art by Ryo Ueda
This week we are going into the dark side of Ancient Origins. Not all origins have pretty sides to them and sometimes they can turn dark. We will be featuring a card that has a history of being a renegade. It has been disowned by the heavens and banished to a world of distortion. Yet it always finds ways to get out and cause havoc in new ways. Now with the advent of Mega Pokemon and heavy usage of Special Energy, this Pokemon will surely cause some trouble for many trainers. So join us as we enter the dark side of the metagame as we feature Giratina EX.
Giratina EX is a Pokemon card from Ancient Origins. It is a Dragon type Pokemon with 170 HP. Giratina EX has a weakness to Fairy type Pokemon and a retreat cost of three energy. It has the Renegade Pulse ability which negate the effects and damage to Giratina from Mega Pokemon. Once you get a Grass, Psychic and two other energy attached to Giratina EX, you can use Chaos Wheel to inflict 100 damage to your opponent. This attack also prevents your opponent from playing Stadium, Tools and Special Energy from their hand during their next turn.
The Pros
Giratina EX has been generating some talk for a few reasons. The first reason is it’s ability to prevent damage from Mega Pokemon. It is one of the few Pokemon who have an immunity to Mega Pokemon in the current Standard format. This means you can simply put Giratina EX in front of a M Magnetric EX and just let it stay there while M Magentric EX will be useless in harming it. Renegade Pulse on Giratina EX is perfect for those who want to slow down the pace of the battle against Mega Pokemon decks that wish to rush though the battle.
The second thing that has gain Giratina EX some spotlight is it’s Chaos Wheel attack. This attack works similar to Seismitoad EX’s Quaking Punch attack which is able to lock your opponent from playing items. Instead, Chaos Wheel locks your opponent from playing Tools, Stadiums and Special Energy. This attack also cost two more energy to use compare to Quaking Punch. Either way, this attack can be quite nasty for decks which rely on their Stadiums or Special Energy. Many Pokemon want to use Double Colorless Energy to quickly power up to use their attacks or a Strong Energy to do even more damage. Tools have become even more widely used thanks to Spirit Links and Muscle Band. So without those things, your opponent will be struggling to set up a useless Mega Pokemon or inflict that extra damage for a knockout. If your opponent’s deck likes using Rough Seas to heal up their M Magnetric EX then they may find their extra copies of Rough Seas useless once the wheel starts spinning. Either way, once Giratina EX’s Chaos Wheel is used then your opponent is barred from using three types of cards in their deck.
Now imagine if you can add more to the Stadium-Tool-Special Energy Lock? Perhaps an Item Lock? If only there was a card that had an ability to prevent your opponent from playing Items.
The Cons
The attack cost for Giratina EX’s Chaos Wheel can hold it back from ever setting up that unholy trinity of Stadium-Tool-Special Energy lock. Unlike Seismitoad EX’s Quaking punch, the fastest way to power up Chaos Wheel is a Double Colorless Energy and Double Dragon Energy. That is two turns of energy attachment. In those two turns, your opponent can do a few things such as Lysandre your Giratina EX into the active and start attacking it. Your opponent may also take the chance to use Enhanced Hammer to get rid of those Double Dragon Energy and Double Colorless Energy that you are wishing to put on your Giratina EX.
If you use nothing but Special Energy on Giratina EX then that will also put you at risk to be walled by Aegislash EX’s Mighty Shield ability which prevents damage from Pokemon with Special Energy attached to them.
You will still find yourself at risk of an Enhanced Hammer as well which may break your lock if you are unable to reattach a new Double Dragon or Double Colorless energy. There is also the risk of your opponent to play Team Flare Grunt or Xerosic to discard the energy attached to your Giratina EX. That means you have two less energy attacked to your Giratina EX and one less Special Energy in your deck. Just a reminder, you can only play four copies of any kind of Special Energy in your deck. That means you do not want to waste all your Special Energy on one Giratina EX.
Long story, short. It is going to take some time to get Chaos Wheel spinning and even then there are risks when playing a Giratina EX loaded with nothing but Special Energy.
How to Play It
Even with the high attack cost, Giratina EX can still be used. The Renegade Pulse ability allows you stall against Mega Pokemon decks. They will be forced to rely on the less-then-stellar EX Pokemon forms to do damage to Giratina EX or become creative in winning the match against a Giratina EX deck.
While your opponent does try to set up a based EX Pokemon or other Pokemon to battle against Giratina EX, you can simply power up your Giratina EX with a Double Colorless Energy and Double Dragon Energy. That way you are prepare for this Pokemon and knock it out in order to force your opponent into an unwanted match up between Giratina EX and Mega Pokemon.
If you want to be nasty and run Giratina EX in a deck then perhaps think about pairing it up with Vileplume from Ancient Origins. Vileplume from Ancient Origins has the ability Irritating Pollen which prevents you and your opponent from playing any Item cards. If you have the right cards in your hand and Forest of Giant Plants then you could set up an Item Lock with Vileplume’s Irritating Pollen ability on your first turn. From there you can set up Giratina EX with the needed energy to get Chaos Wheel spinning to prevent your opponent from using Stadiums, Tools and Special Energy. If all the wheels are spinning at full speed then your opponent will find themselves in a lock that prevents them from using the majority of their deck. Throw in some Team Flare Grunt to prevent energy from sticking to your opponent’s Pokemon and you will have something that isn’t fun to play against. Just watch out for Xerosic! It can easily discard your Double Colorless Energy and Double Dragon Energy. Vileplume can prevent your opponent from playing Crushing Hammer and Enhanced Hammer but can’t do a thing against Supporter cards like Xerosic.
Now, if you want to get really nasty then get Giratina EX into the Expanded format. The old Seismitoad EX deck build goes great with Giratina EX apparently. You run your Seismitoad EX in the early game to prevent your opponent from using Item cards. While your opponent is trying to build a opposition against the constant Quaking Punch, you will be using Head Ringer, Crushing Hammer and HypnoToxic Laser to build the pressure and make things even more difficult for your opponent. If you see a Mega Pokemon or something that is threatening to strike your Seismitoad EX hard then use all that extra Double Colorless Energy and Double Dragon Energy to attach to Giratina EX. Once the big toad goes down, send out Giratina EX to clean up the field and set up another kind of lock for your opponent to hate.
The best part about sending out Giratina EX to use Chaos Wheel is that your are guarantee to keep your Virbank City Gym on the field due to your opponent being unable to set down another field. That means your poison damage is going to continue to hurt your opponent until they can find a way to prevent Giratina EX from using Chaos Wheel.
It was this Seismitoad EX-Giratina EX build that won a German Arena Challenge during the past weekend for the start of the Ancient Origins Expanded format. It is a nasty deck and you can watch the torture that Giratina EX did in this video by Team Fishknuckles.
Giratina EX can put your opponent in a dark place once its get going. They will surely feel the force of the Distortion World and more in both Standard and Expanded formats. So watch out for this nasty dragon if you are out searching for battles or planning to take part in October’s Regionals.
