Standard Baby Metagross/Garbodor "Metagarb" (BKT-CST)

[Mert]

I think Metagross has potential to be a decent rogue in August and post-rotation but I don't see many people talking about it. To capitalize off the synchronization with Unit Energy LPM, I'm teching the Garbodor line in to help with the Buzzwole matchup. Here's the first draft of my list:

Pokémon:
4x Beldum CLS (70hp)
1x Metang GRI
3x Metagross CLS
2x Trubbish BKT
2x Garbodor GRI
1x Tapu Lele GX GRI
Trainers:
4x Ultra Ball
4x Rare Candy
4x Puzzle Of Time
4x Switch
1x Mysterious Treasure
3x Choice Band
2x Float Stone
4x Steven’s Resolve
4x Cynthia
2x Guzma
1x Professor Sycamore
1x N
3x Shrine Of Punishments
Energy:
4x Unit Energy LPM
2x Rainbow Energy
2x Metal Energy
2x Psychic Energy


The Pokémon line is pretty self-explanatory. The 4-1-3 Metagross line may seem odd, but I feel it's important to not solely rely on Rare Candy to evolve Beldum and 4 Metagross would be a bit much. Once you get the first Metagross up, it becomes easier to evolve Beldums using Steven's Resolve to grab Rare Candies. The Lele is there for obvious reasons, 2 would be excessive with the Metagross/Steven engine.

4 Ultra Ball and 4 Rare Candy are self-explanatory. Puzzle of Time is used to primarily retrieve used Stevens, Switches, and energy that has been discarded. The 4 copies of Switch are for when Float Stone isn't readily available and Garb needs to attack. I teched a single copy of Mysterious Treasure for more outs to Garb or Lele.

3 copies of Choice Band helps with hitting numbers against 190 HP+ Pokémon, and 2 copies of Float Stone to aid with reliable switching.

Steven's Resolve is the motor of the deck. The downside of not being able to use another supporter for the turn is mitigated by being able to retrieve any 3 cards from your deck to fit the situation. 4 Cynthia is your vanilla shuffle draw, with single copies of N and Professor Sycamore for good measure. Guzma can combo with Switch for some interesting shenanigans, and get potentially game-deciding KOs on weakened GXs.

Shrine of Punishments is imperative to the deck's success (The best card from CST imo). Since this deck runs no GXs or EXs besides a single Lele, It's a great boon when it comes to hitting the numbers with no downside. I may bump this number to 4 depending on how heavy the presence of Field Blower is.

The energy counts might have been the hardest part of constructing the deck. 4 Unit Energy is absolutely required, but the rest of the counts i'm still debating. Stevens's Resolve helps with getting the right energy at the right time, but in situations where I don't have access to Steven, there's a heavier reliance on luck to get the right energy I need. I may change the counts to 4 Unit, 4 Rainbow, 2 Metal, or 4 Unit, 4 Metal, 2 Rainbow depending how often I need to use Garb.

POSSIBLE TECHS:

Oricorio CST 55: I was recently notified of this card, and it synergizes seamlessly with the concept of the deck and Unit Energy. For 1 Lightning Energy, it does 30 damage to each Pokémon-GX and Pokémon-EX in play. Given that I only run one Lele, this would soften EX and GX Pokémon very nicely. If I could add a 61st card to this deck, this would be it.

Dhelmise SUM: Another Pokémon to help hit numbers, an extra 10 damage would help against 190-200 hp GXs. Like Oricorio, my only concern is that it would make a small dent in consistency. Still under consideration.

Acerola: I'm considering this for one reason only - saving Lele. Depending on how I use my supporters, I may be able to set aside some room for a copy. Or I might just drop Lele entirely. That's another can of worms, though.

Max Potion: This is less of a tech and more of a tool to reliably keep this beefy Sweatygross alive for another turn. My concern with including this is that it'll more than likely knock off what could be a crucial energy card. Of course, the energy counts are still under consideration, so i'm keeping this in the back of my mind.


I have faith in Metagross as a rogue, and I think people are overlooking it in terms of the playable cards from this set. It doesn't have any bad matchups on paper as far as meta decks go, and has the potential to make a splash in August.

 

[Kyle Pyykkonen]

Pretty good list, I think it has potential with some changes.
1. I think 3-4 Max Potion is essential in this list. Metagross is a 170 HP monster that only gives up one prize, and its not that likely to be knocked out very easily, meaning most decks will have to be two-shotting (or even three-shotting) metagross to knock it out. The only meta-relevant pokemon that will get the OHKO on metagross are Rayquaza GX and Buzzwole GX, but it seems to me thats why you play the garb line. I think max potion would drastically increase this decks ability to trade knockouts efficiently, since meteor mash takes a couple turns to do relevant damage.

2. The two rainbow energy and two psychic energy should be cut and replaced with basic metal energy. Just for consistency. I think the four unit energy is enough to be able to attack with garb, I wouldnt equate more deck space to garb then you have to, since it only serves as a way to boost your buzzwole matchup.

3. The four switch seems like a little too much, and I don't really understand their purpose. I wouldn't play any at all, but if you really feel like you need them I would play 1-2 copies. I think float stone would be better in this deck until it rotates, but I could understand playing a high count of switch after rotation.

4. Only playing three copies of metagross could potentially really hurt your consistency, I feel it beneficial to play that fourth metagross.

Here's what I would change about your list,

-2 Psychic Energy
-2 Rainbow Energy
-4 Switch
-1 Mysertious Treasure
-1 Choice Band
-1 Cynthia

+3 Metal energy
+1 Dhelmise
+1 Float Stone
+1 Sweatygross
+2 N
+3 Max Potion

Hope this helps, Big Fella

 

[John InCENAroar]

I agree with Mr. Pyykkonen on all of his points. If you are worried about losing the one energy, Then it may be worth putting in a copy of the Metagross GX, since it's bulky enough to not be concerned about Shrine of Punishments right away, and it provides a really good GX attack to provide set-up when your hand is Judged and you don't have a Steven's Resolve to use, in addition to making Max Potion a breeze to use. Along this same train of thought, the Choice bands may be able to be replaced by Metal Frying Pan, which would just add to the overall tanking abilities of the metagross' as a whole.