Been thinking about playing ray gx this upcoming format and was thinking about pairing it with nag or magnazone. Any ideas on how to build a list would be very helpful!!
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Standard looking to play Ray in next format.
- Thread starter Joshua Hill
- Start date
My prefered way to build Ray is building it with Zeraora GX and Shuckle.
Shuckle discards 3 energy straight out of the deck. This energy can be used in multiple ways, such as using Zeraora's GX attack to pack on 5 energy when you have 5+ in the discard, or it can be used so that when you play Rayquaza GX onto the bench, you have guaranteed energy in the discard pile already so the ability never misses.
I'm still trying to figure out what kind of back up strategy I want to play in the deck (Zinnia as a way to maintain momentum since Wishful Baton is rotating? Pikachu & Zekrom GX as a back up attacker and accelerator?), but here is currently the list I'm floating on.
Pokemon x13
Rayquaza GX x4 (Have to play 4 of them for the ability)
Zeraora GX x2 (Gives your whole board access to free retreat, massive energy acceleration. Back up attacker.)
Shuckle x2 (Supplies discard pile with energy rapidly to be used many ways)
Pikachu & Zekrom GX x1 (Back up attacker/energy acceleration. The GX attack is good for games you can take 3-5 prizes at a time to win)
Dedenne GX x1 (Bench sitter for draw power, when you need it)
Shaymin Prism Star x1 (Back up attacker)
Tapu Koko Prism Star x1 (Free energy acceleration and a back up attacker)
Latias Prism Star x1 (Good energy acceleration for when you have 3 Rayquaza GX on the board. Don't underestimate the 30 damage and colorless cost for attack)
Supporter x11
Lillie x4 (Basically the best T1 supporter in the game right now, IMO)
Cynthia x4 (Draw power)
Erika's Hospitality x2 (Draw power)
Lisia x1 (Helps you tutor out hard to find cards, mostly Tapu Koko Prism Star and Thunder Mountain Prism Star)
Item x16
Mysterious Treasure x4 (Discard outlet to put energy into the discard. Searches Ray GX and Latias Prism)
Poke Gear 3.0 x4 (A mandatory 4 of in basically every deck after rotation)
Cherish Ball x3 (Helps you find Ray GX, Zeraora GX, Pikachu & Zekrom GX, and Dedenne GX, but mostly the latter 3.)
Great Catcher x3 (Play these as Acro Bikes until this card releases. Acro Bike is decent deck acceleration)
Net Ball x2 (Searches for Shaymin Prism, Shuckle, or grass energy. Very versatile card for this deck)
Stadium x4
Viridian Forest x3 (Discard outlet to supply more energy to the discard pile, but also making sure you always have energy to attach per turn)
Thunder Mountain Prism Star x1 (Allows Zeraora GX to GX attack for free and swing 160 for only 2 energy. Pikachu & Zekrom GX can attack for only 2 energy)
Energy x16 (I don't play any lower than 16 energy in Ray GX. I don't think any less is enough.)
Grass Energy x8
Electric Energy x8
This to me has been the most consistent way to play the deck. You don't clog yourself with Stage 1s or Stage 2s that brick you, and I often have 8-10 energy on the board by the end of turn 2, which is enough to OHKO all Tag Team GXs.
Of course playstyle is still a thing and not everyone will like this method. I'm still thinking about other ways to make Ray work since I think it has a lot of consistency options even after rotation.
Shuckle discards 3 energy straight out of the deck. This energy can be used in multiple ways, such as using Zeraora's GX attack to pack on 5 energy when you have 5+ in the discard, or it can be used so that when you play Rayquaza GX onto the bench, you have guaranteed energy in the discard pile already so the ability never misses.
I'm still trying to figure out what kind of back up strategy I want to play in the deck (Zinnia as a way to maintain momentum since Wishful Baton is rotating? Pikachu & Zekrom GX as a back up attacker and accelerator?), but here is currently the list I'm floating on.
Pokemon x13
Rayquaza GX x4 (Have to play 4 of them for the ability)
Zeraora GX x2 (Gives your whole board access to free retreat, massive energy acceleration. Back up attacker.)
Shuckle x2 (Supplies discard pile with energy rapidly to be used many ways)
Pikachu & Zekrom GX x1 (Back up attacker/energy acceleration. The GX attack is good for games you can take 3-5 prizes at a time to win)
Dedenne GX x1 (Bench sitter for draw power, when you need it)
Shaymin Prism Star x1 (Back up attacker)
Tapu Koko Prism Star x1 (Free energy acceleration and a back up attacker)
Latias Prism Star x1 (Good energy acceleration for when you have 3 Rayquaza GX on the board. Don't underestimate the 30 damage and colorless cost for attack)
Supporter x11
Lillie x4 (Basically the best T1 supporter in the game right now, IMO)
Cynthia x4 (Draw power)
Erika's Hospitality x2 (Draw power)
Lisia x1 (Helps you tutor out hard to find cards, mostly Tapu Koko Prism Star and Thunder Mountain Prism Star)
Item x16
Mysterious Treasure x4 (Discard outlet to put energy into the discard. Searches Ray GX and Latias Prism)
Poke Gear 3.0 x4 (A mandatory 4 of in basically every deck after rotation)
Cherish Ball x3 (Helps you find Ray GX, Zeraora GX, Pikachu & Zekrom GX, and Dedenne GX, but mostly the latter 3.)
Great Catcher x3 (Play these as Acro Bikes until this card releases. Acro Bike is decent deck acceleration)
Net Ball x2 (Searches for Shaymin Prism, Shuckle, or grass energy. Very versatile card for this deck)
Stadium x4
Viridian Forest x3 (Discard outlet to supply more energy to the discard pile, but also making sure you always have energy to attach per turn)
Thunder Mountain Prism Star x1 (Allows Zeraora GX to GX attack for free and swing 160 for only 2 energy. Pikachu & Zekrom GX can attack for only 2 energy)
Energy x16 (I don't play any lower than 16 energy in Ray GX. I don't think any less is enough.)
Grass Energy x8
Electric Energy x8
This to me has been the most consistent way to play the deck. You don't clog yourself with Stage 1s or Stage 2s that brick you, and I often have 8-10 energy on the board by the end of turn 2, which is enough to OHKO all Tag Team GXs.
Of course playstyle is still a thing and not everyone will like this method. I'm still thinking about other ways to make Ray work since I think it has a lot of consistency options even after rotation.
I feel like the reach of EM radar isn't enough to warrant it. If I was 100% sticking to this current list (which I think I'm not. I don't think I like the Pikachu & Zekrom GX because after all the discarding you do, you're hard pressed to even have 3 Electric energy left in the deck), then total search targets would be the following:
Cherish Ball: Can search 8 cards
Mysterious Treasure: Can search 5 cards
Net Ball: Can search 4 unique cards that neither Cherish Ball nor Mysterious Treasure can search (not counting all 8 grass energy)
EM Radar: Can search 4 cards, all of which can also be found by Cherish Ball (3 cards if I'm not including Pikachu & Zekrom)
The issue for me is deck space, and if I do something like run 2 Cherish Ball and 1 EM Radar, I really don't feel like that will be very impactful since I just won't see it often enough. Blind milling from Ray's ability also encourages to run higher copy counts whenever possible. It's a card I thought about, but unless I can find a way to run 2 or more copies of it without sacrificing other search cards, I can't really justify it.
As far as discard outlets are concerned, Great Catcher is going to help out a lot for the deck as a discard 2 option. Rayquaza GX is a deck that I like to go second with because I want to be able to GX attack with Zeraora on my first turn if possible, or just attack for energy acceleration of some kind in general. That being said, I expect my oppponent to have a board set up of some kind on their Turn 1, and probably a basic/Tag Team GX of some kind on the bench for me to snag and stall them.
I might increase Dedenne GX count to 2 at most, but bench space is tight for Ray GX. My optimal board is 1 Shuckle, 3 Ray, 1 Zeraora, 1 Utility Pokemon. I run 10 draw supporters because in the best case scenarios, I don't ever put Dedenne GX on my bench. I don't personally see Dedenne GX as a super high value energy discard outlet because this deck is not very good about getting massive amounts of energy in hand to discard all at once. Viridian Forest is the only consistent supply of energy to hand, and I usually use that energy as my attach for turn.
This list is definitely still a WIP, and it will remain a WIP until it actually gets to go a few rounds against other post rotation decks.
Cherish Ball: Can search 8 cards
Mysterious Treasure: Can search 5 cards
Net Ball: Can search 4 unique cards that neither Cherish Ball nor Mysterious Treasure can search (not counting all 8 grass energy)
EM Radar: Can search 4 cards, all of which can also be found by Cherish Ball (3 cards if I'm not including Pikachu & Zekrom)
The issue for me is deck space, and if I do something like run 2 Cherish Ball and 1 EM Radar, I really don't feel like that will be very impactful since I just won't see it often enough. Blind milling from Ray's ability also encourages to run higher copy counts whenever possible. It's a card I thought about, but unless I can find a way to run 2 or more copies of it without sacrificing other search cards, I can't really justify it.
As far as discard outlets are concerned, Great Catcher is going to help out a lot for the deck as a discard 2 option. Rayquaza GX is a deck that I like to go second with because I want to be able to GX attack with Zeraora on my first turn if possible, or just attack for energy acceleration of some kind in general. That being said, I expect my oppponent to have a board set up of some kind on their Turn 1, and probably a basic/Tag Team GX of some kind on the bench for me to snag and stall them.
I might increase Dedenne GX count to 2 at most, but bench space is tight for Ray GX. My optimal board is 1 Shuckle, 3 Ray, 1 Zeraora, 1 Utility Pokemon. I run 10 draw supporters because in the best case scenarios, I don't ever put Dedenne GX on my bench. I don't personally see Dedenne GX as a super high value energy discard outlet because this deck is not very good about getting massive amounts of energy in hand to discard all at once. Viridian Forest is the only consistent supply of energy to hand, and I usually use that energy as my attach for turn.
This list is definitely still a WIP, and it will remain a WIP until it actually gets to go a few rounds against other post rotation decks.