An Unlikely Choice

Heading into the 2024 North American International Championships in New Orleans, United States, I was surely set on piloting my Lugia VSTAR [Silver Tempest] / Archeops [Silver Tempest] deck! It was better because of the recent release of Legacy Energy [Twilight Masquerade], and I was coming fresh off of back-to-back day 2 finishes at Regionals with the deck! As crazy as it might sound, I drove from Toronto, Canada to New Orleans, United States, which is over 20 hours, and I decided that I might want to try out something different. I probably played out a handful of games in my head using theory, and somehow stumbled across that Roaring Moon [Temporal Forces] / Koraidon [Temporal Forces] seemingly could exist in this format! I’ll continue on that in just a minute, so if you’re in, scroll to the next section. I’ll be covering the reasons why Ancient Box is great in our Twilight Masquerade metagame, the list, and a recap of the archetype’s strategy in this article! There is a lot of ground to cover here, so let’s start off with the “why?” Here is why Ancient Box is great right now!

Why is Ancient Box Good?

Heading into NAIC, Raging Bolt ex [Temporal Forces] / Teal Mask Ogrepon ex [Twilight Masquerade] was everywhere at online tournaments. It was poised as a counter to the popular Charizard ex [Obsidian Flames] / Pidgeot ex [Obsidian Flames] deck, and the hyped up Dragapult ex [Twilight Masquerade] variants. Gardevoir ex [Scarlet and Violet] was gaining momentum, players were trying to counter that with Miraidon ex [Scarlet and Violet] / Iron Hands ex [Paradox Rift], and Lost Zone Box decks were still floating around. Lugia VSTAR [Silver Tempest] / Archeops [Silver Tempest] was undeniably going to be a top three played deck at the event, and would have its own fair share of counters, like Miraidon. Here is a breakdown of the decks I expected to see at NAIC:

• Raging Bolt ex / Teal Mask Ogrepon ex
• Lugia VSTAR / Archeops
• Gardevoir ex
• Miraidon ex
• Charizard ex / Pidgeot ex
• Dragapult ex
• Lost Zone Box

I was pretty spot on, and in return decided to run Ancient Box last minute! I wouldn’t have played Ancient Box if I didn’t bring the top 20 decks in format stored in my couple of Omnihives that I have from Ultimate Guard which you can check out here. I always try to build the top 20 decks in any format, and usually store them in Sidewinder 80+ count deck boxes that match the type of deck that I’m playing!

Ancient Box is great into aggressive Basic two Prize Card Pokémon card decks, like Raging Bolt ex and Miraidon, so having a couple good matchups out of the top decks was a great start. Lost Zone Box is typically a favorite choice among top players, and Ancient Box almost always wins that matchup too! Gardevoir ex could be tough, but is generally neutral / favorable in the prize trade unless your opponent ruins your setup with Unfair Stamp [Twilight Masquerade] or a well-timed Iono [Paldea Evolved]. I ran a few testing games against Lugia VSTAR the night before, and I initially thought the matchup was gonna be bad, but it ended up being slightly favorable to even. That left Charizard ex on the decline, and Dragapult ex lists that might not be perfect considering the set just became legal the day of the event. Adding Kieran [Twilight Masquerade] was my answer to those Pokémon ex with large HP, and I was set on the deck! It might not have been perfect, and I’ve since switched to Walking Wake [Twilight Masquerade] over Koraidon to gain a space back in the list (no need for Fighting Energy), I’ll share my updated list, and explain the big “secret” about Ancient Box!

Ancient Box Deck List

The big “secret” about this decklist is the inclusion of Secret Box [Twilight Masquerade] - the best card in the deck! Now I know a bunch of people reading this might be perplexed because Awakening Drum [Temporal Forces] is an Ancient card, and that would add to the tally of Roaring Moon’s Vengeance Fletching, but Secret Box adds so much more than that! Instead of adding +10 like Awakening Drum, Secret Box discards three cards from your hand, so be prepared to pitch those Walking Wake and Flutter Mane [Temporal Forces] from your hand. Now it wouldn’t be great to only discard three as its only effect, of course there is more. You get to now search for:

• 1 Supporter Card
• 1 Item Card
• 1 Tool Card
• 1 Stadium Card

You can grab that needed Professor Sada’s Vitality [Paradox Rift] to accelerate Energy, grab something like Earthen Vessel [Paradox Rift] to pitch even more Ancient cards, an Ancient Booster Energy Capsule [Paradox Rift], and an Artazon [Paldean Fates] to get another Roaring Moon in play. In most cases, I get around +50 or more with Secret Box, and have an explosive turn - the true type of gameplay that embodies Ace Specs! I could go on and on about Secret Box, but let’s check out my most up-to-date list right now:

Shrouded Fable and Worlds in Honolulu

Well, as much as our Twilight Masquerade format has been a blast, I need to test for the 2024 World Championships in Honolulu, United States, and that event features our upcoming Pokémon TCG set, Shrouded Fable! I’ve already started uncovering new strategies, and actually wrote an article on Charizard ex / Dusknoir [Shrouded Fable] for Ultimate Guard, so you should check that out! As if life wasn’t hectic enough, I’m actively moving across Canada, and am expecting my first child with my wife shortly after Worlds! It's been a hectic year in the Lesage household, but I thrive under pressure, and hope that I have a successful run in Hawaii! I’ll continue to update all of you on my adventures, lists, strategy and more! Thank you so much for reading, and stay tuned for more!