A Format to Break — Gatekeepers and Naganadel-GX
Hello! It’s been nice taking a short break from playing Pokemon, but now I’m back to doing a lot of Pokemon: playtesting for Worlds, coaching and, as you can see, writing. So let’s start by making a quick assessment of the meta as we know it so far.
From what I figure, the two decks to beat are [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] variants and [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card]. If you’re playing in Day 1 of Worlds, or in the Open, you should definitely be prepared for both of these decks as you’ll most likely face them quite a bit. Obviously, there’s still time for new decks to be figured out, and I’m certain we’ll see some cool surprises, but as we stand right now, these are the frontrunners. Whenever I want to test a new deck idea, I first try to see how it fares against Malamar and PikaRom. If it doesn’t work against them, I either tweak the list or scrap the idea altogether: I don’t think a deck that loses to both of these is worth playing at the moment. I’ll explain a bit more below why these decks play such an important role (and also give my current lists for them!).
If you were hoping that the rotation would shake things up and bring up new ideas, you might be disappointed that these two top decks are just good decks from the 2019 season, but with less good cards in them. I know I certainly am: I find Malamar and PikaRom to be pretty boring and I hope we’re not going to be stuck with them for the whole 2020 season. That’s why I also want to talk about my favorite card from Unified Minds: Naganadel-GX. Its Ultra Conversion Ability is reminiscent of [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]’s Trade and, although it has more limitations, I’m pretty sure this card will see play at some point — most likely as soon as Worlds, but maybe only later in the format. I’ll share my thoughts on how to build a deck around this card, even though it’s still a work in progress.
The Gatekeepers
What do Malamar and PikaRom have in common? For one, they’re both established archetypes. Even if the rotation changes the way these decks are built, if you’ve played them before, you still know how they work. Sure, Malamar has fewer Items to find [card name=”Inkay” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card] and Malamar in the early game (but without [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], they’re not in nearly as much danger as before) and PikaRom struggles to get [card name=”Tapu Koko Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] early (but gets Stadium Nav in exchange, to search for [card name=”Thunder Mountain Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card]), but generally, they don’t feel very different to play. In addition, both these archetypes are relatively easy to play. As usual, me saying this doesn’t mean that there aren’t subtleties to these decks, or that any player can pick them and do well. It just means that, on average, they don’t have as many in-game decisions as some other decks. For both these reasons, these decks are being heavily tested by players of all skill and experience levels, and they’re likely to be played at least in the earliest parts of the season, before the metagame settles down.
What’s more, both these decks have ways to survive the rotation that other decks may lack. The biggest changes between the 2019 and 2020 formats are the disparition of some very common Pokemon-searching Item cards ([card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]), and the lack of a reliable Gust effect (a role formerly held by Guzma). Thanks to [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Electromagnetic Radar” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] respectively, Malamar and PikaRom don’t suffer from the first change as much as some other decks. (As an extreme case, some archetypes, like [card name=”Quagsire” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card], are now basically unplayable because there’s no way to search for their key Pokemon.)
As for the lack of Guzma, many decks are trying to fix it by playing [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card]. It doesn’t fit in every deck, but Pikachu & Zekrom-GX can use it pretty well, thanks to a combination of [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Volkner” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] that lets it search for Items. Among decks that don’t have draw or search engines good enough to assemble two copies of Custom Catcher, the best are those that can either attack the Bench (so they can still target the desired Pokemon) or OHKO their opponents (so that damaged Pokemon can’t go hide on the Bench). For this reason, [card name=”Ultra Necrozma-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] is currently my favorite variant of Malamar, thanks to its OHKO potential, even on the tankiest of targets. Sky-Scorching Light GX also lets it take KOs on the Bench against some decks. It should also be mentioned that in a format without [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Giratina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card]’s Distortion Door gets even better. Other decks may sometimes struggle to find their attackers, but Malamar has an infinitely recurring attacker at its disposal, that can 2HKO some strong Pokemon.
Let’s take a look at lists for these decks:
Malamar
[decklist name=”Malamar Worlds19″ amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”63″][pokemon amt=”19″]4x [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Inkay” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”50″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Ultra Necrozma-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Giratina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”97″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”63″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”31″]4x [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Primal Clash” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Pokemon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Switch” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Escape Board” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Spell Tag” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”190″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x Reset Stamp (UNM #196)3x [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”10″]7x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”7″][/card]3x [card name=”Metal Energy” set=”XY” no=”139″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
4 Jirachi
I’m a strong believer that in this format, Jirachi should either be played as a 4-of, or not at all. The only way to search for it is [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card], and you generally don’t want to spend one for a Jirachi since you have more important targets. Plus, unlike in the past format where you could often use a Nest Ball to search for Jirachi and have decent odds that Stellar Wish would then give you another Item to search for Inkay, giving you immediate profits for Jirachi, the odds of finding a Mysterious Treasure or another Pokemon Communication are now pretty low, so it’s not worth getting Jirachi instead of Inkay or Malamar, unless you need to find a Supporter (and your [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] is unavailable).
This means that if you want to use Jirachi — and it makes sense, especially in a deck like Malamar / Ultra Necrozma-GX where you’re going to often use [card name=”Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] to get an attacker back to the Bench — you want to maximise your odds of starting with it. Even if you don’t start with it, with four Jirachi in your deck, it’s likely that you’ll find one early off a draw Supporter or an [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card]. Additional Jirachi can be discarded or put back in the deck for Pokemon Communication.
2 Ultra Necrozma-GX [cardimg name=”Ultra Necrozma-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”95″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
You could make a case that you should play 3 since there’s no Rescue Stretcher to get it back (or Marshadow-GX to act as a third copy). However, most of the time, we’re attacking with Giratina, with Ultra Necrozma-GX acting more as a late game attacker, so it’s not really needed. If you find yourself attacking with Ultra Necrozma-GX more than expected, though, definitely consider the third copy.
1 Mew
With Pikachu & Zekrom-GX’s popularity, [card name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] is a good idea to include. It can easily be searched, and having more Pokemon is always good if you want to play more Pokemon Communication.
1 Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX
This could be any number of secondary attackers. I like [card name=”Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] because its GX attack gets much stronger in a format without Guzma or [card name=”Escape Rope” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], and it works great against [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] since it can OHKO it.
[premium]
4 Lillie, 4 Cynthia, 4 Acro Bike
These are your draw cards and, in my experience, they’re enough to set up your board comfortably. I’m not a big fan of [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] and I’m sure we’ll eventually get better cards to run, but it’s a good way to draw more cards early on while discarding Psychic Energy, Giratina, or additional Jirachi.
3 Pokemon Communication
Many players like to run four copies of Communication to compensate for the lack of Nest Ball and Ultra Ball. In my opinion, it’s a mistake to try to copy too closely how the deck was built pre-rotation. Unlike Nest Ball and Ultra Ball, Pokemon Communication requires a Pokemon in hand, and there’s not enough Pokemon in the deck to rely that heavily on it. I believe that three Communication is the right number in this deck.
2 Spell Tag
Without [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] in the format, reactive Tools such as [card name=”Spell Tag” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card] get much more value — especially since there’s also no Guzma or Escape Rope to avoid hitting the Active Pokemon. I tried playing a full four copies of Spell Tag and wasn’t convinced of its utility, and it’s possible to cut the card altogether, but a couple copies of it can still help reach some counts, whether it’s for a 2HKO on a Tag Team or to prepare for a big Sky-Scorching Light GX turn, especially in combination with Distortion Door. Spell Tag is more important in the Garchomp & Giratina-GX variant of Malamar, in order to activate Garchomp & Giratina-GX’s second attack.
Other Options
Red’s Challenge and Hapu
These are some other Supporters that can be ran in this deck. I don’t think [card name=”Red’s Challenge” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”184″ c=”name”][/card] is worth it in the above list since there’s few unique cards to search for, but in a more teched-out list, I can see it being useful. Hapu lets you draw useful cards and discard other ones, but I’m a bit worried about discarding Metal Energy or precious attackers with it. It might still prove to be a good card to play in this deck, though.
[card name=”Gengar and Mimikyu-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]
An alternate attacker. Horror House GX used to be a great attack to set up your game-winning attack, but without Guzma, it’s not as strong. However, Poltergeist is a great attack against [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] decks, which tend to play a lot of Trainer cards.
Beast Energy Prism Star
With no [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] in the format, [card name=”Beast Energy Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] can act as an alternate damage modifier for Ultra Necrozma-GX. With it and three Psychic Energy, Photon Geyser is an OHKO on every Tag Team Pokemon (except [card name=”Magikarp and Wailord-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM166″ c=”name”][/card], who isn’t played). However, Spell Tag and Distortion Door can also put these Pokemon to 260 HP to allow for this KO. The reason why I didn’t include Beast Energy in the above list is that I tend to use Giratina most of the time and Beast Energy doesn’t help it at all.
Genesect
This card hasn’t seen any play in Malamar but it could be a very strong choice. With 130 HP and Psychic resistance, it survives Shadow Impact in the mirror match and can spread damage on opposing Malamar so that they can be finished off with Spell Tag and Distortion Door. Its main issue is Mew, but people generally won’t play down Mew against Malamar decks. [card name=”Genesect” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”127″ c=”name”][/card] will also have free retreat most of the time since GX Pokemon are so prevalent in the format, which is a very strong plus.
Cherish Ball
If you want a bit more consistency, Cherish Ball is an option, especially if you play secondary attackers like Gengar & Mimikyu-GX. It also searches for Dedenne-GX so it can act as a hand refresher.
PikaRom
[decklist name=”PikaRom Worlds19″ amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″][pokemon amt=”13″]2x [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Zeraora-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”86″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX (UNM #54)1x [card name=”Tapu Koko Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”51″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”36″]4x [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Volkner” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Electropower” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Electromagnetic Radar” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Switch” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Energy Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Pokemon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Escape Board” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x Reset Stamp (UNM #196)1x Tag Switch (UNM #199)1x Stadium Nav (UNM #198)1x [card name=”Lysandre Labs” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”111″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Thunder Mountain Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”191″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”11″]11x [card name=”Lightning Energy” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”11″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
This list is heavily inspired by Daniel Altavilla’s list, posted on YouTube. I believe it’s a very strong build that plays to PikaRom’s strengths: its aggressiveness and access to Custom Catcher.
4 Jirachi
As I said in the previous section, I think playing four Jirachi is optimal. In this deck, Jirachi is very important to search for Custom Catcher or Volkner (that can itself find Custom Catcher).
1 Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX
I underestimated Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX but it’s proving amazing in this deck. Tandem Shock can OHKO every relevant non-GX Pokemon in the deck, but even against Tag Teams, it can paralyse them, which is very strong in a format without Guzma or [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card], since there are only a few ways to recover from it. (Switch is the main one; [card name=”Super Scoop Up” set=”Shining Legends” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Escape Board” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] are also options depending on the deck.) Lightning Ride GX also has the highest damage output in the deck, which is important given that Tag Teams with more and more HP are being played and, as ridiculous as it sounds, Tag Bolt GX’s 200 damage is just not enough.
0 Zapdos
[card name=”Zapdos” set=”Team Up” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] used to be a good attacker in Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, but without Guzma, it has no point anymore. With Zapdos, you could easily get Zapdos in the Active spot even on turn 1 and Knock Out a vulnerable Pokemon on your opponent’s Bench, but Custom Catcher is not a good replacement in this case. It’s much slower, and since you only have a limited amount of them, you want to keep them for bigger targets. In addition, the absence of Nest Ball makes it much harder to search for it. The absence of Zapdos does mean that the deck has no non-GX attacker (except Tapu Koko Prism Star), so it almost auto-loses to Keldeo-GX. However, one Zapdos wouldn’t have made much of a difference anyway.
4 Electromagnetic Radar, 2 Pokemon Communication
Apart from Jirachi and Tapu Koko Prism Star, this deck only uses Lightning-type GX Pokemon, which lets us use Electromagnetic Radar to its full potential. Pokemon Communication is here to help find Tapu Koko Prism Star. With only 13 Pokemon in the deck, Pokemon Communication is far from ideal, but Electromagnetic Radar makes it playable: you can use it to search for Dedenne-GX and something else, put the second Pokemon back in the deck with Communication and search for Tapu Koko Prism Star.
1 Stadium Nav
This new Item is, in my opinion, what pushes PikaRom above other decks. Sure, it’s harder to search for Tapu Koko Prism Star, which was the key card to get a turn 2 Full Blitz. However, with Volkner, you can now search for Stadium Nav which has 75% odds to get Thunder Mountain Prism Star. Despite the non-negligible failure rate, this helps a lot with preserving the odds of a turn 2 Full Blitz.
1 Lysandre Labs
I think having a second Stadium is necessary, both to make the most out of Stadium Nav, but also to counter opposing stadiums such as [card name=”Black Market Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Heat Factory Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card]. [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] would be another option here, but I like [card name=”Lysandre Labs” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card] to counter Tool cards like [card name=”Fairy Charm L” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”172″ c=”name”][/card] and Spell Tag. Just be careful not to play it down when you have a Jirachi with Escape Board in the Active spot.
All in all, Pikachu & Zekrom-GX does have some weak spots. Keldeo-GX is one, and Power Plant is often another since the deck relies on Dedenne-GX to draw cards. However, it’s not easy for every deck to fit PikaRom counters without sacrificing other matchups. And as long as people don’t over-tech against it, PikaRom is one of the most dangerous decks out there. Even Mew is not the fantastic counter one would expect, since without Rescue Stretcher, PikaRom can expend Custom Catcher to KO Mew and then use Tag Bolt GX to take multiple KOs in one turn. (Or, in matchups where there are no good targets to KO with Tag Bolt GX, it can instead use Lightning Ride GX as its GX attack, making Mew irrelevant.)
The Challenger
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I have a soft spot for Zoroark-GX. Not just because I had some amazing results with it (although that’s relevant), but also because I think the card is very good for the game. It’s an attacker with a draw engine included, that requires you to make meaningful choices in-game regarding what to discard (at least in Standard). Its damage output is good but not as good as most other decks out there, so you have to compensate its lower strength with secondary attackers, techs, and more generally, good deckbuilding.
Is there anything to fill the Zoroark-sized hole in the format (and in my heart)? Maybe not. However, if there’s a good candidate for that, it’s the new Naganadel-GX. Ultra Conversion is, in theory, a better draw engine than Trade, although you need to play Ultra Beasts to use it. This specificity makes it worse against hand disruption like Reset Stamp (unless you have [card name=”Ultra Space” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] in the deck). Naganadel-GX also has a good attack with Venom Shot, that combines well with [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card], but it’s far more limited as Zoroark-GX’s Riotous Beating: you need two Energy cards to use it, it’s a waste of resources unless you use it to KO a GX Pokemon (or 2HKO a Tag Team), and it’s countered by Mew. In other words, it’s situational. However, Ultra Beasts, as a rule, tend to be situational, if only because of their Prize cards theme: [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Nihilego” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”106″ c=”name”][/card], for example, are only good at some specific times when they hit a power spike. Naganadel-GX is another example of that.
[cardimg name=”Naganadel-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”56″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
To recap: we have a card that requires us to play a lot of Ultra Beasts, that makes good use of Triple Acceleration Energy, that evolves from Poipole, but that would benefit from having a less situational attacker. What could help? Why, the other [card name=”Naganadel-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card], of course! Stinger GX has proven to be a very powerful attack against Tag Team decks since you only need to Knock Out one Tag Team Pokemon after using it in order to win the game, and it’s a natural inclusion in a deck that already runs the new Naganadel-GX. In addition, Beast Raid can be a strong attack in the early game if you have a few Ultra Beasts in play, and when your opponent Knocks it Out, you can start using your situational attackers: Buzzwole, Xurkitree, Nihilego. The only issue is that you can only fit a total of four Naganadel-GX in the deck.
Let’s explore a bit further how to build this deck, starting with its core. A 4-4 line of Naganadel-GX is obvious, although we’ll have to decide between a 3-1 or 2-2 split of UNM Naganadel-GX and FLI Naganadel-GX. We’re also pretty much guaranteed to run at least 3 Ultra Space, Mysterious Treasure (since they search for Poipole and Naganadel-GX), Triple Acceleration Energy, and Beast Energy Prism Star. Pokemon Communication will also most likely feature in the deck since we’ll need to play a lot of Pokemon for Ultra Conversion.
Now, there are a lot of other ideas to keep in mind…
The Almost-Cores
These are the cards that will most likely fit in the deck, unless I find another way to run the deck that would be incompatible with them. They just seem like the best options.
Buzzwole, Xurkitree, Nihilego
These three Pokemon are the main situational attackers of the deck. It’s reasonable to run multiple copies of them, since extra copies can always be discarded to Ultra Conversion. It’s not uncommon to attack with Buzzwole, then Xurkitree, then Nihilego three turns in a row, especially since with few Gust effects in the format, your opponent will likely have to Knock them Out in order to take Prizes.
Kartana
Another situational attacker, [card name=”Kartana” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”19″ c=”name”][/card]’s main draw is actually its zero Retreat Cost. It’s a great pivot in the deck and it’s good to Bench it as soon as possible, so that every turn, you can search for the most appropriate attacker.
Custom Catcher
[card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] is definitely an important card to run in this deck for several reasons. First, if you want to use Stinger GX as your way of winning the game, you need a way to bring your opponent’s damaged Tag Team Pokemon from the Bench to the Active if you want to win the game on your next turn. You could argue that Venom Shot could be another way to get this KO, but not only does it require one Energy already on Naganadel-GX, it’s also easily countered by Mew. Speaking of which, another reason why Custom Catcher is useful is to KO Mew so that Naganadel-GX is free to use Venom Shot on juicy targets like Dedenne-GX. Finally, Custom Catcher also lets you bring out the most appropriate targets for your big attacks: for example, a Fighting-weak Pokemon when you want to use Sledgehammer. Thanks to the deck’s draw engine, it’s reasonable to get multiple Custom Catcher in hand at the same time, since you’ll often get multiple.
Persian-GX (and Ditto Prism Star)
[card name=”Persian-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card] was a great partner for Zoroark-GX for several reasons: Cat Walk combines perfectly with a GX main attacker, the deck already runs Triple Acceleration Energy, and Zoroark-GX’s Ability let it discard Pokemon that fuel Vengeance’s damage. For all these reasons, it also works as a partner to Naganadel-GX! Cat Walk is even more important now, since it’s a way to gather multiple Custom Catcher in hand.
Brock’s Grit
This deck will necessarily discard a lot of Pokemon with Ultra Conversion, so [card name=”Brock’s Grit” set=”Team Up” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] is important to get them back. Not only does this allow you to reuse, say, a Naganadel-GX that you had to discard in the early game, but having a good density of Ultra Beasts in the deck is necessary so that you can keep drawing them and discarding them to Ultra Conversion. As always with these sorts of decks, running utility Supporters like Brock’s Grit is far more palatable when you can draw cards in the same turn thanks to your Abilities.
Beast Ball
I like [card name=”Beast Ball” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] a lot as a 1-of. Getting cards out of your Prize cards is something that most decks can’t do, and it’s a very powerful consistency booster. This is especially true in a deck with many situational cards.
Strong Options
Here are the cards that may or may not fit in the deck, depending on the angle we take. They’re good options to keep in mind, though.
Porygon-Z and Recycle Energy
These cards seem to be played in Japan in combination with Naganadel-GX. The idea is that with [card name=”Porygon-Z” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card], you can attach multiple Recycle Energy in one turn to power up Venom Shot, then discard the Recycle Energy that go back to your hand. This makes the deck less reliant on your limited amount of Triple Acceleration Energy. I’m not convinced that this is strong post-rotation. On the one hand, Bench sitters like Porygon-Z get much better in a format with no Guzma, since it’s unlikely that the opponent is going to expend a pair of Custom Catcher to take one Prize. On the other hand, fitting a Stage 2 line (and therefore [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card]) in a deck that already needs to run a lot of other Pokemon is not easy, and powering up Venom Shot every turn is only good if you can get rid of Mew. Therefore, you need to fit Naganadel-GX, a good amount of other Ultra Beasts, Porygon-Z and Rare Candy, Custom Catcher to get rid of Mew, and a good amount of Energy in the deck to benefit from Porygon-Z. I don’t think this can fit in one deck without sacrificing a lot of consistency, but maybe I’ll be proven wrong.
Beast Ring
It may seem like a no-brainer to include [card name=”Beast Ring” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] in a deck focused on Ultra Beasts, but here’s the issue: are we playing basic Energy? It’s possible to have a deck that runs basic Energy, maybe even excluding Triple Acceleration Energy. In order to use all the situational Ultra Beasts, though, we need Fighting, Lightning and Psychic Energy (and possibly Grass for Kartana). I think the only way to make this work is to focus the deck more on Naganadel-GX’s Beast Raid, which can use any type of Energy. Then, as it gets Knocked Out, we get access to Beast Ring to power up our other attackers. The alternative is to exclude Beast Ring and run Special Energy: Triple Acceleration Energy, [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Unit Energy LPM” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card]. Maybe it’s still possible to fit a Psychic Energy and Beast Ring to help power up Venom Shot in one turn, but that won’t be a focus of the deck.
Cherish Ball
The deck already has some good consistency options, but Cherish Ball can easily find Dedenne-GX on turn 1 or Naganadel-GX on turn 2, in both cases letting you draw cards. It can also search for Persian-GX and some other techs, so it’s worth playing one or two.
Mew[cardimg name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Mew is probably worth including in this deck, otherwise Tag Bolt GX can do some big damage: skipping Beast Ring or Sledgehammer turns, taking three Prizes and preventing the Stinger GX win condition, and so on. It should be noted, though, that there’s another Fighting-type Tag Team Pokemon that can take three Prizes in one turn after Stinger GX: Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX. In the Dark Box matchup, it will probably be necessary to make heavy use of Buzzwole, so maybe that’s also the way to go against Pikachu & Zekrom-GX and Mew can be cut.
Other Ultra Beasts
In addition to the ones above, there are some other situational Ultra Beasts. [card name=”Xurkitree-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM68″ c=”name”][/card] could be a game changer if Special Energy-reliant decks somehow become good. [card name=”Pheromosa and Buzzwole-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”1″ c=”name”][/card]’s Beast Game GX is an alternative to Stinger GX, but with Custom Catcher in the deck, it might be too good not to include. [card name=”Celesteela” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”100″ c=”name”][/card] is harder to use than other attackers, but it hits hard. These will probably all depend on the metagame, but it’s good to keep them in mind. [card name=”Stakataka-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] is also a possibility. A possible benefit would be to prevent Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX’s Greedy Crush from getting an OHKO on Naganadel-GX after Stinger-GX.
Unlikely Options
This is where it gets weird. The ideas below are more theoretical than anything else, and most likely aren’t the optimal way to run the deck, but I still wanted to include them for completeness’s sake and because I might be underrating some of them.
Kartana + Professor Elm’s Lecture
If there was a 60 HP Poipole, [card name=”Professor Elm’s Lecture” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”188″ c=”name”][/card] would most likely be core in this deck, since it already searches for Meowth and Ditto Prism Star. Unfortunately, there’s not. Still, we could use Professor Elm’s Lecture in combination with the [card name=”Kartana” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”101″ c=”from”][/card], which has 60 HP. This gives us a way to get more Ultra Beasts in hand, which can then be discarded with Ultra Conversion. We can still search for Poipole with Pokemon Communication, Mysterious Treasure and Ultra Space, and [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] can evolve into Naganadel-GX so if we play Elm’s on turn 1, we can still have a Naganadel-GX on turn 2. Also, this is the best way to find Meowth in the deck. The issue is that we have to run Kartana which is only there to be discarded.
Lusamine
I mentioned that utility Supporters get better in a deck with a built-in draw engine. [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] sounds very strange, but Lusamine loops would let us play Brock’s Grit multiple times, which lets us get away with playing less Ultra Beasts in the deck (so we don’t have to run the bad Kartana, for example). As a bonus, it can get back Ultra Space, which gets us an Ultra Beast and counters opposing Stadiums (especially Power Plant). The issue is that Lusamine only gets strong when we have good Supporters to get back, and I’m not sure that Brock’s Grit is reason enough to play it.
Damage Modifiers
An issue with this deck is that its damage options can all feel a bit underwhelming when you’re not hitting for Weakness. The 120 damage from Sledgehammer or Xurkitree’s Three Mirrors is not good enough to OHKO some non-GX Pokemon or 2HKO most Tag Teams. Venom Shot is short of an OHKO on many GX attackers (think Ultra Necrozma-GX or Blacephalon-GX). Beast Energy Prism Star can fix the math, but only once. Maybe the deck could then benefit from some damage modifiers. Buzzwole can use [card name=”Diancie Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] as a partner, Xurkitree can use [card name=”Electropower” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”172″ c=”name”][/card], and Naganadel-GX could even use [card name=”Dragon Talon” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”59″ c=”name”][/card]. These are all very situational, though.
Hoopa from Unified Minds
This is a counter for Malamar and especially Giratina. Against Malamar decks, you can’t use Beast Raid since Giratina will easily OHKO the Psychic Naganadel-GX thanks to Weakness, and you’ll have to use Venom Shot against Malamar — or even the active Giratina if there’s a Mew in play. That’s pretty bad, so Hoopa could be included to be the early-game attacker against Malamar decks.
Some Assembly Required
That’s a lot of cards; how do they all fit together? That’s the hard part. We haven’t even talked about Supporters yet! [card name=”Lillie” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] are usually good options, but in this deck, they quickly become useless as we accumulate cards in hand. Maybe there’s better cards to run? [card name=”Ultra Recon Squad” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] is an unusual card and can also be redundant with Ultra Conversion, but it provides a way to draw six cards as soon as turn 1, so it’s a strong consideration here.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a good enough list to provide here. I’m still in the process of testing some ideas and I’m switching cards in and out every few games. I hope this article can encourage you to explore as I’m sure that Naganadel-GX will be good as some point. Hopefully I can write a full article on it if I can figure out a list that I believe to be strong!
Before I leave you, here’s one more thing about Naganadel-GX: it can also be used as a support Pokemon in decks that don’t focus as much on it. For example, Blacephalon-GX already runs a huge Naganadel line. I believe that Naganadel-GX is a good addition here. My current list only runs 13 Ultra Beasts (4 Blacephalon-GX, 4 Poipole, 3 Naganadel and 2 Naganadel-GX) and most of these will be played as soon as possible, so you won’t be using Ultra Conversion every turn. That said, getting to draw more cards on your Beast Ring turn or after a Reset Stamp can be a huge help. It’s also OK to include more Naganadel-GX since you can always discard the extra copies to Ultra Conversion.
Until next time, best luck in all your games!
Stéphane
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