Many looked straight to the Ultra Necrozma Gx with the new Malamar but I strongly felt obliged to look else where due to the outright dominance of big basic decks which are usually categorised off as high-roller decks. Saying that I did my time over the last year playing Tapu Bulu/Vikavolt and Buzzwole Gx, but for me the enjoyment of playing card games is the outrageous combinations you can pull off in your deck and Greninja Gx allows you to pull this off consistently, yet with a 'Combo Wombo' style.
Card Breakdown: Greninja Gx
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| Greninja Gx, Forbidden Light Expansion |
Greninja Gx is a Stage 2 Water-Type Pokémon which evolves from Froakie and Frogadier with a Grass-Type weakness. With the Pokémon being known for its agile frame and the swift movements of a martial-artist allowing the Pokémon to look graceful in combat as Greninja toys with its opponents. With this fitting description of the popular Kalos Pokémon, it is no wonder why it only has 230hp which is relatively low considering the other Gx cards that have been released, such as Solgaleo Gx (250hp), Decidueye (240hp) and Charizard (250hp). The disappointing part of the card though is the retreat cost which is 2 energy, which has previously seen as a single energy and no energy on numerous cards which has been printed since the start of the XY era.
The art on the card is probably my favourite out of all the new cards from the set which is not a Full Art supporter. The lines which show the wind motions of Greninja's limbs as they move quickly, really shows the power and elegance of the Pokémon. I really enjoy the waterfall background done by 5ban Graphics as it sets the tone for what kind of place you would usually find a Greninja relaxing and resting before the Pokémon's next adventure. The Full Art and the Rainbow Art show a very strong and powerful image of the frog-like Pokémon although I believe that the Full Art out classes the Rainbow due to its natural depth in colours but both get completely over shadowed by the regular art. Personally I would prefer to use the regular art cards anyway due to their cheaper nature in price and for the art they are superior to the others although not as shiny.
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| Scoop Up Cyclone, Plasma Blast Expansion |
Getting back to the actual card itself, Greninja Gx's main use is the ability Shuriken Flurry, this allows you to put 3 damage counters on any of your opponents Pokémon, when you evolve the Pokémon from your hand. This is basically Crobat from Phantom Forces with its Surprise Bite ability, which saw a lot of play with Landorus Ex in many winning decks. This ability stacks which means if you place down 3 Greninja Gx in a single turn then you will be able to place 9 damage counters anywhere on the board, with possibilities to devolve, scoop up or Acerola the card back into your hand to be able to lay down the entire line again and use the cards ability.
Although having the ability to place these damage counters, Crobat was a much more powerful force than what Greninja Gx first appears to be. This is due to the lack of AZ and Scoop Up Cyclone which allows you to pick up your Pokémon without the possibility of needing a probability of a coin flip or damage onto a Pokémon in the standard format.
Although with the higher Hp than the Crobat and the entirely usable attacks of the Gx card itself really allows Greninja Gx to hold its own and be a renewable source of damage output that can cylce itself over a greater period of time, which is deemed to be a lot more effective than the attacks of the Crobat.
Which moves us onto the only attack on the card (that is not a Gx), Haze Slash. This attack should only really be used as a back up attack in which ever deck you play Greninja Gx in, unless you decide to build a quad frog deck. This is due to the attack only being able to really hit 110 or 140 with a choice band for a water and a double colourless energy (DCE). This is two attachments to get this attack going which is quite slow considering Golisopod, Zoroark, Lucario and Zygarde Gx all have a single energy attachment to achieve the attack cost. How ever there are a few ways to get over this situation, Multi Switch being one of those if you are being forced to attack with a Greninja Gx and you can switch either a DCE or a water energy onto your active and start swinging. The maths although does really get helped by Greninja's ability as it enables you to hit 170hp if you evolved the same turn which is a knockout on a Tapu Lele Gx. The second part of the attack though is the really viable reason you could cycle your Greninja's. The effect of Haze Slash reads, you MAY shuffle this card and all cards attached to it into your deck. This is where there is not ideally the need for having AZ or Scoop Up Cyclone as it will help cycle itself through so you are always trying to do that extra damage by chaining the evolutionary line. With the option of keeping the Greninja Gx on the field as well due to the wording on the card, it may make a fantastic run and hide Pokémon but at times will be capable of taking a hit against the majority of the current standard meta. Although if you see a Golisopod Gx it is not all doom and gloom.
Finally leaves us with the last attack on the card, which is also the most powerful, the Gx attack. Shadowy Hunter Gx! Thanks TPCi... Personally I do not love the name of the Gx move but as we found out a couple of World Championships ago, its not all about the name of the move or Pokémon that matters (Mega Audino, Magical Symphony). This Gx move allows you to snipe 130 worth of damage to a single Pokémon on your Opponents field, obviously not applying weakness or resistance to benched Pokémon, although if you are able to devastate numerous Pokémon with spreads of damage then this could be more of an amazing Gx move. Personally I like the Gx attack for the damage output onto the active Pokémon, as it hits some amazing numbers if combined with the ability of the card itself. The base 130 damage with a choice band raises the attack to 160, if then a Greninja Gx was put into play that turn it deals 30 more damage making it 190. This deals with the majority of Basic Gx Pokémon, apart from Zygarde Gx. If you are able to either evolve into another frog or play a Professor Kukui, you can be hitting up to 210/220 damage which is currently the magic number when playing the TCG. This gives you a massive opportunity to hit numbers which only the Lycanroc Zoroark varient can hit with their single Gx move, which personally makes this deck a lot stronger than the Golisopod Varient.
Support Cards
The Greninja Gx card is incredibly good, but like most decks there has to be some form of support for the card and this helps increase the good matchups and decrease the bad. The support cards can range from other Pokémon that can help aid Greninja Gx due to their own damage output, draw support and abilities. These support cards can even be Trainer or Energy cards which can help aid with consistency of how the deck runs throughout a match making critical plays that benefit the players board state.
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| Frogadier, Forbidden Light Expansion |
The first card I would like to talk about is the Frogadier from Forbidden Light as this is one of the main crucial components of why the Greninja Gx card is so strong in the first place. This card has the ability, Quick Shuriken (Translation from Facebook), which allows you to put two damage counters onto any of your opponents Pokémon when the Frogadier is evolved from your hand onto a Froakie on the field. This once added up with Greninja Gx's ability adds up to a total of 50 damage onto a Pokémon over two turns, which then will allow a Pokémon such as Zoroark, Golisopod or Buzzwole to come and sweep up with their attack for turn. This will help be key in a number of knockouts you will wish to take with your main attacker. The attack water drip is not so great but deals 20 damage to the opponents active Pokémon and the card is rounded off with a single energy retreat cost which has been the same with all previous Frogadier cards as well as its weakness to Grass. The Hp is about right for a stage one Pokémon although it is a little light compared to other cards coming out in the set such as Braxien or Amaura.
Timer Ball has been a card that has always been disregarded as a rubbish trainer card due to the need of hitting heads consistently to make any impact in the deck. This time round though the reward heavily outweighs the risk due to how reliant on evolution Pokémon this deck is, Zoroark Gx is a stage one, Greninja is a Stage 2 and the abilities of the Frogadier and Greninja require you to play the cards from your hand. Timer Ball allows you to follow these conditions that are put on yourself from playing this deck, if you are extremely unlucky you will end up rolling 4 tails and get yourself no Pokémon at all, although with the thick evolution lines we have in the deck it allows you to easily find them if you so wish to. Timer Ball though outclasses Evosoda which means you have to evolve a Pokémon on your bench straight from your deck to which can not be played to thin your deck if you have already used all of your trades, where as Timer Ball allows you to throw it away by whiffing a search in your deck as its private content. This card can also make or brake a final knockout onto a Pokémon as it will allow you to search for one of your frogs that you are able to play at that time which might not be the one in your hand at the current point in time. Timer Ball is a very nice inclusion into this deck.
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| Devolution Spray, Evolutions Expansion |
Another card which after some thought is worth testing with this deck is Devolution Spray, it allows you to devolve one of your Pokémon on your side of play and then put the card into your hand. This will allow you to continuously evolve Froakie into Frogadier or then into Greninja Gx, this will help to be able to consistently have damage output on your Quick Shuriken's that will allow you to completely swamp these big basic Pokémon and start chipping away at Stage 1's on your opponents bench. The Devolution spray has taken spots previously taken by Super Scoop Ups just because it will allow instant damage even if cycle through just a single Frogadier and two Froakie on your bench, which can allow you up to 20 or 30 damage extra than you previously would have.
Finally the main support Pokémon being Zoroark Gx, being one of if not the best card in format currently. Zoroark has huge versatility in the TCG as it has been paired with many different partners and has still worked extremely well. The reason why I believe Zoroark Gx is the best partner for Greninja Gx is the capability to output damage and draw cards which there is no other card in the format which can match that function. This helps leave space for cards such as Devolution Spray, Timer Ball and thick lines of Pokémon mainly due to how easy it is to get rolling turn 2 with multiple Zoroark in play.
The card is mainly based around its ability Trade, this allows you to discard 1 card from your hand and draw two cards. This works well as a deck thinner and usually 9/10 times lands you with the card you want, after being able to use multiple Trade's in a single turn. This means lots of draw supporters in the deck are not ideal due to the amount of cards you do draw, this means more cards like Cynthia and N are being used over Professor Sycamore as they can cycle cards back into your deck if needs be.
The attack on Zoroark's Gx card is fairly good as it allows you to do 20 damage for each Pokémon you have in play, with a choice band you are hitting 150. Once this is added up with some Frogadier evolutions then you are easily knocking out Basic Pokémon, or some of the awkward non-Gx stage two Pokémon such as Empoleon. This adds to the diversity of the already powerful Zoroark card, allowing more damage manipulation that previously expected. Zoroark usually only has Devoured Field and Kukui to possibly hit 180, but in this deck there is a high possibility of hitting even bigger numbers using Greninja Gx. In terms of similarities to Decidueye Gx and Salazzle variants of Zoroark decks, this is a lot quicker to be set up and easier to have damage output straight away as a Stage 1 Frogadier puts 20 damage on any Pokémon in play which outclasses Decidueye. Salazzle has been a good manipulator of damage for Zoroark but as its damage between turns it does lack that killer instinct, as usually your opponent is able to heal or retreat out of the Burn/Poison on their active before they are knocked out.
Finally the main support Pokémon being Zoroark Gx, being one of if not the best card in format currently. Zoroark has huge versatility in the TCG as it has been paired with many different partners and has still worked extremely well. The reason why I believe Zoroark Gx is the best partner for Greninja Gx is the capability to output damage and draw cards which there is no other card in the format which can match that function. This helps leave space for cards such as Devolution Spray, Timer Ball and thick lines of Pokémon mainly due to how easy it is to get rolling turn 2 with multiple Zoroark in play.
The card is mainly based around its ability Trade, this allows you to discard 1 card from your hand and draw two cards. This works well as a deck thinner and usually 9/10 times lands you with the card you want, after being able to use multiple Trade's in a single turn. This means lots of draw supporters in the deck are not ideal due to the amount of cards you do draw, this means more cards like Cynthia and N are being used over Professor Sycamore as they can cycle cards back into your deck if needs be.
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| Zoroark Gx, Shining Legends Expansion |
Zorark/Greninja Gx Deck List
The Deck List is one I have personally developed over the past two months since the release of the confirmed set list. I have worked incredibly hard to hopefully formulate the best list I am capable of building, although I understand other people may prefer other cards, which are not in my list but this is my opinion on how I like to play my decks and develop them for consistency. Consistency is something which I have toned back within this deck though, due to the amount of Pokémon having to be included within the list. With publishing this list there are still one or two inclusions which personally I am still testing and not 100% on them being in the deck come the next quarter. Finally lets get on with the list.
Techs and Tinkerings
Tapu Koko Promo SM31
This is something that makes the matchups with Stage 1 Pokémon a lot easier to deal with as it allows you to do that extra 20 damage early on in the game while setting up the rest of your board by using Flying Flip. It also is a fantastic pivot point if it shows up in the active position allowing myself to switch into a suitable attacker depending on what is in the opponents active position. Although I have sacrificed some of the Greninja Gx line for this card, it is an inclusion which I am not 100% on at this moment in time.
Mew Ex RC24
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| Mew Ex, Legendary Treasures Expansion |
This card is what is swinging matches currently against Buzzwole Gx decks allowing you to hit for the Psychic-weakness and being able to copy every Pokémon's attacks in play. With its Versatility because of the ability on the Mew Ex allows this to be an inclusion in a high number of decks currently that struggle against Buzzwole Gx, which in the Forbidden Light expansion is getting more toys to play with than previously so hitting weakness against Buzzwole Gx is incredibly good. With the Versatile ability, Mew Ex could even copy Greninja Gx's attacks to shuffle the card into your deck to avoid the easy knock out on a 120hp Ex Pokémon.
Greninja BKP
There is only one use for this card, Shadow Stitching. This locks off your opponents abilities and in the current meta where they are running wild with the only denial being Garbotoxin Garbodor then there is a massive gap in the market for some ability denial. The only way a player can get round the ability lock will be through playing a Pokemon Ranger tech themselves which for one match up I do not believe people will be playing it. It can slow your opponent down and increase the likelihood of your Malamar/Vikavolt type decks being slowed down. This may go up to around 2 copies depending on how the meta will unfold.
Professor Kukui
Kukui has not seen as much love as it could have, mainly due to the big basics that allow decks to hit 210 with ease. Although Kukui has seen some play in decks which damage output needs to be raised, for example with Zoroark GX. As explained earlier that 20 damage can help knock out a Pokémon after just one Quick Shuriken or Shuriken Flurry in a turn. This card really helps your numbers for damage and even without an ability spread you are able to knock out a Tapu Lele Gx, then with the ability to draw two extra cards means that you may be able to dig once more after using all of your Trades to find the Choice Band, energy or Puzzle of Time needed for this or next turn.
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| Splash Energy, BreakPoint Expansion |
Splash Energy
Splash energy adds to the consistency of your ability to find Greninja pieces as if they get knocked out of play then you are able to put them straight back into your hand. This enables you to easy keep your lines in play rather than your discard pile. This could be crucial to make sure we have access to the ability on Frogadier and Greninja or doesn't allow the new Lysandre Prism to be able to take out vital pieces in our discard pile. The only issue with this is going to be the developing special energy denial but i believe that with Puzzle of Time you can easily replenish the Splash energies into your hand. This can easily be substituted for regular water energy as you can use Rescue Stretcher your lines back in, which with Splash energy, Stretcher just adds another way to grab pieces back into your hand or deck.
Multi Switch
This is one of the inclusions which is 50/50 but running so many splash energies in the deck allows you to move a Double Colourless Energy to a Greninja Gx with ease. If I was running more water energy then I would look to maybe replace this with Aqua Patch, although being able to move a DCE from one Zoroark to another could also be a very good play to preserve damaged Pokémon rather than using Aqua Patch to the benched Frog.
Match Ups: Place in Meta
Personally I do not see many decks which this deck has a bad match up other than those who run Garbodor in their decks. Greninja has an obvious Grass-weakness, to which Golisopod is still going to be running around in the current standard meta. All Zoroark Varients could see a dip in play due to how dominant Buzzwole Gx will be in the next Quarter. Although I see that this variant can destroy Buzzwole rather easily unless paired with Garbodor, which will be difficult with abilities being taken down. Due to the lack of testing so far I will list the majority of the main stays in the Meta that I believe to be favourable and unfavourable match ups:
Buzzwole/Garbodor - 20-80 Zoroark/Gardivoir - 60-40
Buzzwole/Lucario - 70-30 Zoroark/Glaceon - 60-40
Zoroark/Lycanroc - 60-40 Volcanion/Kiawe - 80-20
Zoroark/Golisopod - 30-80 Sylveon - 60-40
Zoroark/Garbodor - 20-80 Turbo Metals - 70-30
Malamar/Ultra Necrozma 70-30
I will hope to have a future article which will go more in-depth on the match ups but only due to testing a few currently this is all that I can tell you.
Conclusion
In conclusion the deck itself has a lot of work still to be done to enable a consistent 60 cards to be able to played at a tournament, the makings of the deck have only just started and the testing will continue to develop this hyped archetype. I personally will continue to test this deck in the lead up to Sheffield Regionals, UK, as I think that this is a fantastic deck considering all the big basics that are being floated around currently and has a great depth of possibilities to play the deck.
Thank you very much for reading this article, please support the Blog by sharing this with your friends and drop me a follow on Twitter @Thepelipperpost. I will be posting updates on testing sessions and deck lists which I have made from the new cards in the Forbidden Light set, I will be looking to write about Buzzwole Gx and the support it is getting from the new expansion and look to develop my updated Buzzwole Gx list.
Charlie
@ThePelipperPost
67/250 Championship Points
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