Without Warning — Two Plays for Two Formats

By: Jay Lesage · Posted Posted onJan 1, 2018 at 12:48 PM · 0 Comments

Ello, ello, ello PokeBeach readers! Memphis Regionals just recently concluded, and we have a whole new set of oncoming tournaments to worry about: Oceania Internationals as well as Dallas Regionals. With both of these tournaments coming up, there is a massive rend between the two of them — their format. While Dallas is in the Expanded format, Oceania takes place in the Standard format. Within this article, I’ll be detailing one hot play for each, and a brief explanation as to why they will each make a splash!

Wishiwashi-GX / Walls

Let’s go into one of my favourite Standard decks, [card name=”Wishiwashi-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card]! Here is my rendition of the deck, a few cards off from the base list floating around:

[decklist name=”Wishiwashi-GX/Hoopa” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Giratina” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY184″][pokemon amt=”9″]3x [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Shining Legends” no=”55″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Wishiwashi-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”38″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Celesteela-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM67 ” c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Xurkitree-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM68 ” c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Giratina” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY184″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”50″]4x [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Team Flare Grunt” set=”Generations” no=”73″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Team Rocket’s Handiwork” set=”Fates Collide” no=”112″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Skyla” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Plumeria” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”120″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Team Skull Grunt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”133″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Gladion” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”94″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”94″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”1″]1x [card name=”Lightning Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist][cardimg name=”Wishiwashi-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”38″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This deck is absolutely wild — Yoshi Tate piloted this deck to an eleventh-place finish at Memphis Regionals. The deck’s concept derives from Enrique Avila’s [card name=”Wailord-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card] deck from US Nationals in 2015; the deck’s strategy is to wall with high HP Pokemon and deny KO’s from the opponent’s side as much as possible. All the while, it becomes a war of attrition where both players are trying to conserve resources and play minimal cards.

The main difference between Wailord-EX and this Wishiwashi-GX deck is the exclusion of [card name=”Hugh” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] due to it being legal only in the Expanded format. Instead of Hugh being able to discard cards from the opponent’s hand, we instead play many copies of cards that aid in regaining resources.

In this case, I’ll be primarily discussing [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] as key ways of regenerating what I’ll be referring to as your “card count.” The card count is the entire count of cards in your hand as well as the contents of the deck. For example, if there is 30 cards in your deck and 7 in your hand, your card count is 37. Knowing both player’s card counts is vital, considering the main strategy of this deck is to exhaust your opponent out of resources, forcing them to lower their card count until they eventually have zero cards left in their deck. Let’s talk about how this goal is achieved:

Our Walls

Since our deck revolves around “walls” (Pokemon with high HP counts and different Weaknesses designed to deny KO’s), we’ll talk about the purpose of each individual card. They each hold their own purpose within the deck and play specific roles in certain matchups. It is key to exclusively use some walls in certain matchups, otherwise your walls will crumble. Each wall has a “hole” in it — its own weakness. None of our walls attack with the exception of [card name=”Xurkitree-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM68 ” c=”name”][/card].

Wishiwashi-GX

The beast itself! Wishiwashi-GX is one of my favourite cards released, and I’m glad it finally got its own deck. Now, the main thing about this Pokemon is the fact that it has an uncommon Weakness in the form of Lightning, and it has 210 HP — this is very hard to Knock Out with ease. If an opponent has to two-shot a Wishiwashi, you’ve most likely won the game already because you can disrupt them with Energy denial cards (ex. [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card]) while healing with a card like [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card].

Hole: Wishiwashi-GX is weak to Lightning and can struggle against random Pokemon in the early rounds of a large event. 210 HP makes it a perfect target for a [card name=”Gardevoir-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] with seven Energy attached or a [card name=”Tapu Bulu-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM32″ c=”name”][/card] with a [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card]. In both scenarios, I’d opt to use [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Shining Legends” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] instead of Wishiwashi-GX. This blue fish Pokemon is just a “general” wall and is just used for “general” scenarios.

Celesteela-GX

[card name=”Celesteela-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM67 ” c=”name”][/card] is similar to Wishiwashi-GX in that it is a big wall of a Pokemon, but with Resistance to Fighting and 10 less HP; throughout the course of the game, this -20 damage will add up against decks such as [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] variants.

Hole: it has the same weaknesses as Wishiwashi-GX.

Hoopa

[cardimg name=”Hoopa” set=”Shining Legends” no=”55″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Sounds like a lot of…[/cardimg]

Hoopa is the most crippling of all the walls because it introduces a dynamic that most people don’t think about — since it has the Scoundrel Guard Ability, Pokemon-GX and Pokemon-EX can’t lay a finger on Hoopa, either through damage or effects. This cripples many decks, namely ones that don’t have strong non-GX/non-EX attackers. For example, [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] is a deck that may struggle to compete against this deck because attackers such as [card name=”Wimpod” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card] tend to have inefficient attacks.

Hole: Hoopa suffers against Pokemon that are able to OHKO it — they have to be a regular Pokemon, though. A Pokemon such as [card name=”Gallade” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card] would run right through an army of Hoopa because of how susceptible they are to Sensitive Blade. Hoopa is one of the Pokemon with the lowest HP in the deck, so it’s important to use this wall only when the opponent’s pre-evolutions are weak. If they are strong and able to KO Hoopa with ease, then I’d consider using another wall.

Xurkitree-GX

This is the most unique of all of the walls and the most situational. This wall is only effective if our opponent plays a high amount of Special Energy cards. Many of the new [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] builds that were sported at Memphis opted to play strictly [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Fates Collide” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] as well as [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card]; any deck that plays full Special Energy cards will automatically lose to this card. If they only play a few Basic Energy cards, you can target those by discarding them with [card name=”Team Flare Grunt” set=”Generations” no=”73″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card].

Due to the inclusion of one Basic Lightning Energy, [card name=”Xurkitree-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM68 ” c=”name”][/card] is the only Pokemon that can actually attack in this deck! Lighting GX is an interesting attack that is multi-fold:

  • It can add an extra Prize card for your opponent, prolonging the game.
  • It makes your opponent draw an additional card off of N, which aids you in having a bigger deck.
  • It can lock a valuable card within your opponent’s Prize cards (ex. [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card]).
  • It can leave your opponent stranded without a Supporter.

Hole: [card name=”Rockruff” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM06″ c=”name”][/card] tends to be a menace against this Pokemon when equipped with a Choice Band and a Fighting Energy. [card name=”Volcanion-EX” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY173″ c=”name”][/card] decks are also a strong force against Xurkitree-GX because of their heavy reliance on Basic Energy.

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Winning the Card Count Game

The game state will progress to a point where both players are consistently drawing/passing each turn. The opponent will continually attempt to attack, while the [card name=”Wishiwashi-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card] player will try to deny Energy and lock desirable targets in the Active spot via [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card]. There will eventually be a spot in the game where the opponent will be unable to attack due to lack of Energy, and they’ll be afraid of milling more of their cards by playing a Supporter. In this case, it’s ideal to begin using the Lusamine strategy alongside [card name=”Team Rocket’s Handiwork” set=”Fates Collide” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card].

[cardimg name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”110″ align=”right” c=”custom”]Unlimited Supporters![/cardimg]

In order to execute this strategy, continue to play a couple Team Rocket’s Handiwork while your opponent struggles to draw into Energy. By milling cards from your opponent’s deck, you’ll be able to discard Energy from their resource bank, rather than from Pokemon directly. Sometimes this is a more efficient way of discarding Energy because you can also discard powerful resources simultaneously, especially if you hit some good flips off of Handiwork.

When you have a spare moment, use Lusamine to grab back a Handiwork as well as another Lusamine — this creates an endless cycle of recycling Lusamine + X Supporter, where X is the Supporter that best fits the scenario. When you have a lesser deck size than your opponent, it’s ideal to use Lusamine to grab back Lusamine + N. Eventually, once you’ve used Lusamine as many times as desired, you’ll then be able to finally play your N and regain a higher card count over your opponent.

Timing

This deck is time sensitive — for a further demonstration of what I mean, you can watch the 2015 US National Championship finals between Enrique Avila and Jason Klaczynski. Jason, in the end, managed to win the second game in the series by having less Prize cards remaining when time was called, tying it up to 1-1. This caused the final game to be played as sudden death, and Jason was able to take a singular cheap KO on Enrique’s Pokemon in order to secure a victory over the Wailord-EX deck.

When you play out your turns, you’re going to want to draw and pass quickly, because many N’s will be played and many turns will go by during each of this deck’s matches! Play quickly and cautiously in an effort to not time out.

Why this Deck is Good for Oceania Internationals

Wishiwashi-GX / Walls is something rustic and unique, and it’ll catch opponent’s off all day. You’ll notice many opponents playing sub-optimally against it due to their inexperience in the matchup.

This is a deck that revolves around gaining as many technical advantages as possible in order to retain a positive card count over the opponent — when the deck fails to do so, it will lose. Lucky for us, the deck is quite easy to pilot in terms of disrupting the opponent; however, it does require mathematical skills in order to time who will deck out first.

I’d consider this within my top three decks going into Australia. Yoshi Tate did will at Memphis with the deck, and Drew Kennett performed similarly well with the same concept in San Jose in the Expanded format! Speaking of Expanded…

A Crazy Idea for Expanded

What do I play for Dallas? Many solutions to this question revolved in my head. The metagame is at a highly exploitable point considering everybody and their mother is playing some [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] variant or they’re going to play Night March alongside Zoroark-GX. That’s when I got the idea…

[decklist name=”Donphan” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Phanpy” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”71″][pokemon amt=”11″]3x [card name=”Donphan” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”72″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Phanpy” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”71″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Hawlucha” set=”Furious Fists” no=”63″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”40″]4x [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Black and White” no=”101″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Korrina” set=”Furious Fists” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Ghetsis” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”101″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Colress” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”118″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”EX FireRed and LeafGreen” no=”100″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Robo Substitute” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Focus Sash” set=”Furious Fists” no=”91″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Muscle Band” set=”XY” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Professor’s Letter” set=”XY” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”94″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Computer Search” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Brooklet Hill” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”120″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”9″]4x [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Furious Fists” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”103″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist][cardimg name=”Donphan” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”72″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

A new “spin” on an old classic, [card name=”Donphan” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”72″ c=”name”][/card] reemerges into the Expanded format as a force to be reckoned with. This deck is able to succeed due to two natural strengths:

  • It has a naturally good typing in the form of Fighting.
  • It is able to buffer hits with the use of [card name=”Focus Sash” set=”Furious Fists” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card].

With both of these factors accenting the deck, I see this as a potentially excellent play. For once, Expanded isn’t all over the map, and I can finally put my thumb on a number of great plays. People will always play Night March, and people will also always play Zoroark-GX — these are two factors I’m sure of. Let’s examine why Donphan is so good (it’s been a while):

Donphan 130 HP [F]

Ah, Fighting-type! This will allow us to do some serious damage to Zoroark-GX, and other random Pokemon in Expanded such as [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card]. Things like [card name=”Pumpkaboo” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”44″ c=”name”][/card] resist this typing, but with a [card name=”Muscle Band” set=”XY” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] and a [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Fates Collide” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] we can OHKO this squash.

Spinning Turn

We’re going to be using this attack the majority of the time in our games. We’ll almost always return into a [card name=”Robo Substitute” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Hawlucha” set=”Furious Fists” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] with a Focus Sash, which will not only buffer a hit but also promote a free retreater in order to spam consistent attacks. Spinning Turn’s base damage is improved when coupled with Strong Energy and either [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] or Muscle Band.

Wreck

Wreck is a great finisher, especially when you slam a Focus Sash on a Donphan! When a Donphan hides on the Bench, your opponent will have a hard time bringing it Active, removing the Focus Sash, and then KO’ing it all in the same turn. This attack can often pull a OHKO out of nowhere, and the opponent can’t do much to stop it.

This is another deck that that specializes in denying Prize cards — most decks in Expanded only include [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] as a 1-of, so many of these archetypes will have a difficult time evading your Focus Sashes. Even if they do, they won’t be able to get past too many of them. Robo Substitute is phenomenal at dodging KO’s as well!

Many of the inclusions made in the deck list are so that your entire deck is searchable with [card name=”Korrina” set=”Furious Fists” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] — Korrina is the key to your whole deck, and should be played intelligently. Korrina can grab you anything with a [card name=”Computer Search” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card], or can search for more narrow things such as a Basic Pokemon via [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] or perhaps an Energy with [card name=”Professor’s Letter” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card]. Korrina can go as far to grab you a [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] in order to play more Korrina! Need a card from the discard pile? Korrina can nab you yet another resource in the form of a [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]. Even though it isn’t a draw Supporter, it can get you just what you need at the right time. It’s what makes the deck work. You should never underestimate Korrina!

Besides the deck’s Prize card denial abilities, the rest of the deck is pure consistency coupled with a few unique card counts.

Outliers

One Brooklet Hill

While this is a great setup card, we include it in here so you can use Wreck efficiently without relying on the opponent to play a Stadium. Another great Stadium for this deck would be [card name=”Tropical Beach” set=”Black and White Black Star Promos” no=”BW50″ c=”name”][/card].

One Enhanced Hammer

This is an excellent card that can be searched by Korrina and force the opponent to use more resources. This can be recycled with Puzzle of Time to discard even more Energy, crushing our opponent’s chances of winning.

One Ghetsis

[cardimg name=”Ghetsis” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”101″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

[card name=”Ghetsis” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”101″ c=”name”][/card] is included in here to boost our already positive Night March matchup, while providing us outs versus [card name=”Sableye” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”62″ c=”name”][/card] decks. Since both of these decks rely on an Item-heavy engine, if we can shuffle them back into the deck, we’ll naturally have a higher chance to win.

It is also great for random disruption, as well as removing our opponent’s outs to Field Blower (or any Item card that can remove Focus Sash). Sometimes, it can even remove our opponent’s VS Seeker and leave them without a Supporter card.

Why this Deck is Good for Dallas Regionals

As stated above, this deck is the bane of the Expanded metagame — not only are many of the best decks weak to Fighting, but they also thrive on glass cannon attackers in the form of [card name=”Joltik” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card] or Pumpkaboo. By denying KO’s and dishing out repetitively high amounts of damage, there’s no way many decks can even try to keep up with us. You try going toe-to-toe with this elephant, and let me know how that goes.

[card name=”Donphan” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”72″ c=”name”][/card] has remained dormant due to too much variety within Expanded; as well as the dominance of its worst matchup, [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card]; but now is the perfect time to shine! Trevenant is tucked away in binders due to [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] scaring it off, and the meta is narrow — what could go wrong? Take a chance on Donphan!

Without Warning — Last Bits of Insight

I absolutely can’t wait for Dallas — I’ve been practicing rigorously to explore all sorts of new deck concepts and entering a whole new domain for intrinsic plays. I’ve done my absolute best to construct what I believe are the best decks in Expanded, and on behalf of PokeBeach, I believe I’ve done my part in following through with the research segment of testing.

I’m thoroughly jealous of my brother for he’ll be attending the Oceania Internationals, but on the flip side of that I’m ecstatic — I get to test with him in an open manner where I’m only concerned for his success. See, when I’m only worried about my own results, I’m not as cautious; but when somebody else’s success is in my hands, I’ll do what it takes to elevate them to new levels.

I hope you all have an excellent time piloting these decks at your local League Cups, and let me know if you have any insights or questions about what we talked about today! Until then trainers, get lucky and run hot!

-Jay Lesage

#PlayPokemon

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