rewatchingpokemon.tumblr.comHello SixPrizes readers! I hope those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving had a fantastic holiday with plenty of delectable food. Right now we are at an awkward time in the competitive Pokémon TCG world. League Cup information has finally been announced and I am sure TOs are scrambling to get them scheduled for us! As far as current tournaments, players are focused on various upcoming events. Some of us are looking to London, some to the ARG Invitational in Orlando, others are preparing for San Jose Regionals, and then there are those who are calmly enjoying Sun & Moon.
Today I am going to be looking at the Expanded format, which is what will be played for San Jose Regionals. In fact, San Jose will be the first major event to use the BLW–EVO format. Evolutions is not a completely game-changing set. We got some strong tech cards such as Mewtwo, Mewtwo-EX, Rattata, Dragonite-EX, Clefairy, and Brock’s Grit. Evolutions also contains a few potent Evolution cards such as Electrode, Starmie, and Raticate. This is not nearly the amount that one could expect from the set’s name.
While there is a decent amount of playable cards in the set, none of them will impact the meta in Expanded. They will be played as techs in already existing decks. Therefore, I expect the meta for San Jose to be similar to the metas in Phoenix and Philadelphia. In this article I am going to extensively cover three of the most promising Expanded decks. These decks seem like incredible plays because they perform well against the meta decks such as Dark, Trevenant, Toad/Bats, and more.
First I’m going to look at an old favorite of mine, followed by two exceptional rogue decks. I’ll be sure to explain the key cards in my lists and go over matchups against each major deck in the Expanded format.
Manectric/Garbodor
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Pokémon – 17 |
Trainers – 36 3 N 2 Lysandre 1 Karen 1 AZ
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Energy – 7 5 L 2 P |
A lot of people do not like Mega Manectric in Expanded anymore because it only does 110 damage and rarely 1HKOs things. While Manectric only has a few Day 2 finishes, its matchups are actually incredible and it beats nearly everything relevant in Expanded. I played it at Philly and ran into a few too many bad matchups, narrowly losing to Donphan, Rainbow Road, and Groudon twice. Fighting decks are awful matchups, but luckily they are not very popular right now. I lost to Rainbow Road because I dead-drew the first game and committed to Jolteon-EX in the second, only to be surprised by Xerneas BREAK.
Key Cards
Jolteon is used in a few matchups. It rolls Dark/Tina and Turbo Dark by itself. It also is great against Rainbow Road if they don’t run a counter. However, some do run Xerneas BREAK or Gallade. In Game 1, you want to find out if any counters are played, so you can adjust your strategy for Game 2 accordingly. Opening with Jolteon is great in any matchup thanks to its free retreat.
1 Mewtwo-EX
Mewtwo is nice if you want a strong attacker not named Manectric for whatever reason. It is particularly powerful in the Groudon matchup, and actually gives you a fighting chance. However, Mewtwo’s main reason for being here is to counter Gallade. Gallade is public enemy number one for Manectric, and it is the only reason why Yveltal stands a chance against this deck. Mewtwo is a terrific answer to Gallade because it can 1HKO Gallade for minimal investment.
Wobbuffet serves as the deck’s Archeops counter. If your opponent gets a quick Archeops, Wobbuffet should give you enough time to evolve a Trubbish into Garbodor. Once a Tool is on Garbodor, you shouldn’t have to worry about Archeops anymore thanks to Garbotoxin. Wobbuffet is also a fantastic non-EX attacker. It can follow up a Turbo Bolt for a KO on just about anything with Psychic Assault. Wobbuffet occasionally can force the dreaded 7th Prize. The final reason for running Wobbuffet is that it is a phenomenal opener, shutting off Abilities from the get-go. This is disruptive for your opponent, but could be unfortunate if you find yourself needing to use Set Up.
2 Trubbish PLS 65, 2 Garbodor DRX
Running the Garbodor from Dragons Exalted is superior to the one from BREAKpoint unless you decide to run Double Colorless Energy. You will never want to commit four Energy to use Offensive Bomb. Garbodor DRX takes less Energy to attack, which can be relevant in the Accelgor matchup.
Since Trubbish’s Tool Drop can 1HKO anything in the Accelgor deck, it may end up getting hit with Deck and Cover on the following turn. If Virbank City Gym is not in play (while it very well could be), the Trubbish will survive and become Paralyzed. At this point, you can evolve the Trubbish into Garbodor to cure its paralysis. Then, all you need to do is attach an Energy and use Sludge Bomb, which 1HKOs just about everything in the typical Accelgor deck besides Shaymin-EX and Accelgor itself. Both of those are Pokémon that will likely not be in the Active slot after a Deck and Cover. This situation may not occur, but it is a cute trick nonetheless.
1 AZ
AZ is an AmaZing card that can be circulated around with Battle Compressor and VS Seeker. Having a multipurpose card such as this in your arsenal is not something you want to pass up. It is great for healing damage, healing Special Conditions, and escaping from a Lysandre stall. I use it a lot against Trevenant and Accelgor in particular.
1 Karen
Karen turns the Night March auto-loss into an auto-win. Night March has had decent showings at past Regionals, so Karen should be included. Not even a skilled Night March player can deal with Karen + M Manectric and Karen + Jolteon-EX. Karen is also a decent recovery option to retrieve discarded Pokémon.
Max Potion is such a powerful card with Manectric. Since Turbo Bolt recovers Energy, you can negate the downside of Max Potion to freely heal the 210-HP beast. Max Potion is incredibly good against any deck that doesn’t 1HKO Manectric. Max Potion has the ability to negate entire turns of attacks!
Battle Compressor is one of the most busted cards, and I can appreciate so much more after playing a great deal of the Standard format without it. Even in decks that aren’t Night March, Compressor has tremendous value. On turn 1, I usually use it to toss an Energy and two tech Supporters. Additionally, it can be used at any point to thin your deck of useless cards in various situations.
Parallel City solidifies the Rayquaza matchup and drastically improves the Rainbow Road matchup. It is also convenient to discard your own Hoopa and Shaymin after setting up. This denies Prizes and forces your opponents to slog through three Manectric. The red side is great to use against its respective types, and further beefs up Manectric.
Rough Seas is similar to Max Potion in that is helps against anything that cannot 1HKO Manectric. If you have three Megas out, you can cycle between them and heal up to 90 damage per turn. That’s an absurdly strong effect for a Stadium card. Between Parallel and Rough Seas, you should be able to win a Stadium war against most decks. Rough Seas is particularly effective against Trevenant, Accelgor, Toad, Greninja, and Hypnotoxic Laser.
Matchups
There are many different decks in the Expanded format, so it’s important to be able to handle a wide variety of threats. I’m not going to discuss each matchup extensively, but feel free to ask about anything that isn’t included here.
- Yveltal/Maxie’s … Favorable
- Turbo Dark … Favorable
- Trevenant … Favorable
- Toad/Bats … Highly Favorable
- Greninja … Even
- Raikou/Eels … Favorable
- Night March … Highly Favorable
- Rainbow Road … Depends
- M Rayquaza … Highly Favorable
- Accelgor/Wobbuffet … Favorable
- Primal Groudon … Unfavorable
- M Manectric … Even
Wow, look at that! Manectric’s matchups are great. You should beat Yveltal if you draw decent. You can only lose if they draw incredibly well and you draw poorly. For the most part, MegaMan will stomp through Yveltal. Gallade can be countered by Mewtwo-EX and Tool Drop. Against Turbo Dark, the combination of MegaMan, Max Potion, and Jolteon-EX will make short work of it.
As for Trevenant, it just can’t keep up with Manectric. You have enough options to handily beat the deck. The only way you can lose to Trevenant is if Item lock cheeses you into complete dead-draws. The same goes for Toad/Bats. These decks simply cannot deal with Manectric.
Greninja is a close matchup. There’s nothing special you have to do against it besides establish Garbodor with a Float Stone. You want to stagger your Tools so that a Tool Scrapper or Megaphone will not take them all out at once. The Raikou matchup is also favorable thanks to Garbodor. Karen is occasionally useful in these matchups to recover Garbodor pieces once they are Knocked Out or prized.
The Rainbow Road matchup is tight if they play a counter to Jolteon such as Gallade or Xerneas BREAK. You want to establish a Parallel City with Garbodor as soon as possible, and go with the normal game plan from there. Against other versions, Jolteon-EX can sweep through unchallenged.
Accelgor is favorable. Remember not to evolve your Pokémon unless it is to cure paralysis. Evolving is a valuable escape option from the devastating lock imposed by Deck and Cover. AZ is key in this matchup because it can cure paralysis. Remember that Tool Drop can 1HKO anything in the Accelgor deck, and it can get around paralysis by getting Knocked Out or evolving.
Groudon is unfavorable but surprisingly winnable. You want to start attacking with Turbo Bolt as soon as possible while powering up a big Mewtwo-EX on the Bench along with Wobbuffet. On the turn before you expect the Groudon to start attacking, you may want to play N depending on your opponent’s hand size. This is to prevent a Lysandre KO on Mewtwo, because Mewtwo is important. Then they KO the Manectric.
Play N again to hopefully deny them a Stadium and a healing card. If they whiff either of those, you should be in great shape. Then use X Ball for a ton of damage. If they whiff the Stadium off the N to four, then your Mewtwo will live a turn. If they whiff a healing card, Wobbuffet can come in and take a KO (or close to it). If they whiff both, you should win. Tool Drop can also be used sometimes.
Sceptile
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Pokémon – 15 |
Trainers – 37 2 N 1 Lysandre 1 Karen
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Energy – 8 8 G |
I’ve played this deck extensively in Expanded, and it actually works. Sceptile plays very much like Manectric does. Some differences are that Sceptile heals more consistently, it can do more damage, and it is a Grass-type. Sceptile is built to take advantage of a format that doesn’t often 1HKO it. The Stadiums limit the damage from Pokémon like Xerneas and Rayquaza, so just about everything has a difficult time Knocking Out Sceptile. M Sceptile’s attack, Jagged Saber, accelerates Energy to the Bench and heals the Pokémon you attach to. This makes it easy to cycle between two Megas while denying Prize cards.
Key Cards
3 Sceptile-EX XY53, 1 Sceptile-EX AOR
I run three of the Promo Sceptile because it has Agility. Agility is by far the better attack for the early game. For one Energy, it deals 20 damage and you flip for invulnerability. Assuming you always start with Sceptile or a way to get it Active, Agility will work in 25% of your games (going second and flipping heads). I play one of the other Sceptile because it can deal 130 damage for one less Energy than the Promo Sceptile. Sleep Poison is another attack that can work in odd situations.
Virizion is not useful very often but it is a winning tech for the Accelgor matchup. You basically win for free if you get paired against Accelgor thanks to the Verdant Wind Ability, which blocks Special Conditions. Virizion is also handy against decks with Hypnotoxic Laser.
2 Ariados AOR, 4 Virbank City Gym
Ariados is crucial for the deck. It allows Jagged Saber to 1HKO popular cards such as Shaymin-EX, Xerneas BKT, and Yveltal BKT. It also KOs Gallade by poison going into your turn. Ariados can be used with the non-Mega Sceptile as well. With Ariados, Unseen Claw can deal 160 damage. This is very relevant against Ho-Oh-EX. It also KOs bigger Pokémon-EX by poison going into your turn. Ariados is better than Hypnotoxic Laser because it is much more consistent and you would like to inflict poison more than four times per game.
1 Karen
Karen is used here for the same reason I play it in Manectric. It is a tech for the Night March matchup. Night March would usually be a terrible matchup for Sceptile, but Karen makes it very favorable. It isn’t a bad recovery card either.
Hex Maniac has many uses in Expanded. It is helpful against faster decks such as Rayquaza and Rainbow Road. It slows them down to manageable pace. Those decks cannot do anything while Ability-locked. Hex is also an Archeops counter. It lets you evolve into important Pokémon while Archeops-locked. Additionally, it turns off Trevenant’s Item lock for a turn.
Hex is incredibly important in the Eel matchup. It allows Jagged Saber (with Virbank poison) to 1HKO Raikou because it shuts off Raikou’s defensive Ability. At the same time, Hex prevents a response attack by locking Eelektrik’s Dynamotor.
3 Energy Retrieval, 2 Mega Turbo
M Sceptile discards two Energy every time it retreats, and it retreats a lot. These cards simply keep the flow of Energy going. If you are out of Energy to attach with Jagged Saber, you can’t heal that turn. I found that with any less of these cards, you would occasionally run out of Energy.
Battle Compressor seems like too strong of a card not to run. It rids the deck of whatever is useless in any given scenario, and puts tech Supporters in the discard for easy use.
Parallel City functions here like it does in Manectric. It clears useless EX targets off the Bench so that your opponent has to go through the Mega tanks in order to win. No sense in giving up cheap Prizes, especially with how difficult it is to Knock Out a Mega Sceptile. I like having a fifth Stadium to always win the Stadium war, provided I don’t have to discard any with Sycamore. Parallel City is especially destructive against Rainbow Road and Rayquaza as it can force them down to three Benched, though this leaves your Pokémon doing less damage.
Matchups
- Yveltal/Maxie’s … Favorable
- Turbo Dark … Favorable
- Trevenant … Favorable
- Toad/Bats … Highly Favorable
- Greninja … auto-win
- Raikou/Eels … Slightly Favorable
- Night March … Favorable
- Rainbow Road … Even
- M Rayquaza … Slightly Unfavorable
- Accelgor/Wobbuffet … auto-win
- Primal Groudon … Slightly Unfavorable
- M Manectric … Slightly Unfavorable
Sceptile has a fair shot to beat just about everything. It does well against the Dark decks because they cannot realistically 1HKO you. Sceptile exchanges 2HKOs against Dark except it heals every turn too. Trevenant naturally has a rough time handling Sceptile. The only way Trevenant can win is by getting lucky with disruption. Even with minimal resources, Sceptile can defeat Trevenant. The double Hex and five Stadiums help in that matchup.
Raikou is slightly in Sceptile’s favor because of the double Hex. Hex messes with the deck, and Raikou cannot easily 1-shot Sceptile. While it is annoying to deal with a bunch of Raikou, the normal strategy of healing and rotating between Megas works. Stringing Hexes together is what you want to go for, but knowing when it’s okay to break the Hex lock is equally important. If you use up Hexes when they don’t matter all that much, you will be left without them when you need them the most.
Rainbow Road and Rayquaza are close matchups. Rainbow is a little more manageable because Jagged Saber (with Virbank poison) 1HKOs Xerneas and Hex is devastating. I have not played vs Rayquaza nearly as much as I’ve tested against Xerneas, but the matchup should go similarly. Rayquaza is a little more difficult to deal with though. Hex and Stadiums are the keys to these matchups.
Groudon is actually tricky because of the various tricks and answers they have. It is considerably difficult to win if they run Hex Maniac. Hex turns off Poisonous Nest, and that is your only way to 1HKO a Sashed Primal Groudon. Manectric is also troublesome because of Garbodor shutting off Ariados. You want to get rid of Garbodor whenever you can, or you will be stuck 3HKOing M Manectric. That’s no fun!
Carbink
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Pokémon – 12 |
Trainers – 40 4 N 3 Korrina 2 AZ 1 Lysandre
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Energy – 8 4 Strong 4 F |
This deck is a little weird. There’s a few tweaks you can make to the list here and there, so I’m not quite sure if this exact combination of 60 cards is optimal. Nonetheless, this is my current list. A lot of the credit for this list goes to my friends Chip and Eddie. We all made many contributions to this list and have edited it heavily since Philly. The basic idea is to abuse Focus Sash and Max Potion to completely erase attacks from your opponent while chipping away with Diamond Gift and other low-cost attacks. Zygarde-EX and Landorus-EX can unleash powerful attacks when needed. It is purely coincidental that all of my top Expanded picks happen to focus on healing.
Key Cards
4 Carbink FCO 50, 3 Carbink BREAK
I play four copies of Carbink to increase the odds of starting with it, as it is the optimal Pokémon to start with. Its Safeguard Ability proves useful against nearly every deck. This deck focuses on bulk with cards such as Max Potion and Focus Sash, and Safeguard compounds that longevity. Carbink evolves into Carbink BREAK, which is the Pokémon that this deck is focused around. It is imperative to run heavy counts of both of these cards as you will generally need multiple BREAK lines each game.
Diamond Gift does a humble 20 damage, retrieves two Energy cards from your discard, and attaches them to any Fighting Pokémon. I sometimes call it a Turbo Bolt that doesn’t do damage. However, the 20 damage starts to add up when you consider how absurdly difficult it is for opponents to KO just one Carbink BREAK. The deck also plays maximum copies of Strong Energy so that Diamond Gift can actually provide pressure by way of meaningful damage. You will use Diamond Gift a lot, so just pretend like the attack name isn’t super lame.
Carbink has another useful attack too. For two Energy, Carbink can use Power Gem, which does 40 damage and has no additional effect. Sometimes you will have two Energy on a Carbink from an earlier Diamond Gift but you won’t have any Energy in the discard! This is when Power Gem comes in handy. It is simply a slightly stronger attacking option than Diamond Gift.
Zygarde is an alternate attacking option if you are in a situation where you need some more HP or extra damage. Carbink can use Diamond Gift to quickly fuel a Zygarde. Once Zygarde has taken significant damage, it can retreat to get fixed up. Max Potion undoes all the hard work that your opponent poured into trying to KO Zygarde, and Diamond Gift can retrieve those Energy cards you just retreated with.
Zygarde has three attacks. First is Land’s Pulse, which is useful for dealing quick damage. If you have a Strong equipped and there’s a Stadium in play, Land’s Pulse does 60 damage for one Energy! Cell Storm is more powerful and it is great against decks like Trevenant and Yveltal which are forced to attack multiple times in order to KO Zygarde. Cell Storm does 60 damage (plus Strong Energy) and heals 30 damage from Zygarde.
Land’s Wrath is the attack for raw power. It does 100 damage flat-out and takes three Energy. It certainly gets used, though Land’s Judgement (with Landorus-EX) is the superior option for doing lots of damage.
Say hello to Doggo Zygarde. This Zygarde has never been used competitively, but it has two neat attacks which make it a worthwhile inclusion in the deck. For a Fighting Energy, it can use Lookout, which has a Lysandre effect. It’s neat, and you never know when you might want to use something like that.
Zygarde’s second attack, Aura Break, is the real reason for playing it. Aura Break requires a heavy investment of three Energy, but it does 70 damage and prevents the target from attacking next turn if it is a Dark- or Fairy-type. Usually it requires Diamond Gift to charge it up. Aura Break easily hits for 110 damage with two Strong Energy, and with Magnetic Storm in play this makes for some great math. 110 damage is enough to 2HKO a Belted Yveltal-EX, 1HKO Shaymin-EX, and 1HKO Trevenant XY.
Aura Break’s main purpose is in the Dark matchup. It forces tricky situations for the Dark player, who will usually rely on Yveltal XY and Yveltal BKT for this matchup. Those Pokémon cannot attack next turn, so they must retreat or face a KO. Forcing them to retreat is very strong. If they bench a Darkrai-EX for its Dark Cloak Ability, that is two free Prizes for you. If they use Float Stone, it means they do not have a Fury Belt on Yveltal XY, and that is just swell. Of course, Float Stone doesn’t even work with Yveltal BKT due to Fright Night, so they may just have to eat the Retreat Cost of two Energy. It is imperative to have Focus Sash on Doggo Zygarde whenever you plan on attacking with it.
Landorus has two amazing attacks which is why it’s been seeing competitive play for the past three years. Hammerhead is a fantastic early-game attacking option. For just one Energy, it deals 30 damage to the Active Pokémon and one of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. This easily becomes a 50-30 attack on turn 1 with Strong Energy. As I mentioned earlier, Land’s Judgement is your nuke, so to speak. For three Energy (hopefully Strongs), this attack deals 80 damage along with the option to discard all Energy attached. If you do so, it does 150 damage instead. With Max Potion and AZ, this cost is mitigated.
You can easily choose to play another Landorus-EX if you so desire. I do not think anything deserves to be cut in favor of another one. This is because both of Landorus’s attacks have very specific uses. Besides, even the one Landorus can be kept alive quite a long time.
1 Shaymin-EX, 1 Ultra Ball
Shaymin-EX is a card that may or may not need to be here. I personally think it is worthwhile because it boosts consistency. Although I only play one Ultra Ball, that one Ultra Ball can be fetched by Korrina. Shaymin is an effective way to turn Korrina into a draw Supporter if the need arises.
Shaymin is somewhat of an antithesis to the plan of making your opponent struggle to take 6 Prizes. If it winds up on the Bench, it makes the game significantly easier on your opponent. Use the utmost caution when deciding whether or not to play it down, as it is more of a liability for this deck than for most others.
Hex is a tech that is helpful against a handful of relevant matchups. It was included so that the deck had some sort of Archeops counter. While some players assume that Gallade is the optimal Maxie target against this deck, the correct choice is in fact Archeops before Carbink BREAK hits the field. Relying on opponents’ unfamiliarity with the matchup is not a winning strategy, especially in a best-of-three, so Hex Maniac is a necessary Archeops counter.
Hex is also critical in the Greninja matchup. The matchup is definitely stacked in Greninja’s favor, but Hex at least gives you a chance. Using Hex Maniac as much as possible while attacking with Zygarde-EX is the only plan with any chance of success. Of course, Hex can turn off Trevenant’s Item lock for a turn, allowing for use of VS Seeker, Max Potion, and Puzzle of Time among other Items.
2 AZ, 2 Pokémon Center Lady
These cards contribute to the strategy of healing and tanking your way to victory. AZ is effective in that it heals all damage instead of just 60. It also offers a method of switching the Pokémon who struggle with retreating. Pokémon Center Lady heals off 60 damage, which is great against Trevenant, Yveltal, and more. It also does not pick up the Pokémon like AZ does, which is better for Carbink BREAK. Pokémon Center Lady with Landorus-EX is a combination that makes the Accelgor matchup a wash.
3 Korrina, 3 Professor Sycamore, 4 N
There are lots of cards that can only be used at specific times such as Puzzle and Max Potion. These Items must be conserved for when they are needed, which is why I prefer a heavier count of N over Professor Sycamore. Korrina may seem like a weak card but it works quite well. Its uses should be self-explanatory, but I do want to point out its synergy with Puzzle of Time. It can always find that second piece to make Puzzle plays more consistent.
4 Puzzle of Time, 4 Max Potion, 4 Focus Sash
Max Potion and Focus Sash make the entire deck’s strategy possible, and you want to use them often. It only makes sense that you run four. Each Puzzle essentially says to grab any card from your discard. The only catch is that you need to play two at a time. This card is busted. Many other decks don’t have the space or the means to use Puzzle consistently, but this deck can thanks to Korrina. Puzzle will frequently be used for Max Potion. Always remember that Puzzle can retrieve literally any card, so get creative.
Every time I come to this card, I just want to echo how insanely good it is. Aside from its normal uses of thinning and searching for Supporters, Compressor can be used to discard Strong Energy. This has excellent synergy with Diamond Gift.
Tool Scrapper is a decent card on its own and is really included for “general use.” This is intentionally vague as pretty much every deck under the sun has Pokémon Tools, so you can mess up everyone somehow. Its most important use would be against Fighting Fury Belt, because that extra 40 HP is particularly annoying for Carbink and its low damage output.
I figured I needed a switching card that wasn’t a Supporter for utility purposes. Float Stone doesn’t work because it gets in the way of Focus Sash. While there’s only one Rope, it can be searched for with Korrina. Rope is important to evacuate Zygarde and Landorus from the Active Spot in case they don’t have enough Energy to retreat.
Magnetic Storm is the best Stadium for the deck because many relevant threats resist Fighting. Magnetic Storm is extremely important against the two most popular decks: Trevenant and Yveltal. It makes those matchups easier, and that fact alone warrants its inclusion.
Matchups
- Yveltal/Maxie’s … Favorable
- Turbo Dark … auto-win
- Trevenant … Even
- Toad/Bats … Favorable
- Greninja … Unfavorable
- Raikou/Eels … Highly Favorable
- Night March … Favorable
- Rainbow Road … Favorable
- M Rayquaza … Highly Favorable
- Accelgor/Wobbuffet … Favorable
- Primal Groudon … auto-win
- M Manectric … auto-win
As you can see, the only decks that Carbink can lose to are decks with solid ways around Focus Sash + Max Potion. The Yveltal matchup has so many nuances. It can be a close matchup depending on the list. Xerosic, Pokémon Center Lady, Hypnotoxic Laser, and high counts of baby Yveltal are troublesome. No matter what cards they play, I think the Yveltal matchup is no worse than even. Turbo Dark typically packs fewer answers and it relies on Pokémon-EX. There’s no real way to lose against it.
Trevenant is so annoying for Carbink, as it is for every deck. The matchup can go either way because of how much variance Trevenant forces into the game. Ideally you can use a combination of Zygarde, Carbink BREAK, and Supporters to grind out the game to a win, but it really comes down to luck in the end. Such is the nature of Trevenant.
Toad/Bats is favorable thanks to Safeguard. A key detail here is that Silent Lab does not shut off Carbink BREAK’s Safeguard. It is virtually impossible for Bat damage alone to Knock Out all of your Carbink. Hex Maniac can only carry them so much, and many lists exclude Hex altogether. The Toad/Bats matchup certainly gets long and boring, but it is in Carbink’s favor.
The remaining decks lack a solid answer to the Sash and heal strategy. Sure they have some cards that might let them take a Prize or four, but they lack the resources to win the game. Accelgor would be a difficult matchup if it wasn’t for the combination of Landorus-EX and Pokémon Center Lady. VS Seeker, Puzzle of Time, Korrina, and Escape Rope augment this strategy by providing an absurd amount of options to cure paralysis.
Conclusion
These are the three decks that I would be testing the most for San Jose. I am not going to the tournament because it is all the way across the country. I truly believe in these decks even though they are quite rogue and unorthodox. They work well and have incredible matchups. Such favorable matchup spreads are rare in diverse formats, so I encourage you all to try these decks out.
Thanks so much for reading guys! I really appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts with all of you, so share some of your thoughts with me! I’ll be glad to hear any feedback, comments, and questions about the article. Happy holidays!
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