The Present and Future of Expanded — A Recap and Thoughts on the Format

By: Stephane Ivanoff · Posted Posted onJan 28, 2019 at 5:54 PM · 0 Comments

I’m back from Dallas! Traveling to another continent for a Regional Championship was a new experience for me. Sure, I’ve been to Worlds and Internationals, but in these events, there are players from all over the world, including a contingent of Europeans. In Dallas, my friend and teammate Fabien Pujol and I were, as far as I know, the only players from outside of North America, so we were less participants in an international event and more like strangers crashing the party. That said, I had a great time there, and it was an occasion both to reunite with American friends and to meet new people. On that note, thanks to everyone who came to talk to me during the weekend! It’s always wonderful to meet fans.

As for my performance in the actual tournament, I didn’t do so great, ending up at 5-4 and barely salvaging 30 CP, playing — what else? — [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]  / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card]. Although I expected to do better, Fabien reached Top 8 with the same list, so I don’t regret my choice. In this article, I will go over the deck I played and explain the less obvious choices, and discuss how my rounds went and what I could have done differently. My goal is not to give an in-depth review of each round, but to identify the mistakes I made, both during my preparation and in the actual games, in order to do learn — and, in this case, teach — from them.  I also give my thoughts about the current state of Expanded and how the release of Team Up may affect the format.

1. The List

Here is the list I played in Dallas. It was developed by Xander Pero, Fabien Pujol and I. All three of us ended up playing it (Xander’s list was actually off by two cards) but only Fabien had success with it.

[decklist name=”ZoroGarb Dallas” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Mr. Mime” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”97″][pokemon amt=”24″]4x [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Zorua” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”70″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Trubbish” set=”Noble Victories” no=”48″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Exeggcute” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”4″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Vespiquen” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”10″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Sudowoodo” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”66″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Klefki” set=”Steam Siege” no=”80″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Mr. Mime” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”97″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”30″]2x [card name=”Colress” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”118″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”N” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Noble Victories” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Special Charge” set=”Steam Siege” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Red Card” set=”XY” no=”124″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Battle Compressor” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dowsing Machine” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”128″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Sky Field” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”89″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”6″]4x [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”103″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

A lot of the list is pretty standard fare, and I won’t bore you with it. I know that some players exclude Trashalanche from their lists, but I think it’s a solid secondary attacker, and having Basic Energy is almost necessary anyway. They help to retreat, and make you far more resilient to [card name=”Faba” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] and similar hate cards. You can attach the two Psychic Energy to a Zoroark-GX if needed. They also allow you to use Trubbish’s Garbage Collection, which brings me to the first actual innovation.

Two Trubbish (Garbage Collection)

[cardimg name=”Trubbish” set=”Noble Victories” no=”48″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

In my testing, Garbage Collection was very useful in the slowest matchups. Against stall decks, you can get early Prizes by shutting down the Abilities of [card name=”Xurkitree-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM68″ c=”name”][/card] and other walls with Garbotoxin, but when a Magikarp & Wailord-GX hits the field, you can’t knock it out in one hit, and you’ll have to face an endless stream of [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card]. In this situation, you can use Garbage Collection to bring back [card name=”Dowsing Machine” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] on top of your deck, allowing you to re-use Items every turn. The idea is to use the [card name=”Red Card” set=”Generations” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] combo over and over again, forcing the opponent to discard precious resources. In the end, you can win the game this way, or at least force them to discard enough Items that Trashalanche becomes a real threat to their Pokemon.

Most lists include a copy of Garbage Collection Trubbish for this particular reason, but I decided to make all my Trubbish the Garbage Collection version because I couldn’t see a reason to use any other one. Having 70 HP is not particularly relevant in the current metagame — it would be against [card name=”Trevenant BREAK” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card], but that’s not a very popular deck. I do have to say that the Guardians Rising [card name=”Trubbish” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card]’s Stomp Off could have won me one game at some point. However, the real downside to the other Trubbishes is that they have a higher Retreat Cost. Garbage Collection Trubbish can retreat for one Energy, which is very convenient if you happen to start the game with a Psychic Energy in hand.

One Mr. Mime

Mime has some utility against [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] decks, as rare as they seemed to be. However, its real point was to counter Magikarp & Wailord-GX in Archie’s Blastoise decks. That card was very much hyped in the days coming up to the Regionals and it seemed like most Blastoise decks would use it, both as a solid, 300-HP attacker that can one-shot Zoroark-GX with a [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card], and as a way to take multiple Prizes with Towering Splash GX. Mr. Mime prevents that use. It must be said that some Archie’s Blastoise lists have started including [card name=”Silent Lab” set=”Primal Clash” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card] in order to counter Mr. Mime (as well as [card name=”Wobbuffet” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card]). Still, forcing them to have a counter to your counter is a good thing, especially since Silent Lab is not easily accessible. If you can, you should play around Silent Lab by not benching more 100 HP-or-less Pokemon than you need, so that your opponent doesn’t win the game even if they manage to get a Towering Splash GX off. In the worst case scenario, Mr. Mime is a Basic Pokemon that you can bench for more Riotous Beating damage, so it’s never totally a dead card.

[premium]

One Vespiquen

This was a last-minute addition suggested by Fabien. Grass-type attackers are extremely valuable in Expanded, hitting the Weakness of Pokemon such as Magikarp & Wailord-GX, [card name=”Primal Groudon-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] and more (look for no further explanation than Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”17″ c=”name”][/card]’s resurgence). Given that the deck plays 24 Pokemon, it’s not unreasonable to have 10 of them in the discard by the end of the game, which allows Vespiquen, with a Choice Band attached, to KO even a Magikarp & Wailord-GX. To be honest, we didn’t have time to actually test this inclusion, so we trusted our instinct. In the end, none of us played against any Blastoise decks during the tournament, so it was a dead card all weekend. Further testing is needed, but I’ve come to believe that the Archie matchup is good enough without it so I think a more specific tech for another would be better suited here. [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Pokémon Ranger” set=”Steam Siege” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card] are the two that come to mind, to beat Vespiquen / Flareon and Seismitoad-EX / Zoroark-GX, respectively.

Special Charge Over Oranguru

I’ve never liked [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] in this deck as a way to recover Energy, as it is very slow. [card name=”Special Charge” set=”Steam Siege” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card] does a much better job of it, and you can reuse it with [card name=”Dowsing Machine” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card], if you need to. Plus, Garbage Collection can act as a mini-Resource Management when it matters, so I don’t think there’s much point in having Oranguru in the deck.

Professor Juniper

Originally, the list played three [card name=”Colress” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card], but Fabien wanted to play [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card] and, after testing, it was good. Although Colress has a much higher ceiling, there are situations where it’s a dead card, such as on turn one. There are situations when you want a draw Supporter, but Colress would be weak and [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card] would help the opponent, or not give you enough cards. Professor Juniper was very useful in many such game states, and I would definitely recommend it. Two Colress were more than enough for the rest of the time.

One Battle Compressor and One Pokemon Communication

Xander suggested removing the [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Black and White” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] for a second [card name=”Battle Compressor” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card], but it was too late for me to make the change. I don’t regret keeping the split, though: although the second Battle Compressor can be very good as it helps to find the cards we need in the early game (and with Vespiquen in the deck, it’s a way to discard Pokemon in order to reach the required numbers for Bee Revenge in the late game), I think Pokemon Communication is invaluable. The deck can be a bit clunky before you set up your draw engine (or if it’s shut off) and having one more consistency card that easily gets you the Pokemon you need — often a [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] — is more important to me than facilitating combos.

2. Dallas Regional Championships Short Report

Here’s how my games went:

  • R1 Hydreigon / Giratina / [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] WW
  • R2 [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] WW
  • R3 Zoroark-GX Exodia WLL
  • R4 [card name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] WW
  • R5 [card name=”Vespiquen” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Flareon” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card] LWL
  • R6 Zoroark-GX Exodia WLW
  • R7 [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Shrine of Punishment” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”143″ c=”name”][/card] LL
  • R8 Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM62″ c=”name”][/card] LL
  • R9 [card name=”Lucario-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM100″ c=”name”][/card] WW

My first two rounds were against opponents with subpar decks — Rayquaza-GX is good, but I recall thinking my opponent made some weird choices in his list.

Round Three

[cardimg name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

I was on stream for round three, and survived my opponent’s first turn since he didn’t get the [card name=”Red Card” set=”Generations” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] combo off. I eventually won that game because, past the first turn, ZoroExodia is basically a worse version of Zoroark / Garbodor. The second game, he got the combo off and I scooped on turn one as my only Pokemon was an [card name=”Exeggcute” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”4″ c=”name”][/card] that was going to get KOd on turn two by Sky Return. I started game three but a turn two Red Card and Delinquent prevented me from getting a great setup and allowed my opponent to stay in the Prize race.

At the end of the game, I was in a situation where I had three Prize cards left to my opponent’s two. He had used up almost all of his resources: he had two cards in hand (from the KO he took) and three in the deck. As for me, I had a full Bench and a big hand but no Zoroark-GX in play, which limited my options.

I believe that, given enough time, I probably could have counted all the cards to guess which seven cards remained in my opponent’s hand, deck and Prizes, and found a winning line from that. However, I needed to play faster, so I played Colress in order to get more cards and managed to get the revenge KO with Zoroark-GX. However, my opponent had his last [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Double Colorless” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] available and won by using [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] on my damaged [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card]. In retrospect, my best option on that last turn was to use [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] to discard my opponent’s two cards and, more importantly, remove the Sky Field in play (my opponent’s last Stadium) so that there was no chance he could win the game on the next turn. I could then have looked for a way to win the game on the next turn, possibly by playing Red Card (if I could draw it) to have my opponent draw his entire deck.

Round Four

The [card name=”Drampa-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card]  / Garbodor matchup on round four went better than I expected. To get an idea of how the games went, I recommend watching Fabien’s game on stream from Round 12. Basically, [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM84″ c=”name”][/card] can OHKO Drampa-GX when it has a Double Colorless Energy. As long as you don’t totally brick because of Garbotoxin, you’re in a good spot. I played around [card name=”Oricorio” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card] by not playing down an Exeggcute at some point, even though I didn’t know if my opponent played it. Turns out he did and was hoping I’d make a mistake so he could steal the game from me.

Round Five

In round five, I was paired against Rahul Reddy. Unfortunately, Rahul played a version of [card name=”Vespiquen” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Flareon” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card] with no [card name=”Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick” set=”Primal Clash” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card], which actually worked better against my list. A common way for Vespiquen to lose the matchup is to go down to three cards in hand and get hit by Delinquent (that’s how I won game two), and when you play Maxie’s, it’s common to end up with a low hand size. Apart from that, if the Vespiquen player thins their deck enough, they can easily get a KO every turn and win the Prize race, apart from a possible lategame [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card]. I misplayed game one by setting up Garbotoxin too early, preventing me from using Zoroark-GX’s Trade while not disrupting my opponent in any way. Because of that, I couldn’t find the N that might have saved me the game.

I think this matchup is unfavorable but adding an Oricorio would make a huge difference.

Round Six

I don’t remember much about this round. I’m pretty sure that I won the coin flip, and managed to set up [card name=”Sudowoodo” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] early enough that it was hard for my opponent to pull off the combo on turn one.

Round Seven

In round seven, I faced Connor Pedersen. This matchup is hard, especially since I didn’t get great hands. Since my opponent ended his first turn with three cards in hand and his [card name=”Diancie Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] still Active, I went for the [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card], hoping to get some time to set up, but he topdecked a [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]. I don’t think I could have done anything differently in this round.

Round Eight

By round eight, I was frustrated that I was eliminated from Day 2 contention, so I didn’t focus enough on the game. The other, and the more relevant, issue is that I actually had no experience playing the Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Golisopod-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM62″ c=”name”][/card] matchup. You see, it wasn’t widely played on TCGO, and when I played in real life, it was mostly against other decks I had built, such as [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Sceptile-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card]  / [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card], so I didn’t get a lot of experience in Zoroark-GX mirrors. I didn’t think this would be an issue since there’s nothing absolutely specific to the Zoroark-GX / Garbodor mirror, so even when I was on the plane with Fabien and we had two playsets of Zoroark-GX, we mostly played the [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] / Zoroark-GX matchup (and came to the usual conclusion: the matchup is unfavorable without [card name=”Pokémon Ranger” set=”Steam Siege” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card], and slightly favorable with it).

However, it turns out that the Zoroark-GX / Golisopod-GX matchup is a whole different beast. With Mind Jack, Armor Press and [card name=”Alolan Muk” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] in the equation, you have to adapt your play, and I didn’t manage that. Zoroark-GX / Golisopod-GX is much better at playing the 2HKO game since they have Armor Press to prevent you from taking an OHKO, and [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card] to heal if you don’t manage it. Trading away unneeded cards (rather than [card name=”Exeggcute” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”4″ c=”name”][/card]) is important in order to thin out your deck for the late game, but because I didn’t playtest this matchup, I wasn’t sure which cards I would need later. In short, let this be a lesson to me: neglecting one matchup can have consequences! You need to be thorough in your testing.

Round Nine

I won the first game because my opponent had a terrible start. The second game, he set up a little better, but I was still very much in control. I played around a [card name=”Focus Sash” set=”Furious Fists” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] on [card name=”Lucario-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM100″ c=”name”][/card] by using [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] to Knock Out his Benched Riolu two turns in a row. I had a read that he had his [card name=”Scoop Up Cyclone” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] in hand, so it was important to remove any evolving Basic. In the end, even without my [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card], I beat Lucario-GX by using Sky Return to break the Sash and Trashalanche the following turn.

3. Thoughts About Expanded

Now that I’ve experienced the current Expanded format, I have to say that I don’t get the hate that the format gets. There are, admittedly, unhealthy combinations of cards; the turn one Red Card and Delinquent combination is obviously miserable to face. However, in the grand scheme of things, this combination is… not very good?

[cardimg name=”Red Card” set=”Generations” no=”71″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

None of the top players I’ve talked to believe that Zoroark-GX / Exodia is a good deck. The decks that are generally agreed to be good are ones like Zoroark-GX / Garbodor, Seismitoad-EX / Zoroark-GX, Archie’s Blastoise, Vespiquen — decks with varying levels of interactivity and complexity but that don’t prevent the opponent from actually playing the game. (Quaking Punch sort of does, but I’ll get to it later). [card name=”Unown” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card] DAMAGE is another card that has the potential (or had, I guess, since it’s getting banned) to win the game very quickly, but in the current metagame, it’s not great.

In reply to a tweet of mine, someone replied that the issue was that Expanded League Cups in best-of-one were frustrating to play in. I can definitely see how sitting down for a round and waiting ten minutes for your opponent to bench four [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] before playing Red Card, Delinquent, and Peeking Red Card could make someone want to quit the format. If I had only experienced game two of my round three against ZoroExodia, I would be angry that such a terrible combination was allowed. However, I got to play a full series, which was rather interesting, all things considered. There’s a case to be made that the issue with Expanded lies with best-of-one rather than with the format itself, but I understand people clamoring for bans, especially since the vast majority of League Cups in the U.S. are played in best-of-one.

The issue, then, is to decide what should be banned. Many decks in Expanded have cards that, generally speaking, prevent the opponent from doing stuff. Cards in this category include powerful lock cards such as [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Stoutland” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] or Garbodor, as well as more nuanced effects like [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card], Wobbuffet or Silent Lab. It’s not fun to face these cards, but they are necessary to the format. Without such cards, the only way to win would be to take Prizes faster than the opponent, and with the consistency afforded by Expanded staples such as Professor Juniper and [card name=”Computer Search” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card], decks would generally be able to take a KO every turn. I’m sure a format that’s nothing but Archie or Vespiquen mirrors doesn’t sound fascinating, so it’s good that we have cards that add restrictions to what the opponent can do, as long as these cards have drawbacks and/or counters. That’s why I don’t have an issue with Seismitoad-EX.

I don’t have an issue with Zoroark-GX, either. It’s extremely good in Expanded, for sure, but I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to ban it. I think that overall, Zoroark-GX has enhanced the quality of the game. The only current issue with Zoroark-GX is the Exodia version. Even if it’s not a great deck overall, it seems that TPCi favors getting rid of problematic cards even if they’re not great in the current metagame, going by the Unown ban. The next logical ban then, would be Red Card, a card that actually allows players to disrupt their opponent’s hand before they can even play. (Delinquent could also work, but Delinquent has fair uses in the rest of the game, whereas Red Card is basically included only for unfair purposes.) I don’t think the game would be any worse off by getting rid of Red Card. Yes, [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card] could replace Red Card, but it is much worse because it requires a spot on the Bench and makes both players shuffle their hand in their deck, preventing a player from holding on to a Delinquent.

[card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] is another card that’s often complained about, I don’t think it’s much of an issue. Few decks use it, the most successful by far being Seismitoad-EX / Zoroark-GX. However, that deck would win many matchups without Lusamine, and most importantly, can be countered in many ways — playing aggressive attackers like Rayquaza-GX, Grass-type attackers, Pokemon Ranger, etc. I actually think that giving control decks a way to go infinite is pretty cool, the power of such an infinite loop being mitigated by its extreme slowness.

In short, I think Expanded is in a good place right now. Its aggressive decks, like Vespiquen / Flareon, are very fast and fragile. Its control decks, like Seismitoad-EX / Zoroark-GX, are very slow but will win the game if given enough time. Between the two, there’s the safe choice of Zoroark-GX/Garbodor, and a bunch of less conventional choices like [card name=”Primal Groudon-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Sceptile-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card], Trevenant, etc.

4. Moving Forward

[cardimg name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

With Team Up hitting shelves soon and new bans, I expect some changes to come in the Expanded format. Obviously, in such a vast format, a single set won’t be as impactful as in Standard, but there’s potential to shift the status quo a little. I don’t think that Archie’s Blastoise or Zoroark / Garbodor are going away any time soon, but some new cards might create new archetypes or improve existing ones. Here are my current thoughts on the matter :

  • [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Ho-Oh-EX” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card] gets better, thanks to Shaymin Prism Star and Tapu Koko Prism Star. The former is a great answer to Pokemon like [card name=”Latias-EX” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”85″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Shining Legends” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] that wall Rayquaza-GX, and once again, its Grass typing is a godsend. The latter makes the deck even faster and the reason why it did so well in Japan. This is probably the first deck I’ll test in detail since I want to see if these new cards make Rayquaza fast enough to beat Zoroark decks.
  • Pikachu & Zekrom-GX will be a powerful contender in Standard, but it might also work in Expanded. With [card name=”Eelektrik” set=”Noble Victories” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] in the format, you can easily accelerate Energy to it and other strong Lightning-type attackers. To be fair, Eelektrik hasn’t been great for a long time and, because of Garbodor’s presence in the format, it might be unwise to base a deck on it. That said, you could accelerate Energy by other means, such as Tapu Koko Prism Star, and include a small line of Eelektrik in order to help in the midgame.
  • It’s a long shot, but Latias & Latios-GX might have a role to play. With [card name=”Double Dragon Energy” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card], you can use Aero Unit GX’s bonus effect easily, and charge up some powerful attackers. A deck that has such a way of accelerating Energy and plays [card name=”Double Dragon Energy” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] would undoubtedly include [card name=”Giratina-EX” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card], a card that’s been neglected recently but is amazing in the right metagame.
  • Speaking of long shots, Persian might be worth including to counter Zoroark-GX, in decks that play [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card]. In Expanded, Zoroark-GX decks can often have hands of 15 or more cards thanks to the power of Colress and Exeggcute. Being able to discard most of these cards (and you choose which cards to discard, so you can make sure to remove precious resources like [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] and Double Colorless Energy) could win you the game, in theory. Whether it’s actually easy to do in practice remains to be seen, though.

That’s all from me this week! Obviously, Team Up‘s impact on Expanded is something we’ll come back to when we get closer to Toronto Regionals and we’ve had time to try out the new cards. The new set should have a much bigger influence on Standard, and that’s something we’ll get to next week, as players from all over the world start preparing for the Oceania International Championship in Melbourne. The release of a new set is exciting, there are plenty of decks, new and old, to try out, so I’m looking forward to it. In the meantime, good luck at any event you’re attending!

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