your three worst matchups in the metagame. It isn’t too difficult to tech in, only requiring two spaces, although Regigigas is a tight build.
My personal metagame isnt overrun with these decks, therefore it isnt needed, however if I was to take this to Nationals or Worlds, I would certainly include a 1-1 Abomasnow given that you can expect to play at least one of these three common archetypes.
An alternate list, given the potential options I have discussed:
|
Pokemon – 18
4 Sableye SF |
T/S/S – 28
4 Pokemon Rescue |
Energy – 14
4 Water |
*Unless your metagame or the tournament you are intending to visit is packed with Donphan Prime, Machamp or Mewtwo LV.X decks, I would switch this for 2 Warp Energy/Warp Point or my personal preference 1 Chatot G and 1 more VS Seeker.
This list is arguably more consistent than the first. Most importantly you will notice the absence of Unown Q. There are two reasons for this. One is that using an energy to retreat Sableye can be positive because it aids Sacrifice. Another option is to attach an energy to Sableye, Impersonate for 2-3 turns and let yourself get knocked out.
Your opponent will think you have wasted an energy attachment and made a mistake, but not only have you Impersonated and put energy in the discard for Sacrifice, but also you have made Twins available.
However much I love Jirachi, Sableye is the more consistent start to the game and with the ability to go first it allows you to Power Lock from T1 if you have Mesprit in your hand. Also Sableye is useful throughout the game because it searches out supporters rather than relying on the ones you have in your hand. An example of a combo is Psychic Bind with Impersonate for a Judge, opponents hand reduced to 4 cards and their Pokemon Powers Locked. Not as devastating as Mesprit, Giratina and Giga Blaster in one turn, but still consistent disruption.
Lastly Great Ball works brilliantly in Regigigas, allowing you to search for any Pokemon in the deck apart from the LV.X, and Abomasnow should you choose to run it.
Thank you guys for reading my extensive analysis on Regigigas lock. I hope you learnt something about this complex deck and the multitude of tactical possibilities it possesses. I don’t recommend it for beginners to the TCG, but if you want a challenge and a competitive deck that wont break the bank then I recommend it.
I’m not going to say it’s format dominating, but with the introduction of cards like Seeker, Junk Arm, and Twins after the rotation of cards like Felicity’s Drawing it has he potential to become competitive once more.
Expect more articles soon!
Respectfully,
Jack Snell (3rd in UK rankings)
