I am curious if anyone has tried experimenting with Malamar / Necrozma-GX/Ultra Necrozma-GX builds for post rotation?
With the loss of Max Elixir and Professor Sycamore, is the deck going to have trouble setting up early game? Is Sophocles/TV Reporter the replacement for Sycamore?
I am still currently working on finalizing all of my deck lists and getting all the cards I need from missing out on the past 2-3 expansions, but soon I will be testing the following 3 decks against each other (and by soon I mean starting next weekend):
Cynthia x4
Guzma x3
Professor Kukui x2
Steven's Decision x1
Fisherman x1
Crasher Wake x1
Lillie x1
Item x17
Ultra Ball x4
Aqua Patch x4
Choice Band x4
Switch x3
Nest Ball x2
Energy x12
Water Energy x8
Double Colorless Energy x4
Once I've done some experimentation, I'll come back to you here or perhaps make another thread talking about the advantages and shortcomings of each deck.
Right now, I assume the decks to perform in the following fashion:
I think Gardevoir GX has the following things that neither deck can compete with:
1. 2 copies of Diantha can recycle things like Cynthia and simply gives the deck more ability to play out of discard and refresh resources better than the other two, especially since we're losing cards like Fishing Rod and Special Charge. And of course not to mention Twilight GX, but in most games I believe Plea GX will be the GX attack of choice.
2. Sylveon GX is INCREDIBLY strong against Ultra Necrozma GX. Fairy Wind can take very easy OHKOs and can set up 2 hit KOs faster than Necrozma GX or Dawn Wings Necrozma GX. Magical Ribbon allows the deck to have the most consistent set up being able to search out whatever cards the deck needs to perform without using your supporter for turn on Steven, and since this deck runs Zoroark GX, you are not afraid to get Judged on your opponent's turn. Depending on match up, you can win without setting up a single Gardevoir GX and simply use Sylveon GX & Zoroark GX to carry all the weight since neither of them need Secret Spring to get going. Sylveon GX can OHKO Ultra Necrozma GX's, and Zoroark GX can OHKO Dawn Wings Necrozma GXs. UNGX/Malamar does not have a lot of outs here. I honestly believe that correct play of Beast Ring to control the game's momentum is Ultra Necrozma GX's win condition in this match up.
3. 230 HP on Gardy GX is a very awkward number for both Ultra Necrozma GX and Alolan Ninetales GX to hit that generally require an extra turn of resources if swinging for an OHKO.
I think Ultra Necrozma GX has a leg up on Alolan Ninetales GX for a very simple reason - Malamar can recycle Psychic energy indefinitely and is incredibly searchable due to Mysterious Treasure while Alolan Ninetales GX is forced to clog their deck with Aqua Patch and can only accelerate 4 water energies the entire game with an Item card that can only be searched by Wake & Steven. There is also the fact that Alolan Ninetales GX can't outspeed Beast Ring after they take their first KO. I think in an average game, Alolan Ninetales GX will take an early lead due to Beacon setting them up well, but Ultra Necrozma GX can easily control the game hitting 210s with Choice Band/Beast Energy and 2 discards once Malamar is set up.
I will get some actual best of 3 statistics for you when I get to testing. I think Gardevoir GX should have the highest win rate when considering these specific deck lists.
