Hello everyone! This is Elena from Gaia Storm TCG and it is pleasure to be here again. Just some days ago, the first Ultra Prism regionals took place and everyone was following closely the results. In this article, we are going to go through a rising deck that made a surprise appearance in the competitive scene: Weavile Zoroark! Haven’t heard of it yet?

Let me begin by saying that Weavile from Ultra Prism is absolutely a monster. When I read the card I remember thinking it has potential but it was not until I started testing it that I discovered its true power. With just one darkness energy, this Vulpix hunter (read the card description if you haven’t!) deals 50 damage for each of your opponent Pokémon that has an ability. In a format with Tapu Lele, Zoroark GX, Octillery and other Pokémon like these, it is very easy for Weavile to reach high numbers if the opponent plays all those Pokémon.

Weavile exerts a terrible pressure from the moment a Sneasel hits the bench, forcing your opponent to play at a slower pace. Benching Leles and Zoroark means that Weavile can basically 1HKO anything in the next turn so this fear factor is what makes the deck great. A great example is what happened at the finals of Mälmo regionals (mirror match between two Weavile Zoroark decks).One of the players, instead of going for Lele + Bridgette in his first turn, he opted to use ultra ball for a Zorua and then played N, hoping the get the set up. That’s how careful one should play around Weavile.

Not only Weavile cheap cost-efficient attack is quite good on its own but the true strength of Weavile is exploited when paired with Zoroark GX. Why? Because this allows Zoroark to use dark energies! As a consequence, Zoroark can use its GX move and copy whatever attack, making it much more dangerous. In addition, one of the great inclusions the deck can run is Zoroark Break. In this format, getting to copy anything for a single darkness energy is completely crucial given that most decks have powerful attacks that can OHKO every Pokémon. For instance, Zoroark Break can mirror devastating attacks form Buzzwole, Dusk Mane Necrozma, Tapu Bulu and many more, KOing them for just a single energy. Another element of pressure to take into consideration.

All in all, Weavile Zoroark seems to be a solid deck for the current state of the metagame and I won’t be surprised if players chose it in the upcoming events. Thanks for reading!