Discussion The Shaymin Assassin ... Galvantula!

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BEHOLD! THE MOST POWERFUL POKEMON IN ALL THE LAND IS...

Galvantula? A 90 hp stage 1 little spider?

Yes, I am now convinced that every deck needs a of these ugly little spiders. Why?

Because no other card in the game can get you FOUR prize cards in 1 turn.

Ok I admit I am somewhat emotional after THE GREATEST COMEBACK EVER in which I took 6 prize cards in the LAST 2 TURNS OF THE GAME.

My apologies to my tcgo opponent jeffreyyyyyyy, but it's now become very clear to me that if your opponent benches 2 Shaymins, your first priority should be to power up both Galvantula and go right after them. Galvantula hits for weakness, so even if your opponent KO's your first Galvantula, you can KO both Shaymin with the next one.

This should make us all really think twice about playing Shaymin.

Alright alright I know I'm overreacting and I'm not about to pull my Shaymin out of any of my decks, but I'm seriously actively building Shaymin hunting into my strategy with Galvantula. To me, right now, Galvantula is just as important as Xerneas in Rainbow Road decks.
 
Because no other card in the game can get you FOUR prize cards in 1 turn.

Anything that can damage two targets at once can snag four Prizes in one turn. As can Umbreon-EX when it KO's a Mega Evolution via "End Game". There are attackers that can hit everything your opponent has in play, thus with the current card pool, it is possible for those cards to take a (highly improbable and unnecessary) 18 Prizes in a single turn...

...at least since, as I read your post, by "single turn" you do not mean doing all the damage in one turn but just that when you finally take Prizes, it is all at once. ;)

Now, about Galvantula (XY: Steam Siege 42/114) in "Rainbow Road" decks, perhaps it is that important, but I am not so sure. I mean, spreading this out over two turns means your opponent can just heal or use Ninja Boy on at least one Shaymin-EX. Your opponent could also just attack with one of them as well. Galvantula is small, Joltik is even smaller! That means your counter can backfire. I mean, while I cannot use Ninja Boy and Lysandre in a single turn, a deck that can power up an injured Shaymin-EX in a single turn my Lysandre up Joltik, OHKO it to bounce it, then next turn if you go to finish off the remaining Lysandre with Galvantula, KOs Galvantula (as 90 HP is a bit fragile) and now you've taken 2 Prizes, KO'd something that was probably just eating up Bench space, and done at most 30 damage to one of the opponent's other Pokémon, while your opponent has also taken two Prizes and KO'd what (for Rainbow Road) is a useful Bench sitter (and its back up copy), lowering the decks overall damage output.

Now find a way to up the damage from "Double Thread" by 30 so that it really is scoring a OHKO against two Shaymin-EX at once and hello! XD
 
You could make the attack do 120 to Shaymins in one turn with Vileplume BCR in expanded.

...and you can include a Vileplume (BCR) as TecH in a Vileplume (AOR) deck. Slipping in Galvantula is another 2-4 slots but... that might work for a Vileplume variant. Awesome! Note: I mean work as in "be a functional, possibly competitive deck". Rules wise it totally is sound; there would have to be some translation error for it not to. :)
 
Anything that can damage two targets at once can snag four Prizes in one turn. As can Umbreon-EX when it KO's a Mega Evolution via "End Game". There are attackers that can hit everything your opponent has in play, thus with the current card pool, it is possible for those cards to take a (highly improbable and unnecessary) 18 Prizes in a single turn...

...at least since, as I read your post, by "single turn" you do not mean doing all the damage in one turn but just that when you finally take Prizes, it is all at once. ;)

Now, about Galvantula (XY: Steam Siege 42/114) in "Rainbow Road" decks, perhaps it is that important, but I am not so sure. I mean, spreading this out over two turns means your opponent can just heal or use Ninja Boy on at least one Shaymin-EX. Your opponent could also just attack with one of them as well. Galvantula is small, Joltik is even smaller! That means your counter can backfire. I mean, while I cannot use Ninja Boy and Lysandre in a single turn, a deck that can power up an injured Shaymin-EX in a single turn my Lysandre up Joltik, OHKO it to bounce it, then next turn if you go to finish off the remaining Lysandre with Galvantula, KOs Galvantula (as 90 HP is a bit fragile) and now you've taken 2 Prizes, KO'd something that was probably just eating up Bench space, and done at most 30 damage to one of the opponent's other Pokémon, while your opponent has also taken two Prizes and KO'd what (for Rainbow Road) is a useful Bench sitter (and its back up copy), lowering the decks overall damage output.

Now find a way to up the damage from "Double Thread" by 30 so that it really is scoring a OHKO against two Shaymin-EX at once and hello! XD



I can confirm that this card is incredibly useful in the late game. Keep in mind that this card is just another option when your Xerneas have all been KO'd. I won by having 2 galvantulas. One with an energy and 1 with exp. share. It was overkill though... at that point in the game, I only needed 2 prizes.

In reference to the 120 damage, we both know there is not an effective way in Standard to do this. (If there is, let me know)

But in Expanded, you can use Muscle band and Giovanni's Scheme/Iris
 
But in Expanded, you can use Muscle band and Giovanni's Scheme/Iris

All three of those expressly state they only increase the damage done to Active Pokémon (otherwise we could just use Silver Bangle).

I know that Gavantula can be useful, but I think I understand some of my wins against Xerneas decks. This is not some killer play to bust out all the time. Some decks will have answers, like dropping a Mr. Mime before you can finish (as an example).
 
All three of those expressly state they only increase the damage done to Active Pokémon (otherwise we could just use Silver Bangle).

I know that Gavantula can be useful, but I think I understand some of my wins against Xerneas decks. This is not some killer play to bust out all the time. Some decks will have answers, like dropping a Mr. Mime before you can finish (as an example).


If you played magic, you would be the guy that says creatures are bad because Murder is a card...
 
If you played magic, you would be the guy that says creatures are bad because Murder is a card...

Didn't say it was bad. I think @GengarGuys even has inspired me to try a deck to exploit Galvantula.

I am the guy who does try to balance out hype. Then again, I finally realized I was discussing something else with you elsewhere, so no wonder I seem like a stick in the mud. XD
 
BEHOLD! THE MOST POWERFUL POKEMON IN ALL THE LAND IS...

Galvantula? A 90 hp stage 1 little spider?

Yes, I am now convinced that every deck needs a of these ugly little spiders. Why?

Because no other card in the game can get you FOUR prize cards in 1 turn.

Ok I admit I am somewhat emotional after THE GREATEST COMEBACK EVER in which I took 6 prize cards in the LAST 2 TURNS OF THE GAME.

My apologies to my tcgo opponent jeffreyyyyyyy, but it's now become very clear to me that if your opponent benches 2 Shaymins, your first priority should be to power up both Galvantula and go right after them. Galvantula hits for weakness, so even if your opponent KO's your first Galvantula, you can KO both Shaymin with the next one.

This should make us all really think twice about playing Shaymin.

Alright alright I know I'm overreacting and I'm not about to pull my Shaymin out of any of my decks, but I'm seriously actively building Shaymin hunting into my strategy with Galvantula. To me, right now, Galvantula is just as important as Xerneas in Rainbow Road decks.

I play the Despair Ray Mega Gardevoir. It's safe to play Shaymin, I can just discard it.
 
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