Zoroark GX and Decidueye GX Teaming Up

Hey hey hey, Flipside!

Today I will be deviating from my normal off meta decks for the current format in order to examine a deck I believe will be a strong contender for the unestablished BKT-CRI format.  That deck, is Zoroark Decidueye.

When I first saw the new sets, Zoroark Decidueye was not one of my top options for testing, but after a few brief attempts with Buzzwole and Silvally, I came to believe neither would make its way to the top of the competitive tier lists.  Once I had given up on my frontrunners, I decided to try pairing Zoroark with Decidueye.  I quickly realized it was a match made in heaven.

A Perfect Pairing:

Ideally, a very competitive card has obvious strengths and weaknesses.  The reason Zoroark and Decidueye work is because of how well they cover for each other’s short comings.  Zoroark’s damage isn’t quite high enough to take OHKO’s on basic EX and GX Pokemon, even with a choice band.  Deciduye is typically able to add 20-60 damage each turn, making 170-210 damage knockouts very achievable (this was what made me consider it in the first place).  Zoroark sometimes has to discard valuable resources.  Decidueye can retrieve them with its Hallow Hunt GX.  Decidueye is clunky.  Zoroark adds consistency to help you find the pieces you need.  Decidueye takes up a lot of bench space.  Zoroark wants a full bench for extra damage.  The only real problem that neither can address is that they both give two prizes.  However, a single copy of Zoroark BKT gives you a one prize attacker and also allows you to hit higher numbers than are possible with Zoroark GX (it also can apply pressure to keep your opponent from utilizing their entire bench).

A Good Deck: 

While I have made many (relatively) successful decks, I have made very few good decks.  For instance, I made an all EX version of Rainbow Road that I believe was one of the strongest decks in the PRC-EVO format, but I would not say it was a good deck, in a certain sense of the word.  In this sense, a good deck is one that is strong in and of itself.  It is not an anti-meta deck.  It is not a deck that will fold as the meta changes (like RR did).  It is one that features inherently strong cards that support an inherently strong concept.  Decks like Mega Mewtwo, Yveltal Garbodor, and Gardevoir GX were good decks.  M Mewtwo and Yveltal were only pushed out of the format because Gardevoir is a power creeped form of the two cards (and in Mega Mewtwo’s case, weakness to a common archetype, Garbodor).

Zoroark Decidueye is a good deck.  It is a strong concept with flexible damage and many options.  The deck has a specific but malleable game plan that must be answered by the opponent.  The deck does not seek to answer the problem presented by the opponent’s deck, but it is a problem itself.

A Nice Run:

  Once I think of a new deck and make a preliminary list, I begin to test it online to see how it runs.  I lost my first couple of games with Zoroark Decidueye and changed some of the painfully obvious flaws with my list.  After the changes I started to win.  I won game after game.  Eventually, I had to go to sleep without losing a single game.  I did not play online again until I was able to stream.  Whenever I get a double-digit win streak, I like to stream it on my YouTube channel.  After well over an hour of streaming, I still had not lost.  The next day, I streamed some more and only went to bed after I had increased my streak to twenty wins.  The next night, I decided to play five games.  During my final game of the night, I played the mirror.  My opponent got a much better start, and while I was able to make the game pretty close, I was never able to gain the lead.  I lost after twenty-four wins in a row, and I immediately made some changes.  That is how I arrived at my list.

4-3/1 Zoroark GX

Other people who worked on this deck tried two Zoroark GX.  Zoroark is not only the main attacker, it is also the consistency of the deck.  A single copy of baby Zoroark is good because it is a one prize attacker that can go active at any time and it forces your opponent to play conservatively or accept 160 base damage.

4-3-4 Decidueye GX

While four Decidueye is pretty rare, it is not uncommon to get three on your bench.  If you are able to get three Decidueye, you can snipe most basics in stage two decks.  That is super important against the likes of Gardevoir GX.  In certain matchups, like Gardevoir, Lycanrock, and Greninja you actually focus more on decidueye than zoroark.  The three Dartrix work well with a high evosoda count.

2 Tapu Lele GX

Bench space is too tight to play three.  One isn’t consistent enough.

3 Sycamore, 4 N

I was originally using three of each.  I decided the deck needed another supporter because I was too often starting the game from behind by missing a T1/T2 draw supporter.  Tord’s statement about needing 15 outs to a good T1 supporter confirmed my thoughts here.  I chose another N over Sycamore because I want to N Gardevoir a lot.

2 Brigette

You want this to be your starting supporter every game, but you will almost never use it after that.  You need two in case one is prized, but you can always discard the second one.  I could even see three, but it isn’t necessary.  I would add a fourth Sycamore before a third Brigette.

2 Guzma

Three might be nice, but space is really tight, and Decidueye’s ability to snipe knockouts allows you to play a lighter line of Guzma.  I do often use Hallow Hunt GX for a Guzma.

3 Evosoda

Evosoda is actually so good in this deck.  It prevents dead draws after turn one by getting a Zoroark GX.  It also is your answer to spread decks, along with Field Blower.  With those two, you will only have to evolve into Po Town once or twice per game.

4 Choice Band

I really like four choice band, and it makes your math super nice in a ton of matchups.  150 from a Zoroark GX is easily increased to 170-190 with Decidueyes. It is not farfetched for a baby Zoroark to go from 190 to 250 (230 vs Gardevoir because of resistance).

A Choice Band would be one of the first five cards I cut, if I needed to add in something else, but I really think four is optimal.

3 Field Blower

Field Blower is actually super strong in this deck.  It takes off Fury belts, gets rid of Po Towns, and reactivates your abilities against Garbodor.  Four is not necessary, but I do often retrieve one with Hallow Hunt GX against Garbodor decks.  If it is not important in the matchup, they are great discard fodder for Zoroark GX.

2 Escape Rope

 Escape Rope wins you a lot of games.  I am always tempted to cut one, but they are amazing for baiting misplays.  You can have so much more information than your opponent about what your deck is capable of before you play escape rope.  They have to choose between putting up their next attacker and trusting you can’t knock it out or putting up something that has to retreat the next turn.  If they have a free retreater like Koko, escape rope loses a lot of value here, but if they have a Trubbish or Garbodor with a float stone, you can blow it off after using Escape Rope.  Always try to give your opponent as little information as possible before using Escape Rope, but sometimes you have to give up some in order to gain more information yourself.

2 Rare Candy

Only playing two Rare Candy seems a bit strange, but rare candy decks that can’t search always have a huge possibility of being inconsistent.  Evolving through Ultra Ball and Evosoda also protects you from being as devastated by devolution.  You typically want to dig for a Decidueye when you have a Rare Candy rather than the other way around, but you should know your probabilities first.

1 Super Rod

I play a rod over a rescue stretcher for those games where I need to get back a grass to attack with Decidueye.

1 Max Potion

This is another card that helps against spread decks.  Its main use, however, is to fully heal a Zoroark, which can attack again in the same turn with a single attachment.  While it is not always needed, Max Potion is a card that can turn some matchups.  I often Hallow Hunt GX for it as well.

2 Grass

Two Grass is very low, but in most matchups, you will only attack with one Decidueye.  In Matchups where you do attack with more than one, you can Super Rod back the grass energy and attack with a Zoroark (preferably the baby) until you are able to get it attached.

No Espeon EX:

This is not a spread deck.  I need to test against better Gardevoir players before I decide I need an Espeon.  If I include an Espeon, I will also need at least one of koko or Latios.  That would add two bench spaces that cannot be Decidueye.

Decidueye is a strong deck, and I believe this list is a great place to start your testing.  I look forward to seeing how the deck does this weekend at the EUIC and the different approaches to the concept.  I am sure the meta will change to some extent, and the list will have to be updated in response.