オドシシ ですか ? (“Odoshishi, desu ka”)
Stantler was designed to be annoying! It debuted in Neo Genesis, but its magnum opus appears in Unseen Forces! Perhaps fans of Pokémon Gold and Silver remember encountering it for the first time on Johto Route 37, right before Ecruteak City; it bolsters moves such as Stomp to inflict Flinch, Hypnosis to put your fellows to Sleep, and even Confuse Ray to Confuse them! How irritating! That’s why the #毎日 PushAway topic on twitter(X) is idolized among many players! We all LOVE Stantler!
Stantler is most commonly known for his feature in Mew-ex’s “Mew Lock,'' in which Mew-ex from Legend Maker copies Stantler’s Push Away to remove critical cards such as Rocket’s Admin and Holon Transceiver, combined with Minun from Deoxys to recycle Pow! Hand Extension, and Jynx from Legend Maker to spread damage until a board state where all prizes can be taken without competition. Mew Lock is notorious for being known as “the best deck that failed itself,” meaning it’s very difficult to win within the 30-minute round. Stantler’s resurgence is the underground scene of RS-PK, also known as ADV-PCG in Japan. While Mew Lock an iconic deck, Minun and Stantler decided to leave the band, where the two met an unlikely friend, and rose to be Superstars!
Source: Alex Brosseau
"Rayler" List by Alex Brosseau, The World’s True Best Player (This is no hyperbole, Chuck is likely the best player to ever grace Pokémon. He only lost to Jimmy Ballard in time in worlds 2006, and likely would have had an insane set against his Rival and friend, Jason Klazcynski. Even Jason admits it, only now Tord enters into this discussion and the three have formed a friendly rivalry ever since.)
RS-PK tournaments began gaining popularity during covid, hosted by 3-Time World Champion Jason Klaczysnki himself through discord. These events originally started as Wizard of the Coast era Formats, and the winner would choose next week’s format. Eventually, they opened to the EX Series, more commonly known as RS-PK. The first tournament to have public information was hosted on Limitless and began getting popular through Jason reaching out to the younger Retro Format scene as his personal promoters. Things got crazy when Jason saw demand overshot his tournament capacity, thus began opening it to a larger audience. Here, the monthly series known as ex Mega Battle ran with actual Cash Prizing. Big Name players like Isaiah Cheville, Chris Fulop, James Arnold, Danny Altavilla, Robin Schulz, and even the renowned Tord Reklev began attending these tournaments. Now, the spotlight was on the world’s more recent champions, versus the older generation.
However, most tournaments were dominated by the perhaps one of the forgotten names of Pokémon, Alex Brosseau, aka WorldChampChuck. He is known for his 1st Place at 2002 Professor Championship Cup, two Top 4s in 2005 in Wisconsin and Mississippi, 5th place at 2006 Worlds,7th at 2007 National, 17th at 2008 Worlds, and most recently 2nd at Jason Klaczysnki’s Tournament in Florida Mall Tournament. Most players chose to play RS-PK like the well-known format in 2006, HL-HP, but with a larger card pool with cards such as Windstorm and Cessation Crystal. No one was expecting Alex to appear with a deck so appallingly good, it turned the opinion on the format entirely! The original Rayler consisted of Wynaut and Wobbuffet, later optimized figuring out Minun and Pow are good enough. Stantler acts as the dominant force in the deck. The nature of RS-PK allows Stantler to equip Cessation Crystal, shutting off their opponent’s Poke-Powers and Poke-Bodies, and choosing to discard any Trainer in their opponent’s hand. Not only do you gain knowledge on their hand, unlike HL-HP, they can’t simply use Pidgeot’s Quick Search to get out of it. The worst part was, Windstorm as your out also happens to be a Trainer card.
From this point Rayler, just like Mew Lock, begins planning their Knockouts. The big exception was Rayler could actually win a game of RS-PK in 30 minutes, where Mew Lock cannot consistently. Special Circuit plots out KOs across the way, and Rayquaza’s Poke-Body allows it to attack for a single Energy when behind on prizes. Combine Mew Lock’s strategy of infinitely looping Pow! Hand Extension with Minun’s Sniff Out while retrieving all your control Trainer Cards when your opponent is trapped in Active, you have encountered perhaps the most well-designed deck in all of all time in any format. Once they set up a board where no matter who comes in front of Rayquaza or Stantler, they can take any Prize with ease without the opponent to reasonably come back. Even if you survived down to 1 prize, you likely would be out of cards by then. Rayler can also win by deck out too, firmly proving it can win by any condition stated in the rules. Put this deck in the hands of Alex, and only Jason or Tord could ever really beat him as consistently as he beat them.
The format now shifted from “Expanded 2006” to “How to beat Stantler?” It took several months for players to finally adapt and learn to play around Stantler, and some to this day still can’t figure it out. The only deck that has consistent wins against it is Bombtar, most likely the best deck in the format (Proven by LimitlessTCG standards), but even Bombtar struggles against Screechy Voice’s confusion. Not only that, Push Away can get rid of Windstorm, and worse, the Bombtar player’s Rocket’s Admin very early to prevent, removing Bombtar’s high percentages odds of winning when below on prizes.
Soon, more discourse between Japanese players entered these ex Mega Battles with their own versions of RS-PK’s best decks, such as Machamp from Legend Maker paired with Electrode ex, Sceptile ex Stall, and even their own unique decks with Stantler in them. Many Japanese players are directly responsible for attributing Mew Gold Star’s resurgence to play, because it acts as your opponent’s Stantler while maintaining high value as an attacker when paired with Holon’s Castform. The answer to Stantler was playing more Energy cards, and cards that Stantler can’t Push Away, but struggles against such as Exeggutor Delta and Heal Energy.
Recently, the Double Rainbow Cup, hosted by Mr. Ogawa (Known by user “Little River”), did not see the sheer dominance of Stantler, and had a Meganium Player win the entire tournament! From “Expanded 2006,” to “Oppressive Stantler Format,” ending with its new name, “ADV-PCG.” We know it by RS-PK, and to some it’s known as the EX Series. The format has rallied players worldwide, establishing this format as one of the most Skill Intensive Formats of all time, and even Tord agrees it is the most skilled format (Source: Florida Mall on-site. His two favorite formats are 2018 Nationals and RS-PK). Stantler has found other partners too, such as Camerupt from Deoxys, and Raticate from FireRed & LeafGreen. Many now debate which card is more dangerous; Pow! Hand Extension? Electrode ex? Minun? Despite all the discussion around which of these cards should or shouldn’t be rotated, it’s amazing to see this discussion wouldn’t even be started without that silly-old’ Deer Pokémon, Stantler. If it were me, I would give this “Most Beloved Mascot,” and “Card of the Century” perhaps. However, this is Card of the Month, and I hope you enjoyed reading!
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