Royal Blades — Discovering Garchomp and Prepping for League Cups

[cardimg name=”Garchomp” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”99″ align=”right” c=”custom”]ROYAL BLADES![/cardimg]

Hey PokeBeach readers! While my focus this past weekend was on Collinsville Regionals, I am now thinking ahead to League Cups which will mostly be in the Standard format. I have been going back and forth deciding if I wanted to discuss another [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM69″ c=”name”][/card] deck instead of diving into Ultra Prism decks, so I decided to get the metagame moving forward by writing about [card name=”Garchomp” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lucario” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card]. In this article, I will go through our current metagame, share my thoughts on the current format, and showcase my new Ultra Prism deck. Without wasting time, let’s peer into my thoughts as we look towards League Cups:

The New Metagame

We are entering a new format with Ultra Prism being released and it seems both extremely different and much the same as before. Some players may want to put their best foot forward and try out as many of these new decks as possible, while other players may be scared to try out some newer concepts. Needless to say, decks that are new concepts will have to co-exist with older decks for reasons such as comfort, monetary reasons, creativity, and staleness. I am sure every player has a reason why they picked their deck over another deck as they head into an event — this trend has been present since the beginning of the game. I am sure you are curious to see what decks exist right now, so here are the decks that you will see floating around your Cups:

While there may be other decks floating around, we are in a format where older decks and newer decks can exist together — at least for the moment.

It should also be stated that most players are left in the dark right now and will only add [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] into previous lists because those are the main consistency cards coming out of Ultra Prism. While some players may press forward and think of wacky new decks, I think the majority of the player base is lost right now. Collinsville Regionals and League Cups will help shape up this format to a more concise list of decks that either swim or sink after the general player base can make improvements to each deck. Since the knowledge of these decks will only grow over time, I want to quickly discuss a couple of factors that can improve your game regardless of your deck choice:

Ask Questions

In the Pokemon TCG, you can often wonder why some of the best players are fantastic at this game: if you were to write the words, “I will be great at Pokemon” on your wall, you will have the intention of inspiring yourself to be great at Pokemon. These are called affirmations. Although they may seem empowering, they’re usually superficial and sometimes unrealistic or unattainable. A more realistic approach to this matter would rather be to ask yourself, “why am I great at Pokemon?” in order to supply your mind with an answer. These are called afformations. With the way our brains are genetically engineered, we ask ourselves hundreds of questions a day, so why not apply this to other areas of brainstorming? In this case, I’ll take a recent statement and ask myself why they came to be, in order to identify sustainable solutions:

Statement: Tord Reklev’s [card name=”Gardevoir-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] deck won the 2018 Oceania International Championships, giving a lesser known deck more publicity.

Ask a question: What made this deck successful?

[cardimg name=”Gardevoir-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”93″ align=”right” c=”custom”]I always sneak back into the metagame![/cardimg]

Gardevoir-GX became successful because people countered it out of the metagame long enough for most people to disregard it as the best deck. Reklev took this concept, added in Zoroark-GX, and built a deck that punishes several elements present within the current metagame. Here is a list of game-breaking tactics possible with Reklev’s list:

• Discarding any player’s Benched Pokemon with [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card]
• Discarding opponent’s Special Energy with [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card]
• Removing damage counters from your Pokemon with [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card]
• Shuffling discarded cards back into your deck with Gardevoir-GX’s Twilight GX attack
• Taking back discarded cards from your discard pile with [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]
• Searching your deck for any two cards and adding them into your hand by combining [card name=”Mallow” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”127″ c=”name”][/card] and Zoroark-GX’s Trade Ability
• Drawing many extra cards per turn with Zoroark-GX’s Trade Ability
• Stacking your deck with [card name=”Gallade” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card]’s Premonition Ability
• Attaching multiple Energy per turn with Gardevoir-GX’s Secret Spring Ability

All of these game-breaking elements in Reklev’s Gardevoir-GX / Zoroark-GX deck can be seen as the answer to the afformation that I asked earlier. In the game of Pokemon, it is wise to ask questions to yourself and your testing network to find answers.

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Experience is Key

The biggest concept that I have learned as of late is that playing in more tournaments makes you a much better player overall. While this thought process doesn’t sound too crazy, quite a few players state that their inexperience keeps them from attending major events. Even as a veteran player, I still learn from playing in events and, the more I play, I can relate it to myself becoming better at work. Imagine yourself at your first job at the age of fifteen years old, today is your first day and you are nervous about everything…

• You are not trained yet so you don’t know what you don’t know
• You want to impress your coworkers, your boss, and yourself
• You want to succeed and you try to do things to make it look like you are working
• You find yourself doing the wrong things due to your lack of experience
• You have so much to learn

As life goes on, hopefully you have grown with your job and it has likely turned into a lucrative career for you. You have learned the ropes from lesser jobs and have used that experience to prosper as someone in the workforce. You might be a retail manager or perhaps you decided to become the CEO of your own business. Either way, you have come far from your first job and you have more confidence and experience under your belt…

• You have received training and you know what you are doing
• You are not nervous because you are used to the pressure
• You impress your coworkers, your boss, and yourself every day with your work ethic
• You succeed and you do the correct things while you work
• You always know what you are doing because you are experienced
• You can still learn, but you have a healthy grasp on what to do

Like any avenue in life, you can always grow and playing Pokemon in general will help you grow into a better player. I know that I was very nervous when I made my first top cut at a Gym Challenge tournament back in 2005, but I have since outgrown that. That isn’t to say that I don’t get nervous from time to time, but I am much better at acting under it now.

While you may not be able to relate to work, perhaps you have another hobby that you are much more experienced in or you are a student in high school. The situation stays relatively the same for any aspect of your life and the outcome remains the same. I have grown as a player this year because I am more used to playing in major events than I have ever been; it is a regular weekend for me now. I am used to dealing with high pressure scenarios, playing against bad matchups, changing time zones, traveling, and all of the other aspects of high-level competitive Pokemon. It won’t take you too long if you put yourself out there, network with other players, regularly play in Regional Championships, and try your best. While you may have a few tournaments where you struggle to do well, you may learn a few things about yourself in the process.

Pressing forward, I do want to go over my new Garchomp / Lucario deck that unfortunately did not do too well at Collinsville, IL Regionals. I don’t think that this is due to the deck being bad, but it is likely a combination of players playing updated established archetypes instead of diving headfirst into new decks. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this deck popping up at League Cups in the near future as more players have a chance to discover Ultra Prism.

Garchomp / Lucario

[decklist name=”Garchomp/Lucario” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Garchomp” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”99″][pokemon amt=”16″]4x [card name=”Garchomp” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Gabite” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Gible” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Lucario” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”67″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Riolu” set=”Fates Collide” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”32″]4x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Skyla” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Brooklet Hill” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”120″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”12″]7x [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”120″ c=”deck2″ amt=”7″][/card]4x [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”103″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Boost Energy Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

Four Garchomp, Two Gabite, and Four Gible

[card name=”Garchomp” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] is a simple Pokemon, but don’t let that stop you from seeing the sheer power inside of this card. While Quick Bite can offer a quick outlet for spread damage, Royal Blades is the “big” attack that is featured in this deck. While it is necessary to play a [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] to get into that juicy 200 damage, that is completely fine with the aid of [card name=”Lucario” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card] being able to search out any card that we want each turn.

I decided that the “Ascension” [card name=”Gabite” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] is the best option because it can provide an outlet for evolving if we are falling behind; there were no other compelling options for me to include in this deck. I also decided to include the Fighting-type [card name=”Gible” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] because it can draw cards in a pinch and is also searchable by [card name=”Brooklet Hill” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card]. Overall, this Pokemon line is likely close to perfect and they allow us to get our Royal Blades attack off quickly.

Two Lucario and Three Riolu

While I partly explained Lucario above, I want to let it sink in that this card can search out any card in your deck proficiently. My favourite strategy for this card is to get a Garchomp in play, evolve into a Lucario, and use Precognitive Aura to search out another Lucario. You can then use your second Lucario to search out any card of your choice! This list may grow to include many singleton copies of cards to suit the needs of many matchups based on this explosive draw engine. I chose this [card name=”Riolu” set=”Fates Collide” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] over the other versions because it has the possibility to Knock Out a [card name=”Zorua” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM83″ c=”name”][/card] if absolutely necessary.

Four Cynthia

[cardimg name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”148″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Normally I would treat this card as a [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card], but here it serves the additional purpose of letting us achieve maximum damage with Garchomp’s Royal Blades attack. If you aren’t in a bad position or if you aren’t using Royal Blades, it is best to preserve this card for those situations only. Luckily for us, I included a copy of [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] in this list to get [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] back.

Three Brooklet Hill

This card allows us to search out all of the main Pokemon in the deck to quickly get my board set up. The main goal of the deck turn one is get as many Gible and Riolu into play so that the second turn of the game can be as explosive as possible. Getting multiple [card name=”Garchomp” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] and Lucario in play will quickly overwhelm our opponent.

One Skyla

This card is more of a consistency crutch. It can be searched out with [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card]’s Wonder Tag, which allows us to nab a [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] whenever we need it. This card is more useful in the early game because you will likely have a [card name=”Lucario” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card] in the late game using Precognitive Aura to search out whatever card you may need.

One Brigette and One Nest Ball

Similar to [card name=”Brooklet Hill” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card], both of these cards allow us to search out our Basic Pokemon to ensure we can quickly get our Pokemon in play. With this deck relying on having many Garchomp and Lucario in the end game, you will be praying that you get to use these cards in the early game more often than not.

One Pal Pad

Sometimes we want to shuffle in some Supporters such as Professor Sycamore, [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], and Cynthia late game to make sure we have what we want after our opponent uses an [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card] to lower our hand size. Furthermore, we can shuffle two copies of Cynthia in this deck which can allow us to use Garchomp’s Royal Blades attack two more times for maximum damage.

Super Boost Energy Prism Star

Most of the time, [card name=”Super Boost Energy Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] gets looked over in favor of more reliable cards, but it can definitely play a big part in this deck. Most other decks do not have the search power that we have with Lucario in order to fulfill us getting out three Stage 2 Pokemon. Due to this, the card may only see play in this deck. The difference that this card can make in a game is the ability to use Royal Blades for a single Energy attachment, which can be game-altering to say the least. If this card does not fulfill its requirement of three Stage 2 Pokemon, it still counts as a Fighting Energy when attached to a Garchomp so it doesn’t hinder us too much.

Quick Strategy

[cardimg name=”Lucario” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”67″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This deck is vanilla, yet it is quite powerful at the same time. The main goals of this deck are to fill up your Bench with as many [card name=”Gible” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Riolu” set=”Fates Collide” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] as possible so you can evolve them right away. After you evolve your Pokemon, you have a deck that abuses [card name=”Garchomp” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card]’s Royal Blades attack and a deck that manipulates [card name=”Lucario” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card]’s Precognitive Aura Ability. The synergy between Garchomp and Lucario should allow you to quickly garner an impressive board state that will simply overwhelm your opponent.

Similar to decks like [card name=”Greninja BREAK” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card], most of the Pokemon in this deck are single-Prize attackers, so you can often survive more turns in a game than decks that emphasize Pokemon-GX. That being said, more turns in a game gives this deck a longevity factor that might scrape up a few more wins than you may have originally thought. With Royal Blades being the main attack, the attacking process ends up becoming a bit bland…

In general, your game plan is simple: take six Prizes with Royal Blades. If your opponent has an advanced setup, we can use [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] and Quick Bite to snipe around a Pokemon we brought to the Active position.

I wish there was more of a unique element to this deck, but it is a simple deck that can compete with most of the bigger threats in the game right now. Similar to [card name=”Joltik” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Pumpkaboo” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”44″ c=”name”][/card] that basically only attacks with Night March, simple decks have seen success in the past so we need to keep that in mind. My strongest argument for decks that don’t have a robust strategy is that you can rarely misplay when piloting one of these decks. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a weaker player by playing an “auto-pilot” deck — it can allow you to make less misplays and win more games overall.

Hopefully this explains how the deck plays out and that you can give it a whirl at your local League Cup. It has been testing strongly for me right now, but I am personally worried about not playing many recovery cards — something that can make the deck more consistent. That being said, I am not opposed to adding a [card name=”Brock’s Grit” set=”Evolutions” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] into this deck to ensure the use of Garchomp over and over. These thoughts are not concrete so take my precautions lightly.

Conclusion

I hope that you enjoyed my take on the current Standard metagame. I invite you to explore different concepts as we head into League Cups. Speaking of tournaments, while I have written the majority of this article before Collinsville, I am editing it after and I would like to say that the event was well run and I had an exceptionally strong run, finishing 32nd out of 1000+ Masters. While I have already earned my invite to the 2018 World Championships in Nashville, TN, in August, I am trying to keep my status of Top 16 in North America for stipends and a day two Worlds invite. What this means for you readers is that I will have many different travel experiences over the rest of the season and I will be able to write more fulfilling articles with more interesting information. I truly hope that you all enjoy my journey and continue to support me as a professional player as I venture further into the Pokemon world.

Either way, feel free to follow me on my Twitter: zlesage_pokemon to see if there are any changes to my lists and to follow my Pokemon adventure. I am personally excited to see the results of the upcoming League Cups around the world to see if there are any undiscovered decks. I love discussions about decks, players reaching out to me, and being involved in the community as much as I can. That being said, I am signing out on this article — thanks for supporting PokeBeach!

Cheers,

Zach

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