Standard Wave Control (Seismitoad EX / Glalie EX / Empoleon)

[Dark Espeon]

WAVE CONTROL

Pokémon (13):

• 4 Seismitoad EX (disabler)
• 2 Glalie EX (beatdown)
• 3 Empoleon (booster)
• 2 Remoraid (evolve)
• 2 Octillery (draw)

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums (37):

• 2 Archie’s Ace in the Hole (draw)
• 4 Professor Sycamore (draw)
• 1 Delinquent (control)
  
• 1 Lysandre (control)
• 1 Xerosic (control)
  
• 1 AZ (retrieval)
  
• 3 Fighting Fury Belt (beatdown)
• 3 Battle Compressor (control)
• 4 Trainers' Mail (search)
• 3 Red Card (disruption)
  
• 4 VS Seeker (retrieval)
• 4 Ultra Ball (search)
• 3 Dive Ball (search)
• 3 Silent Lab (disable)

Energy (10):

• 4 Double Colorless Energy
• 6 Water Energy

Strategy:

Start with Seismitoad Ex and set up Octillery. Discard Archie’s Ace in the Hole and two Empoleon with Battle Compressor. You can return them to the bench later on with Archie's Ace in the Hole and draw five cards at the same time. Use the other Battle Compressor to discard tech cards and the third Empoleon. Silent Lab and hand control disables the opponent while (s)he is item locked. Red card also combos well with Glalie Ex since it allows the deck to match hand sizes much easier to enable Glalie to ohko defenders with Empoleon on board.

 

[bidou]

Very nice list, congrats !

- Judge is an awesome Supporter to play on Glalie's decks : same effect than Red Card, but can be discarded with Battle Compressor and recovered with VS Seeker.
- 1 copy of Shaymin EX could help on your first turn, before you play Silent Lab. Always great to use Ultra Ball for him
- I know it requires a lot of slots, but a line of Milotic could be great too.
- Are you sure that Fighting Fury Belt is better than Muscle Band in this particular deck ?

I definitely like this deck, though !

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi Bidou,

Thanks for the review. The deck is in essence a modified version of a former Seismitoad Empoleon deck that focused more on Hammers and Glalie Ex. Wanted to check out hand denial as an alternative since several decks are based around efficient attackers which makes Hammers a little less effective. Judge is indeed a great card with Glalie Ex but it is hard to fit it into the current deck. What would you remove to fit them in? Tried to run them instead of Professor Sycamore but sometimes the deck tends to need a little more draw. Fighting Fury Belt seemed decent in this deck since Seismitoad Ex focuses on item lock and two-hit knock outs while Glalie Ex can clean with two Empoleon on the bench too. The extra health could benefit the deck more than the extra damage but this sure needs more testing than the few test runs conducted thus far.

 

[RiverFog]

Very cool deck. I love a good Ice type, and Glalie is up there among my favourites. Here are some tips I think will help a lot:

-Red Card +Judge
As bidou said, it's a great mid-game hand neutralizer to bring your hands even, and with VS Seeker and Battle Compressor it is not hard to get it when you need it. I prefer Judge over Red Card personally, as it shuffles both players' hands, not just your opponent's. I play with Noivern BREAK and I have found Judge to be essential.

-Ultra Ball/Dive Ball
Do you really need 7 Poke Search cards? I understand Ultra Ball having a double service discarding unwanted supporters and cards for Archies, but 7 seems a little much, especially with the draw support from Octillery.

I like the Empoleon/Fighting Fury Belt combo. It brings Glalie EX's damage up to 180, which is key for OHKOing most EX's. Have you tried throwing in a Giovanni's Scheme to up it that little more (with two Empoleon on your bench) for hitting Mega Manectric EX?

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi RiverFog,

Thanks a lot for the review. One Judge sounds good. Although Red card combined with the ability to use almost all cards in this deck immediate also boosts Glalie Ex a shuffle card that can combo with Battle Compressor and Vs Seeker sounds nice. Any idea on what to take out to fit it into the deck without increasing the supporter count?

The balls are there to search and empty your hand. I wanted cards that can be used all of the time to get Empoleon out more consistent. I switched from an energy discard version to a hand denial version because it seemed to help to get Empoleon out faster. Besides that several deck now focus one attackers that can be fueled with one or two attachments which makes hammers less effective.

Considered Giovanni's Scheme since it is one of my all-time favorit cards but it does not seem to work that well in control decks. In any beatdown oriented deck of mine it is a stable two-off card. With three benched Empoleon and belt Glalie Ex can ohko HP 220 attackers.

 

[poke4trade]

Glallie really loves a muscle band and so does the toad. Glalie OHKO on 170hp pokemon.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi poke4trade,

Thanks for the review. The deck focuses a lot on Empoleon to accelerate damage. I feel that this should allow the deck to use Fighting Fury Belt over Muscle Band. The main reason for the switch was that Seismitoad Ex needs to be more durable to combat with alternate lock decks such as Trevenant.

 

[Danglesmcjangles]

I'd tech in one manaphy ex, it'd help preserve energy, remove status, and let you switch easily from toad to glalie

 

[Orlandito2012]

I'd tech in one manaphy ex, it'd help preserve energy, remove status, and let you switch easily from toad to glalie

The problem with this is that anaphylaxis gets shut off by silent lab, and it isn't good enough to use only for the attack.

I just want to point this out, but what happens if someone has garbodor or uses Hex maniac, it would disrupt the deck a lot and reduce damage output.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi Danglesmcjungles,

Thanks for the review. I considered Manaphy Ex but he conflicts with Silent Lab.


Hi Orlandito2012,

Thanks for the review. Hex Maniac and Garbodor would be an issue. However it is hard to get Garbodor out with a tool under item lock and Xerosic can still be used to remove the tool. Hex maniac is another story but most deck run no more than one or two copies which are harder to obtain when item locked. It is still an issue but I think that the deck should be able to handle a hex maniac for one turn.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

IMO, Tools will be come more important; so a Startling Megaphone, I believe, is essential.

Secondly, I suspect you'll need to use Grenade Hammer as some point; so, including a Rough Seas could also be helpful. The Silent Lab, most likely, is quite useful at game's start more so than later; whereas, Rough Seas can be useful later in the game. Without Rough Seas, another AZ or Cassius could also be helpful.

All of your Pokemon are Water type. Although you've included some Dive Balls, you also have 4 Ultra Balls, as well as 3 Battle Compressors. The 3 Dive Balls, 4 Ultra Balls, plus the 3 Battle Compressors seem quite excessive and can place you at a huge disadvantage should your opponent, going first, Item-locks you first on his/her T1...

I'd suggest the following deck change improvements, IMO, for your consideration:

-1 Trainer's Mail
-2 Ultra Ball
-1 Silent Lab

+1 Startling Meaphone
+1 Dive Ball
+1 Rough Seas
+1 AZ or Cassius​

Any thoughts regarding inclusion of either Articuno (AT) or Regice?

I hope you find these comments helpful.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi TuxedoBlack,

Thanks for the review. The ball count is indeed excessive. I want to make sure that I can play any item card in hand to use Archie and get Empoleon out. the deck relies a lot on 2-3 benched Empoleon. It also seems to help a lot in getting Octillery benched fast since he is needed to refill my hand. I do like the Rough Sea idea and will try one less Silent Lab to fit in one Rough Seas.

I considered Startling Megaphone but decided to use Xerosic instead since he is more versatile and I can get access to him faster with the Battle Compressor engine. Will have to look into the exact ball engine counts but at the moment I settled with 4 Ultra Ball and 3 Dive Ball to reduce my hand size faster to get Empoleon out. Not sure on Articuno and Regice. I prefer Glalie Ex as a cleaner in this deck since I already run hand control cards that help me to minic the opponent's hand size too.

Item lock decks are indeed an issue. if the deck has no turn of items at all it essentially falls apart. This is a common problem with all Archie and Maxie decks in my opinion. Fortunately only Seismitoad decks and Trevenant decks can do that and the chance to have absolutely no turn of items of less than 50% (incl. odds of the coinflip determining who can go first).