Mastering Lost Zone Giratina VSTAR: A How to Play Guide

[@Aegis128]

5:40: Gardevoir 8:16: Chien-Pao/Baxcalibur 9:35: Fusion Mew 10:31: DTE Mew 10:38: Inteleon/Urshifu 11:30: Ting-LU 12:55: Mirror 14:50: SS Lugia 16:40: Turbo Lost Box

[@DonPatch808]

As somebody who's returning to the game after about a 7 to 8-month hiatus content like this is really appreciated because it gives me insight into what the format currently holds and how I can prepare myself to play against decks that I'm not familiar with. Keep up the great work definitely earned yourself another subscriber!

[@goonsquadtcg]

Thank you so much. I started these to help for players in just these scenarios. If there's any other decks you'd like to see, I'm happy to start working on more general overviews

[@cimp11]

Need audio improvement but excelent explanation

[@goonsquadtcg]

Thank you. I'm definitely still learning with Audio.

[@JaviCollects]

Audio was the toughest for me, but great explanation. Thank you!

[@xb70prince]

Pro audio tip, keep your phone across the room or out of the room so it doesn’t interfere when you get a text

[@goonsquadtcg]

Very much appreciated. I'm still learning what works best

[@JaviCollects]

@@goonsquadtcg you’ve got this. It took me like 20 videos to figure it out lol

[@EnixTurnix]

perfect!! I’ve just started playing this deck and it has to be my favorite to play atm

[@goonsquadtcg]

I'm happy to help. You've started with a good deck. Giratina just looks so good with no signs of slowing fown

[@dancool]

Thanks a lot bro! Super helpful tips to improve my game.

[@pickleballcoachNYC]

Thanks for doing this video, now everybody is playing it at locals now, lol. What are your thoughts about dropping the waters and increasing the paychic, grass and adding Pokegear?

[@goonsquadtcg]

Haha as a Giratina fan, that makes me happy to hear. On the dehydrated list, I don't know if I'm a fan. From a deckbuilding perspective, I get it. It's definitely more consistent into mirrors (which is huge), but I always felt uncomfortable playing without grenjnja. There's something about having the option that really puts me at ease I think it might just take additional time to get used to. Slotting in two extra energy, and a pokegear over greninja could go a long way in terms of shoring up consistency. I'd say try it and see if it fits your playstyle. I'm not sure if it does mine but then again, I'm a die hard " my Tina needs Thorton" type of person 😆

[@pickleballcoachNYC]

Let's hope the newest Paradox Rift cards update this meta deck. Would love to see Giratina rise from the ashes.

[@prodigioustcc]

Great video man, I am a big fan of the style you went with this video. I play a lot of Lost Zone deck but never with Giratina, maybe it is time to add the spice to my deck lol. Keep up the phenomenal work man.

[@goonsquadtcg]

Definitely think it's worth dabbling with. It's my go to at the moment. Such a strong build

[@fuchethece3435]

Hey there! I first watched one of your videos on Pokémon TCG less than a week ago (which is literally the sum of all of my experience with card games, but even when I lose I learn so much I'm having a blast because it's Pokémon😁). I subscribed less than five minutes later because of how studiously dedicated you are to the Pokémon world I've so loved from the times I would watch the anime when I had less than five years on the board! You speak in a way that is comprehensive, and yet straightforward; that is a winning combo for any content creator. My subscription was inevitable. Thank you so much. P.S. Got any recommendations for a noob who has a 2-2 Tina availability situation, possesses a Mew ex he hasn't made work, and also has radiant greninja? Ironically, Lost Box has been by far my best style for winning, but I've only been doing standard casual, so...I know I'm not playing the biggest of fish.

[@goonsquadtcg]

Hi there. Thanks for taking the time to check out the channel. I am a huge fan of the Pokemon card game. As someone who started by making due with what they had, I would pitch options for replacing the third V. Two VSTAR is honestly plenty if you play Rods. I would Implore maybe an additional Ultra Ball to help find it. Now, replacing the third copy of the V is where things get a tad interesting. Depending on how you utilize it, it's either a basic into a stage one, or a psuedo Colress. You can't really replace both functions, but we can try. KEEP Thorton in the deck. Its even more important. I would then either look to adding another Nest Ball, Ultra Ball, or PokeGear. You might even want a Lost Vacuum to help turn out a t2 Sableye. Avery is a cheeky include I've seen as it makes your opponent really think. Do they want both manaphy and Jirachi to stay at the cost of their main attacker or do they toss them finally for you to start going off. Very interesting choices. Feel free to let me know what you go with. I think Giratina has only gotten better with the latest set. You could run the video list as is or make changes where needed

[@fuchethece3435]

@@goonsquadtcg I ended doing it the old fashioned way! I studied a bunch of videos and just played and played Lost Box with no Tinas at all until I had the credits to buy the third of each. I'm very excited to have them, and have been enjoying some good success with them! I'm gonna see how the meta evolves and what you and other content creators have to say about it, and you may be hearing some more questions from yours truly! 😁

[@Jhgg-i3z]

great video for beginners like me, appreciated bro!

[@goonsquadtcg]

That's what I try to aim for . I hope it helps even a little

[@gael_le_cruel]

great video ! However although I'm a tcg games enthusiast, I'm new to the pokemon TCG and as the second deck I have ever tried, I must admit I'm struggling to see how to manage it in the toughest matchups. I'd be curious to see some gameplay on this deck !

[@goonsquadtcg]

Of course. Appreciate the support for tuning in. I haven't scheduled anything directly for gameplay. It's been a little harder to find quality gameplay on TCGLIVE lately hence my fewer uploads. Were there any match ups in particular I can elaborate on? As Tina feels relatively unchanged for next set, I'm definitely keeping the option for gameplay breakdown open

[@gael_le_cruel]

@@goonsquadtcg honestly I'd be happy with anything as it's mainly that I'm inexperienced with this game in general. And as a general suggestion, as for any tcg, I like deck techs with a some gameplay at some point to show the idea. Makes the video more accessible. As a more personal example I never managed to use the support that exchanges a pkmn from play and discard 😅

[@arthurfarenyuk9115]

Great video. Very informative.

[@charliechuckleberry5307]

The video is very quality is very good; but I hear a static sound in the mic? Is this just me?

[@goonsquadtcg]

You're right. I was still trying out mics at the time of recording. I didn't notice it until after posting, but I've been working on all of my uploads after it

[@GustavoSanchez-ic3ok]

Great video bro keep making these👍💯

[@goonsquadtcg]

Thanks. Working on another one at the moment

[@jorge029]

awesome video. super informative. i've been maining LZ tina for a while and i've been trying to figure out how to play against different matchups. you weren't kidding about inteleon being a horrid matchup. i went against it and i got demolished. i do have a question tho. have you updated your list to adapt to the new meta (zard being part of it now) keep up the videos! they really help!

[@goonsquadtcg]

Inteleon is brutal. You could drive yourself crazy trying to win it. It's not unwinnable because Pokémon has some degrees of variance. I would just focus on your good match ups unless inteleon becomes a 10% meta deck. With zard, I didn't really update my list. There's two builds I've considered Cutting the Thorton for a Mew ex, and ultra ball for nest. Then I cut the water for more psychics and max Jet energy. It streamlines the deck The other option is to cut Thorton for a third path, Ultra Ball for Mew, and figuring out how I want to get another nest ball in Tina still plays so well into Charizard, but you just need more path in play early to make their life tough. A path+Roxanne can break them. If you add star requiem on a charizard in the same turn, it can be back breaking. Try to take five prizes and then you can close out with a Mew on zard copying Burning darkness for 330. Or path lock them out of the game. Tina is such a good deck that it doesn't adjust to small shifts in the Meta. It plays almost the same to this day

[@jorge029]

@@goonsquadtcg thanks for the advice! I haven’t played Thornton in the main just cuz I haven’t seen any lists using it but it def some spice for sure. You’re ritgt about Charizard being a pretty good matchup. I was able to genome hacking a zard for the last KO. felt good. So since Lugia is pokemon the deck to beat in the meta and it also being a bad matchup would you take the same approach as inteleon and just chalk it off as a loss? (Colorless lugia specifically since you did talk about SS lugia in the video.)

[@Aegis128]

Is it really worth playing the copy of thorton? Also thoughts about a 2-2 line of tina? I also run a copy of luxray for lugia

[@goonsquadtcg]

Absolutely. There's turns I prize Tina and need a way to get one on the board. I see people playing an Iono over thorton. I respect that as well, but it's paid off big time in how I pace out games. 2-2 Tina could be interesting, but the lowest I could do is 3-2. In this type of deck, you need to be pushing for a 10 count quickly. We don't really play well at the 4 and are only iffy at the 7. Abyss Seeking is just a nuts attack. I did dabble with the Luxray as well. Cutting Water Energy and one V-Star for 1 Luxray+ 2 Reversal energy. It's definitely a functioning strategy as I've seen people perform well with it. You just have to commit a little more in terms of ball search (ultra ball specifically) and completely rule out moonlight shuriken. I'll test more and get back to you, but it looks really good

[@Aegis128]

@@goonsquadtcg thanks. I'll do some testing with the thorton and probably at least add a third v since its very possible that I could have some disastrous prizes. Also thinking about possibly doing the tropius over luxray since Ttar is definitely the more dangerous card if I can't get path turn 1. Also running 2 copies of pokegear to find colress. I have had WAY too many games lost because of not finding colress untill turn 3

[@michaellau1966]

@@goonsquadtcg also curious to know what your current thoughts on trading the threat of moonlight shuriken for luxray+reversal energies.

[@Girafaris92]

Great video. I've been playing the Tina variant of LZ and pretty much my go to deck now. Agree on many points you've said especially on 2 water energy - moonlight shuriken part. Very often you need 1 water to hand attach then gate to pull it off. And only if that line is available and opponent's bench is Manaphy free it's a hard commit otherwise its just wasteful resource to set up the play. Have been testing Thorton in Gardevoir and liking it so far, will probably replace my 1 off Iono for Thorton in LZ to try in this weekend's Asia Open here in Malaysia. Other than that I'm on 2 Boss and 1 Drapion V.

[@goonsquadtcg]

Hopefully the open went well for you. I didn't even think of Thorton in Garde. The water energy are more enough to scare them. You can certainly punish if the line presents but Manaphy is an auto include for 99% of lists

[@baseformvic116]

"If you can keep them bricked up, they're not getting out of it."

[@goonsquadtcg]

💀

[@ikuu1]

Great video my friend, another tina player here. Do you think that a 2 2 iono, roxxanne is a good line up? Its relative safe to go 2nd in most match-ups outside lugia?? Great content, keep it up!!!

[@goonsquadtcg]

I personally have cut Iono. It's an I'm losing or things have gone down the toilet card. You generally want to be playing Colress until it's time to boss. People have tempted me with Iono, but you would rather the guaranteed six of Roxanne when you decide to use it. If anything, I would opt for Pokegears before adding additional bricks to my deck. It's playstyle too, so if you like Iono, I can get that. Hope that helps 😁

[@ikuu1]

Thanks for the feedback pal. In the deck i see the card as a early "shuffle my hand if im bricked", because roxane is great but is off until the 3 prizes@@goonsquadtcg

[@MikaelTheSignificant]

Why shouldn't I cut heavy ball? It seems like quite a weird choice

[@goonsquadtcg]

I've prized all three Giratina V many times. It makes the games harder. You can cut it, but do so at your own discretion. I missed top 8 in a 300 person event because I Prized all three on my win and in

[@BrandoMan]

17:53 Always want my opponent bricked up

[@goonsquadtcg]

😭💀 I had to urban dictionary that

[@abnerjap]

Really love this deck. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone emphasize abyss seeking. I always thought it was more of a last resort attack if your ability locked/have no Comfey. Should we be going second then and abyss seeking after flower and colress?? For me it feels kind of bad to abyss seeking on your second turn, by that time I feel like opponent has set up enough to ko a Tina.

[@abnerjap]

I am definitely thinking of going down to two water. I rarely am ever able to get off a shuriken and even so most of the time manaphy is there anyways. Not worth the mirage gates or the extra energy.

[@goonsquadtcg]

I personally like going second in all match ups outside of lugia. I've been donked with awful opening hands or left with a slow start that could've been explosive going second. If you don't mind playing first, do that. Triple comfey, colress+ abyss seeking going second is not too far of a reach with this list. It makes your t2 much better. If they do punish the Tina, they're that much closer to a roxanne play. Once you're into the relevant numbers, you can worry about punishing decks who may have not thinned properly to get the early KO

[@michaellau1966]

Any chance of you making some match videos for this deck?

[@goonsquadtcg]

I'm not against the idea, but I'll definitely have to revist it later. If you have more questions, you can always shoot me a dm on twitter. I don't mind helping with match ups

[@invitedmonster8]

100% this is a video I was searching for.. I'm "new" to pokemon coming from magic I know none of the cards and adding the information why a card is good and were it is best is necessary to me at least as i know nothing trying to jam as much info i can before playing some games.. but.. in editing can you hear the static on your audio? like im suffering through it to then hope another vid of yours may not have it because i want to hear your opinions on cards but its probably the simplest fix to quality is fixing whatever is inducing the static..

[@goonsquadtcg]

Hey, I'm happy to help. I hope the information fairs well. Yeah I realized after posting that my audio was bad on the video. I did another How to play for Mew VMAX if you ever want to peak that. I'd love to hear if the audio is better. I tried something different after Giratina

[@Dengarcia7]

Awesome video, I love the breakdown of the matchups. What’s your opinion on swapping out Spirit for Drapion? Never mind… it’s pretty good vs Lugia to shut down lumineon

[@goonsquadtcg]

I'd keep the spiritomb to help with your roxanne sticking vs a mew or Lugia. Drapion can put Mew in checkmate, but spritomb is just a nicer include across the board. I used to play cleansing gloves and drapion before falling in love with the Tomb

[@ricardorocha8206]

Hello! Can you make a comment on miraidon+Flaafy please? Thank you in advance

[@goonsquadtcg]

Definitely working on it. The deck has been a ton of fun

[@ricardorocha8206]

@@goonsquadtcg I mean the matchup of lost zone tina vs miraidon flaafy. I'm sorry I wasn't clear

[@pokerjedi]

Played around 7 games with this deck and only won once. I realized why I don't like playing Lost Zone decks because I'm not a good enough player to make all those micro decisions. It didn't help that I barely got any battle VIP passes and/or Colress in my first two turns making setup REALLY difficult. Guess I just need more practice.

[@goonsquadtcg]

I've been there. I find the variance TCGlive gives can be a deterrent for any deck. I'm personally recommending people play 15-20ish to get a feel for lists before putting it down. It's very well poised in the game with Lugia on the downswing

[@quentincarlier6981]

What would you change with the current release of OBF and Charizard / Pidgeot ?

[@goonsquadtcg]

twitter.com/AbrandNewMac/status/1695587141525311900?t=dSsJp_yuY7umdH4E0pKVgg&s=19 The newest list is pictured in the link What I'd advice for your charizard strategy is look at it like a VSTAR with 50 extra health. It can only take knockouts on your Giratina's (assuming choice belted) after we take three prizes I typically want to race my lost zone count to 8 if I have boss in hand or 10 otherwise. If you can lead with a sableye after that and put five on two charizards, your map is set. I then look to lost impact the following turn (they're only hitting 270 even with belt), star requiem with the same vstar on a roxanne+Path turn. They have exactly one option- put that damaged zard into harms way. If we thin accordingly, we very well may draw the second boss. I've also used thorton to springboard in a third Giratina, but we need to put them on a seven prize map to beat us. I hope this helped and please let me know if I can help more. Giratina loses almost nothing to rotation and is my go to deck for the foreseeable future

[@quentincarlier6981]

@@goonsquadtcg I added Shaymin V, it's handy at the end of the game if they have taken some prizes (especially against the 'zard), but since it's 2 prizes I'm a bit worried...

[@goonsquadtcg]

See that's the camp I'm in. It looks really good, but only if you initiate the 2-2-2 prize race. If you let them start it, I don't like Shaymin as much. It's also not a long term answer as we get fire Zard ex in 151 on Sept 22. If you time your roxanne +paths, I believe you can just rattle their set up. It's like gardevoir in that it's very t1 reliant to how it performs throughout the game. I did try Shaymin early, but it fell out of favor because I never expect charizard to be the most played or worse than a 50/50 if you draw acceptably average

[@loganblankenship968]

How do I get the rest of the cards to complete the deck in the cheapest way?

[@goonsquadtcg]

If you're Canadian, I know a few sites. If you're not from Canada, I'd check TCGplayer, or pokemon singles followed by your country. You can finish most pokemon decks pretty cheap and shipping is usually quick. Happy to help if there's anymore questions

[@JoannFrantz-hp7el]

So how is this deck considered the best in format

[@goonsquadtcg]

It has one of the strongest spreads across the board into most match ups. That's what they mean when they say best in format. You don't take many unfavorable match ups aside from Lugia and Intel Urshifu. Both are fringe decks at the moment. It also can still beat them. It's pretty close to 50/50 with everything

[@JoannFrantz-hp7el]

@@goonsquadtcg OK I just feel like it's not good because everyone that I know plays it doesn't get a good record and they have decent match up and I been playing it lately and I won every match-up against it lol

[@goonsquadtcg]

@JoannFrantz-hp7el see now you've hit one of two scenarios - your comfort with the deck or inexperienced pilots on the deck. Giratina is a tough deck to play Well. If they're newer or unfamiliar with its routes to victory, they could be making key mistakes that you are capitalizing on. The other thing is that you've seen the deck so much that you can anticipate their maneuvers and play accordingly. Without knowing the room or your comfort vs the deck, it's really hard to say. If piloted by a strong player (ie Michael Pramawat), then the deck can take you to strong finishes like 3rd place at worlds. If it's played by someone who doesn't know what they're doing, it can feel like the worst deck in the room

[@JoannFrantz-hp7el]

@@goonsquadtcg they know how to pilot it because they play turbo lzb and Sablezard all the time like me lol I feel like they just bench giritina v on turn two vs lzb turbo witch can get slapped easy because we all play double boss belt in turbo lzb lol well giritina seems decent but turbo lzb just looks like the best deck ima try kyorgre with andrew estrada list because he's one of My fav players lol

[@goonsquadtcg]

So it sounds like the comfort against the match-up is fine. If your list beats it, take that as a win. I still think Tina blindly walks into any meta with almost no bad match ups. Can it lose? Absolutely that's why I call them 50/50's. Giratina, like Gardevoir, has had a BDIF tier because of how it performs in the field, assuming the pilot is strong with the deck. Good luck . I'm also eager to try it ojt

[@totalpartykill999]

wheres the snorlax....?

[@goonsquadtcg]

Honestly, I'd cut it. I just put it back in for a League Cup. It pulled zero work, but looked nice.

[@kevtheprophet643]

i can barely hear you w my phone on turned all the way up

[@goonsquadtcg]

Still working on the Audio issues for future videos. I do have a nice mic, but settings are tough

[@chaossoft9834]

boi you must be high as hell to think can run 3 energies . crushing hammer, team star grunt, your hungry radiant gir ninja

[@goonsquadtcg]

This is by far my favorite youtube comment EVER . Well done 👏