Born to Rebel — An Overview of Silvally-GX

By: Zakary Krekeler · Posted Jan 4, 2018 at 6:39 PM · 0 Comments

Hello, PokeBeach! My name is Zakary Krekeler, and I have the privilege of being your newest article writer! For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been playing the Pokemon TCG for well over a decade now (my first worlds invite came as a ten-and-under in 2004), and have managed a good number of accomplishments along the way. In the Masters division, I am a former Regional Champion (St. Louis) and State Champion (Tennessee), to go along with multiple other Regional Top 8s, Nationals day twos, some Worlds invites, and many other smaller accomplishments. This year, I’ve managed to climb to 702 Championship Points, a number which makes me the number four ranked player in North America. And most recently, I was the finalist of the European International Championship, a feat I achieved with my [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Celesteela-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM67 ” c=”name”][/card] deck.

Since Silvally has proved to be such a trusty companion this season, I thought it a fitting card to focus on for this first article! Indeed, Silvally has made a bit of a splash since its recent release in Crimson Invasion, not only in my own decks, but in many other competitive archetypes as well. As such, while it has been overshadowed a bit by other decks, it has proven to be worthy of at least some consideration. So, what is it that makes this card good, and what is it that seems to be holding back these variants from being tier one?

In this article, I’ll be doing my best to answer that question. While doing so, I’ll also be going over matchups for this deck in Standard, touch on its potential in Expanded, as well as provide a brief look to the future of Silvally with the release of our next set, Ultra Prism.

Silvally-GX Itself

[cardimg name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”90″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Before I go into the deck variants with this card, let’s look at Silvally itself. There are four main things to note about this card: its two attacks, its Ability, and the type-changing Memory cards which it can utilize.

First, the attacks. Both are rather strong in the proper situation, although which is more useful depends on your matchups and deck design. Rebel GX is a devastatingly powerful GX attack when used at the right time, particularly in this [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card]-dominated format. It’s far from uncommon to hit for 200 or 250 with Rebel GX early in a match, which, when hitting something like a [card name=”Decidueye-GX” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card], or unsuspecting [card name=”Gardevoir-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], can easily turn the tide of the game into your favor. In both my Silvally / Metal and Xerneas / Silvally decks, Rebel GX quickly became my GX attack of choice for that reason. The threat of Rebel can also give you an advantage as your opponent tries to play around it (such as by not benching as many Pokemon) — even without attacking, an energized [card name=”Type: Null” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card] or Silvally-GX can affect the game! There have been many times when my opponents have unknowingly “played into” Rebel GX as well (by overfilling their Bench), which again, can decide the fate of a game.

Turbo Drive, in contrast, is excellent for utilizing a two-hit strategy. In addition to setting up Knock Outs on anything it hits into (with a [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] as a follow up, two Turbo Drive attacks can reach 270 damage), it also sets up another attacker for you while doing it! This lets Silvally synergize perfectly with [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card] in decks that utilize [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card] (which, you would expect pretty much all Silvally variants to do), as it means you just have to pick up your damaged Silvally, then immediately begin attacking with whatever threat you had set up the turn before, whether it’s something like a [card name=”Celesteela-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM67 ” c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], or even another Silvally-GX. More importantly, by setting up another attacker, you will be able to respond to a given threat, even when your opponent does manage to Knock Out one of your Silvally-GX. When mixing and matching types in your deck, this also means that you should be able to respond to their attacker with whatever your deck’s best option is against that attacker. Not only does this mean your deck will have incredible “flow” from being able to successfully stream attackers, but it will also ensure that you are able to use the best attacker for a given situation. This kind of strategy, in particular, is critical to the success of decks like Silvally / Metal.

Of course, given that this is a Silvally, you aren’t necessarily restricted to only hitting for 120 with Turbo Drive. In fact, given the right Memory attachment, you can OHKO Pokemon such as:

[card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]
[card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card]
[card name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card]
[card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card]
[card name=”Espeon-EX” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card]
[card name=”Necrozma-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card]

In addition to getting valuable Knock Outs, the Memory cards also let you get those Knock Outs without using your more valuable GX attack. For many matchups, [card name=”Psychic Memory” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Fighting Memory” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card] can be the key to victory.

Of course, Silvally has one more trick to ensure that your deck continues to “flow”! As an Ability, Gyro Unit is wonderful for setting up your early-game consistency. “No bad starters” is a reality for most Silvally GX decks, as Gyro Unit means you can almost always switch out of an otherwise cumbersome starter. This gives Silvally decks even more flexibility, to include tech Basics such as [card name=”Mr. Mime” set=”Generations” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Giratina” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY184″ c=”name”][/card], as well as to utilize high-retreat Pokemon such as [card name=”Celesteela-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM67 ” c=”name”][/card] without also needing to include multiple counts of switching cards. It also lets you use [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] to its fullest potential. An example there would be after a Knock Out, you can bring up a non-ideal attacker such as a [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card], use Max Elixir onto your secondary attacker or a Type: Null (basically, whatever you actually want to get the Energy on), then bring up the attacker you wanted to use in the first place. This gives you more options than you would otherwise have in such a situation, as it means you aren’t necessarily “locked in” once you bring up your Active — you can instead adapt your strategy depending on your draws or Max Elixir hits.

What makes Silvally so versatile, more so than even other Colorless attackers, is that it has not just one, but all of the above properties, so that it can play many different roles within a deck. I’ve used the card as a powerful early attacker, as a finisher, to power my setup, and as a glorified [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]. This isn’t to say that it fits in everything. But, depending on the goal and needs of your deck, Silvally may be what puts it over the edge in terms of competitiveness.

Silvally in Standard

Now that I’ve gone through a bit of the specifics of what makes Silvally viable, I’m now going to show, using my deck lists from the EUIC and Memphis Regional Championship, two different (yet also similar) ways it can be played in a deck. So, for those of you who haven’t seen them, here are the two decks:

[decklist name=”Silvally/Celesteela” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″][pokemon amt=”17″]3x [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”90″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Type: Null” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”89″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Celesteela-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM67 ” c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Registeel” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Genesect-EX” set=”Fates Collide” no=”64″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Kartana-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”70″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dhelmise” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”59″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”29″]4x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Shining Legends” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Fighting Memory” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”94″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”14″]10x [card name=”Metal Energy” set=”Evolutions” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”10″][/card]4x [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist][decklist name=”Xerneas/Silvally” amt=”60″ caption=”undefined” cname=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″][pokemon amt=”16″]3x [card name=”Xerneas BREAK” set=”Steam Siege” no=”82″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Xerneas” set=”Steam Siege” no=”81″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”90″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Type: Null” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”89″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Cobalion” set=”Steam Siege” no=”74″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”26″]4x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”18″]12x [card name=”Fairy Energy” set=”Evolutions” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”12″][/card]3x [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”100″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

Both decks will note some pretty important similarities. Both play heavier counts of [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card], to go along with a decent amount of both Basic Energy and Double Colorless Energy. Neither deck plays either switching cards or Stadiums, and the lines of Trainers in both are fairly similar.

Both of these decks utilize what I like to consider my “Silvally Skeleton”. Basically, this is what you can include in pretty much every Silvally-based deck.

The Skeleton

[decklist name=”Silvally Skeleton” amt=”38″ caption=”12 Open Slots, 10 basic energyundefined” cname=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″][pokemon amt=”10″]3x [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”90″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Type: Null” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”89″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”24″]4x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Shining Legends” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”4″]4x [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

22 Open Slots, 10 should be Basic Energy

As you can see, there are quite a few open slots! 10 of those should be reserved for Basic Energy, and 7 – 10 should go towards your secondary Pokemon. The remaining slots can go toward tech Supporter cards (such as [card name=”Psychic Memory” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Fighting Memory” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card], or others). Basically, you have a lot of room to adapt the deck into something completely different!

The amount of success seen by any standard Silvally deck will, in my opinion, be determined by how well the deck is able to continually attack (and with the right Pokemon for the situation). “Clunky” should not be a word used to describe these deck variants! This skeleton has managed to maintain that property with pretty much everything I’ve tried it with. It’s typically best to pair with an attacker that utilizes Double Colorless Energy (though this isn’t a hard rule), as well as some other Pokemon that can accelerate Energy early (such as Registeel, Xerneas, and [card name=”Tapu Bulu-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM32″ c=”name”][/card]). There are many different variants that can be played with Silvally — other examples I’ve seen or built have been Silvally / Volcanion, Silvally / [card name=”Tapu Bulu-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM32″ c=”name”][/card], Silvally / [card name=”Raichu-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”29″ c=”name”][/card], and Silvally / [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card]. Basically, what you play with it is up to you!

[premium]

Standard Matchups

Now that we have our Silvally skeleton, let’s now take a look at the Standard meta itself. After all, a deck that was designed to win in a format filled with [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card] variants won’t necessarily see the same success in today’s [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]-heavy format.

For these matchups, I want to note that what kind of Silvally deck you play may drastically change the typical favorable/unfavorable split. What is a good matchup for Silvally / Metal may not be a good matchup for Silvally / Bulu, and so on. So, I’ll be talking abstractly about how Silvally decks, in general, can take on these matchups, as well as which variants may be more or less favorable.

Zoroark-GX / Golisopod-GX

[cardimg name=”Fighting Memory” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”94″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The winning deck of the EUIC. In general, this matchup tends to be pretty favorable for Silvally variants. You have two big advantages going for you — they can’t OHKO your [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card], whereas you can OHKO their [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] (provided you play [card name=”Fighting Memory” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card]). An important part of this matchup is to save your GX attack for Golisopod, as it otherwise can’t be OHKOd by Silvally. Don’t let them take advantage of their heavy [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card] counts, and the matchup will typically go your way. If you play Acerola, make sure to utilize them well to save your own attackers. Energy placement is very important in the matchup as well, as most variants of ZoroPod run high counts of [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] — so don’t play down those Double Colorless unless necessary!

Golisopod-GX / Garbodor

This matchup may seem a bit trickier without Zoroark to take easy Prizes off of. However, it was actually this matchup that I had in mind when building my original Silvally / Metal list. As with other Golisopod variants, it’s important to remember that they cannot OHKO your Silvally. Moreover, Garbodor doesn’t do much to threaten your attackers, as even if your secondary attacker is Ability-reliant, Silvally can just go on as normal. Again, use your GX attack wisely, to OHKO a Golisopod. From there, you should be able to steadily wear them down by aiming for two-shots, and/or taking easy Prizes on [card name=”Wimpod” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card] and Pokemon such as [card name=”Tapu Koko” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM30″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Mewtwo” set=”Evolutions” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card]. If you have [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card], it will be critical in this match. As before with ZoroPod, be conservative with your resources, as they play many Enhanced Hammer, and you don’t want to find yourself without an important Acerola or [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] late in the game. If you do play a secondary attacker that can hit 170, use it to aim for [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] in particular. Overall, for most variants of Silvally, this matchup is slightly favorable.

Zoroark-GX / Lycanroc-GX / Buzzwole-GX

The big winner from Memphis Regionals, Zoroark / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] is a deck that I would expect to see in pretty much every Standard metagame. This matchup, like most Fighting matchups, is tricky. Memories are your friend, as they give you Turbo Drive Knock Outs on both Zoroark and Buzzwole. Unless you pair your Silvally with a Grass-type attacker, however, it can be rather difficult to take out the [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card], especially since they rarely need to load up their Bench (and thus can easily take away Rebel as an option). When facing such dangerous attackers, your deck needs to be as aggressive as they are. The key is that most variants of Zoroark / Lycanroc (including the lists that did well at Memphis) don’t play any Energy acceleration, and also can’t actually OHKO you without using a multi-Energy attack. So, if you are able to be aggressive, you can start an early Prize-trade, knowing that if you can more successfully stream attackers (which Silvally is designed to do), you will win. Given the right draws, you also have the option to target their Energy early if you can attack and Guzma. If you get this opportunity, take advantage of it, as it can allow you to pull ahead early. If you do fall behind (a very good possibility if you go second in the matchup), do what you can to deal with their threats, while trying to continually setup new attackers. Keep in mind also that you won’t be able to “hide” something on the Bench, as they’ll pretty much always have a way to bring it up, between Guzma and Bloodthirsty Eyes. [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] is also a card to be wary of, same as in the Golisopod / Zoroark matchup.

Gardevoir-GX

The biggest threat for any Silvally deck, this matchup got noticeably worse with the innovation of a second [card name=”Gallade” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card]. Unless you specifically tech for this matchup, it is unfavorable for pretty much every Silvally variant — including Silvally / Metal. In this matchup, you want to almost exclusively use your non-Silvally attacker, as you can assume that Silvally will always be OHKO’d after attacking. Use Rebel GX if the opportunity arises to take out a large Gardevoir GX, otherwise, try and keep Silvally off of the board, as it is an easy two Prizes for opposing Gallade. If you are playing Silvally / Metal, use Registeel early and often to set up multiple Celesteela-GX. If you aren’t, I would recommend teching for this matchup with some sort of Metal attacker, otherwise it is very difficult to overcome.

Greninja

Memes aside, [card name=”Greninja” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] is actually pretty tricky for most Silvally variants. If you want to play Silvally, but your local meta has a ton of these frogs, the addition of a [card name=”Giratina” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY184″ c=”name”][/card] Promo tends to turn the matchup into your favor. Plus, since you have Gyro Unit, you don’t have to worry about it being a poor starter! In both cases, you want to try and be as aggressive as possible, so that you can take multiple Prizes before they get set up. Once they are, switch to your secondary attacker to fight off the high-HP [card name=”Greninja BREAK” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card], or utilize Acerola if you have decided to play the Giratina.

Vikabulu

When I was testing my initial Silvally / Metal list, VikaBulu was noticeable as a terrible matchup. They can hit for 210 easily with [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card], they accelerate Energy to stream attackers easily, and you struggle to return KOs as easily as they do. If you can, aim for their Vikavolt, so that you can slow down their Energy acceleration and give yourself a chance. This matchup will improve with a stronger secondary attacker. Thankfully, in many places, this deck is either not heavily played or nonexistent. If you do run into it, however, be aware that it is likely a losing battle.

[cardimg name=”Tapu Bulu-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM32″ align=”right” c=”Don’t get Bulu’d!”][/cardimg]

Volcanion

This is one matchup that seems trickier on paper than it actually is. As it turns out, because of Silvally’s moderate bulk (at 210 HP), many Fire variants can struggle to get late-game Knock Outs. You can almost always use your own GX attack to get a KO on any of their EX/GX Pokemon, so save it for an important time where you can get multiple energy off of the board (say, after a Nitro Tank GX, or if they have a threatening [card name=”Turtonator-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”18″ c=”name”][/card] / Volcanion waiting to come up and get a Knock Out). If your second attacker can hit 180, this matchup becomes easier (just keep getting one-shots), otherwise, take advantage of their lack of healing. You can often get easy single Prizes off of their baby Volcanion while they set up, but it’s almost always better to aim for their attacking threats.

Other Decks

Obviously, not everyone you encounter will be playing the above meta decks. So, if you run into a matchup with Silvally that you have never seen or tested, just remember to stick to your general game-plan: Take advantage of Memory if you can hit something for Weakness, continually stream attackers with Turbo Drive, and save your Rebel GX for a big moment.

The best thing about all of these matchups is that the strategy remains the same for pretty much any variant of Silvally you choose to play! So, whether you want to stick to trying an established deck like Silvally / Metal or Silvally / Zoroark, or if you want to branch out to your own unique creation, know that Silvally will provide the same advantages in each case. Most importantly, if you have a strong grasp of your meta, this means you can adapt your Silvally deck to include a partner which addresses the downsides it might have in those particular matchups.

This last note, I believe, is also the reason why this deck cannot be considered tier one. Specifically, a top Silvally deck needs to be adapted to the format it’s being played in. As such, any individual Silvally deck will start to be considered non-ideal once it leaves the metagame that it was designed for. If you’re going to have success with this deck, you will have to be able to adapt well to your expected matchups, and you may even have to be a little innovative with your deck design! As much as I would love to crown Silvally the BDIF, it does have weaknesses against certain decks that need to be addressed. It can be a bit tricky to determine how exactly to play Silvally, but, as I can attest, the endeavor is well worth it!

Silvally in Expanded

Now that we’ve looked at the deck in Standard, I’d like to briefly touch on how the card can be utilized in Expanded. Without a doubt, Silvally’s role in Expanded is a bit more complicated. On one hand, the card has a few more tricks it can utilize, as well as more possibilities for a partner Pokemon.

On the other hand, however, we have to look at the speed of the Expanded format, and how effective of a role [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card] can actually play. As I stated above, one of the biggest advantages a Silvally deck has is that it can maintain flow and continually stream attackers. In Expanded, however, there are many other ways to obtain that same “flow”. Many decks can attack using minimal Energy (such as Night March, [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card]), or otherwise have powerful Energy acceleration to maintain their attackers (such as [card name=”Blacksmith” set=”Flashfire” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] in Fire decks, or [card name=”Dark Patch” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] in Dark decks). As such, the advantage Silvally can give you is more limited. When you add in that 210 is a much easier number to hit in Expanded than in Standard, Silvally suddenly seems much weaker.

At the same time, Silvally’s Memory access does give it a fairly sizable type advantage against quite a few top-tier Expanded decks. With the increase of Expanded decks utilizing [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card], a Silvally can easily counter using [card name=”Fighting Memory” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card] for an easy two Prizes, just as it can in Standard. If Fighting-types such as Buzzwole become a popular counter to these decks, Silvally can also counter those using Psychic Memory. Another fun trick Silvally has in expanded is to utilize that Psychic Memory in combination with [card name=”Dimension Valley” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], in order to pull off a Turbo Drive or Rebel GX for only two Colorless Energy! This puts it as a potential addition to any deck that utilizes Dimension Valley and DCE, such as [card name=”Necrozma-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card].

Future Possibilities

[cardimg name=”Type: Null” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”89″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

With the release of the upcoming Ultra Prism set, there is no doubt that the meta will change. New deck concepts (such as Metal), new attackers, and new variants of current decks will become apparent. Notably for us though, we also get two new Memory cards for Silvally. Using the concepts I’ve demonstrated above, this will give Silvally an expanded role in this new format, as it will have access to two new types, and thus many new ways to help balance out a deck. Being able to splash in a powerful Lightning or Fire type attacker can help many decks.

We already made a pretty good list above of Pokemon that can potentially be OHKO’d by Turbo Drive, given the right Memory attachment. Now, with the addition of Fire Memory and Lightning Memory, we can expand that list to include the following:

[card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card]
[card name=”Decidueye-GX” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card]
Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX
Magnezone
Leafeon-GX
[card name=”Celesteela-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM67 ” c=”name”][/card]
[card name=”Ho-Oh-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card]

In addition, we will also have even more possible partners for Silvally, including new attackers such as Glaceon-GX and Leafeon-GX, or other support Pokemon such as Dialga-GX or the new Prism Star Pokemon. Between the many potential secondary attackers and the addition of new types to Silvally, the future looks to hold many potential Silvally variants to be explored.

Conclusion

In summation, Silvally-GX is a strong, versatile Pokemon that has many possible variants that can be played. It can be well adapted to pretty much any format, but has to be in order to see maximum success. In general, I would expect variants of this deck to continue to be an important part of our meta, both currently and going forward. At this point, I’d like to thank everyone who read this article, and hopefully learned a few things about Silvally! My next article will be later this month, where I will go over my potential plays for the upcoming Dallas Regional Championship. Until then, if you have any questions on this article, about Silvally, or just Pokemon in general, feel free to ask! (The Subscriber’s Secret Hideout may be a secret, but it is a great resource!)

[/premium]