FOLLOW LIVE: Full Grip Games Astral Radiance $6k

A $6000 cash tournament doubleheader is being held at Full Grip Games in Akron, Ohio, USA this weekend, serving as a pseudo-Regional alongside this weekend's official Regionals in Vancouver, Canada and Bremen, Germany. Saturday features a Standard $3500 tournament while Sunday features a GLC $2500 tournament. Unlike at the weekend's official Regionals, the new set Astral Radiance is legal for these events, with foreign cards legal in lieu of paper proxies. 

Both tournaments will be streamed on the trickygym Twitch channel with commentary from Andrew Mahone and Chip Richey. 

Day 1: Standard

Pairings on Limitless

Expected metagame
With Astral Radiance legal, this event's metagame should be new and exciting relative to Vancouver and Bremen. Palkia VSTAR is anticipated to immediately rise to the status of tier 1 archetype (see sample lists from Lindsay Rohskopf, OmniPoke, Rare Candy, Tate Whitesell, and Tricky Gym). In order to counter Palkia, Arceus VSTAR lists may adapt to include Lightning-type attackers such as Surfing Pikachu VMAX or Raikou V; we may also see cards such as Zeraora FST in single-Prize toolbox decks. Mew VMAX remains strong and gains some new tricks such as Cyllene and Trekking Shoes, although it does gain some poor matchups from two new VSTARs that appear strong: Darkrai VSTAR and Hisuian Samurott VSTAR. Lilligant VSTAR is another possible contender to perform this weekend. Established archetypes such as Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX and Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX should round out the early metagame. 

Top players' archetypes


Day 2: GLC

Expected metagame
Read an overview of how the new Astral Radiance cards might impact the GLC format on GLC's official website. 
Labels: , , , , ,