Upgrade Your Shadow Rider Calyrex League Battle Deck With This Surprise Tech!

The Shadow Rider Calyrex League Battle Deck is the strongest pre-made deck ever assembled by The Pokemon Company. But with a few tweaks, you can make even better! Check out the video for my deck list and see it in action!
Shadow Rider Deck List
***** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List *****
##Pokémon - 13
1 Crobat V PR-SW 98
1 Cresselia CRE 64
1 Galarian Articuno EVS 63
1 Pumpkaboo EVS 76
4 Shadow Rider Calyrex V CRE 74
1 Zacian V CEL 16
4 Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX CRE 75
##Trainer Cards - 35
1 Cheryl BST 159
1 Energy Retrieval SSH 160
3 Evolution Incense SSH 163
1 Pal Pad SSH 172
2 Training Court RCL 169
4 Marnie SSH 200
2 Professor's Research CEL 24
2 Skaters' Park FST 242
3 Quick Ball SSH 179
2 Choice Belt BRS 135
2 Boss's Orders RCL 189
1 Air Balloon SSH 156
1 Scoop Up Net RCL 165
1 Canceling Cologne ASR 136
1 Adventurer's Discovery FST 224
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
4 Fog Crystal CRE 140
1 Klara CRE 194
2 Switch SSH 183
##Energy - 12
12 Psychic Energy SWSHEnergy 14
Total Cards - 60
***** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO *****

[@vinceo2828]

I haven’t been struggling with the base deck online so I’m looking forward to trying this out!

[@InThirdPerson]

That's amazing to hear! Keep stacking them dubs!

[@pokemercenary6511]

I added Galarian Articuno V and Hisuian Typhlosion V

[@mehmedtiro412]

Thoughts on mewtwo v union mixup with shadow rider calyrex?

[@InThirdPerson]

Shadow Rider used to be the go-to way to play Mewtwo V-Union. There are other ways of playing it now that have taken the focus off of Shadow Rider, but it's worth exploring if you have Shadow Rider cards. I don't think there are any modern Shadow Rider + Mewtwo V-Union lists out there, but I'd use this list from Omnipoke as a starting point and upgrade it with cards that were released after, such as Adventurer's Discovery, Ultra Ball, Choice Belt, etc. I may need to take a stab at making a video for this at some point!

[@BobMeister-tu1bo]

How do you feel about adding Whimsicott Vstar as another attacker in the deck? Viable or too low powered?

[@InThirdPerson]

Whimsicott and Shadow Rider was a deck archetype that saw a bit of play during the Brilliant Stars era of the game. I like the idea of running an alternate non VMAX attacker with Shadow Rider, hence why I paired it with Mewtwo. However, Whimsicott as a partner for Shadow Rider and as a standalone deck has fallen off in the Astral Radiance era. Many of the top decks don’t run special energy anymore, which makes Whimsicott less useful against the field. However, if shutting down Arceus or other decks that run special energy, Whimsicott is a cool option to explore!

[@hoshua551]

Do you think that shadow rider with a lunatone and solrock energy engine would be good, or for that deck just run straight up lunatone and not shakedown rider with lunatone

[@InThirdPerson]

Good question! Off the top of my head, I don't think there's much synergy between Shadow Rider and Solrock/Lunatone. One potential issue I see is that energy acceleration between the two may get clunky. Shadow Rider wants to accelerate energy from the hand while Solrock accelerates from the discard. Seems tough to keep both going at a steady pace, especially since a Shadow Rider engine and Solrock engine take up basically a full bench on their own. Another big concern comes from using Lunatone as energy storage for Shadow Rider. One boss not only knocks out Lunatone, but also will weaken Shadow Rider's damage output. Going the other way around, the benefit of playing Solrock Lunatone is that Lunatone only gives up one prize when knocked out. Having Shadow Rider in the deck makes it a 3-prize liability that gives your opponent the opportunity to make comebacks happen that otherwise wouldn't occur if you played Solrock Lunatone straight up. However, I haven't tested or researched any of this. If you can make it work, I'd love to see it in action!

[@InThirdPerson]

Welp, I literally just ran into Shadow Rider Solrock Lunatone on the ladder and lost. I would have won, but had prized the Palkia VSTAR I needed to win. Nevertheless, they got energy ramped up in a hurry! Their deck list: ****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ****** ##Pokémon - 19 * 3 Solrock PGO 39 * 4 Lunatone PGO 34 * 3 Mewtwo V PR-SW 229 * 3 Shadow Rider Calyrex V CRE 74 * 3 Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX CRE 75 * 2 Mewtwo VSTAR PGO 31 * 1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46 ##Trainer Cards - 26 * 2 Avery CRE 130 * 2 Evolution Incense SSH 163 * 2 Professor's Research SSH 178 * 2 PokéStop PGO 68 * 2 Quick Ball SSH 179 * 1 Choice Belt BRS 135 * 2 Klara CRE 145 * 2 Air Balloon SSH 156 * 1 Energy Switch BLW 94 * 1 Scoop Up Net RCL 165 * 3 Level Ball AOR 76 * 4 Fog Crystal CRE 140 * 2 Marnie SSH 169 ##Energy - 15 * 15 Psychic Energy Energy 5 Total Cards - 60 ****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******

[@hoshua551]

@@InThirdPerson such a thoughtful response thank you!

[@Kaos0310]

Trying to get back into pk tcg, haven't played since early 2000, should I be focusing on TCGO or TCG Live? I heard online is gonna go away and you won't retain your collection.

[@InThirdPerson]

TCG Live is currently in beta in only a few countries. If you're outside the beta territories and REALLY want to play Live, you can through a VPN. However, the game in its current state is awful and not worth anyone's time. PTCGO is absolutely the way to go until we're all migrated to Live. Also, when the migration comes, you will retain the vast majority of your collection from PTCGO. Once Live is out in full, every card legal for Expanded will transfer over. Some cards that fall outside of Expanded will not carry over, but that isn't much. Also, you can only have a maximum of 4 of a card (or 1 of a special card like Radiants). It doesn't matter that you have 8 of a specific Pikachu because you can only put 4 in a deck, anyway. Any duplicates beyond that are removed. That said, your PTCGO collection will carry over with no real impact to how you'd normally play.

[@Kaos0310]

@@InThirdPerson Thank you for the info 🤝🏼 I started playing tcgo then stopped once I saw stuff about tcg live taking over. Didn't know some cards will transfer over. One last question, do you recommend me opening my packs on tcgo or keeping them so they transfer over to live as dust (I believe it was called) to craft cards?

[@InThirdPerson]

@@Kaos0310 Definitely keep playing PTCGO! It's a much better client to play in right now and the almost everything you unlock will carry over. When the migration happens, the game will give you "dust" for up to 125 unopened packs on your account. If you want to be ready for that migration, you can hoard up to 125 packs just for that day. What I did was buy 125 packs of the cheapest set on Potown, which is currently Vivid Voltage. As of writing, it's $0.12 USD per pack, which means you can buy 125 codes for $15 USD. That way, I can open packs I unlocked in game which are usually newer. If you choose to hoard 125 free packs, that's up to you. However, you'll be losing out on opening packs that can get you good cards you can use right now. Should also make the distinction between locked packs and unlocked packs. Locked packs are packs with a lock icon on them. You get them as rewards from the daily ladder, but you can't trade them. Open these. If you play in a ticketed event and win any number of matches, those are unlocked packs which can be traded. I wouldn't open unlocked packs of whatever the latest set is, as you can trade those for specific cards. General rule of thumb: Locked packs = Open Unlocked packs = Trade for good cards

[@Kaos0310]

@@InThirdPerson Thank you, appreciate your response 🤝🏼🙏🏼

[@ssjr_hobby7196]

I play this deck IRL and Zacian is a terrible Card. Put another Crobat instead and use 3 ARTICUNOS. I've played some sick Jaden Yuki crap with Sonia, energy retrieval and dropped 4 energies and went off with Shadow Rider.

[@puckerbutton7025]

DRIFLOON!!!!!

[@keithmahler4236]

What is swsh energy ?

[@InThirdPerson]

It’s just basic energy

[@keithmahler4236]

@@InThirdPerson how you feel about adding Mewtwo v and vstar to the deck