Standard Slowpoke and Psyduck TTGX

[Yaginku]

Since I do not see a thread about this archetype, I am posting a new one. I have gravitated towards this deck after Dark Box has proven to not suit my style. I have tested many variations and I am currently running the list below. Obviously, as the format isn't official yet, I am confined to either testing within my League and playgroup, or praying that my ladder opponent is also testing a post-rotation deck.
Feel free to tell me what variations you're running and how they perform.

Pokemon:

3x Slowpoke & Psyduck GX TAG TEAM UNM
3x Lapras UNM
3x Jirachi TEU
1x Keldeo GX UNM

Supporter:

4x Cynthia UPR
4x Misty's Favor UNM
2x Lt Surge's Strategy UNM
4x Pokemon Fan Club UPR
2x Tate & Liza CES
1x Lady FLI

Item:

4x Cherish Ball UNM
4x Custom Catcher LOT
3x Super Scoop Up CES
4x Pal Pad UPR
2x Escape Board UPR
1x Choice Helmet LOT
4x Pokégear 3.0 UNB

Stadion:

3x Viridian Forest TEU

Energy:

9x Water Energy

How to play:

The deck is pretty self-explanatory. You're using Misty's Favor to add Supporters to your hand, you return Misty's Favor with Laprases, you discard them all for big damage.

The deck is somewhat slow. There are no cards that allow us to attach extra energies and building Blastoises and such is simply a no-go. At the same time, extra Energy isn't useful either - our GX attack is way out of reach. We're going the good, old "one a turn" way.

Catching up is interesting. Again, we cannot add any extra energies, but we do run Lt Surge, which can guarantee a high damage output and an added bonus of a switch from Tate & Liza, more Laprases from Pokemon Fan Club or just more Misty.

Card choice:

I have ultimately arrived at a Jirachi build, which is helped by the fact that I already have a playset.
Misty's Favor has a big downside - you don't get to draw any cards for the turn. No cards means no Items and no Energies on demand, which requires you to use things on the board to get these cards. Because I cannot use Supporters to get Energies (outside of a single Lady for the most dire of times) and getting Items is troublesome as I've mentioned, I run three Viridian Forest. It feels consistent enough - I rarely brick due to a lack of Energies and they double as effective Stadium removal if needed.
The item problem is semi-solved by Jirachis. Unlike in other decks that constantly rotate Jirachis in and out, I usually just treat them as a bonus after losing one S&P or hitting a SSU. I don't run many items to begin with and, once you filter most of the supporters out, it becomes trivial to hit needed items from a 20-card deck.

For the supporters, we take what we can get. I run four Fan Clubs, as they have proven to be very useful on the first turn. Lt Surges are a great option for catching up and if you can afford leaving one in your hand, you definitely should. Tate & Liza is another emergency option, if we need to switch out a damaged S&P. Finally, Cynthia is used over other draw options, as usually a bad hand is wholly bad and needs to be completely replaced.

Since the deck is oriented towards blowing-out targets, rather than dealing consistent damage, I run four Custom Catchers. Because we don't shuffle much once we're set up, it's not unusual to save one CC in the hand and then grab another one through a Jirachi.

A single Keldeo is just here for decks that hate to see him.

Match Ups:

Great

• Any Fire deck is obviously a favorable match-up. Interestingly, I wouldn't call Charizard & Reshiram an easy match-up - the deck definitely has an advantage, but it's relatively slow compared to the opponent, so it might get caught during set-up.
• Non-TT GX are the main victims for this deck. With just two Misty's in our hand, we are hitting 160 damage and that's the worst-case scenario. I think our average damage is around 240, which is just enough to grab two prizes.

Good

• Any non-fire TTGX deck depends on many factors. We are obviously geared to deal high damage on demand, but it might take a bit of luck or additional set-up to get there quickly enough.
• Is Reset Stamp a match-up? Regardless, this deck has a pretty good time playing around them, since most gameplay happens between the Laprases and the Discard pile.

Bad

• Baby decks. S&P is simply too slow and constantly overshoots targets that need less than 160 damage to kill. However, as most non-GX support has rotated out, this might not be that much of an issue for now.

 

[Wolfe_XD]

Overall, i think this list is pretty decent, if you can go first you get attacking ideally before your opponent can set up but the 1 choice helmet and lady seem a little redundant as helm cant be searched and lady seems excessive, so I think throwing in some switch or energy spinner/recycle system could help the consistency a little. Volc prism could be a consideration too, especially against greens decks, they usually have a small bench so can force some plays, its also a decent non-GX attacker frost rotom could be another decent non GX attacker. I haven't tested these myself but a friend of mine is using volc prism and spinner in his list, he says he likes them in the list.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi Yaginku,

Nice list. I am not sold on some specific cards. Keldeo GX does not seem to fit into this deck that well. Consider to cut him for another Lapras since he is needed to retrieve Misty's Favor. I am also not sold on Super Scoop Up since it is a classic hit or miss card. Consider to replace all three with additional supporter cards. You can also cut down one Pal Pad with the addition of extra supporter cards. Here are some supporters that worked real well for me: (1) Steven's Resolve: Turn one this card can be a combination of Pokémon Fan Club and Misty's Favor. It can search out two Pokémon and Misty's Favor for next turn. (2) Blue's Strategy is a decent two-off in this deck since it allows you to replenish your hand before you use Toss and Splash to discard up to seven Supporter cards from your hand. Also consider to replace Cynthia with a direct draw supporter such as Whitney. Whitney as perfect synergy with Misty's Favor and Toss and Splash. Early game you search out two of them to discard them both and in the middle of the game you use the remaining two copies to draw five to seven cards. Also consider to cut two Pokémon Fan Club for either two Erika's Hospitality or two Coach Trainer if you decide to run two to three Steven's Resolve in your deck. I disagree on the comment that non-GX decks are a favorable matchup. I personally experienced them to be the harder matchups because most non-GX decks are able to knock out Slowpoke and Psyduck GX in two hits which can lead to unfavorable trades. Hope this provides some initial assistance.

 

[FourteenAlmonds]

I've seen a guy at my local league run Slowduck, and he was absolutely mopping the floor with Dark Box. Just from watching the game, it seemed that Keldeo-GX was key, and Pokémon Fan Club was good at the start of the game but discard fodder later on. As well as this, the hardest card to beat in that whole deck was Darkrai [*], so having a couple of Switch (or Tate&Liza) to play around the Sleep and preserve that Keldeo-GX seems pretty important.

Notably, his deck did not run any Jirachi. I'm wondering if that actually increased consistency and damage due to the higher supporter count as opposed to Jirachi and Escape Boards -- have you tested any non-Jirachi variants?

 

[Dark Espeon]

Notably, his deck did not run any Jirachi. I'm wondering if that actually increased consistency and damage due to the higher supporter count as opposed to Jirachi and Escape Boards -- have you tested any non-Jirachi variants?

Yes. I increases consistency by also running direct draw supporters and it increases consistency by allowing for an additional bench slot for Lapras. The latter aspect seems to be even more important.

 

[AngryBokoblin]

Seems like you would have trouble with latios/keldeo.

 

[Yaginku]

Hi Yaginku,

Nice list. I am not sold on some specific cards. Keldeo GX does not seem to fit into this deck that well. Consider to cut him for another Lapras since he is needed to retrieve Misty's Favor. I am also not sold on Super Scoop Up since it is a classic hit or miss card. Consider to replace all three with additional supporter cards. You can also cut down one Pal Pad with the addition of extra supporter cards. Here are some supporters that worked real well for me: (1) Steven's Resolve: Turn one this card can be a combination of Pokémon Fan Club and Misty's Favor. It can search out two Pokémon and Misty's Favor for next turn. (2) Blue's Strategy is a decent two-off in this deck since it allows you to replenish your hand before you use Toss and Splash to discard up to seven Supporter cards from your hand. Also consider to replace Cynthia with a direct draw supporter such as Whitney. Whitney as perfect synergy with Misty's Favor and Toss and Splash. Early game you search out two of them to discard them both and in the middle of the game you use the remaining two copies to draw five to seven cards. Also consider to cut two Pokémon Fan Club for either two Erika's Hospitality or two Coach Trainer if you decide to run two to three Steven's Resolve in your deck. I disagree on the comment that non-GX decks are a favorable matchup. I personally experienced them to be the harder matchups because most non-GX decks are able to knock out Slowpoke and Psyduck GX in two hits which can lead to unfavorable trades. Hope this provides some initial assistance.

This version of the deck goes all-in on turn one and two consistency, possibly over maximum damage output. This list might differ greatly if your particular meta features different decks that you might have to prepare for, but for ladder I found that minimizing brick draws is the most important aspect.
That is why I have tried and discarded Whitney and also wouldn't use Steven's Resolve. Early game Whitney is a dead filler card and I hated being stuck with her on a bad draw in any deck I've played. I also wouldn't use Steven's Resolve purely for speed reasons - giving up your first turn and possibly losing the game to a single Reset Stamp is too much of a risk. In general, a direct draw version would probably reach higher damage outputs, but there are too many weird decks on ladder to lose on consistency and speed.
I wouldn't give up on Super Scoop Ups too - if Acerola stayed in Standard, I'd play four copies of her. It's obviously a random card, but the hits are too good to give up on.

By the way, my original post mentions "Non-TT GX" decks and not "Non-GX" decks. Non-GX decks are obviously a very bad match-up for this deck.

 

[Yaginku]

Cosmic Eclipse is right around the corner and I want to update this list with one card in mind - Tag Whistle.
Tag Whistle drastically increases the damage output of this deck, by trading itself for two Supporter cards. It's a great draw after a Reset Stamp and allows us to be more flexible with our attacker choice.

I have also added Lance PS and three Dragonite (one TEU - Supporter-pulling one; two UNM for energy accel), along with one lighting energy. It gives us the ability to immediately load out Keldeo-GX or have a non-GX attacker if we're dealing with a scaling-damage attack. Most importantly, it shields us from falling behind on energy.

Finally, I am considering running one or two Island Challenge Amulets from Cosmic Eclipse (reduce your GX's HP by 100, opponent takes one less prize on KO). Again, if we are dealing with a lot of low-health, scaling-damage attackers, our health doesn't really matter.

Feel free to post your own suggestions for new additions - I'll post a list after the set releases and I get some time to play with it. More and more this deck stops looking like a one-trick-pony rouge deck, and more like a flexible box with multiple avenues of tackling various threats. I am very excited for Cosmic Eclipse and I believe SlowDuck has real potential to enter the top tier.

 

[AngryBokoblin]

Cosmic Eclipse is right around the corner and I want to update this list with one card in mind - Tag Whistle.
Tag Whistle drastically increases the damage output of this deck, by trading itself for two Supporter cards. It's a great draw after a Reset Stamp and allows us to be more flexible with our attacker choice.

I have also added Lance PS and three Dragonite (one TEU - Supporter-pulling one; two UNM for energy accel), along with one lighting energy. It gives us the ability to immediately load out Keldeo-GX or have a non-GX attacker if we're dealing with a scaling-damage attack. Most importantly, it shields us from falling behind on energy.

Finally, I am considering running one or two Island Challenge Amulets from Cosmic Eclipse (reduce your GX's HP by 100, opponent takes one less prize on KO). Again, if we are dealing with a lot of low-health, scaling-damage attackers, our health doesn't really matter.

Feel free to post your own suggestions for new additions - I'll post a list after the set releases and I get some time to play with it. More and more this deck stops looking like a one-trick-pony rouge deck, and more like a flexible box with multiple avenues of tackling various threats. I am very excited for Cosmic Eclipse and I believe SlowDuck has real potential to enter the top tier.

Which tag team supporter are you going to put in?

 

[Yaginku]

Which tag team supporter are you going to put in?

It's definitely a tough choice, since most of them suck for our deck.
We definitely take four Cynthia & Caitlyn - it has a marginal chance of pulling 4+ supporters (either one from the discard and three from the draw, or by drawing into a Tag Whistle), which makes it a good counterpart to Misty.
Mallow & Lana is the second obvious choice - while marginally better than Tate & Liza, it does... something? I'd run three.
With the slim pickings we've got, I think we need to run the lowest amount of TT supporters possible and rely on Pal Pads to reshuffle them for later - with four Whistles, after two Pads you'd probably already run out of Whistles, so it's not that big of a deal. Remember to always prioritize other Supporters over TT supporters while searching and not waste the Whistles while you don't need them - they're much more powerful late-game as a Stamp counter or a damage bump.

 

[AngryBokoblin]

It's definitely a tough choice, since most of them suck for our deck.
We definitely take four Cynthia & Caitlyn - it has a marginal chance of pulling 4+ supporters (either one from the discard and three from the draw, or by drawing into a Tag Whistle), which makes it a good counterpart to Misty.
Mallow & Lana is the second obvious choice - while marginally better than Tate & Liza, it does... something? I'd run three.
With the slim pickings we've got, I think we need to run the lowest amount of TT supporters possible and rely on Pal Pads to reshuffle them for later - with four Whistles, after two Pads you'd probably already run out of Whistles, so it's not that big of a deal. Remember to always prioritize other Supporters over TT supporters while searching and not waste the Whistles while you don't need them - they're much more powerful late-game as a Stamp counter or a damage bump.

What do you think about misty to get energy?
The gx attack is never used, I assume...

 

[Yaginku]

What do you think about misty to get energy?
The gx attack is never used, I assume...

You can get away with running one - as with most Supporters in this deck.
The ability is pretty trash and I wouldn't rely on it to get my energy, but with have one GX attack worth considering - Keldeo-GX. It could work in edge cases.

 

[Yaginku]

COSMIC ECLIPSE PRIMER

After playing this deck a lot with cards from Cosmic Eclipse, I am putting together a short guide on updates for this deck.

First of all - Tag Call. This is an absolutely massive boost to this deck, it's amazing and it makes it much more consistent. Basically, it allows you to find two Tag Team supporters, meaning that one Item card can be traded for two supporters to achieve a massive damage boost - OR you can just find a piece you need, such as a switch effect with Mallow & Lana, additional energy with Misty & Lorelei or draw power with Cynthia & Caitlin.
I have also reinstated Whitney. Before Cosmic Eclipse I did not really like Whitney - it was all too common to get stuck with her early. However, now that we got a lot of additional consistency with Tag Calls, I find her way less obnoxious and a late-game 7 draw can be extremely powerful and close games on the spot.
Volcanion PS makes an appearance. While I wasn't too keen on him usually, the meta is so that both the forced switch and spread damage can be powerful effects.

I have played this deck with both Tag Calls and Lance + Dragonite combo and I did not like the Lance at all. First of all, a Dragonite is a dead draw, you need to find a way to put it back into the deck or just treat it as a dead card. When it comes to dead cards, I prefer Whitney, which at least can be discarded for an attack and wants to find itself in the Discard Pile anyway. Most importantly, with the appearance of Great Catcher we cannot afford to play passively anymore. We need to take initiative and get offensive right away.

I love how this deck "came back to basics" (without weird techs like Lance), yet stayed relatively versatile thanks to Tag Call. Mallow & Lana work both as a switch AND as a heal against decks with chip damage. Misty & Lorelei are usually just Slowduck fodder, but they can give us additional energy in a pinch, or even let us use Keldeo GX twice.

However, it is still very polarizing. It has a favorable match-up against most Tag Team decks, but takes a big L from Malamars and weird control decks - maybe not as big as before, but it's still an uphill battle. It also still doesn't have any Energy accel without Dragonites.

Current list:

Pokemon: (11)

3x Slowpoke & Psyduck GX TAG TEAM UNM
3x Lapras UNM
3x Jirachi TEU
1x Keldeo GX UNM
1x Volcanion PRISM STAR

Supporter: (24)

4x Misty's Favor UNM
4x Whitney
2x Lt Surge's Strategy UNM
4x Pokemon Fan Club UPR
3x Cynthia & Caitlin
2x Misty & Lorelei
2x Mallow & Lana
1x Lana
1x Pokemon Center Lady

Item: (14)

4x Tag Call
2x Pal Pad UPR
2x Escape Board UPR
4x Pokégear 3.0 UNB
2x Switch

Stadion:

3x Viridian Forest TEU

Energy:

9x Water Energy