Sylveon GX – Magical Lockdown in Expanded

When Durant NVI was released, it brought a relatively new deck archetype into the game: milling. Mill decks seek to discard their opponent’s entire deck, and win off that rarely used condition. Durant did this very efficiently, removing four cards every turn. But as the average damage output of decks increased, Durant’s low HP and aggressive style became too weak. Sylveon GX follows the same goal, but plays entirely differently and fills in the weaknesses.

From my games with Sylveon, this deck does significantly better in Expanded. Playing in Expanded allows for a much more diverse set of Trainers, but does not add any more bad matchups.

Pokémon – 8

4 Eevee (SUM 101)

3 Sylveon GX (GRI 92)

1 Vaporeon (AOR 22)

Trainers - 39

4 Puzzle of Time

1 Head Ringer

1 Field Blower

1 Enhanced Hammer

1 Target Whistle

4 VS Seeker

4 Max Potion

2 Crushing Hammer

1 N

4 Team Flare Grunt

1 Xerosic

2 Lysandre

2 Team Rocket’s Handiwork

4 Delinquent

1 Hugh

2 Team Aqua’s Secret Base

4 Silent Lab

Energy - 13

12 Fairy Energy

1 Double Colorless Energy

Important Cards

Sylveon GX – Sylveon is obviously the attacker for this deck. Magical Ribbon can fetch any three cards from the deck, increasing the versatility of the Trainers that are playable. This deck contains an answer for everything, and it is all easily accessible.

Delinquent – Delinquent is what makes this deck work. It forces them to discard three cards from their hand on any turn you don’t need to play another Supporter. This makes every card more valuable to your opponent, and keeps them from dropping below three cards in their hand. These restrictions decrease the freedom they have to play, and keeps them from overwhelming Sylveon.

Lysandre – Lysandre is another critical supporter, but ideally would only be used once. It drags out a high retreat cost support Pokémon, and then Sylveon’s easy access to control cards locks the Pokémon active. The perfect target for something like this is Hoopa EX. Once it gets brought out, it gets a Head Ringer, locking out Float Stones. Team Aqua’s Secret Base increases the retreat cost to three, removing the viability of a Double Colorless Energy to retreat. From there, any energies they attach are easy targets for cards like Team Flare Grunt or Hammers. Even if they decide not to play down their Hoopa, Target Whistle will resurrect it from the discard, serving the same function.

Energy Removal – Sylveon would not survive very long without efficient energy removal. Between Team Flare Grunt, Xerosic, and Hammers, energies quickly melt away. They become even harder to keep up under the pressure of Delinquent’s card removal. Even if they do break through, Sylveon has a sturdy two hundred HP, meaning it won’t go down easily. OHKOing a Sylveon is the only way to kill it, due to the healing power of Max Potion.

Team Rocket’s Handiwork – This is the only direct mill card in the entire deck. Delinquent and Hugh both discard cards from the hand, but Team Rocket’s Handiwork is the only one that can do it from the deck. On turns when no other action is required, this card keeps up the pressure, and also forces the opponent to play cards, rather than draw-passing for the entire game.

Gameplay

With the goal to deck the enemy player in mind, Sylveon has a very reactive style. The first Magical Ribbon searches for basic setup cards like another Eevee and a Supporter. After that, it becomes vital to drag up a Pokémon that will get stuck in the active spot. Cards like Hoopa EX and Dragonite EX are the best targets, primarily because of the ability to Head Ringer them. Even if they already have a Float Stone, Field Blower can remove it and place a Head Ringer on before they have a chance to react.

Once there is a stuck Pokémon, the deck alternates between energy removal and mill. Crushing Hammer works great for doing both at the same time, but always has the potential to fail. However, when there is an opening the discard cards start to burn them down.

Ordering is very important when playing Sylveon, even more than in other decks. The volatility of Crushing Hammer means it should almost always be played first, and the one Stadium per turn rule means that Delinquent should usually be played before you play another Stadium.

Matchups

Almost every matchup is winnable given the right circumstances. The better matchups are those with low energy acceleration, or excessively high retreat costs. Max Elixir is largely irrelevant against Sylveon due to the benched only restriction. Max Elixir then has to be used defensively to power up a Hoopa before it is even brought out, in which case Sylveon simply finds a new target.

Volcanion is one of the exceptions to this. In Expanded, it regains Blacksmith, which can be used on the active. It also plays a high amount of switch-type cards to maneuver multiple Volcanion EXs. This forces Sylveon to become the aggressor, and is where the tech comes into play. With Vaporeon out, Volcanion becomes one hit by Sylveon’s second attack. This only requires one Fairy and one Double Colorless. Between Puzzles of Time and Silent Lab, Sylveon can output damage faster than Volcanion can.

Final Thoughts

Sylveon holds a unique place in the meta. Not only is it a new style of lock deck, its viability is based largely around the Trainers. Sylveon requires a strong pool of Trainers to draw from, and remains effective as long as they do. Upcoming cards like Torment Spray will increase Sylveon’s power, but if a strong switch card returns to the meta, it weakens Sylveon. None of the other Guardians Rising decks have good matchups against Sylveon, meaning it should start off powerful.