The Five Pillars of Expanded — The Decks that Hold Expanded Together
Hey PokeBeach readers! I just got back from Anaheim Regionals, so I’m here to share my experience with you and talk about my favorite decks in the Expanded format! First, we will go over how my Regionals went with Yveltal / Garbodor, and then we will dive right in to the Expanded format with Yveltal / Maxie’s, Seismitoad-EX / Decidueye-GX, and Turbo Dark! I have already begun testing for St. Louis to ensure that I am fully prepared for the event, as I haven’t played much Expanded this year. Without further ado, let’s get started with Standard.
California Regionals Report
Here’s a quick recap of how my matches went.
- Round 1 versus Turbo Dark 2-0 (1-0)
- Round 2 versus M Rayquaza-EX 1-1 (1-0-1)
- Round 3 versus M Rayquaza-EX 2-0 (2-0-1)
- Round 4 versus M Mewtwo-EX 2-0 (3-0-1)
- Round 5 versus M Mewtwo-EX 2-0 (4-0-1)
- Round 6 versus Volcanion 2-0 (5-0-1)
- Round 7 versus Turbo Dark 2-1 (6-0-1)
- Round 8 versus M Mewtwo-EX 1-1 (6-0-2)
- Round 9 versus Yveltal / Garbodor 2-1 (7-0-2)
- Round 10 versus Turbo Dark 1-1 (7-0-3)
- Round 11 versus M Mewtwo-EX 1-1 (7-0-4)
- Round 12 versus Gyarados 0-2 (7-1-4)
- Round 13 versus Turbo Dark 1-2 (7-2-4)
- Round 14 versus M Mewtwo-EX ID (7-2-5)
The List
I am not going to go into deep analysis about the deck’s matchups, as they are pretty much the same as what I have described in my previous articles.
Card Choices
One Garbodor
Before the event, I realized Ability decks just didn’t seem as popular as they once were. I also expected a lot of M Mewtwo-EX decks, so I removed the second Garbodor in favor of Mewtwo. Having just one Garbodor didn’t hurt me a single time, especially because I had the safety net of Super Rod.
Super Rod
This card has been helping me a ton all year. I love it in combination with the singular techs I have in the list, such as Tauros-GX and Garbodor. It can also recover three Dark Energy in the late game, which can help with Max Elixir.
Enhanced Hammer
A lot of people had removed these with the release of Sun and Moon, but Enhanced Hammer was extremely powerful during Regionals. Nine of my 14 opponents had Special Energy in their deck, and a lot of those Energy were removed by Enhanced Hammer.
Potential Inclusions
Professor Kukui
This card was included in Azul Garcia Griego’s list for the event, where he ended up finishing in the Top 32, just like me. Professor Kukui could definitely be helpful for scoring Knock Outs that you would normally be just out of reach for. It can also be an important card in the mirror match and against M Mewtwo-EX decks because it can lower the amount of Energy needed on your attacker.
Expanded Education
Sun and Moon’s Impact on Expanded
- Decidueye-GX was released, leaving players to decide if it should replace Crobat in Seismitoad-EX variants. From my testing so far, I would have to say it absolutely should.
- Tauros-GX can be splashed into pretty much any deck, just like in Standard.
- Timer Ball gives Vileplume decks a consistency and speed boost. Will it be enough to bring the plant back to life?
- Oranguru is being included as a one-of in a few decks, such as Yveltal / Maxie’s, Turbo Dark, and M Rayquaza-EX.
- Alolan Muk has become quite popular as a tech in Trevenant, which not only adds to the lock the deck creates, but helps deal with Giratina Promo.
Important Other Notes
- It seems as if no one is actually playing the Giratina Promo, which means Trevenant BREAK and Greninja BREAK could surprise people.
- From what I have seen, people seem to prefer Seismitoad-EX / Crobat over Seismitoad-EX / Decidueye-GX.
- A lot of Trevenant‘s matches are determined by who goes first in game one, which is very unhealthy for the format.
I am now going to talk about what I consider to be the five most popular decks in Expanded and their matchups.
Yveltal / Maxie’s
Mark Garcia’s winning list from San Jose, and I currently only have a one card difference from his. I really like the way he built the deck for almost max consistency, as I build my decks the same way.
Card Choices
Jirachi-EX
Jirachi-EX helps a bunch with getting the turn one Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick. It just adds a ton of consistency to the deck. In terms of it being a free Prize, you can use Parallel City to remove it from your Bench if needed.
A Second Parallel City
I prefer this over the 1/1 split between Parallel City and Reverse Valley. Parallel City can be super punishing to the decks that have no counter to it or have to dig for their counter, such as Turbo Dark.
Potential Inclusions
Oranguru
This card does have some pretty incredible synergy with Gallade, but I have found it to be somewhat of a “win more” card in the games where it gets to reach its full potential. If Gallade has already made its way onto your field, you should be in a good spot in that game already. I have also found it to be somewhat difficult to manage Bench space with this deck, assuming Oranguru is taking up a spot. In addition to this, Oranguru has little to no value on turns where Professor Sycamore is played, because it isn’t very easy to play your hand down to less than three.
A Fourth Battle Compressor
This would be for added consistency. In combination with VS Seeker it allows you to access any Supporter in your deck, and it is the most important piece of getting a turn one Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick play off.
Reverse Valley
Reverse Valley is good against an opposing Parallel City, but this list already includes a Delinquent, which deals with that problem single handedly. It can be useful as an added damage boost, but I usually don’t find myself in situations like that very often.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
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