The Guide to Chien-Pao

A look at my new favorite deck!

Hello readers and welcome back to another article! We’re finally in a new format, and there’re new things for me to talk about. Yay! There are a lot of cool cards in this set that have the potential to greatly shake up the meta for NAIC. There are also a lot of cards that are “back” either with new names or sometimes even direct reprints like Super Rod. This set is certainly going to shake things up one way or another, and I’m super excited to see it play out.

Today, I’m going to go over my favorite deck from the new set, Chien-Pao, and all of the different ways that it can be built. I’ve seen a lot of different lists out there already, so I think this could be really informative for a lot of readers. Also, I’m almost certainly going to forget the hyphen in Chien-Pao’s name at some point, so please overlook that until I get more used to it.

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What cards can we play?

This is going to be a bit different than usual, as there are a ton of lists out there already, and I’ve already had many people say “Wait, really?” when I discuss things with them about Chien-Pao lists. Let’s jump right into it then!

Baxcalibur

This is a given I think, but hey, it’s potentially worth mentioning for someone who is using this article as their first look at the deck. Baxcalibur has the classic Rain Dance Ability, which allows an infinite number of Basic Water Energy to be attached from your hand as long as it’s in play. The synergy between this and cards like Chien-Pao, which doesn’t have a real damage-cap, is pretty strong.

As a general aside, when deckbuilding, cards like Chien-Pao, which boost consistency (searching Energy), and have the ability to hit as high of a number as needed when attacking are generally the cards that are going to be powerful in a format. Paying attention to these cards, even if they’re not amazing upon release, is generally a good idea.

Palkia VSTAR

This seems to be the most popular version of the deck currently. People are playing Palkia VSTAR as both an attacker and as addition Energy acceleration. Solid, but from the games I’ve played with it, there’s something lacking from the lists that are playing a 2-2 line of Palkia. That said, at least until NAIC occurs, I fully expect this to be the prevailing version of Chien-Pao.

So yes, I am saying that I think the 2-2 Palkia version of Chien-Pao is inferior to other builds. We’ll get to why later on.

Bibarel

While this hasn’t been entirely standard across the board, I think people are generally playing Bibarel in this deck. There’re a few reasons for the inclusion of Bibarel, but the largest one is that Iono and Path to the Peak are going to be running this format. It’s incredibly easy for this deck to get stuck in the late game if you’re not prepared. This is because you’re discarding most, if not all of your Energies when you attack. This means you need to have a way to get more on the following turn. If someone plays an Iono to 2, puts Path in play, and then takes a KO, then you’re going to struggle to recover from that with just the Irida engine.

Kyogre CRZ

Yes, another Kyogre is about to be very obnoxious in this format. Surprise! This time, it does a bit less to close out games, but the impact it can have on the game is no less powerful. For a cost of four Energy, negligible with Baxcalibur, it does 180 damage to whatever Pokemon on your opponent’s field you want. In a format that is about to have a lot of the 160 HP Squawkabilly ex running around, that’s an easy two Prize Cards without risking very much. Even the Energies used to attack get sent back to your hand, so you don’t have to burn a SER (Superior Energy Retrieval).

The other major use is for the mirror match, where it becomes a race for Baxcalibur. Greninja is all well and good as an attacker, but if you go second, they have a chance to evolve their Frigibax before you can KO them, Manaphy or not. Sometimes, the Chien-Pao player will get greedy going first, thinking they don’t need a Manaphy in play because they’re safe from Greninja. If you pick off their Baxcalibur after they’ve just discarded a bunch of Energy, you have a chance to just shut them out of the game.

Cancelling Cologne

Manaphy is not your friend when it’s staring at you from across the table. Your Radiant Greninja is one of your best early attackers into many matchups. So, what are you going to do when they play down that mean little blue… fish(?) if not play a Cancelling Cologne and Boss’s Orders to remove Bench Barrier from play? What? This sounds extremely difficult to pull off because you’re an Irida deck in the middle of a bar full of Iono decks? You’re right! Playing one Cancelling Cologne with just Boss and no additional ways to search them has to be terrible. So what do we do?

Cross Switchers

You’re already an Irida deck, so Cross Switcher is automatically on the table as an option. There’s certainly an increased versatility that comes from playing Cross Switchers in this deck, and there are more explosive plays. But this just means we went from needing an Item and a Supporter to needing three Items. That’s just as, if not harder than before! What now?

PokeStop

Yes! It’s time to discard three Irida on my first turn with this Stadium! In all seriousness, PokeStop is a consistency boost that this deck can make use of while also making the Cross Switcher + Cologne play much more viable. I’m not saying this build of the deck is bad, but geez, where are y’all finding space for these cards? Aren’t there better things we could be playing?

So, if PokeStop, Cross Switchers, and Cancelling Cologne aren’t my cup of tea, then what am I playing in this deck to make it not exceedingly mediocre? This answer, and more, coming next week!

Final Thoughts

Yeah, just kidding. This is a full-sized article.

Arceus VSTAR

Yes, it’s time to grab your Arceus cards, because it’s certainly a step up from playing a billion bad cards to just pull off the Greninja play. Need Boss and Cologne? Starbirth! Need an Irida and another card to pull off the combo? Starbirth! There are also fringe plays where you Trinity Nova to Lumineon V and all of a sudden you have a lot of Energy in play for Chien-Pao to mess around with.

Arceus VSTAR is also a very good attacker into the Lost Box decks that are persisting. Unlike Chien-Pao, Arceus VSTAR has a lot of HP, more than enough to survive a hit from anything most Lost Box decks will be throwing your way. Sometimes that extra turn is all you need to win. As you can tell, I’m currently a strong proponent or Arceus in Chien-Pao. Now that I’ve freed up a bunch of spots, what are we playing instead?

Skaters’ Park

If you knew what this Stadium did before this set released, then bravo! You’re probably in the minority of Pokemon players. Chien-Pao needs to be in the Active Spot to use its Ability to search for Energies. In the early game, if you open anything other than Chien-Pao, you’re likely going to struggle a little bit with finding enough Energies to pull off an OHKO. Skaters’ Park makes finding enough Energy much more manageable, since it returns the Energy you use to Retreat back into your hand. Need to find four Energies and you don’t have a Switch or SER? Just Retreat into another Chien-Pao and grab more Energies. Pulling off big plays is so much easier when you essentially have a Retreat Cost of zero with everything.

The Current List

I think that covered most of the different things you can do with Chien-Pao. I’ve been spending a vast majority of my time on this deck, and I think it has the potential to dominate the early format if done correctly. The below list is where I’m currently at, but there are still a lot of things I need to try out.

Card Choices

The reasoning behind many of these cards has already been stated, so I’ll instead be talking about the counts and some of the other random cards that made their way into the list.

3-3 Baxcalibur

I’ve seen a number of lists playing fewer than three of some or all of this evolution line. That’s insane and you’re just asking to lose like that. Prize Cards are a thing, and Baxcalibur has a massive target on its back already. Playing less ways to get a second one up is a terrible idea.

I’m playing the 60 HP Frigibax currently, but it should likely be a split between the two. When you open Frigibax, it’s essential that you’re able to retreat it without burning any more resources than possible. That makes the 60 HP one better. However, Sableye exists. That makes 70 HP much more desirable.

1-1 Arceus VSTAR

I hope you didn’t think this was going to be a 2-2 line like people play with Palkia. You don’t need that and playing more than a 1-1 line is making your deck much more clunky. You won’t play this down in every game. It depends on your hand, your Prize Cards, what Pokemon you opened, and so much more. Adding consistency is good, but sometimes you’ll get in trouble in the late game if you play down Arceus too early. Starbirth will also literally always be good, so if you can save it for later, you can pull some pretty easy wins out of nowhere. Unlike the typical Arceus deck, there aren’t things like DTE that you specifically need to attack which can’t be searched otherwise, so saving the Starbirth is a lot more viable.

1-1 Bibarel

You don’t need a 2-2 line for this. Nobody is playing a way to KO Bibarel the same turn as Iono, and if they’re targeting down Bibarel, they’re falling behind in the Prize trade and leaving whatever you have already established alive. Bibarel is only even close to essential into the Iono decks, so playing a 1-1 is pretty much fine.

Lumineon V

Irida chaining kind of exists? Lumineon V is a pretty good attacker into a few matchups, and there’s no world where we’re not playing the consistency boost.

Three Boss’s Orders

For an Irida deck, we actually have a lot of turns where we don’t need to use Irida. Boss is always going to be good and putting the pressure on decks like Gardevoir is very good. Lumineon chaining Boss is also possible, which gets very interesting when you have a surprising number of single Prize Pokemon you can sack.

One Iono

Sometimes an Irida is just not enough to make a hand playable. Maybe you’ve fallen behind and can Kyogre snipe off Bibarel or Baxcalibur in the mirror, but you need their hand to be worse than it is. Iono just has too much value to not at least play one copy.

One Avery

Avery is a really mean card. Gardevoir is trying to play double Manaphy to deal with Cologne. Cool. Keep your double Manaphy, but I’m just going to remove a bunch of purple things instead. Avery is also very good in the mirror match, as you want Manaphy, two Bax, and at least one Support Pokemon in play. That ignores the need for an attacker as well. Lost Box also likes to have a larger Bench in many games, and an early Avery can be the difference between t2 and t3 Sableye.

Lost Vacuum

Path bump that is Irida searchable. That’s it.

Super Rod

It’s the late game. All of your Energy are in the Discard Pile, and you only have one SER left to use. You could play an Energy Retrieval, or you could play Super Rod, which is essentially an Energy Retrieval as long as Chien-Pao is active. Recovery is also just generally good, especially in a format where Manaphy is so relevant.

The Optimal Board State

Y’all. Stop leaving yourselves with one Baxcalibur or Frigibax. Please. In general, you want Chien-Pao or Greninja attacking in the Active Spot, two Baxcalibur evolution line, Manaphy/Bidoof depending on the matchup, Greninja or Chien-Pao (whichever isn’t active), and then a spot for Arceus, Lumineon, Bidoof, or second Chien Pao. It’s a tight fit, I know. But for the love of all that is holy, stop losing games to only having one Ice Dragon guy. Also get Manaphy out in the mirror match. I beg of you.

Final Thoughts

Melodramatic? Yes. Accurate? Also, yes. It’s been a while since I’ve written a classic article like this, and I think I may have had a little too much fun with it. Oh well, what’s written is written. I certainly don’t have an edit button or anything.

Chien-Pao is very good. I think the deck beats most of the format, and that if decks are forced to counter things like Mew, then Chien-Pao hate is going to be relatively low at NAIC. The deck is powerful, has versatile attackers, and has a strong consistency engine. Those are the components that often make up event-winning decks.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or PM me somewhere, I'll be happy to answer. Good luck this weekend at your respective events. I'll see you next time!