A Case Study in Deckbuilding — Ho-Oh-GX / Kiawe in Standard

By: Conner LaVelle · Posted Posted onMar 14, 2018 at 12:54 PM · 0 Comments

[cardimg name=”Kiawe” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”144″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Hi PokeBeach readers, I’m excited to be back with another article for you! I’m going to try to approach something more abstract than my typical article in this one, going into how I decide on what deck to play for an event and how I build it to address the metagame. For any newer deck builder, this will be a method that you can apply to any format you may want to build for. For more experienced deck builders, this will be another approach you can consider, and hopefully I can provide you with something new to add to your own approach.

Toward the end of the article, I’ll give the [card name=”Ho-Oh-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM57″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Kiawe” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”116″ c=”name”][/card] build I’m currently testing, giving you an idea of what this kind of approach can produce. As it’s still early in the testing cycle, I would consider it somewhat experimental, but I will give updates on changes in the comments!

Step 0.5: Inspiration

I’m not totally sure you can call this a step, which is why it’s listed as 0.5. That said, this is a very important part of building a deck. Typically, my source of inspiration for a deck comes from one of two things:

  • There is a card or combination of cards that I think could be extremely powerful. This is most common around the release of new sets, but it also sometimes happens after seeing a new deck or innovation by someone else. A deck I built from this kind of inspiration was the [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lurantis” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM25″ c=”name”][/card] deck I last wrote about. Seeing two of the Top 8 Golisopod-GX / [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ c=”name”][/card] lists playing Lurantis led me to test their new version. While testing it, I was surprised by the crazy damage potential of Lurantis. I decided to try a deck that focused solely on abusing that damage and it worked quite well!
  • There is a common weakness or set of weaknesses in the format. This can happen at any time, but it is most common when the format has just a few top decks. A deck that I built from this source of inspiration was [card name=”Gardevoir-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card] in Expanded. I saw that the format had a significant amount of trouble dealing with Gardevoir’s massive HP and damage, so I teched it for the rough matchups and ran with it. At Fort Wayne, Jac Carter ended up making Top 8 while I made Top 64 and the deck gained a significant amount of traction around the community from there.

For this article, I will be using a combination of both, but I will focus much more heavily on the latter.

[cardimg name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

An important note is that the latter approach is more formulaic than the first. It can also be applied to existing decks (as it will be in this article) to gain an edge on the metagame. Top players approach deck building this way all the time, and it’s where you see many of the most successful innovations come from. A very recent example of a top player building a deck to take advantage of weaknesses in the format is Igor Costa’s first place [card name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card] from Costa Mesa. He and his testing group identified a heavy reliance on Abilities, [card name=”Sky Field” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card], and Special Energy among top decks, and they built a deck to hit each of these angles.

There are some very important “do nots” when building a deck, too. I want to address three specifically that I see all the time. While these are often issues with new players, I can name several instances of high level players doing this as well meaning you do not magically “age out” of these habits.

  • Do not build a deck strictly in an effort to be unique or different. There is no merit to playing a deck that is different from the top decks of the metagame if its matchups are strictly worse than those decks. This doesn’t mean to avoid playing or building unique decks by any means! It simply means to have a deliberate reason for building the deck other than just being different.
  • There is another that is more of a “do not” than anything, and that is to accept that your deck will have some bad matchups. With a very rare set of exceptions, it is impossible to build a deck that beats everything and aiming to do so is a fool’s errand. If you truly believe that you have found such a deck, it is imperative to test it a great deal and be very realistic about reasons for losing games. Did you really hit the one game in ten that your deck loses a matchup, or is the matchup not as favorable as you believed? Does your deck suffer from consistency issues? These are questions that you should be asking yourself throughout the testing process.
  • Accepting the flaws of your deck is critical to improving it. It is incredibly easy to write off or justify losses as bad luck. I see players do this all the time across all levels of play, and it routinely prevents them from achieving finishes that represent their full potential. I have been guilty of this many times myself. One way of avoiding this is to record your wins and losses with a short note on why you won or lost. In your notes, you must not use the word “luck” at all. If you did not set up, simply write “I did not set up” and move on. If your opponent drew particularly well, make specific note of what cards they played that had in impact. When reviewing your notes, you can look back and determine whether you really got unlucky by the presence or absence of trends. If there is a trend of not setting up or losing a matchup due to “poor draws” or your opponent “getting everything they needed,” this indicates that the deck may have an unidentified flaw. If there is a single game that does not play out as expected in a sample of five or ten, you can reasonably say that you got unlucky. This note taking habit can be used productively as you progress in your deckbuilding as well to help you identify potential changes and problems that are only visible over large samples.

With these tips in mind, we’ll now move into the “formula” of building a deck to take advantage of weaknesses in the metagame.

Step 1: Identifying the Top Decks in the Metagame

The first and commonly most important step to building a deck is to identify the decks that you aim to beat. Not giving this step enough time can result in a deck built to counter matchups that you only see three in nine rounds, leaving you at the mercy of the other six. Fortunately, we now have a wealth of information to give you an accurate depiction of the metagame. In addition, article sites (like this one!) can do an excellent job of keeping you ahead of the metagame moving forward meaning you’re not strictly reliant on past results.

[cardimg name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I’ve done a pretty significant amount of work in this area over the last couple weeks, and the decks that I would expect to play against at any event are Zoroark-GX variants and [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] variants. Decks that I would not be surprised to see are non-Buzzwole-GX [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] variants, Fire variants, and  [card name=”Vikavolt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Tapu Bulu-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM32″ c=”name”][/card]. Fringe decks are [card name=”Magnezone” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”83″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Glaceon-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”39″ c=”name”][/card] Variants, and [card name=”Greninja” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card]. At the moment, I wouldn’t worry about any matchups outside of these due to how unlikely you are to play them.

We can break these decks down further, expanding on all possible variants of each. A list of these variants looks like this:

Zoroark-GX Variants

  • Zoroark-GX / Golisopod-GX
  • Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Weavile” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]
  • Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card]
  • Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]
  • Zoroark-GX / Gardevoir-GX

Buzzwole-GX Variants

  • Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX
  • Buzzwole-GX / Garbodor

Non-Buzzwole Garbodor Variants

  • [card name=”Espeon-GX” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] / Garbodor
  • Drampa-GX / Garbodor
  • [card name=”Registeel” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Celesteela-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM67″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card] / Garbodor
  • Golisopod-GX / Garbodor

Fire Variants

  • Ho-Oh-GX / Kiawe
  • [card name=”Volcanion-EX” set=”Steam Siege” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card]

Glaceon Variants

  • [card name=”Glaceon-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”39″ c=”name”][/card] / Zoroark-GX
  • Glaceon-GX / Garbodor

[cardimg name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

With these distinctions made, we now need to rank the decks in exact order of expected popularity. This is the part that varies most from player to player, but my expectations go like this:

  • 1. Golisopod-GX / Zoroark-GX
  • 2. Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX
  • 3. Buzzwole-GX / Garbodor
  • 4. Zoroark-GX / Lycanroc-GX
  • 5. Zoroark-GX / Weavile
  • 6. Volcanion-EX
  • 7. Espeon-GX / Garbodor
  • 8. Vikavolt / Tapu Bulu-GX
  • 9. Ho-Oh-GX / Kiawe
  • 10. Zoroark-GX / Garbodor

All other decks represent a small enough portion of the metagame that I do not consider them worth worrying about for larger events. Local metagames vary wildly, so you’ll have to plan accordingly there. This list, however, is geared toward the large-scale metagame for Charlotte Regionals.

I created this list by using a variety of sources. The first was a metric of all the results from Collinsville regionals. The second was a large number of smaller tournament results since then. The third is overall community hype behind the decks (this one is of much lower weight than the others). From this, I determined what I thought would be most common across the field.

In general, you should not worry about more than ten decks. In doing so, you can muddle the core of your deck with techs that end up useless. In addition to this, it is very important to remember how each of these decks are prioritized and prepare for them accordingly. Golisopod-GX / Zoroark-GX and Ho-Oh-GX / Kiawe are both on the list, but you would be foolish to take a loss to Golisopod-GX / Zoroark-GX in favor of buffing out your Ho-Oh-GX / Kiawe matchup. This can shift somewhat depending on the severity of your poor matchups and effectiveness of techs, but don’t let that totally upset your list priority.

[premium]

Step 2: Identifying Weaknesses Among Top Decks

[cardimg name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Once you have your list of top decks, there are two paths you can take. Often, investigating both will be a worthwhile usage of time, but a highly successful deck can be built from just the usage of one. The first path is to list out the matchups of each of these decks, classifying them as positive, even, or negative. This can allow you to identify common unfavorable matchups of top decks, paving the way for a strong meta call. The second is to identify the weaknesses of each of these decks. This can be their actual Weaknesses, vulnerabilities to certain cards, or what they rely on to function. If you can reliably disrupt the core functionality of a deck, you heavily improve that matchup.

A third path exists that only partially relates to the other two. This option involves finding the weaknesses of your own deck and attempting to remedy them. This can mean modifying the core of your deck or adjusting tech choices for certain matchups. Either way, it is important to realize when alterations have strayed to the point that they make a deck inconsistent or inherently weak. Not every deck can be made to win every matchup. Sometimes this process is eye opening in that it pushes you away from an archetype you had previously considered strong. I do not include this among the other two options because it happens simultaneously with both of those approaches.

For the purpose of this article, I will break down the weaknesses of each deck previously listed. There may be a few I miss, but it should be a good indicator on the major flaws of each deck.

  • 1. [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]
    • Weaknesses: Fighting and Fire. This can be played around by alternating attackers based on the matchup.
    • Reliant on Zoroark-GX’s Trade for consistency.
    • Vulnerable to both sides of [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card].
    • Reliant on Special Energy.
    • Low damage cap. This almost fully eliminates OHKO potential.
    • Struggles with opposing OHKOs, especially early in the game.
  • 2. [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM69″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]
    • Weaknesses: Psychic and Grass. Can only play around this Weakness somewhat due to Lycanroc-GX’s high attack costs.
    • Reliant on [card name=”Octillery” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] Abyssal Hand for consistency and Lycanroc-GX’s Bloodthirsty Eyes for aggressive pressure.
    • Lycanroc-GX has moderately high attack costs, and Buzzwole-GX needs three Energy to attack for high damage.
    • Utilizes but is not fully reliant on Special Energy.
    • Struggles with early OHKOs from opponents. This can be mitigated by landing early [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card].
  • 3. Buzzwole-GX / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card]
    • Weaknesses: Psychic and Grass. Can only play around this Weakness somewhat due to low to no counts of non-Psychic-weak attackers.
    • No Pokemon-based draw. This means the deck is more vulnerable to late game [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card] and a degree less consistent than decks with Zoroark-GX or Octillery.
    • Constantly needs a Tool in play.
    • Utilizes Special Energy.
    • Struggles with early OHKOs from opponents.
  • 4. Zoroark-GX / Lycanroc-GX
    • Weaknesses: Fighting and Grass. Can play around Weaknesses fairly well with [card name=”Mew-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Mewtwo” set=”Evolutions” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], and Lycanroc-GX as backup attackers.
    • Reliant on Trade for consistency and Bloodthirsty Eyes for aggressive pressure.
    • Reliant on Special Energy.
    • Lycanroc-GX has exclusively two to three attachment attack costs.
    • Struggles with early OHKOs from opponents. This can be mitigated with Dangerous Rogue GX.
    • Has OHKO potential only once per game and must take two shots after this.
    • Needs a full bench for Zoroark’s damage but is not fully reliant on it.
  • 5. Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Weavile” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]
    • Weaknesses: Fighting. This can be easily exploited as the entire deck has this Weakness (aside from techs like [card name=”Mew-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card]).
    • Reliant on Trade for consistency and opponent’s Abilities for [card name=”Weavile” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]’s damage.
    • Reliant on Special Energy.
    • Can struggle with early OHKOs from opponents if they keep two or fewer Abilities on board. Weavile can respond to any fast threat (Buzzwole-GX, Ho-Oh-GX) if opponent has three Abilities or more with [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Devoured Field” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card].
    • OHKO potential is entirely reliant on the opponent. At worst, the deck is forced to take two shots.
  • 6. Volcanion-EX
    • Weaknesses: Water and Lightning. Ho-Oh-GX allows them to play around their Water weakness quite well.
    • Only [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card] for Pokemon-based draw. This is quite weak and only helps inconsistency to an extent.
    • A high Energy count, high resource requirement, and lack of reliable Pokemon-based draw results in moderate inconsistency.
    • Heavily reliant on Abilities.
    • Frequently must find switching cards to continue attacking.
    • Needs every Bench space it can get. [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card] has a powerful effect on this deck.
  • 7. Espeon-GX / Garbodor
    • Weaknesses: Psychic and sometimes Fighting (depending on presence of [card name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card]). These weaknesses complement each other quite well as Fighting attackers tend to have Psychic Weakness.
    • No Pokemon-based draw can lead to inconsistency.
    • Fairly low damage potential. Often requires two shots or even three shots.
    • Plagued by inconsistency due to the high count of different evolution lines and lack of Pokemon-based support.
    • Struggles with opposing OHKOs if the opponent can find switching cards to remove Confusion.
    • Has awkward Energy requirements without acceleration. This makes [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] hurt very badly even though the deck runs a high count of Basic Energy.
  • 8. [card name=”Vikavolt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Tapu Bulu-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM32″ c=”name”][/card]
    • Weakness: Fighting. Tapu Bulu-GX is the main attacker for this deck and has no Weakness. This makes attacking from this angle unreliable.
    • Pokemon-based draw varies but is often limited to [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card].
    • One of the most Ability reliant decks in the format.
    • Requires a Stage 2 to be set up to function. This leads to slow starts and general inconsistency.
    • Two different Energy types further exacerbate consistency issues.
    • Must continuously return Energy to the deck to continue attacking.
    • Often requires numerous resources to find OHKOs between Energy, attackers, [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card], and switching cards.
    • Often struggles against highly aggressive starts unless drawing particularly well.
  • 9. [card name=”Ho-Oh-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card] / Kiawe
    • Weaknesses: Lightning and Water. A split line of attackers makes playing around Weakness quite comfortable.
    • Commonly without Pokemon-based draw and lacks heightened consistency as a result.
    • Needs a Kiawe on the first turn to reliably win games and a Kiawe by turn two to realistically stand a chance.
    • Somewhat ability reliant between [card name=”Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] and Volcanion-EX, though the latter is often not needed.
    • Until recently, needed switching cards to continue attacking, but this flaw has been alleviated by Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX.
    • Can have its damage limited by [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card] making for awkward damage numbers.
    • Struggles against fast OHKOs (turn one or two). A Tapu Lele-GX with two [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card] and a Choice Band can accomplish this with relative ease, especially when paired with Zoroark-GX.
  • 10. Zoroark-GX / Garbodor
    • Weakness: Fighting and Psychic. These compliment each other well as Zoroark-GX resists Psychic and [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] hits Fighting-Types for Weakness.
    • Reliant on Zoroark-GX’s Trade for consistency.
    • Reliant on Special Energy.
    • Only has OHKO potential in the late game and relies upon the opponent’s discard pile for this.
    • Not as consistent as other Zoroark variants due to high counts of Pokemon and Tools.
    • Needs to constantly find [card name=”Bursting Balloon” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Klefki” set=”Steam Siege” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card] to maintain the one-sided Ability-lock.
    • Struggles greatly with opposing OHKOs.
    • Bench space is of great importance both for Zoroark-GX’s damage and Garbodor’s presence. The deck must also maintain an open space if it wishes to use Klefki.

Now that these are listed, we look to find the most common ones across each deck. We also must weigh how severe each of these weaknesses are and whether our deck can actually take advantage of them. For example, inconsistency of an archetype is hard to specifically take advantage of, though it is an undeniable flaw. Bench space limitation from Parallel City can often be removed by a counter Stadium or [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card], meaning it will not sway a matchup drastically. Hitting Zoroark / Golisopod for 210 damage on the second turn will give you a serious advantage that game. Doing it reliably will give you a heavily favorable matchup. These examples show how different flaws can be targeted with different levels of success.

[cardimg name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”162″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The flaws that are most common are:

  • Early OHKOs: Seven (Espeon / Garbodor and Zoroark / Weavile get half points)
  • Ability Reliant: Seven (Ho-Oh / Kiawe and Buzzwole / Lycanroc are only somewhat Ability reliant, so each gets a half point)
  • Reliant on Special Energy: Six (Each Buzzwole variant gets a half point)
  • Struggles to Deal High Damage (for a variety of reasons): Five
  • Needs Bench Space: Five
  • Cannot Counteract its Weakness: Three

Weakness to early OHKOs is highest on the list for two reasons. The first is that it is tied for the highest rate of occurrence, and the second is because it is shared by more of the top decks than any other Weakness. A deck that could regularly accomplish a OHKO on the second turn of the game would have a significant advantage over many of the top decks.

Ability reliance is the second highest because the third-place deck, Buzzwole-GX / Garbodor, does not struggle with this at all. In addition, Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX, the second-place deck, struggles with this only somewhat.

Special Energy reliance is another big one. [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card] takes advantage of this for little investment. For this reason, this is the most commonly attacked flaw.

Needing bench space can be punished immediately by Parallel City, but it is often not a hard solution. Counter Stadiums and Field Blower see a great deal of play throughout the format. That said, Parallel is another easy inclusion in decks and therefore appears often.

Being unable to counteract its weakness is not the most common flaw but taking advantage of it will give an autowin in that matchup. That said, the decks that struggle the most with this are weak to two different types (Psychic and Fighting), and Buzzwole-GX beats decks with Mew-EX all the time. In some formats, this is a very easy advantage to leverage, but the current format is not such an example.

Now that we have the format’s flaws clearly defined, we move to the next step of the deck building process.

Step 3: Picking a Deck Based on the Compiled Flaws

A deck that takes advantage of all of these flaws would be incredible. That said, it would have to carry extremely fast OHKO potential and include at least a 2-2 Garbodor line. Any deck fulfilling these requirements would likely be an inconsistent mess.

Instead, let’s try to take advantage of the top flaw: weakness to fast OHKOs. This is common across all top decks of the format and should allow for a much easier time beating them. The deck that abuses this flaw better than any other is Ho-Oh-GX / Kiawe. With Kiawe to get a Ho-Oh-GX attacking on the second turn of the game, attacking for 210 or even 240 damage is easily achievable with Volcanion-EX and Choice Band. Our work is far from done here, however.

Step 4: Solving Our Deck’s Flaws

From here, we should try to address Ho-Oh-GX / Kiawe’s flaws. Even if our deck attacks the format from an excellent angle, it can still lose many games if it cannot deal with its own problems. These problems are:

  • 1. Lack of Pokemon-based draw.
  • 2. Needs an early [card name=”Kiawe” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”116″ c=”name”][/card].
  • 3. Somewhat Ability reliant.
  • 4. Vulnerable to Red [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card] effect.
  • 5. If going second, [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] and Double Colorless Energy can be a problem.

[cardimg name=”Wobbuffet” set=”Radiant Collection 2″ no=”RC11″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Now we can attempt to create a solution for these. Answering all of them will frequently be impossible but remedying even one or two can make our deck much stronger. These are my attempts at fixing the deck’s issues:

  • 1. Attempt to find space for [card name=”Octillery” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] or at least [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card]. Also, a heightened Tapu-Lele-GX count can help our consistency.
  • 2. Max the deck out on counts of [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], Tapu-Lele-GX, and Kiawe to ensure your strategy goes off every single game. This may seem excessive, and testing may prove it to be, but consistency is always king in the early stages of deckbuilding.
  • 3. Ability reliance can only be handled by more [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] in the deck, but the matchups that use Garbodor do not use attackers outside of our damage range. Zoroark-GX / Garbodor with Parallel City is an exception, but it is low on our list. I am going to choose not to worry about this issue right away. If testing proves it to be meaningful, I will alter the deck to try and solve it.
  • 4. Vulnerability to Parallel City’s red side can be solved in three ways. We can run counter Stadiums, more Field Blowers, more ways to buff our damage, or any combination of the three. Field Blower is the most situationally useful whereas [card name=”Scorched Earth” set=”Primal Clash” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] and a Volcanion-EX can be used in a variety of matchups. I will definitely be including at least one Volcanion-EX and I will make Scorched Earth a top consideration if I have space.
  • 5. I am uncertain as to the severity of this issue. To quickly respond, my opponent would need to go first, get a Tapu Lele-GX on the board turn one, attach a Double Colorless Energy to it on turn one and turn two, and attach and keep a Choice Band by turn two. How realistic is this concern? Zoroark-GX decks will have a much easier time doing it that others, to be certain, as they have a great deal of draw power and the cards required to accomplish the Knock Out. My first action would be to test against these decks immediately. If I find that they reliably accomplish this, I would look to inhibit their ability to do so. Two cards come to mind for this: Enhanced Hammer and [card name=”Wobbuffet” set=”Radiant Collection 2″ no=”RC11″ c=”name”][/card]. Enhanced Hammer would allow us to remove a Double Colorless Energy from their Tapu Lele-GX, thus eliminating their ability to Knock Out a Ho-Oh-GX quickly. Alternatively, Wobbuffet could limit their access to resources through Trade, potentially making finding the required cards much more difficult. In the event this issue is prevalent, I would first try Wobbuffet as it is useful in a variety of situations, later moving to Enhanced Hammer if it was insufficient. If the problem persists through these changes, I would either drop both and look to boost consistency or drop the deck entirely.

With this laid out, we can now move to the final step!

Step 5: Building the Deck

Through each previous step, we’ve done almost all of the work for this already. From picking the deck to identifying what we want it to do and solving its problems, we have defined a great number of the cards in the deck already. If the deck you are attempting to build is a totally unique rogue concept, you will have to build the list from the ground up. In this case, prioritize consistency above all else and adjust it according to your testing results.

In this case, Ho-Oh-GX / Kiawe is already an established deck. This gives us the advantage of the existence of reference lists. While our final product will differ from the reference list, we can take the core of the deck and transfer it over. If we have the luxury of a successful reference list, we can usually be assured of the deck’s baseline functionality as well. For Ho-Oh-GX / Kiawe, I will be using Mason Baker’s ninth-place list from Collinsville regionals.

[decklist name=”Mason Baker’s 9th Place Ho-Oh-GX/Kiawe” amt=”60″ caption=”Our starting point.” cname=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″][pokemon amt=”13″]4x [card name=”Ho-Oh-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Volcanion-EX” set=”Steam Siege” no=”26″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Turtonator-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”18″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”63″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”33″]4x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Kiawe” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”116″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”93″ 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]3x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”14″]14x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”Black and White” no=”106″ c=”deck2″ amt=”14″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

With our previous discussion of desired cards and counts in mind, the following list is what I would begin testing for Charlotte.

[decklist name=”Revised Ho-Oh-GX/Kiawe” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″][pokemon amt=”12″]4x [card name=”Ho-Oh-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”131″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Turtonator-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”18″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Volcanion-EX” set=”Steam Siege” no=”26″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”63″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”34″]4x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Kiawe” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”116″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/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]3x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”14″]14x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”14″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

We ended up changing very few cards in Mason’s list, and that’s okay! As I stated at the beginning of the article, being different for the sake of it carries no merit of its own. His list already had an excellent consistency core, and that was at the heart of our considerations. I slimmed down his Pokemon line in favor of a fourth Tapu Lele-GX and second Field Blower. While I did say that Field Blower was lower on the list than some other cards earlier, the deck already has Volcanion-EX and Scorched Earth would have been too weak at a one-of. The second Field Blower addresses both issues that we have with Garbodor and issues that we have with Parallel City.

Moving forward, I will be looking very closely at how consistently we get off a turn one Kiawe and adjusting the deck accordingly. I’ll begin to slim down the line if my success rate is very high and noting the difference with each cut. Once I see a tangible drop, I will freeze the consistency line where it is. With the spaces I’ve gained from cuts, I’ll be looking to incorporate two Scorched Earth to push the deck’s draw along and counter Parallel City. I may also look to bump the Volcanion-EX count back to two if I find myself missing it too often. Of course, these are only the first considerations for changes I have. You may have other ideas that could produce even better results, so it’s important to keep trying new things even in the face of success.

Conclusion

With the final step cleared, you now have a deck that will serve as an excellent base for testing. Sometimes, this list will end up being the one you take to the event, but it also has the potential to be ten or more cards different from the one you’re happy with. It may even end up a failed concept. Being able to accept this and move on is critical to gaining and maintaining strong finishes at events. Every single successful player in this game has built and tested a deck that ended up being terrible, and they continue to do so even in times of their greatest success.

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to reading your comments. Don’t be afraid to ask questions; this topic can be very difficult to breach. If you would like me to elaborate any of my thought processes further, please let me know!

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