Highlighting Archaludon ex for San Antonio
Written by Natalie Millar
Hello everyone! Archaludon ex hasn’t seen much success in the Surging Sparks format but it did win the Champion’s League in Osaka and I believe that it’s very underrated in the current Surging Sparks format. The deck is surprisingly solid against Regidrago VSTAR and with some changes from the Champion’s League list it would be something that I would be happy to take to San Antonio, so let’s get stuck in!
Here’s the list I’ll be discussing!
Pokémon: 6
4 Duraludon SCR 106
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
2 Origin Forme Dialga V ASR 113
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Relicanth TEF 84
4 Archaludon ex SSP 130
2 Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR ASR 114
Trainer: 11
3 Iono PAL 185
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
4 Night Stretcher SFA 61
2 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171
3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
4 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
2 Jamming Tower TWM 153
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
3 Boss's Orders PAL 172
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
4 Professor's Research SVI 189
Energy: 1
11 Basic {M} Energy SVE 16
Total Cards: 60
I ended up simplifying the winning decklist a ton, focusing on improving the Regidrago VSTAR matchup. The strategy of the deck itself is very simple, you tank with Archaludon ex’s 300 HP, heal it with Professor Turo’s Scenario and eventually build up to a an Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR to take an extra turn at some point. While I was playing the deck, I realised that it plays very similarly to how the Arceus VSTAR/Duraludon VMAX deck played in the Silver Tempest format in that it benefits more from prize racing the opponent instead of trying to play a ton of healing cards. This led me to cutting Scoop Up Cyclone for Prime Catcher, which I have found to be the best Ace Spec as it lets you both push an aggressive start and make comebacks by combining it with Iono. It also has a ton of synergy with Star Chronos, as it gives you more outs to use two gusting effects on your consecutive turns. While many Archaludon ex lists were including Counter Catcher, I was finding that I was ahead too often for Counter Catcher to be active, leading to me including Prime Catcher.
Scoop Up Cyclone is a solid card, but I wasn’t using it enough to justify it’s inclusion in the deck. I’ve found that having two copies of Professor Turo’s Scenario is enough healing for most matchups in the current format, especially with the increased count of Pokegear 3.0 that this list includes. Professor Turo’s Scenario is also very useful to give yourself extra uses of Assemble Alloy to power up the Dialga VSTAR at the end of the game. Because Archaludon ex doesn’t have a solid draw engine like some other decks do, you need to play high counts of most of your cards to give yourself the opportunity to see them at the right time. This isn’t true of every deck as one of cards do have their advantages (I’m still unsure about Thorton in this deck) but this is where I like to start off with and then work out if the deck still needs assistance in other matchups.
So why Prime Catcher?
The main reason why I tried out Prime Catcher in the first place was for the Regidrago VSTAR matchup, and I found it to be very helpful. Your game plan against Regidrago is to try and win through the 2/2/2 prize map, but you will frequently be ahead in the prize trade when you do this as they are able to make meaningful attacks without taking prize cards by using Trifrost or Phantom Dive to set up for future spread attacks. This nullifies your Counter Catcher and makes it more important to hit multiple gusts, leading to the inclusion of Prime Catcher and extra Pokegears.You typically have to gust around their VSTAR as if you are two hit KOing one your Pokemon then you opponent usually will have enough time to win the game. It is correct for your opponent to use Trifrost first then follow up with another attack in this matchup due to Relicanth, as if they hit the Archaludon for 200 you can use Raging Hammer for 280. Notably Radiant Charizard is a very strong attacker in this matchup even though Metal Defender removes weakness, as the Regidrago player can switch out the Duraludon twice or just use Combustion Blast on a benched Pokemon. I would also consider adding an Iron Bundle for this matchup as it’s useful for shoving their Cleffa out of the way in the beginning of the game, and is also useful on your Star Chronos turn if they only have one single prize Pokemon in play. This is because you can KO a two prize Pokemon with Star Chronos, then they promote their one prize Pokemon which you can move with Hyper Blower. Regidrago will likely be the most played deck at San Antonio Regionals and having a solid matchup into it is very important to go deep in the tournament.
How are the other matchups?
This deck is solid into most other matchups too. Your Lugia matchup is very dependant on their Cinccino line and how quickly they’re able to use Special Roll, but if you can KO an Archeops before they can power up a Minccino you will typically be in a great spot to win the game. Prime Catcher is very important in this matchup too, as you want to aggressively target Pokemon like Archeops or Minccino on their bench. The Klawf matchup also isn’t too bad, but this is one Professor Turo’s Scenario are very important. Your opponent will likely be relying on Poison coming back into their turn to take a knockout as Terapagos ex deals 260 with a Mochi attached, which ticks over to 290 then to 320. I still included two copies of Jamming Tower in here to assist you with both the Klawf matchup and the Gardevoir matchup, since they rely heavily on Bravery Charm to one hit KO your Archaludons. Against Gardevoir I would be putting down the Jamming Tower immediately when you see it instead of waiting to KO a Drifloon, preventing Techanical Machine: Evolution is important and you can force them to take sub optimal routes if they cannot find the counter stadium. You can also consider Pokestop in your stadium slot, however doing so essentially concedes the Gardevoir matchup so I would need to also include a Lost Vacuum to make that switch.
This deck does surprisingly well against Charizard ex. They are so reliant on Rotom V and Fezandipiti ex that you can pick those up of the bench, and you are essentially trading two hit KOs back and forth in the early game and you can take advantage of Professor Turo’s Scenario to reset your Archaludon. Additionally, you can go from 4 prizes left to 0 easily by using Star Chronos on either Rotom or Fezandipiti then following up by KOing either Charizard ex or Pidgeot ex with Metal Blast. However, this deck does fall slightly short in the Goldhengo ex and Raging Bolt ex matchups.
Both Goldhengo ex and Raging Bolt ex are slightly out of range to be KO’d by both Star Chronos and Metal Defender and are able to take One Hit KOs on Archaludon ex, which makes these matchups very tough to overcome. You can try to race Raging Bolt by KOing benched Teal Mask Ogerpon exs, however Goldhengo ex is very difficult as they usually only have Fezandipiti ex in play for you to knock out. You can still win either of these matchups if you get off to a fast start and your opponent a slow one, but they are still tough for you to overcome. Deciding whether or not to play Archaludon ex is likely going to come down to how much you expect these aggressive decks to see play and how good you think the other matchups are. Personally, I place comfort at a very high priority when it comes to deck selection and having one or two unfavoured matchups is never usually a dealbreaker for choosing a deck.
Overall I still think Archaludon ex is underrated in the current format and I think the changes I made to the deck have improved it’s position in the metagame. I would recommend giving the deck a shot or at least getting some games in againt it with whatever you’re committed to playing as I can see many players pivoting to the Don in Texas!
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