Locking Down with Garbotoxin: Two Garbodor Decks for Portland

By: Zakary Krekeler · Posted Posted onOct 23, 2018 at 4:40 PM · 0 Comments

[cardimg name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Hello again everyone! We have our first Expanded Regional of the year coming up, and for the first time in quite a while, [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] isn’t the first thought on everyone’s mind! The Expanded meta has had quite a shake up, not only because of the addition of several sets and quite a few Promo cards, but, more importantly, due to the most significant banning of cards that we’ve had in a while. Three oppressive first turn strategies — turn one [card name=”Ghetsis” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], turn one [card name=”Hex Maniac” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”75″ c=”name”][/card], and turn one [card name=”Wally” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card] into [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] — have been taken away, hopefully providing more balance to what at times felt like a format decided by the opening coin flip. The removal of [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] will further weaken Zoroark-GX decks, while also hurting the recovery strategies of other decks. Many decks previously sidelined by the oppressive power of Ghetsis and Hex Maniac will return to viability. The Portland Regional Championship will be our first major tournament with these changes, and the format appears to be no less than wide open.

Expanded is known for having some of the most powerful, efficient decks in Pokemon, as well as some of the most oppressive disruption decks that have evolved to counteract them. In this article, I’ll be going over two decks that fit into the latter category: [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”106″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Sableye” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”62″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card]. I’ll be going through my thought process behind why these two Garbodor decks have jumped to the top of my list of decks for Portland, and why they should be on your radar as well.

Card Pool Changes and What to Expect

What’s New and What’s Gone

Before we go into any predictions for the Portland meta, we first need to look at what has changed since the last major Expanded event, as there have been quite a few changes to the card pool. Since the Roanoke Regional Championship…

  • Celestial Storm was released
  • Dragon Majesty was released
  • New Promo cards were released, including Tapu Lele
  • Four cards — [card name=”Ghetsis” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Hex Maniac” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”75″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Wally” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card] — were banned

Without a doubt, the biggest change to Expanded came from the update to the ban list. All four of the banned cards were format-shaping, and any changes to the Expanded metagame need to be viewed through the lens of what was removed. Most importantly, Supporter-based Ability lock is now gone, opening the format to Abilities-based decks that were pressured out of the meta by Hex Maniac. The format has been further opened up with the simultaneous banning of Ghetsis, as the threat of a first turn Ghetsis scared away early game combo decks such as [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] — decks which can now return to viability.

For Garbodor decks, the banning of Hex Maniac is by far the most significant of these changes. It is hard to overstate how oppressive Hex Maniac was as a card in Expanded. Between [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”110″ c=”name”][/card] and Puzzle of Time, it was possible to lock your opponent for a whopping nine straight turns — and it wasn’t unheard of for decks to do exactly that when facing down an Ability-dependent deck. Thanks to the litany of Ability-based card draw in Expanded, decks were further able to get around the detriment of not being able to use a draw Supporter while using Hex Maniac, thus giving them an easy opportunity to repeatedly use the card without any downside. In addition to the meta-centralizing effects that this caused, it also meant that most decks that relied on Abilities to function were unsuitable for competition. Previous powerhouse decks such as Blastoise, [card name=”Eelektrik” set=”Noble Victories” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Volcanion-EX” set=”Steam Siege” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card] found themselves pushed out of the meta, but with Hex Maniac now on the banlist, all of these decks and more can now come back.

Why Garbotoxin?

[cardimg name=”Garbodor” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”54″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

So, how best to react to a potential influx of Ability-based decks? Why, by playing a deck that shuts down Abilities! While we may no longer have Hex Maniac, we can still hate on Abilities the old-fashioned way: through our Pokemon. Pokemon such as [card name=”Greninja” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] can adeptly shut down Abilities via their attacks, while [card name=”Alolan Muk” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] has been a versatile add into quite a few decks looking to shut down Abilities from Basic Pokemon such as [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”106″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] — not to mention [card name=”Sudowoodo” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card].

When you think of Ability lock though, the first Pokemon that should jump to mind is [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card]. Garbodor may no longer be in Standard, but it is far from reaching retirement in Expanded. Ever since it was first released in Dragons Exalted, Garbodor has become the go-to card for shutting down Abilities. Between its initial version and the revamped [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] from BREAKpoint, it has managed to perform excellently in that role for over six years. In the same way that Expanded is diverse, so are Garbodor decks; the card can be placed into any deck that wants to shut down Abilities and has the space. Generally, the decks that utilize it can be split into two categories: decks that focus on disruption, such as [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”106″ c=”name”][/card]; and decks that focus on other non-Ability-reliant attackers, such as [card name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card]. In the first case, Garbodor is used in conjunction with other forms of disruption to ensure that the opponent can’t do anything that they want to, leading to a grindy but eventual win. In contrast, the other decks generally use strong attackers of their own, but utilize Garbodor to shut down Abilities that could make other attackers more efficient or more powerful than their own. Both of these kinds of decks are powerful, and I would expect both to have strong finishes in Portland.

As far as the bans go, the banning of Wally is of note for Garbodor decks. While this ban may only affect Trevenant, and thus only one potential matchup, the impact to that matchup is rather large. Your opponent cannot possibly get out Trevenant before you get at least one turn to play Item cards; while one turn may not seem like much, it gives Garbodor decks an opportunity to attach a Tool card to [card name=”Trubbish” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card], which, if it sticks, means that you can evolve into Garbodor and thus shut off Trevenant’s Forest Curse. With Wally in the format, a Trevenant player going first had no real reason to be concerned with Garbodor, as they could simply ensure that the Garbodor player never had the ability to attach a Tool, and, as a result, could never get out of Trevenant’s Item lock. Now, the Garbodor player will always have at least a chance to play Items, which changes this matchup drastically to the benefit of Garbodor.

For the two new sets, the main impact for Garbodor decks will be that it has new available partners, such as [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card]-style decks; and that there will be a few more decks in the meta to prepare for, such as [card name=”Malamar” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM117″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”177″ c=”name”][/card]. For the two disruption decks I’ll be going over here, there aren’t too many useful cards to add (I’ll go over that a bit later). Given the relative size of the Expanded card pool to the size of the new sets though, it isn’t that surprising that existing decks wouldn’t have much to add, even with the release of larger sets such as Celestial Storm.

[premium]

Predicted Meta

Right now, the Standard format is diverse but well centralized around five decks. Expanded, in comparison, looks to be wide open, with a diversity that makes Standard seem outright boring. Prior to the bans, our last Expanded Regionals had 11 different decks represented in the Top 32, with 12 different decks represented in the Top 32 of the one before it, and 15 in the one before that! While Expanded may have gained a reputation as a format completely centralized around Zoroark-GX, it still maintained a great deal of diversity insofar as the spread of different deck options available to players. With our new card bans, the Expanded centralization has vanished, leaving a format that is much less reactionary to the meta. Add to that the new archetypes brought back into the meta by the banning of Ghetsis and Hex Maniac, and the list of decks that we should consider “competitive” becomes even longer. On a conservative count, I would place the number of viable decks in the 30 to 40 range, with the actual number likely to be even higher due to rogue variants. A quick look at what decks have been gaining “hype”, and which ones have performed well in the past, give us this list:

[cardimg name=”Joltik” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”26″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

  • More hyped: Night March, [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card], Drampa, Psychic-Box, Archie’s [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ c=”name”][/card] variants
  • Somewhat hyped: [card name=”Vespiquen” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], Greninja, Eel-style decks ([card name=”Eelektrik” set=”Noble Victories” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Bronzong” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card]), Volcanion, [card name=”Stoutland” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card], Shrine of Punishment decks, Student Loans ([card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] / Tapu Lele / [card name=”Tapu Koko” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM30″ c=”name”][/card] Spread)
  • Less hyped, but still with potential: [card name=”Durant” set=”Noble Victories” no=”83″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Wailord-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Primal Groudon-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Sylveon-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Donphan” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”72″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Gardevoir-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”M Gardevoir-EX” set=”Steam Siege” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card], Turbo Dark, [card name=”Gyarados” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Glaceon-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”39″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Giratina-EX” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card]

That’s quite a few options — and I didn’t list rogue decks, or either of the two decks I’m about to go over! Even with so many, I would expect several rogue decks not listed to come out at Portland. For such a diverse format, particularly one that hasn’t had any previous tournament results to go off of, it is important to play a deck that can be strong against a wide swath of decks, even those that you may not be prepared for or have tested against. Thankfully, both Seismitoad-EX and [card name=”Sableye” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”62″ c=”name”][/card] can do exactly that, as their strategies are generally the same, regardless of the opposition — the major difference comes into how you achieve your goals, as opposed to changing how you attack depending on the opposing deck.

With that, let me introduce the two Garbotoxin disruption decks that I’ve come to enjoy.

Seismitoad-EX

If I were to make a Tag Team GX with the sole goal of messing with the TCG community, Seismitoad + Garbodor Tag Team would absolutely be my choice. One of the most traditional disruption decks in Pokemon, the combination of Seismitoad-EX and Garbodor can be a nightmare for opposing decks, shutting off not one, but two different routes to consistency. Quaking Punch and Garbotoxin naturally combo together as well, as Quaking Punch restricts Tool removal Items. This would leave opponents with only attacks and Supporters to remove a Tool from Garbodor; while Supporter-based Tool removal is effective, it is limited to situations where your opponent doesn’t need a draw Supporter to further their game state, and already has a hand or board strong enough to take advantage of the lapse in Garbotoxin.

The goal of this deck is rather straightforward: get out Garbodor, and then keep using Quaking Punch until you win. Even with all of the actual gameplay nuances, the strategy generally boils down to that, which is why I often recommend this deck for Junior or Senior division players looking for an intro into something disruptive. Here is the list that I’ve been using.

[decklist name=”Seismitoad” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″][pokemon amt=”12″]4x [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”106″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Trubbish” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”53″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Trubbish” set=”Noble Victories” no=”48″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”106″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”40″]4x [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”101″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”116″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Colress” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”143″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Team Flare Grunt” set=”XY” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”142″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”110″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Hypnotoxic Laser” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Fighting Fury Belt” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”158″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Computer Search” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Virbank City Gym” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”126″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”8″]4x [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”103″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Water Energy” set=”Call of Legends” no=”90″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

This list is nothing particularly special; it’s mostly derived from previous successful Seismitoad lists. It does its job well though, providing a consistent, effective deck that can deal with anything.

Gameplay Strategy

As I said above, keep using Quaking Punch. You want to be able to continually attack and disrupt your opponent so that their attacks are restricted, which will of course allow you to continue attacking. Naturally, your opponent’s main goal then will be to stop you from attacking so that they have access to all of their useful Items, which will make their goal easier. One important thing to remember is how restricted your opponents will be in most cases — by knowing what potential outs they have, and which ones are shut off by your Quaking Punch, you can better plan for what strategies they might try and use.

Aggression is typically the most common strategy to use against Seismitoad-EX. Since Seismitoad-EX’s damage output caps at 40 without Poison damage, any opponent who can continually attack will likely have the advantage. With the three [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card], four [card name=”Hypnotoxic Laser” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Team Flare Grunt” set=”XY” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card], you’ll be able to disrupt their attackers effectively, especially with Garbotoxin shutting down any Energy acceleration, and Quaking Punch restricting their switching options. [card name=”Fighting Fury Belt” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card] give you another way to survive, making your opponent’s job more difficult until you are able to stabilize. Against an aggressive strategy, it’s important to remember that you can let your opponent take a few Prizes as long as you can stabilize before they can take all six. During the mid-to-late game, [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card] is another way to force your opponent into a dead hand, and can be critical to the deck’s success.

[cardimg name=”Xerosic” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”119″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Energy disruption via Team Flare Grunt and [card name=”Xerosic” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”110″ c=”name”][/card] is another way that they can stop Quaking Punch, so I generally try to have backup Energy waiting in hand. The four Water Energy in this list are critical to preventing that, as they not only can’t be removed by Xerosic, but also give you more options for Energy attachments in the case that your opponent tries such a strategy. So long as your Quaking Punch is active, they won’t be able to recover those disruption Supporters with VS Seeker, meaning that most decks will only have one or two shots to slow you down. Hold an Energy in hand, and you can ensure that this Energy disruption strategy never ends up being effective. Another common strategy for some decks will be to try an afflict your Active Seismitoad-EX with a Special Condition, such as Confusion. If you know your opponent has an option to try such a strategy, such as with [card name=”Sableye” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”62″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Espeon-GX” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card], saving a Float Stone for Seismitoad-EX can be a way around it; otherwise, try and make good use of your Guzma and Acerola.

Finally, knowing when to use Hypnotoxic Laser and when to use Grenade Hammer is critical for this deck to be successful. For Hypnotoxic Laser, you don’t want to use it with abandon, as it represents your main way to increase damage output with this deck. Puzzle of Time is no longer a thing, so you have to pick and choose when to use it wisely. If you have to get rid of it with [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Black and White” no=”101″ c=”name”][/card], that’s one thing, but you shouldn’t be using it to try and force an unlucky sleep flip unless you are in an emergency situation, or to add some irrelevant damage. Instead, save it for when your opponent has devoted resources to an attacker and will have few available options for removing the Special Condition. As for when to use Grenade Hammer, you generally don’t want to, unless it can win you the game, or put you in such a position to where you will almost be guaranteed to win. Trevenant is the main matchup that I find myself actively using Grenade Hammer, but I’ve used it in other times as well. The key is that your opponent shouldn’t be able to use their turn of Items in order to turn around the matchup — so don’t use it if your opponent isn’t set up, and their setting up would allow them to control the game; or if your opponent plays Items such as [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card], and could use those to power up the attackers whose setup you’ve been trying to prevent.

Sableye

This deck is certainly a complex one, with potentially tricky decisions required on nearly every turn of the game. Its slow, grind-it-out strategy isn’t for everyone, but the deck can be dominant once it gets going. Here is the list that I’ve been using.

[decklist name=”Sableye” amt=”60″ caption=”don’t let em’ do anything” cname=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″][pokemon amt=”11″]4x [card name=”Sableye” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”62″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Trubbish” set=”Noble Victories” no=”48″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”106″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”43″]2x [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”116″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Team Flare Grunt” set=”XY” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”N” set=”Noble Victories” no=”101″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Team Skull Grunt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Xerosic” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Hiker” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”133″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”153″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”166″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Trainers’ Mail” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”100″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Trick Shovel” set=”Flashfire” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”162″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”120″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”110″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Red Card” set=”XY” no=”124″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Peeking Red Card” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”149″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Life Dew” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Silent Lab” set=”Primal Clash” no=”140″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Team Aqua’s Secret Base” set=”Double Crisis” no=”28″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”6″]6x [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”6″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

Getting To the Lock

[cardimg name=”Sableye” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”62″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Sableye has two main strategies that lead it to victory, both of which work in conjunction with each other. The first way is to control your opponent’s hand and deck, so that they don’t have any effective way to attack into you. Between [card name=”Trick Shovel” set=”Flashfire” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Hiker” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card], you can easily control your opponent’s draw for turn, and make it so that they can never draw anything useful. So long as they don’t have a useful card within the top six cards of their deck, you can ensure that their topdeck will be useless for them, and if things are going well, you can increase that control by a few cards with more Trick Shovel. With Garbodor online, most decks will have a large number of “useless” cards — in many cases, pretty much anything that isn’t an Energy or a Supporter can be considered useless. With heavy Energy and hand disruption, this deck can get the opposition to the point where they need a card to do anything, at which point controlling the topdeck means that you can control the game until it finishes.

The second strategy important to Sableye is to run your opponent out of resources, specifically Energy, so that they no longer have any effective way to attack you and take Prizes. This is pretty obvious, but if they can’t attack you for the rest of the game, you’ll win! The two Enhanced Hammer, four [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card], and your two Supporters in Team Flare Grunt and [card name=”Team Skull Grunt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card] give you quite a few options for removing Energy, and you can also use [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] to get around an opponent that has managed to stick a few Energy on their Active. Once you can get your opponent into a non-attacking situation and can control their topdeck, Trick Shovel can ensure that any Energy they would have drawn get discarded instead. The biggest key is to not allow too many Energy to stick to the field in the first place; that’s where the Hammer cards come into play. Against most matchups, those two strategies are what we use to win. The overall plan is thus pretty simple: get them into a position where they can’t attack, and then control their deck so that they can never draw out of that position. Once their deck becomes smaller in card count, Trick Shovel will begin to be more important than Hiker, since they’ll have a higher percentage of outs that they can draw (and will be good for you to get rid of).

To get them in the lock, you need three things to be true: they cannot be able to attack you with their Active, they can’t have a card or cards in their hand to power up an attacker or get them to an attacker, and they can’t have a way to draw into cards that would allow them to start attacking you.

The first criterion can be gotten to via Crushing Hammer, Enhanced Hammer, Team Flare Grunt, and Xerosic; or by dodging attackers by bringing a useless Pokemon Active via Counter Catcher, normally one that doesn’t have enough Energy to attack or retreat, such a support Pokemon like [card name=”Octillery” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card], or simply another one of their Benched attackers that isn’t a threat. For the second criterion, your hand disruption cards — the [card name=”Red Card” set=”XY” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Peeking Red Card” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card], Delinquent, N, and Team Skull Grunt — become key. If your opponent falls into the trap of going down to three or fewer cards in hand, then [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] becomes the easiest way to give them a useless hand. Without that, Red Card and Delinquent provide an easy combo to get your opponent down to a single card, while Peeking Red Card can change that single card they chose to keep into a random card from the deck — giving your opponent a rather low chance of having something useful in hand.

In situations where Energy disruption is key, Team Skull Grunt can ensure that your opponent isn’t hiding any for a later, better situation, while also giving you a chance to look and see what options they hold for the future. Knowing and controlling your opponent’s hand is incredibly useful for this deck’s strategies, particularly for when you have to decide how you want to control their topdeck, or what forms of disruption you want to recover with Junk Hunt. For this reason, I would recommend taking notes when playing Sableye. This second criterion can also be considered a prerequisite to the third, as what they draw doesn’t matter if they already have what they need in their hand.

For the third criterion, this is where Trick Shovel comes into play, as well as the newest addition to this deck: Hiker. As I mentioned above, Hiker dramatically increases your control over what your opponent draws, extending that control from the top two cards with a pair of Trick Shovel, to the top six cards with a Trick Shovel and a Hiker. With Hiker in the deck, this third criterion becomes the easiest part of the lock to accomplish, so long as you can manage to get the rest of it in place.

[cardimg name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

How exactly you get them to that point depends on which deck you find yourself up against. With [card name=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] out of the format, most of the decision making when playing this deck comes down to figuring out how to plan ahead, and how to prioritize which lines of attack to go with. In some cases, you’ll want to beeline to a Garbodor. In other matchups, you can ignore it — it may even be detrimental if Garbage Collection [card name=”Trubbish” set=”Noble Victories” no=”48″ c=”name”][/card] ends up being important. In some matchups, Energy removal is the key to victory, whereas Counter Catcher will play a far more important role in others. Prior to the bans, you could simply recover a pair of Puzzle of Time, and then recover the cards which were best for that turn. Now, without Puzzle of Time, you have to be able to anticipate what cards you’ll need before your opponent takes their turn; this adds far more possibility for error in your decision making. In some cases, it isn’t that bad — if you have them in the lock, Trick Shovel and VS Seeker will be reliable cards to recover, since they allow you to continue the lock. Prior to that point, the decision can be a bit trickier.

To decide which cards to get back, I find it best to focus on which part of the game I’m trying to control. One important factor to consider is that, as long as your opponent can attack you, you’ll have to expend resources not only to disrupt your opponent, but also to keep replenishing your own Pokemon so that you can continue to disrupt your opponent. Your opponent will try to give you as little time as possible to pull off your lock, so keep this in mind when deciding which cards to prioritize getting back. Generally, I find that you need to control your opponent’s hand before you can adequately control their board; after all, if they can draw into the Energy that you remove, then your Energy removal won’t actually have much of an impact, and you’ll find yourself back in the same position as before but with less time left in the game to get your lock into play. The main exception to that is if your opponent has heavier Energy requirements that they can’t effectively accelerate, or if you won’t be able to set up another Sableye to continue attacking; in the first case, you can use a strategy of Energy disruption to run them out of resources, without controlling their hand. In the second case, you may have to take the chance that you’ll get a one-turn lapse in attacking while you replenish your own board so that you can hopefully turn that one-turn lapse into the lock for the rest of the game. After all, if you can’t recover resources yourself, you won’t be able to maintain the lock, even if you can get it for the turn when you don’t have a Sableye in play. In that situation, Confuse Ray can also be a way to stop them in a pinch.

Possible Tech Cards

Two possible tech cards that I also like in this deck are [card name=”Hypnotoxic Laser” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Latias-EX” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card]. The Hypnotoxic Laser can win you the Sableye mirror match single-handedly, provided that your opponent isn’t also playing the Laser. Latias-EX is used specifically for the Trevenant matchup. Their options to damage it are extremely limited, since Trevenant and Trevenant BREAK can’t damage it. They can damage it with [card name=”Espeon-EX” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card], but by doing so, they’ll also be giving you an opportunity to use your many disruptive Item cards. Given the hype that Trevenant has been receiving, and the fact that Trevenant represents one of Sableye’s few near auto-loss matchups, Latias-EX could be a critical addition.

Wrap Up

Overall, both of these decks are strong disruption variants, which have few terrible matchups and a strong, generally applicable strategy — perfect for this new and diverse meta. If control is your sort of strategy, and you’re looking for a way to tackle the many Abilities of Expanded, then try out one of these!

As always, if you have any questions about the article, about these decks, or about Pokemon in general, don’t hesitate to ask! See you all at Portland!

Thanks for reading!

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