The versatility of Zacian V – The most searched card of Sword and Shield!

 

Hello everyone! This is Elena from Gaia Storm TCG and welcome to another article here at CCG. In the last blog entry we covered some of the reasons why the latest Pokemon set, Sword and Shield, was an expansion with the potential to have a huge impact in the way the game is played. Among new amazing releases like Professor Magnolia, Marnie or Quick Ball there is but one Pokemon that seems to shine over the rest: The legendary Zacian V. Why is it so good and why are many players desperately trying to get several copies of it?

Apart from being a legendary Pokemon with a very cool design, Zacian is a card that is able to do many things during a game – and do all of them well. To begin with, it has a great ability that lets the player reveal the top 3 cards of the deck and add them to his hand with the cost of ending the turn. We all know that drawing is good no matter the situation but now that the new supporter rule is already implemented, this ability couldn’t be more useful. In addition to that, if we happen to reveal metal energies, they get attached to Zacian V. So not only does Zacian give us an out to the turn one but it also charges itself for practically free. But does he attack as well? He surely knows how to use his sword. For only 3 metal energy Zacian deals 230 damage but it won’t be able to attack the following turn. Not a big deal in a format with many switching cards.

So yes, Zacian is great on its own and is able to make existing decks better. The most obvious pairing option was combining it with ADP in substitution of Keldeo. Suddenly, the deck has acquired a much more aggressive approach where it no longer sits on Keldeos. After ADP has used its GX attack, a full powered Zacian V can reach easily 270 damage points in the third turn if it has a Vitality Band attached. No wonder why many players have identified Zacian ADP as the deck to beat in the upcoming format.

But Zacian’s ability is so powerful in the game that it can support other strategies regardless of its attacking side. One of the most benefited strategies with the arrival of Zacian are mill & stall decks. The synergy is pretty clear since mill & stall decks -which tend to focus on heavy disruption and energy denial- don’t usually attack. All they do is to remove energies from the field, recycle resources and slow the pace of the game. And well, Zacian might not be at the same level of a Tropical Beach in expanded but it truly helps. There are two possible mill variants that we will see from now ow. The first is Cinccino mill, a deck that uses Zacian and Cinccinos ability to draw cards to find the resources they need to slow the opponent. And once they’ve forced the opponent to have a low deck size, the game gets sealed with the GX attack of Magcargo GX. The second one (but I feel is going to be much less played) is Lucario Melmetal, a deck that has seen some success in Japan but has the drawback of using some Tag Team Pokemon. 

And finally, there is yet another deck who could include Zacian V: Baby Blacephalon. The first turn change has forced the deck to adapt since Elm no longer seems like an option. Blacephalon will continue to be present in the format as long as Tag Teams are played and as long as the deck can find the fire energies and the Welders consistently enough. Zacian V is a fantastic card that helps Blacephalon setting the board in the first turn so it can explode in the second.

And with that we reach the end of our article. I hope you liked it and that you are now getting ready to play (or play against) Zacian V! Thanks for reading-