Landfill Expansion — Trashalanche in Expanded

The Expanded format has so many options. Night March is seen as the front-runner right now, since it’s still hot off a win in the first Regional Championship of the year. In the hands of Michael Pramawat, the deck showed that it was still capable of falling even its toughest Expanded foes like Oricorio, Seismitoad-EX, and Karen. Garbodor, though, was certainly lurking in the shadows in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and took up plenty of the spots in day two! Limiting Item cards is a significant hurdle for any player to hurdle, which makes Garbodor as fearsome as ever. Better yet, Items are even more prevalent in the Expanded format, since there are many more “turbo” engine decks that rely on Item-based draw.

Builds with Garbodor are a comfort deck of mine, since I’ve had so much experience with it in the Standard format previously. I know this feeling translates to a lot of other players, too. In a format like Expanded where comfortability with your deck is almost more important than your deck choice itself since there are just so many options.

Garbodor is a non-EX/GX Pokemon, too, of course, which allows it to trade well against most of the Pokemon-EX/GX juggernauts in the format. Night March is probably the second best option, but comes with the Achilles heel of Oricorio, and Karen. Having a deck full of one-Prize attackers is super attractive, so if that’s something you’re looking for, you may have found your bread and butter. Enough rambling, though, time to break down the trash pile!

Examining the Trash

In my eyes, there are three different heaps of trash in the Expanded format that are worth picking through: Espeon-GX, Golisopod-GX, and the “Dimension Valley Toolbox” version. All three are pretty different, and come with a different set of strengths, and weaknesses. Time for me to go over each one!

Espeon-GX / Garbodor

What, is this the Standard format? Nope, and for good reason, Espeon-GX / Garbodor isn’t too great in Standard anymore (trust me, I’ve played it for a tournament). Anyways, in Expanded, the deck gains some new tools like Leafeon. Energy Crush is an amazing attack when facing off with Darkrai-EX decks, since it punishes your opponent’s normal strategy of dumping as many Darkness Energy as he or she can get into play. Against other decks, it’s generally the same old same old, approaching each game cautiously and using Psybeam often.

Drawing Items from your opponent in Expanded usually doesn’t take coercion, since nearly every deck relies on them! However, Psybeam is still incredibly powerful when trying to snag some extra Items for a boost in damage from Trashalanche. Divide GX is great for setting up Knock Outs against beefier Pokemon, and in matchups like Night March, you can gain an immediate edge if you’re able to use it effectively to take multiple Knock Outs for multiple Prizes.

Garbodor and Garbodor don’t take much explaining, but it’s worth mentioning that Garbotoxin is as degenerate as ever in the Expanded format. With many archetypes relying on Abilities for extra draw and sometimes even gameplay, it’s sweet to be able to lock that down. This version of a Garbodor deck is a little more “tanky”, with Espeon-GX clocking in with 200 HP. Amongst the three I’ll be talking about today, it is probably my second favorite build of Garbodor in Expanded.

Golisopod-GX / Garbodor

Again, is this Standard? Nah, Golisopod-GX is still super strong in the Expanded format, too! First Impression is the most cost-efficient attack in the game, and hits some popular Pokemon in Expanded for Weakness; a sick bonus! With 210 HP Golisopod-GX is actually heftier than the aforementioned Espeon-GX. Many decks can struggle to take down a Golisopod-GX, and in the process, your opponent is bound to play a bunch of Items down, too!

To make Golisopod-GX a viable attacker, all you need are a few Acerola, and a set of Guzma. Most decks are already playing Guzma, and for Acerola, it’s an easy fit into this deck. With it, you can keep chaining your Golisopod-GX and healing them, all the while drawing more and more Items from your opponent since he or she will be in such a stagnant position.

Playing this version makes you run the risk of facing a Fire deck, but if you can avoid those builds, it is arguably better than the other versions in a variety of ways. Blend Energy GRPD adds some super nice versatility that allows you to use a given Blend Energy to attack with either Garbodor, or Golisopod-GX. Darkrai-EX is a cool card to play, too, since you can gain a free Retreat with your Golisopod-GX thanks to Dark Cloak, and that’ll make it easier to activate the bonus damage of First Impression.

“Dimension Valley Toolbox” / Garbodor

The last variant I’ll be running over for you all today is the version of Garbodor that runs Dimension Valley. Since you’re playing such a versatile card that unlocks a whole slew of options for you as a player, this version of Garbodor is more like a toolbox. Drampa-GX, Mimikyu, and Necrozma-GX are all fine options to use in it, just to name a few. Dimension Valley assists all of those Pokemon’s attack costs, and makes them into much more solid attacking options when used in this type of a deck.

This version is a little more scrappy than others, meaning you’re going to be using a broader array of attacks, mainly for 2HKOs, building up to the point where your opponent plays enough Items down that you can take OHKOs. With so many options, it can be difficult to choose which attacker to use sometimes, but with some practice, you can master which is best in a certain situation.

While the other versions I’ve talked about do take a degree of skill to pilot, this one is by far the hardest, but most rewarding, if used correctly. The element of surprise that comes with playing lots of tech Pokemon can catch many a few opponents off guard, as well.

Where Are the Lists My Dude?

They’re coming, just a second! I don’t be doing an “Other Options” section today, but instead, I’ll mention other options within my explanations themselves. Additionally, within my explanation section, to not be redundant, I will not be covering the same counts of cards if they show up in other decks, since I would have already gone over why the count is solid. I don’t want to bore you! Alright, made ya wait… let’s go!

Kitties

Explain, Please!

Three Trubbish, One Trubbish, Three Garbodor, One Garbodor

I like a split of Trubbish in any Expanded Garbodor deck playing four of them. Tool Drop can be a powerful attack in the right situation, and is especially good as an attacker against Night March decks, since they usually play Dimension Valley themselves. As a non-EX/GX, it’s something you can trade one-for-one with your opponent. On the other hand, Garbage Collection is a very underrated attack, and can serve as a consistency measure when you’re left without a Supporter, but have one in your discard pile. It can certainly bail you out from a late game N, which is something super cool to think about!

Garbodor is your main attacker with Trashalanche (at least once your opponent plays a generous amount of Items), and playing three of them should come as no surprise by now. Garbotoxin is still strong in the Expanded format, putting a cap on Blastoise and Deluge, Eelektrik and Dynamotor, Volcanion-EX and Steam Up, and much more! While one isn’t exactly “optimal”, it’s the most you should be playing with the constraint of four Garbodor cards to a deck. Rescue Stretcher can always retrieve it after a Knock Out, so you shouldn’t worry too much about the single copy.

Three Eevee, Two Espeon-GX, One Leafeon, One Flareon

While I’m a big supporter of four Eevee, or least have been in the past, I will admit that Espeon-GX is not as powerful in the Expanded format as it is, or was, in the Standard format. That said, playing a lower count of Eevee makes sense. While you won’t start with it as often, Float Stone can bail you out in the times you don’t, and it’ll be nice not to have a ton of Eevee in your deck, clogging things up, for when attacking with Espeon-GX, or Leafeon, becomes obsolete.

Like I said just before, Espeon-GX isn’t as good in Expanded. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just not as strong. For that reason, I play two of them, and not three. Leafeon is a hot tech for Darkrai-EX, since Dark Pulse relies so heavily on getting oodles of Energy into play. Energy Crush will punish that strategy big time. Flareon is a tech for Golisopod-GX, which surprisingly saw a lot of play in a variety of decks at the last Expanded Regional Championship. Having a counter for Golisopod-GX is a good idea in this deck, since it can overpower you without one. Flareon with Vengeance is another option, but a little more gimmicky since this list lacks many good ways to efficiently discard Pokemon.

Two Tapu Lele-GX

The best support Pokemon in the game, and it’s best in a count of two in this deck. You want to save many of your open Bench spaces for Pokemon to attack with, so every Tapu Lele-GX you put down is at a premium, and creates a liability that your opponent can snag two Prizes off.

One Oricorio

With Night March being so relevant in the Expanded format, an Oricorio is a must in nearly every Expanded archetype. Its main job is to take two or Night March Pokemon at once, in hopes to get ahead in the Prize-trade.

This concludes the public portion of this article.

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