What’s the Buzz? — Taking on Standard with Zoroark-GX / Lycanroc-GX
Hello PokeBeach readers! I’m excited to be back after a couple months away with a new article for you all. Today I’m going to be writing about my favorite deck in the Standard format, [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]. I’ll be going over my preparation for the Madison Regional Championships as well as my tournament run, followed by an in-depth discussion on card choices and matchups. I’ve put a ton of hours into the deck, and I’m looking forward to sharing the results of my testing and experiences with you!
Preparing for Madison
[cardimg name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Having come off of a two and a half month hiatus, I was highly motivated to do well at Madison Regionals. As a result, I wanted to try something new to get the most out of my testing. Eventually, I decided that I wanted to test at least 25 hours a week and log every single one of my games. I tracked things like wins and losses, whether I went first, what my opponent was playing, and included a brief synopsis of each game. At the end of a 25 game sample for each of the top decks, I calculated the overall winrate as well as running some more specific analytics to assess a variety of matchups and conditions. For the decks that I particularly liked or thought had potential, I continued playing past the 25 until I was satisfied.
The inspiration for this approach was an interview with Tord Reklev early in the season. He claimed that he selected his decks for events based on raw win percentage, and I wanted to see if this would be an effective way to select a deck myself. In the end, ZoroRoc with [card name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”100″ c=”name”][/card] boasted my highest universal winrate at a very respectable 80.49%. I tested many techs and several different lists, but none of them put up the same numbers as this variation. As for the approach, I would highly recommend the process to anyone who is looking to get more out of their testing. It adds just a couple minutes to each game but makes your data and results highly accessible after the end of your testing period. In addition to this, it can give you an objective method of assessing a deck’s matchups which is of great value regardless of your final decision. This was my list for the event:
[decklist name=”ZoroRoc” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Shaymin” set=”Shining Legends” no=”7″][pokemon amt=”21″]4x [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Zorua” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM83″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Rockruff” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”75″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mew-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mewtwo” set=”Evolutions” no=”51″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Sudowoodo” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”67″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Shaymin” set=”Shining Legends” no=”7″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”30″]3x [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”N” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Professor Kukui” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”128″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mallow” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”127″ 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=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Evosoda” set=”Generations” no=”62″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Multi Switch” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”9″]4x [card name=”Double Colorless” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Fates Collide” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”106″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”100″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
The result of my testing was a list that was a single card from Jose Marrero’s Top 8 list from Toronto, though it went through many iterations before reaching this point. Throughout the testing cycle, I tested [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Timer Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card], and several versions with and without the [card name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”100″ c=”name”][/card] package. Ultimately, the total non-counter win rate was only 60% compared to over 80% with the Counter package. This was from a sample of 20 and over 50 games, respectively. In retrospect, I’m glad I tried the non-Counter versions to confirm that they were less effective, but I wish I’d decided to lock into the Counter version sooner to get more games with it.
The counts in this list are geared toward navigating a format full of One-Hit Knockouts, cutting anything that doesn’t directly contribute to taking knockouts. This meant no Acerola, no Enhanced Hammer, and no Parallel City. This helped my BuzzRoc matchup immensely as I had very few cards that would be of limited use. In contrast, this hurt my [card name=”Ultra Necrozma-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card]/[card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] matchup, but I was not terribly concerned with it due to low popularity and already slightly favorable status.
My run at Madison Regionals went like this:
- R1: WIN vs. Cristian Juarez with [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] (1-0-0)
- R2: WIN vs. Ben Moskow with Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX (2-0-0)
- R3: WIN vs. Lucas Johnson with Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX (3-0-0)
- R4: WIN vs. Cody Walinski with Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX (4-0-0)
- R5: WIN vs. Brian Holkup with Buzzwole-GX / [card name=”Zoroark” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] (5-0-0)
- R6: LOSS vs. Jake Ewart with [card name=”Greninja BREAK” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] (5-1-0)
- R7: WIN vs. Caleb Gedemer with Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX with heavy [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] (6-1-0)
- R8: WIN vs. Brendan Acri with Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX (7-1-0)
- R9: LOSS vs. Igor Costa with Buzzwole-GX / Lycanroc-GX with heavy Buzzwole FLI (7-2-0)
- R10: WIN vs. Kolton Day with 59-card mirror (8-2-0)
- R11: WIN vs. Ryne Morgan with Zoroark-GX / Lycanroc-GX (9-2-0)
- R12: LOSS vs. Zack Taylor with [card name=”Ultra Necrozma-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] (9-3-0)
- R13: LOSS vs. Jake Ewart with [card name=”Greninja BREAK” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] (9-4-0)
- R14: LOSS vs. Brendan Acri with BuzzRoc (9-5-0)
As you can see, my first day was nearly as homogenous as it could possibly be. I played against seven BuzzRocs, one Buzzwole / Zoroark, and a Greninja. My losses came to a Buzzwole FLI heavy version of BuzzRoc and the Greninja. Round 9 involved a prized [card name=”Shaymin” set=”Shining Legends” no=”7″ c=”name”][/card] that lost me game one, and game two came down to a misplay on my part to give the game away. Had I played better, I certainly could have won game two, though the fate of the match would have been uncertain from there.
Day two brought a bit more variety. The first two rounds involved drawing fairly well and capitalizing on misplays made by opponents. I felt like I had a pretty serious advantage in Round 11 as my opponent was not playing Counter Energy, giving me far more OHKO opportunities. Round 12 was where my tournament fell off the rails. I drew poorly throughout the set and played even worse, making a tremendous number of misplays in each game. I partially attribute this to the deafening white noise coming through the stream headset, but in the end my errors were my own. Round 13 was a repeat of Round 6 with Jake getting what he needed when he needed it and my deck being unable to win in that situation. Round 14 featured a critical misplay in game two where I gave my opponent the opportunity to take a three-prize turn and seal the game followed by a game three where [card name=”Mallow” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”127″ c=”name”][/card] and both Lycanroc-GX’s were in my final four Prizes.
This tournament served as a lesson to me that I feel compelled to pass on; if you don’t prepare for long days, it will drastically worsen your play. This seems obvious, but it had escaped me in my weeks of testing before the event. I tested extensively, but I failed to get in a couple long days to reacquaint myself with the feeling after two and a half months away from tournaments. Aside from the standard “eat well and sleep well” that every article throws around regarding Regionals prep, I would also like to emphasize the importance of having strategies to cope with mental strain. Whether it be music, snacks, other activities, or testing a few eight or more hour stretches prior to your event, being prepared for the grind of a full day of Pokemon can be just as important as knowing your deck and its matchups.
Deck Analysis
With that out of the way, I’d like to move on the topic at hand: Zoroark-GX / Lycanroc-GX moving forward into the Buzzwole infested Standard format. Many people have approached me over the last few days with questions on the deck, various matchups, and a variety of tech choices, and it’s my goal to cover each of them here. I’ll explain my thoughts on the deck overall, move into deck list discussion from there, and conclude with a matchup breakdown for each of the top decks.
ZoroRoc was labeled as a Tier 1 deck coming out of Forbidden Light, and its representation in day two of the Madison Regional Championships supports this claim. Coming in behind Buzzwole, ZoroRoc saw the second most placements in day two with eight total Top 32 spots. However, this does not paint a full picture. Only two ZoroRoc variants broke the Top 16 of the event, and none of them advanced to Top 8. This shows that the deck struggled against the other decks in Day 2, Buzzwole-GX variants being the primary example.
Struggling against [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] is one of the worst problems a deck can have in the current format. While this does not mean ZoroRoc is dead by any means, it does indicate that its representation will likely dip noticeably. This means that decks will be less likely to counter it and the community will begin to write it off. I firmly stand against the tide in saying that ZoroRoc can be built to go even to favorable against BuzzRoc given perfect play (a demanding requirement to be sure) and still maintains a favorable position in the metagame moving forward.
I consider the current skeleton for ZoroRoc to be this:
[decklist name=”ZoroRoc Skeleton” amt=”53″ caption=”Open slots: 7″ cname=”Mewtwo” set=”Evolutions” no=”51″][pokemon amt=”18″]4x [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Zorua” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM83″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Rockruff” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”75″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Mew-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mewtwo” set=”Evolutions” no=”51″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”27″]3x [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”N” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Professor Sycamore” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mallow” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”127″ 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=”Puzzle of Time” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Multi Switch” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Evosoda” set=”Generations” no=”62″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”8″]4x [card name=”Double Colorless” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Fates Collide” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”106″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
[premium]
[cardimg name=”Rockruff” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”75″ align=”right” c=”HP matters.”][/cardimg]
This list has seven empty slots and is about as bare bones as ZoroRoc gets; dropping anything from here would severely impact the deck’s ability to win games. From here, you have the option to tech for a variety of matchups in the metagame, but I would suggest picking from among the top decks. For this article, I consider the top decks to be BuzzRoc, Malamar variants, Mirror, and Greninja. Pick whichever tech “packages” you deem to fit your metagame the best!
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Before I get into the specifics of adding cards to the deck to address matchups, I want to go over an inclusion that I consider core but has been proven unnecessary in the past. The inclusion in question is the second [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]. Having played multiple iterations of this list, I would be very unlikely to ever go back to a single copy of the card as it helps in every single matchup, but you can keep it at one if you really need the space.
Another universal add is a third [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card]. This has been highly popular in successful lists of the past, but I’ve found it unnecessary in this version. If you do decide to play a single Float Stone, I would consider a 3rd Guzma a requirement for mobility purposes.
The final card I would like to address is the choice in Rockruff. I would always rather have the extra 10 HP than have the opportunity to Corner my opponent. An argument can certainly be made for adding a win condition, but the only decks that play bench sitters play either four Guzma (BuzzRoc) or cards that get around Corner (Malamar variants). The benefit of 10 HP is not only that Rockruff is harder to knock out with Jet Punch snipe, but also that it cannot be Knocked Out by a [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card]’s Energy Drive with a single [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card]. This is huge as it allows you to safely enable your [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] as early as possible, something integral to each of the deck’s matchups.
With these out of the way, I’ll move into specific additions for each deck!
BuzzRoc
Top priority: +1 [card name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”100″ c=”name”][/card], +1 [card name=”Shaymin” set=”Shining Legends” no=”7″ c=”name”][/card]
Optional: +1 [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card], +1 [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card], +1 [card name=”Professor Kukui” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card], +1 [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Fates Collide” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], +1 [card name=”Devoured Field” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], +1 [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card]
BuzzRoc is the matchup you want to tech for the most at the moment. The simple solution is to add a Shaymin SHG and a Counter Energy. This allows you to respond to their strongest attacker in the matchup, Lycanroc-GX, with Rally Back for an easy OHKO. The rest of your deck is pretty well equipped to handle Buzzwole already with two Psychic attackers and Lycanroc-GX.
On the optional side, we have quite the spread of choices. Buzzwole FLI is great to respond to your opponent’s Buzzwole FLI, but they have to play into your Sledgehammer for it to be particularly effective. Enhanced Hammer is great for ripping Beast and Strong Energy, potentially setting them back a turn on attachments. Professor Kukui makes Mewtwo EVO, Lycanroc-GX, and Buzzwole FLI more effective, each of them having a much easier time achieving One-Hit Knockouts with the extra 20 damage. Strong Energy and Devoured Field are great for allowing Lycanroc-GX and Zoroark-GX to knock out Buzzwole FLI, and Acerola can heal off the chip damage from Jet Punch and early Sledgehammers.
Malamar Variants
[cardimg name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Top Priority: +1-3 [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card]
Optional: +1 [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card]
I group Malamar variants together here as there’s not a ton you can do to improve the matchup. Fortunately, it’s already favorable for Zoroark / Lycanroc, so not much teching needs to happen. The most powerful card against Malamar variants is by far Parallel City. Limiting your opponent’s bench is very powerful here and preventing them from limiting yours is also quite helpful. The Field Blower is included to remove opposing tools (primarily Float Stone) and Parallel City, making it easier for yours to stick in the process.
Generally, I would not consider this matchup worth teching for unless you expect a significant amount of it and want an even more favorable matchup. Of the two, the Ultra Necrozma version is more difficult to beat, but I would place it at a 50-50 at worst.
Mirror
Top Priority: +1 Counter Energy, +1 [card name=”Sudowoodo” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card], +1 Shaymin SHG, +1 Buzzwole FLI
Optional: +1-3 Parallel City, +1 Enhanced Hammer, +1 Basic Fighting Energy
I find the ZoroRoc mirror match to be among the most fun matchups to play in the game currently. That said, if you are poorly tooled for it, victory can become quite difficult. Typical techs for the matchup include Parallel City and Enhanced Hammer to lessen the opponent’s draw and disrupt their ability to attack, particularly with Lycanroc. However, I have found these cards to have a much weaker impact on the matchup than my top priority here.
Each piece of the Counter package is extremely powerful here. Sudowoodo takes knockouts on Zoroark-GX, and Shaymin does the same for Lycanroc-GX. While there are plenty of ways to deal with Zoroark-GX, knocking out a Lycanroc is a much more trying task. With Shaymin, you can One-Hit Knockout a Lycanroc-GX with a single attachment, making it one of your most powerful tools in the match. Buzzwole FLI rounds out the top priority as a way to deal huge damage when the opponent is on four Prizes, but it also deals solid, low-risk damage when the opponent has a different Prize count. It also synergizes with Counter Energy, being able to push for guaranteed KO’s with Swing Around and Choice Band.
From here, you have the lower priority cards. Each of these choices is dedicated to limiting your opponent’s ability to knock you out. Parallel City limits Zoroark-GX’s damage as well as your opponent’s access to resources through less access to Trade and Wonder Tag. Enhanced Hammer can delay a Lycanroc-GX from attacking for a turn, and a third Basic Fighting can ensure that this type of disruption does not affect you.
Given how powerful the Counter Energy Shaymin combo is against both BuzzRoc and mirror, I would suggest adding this to the skeleton of any ZoroRoc deck you plan to build. While I do think the deck can succeed without it, I think it will have a greater likelihood of struggling against its two most important matchups.
Greninja
Top Priority: +1 [card name=”Giratina” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY184″ c=”name”][/card]
Optional: +1-3 Parallel City, +1-2 Acerola, +1 Enhanced Hammer, +1 Professor Kukui
Greninja is a deck that never seems to die. It also poses one of ZoroRoc’s most difficult matchups.
The top priority for this one is a single card that comes to no one’s surprise: Giratina Promo. This card prevents your opponent from using Giant Water Shuriken, thereby giving you a much easier time keeping up with them on prizes. This single card makes the matchup drastically easier, shifting it from a 20-80 to a 60-40. That said, you still have to contend with constant ability lock and twoshotting a one-prize attacker. Cards like N and Enhanced Hammer from your opponent can make the task of victory even more difficult. Luckily, there are other cards that can push the matchup even further into your territory.
Parallel City is a fantastic tool regardless of which way it’s facing. If you blue side your opponent, you limit their ability to continue to develop attackers and support Pokemon like [card name=”Starmie” set=”Evolutions” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card]. If you red side them, you limit Shadow Stitching to a meager 50 damage with Choice Band and nerf their ability to trade attackers with you into the ground. This is especially true if you attack with Lycanroc-GX, which you should typically aim to do regardless of tech choices. Acerola can make your opponent’s ability to trade attackers with you even more difficult by allowing you to heal attackers that have taken several Shadow Stitchings. Enhanced Hammer removes Greninja’s Splash Energy and makes it more difficult for them to maintain attackers after a few Knockouts. Lastly, Kukui can allow Zoroark-GX to take a One-Hit Knockout with Riotous Beating as well as make up for the lack of a Strong Energy on Lycanroc-GX.
Ultimately, Giratina Promo is a required tech for anyone seriously trying to win the Greninja matchup. Without it, all of your other techs will have their effects drastically diminished by Greninja’s ability to trade prizes more effectively than any other deck in the game. That said, Greninja is not always worth teching for, especially in more contained local metagames where you know its presence will be limited or non-existent. If I play ZoroRoc for Internationals, I will almost definitely be playing Giratina Promo to combat the inevitable rise in Greninja after Madison, though I would by no means consider it a necessary tech for the event.
Matchups
BuzzRoc
[cardimg name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
BuzzRoc is the deck to beat in Standard (and Expanded now, too). Being able to beat it will be critical to success at any event in the foreseeable future, and this is the primary reason for a large number of our techs for the matchup. Against the older version of BuzzRoc (the version with one Buzzwole FLI), the matchup comes down to playing around boosted Sledgehammer and knocking support out while your opponent tries to get energy on their board. Any time you have a choice between multiple Knockouts in the early game, your priority goes like this: [card name=”Octillery” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] pieces > Lycanroc pieces > [card name=”Diancie Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]> Buzzwole-GX > Buzzwole FLI. This hierarchy only holds true while your opponent does not have a prevalent threat in play. A prevalent threat is either Buzzwole with two or more Energy, a Buzzwole FLI when you’re at or about to be at 4 prizes, and Lycanroc-GX with one or more energy.
Once your opponent starts developing major threats, you transition to your Psychic attackers and Shaymin, depending on which attacker grabs a One-Hit Knockout on your opponent’s threat. If you have any opportunity throughout the game to get an energy on a Rockruff without missing an attack, you should always opt to attach there. Getting Lycanroc-GX online to OHKO Buzzwole FLI and potentially anything with Dangerous Rogue will help your odds of winning the matchup greatly.
You want to make your opponent’s Beast Ring window as short as possible. As soon as you hit the 3-4 Prize mark, you should take all means necessary to go down to one or two prizes to limit your opponent’s ability to develop Energy onto the board.
Getting Octillery off of your opponent’s board is a tremendous boon to your ability to beat BuzzRoc. Their supporter count is naturally low, and their deck is full of cards that don’t help them get out of dead hands. The only time you should ignore Octillery is if your opponent has an explosive start and you need to respond to loaded attackers on the first or second turn. With lists moving to a 1-1 line of Octillery, this task can be accomplished more easily than before and will drastically improve your odds of winning.
Other than these tips, always keep an eye out for opportunities to get value from boosted Sledgehammer and Counter Energy, and remember that Mallow is your best friend when you’re pushing for low-odds Knock Outs.
With heavy Buzzwole FLI, the matchup changes a bit. Here, you want to start attacking with a Strong Energy’d Lycanroc-GX as fast as possible to take One-Hit Knockouts on their Buzzwoles. If they bench a Buzzwole-GX, you have a great opportunity to dodge their 4-prize Sledgehammer, but they will commonly force you to play into it. [card name=”Mewtwo” set=”Evolutions” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] is also an excellent attacker in the early turns as it trades even to favorable with Buzzwole FLI and discourages your opponent from attaching more energy to it. Remember that your opponent’s support lines are thin, with one each of Rockruff and Octillery, so they gain even more priority as far as early targeting.
Psychic Malamar
Straight Psychic Malamar variants have fallen off a significant amount as of late, but they’re still important to be prepared for. This matchup changes quite a bit based on your opponent’s board. In the early game, targeting down [card name=”Inkay” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card] and Malamar is your best course of action as it prevents your opponent from streaming attacks. Toward the mid and late game, you need to decide whether going after two-prize attackers and racing prizes is better than denying energy with Malamar. Frequently, if my opponenet has three Malamar in play, I’ll ignore them in favor of knocking out [card name=”Necrozma-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] to race my opponent on Prizes. [card name=”Mew-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] can also be excellent for knocking out Necrozma-GX and [card name=”Marshadow-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card]. Nothing about this matchup is crazy threatening to you as you they require a ton of energy or a low-HP GX attacker to knock you out.
Ultra Necrozma / Malamar
This matchup is the more difficult variant of Malamar for ZoroRoc to beat. This version also tends to be heavily reliant on their Malamars, though, and we can play this to our advantage. In the early to mid game, Malamar is your highest priority target by far. From there, you can decide whether your opponent is likely to develop more Malamars than you can reasonably knock out, or if you can keep them off the board by continuing to target them down. If it looks like they’ll weather the storm, you can transition to knocking out their Dawn Wings and any attacker with Metal Energy attached. Generally, I like to save a [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] or two for [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] as it forces your opponent to have another energy to knock you out.
I don’t really enjoy playing this matchup because it’s mostly in your opponent’s hands. If they draw exceptionally well, there’s nothing you can really do to them. If they draw all right or worse, you can take control of the game.
Mirror
[cardimg name=”Shaymin” set=”Shining Legends” no=”7″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
The mirror is an intricate matchup that is largely defined by tech choices. That said, it has a few core elements that ring true regardless of variant. The first is that Lycanroc-GX is your best friend and worst nightmare. It is your main attacker, but it is also your opponent’s best attacker as well. If you run the Counter Shaymin package, you have a huge advantage as they cannot knock out your Lycanroc-GX (barring Dangerous Rogue) but you can knock theirs out in one hit. In the early game, you always want to go after your opponent’s Rockruffs unless they have only one Zorua or Zoroark-GX and two Rockruffs.
Beyond this, the tech choices dictate the flow of the game. Buzzwole FLI and the Counter package warp the matchup completely. Buzzwole is splashable enough that you can reasonably expect your opponent to have it. This means avoiding the 4-prize mark is key if at all possible. As your opponent has the benefit of Trade and Bloodthirsty Eyes, their odds of having a Sledgehammer Knockout on a Zoroark-GX are very high at four prizes. The Counter package can make things even trickier, giving your opponent a way to take a One-Hit Knockout on both Zoroark-GX and Lycanroc-GX for a single attachment. Fully playing around Counter Energy is rarely possible, but playing into it needs to be a calculated risk with a follow up play.
For example, if you take the first Knockout of the game, you can use a Zoroark-GX to bait your opponent into knocking it out and activating Sledgehammer. They drop a Counter Energy on Sudowoodo to return the Knockout, dropping to four prizes. This can give you a response Knockout on Zoroark-GX, giving your opponent a weak attack for Watch and Learn and covering your vulnerability to Shaymin in the process. If they respond to your Zoroark-GX by knocking it out with Lycanroc-GX, you can use your own Counter Energy and Shaymin to revenge that. If both players have Counter Energy, it’s a constant back and forth game of “who has the better prize count” and taking advantage of being behind whenever you can. If your opponent doesn’t play Counter Energy, you have several high-impact tools to use that they can’t answer cleanly, and the matchup goes your way far more often than not.
Parallel City and Enhanced Hammer can have an effect beyond this as well. Generally, in the mirror, you’re better off getting a Basic Fighting Energy down on a Rockruff as opposed to a Strong. This prevents your opponent from getting value out of their Enhanced Hammer and ensures you keep attacking. Parallel can be a nuisance, but I find that it doesn’t have a huge effect in the mirror beyond potentially limiting your opponent’s number of Trades. Usually, you’re not attacking with Zoroark-GX much in the mirror, so the damage loss on Riotous Beating is not relevant.
Greninja
Greninja is a very simple but very difficult matchup that can be framed by two questions.
Do you play [card name=”Giratina” set=”XY Black Star Promos” no=”XY184″ c=”name”][/card], and are you drawing better than them?
If the answer to one of these is “no,” you have a rough but winnable road ahead. If your answer to both is no, there is no way to win the matchup.
The approach here is to take Knockouts on Greninjas as much as possible but prioritize One-Hit Knockouts over everything else. In addition to this, taking out your opponent’s Starmie can be a great way to limit their ability to Giant Water Shuriken. Kukui is nice to allow Riotous beating to grab Knockouts on Greninja BKP, and Dangerous Rogue can pick up a Knockout on anything. At the end of the day, though, this matchup comes down to whether you draw well enough under Ability Lock to keep up with your opponent’s damage.
Conclusion
This wraps up my discussion on ZoroRoc! I hope each of you feels better tooled to play the deck (or play against it) in the coming months of BKP – FLI Standard. This deck remains a top contender for my deck choice moving forward, and I aim to use the next few weeks to test rogue concepts more than meta decks. My article at the end of the month will likely include a section on which of these worked particularly well, if any.
With that, I’d like to thank you for reading, and I look forward to answering your comments and messages!
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