Discussion Galvantula ex is good and let me tell you why

Robin Aisaga

Robin Aisaga

Aspiring Trainer
Member
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Galvantula ex from Stellar Crowd is a card with a lot of potential, we’ve seen that Seismitoad EX and Banette ex were forces to be reckoned with. Now we have another item blocking Pokémon that can deal damage at the cost of discarding energy. I just thought of a combination to make this deck work and wanted to share it with this lovely community. This is how the deck could end up looking like:

Pokémon: 18
4x Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
3x Galvantula ex
4x Joltik (Stellar Crown)
3x Chansey (151)
3x Blissey ex
1x Radiant Greninja

Trainers: 28
2x Crispin
2x Arven
1x Professor's Research
3x Iono
1x Boss’s Orders
1x Kieran / Professor Turo’s Scenario

4x Nest Ball
3x Ultra Ball
1x Pokégear 3.0
1x Energy Switch
1x Switch
2x Earthen Vessel
1x Super Rod
3x Glass Trumpet

1x Sparkling Crystal (Ace Spec)
1x Power Hourglass

Energy: 14
(G) Energy: 8
(L) Energy: 3
(F) Energy: 3​

You can check the upcoming cards here on Pokébeach or on justinbasil.

Galvantula + Ogerpon (spoilers for the upcoming set):

Galvantula’s first attack ‘’Charged Web’’ is powerful and straightforward, it deals 110 damage against single-prize Pokémon and 220 damage against Pokémon ex and V for just 2 energy. But let’s focus on the attack that blocks your opponent from playing item cards. This disruptive attack can shut down decks with stage 2 Pokémon and is a pain for basically any deck. Items always play a vital role.

Fulgurite costs 3 energy that you have to discard after attacking. Sounds like a hefty price to pay right? But some of the most powerful decks of today like Raging Bolt, Chien-Pao and Regidrago also discard plenty of energy in order to use powerful attacks. With the right tools it can be done, so let’s look at what tools work best for Galvantula ex! My first idea when I saw Galvantula ex was to combine it with Electric Generator, but this item doesn’t help Galvantula that much in the long term. I found a better, more consistent combination…

‘’you could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me.’’ - Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
Click to expand...

Yep, we’re once again looking at TM Ogerpon ex to make a deck function. Not only does it provide a draw engine, it gets energy on the board. But we’re also getting new tools to make Galvantula ex work. The new supporter Crispin is a must for this deck, not only does it let you attach energy to your Pokémon, it also puts an energy in your hand, this works perfectly with Ogerpon ex since you’re essentially attaching 2 energy and drawing a card.

We’re also getting 3 new trainer cards to make this deck work. Sparkling Crystal is the most obvious choice for the ace spec, only having to discard 2 energy each turn is huge. But I believe that even without this item, Galvantula can keep using Fulgurite with the help of new trainers like Power Hourglass and Glass Trumpet.

Stellar Crown Joltik’s attack shouldn't be overlooked either, it lets you attach 2 (G) and 2 (L) energy to your Pokémon in any way you like. The next Pokémon that plays an important part in this deck is Blissey ex, she will help you get the most value out of Ogerpon ex and enables Glass Trumpet. Ogerpon ex will be used to get (G) energy back in play, Glass Trumpet will be used to get (L) and (F) energy back in play.

Why do I think this deck is strong? Blocking items is one of the best disruption effects, but you still need to fulfill a win condition, like deck-out your opponent or knock-out Pokémon. This is one of the challenges Banette and Seismitoad have to face. The moment you stop the item blockade you will be bombarded with them. Galvantula has the potential to keep up the blockade while taking prize cards in the process.

''Oh no no no, I'm the upgrade'' - Galvantula
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For now this decklist is just an early concept, I still want to squeeze a Kieran, Energy Retrieval, Super Rod and another Boss's Order in there. I’ll have to see what works best when I can actually play it. We have some stuff to consider like: maybe Power Hourglass isn’t that consistent because the active pokémon needs to survive until the next round. Maybe the new Noctowl with additional Energy Switch is better than using Blissey, stuff like that needs testing.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, I’m just excited for this deck I guess! Thank you for coming to my Galvantula talk, I want to end this post with a small poem:

Scarlet is red, Violet was better, Kofu is being underestimated, Shuckle is forever.

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Me, who plans on running Hydrapple:

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I'm curious if using the Ancient Wisdom Regi's engine with Area Zero Underdepths would be more or less consistent than Blissey ex/Ogerpon ex. It would certainly allow you to cut out the Crispin, making the deck more consistent in at least one respect (I was remembering the old Garchomp & Giratina GX/Ancient Wisdom "GG End Donk deck" that terrorized Expanded in its second-to-final days of agony before Lugia VSTAR happened, and then suddenly thought "Hey, that acceleration engine is now in Standard for the first time!).
 
@Charmaster:) I like the way you think, but it would be way less consistent for sure. With Regigigas you need 6 different Regi in play + Area Zero Underdepths + Tera Pokémon. In addition to a stage 1 Pokémon line you need to run 12 Regi's and plenty of resources like Hisuian Heavy Ball to get them all in play.

1 Regi gets Knocked Out and you're unlikely to recover that turn, or you get a turn where you don't get Area Zero into play, so many ways this strategy can fall apart.

Compare that to:
2 Blissey ex, 1 Glass Trumpet: Done
1 Ogerpon ex, 1 Blissey ex, 1 Crispin: Done
1 Ogerpon ex, 1 Energy Switch, 1 Crispin: done

Even easier when you take the tools into consideration. In addition Ogerpon ex provides an excellent draw engine. Btw, this does make me realize that I should really add a Super Rod to make Crispin more consistent.
 
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Robin Aisaga said:
@Charmaster:) I like the way you think, but it would absolutely be way less consistent. With Regigigas you need 6 different Regi in play + Area Zero Underdepths + Tera Pokémon. In addition to a stage 1 Pokémon line you need to run 12 Regi's and plenty of resources like Hisuian Heavy Ball to get them all in play.

1 Regi gets Knocked Out and you're unlikely to recover that turn, or you get a turn where you don't get Area Zero into play, so many ways this strategy can fall apart...

Compare that to:
2 Blissey ex, 1 Glass Trumpet: Done
1 Ogerpon ex, 1 Blissey ex, 1 Crispin: Done
1 Ogerpon ex, 1 Energy Switch, 1 Crispin: done

Even easier when you take the tools into consideration. In addition Ogerpon ex provides an excellent draw engine. Btw, this does make me realize that I should really add a Super Rod to make Crispin more consistent.
Click to expand...
Good points. I might be interested in testing this list.
 
I think not having to find energy switch every turn adds to the consistency. The deck requires a colorless Pokémon for Glass Trumpet anyway, I doubt this deck works well without it. Counter Catcher or another Boss would be nice though.
 
Robin Aisaga said:
I think not having to find energy switch every turn adds to the consistency. The deck requires a colorless Pokémon for Glass Trumpet anyway, I doubt this deck works well without it. Counter Catcher or another Boss would be nice though.
Click to expand...
The fact that Glass Trumpet was basically made for Terapagos does make it feel cheap.
 
Other Tera Pokémon besides Terapagos are likely going to use Glass Trumpet. Blissey ex is a good option, but it's also good with cards like Blood Moon Ursaluna ex and maybe Sudden Transformation Ditto. The turtle is going to have to get used to sharing its toys!
 
@Charmaster:) Impossible! mere apples cannot win from mighty spiders!

In all seriousness, I do think this video is a nice demonstration of Galvantula ex. It does show that it can compete with other strong decks.

Meanwhile it also shows its main weakness pretty well. This deck has a lot of moving components and needs a bunch of different cards in play to function. In this version of Galvantula you need all the Regi's and Area Zero. The deck is hard to set-up and challenging to keep going. But when it does get off it's a powerhouse. My deck will run into a similar consistency issue. But I believe the extra draw from Ogerpon might make it a bit easier to keep the tempo up.

I believe it's important to keep the item lock going, I don't think secondary attackers are really needed in a Galvantula ex deck. Also, I don't think Hydrapple is a favourable match-up for Galvantula, it mostly functions with just Pokémon and Abilities. Not saying Galvantula is the better deck, but I wasn't surprised it ended with 2-3 for Hydrapple.

Thanks for sharing the video, it's perfect for this thread.
 
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