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“This is the kind of effect that will only get better as the card pool increases. I’m drawing my line in the sand that some kind of Dialga EX deck will wind up being tier 1.”
- Yours Truly, upon seeing Dialga EX revealed
Dialga EX released into Space-Time Smackdown with huge expectations, not in the least from myself and fellow writer CryoGyro during the initial set review. Unfortunately, DeNa kind of forgot to give us a good target for Metallic Turbo; Yanmega EX, Melmetal, and Wigglytuff EX are all Stage 1, Mew EX is more of a counterspell effect than primary attacker, Heatran slowly kills itself, and a second copy of Dialga EX is a frankly pathetic attacking option. It got to the point where we were starting to play the hideously awful Lickilicky EX just for damage potential.
As if by divine intervention, Arceus EX itself arrived as the perfect partner. Only requiring the additional energy attach after Metallic Turbo, Arceus EX’s Ultimate Force is essentially a scaled up version of Pikachu EX’s Circle Circuit, dealing up to 130 damage with a full bench for just 3 energy. More to the point, Arceus EX itself is also Basic, meaning it’s ready to attack for full power without the need to evolve.
After a metagame where the existence of Cyrus put the “Big Pivoting Basics” archetype out of business, Dialga EX + Arceus EX hits the “just right” thresholds of being just tanky enough to live the vast majority of hits, and just fast enough to put on meaningful pressure. Provided you can either afford the higher-than-average retreat costs that Arceus EX and Dialga EX share, or can enlist the aid of Leaf, Shaymin, and X Speed, your opponents can find it difficult to secure points before your pressure overwhelms them.
You Should Play Dialga EX/Arceus EX IF
- You don’t want to find your Stage 1/Stage 2 to enact your gameplan
- You value some amount of flexibility, but want a clear and powerful Plan A
- You like the idea of pivoting around with large HP totals
- You have a surplus of and you really want to show them off
You Should Avoid Dialga EX/Arceus EX IF:
- You want to be attacking from turn 1
- Retreat costs higher than 1 scare you
- You want to leverage hitting your opponent for weakness
- You are playing on a budget; this deck has 4 irreplaceable EX Pokemon that come from expansion sets
Deck Construction - Core Slots
“Core” cards are completely irreplaceable. If your question on seeing these cards is “I don’t have ____, what should I replace it with?” the answer is either you craft that card, or you play a different deck.
2x Dialga EX
The most important card in the deck. Dialga EX’s Metallic Turbo is the reason we’re able to play a Big Basics deck in the first place, as we’re effectively tripling our energy output on turns where we get to use it. In a pinch, Dialga EX can attack with Heavy Impact in the event we’re in emergency mode and either need to put on pressure or secure points. However, Dialga EX's primary role is as a tank that allows us to allocate energy both to itself and our primary attacker.
2x Arceus EX
The second-most important card in the deck. Arceus ex is the inverse of Dialga EX; where Dialga EX is a tank first and an attacker second, Arceus EX is our primary attacking threat that can moonlight as a tank in the event that it’s required. Arceus EX in particular fills the important role of being a high-HP basic that can attack for effectively with no downside; compare and contrast Heatran (STS) and Origin Forme Dialga, which are either fragile or unreliable.
1x Shaymin (STS), 2x Giant Cape, and 2x Potion
Since we’re running big chunky Pokemon that pay a lot of energy to retreat, they’re going to be taking a beating while we set up. This is especially true with Darkrai EX and Rocky Helmet seeing high amounts of play – we can’t exactly refuse to Metallic Turbo just because there’s a Rocky Helmet on the opponent’s Active! This also is part of what enables us to pivot our basics around, as being able to, say, force the opponent to have a Cyrus AND evolve an attacker lets us avoid being KO’d more often.
A 6th Basic
This will be further explored in Flex Considerations below. Just know that you will need a 6th basic for the simple reason that Arceus EX needs a full bench to reach maximum power. This does, of course, mean we have a slightly lower chance of getting an ideal starting Basic in play, but that is the price we pay to attack with Arceus EX!
At least 2 copies of “Retreat Aid” cards – Shaymin (TL), Leaf, X Speed
Again, we’re paying a lot of energy to retreat; both Arceus EX and Dialga EX cost 2 energy to retreat, and we should not be in the business of conceding when the opponent plays Sabrina. Leaf is the most powerful and easy-to-understand effect, especially with the most common pattern of T1 Energy Pass, T2 Metallic Turbo, T3 Retreat to Arceus EX and swing – we get to remove the cost of the third step completely, keeping both energy on the Dialga EX. X Speed is less powerful, but allows us to retain our Supporter for the turn. This is more important in builds that run Dawn, letting us “Surprise” Metallic Turbo with a benched Dialga EX. Shaymin from Triumphant Light is partially tutorable and contributes to our Arceus EX’s attack, at the cost of removing a bench slot from other potential tech options.
1x Sabrina and 1x Cyrus
We can’t exactly avoid playing the strongest tempo Supporters in the game. There are situations where one will be stronger than the other, and we don’t have any bench damage to justify running the second copy of Cyrus.
2x Poké Ball and 2x Professor’s Research
Drawing cards is good. These draw you cards. Hopefully this is in all of your decks!
Deck Construction - Flex Considerations (6th Basic)
This is where we use our deckbuilding mental muscle – we can’t just run the same list of 20 cards and call it a day. Meta shifts happen all the time, and you don’t want to overprepare for, say, Exeggutor EX, only to find that everyone decided to bring Charizard EX. Let’s begin with our 6th basic:
A second Shaymin (STS)
This provides us an additional source of drip healing, giving rather funny situations where a full attacking turn can be nullified with the combination of Giant Cape, Potion, and two Shaymin activations. This is naturally much worse in matchups where we expect to be taking substantially higher amounts of damage to the point where the extra 10 HP – or extra draw at having a Shaymin in play at all – is minimally important. We are also using a bench slot on a Pokemon that can never attack.
Select this to help with: 18 Trainer Articuno EX, Darkrai EX, Exeggutor EX
Mew EX
Our most narrow 6th Basic. 130 damage every turn is generally good enough to break through most other slow strategies, with two notable exceptions: Charizard EX and Palkia EX. Mew EX serves as a deterrent/endgame win condition in exactly those matchups, threatening to revenge-kill either of those threats after a single use of Metallic Turbo with its Genome Hacking. We can also use Mew EX as a hedge in the mirror, giving us an effective additonal copy of Arceus EX or Dialga EX to put out additional pressure. Unfortunately, Genome Hacking in other matchups ranges from “meh” to “incredibly disappointing.”
Select this to help with: Charizard EX, Palkia EX, mirrors
Shaymin (Triumphant Light)
In a vacuum, this is the most splashable 6th Basic we have. We will be retreating at least once every game, and Sky Support makes retreating cheaper. The restriction is irrelevant, as every Pokemon in our deck is a Basic. Consider this less a matchup tech, and more of an option if you want to have effectively a fourth flex trainer slot available.
Should I run a 7th basic?
If you have the room, nothing is stopping you! Just keep in mind that you are priced in to 2 copies of Shaymin and 1 copy of Mew, as Sky Support Shaymin and Fragrant Flower Garden Shaymin both count as “Shaymin” for the purposes of deck construction. This can be a 1/1/1 flower+retreat+Mew split or a 2/1 flower+Mew split as needed.
Deck Construction - Flex Consideration (Trainers)
Dawn
As mentioned in the Retreat Aid section of Core, this is at its best in situations where you’re running at least one copy of X Speed or Sky Support Shaymin. Even outside of that, Dawn opens up lines where your first Metallic Turbo can be partially reallocated to Dialga EX to threaten a next-turn Heavy Impact in situations where you haven’t found Arceus EX or are otherwise unwilling to expose it to damage. Arguably the closest to “Core” of the flex options.
Giovanni
The most straightforward of the flex options. Arceus EX caps out at 130 HP, which can annoyingly miss the vital 140 HP breakpoint shared by Leafeon EX, Darkrai EX, Magnezone, Moltres EX, opposing Arceus EX, and many others. In practice, this is a flex option because Metallic Turbo + Ultimate Force total to 160, which clears the breakpoint even with the use of a Giant Cape or a Potion. However, it can still be handy to be able to clear both a Magnezone and the Darkrai behind it in back-to-back attacks, or two opposing Arceus EX in a row.
A Third (or more!) Retreat Aid
Sabrina and Cyrus are still both incredibly popular, and having extra insulation against those effects is never a bad option. This is also helpful in matchups where you are forced to retreat more often; being able to more liberally use, say, your first copy of Leaf as a Supporter-for-turn can open up more flexibility later.
Blue/Adaman
Arguably the most niche tech option. We generally have enough durability between our minimum 5 healing effects and the high HP pools on both Dialga EX and Arceus EX to get by. However, Blue and Adaman can either be an additional copy of Giant Cape to pre-empt a one-shot attempt, or help blunt a hit to avoid 2-hit range. Adaman is particularly niche, only applying to Dialga EX. That said, the extra toughness can be a game-changer in matches where we’re stuck with either a solo Dialga EX or generally can’t find our Arceus EX.
This is an example of a “stock” build that doesn’t lean terribly far in any direction for tech options. Feel free to experiment with the flex options to your taste!
Gameplan
We generally are happier going second rather than first, as it is pivotal to get an additional energy attached to our Dialga EX ASAP to begin setting up Metallic Turbo. Either way, the ideal setup will look like a Dialga EX in active and an Arceus EX on the bench to prepare for a third turn Ultimate Force.
When possible, we should avoid giving up knockout points unless we either have an immediate revenge-kill we can convert to a win, or we have no better options. Unlike low-to-no EX decks such as Darkzone, we basically can’t avoid our opponent only needing to KO two Pokemon to win. This is why so much of our deck is healing and retreat utility; we need to leverage the high overall HP pool of our Basics to make it as arduous as possible for our opponent to get KOs on us. An example of a pivot out of a damaged Arceus EX could look something like:
- Retreat the Arceus EX to Dialga EX that has no energy.
- Dawn 1 energy off of the damaged Arceus EX onto our Dialga EX.
- Attach for turn onto Dialga EX.
- Play a fresh Arceus EX onto the bench. Attack with Metallic Turbo, attaching to the fresh Arceus EX.
This sequence forces the opponent to have Cyrus and enough damage to secure the KO; we are inoculated to Sabrina if the opponent cannot threaten an immediate KO onto a fresh Arceus EX, which is generally difficult thanks to its 140 HP.
What if I can’t find Arceus EX?
This is easier to salvage in lists that run Dawn, as we only need a basic on the bench in order to threaten a third turn Heavy Impact and at least begin to put on attacking pressure. That said, we are generally not doing well in games where Dialga EX is our primary attacker for any length of time.
What if I can’t find Dialga EX?
This is somewhat better if we find our Arceus EX and moderately load our bench. A setup of Arceus EX active, Arceus EX bench, 2x Shaymin bench is still 130 a turn, just without the Dialga EX to take the initial brunt of our opponent’s attacks. Whether you load up the benched Arceus EX and prepare for a revenge sweep, or you load up the active Arceus EX and dose it up with heals, is going to be a game-by-game decision.
In Closing
"Big Basic" is a classic archetype that was dominant throughout both Genetic Apex and Mythical Island. There is some degree of relief when you realize you aren't hunting for a Stage 1 mid-evolution to dislodge the vital Stage 2 that's been stuck in your hand. The early success of Dialga EX in the Triumphant Light metagame feels like a breath of fresh air after a metagame dominated by Stage 2 evolutions and Palm Tree Coin Flips.
May your opponents be smited by divine judgment!