Help Garb Still Relevant?

A

Anthony Mooney

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hey guys, I just started playing this game about a week ago and I am actually liking it even more than both Yugioh and MTG.

That said, I just spent about $250 for the cards to a Garbodor/Golisopod GX deck, and I was wondering about how this deck should fare in the meta coming up. A couple of thoughts:

Trasholanche is great, but with the upcoming new trainer in Ultra Prism (The one that shuffles your hand into the deck and you draw 6) I see people cutting Sycomore. This inherently would weaken Garb because it means less Items in the grave over time.

Also, Gardevior's GX ability kills trasholanche (not sure if I am spelling it correctly). And I was looking on some tier website, and it has a 13% meta share, which is the most of any of the decks.

So a couple of questions: Should I focus on another deck? Is this deck going to be worth playing at any tournaments? What deck should I play if I want to maximize my chances of winning an event?

I just really like the Garbotoxin ability, as well as the way the deck plays. So is there anything similar in the top tiers if this is not a tier 1 deck?
 
Anthony Mooney said:
Hey guys, I just started playing this game about a week ago and I am actually liking it even more than both Yugioh and MTG.

That said, I just spent about $250 for the cards to a Garbodor/Golisopod GX deck, and I was wondering about how this deck should fare in the meta coming up. A couple of thoughts:

Trasholanche is great, but with the upcoming new trainer in Ultra Prism (The one that shuffles your hand into the deck and you draw 6) I see people cutting Sycomore. This inherently would weaken Garb because it means less Items in the grave over time.

Also, Gardevior's GX ability kills trasholanche (not sure if I am spelling it correctly). And I was looking on some tier website, and it has a 13% meta share, which is the most of any of the decks.

So a couple of questions: Should I focus on another deck? Is this deck going to be worth playing at any tournaments? What deck should I play if I want to maximize my chances of winning an event?

I just really like the Garbotoxin ability, as well as the way the deck plays. So is there anything similar in the top tiers if this is not a tier 1 deck?
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For now, in terms of the upcoming meta, Garb is having a hard time staying relevant tourney-wise: Zoroark/Lycanroc is rising and strong, Promo Lurantis/Golisopod is developing, but unfortunately won't materialize until Ultra Prism and Leafeon-GX come out and become legal. Unfortunately, the best decks right now may have outclassed the Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX by means of being faster to set up, and yet they lack a Stage 2: Decks that use 3 Metagross Stage 2s(such as Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX) require, in order to function, 3 Rare Candies and Brigettes(to get the necessary 3 basics), as well as the 3 Stage 2s, which need at least 10-12 slots to get going(excluding energies and other trainers), and since you can only use 1 supporter per turn, luck is likely not in your favor vs. decks that use 3-4 Lycanroc Stage 1s, easier search(Mallow + Trade)Strong Energies, 1 to 2-energy attacks that can deal 200-250 damage, not counting the Strong Energies, etc., all of which, in order to function, require only the stage 1 plus the corresponding basic, which can be obtained by Brigette, and since that occupies at least 6-8 slots to do its work(excluding energies), and requires less total energy attachments to do damage than the 3 basic attachments that the Stage 2 Metagross deck needs to do damage, Stage 2 Metal is outclassed by Stage 1 powerhouses, and as long as that stays true, I believe Ultra Prism won't change much except maybe the Lurantis promo/Golisopod... Yet, some of the best decks' cards have less than a year left in them(Strong Energy, which was last printed in the XY BKT-ELO block, which is predicted to be next September's Standard chops), so here's hoping it all changes before September, when the new meta could come crashing down... :(
 
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I think the big thing to know about the Pokémon metagame - especially in Standard - is that it changes from tournament to tournament very rapidly. I am not familiar with Magic or YuGiOh, but by reports from new players to the scene, this always seems like somewhat of a surprise. There is NO DECK, that you can just pick out at the start of the Season and expect it to be good all the time. Each Expansion brings at least one chase card that will shift the meta somewhat. Some decks can ride this out, with minor tweaks to their lists (see: Greninja or Volcanion for the past year), while some explode onto the scene and then disappear again in the space of months (see: Gardevoir won worlds and is already being written off by many). Expanded format is somewhat more stable, but even there, decks come in and out of vogue depending on what else is rising and falling in the metagame.

Specifically with regards to Garbodor decks, the trouble right now is Zoroark everywhere. When combined with Mallow that allows for specific discard and draw. They do not need to toss the items that Trashalanche requires. Trashalanche also has a hard against Gardevoir - (while falling out of favour right now, it'll be back at some stage). But with Zoroark so prevalent, fighting decks are on the rise in reply due to the [F] weakness. And with special energy reliant decks on the rise, disruption decks come back into fashion. Which will use lots of items - meaning that will eventually come around to allowing Trashalanche to reign again :lol

As cardjammer mentioned, Golisopod is likely to get a boost thanks to the upcoming Leafeon and a potential promo Lurantis/Golisopod archetype. And this would do well against the [F] decks that are rife.

My main point I think, for a newcomer that wants to play at a competitive level - is that you can't just invest in a single deck. Everyone will have their favourite decks of course, but what is the best choice to play this month, will nearly always be different than what was the best play last month. It is best to invest in the core of a deck - the Leles/Support/Tools & Items that will be interchangeable - and change up your approach and deck around that core from month to month depending on what you expect to face. Half the game is won by reading the meta in advance, and choosing accordingly.
 
I won a league cup with Buzzwole/Garbodor 2 weeks ago. However I did only face one Zoroark deck (my matchups were: Quad Sylveon, Decidueye/zoroark, 2 Buzz/Lycs and one GoliGarb)
 
I think the guys above covered everything vital. But just following on from what they said... I think it's important to focus on what you enjoy playing the most. The Meta changes so much its hard to predict.

The meta deck I play right now is Greninja... I know its tough to set up but thats kinda why I enjoy it so much. I LOVE the mechanics of Greninja. I also dabble in Metagross and I'm also building a super fun Tapu-Koko/BabyDrampa deck - I don't expect to win crazy stuff with it but it's just so fun to play with, plus its unexpected.

Lastly, welcome to Pokemon! I'm sure you'll love it. Personally, I really think the Pokemon community beats the MTG and other TCG communities when it comes to being friendly. :)
 
Cheach said:
I think the guys above covered everything vital. But just following on from what they said... I think it's important to focus on what you enjoy playing the most. The Meta changes so much its hard to predict.

The meta deck I play right now is Greninja... I know its tough to set up but thats kinda why I enjoy it so much. I LOVE the mechanics of Greninja. I also dabble in Metagross and I'm also building a super fun Tapu-Koko/BabyDrampa deck - I don't expect to win crazy stuff with it but it's just so fun to play with, plus its unexpected.

Lastly, welcome to Pokemon! I'm sure you'll love it. Personally, I really think the Pokemon community beats the MTG and other TCG communities when it comes to being friendly. :)
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Thanks for the welcome. Definitely looking forward to entering some tournaments here soon.

I have been dabbling in Extended, and the Blastoise deck is hilarious. It seems like Garbotoxin would do really well in this format too.

Greninja looked really neat, and I love the function of the Shuriken ability. However it absolutely infuriates me when a deck does not perform optimally due to consistency issues. This is the big reason I did not choose Greninja.

The big thing I like about the deck is Golisopod. As long as there is a meta deck with him in it, I would be fine making it.
 
Anthony Mooney said:
Thanks for the welcome. Definitely looking forward to entering some tournaments here soon.

I have been dabbling in Extended, and the Blastoise deck is hilarious. It seems like Garbotoxin would do really well in this format too.

Greninja looked really neat, and I love the function of the Shuriken ability. However it absolutely infuriates me when a deck does not perform optimally due to consistency issues. This is the big reason I did not choose Greninja.

The big thing I like about the deck is Golisopod. As long as there is a meta deck with him in it, I would be fine making it.
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Hi Anthony Mooney,

Welcome to Pokémon. Golisopod is one of my favorite Pokémon and a decent choice in the current meta. In addition to Garbodor also check out Promo Lurantis and Leafeon GX as alternate partners. Three benched Promo Lurantis emable a benched Golisopod GX to hit for 210 with First Impression. It is a less controlish and more offensive version. Other potential partners for Golisopod are Zoroark and Weavile. In essence Golisopod has a lot of options to choose from and is rather versatile.
 
Yog said:
I think the big thing to know about the Pokémon metagame - especially in Standard - is that it changes from tournament to tournament very rapidly. I am not familiar with Magic or YuGiOh, but by reports from new players to the scene, this always seems like somewhat of a surprise. There is NO DECK, that you can just pick out at the start of the Season and expect it to be good all the time. Each Expansion brings at least one chase card that will shift the meta somewhat. Some decks can ride this out, with minor tweaks to their lists (see: Greninja or Volcanion for the past year), while some explode onto the scene and then disappear again in the space of months (see: Gardevoir won worlds and is already being written off by many). Expanded format is somewhat more stable, but even there, decks come in and out of vogue depending on what else is rising and falling in the metagame.
Click to expand...

I can't say for Yugioh as I haven't really followed it or cared for that game. But for Magic I can certainly say that is the same case for their standard format as well. When a new set comes out, sometimes it changes the metagame landscape to form something new and decks that existed before will struggle to adapt or will take hold of the new cards. Sometimes all new archetypes will evolve from a new set or give wings to a strategy that just needed a thing to exist. I would hardly say you could ride one deck without any changes and hope to win all the time, regardless of the format. Same with Pokemon. All is meta game dependent. Some decks will rise, some will fall. All depends on what is heavy in the meta game. Such are card games.
 
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