Trading in Woops

A Journey with QuagNag through São Paulo, and Why Zoroark-GX is Now My Main Until the End of the Season
rewatchingpokemon.tumblr.com
Playing QuagNag was like walking on a tight rope. (Please don’t dead-draw…)

Hello everyone! It’s been a long time since my last article and in the meantime a lot has happened. A month ago, Unbroken Bonds hadn’t been released and I was studying hard to try to understand what the metagame would look like. Well, I ended up playing São Paulo Regionals with Quagsire/Naganel and even got a satisfactory Top 32, but I confess that I regretted the deck choice some time later.

After Regionals I decided to take a break from QuagNag and play some League Cups with Zoroark-GX. I played a total of six League Cups this month and I was fortunate to win three of them, Top 4 one, and Top 8 two. I don’t remember having made such good and consistent results in League Cups throughout my career, so Zoroark-GX has become my main deck for the end of the season.

To finish my news of this month, I’ve decided last-minute to play the Curitiba Special Event that will happen on June 15, so I’m putting a lot of effort into doing well, as it will be my last event this season. I’m probably playing it with Zoroark-GX.

Now that I’ve told you everything I wanted, let’s get down to the subject of this article. I want to talk about all my experiences with QuagNag and why I ended up leaving the deck. Then I want to talk about Zoroark-GX and why it will probably be my choice for the Curitiba SPE.

QuagNag (It Seemed So Good…)

QuagNag on paper looked like a wonderful deck for the metagame a month ago. It is a deck focused on non-Pokémon-GX that hits for the Weakness of the main metagame decks, has a good matchup (in theory) versus Control decks like Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Vileplume, and can play against anything.

It is worth remembering that the São Paulo Regional was the first tournament with Unbroken Bonds, so the metagame was still a mystery. Based on the results of Japan and my studies, I decided that QuagNag seemed to be a safe choice. And it really was—there was no match in every metagame I was afraid to face.

The biggest problem with QuagNag has always been inconsistency, so when I decided to take the deck seriously, I was careful to put together a consistent version that wouldn’t infuriate me all through the Regional. During my training the deck went well and was able to do its job in most cases, but during the Regional, consistency problems began to appear frequently and the famous inconsistency of the deck became my biggest villain.

São Paulo Regionals

I spent the previous week of the Regional testing with my girlfriend and training partner Nathália Fernandes. First of all we tested Malamar/Ultra Necrozma-GX because it has the same security feeling that QuagNag has, in the sense that it is a safe deck and able to play against any deck, but after much testing, we decided to drop Malamar/Ultra Necrozma-GX, mainly due to problems of consistency and failure to adequately cover the metagame we expected.

So we decided to give some other decks a chance, and we ended up enjoying QuagNag. The results during the testing were satisfactory and we were confident that we would do well in the Regional. With a few hours remaining for the tournament, the deck was already with 60 deck cards decided, but we were wondering if we were going to put some cards to beat Weezing or simply accept that match as very unfavorable. In the end, we decided to modify the deck with Mew UNB, Field Blower, and Lana to beat Weezing. We would lose some consistency but in return we would have a slightly favorable match against the most hyped deck at the time. The change turned out to be worth it.

The Top 32 List

Pokémon (15)

3 Wooper DRM

3 Quagsire DRM

1 Poipole FLI

1 Poipole LOT

2 Naganadel LOT

1 Volcanion p

1 Onix LOT

1 Ditto p

1 Oranguru SUM

1 Mew UNB

Trainer (35)

4 Lillie

3 Cynthia

1 Guzma

1 Lana

 

4 Aqua Patch

4 Nest Ball

4 Pokégear 3.0

4 Ultra Ball

3 Rescue Stretcher

1 Field Blower

 

3 Wishful Baton

1 Escape Board

 

2 Viridian Forest

Energy (10)

10 Water Energy

 

Copy List

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 15

* 3 Wooper DRM 25
* 3 Quagsire DRM 26
* 1 Poipole FLI 55
* 1 Poipole LOT 107
* 2 Naganadel LOT 108
* 1 Volcanion p FLI 31
* 1 Onix LOT 109
* 1 Ditto p LOT 154
* 1 Oranguru SUM 113
* 1 Mew UNB 76

##Trainer Cards - 35

* 4 Lillie SUM 122
* 3 Cynthia UPR 119
* 1 Guzma BUS 115
* 1 Lana BUS 117
* 4 Pokégear 3.0 UNB 182
* 4 Nest Ball SUM 123
* 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135
* 4 Aqua Patch GRI 119
* 3 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 1 Field Blower GRI 125
* 3 Wishful Baton BUS 128
* 1 Escape Board UPR 122
* 2 Viridian Forest TEU 156

##Energy - 10

* 10 Water Energy Energy 3

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=73621 ******

Changes from the Previous List

Minus: 1 Cynthia, 1 Magikarp & Wailord-GX, 1 Viridian Forest

In Its Place…

These were the last three cards I put on the deck to be able to have a balanced match against Weezing, but during the tournament I ended up using those three cards in other situations that helped me a lot. The Field Blower saved me to remove the Weakness Policy against PikaRom, Mew UNB helped me to prevent Tag Bolt-GX damage on the Bench, and Lana helped me to keep Quagsire alive for a further turn against Zapdos and win the Prize exchange.

Tournament Summary

R1: Weezing/Fighting Dojo…WW (1-0-0)
R2: PikaRom…WW (2-0-0)
R3: Turbo PikaRom…LL (2-1-0)
R4: ReshiZard w/ 2 Shining LugiaWW (3-1-0)
R5: Turbo PikaRom…WLL (3-2-0)
R6: Blacephalon-GXWW (4-2-0)
R7: Green’s ReshiZard…WW (5-2-0)
R8: Ability ReshiZard…WW (6-2-0)
R9: ID (6-2-1)

R10: Weezing…WLT (6-2-2)
R11: Turbo PikaRom…WW (7-2-2)
R12: Weezing…LWL (7-3-2)
R13: Weezing…WW (8-3-2)
R14: ID (8-3-3)

Final: 28th Place (Top 32)

To be honest, I got lucky in the pairings and faced four Fire-based decks, which are naturally favorable matches, and four Weezing decks, which was a match that I prepared for by dedicating three specific cards in my deck. As I said in my previous article, one of my specialties in Pokémon TCG is reading the metagame and in fact I expected quite a number of Fire and Weezing decks. The choice of deck was super adequate, but QuagNag looks like it will always be a bit inconsistent, no matter how many Supporters or Balls you use.

It’s a deck that needs to do many things every turn, while a ReshiZard deck only needs to do Kiawe or Welder to have your main attacker ready for almost an entire match. The matches I lost in the tournament were mostly dead hands without having the opportunity to try to fight for the win.

Before São Paulo I was confident in using QuagNag against any deck, but during São Paulo I was unsure of facing any deck or opponent, precisely because of the fear of getting dead hands and not being able to do anything.

I think Top 32 was a fair result and I’m satisfied with it. I don’t think QuagNag is a deck with the strength and consistency to play alongside the best decks of the format like Zoroark-GX, PikaRom, and ReshiZard.

QuagNag 2.0

After São Paulo, I realized that QuagNag would have to improve its consistency, otherwise it wouldn’t be safe to use in a long 14-round (plus Top 8) tournament. QuagNag is an anti-meta deck and is only worth using it if you expect a metagame with a bunch of Fire + Weezing and a few PikaRom, Zoroark-GX, and ZapBeasts. With that in mind, I decided afterward to make the deck as simple and linear as possible to play these matchups with consistency.

As I remembered my matches, I realized that I could cut some cards, such as Escape Board and Wishful Baton, to improve the consistency. When removing these cards, I would need to make other adaptations. The deck has ended up looking like this:

Pokémon (18)

4 Wooper DRM

3 Quagsire DRM

1 Quagsire UNB

3 Poipole LOT

3 Naganadel LOT

1 Ditto p

1 Volcanion p

1 Mew UNB

1 Oranguru SUM

Trainer (33)

4 Cynthia

4 Lillie

1 Guzma

1 Lana

 

4 Nest Ball

4 Pokégear 3.0

4 Ultra Ball

3 Aqua Patch

3 Rescue Stretcher

1 Field Blower

 

1 Choice Band

 

3 Viridian Forest

Energy (9)

9 Water Energy

 

Copy List

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 18

* 4 Wooper DRM 25
* 3 Quagsire DRM 26
* 1 Quagsire UNB 97
* 3 Poipole LOT 107
* 3 Naganadel LOT 108
* 1 Ditto p LOT 154
* 1 Volcanion p FLI 31
* 1 Mew UNB 76
* 1 Oranguru SUM 113

##Trainer Cards - 33

* 4 Lillie SUM 122
* 4 Cynthia UPR 119
* 1 Guzma BUS 115
* 1 Lana BUS 117
* 4 Pokégear 3.0 UNB 182
* 4 Nest Ball SUM 123
* 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135
* 3 Aqua Patch GRI 119
* 3 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 1 Field Blower GRI 125
* 1 Choice Band GRI 121
* 3 Viridian Forest TEU 156

##Energy - 9

* 9 Water Energy Energy 3

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=73621 ******

Changes from the Previous List

Minus: 3 Wishful Baton, 1 Aqua Patch, 1 Water Energy

Wishful Baton makes a lot of sense when you use Magikarp & Wailord-GX or Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX and you need to accumulate 8 Energies on the board to activate your GX attack, but if you don’t use any of those two TAG TEAMs, then it does not make much sense to use Wishful Baton because the deck can put an average of 3 Energies per turn on the field with Naganadel, attachment for the turn, and Aqua Patch. In addition, Field Blower is prevalent due to the Spell Tag in Weezing decks.

As we drop Wishful Baton, Onix LOT becomes harder to be used since it needs 4 Energies. Besides being difficult to energize, it will be even harder to energize a 2nd Onix. On account of that, I preferred to exchange Onix for Quagsire UNB.

Another card that I decided to take out was 1 copy of Aqua Patch, which, although very good, felt that I did not need to use 4 copies of it, besides the fact that is annoying when Aqua Patch stuck in hand on the initial turns.

In Its Place…

  • 4th Wooper DRM: I was missing a 4th Wooper to make my setup more consistent on Turn 1. Also, you need the 4th Wooper if you play Quagsire UNB.
  • 3rd Poiple & 3rd Naganadel: This was the main change that allowed me to adapt my QuagNag list to something simpler and more consistent. In addition to improving my initial setup, I feel that if I bring 2 Naganadel on the board I will not need Wishful Baton or Aqua Patch for the rest of the match. Without Onix and TAG TEAMs, all of my attackers need only 3 Energies to attack and this is easy to achieve. In addition, the deck still has 3 Aqua Patch to help with powering up.
  • 3rd Viridian Forest: I took the 10th Water Energy out for the 3rd Viridian Forest. I felt that I didn’t need so much Energy on the deck, but I needed to keep having a good number of cards that would allow access to them. Viridian Forest is a fantastic card in QuagNag for several reasons: It lets you discard Water Energies, search for Water Energy, and discard cards in your hand to draw cards with Oranguru SUM’s Instruct. Basically, it filters the deck, gets rid of the less important cards, and consequently improves the overall consistency of the deck.
  • 4th Cynthia: In making all these adaptations, I found myself with a free space and so I decided to include a straightforward card for consistency. Although I miss at some points a Supporter like Sightseer when my hand is full of useless cards that I can not get rid of or Judge to shuffle away an opponent’s hand, I still prefer 4th Cynthia as it is the best draw Supporter.

Minus: 1 Onix LOT, 1 Escape Board

With the changes above, it was difficult to use Onix for its cost of 4 Energy to attack and, because of this, Quagsire UNB became the best option. Escape Board is a good card, but I felt it was not that important so I decided to play without it.

In Its Place…

  • 1 Quagsire UNB: One of the few advantages of Fighting Quagsire to Onix is that its attack costs one less Water Energy to hit the same 120 damage. Without Wishful Baton, 4th Aqua Patch, and 10th Water Energy, and with the inclusion of 4th Wooper, Quagsire became the best option for the deck. In addition, we have a more consistent response to Knock Out a PikaRom or Zoroark-GX on Turn 2.
  • 1 Choice Band: It was not only my QuagNag deck that went through adaptations, but pretty much all the decks in format. ReshiZard decks for example now use up to 2 copies of Eevee & Snorlax-GX to deal with QuagNag and Zoroark-GX. So Onix LOT/Quagsire UNB can not Knock Out a Eevee & Snorlax-GX without the help of the Choice Band. In addition, I felt lack of extra damage for Quagsire DRM to Knock Out simple Pokémon like Tapu Lele-GX and Tapu Koko-GX in one hit.

QuagNag/BuzzMosa

Pokémon (17)

4 Wooper DRM

3 Quagsire DRM

1 Quagsire UNB

3 Poipole LOT

3 Naganadel LOT

1 Ditto p

1 Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX

1 Oranguru SUM

Trainer (31)

4 Cynthia

4 Lillie

1 Guzma

 

4 Nest Ball

4 Pokégear 3.0

4 Ultra Ball

3 Aqua Patch

3 Rescue Stretcher

 

1 Choice Band

 

3 Viridian Forest

Energy (12)

9 Water Energy

2 Unit Energy GRW

1 Beast Energy p

 

Copy List

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 17

* 4 Wooper DRM 25
* 3 Quagsire DRM 26
* 1 Quagsire UNB 97
* 3 Poipole LOT 107
* 3 Naganadel LOT 108
* 1 Ditto p LOT 154
* 1 Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX UNB 1
* 1 Oranguru SUM 113

##Trainer Cards - 31

* 4 Lillie SUM 122
* 4 Cynthia UPR 119
* 1 Guzma BUS 115
* 4 Pokégear 3.0 UNB 182
* 4 Nest Ball SUM 123
* 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135
* 3 Aqua Patch GRI 119
* 3 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 1 Choice Band GRI 121
* 3 Viridian Forest TEU 156

##Energy - 12

* 9 Water Energy Energy 3
* 1 Beast Energy p FLI 117
* 2 Unit Energy GRW UPR 137

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=73621 ******

Changes to the Previous List

Minus: Weezing Counter Package (Field Blower, Mew UNB, and Lana) & Volcanion p

We are taking out the Weezing Counter Package and the great tech Volcanion p to make way for super tech Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX, which has the ability to unbalance any Pokémon TCG match by getting 4 Prizes at once. In the same games that all these techs have been removed (Weezing and Malamar for example), Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX can also be a strong tech and game-changer.

Against Weezing we make the matchup significantly worse, but we can win some games if we can use Beast Game-GX to get 4 Prizes.

Volcanion p will miss its high HP of 160 and its Ability Jet Geyser which helps to discard Water Energies and has the effect of replacing the opponent’s asset, since it has only 1 Guzma. Its Sauna Blast is a strong attack, but with Mew UNB very common in the metagame it becomes very nerfed. In practice I haven’t used Volcanion p that much, so I preferred to take it out for Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX, which is also a Pokémon tech, but it can shine in every match.

In Its Place…

  • 1 Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX: I was completely surprised when I saw Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX in QuagNag. It seemed to be the special touch that this deck was missing. Although the main idea is to use the Beast Game-GX with 8 Energies to get 4 Prizes, BuzzMosa has other great two attacks. Jet Punch brings to the deck a good attack by only 1 Energy, able to help somehow knockouts on Pokémon-GX. Elegant Sole brings the high damage of 190, which is needed is some situations.
  • 1 Beast Energy: I’ve seen some lists that don’t use Beast Energy but in my opinion Beast Energy is a must. It gives the possibility of Beast Game-GX hitting 80, enough to Knock Out a lot more Pokémon like Mew UNB, Jirachi TEU, and Zorua. In addition, Beast Energy can be used by Naganadel as well, offering the opportunity to hit 190 when you have 3 Prizes remaining.
  • 2 Unit Energy GRW: These 2 Energies allow Pheromosa & Buzzwole-GX to use Elegant Sole attack to hit 190, a high damage that the QuagNag deck doesn’t have.

Why I Left QuagNag

Although I like QuagNag, I decided to leave the deck because of its consistency and lack of resources to handle random situations. In addition to my three defeats in the Regional were due to dead hands and dead-draws, there were two great moments during my Regional that made me realize that QuagNag wasn’t the deck I expected:

  1. The first moment was against Blacephalon-GX when my opponent started playing just using Tapu Lele-GX with Welder and turned an auto-win match for me into a very even game, just because my QuagNag deck doesn’t have a good answer to hit 170 damage in one hit.
  2. The second moment was against ReshiZard, when I had a very tough win. My opponent had only 1 Prize remaining in both games. My opponent went all-in with ReshiZard in both games and my deck was failing on the easy mission to get a Quagsire with 4 Energies.

In short, I lost confidence in the deck because I wasn’t sure if the deck was able to fulfill what I expected from it.

QuagNag 2.0 is for me the best version of QuagNag and I would have used it in the São Paulo Regional, I believe it could have entered the Top 8 or at least a Top 16 with the list. But even making the list as consistent as possible, I still think QuagNag is a weak and an inconsistent deck. It is a deck that needs to do many things throughout the game and one hour the deck will fail.

The version of QuagNag with BuzzMosa would be the perfect version of QuagNag if the deck was consistent, but to have BuzzMosa it will be necessary to sacrifice some of the consistency, so I prefer not to use that version in a big tournament.

Zoroark-GX (Changing My Main Deck)

bluwiikoon.tumblr.com

After my adventures with QuagNag in Regional, I wanted to use something really strong and consistent in League Cups, so I decided to give a shot on Zoroark-GX/Persian-GX/Slowking that Alejo Salvador and Patricia Walsh used to reach Top 4 and Top 8 in São Paulo Regional.

Pokémon (23)

4 Zorua SLG

4 Zoroark-GX

2 Meowth TEU

2 Persian-GX

2 Tapu Lele-GX

2 Marshadow UNB

1 Slowpoke LOT

1 Slowking LOT

1 Alolan Grimer TEU

1 Alolan Muk SUM

1 Ditto p

1 Mew UNB

1 Oranguru UPR

Trainer (30)

4 Lillie

3 Guzma

1 Acerola

1 Judge

1 Professor Kukui

1 Tate & Liza

 

4 Nest Ball

4 Pokémon Communication

4 Ultra Ball

1 Field Blower

1 Max Potion

1 Pal Pad

1 Rescue Stretcher

 

2 Choice Band

 

1 Sky Pillar

Energy (7)

4 Triple Acceleration Energy

3 Double Colorless Energy

 

Copy List

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 23

* 4 Zorua SLG 52
* 4 Zoroark-GX SLG 53
* 2 Meowth TEU 125
* 2 Persian-GX UNB 149
* 2 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60
* 2 Marshadow UNB 81
* 1 Slowpoke LOT 54
* 1 Slowking LOT 55
* 1 Alolan Grimer TEU 83
* 1 Alolan Muk SUM 58
* 1 Ditto p LOT 154
* 1 Mew UNB 76
* 1 Oranguru UPR 114

##Trainer Cards - 30

* 4 Lillie SUM 122
* 3 Guzma BUS 115
* 1 Acerola BUS 112
* 1 Judge BKT 143
* 1 Professor Kukui SUM 128
* 1 Tate & Liza CES 148
* 4 Nest Ball SUM 123
* 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135
* 4 Pokémon Communication BLW 99
* 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 1 Pal Pad FLF 92
* 1 Field Blower GRI 125
* 1 Max Potion GRI 128
* 2 Choice Band GRI 121
* 1 Sky Pillar CES 144

##Energy - 7

* 4 Triple Acceleration Energy UNB 190
* 3 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=73621 ******

I played with Alejo Salvador’s list and I was able to win League Cup. I was surprised by the power of this list, and specifically the inclusions of Persian-GX and the Marshadow UNB, which, in addition to removing Stadiums like Power Plant, is also able to Knock Out Buzzwole FLI easily. Despite not having a Fighter attacker, for me this is the strongest Zoroark-GX variant in our SUM–UNB metagame.

In contrast, I had a hard time dealing with ReshiZard due to Eevee & Snorlax-GX. The deck has no big answer and the way to Knock Out EeveeLax is only in two hits. I managed to beat two Green’s ReshiZard in Top 8 and Top 4 at a League Cup, but I had a tough time doing so and a bit of luck, so it is a bad matchup for sure. Against PikaRom the deck also has a tight match.

After the League Cup, I realized that I didn’t use the Alolan Muk or Slowking since my opponents would promote EeveeLax instead of Reshiram & Charizard-GX in the match against Zoroark-GX/Persian-GX.

With that in mind, I decided to try the good old Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX.

Old School: Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX

Pokémon (20)

4 Zorua SLG

4 Zoroark-GX

2 Rockruff FLI

2 Lycanroc-GX GRI

1 Slugma LOT

1 Magcargo CES

1 Ditto p

2 Tapu Lele-GX

1 Marshadow UNB

1 Marshadow SLG

1 Mew UNB

Trainer (32)

4 Lillie

2 Guzma

1 Acerola

1 Cynthia

1 Judge

1 Professor Kukui

 

4 Nest Ball

4 Pokémon Communication

4 Ultra Ball

1 Field Blower

1 Max Potion

1 Pal Pad

1 Rescue Stretcher

 

2 Bodybuilding Dumbbells

2 Choice Band

 

2 Devoured Field

Energy (8)

4 Double Colorless Energy

3 Unit Energy FDY

1 Rainbow Energy

 

Copy List

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 20

* 4 Zorua SLG 52
* 4 Zoroark-GX SLG 53
* 2 Rockruff FLI 75
* 2 Lycanroc-GX GRI 74
* 1 Slugma LOT 43
* 1 Magcargo CES 24
* 1 Ditto p LOT 154
* 2 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60
* 1 Marshadow UNB 81
* 1 Marshadow SLG 45
* 1 Mew UNB 76

##Trainer Cards - 32

* 4 Lillie SUM 122
* 2 Guzma BUS 115
* 1 Cynthia UPR 119
* 1 Acerola BUS 112
* 1 Judge BKT 143
* 1 Professor Kukui SUM 128
* 4 Nest Ball SUM 123
* 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135
* 4 Pokémon Communication TEU 152
* 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 2 Choice Band GRI 121
* 2 Devoured Field CIN 93
* 1 Pal Pad UPR 132
* 2 Bodybuilding Dumbbells BUS 113
* 1 Field Blower GRI 125
* 1 Max Potion GRI 128

##Energy - 8

* 4 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136
* 3 Unit Energy FDY FLI 118
* 1 Rainbow Energy CES 151

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=73621 ******

This list could very well be a Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX from six months ago, but I think it still works well these days. Although the deck does not have Slowking and Alolan Muk, which are technically mandatory in a Zoroark-GX deck, I believe the deck wins through consistency.

The deck still manages to Knock Out ReshiZard with Zoroark-GX’s Trickster-GX attack with the help of Choice Band and Devoured Field, and we get back all the benefits from Lycanroc-GX that we already know: Fighting type, good GX attack, and its broken Ability Bloodthirsty Eyes.

The Magcargo 1-1 line allows you to make strong moves that depend on the combination of several cards, Marshadow SLG is a good response to Turn 1 Lillie or Green’s Exploration, and Bodybuilding Dumbbells gives Zoroark-GX a chance to stay alive against ReshiZard’s Flare Strike or even Eevee & Snorlax-GX’s Dump Truck Press.

Otherwise, there is not much to say. It’s Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX, it’s strong, it’s consistent, and it can make unpredictable turns.


But now, with the return of Blacephalon-GX, I believe the deck will need a Water attacker like Slowking LOT (or even the return of Persian-GX) which can Knock Out Blacephalon-GX in one hit.

New School: Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX

Pokémon (22)

4 Zorua TEU

4 Zoroark-GX

2 Rockruff GRI

2 Lycanroc-GX GRI

1 Meowth TEU

1 Persian-GX

1 Alolan Grimer SUM

1 Alolan Muk SUM

1 Slowpoke GRI

1 Slowking LOT

1 Ditto p

2 Tapu Lele-GX

1 Marshadow UNB

Trainer (28)

4 Lillie

2 Guzma

1 Acerola

1 Cynthia

1 Judge

1 Mallow

 

4 Nest Ball

4 Pokémon Communication

3 Ultra Ball

1 Field Blower

1 Max Potion

1 Mysterious Treasure

1 Rescue Stretcher

 

2 Choice Band

 

1 Sky Pillar

Energy (10)

4 Double Colorless Energy

3 Unit Energy FDY

2 Triple Acceleration Energy

1 Rainbow Energy

 

Copy List

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 22

* 4 Zorua TEU 90
* 4 Zoroark-GX SLG 53
* 2 Rockruff GRI 73
* 2 Lycanroc-GX GRI 74
* 1 Meowth TEU 125
* 1 Persian-GX UNB 149
* 1 Alolan Grimer SUM 57
* 1 Alolan Muk SUM 58
* 1 Slowpoke GRI 48
* 1 Slowking LOT 55
* 1 Ditto p LOT 154
* 2 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60
* 1 Marshadow UNB 81

##Trainer Cards - 28

* 4 Lillie SUM 122
* 2 Guzma BUS 115
* 1 Cynthia UPR 119
* 1 Acerola BUS 112
* 1 Judge BKT 143
* 1 Mallow GRI 127
* 4 Nest Ball SUM 123
* 3 Ultra Ball SUM 135
* 4 Pokémon Communication TEU 152
* 1 Mysterious Treasure FLI 113
* 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 2 Choice Band GRI 121
* 1 Field Blower GRI 125
* 1 Max Potion GRI 128
* 1 Sky Pillar CES 144

##Energy - 10

* 4 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136
* 3 Unit Energy FDY FLI 118
* 2 Triple Acceleration Energy UNB 190
* 1 Rainbow Energy CES 151

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=73621 ******

This list is based off Leonardo Machado’s list that got Top 4 at São Paulo. I made a couple of changes for my playstyle. This version of Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX loses consistency compared to the previous list, but in exchange we have a good response for all the decks in the current metagame.

It isn’t easy to use Ultra Ball on Zoroark-GX deck because it is difficult to discard two cards for this. We always end up discarding cards we don’t want and that’s one reason why Zoroark-GX decks need to use cards like Pal Pad and Rescue Stretcher. Because of this, I decided to include a copy of Mysterious Treasure, as you can search for Tapu Lele-GX on Turn 1 with it and, in the course of the game, you can search for Slowpoke GRI, Alolan Grimer SUM, and Marshadow UNB.

Why Zoroark-GX is My Main Deck

In my opinion, ReshiZard, PikaRom, and Zoroark-GX are the three best decks of the SUM–UNB format. They are strong decks, have power to play against any deck, and have the ability to punish inconsistent decks that aim to counter Tier 1’s metagame.

Any of these three decks would be solid choices to be used in a big tournament. I would feel good playing ReshiZard or PikaRom, but I’ve chosen Zoroark-GX as my main because I have enough experience with the deck and I feel good playing against any matchup with it.

Conclusion

As much as I have trained with QuagNag for the Regional, it was only after the event that I managed to realize improvements to the deck. The truth is that the best training that exists for a player is to play a tournament. The bigger and more important that a tournament is, the greater is your training and evolution in the game. So I advise all readers who want to improve in the game to go play tournaments whenever possible. It does not always have to be a big tournament like Regional—it can only be a League Cup or League Challenge—but you need to participate in tournaments. Whenever you’re playing for something, whether it’s $25,000 or just some booster packs, you’re fighting for something and because of that you’ll try to do your best. As much as you do your testing with effort, it will never be a tournament. At least it works for me.

After trying QuagNag, I realized that the deck didn’t have enough strength to compete with the best decks, so I decided to end my season with the good and old Zoroark-GX.

When Tord Reklev and his friends played with the new Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX at the EUIC in November 2017, I was also playing there with my (much worse) version of Zoroark-GX/Golisopod-GX, reaching the Top 32 of that tournament. Since then almost two years have passed, and Zoroark-GX is back with me to close its story in the Standard format.

Tier List

To conclude this article, below is my updated tier list:

  • Tier 1: The best deck in the format. They have the ability to play against everything (or almost everything).
  • Tier 1.5: These are strong decks that play well against Tier 1, but have bad matchups against less popular decks decks.
  • Tier 2: These are decks with potential, but they are generally inconsistent or dependent on decks taking down specific Tier 1 decks.

Tier 1

  • Ability ReshiZard
  • PikaRom
  • Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX/Slowking

Tier 1.5

Tier 2

That’s all folks. I hope you enjoyed my article and I’ll see you next time!


…and that will conclude this Unlocked Underground article.

After 45 days, we unlock each Underground (UG/★) article for public viewing. New articles are reserved for Underground members.

Underground Members: Thank you for making this article possible!

Other Readers: Check out the FAQ if you are interested in joining Underground and gaining full access to our latest content.


Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

You are logged out. Register. Log in. Legacy discussion: 0