Discussion Servine/Serperior/Devolution Spray Vs. Golisopod

ReapThaWhirlwind

ReapThaWhirlwind

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Okay so, I've seen a lot of rising hype over the up-and-coming Golisopod card with it's fancy 30 damage preventive Ability and 150 damage to EX/GX Pokémon. However, I would like to argue that the utility of Servine/Devolution Spray/Serperior is far superior to Golisopod—and here's a few reasons why.

The number one reason—powerful single Prize Pokémon in the meta.

One big disadvantage Grass-type has in the current meta is Volcanion. This deck is a powerhouse by itself, but gains a crushing Type-advantage against Grass-type, effectively cutting off all hope of Victory entirely. Naturally, I've said that running 2 Weakness Policy in Forest of Giant Plants/Grass decks is a must, and that would be a great technique to add to either deck above.

However, even if you take a look at their common potential in a vacuum, you will notice that Goslisopod has very little going for it against Volcanion in general. Even in the best case scenario, where Parallel City can give an additional 20 boost the to the 30 boost damage prevention Ability, it's still not enough to ward off the crushing Type-advantage damage that Volcanion can do. Volcanion gets so crushing, it's not enough even with Weakness Policy on top of it. A couple {Steam Up}—and that's the end of the ball game with [Steam Artillery] (damage prevention/Type-neutralization and everything).

Offensively is just as bad too. Golisopod gets no bonus against single Prize Pokémon, and at only 80 damage a hit with [Resolute Claw], its offensive power puts it into a Three-Hit KO range against Volcanion with Fighting Fury Belt. Not only that, but at 3 energy, there's no way to keep up the pace against Volcanion's lighting fast energy acceleration between {Steam Up} and [Power Heater].

Just forget it—Golisopod doesn't have a prayer against Volcanion one-for-one in any format.

Servine/Serperior on the other hand can actually stand a fighting chance against Volcanion (or any other Type-disadvantage match up), as the has the disruption advantage of {Serpentine Strangle} and Paralyzed can shut down the opponent's momentum entirely. Devolution Spray is a very powerful buff for this effect as well, which produces the same success rate as a {Victory Star} Victini. It's not only worth running with Servine/Serperior—it's a must-have I would say.

As for competitive potential, even in this bad matchup scenario, Paralyzed shuts down Volcanion entirely. No [Power Heater], no energy boost, no use of Type-advantage. Goodnight sweet prince.

From there, under the effects of Paralyzed, you can easily get a jump on the damage stack with [Coil], which doesn't fair much better than Golisopod's [Resolute Claw], but at least stands a better chance at claiming the opponent's Active Volcanion with consecutive success from {Serpentine Strangle}.

From the bench, the Servine-Serperior combo gets even better, whereas Golisopod does nothing. Depending on what you lead with, a more prominent Pokémon (such as Tauros-GX or Lugia-EX) can easily finish off Volcanion (or any other powerful Pokémon) with {Serpentine Strangle} setting them turns behind the damage stack that they can't make up for.

Here's another really prominent card that poses a serious threat in the meta, and if take a close look, you will notice that Golisopod once again falls tragically short of being able to One-Hit KO Vespiquen.

Fortunately, with the damage range here (and Golisopod's Ability), it can be a little more likely to survive the first attack, but it's not something that's always going to be likely to happen. At best, you'll get into exchanging shots, where Vespiquen holds the same two-hit KO potential, placing the advantage in favor of whoever gets the first hit. In addition to this, and more importantly, is the follow-up speed of Vespiquen Vs. Golisopod (which is speed that Golisopod cannot even begin to match).

Vespiquen can swing out on a single energy play and continue the offensive, while Golisopod's energy hike is sure to put it at least one turn behind, that it can't possibly afford. So yeah, goodbye Golisopod, your chances of beating Vespiquen aren't much better than Volcanion, strongly disconsidering your competitive potential in the current meta. Maybe when Vespiquen rotates out, there's going to be more hope, but not much until then I'd say.

Despite all of Vespiquen's best qualities, disruption reigns supreme here once again. A well timed {Serpentine Strangle} is going to lockdown a Vespiquen and reduce its free retreat worthless. This can successfully enable a build-up on [Coil], which from there holds the potential finish off a follow-up Vespiquen in a single hit (clearing a successful two for one).

As for the speed factor, Servine-Serperior checks in with another green flag, as the ability to mobilize on a single energy with [Coil] or [Slashing Strike] enables Servine/Serperior to easily match the speed of Vespiquen.

Goodnight sweet princess, this could be considered a bad matchup for you.

At this point, it should be clear to see which set of cards possess the alpha potential here. Golisopod slower, its more resource dependent, and its offensive power is only special needs. Servine/Serperior/Devolution Spray on the other hand is lighting fast, lite on resources, and boasts as much technical potential as it does raw power. Add the up-an-coming Choice Band Pokémon Tool Card to the mix, and Serperior is going to be two-hit KO'ing 200HP Pokémon EX/GX on a single energy (such as the majestic Espeon-GX). It's such a powerful utility, the only way to beat it when it's heavily reinforced by Devolution Spray is by running excessive Pokémon Center Lady (which no one does). And that fact just makes it competitive potential in the meta that much greater.

Again, one might want to argue that people tech copies of Escape Rope that can ward off Special Condition effects, but I can assure you that a single copy isn't going to cover the depth of an effect like this in as high consistency as I've legendarily run it. A number of things can go wrong with their single tech. It's either not likely to be readily available when they need it; or it can go to waste entirely from a desperate draw with Professor Sycamore; or it can get Prized and leave them with nothing; or even in the best case scenario, it's only going to get them by a single turn, which just isn't going to be enough to carry them through the game.
 
I have put more time than I care into my Serperior deck and I find it to not be that good considering there are better grass types you can play with (though I don't like using that as an actual argument). Serperior is clunky, forcing you to run a 4-4-4 line on a low HP stage 2 Pokemon. If they force it back to the bench, it loses the buff from Coil. The good things I can say about the card is attacking for one Energy. Servine can do some cute things but if you miss coin flips, they you could lose your Pokemon and Serperior's damage comes from you being able to flip heads. With Escape Rope being played more often, it would be hard to keep the effect in a competitive environment. Serperior is just a weaker option than what you could get from any other grass support.

It is a fun deck though and it does put in work however. As for weakness, every deck loses hard to its counter and putting it into luck, while does win games, isn't always the best thing to rely on because after all, Crushing Hammer does win games but we don't see anyone playing it in the bulk of decks. Another thing to factor in is Volcanion does play with Escape Rope and Switch so any paralysis you do get could be undone and even then, you still don't hit them hard enough as a single FFB forces you to 3HKO them, when all they need to do is hit you once.

With my time playing Serperior, I found that you don't draw anything when you need it a lot of the time. Against Vespiquen, which is a lot faster than Serperior just needs 13 Pokemon in the discard pile, which is about half the Pokemon less needed to KO a mega or GX. You are right that paralysis can hurt them but so does Enhanced Hammer. I haven't played this matchup but you still rely on the heads flip and a 2HKO assuming things go well and each time you KO a bee, you give them 20 more damage. Keep in mind that Vespiquen has the same tools as Serperior and uses them well.

Golisopod is a 130 HP stage 1 Pokemon that effectively has 160 HP and is really good at reducing chip damage, which makes it harder to deal with. Its fast enough thanks to FoGP and DCE. With Choice Band, it can hit 180 damage on a EX or GX, which is scary - even more so if you go first. Card for Card, Golisopod requires five to six cards while Serperior requires six to seven cards. Not going to say one is better than the other but Golisopod does have its perks like Serperior.

While disruption is good right now, you need the right deck to make it work, which is why you see nothing else working except for Wailord-EX and houndoom-EX focusing exclusively on it. Both of these decks lose hard to Volcanion. That much I know.
 
You probably don't run Devolution Spray though, and that is a very significant factor to the success of {Serpentine Strangle}. It's a principal that can be strongly learned from {Victory Star} Victini. The additional coin flip is not only helpful—it's boast nearly definite game-winning success. That being said, I don't think you experience with the Serperior line constitutes are arguments or defenses here. I've used it to explicit success to turn Venusaur-EX into a superpower in Crack the Whip, so I know from a lot of hard experience its greater intricacies.

Weakness Policy is a definite for taking the edge away from Type-advantage, and it's a lot more reliable for winning you games in Type-disadvantage matchups than Crushing Hammer or Enhanced Hammer is. As you can see in that deck, and the Jumpluff one before it (She Loves Me Not), 2 Weakness Policy is a staple to this style deck. This was explained in the opening post, so I'm not sure where you're coming from with this argument at all, as you're entirely ignoring the original reference of it and its utility.

The same seems to be true for your arguments on Golisopod. It's a Stage 1 Pokémon that can hit for a lot of damage—but only in narrow situations—and facing an immense energy hike that faces a huge challenge in scenarios where you have exactly one turn to be able to follow-up before you're left too far behind the game pace to catch up. Double Colorless Energy doesn't bridge this gap. You will still be an entire energy—and an entire turn behind in most cases. It's simply too slow on the follow-up, meaning the technique for making good use of it is going to want to involve including less of them (as its opportunity potential isn't significant enough to make explicit use of a lot of them).

Golisopod is a like a 3-2 // 2-2 card at most. Its competitive potential just doesn't match the Servine/Serperior line in the least, so if you were going to run it, I strongly suggest replacing it with the Servine/Serperior line for much greater success.
 
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