The Pokemon TCG Meta Snapshot is an article that aims to encapsulate the state of the meta for a given 1 month period.
The Pokemon TCG Meta Snapshot also aims to rank decks in a somewhat lesser tier system. The tiers that we will use are as follows:
Tier 1: Highly Competitive Meta Decks. 10% or more of tops based on Limitless Online Tournament Platform deck spread and/or at least WIN a big official event once (Regionals, Internationals, or Special Event).
Tier 2: Semi-Competitive Meta Decks. Less than 10% of tops are based on the Limitless Online Tournament Platform deck spread.
Tier 3: Semi-Competitive non-Meta/Rogue decks. 1-2 tops. Specifically includes decks that only top small events or get lower rankings at medium events. Can also include decks that can potentially top but have not yet in a given format.
Tier 4: Casually Competitive non-Meta decks. Decks that can compete at the local level, but cannot top an event.
Tops = 1st - 8th place.
This article is written based on the Paldea Evolved format.
Deck Overview
Besides the popular decks in the top-tier format which were obviously powerful and somewhat expensive. Many people tend to choose decks that are cheap and fun to play with because of many aspects. One of the decks that pops up to mind is the United Wings deck. United WIngs is an attack move where you will be damaging the opponent based on how many Pokemon with the same attack are in your discard pile. You can theoretically dish out 240 damage in a single attack using a single-prize Pokemon if you have all the United WIngs Pokemon in your discard pile. You can also beat some weakness matchups as Wattrel is a Lightning-type Pokemon and Murkrow is a Dark-type Pokemon. You will be using several ways to discard your birds quickly such as Kirlia and Squawkabily ex. Without further ado, let's check the deck out.
Table of Contents:
Wattrel
First up is Wattrel. This cute little guy has what it takes to take down both Lugia VSTAR and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR because of its typing. It only has 60HP which can easily searchable using Level Ball and it has 1 Retreat Cost which is cheap but I don’t think Wattrel will have the moment to retreat as it will get knocked instantly. Then, what makes this card great is its attack cost where all of its attack only requires Colorless Energy and no Lightning Energy. This means that you can use Double Turbo Energy to fill up the United Wings attack in a single turn. It is a very great card to use in the United Wings deck as you still have Lugia VSTAR and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR running around.
Oh and do you also know that it can knock a Pokemon VMAX? Yes, because Rapid Strike Inteleon VMAX has a Lightning-type weakness, you will have the chance to knock it out using Wattrel. There are so many things that you can do using Wattrel as more Pokemon ex start to be introduced and some of them have Lightning-type weaknesses which can be a great thing for you to have. As for how many copies you want to bring, 4 copies is the way to go because you want to maximize your United Wings damage.
Murkrow
But how about the other type? Murkrow is here to cover you. As you know, Gardevoir ex is very popular in the format and beating it is one of the priorities that you have in mind. Having Murkrow will be a big help because not only you can defeat it by weakness matchup, but you can also knock their Ralts out easily even before completely evolving to Gardevoir ex. You can have a very early head start as your opponent is struggling by setting up multiple Ralts.
Then, we take a closer look at Murkrow itself. It has 60HP which is searchable using Level Ball. It also has the same Retreat Cost as Wattrel so you can retreat it easily. However, what makes this card different is that it has 1 Dark Energy as its attack cost which may be problematic if you don’t have the right energy card in hand. But you can try to go around with that by having Luminous Energy or just simply bringing Dark Energy.
I think Murkrow is a very important partner for Wattrel because you can cover up other matchups as Gardevoir ex is still powerful and Murkrow can unleash more damage as you won’t be using Double Turbo Energy. As for how many copies you want to bring, you want to bring 4 copies of Murkrow so you can maximize your United Wings attack.
Flamigo
Then we have the lovely pink bird, Flamigo! It has a pretty interesting ability where you can instantly call out the other Flamigo(s) to your hand which is a pretty great thing to have because you can just discard it away using Squawkabilly ex or Professor's Research. You also have the chance to open up your deck to see what's peized which is a very important thing to do because you need to maximize your United Wings damage.
Despite all the good things that this card has, Flamigo is a Colorless Pokemon where you can't have any weakness matchup. Its attack also uses 2 Colorless energy which may be reduced if you use Double Turbo Energy. Hence, most of the time Flamigo will only be a quick searcher for you to search up your birds from the deck. As you also want to maximize the United Wings damage, you also need to bring 4 copies of Flamigo. Oh, it also has an Illustration Rare which is a plus.
Ditto
Then, you might be expecting that the Pokemon list is ending there because you already have the birds. But, to maximize the damage potential, you may need cards like Ditto to copy the attacks of your other Pokemon. Its ability is a very great ability for this deck because you can easily copy an attack from Pokemon in the discard pile which aligns with the United Wings mechanic. You can also fully discard your bird to maximize your damage potential which may knock some of the Basic Pokemon V.
However, it only has 70HP which is quite risky as you are open to Radiant Greninja and Sableye. But still, it is still in the range of Level Ball and because you can practically one-hit KO them too, you can trade prizes with them. As for how many copies you want to bring, I think that you may want to bring at least 2 copies of Ditto in your deck. But I think it will be quite hard to get them consistently if you only bring 2 copies of them. So, if you have some spare deck space, you can try to bring at least 3 copies. It also has an Illustration Rare where it mimics a Numel.
Other Things to Consider
Not only Pokemon but there are several cards that make the United Wings deck a fun and strong deck right now. Let's take a look!
Squawkabilly ex
Remember Dedenne GX? Yes, Squawkabilly ex has a somewhat similar ability. You can discard your hand and draw 6 new cards from your deck. This ability can give you the chance to discard all your birds from your hands which is very neat while getting new cards to your hand. However, its ability has a catch where you can only use it on your first turn. So, having this card on your turn 2 or more is just not useful at all unless you discard this card using any means of discard so you won't bother it if someone uses Judge or Iono.
Despite the drawback, this card is very strong in the current format as you rarely have this kind of card. You may think that Professor's Research can do the job, but because you can't use any Supporter card in turn 1 if you are going first, this card can easily help you refresh your hand while piling up the birds in your discard pile. However, you still need to beware that this is a Pokemon ex which gives the opponent 2 prize cards. This may hurt you if your opponent suddenly gusts up your Squawkabilly ex as your prize mapping may be gone astray. So, you may want to bring only 1 copy for this card as you may not always rely on it and Squawkabilly ex is only playable in the first turn.
Kirlia
Then, besides Squawkabilly ex, people also play Kirlia to help draw cards while discarding their hands. Its ability, Refine, is a very great digging card and unlike Squawkabilly ex, you can use this ability every turn so you can keep digging cards. Kirlia also has 90HP which is searchable using Level Ball but still prone to snipe from Sableye and Radiant Greninja.
Other than that, you also get the chance to evolve Kirlia to either Gallade or Gardevoir. Gallade can help you in the late game by searching for a supporter card as you already pile enough birds and don't want to dig more cards because of the danger of decking out. Gardevoir on the other hand, can help you to dig more cards but the risk of decking out is bigger. I myself still prefer to have only Kirlia or just take Gallade because in the late game, you can just search for Boss's Orders to close out the game.
As for how many copies you want to bring, I think a 3-3 line of Kirlia is a safe number in my opinion. But sometimes, you can try to bring only a 2-2 line because of deck space and you may bring some niche cards such as Zinnia's Resolve to help with discard and draws. As for the Gallade/Gardevoir, if you plan on bringing one of them, one copy should be enough as you don't want to fill your deck with too many evolution cards.
Level Ball
Up next is the ultimate searcher for this deck, Level Ball. You can practically search for almost all of the Pokemon in this deck using Level Ball. Its effect states that you can search for a Pokemon with 90HP or less meaning that cards such as Kirlia, Ralts, Murkrow, Wattrel, and Ditto are searchable using this card. This means that you only need to find your means of discard if you have Level Ball in hand. Also, since Level Ball is an Item card, you can play as many as you like in your turn. So, bringing 4 copies is the way to go because you want to maximize your chance to find your birds early to discard them.
Professor’s Research
Then, of course, we have the traditional supporter which is very useful, Professor’s Research. Its effect is pretty simple yet very efficient. You will discard your hand in order to gain new fresh 7 cards from the top of your deck. This kind of effect is very strong in the United Wings deck because you can discard the birds in your hand while getting new cards from your deck which may become another bird card.
However, since Professor’s Research is a supporter card, you may want to consider when using it since you can only use a supporter card once per turn. But still, if you are in the early part of the game, it can be a very beneficial thing to play as you still have so many cards in the deck. As for how many copies, you may want to bring at least 3 copies of Professor’s Research as you may want the other deck spaces for cards like Boss’s Orders, or even Zinnia’s Resolve. But if you want a safe number, 4 copies is the way to go.
Winners’ Decklist
First, we will look at the 64th Place in NAIC which was piloted by Alex Schemanske. Here is the decklist:
First, we look at the Pokemon list. As it should be, Alex brings all 4 copies of the United Wings bird. This way you can maximize your damage to 240 damage if you manage to discard all of your birds. Then, the draw engine will be Kirlia where Alex brings 3 copies each of Ralts and Kirlia. However, the unique thing is that Alex decides to bring 1 copy of each of the different Gallade(s) where one of them is the supporter search and the other one is the high attack damage one. Alex also brings 2 copies of Ditto which is a very tight number but Alex compensates for it by having 2 Squawkabilly ex which it can help you in case one of your Squawkabilly ex is prized.
As for Supporter cards, the main thing that is in common is discarding while drawing cards. Alex brought a lot of supporter cards such as Professor's Research, Zinnia's Resolve, and Serena. Professor's Research is basically the main staple in this deck where it will be your main draw supporter while Zinnia's Resolve can be a great drawing supporter if you are facing an opponent that has a relatively big board. Serena on the other hand, besides discarding and drawing cards, can be a secondary Boss's Orders as you can choose between drawing or gusting. This is a great additional supporter as Serena gives you more options. Then, for the Pokemon recycling option, Alex brought Klara as it can also recycle back your basic energy so you can keep attacking. Last but not least is Boss's Orders. It is pretty straightforward as it will do the gusting job for you.
Now we look at the searcher cards that Alex brings. For searchers, Alex brings 4 copies of Ultra Ball and Level Ball. Ultra Ball is a very strong searcher card as its effect is aligned with the United Wings gimmick. You need to discard 2 cards from your hand in order to use Ultra Ball which is a perfect condition for you to discard your birds. You can also search for any Pokemon when using Ultra Ball so Pokemon like Gallade can be searchable. Then we have Level Ball which practically searches for almost any Pokemon in the deck without any downside. But what if your Pokemon is prized? Alex brings 2 copies of Hisuian Heavy Ball in order to find your Pokemon from the prized area. It also helps you greatly to find your birds as all your birds are Basic Pokemon. Last but not least, Alex brings a copy of Nest Ball. This card is somewhat useful because, unlike Dedenne GX, Squawkabilly ex can be called using it and still use its ability to discard your hand and draw 6 cards. However, you still can’t use Flamigo’s ability to call other Flamigo(s) because you need to play it from your hand.
Then for switching cards, Alex only plays 2 copies of Switch which can be used to switch out your birds or Squawkabill ex in case you are stuck. As for the other cards, Alex brings 1 copy each of Rescue Carrier, Pal Pad, Echoing Horn, and Collapsed Stadium. Rescue Carrier is played to help you recycle your Pokmeon back to your hand. This card is powerful because the birds have low HP and Rescue Carrier is a perfect card to recycle them as it is still in the range of the Rescue Carrier’s effect limit. Pal Pad can be used to recycle your supporter card and can work really well if you already set up your Gallade. Then, Echoing Horn is used to control your opponent a bit by putting their Pokemon back on the bench and you can also combine it with gusting power to bring them in front to close the game or just to trap them. Lastly, Collapsed Stadium is being played as it can lock the opponent arena and you can also somewhat save your bird or Squawkabilly ex because you need to discard a Pokemon if you have more than 4 Pokemon on your bench.
Now that’s it for Alex's deck. The deck is practically a straightforward deck and you just need to quickly discard your bird quickly so you can deal enough damage to your opponent. However, there is not many United Wings deck in the format that performs great right now. So, down below is the upcoming United Wings deck from Japan that plays SV3a Raging Surf format:
Now you may see a very similar build to Alex does. But what makes the deck different is the addition of Jirachi where basically you can use Manaphy and Jirachi to prevent cards like Radiant Greninja and Sableye from sniping your birds on the bench. The deck still plays the same cards although with different amounts meaning that the deck is pretty consistent in having its same gameplan. So, for you guys who love the United Wings deck, you may want to hold on to your deck and tweak it a little bit once Jirachi is released.
Tier Conclusion
Now we come to the tier conclusion. Based on Limitless, the deck doesn’t even pop up in the Limitless page as there are only 3 people who were recorded playing this deck.
Hence, I will award this deck a Tier 4 rating. The deck is basically a fun deck but it still packs a punch. What I think missing from this deck is the ability to one-hit knockout some Pokemon as the current Stage 2 Pokemon has a very high HP and the United Wings deck still can’t beat some of them. I really hope we get the fourth United Wings Pokemon so we can at least deal 320 damage and give our opponent a threat of OHKO.
Afterword
What do you guys think of United Wings? The deck is pretty much fun to play with and having these kind of decks really refresh our mind sometimes as we don’t have any pressure playing it. Also, if you are lucky, you may be on the top cut or the top bracket of your local store tournament.
This is a very new project on Pokemoncard.io and I really appreciate all the feedback. I plan to do this on a monthly basis so you can at least grasp what is happening over the month and I think it is a very safe cycle time considering that our set is not released once a month so you guys can still see how the format goes.
Life is too short to be anything but happy! - Arelios
There may be some mistakes and missing points of review in this writing. Please kindly comment to share your corrections and point of view too.
