Standard Giovanni's Exile ( Rhyperior / Rhydon / Diglett)

[Dark Espeon]

GIOVANNI’S EXILE

Pokémon (16):

• 2 Tapu Lele GX (searches)
  
• 4 Diglett SM10 (discards)
• 4 Rhyhorn SM10 (evolve)
• 2 Rhyperior SM4 (mill)
• 4 Rhydon SM10 (mill)

Trainer (36):

• 2 Lt. Surge’ Strategy (enable)
• 2 Erika's Hospitality (draw)
  
• 2 Steven’s Resolve (search)
• 4 Giovanni’s Exile (mill)
• 2 Lusamine (retrieval)
• 4 Lillie (draw)
• 3 Devolution Spray Z (devolve)
  
• 3 Rescue Stretcher (retrieval)
• 3 Buff Padding (enable)
• 4 Ultra Ball (search)
• 3 Nest Ball (search)
• 4 Brooklet Hill (search)

Energy (10):

• 4 Double Colorless Energy
• 4 Counter Energy

STRATEGY:

Go first and start with Rhyhorn. Bench another Rhyhorn and use Steven’s Resolve to search out needed cards. Some of the key cards to search out are Rhydon and trainer cards such as Giovanni’s Exile and Devolution Spray Z. Next turn evolve both Rhyhorn into Rhydon and bench two Diglett. Use Giovanni’s Exile to discard both Diglett and attack with Dirty Work. This mills a total of seven cards from the opponent’s deck. Retrieve discarded Pokémon with Rescue Stretcher and use Rhyperior Devolution Spray Z as an additional mill potion.

SPOILER:

Rhyhorn
Basic Fighting Pokémon
HP: 90
[C][C] Horn Attack: 30
[F][C][C][C] Boulder Crush: 80
Retreat Cost: CCCC
Weakness: G

Rhydon
Stage 1 Fighting Pokémon - evolves from Rhyhorn
HP: 110
[C][C] Dirty Work
Discard the top card of your opponent’s deck. If you played Gionvanni’s Exile from your hand during this turn, discard the top 5 cards of your opponent’s deck instead of 1.
[F][C][C][C] Horn Attack: 90
Retreat Cost: CCCC
Weakness: G

Diglett
Basic Fighting Pokémon
HP: 50
Ability: Underground Work
If this Pokémon is discarded by the effect of Giovanni’s Exile, discard the top card of your opponent’s deck.
[F] Hook: 10
Retreat Cost: C
Weakness: G

Giovanni's Exile
Trainer - Supporter
Choose up to 2 of your benched Pokémon with no damage counters on them. Discard those Pokémon and all cards attached to them.

Lt. Surge's Strategy
Trainer - Supporter
You can only play this card if you have more prize cards remaining than your opponent. You may play up to 3 Supporter cards this turn (including this one).

Devolution Spray Z
Trainer - Item
Choose 1 of your evolved Pokémon. You may remove as many evolution cards from that Pokémon as you like and shuffle them into your deck. That Pokémon can’t evolve this turn.

 

[Lord Goomy]

Looks good.

 

[John InCENAroar]

Since the discard from GE isn't a knock out, I see an issue in enabling Surge. That, and with only the Steven and Lillie for draw, I can see dead-handing in more situations than you probably should. Have you thought about using draw support like Zebstrika or the new Mismagius? Perhaps in lieu of Rhyperior and a couple of Steven?

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi John InCENAroar,

Enabling Surge should not be that problematic since the deck does not take prizes at all and chances are that the opponent knocks out Rhyhorn sooner than later. Draw power could be an issue since the deck needs a lot of combo cards out in time. Zebstrika does not seem to fit the deck since you need to retain combo pieces in hand. Mismagius could be an interesting addition but I also want to look into Tapu Lele GX.

 

[rewster1]

I like this idea... but instead of devo spray z, what about using shining celebi to make your opponent have to KO a 160HP rhyperior instead of rhydons? You can still reuse after stretchering. And with padding it's 210 HP, which is even more nuts. I don't know if I like Steven's, I'd probably try Bill's first. Possibly switch to fire energy for more draw (salazzle/heat factory/welder), or maybe that's too clunky. Mewtwo is going to be a great way to get back surge or anything else, and great with giovanni just like lele. Fairytales and marshadow could be other draw/search options that work with Giovanni... and you might throw in a giratina or darkrai gx to always have something available to discard. Honestly I think the diglett is cute but it would be the first cut for me if I found a marshadow or something could help me see more cards when I needed to, since the 5 cards milled by the attack is way more relevant. Speaking of mill, you could also throw in the new alolan muk, its another coming into play ability that might mill up to 6 cards, and easily disposed of with Giovanni.

 

[Pokenerd]

I like this idea... but instead of devo spray z, what about using shining celebi to make your opponent have to KO a 160HP rhyperior instead of rhydons? You can still reuse after stretchering. And with padding it's 210 HP, which is even more nuts. I don't know if I like Steven's, I'd probably try Bill's first. Possibly switch to fire energy for more draw (salazzle/heat factory/welder), or maybe that's too clunky. Mewtwo is going to be a great way to get back surge or anything else, and great with giovanni just like lele. Fairytales and marshadow could be other draw/search options that work with Giovanni... and you might throw in a giratina or darkrai gx to always have something available to discard. Honestly I think the diglett is cute but it would be the first cut for me if I found a marshadow or something could help me see more cards when I needed to, since the 5 cards milled by the attack is way more relevant. Speaking of mill, you could also throw in the new alolan muk, its another coming into play ability that might mill up to 6 cards, and easily disposed of with Giovanni.

I would keep the devo spray (for toppling wind) since you still attack with rhydon. The hp doesn't make a huge difference. Especially if they can't attack you. Plus if you win faster that gives the opponent less times to take prizes.

 

[Pokenerd]

This is the first mill deck I 've seen that actually might be fun! don't sue me pls. lol.

 

[rewster1]

This is the first mill deck I 've seen that actually might be fun! don't sue me pls. lol.

Right? I wasn't around when durant etc. were a thing, but meganium rhyperior charizard is clunky, I like this better for sure. Though I still think a lot of people will be getting attacks off, so I'll try shining celebi first and switch to spray if it doesn't work.

 

[snoopy369]

What about adding one Resource Management Oranguru in case you need to pick up a few things out of the discard?

 

[OppositeAttract]

This deck seems really interesting. If only palossand GX had a cheaper cost I could almost see it being thrown in here for its mill effect as well.

 

[Pokenerd]

What about adding one Resource Management Oranguru in case you need to pick up a few things out of the discard?

That would be good with Diglett and if you mill and hammer their energy away their is no risk in oranguru. If you add oranguru I think you would need to cut padding for hammers

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi folks,

Sorry for the late replay. Have been buissy the last two days.

Hi rewster1,

Thanks for the review. At the moment I prefer Devolution Spray Z over Shinning Celebi since it allows me to reuse Toppling Wind sooner and I want this deck to mill the opponent as fast as possible. The new Mewtwo is definitly a card to keep in mind but at the momemt I am using Lusamine combined with Lt. Surge's Strategy to recover lost supporters.

I like Steven's Resolve as a turn one card to find the cards that I need for the next turn to start milling them. Unlike Bill's Analysis and Green's Search he can also be used to find the special energy cars in this deck which can be a massive bonus. I would also like to retain Diglett since he helps me to mill one additional car per Diglett with Giovanni's Exile and he can be searched out with Brooklet Hill even when retruned to the deck with Rescue Stretcher. Alolan Muk is a card to consider but he may take too long to set up compared to the easier to use Diglett.

Hi Pokenerd,

Thanks for the review. I also believe that this could be the first fun mill deck since Durant. Not that sure on Oranguru since he needs to attack and each turn this deck does not attack with Rhydon is a turn where you mill less cards from the opponent's deck. Personally I prefer Rescue Stretcher to recover Diglett and Lusamine can recover the supporter cards once you are able to cycle Lusamine thanks to Lt. Surge's Strategy.

Hi snoopy369,

Thanks for the review. Not sure on Orangur since he needs to attack and using him means that I do not attack with Rhydon to mill their deck. Other than Devolution Spray Z the only cards that you care to recover are Pokémon and supporter cards. I feel that Rescue Stretcher and Lusamine may be much easier to use than Oranguru. However, I love Oranguru in Salazzle Hand.

Hi OppositeAttract,

Thanks for the review. Had to look up Pallosand GX before respoding . The GX attack is nice but seems to costly in this deck.

 

[rewster1]

Hi folks,

Sorry for the late replay. Have been buissy the last two days.

Hi rewster1,

Thanks for the review. At the moment I prefer Devolution Spray Z over Shinning Celebi since it allows me to reuse Toppling Wind sooner and I want this deck to mill the opponent as fast as possible. The new Mewtwo is definitly a card to keep in mind but at the momemt I am using Lusamine combined with Lt. Surge's Strategy to recover lost supporters.

I like Steven's Resolve as a turn one card to find the cards that I need for the next turn to start milling them. Unlike Bill's Analysis and Green's Search he can also be used to find the special energy cars in this deck which can be a massive bonus. I would also like to retain Diglett since he helps me to mill one additional car per Diglett with Giovanni's Exile and he can be searched out with Brooklet Hill even when retruned to the deck with Rescue Stretcher. Alolan Muk is a card to consider but he may take too long to set up compared to the easier to use Diglett.

Makes sense. I guess I've been a bit bummed on ptcgo lately with turn 2 donks (or close enough to) by pikarom decks or zapdos killing your lead, plus marshadow making steven sad, so I was trying to think from that perspective. I really hope the diglett works in the deck, because that's really the main point of the card but it's still a pretty neat idea. I think you are probably right on muk, especially since it's a bit of a hail mary whether or not you actually hit enough cards to be worth it. Just an idea that fell out of my head the other day... though I've seen it fail in enough garb decks that I don't know if I'd bother.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Makes sense. I guess I've been a bit bummed on ptcgo lately with turn 2 donks (or close enough to) by pikarom decks or zapdos killing your lead, plus marshadow making steven sad, so I was trying to think from that perspective. I really hope the diglett works in the deck, because that's really the main point of the card but it's still a pretty neat idea. I think you are probably right on muk, especially since it's a bit of a hail mary whether or not you actually hit enough cards to be worth it. Just an idea that fell out of my head the other day... though I've seen it fail in enough garb decks that I don't know if I'd bother.

Hi rewster1,

Thanks for the review. Alolan Muk is awesome in a specific meta. At the moment there are some decks here that are close to old insanity lists with no more than four Pokémon and a lot of item cards. In such an environment Alolan Muk is the ideal partner for Garbodor and mills a lot. However, when faced with Zoroark or Lost March decks that tend to run less items he becomes a burdon.

Turn one knock outs are rather common but this deck tends to benefit a little from such as situation since it activates Lt. Surge's Strategy and helps the deck to draw. Still need to see whether Steven's resolve works out as intended. This card was chosen since it allows me to search for any card including special energy. If he turns out to be suboptimal I may retain two of them and include two Erika's Hospitality to draw some additional cards.

Will have to wait for my boxes to arrive until I can test this deck. However I do like the main idea a lot. Similar to Salazzle and Unown this is one of the decks I want to test from the new set because the alternate win condition at least looks viable with the new cards.

 

[GstarLudi]

Any good replacement for LT. Surge's strategy?
I can't use it since it is banned?

 

[rewster1]

Dual brains magnezone lets you do the same thing, since this is now an expanded deck. Not sure if this is fast enough for expanded but you can give it a shot.