Spinning the Web — A First Look at Galvantula ex

[PMJ]

Hello everyone! We’re into the beginning of the new season, and we now have our first new set of the season in Stellar Crown, a smaller set which is mostly made up of cards from Japan’s Stellar Miracle set. The release of Stellar Crown will put the Japanese and non-Japanese formats into roughly the same format, though as this has been the off-season in Japan, there are few serious events to base any results on.

It’s a new year and a relatively unexplored new set! While the set isn’t large, there are a few new cards which will find their way into existing decks, as well as a few new Pokemon which may make up brand-new archetypes. The “theme” of this set is Terapagos and stellar Pokemon, with a particular focus on Colorless Pokemon. Terapagos ex is itself a deck, thanks to the...

Continue reading...

 

[Kookaburra Kong]

Do NOT give that cad who refuses to believe that Pokémon Concierge is mid any ammunition.

 

[Charmaster:)]

Do NOT give that cad who refuses to believe that Pokémon Concierge is mid any ammunition.

Who? You mean @Robin Aisaga ?
(Ever since I read this thread, I feel like I've been in the middle of a soap opera. You feel like a well-defined character who can bring a certain theatrical flair to any conversation, and am I now starting to notice a rivalry arc? Now that I think about it, I suppose the Profile Posts column would be a great subject for a soap opera. Speaking of soap operas, I have not seen Pokémon concierge and wouldn't know what to compare it to in terms of deciding whether or not it's mid.)

 

[xebla256]

As a Galvantula fan, I'm definitely going to use this! Thank you for making this!

 

[Robin Aisaga]

I've been trying Galvantula ex on the ladder, it's a fun deck but keeping the item lock going is no easy task. When you miss a beat it's well... bad news... The deck is still in its experimental phase but that's also what makes it interesting. I'm curious to see if it finds a place in the meta.

@Kookaburra Kong If mid stands for miraculously intriguing & delightful I can believe it. It has Psyduck as a main character FCOL

 

[Steen]

As much as I want to believe this is a fun deck, there's way too many consistency problems I've come across and have tried to remedy while playing today.

Hyper Aroma as an ACE SPEC was one of my first choices since Blissey ex and Galvantula ex are centerpieces and the former is quite bulky and supportive regardless if its attacking or on bench, but to maintain overall consistency you have to sacrifice any ultra ball slots to compensate. I thought about Hero's Cape to make up for Galvantula's squishy-ness compared to the top decks but one Lost Vacuum or Jamming Tower and it is over.

Fulgurite is insanely powerful for item locking but you have a next to zero chance to set that up on turn two, let alone get the energy even required for it to slow down decks like Regidrago, Charizard, and Lugia. Even then, after attacking you are still vulnerable and you need to have a glass trumpet on hand on your next turn and pray you don't get Iono'd or get caught by Unfair Stamp, should that use of Fulgurite KO anyway.

However, I have noticed in my testing that the Joltik is as I theorized, a primo accelerator for more niche Grass type decks and because of the added bonus from accelerating Lightning Energies, you can actually run Raikou V with minimal hassle alongside cards such as Serperior VSTAR of all things and could potentially be a tech for Miraidon ex.

EDIT (9/14/24): I should also add it was a gigantic mistake to make the Joltik 30 HP as it makes them extremely vulnerable to damage counter placing shenanigans, a perfect 30/30 split for Dragapult ex and any of the critically endangered Lost Box decks get to have a field day with Sableye if they can get a Lost Zone of 10.

 

[F4nt45m]

It's cool that there's now a control deck that deals decent damage, although the Stellar pokemon Energy costs seem a bit of a wall to casual players.

 

[Cyndaquil987]

This deck will be silly with magneton or whatever the middle one is

 

[PMJ]

As much as I want to believe this is a fun deck, there's way too many consistency problems I've come across and have tried to remedy while playing today.

Hyper Aroma as an ACE SPEC was one of my first choices since Blissey ex and Galvantula ex are centerpieces and the former is quite bulky and supportive regardless if its attacking or on bench, but to maintain overall consistency you have to sacrifice any ultra ball slots to compensate. I thought about Hero's Cape to make up for Galvantula's squishy-ness compared to the top decks but one Lost Vacuum or Jamming Tower and it is over.

Fulgurite is insanely powerful for item locking but you have a next to zero chance to set that up on turn two, let alone get the energy even required for it to slow down decks like Regidrago, Charizard, and Lugia. Even then, after attacking you are still vulnerable and you need to have a glass trumpet on hand on your next turn and pray you don't get Iono'd or get caught by Unfair Stamp, should that use of Fulgurite KO anyway.

However, I have noticed in my testing that the Joltik is as I theorized, a primo accelerator for more niche Grass type decks and because of the added bonus from accelerating Lightning Energies, you can actually run Raikou V with minimal hassle alongside cards such as Serperior VSTAR of all things and could potentially be a tech for Miraidon ex.

EDIT (9/14/24): I should also add it was a gigantic mistake to make the Joltik 30 HP as it makes them extremely vulnerable to damage counter placing shenanigans, a perfect 30/30 split for Dragapult ex and any of the critically endangered Lost Box decks get to have a field day with Sableye if they can get a Lost Zone of 10.

It's definitely a meme. In my limited testing I have always felt like I'm a turn late and a card short with this deck. Hyper Aroma is basically required, which is a shame because Sparkling Crystal is literally made for cards like Galvantula ex.

If Fulgurite kills them, they can't use Unfair Stamp - it's an Item The deck is still super weak to hand disruption without having something like Fez or Bibarel to back you up.

Giving Joltik 30 HP was definitely done on purpose and its weakness to Dragapult is exactly the reason why having a copy of the 40 HP one is needed, but if you don't go first with this deck against Dragapult you are gonna be in big trouble.