[Update 18 Apr 2024] A somewhat unorthodox variant of this deck came ever so close to claiming ultimate glory at the recent Pokémon Europe International Championships (EUIC). Isaiah Bradner of the United States finished as the tournament runner-up with a variant including the Banette card from Lost Abyss [S11] and the Banette ex card from Violet ex [SV1V].

Both the ex and non-ex Banette cards serve vital purposes. The Lost Abyss [S11] Banette card uses its Ability of Puppet Offering to stuff the Lost Zone, allowing the early use of Mirage Gate, another Lost Abyss [S11] card. This in turn puts the deck’s titular Giratina VSTAR card in position to reel off a string of KO’s.

Banette ex, meanwhile, provides a solid Item-locking option that serves as a counterplay to Chien-Pao ex decks. Its Everlasting Darkness attack prevents Chien-Pao ex deck players from using the Rare Candy card from the Pokémon GO [S10b] set to get Baxcalibur from Snow Hazard [SV2P] in play, thus stymying a large part of such decks’ main strategies.

Almost immediately after its launch as part of the Lost Abyss [S11] expansion set, Giratina VSTAR became a staple of the Pokémon TCG metagame. A cornerstone of many decks that have won or placed well in tournaments, the immensely powerful Giratina VSTAR hard-counters a number of major threats.

The idea behind this deck is that of sending many cards to the Lost Zone as quickly as possible. This can be done via Giratina VSTAR’s Lost Impact attack. The attack not only inflicts a whopping 280 damage—enough to finish off the majority of opposing Pokémon—it also requires the player to place two Energy cards attached to the player’s Pokémon into the Lost Zone.

This in turn sets up Giratina VSTAR’s VSTAR Power—Star Requiem. If the player has 10 or more cards in the Lost Zone, it’s an auto-KO on the opponent’s Active Pokémon. Of course, like all VSTAR Powers, Star Requiem can only be used once per game—but brought out under the right circumstances, it will change the course of the game and then some.

Playing the Robin to Giratina VSTAR’s Batman is Iron Leaves ex from Cyber Judge [SV5M]. Iron Leaves ex’s Ability Rapid Vernier not only allows it to step in for a Pokémon in dire straits—it also takes Energy cards from the player’s other Pokémon to power up its Prism Edge attack. Iron Leaves ex is also a counterplay for the highly threatening Charizard ex from Shiny Treasure ex [SV4a]; it’s able to pick off Charizard ex in one fell swoop.

The total price of all cards in a Giratina VSTAR deck is at least ¥6,000 (~US$40).

In other TCG-related news, check out the I:P Masquerena card from Quarter Century Chronicle side:Unity. Alternatively, you can also head over to the SNKRDUNK App via the banner below and find the top trending and latest single cards and boxes.