Good as (Fool’s) Gold — The Good and Bad of Gholdengo ex
Hello PokeBeach readers! Isaiah here, and I am happy to be writing another article for you all! Last time, I talked about [card name=”Chien-Pao ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] decks and why they have recently started to see a surge in popularity. Since then, Chien-Pao ex has continued to see consistent success at major events, both online and offline. Towards the end of that article, I talked briefly about how Paradox Rift was going to change Chien-Pao ex going forward, largely noting [card name=”Iron Hands ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] as a major change, and now that the set has released, we have started to see its impact unfold. Iron Hands ex has pretty much split Chien-Pao ex into two distinct decks. One style centers around the original [card name=”Cross Switcher” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”230″ c=”name”][/card] plus [card name=”Canceling Cologne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] play, and the other that puts Iron Hands ex as the focal point of your game plan, which means it has to care a bit less about “gust” effects in general since the opponent’s Active Spot Pokemon will always be worth two or more Prize cards. As of now, I am not entirely sure which build is superior, but one thing is certain: Chien-Pao ex decks will undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
The change to Chien-Pao ex decks is not the only thing that has come out of Paradox Rift, though. Decks like [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Iron Valiant ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card] have undeniably garnered the most attention, especially the former, which is considered one of the best decks in the format. Paradox Rift also brought the return of [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card], a fan favorite card from the Sun and Moon era. At first, I was not super sure of how good this card would be, especially since it was not too insane during its time in Standard format before, but in my testing so far, the card seems to be absolutely incredible, much more similar to [card name=”Pow! Hand Extension” set=”EX Team Rocket Returns” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card] from the mid-2000s in terms of power level. The return of Technical Machine Tool cards has also opened up many new doors, with [card name=”Technical Machine: Evolution” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card] slotting itself into [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] decks and its [card name=”Technical Machine: Devolution” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”177″ c=”name”][/card] counterpart starting to find its place in Lost Zone decks. To my surprise, this set has started to shape up to be one of the more impactful sets in recent memory, which is certainly a nice change of pace when compared to a set like Obsidian Flames was, which had minimal impact on the game when it released. As a result, I am super excited for the Latin America International Championships.
However, one deck I have yet to mention is [card name=”Gholdengo ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card]. When the card was first revealed, many players were quite excited for a spiritual successor to [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card], but now that the set has come out, the community seems to be quite divided on whether or not the deck is even a playable archetype. In my opinion, this deck is extremely underrated, even though it comes with its flaws, and as such, I wanted to make it the focus of my first Paradox Rift format article.
A Case for Gholdengo ex
[cardimg name=”Gholdengo ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”252″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
At first glance, Gholdengo ex honestly has a lot going for it. Make it Rain having an effectively limitless damage output for just one Energy is something that is extremely rare to see, and the condition of just needing to dump Energy from the hand is an incredibly easy one to fulfill thanks to [card name=”Energy Retrieval” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Superior Energy Retrieval” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card]. The one issue with Superior Energy Retrieval is generally going to be having a substantial number of cards in your hand such that you are able to actually use multiple copies when you need to, but the existence of its Coin Bonus Ability to draw a handful of extra cards to find what you need and fill the hand to discard cards for Superior Energy Retrieval. Gholdengo ex’s 260 HP is also surprisingly good in this format, with one of the best benefits is requiring [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] to use three copies of [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”name”][/card] to Knock it Out.
While this is the general idea, the more important things to look at are the deck’s actual matchups and how the deck’s strengths line up into the actual metagame. The strongest positive that I see with Gholdengo ex in this new format is that it is very good against decks that are primarily made up of multi-Prize card Pokemon, such as [card name=”Roaring Moon ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card]. Normally, just preying on two for two Prize trades is a pretty good strategy, but it usually just comes down to who takes the first Knock Out. However, Gholdengo ex has a unique advantage over the other Pokemon ex decks, and that is the fact that it has to evolve from [card name=”Gimmighoul” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”198″ c=”name”][/card]. Normally, having to evolve would be a bad thing, but in this rare case, it is definitely a good thing. This deck always has a board of only non-Pokemon ex on the first turn, meaning that the opponent cannot easily take two Prize cards on their first turn, which results in you always winning the trade, a benefit that should not be undervalued. This upside is especially important in the Paradox Rift format, which seems to be shifting a bit further into the direction of a metagame largely centered on multi-Prize Pokemon. If you ask me, it is this strength that will make Gholdengo ex a powerful deck in the format going forward. With this being said, how about we take a look at my current Gholdengo ex deck list.
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My Gholdengo ex Deck List
As of right now, my Gholdengo ex deck list is pretty different from most of the ones that I have seen. Many people have the natural inclusions like a full Gholdengo ex line, four [card name=”Superior Energy Retrieval” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card], four [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card], etc., but one of the main points that I disagree with others on is the importance of [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card]. One of Gholdengo ex’s biggest issues is handling [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card], especially when paired with [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card], since the deck’s main draw engine is Gholdengo ex’s Coin Bonus. Most people choose to handle this with a super inflated count of Stadium cards, [card name=”Worker” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card], and sometimes [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card]. I think Bibarel is a bit of a more pragmatic solution to this problem, instantly refilling the hand, which is often enough to find a Path to the Peak replacement, and if you somehow do not find a way to bump Path to the Peak away, there is a fairly good chance you will instead find the cards you need for a one-hit Knock Out, since your deck by the end of the game is generally only Gholdengo ex, Energy recovery options, and Path to the Peak Stadium replacements. Other than this specific approach, though, my build is currently a super simple and streamlined approach that has been working quite well.
Deck List
[decklist name=”gholdengo” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Gholdengo ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”139″][pokemon amt=”13″]4x [card name=”Gholdengo ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Gimmighoul” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”88″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Bidoof” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”111″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”34″]2x [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Worker” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Professor Turo’s Scenario” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Battle VIP Pass” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”225″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Superior Energy Retrieval” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Fog Crystal” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”140″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Energy Retrieval” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Switch” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”194″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Artazon” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”13″]9x [card name=”Metal Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”9″][/card]4x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
Key Cards
Gholdengo ex Line
Naturally, the most important card in this deck is its main attacker, [card name=”Gholdengo ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card], and as such, the inclusion of the maximum of four copies is necessary. If the card did not have Coin Bonus, it would maybe be excusable to run less than four copies of Gholdengo ex, but since there are four of them, consistently getting a free three or four cards each turn even with one copy in your Prize cards is incredibly valuable and missing out on the opportunity could often be the difference between winning and losing a game. As for the [card name=”Gimmighoul” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] of choice, I currently have the 70 HP one in my Gholdengo ex deck list. I am honestly not super confident on which one is correct, but after getting hit by [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card]’s Lost Mine a few too many times and removing [card name=”Mew” set=”Celebrations” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] from my deck list, I think I will be sticking to the 70 HP one for a while.
Bibarel
[cardimg name=”Bibarel” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG25″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
I touched on this already, but Bibarel is so, so, so important in this deck. Many lists that I see do not play any copies of Bibarel, and everyone I talk to about this deck keeps complaining about losing to Path to the Peak and Iono as if there is nothing they could possibly do about it. I think a part of why people do not play the card because it seems counterintuitive with the need to fill the hand with Superior Energy Retrieval and other cards that add Energy to the hand, but it is very important to make sure you have cards to discard with the effects of these important hand fillers. It might seem a bit confusing to want to just draw cards for the sole purpose of discarding them, but the only cards you ever need at any point in the game once you have set up are Energy and attackers, so as long as you find those two things, no other cards in the deck matter. It is these extra cards, such as [card name=”Battle VIP Pass” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”225″ c=”name”][/card], that you are usually trying to draw into with Bibarel so that you can use the cards that actually matter. When coupled with a few Coin Bonus after you use Industrious Incisors, you often have eight or nine cards in your hand, if not more, filling the hand with plenty of cards to discard for the purpose of maximizing the damage output of Make it Rain. Looping back to the original point of this, which is handling Path to the Peak plus Iono, Bibarel also is a way to find a way to replace Path to the Peak while also refilling a hand that was probably very small thanks to Iono. While not a 100% effective strategy to find the Path to the Peak replacement you are looking for, there is also a fair chance that you just find the cards you need to reach the Knock Out instead. This is also an important use of [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card]. If you are able to get your deck small enough, you can use Pal Pad to shuffle multiple copies of [card name=”Worker” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card] back to your deck so that you are more likely to find the Path to the Peak bump while drawing even more cards, making the odds that you hit the combination of cards for a one-hit Knock Out much, much higher.
Earthen Vessel and Fog Crystal
In a deck where you want to have as many Energy cards in your hand as possible most of the time, a bunch of ways to find Energy is naturally extremely important. [card name=”Earthen Vessel” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Fog Crystal” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card] both help to facilitate this. The former allows you to get multiple Energy out of the deck at once, which is naturally the most important part, but the fact that you get to directly discard Energy cards is also quite valuable. A big part of prepping for big swing early in the game is making your early Superior Energy Retrieval as strong as possible. This same goal is also exactly why [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] is in the deck. It allows your Energy cards to be far more useful with plenty of ways to recover them while also increasing the number of Energy and other resources in your hand. One thing that I do want to mention is that it is generally better to grab Metal Energy with Earthen Vessel when you can, and that is because of the second card in this section, Fog Crystal. Making sure this card can always turn into a Psychic Energy is very important, especially in the later parts of the game when you probably have a fair chance of drawing into it if you have not burned through them. As you might notice is a general theme with this deck, it is incredibly important to try and squeeze as much as you can out of every resource in this deck, regardless of how powerful that resource may seem. Fog Crystal also can find Gimmighoul, which is the most important part of the deck, and this multi-use aspect of the card makes Fog Crystal the perfect card for this deck for the sake of the previously mentioned point.
Energy Recovery
When you need Energy in your hand to discard, you also need ways to get them into the hand before doing so. Superior Energy Retrieval and [card name=”Energy Retrieval” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] are both very similar in that they both are able to recover Energy cards directly into your hand, but obviously at different volumes. Superior Energy Retrieval is almost always going to be the preferred option since it gets the most Energy back into the hand with the use of one resource while also thinning out bad cards or excess resources. Energy Retrieval is a bit more straightforward and is usually just for a little bit of an extra push when necessary. [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”name”][/card] also doubles as a bit of an Energy recovery card at times, offering the ability to shuffle a few Energy cards back into the deck if necessary, which means you can Fog Crystal for more Energy or you can draw into them with Coin Bonus. This is generally more of a last ditch effort at pushing for the last Knock Out, but it is important to keep the option in mind.
Counter Catcher
In this deck, [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] is quite important because it makes the two Prize card Pokemon matchups quite easy. Since your board turn one is always all single Prize card Pokemon, if the opponent wants to take a Prize card, they take the lead while also taking a largely meaningless Prize card. The important part hear is that the opponent gets to take the lead, activating Counter Catcher, which means that you can respond by dragging up any two Prize card Pokemon that you want, initiating the two for two part of the Prize card race, which you are now set to win. Counter Catcher is a huge part of solidifying a lot of the decks matchups, especially when paired with Iono, making it much harder for the opponent to deal with a massive one-hit Knock Out.
The Problems with Gholdengo ex
I have talked about a few of these already, but I did want to specifically outline some of this deck’s biggest problems because, despite the positive light that I have casted on the deck, it does have a few really big issues.
[cardimg name=”Gardevoir” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”TG05″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Path to the Peak: I feel like my deck list for [card name=”Gholdengo ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”252″ c=”name”][/card] is a bit more well equipped for the [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”213″ c=”name”][/card] issue than other deck lists are, largely thanks to [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG25″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Worker” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”195″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card]. However, that does not mean that the card is not a problem. If you draw an out to Path to the Peak, it is quite easy to win the game, but there is always a chance that you fail to do so, and in these cases, the deck completely caves in on itself. Fortunately, many decks are removing Path to the Peak, so there is a decent chance that this will not be an issue, especially at the upcoming Latin America International Championships, but going forward it could be a huge problem if the meta shifts.
Single Prize Decks: Taking Knock Outs with this deck is quite expensive, so if you have to take six of them, even if they have less HP than, say, a Pokemon VSTAR or Pokemon ex, the amount of resources it takes to attack six times is a lot, and there is a good chance you will miss eventually, especially if the opponent repeatedly plays [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”269″ c=”name”][/card], such as in a [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”245″ c=”name”][/card] deck.
Gardevoir ex: Speaking of Gardevoir, this deck is a really, really big issue. I honestly do not have a clue of how this deck is ever supposed to handle this matchup. The opponent is able to easily take one-hit Knock Outs on Gholdengo ex and you can never make a two for two Prize trade happen consistently even with [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card]. This matchup is genuinely terrible and there is no way to significantly improve it. If Gardevoir ex continues to be a popular deck in the Paradox Rift format, then this deck may legitimately be unplayable, but hopefully Iron Hands ex can keep Gardevoir in check for a while.
Conclusion
Now that Paradox Rift has been out for a while and new decks are starting to settle into their places in the format, I think that Gholdengo ex is certainly one of the format’s most underappreciated decks. With the long list of pros that I have talked about in this article, unique playstyle, and just being an all around fun deck to play, I am very excited to keep putting time into this archetype for the foreseeable future.
With that, this article draws to a close. As always, I hope that you enjoyed giving this article a read, as it is always a joy to write about one of my favorite decks in the format. If you have any questions, please reach out in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Twitter (@ICheville), or on Facebook (Zaya Lee).
Until next time!
– Isaiah
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