Hello everyone, I'm Wai, and I ranked 32nd in the 9th HKCS Swiss Ranking this year.
Today, I'm sharing my deck – Lygia – on Player's Club, the platform where I learned how to play with Pokemon cards.
Firstly, the reason for using the Leicester deck:
I think the Lygia deck is a near-perfect deck. Lygia performs the most consistently and reliably in different environments and matchups with varying advantages and disadvantages. In other words, it can be countered and defeated by any deck. Whether you can win depends on the user's skill, strategy, and luck.
Unlike the old Likia, it's gone:
1) A large number of evolved aromatherapy products and
2) Capture energy to expand
Instead, it utilizes Supporter and Foaming Chinchilla (with the move Call to Allies) to develop its strategy. While both are slightly slower than Lygia at its peak, they are still sufficient for the current meta.
Meanwhile, the Ligia deck tests a player's control over the board. The Ace en is like playing against someone with seven lives when your opponent only has six, allowing you to find powerful abilities after the initial setup. The most exciting aspect is its ability to force the opponent to make an extra attack to win through trades. Furthermore, in a best-of-one format, Ligia is less likely to result in a double loss, potentially giving you time to rest. Therefore, I decided to use Ligia as my deck for this year's HKCS tournament.
Next is the deck composition and the reasons for its selection.
use:
-4 *Likia V
Since the Hong Kong tournament is a Bo1 format, and it is predicted that there will be many Thunder Drum and Lygia decks on the field, 4 Lygia can improve the stability of the deck, allowing me to accurately play Lygia V. In particular, when playing Thunder Drum first and in mirror matches, it can increase my accuracy in playing 2 Lygia V, ensuring that I can evolve and start V Star in the second turn.
-3* 60HP Bubble Squirrel: Based on my observations of the JCS tournament, I predict there will be very few Dragapult decks, and I think most Dragapult decks will lean towards the Lost Zone. Since Dragapult won't evolve into an attack form with a candy, and it's difficult to accurately summon Sinnoh Temple, I've chosen to invest all my resources in 60HP Bubble Squirrel. Also, since a 70HP Bubble Squirrel might be defeated by Alakazam in the late game anyway, I'd prefer to use its first skill, "Call a Friend," to reliably summon Lygia V and Bubble Squirrel for board control.
-2*NeonFishV
Because the deck relies on the Fish trait to deploy our Supporter (Dr.) and attack (Boss), and because the Fish can jump back into the deck after use, freeing up slots for deploying Chipmunks again, we use 2 to stabilize the early game and ensure a stable late-game attack. In terms of gameplay, the Lygia deck type desperately needs Fish as the engine of our deck; it's extremely important and practical.
Using Shanina as the fourth support unit allows her to act as the fourth Dr. when it's necessary to discard the giant bird. Additionally, she can provide methods to capture the opponent's Lycanroc/Neon Fish/Raikou/Rotom/Entei, etc., in the later stages to use as our offensive tools, making her quite flexible. If you don't like her, you can replace her with other support units.
Reason for using 2 Tower of Obstacles
1. Originally, deploying 4 Leviathan V and 3 60HP squirrels was sufficient to successfully spread the product without the need for a table.
2. Gaining an advantage in unfavorable matchups - Sané can use EX.
3. Can negate the Courage Charm, allowing Moon Bear to make effective attacks, especially in matches against Thunder Drum.
4. It is necessary to deploy resources to dismantle the opponent's temple.
Not adopted:
The advantage of Water Shield is that it can be used to attack opponents who haven't deployed Manaphy against Rigear, especially Gardevoir/Charmander. Given the assumption that the opponent will deploy Water Shield, it becomes useless. Furthermore, Water Shield's weakness to Electric makes it a prime target for amplification. Therefore, it is not recommended .
Regarding the new supporter, Danyu, its optimal use is only in the first turn when going first. When uncertain about whether you can get the first turn, this card only has a 50% chance of being useful. As for obtaining this supporter, using Neon Fish with Danyu results in a weak board presence. The main reason is that in the first turn, the priority is to board Lycaon V and Squirrel. If you forcibly add Neon Fish and the two Archon Birds after V-Star, there will only be one slot left. Therefore, we would prefer Neon Fish to get other stronger supporters later, rather than Danyu. So, Danyu only has an advantage if drawn from the first of the seven cards in your starting hand. Therefore, it is not adopted.
V-guard Energy (En) is not used.
I believe the most important use of V-Guard En is to prevent the opponent from using Ligia V-Star to cripple our Ligia V when they go first (2nd turn). However, obtaining V-Guard En is extremely difficult, either through the starting hand or after drawing 7. Therefore, I don't invest in it.
In terms of the game
After explaining the deck, let's talk about my experiences in various matchups.
1. Lydia vs. Star Civil War
The key to victory lies in two points
a. The speed at which you activate V Star Power allows you to attack first. When everyone is equal, attacking first gives you an advantage. Moreover, if you attack first for 2 rounds, you can take down the opponent's only Rigia V. Preventing the opponent from activating V Star Power is the key to winning easily.
b. The existence and quantity of Ace En are crucial in determining which offensive moves our side can choose and what reasons we can use to prevent the opponent from winning when we are at a disadvantage in the back row. Losing too much energy will prevent our side from launching an attack. Therefore, the method of obtaining rewards and using the leader's commands are extremely important in mirror matches.
In a matchup where you want to minimize Ligia's presence on the field, ideally, you should have as few Ligia as possible. For the first and second Ligia, the remaining Ligia should ideally be Slugs, as only Slugs can defeat the opponent's Ligia V Star and create a situation where all your Ligia units have 1-star bonuses. In this scenario, you don't need to fear the opponent's main Ligia. If you later use Neonfish, you'll want to hit the opponent's Slugs and bounce back. This move can be done after defeating the opponent's last Slug and then launching a Giant Bird. Matchups are constantly changing; the goal is to create a situation where the opponent cannot accumulate enough 6-star bonuses.
In addition, regarding the backline attack, since there are at least two level 2 Rigear on the field, having a leader to knock out the opponent's Pokémon without a gift command is the most effective way to prevent the opponent from drawing their leader command. Alternatively, if you are sure that the opponent has wasted too much energy, you can knock out all of the opponent's attackers with energy, thus defeating them when they have used up all their energy and have no means of attacking.
2. Gardevoir
The main reason we least want to encounter this matchup is that Gardevoir has a deck with strong disruptive abilities, such as: Tree of Life/Unjust Seal/Roaring Tail/Sinnoh Temple/Modified Hammer (Black Hammer), etc. If the opponent manages to disrupt us and then uses a Reckless attack, our Archaeopteryx will be at a severe disadvantage. Therefore, when facing Gardevoir, it's essential to use two Archaeopteryx in V Star. Our worst-case scenario is if our Archaeopteryx uses Gratitude to launch its first attack. After that, the next turn we might face having our Ace En Reckless attack knocked out by Black Hammer, disrupted by the Seal, and then killed by the Archaeopteryx.
Therefore, we need to create a field that prevents the opponent from easily attacking our Archaeopteryx. First, we must avoid using Gratitude Boost as the first attack; ideally, use it only when we have 2 bonus points. We also need to be wary of the opponent using Black Hammer and avoid using Ace En. Furthermore, to prevent the opponent from using Roar Tail on our Archaeopteryx, we must attach two Energy to our Squirrels, ensuring that after Archaeopteryx is defeated, our Squirrels can one-shot the opponent's Gardevoir EX. Taking advantage of the opponent's slow start, we can gain a bonus advantage when going first, deploying two Squirrels and preserving as many Barrier Towers as possible. If the opponent uses a Charm to defeat our Lygia V Star, we can use Barrier Tower + Gardevoir EX to gain 3 bonus points in one turn, widening the bonus gap. There's also the option of using Inspire Boost to get the final 2 bonus points, so it's still possible to compete with Gardevoir, although it requires a very precise field setup.
3. Thunder Drum
After watching the JCS top 4 and finals, and referring to the strategies of the top players, we observed that it's easy to defeat Raikou. We would like to go first and deploy 2 Ligia and Squirrel. If we can do this, we can almost guarantee a victory. If we only have 1 Ligia, we can fill the enchantment slot in our hand with Squirrel, and then make a 140 attack next turn and deploy Ligia again to counterattack. This would force the opponent to stop attacking, and then we can make another 140 attack to catch up in turns.
The key to this matchup lies in the Squirrel Bear/Ace En and the Tree of Life. When the opponent gives you a 2-point bonus, the Tree of Life's harassment will be the most effective tactic, as the opponent lacks monster-catching abilities. Additionally, the Ace En can provide a way to prevent the opponent's 222 victory, and finally, the Squirrel Bear and the Tree of Life are the weapons to defeat the Raikou.
4. LTB
This matchup is somewhat similar to the Thunder Drum above, because the opponent definitely has the ability to kill our Ligia on the first turn when going second, so we need to play two Ligia V to prevent us from not being able to activate V Star Power.
In this matchup, we aim for a 2-2-2 setup. The main reason is that with two rewards, even if the opponent gets hit by a Dojuan, we only need one attack to win two rewards and the game is over. Also, in this matchup, we want to keep the Obstruction Tower unused because we want to use it to remove the opponent's Sinnoh Temple. So, when the opponent uses Sinnoh Temple + Dojuan, as long as we have a Great Ball (to find a Fish)/Obstruction Tower/Draw 7/Fish, we can use the Obstruction Tower to remove the opponent's only Sinnoh Temple, thus avoiding further interference. Because your Gift En won't remove it, if you attack faster than your opponent in this matchup, using Gratitude to boost your attack is more advantageous. Since LTB can only be removed with a Bear and only loses one reward, if it can't be removed, using a Giant's Blessing to boost your attack to level 4 will skip the three-reward Dojuan. However, if the opponent attacks your Lycanroc first with Raikou, it's very likely that you'll end up with a three-reward Dojuan. This means you'll need an extra turn to win after passing the temple. As a reminder, make good use of Mist En to watch out for the opponent's Soul Reaver in this match.
5. Dragapult/Charizard
In the current meta, most Dragapult decks are either native birds or Exile decks. Neither of these decks can specifically search for the field, so as mentioned before, our 60 HP Squirrel can safely spread out by simply playing Mist En. In this type of matchup, the easiest way to win is to use Gratitude to target the opponent's low-HP Degenerates, Squirrel to deal with high-HP Evolveds, and Lygia V Star to KO Rotom V.
6. Milton/Ancient Sword Leopard
These two matchups are quite similar, both involving a fast-paced strategy to secure the 222 reward. The main difference is the need to be wary of Milton's potential counter-attack that could result in a kill on Lygia. The core strategy for both is to use Ace En to create a field-wide reward and then use a Wonder Tree during the 222 acquisition process, hoping to prevent the opponent from making any moves in the next turn to secure victory.
Battle report
Once you understand the deck's gameplay, you'll discover the versatility and adaptability of the Rigia deck. With a consistent playstyle, it can handle various decks in the current meta. Furthermore, unlocking V Star Power with the help of Neonfish isn't too difficult. The fun part of this deck lies in using Ace En to unleash powerful moves after unlocking V Star Power, depending on the match. Below are some matches from this HKCS session and some particularly memorable ones.
9 Round Swiss 8-1 Ranking 9th, Top 32
1. W followed by a sudden thunderbolt
2. W first benefit
3. W first LTB Electric Evil failed to properly raise the squirrel in the early game and couldn't kill the opponent's Roaring Moon in time. When there were 3 prizes left, the Temple Azalea had a High Wave Ball to draw fish and draw 7. There was an Obstruction Tower to remove the Temple and then jump back. In the last round, the team took the lead and won.
4. W After the opponent is a friend from the card shop, the opponent went first and couldn't play Ligia. I opened V Star Power but couldn't kill the opponent's Ligia. The opponent's leader, my fish went to thankfully amplify (3:5). It was very dangerous when the opponent had 3, because 322 can perfectly ignore the round disadvantage of Ace en without the leader. I chose to take out all of the opponent's tickets, so that the opponent had no way to kill my Ligia V Star to catch up in the round. Finally, I used the squirrel to kill the opponent's last Ligia V Star and got the 6 prize.
5. In the W round, Ligia faced off again, this time at a significant disadvantage. The opponent first used a 2v Star Power 2 Giant Bird, then defeated my Ligia. I could only use a 2v Star Power 1 Giant Bird to deal 200 damage. Then, the opponent used a 3v Star Power 1 Giant Bird to defeat my Ligia. I could only use a Ligia with Ace En to defeat the opponent's Ligia. The opponent's Ligia defeated my Ligia, and I defeated the opponent's Ligia. The opponent's Ligia defeated my Ligia, and I defeated the opponent's Ligia. The opponent's Ligia defeated my Ligia, and I defeated the opponent's Ligia. With my Ligia defeating the opponent's Ligia (fortunately, the opponent used 4-5 energy balls in the early game), I finally won because the opponent didn't have enough energy.
6. W after LTB Hydropower surpasses this year's champion - PM
First, I must commend the opponent's deck. Their inclusion of Lugia to prevent my Neon Fish V from setting up was a pleasant surprise. Even with my second turn, I couldn't smoothly deploy two Lugia Vs. Fortunately, my opponent, hampered by Greninja, couldn't gather 7 Lost, rendering my only Lugia V useless. I then used my second Lugia V Star and Gratitude to amplify my attack, securing two bonuses. The opponent went first with three, taking down my Giant Bird, then used their Giant Bird with Gratitude to amplify their Lugia. Because I anticipated being harassed by Temple of the Goddess next turn, I hoped to find a way to use Fish to find the Tower of Obstruction to suppress the Temple. The opponent went first with four, re-deploying Lugia and using Bear to take down my second Giant Bird. I went second with four, using Tree of Life, then Bear, and then Squidward to deal 140 damage. The opponent used Squidward, then Top of the Barrier to trap Bear and deal 240 damage, but failed to find the Temple. Luckily, I had Jet En to win.
7. L Leopard Team Misplay - MP
Our old friend MP, meeting in the seventh round when everyone knew each other, was a relatively acceptable time. Our team's fish-like creature attacked first, and both sides successfully spread out their attacks. The opponent took down the fish with two leopards, while our team took down the leopard with two V-Stars. The opponent took down the V-Star with three leopards, while our team took down the V-Star with three V-Stars. Ace en + Qishu created a field-wide first prize, taking down the leopard. Then MP was defeated by Qishu. After that, we had a Stone Tablet and Pokestop. We used the Stone Tablet to get Cyndaquil 8 hands, found Iron Bag, and used Gratitude to amplify my back row.
8. W: My team successfully deployed, but the opponent couldn't evolve without a support. My team then created 1 Ligglefoil, 2 Raccoons, and 2 Giant Birds, providing excellent board control and board presence. The opponent then created 4 Tier 1 front-line manaphys with 2 enchantments each. My Raccoons each used 2 enchantments to remove the manaphys. The opponent's goal for the next 3 moves was to counter the catcher and then use a balloon to take down my backline, but unfortunately, the opponent couldn't filter out the counter catcher and could only deal 180 damage to V Star. With the bonus already widened, the final boss caught Gardevoir and won. The strategy during the game was not to use Ace enchantments, to be wary of Black Hammer and to save the possibility of using Gratitude to amplify the final attack. I used 2 Gift enchantments on Lygia. I anticipated the opponent would force Black Hammer, and one gift enchantment could be used to avoid interference with the second.
9. W's early advantage in the Thunderstorm matchup was similar to JCS. Even with only V Star Power 1 Big Bird, Lygia still had the upper hand. I successfully disrupted the opponent's turn by using the Tree of Life, and then used Ace en Chinchilla and Bear to catch up in turns. Finally, I used Chinchilla and Grass Mask to win the game.
Day 2 Top 32 Elimination Rounds
LL's strategy of prioritizing the opponent's advantage: This year's Top 4
Game1
The opponent has already taken two big birds and secured the fish, confirming V Star. Our team cannot retreat before the battle. We know we're stuck with Ace En. The only option is for the Doctor to take two big birds and then read the wind. After the opponent's V Star is defeated, our team can only choose to use our leader to eliminate the opponent's only single-element squirrel, ensuring our V Star's safety. Hopefully, the opponent doesn't have a leader, but unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The opponent called out "Gratitude" and activated their leader, allowing me to take my big birds. During the exchange, I also couldn't get Ace En, leaving me with no chance to retaliate.
Game2
Everyone can also play V Star 2 Big Bird. Our side doesn't have a big boss, so it's definitely advantageous for V Star. We chose not to play the gift en Chipmunk to prevent the opponent from drawing cards. The opponent had a Neon Fish that played on the advantageous V Star and then pushed out the advantageous V Star. Our side also didn't have any cards in hand, so we could only stick the gift en on all the monsters to prevent the boss from playing forward and forcing the opponent to give us cards. Even in the end, our side still didn't get the boss and unfortunately lost. Congratulations to the opponent for successfully entering the top 4 and qualifying for the World Championship.
Conclusion
First of all, I would like to thank all the opponents I encountered in this tournament, which made this event a pleasant experience. Due to my busy work schedule and limited time to prepare for this tournament, I was afraid of double loss, so I chose to give up my most familiar Gardevoir deck and instead used another deck that I like, the Lygia deck, which was strengthened in the new release.
Because the rounds of thinking and the search deck are relatively simple and straightforward (to be honest, I only look at whether there is an Ace En and a Ginny, so I am more relaxed and don't have much time to look at V Star and Chipmunk. Unless I have V Star and Chipmunk in hand when I start with a 7), I can use the extra time to go to the bathroom (laughs).
Additionally, I carefully considered using the LTB deck, but in my practice, I felt it wasn't advantageous against Mighty Drums, so I ultimately decided against it. I also want to especially thank my opponent in round five; knowing he had no more opportunities to attack, his decision to concede was courageous. I hope everyone aims for victory in major tournaments, as a double-elimination result often means neither player will be able to get the top cut (and neither player has subdivided the deck). Like last year, I was just a little short of the World Championship, which is a bit of a shame; I can only hope to keep trying next year.
Thank you all for reading this long article. Please forgive any shortcomings in the writing and feel free to offer your suggestions. Thank you.
Author: Wai
Supervision: Zoneming (Zoneming blog)
Published by: PC Players' Club