Allergy Season — Deck Building in Budew’s World

Hey everyone! It’s Charlie and I’m happy to be back with another article. In my last article, I went over [card name=”Raging Bolt ex ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] , which is the deck I took to Atlanta Regionals. I finished 72nd, bubbling out of Top 64 with a record of 9-3-1. My losses were to a late penalty for missing Round 1 (a first in my 14-year career), a [card name=”Gholdengo ex” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Dudunsparce ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] deck, and Brent Tonisson’s [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] deck. Gardevoir is simply a bad matchup for Raging Bolt as Lillie’s Clefairy ex makes quick work of all your Raging Bolt, but Gholdengo is certainly a close one. I faced a whopping six Gholdengo ex decks during the tournament, and took down the other five, so I can’t be unhappy losing to one, especially when it’s piloted by Connor Finton. Other than that, I tied a [card name=”Dragapult ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] deck in the last round, which is a favorable matchup, but certainly very loseable. My other wins came against Dragapult, [card name=”Ceruledge ex” set=”Surging Sparks” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] , a [card name=”Terapagos ex” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] deck, and something else that I forget.

Overall, I feel that Raging Bolt was an alright play for the event. I knew that there would be good players piloting [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] , but for a tournament with over 2,700 Masters, I didn’t expect there to be enough to have to worry about. I only hit one, which was about what I expected, so I think my prediction was fine. The thing that really killed my event was that Round 1 loss because of being late, but the entire event would’ve been different if I won, so I can’t linger on it for too long. 9-3-1 is still acceptable and pushes me nearly to 700 Championship Points, which should be enough to lock the invite.

Budew’s Dominance in Atlanta

[cardimg name=”Rescue Board” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”225″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Enough of that though, let’s get into today’s topic! The biggest topic of conversation after Atlanta has been the impact of Budew. This little, unassuming, 30-HP baby has been wreaking havoc on the game ever since its release. For zero Energy, Itchy Pollen can Item-lock your opponent! That’s a truly absurd attack, and even though it only does 10 damage, the cost being zero Energy means it’s extremely easy to use on your first turn going second. As long as you can get it into the Active Spot (should be easy between [card name=”Arven” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card] for [card name=”Rescue Board” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”225″ c=”name”][/card] and the Energy in your deck), you can immediately start the Item lock and use it to get ahead.

A whopping seven of the eight decks in Top 8 featured a copy of Budew in them, with the finals serving as a perfect metaphor for the state of the format. We saw Andrew Hedrick and Henry Chao exchange Itchy Pollen for 75 minutes plus three turns, with Henry eventually coming out on top after a very lucky [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] into the game-winning combo. Regardless of what decks it fits best in, we haven’t seen dominance like this in a while from a single card. Of the Top 32 finishers, 18 included Budew in their deck, mostly with the goal to slow down the game in order to set up a nearly invincible board. Dragapult does this by using an army of [card name=”Drakloak” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] to draw a ton of cards, and it takes each additional turn it scores from Budew to attach another Energy, ensuring Dragapult can attack for multiple consecutive turns once you break the Item lock. Dragapult’s main weakness was always speed, and Budew patches it perfectly. Gardevoir employs a similar strategy, making up for its lack of Refinement [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”68″ c=”name”][/card] with either a slew of draw Supporters or a thin line of N’s Zoroark ex to replicate Refinement. This gives you time to get Energy in the discard and set up multiple [card name=”Munkidori” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] with Darkness Energy, which is extremely hard for basically any other deck to deal with.

Both of those decks would usually be very weak against aggressive strategies that attack their setup in the early game, but Budew covers that weakness so well that both decks dominated Atlanta. I know that multiple top players who played Dragapult ex said their matchup against Raging Bolt felt like a near-autowin. I certainly disagree, but if Raging Bolt blindly gets too aggressive, they will be punished instantly by [card name=”Unfair Stamp” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] , [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] , and more Itchy Pollen from Budew. Once their perfect board of Dragapult is set up, it doesn’t really matter what you do, because they’ll be able to set up a game-winning combo with [card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] and destroy your entire board. Gardevoir can do very similar things, using their [card name=”Munkidori” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] to take out small Pokemon and remove Gardevoir’s Psychic Embrace damage, while also attacking for huge damage using [card name=”Drifloon” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card] , [card name=”Scream Tail” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] , or just Gardevoir itself. These strategies are almost too good not to play if they get set up, and their main weakness is covered so well by a low-cost card that it becomes oppressive.

A whopping 23 (nearly 72%) of decks in Top 32 of Atlanta included Budew. That is a ridiculously high number. I didn’t think I’d see another event similar to Seattle Regionals 2017 in my career, but here we are.

History Lesson: Garbodor GRI

For those of you who weren’t playing then, Guardians Rising was released prior to this infamous event. I’d consider Guardians Rising to be one of the best sets of all time; it introduced cards like [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card], which were all-time greats by themselves. However, no card was nearly as format-warping as [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Sword and Shield Black Star Promos” no=”SWSH025″ c=”name”][/card]. Trashalanche changed the way the game was played, doing 20 damage for each Item card in your opponent’s discard pile. Prior to Guardians Rising, the vast majority of decks relied almost exclusively on powerful Item cards to set up. There were many powerful Items in the game, and effectively no way to punish them. Also, Pokemon-EX were being phased out, which were notoriously all Basic Pokemon. This made the best attackers extremely easy to put into play, incentivizing turbo decks to go all-in on getting ahead. Trashalanche offered a soft check to these turbo decks. Instead of just providing Item lock, which everyone would’ve hated as [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] had recently rotated, Trashalance punished your opponent for choosing to play so many Item cards. Turbo decks could easily put ten to twelve Item cards in the discard pile by turn 2, which turned Garbodor into a menacing single-Prize attacker. Also, one of the most important parts about Garbodor is just that it was Garbodor! [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] from BREAKpoint was still legal, and Garbotoxin was as good as ever. Pairing these two Garbodor slowed down the game massively, pushing the vast majority of turbo decks out of the format.

This brings us to Seattle Regionals. 24 decks in the Top 32 featured the new Garbodor, with some based around [card name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] and others based around [card name=”Espeon-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM35″ c=”name”][/card] . Both strategies were very strong, but they had the same game plan: set up slower, but more powerful attackers, use Garbotoxin against Ability-reliant decks, and punish turbo decks with Trashalanche.

I really think that Budew’s surge onto the scene is extremely similar. The best strategies in the game (Dragapult and Gardevoir) are slow, but extremely strong when set up. Budew, just like Garbodor, is an extremely powerful card that counters turbo decks extremely well. With extra time to set up, the best attackers get even better. When you no longer have to trade your time for power, you have a ridiculous advantage. What the designers probably saw as a “comeback” was never really being behind; it was just taking a few turns to get started, with your opponent knowing full well that they were doomed.

Why Now?

Unlike Garbodor, Budew’s rise to dominance wasn’t instant. Budew’s first event in the West was EUIC, where it did very well, but didn’t overwhelm. It was featured in both finalist decks, but it wasn’t the core of their strategy. Its main effect was bringing Dragapult ex out of [card name=”Regidrago VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] decks and into its own archetype, using some of the extra time Budew can buy you in order to set up an attacker with a bit more HP. Regidrago was so much faster, but its weakness to Budew was impossible to ignore. I think the main reason for this is that the “standard” deck engines at the time already had a bit of built-in Budew resistance. With cards like [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] in the format, Arven could still do something of value under Item lock. Decks like [card name=”Archaludon ex” set=”Surging Sparks” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] were a little more powerful than they are right now, so [card name=”Duraludon” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”106″ c=”name”][/card]’s Hammer In was more likely be there to take out Budew. Gardevoir ex still had access to Refinement Kirlia, so as long as it could Arven for [card name=”Technical Machine: Evolution” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card] and set up a few, it was okay. I personally think this is the effect Budew was intended to have: a nice buff for slower decks, slowing the game down just a tad and checking powerful early-game combo decks. However, a lot of these soft answers to Budew immediately rotated, leaving us with a Standard format that can’t answer the card nearly as well.

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However, Budew being so good doesn’t necessarily signal the end of the Pokemon TCG as we know it. Notably, Madison Regionals 2017 (the event that immediately followed Seattle) was packed to the brim with interesting strategies that took Garbodor head-on. Christopher Schemanske took a [card name=”Metagross-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card] deck to the finals that featured only Pokemon from Guardians Rising, and I scored my first ever Top 8 at a Regional with [card name=”Tapu Bulu-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM32″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Vikavolt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] ! That was the first major event I ever had the pleasure of playing [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Primal Clash” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] to, mostly because of the slowdown caused by Garbodor. With fewer turbo decks, Stage 2 decks could compete with Garbodor head-on and use extra HP and powerful Abilities (when not locked by Garbotoxin) to take an advantage. All these lists were lighter on Items than turbo decks, so they could keep Garbodor at bay until the game was won. Metagross-GX was effectively impossible for Garbodor to Knock Out due to its massive HP and Psychic Resistance. Garbodor decks still did well at this event, but they weren’t unbeatable anymore: everyone had adjusted for their presence.

How to Defend Against Budew

So, what can we do now to try and replicate the same success? We already saw some preemptive changes to lists in response to Budew; Andrew Hedrick included two copies of [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] in his finalist Dragapult list. He cut two of the [card name=”Arven” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card] we usually see for the Jacq, only playing two copies. Arven is obviously still extremely powerful, giving you the chance to search out [card name=”Unfair Stamp” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] whenever you want and pull off your huge disruption turn. However, when your opponent uses Budew, Arven is no longer anywhere near as good as it was. [card name=”Forest Seal Stone” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] turned Arven into a card that nearly said “search your deck for any two cards” once per game. Under Item lock, you could still get one card that you wanted and save the Item for the next turn. This usually allowed you to answer Budew or at least get part of your setup going, which was enough to keep putting on pressure most of the time. Without that, the Tool card is sometimes worthless in the early game, and you obviously can’t use the Item card. This means you’re not gonna make any progress with your board, so why would you even play the card?

Both Jacq and Brock’s Scouting can do significantly more under Item lock. Jake Gearhart included both in his Dragapult list, noting after the event that this was a huge boost against opposing Budew decks. If you can continue to set up your board under Budew while using it yourself, you’re going to have a significant advantage.

Budew-Resistant Deck Building

Let’s take a look at a list I built for Dragapult that both utilizes Budew and commits a lot of cards to setting up under the lock. It’s inspired by Tanner Hurley and Rowan Stavenow’s take on the deck from Atlanta, but adds even more cards to survive an early game onslaught from Itchy Pollen.

[decklist name=”Dragapult” amt=”58″ caption=”” cname=”Genesect” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”40″][pokemon amt=”15″]2x [card name=”Dragapult ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Drakloak” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Dreepy” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”128″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x Budew (PRE #4)1x [card name=”Fezandipiti ex” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”38″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”141″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Munkidori” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Hawlucha” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”118″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Genesect” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”40″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”35″]4x [card name=”Buddy-Buddy Poffin ” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”144″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”181″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Night Stretcher” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”61″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Switch” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”194″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Unfair Stamp” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Rescue Board” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”225″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Bravery Charm” set=”Stellar Crown” no=”175″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Defiance Band” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Exp. Share” set=”Battle Styles” no=”126″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”175″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Brock’s Grit” set=”Team Up” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Arven” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”166″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Shining Fates” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Artazon” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”8″]3x [card name=”Luminous Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”191″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”116″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

This list is designed with the Dragapult mirror in mind. First and foremost, the first litmus check in the mirror is getting off the ground. If you can set up and consistently attach Energy in the early game, you’re doing great. The second test is whether you can survive a Dragapult war. Without [card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card], you’re certainly not going to be taking huge swing turns, but [card name=”Munkidori” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] steps in as a worthy replacement. Adrena-Brain pushes Phantom Dive into range to KO opposing Drakloak, which is absolutely massive. We also have three [card name=”Luminous Energy” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card] to meet its Darkness Energy requirement while working on Dragapult in a pinch.

Most importantly, this list tries very hard to get an advantage in the Budew war. With Munkidori as an option, you can use Adrena-Brain to mirror opposing Itchy Pollen damage back, letting you get ahead while keeping the Item lock on. This locks your opponent out of the vast majority of their comeback cards, most importantly [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] . Also, it forces them to find more Budew and commit resources to getting it in the Active Spot. [card name=”Artazon” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] can obviously make this a bit easier, but Munkidori’s presence means you will never, ever lose the Budew war. Your opponent will always have to use the first Phantom Dive to break Item lock, with only [card name=”Dusclops” set=”Shrouded Fable” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card] as a good option to kill Budew prematurely. This obviously gives you an extra Prize card, making winning even easier once you eventually pivot into Dragapult!

I also went heavy on both [card name=”Jacq” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] and Brock’s Scouting here. I think this approach is much better in this version of the deck, since Brock’s Scouting also acts as another non-Item way to search out Munkidori. In the mirror match, this is oftentimes more important than actually getting Dragapult first, since both players are usually slow enough that you’re not racing to the first Dragapult. The ability to search out one Evolution is obviously not the main appeal of Brock’s, but it’s very useful in a pinch. If you have no Drakloak down and are Item locked, it’s perfectly acceptable to use Brock’s to go and get one. A single Recon Directive will compound in value over multiple turns. While you’d obviously prefer to use Jacq here, the ideal setup is not always reality, and it’s a good option to have.

[cardimg name=”Luminous Energy” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”226″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The last benefit of Luminous Energy I want to talk about is how much it helps in getting out Dragapult early. I played one Luminous Energy in my Dragapult list in Vancouver, and while that was mostly for the [card name=”Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex” set=”Twilight Masquerade” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card] I played, it acted a bit like a “wild card” throughout the weekend. Finding two different Energy types is significantly more difficult than you’d think under Item lock. If you play three Fire and three Psychic, attach a Fire to Drakloak, and then draw another Fire, you’re not gonna be able to put on any pressure yet. Luminous fixes this by letting you find either Basic Energy, and then replacing the other one you missed with Luminous. I have raised the count of Energy overall here too; missing attachments early is very bad and consistently hitting them every turn can be game-winning. This might feel like too many Energy, but when I can’t play Items to search them out (and Arven to get those Items), you might as well boost the count to higher numbers.

Overall, I feel like this list is really good in the current format. It’s a bit weaker against Gardevoir than I’d like, but Munkidori is surprisingly powerful against them, and you can obviously stick them with a devastating early game Item lock. But with the mirror so prevalent, taking a favorable matchup instead of a 50-50 is extremely valuable.

Big Points vs. Budew

When it comes to building decks to beat Budew, there’s a few things of note:

• Fewer items in your deck is obviously good.
• Taking advantage of its low HP can get you out of the lock faster.
• Slowing your deck down is less costly than before.

With the above list, we’ve taken out some of the Items and only seen a marginal decrease in speed. We also take advantage of the low HP, healing our own Budew in the process. Lastly, we’ve certainly slowed the deck down a tad, but slow decks are perfectly fine right now! Other decks can learn from this too. Even if you’re not playing Budew yourself, slowing down your strategy in a world dominated by Budew won’t hurt you nearly as much as it used to. Just like all those Stage 2 decks that relied on Abilities still did well in a Garbodor-centric format, other decks can take it a bit slower and still succeed. It’s the second-order effects that matter the most.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading this article! To sum it up, I don’t think Budew should be banned, but I do think it’s a bit stronger than was originally intended. However, events dominated by a single deck usually result in plenty of viable counters being built for subsequent events. I expect that we’ll see the same as the metagame continues to evolve.

As always, please comment below if you have any questions, or feel free to message me on X (@C4_TCG) and I’ll try my best to respond. I hope you enjoyed the article and I’ll see you in the next one!

– Charlie

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