Konnichiwa gozaimasu, subs! I’m currently two days from traveling to Japan while writing this piece. With the majority of my testing for the World Championship completed, I wanted to share some ideas with you all. Decks listed in this article will be out of the ordinary, including obscure strategies and win conditions. Rogue decks have a special place in my heart; they have granted me massive success which most players cannot say the same about for home brews.
The 2022/2023 season has seen dominant meta decks define this year’s formats. Lugia Vstar is my official crowned king of this 2022/2023 season with $220,000 USD earned in prizing, 6,000 CP awarded, and eight major tournament wins. In second place, we have Lost Zone variants claiming $135,000 USD, 4500 CP, and six major tournament wins.
I also want to briefly shout out some players that have had amazing seasons worthy of recognition. First and foremost, congratulations to the number 1 player in North America: Regan Retzloff. Regan is a local for me and has played this game since the Junior division. I have watched his growth from upcoming to superstar, and this year marked his first season as a Master. Accomplishing such a feat for a first year Master to not only become number 1, but to win a Regional, and take 2nd at an International shows his prowess. I look forward to his performance at the World Championship and anticipate a big finish.
Andrew Hedrick, our very own writer and my teammate, deserves recognition for one of the most dominant seasons in current years: back-to-back Regional Champion, Special Event Champion, and multiple International placements. Crowning Lugia Vstar the King of 2022/2023 comes with crowning the best Lugia player, which I believe to be Andrew. I actually played Andrew at his Regional win in Knoxville, where we played a Lugia mirror match at 7-0. This game is my favorite game of this season, as not only was I beaten in a 2-0 fashion, but I believe this game to be the most perfect game I’ve witnessed. Congratulations on your Day 2 invite, and I hope we can take a DDG win at Worlds, even if it’s not me.
My final shout out is very special to me: my student and testing partner, Bodhi Robinson. Bodhi has finished his final year in Seniors as global number 1, NAIC Champion, and two-time Regional Champion in the 2023 season. Bodhi has surpassed the place of playing a single deck all year, to playing different decks at almost every tournament level. I’ve watched growth come in leaps and bounds, and sometimes I even believe Bodhi has surpassed my own skill. Hope for a win at Worlds is an understatement; the dedication he has placed into preparation has both myself and Phinn exhausted. In his own words: “My Pokemon stamina is insane” – I can attest that Phinn and I are outclassed by our age.
Parades aside, let’s get into some awesome decks that I believe, with proper play and dodging some difficult matchups, could not only take you further than Day 1 – these decks have the potential to win the World Championships from surprise factor alone. No further introduction – here is our first contender, with Greninja V-Union:
After upgrading to Stage 2 you will see the rest of Hunter Butler’s article and a PTCGL friendly deck export at the bottom of the article (an audio recording of this article by Andy Hyun will be added when he returns from his vacation): 
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You must have a Stage 2 Membership or greater to see the rest of this post. If you don't have a Stage 2 account, you can Sign Up for one here.