Joltik Box — The New Miraidon deck
Hello to all PokeBeach readers! This is Gabriel Semedo again with another Pokemon TCG article. This time, I'm going to analyze the Joltik Box deck, which is essentially the spiritual successor to the Miraidon ex deck from the pre-rotation format.
Practically every weekend, Regionals are taking place around the world. The results are becoming increasingly clear — with Gardevoir ex and Dragapult ex standing out as the best decks in the format. Because of this, new decks focused on winning are starting to emerge more frequently, especially as decks that aren't capable of winning are naturally falling to Tier 2 of the current metagame. This is the first step toward the evolution and stability of the metagame: Identifying which decks are the strongest, and then creating new decks or adapting existing ones to beat those that are currently considered unbeatable. At this point, Joltik Box fits perfectly into the metagame, as the deck marks the return of Iron Hands ex—the key Pokemon capable of punishing Gardevoir ex and Dragapult ex in the pre-rotation format.
In my opinion, the creation of the Joltik Box deck was not a simple process. Whenever you thought of a Miraidon ex deck, it was inevitable not to think of a build without four copies of Electric Generator. I thought it was brilliant that we managed to break away from that concept to create a truly effective strategy. As much as Electric Generator is obviously a strong card for Lightning-type Pokemon, the truth is that this Item no longer works as well, due to the presence of Budew — this Pokemon prevents the use of Items during the first and most important turns. Additionally, Electric Generator has lost importance because Raikou V and Raichu V are no longer in the Standard format, and both played an important role in the previous iteration of Miraidon ex. Now, Raikou V's replacement is Clefairy ex (they share the same attack), and Raichu V’s replacement is Pikachu ex to deal extremely high damage — both of which use Energy cards of different colors, not just Lightning Energy.
Joltik Box is a deck created for the current Standard format, with well-suited gameplay and a focus on beating the best decks. But what stands out most to me is its ease of gameplay. In the past format, we had some strong but simple deck options like Lugia VSTAR, the old Raging Bolt ex, Quad Iron Thorns ex, Snorlax Stall, or even the old Miraidon ex. In the current format, I find that the top decks are all more complex to play. Dragapult, Gardevoir, and Tera Box are, in my opinion, the three best decks in the format — and none of them approach a matchup as straightforward as Joltik Box. I believe this ease of play, combined with great strength and a favourable metagame, will make this deck very popular. Even if it’s not your main choice for your next competition, I believe it’s worth studying, as the chances of facing Joltik Box will be high in your next tournament.
Deck Explanation
Pokemon Choices
The ideal strategy is always to go second, so that you can attack with Joltik. Even if your opponent wins the coin flip and chooses for you to go first, it is still highly recommended to get a Joltik attack in before transitioning into full offence. Joltik’s attack is so fundamental that the deck is no longer called Miraidon, but Joltik Box — because without this attack, your Pokemon won’t have enough Energy to attack, given their high attack costs. A single Joltik attack allows you to accelerate four Energy onto the field in one turn, while Crispin only allows you to attach one additional Energy. There will be situations where the ideal plan is to use two Joltik attacks to place eight Energy onto the field — preparing two strong attackers so you can take six Prizes over the next three turns. In the matchup against Gardevoir ex, preparing two Iron Hands ex before attacking may be the best plan, depending on the setup.
There are three main attackers you want to power up with Joltik: Iron Hands ex, Miraidon ex, and Pikachu ex — and each is best suited for different matchups. Iron Hands ex is ideal against decks that focus on single-Prize Pokemon and Stage 2 Pokemon decks, such as Gardevoir ex and Dragapult ex. Miraidon ex performs well against decks built around Basic Pokemon ex, like Tera Box or mirror matches. Finally, Pikachu ex is mainly used against Stage 1 Pokemon such as Gholdengo ex, Flareon ex, and Archaludon ex, as well as certain Basic Pokemon ex that Miraidon ex cannot Knock Out, such as Raging Bolt ex and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex.
Other Pokemon serve to support or finish the job started by the three primary attackers. Starting with Galvantula, this Pokemon can Knock Out weak to Grass-type Pokemon like Charizard ex and N’s Zoroark ex. It is also the only single-Prize Pokemon in the deck that can deal decent damage, allowing it to Knock Out threats like Mimikyu— which can otherwise wall your entire Joltik Box deck — as well as targets like Drakloak, Noctowl, or Fan Rotom. Often, Joltik is left on the field with no purpose after using Jolting Charge, which is not necessarily a problem — but Galvantula provides added value in these situations. Iron Leaves ex is another strong option to Knock Out Charizard ex — long considered a major threat to Miraidon decks in previous formats and still dangerous despite being less common now. Additionally, Iron Leaves ex can attack from nowhere using Energy already on the field, without requiring setup via Crispin or Joltik.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
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