The Woop Gang is Here ⁠— A Guide to Quagsire / Silvally-GX

By: Stephane Ivanoff · Posted Nov 27, 2019 at 7:19 PM · 0 Comments

[cardimg name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”184″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Hello, readers! I’m back from the Latin America International Championship, which despite some controversy, was overall a very enjoyable event. From a competitive standpoint, it gave us a great look at the new Standard metagame: now that we know what decks are expected, we can start the cycle of meta-calls, improvements on existing decks and invention of rogue ones!

Speaking of rogue decks, I made Top 32 at the event (a respectable finish) with [card name=”Quagsire” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”184″ c=”name”][/card], a deck that I didn’t expect to play until the day before the tournament. I know a good number of you have been curious about it, so consider this article a guide to this new archetype. I want to make clear that Quagsire / Silvally-GX is not the best deck in the format, and it suffers from consistency issues, but it also has some great matchups so it’s definitely worth keeping in mind, especially for local events. In other words, it’s the new Quagsire / [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card].

The credit for the deck goes to Jonathan Croxton. If you don’t know of him as the guy who Top 8’d three Expanded Regionals in a row with Shock Lock, you may have heard of him when he revitalised the Quagsire / Naganadel archetype at the DC Open, reaching Top 16 with it. No surprise, then, that I found myself trusting in his deckbuilding ability when it came to choosing a deck for LAIC.

How It All Happened

I was planning on playing [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], as it was both a comfort pick and, in theory, a strong meta-call. My list even had answers to some of the most popular counters to it, such as [card name=”Weakness Guard Energy” set=”Unified Minds” no=”213″ c=”name”][/card] to beat [card name=”Lucario and Melmetal-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM192″ c=”name”][/card]. However, on Thursday, the day before the tournament, I was losing games left and right. Sure, Weakness Guard Energy beat an [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] player who tried to go all-in on Lucario and Melmetal-GX, but they could still win by using [card name=”Keldeo-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Chaotic Swell” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card]. The [card name=”Omastar” set=”Team Up” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] improved the matchup against [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”Team Up” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] Control but, even discounting the (non-negligible) probability that one part of [card name=”Unidentified Fossil” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card], or Omastar would be Prized, I was still uncomfortable with the matchup because so many things could go wrong⁠—[card name=”Mars” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] randomly discarding one part of the combo, for example. And I also found myself losing deck to Jonathan’s Quagsire / Silvally-GX deck, again because of the Keldeo-GX and Chaotic Swell combination that made it so hard to take KOs.

As I watched Jonathan play more games, against both myself and other players, I found that he was beating seemingly comfortably top decks such as [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] and Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX. Add to that an easy Pidgeotto Control matchup, and the deck was looking like more and more of a great play for the event. (In retrospect, the Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX matchup is not as good as I believed (more on that later), but apart from that, this early analysis stands). So when on Thursday evening I found myself disillusioned with Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX, I decided to take the risk, and pick up Quagsire / Silvally-GX (I don’t think I’ve ever picked up a new deck at the last minute for something bigger than a League Challenge, so this was a change for me). I scrambled to find the cards I was missing but, in the end, I locked in my choice.

I won’t do a detailed report of the tournament, partly because I don’t remember all my games, and partly because I’ll mention those I remember when I talk about the deck’s matchups anyway. However, here is a quick summary of my tournament run. I ended up 28th place with a 9-3-2 record. Not counting the ID at the last round, here is how my matchups went:

vs [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card]: 3-0
vs Green’s [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card]: 1-0-1
vs Mewtwo and Mew-GX: 1-0
vs Pidgeotto Control: 1-0
vs Baby [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card]: 1-0
vs [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card]: 1-0
vs Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX / Keldeo-GX: 1-2
vs Ability Reshiram and Charizard: 0-1

Obviously, this is only a small sample of matches, in a situation where the deck was new, both to my opponents and to myself, so you shouldn’t infer too much from this data. It’s still a starting point to look at the deck!

The List

[decklist name=”Woop Gang” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Silvally-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”184″][pokemon amt=”21″]3x [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”184″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”116″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Type: Null” set=”Unified Minds” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Quagsire” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”26″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Wooper” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Keldeo-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”47″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Blastoise and Piplup-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”38″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Mega Lopunny and Jigglypuff-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”81″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”28″]4x [card name=”Professor Oak’s Setup” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”201″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Red and Blue” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”202″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Mallow and Lana” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”198″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Cynthia and Caitlin” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Tag Call” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Primal Clash” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Chaotic Swell” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”187″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”11″]11x [card name=”Water Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”103″ c=”deck2″ amt=”11″][/card][/energy][/decklist]

This list has some unnatural choices, which I’ll do my best to explain.

[premium]

Red and Blue with Silvally-GX

The [card name=”Red and Blue” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”202″ c=”name”][/card] and Silvally-GX combo acts both as the draw engine of the deck and its main source of Energy acceleration. Assuming you have a [card name=”Type: Null” set=”Unified Minds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] in play (remember, you can’t use Red and Blue on [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card]), on turn 2, you can use Red and Blue and discard two cards to find a Silvally-GX, attach two Energy from your deck, and then refill your hands with the Disk Reload Ability. The discard from Red and Blue and draw-until-five effect of Disk Reload work well together, as you can get rid of useless cards and replace them with better ones. As for the Energy acceleration portion, Energy in play can be moved to your Active Pokémon thanks to Quagsire. With four Energy in play on turn 2, you can start attacking with Keldeo-GX or [card name=”Blastoise and Piplup-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card], even if you had to use one Energy to retreat your Active Pokémon to that attacker. On that note, most Basic Pokémon in the deck have a Retreat Cost of one, which helps to achieve that. The lower Retreat Cost is also why the Unified Minds Type: Null is optimal for this deck.

Once Silvally-GX is in play and barring [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] shenanigans, you have a way to draw cards every turn. Now, a Stage-1 Pokémon that draws cards every turn, especially one that can hit for 120 damage for two Colorless Energy, will probably remind players of [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]. Don’t be fooled, though: Silvally-GX is certainly not as good as Zoroark-GX. Disk Reload, unlike Trade, doesn’t let you get huge hands full of options. In fact, there will often be times when you can only Disk Reload for one card because the rest of your hand is filled with cards that you can’t discard or play. That said, I don’t want to undersell it either: Disk Reload makes [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card] meaningless and can often help you dig a little further to find the Energy or Stadium you need. Remember, not as good as Zoroark-GX doesn’t mean bad, or that would mean that every card in the format would be bad.

In addition to drawing cards, Silvally-GX can also attack. Brave Buddies will pretty much always deal 120 damage, which is a great number to KO [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Volcanion” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”25″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], and plenty of other non-GX Pokémon. Although you don’t always want to put Silvally-GX in danger, there are matchups where it will be the main attacker. The fact that it attacks for two Energy also means that you can start attacking with it if you don’t get Red and Blue by turn two.

Turbo Drive Silvally-GX

The other [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM91″ c=”name”][/card] is also in the deck, only as a one-of as it’s not as important as Disk Reload. However, giving you Basic Pokémon with zero Retreat Cost comes up in many matchups and you’ll often want to set it up by the midgame. Turbo Drive is also the main attack to use against Pidgeotto Control, to OHKO Oranguru and put Energy back in play from the discard at the same time.

Trainers

Since setting up Silvally-GX with Red and Blue is so important, it’s only logical to play [card name=”Tag Call” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card], which can get Red and Blue on turn two but also other cards. It’s not unusual to grab a Blastoise and Piplup-GX with Tag Call just so you can use [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] to trade it for a [card name=”Wooper” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] or Quagsire. Having [card name=”Mallow and Lana” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”198″ c=”name”][/card] in hand also helps you a lot against decks that don’t OHKO you. And of course, [card name=”Cynthia and Caitlin” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card] is also an option for the situations where you need to draw cards and have only a Tag Call available. Since our draw power rests so much on Disk Reload, classic draw Supporters such as [card name=”Lillie” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] are not as good in here (This is especially true as, unlike in Malamar or Quagsire / Naganadel, we don’t have [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card] to discard cards on turn one, something that would make Lillie stronger). This is why we opt to run [card name=”Professor Oak’s Setup” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”201″ c=”name”][/card] instead, which is the best Supporter to play on turn one in this deck. By running Fighting-type Wooper, we can use Professor Oak’s Setup to search for Type: Null, Wooper and a Water-type attacker. If you already have an attacker, sometimes [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] is a better choice.

Two Wooper, Four Type: Null and One Ditto Prism Star

Only putting one Wooper in play might seem dangerous, but there are two factors that make it more palatable. The first is that even if Wooper is Knocked Out, we can still attack with Silvally-GX in the early game, so losing Wooper is not the end of the world. The second is that many decks have chosen to remove the unreliable [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] and play [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card] instead, which is stronger against many decks but also means that Quagsire is far safer now than it used to be. In any case, the heart of the deck is Silvally-GX, which is why there are four Type: Null. Without a Type: Null in play, you cannot use Red and Blue, which means that your Energy acceleration is limited. Smart opponents will, therefore, try to target Type: Null if you only have one. Sometimes that’s the right decision even in the midgame, although that depends on the situation. In any case, in the early game, remember that having two Wooper doesn’t help you much, but having two or three Type: Null is perfectly fine. To give you an idea of what to look for, the ideal turn two board would be an attacker, a Quagsire, a Silvally-GX and at least one Type: Null ready to evolve on the next turn.

Note that having a Pokémon to use Red and Blue on is so important that it’s sometimes better to not manually evolve Type:Null, just so you can play Red and Blue on it later. Of course, that depends on the situation⁠—if you really need to draw cards or to retreat a Basic Pokémon, then you should evolve your Pokémon, of course. Try to keep an unevolved Type: Null in play, though, so that your opponent has to, at the very least, respect the possibility of a Red and Blue play.

Chaotic Swell

[cardimg name=”Chaotic Swell” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”187″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Unlike in Quagsire / Naganadel, we pretty much never attack with Quagsire. I think I only used Hydro Pump once in Sao Paulo, and that was to KO a [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] with five Energy to take my last two Prizes. Because we can’t recover Energy from the discard (except with Turbo Strike), we try to conserve our Energy as much as possible, which is possible because our attackers are very tanky (Blastoise and Piplup-GX has 270 HP, and Keldeo-GX has its fantastic Ability). We also use Mallow and Lana for healing, especially against decks that don’t take OHKOs like Malamar or Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX. Keldeo-GX is mostly used against decks that have a hard time dealing with its Ability. This includes Mewtwo and Mew-GX, [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] GX decks (although beware of [card name=”Faba” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] to remove Chaotic Swell and Power Plant) and Pikachu and Zekrom-GX. On the other hand, Blastoise and Piplup-GX’s higher damage output and healing ability makes it better against Malamar and Reshiram and Charizard-GX.

Chaotic Swell is a fantastic card to protect Keldeo-GX (and Silvally-GX) from Power Plant, of course. However, it has more uses than just that. It can prevent Mewtwo and Mew-GX and Reshiram and Charizard-GX decks from using [card name=”Giant Hearth” set=”Unified Minds” no=”197″ c=”name”][/card], which means they won’t be able to use [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card] as reliably. Against Blacephalon decks, removing their access to [card name=”Ultra Space” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] means they’re under a lot of pressure to draw cards early or they won’t find their main attacker. The deck still has Marshadow to help as well, since Chaotic Swell won’t prevent Power Plant if it’s accompanied by Faba. If you’re against a Green’s Exploration deck and expect to get hit by Reset Stamp (and Faba) and Power Plant, keep a Bench spot open! That way, you can use Professor Oak’s Setup for Marshadow if you happen to draw it. Sure, that takes your Supporter for the turn, but it also allows you to draw cards with Silvally-GX, so it’s worth it.

Other Options

As with any list, you can always try new things to improve the deck or adapt it to different metagames. It’s tough to find space for other cards, but if you need some, I think the most cuttable cards from the list above are [card name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card], Marshadow, and [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]. You could also consider going down to one Blastoise and Piplup-GX or removing the [card name=”Mega Lopunny and Jigglypuff-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card]. Of course, all of that depends on the metagame you expect.

Here is a list of cards that deserve consideration in this deck:

Victini

Healing 20 damage may not seem like much, but [card name=”Victini” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”30″ c=”name”][/card] acts as a counter to Mimikyu in Malamar decks. One issue in this matchup is that Silvally-GX can easily get some residual damage from Distortion Door or [card name=”Spell Tag” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card], and Shadow Box will prevent it from drawing cards. With Victini, we can heal this damage and get access to Disk Reload again. In addition, Victini is a Basic Pokémon in an otherwise unused type, which is perfect for use with Pokémon Communication and Professor Oak’s Setup.

Stealthy Hood

The other way to counter Mimikyu. Firstly, [card name=”Stealthy Hood” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] is not as good as Victini: it’s not searchable in this deck, it’s not a Pokémon so you can’t trade it for another one with Communication in a matchup where you don’t need it, and perhaps more importantly, it only works on one Pokémon so you have to choose early on which Pokémon to attach it to, and your opponent can focus their damage counters elsewhere (or, to the contrary, KO the hooded Silvally-GX to get rid of it). The good side of Stealthy Hood is that it can be used to counter other Abilities. Ability Reshiram and Charizard-GX just won LAIC so we can expect a rise in its popularity. The Stealthy Hood can be used in this matchup to protect any of your Pokémon, especially Quagsire. Putting Stealthy Hood on Quagsire means you don’t need to set up a second Quagsire and are free to focus on other Pokémon. It also means you can stockpile any extra Energy on Quagsire without fear of it getting removed by a big KO (that’s already something that you can do against any deck that doesn’t play Custom Catcher, by the way).

Absol

Reshiram and Charizard-GX, Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX and Mewtwo and Mew-GX all play [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] now (and so do many other decks), which means that a counter to it is better than ever. To be completely honest, I’m not sure how much it’s needed, but I’ve felt for a while that Absol should be stronger than its low usage suggests, and the metagame seems to be at the exact point where Absol will do the most damage. This is why, even though Quagsire / Silvally-GX may not be the best deck to run it (it needs to focus on its own consistency first), Absol should be at the very least an option to consider. The cool thing is there’s no other Dark-type Pokémon in the deck so you can always grab Absol with Professor Oak’s Setup.

Heracross

Clearly [card name=”Heracross” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”9″ c=”name”][/card] is a simple Keldeo-GX counter to use against Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX. In theory, you can use it as soon as the opponent attaches Energy to Keldeo-GX. In practice, you need them to have a Tag Team in play, so if you KO Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX first, and they don’t bench another one, Heracross won’t work. If you don’t KO the first one, though, it can KO Heracross with Ultimate Ray for two Prizes. Therefore, you shouldn’t see Heracross as a perfect answer to Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX, but only as a possible secondary attacker against it.

The other [card name=”Heracross” set=”Unified Minds” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card] also makes sense in this matchup and has the benefit of having a much better Retreat Cost. With Turn the Tables, you can shuffle Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX back in your opponent’s deck after it uses Altered Creation GX, which gains you more time. If Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX lists decide to cut [card name=”N’s Resolve” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”200″ c=”name”][/card] (something which is likely to happen, in my opinion: Top four finisher Giovanni Peragallo didn’t play any, while Pedro Eugenio Torres and Fabien Pujol did play it but stated that it was often useless), then Turn the Tables becomes much better as it gives you much more time to accelerate Energy and start taking KOs.

Phione

An issue I’ve run into sometimes is having to hit the wrong Pokémon because we don’t have enough gust options. This is especially true in matchups like [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] / Reshiram and Charizard-GX, where Knocking Out Volcanion feels very useless when there’s a stronger Pokémon on the Bench to hit. Since these decks usually run a low count of Pokémon, [card name=”Phione” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] could be ideal to drag off a Tag Team and hit it for big damage.

Druddigon

Speaking of Drag Off, this Pokémon is the solution to Doll Stall. Quagsire / Silvally-GX can’t beat Doll Stall with the list above, but add a [card name=”Druddigon” set=”Unified Minds” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card] and the matchup should now be easy as you can simply Drag Off [card name=”Florges” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] every turn!

Memory Tools

In a deck that runs Silvally-GX, it’s inevitable that we speak about the various Memory Tool cards that allow it to change types. There are four of them in the Standard format: [card name=”Fire Memory” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Water Memory” set=”Team Up” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Grass Memory” set=”Team Up” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Electric Memory” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card]. Unfortunately, none of these look interesting in the current metagame. Of these four types, the most relevant one is Water (to hit all the Fire-type Pokémon in the meta for Weakness), but of course, there are already other Water-type attackers in the deck. Still, keep them in mind because, if the metagame evolves, one of these Memory cards could end up being a great play.

Adjusting Counts

Finally, one other way to change the deck would be to adjust the counts of various cards. Personally, I’d like to add a fourth Chaotic Swell to the deck. There are matchups where I really needed to hit it early on, whether to protect my Pokémon or simply to remove the opponent’s Stadium.

As an addendum, I’ve noticed that several people seeing the list wanted to add [card name=”Magikarp and Wailord-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM166″ c=”name”][/card] to it. While I understand the appeal, it’s very rare that the deck actually has eight Energy in play (since we can’t recover Energy from the discard), so there’s no real point to it.

Matchups

In this section, I’ll talk about the matchups mainly assuming the [card name=”Quagsire” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”184″ c=”name”][/card] list stays the one given above, but obviously, adding or removing key cards can change matchups, sometimes radically.

Mewtwo and Mew-GX

We all know that [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] has always had issues with [card name=”Keldeo-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card], and that’s still true. If the Mewtwo and Mew-GX player doesn’t run any counter to Keldeo-GX, you can simply win the game with it. However, Keldeo-GX is more popular than it used to be because of [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], so most Mewtwo and Mew-GX lists will run some counter: generally [card name=”Greninja-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM197″ c=”name”][/card], but possibly also non-GX attackers such as [card name=”Turtonator” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card].

That said, Greninja-GX is far from a perfect answer⁠—it still only 2HKOs Keldeo-GX, and that turns into a 3HKO if you can heal with [card name=”Mallow and Lana” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”198″ c=”name”][/card]. Meanwhile, Keldeo-GX also hits Mewtwo and Mew-GX for a 3HKO, but you have options to deal more damage with Resolute Blade GX or [card name=”Mega Lopunny and Jigglypuff-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card]’s Jumping Balloon (don’t use Jumping Balloon too early in the game, though: it’s better to keep it to finish the game, in order not to give your opponent a way to take three Prizes).

Since Mewtwo and Mew-GX lists stopped playing [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] in favour of [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card], they can’t target Quagsire on the Bench, so you can only bench one and even stockpile Energy on it without fear, as long as you have [card name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] to protect it from Venom Shot. In testing, Mew was the factor that made this matchup go from even-ish to favoured, since it prevents Venom Shot plays on Quagsire or [card name=”Type: Null” set=”Unified Minds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card]. This means that the Quagsire / Silvally-GX player is free to setup checkmate situations without fearing that one of its key pieces gets removed.

Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX

[cardimg name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”221″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

In theory, here is how the matchup goes: when both players have Energy in play, the game is a fight between Keldeo-GX on both sides, and although the Altered Creation-boosted Keldeo-GX dealing more damage, it’s still 2HKOs for both players. However, Quagsire / Silvally-GX can hit first. The ideal attacker is [card name=”Blastoise and Piplup-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card] in the early game since it can 2HKO Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX (Keldeo-GX becomes better once Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX is ready to attack). Going first, Blastoise and Piplup-GX can deal damage to Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX on turn two and finish it off on turn three after it has used its GX or, more realistically, damage it after it uses the GX then KO it after the first Ultimate Ray.

Although that’s the ideal situation and, in this case, the matchup is indeed favoured for Quagsire / Silvally-GX, there are a number of things that can go wrong. One of them is that Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX gets the turn two Altered Creation GX much more reliably than Quagsire gets the turn two Splash Maker (or Sonic Edge). More importantly, Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX can, and often does, play a number of techs that make the matchup harder. A [card name=”Phione” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] can force Keldeo-GX back on the Bench and force the other player to send, say, a Silvally-GX Active, which will endure an attack and can then be forced into the Active with [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card] for three Prizes. A heavy Mallow and Lana line improves the Prize race since Mallow and Lana heals an entire Sonic Edge, negating a turn. Also, [card name=”Drampa” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] might be the worst of all, since it can OHKO Keldeo-GX for three Energy after Altered Creation.

You can see Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX lists as a spectrum: the more of these techs they have, the worse Quagsire / Silvally-GX will perform against it. In addition, the more reliant on [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] the Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX list is, the stronger Quagsire / Silvally-GX will be against it. A list that has to discard cards to Dedechange can have issues with resources, but also makes itself weaker to Resolute Blade GX and Jumping Balloon. Lists that don’t play Dedenne-GX will perform much better. As we’ve seen above, there are several techs for Quagsire / Silvally that can help in this matchup as well ([card name=”Heracross” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”9″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Absol” set=”Team Up” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card], Phione). They too should be seen as ways to shift the matchup on the spectrum, and not as perfect answers.

Reshiram and Charizard-GX / Ninetales (AbilityZard)

Before playing on stream against Nico Alabas, I was thinking this would be a good matchup. I got destroyed and can only partially blame my loss on bad luck, so my opinion has changed. However, it’s possible that I simply played this matchup wrong. Unlike Mewtwo and Mew-GX, “AbilityZard” plays non-GX attackers in the form of [card name=”Victini Prism Star” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”7″ c=”name”][/card] and Turtonator. This means that, although Keldeo-GX is a good card, you shouldn’t rely too much on it, as it can get KO’d easily in the midgame. Instead, Blastoise and Piplup-GX should be a stronger attacker. It can OHKO [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] (although the opponent won’t bench it) and can withstand Jumping Balloon as long as you don’t have more than three GX Pokémon in play. It can also accelerate Energy, something that is welcome since the threat of [card name=”Ninetales” set=”Team Up” no=”16″ c=”name”][/card]’ Ability means that your Quagsire isn’t safe (and, if you’re not playing [card name=”Stealthy Hood” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card], you should probably bench a second Quagsire).

AbilityZard can use the fact that we’re not playing Great Catcher to simply attach Energy to their Benched non-GX Pokémon, which they can then use later in the game for [card name=”Heatran-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”25″ c=”name”][/card]’s GX attack or Turtonator. Therefore, it’s important to put pressure on the opponent and force them to react quickly, as the game will go in AbilityZard’s favor if it has enough time. This is why Blastoise and Piplup-GX does the best job. Of course, when you KO your opponent’s last non-GX attacker, you can do so with Keldeo-GX since they won’t be able to revenge KO it (unless they have six Energy in play on a Reshiram and Charizard-GX to use Double Blaze GX, which shouldn’t happen).

Pidgeotto Control

This is where Turbo Drive [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM91″ c=”name”][/card] shines. In this matchup, you want to set up one of each Silvally-GX and two Quagsire, and simply attack with Turbo Drive every turn. You can recover Energy from the discard and, combined with the Energy you should play each turn and those from [card name=”Red and Blue” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”202″ c=”name”][/card], you’re too quick for the opponent to retaliate. To have a shot, they need to hit many [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] in one turn, combined with Cold Crush GX. However, that’s not easy to do when Turbo Drive can KO an [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] every turn. They will likely try to control you with [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card]. It’s good to play [card name=”Chaotic Swell” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card] as soon as you can and keep [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”81″ c=”name”][/card] on your Bench so that, if Chaotic Swell does get replaced, you can still remove the Power Plant and draw cards. However, don’t be too hasty: you don’t need Abilities that much to win. The most important one, Wash Out, is on a non-GX Pokémon, and you can still win even without Disk Reload or even Gyro Unit. Overall, this is a very favourable matchup.

Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX

Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX has a lot of trouble with Keldeo-GX and Chaotic Swell. It can use [card name=”Faba” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] to replace Chaotic Swell with Power Plant, but only once. Even if they manage to remove Chaotic Swell and then play Power Plant later, they’re still only dealing 150 damage once their GX attack has been used, which means it’s not a KO. They can’t take easy Prizes elsewhere either, at least not enough to win. Just be careful of Mega Lopunny and Jigglypuff-GX if they play it since it will often be their strongest attacker.

Reshiram and Charizard-GX / Green’s Exploration

Here as well, Keldeo-GX and Chaotic Swell is strong. It is tempting to think that this matchup is free because of Weakness, but ‘GreenZard’ has a few tricks up its sleeves. It generally plays [card name=”Weakness Guard Energy” set=”Unified Minds” no=”213″ c=”name”][/card] now, something that makes it harder to deal with. In addition, it can OHKO Keldeo-GX without the use of a GX attack. Finally, it also runs [card name=”Charizard and Braixen-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card], which can (and will) deal damage and search for important guards such as the aforementioned Energy, Mallow and Lana, Faba, and Power Plant. The matchup is still fine or positive, but you need to go fast enough to win. If you can, use Great Catcher (or Phione if you play it) to bring up a Tag Team Pokemon-GX instead of a [card name=”Volcanion” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”25″ c=”name”][/card]. ‘GreenZard’ doesn’t have a lot of switching options and might be forced into bad turns just by bringing up a Tag Team Pokémon and dealing 120 damage to it.

Malamar

We know that [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] used to be the bane of Quagsire / Naganadel, but this new version of the deck deals with it much better. The key is healing: use Blastoise and Piplup-GX as your main attacker and, as much as possible, keep Energy in hand to attach them with Splash Maker when you attack. The key card is Mallow and Lana—as a rule of thumb, if your opponent’s [card name=”Giratina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] has no damage on it, you should use Splash Maker to KO it. If it has damage (perhaps from Shadow Impact), it can be good to Mallow and Lana to heal retreat into a Silvally-GX to KO it with Brave Buddies.

[cardimg name=”Mimikyu” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”97″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Although Chaotic Swell is strong in the very early game and can prevent a turn 2 Shadow Impact, once the Malamar player has established their loop of two or three Psychic Recharge and Distortion Door every turn, you don’t care about [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] being in play. At this point, keep it (even discarding Chaotic Swell to it) because getting an Energy every turn is invaluable: it guarantees healing through Splash Maker, makes sure you have enough Energy, and even allows you to get rid of useless cards like [card name=”Professor Oak’s Setup” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”201″ c=”name”][/card].

I have to mention [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card], though. Shadow Box makes this matchup much harder because it can shut down Disk Reload and Gyro Unit. You can heal Silvally-GX to regain your Ability but, most of the time, it doesn’t matter since the opponent can damage it again. Mimikyu is not the end of the world; in the midgame, you don’t need Disk Reload that much, most of the time, so it’s fine if you don’t have your draw engine, especially since most Malamar lists don’t have space for [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card]. That said, an early Shadow Box, when you’re still setting up, can be devastating. This is why it’s actually good to start with Type: Null in this matchup, as you can make sure that it won’t take Distortion Door damage before you use your first Red and Blue and Disk Reload. If you can, it might also be good to not KO a Pokémon with a [card name=”Spell Tag” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card] too early until you have time to settle into your midgame state.

Blacephalon-GX / Naganadel

I haven’t played this matchup, but I can’t imagine it would go badly. There are many points in Quagsire / Silvally-GX’s favour. In the matchup Keldeo-GX is very strong since it can’t get damaged by [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card]; you hit their main attacker for Weakness; Silvally-GX can get an easy KO on any Ultra Beast with its GX attack; Chaotic Swell is annoying to them, etc. You should only lose this matchup if you set up badly.

Baby Blacephalon

Although [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card] tends to have an edge against Pokemon-GX decks, the math works pretty well in Silvally-GX’s favour here. Brave Buddies hits for 120 damage, whereas Blacephalon needs to discard 5 Energy to get the KO on Silvally-GX. This means that they will sometimes whiff the KO.

The [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”Team Up” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] variant of this deck seems to be the most popular, at least in America, and it has the downside of being a bit slow to set up. If Silvally-GX can start getting KO’s by turn two, the matchup should go ok. Don’t bother with Keldeo-GX, as its too easy to KO. Try to make your opponent’s life as hard as possible: use Mallow and Lana to heal even small amounts of damage and Chaotic Swell to remove their Stadiums.

As for the [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] variant, it should be harder because it can attack sooner. However, it has an issue: it relies on [card name=”Ultra Space” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] to get its Pokémon. If you can get Chaotic Swell in play early enough, it’s possible to bench your opponent out just because they have no way to search out Pokémon!

Doll Stall

Because Quagsire / Silvally-GX has no way to hit the Bench (apart from the weak Mew) and no gust effects (apart from Great Catcher which doesn’t work here), there’s nothing it can do. If you don’t include a tech such as [card name=”Druddigon” set=”Unified Minds” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card], this matchup is simply an auto-loss.

Pikachu and Zekrom-GX

I include [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM168″ c=”name”][/card] here because although it wasn’t very popular or successful at LAIC, it’s possible that it comes back. In theory, Keldeo-GX and Chaotic Swell should do well against it, as does Jumping Balloon in the late game. Although setting up a Quagsire and Silvally-GX is important, try to give your opponent as few easy targets on your Bench as possible, so they have to go through your Keldeo-GX. Don’t forget to bench Mew after they’ve used Full Blitz! Overall, you need to adapt to what your opponent is doing (if they have a lot of non-GX attackers, you’ll need to KO them as soon as possible so Keldeo-GX can stick) but it should be a favourable matchup in most cases.

Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX

The new deck on the block has a big issue: it’s an Ultra Beast! The new Silvally-GX can use Silver Knight GX to get rid of the first one and remove any opportunity to use [card name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card]. You still need to KO a second [card name=”Naganadel and Guzzlord-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card] afterwards, but Keldeo-GX can deal with it pretty well.

Conclusion

Overall, Quagsire / Silvally-GX performs well against an impressive part of the metagame. However, keep in mind its status as the new Quagsire / Naganadel: its good matchup spread is balanced out by some consistency issues. You have limited ways to search for Pokémon and to draw cards, especially before you’ve set up your first Silvally-GX. In some matchups, a bad opening hand can be salvaged by the simple fact that Keldeo-GX walls the opponent; in others, it can let them take the lead, a lead that you can’t always take back.

Because of these consistency issues, I think most top players will keep away from the deck since they will prefer something over which they have more control. However, if you can accept that some games will be out of your hands (and that’s ok), Quagsire / Silvally-GX can perform very well. There are many decks in the metagame right now, so it’s hard to tell how the meta will evolve and what that will mean for Quagsire, but it’s definitely a deck to keep an eye on, especially for local events where you have a good idea of the metagame and can tweak the deck to beat it! And if nothing else, I find that the deck is fun to play, so if you’re bored and looking for something a bit different, maybe give it a try!

–Stéphane

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