Hello there! My name is Alex, a 20 year old from Seattle Washington. I am fairly new to the Pokémon scene, but in my short time here, I feel as though I have enough understanding of the game to jot down a few words for you.
My only real Pokémon accomplishment has been getting second at a Battle Roads with Klinklang. My first tournament ever was this season’s States. I took 45th going 5-3 with Magnezone/Eels, or “Thunderdome.” This season I am going to try to make a run to Worlds, making an attempt to attend as many events as possible.
I hope that through this article, and more in the future, that my opinion on certain decks will help you to further understand the game from a different view point.
Let’s get started, shall we?
The 3×3 Goal Method
When I look at a decklist someone has made, or I am dreaming up my own idea, I generally like to follow a system I like to call the 3×3 goal method. This method is based on the principles that every player would like to achieve in the deck building process. Building your deck and making it your own is one of the best things a player can do to be successful. Play testing is a close second to deck building, for if you have no deck to play with, how can one play test?
The 3×3 goal method starts off first with determining a goal. What are you trying to do with the deck? With a deck such as FluffyChomp, the goal is to do as much damage as possible with a low Energy cost. With a deck like Durant NVI, the goal is to deck your opponent out before they Knock Out six of your metallic ants.
Most of the time, your goal is going to be something along the lines of “try to Knock Out six of their Pokémon before they Knock Out six of mine.” But that goal is bland, boring, and basically just a restatement of how to win the game. The more specific your goal statement is, the better. Zekeels uses a goal along the lines of, “Use Dynamotor from Eels to charge up an array of attackers quickly.”
After you have established your goal, you must now rate your deck. This can be done by using the first set of three from the 3×3 goal method. Each and every deck can be judged on how good or bad it is from the following three criteria:
1. Speed – How fast can your deck get set up?
Being able to strike first is a great thing. You might hear the term “Prize Race” being thrown around. Being ahead early is always a good thing (since Twins is gone now). Think about if you were racing in a 100m dash. Would you rather start out trying to catch someone, or letting the other person look at the back of your head while you speed toward the finish? Being the first to set up in Pokémon is a great, great thing.
2. Power – How much damage can your deck do?
pokemon-paradijs.comOur format is dominated by some of the highest HP Pokémon this game has ever seen. Having a HP of 180 is common now. If your deck can overcome this hurdle, then you don’t have to worry about wasting turns trying to 3HKO or even 4HKOing someone. One and done.
3. Consistency – How often do you get the fastest set up, and the most damage done?
Imagine those two things above. Pretty hard to get that in a deck right? Well think about if you could do that, but every single game! Pokémon is divided into multiple rounds, and players are constantly trying to remove luck from the game. The more often you can get a perfect set up out of your deck, the better you are.
If your deck has a smiley face next to the first three steps, you will win more often than not. CMT and Zekeels dominated Spring Regionals because they both had very fast speed, incredibly hard hitting power, and great deck consistency.
“But Alex, my deck is missing one of those three things! How can I improve my deck?”
Well reader, that’s why I am here!
The next leg of the 3×3 goal method is the leg to boost your deck’s rating. These three items will in turn help your speed, power, and consistency. This is the part of the method where through play testing, you can go back in and edit your deck to make it better:
1. Draw Power/Support – Can you get more cards in your hand faster?
I say Power/Support because drawing cards comes in two forms: Abilities or attacks printed on Pokémon, and Supporters. Playing more of these will boost your consistency. But too many of them, will clog your deck up. People are often walking that fine line between a deck that never gets shuffled, to hands that exceed double digits.
Empoleon DEX has a built in draw power that won’t have you relying on supporters. Professor Juniper will let you get rid of cards you don’t need, to draw a fresh new hand of 7! Cards like these will help you go through your deck to find what you need!
2. Energy Acceleration – Can you attach more than one Energy per turn?
pokemon-paradijs.comThe rules of Pokémon are annoying. “Only one Energy per turn? So you’re saying I have to spend three full turns powering up my Darkrai EX?” Energy acceleration is what lets you attach more than one Energy per turn, and thus bending the rule. Dark Patch is a great Item form of Energy acceleration. Most all of the time, acceleration comes in the form of an Ability or attack. It is good to have at least some form of Energy acceleration in all decks.
There is an exception to this rule, however. If your main attacker only needs one Energy to attack, then you don’t really have to worry about charging it up. This frees up space in your deck for other cards that would normally be spent on acceleration.
3. Search Cards – Can you get the right Pokémon out at the right times?
Every deck needs to have a set up. Usually players will say they’re set up once they have their bench full with attackers they need. Well how can you get your bench full quicker? Search cards! Searching for Pokémon by using Trainer cards takes away the luck factor of drawing into those Pokémon.
The last leg of the 3×3 goal method is how each player makes the deck their own, rather than just playing the meta:
1. Techs – What Pokémon are you putting into the deck that nobody else is?
Techs also address counter meta cards. In the area I play, there is a lot of Darkrai EX/Hydreigon DRX floating around, so I teched a Terrakion NVI into my deck, to help out with that matchup. Adjustments have to be made in every deck to make room for teched cards, but in the end, it will pay off.
2. Trainer Cards – How are you filling up the extra space left behind by the skeleton?
The term “skeleton” is basically describing the essential cards that a specific deck needs. For example, if a person wanted to run a Zekeels deck, they would need a certain amount of Zekrom BLW, Mewtwo EX, Eels, L Energy, and other cards. It is the thing that makes the deck fall under that title.
The Items that you choose varies differently from player to player and from area to area. If you find yourself needing that second Super Rod, then find space for it!
3. Counts of Cards – How many Energy? What are your evolution lines? How many Supporters?
This part is fickle. It basically comes down to need vs. want. When I first saw Empoleon DEX/Terrakion variants being put up on the internet, I saw it built 2 different ways, one with 2 Prinplup DEX, and one with none. If you think you need those two extra Max Potion, then drop the Prinplup. It is this sort of thing that players need to tweak to make their deck run just that much smoother.
Garbodor Deck Analysis
Now that you know a little bit how I look at decks, let’s get to the real point of this article: Garbodor DRX. This pile of garbage has a very interesting Ability. When a Tool card is attached to Garbodor, all other abilities stop working. With Item lock taking a back seat, Garbodor makes a strong case for being the main annoyance for the up and coming format.
When I first looked at this card, I started to think back to the Klinklang BLW deck I ran at Battle Roads. When I didn’t have a Klinklang on board, the deck seemed to fizzle out and die. Then I thought about Eelektrik, Darkrai EX, Gabite DRX, Altaria DRX, Hydreigon DRX, and countless other Pokémon with Abilities that are going to be a huge part of decks. I wanted to make a deck that just stopped all of that nonsense.
The big question is what works well with Garbodor’s disruption? There are about 5 different things I tried before settling on my final build.
I first decided to make an all around disruption deck. I had messaged my friend on Facebook the following:
“I got it: I’m gunna run a disruption deck in BW-on
Featuring hammers, trubbish, tool scrapper! The works!
Tell me what you think of this:
Garbodor DRX
Driftblim DRX
Pinsir NXD
Sableye DEX
Then of course your hammers, N, Catcher, and tool scrapper”
I ran a 3-3 Garbodor line, a 2-2 Drifblim DRX, 2 Pinsirs NXD, and 3 Sableye DEX. I tried and tried, but it still wasn’t coming out right. Even after I fit a Mewtwo into the list, I decided to give up and move on to my next idea: Big Tanks.
pokemon-paradijs.comStill with the 3-3 Garbodor line, I tried 2 Mewtwo, 2 Terrakion, and 2 Regigigas-EX. This build was working out great! Opponents were always trying to figure out what to Catcher up! Through many Exp. Shares and praying on DCE, I was able to put more of an offensive front on things. Then I ran into Fighting decks. I realized the problem was giving up an EX prize. With no form of Energy acceleration, there was not a whole lot I could do late game.
With the EX problem on my mind, I decided to go to a spread deck idea. Kyurem always comes to mind when I hear spread. I tried running 4 Kyurem NVI, 2 Registeel-EX, and a Mewtwo EX, I think. The reason I can’t remember that well is because this build was awful. The first game I played, my opponent attached an Eviolite turn one and I realized that a spread deck would never work well with Garbodor.
I was about ready to give up on Garbodor. Nothing I had tried worked. I started to build a Garchomp/Altaria deck with my head hung low.
About half way through, my brother walked in and handed me a card that I had dropped in the living room. It was an Exp. Share. I looked at it and started to think about decks that ran Exp. Share, and I remembered Quad Terrakion.
Right away I throw a decklist together and started to test. That night I played about 10 games with it, and only lost once. Sure I did play a couple of other people testing out their rogue ideas, but I knew that I was going to settle on Quad Terrakion with Garbodor!
Decklist
Before I dive any further into how to play this deck, I am going to go ahead and give you the list I am currently running.
|
Pokémon – 10 |
Trainers – 38 4 N 4 Cheren
4 Switch |
Energy – 12 12 F |
I have tweaked a few things here and there since I first built the deck, but as of this moment in time, that is the exact list I am using.
Strategy
The main idea of this deck (or the goal, if you will) is to hit for 90 every turn. In Pokémon, 90 is a beautiful number. The maximum HP of Pokémon is 180 HP (except for Wailord) meaning that at the very least you two shot every Pokémon in the format (well, almost. More on that later). If any one of those Pokémon is an EX, you win the prize race.
When Junk Arm got rotated, the original Quad Terrakion deck took a hit. Now, Terrakion is used as a tech in order to help out with Eel match ups, and Darkrai EX matchups. With the new partner in crime, Garbodor, suddenly Quad Terrakion is back in the mix, since it slows down all other decks to a speed Terrakion can handle.
Drawing into Exp. Share is a must. That is the sole form of energy acceleration in this deck. Without Exp. Share, it becomes very difficult to maintain that goal of 90 damage every turn. Without that Energy, your opponent can Catcher kill around your Retaliates and make it harder for you to score some KOs.
There are two reasons that this deck is the best form of Garbodor. The first reason is that it does not run an EX. Original Quad Terrakion was very good at exchanging prizes. If these bulls get out to an early lead, it can keep exchanging blows until it wins. Adding Garbodor helps out in slowing your opponent’s exchange.
The second reason this is the best Garbodor variant is because it doesn’t take too long to set up. Sure, other variants don’t take too long either, but Terrakion is so simple in its set up. With my disruption idea, I was not getting the consistent perfect start or good coin flips. The Regigigas-EX idea was too clunky and slow. Terrakion has been the best in its simplicity.
The metagame right now is revolving around Dark and Lightning types, both of which are weak to Fighting. This only plays more into Quad Terrakion’s wheelhouse.
pokemon-paradijs.comThere are only three cards in this format right now that do not get two shot by Terrakion (barring no Eviolite). Those cards are Ho-Oh EX, Wailord DRX, and Tornadus EX. Wailord is not really played much in the meta, so this deck doesn’t worry about it. Ho-oh EX is shut down by Garbodor, and is not much of a threat to this deck.
The real problem is Tornadus EX.
There are two ways that I have dealt with Tornadus EX. One way is by Catchering around it. Right now Tornadus EX is played in Eels and Darkrai EX decks, both of which have other Pokémon you can drag up to one shot. Four Catchers, 4 Prizes. The other way I have dealt with it is by simply powering through it. At best, Tornadus is going to two shot your Terrakion. With you killing Tornadus in three turns, you are essentially catching up, since you take 2 Prizes in three turns, while generally they take 1 Prize in three turns.
This deck is a very simple deck to run once or twice, but a tad bit harder to get it right game in and game out. All you need is practice, and knowledge of what cards are in your deck, and their purpose they serve.
Terrakion
The main attacker. With 130 HP, this legendary bull makes opponents have to 2HKO or 3HKO him every turn. Imagine a Garchomp without the aid of Battle Song. Barring no Blend Energy, that’s a 3HKO against one of the most played decks out there in this early format. Terrakion 2 hits Garchomp. Do the math and you’ll find that Terrakion will take 6 Prizes before Garchomp.
Most of the time when you hear players talk about Garbodor variants, there is much discussion about what Trubbish to run, the 60 HP, 1 Retreat Cost Trubbish from Noble Victories with a good attack, or the new 70 HP one with 2 Retreat Cost?
I choose the 70 HP Trubbish. Why? Darkrai EX. The two most played cards right now in the format are Mewtwo EX and Darkrai EX. Being weak to Psychic, both Trubbish get 1HKO’d by a Mewtwo with DCE. Darkrai EX, however, will most likely be attacking a Terrakion and trying to snipe Trubbish before it evolves. With the NVI bag, it takes two turns. With the new bag from DRX, it takes three. Simple reason.
Garbodor
As explained above, when Garbodor has a tool attached to him, he stops all other abilities. Quad Terrakion has a very slow start before it picks up. Garbodor allows for you to bring the other player back down to your speed while setting up your stream of 90 damage per turn. With 100 HP, it does leave itself vulnerable to being one shot. Better set up two on your bench then!
12 Supporters helps out with getting all that you need. I choose Cheren over Bianca because half of the time with a deck that can’t get rid of energies from its hand fast enough, I find myself drawing only three cards with Bianca anyway. However, if you like Bianca better, then have at it. You won’t find yourself seeing much difference.
This card allows you to stream that 90 damage by taking advantage of Retaliate. Two Energies are all that is needed after your active gets Knocked Out. Exp. Share plus your Energy for the turn keeps the two shots coming.
Of course, in a pinch, Exp. Share may be attached to Garbodor to set up the lock. I find in about 1-of every 3 games I end up attaching an Exp. Share to my Garbodor. This isn’t the worst thing in the world however. If two Terrakions get Knocked Out, then your Garbodor is only one attachment away from retreating! If that fatty gets catchered, attach an energy and retreat without wasting a switch. Handy huh?
6 Prizes is what it takes to win a game. There are 4 Terrakions in this deck. If you can’t draw into Super Rod, Rescue Scarf is what helps out get those Terrakion back on your bench so that you are not forced to promote a Garbodor *shudders*.
Garbodor prefers to have Rescue Scarf on it. If the Trash Heap Pokémon gets Catcher-Killed, not to worry; the lock will be back up and running in two turns.
Pokémon Catcher is almost run at 4 copies in every deck out there. If your opponent benches a Darkrai EX, Regigigas-EX, or Zekrom-EX, Catcher provides you with two free prizes. If you aren’t running four in your deck right now, go invest.
Switch is in this deck to counter Pokémon Catcher. 75% of the time, I use my Switches the turn after my opponent plays a Pokémon Catcher. The other 25% I play Switch to get my starter out of the active, or to buy a turn or two when I can’t draw into Exp. Share. Four are needed in this deck, because all of the Pokémon in this deck had way too much to eat for lunch…
Garbodor and Terrakion both can be searched out with Heavy Ball. I have toyed around with running 4 Heavy Ball to boost my likely hood of grabbing Garbodor, but I scratch my head as to what to take out.
Ultra Ball is included in the deck to take out Trubbish when I don’t draw into the smaller pile of trash. It also serves as a back up to find a Terrakion or Garbodor when I can’t seem to get a heavy ball. Two is all I would run in this deck, but for added consistency, three is as far as I would push it.
As said before, 6 Prizes, 4 Terrakion. Super Rod helps put back Terrakion and Garbodor so you can search them out with Heavy Ball. If I can have my opponent KO six Terrakion to win the game, rather than 4 Terrakion and 2 Garbodor, I know my deck is working the way it was intended to.
I saved this card for last because it can be used in two different ways, offensive and defensive. For the purpose of explaining, assume I already have a Garbodor on my bench with a tool card attached.
Offensive: Eviolite. This annoying little card changes Darkrai EX from a 1HKO into a 2HKO for my raging bull. When I put in this wrench, the sole purpose of it was to get rid of Eviolite. It is a card that very little people expect from a Garbodor deck, so I thought it was a perfect fit into the list.
Defensive: Another Terrakion down, I guess I’ll share this F Energy down to my benched Terrakion. Dang it, now my active Terrakion has a stupid Exp. Share attached to it and I have this Rescue Scarf in my hand! If only there was some way of removing my Exp. Share…
I have removed my active Terrakion’s Exp Share in favor of a Rescue Scarf in every other game. It helps relieve the pressure I put on Super Rod trying to lift my Terrakions out of the discard pile. I stumbled upon this strategy one game and was very pleased with the results. That is why I now play three.
Matchups
I have mainly done my testing against the “Big Three.” These three decks are Zekeels, Darkrai/Hydreigon, and FluffyChomp. I have also done testing against a fair amount of Empoleon/Terrakion variants, as well as Ho-oh EX rouge deck ideas. Here is the breakdown of these 5 match ups.
Darkrai/Hydreigon – Almost an auto-win
Not only does this deck rely on Hydreigon to move energies around, but it also relies on Darkrai EX’s Ability to retreat for free. That is two big game changing powers that push this deck to do as well as it has. When Garbodor shuts these two down, the Darkrai/Hydreigon player is forced to rely on Dark Patch and Switch. Some variants do not even run Switch. To top it all off, Darkrai EX is a 1HKO against Terrakion for two easy prizes.
Zekeels – Favors Garbodor
pokemon-paradijs.comTerrakion hits for Weakness on a good portion of their deck. Dynamotor can’t set up a front loaded Mewtwo EX. The speed and the power of this deck are all but taken away from Garbotoxin. Sure Raikou-EX can 1HKO a Garbodor without having to waste a Pokémon Catcher, but is that really worth the 2 Prizes?
FluffyChomp – Favors Garbodor
FluffyChomp is great because it can set up so fast with Dragon Call. FluffyChomp is powerful because it can add extra damage with Alteria. But take those two away, and you’re left with a 60 damage attack, or a 100 damage attack at a cost. Either way, this deck cannot one shot a Terrakion. Being forced to stream stage two attackers, FluffyChomp might get out to an early lead, but will almost always lose with two or 3 Prizes left to draw.
Empoleon/Terrakion – Even
Yes I said it, this matchup is a coin flip. “But Alex, Empoleon relies on Diving Draw as its draw support!” While what you just said is true, Empoleon doesn’t NEED to draw two cards every turn. Yes, you have to set up stage two attackers, but with Terrakion in the deck, you can bring out the mirror to hide behind while setting up another king penguin. I can say that I do not like this match up.
Ho-Oh EX Decks – Favors Garbodor
Players that use Ho-oh use it in two ways; either as a form of Energy acceleration, or as a main attacker that can come out of nowhere. You might think that the graveyard is a safe place for Ho-Oh to hide, but Garbotoxin extends from the field to the hand AND to the discard. Early on the Ho-Oh player might discard one or two fire birds in their set up. That is when you bench Trubbish and strike fear into their heart. Game. Set. Match.
The list of decks goes on, but I have not tested enough games against them to back my opinions up on a public website. If you have questions about what I think other match ups are like, feel free to ask me! Just a general rule of thumb though: if it is weak to Fighting, or relies on an Ability, generally I would favor Garbodor.
Techs
Before I conclude this article, I am going to give a few ideas for Quad Terrakion w/ Garbodor for you to think about. Knowing me and my indecisive nature, I will probably cycle through all of these cards at some point or another.
What a great starter he would be. Basically does the same thing as normal Terrakion: turn two place damage, turn three 90 damage. However when the EX version of Terrakion uses its 90 damage attack, it allows you the opportunity to attach two basic energies room your hand to your bench.
Exp. Share then doesn’t become such an important card, and can be used more freely on your Garbodors. I am not sure how many Terrakion-EX to run. One could maybe even consider running 4 Terrakion-EX and only one normal Terrakion? My reason for not putting on in my build is because of the EX ruling. I’d rather exchange prizes than give up an extra one.
With Garbodor in play, Terrakion-EX would not have to worry about Sigilyph DRX or Bouffalant DRX. The only real practical way for your opponent to take and easy 2 Prizes off you is Shaymin EX.
If you do decide to run Terrakion-EX however, consider running Energy Retrieval. You could even drop both of your Super Rods to add two. Terrakion-EX is 2 Prizes, and your other four Terrakion take up the rest. This would allow you more Tool card options, as rescue scarf could be cut down to two or three, seeing as how you wouldn’t need it on a Terrakion.
Remember how I said I hated this card earlier? That’s because of how good it is. Sure Eviolite doesn’t protect Garbodor any, but It helps out a bit on Terrakion. As stated in the Tool Scrapper section, you can get rid of Exp. Share and replace it with an Eviolite.
Just another tool card that can be used in a deck that needs a lot of tools in it. Rocky Helmet would take away the pressure of drawing into a Tool Scrapper to oust an Eviolite on a Darkrai. It would aid in the battle with a Tornadus EX, and would put a lot of pressure into the opponent as they try to catcher around it. Not a bad idea…actually…be right back let me go add one or two into my deck.
4 Terrakions, 6 Prizes. The math never changes. You need a way to get back two more Terrakion. Revive is just another option in your method to grab extra bulls. I liked this card a whole heap in Klinklang, and it is a surprise I haven’t already added two into this deck, but I feel as though with Rescue Scarf and Super Rod, Revive isn’t needed.
Conclusion
I hope a lot of what I said helps out not only in building a successful Garbodor deck, but also in giving you a concrete way of looking at decks. Apply the 3×3 method to any of your decks and see what you come up with. Laying out the bare bones of what your deck is like will only help you out in building that perfect deck! Until next time.
-Alex
very good article
!
I’ve been testing this idea quite a bit as well except with the new Bouffalant and a few DCE thrown in. It might mess up the energy lines and consistency, but the fact that it can OHKO a sneaky Mew or Shaymin or simply deal 120 to any other uneviolited EX has paid off quite a few times. Not sure about it though. The deck list you provided does seem to have very good consistency most of its bases covered. Thanks for the article :)
Great article, Pinsir is from Next Destinies.
It would have been nice if you added Mewtwo EX/ Terrakion in the match-ups section.
terrakion – making your opponents miserable since States.
great article! Definitely a +1!
Zeels can actually play vs garbodor. Just dont put elektrik types down most run super rod and 2/3 mewtwo with 4 DCE. that should be enough to get a better matchups vs garbodor. This is a reason to run Mewtwo EX in garbodor. Garb/Terrak/Terrak EX/Mewtwo EX might work. still +1 ;)
Tornadus EX also works, especially with eviolite + max potion. You can either just attach dce for 60 after, or if you time it for when the lock is down, can charge with eels. A fast mewtwo start does kill most any mono fighting deck, and even mewtwo techs.
Well, that saves me from asking what Zekeels can do to counter Garbador. Much obliged!
bouffalant was never a problem for terrakion ex. he one shots it anyway due to weakness. the only difference is terrakion ex can use his first attack.
If Terrakion-EX used its first attack, it would do (50×2)-20 = 80, which is 20 damage short of KOing Bouffalant.
Exactly my point :)
Nice Article. I have never lost with Ho-Oh EX V this deck but I run a teched up Ho-Oh EX with 3 Tool Scrapper so its not that surprising that I never lose to Garbodor so I won’t work u down for it :D
Hey Alex, great article. I’m just getting back into Pokémon myself. I’m also from Seattle and I was wondering where it is that you play? Thanks!
I guess I’m the only one who realises that registeel and kyurem aren’t the only spreaders in the game. Still, excellent article.
But I think you’re a little too optimistic in the zekeel matchup. Mewtwo KOs trubbish and garbador like no tomorrow, as does zekrom, and honestly both can survive just fine without eelektrik. Not to mention that they set up faster than you, and ONE turn of the lock broken allows for an immediate charging of another attacker.
Before you say it’s all theorymon, I’ve played against this deck before. And won.
There’s no Pinsir in EPO….
I think the Trubbish from NVI is better just because it can retreat. Also if your not prepared to lose a Trubbish or Garbodor here or there you should rethink your deck. That’s all the critism though I liked the article quite a bit.
How about incorporating Pokemon Center to lessen the snipe damage from Darkrai? That way they’ll have to Catcher out your Trubbish (60hp or 70 hp) to KO it ’cause you’ll keep healing it on the bench. Just a thought*