Standard CeleSaur v1.0

[TuxedoBlack]

This has been 1 of my recent favorite decks for a variety of reasons, including:

• Main attacker is "bulky" and not easily KOd less than 2 hits;
• Celesaur GX' 1st attack inflicts Confusion which is a great Special Condition given the options opponents then have (1 of which is to expend extra resources perhaps to recover); and
• CeleSaur GX GX attack can completely heal the Active and/or recover and recycle the entire discard pile.

With the release of the Unbroken Bonds set, my v0.0 deck version has had a few good upgrades:

Pokémon (11)
1 Alolan Grimer
1 Alolan Muk
3 Celebi & Venasaur GX
2 Phermosa & Buzzwole GX
1 Oranguru (Resource Management)
2 Tapu Koko
1 Tapu Lele GX

Trainers (37)
1 Acerola
1 Aether Paradise Conservation Area
1 Brock's Grit
3 Crushing Hammer
4 Cynthia
2 Energy Loto
2 Field Blower
1 Green's Exploration
3 Gumza
2 Judge
1 Life Forest
3 Lille
4 Mixed Herbs (IMO, better than Shaymins)
1 Lt. Surge's Strategy
2 Net Ball
1 Pal Pad
2 Tate & Liza
3 Ultra Ball

Energy (12)
4 DC
8 Grass

The Unroken Bonds set introduced some new cards which were easily incorporated into the v0.0 deck build:

• Before, I utilized another CeleSaur GX and Tapu Koko; now, those 2 cards were replaced by the 2 Phermosa & Buzzwole GX. These PherBuzz GX would be great starters that can attack for a single G energy while I power-up benched CeleSaur GXs.
• Green's Exploration is simply fantastic, especially when I need to get Mixed Herbs.
• Lt. Surge's Strategy is another new card that has been quite helpful in changing a game's position.

Although the Unbroken Bonds set has released other cards that make Fire decks formidable, this deck can also be adapted to further meet that challenge.

Thoughts?

 

[Deathfinch]

what, may I ask, is the win/loss ratio on this deck? seems kind of clunky

 

[lukas2aces]

I love CeleSaur as a deck, but I don't think it's well positioned at the moment.

As you said, there are a lot of fire decks, of course ReshiZard in particular, which you OHKO you with weakness. But even without weakness, ReshiZard deals 300 damage with the GX attack (3 prize cards already), and can hit 230 base (260 with Choice Band, enough on BuzzMosa), so...

I don't know. After rotation, when Guzma, Escape Rope etc. have been rotated out, and if we have a meta with less fire decks, sure it could be a good deck. But with so much fire support, I'm not even sure whether the meta will turn away from fire.

I really think you should choose, you would like a stall variant, or an attacking variant? I would cut some 'tech' cards like second field blower, maybe all the crushing hammer, and work on the consistency.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

what, may I ask, is the win/loss ratio on this deck? seems kind of clunky

4 wins, 1 loss. I've only tested the deck "live" a few times (i.e., 5) since the PTCG website where I normally play, does not yet have the the UNB set completely implemented. Also, I have not played against any Fire deck either (which should generate more losses). Lastly, won/loss records are meaningless, IMO, since there are also too many "unknowns" (e.g., game state, misplays, opponents' experience, etc.) that one can not report.

I love CeleSaur as a deck, but I don't think it's well positioned at the moment.

Agreed. If I could just "avoid" all the Fire decks at the upcoming Regional tournament... Lol.

...As you said, there are a lot of fire decks, of course ReshiZard in particular, which you OHKO you with weakness. But even without weakness, ReshiZard deals 300 damage with the GX attack (3 prize cards already), and can hit 230 base (260 with Choice Band, enough on BuzzMosa), so...

And even with Weakness Policy, my opponent only needs to just target 2 TEU GXs for 1-2HKO... This is still not good odds for me at all.

...I don't know. After rotation, when Guzma, Escape Rope etc. have been rotated out, and if we have a meta with less fire decks, sure it could be a good deck. But with so much fire support, I'm not even sure whether the meta will turn away from fire...

Agreed, I'm expecting the meta to still be Fire deck dominant post-rotation. Hence, CeleSaur decks will only be viable for a very, very short time.

...I really think you should choose, you would like a stall variant, or an attacking variant? I would cut some 'tech' cards like second field blower, maybe all the crushing hammer, and work on the consistency.

Thanks.