Absolute Control Over Oceania IC with Team Up

[cardimg name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Hello there, PokeBeach readers! My name is Isaiah Williams and I am excited to be providing content for such a wonderful audience. Ever since I first started the game back in 2010, I have used PokeBeach for their news and articles, so it is a huge honor to now provide articles to you all! For those of you who do not know me, my full name is Byron Isaiah-Keith Williams. I am currently ranked 7th in North America, and I hope to maintain that position with continued success throughout the year.  

When I am approaching the game of Pokemon, I strive to play in terms of absolutes. Often, decks are based off of hitting certain pieces at certain points in the game and relying on “luck of the draw.” An experienced player will do whatever they can to increase their odds of hitting [card name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] when they need to use [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card]’s Mind Blown for a KO; but there will be times where they play [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card], and there is a percentage chance that they miss. Because of my desire to play in absolutes, I have built a reputation of playing control-based [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] decks. Zoroark-GX naturally allows me to see more cards than my opponent over the course of a game. In the control versions specifically, we can slow the game down to where we have enough turns to access our deck while our opponent accesses little of it. At this point, it is not about hitting the cards you need, but it’s about figuring out the contents of your opponent’s deck and removing the pieces crucial for them to win the game. We no longer have to rely on our deck giving us the cards we need at the right time, but only on figuring out how to make sure our opponent’s deck can never give them the cards they need.

This brings me to the deck that we’ll be talking about today: Zoroark-GX / Control. With the release of Team Up, we are given a few new tricks for Standard Zoroark-GX / Control. Here is the current list:

[decklist name=”Zoroark-GX Control” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Alolan Muk” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”58″][pokemon amt=”20″]4x [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Zorua” set=”Shining Legends” no=”52″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Persian” set=”Team Up” no=”126″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Meowth” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”101″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Sableye” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”80″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Absol” set=”Team Up” no=”88″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Articuno-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”31″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”114″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Magcargo” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”24″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Alolan Muk” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”58″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”34″]4x [card name=”Professor Elm’s Lecture” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”188″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Plumeria” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”120″ 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=”Mallow” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”127″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Gladion” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Mount Lanakila” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”118″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”6″]3x [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Double Colorless” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

New Team Up Additions

One Persian, One Meowth

[cardimg name=”Persian” set=”Team Up” no=”126″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Using [card name=”Persian” set=”Team Up” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card]’s Make ‘Em Pay gives this deck the pressure that control variants have been missing in our Standard meta. Before, a common strategy against control decks was to pass and build a hand until one could OHKO a [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]. From there, one could do this three times to take all six Prize cards. Decks like Zoroark-GX and [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] frequently pulled this off. Now, however, an opponent will get punished for attempting this strategy. If you notice that they are passing and building a hand, bench a [card name=”Meowth” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”101″ c=”name”][/card] against them. Around 99% of the time, this will force your opponent to try and play out cards to get what they need. From there you apply pressure without even using Persian.

You can also use Persian to snipe specific cards out of your opponent’s hand that you know are crucial to the matchup. At most points of the game, you have good knowledge on the content of your opponent’s hand from repeated [card name=”Team Skull Grunt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card]. If you notice that your opponent has two [card name=”Switch” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] in their six card hand then you can go ahead and remove those threats to your lock strategy.

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One Absol

Using [card name=”Absol” set=”Team Up” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] will tilt your opponent in combination with [card name=”Mount Lanakila” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Sableye” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card]’s Limitation. The game plan against most decks right now is to use [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] to bring up their benched [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] with an Absol and Mount Lanakila in play. In this state, our opponent cannot play any Supporters and has a Marshadow as their Active Pokemon with a Retreat Cost of three. Not many lists in our current meta are equipped well enough to deal with such a lock and end up decking out because of it. This new power earns Absol a slot in the current Zoroark-GX / Control build.

Four Pokemon Communication

I will forever curse the days that I flipped double tails with [card name=”Timer Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card]. I am happy to have this card back as a consistent replacement.

Having [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] increases the consistency of this deck because it allows for us to add an additional four outs to a turn one Wonder Tag via Tapu Lele-GX for [card name=”Professor Elm’s Lecture” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”188″ c=”name”][/card]. It also allows for us to guarantee a Zoroark-GX instead of the 25% chance of failure that Timer Ball gave us. This is a deck that attempts to reach an absolute game state and Pokemon Communication does a great job of getting us there.

Pokemon Communication also has an amazing interaction with Professor Elm’s Lecture that I feel is worthy of mentioning. Unlike [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card], Professor Elm’s Lecture places the Pokemon in our hand first. This means that to set up and begin using Trade with Zoroark-GX, all we need is a single Professor Elm’s Lecture and a single Pokemon Communication. Such a low requirement for set up is a huge benefit of playing this deck.

Other Counts

Two Mount Lanakila

With the addition of Absol to the deck, adding Mount Lanakila as our Stadium is intuitive. This allows us to strain our opponent’s resources by requiring them to have three Energy attachments to retreat their Pokemon.

Two Mount Lanakila is a necessity because we need to make sure that we have a second Lanakila in the scenarios where our opponent tries to save an Energy attachment by using a counter Stadium under Limitation lock. Playing two also helps when we happen to Prize one of them.

Two Sableye, Two Pal Pad, One Oranguru

Sableye and [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] are the main attackers of the deck. In most matches, we lead with Sableye to slow the game down and set up our board and deck. We then follow that Sableye up with Oranguru’s Resource Management to set up our deck and board for the final Limitation lock. From there, our opponent hopefully has four Prize cards left, so we can use our two Sableye and [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] to stream up to three Sableye and three Counter Catcher at them in the hope that the lock will stick.

We also have two [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] to stream [card name=”Plumeria” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card] or Team Skull Grunt while using Limitation. Use Pal Pad to put back two [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] when we know our opponent will deck out as long as we continue to use Limitation. Each Cynthia will let us shuffle our entire hand back into our deck until we have more cards remaining then our opponent while using Limitation until they deck out.

Three Counter Catcher

Normally, this deck does not take Prize cards as a win condition, so we get to control which of our opponent’s Pokemon is Active with an Item card that we can repeatedly recover via Resource Management.

This deck plays three due to the synergy it has with Sableye’s Limitation. The thing that stops this deck is getting rushed down by your opponent in the first few turns of the game. Counter Catcher / Limitation is a combo that will leave every deck in our current meta stopped in its tracks. Throw a Team Skull Grunt in that as well, and our opponent will pass on their following turn unless they happen to already be holding Switch.

Matchups

You may notice that I won’t give each of these matchups a win percentage, such as 50-50: this is intentional. This is a deck that deals with absolutes. If you are able to execute your strategy quickly and your opponent does not overpower you, then you should win. Playing this deck is about knowing how to slow your opponent down enough to reach the game state that you need to win.

Pikachu & Zekrom-GX

[cardimg name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This is one of your hardest matchups in the current meta because of its natural Energy acceleration, Ability-based free Retreat Cost, and high damage output.

However, we have a game plan. We want to establish an [card name=”Alolan Muk” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] to stop them from being able to freely retreat with [card name=”Zeraora-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card]’s Ability. From there, all we need to do is deal with the [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card]’s capability to accelerate Energy. Luckily for us, it requires three Lightning Energy to attack. With well timed Plumeria and Limitation, we can stop our opponent from being able to attack us.  

Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is reliant on its Supporters for being able to continue to draw and attach Energy. We also have [card name=”Articuno-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] to use Cold Crush to reset the Energy on our opponent’s Active Pokemon. From there, we use [card name=”Team Skull Grunt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card] and Plumeria every Energy they attach until they run out. Our opponent will try to use Zeraora-GX’s GX attack to put five Energy in play on their potential attackers. We should Counter Catcher a Pokemon that has no Energy attached and use Limitation with [card name=”Mount Lanakila” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card] in play. Our opponent won’t be able to attach enough Energy left in their deck to attack and will deck out.

Zoroark-GX Decks

These matchups are some of the easier ones, especially with the inclusion of [card name=”Persian” set=”Team Up” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card]. If the opposing [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] player doesn’t have an Oranguru in their deck, then it is nearly a free win. Hit their Zoroark-GX with [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card], Team Skull Grunt the other [card name=”Double Colorless” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] out of their hand, and then Resource Management it all back in.

If they do have their own Oranguru and attempt to outplay your resource denial, have no fear. Our opponent will be forced to have a large hand size if they want to be able to continuously respond to our Enhanced Hammer and Plumeria. Once they hit 10+ cards, that’s when you drop the Persian on your [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card], retreat, and use Persian’s Make ‘Em Pay.

With a hand size that large, you will be able to get rid of multiple cards they need to close out the game while only leaving them with the four [card name=”Professor Elm’s Lecture” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”188″ c=”name”][/card] they were planning on using as Trade fodder. If you used Plumeria or Enhanced Hammer on their Oranguru, then they will continue to use Trade and dig for Energy in hopes they can Resource Management for their important cards. You can hit them with a second Make ‘Em Pay or retreat and KO their Oranguru. When the time is right and you know they will not have the resources to outlast you, use Limitation until they deck out.

Malamar

This is another deck that is crippled by its dependence on draw Supporters to play the game in any way. An early use of Limitation can drastically slow the game down against [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] and give us enough time to set up our board state.

Malamar decks normally have two to four [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] and zero to two [card name=”Switch” set=”Evolutions” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card]. We should expect around four switching cards with at least two of them being Guzma. With [card name=”Absol” set=”Team Up” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] and and Mount Lanakila in play, our opponent’s [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] has a Retreat Cost of three. With two Plumeria and two Pal Pad, under Limitation lock, our deck has the potential to deny our opponents of six Energy attachments.  The usual Energy count for Malamar decks is around 10 Psychic Energy; we need to Team Skull Grunt or use Persian to get rid of two of these 10 Energy cards. This is done in combination with our “six” [card name=”Plumeria” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card] to be able to Limitation lock a Pokemon with no Energy attached to it.

Each Switch our opponent plays gives them a single turn to get out the lock; being able to use Persian to get rid of Switch can be crucial. The same applies to Guzma because if we are able to rid our opponent’s deck of Guzma completely, then we can use Resource Management as our attack instead of Limitation, making our deck and our plays much more powerful and less straining to our resources.  

Lost March / Other One-Prize Decks

These are the matchups that you want to see as a Zoroark-GX / Control player. Your opponent has zero Energy acceleration, no strong internal draw power, and does not play many hard Pokemon switching cards besides Guzma. This spells out an easy win for our deck. Enhanced Hammer and Plumeria every Energy they attach while using [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] to bring up their Marshadow and [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card]. It will be impossible for our opponent to retreat their Oranguru with a Retreat Cost of four with [card name=”Sableye” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card], Mount Lanakila, and Absol. If you hit them with a Team Skull Grunt on this turn as well, you will have perfect knowledge of their hand and what potential play they may be going for. Create a hand, deck, or board state that will have the answer to whatever plays they may attempt and wait for them to deck out. Good game!

Blacephalon-GX

[cardimg name=”Sableye” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”80″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This matchup can range from being easy to slightly tricky depending on how they start and how many [card name=”Energy Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] they play in their deck. The goal is the same as many other matchups: Counter Catcher up their Marshadow or Tapu Lele-GX with Absol and Mount Lanakila with Sableye. This will force them to attach manually from hand until they can pay the Retreat Cost of three. Plumeria away these Energy cards as much as you can, then break the lock to Resource Management back the cards you need. Keep looping in between the Counter Catcher / Limitation lock and Resource Management until your opponent runs out of Energy to attach from their hand. Often, this matchup goes down to the last Prize card, but don’t panic. Map out the Prizes effectively and deck your opponent out with Limitation after they realize they have no Energy left in their deck.

A smart opponent may attempt to play this matchup by never playing Marshadow or Tapu Lele-GX on their Bench. If this is the case, it becomes almost unwinnable. This is because your only Counter Catcher target becomes [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card], but they can use Bursting Burn on your Sableye to break the Limitation lock. If this is too much of an occurrence then we can include [card name=”Cobalion-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”106″ c=”name”][/card] in our deck as a direct counter. With Cobalion-GX, Sableye cannot be Burned or Confused which stops the effects of Bursting Burn. We can use Plumeria to deny a Blacephalon-GX and deck them out under Limitation lock.

Conclusion

This deck is powerful going into the Oceania Intercontinental tournament. It takes a lot of easy matchups and gives you an advantage over your opponent if they did not prepare their list for such a deck. In situations where your opponent did prepare for this type of deck, it still has plenty of possible routes to victory with the high outplay potential that Persian provides. It is unique in having a solid game plan against every deck in our current meta. If someone put in enough practice with the concept, I could see them being a huge threat in the tournament.

That is all I have for you guys! Thank you so much for reading through my first PokeBeach article. I will be continuing to write for you all here on PokeBeach so be on the lookout for my next article! If you have any questions or opinions about the deck, be sure to share your thoughts in the comments because I’d love to hear them.

Until next time, good luck at Oceania!

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