Prof. Amphy’s New Theory: GRD (Gothitelle, Reuniclus, Dragons)

Just like some of the previous articles I’ve been reading on here, I have adopted a new title for my articles. I think it’s cool and catchy. Now since that’s out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff. The prereleases are over, and everyone is still scrambling to get the new cards for their decks.

Emerging Powers only gave us a couple of really good cards to work with, and they are pretty hard to come by unless you spend a lot of money. Two of those cards are going to be explained and used in this deck. That brings me to my first point.

Gothitelle EP #47

First, let’s go over what it does. Gothitelle is a Psychic-type Stage 2 Pokémon with 130 HP that has an Ability that says that if she’s your active Pokémon, your opponent can’t play any Item (Trainer) cards. It also has one attack for three C Energy that does 30 + 20 more damage for each P Energy attached to Gothitelle.

Let’s go over her Ability first. With her being in the Active Spot, you can stop your opponent cold in their tracks. No Catcher, no PlusPower, no Rare Candy, no Junk Arm, etc… It’s literally game breaking!!

Now her attack is not so game breaking. You can use a Double Colorless Energy and a P Energy to power it up quickly, but you’ll be only doing 50 damage. That’s not really good in a format full of powerful basics and Stage 1’s.

That only leaves you with attaching three P Energies to it for 90 damage, and that takes three turns, which is too long for some people. It also has a weakness to Psychic, and a Retreat Cost of two. There aren’t really any other Psychic types being used right now, unless you face a mirror match.

And why would you want to retreat something that stops your opponent from using Trainers? Being a Stage 2 means that it’s going to take some turns to get her out which could be a problem, if your opponent KOs you before you get it evolved and active. It’s pretty good that it has 130 HP, which prevents it from being KO’d easily. But it would still take a lot of damage, and put pressure on you to get out another one powered up on the bench, that brings me to my next point.

Reuniclus

pokemon-paradijs.comReuniclus is only used for one thing: Moving counters around with its Ability. It’s a 90 hp Psychic type that has a Mediocre attack. In this deck, it’ll sit on the bench and move the counters off of Gothitelle, and onto one of the dragons, Zekrom, or Reshiram. (I’ll talk about them later)

This is what makes Gothitelle more annoying when playing against it. It is a Stage 2, so takes some time to set up, but it can be done. The second place deck at Worlds used it to move damage off of its Pokémon onto the dragons as well. This is sorta like that, but with an EP twist on it.

Outrage

Yup, you guessed it. Reshiram and Zekrom’s first attack that doesn’t get used that much is the only attack you would use on the dragons. For the simple fact that you’re moving damage to them with Reuniclus, they’ll have enough damage on them to KO just about anything.

The only down side to this is that if you do attack with it, then you’ll lose the Trainer lock for a turn, which is crucial to keep going to keep your opponent at bay.

Nevertheless, it’s a great attack that this deck can take advantage of. With only needing one Double Colorless Energy, you can easily power it up when you need to. Since you need to keep the Trainer lock going most of the game, the only time you would really attach it to a dragon is when all of your Pokémon has counters on them. This is usually near the end of the game when you go into time.

At the end of the game the Trainer-lock is not that important and your opponent might have discarded, or shuffled in their Trainers, because of the lock. You should have caught up with your opponent in prizes by this time, or maybe have one more than them. If not, then it won’t matter what you do, You’ll lose, because you’re behind.

Seeker/Max Potion

pokebeach.comThese are the two cards that will annoy your opponent even further when playing against them. Seeker lets you pick up a Pokémon on the bench and put it back in your hand. This takes off all the damage on it. Using it on either dragon when they have a lot of damage on them is a pretty epic play, considering that you can just put it right back down on the bench fully healed and ready to soak up more damage.

Now Max Potion is one of the new cards from Emerging Powers that let’s you heal all the damage counters from one of your Pokémon, at the cost of discarding all your energy attached to it. This is also great with the dragons, seeing that you won’t attach an energy unless you’re attacking with them.

So you can just heal the damage off of them without discarding anything, which is broken with this deck’s strategy. The only downside to this is running into other Trainer-locking decks. With most of them being Stage two Pokémon, I don’t think it’s a real problem.

Catcher

With this card it makes it that much easier to KO your opponent. With three P Energies on Gothitelle, and only doing 90 damage, you’re not going to 1HKO anything over that. So you’ll just bring up someone weaker or with the same HP as that with Catcher, and Knock them Out.

With 90 damage, you get over basics (except the dragons) and Stage ones with 90 or less, which makes Catcher broken in this deck. Especially since you can use yours, and your opponent can’t use his, because they are locked.

GRD – List – 60 Cards

Pokémon – 19

3 Gothita EP

2 Gothorita EP

3 Gothitelle EP #47

3 Solosis BLW

2 Duosion BLW

2 Reuniclus BLW

2 Reshiram BLW

2 Zekrom BLW

 

 

Trainers – 30

4 Pokémon Collector

2 Bianca

4 Professor Oak’s New Theory

2 Professor Elm’s Training Method

3 Twins

2 Seeker/Max Potion

1 Flower Shop Lady

3 Rare Candy

4 Catcher

2 Pokémon Communication

2 Max Potion/Seeker

1 Energy Retrieval

Energy – 11

9 P

2 Double Colorless

Techs

pokebeach.comManaphy UL or Cleffa? It’s totally up to you what you want to play with. With Cleffa’s low HP, it will get KO’d quickly by just about anything if it wakes up at the wrong time, or it gets sniped off by Yamega Prime. Manaphy has more HP, but requires you to attach an energy for it to use its attack.

Energy attachments are crucial to this deck, as you will need to manually attach them to Gothitelle. She needs at least three to be successful, and it takes three turns to do so. That’s where Energy Retrieval comes in. It can get back two energies that were either discarded, or sent to the discard pile with a Pokémon.

If you fear Trainer lock, then play with more Seeker. It totally depends on the meta in your area. As for playing DCE for Outrage with the dragons is your choice also. If you can do it without giving up too much advantage on the Trainer lock, then congrats to you.

Pichu is a very situational card, but it’s useful in this deck. You can set up your bench perfectly so that if your opponent Catcher’s one of your Pokémon, you’ll still have one copy of that Basic on the bench. The down side is that you also help your opponent set up his bench also, which isn’t good at all. Still, it’s something to consider.

Strategy

pokebeach.comThis deck sets up slow, so you will need to play fast in order to beat the clock. Your opponent will try to take prizes fast, so you won’t be successful. That’s where Twins comes in. They’ll help you get the card you need to make it a challenging battle for your opponent. Once you get out Gothitelle, you should try to get it active as fast as possible. It doesn’t matter if it has energy on it. As long as you’ve locked down your opponent’s Trainers, you’re in the clear.

If your opponent Catchers you in the beginning, and they damage you, or Knock you Out before you get set up, then there’s really nothing you can do at that point, but shake your opponent’s hand. Be careful when you’re attacking opposing Reshirams and Zekroms, for they can easily Outrage you if you’re not careful. So wait until you get enough energy on Gothitelle to 1HKO it.

Be careful of Yamega Prime. It can come out on turn two and either snipe your weak Pokémon, or bring up a Basic with Catcher and KO it. Make sure you spread the damage with Reuniclus, so your Pokémon won’t get KO’ed byYamega.

The only Pokémon that can 1HKO Gothitelle are Emboar #19, Rayquaza/Deoxys Legend, Magnezone Prime, Xatu, Mew, and other Gothitelle decks. Most of these cards are in Stage two decks, and they will be iffy to play in this format with the fast Stage ones and Catcher. Mew is really weak and will get KO’d easily. Xatu is really good against it, but it will only be played if Gothitelle decks really do well at Battle Roads.

pokebeach.comAs far as mirror matches go, it will be a battle to see who gets set up fast, who can keep up the lock, and who can keep powering up Gothitelles to come out. Since both decks will lock each other, you’ll have to rely on your Supporters to get you though the game. Due to the fact that most players are on the fence about playing Gothitelle, you might not have to worry about this (unless this article could change their minds slightly).

Conclusion

With Emerging Powers now out, this is one of the many new strategies you’ll see, with two of the most talked-about cards out of the set, Catcher and Gothitelle #47. You might just see it at the top tables at Battle Roads.

Comment, and rate this however you want. We can only grow stronger by that which we don’t know yet, and what we don’t know, won’t kill us. That’s what we are here to learn. Until next time, Amphy out!!

Props

I like to give thanks to Innocent Shine and Adam for their help in editing this. Also to Mekkah and Baby Mario for their advice. I also like to give thanks to the rest of the players posting in the feedback thread on my post. My article wouldn’t be as good without you guys. Thanks.

Reader Interactions

72 replies

  1. Manny Z. ^w^

    It’s biggest downside is that it’s slow, and with fast decks like Donphan (blah!) out there, I don’t know how well this idea can work. Perhaps it would be nice to test with to see how it goes? How did it do against the current metagame as it stands?

    • samuel roach  → Manny

      It does pretty good against TyRam when the lock is up. They will try to discard your energy with Typhlosion Prime to keep you from putting enough energy on Goth to knock out Reshiram, but they risk getting their energy accelerator KO’ed. Which has happened.

       It’s not so good when you use Pichu and give your opponent a bench. I really want to test this out against Yamega decks and Donphan.

      The deck being slow is actually one of it’s strengths as well. Sure Donphan will get fast KO’s, but once a Goth and Reuniclus is out, what can it do? Twins will give the deck everything it needs to mount a full scale comeback.

      I still want to work with Pichu, because it does help, but I’m looking for other options as well. 

      • mike newman  → samuel

         “It’s not so good when you use Pichu and give your opponent a bench. I
        really want to test this out against Yamega decks and Donphan. ”

        You mean to tell me you posted an article about a deck to the 6P front page, and have not tested the deck against two of the three most important cards in our format? Is this a joke? Now I know why it was on Pokégym first.

    • Ron Routhier  → Manny

      Isn’t that why you run max twins? Donphan cannot OHKO Goth, so just keep up the Reun damage swap, and keep attaching Psychics for your own version of a OHKO. Stage ones don’t bother me with the right build.

  2. Anonymous

    The article quality is improving, but I’m still undecided on the deck. I do think that you list is not all that great.

    Right now I think that I am leaning towards it being not all that good. Here are some reasons why:

    1) The Goth has to be active and there are several things that can OHKO Goth in the format.

    2) The deck has little to no energy acceleration. This makes it extremely susceptible to energy disruption/ denial. For this reason alone, the tyRam match up is not really much better than 50/50, it at all.

    3) Decks are already moving towards being “lock proof.” Decks are running more supporters in congruence with items (PETM with Comm, etc). So, the locking factor is almost expected.

    4) Mew+almost anything owns Goth like nobody’s business. It can just run wild over the deck.

    5) Vileplume+almost anything beats this deck. The Goth decks are still built to rely on items. So, Vileplume will keep ticking with its supporters while Goth slows way down.

    6) Any number of the dragging Pokemon (Ferrathorn, Bellsprout, Muk, Liepard) in this format can take care of this deck. If this deck or Ross.dec starts to see wide spread play, count on those cards making it into quite a few decklists.

    7) Even puny little Xatu can OHKO a Goth that has been charged up to be able to OHKO Reshiram, Zekrom, or any other 130-140 hp Pokemon.

    8) Jirachi really, really messes this deck up in a big way.

    Finally, I really want to see Ross.dec or Goth/Reun become a big deal. Not because I think they will be good, but because it will give a reason for Blastoise/Floatzel to be played. BlastZel can really destroy those decks. Run a Twins/Sage’s engine in BlastZel. Get set up. OHKO that Reuncilus. Proceed to deal 100 damage to anything on the board.

    • samuel roach  → Anonymous

      What do you suggest I do to fix those problems then?

      1. What several things can KO a Gothitelle other than a Stage 2, or a legend? Last time I checked, it takes them pretty long to set up. Long enough for me to get a Goth up and shut off your trainers.
      2. You’re right. This deck doesn’t have energy accel. Is it supposed to? No. It being slow is what it’s all about. Come at me Typhlosion Prime with everything you’ve got. Because you attacking me Gothitelle means that she can KO you. And that will lead to your downfall.

      3. You’re ready for the lock? Good, because I’m ready for you too.

      4. :lol: that’s funny. I needed a good laugh.

      5. You’re right again. But did you factor in the fact that this deck can be ready for other Trainer locking decks? It can survive without Rare Candy, It runs some PETM’s It can play Seeker and  you don’t need Catcher in that match up anyway. I hope they have have some success setting up. That will be the real challenge.

      6. We shall see then. Thanks for the heads up.

      7. Tell me something I don’t know. I mentioned that in my article.

      8. First off, it can’t be teched into most decks because it needs a Psychic Energy. Second, it has 60 HP. Third, I’ll see it coming, so I’ll be ready for it. Fifth, your other Pokemon will have to damage my evos before Jirachi attacks. All the damage you do will get moved to the dragons, then healed off.

      Really? Blastoise/Flotzel? First off, Flotzel will get brought up and Catchered in seconds. Go ahead and run something like that with Zekrom and zone running around. Let’s see how long you live buddy.

      Nothing you said helps me out at all. I’m really disappointed in you. I expected better advice than this from you. :sad:

      • Anonymous  → samuel

        Really, you were disappointed? I gave honestly eight things this deck has going against it. Now for some more back and forth :)

        1) You can easily set up Legends and Stage 2s under item lock with Twins. You eight grab both halves with one Twins, or you chain the Twins. You get a evolution and another Twins. On the second turn of building, the Stage 1 is often strong enough to survive the Catcher and attack (or snipe). On the third turn you have the Stage s built. Then Goth is in big trouble. Cause Legends or Magnezone or Emboar can just stream OHKOs. You are also assuming that you will get Goth built and active (in most games) before your opponent gets a Stage 2 out. At best it should be 50/50 on that. As for tyRam. In a 4-2-4 build it is reasonable to assume that tyRam will get 3 Typhlosions going in the course of the game. Assuming that you will likely be attacking for 70-90 per turn. You can  2HKO Typhlosion, assuming that you don’t get energy locked. You will likely get locked out of attacking once or twice. So, each one will discard at least two energy. That is at least six energy gone. Good luck keeping it flowing without acceleration.

        You cannot really control things that can OHKO Goth. Try to take them out before it happens. I’m just not real sold on how often you can accomplish this.

        2) The point to no energy acceleration is that once you lose a Goth, it will likely take you 3-5 more drops to get it strong enough to OHKO anything. That is a lot of time to devote to staying alive. Your board could be flooded with damage in that time. Reuncilus can only move so much damage around before you run our of room. You also will have a hard time streaming attackers. You lose a ton of resources when even a single Goth goes down.

        You should look into Jirachi/Shaymin (or energy switch).

        3) The point is that decks have the tools they need to continue working under lock. You are not going to run into may lists anymore that go, “well shoot the locked me, that eliminates 1/3 to 1/2 of my deck.” At Worlds so many decks ran SO many items that Ross.dec was a shock to the system. That won’t be the case much anymore.

        Not much you can do here. You cannot dictate what cards are in your opponent’s deck.

        4) I really hope you are not laughing at the ability of Mew to truck stomp this deck. It does and it likely will. They can easily spam attackers that hit for 80-120, x2 weakness, 160-240 damage on turn two for the rest of the game. Have fun with that.

        Not too much you can do in this case. Pray for them to have horrible draws.

        5) The point is that Vileplume decks can use other attackers, and that you lose tools that you are counting on (Catcher, Candy, etc.). Vileplume could sit there any build a Legend, Stage 2, or psychic to OHKO your Goths all day. The effectiveness of Goth.dec greatly diminishes when Goth is not active. Hence, limited attacking options.

        Not much you can do to add mid game attacking options without making Reuncilus vulnerable.

        6) I’m just saying that you should be prepared for dealing with one of those. However, this also compounds the energy situation. If you have to waste energy to retreat you could really be put in trouble.

        Switch will help with this.

        7) …

        8) Yes it can. Any deck can change a basic energy or two for Rainbow Energy. Then with an accelerator (emboar, typhlosion, shaymin/pachirisu, blastoise/floatzel) you can easily hit drop Jirachi, play Rainbow, retreat, and get total 3-5 energy on Jirachi to devolve your whole field. Assuming you Rare Candied into a couple of those, you are going to be stalled for a turn or two before getting everything back going. Not to mention the Pokemon that you have put damage onto to save the active. Anything like that is likely dead after that de-evolution. It does not matter if Jirachi gets OHKOd back, the damage will have likely been done.

        Evolve through the Stage 1s to avoid this. However, then you will lose the set up game.

        BlastZel: Notice how I said, if Ross.dec or Goth gets big it would not be a terrible play. Nothing I said was incorrect. It does fair nicely against both those decks. As for Magnezone, it will likely see a decline in play. Also, it has already been widely discussed how it can be teched out for Zekrom and that has not really changed. First, you can assume that you can score 2-3 easy prizes off of Pachirisu and Shaymin. Then you can tech in a couple other things (Donphan, Thorh, Zoroark, to name a few) that allow you to hit back at Zekrom. Is it a favorable match up? No. Is it any worse that 40-60? No.

        Finally, I am a little disappointed in you, and I think other people should be also. Let me explain. As a writer it is YOUR responsibility to be knowledgeable about the topic you choose to write on. In this case it was a Goth.dec analysis article. So, you should have tested it against a TON of stuff (not just the meta) and know what it’s weak spots are AND how to counter those weak spots. YOU should have multiple lists in your head that you can (if you choose) discuss with people. YOU should know most of the techs. Yes, it is nice when you learn from the comments, but you are asking me (and several others) for our opinions on how to make this work better. That is not our job here. It is not my job to provide you with the answers to the questions I posed. To be honest, I do not know how Goth is supposed to counter these things well. That is why I do not think it  is a top tier (competitive) deck.

        Do you have to be the end all expert? No. Should be very well versed in what you are talking about? Yes.

        I have not attacked your person or the format/structure/writing standard of the article at all. All I have merely done is pointed out several GLARING problems that this deck has to overcome. That is a very legitimate way to comment on an article. That is not random trolling that should cause you to be disappointed.

         

  3. Anonymous

    Hmmmm.  No Switch?  A Beartic opponent is very troublesome here, requiring a very special kind of defense, or you will be left with only bad options.

  4. Josh

    This list is so bad seriously…

    1. 3 goths is just stupid you need 4 to keep the lock over the game
    2.  bianca is so bad Juniper is better in every way
    3.  4 dragons… why even risk starting with them 1-1 is the most you should need
    4.  why 4 catchers? the whole point of the deck is to setup and prevent KO’s not get easy prises off of catcher
    5.  No junk arm… what why would you give up that flexability
    6.  …

    • samuel roach  → Josh

      1. I don’t think so.
      2. Juniper is better, but Bianca has worked ok so far in this deck.
      3. Ok, thanks.
      4. you’re right. I need to fix that
      5. I needed room for other stuff and I’m not playing that many trainers as it is.
      6. ?
      • Josh  → samuel

        1. ok thanks for making me work for 3 kills rather than 4… hope one isnt prized :D

        2.  if juniper is better then how would it not work?  logic fail

        3.  yeah

        4.  thanks

        5.  you play 5 different trainers which what most decks play other than plus power so I dont see how you can say that you dont play that many trainers…

        6.  could have gone on but didnt really feel like it

        • Daniel Middleton  → Josh

          These comments are quite shallow if you ask me.. I accept there are going to be disagreements about lists, but discussing like this is completely counterproductive.

          As for your argument that 4 Gothitelles are compulsory.. Have you tested this deck fully? I have to disagree that 4 will be needed.. 3 is enough.

          As for the article itself, I don’t see anything wrong with it. The list has some questionable things in it but the rest of the article is good stuff. Do people just look at lists and give it a negative?

          Amphy has clearly put effort into fixing this one up for it to be ready for the front page and has succeeded in my eyes.

          Liked :)

          /rant

        • Josh  → Daniel

          You need at least a 4-2-3 line because well for this deck to work you need 2 goths out at all times unless you are playing donphan or something else that needs to like 3 shot it without trainers.  If one of the basics dies then you are only woking with being able to get out 2 goths max unless you FSL for the basic back (bad idea that early).  Also what if one of your basics is prized?  Then what happens when they catcher and kill T2 now you have one goth to work with the whole game (he even says that its game over for you in the article so why not play thicker lines to make that tactic less effective?)… Just theorymon, but good theorymon that you have to think about when you are building a deck.  We dont have Azelf anymore and catcher kills things with thin lines early game.  

          He doesnt even really give a good tech list he simply puts things in like play cleffa/manaphy if you want hand refresh and play pichu if you want but its situational.  He doesnt even mention blissey as tech in the deck and its probably one of the best ones out there IMO.

          The biggest problem is that kids and netdeckers are going to see the list and the “SixPrizes” name along with it and take it as gospel and take it to league and get trashed by people that actually put thought into their own decks.  Then they quit the game because they lose and dont want help because the person trying to help them isnt sixprizes.  Why not put a skeleton list in articles instead of a card for card list that may or may not work for people.  Not only would it receive less hate, but it would be a better article in general because you could talk about more options and techs that can be put into the deck.  In addition, it encourages people building their own deck even though its not from scratch they have to at least put thought into it rather than just playing a SIXPRIZES.DEC.

          /rant

        • Anonymous  → Josh

          “The biggest problem is that kids and netdeckers are going to see the
          list and the “SixPrizes” name along with it and take it as gospel and
          take it to league and get trashed by people that actually put thought
          into their own decks.  Then they quit the game because they lose and
          dont want help because the person trying to help them isnt sixprizes.
           Why not put a skeleton list in articles instead of a card for card list
          that may or may not work for people.  Not only would it receive less
          hate, but it would be a better article in general because you could talk
          about more options and techs that can be put into the deck.  In
          addition, it encourages people building their own deck even though its
          not from scratch they have to at least put thought into it rather than
          just playing a SIXPRIZES.DEC.”

          ~~~~

          I am fully adamant that net decking ANY list makes you fully responsible for any wins or losses with that deck.  Or do you mean to tell me that we owe netdeckers better lists?

          I’ll agree that encouraging authors to make skeleton lists is a net positive, but you’re a bit over the top here. 

          To be honest, people may dislike me saying this, but this article DOES(*) deserve a spot here on the front page.  Amphy posted it on the forums, got feedback, had our “unofficial lady of war editor” edit it for grammar, spelling, typos, and formatting.  He presented us with his list.  That, in my opinion, is all that qualifies for a spot on the FP.  Unpopular lists may not be “lol i can take this and use it withotu changing it” but i ask EVERYONE that downvoted this if they honestly believe they don’t have an idea of how they’d play this deck now.  This is very similar to me posting the megazone list right before Canadian nationals.  It got flamed and attacked for my personal take on it, but then a variant of the deck became one of the best decks in format. 

          *(Him having posted this earlier on the ‘gym kinda lessens my vote towards this fact, but meh)

        • Jak Stewart-Armstead  → Daniel

          ‘Do people just look at lists and give it a negative?’

          Dan, Dan, Dan . . .

          I think we all know the answer to that question.

    • Aron Janstad Wright  → Josh

      1. I would dissagree. Since it takes time to ko ONE of them due to damage swap. you would waste alot of resources and wont be able to draw the last prize first
      2. personal playstile?

      3. NO NO NO! you need 2 of each! you dont want one of them prized. what if your up against samurott and zekrom is prized.. are you gonna use reshi?

      and add kyurem when it comes out. 2-2-2 line

      1. replace with rainbow energies incase you need to:

      a. power up outrage just by 10 damage (a difference of 10 damage can win or lose games)
      b. use bolt strike or blue flare (or blizzard when kyurem is out)
      c. counts as rainbow
      d. the ten damage doesn’t matter if you attach to gothy ’cause you just move it (point a.)5. could agree

      • Josh  → Aron

        1.  you need at least a 4-2-3 line so that if basics get picked off early you have the extras to recover because you wont always hit T2 goth t2 reuin… but hitting a T2 donphan/yanmega is much much easier

        2.  if someone said playing bill was part of their playstyle they would get torn apart or not using sages or other better draw supporters.  Juniper is better, he even admitted it…

        3.  well hope you like starting with it, wasting that energy drop could lose a game, plus who cares about samurott?  Do you think people will be playing it that much?  this deck is a damage control deck not a power up outrage and sweep deck.  You dont have to take 6 prizes in 6 turns.  Once you send out a dragon to attack (unless it is the last prize) you will probably lose because you let your opponent out of the lock.

        4.  why not get something that is more important first like say more than 2 comms, the 4th twins which is what the deck really runs on, a 4th candy (not needed but its not a bad idea since there are 2 stage 2′ in the deck), or heck even a switch or some junk arms… 

        • erick  → Josh

          What’s the connection between basics get picked up early and 4 gothitelle? You can always use 4-2-3 lineup.

  5. Kendrick Dalo

    Once this deck sets up its almost impossible to beat it because of the healing but it requires an almost perfect build to get setup consistently. I don’t agree with a 2-2 reshi zek split 1-1 works fine and i really cant quite get my head around bianca. Sages works 100% better at any time in the game and gives you any 2 cards of 5. After you get goth/reuni setup it doesnt matter that you’ve discarded other cards especially with junk arms (which are oddly missing).    

    • Anonymous  → Kendrick

      Yeah, 1-1 Reshikrom = Perfection. I don’t quite agree on the Bianca either, but I don’t like Sage’s; I’d put in Prof. Juniper instead.

    • Michael Juliano  → Kendrick

      It’s only impossible to beat if you can get energy onto Gothitelle. I lost a match even thought I had Goth and Reuniclus out on turn 2 with dragons on turn 3 because I had the worst energy drought in the world. I literally took 100 damage from Do the Wave for at least a dozen turns without losing anyone, but since I couldn’t get energy to attack, I eventually couldn’t heal anymore and just got pwned. Since then, I’ve added Juniper and Junk Arm, and I haven’t had an energy drought since.

      Other than that mishap, the deck is great! I was no where close to losing to anyone else at Battle Roads. Well, except for for the guy that donked my Cleffa with a Tyrogue because he won the coin toss, but that could happen to any deck with a 30 hp basic start. I’ll post my build later for anyone who wants to know how God feels.

  6. Jak Stewart-Armstead

    Like all Goth decks, it has problems against anything that can one-shot it under lock (Magnezone, Bad Boar, RDL).

    I agree that 2/2 Dragons are not necessary (they are not a great starter and the list doesn’t run Switch). I would like to see Pichu/Cleffa in there too.

    I gave this a Like as amphy is definitely improving. All he needs now is a rap.

    • samuel roach  → Jak

      Thanks. I’ll consider taking the dragons down a notch. That would make room for Cleffa/Pichu.

      :lol: a rap would be awesome!! (goes to work on some lyrics)

  7. Jak Stewart-Armstead

    Like all Goth decks, it has problems against anything that can one-shot it under lock (Magnezone, Bad Boar, RDL).

    I agree that 2/2 Dragons are not necessary (they are not a great starter and the list doesn’t run Switch). I would like to see Pichu/Cleffa in there too.

    I gave this a Like as amphy is definitely improving. All he needs now is a rap.

  8. samuel roach

    Thanks to everyone who’s posting helpful advice. I really appreciate it. I will keep working on my deck to make it as solid as I can. Keep posting and commenting. All your advice and criticism will be welcomed and accepted here. I can only get better by hearing what you have to say. 

    • Josh  → samuel

      this isnt a post deck for help forum… its a write an article about how to play a well tested deck… you obviously havent tested it very much cause you dont have many answers for some of the worst matchups…

  9. erick

    This is one of the worst gothitelle deck list I’ve seen so far, and I’m sure you haven’t properly tested this deck. Not just the matchups, but the consistency itself and how this deck runs in general.

    3 Goth is fine but I’d still keep 4 gothitas, 2-2 dragons is well too much like everyone said. Just need some babies or other techs like blissey or hypno.

    The trainer supporter lineup is horrible! 

    4 catcher, 2 max potion, 2 seeker, energy retrieval, fsl is pretty much a dead draw for early – mid game for this deck specifically. Even Bianca can be a dead draw at times. I highly doubt the consistency of a deck who runs 4 oak, 2 unreliable draw supporter, 3 situational draw supporter and no cleffa.

    2 communication / 2 petm split isn’t ideal, yes i know it’s good against trainer lock blablabla, but you just wasted your supporter turn and can’t even use it if you got it from oak/bianca. comm + junk arm is a much better option, while petm is a just a 61st card.

    tropical beach might also help this deck, not for the entire game but mostly for the one time that you drop it and draw til 7 even if you got it using twins.

    and you don’t even use jirachi or cheren or sages.

  10. Sam Stevens

    Teddiursa CoL as starter to potentially turn 1 trainer lock… sure its on a flip but so are many other cards and they still get played, it also puts up a -30 damage shield at the same time… another way to run Gothitelle is Jirachi/Shaymin to set-up your attacker in 1 turn like Pachirisu does for Zekrom, sure they are Catcher bait but hopefully you should have trainer lock up all game (Turn 1 Teddi, then turn 2 onwards is constant Goth)

  11. Colin Peterik

    I had to give it a thumbs down because it was not terribly well written, and the list certainly lacks testing. 
    1-1 Dragons is good enough.
    1 (Maybe 2) Catcher is all you need. 
    4 Solosis AND 4 Gothita is a must.
    4 Pichu, or 3/1 Pichu/Cleffa has been working really well in my testing.
    4 Twins. Too good in this deck when Pichu goes down.
    There are sooo many Pokemon.. Why run Elm’s? Just max Communication instead.
    1 Switch is needed for stupid stuff like Beartic, Krookodile, special conditions, etc.
    It’s a really good deck when it gets going. However, it really suffers against Magnezone and RDL as mentioned, who one-shot it. 
    The whole Xatu thing is BS, don’t worry about it :)

  12. Lynx Meche

    This still needed some work on the list and strategy, but this is a major improvement over the original. Giving you a +1 for getting help and applying it, and using a deck idea that’s still being tested overall. Check out the advice now in the comments, since most of it is good and couldn’t hurt to try. Specifically, Switch, Junk Arm, more basics, and fewer dragons are being brought up. opinion

    • Anonymous  → Lynx

      And here we have our Lady of War, Innocent Shine, editing and pwning bad grammar and typos in our wonderful 6P motherland. 

  13. Aron Janstad Wright

    instead of 4 PONT i would suggest running a split of 2/2 copycat and pont as your trainer lock is sure to clog your opponents hand = larger hand with copycat.

    and also, try removing 2 collectors and adding one pichu as a starter. that way you have a free space for added consistency or techs.My team mate is actually in the process of building a gothy/reuniclus/elementalbirdsripoff deck very similar to yours. …and i played alakazam for a bit back in the days ;)except i used dark alakazam as an attacker (they used the same abra and breeder)great article =)

  14. froggy25

    I remember reading this on the gym one week ago.

    4 Gothita / Solosis because of Catchers early game is a must, 4 Twins too, 3/4 Communication too, 2 Zekrom is enough you don’t need Reshiram, plus it breaks your Trainer Lock, Juniper / Sage over Bianca, you can reduce to 2 Catchers ’cause you don’t need them early game, you don’t have many room for them, and the 3/4 Junk Arm recycles them very well…

    HOLY WTF WHERE ARE TEH JUNK ARMS ???

      • Anonymous  → Adam

        I knew he posted it on the 6P forms for feedback, but I had no idea it was on the gym too…

        Amphy, you can’t spam an article everywhere.  Pick a site/spot, and be dedicated to it.

        • samuel roach  → Anonymous

          Oh ok, I didn’t know that I couldn’t do that. I’ll just do them on here from now on. Sorry about that.

  15. Adam Capriola

    I thought this article was fine, I don’t get what all the hubbub is about. Amphy did a good job outlining the deck. If the list is sub-par in your opinion, that’s fine. I’m sure it gives a lot of people a starting point to go by and improve the deck.

    • Anonymous  → Adam

      Yes, the writing and structure of the article was good. I also do not care about the list not being stellar. I waited for quiet a while before giving it a thumbs down.

      I ultimately gave it a thumbs down for a couple reasons:

      1) The more Amphy replies to comment, the less it looks like he has put serious amounts of time into testing this. IMO, if you are going to do a deck analysis, you need to have done extensive testing.

      2) Specifically, he attacked me for my comment. I raised perfectly good points about why the deck struggles and he responds “I’m really disappointed in you.” All because I did not give him the answers to the problems I pointed out. When you call out a person (not the comment) for a very sound comment, you get a down vote in my book.

  16. alex bob

    1. No need whatsoever for Reshiram, why do you run it instead of Basculin?

    2. This deck also needs needs needs switch, what are you going to do if you start with a dragon? How would you switch from Gothitelle to a dragon and then back?

    3. Also needs Junk Arm.

    4. Has no need for 4 Catcher, even 3 would be overkill in this deck.

    5. Flower Shop Lady is crap.

    6. Needs more Max Potion and maybe Seeker

    7. 3 Rare Candy!?!? Now it seems like your trying not to win. The whole point of this deck is to get a T2 Goth AND a T2-T3 Reuniclus, how can you do that when you only run 3 Rare Candy? What if one is prized?

    8. There are sooooo many better draw powers than Bianca.

    9. Only 2 Pokemon Communication? How are you supposed to get a T2 Goth???

    10. At least play 4 Gothitelle so you have a higher chance of drawing into it….

    11. Autoloss against Zekrom.

  17. samuel roach

    I’m going to put this list in the deck help section, where it should have been posted in the first place. I’m still testing, and tweaking the deck, so your comments are not in vein. Who knows, maybe next time I’ll be putting up a Battle Roads top 4 Report. Later.

  18. Evan Doornink

    So in response to Pokemon Catcher, I created deck list very similar in concept. The most vital difference between our lists, is that I have incorporated a 2-2 line of Slowking Prime. 

    Though I haven’t tested this much at all, I really like the combination of Gothitelle and Slowking. Theoretically the two of them should make for a vicious lock, much more crippling than either by themselves. As well as the fact that Slowking can be very helpful on your side of the board, partially making up for the lack of draw power that can potentially hold down the deck. 

    Haha that’s just the route that I chose with this deck, and thought that it might play out pretty well. Anyways good luck with your list man. 

  19. Steven Nilsen

    I’m glad somebody covered this deck.  Just to get a discussion of it on the front page. This is one of the newer interesting decks out there.  Since some people will play this crazy deck, there are a couple of cards that bring it down to think about.  

    DCL – turn the damage swap into instant victory.  I’ve hit my last four prizes in one swoop.  Late game there’s usually plenty of damage to swap around.  DCL, needing only 1 P to do Moon’s Invite is a decent counter to this deck.  It is also helpful against Vileplume decks, another common strategy.

    Xatu – now its useful against a couple of cards. (already mentioned)

    Ttar – well, not so much a counter, as it just stomps this deck.  Gothitelle is a poser – Ttar is the Dark Side.

    • samuel roach  → Steven

      That’s my main reason for doing this article. To just get people talking about it in the open. Now I have a broad way of learning about and helping people with this deck.

      I don’t know if anyone is thinking about DCL, or Xatu. And Ttar will have to be perfect in order to get past Gothitelle and the lock + the rest of the Format that plays Catcher.

      • Anonymous  → samuel

        You play two Twins (quickly becoming a staple card anyway). That way when Goth goes ahead on prizes you can get it.

        • samuel roach  → Anonymous

          Goth will slowly but surely get ahead on prizes. By that time, it will be too late for you.

        • Anonymous  → samuel

          I’m not real sure what you mean by your last question. Are you simply pointing out that my ‘gym screen name is ajhawk?

          Back to the issue, can you explain (I really want to know an answer. I’m not just trolling like you seem to indicate on the ‘gym.) how it would be too late? I could just keep attacking and putting damage on the field. The the moment you go back up on prizes (unless it is the very last prize), I could Twins and hit DCL, drop the Rainbow, and set it active in a turn (that does not seem too farfetched). If I could then take 2-3 prizes through this, I could possibly finish the game. Does Goth have a way of taking more than one prize a turn that will immediately end the game or make it “too late” once you skip back ahead in prizes?

          It would seem that you mean that once you go ahead there are no options for most decks to recover. Is this what you are saying?

        • samuel roach  → Anonymous

          I was talking about your post about you using Twins. Not about who you are on the Gym.

          I’ll explain. Goth decks start out behind on prizes. We slowly start to take prizes once we get up the lock and heal. We don’t usually tie it up until late mid game end game maybe. By the time we go up in the prize war, it usually is around t3 after time. Also, by the time we take that prize, You might not have Twins. You only run 2, which means you won’t see it as often as you like. And if you do see it, it’ll be in your hands at times when you don’t need it, because YOU’RE still up on prizes. You’ll shuffle it back in your deck though out the course of the game.

          With Goth not doing that much damage, it’ll take us 2 turns to KO most stuff. We don’t have to attach more energies to KO you right away. We can start Powering up another one, which is what we want to do anyway. Also, if we know you’re playing a legend (which we will because of the type of deck we’re facing) I can stall (legally) and take a prize when I want to. That’s what I mean.

        • samuel roach  → Anonymous

          I was talking about your post about you using Twins. Not about who you are on the Gym.

          I’ll explain. Goth decks start out behind on prizes. We slowly start to take prizes once we get up the lock and heal. We don’t usually tie it up until late mid game end game maybe. By the time we go up in the prize war, it usually is around t3 after time. Also, by the time we take that prize, You might not have Twins. You only run 2, which means you won’t see it as often as you like. And if you do see it, it’ll be in your hands at times when you don’t need it, because YOU’RE still up on prizes. You’ll shuffle it back in your deck though out the course of the game.

          With Goth not doing that much damage, it’ll take us 2 turns to KO most stuff. We don’t have to attach more energies to KO you right away. We can start Powering up another one, which is what we want to do anyway. Also, if we know you’re playing a legend (which we will because of the type of deck we’re facing) I can stall (legally) and take a prize when I want to. That’s what I mean.

  20. Steven Nilsen

    I’m glad somebody covered this deck.  Just to get a discussion of it on the front page. This is one of the newer interesting decks out there.  Since some people will play this crazy deck, there are a couple of cards that bring it down to think about.  

    DCL – turn the damage swap into instant victory.  I’ve hit my last four prizes in one swoop.  Late game there’s usually plenty of damage to swap around.  DCL, needing only 1 P to do Moon’s Invite is a decent counter to this deck.  It is also helpful against Vileplume decks, another common strategy.

    Xatu – now its useful against a couple of cards. (already mentioned)

    Ttar – well, not so much a counter, as it just stomps this deck.  Gothitelle is a poser – Ttar is the Dark Side.

  21. Marcus Lim

    I took a Gothithelle, Reuniclus, Zekrom to 3rd place in a small tournament last month. Works like a charm against any deck that can’t one-hit you. However you are a at a huge risk of being donked. I was fortunate we were playing single-elimination with a best-of three. I called the deck “Caitlin’s Revenge” because of the similarity to the Video Game’s Elite Four Caitlin who also uses Gothithelle & Reuniclus.

    I can’t vouch for this list but here’s what I have to say about my experience actually playing the deck and not just talking about it in theory:

    • It’s very susceptible to donks.
    • 2 Zekroms were just nice for soaking up damage and taking last KOs with maxed Outrage
    • I found 4 Junipers & 4 Twins to be very effective.
    • 3 Catcher was good enough since I also ran Junk Arm to re-use Rare Candy
    • I used only 3 Goth but I did lose a game where I wish I had one more. I now test with Rescue energy in my deck

    It’s definitely not an easy deck to play. Even with both Goth & Reuniclus set up you have to manage your damage counters wisely. Remember not to take too early a Prize Lead in case an unexpected Black Belt takes out your Active Gothithelle.

    Love seeing more being discussed about this deck :)

    • samuel roach  → Marcus

      I don’t know about the donks though. Maybe if you have a bad hand w no Collector.

      This deck makes you think. It’s different than the other fast auto pilot deck that I use to play. That’s why I like it.

      • Marcus Lim  → samuel

        It does :) I just had another game versus a Donphan / Tornadus yesterday with a friend and it was close and tense, just the stuff good games are made of!

        • samuel roach  → Marcus

          I know what you mean. I played a couple of games against my friends TyRam deck, and I came back and won.

          with these type of decks, you get more interesting games. It’s nicer than wham bam thank you mam.

  22. Nestly

    Thanks for making this review. I got a couple nice Gothitelle cards at my pre-release, and have been meaning to use it somehow since I’m getting bored with my Reshiboar/phlosion and ZPS decks. It is definitely a hard deck to use, but I’ll have fun finding out more about it the more I use it. Definitely is hard to get going. And relying on Gothitelle as a trainer block on your opponent is too much to expect since it just can take too long to bring out. If your opponent gets first turn and can set up in a couple turns, it’s just not a good strategy to rely on.
    But still fun to play around with.
    I appreciate people who make these skeleton decks to help me with somewhere to start!

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