Standard Granbull / Cloyster

[Yog]

This deck came about simply because I like the BKT Granbull card. It is made to be used with Heavy Boots and I wanted to try find a decent way to run him. Red Card & DCE can cripple the opponents hand (the future Delinquent supporter will help). Trick coins helps this. Training Center Stadium adds further energy on top of the +20 from the Boots to give you a 170hp non-EX that hits for 120 without suffering the confusion side effect.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to find the right partner for him and after working through Florges, Cacturne, Feraligator(via Archie), Seismitoad-EX, Eeveelutions, and a few more - I've eventually settled on Cloyster.

He benefits from the Stadium, the coins, or the boots in a pinch. If Granbull is working his hand disruption magic early the opponent usually has trouble getting energy to active, and Cloyster can work to discard it away leaving your opponents helpless.

The Deck;

Pokémon - 15

4-4 Snubbull-Granbull BKT98-99
3-3 Shellder-Cloyster XY31-32
1 Shaymin-EX​

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: (33)

3 Professor Sycamore
1 Judge
1 Professor Birch's Observations
1 Lysandre
1 Fisherman
4 VS Seeker
2 Ultra Ball
2 Switch
1 Super Rod
1 Energy Recycler
4 Red Card
4 Trick Coin
3 Heavy Boots
2 Tool Retriever
3 Training Center​

Energy - 12

4 Fairy Energy
4 Water Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy​

Visual:

Spoiler

It is a fine deck without being anything amazing. I guess I'm throwing it up here to see if anyone has any bright ideas for a better partner than Cloyster for starters, or just any general ways to tighten up the support.

I only have one Shaymin so adding more is not possible and beyond my budget.

 

[Fouda]

This is an interesting idea for sure and I wanna try it out now! Perhaps you should add in Octillery instead of another Shaymin? Or replace Shaymin all together?
Out of curiosity what matches have you excelled at and what matches have given you trouble?

 

[Yog]

This is an interesting idea for sure and I wanna try it out now! Perhaps you should add in Octillery instead of another Shaymin? Or replace Shaymin all together?

I might just try this out, seeing as I've settled on water now as the partner. Would open up options for Dive Balls and ofc he'd get the Training Center boost too. The trouble is finding the room for a 2-2 line.

Out of curiosity what matches have you excelled at and what matches have given you trouble?

I've been playing this nearly exclusively on the TCGO until I'm happy with it, so it's very hard to consistently test it against Meta decks. It's not even really supposed to be competitive? Unless I can find the sweet spot.
It is pretty even across the board with no obvious insta-lose games. It's biggest issue is the slow set-up, particularly Cloyster takes a while to get going, but also finding the right tools at the right times to ensure coin flips go your way.

 

[megakitking]

I was think maybe you could have 4 Fairy Gardens in your deck so that when Granbull is confused you could retreat and then retreat again and your original granbull would no longer be confused.

 

[kingcharlesthe6]

I think this could work well in Expanded with FlipTini. Also might tech in either Bunnelby or Puzzle of Time to get back DCE. But then again I haven't tested with the deck so not sure how much it needs it. I love the idea though and think it could thrive especially in an unprepared meta.

 

[Yog]

Oh man I forgot all about this deck. There is some support incoming for it so I may revisit it. Granbull is for sure an untapped resource.

 

[jessalakasam]

I was think maybe you could have 4 Fairy Gardens in your deck so that when Granbull is confused you could retreat and then retreat again and your original granbull would no longer be confused.

You can only retreat once per turn

 

[Neekoh]

You can run Chaos Tower and have the side that prevents your pokemon from being confused or poisoned facing you, as a back-up to your Heavy Boots. Or alongside Fighting Fury Belt to give Granbull more HP and let it hit for 130

 

[jessalakasam]

You can run Chaos Tower and have the side that prevents your pokemon from being confused or poisoned facing you, as a back-up to your Heavy Boots. Or alongside Fighting Fury Belt to give Granbull more HP and let it hit for 130

FFB only works on basics

 

[xaej806]

Also in a deck already playing Red Card, if you add in Stadiums I'd put in 1 Deliquent as well. Red Card + Deliquent can cost your opponent valuable resources, but even more importantly they have to always maintain a 4 card hand otherwise you can leave them with 0 at any time. This has caused multiple opponents to just scoop in tournament and move to game 2.

 

[Yog]

I like that people are talking in here more, I will revisit it soon now that FC is out. Just a quick point to note, I avoided Fairy Garden here because it nullifies the heavy Boots by dropping Granbull's retreat to nil. And he really needs that boost in HP from that + the Training Center.

 

[Buyo]

This is an interesting deck! Granbull/Heavy Boots also caught my eye back when Breakthrough came out. Have you considered Slowking from Breakpoint? It doesn't discard energy like Cloyster does, but if you have 2 Slowking out there's a 75% chance to move energy off their active while letting you still attack with Granbull

 

[MrMeowth]

So work, school, and life distracted me from the game for a bit...

I'm back and was wondering what (if anything) has been added to aid this deck.

Thanks!