Down the Rabbit Hole

A Comprehensive Rodent-and-Bird-Filled Guide to Post-Rotation, Post-Bellelba & Brycen-Man Control
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“… here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place.”

On the morning of July 31, I woke up as usual: brushed my teeth, got dressed, made coffee, etc. However, when I checked my phone, I realized that I had an abnormal amount of messages from friends. These messages shared a common theme: Bellelba & Brycen-Man (BBM) had been banned in the Standard format and I had been robbed of my favorite archetypes. The ban was completely unexpected, and I was left dumbfounded for the rest of the morning. I couldn’t comprehend what justification could possibly be behind the ban.

By definition, I don’t think BBM was worthy of a ban.

The card was good, but it never developed use in a way that warranted a ban. Most cards that get banned follow a general theme, which is that they could be used in a way to remove a deck’s ability to reach a fundamental win condition (i.e., win con). I know that’s worded a bit weird, so allow me to elaborate. The last ban we had in Standard was Lysandre’s Trump Card: a card that allowed the user to shuffle all cards from their discard pile into their deck (except for Lysandre’s Trump Card), and also forced the opponent to do so as well. Disregarding how crazy that effect is, it prevented decks from reaching a win con via deckout. This meant that an archetype built around stalling or milling was incapable of reaching a win condition before they even got to play a card. From my understanding, this was the criteria for considering a card bannable.

Along with BBM, Mismagius UNB was banned as well. Mismagius falls within the criteria I thought was used to determine bans. Although incredibly inconsistent, Mismagius could, in theory, force your opponent to take 4 Prizes on the first turn of the game. You could then use Reset Stamp, which would effectively give your opponent 3 cards to start the game with. Mismagius was never a huge problem due to its insane lack of consistency, but it maintained the ability to pull off such a feat and I can understand that ban. Mismagius had the potential to remove your ability to have an initial hand, which could prevent you from ever really playing the game.

If the hat fits. (Mismagius, I can see the rationale.)

BBM didn’t do this in any manner, so I didn’t understand the ban. The infamously good matchup for decks utilizing BBM was against Baby Blacephalon, but even that wasn’t guaranteed. The Baby Blacephalon player still had a win condition, it was just slim. The reasoning given with the ban was that the card ruined the fun of the game for the more casual player. However, I don’t consider this valid justification, as there are multiple cards within the game that are arguably worse in this way. A card that acts as a gatekeeper for a vast majority of single-Prize attacker (SPA) decks is far more troublesome than a card that doesn’t usually see widespread play and takes a heavily favored matchup against extremely linear decks. If anything, BBM can keep high-rolling, linear decks in check and promote a more skill-intensive format. Hence, I was quite confused with the ban.

Unfortunately, despite my objections, the card is banned. There is no reason to continue complaining about it. Time to move forward. Every deck I held dear to me has been crippled, and the archetype I innovated has been invalidated… What do we do now? How can Control or Mill work without their main method of accelerating their win con? We also lost Oranguru UPR, so it’s looking even worse. Let me walk you through my journey to revive Control.


My initial hopes for an alt-win-con (AWC) deck lied with Mill rather than Control. Cards such as Rhydon UNB, Magcargo CEC, Toxtricity DAA, and Palossand RCL all seemed promising. In theory, a card such as Toxtricity DAA could mill 5 with the assistance of Will. My initial thought process was that Toxtricity milling 5 and then an additional 2 when it is KO’d with a Cursed Shovel attached. Hypothetically, you could net 7 cards milled per turn, which, on paper, sounded pretty encouraging.

However, playing a few games with the deck, I could see the flaws in my logic. First and foremost, the deck takes a horrendous ADP matchup. Even in a perfect world, getting a Risk Taker off with a Cursed Shovel attached and Will to guarantee the flip turn two and every subsequent turn, you will likely only Mill around 21–28 cards (depending on who goes first and/or if the ADP gets turn one Altered Creation). It’s also important to note that Shovel won’t matter on the final knockout that your opponent takes, so it’s more realistically 19–26 cards. That is not enough. The only win conditions you’d have at that point were if the ADP player bricked, you landed a bunch of Crushing Hammers, or if the opponent decides to turbo through their deck for no reason (i.e., luck, luck, or negligence of the opponent).

The flaws of the archetype continue when you consider that the deck often isn’t consistent. You either built the deck with a thick Toxtricity line with lots of Will and Shovels, which is prone to bricking, or you tried to incorporate a draw engine such as Cinccino SSH, but quickly figured out that there isn’t room for all the pieces Toxtricity needs in order to reliably set up and chain attacks. The deck could highroll, but it wasn’t consistent.


With the presence of ADP, I realized that, even if I worked out the perfect list that ran smoothly 99% of the time, attacking Mill was somewhat of a lost cause. From there, I turned my thoughts to the two other major alt-win-con archetypes: Stall and Control. For Stall, there were a few options. Decidueye DAA variants were the easy choice. Deci could wall a lot of things out and can take games purely because the opponent cannot damage Deci. A lot of people initially dismissed Decidueye, as “everything plays counters.” However, I found this logic rather shallow and dismissive. Wall Stall decks adapt to what they need to wall, and saying that a single Duraludon RCL would take the entire game 100% of the time is just unreasonable. I messed around with a Decidueye list but I came to a few conclusions: This was the easy way out, and the deck wasn’t for me. I wanted to play a deck that’s interactive, with a high skill ceiling.

Decidueye, although it proved to be fun and it does have some interaction when faced with a counter, wasn’t the big-brain, mentally-rewarding archetype that I fell in love with in Mill and Control. I wanted to outsmart and outplay my opponent, and Decidueye wasn’t giving me that opportunity to the extent I wanted it to.

In addition, the deck has some inherent consistency issues, which I’m never a fan of.

Looking a little further into Stall, I contemplated a Doll Stall-esque deck with Munchlax UNM and Will, but the concept felt like it was missing an inherent method to close the game. I doubted its ability to prolong a stall, and it could be crippled by an untimely gust.


With all that in mind, I moved onto the most complicated and easily the most mentally rewarding of the AWC archetypes: Control. Despite losing both Oranguru and BBM, Control seemed the most promising. It has quite a few tools at its disposal, it just seemed as if it would struggle to close games without a reliable method of mill. However, as I’ve said time and time again, Control will adapt and overcome.

My first thoughts when considering a Control deck without BBM were about UPR–UNM Pidgey Control, a deck that became one of the most potent decks in the format without the use of BBM. Pidgey’s game plan was to trap something useless in the Active (whether that be via gust-trapping with Custom Catchers or removing all the Energy off an attacker with Articuno-GX’s Cold Crush-GX attack) and hand-locking the opponent with Reset Stamp, Mars/Jessie & James, and Chip-Chip Ice Axe. After the hand lock, Pidgey could loop Crushing Hammers and Mars in order to ruin the opponent’s boardstate and remove the opponent’s resources. Considering the tools we have access to in the current Standard format, we could play to a similar win condition with Crushing Hammers, Galar Mine + Boss’s Orders, Lucario & Melmetal-GX, Reset Stamp, Jessie & James, and Chip-Chip. We don’t have Oranguru, but we do have Excadrill UNM.

However, I quickly realized the flaw with this concept: Pidgey was able to mill, in a sense, because it could discard reliably with Mars. The Pidgey player could perform a pseudo-mill by using Reset Stamp again and discarding random cards the opponent drew off of Reset Stamp with Mars, potentially discarding vital resources. Without Mars, this is far less realistic. Mars was extremely synergistic with Oranguru because, with a 0-card deck, Oranguru could order its Resource Management so that Mars was their topdeck and that allowed the Pidgey pilot to draw the other two resources they retrieved and discard the opponent’s cards. The actual line of play was a bit different, as they would incorporate cards like Pal Pad and Pidgeotto’s Air Mail Ability in order to maximize their resource recycling, but the concept is the same: Mars allowed for an efficient way to both draw cards and act as a pseudo-mill to make up for a lack of active mill.

However, we don’t have access to Mars anymore. Jessie & James is the closest alternative to accomplishing this goal, but it’s far too discard-intensive on the pilot’s side, and it’s hard to loop effectively.

J&J is not quite Mars.

Especially with Cinccino, which needs to discard in order to draw cards, the Control pilot would quickly run out of things to discard, which would leave you susceptible to a deck-out. It’s not realistic to loop with Cinccino. We still have access to Pidgeotto, but, even with the perfect boardstate, you would essentially be retrieving four resources, one of which would need to be J&J, two of which you’d want to discard, and you would still need to have access to Reset Stamp and Chip-Chip (ideally more than 1 Chip-Chip, as there won’t always be a bad card within the top three). You cannot fit all of that into one Rototiller, so you’d likely be attempting to do that once every two turns. However, at that point, you’d have minimal ability to loop Crushing Hammers as well. Essentially, Jessie & James as a pseudo-mill option is too high maintenance and unrealistic to loop.


So where does this leave us? We need a way to dispose of cards that break the lock. Otherwise, the opponent will eventually draw into their vital resources. By locking with Galar Mine and LucMetal-GX, there are four main resources that interfere with the lock:

  1. Switch,
  2. Supporter-based switch options such as Mallow & Lana and Bird Keeper,
  3. counter Stadiums, and
  4. Energy.
An attempt to thwart Switch.

Initially, Alolan Muk TEU + Scoop Up Net seemed like a decent solution, as it provided a way to aggressively target Switch, easily the most problematic card for the Control player to deal with. However, this didn’t deal with the other three problematic cards and it took Bench space that I quickly realized the deck couldn’t afford. Without BBM’s ability to limit the Bench, cards like Zacian V and LucMetal were on the field permanently post-lock. Bench space was never forgiving and Alolan Muk wasn’t synergistic with that reality. Moreover, Alolan Muk cost 2 slots in the deck, as you needed to run Grimer too, and that resulted in Alolan Muk being a space-costly, Prize-prone, and inefficient tech. We needed another answer.


In order to find a solution to the deck’s lack of inherent mill, I began to browse through all the legal Basic Pokémon in Standard. As a result, I found an option in Rhyhorn SSH. Rhyhorn has the attack Stomp Off, which mills 2 cards for a FC attack cost. Rhyhorn was synergistic with Excadrill, as it shared F Energy as an attack cost. Rhyhorn’s C Energy was also nice because you could use a F Energy and a M Energy to fulfill the cost. (The deck played M Energy in order to power up LucMetal’s Full Metal Wall-GX in one turn with a Metal Saucer, but the M Energy often proved useless after the GX attack.)

Once I added Rhyhorn to the deck, it dawned on me that I could situationally use Chip-Chip to stack a good card on top, allowing me to mill it with a Stomp Off. I dubbed this interaction “Reverse-Chipping” and started messing around with the concept. Reverse-Chipping began to become a centerpiece to my strategy: Chip-Chip locking until I found a good card, using Bird Keeper or Switch to pivot into Rhyhorn (as Galar Mine is in play) and disposing of one of the opponent’s few options to break the lock.

However, I began to notice another issue with the deck: It wasn’t running smoothly. The deck felt inherently clunky and its early game felt excessively vulnerable. I needed to streamline the deck, but also keep room for all the necessary pieces. This proved difficult. LucMetal itself removed a lot of inherent consistency by requiring a second Energy type, Metal Saucers, and a somewhat high-maintenance combo to pull off. It was at this point where a friend directed me toward Mawile-GX.

LucMetal’s main purpose was to provide an option to establish a lock without a reliance on the opponent benching something trap-able. An example of this would be Centiskorch. If Centiskorch were to start Centiskorch V, they could just load up the single Centiskorch VMAX, which inherently counters Energy denial and wouldn’t allow the Control player an opportunity to prevent a sweep. LucMetal gave an answer to this kind of situation. However, Mawile-GX could force the opponent to Bench something trap-able, and provided a less inherently-reliable but more space-efficient and lower-maintenance alternative. Mawile required no Extra energy type, and no Metal Saucers. All Mawile wants is a Surprise Box to increase the consistency of Captivating Wink. Suddenly, I could cut the M Energy for Capture Energy for a major consistency boost, and free additional space.


A boost in consistency? I’ll take it!

After replacing LucMetal, the deck ran considerably better. However, the deck still felt a bit awkward. I was running 3 F Energy and 2 Capture Energy, with my optimal boardstate needing 3 Energy, 2 of which needed to be F. Moreover, I’d need another Energy if I deemed Persian TEU to be necessary in that matchup (which was fairly often). It was at this point that I found Bunnelby RCL. Bunnelby’s attack Burrow discarded a single card for a single C Energy. Although the mill was inherently less powerful, it was far more forgiving on attack cost. With Bunnelby, I would be able to Reverse-Chip whenever the opportunity presented itself, as Bunnelby didn’t require any additional setup from a previous turn. Moreover, I could switch to an inherently more consistent Energy line of 2 F and 3 Capture.

While testing Bunnelby, I realized that it was far better suited for the Reverse-Chipping playstyle. I realized that milling a single card is more inherently synergistic with Rev. Chipping, as you can only set the first card to be a good discard. From there, the additional discard would be a blind discard. With the minimal outs the opponent has, it’s more likely that the blind discard will hit a bad card, increasing your opponent’s chance to draw a good one slightly.

With this final change, the deck felt like it was finally coming together. It ran smoothly a good majority of the time and it was taking games.


After a lot of testing, I’ve landed on multiple possible variants for Control in the post-rotation format. I’m not sure which is optimal, as they each have their advantages and weaknesses, but they all show promise.

Decklist #1: Rodent³ Control w/ Bunnelby

Pokémon (20)

3 Minccino SSH 145

3 Cinccino SWSH009

3 Drilbur CEC

2 Excadrill UNM

1 Meowth UNB

1 Persian TEU

2 Jirachi TEU

2 Zacian V

1 Absol TEU

1 Bunnelby RCL

1 Mawile-GX

Trainer (35)

2 Bird Keeper

2 Boss’s Orders

2 Lt. Surge’s Strategy

2 Professor’s Research

1 Cynthia & Caitlin

1 Jessie & James

 

4 Crushing Hammer

4 Quick Ball

3 Chip-Chip Ice Axe

2 Ordinary Rod

2 Reset Stamp

2 Scoop Up Net

1 Pal Pad

1 Surprise Box

1 Switch

1 Tool Scrapper

 

1 U-Turn Board

 

3 Galar Mine

Energy (5)

3 Capture

2 F

 

Copy List

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

##Pokémon - 20

* 3 Minccino SSH 145
* 3 Cinccino PR-SW 09
* 3 Drilbur CEC 114
* 2 Excadrill UNM 119
* 1 Meowth UNB 147
* 1 Persian TEU 126
* 2 Jirachi TEU 99
* 2 Zacian V SSH 211
* 1 Absol TEU 88
* 1 Bunnelby RCL 146
* 1 Mawile-GX UNM 227

##Trainer Cards - 35

* 3 Chip-Chip Ice Axe UNB 165
* 1 Switch
* 1 Cynthia & Caitlin CEC 228
* 4 Quick Ball SSH 179
* 1 Surprise Box UNB 187
* 2 Bird Keeper DAA 159
* 1 U-Turn Board UNM 211
* 2 Lt. Surge’s Strategy UNB 178
* 1 Tool Scrapper RCL 168
* 2 Boss’s Orders RCL 189
* 2 Scoop Up Net RCL 165
* 3 Galar Mine RCL 160
* 1 Jessie & James HIF 68
* 1 Pal Pad SSH 172
* 2 Professor’s Research SSH 201
* 4 Crushing Hammer KSS 34
* 2 Reset Stamp UNM 253
* 2 Ordinary Rod SSH 215

##Energy - 5

* 3 Capture Energy RCL 171
* 2 F Energy GRI 169

Total Cards - 60

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Additional Explanation of the List

I’ve already covered a lot of my reasoning behind specific card choices, but I want to make sure every choice is clear.

1 Bunnelby RCL

If it’s our win con why is there only 1??? Very good question! Essentially, this list is tight, especially because we need a good level of consistency to make up for its inherent clunkiness. The Bunny is a win con but it’s not the only win con. If you were to prize the Bunny, or choose not to use it, you would default to an aggressive Energy-denial playstyle, where, instead of pivoting between Bunny and Exca, you can pivot between 2 Exca instead and just get Bird Keeper, a Chip-Chip, and Hammers every turn. That way, instead of playing to the infinite trap win con, you trap for just enough time to annihilate their boardstate beyond recovery.

The Bunny is really nice, but it’s not needed. However, it will take significantly longer to win without the Bunny. If you’re ballsy enough to take this deck to timed Bo1 format, keep that in mind. Many good players will recognize an irreparable boarstate and concede at that point, but a lot of newer players will hate on your playstyle and might take the double game loss before conceding to a “degenerate deck.” It’s a sad reality…

1-1 Persian TEU

Persian is such a powerful card. Not only is it your answer to hand locking Zacian, but it allows for mid-game locks, which allows for a second or even third lock afterward. They rarely have that many answers. I’ve seen a few lists cutting Persian for an Aipom SM244, but I personally think that’s a huge mistake. Persian’s precision is so valuable. I’ve completed a lock from using Make ‘Em Pay on a 6-card hand. Aipom, on the other hand, would only discard 1 there… it’s far too random and niche to have a major impact on the game.

1 Absol TEU

Absol essentially provides insurance on a lock. It can reduce the number of outs an opponent has to break a lock by removing most counter-Stadiums as an answer. Some Stadiums such as Dark City ignore this effect but that’s only relevant in one matchup.

Most importantly, Absol helps in the ADPZ matchup. ADPZ plays Chaotic Swell, which can interfere with your game plan to trap things in the Active. Absol allows you to pseudo-lock a Dedenne-GX without having to first get rid of the Chaotic Swell. A Resetting Hole Marshadow would serve a similar purpose, but Absol is situationally useful in other scenarios, while Marshadow rarely is. Absol is cute in the Centiskorch matchup as well, as it increases Dedenne’s retreat to 4 under Galar Mine, which means that they cannot Welder enough Energy to it in one turn to manually retreat it.

3 Chip-Chip Ice Axe

Chip-Chip is vital to your game plan, regardless of what win con you play to. Prizing 1 while only playing 2 can limit the resiliency of your lock and cost you the game. Additionally, with Reverse-Chipping, having the ability to Chip multiple times before going back into Exca can be super helpful.

1 U-Turn Board

If we are playing Galar Mine, why would we need to reduce our retreat with U-Turn Board? Well, it’s really nice to have a reliable pivot early–mid game, as it allows us to promote confidently. Additionally, if the opponent breaks the lock via a counter-Stadium, the pivot suddenly becomes a super helpful tool while we are attempting to re-establish the lock.

2 Scoop Up Net

Despite not having a specific Pokémon to abuse it with, Net allows us to be slightly more flexible on Bench space and it acts as a pseudo-pivot under Galar Mine. It’s just a really nice comfort card to have at your disposal. Being able to adjust your Bench can be super vital in some situations.

3 Galar Mine

In comparison to previous Control builds, 3 of any Stadium seems excessive. However, the 3rd Mine is pretty vital. Without the 3rd Mine, if you were to prize one of your Mines, you wouldn’t be able to immediately respond to a counter-Stadium, which could give your opponent a lead you may not be able to recover from.

1 Jessie & James

For being our only way to remove cards an opponent got off of a Reset Stamp, 1 does seem a bit greedy initially. However, the card has proved far too situationally needed to have 2. If the opponent is Stamped to anything more than 2, the card is pretty much useless, and I often find myself finding a lock with Persian earlier in the game as well.

Moreover, as we’ve discussed, it’s not very abusable in a loop. Its use is often not even realistic, as, to establish a lock, you also need to use Boss’s Orders that turn. You need a situation in which you have a Stamp to 1–2, you have Surge + Boss + J&J in hand, and they have a good card in hand after the Stamp for it to actually matter. If you prize it and you Stamp your opponent to 1–2, you just have to hope your opponent doesn’t sack you. The probability of you needing it in such a specific scenario and it also being prized is theoretically super minute.

A Typical Loop

The most common loop I utilize when piloting this deck is a situation as follows:

  1. Game state:
    • Opponent is hand-locked
    • 0 cards in your deck
    • 1 Bird Keeper in hand
    • 1 Bird Keeper in discard
    • Pal Pad is not prized
    • Exca in Active, Bunnelby on Bench
  2. Rototiller for Pal Pad and three other resources (usually at least 2 Chip-Chip and one other resource of choice).
  3. On your next turn, you draw a card for turn, leaving 3 cards in deck. Bird Keeper into Bunnelby, drawing the other three resources.
  4. Use Pal Pad to put 2 Bird Keeper in deck.
  5. Reverse-Chip and mill w/ Bunny.
  6. Draw 1st Bird Keeper from deck.
  7. Chip again:
    1. If a good card is present, mill again with Bunny and Bird Keeper into Exca next turn.
    2. If a good card is not present, Bird Keeper into Exca, drawing the 2nd Bird Keeper and using Rototiller to repeat the loop

You will obviously have to adjust your game plan based on Prizes, but this is my favorite and most-utilized loop.

Decklist #2: Rodent³ Control w/ Diglett

Pokémon (19)

3 Minccino SSH 145

3 Cinccino SWSH009

2 Drilbur CEC

2 Excadrill UNM

1 Meowth UNB

1 Persian TEU

2 Jirachi TEU

2 Zacian V

1 Absol TEU

1 Diglett UNB

1 Mawile-GX

Trainer (36)

2 Bird Keeper

2 Boss’s Orders

2 Cynthia & Caitlin

2 Lt. Surge’s Strategy

2 Professor’s Research

1 Giovanni’s Exile

1 Jessie & James

 

4 Crushing Hammer

4 Quick Ball

3 Chip-Chip Ice Axe

2 Ordinary Rod

2 Reset Stamp

1 Pal Pad

1 Scoop Up Net

1 Surprise Box

1 Switch

1 Tool Scrapper

 

1 U-Turn Board

 

3 Galar Mine

Energy (5)

3 Capture

2 F

 

Copy List

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

##Pokémon - 19

* 3 Minccino SSH 145
* 3 Cinccino PR-SW 09
* 2 Drilbur CEC 114
* 2 Excadrill UNM 119
* 1 Meowth UNB 147
* 1 Persian TEU 126
* 2 Jirachi TEU 99
* 2 Zacian V SSH 211
* 1 Absol TEU 88
* 1 Diglett UNB 85
* 1 Mawile-GX UNM 227

##Trainer Cards - 36

* 3 Chip-Chip Ice Axe UNB 165
* 1 Switch
* 2 Cynthia & Caitlin CEC 228
* 4 Quick Ball SSH 179
* 1 Surprise Box UNB 187
* 2 Bird Keeper DAA 159
* 1 U-Turn Board UNM 211
* 2 Lt. Surge’s Strategy UNB 178
* 1 Tool Scrapper RCL 168
* 2 Boss’s Orders RCL 189
* 1 Giovanni’s Exile UNB 174
* 1 Scoop Up Net RCL 165
* 3 Galar Mine RCL 160
* 1 Jessie & James HIF 68
* 1 Pal Pad SSH 172
* 2 Professor’s Research SSH 201
* 4 Crushing Hammer KSS 34
* 2 Reset Stamp UNM 253
* 2 Ordinary Rod SSH 215

##Energy - 5

* 3 Capture Energy RCL 171
* 2 F Energy GRI 169

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=82410 ******

To mill without using your attack.

An inherent flaw of Bunnelby as a method of active mill is the fact that it uses an attack to hit the good card from a Reverse-Chip. This entails that the next card cannot be controlled. It’s merely a chance in your favor that they topdeck something bad. A way to circumvent this weakness is to use Giovanni’s Exile to discard Diglett UNB. This mills a single card and allows you to complete the lock with a second Chip-Chip. It also reduces the amount of pivoting required to carry out your game plan. Additionally, Giovanni’s Exile provides a better method to clear your Bench in the late game, getting rid of Zacian or Mawile, which wasn’t previously possible.

A weakness of this variant is that you need both Exile and Diglett to discard, which makes your source of mill more susceptible to prizing. This variant also doesn’t have the ability to pull off a Reverse-Chip as often as the Bunny variant. Cynthia & Caitlin can be used in the place of Bird Keeper as a method of drawing cards you put back into the deck with Rototiller.

Decklist #3: Exca/Pidgey w/ Diglett

Pokémon (18)

4 Pidgey TEU 121

4 Pidgeotto TEU

2 Drilbur CEC

2 Excadrill UNM

1 Meowth UNB

1 Persian TEU

1 Absol TEU

1 Diglett UNB

1 Mawile-GX

1 Zacian V

Trainer (37)

4 Professor’s Research

2 Bird Keeper

2 Boss’s Orders

2 Lt. Surge’s Strategy

1 Cynthia & Caitlin

1 Giovanni’s Exile

1 Jessie & James

 

4 Crushing Hammer

4 Quick Ball

3 Chip-Chip Ice Axe

2 Ordinary Rod

2 Reset Stamp

1 Pal Pad

1 Scoop Up Net

1 Surprise Box

1 Switch

1 Tool Scrapper

 

1 U-Turn Board

 

3 Galar Mine

Energy (5)

3 Capture

2 F

 

Copy List

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

##Pokémon - 18

* 4 Pidgey TEU 121
* 4 Pidgeotto TEU 123
* 2 Drilbur CEC 114
* 2 Excadrill UNM 119
* 1 Meowth UNB 147
* 1 Persian TEU 126
* 1 Absol TEU 88
* 1 Diglett UNB 85
* 1 Mawile-GX UNM 227
* 1 Zacian V SSH 211

##Trainer Cards - 37

* 3 Chip-Chip Ice Axe UNB 165
* 1 Switch
* 1 Cynthia & Caitlin CEC 228
* 4 Quick Ball SSH 179
* 1 Surprise Box UNB 187
* 2 Bird Keeper DAA 159
* 1 U-Turn Board UNM 211
* 2 Lt. Surge’s Strategy UNB 178
* 1 Tool Scrapper RCL 168
* 2 Boss’s Orders RCL 189
* 1 Giovanni’s Exile UNB 174
* 1 Scoop Up Net RCL 165
* 3 Galar Mine RCL 160
* 1 Jessie & James HIF 68
* 1 Pal Pad SSH 172
* 4 Professor’s Research SSH 178
* 4 Crushing Hammer KSS 34
* 2 Reset Stamp UNM 253
* 2 Ordinary Rod SSH 215

##Energy - 5

* 3 Capture Energy RCL 171
* 2 F Energy GRI 169

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=82410 ******

This list is slightly more experimental than the others. Pidgeotto is an inherently weaker draw engine, but it doesn’t require a discard to draw cards. The advantage to this is that, when an ideal boardstate is achieved, Pidgeotto can draw into resources recovered by Rototiller more efficiently. With 0 cards in deck and 3 Pidgeotto on your board, you topdeck the first resource and can Air Mail into the remaining three. This allows for smoother loops, and allows for the Diglett strategy to pull off a Reverse-Chip more frequently. Pidgey doesn’t rely on a Supporter to efficiently draw recovered resources, and so it can Exile more frequently.

A major change in the structure of the deck is less of a reliance on Zacian V and a draw support line centered around Professor’s Research. Although we play Pidgeotto to discard fewer cards, it needs to get to the bottom of its deck faster in order to achieve its ideal boardstate. 4 Research allows the pilot to shred through the deck to try and reach its optimal gamestate fast enough to establish a lock. Essentially, Pidgeotto will often have a rockier early game in exchange for having a smoother end game.

Decklist #4: Starly Control

Pokémon (16)

3 Meowth UNB

2 Persian TEU

4 Starly DAA

2 Jirachi TEU

2 Munchlax UNM

1 Absol TEU

1 Bunnelby RCL

1 Mew UNB

Trainer (39)

4 Bird Keeper

3 Boss’s Orders

2 Cynthia & Caitlin

2 Lt. Surge’s Strategy

2 Professor’s Research

 

4 Crushing Hammer

4 Lillie’s Poké Doll

4 Quick Ball

2 Pokégear 3.0

2 Pokémon Communication

2 Yell Horn

1 Ordinary Rod

1 Pal Pad

1 Tool Scrapper

 

1 Air Balloon

 

3 Galar Mine

1 Wondrous Labyrinth p

Energy (5)

4 Twin

1 Recycle

 

Copy List

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

##Pokémon - 16

* 3 Meowth UNB 147
* 2 Persian TEU 126
* 4 Starly DAA 145
* 2 Jirachi TEU 99
* 2 Munchlax UNM 173
* 1 Absol TEU 88
* 1 Bunnelby RCL 146
* 1 Mew UNB 76

##Trainer Cards - 39

* 2 Cynthia & Caitlin CEC 228
* 4 Quick Ball SSH 179
* 2 Yell Horn DAA 173
* 4 Bird Keeper DAA 159
* 2 Lt. Surge’s Strategy UNB 178
* 3 Boss’s Orders RCL 154
* 1 Tool Scrapper RCL 168
* 1 Wondrous Labyrinth p TEU 158
* 3 Galar Mine RCL 160
* 2 Pokégear 3.0 SSH 174
* 4 Lillie’s Poké Doll CEC 267
* 1 Pal Pad SSH 172
* 2 Professor’s Research SSH 201
* 4 Crushing Hammer KSS 34
* 2 Pokémon Communication
* 1 Air Balloon SSH 213
* 1 Ordinary Rod SSH 215

##Energy - 5

* 1 Recycle Energy UNM 257
* 4 Twin Energy RCL 174

Total Cards - 60

****** via SixPrizes: https://sixprizes.com/?p=82410 ******

You heard right, Starly… Control… This concept was brought to my attention by Christian Franco, who had the idea of a Sylveon Control-esque deck utilizing Starly DAA. Initially I dismissed it as a meme but I realized that, in theory, it should be able to pull off the Boss + Mine combo more consistently and aggressively than any other Control variant I’d tested. I drafted a rough list and shared the ideas I had for it with Christian, with a bit of discussion we refined the list considerably and I began to start testing it. As I predicted, it gets Boss + Mine very consistently and can start applying gust pressure turn two. It also has an extremely forgiving amount of Bench space, which was refreshing coming off of excessive Rodent³ Control testing.

The deck’s main strategy is basically to trap their Active more times than they can handle and passively recover resources with Munchlax’s Snack Search Ability. The deck also plays a heavier line of Persian and Bunnelby in order to limit how many of their answers they will actually be able to use.

Additional Explanation of the List

1 Bunnelby RCL

Rodent³ Control didn’t need 2 Bunnelby because it had an alternative option to close the game. However, Starly Control doesn’t have a reliable way to recycle Crushing Hammer, so shouldn’t it need 2 Bunny? Bunnelby’s primary purpose is to start milling blindly toward the end of the game in hopes of hitting the opponent’s last 1–2 answers while they are trying to break a hand lock set by Persian. However, if the Control pilot was able to discard 1–2 answers off Make ‘Em Pay, milling with Bunnelby often isn’t necessary. Most decks don’t run excessive answers to your trapping, and as long as they aren’t able to utilize every answer they have effectively, you should be able to outlast their supply of pivot options.

Additionally, if the opponent has answers left in deck, you can also hide behind Lillie’s Poké Doll, which forces the opponent to have access to Boss’s Orders and a way to pivot the Pokémon in the Active in one turn in order to take a Prize. The chance that they’ll draw into both Boss’s Orders and a switching card before you use Make ‘Em Pay again is pretty minute. Once your opponent is out of answers, you can utilize Lillie’s Poké Doll to prevent yourself from ever decking out and allow your opponent to deck out. Active mill is nice to have access to, but it’s not necessarily needed.

2 Pokégear 3.0

Pokégear isn’t a card I typically include in my Control lists. However, this deck relies fairly heavily on access to Supporters. You don’t have much intrinsic draw power outside of that. It’s important to get the Supporters you need when you need them.

2 Yell Horn

Yell Horn is a surprisingly good card for this type of deck. The opponent is put in a difficult position: Do they use resources to pivot out of the Confusion, or do they take the 50/50 chance each turn? They realistically can’t afford to waste resources to get rid of Confusion, as that would leave them vulnerable to Mine locks later on. Most decks will just have to accept the 50% success rate on attacks. Meanwhile, Starly Control is constantly switching its Active and has an easy pivot in Munchlax, so the Yell Horns rarely get in the way of your own game plan.

1 Air Balloon

Balloon is pretty universally useful. However, a notable interaction that it has in this deck is that it provides Munchlax with free retreat under Galar Mine, which is a fairly useful option to have at your disposal.

No Mawile-GX

I was initially running a Mawile-GX and a Surprise Box, as I wanted to be able to guarantee a target to gust. However, after a lot of testing, I found myself never really needing it. Moreover, it had actually cost me some games because I started it. I also realized that I could prevent my opponent from adopting lone-attacker strategies by confusing them with Yell Horn. Ironically, cutting the two cards had me missing Surprise Box more, as I had used it occasionally to use Persian more effectively. On paper, Mawile-GX sounds beneficial. However, in practice, it has proved to be the opposite.


The deck is still in preliminary stages, so I would advise you not to treat it as a refined list. However, the promise it’s shown is notable and I thought it would be a valid inclusion when talking about post-rotation Control. I also find the premise of the deck pretty hilarious, and I’ve had a lot of fun playing it. I’m definitely taking it to a few tournaments when I get the chance.

Final Thoughts

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In the end, all this effort was worthwhile and rewarding.

Man, has this been a journey… Figuring out how to make Control work post-rotation has been quite possibly the biggest obstacle I’ve faced during my time in the game so far. I’m so incredibly proud to bring you all my findings after weeks of testing and perseverance. Unfortunately, the archetype isn’t what it once was. Control is significantly clunkier and far slower without Oranguru UPR and BBM. However, it works. The deck can win pretty consistently and, in an online format, I’ll be content with that.

If you’ve read this far, I’m elated I was able to provide you with something worth your time… this was a long one. Hopefully I’ve inspired some people to try Control or even just revisit Control after losing hope with the rotation.

Huge shout-out to Leandro Fernandes and Kenny Calamari for being epic testing partners and homies I could bounce ideas off of. Also props again to the homie Christian Franco for the concept of Starly Control and helping me with the list. If anyone ever wants advice on Control or just wants to talk AWCs with someone, I’m always here to help. On that note, I hope everyone’s safe, happy, healthy, etc. and I’ll see you guys in the next one.


…and that will conclude this Unlocked Underground article.

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Reader Interactions

2 replies

  1. Bnawbary

    What an amazing article, your standard for rewarding play is really high! Really looking forward to see these decks in action and try a few myself.

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