Magnezone has the highest ceiling of any new archetype from Ultra Prism. Its Magnetic Circuit Ability is ready to shine in decks full of Metal Pokemon that can do massive amounts of damage: Magnezone’s clear partner, Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX, has one of the hardest-hitting attacks ever printed in the history of the Pokemon Trading Card Game. You might be asking yourself: why is this new Magnezone better than the Magnezone from BREAKthrough, which has the same Ability for Lightning Energy? The answer is simple: there are not currently any Lightning-type Pokemon that are as powerful as Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX or Dialga-GX. The HP and damage output of these new Pokemon surpasses anything we’ve seen in recent years from Lightning-types, so the Metal-type Magnezone has more potential to fuel a top-tier deck.

Over the last few months, the Standard format has been more about two-hit Knock Outs than anything else, but this new Metal deck will definitely change that. Zoroark-GX decks can no longer just sit back and use Acerola, because Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX will be lying in wait to take a one-hit KO with Meteor Tempest. I love that this deck has built-in defense against Garbotoxin, because of Solgaleo Prism Star and its Radiant Star attack. Field Blower helps too, but Radiant Star alone can carry you against what would otherwise be one of your toughest matchups. Dialga-GX brings the Timeless GX attack to the table, and while it takes five Energy to use, it’s worth the effort, as it gives you the much-needed ability to come back in games where you’ve fallen behind. I’ve played Vikavolt / Tapu Bulu-GX a bit this season, so optimally playing a Stage 2 deck comes fairly easily to me. Whenever you’re playing a deck like this, you need to focus on giving yourself the best possible chance of hitting your Stage 2 on your second turn, and that’s what my list is designed to do. When Magnezone sets up, there aren’t many ways you can lose games, considering how strong your attackers are.

A List

List Breakdown

Three Tapu Lele-GX, One Remoraid, One Octillery

Three Tapu Lele-GX is a must. With that count, you improve your odds of Brigette on your first turn and a draw Supporter on your second turn by more than five percent. The Octillery line is thin just to make space for other cards; two each of Remoraid and Octillery would be preferable. Octillery’s Abyssal Hand Ability is quite important to your strategy, so prizing one of the pieces can be devastating. An Oranguru alongside the 1-1 line could work as well, so that’s something to think about at the cost of just one other card slot instead of two.

Playing three Tapu Lele-GX

• Turn one Brigette: 74.457% of games
• Turn one draw Supporter: 94.002% of games
• Turn one Brigette and turn two draw Supporter: 70.222% of games

Playing two Tapu Lele-GX

• Turn one Brigette: 69.825% of games
• Turn two draw Supporter: 93.220% of games
• Turn one Brigette and turn two draw Supporter: 65.171% of games

Three Magnemite, Three Magnezone

There’s no time to flirt with Magneton: it’s Rare Candy or bust. I’m unsure which Magnemite is best, but I think stopping Bench damage is probably the most relevant perk, so my current list runs Magnemite UPR 81. Magnemite BRT 51’s Sparkling Induction is a nice Ability as well, granting a free Retreat, but Buzzwole-GX eats that Magnemite up because of Fighting Weakness. Playing three Magnezone is advisable so that you have better odds of drawing into them naturally; a lower count would reduce your turn two Magnezone odds by a significant percentage.

Two Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX

This is your main attacker, but you’ll still rarely use three in a game. In testing, I included three in my list for quite some time, but with a Rescue Stretcher in the deck, the third copy almost always seemed redundant. Most times, your Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX will survive at least one attack anyway. The biggest merit to a third copy is to handle prizing issues, so that’s worth taking into consideration if you’re having problems with consistency.

One Solgaleo Prism Star

This is your answer to Garbotoxin, as well as stall decks against which you need a solid non-EX/GX attacker. Corona Impact with a Choice Band can take down many prominent Pokemon-EX and Pokemon-GX, and Radiant Star is obviously a very strong attack that lets you rush Energy onto your field if you don’t have access to Magnezone. As long as you can keep attacking, you’re going to win games, so if you can load up attackers even when Garbotoxin is locking your Magnetic Circuit, you’ll be in fine shape.

One Dialga-GX

Timeless GX is my favorite aspect of this deck; it allows you to pull off some insane comebacks. You can effectively use two Supporters in one turn, which is something completely unprecedented in the Standard format. Since the attack does 150 base damage, you can realistically take down a Pokemon-EX or -GX if you have a Choice Band, and then take yet another KO on your following turn with a Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX.

This concludes the public portion of this article.

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