Standard Just built my first Metagross GX deck, would like some feedback

[Wechselbalg]

Hi, I finally managed to get all the cards needed to be able to build a Metagross deck. Note that this is still a pre-rotation build. After BUS comes out I'm planning to run the deck with Necrozma, (and obviously with some additional psychic energy) and after rotation I will of course will make the necessary changes to my supporter/item line.

However, I am sure that the deck could be improved a bit even in the current format - I did not use any lists for reference, I just built it based on what I've seen other people play against me/common sense, therefore I am sure that there are some things that might have slipped my mind. Also, is the energy count to high? I'm running 11 because I want to make sure that I can get enough of them into the discard early.

Pokémon - 14
4 Beldum
2 Metang
4 Metagross-GX
2 Tapu Lele-GX
2 Alolan Vulpix

Trainer Cards - 35
2 Rescue Stretcher
4 Rare Candy
2 Lysandre
4 Professor Sycamore
1 Brigette
2 Skyla
3 Field Blower
4 Ultra Ball
3 N
2 Choice Band
1 Pokémon Ranger
2 Float Stone
2 Max Potion
3 VS Seeker

Energy
11 Metal Energy

 

[joffreyspikes]

Hi,

Your deck seems extremely solid and consistent but not perfect.

A few little tweaks I would add to this deck include:

• Replacing one Rare Candy with Metang.
• Replacing a Field Blower with another Max Potion.
• The energy count is a little bit high. 9 seems a good amount for Metagross to me.
• Two copies of Heavy Boots (BKT) seeing as it would give Metagross the highest HP in the current format (yes I know about Wailord with FFB, it's a dead card and it's rotating) and confusion seems big in the meta.

I hope you find these comments useful.

 

[Wechselbalg]

Thanks a lot! -1 Field Blower in favour of a Max Potion does sound good and I will probably do that, it's just that in one of my first test online matches Garbotoxin really hindered my progress and I couldn't Lysandre up the Garbodor fast enough and after that match I immediately added another Field Blower. Was probably only due to my inexperience in playing with the deck though.

The energy count I will probably lower too, and I might consider adding another Metang. I'm not sure how useful Heavy Boots would be, since it is not an "instant effect" tool like Float Stone and Choice Band and the opponent can just get rid of it on their next turn. Plus it sort of messes up the "retreat for 3 and then immediately attach 3 to the new active Metagross" tactic if I don't have energy in my hand.

 

[crystal_pidgeot]

Max Potion is my favorite card in the game and I say and deck that uses it should have four in it. What I would do is remove Pokemon Ranger and a Float Stone and put in two more Max Potion, for a total of four. Another micro optimization you can make it to replace two Metal Energy for Psychic Energy so you have the option at Tapu Cure.

 

[Zamuron]

Float Stone is very unnecessary in this deck. You can just retreat, and use geotech to get energy back!
And also the max Potion count is very low, and you should probably replace a ranger with another one. Simply because ranger is not needed.
You may also wanna get some more choice bands.

 

[Wechselbalg]

You can just retreat, and use geotech to get energy back!

Lol I know that, I obviously would not be playing Metagross unless I knew what the whole point of it was. The Float Stone is mostly for the Leles in case they get lysandred and I don't have energy in hand/can't waste 1 Geotech to attach energy in order to retreat them. During playtesting there were also lots of instances when it actually made sense to use it on a Metagross, (altough obviously that wouldn't be my first choice) so I think I'm going to hold on to those for now.

As for the Ranger, it is mostly there against Glaceon, but since it's getting less and less popular it is probably a good idea to swap that one for another Max Potion. I will probably add another Choice Band as well, in place of 1 energy. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Wechselbalg]

Max Potion is my favorite card in the game and I say and deck that uses it should have four in it. What I would do is remove Pokemon Ranger and a Float Stone and put in two more Max Potion, for a total of four. Another micro optimization you can make it to replace two Metal Energy for Psychic Energy so you have the option at Tapu Cure.

Yep, I will probably add another Max Potion - I tested the deck in an online tournament running 3 Max Potions, 2 Field Blowers and 10 energy. Luckily I got matchups which were strong enough (BKT Gallade/Octillery who kept spamming Hex Maniac and VikaBulu) but not near auto-losses like Volcanion. (I also won the tournament, yay!)
I don't like the idea of the pyschic energy just for Tapu Cure, especially if I am going to run 4 Max Potions, altough playing with additional psychic energies probably wouldn't hurt consistency since Metagross can also use both of its attacks with it. It sounds like a viable variation, (and with Necrozma later on I will run psychic energy anyway, but for that build I will probably have to change a bit more than that) but personally I don't find it that useful, and most of the time I think I would be using Algorithm GX over Tapu Cure anyway. Thanks a lot for your feedback!

 

[Wechselbalg]

So I have considered all the suggestions I received from you guys, along with my own personal preferences, and here is what the deck looks like now:

Pokémon - 15

4 Beldum
3 Metang
4 Metagross-GX
2 Tapu Lele-GX
2 Alolan Vulpix

Trainer Cards - 36

2 Rescue Stretcher
3 Rare Candy
2 Lysandre
4 Professor Sycamore
1 Brigette
2 Skyla
2 Field Blower
4 Ultra Ball
3 N
3 Choice Band
2 Float Stone
4 Max Potion
4 VS Seeker

Energy
9 Metal Energy

Testings are showing mostly positive results, basically anything that doesn't hit Metagross for weakness seems to be winnable. Before this deck, I mostly played Solgaleo GX - Rayquaza, but after spending a bit of time playing Metagross and then switching back to Solgaleo for a few matches I realised how cluncky the latter was in comparison to Metagross. I'm still hoping that after rotation there will be some hope for Solgaleo too lol.

(I also still play my Xerneas Break deck, even though that one has mostly zero competitive potential, but maybe that's why I find it so challenging - once I even managed to win against a very similar quad Metagross deck that I am playing now, so I guess anything is possible lol)