The most ideal way to play Virizion Genesect in my opinion is with LaserBank. Being able to more easily reach magic numbers such as 180, 130, 110, 80 and 60 makes the deck able to get the KO's it's otherwise struggling to get. Also Laser comes with the added effect of sometime being able to help you out of sticky situations by putting the opponents active pokémon to sleep.
However the biggest drawback to playing LaserBank is of course the mirror match where you can easily end up having 6 dead cards in your deck!
By playing Garbodor you get a solution to this problem as well as giving the deck a bunch of other benefits.
You shut down problematic abilities such as Safeguard which you would either be forced to use G Booster or another non-EX attacker to get rid off. Ability reliant decks like Blastoise/Keldeo/Kyurem, FluffyChomp and Darkrai/Hydreigon will have a harder time. Being able to shut off abilities when you are prepared for it and when the opponent isn't is a helpful concept in most match-ups. Also the strenght of Laser is generally magnified when Garbodor is in play by shutting of abilities like Keldeo's Rush In and Darkrai's Dark Cloak.
Shutting off Virizion's ability is not that bad since if it ever comes down to a special condition war this deck will pretty much always have the advantage. You can decide exactly when your opponents special conditions are going to work. While Garbodor is in play you can use Tool Scrapper to discard the tool on it and get out of any special condition your active pokémon may be in.
Comparing this deck to the popular Darkrai/Garbodor this deck has an advantage of being able to control special conditions wonderfully and more consistently being able to put pressure early and has the ability to OHKO any EX in the format with G Booster.
So I'm really liking the idea for running Garbodor in this deck for now. It's definitely the version which has had the best results for me in practice so far!
I am having some problems with creating a decklist I really like though.
This is my list right now:
Pokemon (11):
* = Recent changes
-1 Colress
-1 Skyla
-1 Shadow Triad
-1 Colress Machine
+2 Random Receiver
+1 Super Rod
+1 Great Ball
Things to look more into:
1 Colress Machine and 2 plasma energy?!
Colress machine is an amazing card. However the extra attachment is not that crucial for Genesect EX to work. It's especially good after using G Booster or when leading with it. By running 1 it increases the strenght of Skyla by letting it serve as an extra energy attachment. If it's truly worth playing at such a small amount of plasma energy is up for debate. I'm considering not playing Colress + Plasma Energy at all, especially since Garbodor conflicts with Genesect's ability.
2 Bianca, 1 Colress
I'm really not a fan of these supporters in this deck. Especially Colress since I don't usually Bench a lot of pokémon in this deck which just gives the opponent something to catcher stall when I don't play Skyarrow Bridge. Unfortunately there aren't many other good options. Something to consider is using Random Receiver instead.
Shadow Triad
I find this card really inconsistent. It's a dead card early game and not something I often use late game when playing other supporters are still to prefer. It's able to get back G Booster but I usually only use it once each match anyway. I usually wait to drop G Booster down until the turn I actually want to use it. I think It serves more of a purpose if you play a more heavy Colress Machine + Plasma Energy line.
Any advice and comments on the deck is appreciated!
However the biggest drawback to playing LaserBank is of course the mirror match where you can easily end up having 6 dead cards in your deck!
By playing Garbodor you get a solution to this problem as well as giving the deck a bunch of other benefits.
You shut down problematic abilities such as Safeguard which you would either be forced to use G Booster or another non-EX attacker to get rid off. Ability reliant decks like Blastoise/Keldeo/Kyurem, FluffyChomp and Darkrai/Hydreigon will have a harder time. Being able to shut off abilities when you are prepared for it and when the opponent isn't is a helpful concept in most match-ups. Also the strenght of Laser is generally magnified when Garbodor is in play by shutting of abilities like Keldeo's Rush In and Darkrai's Dark Cloak.
Shutting off Virizion's ability is not that bad since if it ever comes down to a special condition war this deck will pretty much always have the advantage. You can decide exactly when your opponents special conditions are going to work. While Garbodor is in play you can use Tool Scrapper to discard the tool on it and get out of any special condition your active pokémon may be in.
Comparing this deck to the popular Darkrai/Garbodor this deck has an advantage of being able to control special conditions wonderfully and more consistently being able to put pressure early and has the ability to OHKO any EX in the format with G Booster.
So I'm really liking the idea for running Garbodor in this deck for now. It's definitely the version which has had the best results for me in practice so far!
I am having some problems with creating a decklist I really like though.
This is my list right now:
Pokemon (11):
- 4x Virizion EX
- 3x Genesect EX
- 2x Trubbish
- 2x Garbodor
- 4x Hypnotoxic Laser
- 4x Pokemon Catcher
- 4x Ultra Ball
- 1x Great Ball*
- 2x Tool Scrapper
- 2x Super Rod*
- 2x Virbank City Gym
- 4x Float Stone
- 1x G Booster
- 4x Professor Juniper
- 4x N
- 2x Skyla*
- 2x Bianca
- 2x Random Receiver*
- 9x Grass
- 2x Plasma
* = Recent changes
-1 Colress
-1 Skyla
-1 Shadow Triad
-1 Colress Machine
+2 Random Receiver
+1 Super Rod
+1 Great Ball
Things to look more into:
1 Colress Machine and 2 plasma energy?!
Colress machine is an amazing card. However the extra attachment is not that crucial for Genesect EX to work. It's especially good after using G Booster or when leading with it. By running 1 it increases the strenght of Skyla by letting it serve as an extra energy attachment. If it's truly worth playing at such a small amount of plasma energy is up for debate. I'm considering not playing Colress + Plasma Energy at all, especially since Garbodor conflicts with Genesect's ability.
2 Bianca, 1 Colress
I'm really not a fan of these supporters in this deck. Especially Colress since I don't usually Bench a lot of pokémon in this deck which just gives the opponent something to catcher stall when I don't play Skyarrow Bridge. Unfortunately there aren't many other good options. Something to consider is using Random Receiver instead.
Shadow Triad
I find this card really inconsistent. It's a dead card early game and not something I often use late game when playing other supporters are still to prefer. It's able to get back G Booster but I usually only use it once each match anyway. I usually wait to drop G Booster down until the turn I actually want to use it. I think It serves more of a purpose if you play a more heavy Colress Machine + Plasma Energy line.
Any advice and comments on the deck is appreciated!