Regidrago VSTAR Expanded (August 2026)

Overview
Current list for Regidrago VSTAR in the Expanded Format. This list, for the most part, has a large variety of tech options to complement Regidrago VSTAR's incredible versatility with attacks like spread, lock-based attacks, or large damage output. Note the attached links here are not my exact list, but for you to see how this deck typically plays in action. 

How to Play
Important to note, as with all decks in Expanded, don't follow such a linear gameplan. What I mean is that I will explain

Overview
Current list for Regidrago VSTAR in the Expanded Format. This list, for the most part, has a large variety of tech options to complement Regidrago VSTAR's incredible versatility with attacks like spread, lock-based attacks, or large damage output. Note the attached links here are not my exact list, but for you to see how this deck typically plays in action. 

How to Play
Important to note, as with all decks in Expanded, don't follow such a linear gameplan. What I mean is that I will explain how to play the deck in general, but it is best to adapt to the game situations as you see fit rather than following what I say here every time since it will lead to very predictable outcomes for your opponent to exploit.

DO NOT DUMP ALL YOUR MONS AT THE START OF THE GAME: I cannot emphasize this point enough. It is easy for beginner Regidrago players to play overly aggressively and discard all your dragon mons in the discard. Unless you're playing a deck that you know doesn't run Girafarig LOT (its Get Lost attack costs 1 {C} and lets you put 2 cards from your opponent's discard pile into the Lost Zone), always be smart with what you discard. Of course, if you're forced to because you need to set up, this is perfectly fine. However, if you're able to get Regidrago V's set up on the bench, you can pass your turn and wait to use a Compressor/Discard mons later. You'd rather not be able to discard your early game mons but preserve them than dump them immediately and have your opponent permanently remove crucial pieces. Understanding when to dump mons and when to not takes time and practice, but once you do, you'll see why this is the first thing I'm emphasizing about this deck. 

Legacy Star: Legacy Star is an interesting ability because it functions as a double Junk Arm/Dowsing Machine. One of the nice things is that it can be used for resource recovery, or in a way, can be paired with Battle Compressor to effectively search your deck for any 2 cards and put them into your hand. Basically, you play Compressor, find the 2 cards you're looking for, use Legacy Star, and grab those 2 cards.

Goomy: Goomy is perhaps one of the most underrated and not very well-known cards in the format. Requiring an extra attack cost for the opponent's Active Pokémon is actually extremely valuable. Against Shadow Rider, this 100% guarantees they cannot lock you out of Pokémon with Abilities, Stadiums + Special Energy, or Girafarig's Get Lost. For Bunnelby, it also guarantees they cannot set up a turn 1 Stage 2 line which puts you in a prime position to get ahead. Lugia Dragons makes it more difficult for them to T1 GG End you as well. Forcing your opponent to commit more resources to attack if they are going second on their first turn can really open up a number of plays for you on your next turn. Forcing your opponent to find Gust + attack reduces their ability to set up their board. Although it doesn't do anything against Alolan Raichu because they stack energies anyways, it's still valuable against basically everything else. I'm surprised this card just went unnoticed, similar to Chimecho in Shadow Rider. 

Crispin: Older Regidrago lists that came out during Silver Tempest's release ran only 1 type of energy: Fire or Grass. Yet, this causes you to have such a terrible matchup against Shadow Rider because they can either lock you out of the game completely or stall out to set up their board. Crispin gives you extra energy acceleration that this deck so desperately needs because you aren't winning games by attaching 1 energy per turn. Of course, Timeless GX will put you in a position where you can attach energies in back-to-back turns, but only being able to attach 1 energy per turn as your only energy acceleration is bad. Crispin offers much more versatility than Gardenia's Vigor because it searches energies from the deck, meaning you don't have to worry about finding energies off of other cards. It's great because you can either set up 2 Regidrago V (manual attach and then attach with Crispin), or use Crispin directly onto a Regidrago and have a [G] and [F] energy attached to it. In doing so this, you can manual attach another basic energy next turn if you're special energy locked. 

Garbodor BKT: A classic BW/XY era card, Garbodor is a powerful ability-lock Pokémon that can play a crucial role in your late game. It's not great for the early game as your opponent will already be set up, but it has a lot of value late game if you're able to get it going. Sometimes it can be difficult to set up, especially if you're focused on keeping up with the opponent in the prize trade and getting Dragos on the bench. However, it can often be the difference between outright losing or allowing you to come back from a 3-4 prize deficit. Garbotoxin can shut down abilities that your opponent wants to use in the late game. However, Garbodor should only be set up to the extent your board is set up and your hand is pretty good (ideally a draw supporter or something that can swing momentum in your favor).

Interestingly, more Regidrago decks have opted out of using Garbodor recently. This is likely due to the fact that Regidrago c*****ready lock your opponent and control them very efficiently, having access to basically every type of attack. Thus, using deck space for utility mons that can be perhaps more helpful makes sense. More so, your opponents will likely have already used most of their Abilities such that Garbodor isn't as effective. If we look at these matchups:

- Bunnelby: Ability locking Bunnelby is very helpful but not essential because you can just use attacks like Sonic Volume or, for decks that run Noivern ex, Dominating Echo. They can use Pidgeot to get a Ranger but its not helpful in the long run as they can't recycle it. Moreover, if you're running Path to the Peak, that + Dominating Echo means the odds of Ranger are extremely low. More often than not, if you can Special Energy lock Bunnelby decks, then it's not too hard to run away with the game. Especially if you're running Goomy and get it into the Active Spot turn 1, you gain an incredible advantage over them by effectively giving yourself an extra turn, on top of Timeless GX if that play is there. 

-Shadow Rider: Garbodor is admittedly a card that is more relevant in this matchup than Bunnelby since the deck relies entirely on Underworld Door. However, I think that it is still manageable without it because Goomy gives you +1 in turns as well, or if you run Wobb then its is highly unlikely they use Chimecho to prevent you from using Ability mons (Wobb turns off Abilities so you would be able to evolve Regidrago specifically). It is likely they go for Shadow Mist, but that means you can evolve and potentially go for Crispin and continue stalling with Budew. Marshadow as a tech also helps with removing TOS as stated earlier. 

-Lugia: Another case where late game Garbodor works. This is probably a matchup where Wobb > Goomy because while Silent Lab shuts down both, Lugia is less likely to be able to get to a Turn 1 GG End with an Active Wobb over Goomy. Goomy technically forces 4 Energy card attachments onto Tinachomp, but it can be solved with either 1 Silent Lab or using both Archeops. Personally I think Lugia is more relevant than Shadow Rider, and its better to try and solve this matchup than the other. Rider is still mangeable without Goomy. This is also a case where Megaton Blower might be better than Secret Box because that + Budew (assuming you lost all your attackers or can't set up to attack again) means the opponent cannot recover their Double Dragons while being Item Locked. On that note, Garbodor + Item Lock really hurts Lugia and in many cases, prevents them from be able to do anything really. In Japan, they've ran more gust like Counter Catcher + Extra Guzma to target the Archeops entirely. A good strategy as well. 

Other Pokémon: Dragapult-ex and Kyurem offer bench sniping options to set up multi-prize turns. Noivern-GX vs Dragonite PLB is a tough choice, as the extra 10 damage can often be relevant, but Noivern-GX gives you more versatility with Sonic Volume and a better mirror match. M-Rayquaza EX will be replaced with Salamence-ex in March 2025 since its attack does the same thing as Ray's, but has Noivern-GX's GX attack as a regular attack. Budew can help you stall out some turns or provide some disruption on your first turn going second. Wobb is also another great option to disrupt your opponent's setup with non-Psychic mon ability lock. Sudo provides bench disruption which can help a lot. Hisuian Goodra VSTAR is *****ternative option if you want to guarantee a Regidrago does not get KO'ed. Marshadow is great for bumping Stadiums like Path or Temple of Sinnoh. 

Matchup Overview

Lugia VSTAR - Not ideal for Regidrago because its lackluster Energy acceleration compared to everything else in Expanded. This means that Lugia VSTAR is in a prime position to just GG End your Dragos and win by having a better board state than you, plus having early game momentum out of the gate. Even if they don't use GG End early game, it hurts even more later on in the game. 

Bunnelby Control/Dragapult-ex - There are a lot of variants of this deck out there, but the main two archetypes are regular Bunnelby Control and Dragapult-ex. For Bunnelby, it can be a very difficult matchup but since they always are setting up to evolve Pokemon on their first turn, this works in your favor. You can either go for a much more aggressive setup and playing as many items as you can (since the odds of being N'ed or Iono'ed are next to none on their first turn), or if you're able to get Wobbuffet into the active spot, you still get another turn for items. You have to play this matchup very carefully though, but unlike Wobb Stall, you have better odds of beating it due to a predictable first turn for Bunnelby and Wobb being more relevant. As for Dragapult, its the same idea except you have a better matchup since Haxorus can oneshot Pult, so as long as you have 2 Regidrago's ready to go then its a very difficult matchup. Having a Garbodor in play will also help with both matchups. However across the board, Bunnelby struggles dealing with Regidrago's ability to Special Energy/Stadium lock. At the end of the day it needs a lot of pieces to get going and disruption to some or all of them can cause Regidrago to take over the game completely, 

Alolan Raichu - Like all decks against it, this can be a very difficult matchup to navigate as Regidrago has no bench protection, nor does it run any basic Tera mons that would auto-win the matchup for you. You wouldn't run Teal Mask Ogerpon-ex because you lose out on the versatility of using mons like Budew, Sudo, and Wobb. You also end up running cards like E-Switch which is clunky and unnecessary. But, this matchup is still doable with a key card: Sudo and Wobb. Sudo can disrupt their setup enough to where they may not have enough space for at least 2 Pikachu and 2 Voltorb + Ditto Prism Star. Even if they do, it reduces their ability to setup with Squawkabilly-ex, Crobat V, Dedenne-GX, etc. This can often turn the game in your favor. 1 use of Extra Energy Bomb is not enough for the Alolan Raichu player to win either, so if they end up using 1 and attacking, you pretty much win at that point. Horror House GX is not a concern either as again, if you have enough disruption and can prepare for it, it won't matter. 

Shadow Rider VMAX - With the arrival of many new sets and tools for Regidrago to utilize, it has a much better matchup to Shadow Rider compared to late SWSH/early SVI. Crispin makes the Shadow Mist + Temple of Sinnoh combination less lethal, while Budew helps provide considerable disruption since Rider is not an aggresive deck when it comes to setting up. However, Shadow Rider players have begun using Chimeco CIN, which prevents you from playing any Pokémon from your hand that has abilities. This is problematic as my list does not run Ranger, so there could be a situation where locked for a substantial amount of turns and they have an overwhelming setup. Ranger can therefore be tech'ed in if needed, however attacking with just the Regidrago V is another solution though there is a possibility they may be able to KO you next turn if they were able to get enough energies into play. With the coming of Lillie's Clefairy-ex, this makes Ranger more necessary. However, Goomy existing mitigates much of this as previously explained, it guarantees your opponent cannot lock you turn 1 which helps greatly in setting up your own board and as stated previously, opens up an opportunity for more offensive pressure on your next turn. Alternatively, Wobbuffet can be used in the Active Spot to allow you to evolve into the VSTAR since Wobb turns off non-Psychic mon Abilities, so you'd be able to play it under Bell of Silence. 




Finishings:
https://youtu.be/NpzWSSpDMB0?si=PoDtek4sdFC79DLa