Yo mates, it’s ZapdosTCG here and welcome to another blog post on the TCG Park website. Today we will talk about Kyurem VMAX and why it’s better than you might think.
Kyurem VMAX is, of course, Palkia VSTAR’s new best friend. The card is a big VMAX Pokemon with 330HP and comes packed with an energy-accelerating ability called: Glaciated World. This allows you to discard the top card of your deck, and if it’s an energy card, you can attach it to 1 of your Pokemon. This ability is super nice in combination with Primate Wisdom Oranguru. This will allow you to swap a card from your hand with the top card of your deck. And on top of all that, the ability also stacks. So for every Kyurem VMAX, you get out, you can use the ability.
Now to its attack Max Frost. This attack slaps 120 damage plus 50 more for every energy you are willing to discard from Kyurem VMAX. So basically, with Choice Belt, you easily hit 300 damage for three energies. With the help of Palkia VSTAR, you can accelerate energies, and then there’s Melony and Glaciated World to make sure this deck slaps energies on the field super easily.
The Kyurem VMAX himself creates an archetype on its own. There is no need for the Inteleon engines in this TCG deck. All you need to do is to use Oranguru and the drawing power of Radiant Greninja. With the help of Radiant Greninja, Irida and Oranguru, you mostly get the job done just fine by being consistent. The cool thing is that the deck can also attack with Palkia VSTAR, so you have two different weaknesses. Palkia VSTAR is weak to lightning, while Kyurem VMAX is weak to metal. Also, Kyurem VMAX is the OHKO machine we were laking for before, so it’s such an excellent include. The Kyurem VMAX also could allow you to accelerate energies to Radiant Greninja so you can Moonlight Shuriken multiple times in a game.
Then there are the tech cards. Empoleon V is a must in all water Pokemon TCG decks in the future. The Lost Origin set will put a lot of Lost Zone decks on the map. So if you can put Empoleon V in the active slot, it shuts down the ability of all non-rule Box Pokemon. This means cards like Comfey, Cramorant and Regigigas become pretty useless, allowing you to win on the stop against those archetypes or at least slow them down. Cards like Drapion V are also a nice include. This will help your difficult Mew VMAX matchup a ton. Mew VMAX is still popular and strong in the Lost Origin format, so respecting the archetype and adding in Drapion V works wonders.
For zero energy, you can basically OHKO a Mew VMAX or Genesect V. All that is because of Drapion V’s busted Wild Style ability. For every Rapid Strike, Single Strike or Fusion Strike Pokemon in play, Drapion V needs one colourless energy less in its attack cost. This is just too good not to include.
So let’s talk a bit about the trainer cards of a Kyurem VMAX deck. Well, we use a high count of Battle VIP pass to get an explosive turn one. We need Kyurem V, Oranguru and a Palkia V, so it’s the easiest way to fill the bench. On top of that, there are some Quick Balls, Ultra Ball and a Hisuian Heavy Ball. With the help of a Crobat V, you probably won’t have a bad turn 1. So following up on that turn, you want to slap with either Palkia VSTAR or Kyurem VMAX to take them prize cards as quickly as possible.
The list also plays four copies of Capacious Bucket. It’s super nice to have them when 2 Kyurem VMAX are out on the field. The energy acceleration is literally broken. For energy recovery, we have the Training Court. For now, there are only 2 copies on the list. But you might cut a Bucket for an additional Training Court if you’re scared of Path to the Peak.
Just try the deck out by yourself, and you’ll see that it’s actually stronger than Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX.
If you want to raise your deck to the next level, you can preorder Palkia VSTAR here at TCG Park!
Decklist
Here’s a Kyurem VMAX Decklist to get yourself started:
Pokémon – 16
| 4 Kyurem V LOR 48 |
| 3 Kyurem VMAX LOR 49 |
| 2 Oranguru SSH 148 |
| 2 Origin Forme Palkia V ASR 39 |
| 2 Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR ASR 40 |
| 1 Crobat V SHF 44 |
| 1 Empoleon V BST 40 |
| 1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46 |
Trainer Cards – 34
| 4 Irida ASR 147 |
| 4 Melony CRE 146 |
| 2 Boss’s Orders BRS 132 |
| 1 Nessa VIV 157 |
| 4 Battle VIP Pass FST 225 |
| 4 Capacious Bucket RCL 156 |
| 3 Quick Ball FST 237 |
| 2 Ultra Ball BRS 150 |
| 1 Evolution Incense SSH 163 |
| 1 Switch SSH 183 |
| 1 Energy Retrieval SSH 160 |
| 1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146 |
| 1 Lost Vacuum LOR 162 |
| 2 Choice Belt BRS 135 |
| 1 Air Balloon SSH 156 |
| 2 Training Court RCL 169 |
Energy – 10
| 10 Water Energy 3 |
Matchups
Let’s talk a little bit about the deck’s matchup spread. Not a lot has been known so far, but from what I can tell, it has the power to become one of the tier 1.5 decks. You can have a shot at any deck, definitely because of the tech cards of Empoleon V and Drapion V.
Favourable:
- Lost Zone Box
- Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR
- Goodra VSTAR
- Palkia VSTAR
- Arceus VSTAR / Flying
- Pikachu VMAX
- Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR
Even:
- Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone Engine)
Unfavourable:
- Regigigas
- Mew VMAX
Lost Zone Box
This matchup is kind of favourable. The Lost Zone Box has a rough time against Empoleon V. You can add a second copy of Empoleon V to ensure this matchup. That way, they will be too slow to swing early on. The cool thing is that they also cannot easily deal with the 330HP of Kyurem. Also, if they don’t slap down Manaphy in time, we can also Moonlight Shuriken with Radiant Greninja.
Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR
This matchup is actually relatively easy. They are having struggles against the high HP of Kyurem VMAX. We can easily OHKO a Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR with Palkia VSTAR and Kyurem VMAX. The Radiant Greninja can also take some early KOs on stuff like Bidoof.
Goodra VSTAR
This is basically a free matchup. They don’t run Path to the Peak. You can stack a massive amount of energy onto Kyurem VMAX and OHKO, the big tanky Goodra VSTAR.
Palkia VSTAR
This is also slightly favoured as we have a 330HP Pokemon that can take multiple prize cards. Radiant Greninja can also swing multiple times during a game, and if they want to swing for massive damage with Palkia VSTAR, we can also swing with ours.
Arceus / Flying Pikachu VMAX
This deck is relatively easy. We can OHKO anything they throw at us while they have to 2-shot. Marnie + Path might be nasty, but if we overcome that, we will probably win the game! You might also think about an additional stadium card to bump Path if you find this harder than it is.
Arceus VSTAR / Giratina VSTAR
Pretty similar to Arceus VSTAR with Flying Pikachu VMAX. dThis list can also not OHKO Kyurem VMAX!
Giratina VSTAR (Lost Zone Engine)
This matchup is actually 50/50 from my testing. Giratina VSTAR has the OHKO move, which is scary. Other than that, we have a big VMAX Pokemon with 330HP, so if we can get out our 2nd Kyurem VMAX, they will have a bit more complicated. We also can OHKO back to back. Empoleon V can also shut down their engine in the first couple of turns which rocks!
Regigigas
This deck is pretty tricky with only 1 Empoleon V. bhas included Path again in their deck, which even shuts down Empoleon. Regigigas can OHKO Kyurem VMAX and Regieleki can OHKO Palkia VSTAR. They win the prize race that way.
Conclusion
And that’s it, mates! Now you know another fantastic new deck in the Lost Origin format! Try it out for yourself, or check it in action on my channel: www.youtube.com/ZapdosTCG. If you what to buy any products from the Lost Origin set or any other sets, you are in the right place! TCG Park has a lot of products to offer for an excellent price! They are shipping products all over Europe! Thanks for reading my article on Kyurem VMAX, which has a ton of potential, and I’ll see you all next time!