Discussion Celesteela GX/Zoroark Synergy for NAIC?

[Chaoguy]

I have been trying to decide what to play at NAIC, so when assessing threats of Buzz, Malamar, and Zoro variants I thought about Celesteela GX/ Zoroark GX as a potentially safe play into all of those matchups.

Celesteela is pretty much not getting one shot by Buzzroc. 200HP, Fighting resist. Go nuts and put a Fighting Fury Belt on there and even Dangerous Rouge would need to be well modified to get the KO.

In return for being almost impossible to OHKO, Celesteela can take 2HKOs on everything in Buzzroc with Belt for M+DCE.

Two attachments is rough, but you get access to Beast Ring to get a Celesteela up after they finally take one down. Max Elixir and Multiswitch can also help keeping your attackers fluid.

Maybe it will be too easy snipe around Celesteela, but I think it could work if played similar to ZoroPod with Acerola to deny prizes while keeping up 2HKO pressure.

Just a thought I had, I am probably going to build something in PTCGO to play around with. What do you guys think?

 

[Wechselbalg]

I think the problem is that Zoropod can apply the 2HKO pressure because the deck can deal 120 for a single attachment. With Celesteela you deal 100 to Buzzwole, Lycanroc, Dawn Wings, regular and Ultra Necrozma and that's for a metal and a DCE. (First attack, FFB attached.) While BuzzRoc lists usually don't play Field Blower, Malamar lists do and they can easily reach 200 dmg. Buzzwole can also OHKO with Absorption, and even with Knuckle Impact with all those dmg modifiers after spreading a couple of times with Jet Punch.

The resistance is sort of useful with FFB, but imo if you try to stall and 2HKO with Celesteela against Buzzwole they will punish you by just gusting up the Zoroarks and Zoruas and win that way. (And killing off the Celesteela isn't that much of a problem for them either as I stated before.)
I mean, it's not that bad of an idea with the fighting resistance, Mallow+Trade+Beast Ring and all but I think it is still unreliable compared to Zoropod or ZoroRoc with anti-Buzzwole techs or even ZoroGarb.

 

[Chaoguy]

Yeah, I put a list together and was having some fun with it, but it seems inconsistent. Missing energy attachments any turn stings, and the count I have is tight to fit everything in.

It isn't an absolute one sided stomp, I have been in most games I played, but I don't really feel anything gained over one of the two main zoro variants. I'll probably tweak the list around some more and see if I can get it to set up more consistently.

 

[PMJ]

Seconding the post by Wechselbalg. Doing 100 damage is terribly, colossally bad in this format, since you lose the 2HKO against the more beefy Pokemon in the format.

The attacks are expensive, too, as is normal for most walls. Even with a well-timed Beast Ring, you aren't going to be able to take OHKOs without using Blaster GX, and that's a big deal. Just stay far away from this card.