Palkia VSTAR Expanded (July 2023)

Overview
Current list for Palkia VSTAR in the Expanded Format. This list is primarily made to deal with matchups in general (more gusting is required against Regidrago due to Rolling Iron + Item Lock). Lots of flexibility to adapt to the changing meta (Phione, -1 Guzma, -1 Water Energy are your flex options). 

How to Play
Important to note, as with all decks in Expanded, don't follow such a linear gameplan. What I mean is that I will explain how to play the deck in general, but it is best to adapt to the game situations as you see fit, rather than following what I say here every time since it will lead to very predictable outcomes for your opponent to exploit.

Chien-Pao ex and Starmie V: These two cards are essential against Shadow Rider VMAX. If they attach too much energy, Starmie V counters that. If they attach too little, Chien Pao punishes them. 

In general, the idea is to go second and use Umbreon & Darkrai GX's Dark Moon to stall a turn so you can gain early momentum against your opponent. This is especially important against something like Regidrago, where you can effectively give yourself and opportunity to generate early game advantage by koing Regidrago V's on the Bench (In some circumstances, this allows you to gust up a single Regidrago if they only have 1 on the Bench). More so, Dark Moon is a counter to Timeless GX since you effectively nullify it by giving your opponent a turn where they can't do much (not as good as Horror House obviously, but we would be running Gengkyu GX if Horror House was colorless), if anything. Dark Moon also prevents KO, or at the very least, significantly decreases the likelihood your opponent will get a KO that turn. Though it might seem inconsequential that your opponent takes 2 Prizes from Timeless GX + KO (if you don't use Dark Moon) and then you take 2 Prizes, it is actually the sequencing of how this plays out that is relevant. You taking the first 2 Prizes is important as your opponent will need another turn in order to win the game.

For the Lugia matchup, you just bench three attackers since its impossible for them to GG End all of them. If your opponent takes a KO with Garchomp V instead then its going to be rough for you. But, most Lugia players are brain dead so you can easily bait out a GG End and follow that up with a Starmie V ko. Additionally, if Alolan Raichu skyrockets in popularity, running Bench Barrier Mew may be an option although Lugia does run Silent Lab. Path to the Peak is another option for a tech card if Lugia is giving you too much trouble, you can stall out and get ahead in 2 Prizes hopefully. Girafarig is another flex card you can put if they can't attack and wastefully put Archeops in the discard. This matchup is a bit weird to navigate but very manageable. 

Wobb Stall seems to be the current form of Control atm, and this is a hard matchup but cards like Phione, 2 Guzma, and Aqua Patch should mitigate energy denial and Block to a degree. If Wobb Stall was more popular (which it usually isn't due to Beach being too expensive for most players), then Exeggutor Blockade is an option as a counter. You can play a more "semi-control" version of Palkia in which you run Path to the Peak + Exeggutor, and a Marnie or 2 but this is a rather specific combination of cards that you can't necessarily search out easily, much less set up consistently (This has been an issue with my past Palkia lists in which semi-control Palkia was good for a time but lost its footing because its more inconsistent than lists like this). So just rolling with Exeggutor might just be enough for the Control matchup. It can also help against Shadow Rider to avoid having them use Acerola to heal off damaged Shadow Riders. Ideally, you can poke them a few turns and force them to KO the Exeggutor which puts you in a position to potentially get a KO with a Palkia. I am just going off of hypotheticals here, but its a plausible line against Rider if you do not like Chien-Pao. Though Exeggutor is less useful against Drago as they have more outs to get through their deck without playing supporters and again, running a Palkia-Path builds tends to be inconsistent. However if Control is too hard for you to beat with this regular build, then you can run Blockade Exeggutor or cut Colress and a Flare Whistle / Echoing Horn for 2 Marnie instead. Empoleon V seems to be the best "Counter" to Wobb Stall (can also "counter" Sudo but this requires a bit of school and luck that your opponent can't KO anything the following turn) but you will need to run Faba to permanently lose their Path to the Peak. 

Finishings:

1st Place: Firehouse Tabletop & Games Expanded Tournament (June 11th)
1st Place: Diamond In The Hall Pokémon Event (June 19th)
1st Place: Mox Boarding House Pokémon Sunday Event (June 29)
3rd Place: Firehouse Tabletop & Games Expanded Tournament (July 14th)
2nd Place: Firehouse Tabletop & Games Expanded Tournament (July 21st)
5th Place: Diamond In The Hall Pokemon Event (July 29th)
3rd Place: Firehouse Tabletop & Games Expanded Tournament (July 30th) 

For more tournament results, you can go to https://play.limitlesstcg.com/decks/palkia-vstar?format=expanded&set=PAL. 

**Update (9/24)
After further testing, I'm deciding to revisit my older lists and use Tapu Fini GX + Karen again. Chien-pao ex is still good, but I've realized with testing that using Hail Blade to hit through Rolling Iron and get a KO isn't always the best play. Opponent Item Locks you next turn, or they N/Iono you and winning the game is left up to chance for you now. Tapu Fini GX + Karen mitigates the need to use Chien-pao 100% of the time when they Rolling Iron. Tapu Storm is a great way to effectively win the late game, since Regidrago runs no other attackers but itself. Karen pairs nicely because your opponent now has to set up both a new Regidrago and get mons in the discard again. Not that hard to be honest, but it's forcing them to do more which is always good, plus you recover your mons after they use Parallel City and you increase their chances of bricking. Darkrai Umbreon is still good, but I have found that in situations where you don't start with Starmie V or Whismur itself, you're being forced to dig quite a lot just to find a Float Stone. Arven is good to get more consistent turn 2 Whismur's if needed. Dive Ball was added because we need more consistency when it comes to setting up, might even consider cutting another Aqua Patch or Juniper just for another Ultra Ball to bring our Ball count to 10. In addition, running Whismur over Darkrai/Umbreon GX because you end up using Dark Moon on turn 2 99% of the time so you might as well use the non-GX attack. More so, you get to use Tapu Storm in the late game as well.