Barking Up the Right Tree

Four Distinct Ways to Play Trevenant and Two to Counter the Current BDIF
understanding wood
There is one deck that is a cut above the rest.

Hey everyone! I’m really happy to be back with another article for you all today after an incredibly busy April sidelined me from my typical writing schedule. Classes really piled on the work but I’m finally done!

I graduated from Michigan State University just this past weekend with a degree in computer science. I also accepted a job offer which will let me put that degree to use and I’ll be moving to a new location in July! I’m not sure where my new home will be but wherever it is, I hope there’s a good Pokémon scene.

The other major development in my absence was a solid State Championship run in which I secured my third straight invitation to participate in the World Championships! I’m super excited to visit San Francisco in August. Worlds is an amazing experience and I’m very grateful that I’ve been able to play in such a prestigious tournament for the past few years.


But anyway, enough about me. Most of you are probably just here to hear about my thoughts on Regionals and I don’t blame you. The first weekend is two days away, and although I’m writing introduction this a week and a half in advance, I’m guessing I’ll be just as clueless about my deck choice today as I was when I wrote this (what a conundrum). The Expanded format has so many viable decks and it’s hard to navigate this vast landscape.

However, I’ve identified one deck that stands above the rest. In my testing, Trevenant has been far and away the most dominant deck in the format. It boasts favorable or, at the very least, roughly even matchups against almost the entirety of the field. Item lock is an inherently strong ability and can turn even the most unfavorable matchups into favorable ones. It also has tons of options, making it adaptable for the metagame you expect.

So, what are we going to do about this juggernaut in the format? The way I see it, there are two options: play it or counter it. I’ve been exploring several different ways to do each of those things and I’m excited to share them with you all. Let’s dive right in.

Solid Oak: Four Distinct Ways to Play Trevenant

trevenant xy 16-9 3ebay.com
Let’s begin with a skeleton list and branch out.

There are a lot of different ways to play Trevenant. While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Aaron Tarbell’s winning list, I’ve found that I like the deck better with a few changes. The problem is, I can’t choose which tech cards I like best. Before I jump into the full lists that I’ve been testing, here’s the skeleton that I usually start with:

Pokémon – 16

4 Phantump BKP
4 Trevenant XY
3 Trevenant BREAK
1 Wobbuffet PHF
1 Mewtwo-EX LTR
2 Shaymin-EX ROS
1 Jirachi-EX

Trainers – 25

3 Professor Sycamore

3 Wally

2 N

1 Lysandre

 

4 VS Seeker

3 Ultra Ball

1 Level Ball

2 Float Stone

1 Super Rod

1 Computer Search

 

4 Dimension Valley

Energy – 8

5 P

3 Mystery

Total: 49 cards

This skeleton list is pretty tight as Trevenant needs a certain core around it to function properly. I think this Pokémon line is nearly perfect. I have never found a need for Trevenant BKP, especially since you’re giving up Item lock to use it. The only changes I have considered are adding an extra Wobbuffet or dropping the Shaymin count to 1. However, I’m wary of dropping a Shaymin as you often rely on one at some point in the game so prizing a single copy could lose you a game. Mewtwo could be seen as unnecessary but I like having a heavy hitter to close out games (Dimension Valley lets you Psydrive for 2!) and it gives you an easy to way combat the Shaymin loop strategy.

The Energy count is really tricky to get right. I still have problems finding Energy cards throughout the game, especially on the first turn. This is definitely the bare minimum that you can play, and I’d love to add 1-2 more if I could find space. The 2nd place list from Oregon Regionals only played 6 total Energy and I have no idea how he could have survived that tournament. Every Energy drop is crucial in this deck as your attackers are fairly frail and your Energy don’t typically stay on the board for long. For this reason, Super Rod is also a mainstay in my lists.

The Trainers are where my lists differ and there’s enough room to play completely different lists by switching 10-11 cards in and out. This Supporter count is very bare bones; I usually like to add another 1-2. The Ultra/Level Ball counts are also pretty low but I can’t decide which one I like to beef up more. Level Ball is very clutch in Expanded since it can grab a Jirachi-EX and increases the odds of a T1 Wally, so I’ve been trying out a 2nd copy recently.

Float Stone is instrumental to getting out a T1 Trevenant as you only get to start Phantump around 50% of the time. Dimension Valley helps with the high Energy costs on your attacks, but it’s also just as important as a way to counter Stadiums like Rough Seas. Computer Search is the ACE SPEC that I use every time as the deck’s ultimate goal has to be a T1 Wally, but I could see the merit in a Dowsing Machine. Scoop Up Cyclone is another potential option that the 2nd place list from Oregon Regionals played but I think it’s strictly inferior to Computer Search. AZ typically does the same thing without the sacrifice.


Now that we know which cards are the backbone (or tree trunk) of our Trevenant list, let’s look at some different options to flesh out the rest of the deck.

Battle Compressor

Pokémon – 16

4 Phantump BKP

4 Trevenant XY

3 Trevenant BREAK

1 Wobbuffet PHF

1 Mewtwo-EX LTR

2 Shaymin-EX ROS

1 Jirachi-EX

Trainers – 36

3 Professor Sycamore

3 Wally

2 N

1 Lysandre

1 AZ

1 Delinquent

 

4 VS Seeker

3 Battle Compressor

3 Ultra Ball

1 Level Ball

3 Bursting Balloon

3 Float Stone

2 Trainers’ Mail

1 Super Rod

1 Computer Search

 

4 Dimension Valley

Energy – 8

5 P

3 Mystery

number 1 oneMark A. Hicks
First impressions are important.

This list focuses entirely on getting out the T1 Trevenant. Battle Compressor and Trainers’ Mail help you find the right combination to get a Trevenant out via Wally and into the Active Spot. It doesn’t really improve on any of your tricky matchups except by virtue of a more reliable Item lock which is able to win games on its own.

However, Trevenant was one of the most talked about decks coming out of the third weekend of Winter Regionals. Although Item-based draw engines are incredibly strong and fast, I think that people are going to start migrating away from them. Trevenant is too strong to ignore and it’s just too hard to set up if you don’t play enough Supporters.

My favorite thing about this version is that it lends itself well to playing other tech Supporters as Battle Compressor makes them a lot more available throughout the game. AZ is one of my favorites to help you remove the EXs from your board later in the game or effectively heal a Trevenant in a pinch. Delinquent is incredibly strong in conjunction with Item lock, especially when your opponent isn’t expecting it. It also gives you another way to deal with pesky Stadium cards (see Rough Seas).

Hammer Bros.

Pokémon – 16

4 Phantump BKP

4 Trevenant XY

3 Trevenant BREAK

1 Wobbuffet PHF

1 Mewtwo-EX LTR

2 Shaymin-EX ROS

1 Jirachi-EX

Trainers – 36

4 Professor Sycamore

3 Wally

2 N

1 Team Flare Grunt

1 Xerosic

1 Lysandre

 

4 VS Seeker

3 Ultra Ball

2 Level Ball

3 Crushing Hammer

1 Enhanced Hammer

3 Bursting Balloon

2 Float Stone

1 Super Rod

1 Computer Search

 

4 Dimension Valley

Energy – 8

5 P

3 Mystery

This list is less about forcing damage onto your opponent’s field and more about shutting down any sort of setup that they manage to get under Item lock. I’ve found it to be more favorable against decks like Virizion/Genesect and M Rayquaza but it sacrifices a bit in the Groudon and Eelektrik matchups.

Team Flare Grunt and Xerosic are incredibly strong if you can get your opponent to a point where they aren’t knocking your Energy off the board each turn. Between these Supporters and the high count of Hammers, you give yourself a way to claw back into games that are otherwise looking to be out of your control. That was one of the things that I disliked the most about Aaron’s list; it was very weak if it didn’t get a T1 Trevenant down.

This Energy denial version of Trevenant solves some of the deck’s problems against Yveltal but I’m not sure if it’s the best way to approach the matchup. I like that it gives you a way to neuter a Benched, backup attacker when you Knock Out their Active attacker. Hammers also can slow down a Yveltal-EX that’s running through your board. Otherwise, I’ve lost games in 4-5 turns after my opponent just said “Evil Ball” a bunch of times. Here’s another way I’ve been trying to approach the Dark matchup.

Weakness Policy

Pokémon – 17

4 Phantump BKP

4 Trevenant XY

3 Trevenant BREAK

2 Wobbuffet PHF

1 Mewtwo-EX LTR

2 Shaymin-EX ROS

1 Jirachi-EX

Trainers – 35

4 Professor Sycamore

3 Wally

2 N

1 Lysandre

1 AZ

 

4 VS Seeker

4 Ultra Ball

2 Level Ball

4 Weakness Policy

2 Float Stone

1 Enhanced Hammer

1 Eco Arm

1 Super Rod

1 Computer Search

 

4 Dimension Valley

Energy – 8

5 P

3 Mystery

weakness-policy-primal-clash-prcThis list is completely focused on beating Yveltal. By almost completely removing their ability to 1HKO you, you keep the Energy on your side of the board and build up damage on your opponent’s side. I’ve found that getting a second attack off with each Trevenant is just as good if not better than the damage from a Bursting Balloon. I haven’t missed them yet.

You’ll notice that this list also has a bit more of a focus on using Wobbuffet, both from the 2nd copy and the extra Ultra Ball to help search it out. In the Dark matchup, I’ve found Wobbuffet to be a really great attacker to finish off Pokémon after they get hit with 3-4 Silent Fears. Its ability to shut off Dark Cloak can also come in handy in a pinch. It’s also a great Pokémon to start with as long as you start with a draw Supporter.

Enhanced Hammer is a bit of a vain attempt to stop my opponent from building up a huge Yveltal-EX. Even with Weakness Policy, Yveltal can be a huge problem. Going second can be pretty hard to come back from, and missing the T1 Trevenant is basically game over. They just have too much time to draw into their Energy cards and establish their board position. The more you can do to slow them down, the better. This single Enhanced Hammer helps but sometimes I want more Hammers.

Hybrid

Pokémon – 16

4 Phantump BKP

4 Trevenant XY

3 Trevenant BREAK

1 Wobbuffet PHF

1 Mewtwo-EX LTR

2 Shaymin-EX ROS

1 Jirachi-EX

Trainers – 36

4 Professor Sycamore

3 Wally

2 N

1 Team Flare Grunt

1 Lysandre

 

4 VS Seeker

3 Ultra Ball

2 Level Ball

4 Crushing Hammer

4 Weakness Policy

2 Float Stone

1 Super Rod

1 Computer Search

 

4 Dimension Valley

Energy – 8

5 P

3 Mystery

So, I added more Hammers! It was hard to find the space for both Weakness Policy and Hammers without tearing up the core of the deck. I’ve found it to have a slightly improved Yveltal matchup over the variant that won Florida Regionals as well as slightly better matchups against Genesect and Rayquaza. However, this list is a bit less consistent with less Supporters and Balls than some other lists. Thus it has a worse matchup against decks like Groudon and Eelektrik where Item lock is key.

My favorite thing about this list is that it has a lot of comeback potential. As I mentioned before, Hammers are instrumental to slowing down your opponent’s quick start. When combined with Item lock, they can really easily turn a game back into your favor. Weakness Policy provides you the same comeback potential in the Yveltal matchup, as long as they don’t have easy access to Xerosic. As such, this list really seems to solve most of the problems that the Bursting Balloon version has.

Lastly, I want to touch on the absence of Bursting Balloon from the last two lists. Being able to survive one more attack allows you to put just as much damage on the board, if not more, than a Bursting Balloon in almost every situation. Also, Bursting Balloon is fairly easy to play around. It even encourages your opponent to Sky Return with their Shaymin when they can to avoid the damage from Bursting Balloon for the turn, limiting your ability to take cheap Prizes. I wouldn’t say Bursting Balloon is a bad card, but in the current metagame where Dark is public enemy #1 for Trevenant, I would rather play Weakness Policy.

Other Options

Although I touched on many different ways to play Trevenant, there are still tons of other options. I’ve put a lot of work into these lists but I wouldn’t say any of them are perfect, nor that there aren’t other better ways to play the deck. Here are a few more options that I’ve been considering.

phantump-xy-54
Topdeck mode, engage.

Phantump XY The 2nd place list in Oregon used a split of these Phantump with the Ascension ones and at first, I scoffed. However, this card has a nifty combo with Red Card and Delinquent to give your opponent a hand of 0 cards. From that point, they’re relying on topdecks, and Item lock can effectively close the game out a turn later. I haven’t tested this idea out yet as Ascension has proved too valuable to give up in most games. However, if you’re willing to craft your deck to take advantage of this combo, it could be really strong.

Red Card Red Card is incredibly strong, with or without Delinquent/Phantump XY. I’ve touted this card before in conjunction with Item lock and this format is no different. Giving your opponent less cards in hand usually means they are less likely to have the Energy cards or the Supporters that they want, and it’s going to be hard for them to find them without Items. I haven’t found a good cut for Red Card in any of my lists but it’s always something I’m thinking about when I have open space.

Tech Supporters — One card that I didn’t include in any of my lists is Colress. My draw Supporters are usually focused on the early game which is where I have the most difficulty. However, Colress is a great option to draw more cards later in the game without having to discard valuable Tools or other resources. If I was playing a list focused on straight consistency, Colress would probably be a quick inclusion. Other options that I have considered include Ace Trainer and Judge, as well as extra copies of Lysandre, Xerosic, Team Flare Grunt, or Delinquent.

“Timber!”: Trevenant Beaters

rough seas text 2
Forest’s Curse takes on new meaning.

Countering Trevenant is no easy task. It preys on decks that feature Pokémon with low amounts of HP, as well as decks that feature Item-based draw engines. Even decks like Groudon, which meets neither of these criteria, have trouble against Trevenant because they are too slow and can’t work the game into a favorable Prize trade.

I have found that the two best ways to beat Trevenant are healing cards and EXs with attacks with Energy costs of 2 or less. As far as healing cards, Rough Seas is definitely the best. It erases a turn of Silent Fear damage and usually also forces the Trevenant player to find a Dimension Valley for the next turn. Pokémon Center Lady can also be really strong if you can find it at the right time, but I usually need to use my Supporter for the turn to find Energy cards when I’m playing against Trevenant.

As far as the latter of my Trevenant beating criteria, I still think Pokémon like Darkrai-EX BKP and Yveltal-EX are the best options. Even though Weakness Policy can erase the type advantage in the matchup, these Pokémon are still strong and fairly low maintenance attackers. Dark decks also get the advantage of having Darkrai-EX DEX to provide free retreat, stifling some of Trevenant’s ability to strand a non-attacking Pokémon Active and spread for a few uncontested turns.

The only other popular Pokémon that seem to fit this role are M Manectric and M Rayquaza. Manectric is able to take advantage of Rough Seas, making it an excellent candidate for a Trevenant killer. Rayquaza can be incredibly strong against Trevenant, but with only 7 total Energy cards in most builds, a few well-timed Hammers or Team Flare Grunts can shut the deck down completely. The Item-based draw engine that most lists run is also detrimental in the matchup. Changes can be made to both of these things to make Rayquaza more well equipped to deal with Trevenant but you sacrifice some of your speed that lets you win other matchup.

Here are a couple of lists that I’ve found to be pretty strong against all of the Trevenant builds that I have tried.

Manectric/Water

Pokémon – 14

3 Manectric-EX

3 M Manectric-EX

2 Shaymin-EX ROS

1 Hoopa-EX AOR

1 Jolteon-EX

1 Glalie-EX

2 Regice AOR

1 Articuno ROS 17

Trainers – 35

4 Professor Sycamore

2 N

2 Lysandre

2 Hex Maniac

1 AZ

 

4 VS Seeker

4 Ultra Ball

4 Max Elixir

3 Manectric Spirit Link

2 Fighting Fury Belt

2 Switch

1 Computer Search

 

4 Rough Seas

Energy – 11

6 L

5 W

This is a Manectric list that I ported over from my Standard testing pool but it translates very well into Expanded. The basic idea is that Manectric can deal with all kinds of threats like Trevenant, Rayquaza, and Yveltal and the suite of other attackers give you options against most of the rest of the format. Jolteon and Articuno were mostly vain attempts to win the Night March matchup but they are still useful in random situations. Regice is included for its ability to effectively auto-win the Groudon matchup, and it also gives some Yveltal decks a hard time now that they’ve mostly all dropped Hypnotoxic Laser.

glalie-ex-breakthrough-bkt-34
Plus it looks cool!

Glalie-EX is the most unusual tech in this list and I have to give my friend Kyle Lesniewicz credit for coming up with it. It’s an amazing counter to Gallade which can otherwise run through this entire deck in 3-4 turns. Glalie also gives you options with Paralysis, can 1HKO Trevenant XY, and is the only feasible way to hit for more than 110.

One thing I want to touch on is the inclusion of Hoopa. Typically, I think Hoopa is garbage. In decks like Yveltal, it clogs up your Bench space and limits your options to play non-Pokémon-EX or to use a Shaymin-EX to set up. However, in decks featuring Mega Pokémon, I think Hoopa is incredibly strong. It allows you to not have to choose between getting your Evolution card or a Shaymin with an Ultra Ball. In Manectric decks, you also need a Pokémon to Turbo Bolt onto so it helps to grab that too. Just make sure you don’t mindlessly grab Hoopa with your first Ultra Ball each game; there is often a better option.

Originally, this deck had more of a focus on Item cards with Trainers’ Mail and Battle Compressor, but I instead added a couple of more Supporters to counteract Trevenant. Hex Maniac is really huge in this deck if you play against Archeops or Giratina and it’s just generally good to slow your opponents’ starts. Another copy of N or Colress could also be added if you have trouble with consistency.

Max Elixir is the last important card in this deck and I believe it is what has taken Manectric from a fairly low tier deck to a contender. My main complaint with Manectric in formats past was that whiffing an Energy drop in the first two turns of the game often put you way too far behind to come back from. Max Elixir helps to mitigate this problem, and can also provide forgiveness from poor Turbo Bolt targets. I would never play this deck without Max Elixir.

Turbo Dark

Pokémon – 12

2 Darkrai-EX BKP

2 Darkrai-EX DEX

2 Yveltal-EX

1 Yveltal XY

1 Yveltal BKT

2 Shaymin-EX ROS

1 Malamar-EX

1 Keldeo-EX

Trainers – 36

4 Professor Sycamore

3 N

1 Lysandre

1 AZ

1 Colress

 

4 VS Seeker

4 Ultra Ball

4 Dark Patch

4 Max Elixir

4 Fighting Fury Belt

2 Battle Compressor

1 Float Stone

1 Tool Scrapper

1 Dowsing Machine

 

1 Reverse Valley

Energy – 12

10 D

2 Double Colorless

This is a really fun deck that I’ve been messing around with in the last week or so. I never even considered the idea of a Turbo Dark deck until I saw Zach Lesage using it on stream at Florida Regionals. The premise is incredibly simple: throw lots of Energy cards onto your board and use Darkrai-EX BKP to score 1HKOs. I like this variant better than other Yveltal decks because you don’t lose a lot of Energy when your main attacker gets Knocked Out. You can leave most of your Energy on the Benched Pokémon since Dark Pulse counts those Energy in its calculation instead of just the Energy on the attacking Darkrai.

One mistake I see when people are crafting this deck is that they either leave out or neglect Yveltal-EX. Without the appropriate access to Evil Ball, the Dark mirror is really difficult. Yveltal is also instrumental to beating any Dark decks that have access to Gallade through Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick. Y Cyclone also combos well with Dark Pulse, allowing you to conserve your D Energy.

malamar-ex-phantom-forces-phf-58
⚡??” —Jolteon

Malamar-EX seems out of place but it’s the only way that this deck beats a lone Jolteon-EX. Since you have so many attackers that aren’t Weak to Lightning, Jolteon doesn’t run through this deck very quickly. You have plenty of time to Lysandre around the Jolteon and pick off easy Prizes. Eventually, they’ll try to reduce their field to just Jolteon which is where Malamar comes in. Hyper Hypnosis also gives you a way to utilize Darkrai-EX BKP’s second attack, and MAXamar can steal games when your other options are unavailable.

A full count of Fighting Fury Belt may surprise you but having attackers with 210 and 220 HP is nothing to scoff at. I especially like this against Night March, a matchup I’ve found to be surprisingly winnable. Darkrai DEX with 220 HP using Night Spear from the 2nd turn onwards gives you a way to pick off Benched Night Marchers and also survives for a really long time. It also makes it really hard to get 1HKO’d in the mirror. Many decks are being constructed without enough ways to discard Tool cards which makes Fighting Fury Belt even stronger.


Unfortunately, neither of these two decks are perfect solutions to the format at large. They deal with Trevenant pretty well but have several weaknesses among the other strong decks in the format (Night March, M Rayquaza, and Dark with Gallade being the big ones). At this point, I’m not sure that there will be one deck that deals with the whole format. In fact, as much as I’ve tried to counter it, Trevenant may end up having the best matchup spread. I’ll continue to look for decks that beat both Trevenant and the format as a whole, but I might just end up defaulting to Trevenant.

Conclusion

bingemans funworx 16-9 2wdwbarber
See you in Kitchener!

I hope you all were able to take something away from this article. The best way to beat a deck is to really understand how it’s played and the different options it has. Even though the first weekend of Regionals is only two days away, I think there’s enough time to make the necessary changes to your deck to deal with the juggernaut of this format.

Once again, please don’t hesitate to send me any feedback or questions you have. I love hearing from readers and I always want to make my articles as helpful as possible. If anything is confusing, I’d love to clear it up for you or provide any follow up information that I can.

I’ll be at Ontario Regionals this weekend and Kansas City Regionals in two weeks. Feel free to say hi if you run into me at either one! See you soon.

Alex


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