Introduction
In my last Blog post I spoke about taking part in the Marquee Models Pokémon League Cup, today I will talk you through the deck I have used for the last month in probably my most successful spell in the competitive Pokémon Trading Card game scene I have had in my years worth of experience.This deck has taken me to Prague Special Event and back to numerous events in the United Kingdom which I have shared with friends and teammates. I have not enjoyed a deck really since Lycanroc/Raichu with sky field was a deck, so this deck for me suited my playstyle. This deck is IllusionBox.
The Origin
The deck originally started off as an attempt to pursue the use of Zoroark Gx's Trickster GX attack to increase the dynamic nature of the card, which has already seen a lot of play in many top tier decks, such as Zoroark/Golisopod GX and Zoroark/Lycanroc GX. After pondering the idea with Timur Yusuf, who had the original idea to develop the deck and seeing it have some success at a local League Challenge with Andy King using dark energy for Trickster GX. I decided to go about making my changes. This meant that the deck tried to use Dark energy but this was not very forthcoming due to the lack of Dark-type Pokémon in the standard format with any form of impact on the meta, without being weak to Buzzwole GX.
The next focus was a partner for Zoroark, it would have to be a card working off Double Colourless Energy (DCE). Instead of the usual Golisopod/Lycanroc Pairings, I wanted to use something that helped counter the incredibly poor match up with Buzzwole GX. With the psychic weakness, the obvious paring for me was Silvally GX with the Memories, which developed into a 3-3 line of Silvally GX to add consistency so it was not totally built around Zoroark which had a 3-2 line. The Type: Null of choice was the Crimson Invasion one with Armour Press, which meant it stuck around for longer even if it was hit by a Buzzwole or a Golisopod GX early in the game which is why I prefer Silvally as Zoroark's partner over any other pokemon, despite sharing the same weakness.
The next point of call was the support Pokémon for the Deck. With Buzzwole and Fighting-types being an issue I wanted to try Mew EX and a Mewtwo (EVO) to act as pivot points in the deck which allowed for easy KO's using Mew EX's ability to copy Riotous Beating or Mewtwo's Psychic. This turned out to be good as it hit for the psychic weakness although starting them in a match could be awkward and also if you had to attack with a Silvally or Zoroark then the free retreat was not there. This was when I decided to use Dawn Wings Necrozma (DWN) to use its invasion ability. This proved to be critical in how the games went as when you attacked with Silvally you were able to retreat out a damaged Silvally GX and put forward a dawn wings, then further rotate your board state by using the Gyro Unit ability to retreat into a fresh attacker.
The Dawn wings became a crucial part of the game plan with this deck so I upped the count to two with the idea that it has fighting resistance and can stay around again Buzzwole and Lycanroc. With these DWN inserted into the deck there was no real room for the Mew or Mewtwo which meant that there was no psychic weakness hit apart from the Psychic Memories.
This was when it hit me that I could use the Dawn Wings Necrozma as an attacker if I put psychic energies into the deck and then it allowed other memories to be used other than only psychic and fighting. Which then helped develop further adjustments for other match ups.
The Core
These are the cards that are a MUST to have in your deck list, without Tech cards for match ups.
Pokémon (16)
3 Zorua (SLG)
3 Zoroark GX(SLG)
3 Type: Null (CIN)
3 Silvally GX (CIN)
2 Dawn Wings Necrozma GX (ULP)
2 Tapu Lele
Trainers (29)
3 Cynthia
3 Guzma
2 Brigette
2 N
1 Mallow
1 Sycamore
4 Ultra Ball
4 Puzzle of Time
4 Max Elixirs
3 Memories of meta choice (2 Fighting, 1 fire).
2 Field Blower
Energy (12)
8 Psychic Energy
4 Double Colourless Energy
This Core is very consistent due to the use of Zoroark GX's Trade ability and the way to find supporters is made easier with this and if you need to you may use Tapu Lele GX's Wonder Tag to pull one from your deck. If you are two-three trades in and you have not found a way to produce the card you want then you've been incredibly unlucky.
Mallow is also a key card in this core due to the need of picking up specific item cards when you need them, such as Silvally's Memories. The amount of times where I have been able to Mallow for a field blower and a fire memory to take off my own fighting memory and attach a fire memory to knock out a Golisopod is incredible. Usually 4 prizes in two turns with a deck thats maximum damage output it 120 unless you GX is unheard of.
In this list you can take out the Psychic energy for any other energy you would like to play although you will not be getting full use of your Dawn Wings Necrozma. This is key for what the deck tries to achieve with Buzzwole GX being so popular and one of the best decks in format.
Finally the Guzma count in the deck is extremely high considering the free rotation of the deck, although this allows a lot more freedom to rotate the deck's board state especially once you have included techs into the list with the free spaces that you do have. You could play 2 but I like heavy supporter lines where they seem key e.g. Guzma and Cynthia.
Match-Ups
Buzzwole/Lycanroc 70-30
Hitting Buzzwole for weakness is an incredible thing in this match up, although three of the Pokémon you will look to bench will be fighting weak, I believe this is a favourable matchup as long as you play around the rockruff's and be clever with your plays. If you can T2 take prizes with Dawn Wings Necrozma to KO a Buzzwole already powered up ready to hit, normally the acceleration of energy will slow down due to the odds of Max Elixir's hitting. If they over-bench you can come in with Rebel GX to take two easy prizes or if your down then DWN can use Moon's Eclipse GX to take a knock out and have to be Guzma'd around the next turn.
Zoroark/Golisopod 60-40
This match up come down to how well you both set up. The ZoroPod deck is know to be one of the most consistent decks currently in format. As I know quite well when playing the deck, it has the possibility of a late set up but this is where you hit everything for weakness. The only awkward part of the match up is using Dawn Wings Necrozma due to its Dark-type weakness but this is why we play three Guzma to help when DWN is not in play. Golisopod gets one shot even if Armour Press is used with the fire memory, fighting memory does the same for Zoroark. Just watch out for the Sudowoodo Counter Energy Tech!
Volcanion/Ho-oh/Varients 60-40
The deck does well against any kind of bench warming decks such as Volcanion or Ho-oh due to the amount of Pokémon they have to bench. This brings in Rebel GX to play and if you are able to keep up a good trade with Ho-oh's you can stream your Type: Null's to slowly take two prizes while the opponent has to constantly take one prize to retreat and attack again due to the nature of both Ho-oh and Volcanion's attacks. Another card which would be interesting in this match up would be the Lunala Prism Star as it does 20x the amount of energy in play and with Full Moon Star allowing you to attach psychic energies from your discard pile meaning the more they load their bench with energy only increases your own damage output.
Zoroark/Lycanroc 50-50
The match up is extremely down to who ever starts first and takes the first knockout. Both decks hit for weakness against at least one of the Pokémon in play it will end up becoming a mess most times with Dangerous rouge GX and Rebel GX taking important KO's on both sets of Pokémon. ZoroRoc is more consistent than this list but with Type: Null coming in clutch with its own Armour Press, this makes it more of a 50/50.
Garbador/Variants 40-60
The only awkward issue with this match up is the ability lock, if you can hit your field blowers at the right time the fact you take KO's on Espeon GX, with Psychic attachers without getting returned KO's because you are weak to Dark-type Pokémon is one of the happiest things about playing the Dawn Wings Necrozma. Be cautious with your resources as double puzzle of time will be needed to have an impact against a already Tool attached Garbotoxin.
Zoroark/Gardevoir 30-70
Gardevoir is an awkward match up for this deck as most of the cards require quite a lot of energy to enable them to use their attacks, against a Silvally GX they will only need to grab 4 energies from their deck which can easily achieved. As well with the two Gallade's which are being played in the majority of lists currently, does not help out the match up what so ever with this being the second most horrible match up for the deck.
Greninja 20-80
When it is not doing 'Frog things' this deck is incredibly nasty to play against when the deck is set up. 130 hp Greninja with shadow stitching basically is unplayable due to your heavy ability reliance. If it evolves to the Break then you have less chance due to the nature of how much damage Water Shuriken does to your Pokémon. Giratina Promo is very much recommended if you enter any tournament where there will be at least 1 Greninja player.
The Final Deck - IllusionBox
So after a lot of testing I was finally able to conclude that bellow is the best deck list for IllusionBox, this has been developed carefully over a month and a half of playing online and testing IRL. When it has come to tournaments the deck has held its own and has always finished with a positive record, it was my personal playing skills which had let it down in previous competitions.
Prague Special Event it ran really hot to start of with giving me a record of 2-0-1 meaning I was rubbing shoulders with some of the best players in Europe for a round and then slowly it took a dive and the deck bricked incredibly hard. I was away with my amazing girlfriend who was lovely enough to take time from the holiday to let me play so once I thought T32 hopes were done we left to enjoy our holiday (Looking at results two wins in the last two rounds would have guaranteed T32). Then at the last two cups which I played in (both reports are on my blog), I have used slightly tweeked lists adding different cards when expecting different match ups.
At Marquee Models in Harlow I came 6th missing out my win and in and missing my first chance at a Top 4 cut. Finally I played the deck at Athena Games in Norwich in which I was able to Top 4 breaking the curse of the bubble allowing me to get 32 Championship Points and play some of the best Pokémon I have played since I started. The deck list is the one I used to get T4:
IllusionBox
 |
| Lunala Prism 62 ULP |
Pokémon 18
3 Zorua 52 SLG
3 Zoroark GX 53 SLG
3 Type: Null 89 CIN
3 Silvally GX 90 CIN
2 Dawn Wings Necrozma GX 63 ULP
2 Tapu Lele GX 60 GRI
1 Lunala Prism 62 ULP
1 Giratina XY184 PR
Trainers 30
3 Cynthia
3 Guzma
2 N
2 Brigette
 |
| Multi Switch |
1 Acerola
1 Professor Sycamore
4 Ultra Ball
4 Puzzle of Time
3 Max Elixir
2 Field Blower
2 Fighting Memory
1 Fire Memory
1 Multi Switch
Energy
8 Psychic Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
Evaluation
Giratina
Giratina is over powered in this deck. Not only does it stop Greninja Break in its tracks, the card also one shots Buzzwole GX, while discarding a random card from your opponents hand. This was a late addition into the deck list knowing that there was going to be quite a few Greninja lists at Athena. Bruce Kelf told me to add it in as he knew a few players would be playing the deck today so not only did I add it in and not face a Greninja deck all day, but I was able to take 13 Prizes with the Giratina Promo due to manual attachments and KO's against the two Buzzwole GX decks I played against that day in a best of three (BO3) format it took the majority of my prizes that day.
Lunala Prism
Probably the least used card in my deck that day due to the lack of fire that turned up, although it could've provided a lot of use against Dusk Mane Necrozma GX which even while being resistant to Psychic-type Pokémon it allows me to still do huge damage. It helped become a rather useful pivot point for most of the day when not in use.
3 Max Elixir, 1 Multi Switch
Running only 8 energy means that the likelihood of hitting an elixir every time is pretty slim, hence why I decided to play 3 instead of 4 in my deck. This was down to the need of having energies to accelerate in my discard but as well allowed me to have a secret addition which won me one of the games in my Top 4 clash against Seb, Multi Switch. It came in clutch so many times allowing me to move a DCE around the board as much as I liked and even with the Puzzles, able to retrieve it when I wanted Similarly with the Memory cards. This was a solid addition and was able to get that extra Psychic energy onto the active if it needed it. Giratina was amazing for holding a DCE and then using Multi Switch to change it onto an active Zoroark or Silvally to take a KO.
2 Fighting Memory 1 Fire Memory
This was simply down to playing against the best deck in format, Zoroark/Golisopod. It hits both cards for weakness and allows a usually 2 hit game into a OHKO. It also provides use against the mirror match and against metal decks as I was able to pull out a draw against Scott Symonds playing Dusk Mane Necrozma. I do not think any of the other memories deserve a place just due to the current meta.
Conclusion
Overall, if I was to take this deck to a regionals I would expect it to do extremely well as when its played well, it is a force that is not giving your opponent time to rest at all in the game and due to the flexibility of the deck allows for an interchangeable core that helps in any meta in the foreseeable future. I think I will try and play this deck out for the rest of the quarter, after I have got through my forfeit deck for actually getting into a Top-cut.
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Signing off,
Charlie
Charlie
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