BuzzGarbVile Part 1: My Regional-Winning List Explained

[cardimg name=”Weavile” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”74″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

[card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Weavile” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] is one of the best decks I’ve ever played. I won the Pennsylvania Regional Championship with the deck, and I’m here today to explain the build, the thought that went into it, and more. Next time I’ll be going over the deck’s matchups in depth. Let’s just begin right away with the list…

At first sight this list looks messy, it really does. There’s a lot jammed in here and it might not even look like the most competitive thing in the world. I assure you, however, every card had its place and it was built to handle anything. Going into this tournament I worked closely with Daniel Altavilla and Isaiah Williams for different opinions and takes on the deck. We started with a consistent base of a list, boasting higher counts of the integral cards to the deck like [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Professor Kukui” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card]… the list goes on! Here’s where things started to get interesting, as we bounced around ideas like a thin [card name=”Banette-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] line, a thin Weavile line, and even things like [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”100″ c=”name”][/card]. I was very adamantly opposed to playing Weavile until the night before, but I was a huge supporter of some of the other options. After using Banette-GX at a League Cup to lackluster results, I made sure to switch gears away from that option and towards testing Weavile. Like I said, I wasn’t a big fan, but I’m very glad that I impulsively decided to play it, it was one of the best cards in the deck.

List and Card Choices

[decklist name=”.” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Diancie Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”74″][pokemon amt=”17″]4x [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Trubbish” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”50″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Magcargo” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”24″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Slugma” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”23″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Weavile” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”74″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Sneasel” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”73″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Diancie Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”74″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”34″]4x [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Professor Kukui” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”128″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Judge” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”108″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Shining Legends” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”147″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”9″]4x [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”151″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”Evolutions” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Unit Energy FDY” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”118″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”100″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Beast Energy Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”117″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

Four Buzzwole

Originally a split of [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Regirock” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card], I found that Regirock was too fancy, and the potential to do a little bit more against 70 HP Pokemon (Regirock does 20, then 20 more with a Tool attached, 20 more from [card name=”Diancie Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card], and finally 20 more from Professor Kukui) wasn’t worth missing an important Sledgehammer turn. The whole purpose of this deck is to optimize the power of your Sledgehammer, and without a maxed out line of Buzzwole it’s hard to do that sometimes. It’s the best starter in the deck, so opening up with it naturally is incredibly important so you can stay away from burning [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Switch” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] early just to get it as your Active.

Three Trubbish and Two Garbodor

[cardimg name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I never tried a smaller or thicker line of Garbodor. This just always felt like the right count, and before adding anything to the line, I would have preferred to go for a higher [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] count. I saw some lists throughout the event go for counts of four [card name=”Trubbish” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card] and three Garbodor, but I was still able to beat those in mirror matches. I would always rather have a completely different attacking option, something unique like Weavile, rather than buffing out a card that already does its job in its current form. I think of Garbodor as a check measure for decks that are equipped to deal with multiple Buzzwole, and assurance against other non-GX decks like the [card name=”Shining Lugia” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM82″ c=”name”][/card] variants of [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card]. The logic for playing more mainly rests in the mirror match realm of things, and I found that even though you might have a larger line, it’s more about the Energy counts and overall consistency if you even want to make good use of it. Again, the double Rescue Stretcher suffices in place of this, so I have always been on board with keeping this as the optimal line of this extremely important Pokemon.

Two Slugma and Two Magcargo

Setting up two [card name=”Magcargo” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] was never specifically part of my strategy, but what was is having a second [card name=”Slugma” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”23″ c=”name”][/card] in case the first was taken down. Often opponents will target your Magcargo, or a Slugma before it, in hopes to dismantle your setup. This can work, so Magcargo is incredibly important to the deck’s strategy. Like its spiritual predecessor [card name=”Octillery” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card], Magcargo just has this target written all over it that draws players to want it gone as soon as possible. Smooth Over takes the one-of techs that this list plays out of the deck and allows you to maintain a consistent approach that awards intelligent play by giving you instant access to all of the cards in your deck with the right ways to draw cards (Smooth over then play [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] or use Oranguru to Instruct). Magcargo is even good at the end of your turn, just putting something you want on top for your next turn, and one of my favorite plays is to Smooth Over an Acro Bike to the top so that you can decide what you really want on your next turn. You can do the same thing with Professor Kukui, just reserving your Smooth Over on your next turn for a card better suited for the developing situation you find yourself in. It isn’t wrong to not always know what you want to get with Smooth Over, or even what you’ll want to do on your coming turn. Predicting your opponent’s play is one thing, but what they actually do is another. It could drastically change on their own decision making, or simply based on what they draw. Perhaps they get unlucky and don’t have the luxury of making the best play possible; in those situations you’ll be gifted with an Acro Bike as previously mentioned to help guide your decision within your turn itself.

One Sneasel and One Weavile

Some of the best cards in the deck, I originally wasn’t enthralled with them as I am today. I thought it deviated too far from the general strategy of the deck, which is true in a sense, but playing it gives the deck a much needed dimension of play that creates unwinnable scenarios for opponents as well as another check measure for if an opponent plays around Trashalanche by limiting their Item usage. At worst it was a Pokemon that my opponent’s needed to take down quickly with a [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], ignoring a different threat, and at best it was a juggernaut one-shotting large HP Pokemon-GX that I desperately needed to take down. I’m enthralled with Weavile, and I will be keeping it in this deck.

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One Oranguru

Without [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] you can often run into dead hand situations. Instruct is meant to offset some of that, but on top of that, Smooth Over with Instruct is a broken combination. The idea is to set yourself up to draw whatever card you want, as long as your hand is under three cards. That’s a pretty easy task to complete, as most of the cards in this deck are immediately playable. I’ve found myself aggressively dumping my hand down to the point where I can Instruct for two or more cards in attempts to get out of dead hands to great results. I wouldn’t play any deck with Magcargo without Oranguru (or [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] in different decks).

One Diancie Prism Star

[cardimg name=”Diancie Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”74″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Losing [card name=”Strong Energy” set=”Fates Collide” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] hurt this deck, so it goes without saying that [card name=”Diancie Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] has ought to be a staple in this deck. It very blatantly affects your damage output, pushing Sledgehammer to 50 while unboosted, and 140 after the boost (your opponent sitting on four Prizes remaining). This deck wants to play as many damage modifiers as possible, and this one is a big part of it. I would play multiple if I could, the damage boost is that good.

Four Lillie

Williams really sold me on the concept of a maxed out [card name=”Lillie” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] count in this deck, as well as other decks. This format lacks a great draw Supporter, and while [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] always gets you what you expect (six cards), it’s lackluster in that you very rarely get to see six new, unique cards (shuffling your old hand back in). Lillie can’t do that either, but what it does offer in contrast is a draw on top of what you already have, an excellent effect. Most of the cards in this deck are immediately playable, so any time you can usually build upon an already strong hand, perhaps you want to hold onto something for later, but not put it back into the deck with a shuffle effect. On top of all of this, having four Lillie increases your chances of finding it on your first turn for the huge play of drawing until you have eight in your hand. I would say that almost every time I was able to do this in my latest tournament I won the game. This kickstarts your play and gives you options for your coming turns, the payoff is so high that I absolutely implore you to check this count out. I’m not even done, Lillie is also nice because Magcargo can Smooth Over whatever you want to the top of your deck and then you can draw it with Lillie, whereas with Cynthia or [card name=”Judge” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card] you’d have to shuffle that card around, nullifying the effect of your Ability.

Four Guzma

Starting with three as I often do in decks I’m testing, it was quickly decided to add a fourth copy. You can run out of steam with three and find yourself chasing for the last couple Prizes without it. It was high on the list of additions and it did make the cut, and boy am I glad I went through with it. Your odds of starting with a quick [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] for a Knock Out on a weak Pokemon increase, as do your outs to Guzma in the late game to clean things up. In day two of Pennsylvania, I faced a Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] deck where I ran out of Guzma very quickly because I decided to take an (foolish?) aggressive route by Knocking Out [card name=”Zorua” set=”Shining Legends” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] on back-to-back-to-back turns. I had landed my fourth Guzma in my Prizes and did not draw it off one of the first three Knock Outs. I was almost punished for this, but it really showed yet another situation where I wanted a fourth Guzma, just knowing it was in my Prizes somewhere ended up saving me, as I ripped it off my third to last Prize, then won the game with it a turn or two later. More Guzma allows for more aggressive play and easier means to finish games up, which is especially important in a more frail deck like this that often opts to swing for two-hit Knock Outs rather than bigger one-hit Knock Outs like a drastically different deck like [card name=”Vikavolt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], for instance.

Two Cynthia

I was wrong, Cynthia is not the best draw Supporter in the game, in fact, it’s honestly underwhelming much of the time. Lillie nets you more cards, and for this deck especially, it’s just downright better. I reserve use of Cynthia for times when my hand gets clogged with unplayable cards and I’m in need of a total refresh. This doesn’t happen too often, but you’ll want a couple Cynthia for when it does. Starting off your draw Supporter of choice will be Lillie, so a lower, halved count of Cynthia does the trick.

Two Professor Kukui

I started with four of these, that’s kinda hard to believe, but it’s been fine at two. I wouldn’t play four ever again for a few reasons so let me preface this with the following statement: this card is greedy. If you’re using [card name=”Professor Kukui” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card], it’s almost always not going to be “from hand”, but rather, from Smooth Over targeting it specifically to finish off some important math. I can’t say how many times this card saved me, it’s certainly strong, but playing more than two can be seen as overkill. A third is on a short list of things I would like to add, but I’m not going to peer into that much further for now after seeing how successful this list was at Regionals. The sleeper play with Professor Kukui is a sneaky Trashalanche, boosting your damage up just a little bit more to get a Knock Out. This play also applies to Acro Bike, but you can Smooth Over a Professor Kukui to the top of your deck when you’re in doubt about what to get such that on your next turn you can Smooth Over whatever you what then and draw it with Professor Kukui. This card is extremely strong in conclusion, making up for some of the hurt brought on by the loss of Strong Energy.

One Judge

[cardimg name=”Judge” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”108″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Instead of a third Cynthia I was convinced to play a [card name=”Judge” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card]. It never hurt me, but it never really helped me either. There were a few times where I was like “hey my opponent has a large hand, let me Judge that”, but it didn’t really affect the outcome of the game. It’s nice to know that you have some, albeit small, form of disruption, so I would play it again, but it’s not something that was extremely important to the deck’s success. Remember you have the Smooth Over option to snag it when you want, so it’s almost always at your disposal!

Four Ultra Ball and Four Nest Ball

I’ll lump the “Ball” cards in one section here, since they serve somewhat similar purposes. [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] is nice to get your hand size reduced to the point where you can either Lillie for more cards or just use Oranguru to Instruct. On top of that, it gets your Stage 1 Pokemon — [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Magcargo” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Weavile” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card]. I wouldn’t cut it, but [card name=”Great Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] is worth looking at to a certain degree to see if you’re able to make do with discarding less cards (that could be valuable) to accomplish the same goal. In a deck playing a higher count of Pokemon, Great Ball becomes a little stronger. Nonetheless I don’t think I’ll touch either of these counts, as four [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] was extremely powerful and found me my attackers quickly while also emptying out my hand. The one issue with the card is that you cannot play it with a full Bench, so there’s where another Great Ball argument can be made. I need to test this, which I haven’t gotten a chance to yet, so I cannot say definitively which is better, although my gut tells me that this lineup should stay intact.

Three Choice Band

I could see cutting one of these, going even a step further to clear space. Three just felt like the healthiest number overall, though, so I wouldn’t jump to making another rash decision. [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] does affect many of your calculations, like 60 to a Zoroark-GX, along with Weakness for 120, setting up a nice two-hit Knock Out. [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] might be creeping its way back into the format and if that happens then we’ll want to see more Choice Band in this deck, or just keep it at three. Alternative arguments can be made against a larger count like “this is a [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] meta”, but I think that will change going into the next Regionals, as more time is allotted to finding suitable counters that can handle these types of decks as well as everything else.

Three Acro Bike

There are not four [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] because space was tight. I started with four and choose between going down to three Nest Ball, or three Acro Bike. Acro Bike was the choice, as Nest Ball is super important in the early game and I wanted to make sure that I set up well in most games. Acro Bike is to be used in conjunction with Smooth Over, netting you whatever card you want for the cost of discarding a random card (hopefully it’s not something you wanted for later). Acro Bike is a great card overall, but it does backfire sometimes. I had a situation in my quarterfinals match where I put a Shrine of Punishment on top with Smooth Over and then ripped the [card name=”Beast Energy Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] off the Acro Bike. I ended up switching my play and just discarding the Shrine of Punishment, the last one in my deck, which was certainly unfortunate. The consistency boost this card adds to the table is valuable, even when you’re not using it to retrieve a card from Smooth Over. You can just use it on its own to randomly try to find something you’re looking for and perhaps dig a little deeper than you otherwise could. I love this card in this deck and highly recommend at least three moving forward.

Two Rescue Stretcher

I tried to make room for another [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] very early on, as it’s a great way to improve your mirror matches and just make the deck more consistent. Playing a thin Weavile line compelled me to add another copy, as did the importance of Oranguru, and I even considered a second Oranguru in place of the second Rescue Stretcher. With the weight attributed to beating mirrors, and the recovery of Weavile, it was ultimately decided that the second Rescue Stretcher would be the best way to structure the deck and I went with it. It was lovely, giving me flexibility and recovery in the late game, even allowing me to discard Pokemon much more freely without worry, knowing that I’d have easy access to them later on with Rescue Stretcher. I don’t like to think of extra copies of this card as a crutch for mistakes or poor play, but more as a way to sequence your thoughts better and win more consistently in the long run, giving you unnatural flexibility to make more risky plays to get where you want to go.

One Switch

[cardimg name=”Switch” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”160″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Starting with two switching cards (one being an [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card]), going down to two felt weird after testing with two for the longest time. I will say that a single [card name=”Switch” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] was perfectly fine, and that I’d like to deem playing two of them as a greedy count. When you’re playing one you view it more as just a random target from Smooth Over once in a while. When you have two, it’s more of a “hope I hit it” sort of thing, hoping you draw into it early on to switch into an attacker or something like that. Cutting a Switch was much of the same logic that went into cutting a Professor Kukui, just cutting a bit of a corner on an important card, but a card that you’ll primarily be finding with Smooth Over, so larger counts are just luxurious and unnecessary.

One Field Blower

One of the best cards in the deck, Field Blower was quite literally inserted in for [card name=”Weakness Policy” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] in Zoroark-GX decks. I expected many Weakness Policy, so this was a card I was dying to have in the list. It wasn’t just for Weakness Policy, although that was the biggest reason to play it, it was also nice to use to fuel Trashalanche, although that came up far less than the aforementioned scenario. It was very satisfying to drop a Field Blower when an opponent wasn’t expecting it and roll them over with Buzzwole.

Three Shrine of Punishment

I cut a [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] mainly for the Field Blower, or that’s at least one way to look at it. With the Field Blower, you can still win a Stadium war if you use it to discard one of your opponent’s Stadium cards. Going into a meta where I expected many Shrine of Punishment decks, the card itself would be significantly worse (mirror matches galore), so cutting one seemed reasonable. I didn’t really miss it, as taking another card that clogs your hand out of the deck is never a bad idea, and it worked out well! I view Shrine of Punishment as one of the worst cards in the deck quite frankly, something that I’d consider taking out altogether in the future. You beat most Pokemon-GX decks already, as they’re just too fragile and have to somehow manage to knock out six different one-Prize Pokemon, a pretty tall task.

Four Rainbow Energy

Powering up Trashalanche, four [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card] was already a must in this deck, but upon adding Weavile with its Evil Admonition it was certainly a must. While putting 10 damage on a Buzzwole stinks (120 HP remaining for a perfect Riotous Beating Knock Out), it was necessary for the other techs desired in the deck.

Two Fighting Energy

Having a non-Special Energy was handy, especially if I ran into a [card name=”Xurkitree-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM68″ c=”name”][/card]. Two was fine, as you can one-shot a Xurkitree-GX with a Choice Band, Diancie Prism Star, and Professor Kukui play while using Sledgehammer for 30 base. It’s nice to have Basic Energy in general for times when [card name=”Enhanced Hammer” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] is prevalent, and while I didn’t expect much Enhanced Hammer, it was nice to have the countermeasure in case I did end up facing a deck with them.

One Unit Energy FDY

Instead of a third Fighting Energy we thought it was a good idea to switch it up, giving it a bit of versatility in activating Evil Admonition on top of just being a Fighting Energy. There’s not much else to say about [card name=”Unit Energy FDY” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card], it was certainly worth it and I would do it again!

One Counter Energy

[cardimg name=”Counter Energy” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”122″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This was my favorite card in the deck; it won me so many games. Besides serving as a “fifth Rainbow Energy” when behind on Prizes, it allows you to come back in mirror matches by powering up Swing Around, to which your opponent will almost never have a response to as it’s so unexpected. Swing Around was my go-to use for this card, using it to one-shot [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] and a variety of other Pokemon out of nowhere. I’m a big believer in the one-of techs in this list because they were so easy to find with Smooth Over and certainly worth playing just to have the option. I could ramble on and on about all the times I used this effectively, but I think it would be more compelling if you try it yourself and see, you’ll be surprised at how strong it can be.

One Beast Energy Prism Star

A must in any deck playing a Buzzwole, Beast Energy Prism Star sets up better math and can be found quickly with Magcargo.

Closing Banter

I am thinking about taking Shrine of Punishment out and messing around with a lot of different things. I also am looking into messing around with the “Ball” cards to see if there’s something that could be done differently.

• +1 [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card]
• +1 [card name=”Magcargo” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”24″ c=”name”][/card] (synergy with [card name=”Great Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card])
• +1 [card name=”Professor Kukui” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card]
• +4 Great Ball
• +X Pokemon (larger counts for better hit percentages with Great Ball)

With so much of this up in the air I can’t really comment definitively on anything. I really like this list as it is right now, still, and won’t do much differently. It maintains a consistent base while still playing many tech cards to improve a variety of matchups without ruining the core strategy of the deck in setting up.

Conclusion

This is one of the best decks I’ve ever played, and one of the most fun, too. I really liked playing a toolbox with options for every matchup I faced, and I think my list was near perfection for this event. Let me know if you have any questions in the Subscribers’ Hideout, or if you just want to talk about the game in general! Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it, I really put my heart and soul into this one. I’ll see you next time with a detailed breakdown of the matchups, good luck and take care!

~Caleb

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