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Standard Marshadow GX Toolbox (SHADOWBOX!)

Sonnenbrille said:
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 17

* 1 Drampa-GX GRI 142
* 2 Zorua SLG 52
* 2 Zoroark-GX SLG 53
* 1 Clefairy EVO 63
* 3 Marshadow-GX BUS 156
* 1 Carnivine SLG 6
* 1 Jolteon-EX GEN 28
* 1 Tapu Koko PR-SM SM31
* 1 Espeon-EX BKP 52
* 1 Necrozma-GX BUS 134
* 2 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 137
* 1 Glaceon-EX FCO 20

##Trainer Cards - 33

* 1 Professor Sycamore STS 114
* 1 Acerola BUS 142
* 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 1 Enhanced Hammer GRI 124
* 4 N DEX 96
* 2 Professor Sycamore BKP 107
* 2 Special Charge STS 105
* 3 Field Blower GRI 125
* 3 Guzma BUS 115
* 4 Ultra Ball SLG 68
* 2 Brigette BKT 161
* 2 Parallel City BKT 145
* 1 Mallow GRI 145
* 2 Choice Band GRI 121
* 2 Float Stone BKT 137
* 2 Fighting Fury Belt BKP 99

##Energy - 10

* 4 Rainbow Energy SUM 137
* 1 Lightning Energy 4
* 1 Water Energy 3
* 4 Double Colorless Energy SLG 69

Total Cards - 60

Thanks for inviting me to your thread :).

Since I had the matchup against meta/Sol, jirachi attack was so useless. Thanks for giving me the tip to put espeon in this deck.
I also take tauros gx and mew out, because i never use them. Carnivine SLG 6 I think is great in this deck, I like to take an benched pokemon or discard some energys in the earlys.
I also put one Sycamore out for another brigette, I can discard her anyway.


I tested now 4 matches with Carnivine SLG 6 and it is really great:D
Click to expand...

Yeah Espeon EX has been MVP in some matches for me. I like having Tauros GX as a single attachment starting Pokemon or to Ninja Boy into when Marshadow is hurt for surprise Mad Bill GX KOs, but I do find I'm usually not using him. Carnivine actually does look like a potentially useful tech, in fact one I was playing against forced me to scramble and put my Magearna EX on the bench to prevent all the secondary effects of his attacks.

How consistently do you get Zoroark GX online? If I ran it I'd likely drop my 2 Brooklet Hill for 1-2 Brigette as you've done to help set it up. I also only own 1 Zoroark GX (zero online lol) so I can't really test at the moment.
 
I have a question, want to get some feedback/thoughts:

What do you guys think of dropping both Brooklet Hill for 2 Po Town and 1 Plumeria for a Brigette? Brigette might not be necessary, I just wouldn't want to whiff on getting a couple Marshadow GX into play. As it stands Brooklet Hill is usually how I get them on the bench.

I feel the addition of Po Town will help soften up the big GX evolution decks.
 
I also really like Tauros-GX, it came in clutch for me in a game where I was able to use Marshadow-GX with 170 damage (FFB on of course) to use rage to OHKO a Tapu-Lele. I feel like running Ninja Boy in this format is key because it's awesome to be able to re-use Lele and get a key pokemon in her place. There's no doubt about it, Ninja boy works extremely well with Tauros as well.

So I was going over top winning decks at several of the most recent standard regionals and found something that all of them have in common:

- 4 x Professor Sycamore
- 4 x N
- 3 x Guzma

I hadn't really thought too hard about it until now but these players use this amount of draw supporters (and disrupters) for consistency. Chaining draw support back to back makes your deck incredibly fast and efficient. I'm going to make some changes and maybe I'll share my list as well. I feel the toolbox deck really lacks consistency so it needs all the help it can get.

I was thinking about it and instead of Carnivine you could also use regular Zygarde from Fates collide who has the same attack (minus the poison) but can work with Strong energy. Zygarde also has an attack that hits for 70 and blocks Fairy and Darkness pokemon attacks.

One card that I had used in the beginning with this toolbox deck but took it out really early was Spiritomb from Steam Siege. I recently put it back it and it's been another clutch card. Teamed up with Necrozma's Black Ray GX attack or Tapu koko promo's flying flip "damage play" can really take down key pokemon in one fell swoop. In one match I was able to take 6 prizes at once (it could have been 8) since I had done so much spread damage.

I also feel that pokemon fan club is a much better fit for this deck than brigette as pokemon fan club can help you with both setting up and discarding with Ultraball. You can use pokemon fan club in early-mid-and late game whereas you can really only use brigette in the early game.

*Edit: But I do feel that brigette likely works best for bringing Zoroark out faster, I just don't have Zoroark yet either.

*Edit 2: Hmmmm Po Town could also work with "damage play" quite well....
 
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Zoroark is really good in this deck, it can easy handle things like espeon gx or garb, you help you set up very fast, but if you didnt draw the card you need ( 4 cards extra draw sometimes) then your deck is decked out :S. I had an baby alolan ninetales matchup and i didnt draw espeon gx so nothing to do for this deck :S at the end one colorless energy was priced and i can't finished.

For the next match, I will put pokemon fan club in this deck for Mallow. Fan club could helped me alot, against matches like baby alolan ninetails. pick the right cards and then discard with zoro would be great.

I could also at one more zoroark-gx and Zorua but I think, then there to many pokemoen.
 
EarthwormZim said:
Just had a terrible run. Lost to Gardevoir/Sylveon, some waterbox nonsense, and Greninja + hammers (without the hammers I might have had a chance), but because of the hammers he set up waaaaaaay faster than me, which is ridiculous since it's Greninja. Only won against Volcanion/Ho-Oh because lol Jolteon EX and some absurd Venusaur EX/Venusaur deck (which took way longer than it should have since I only had Tapu koko promo and Clefairy for the first 5ish turns. Thankfully he stupidly used an N which helped me out tremendously).

Not feeling too confident in the deck's performance going into this weekend.

Edit: As for Expanded first change I would make is I would drop Strong Energy for Prism Energy.
Click to expand...

In standard format, since Ninja Box does not work (at least i could not obtain the results i was seeking), Marshadow is interesting. In expanded i do not see why someone would play Marshadow over Ninja Box. The feeling is the same but Ninja Box is less clunky from what i have experienced. The fact is that you need to discard with Marshadow and this is another requirement for the deck to get online. With Ninja Box you need the pokemon in your deck and early in the game this is easier to achieve. This fact makes Ninja Box more reliant early on in the game (getting a Ninja Boy and 1 Rainbow or Prism with DCE is all that you need usually). Also, i would most of the time rather have the Pokemon needed in the active instead of Marshadow copying that same pokemon's attack (More Hp obviously and the fact that it is not blocked by Garbotoxin that is frequent in this meta).

As much as i want Marshadow working in standard, it seems like it is missing some key cards right now. I will wait and see what people can come with for the format but for now i will stick to Ninja Box and enjoy my wins against those Turbo Darkrai, Nightmarshadow, Fire Box and Garbodor variants in expanded. Having a blast still and i still have some tricks up my sleeves.
 
I've too have come to the conclusion that Marshadow Ninjabox (Glaceon-EX, Jolteon-EX, Ninjaboy) style just doesn't work well enough. Guzma is too much of a threat and Marshadow can be OHKO'd too easily when brought up. I mean it does work very well against all basic decks (Volcanion/Darkrai) and but evolution decks such as Gardevoir have Tapu-Lele that can easily be an attacker so you don't know whether to flash ray or crystal ray. I may still keep 1 Jolteon-EX to play against basic fire decks but I'm going to shift my focus to a spread damage strategy. I will use Tapu-Koko promo/Hoopa SMS/Necrozma-GX for spread damage and follow up with Spiritomb SMS or Espeon-EX to take some big knock-out or devolve all the evolution pokemon. I played a match today against a fully setup Golisipod/Garb deck and was able to "Black Ray-GX" then "Damage Play" to wipe out their bench, my opponent promptly conceded. I'll likely keep Magearna-EX and Clefairy as well for surprise attacks/defense.

I think that focusing on one strategy is going to make the deck more streamline, the ultimate toolbox deck is just too clunky without battle compressor. I hope it gets reprinted. I guess I haven't tried with Zoroark-GX yet but I'm not sure how much better it will get.

I know that Weavile is a great spread damage poke but I think I'm going to focus on basic pokemon. Anyone know of any other good basic pokemon that do spread damage?
 
Skater_J said:
I've too have come to the conclusion that Marshadow Ninjabox (Glaceon-EX, Jolteon-EX, Ninjaboy) style just doesn't work well enough. Guzma is too much of a threat and Marshadow can be OHKO'd too easily when brought up. I mean it does work very well against all basic decks (Volcanion/Darkrai) and but evolution decks such as Gardevoir have Tapu-Lele that can easily be an attacker so you don't know whether to flash ray or crystal ray. I may still keep 1 Jolteon-EX to play against basic fire decks but I'm going to shift my focus to a spread damage strategy. I will use Tapu-Koko promo/Hoopa SMS/Necrozma-GX for spread damage and follow up with Spiritomb SMS or Espeon-EX to take some big knock-out or devolve all the evolution pokemon. I played a match today against a fully setup Golisipod/Garb deck and was able to "Black Ray-GX" then "Damage Play" to wipe out their bench, my opponent promptly conceded. I'll likely keep Magearna-EX and Clefairy as well for surprise attacks/defense.

I think that focusing on one strategy is going to make the deck more streamline, the ultimate toolbox deck is just too clunky without battle compressor. I hope it gets reprinted. I guess I haven't tried with Zoroark-GX yet but I'm not sure how much better it will get.

I know that Weavile is a great spread damage poke but I think I'm going to focus on basic pokemon. Anyone know of any other good basic pokemon that do spread damage?
Click to expand...

Shining Arceus I guess? Granted his attack costs 4 colorless, which blows, but can be charged up with a Shining Mew. Alakazam EX also puts 3 damage counters on each of their Pokémon with energy on it for 1 Psychic and 1 colorless.
 
Skater_J said:
I've too have come to the conclusion that Marshadow Ninjabox (Glaceon-EX, Jolteon-EX, Ninjaboy) style just doesn't work well enough. Guzma is too much of a threat and Marshadow can be OHKO'd too easily when brought up.
Click to expand...

Thats one thing you point out that is interesting. In expanded in my Ninja Boy deck i include a copy of Electrike (with Omega Ancient trait). It prevents my opponent from taking such KO with Guzma or Lysandre (hurts just too much to have your back up attacker on the bench being Guzma'ed and taken out with 2-3 energies on it). In standard you do not have such option and this is a big thing because energy preservation is crucial. Most of my games in expanded with Ninja Box rely on charging Electrike on the bench and then using Ninja Boy when the time as come to put the pokemon i need on the line.

Skater_J said:
I mean it does work very well against all basic decks (Volcanion/Darkrai) and but evolution decks such as Gardevoir have Tapu-Lele that can easily be an attacker so you don't know whether to flash ray or crystal ray.
Click to expand...

In expanded with Ninja Box i usually Crystal Ray to avoid OHKO and when Tapu Lele comes in to damage, i Ninja Boy into Tauros or Machamp and counter with a OHKO. It is basically the same deal with Marshadow except that you have fewer Hp and you are more susceptible to get OHKO. This is why i include a couple FFB.

Skater_J said:
I may still keep 1 Jolteon-EX to play against basic fire decks but I'm going to shift my focus to a spread damage strategy. I will use Tapu-Koko promo/Hoopa SMS/Necrozma-GX for spread damage and follow up with Spiritomb SMS or Espeon-EX to take some big knock-out or devolve all the evolution pokemon. I played a match today against a fully setup Golisipod/Garb deck and was able to "Black Ray-GX" then "Damage Play" to wipe out their bench, my opponent promptly conceded. I'll likely keep Magearna-EX and Clefairy as well for surprise attacks/defense.
Click to expand...

I like the idea of trying spread damage. I did try and it did not work too well but i lack one crucial card (Tapu Koko promo). If you are looking for a spread damage attacker it seems clear for me that Tapu Koko promo is the best choice out there. The free retreat is just too good to overlook.
 
I'm very discouraged. Like 2/3 of my games I'm getting stuck with no draw support and no way out. Had to conced to solgaleo metagross without doing a single point of damage.
 
Relying on a 150 HP attacker that gives up 2 prizes, special energy and getting Pokémon in the discard? Yeah I've played a few of these decks they aren't very good, marshadow is a good tech in certain decks(mainly expanded) he should not be the focus of a deck too fragile for this format, any competitive level deck absolutely runs through marshadow fairly easily
 
@EarthwormZim I'm getting much more consistency now that I increased my N and Sycamore count. I went on a 5 win streak, beat Drampa/espeon/Garb, Golisipod/Garb, and Xerneas Break but ended up loosing to a Lycanroc/Crabominable deck with Max potions. Here's my current list:

##Pokémon - 19

* 1 Oranguru SUM 113
* 1 Tauros-GX SUM 100
* 2 Spiritomb STS 62
* 1 Clefairy EVO 63
* 4 Marshadow-GX BUS 137
* 2 Tapu Koko PR-SM SM30
* 1 Magearna-EX STS 110
* 2 Espeon-EX BKP 117
* 1 Hoopa STS 51
* 2 Necrozma-GX BUS 63
* 1 Shining Mew SLG 40
* 1 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60

##Trainer Cards - 29

* 2 Pokémon Fan Club FCO 107
* 4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107
* 1 Ninja Boy STS 103
* 1 Plumeria BUS 145
* 2 Special Charge STS 105
* 3 Field Blower GRI 125
* 3 Guzma BUS 115
* 4 Fighting Fury Belt BKP 99
* 1 Sophocles BUS 146
* 4 N FCO 105
* 4 Ultra Ball ROS 93

##Energy - 12

* 4 Rainbow Energy SUM 137
* 4 Strong Energy FCO 115
* 4 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136

Total Cards - 60

*Edit: I'm thinking about adding Po Town, maybe I'll have to take out Sophocles or Hoopa
 
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Well the deck did pretty bad this past weekend. It was a five round, single elimination with best of 3 top cut. Dropped after round 3. Lost round 1 to a Drampa deck teched to beat Gardevoir (they had Magearna EX, Necrozma, Espeon EX, and Mew FCO). At one point he used Mew to use Necrozma's GX attack to do 100 to 3 Marshadow GX and a Lele, but I was still able to get close. Last play of the game I used Plumeria to drop his Drampa to 1 energy and then Mad Bull GX'd his Magearna to go down to 2 prizes, and would have been able to Rage for the KO on Drampa next turn as long as he didn't pull a DCE. He pulled the DCE and KO'd Marshadow for his last prize.

Second game I go against Gardevoir GX and he prized 2 or 3 of his Ralts and had to Sycamore 3 Gardevoir GX on his first turn. My first turn I was able to get Necrozma, Espeon EX, and Glaceon EX into the discard. He gets Gallade out and starts one-shotting my Marshadow (getting his Ralts online in the process) and Super Rods his Gardys back into the deck. I get energy screwed, stuck on 2 making me unable to Crystal Ray so I keep Miraculous Shining to devolve his Gallade, he gets a Rare Candy and a Skyla 2 turns in a row allowing him to recover. I never get the energy I need before it's too late. It's too bad I never saw a DCE because I would have been able to stabilize. Had his Lele down low enough to kill with a Crystal Ray, and it wouldn't have been able to KO my Marshadow. Unfortunately never saw the energy I needed (didn't help that I Ultra Balled down to zero for an Oranguru after using my supporter to try and draw into my DCE with Instruct, only to find Oranguru was prized -_-).

I had a bye the third round and I just dropped then. My confidence was low and with little to no chance of prizes I figured my time would be better spent helping out at home.

One thing I learned is I should have gotten the Magearna EX in paper prior to the weekend. It hadn't done much for me on PTCGO but would have singlehandedly won me the game against Drampa as he was able to discard 3 special energies with Righteous Edge throughout the game. Also, Should have played my Jirachi XY67. Would have been a much better stalling move against Gardevoir GX than Miraculous Shine was.

My updated list on PTCGO (which promptly beat a Gardevoir GX deck right after the changes oddly enough) is:

Pokémon (21)
4x Marshadow GX
2x Jolteon EX
2x Glaceon EX
1x Espeon EX
1x Magearna EX
1x Necrozma GX
1x Tauros GX
1x Drampa GX
1x Clefairy (EVO)
1x Tapu Koko SM31
1x Jirachi XY67
1x Shining Mew
1x Litwick (STS)
1x Oranguru (SUM)
2x Tapu Lele GX

Trainers (27)
4x Sycamore
4x N
2x Sophocles
1x Ninja Boy
2x Guzma
3x Fighting Fury Belt
3x Field Blower
2x Brooklet Hill
4x Ultra Ball
2x Special Charge

Energy (12)
4x Rainbow Energy
4x DCE
4x Strong Energy

You may notice the lack of Rescue Stretcher. I have never been happy to see it, since our attacker is a Basic you can just play it to the bench before using a Sycamore, and if they get 3 Marshadow in the Discard you've already lost anyway. Without it though 4 Marshadow is pretty necessary since if you prize 1-2 and they KO one you're now light on attackers.

I dropped all the Plumeria since they rarely impact the game enough to warrant the spot (in my experience anyway). Mostly I would use them as a discard outlet with the energy discard as a bonus. If I were to up the Supporter count I would either add a third Guzma or a third Sophocles/Psychic's Third Eye. I own 1 Zoroark GX (both on paper and in PTCGO), so if I get a second I may try dropping the Litwick, Oranguru, and 2x Sophocles for a 2-2 Zorua/Zoroark GX line. Would also probably drop the 2 Brooklet Hill for 1 Brigette and 1 Rescue Stretcher if I did.
 
@EarthwormZim Thanks for the update on your matches this weekend. I'm sorry it didn't go better for you :(

I also picked up a Zoroark-GX this weekend (PTCGO and IRL) and have been testing, it's working out pretty decently. I run a 2-1 line at the moment, I would love to do a 2-2 line but those Zoroarks are rare locally. You may want to hold onto that rescue stretcher if you are running Zoroark. You may have to discard Zoroark in the early game and it's always nice to have an easy way to get it back.

From your recommendation I think I will drop Plumeria as well. It is a good card but rarely comes in as a clutch card. Unless you can use a Jirachi/Drampa attack + Plumeria to discard all energy from your opponent's active it's not all that effective.

Yeah I think 3 Guzma is a good idea as well!

I feel that you could probably drop Litwick if you run Zoroark-GX since it's a great discard engine. I find that Litwick is good for a turn 1 attack but otherwise I don't use it. If you still want to focus on the Ninja box style strategy I guess Litwick is viable but I'm moving away from it personally. I dropped both my Glaceon-EX and haven't really noticed it not being around. I went down to 1 x Jolteon-EX and it's still come in handy at times especially for the free retreat.

I moved up to 4 x FFB because it's quite important for me to have my attacking Marshadow protected and hitting for more damage.

I'm really happy you are on board with Magearna-EX! I came across another extremely important reason to have Magearna-EX. I was playing a regular Metagross matchup and was waiting for my opponent to fully setup so I could Black Ray-GX and then Miraculous Shine them out of the game, but out of nowhere comes a Skarmory from Sun and moon with an attack that discards all special energy on all pokemon. Didn't see that coming!!! You see I've never had a need to put Magearna down during a Metagross match, so I just discarded it. After I had all my special energy discarded (5 or 6 cards), and even with using Shining mew's energy attachment attack I still fell behind and lost pretty bad.
 
Skater_J said:
@EarthwormZim Thanks for the update on your matches this weekend. I'm sorry it didn't go better for you :(

I also picked up a Zoroark-GX this weekend (PTCGO and IRL) and have been testing, it's working out pretty decently. I run a 2-1 line at the moment, I would love to do a 2-2 line but those Zoroarks are rare locally. You may want to hold onto that rescue stretcher if you are running Zoroark. You may have to discard Zoroark in the early game and it's always nice to have an easy way to get it back.

From your recommendation I think I will drop Plumeria as well. It is a good card but rarely comes in as a clutch card. Unless you can use a Jirachi/Drampa attack + Plumeria to discard all energy from your opponent's active it's not all that effective.

Yeah I think 3 Guzma is a good idea as well!

I feel that you could probably drop Litwick if you run Zoroark-GX since it's a great discard engine. I find that Litwick is good for a turn 1 attack but otherwise I don't use it. If you still want to focus on the Ninja box style strategy I guess Litwick is viable but I'm moving away from it personally. I dropped both my Glaceon-EX and haven't really noticed it not being around. I went down to 1 x Jolteon-EX and it's still come in handy at times especially for the free retreat.

I moved up to 4 x FFB because it's quite important for me to have my attacking Marshadow protected and hitting for more damage.

I'm really happy you are on board with Magearna-EX! I came across another extremely important reason to have Magearna-EX. I was playing a regular Metagross matchup and was waiting for my opponent to fully setup so I could Black Ray-GX and then Miraculous Shine them out of the game, but out of nowhere comes a Skarmory from Sun and moon with an attack that discards all special energy on all pokemon. Didn't see that coming!!! You see I've never had a need to put Magearna down during a Metagross match, so I just discarded it. After I had all my special energy discarded (5 or 6 cards), and even with using Shining mew's energy attachment attack I still fell behind and lost pretty bad.
Click to expand...

I actually mentioned in my post if I add Zoroark I would drop Litwick, Oranguru, and 2 Sophocles for a 2-2 line and the 2 Brooklet Hill for a Brigette and a Rescue Stretcher for exactly the reason you mentioned. So we're definitely on the same page haha ;-)

And yeah I never thought Magearna sounded great until I actually used it. It's amazing in this deck, even coming in clutch with the OHKO on Gardevoir GX and being able to retreat for 1 energy.

I'll have to try a no-Glaceon build. Currently it's been pretty good in most of my matchups so I'm a bit hesitant, but then again I don't have a huge sample size to go off of (it's been hard finding long periods of time to jam out a bunch of games, but I'm currently 27/35 with my Marshadow deck. I really gotta find more time to test it further.). Recently I've been building other decks to mess around with: Solgaleo GX/Rayquaza, Mega Zard EX (GEN)/Fliptini/Turtonator GX (pet project that I plan to update once Alolan Marowak comes out, which also has a flip attack lol), and a janky but fun looking Mewtwo GX/Lunala GX deck that I saw online. I'm going to try and build Greninja BREAK next. I own all of them in paper too, other than the Mewtwo GX deck.

Speaking of Marowak, I almost feel like a 1-1 line of Cubone - Marowak (FCO) might be necessary as a tech against Chaos Wheel Misdreavus coming out. That thing wrecks Marshadow -_-.
 
@EarthwormZim Whoops sorry, didn't read Litwick for some reason, lol I'm glad we're on the same page.

I actually own some copies of both Misdreavus/Mismagius and Marowak :) My son and I went to the crimson invasion pre-release this weekend. I pulled a full art Olivia and traded it for Zoroark-GX. My son pulled a Silvally-GX. I think Mismagius will get wrecked by many meta decks that don't run much special energy, Vika/Bulu, Metagross, Garde, Volcanion, Ho-oh/Salazzle, etc so it's going to be a rogue deck that likely won't make too high up in the meta, well at least that's my hope.

@dweebyartpunker Yeah! definitely try it out and bring some feedback!
 
Skater_J said:
@EarthwormZim Whoops sorry, didn't read Litwick for some reason, lol I'm glad we're on the same page.

I actually own some copies of both Misdreavus/Mismagius and Marowak :) My son and I went to the crimson invasion pre-release this weekend. I pulled a full art Olivia and traded it for Zoroark-GX. My son pulled a Silvally-GX. I think Mismagius will get wrecked by many meta decks that don't run much special energy, Vika/Bulu, Metagross, Garde, Volcanion, Ho-oh/Salazzle, etc so it's going to be a rogue deck that likely won't make too high up in the meta, well at least that's my hope.

@dweebyartpunker Yeah! definitely try it out and bring some feedback!
Click to expand...

Those are some nice pulls! My LGS has the pre-release this coming Sunday, and unfortunately I won't be able to go. I was actually able to get first at the Burning Shadows pre-release thanks to a Darkrai GX I pulled. That paired with 2 Acerola to "heal" and a Raichu to paralyze troublesome dudes made it quite the successful weekend. Unfortunately only pulled a Machamp GX and a full art Salazzle GX from the 18 prize packs I got XD

Edit: Also, not gonna lie I'm jealous of the Alolan Marowak you got. Alolan Marowak was my favorite new Pokémon from Sun and Moon and if/when (better be when lol) they make Alolan Marowak GX I will make a deck around it regardless how bad it will probably be.

Edit: while out shopping today I picked up another Mewtwo Shining Legends 3 pack box and pulled a second Zoroark GX so I got the 2 I need in paper! Just need to trade for a second one on PTCGO to start my testing.
 
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Looking for some opinions on which would be better for a tournament:

Pokémon (21)
  • 4 Marshadow GX
  • 2 Jolteon EX
  • 2 Glaceon EX
  • 1 Espeon EX
  • 1 Tauros GX
  • 1 Drampa GX
  • 1 Necrozma GX
  • 2 Tapu Lele GX
  • 1 Oranguru (SUM)
  • 1 Litwick (STS)
  • 1 Tapu Koko (SM30/SM31)
  • 1 Clefairy (EVO)
  • 1 Shining Mew
  • 1 Magearna EX
  • 1 Jirachi XY67
Trainers (27)
  • 4 Sycamore
  • 4 N
  • 2 Guzma
  • 2 Sophocles
  • 1 Ninja Boy
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 3 Fighting Fury Belt
  • 2 Special Charge
  • 3 Field Blower
  • 2 Brooklet Hill
Energy (12)
  • 4 Double Colorless Energy
  • 4 Rainbow Energy
  • 4 Strong Energy
OR

Pokémon (23)
  • 4 Marshadow GX
  • 2 Jolteon EX
  • 2 Glaceon EX
  • 1 Espeon EX
  • 1 Tauros GX
  • 1 Drampa GX
  • 1 Necrozma GX
  • 2 Tapu Lele GX
  • 1 Tapu Koko (SM30/SM31)
  • 1 Clefairy (EVO)
  • 1 Shining Mew
  • 1 Magearna EX
  • 1 Jirachi XY67
  • 2 Zorua (SHL)
  • 2 Zoroark GX
Trainers (25)
  • 4 Sycamore
  • 4 N
  • 2 Guzma
  • 1 Ninja Boy
  • 1 Brigette
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 3 Fighting Fury Belt
  • 2 Special Charge
  • 3 Field Blower
  • 1 Rescue Stretcher
Energy (12)
  • 4 Double Colorless Energy
  • 4 Rainbow Energy
  • 4 Strong Energy
I'm just curious what people's opinion is on adding Zoroark GX into the deck. I plan on doing some testing, but in my limited tests thus far I actually miss Sophocles. Maybe finding room as a one-of?
 
@EarthwormZim I feel that Zoroark-GX is the better version, but I find that using Pokemon Fan Club with Zoroark's trade is very ideal throughout the match. Early game to get you your support and attacking pokemon, mid and late game to get key mons into the discard.

Two matchups that I find extremely difficult to win are Greninja Break and Xerneas Break. I found a win condition against Greninja by placing a rainbow energy on both Magearna and Marshadow so that Magearna's ability is still active when getting shadow stiched which allows Marshadow to retain it's ability. I then use Clefairy's "metronome" to use "shadow stitching" against them, with strong energy +FFB shadow stitching can keep the Greninja Breaks at bay until the deck runs out. If your opponent tries using Tapu-Fini's GX attack against you, it does nothing due to Magearna's ability. That being said, this is such a difficult setup to pull off.

I haven't found a win condition against Xerneas Break yet, Magearna can one hit them but the trade in prizes is not worth it because Magearna usually gets one hit back. The Flash/Crystal Ray strategy is too hard to pull off since Xerneas has so many options. They can attack with the Break or the basic Xerneas or Tapu Lele.

These two decks are seeing much more play these days. I now run Giratina Promo (blocks all Break abilities*). Yes, it's a dead card most of the time but it is clutch when you need it. Had my first win against a Greninja deck last night because of it. *Unfortunately it doesn't do anything against Xerneas Break.

I've been having much more success with the deck by focusing on spread damage. If you use Necrozma's GX attack or Tapu-Koko promo's attack and then follow up with Espeon-EX or Spiritomb's attack, it will win you games. I added Glaceon-EX back into my list for the Espeon-GX/Garb or Golisipod/Garb matchups but it's not my main strategy.

I also find sophocles to be handy, I do have a one still in my list. My only worry in my list is the Hoopa/baby ninetales lock matchups. I don't run oranguru as a counter anymore so I have to depend on my 1 Espeon-EX. I really want to run 2 Espeon-EX and a 2/2 Zoroark line but I can't seem to fit it them in. I found that a limiting your pokemon to 19 is a good idea. When I ran the higher counts (20-23) I ran into multiple occasions where I had too many mons in my hand and not enough energy or supporters, or I got low in cards and kept top decking mons instead of energy or supporters.

I'll post my list once the PTCGO servers come back online so you can compare it to yours.

*Edit
 
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Unfortunately, Giratina Promo just blocks BREAK abilities, not attacks. So it's fairly useless against Xerneas BREAK but totally hoses Greninja BREAK.
I really want to fit in Zoroark, but it actually felt clunkier than the Brooklet Hill build when playing. With how soft Marshadow is, the main advantage is a quicker setup due to being all basics. By adding in Zoroark it just makes setup that much harder, in my opinion anyway.

I'll do more testing though.
 
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