Hello everyone! This is Elena from Gaia Storm TCG and welcome to another article here at CCG Castle. Today we are going to be covering a very exciting deck (perhaps the one that had caused a lot of hype among the players): Rayquaza VMAX. Let’s see how to best build a strategy around it and the potential it has!

You know how people say that history repeats itself and the same happens in Pokémon Trading Card Game all the time. If you are an old school player as I am, you will for sure remember how powerful Rayquaza EX was back in the Black and White era combined with the recycling power of Eeleecktric, over a decade ago. Well, we now have basically the same deck in 2021!

Rayquaza VMAX has a very powerful attack that deals 20 + 80 for each Fire or Lightning type you discard. With just two Lightning energies, Rayquaza is already getting the KO on a Crobat and if you increase the number up to 4, you can easily take down on any big VMAX Pokémon of the format. But how do you ensure that Rayquaza is able to recover after discarding all its energies? Worry not because Flaaffy is its new partner and it has the ability to attach lightning energies from the discard pile. Historically, this type of energy recycling power has always been very powerful (think about Malamar from a year ago) and provides the perfect opportunity for Rayquaza to shine.

As such, the objective of this deck is to set up as quickly as possible, something that is easy to achieve with the help of Quick and Level Ball as well as the new Stadium card, Stormy Mountains. Another really positive aspect is that you can take advantage of the drawing power of Rayquaza VMAX, discarding your cards when you don’t need them and getting 3 new ones every turn. This really helps accessing your resources and being able to use a supporter like Rose.

So the question is… will Rayquaza be the next Tier S deck of the format? I have mixed feelings about it. On the one had it truly has the tools it needs to work well but on the other, the deck can also present some consistency issues (Specially when it comes to finding the energies) and has a big problem when the opponent is able to take down multiple Flaaffy on the bench like Rapid Strike Urshifu does. I might be wrong here but I don’t see Rayquaza becoming the most played deck in the format, at least short term. It will still be a scary strategy to run against due to its capacity to explode in one turn and take down even the biggest Pokémon.

Anyways, I think we will need to wait a couple of weeks more to really understand how the format ends up shaping and the role that Ray finally plays in. And of course, we will keep you posted. In the meantime, remember that you can prepare for the new post-rotation tournaments by getting the cards you need at CCG Castle. Thanks for reading!