Standard Sylveon GX Post Rotation (BreakThrough-Burning Shadows)

[MoFoTY86]

Hello once again my fellow Pokebeachers!!! I am wanting to alter my deck to fit the newest Rotation for the next season. I enjoy disrupting my opponent and making them frustrated and want to continue doing that in the upcoming season. Let me know what you think I should do with this. Any questions feel free to ask.

(I thought of putting in a 1-1 Alolan Muk line to replace Silent Labs)

Pokémon: 9
4 Eevee SUM 101
* 4 Sylveon-GX GRI 92
* 1 Tapu Lele-GX GRI

##Trainer Cards - 39
* 3 Muscular Dumbbells (BURNING SHADOWS)
* 4 Crushing Hammer GEN 60
* 3 Guzma (BURNING SHADOWS)
* 4 N PR-BLW BW100
* 2 Parallel City BKT 145
* 4 Team Flare Grunt GEN 73
* 2 Pokémon Center Lady GEN 68
* 1 Energy Recycler SUN & MOON
* 3 Team Rocket's Handiwork FAC 112
* 4 Puzzle of Time BKP 109
* 3 Enhanced Hammer GRI 124
* 2 Field Blower GRI 125
* 2 Max Potion BKP 103
* 2 Delinquent BKP 98

##Energy - 12
* 8 Fairy Energy GEN 83
* 4 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136
Total Cards - 60

 

[Alphahitman4]

Hello once again my fellow Pokebeachers!!! I am wanting to alter my deck to fit the newest Rotation for the next season. I enjoy disrupting my opponent and making them frustrated and want to continue doing that in the upcoming season. Let me know what you think I should do with this. Any questions feel free to ask.

(I thought of putting in a 1-1 Alolan Muk line to replace Silent Labs)

Pokémon: 9
4 Eevee SUM 101
* 4 Sylveon-GX GRI 92
* 1 Tapu Lele-GX GRI

##Trainer Cards - 39
* 3 Muscular Dumbbells (BURNING SHADOWS)
* 4 Crushing Hammer GEN 60
* 3 Guzma (BURNING SHADOWS)
* 4 N PR-BLW BW100
* 2 Parallel City BKT 145
* 4 Team Flare Grunt GEN 73
* 2 Pokémon Center Lady GEN 68
* 1 Energy Recycler SUN & MOON
* 3 Team Rocket's Handiwork FAC 112
* 4 Puzzle of Time BKP 109
* 3 Enhanced Hammer GRI 124
* 2 Field Blower GRI 125
* 2 Max Potion BKP 103
* 2 Delinquent BKP 98

##Energy - 12
* 8 Fairy Energy GEN 83
* 4 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136
Total Cards - 60

Eveyrone seems to have bit different strategy for Quad Sylveon so something really come down to prference of strategy since magical ribbon allows you to choose whatever you want. I personally have tried running other basics besides 4 eevee and it has been challenging.. too many times you will start with just the lele and you will be in big hole trying to comeback to win. This deck needs to magical ribbon from the first turn on. I do not like N, as your opponent will N you every turn they can to start the game to slow you down. I feel 1 PCL and 3 max potion is the better amount but again to each their own. In new rotation it seems less decks are gnna be reliant on special energy, if tht is not the case then for sure enhanced hammers will be great but for the moment I am playing Plumeria. I beleiev only 2 DCE will be needed as we will not be attacking with fairy wind all that often and with playing max potion you will only play the DCE the turn you plan to attack. Additionally I would play atleast 10 fairy since it is paramount that you have 1 first turn along with those you lose with max potion and ones that will ineveitably be prized.
I prefer Brock's Grit to energy recyelcer but gain tht would be prference. I do not like musuclar dumbells; I do not think they are going to be difference maker for the deck enough to warrant playing, esp if opponent plans to OTK they will use timely field blower..opponent more than likely knowing we do not play tht many tools will wait to play it. I have been running Chaos tower as well as parallel city with great results. You want to win the stadium war as well as have fodder for delinquent when needed. 2 stadiums is just too few. You have to remember we do not take all that many prizes early game so if one staidum and delinquent are prized you are not winning the stadium war.
Your core deck is sound just something s i would tweak and again some others are to each players preferences.

 

[JellyBeanXD]

Alphahitman4, what does your list look like? You seem to have a lot of good info and sound experienced with the deck so I'd love to see what you are running.

 

[Alphahitman4]

My worlds Rotation deck list is:

Monsters: 10
4 Eevee
4 Sylveon GX
1 Vaporeon (AOR)
1 Flareon (AOR)

Trainers: 37
4 Team Flare Grunt
4 Crushing Hammer
4 VS Seeker
4 Puzzle of Time
2 Team Rockets Handiwork
2 Lysandre
3 Max Potion
2 Delinquent
2 Red Card
1 PCL
2 Field blower
1 Brock's Grit
1 Hex Maniac
1 Team Skull Grunt
1 Enhanced Hammer
2 Chaos Tower
2 Parallel City

Energy: 13
11 Fairy
2 DCE

 

[JellyBeanXD]

My worlds Rotation deck list is:

Monsters: 10
4 Eevee
4 Sylveon GX
1 Vaporeon (AOR)
1 Flareon (AOR)

Trainers: 37
4 Team Flare Grunt
4 Crushing Hammer
4 VS Seeker
4 Puzzle of Time
2 Team Rockets Handiwork
2 Lysandre
3 Max Potion
2 Delinquent
2 Red Card
1 PCL
2 Field blower
1 Brock's Grit
1 Hex Maniac
1 Team Skull Grunt
1 Enhanced Hammer
2 Chaos Tower
2 Parallel City

Energy: 13
11 Fairy
2 DCE

I really appreciate the response but I am still curious about the changes you will make after many of these cards rotate out. I am also new to Pokemon so I still do not know all the combos and stuff.

How does the loss of VS Seeker effect the card choices? Do Puzzles and Brock increase in value? I was thinking about going heavy into Plumeria, Puzzles and Brock but I also have no idea what I am doing. I have such a terrible time testing post rotation variants and I want it to work so bad lol.

 

[Alphahitman4]

I really appreciate the response but I am still curious about the changes you will make after many of these cards rotate out. I am also new to Pokemon so I still do not know all the combos and stuff.

How does the loss of VS Seeker effect the card choices? Do Puzzles and Brock increase in value? I was thinking about going heavy into Plumeria, Puzzles and Brock but I also have no idea what I am doing. I have such a terrible time testing post rotation variants and I want it to work so bad lol.

The thing with this deck is we will have to customize our deck for post rotation meta will look like. If top teir decks rely more on special energy then e hammers will need to be played but if not then we would use plunerias instead. Puzzle of time is huge for this deck and gives us advantage over all thw other decks because we are the only deck that can utilize puzzle of time efficiently. I feel broxks grit will be helpful especially if we use plumeria bc we will discard some energy for plunerias cost. Main thing with vs seeker rotating we will uo the xount of sevral supoorters that we do use more frequent, like delinquent. The coming weeks will help shape what quad sylveon will look like poat rotation.

 

[LePokeRoi]

A card that could be annoying and contribute a lot to this deck might be Mount Lanakila. At the very least it could make them spend more resources, which is exactly what we want. Also Lele and two DCEs need to leave, and add some more fairy energy. Other than that, just listen to this guy ^^. He seems like he knows the deck well.

 

[JellyBeanXD]

The thing with this deck is we will have to customize our deck for post rotation meta will look like. If top teir decks rely more on special energy then e hammers will need to be played but if not then we would use plunerias instead. Puzzle of time is huge for this deck and gives us advantage over all thw other decks because we are the only deck that can utilize puzzle of time efficiently. I feel broxks grit will be helpful especially if we use plumeria bc we will discard some energy for plunerias cost. Main thing with vs seeker rotating we will uo the xount of sevral supoorters that we do use more frequent, like delinquent. The coming weeks will help shape what quad sylveon will look like poat rotation.

If Plumeria sees more play, do we go down the recursion route? I'm not familiar with the recursion tools in Pokémon. Brock's grit and Puzzle are good but I still have been running out of cards in my hand. Would it be worth to set up some type of engine? Like Ribombee and Honey Gather 2 energy to pitch (maybe we up the Brock count, too) to Plumeria so you don't have to use all 3 draws from Magical Ribbon? Do we go heavy into hammers and blowers, use them as pitch fodder for Plumeria, bring them back with Herdiers and then bounce the Herdiers with Acerola? Maybe the loss of VS Seeker and addition of Plumeria means we can't use as many singleton tech cards.

It's also possible we have to be a little more aggressive since over the course of a long game we can't sustain as well without VS Seeker and Plumeria pitching our stuff. I think that's why I am so focused on the recursion engine now because we are losing a lot of value with the Plumeria pitching. Let's think about it: You magical ribbon 2 times for 6 cards over 2 turns while drawing 2 cards naturally for turn, you Plumeria 2 times pitching 4 cards and, including the Plumerias, you only net 2 cards aka the 2 cards you've drawn naturally. Let's say those other 2 cards are the energy to cast Magical Ribbon and a hammer and you net 0 cards despite drawing 8. Then when you take into account that ribbon ends your turn before you can even go through the above situation there are the turns before where you are getting the Eevee evolved and setting up for the Plumeria turns meaning you can't even get this plan off the ground for like 3-5 turns and you end up with 0 cards in hand. Both you and the opponent are now top decking and without N or Sycamore, they usually win that war.

I think the discussion about Plumeria is worthwhile as well because Hammers are coinflips and they can hide their Pokémon from Team Flare Grunt on the bench. I think the addition of Plumeria presents a really interesting set of problems that I am hoping have super dope solutions. I bet that the Plumeria variant becomes a very different deck due to the problems mentioned above.

These are probably terrible ideas, but in Magic The Gathering recursion and engines are strong and I personally love playing with my hand and the discard pile with a lot of board interactions; which is why I'm drawn to this Plumeria variant.

We should call the Plumeria variant Magical Plums. Magical Ribbon + Plumeria. Maybe we incorporate whatever engine we implement into the name as well XD.

 

[LePokeRoi]

If Plumeria sees more play, do we go down the recursion route? I'm not familiar with the recursion tools in Pokémon. Brock's grit and Puzzle are good but I still have been running out of cards in my hand. Would it be worth to set up some type of engine? Like Ribombee and Honey Gather 2 energy to pitch (maybe we up the Brock count, too) to Plumeria so you don't have to use all 3 draws from Magical Ribbon? Do we go heavy into hammers and blowers, use them as pitch fodder for Plumeria, bring them back with Herdiers and then bounce the Herdiers with Acerola? Maybe the loss of VS Seeker and addition of Plumeria means we can't use as many singleton tech cards.

It's also possible we have to be a little more aggressive since over the course of a long game we can't sustain as well without VS Seeker and Plumeria pitching our stuff. I think that's why I am so focused on the recursion engine now because we are losing a lot of value with the Plumeria pitching. Let's think about it: You magical ribbon 2 times for 6 cards over 2 turns while drawing 2 cards naturally for turn, you Plumeria 2 times pitching 4 cards and, including the Plumerias, you only net 2 cards aka the 2 cards you've drawn naturally. Let's say those other 2 cards are the energy to cast Magical Ribbon and a hammer and you net 0 cards despite drawing 8. Then when you take into account that ribbon ends your turn before you can even go through the above situation there are the turns before where you are getting the Eevee evolved and setting up for the Plumeria turns meaning you can't even get this plan off the ground for like 3-5 turns and you end up with 0 cards in hand. Both you and the opponent are now top decking and without N or Sycamore, they usually win that war.

I think the discussion about Plumeria is worthwhile as well because Hammers are coinflips and they can hide their Pokémon from Team Flare Grunt on the bench. I think the addition of Plumeria presents a really interesting set of problems that I am hoping have super dope solutions. I bet that the Plumeria variant becomes a very different deck due to the problems mentioned above.

These are probably terrible ideas, but in Magic The Gathering recursion and engines are strong and I personally love playing with my hand and the discard pile with a lot of board interactions; which is why I'm drawn to this Plumeria variant.

We should call the Plumeria variant Magical Plums. Magical Ribbon + Plumeria. Maybe we incorporate whatever engine we implement into the name as well XD.

If you're just looking for a recursion engine, then I think the best option would be Starmie from Evolutions. It essentially means you only have to discard one card for Plumeria, and even that could be energy.

You could try and use Darkrai GX + Super Scoop Up, then just rediscard them. That would be kinda awkward though.

 

[Alphahitman4]

The consistency of this deck goes way down with adding additional basic pokemon. I would not add any more basics than the 4 eevee.

Plumeria is not the ideal primary option due to the cost you have stated. you really only want to play Plumeria once or twice a game, even discarding a plumeria as part of the cost of another Plumeria. Flare grunts and crushing hammers are the go to and most used. If they are loading up their bench that much where you are wanting to play Plumeria 3,4 or even 5 times then you might want to use a timely Plea GX attack to stall them.

The deck utilzies both hand disruption and energy denial. If they do N us like you mentioned that doesn't hurt us as we can ribbon again while they are using their resources as well as their supporter for the turn and 9/10 games we are gnna have 6 prizes and get to draw a hand of 6. When we red card/delinquent them we are getting rid of resources and are forced to use N or sycamore if they draw into or else they are in trouble. I have been N'ed 8 turns in a row before, no lie, in WI regionals this past June and still won the game. The point of the deck is to wear away their resources. The edge we have is utilizing puzzle of time, which is even bigger with VS seeker rotating, plus we pick any cards we want not just supporters or even trainers, but any 2 cards.

Also we could strand energy on pokemon so Plumeria is not as vital. The key is to rid of float stones with field blower, as we will win stadium war and should focus on field blower for tools. Also most players will play 3 guzma as this deck probably will, but again with puzzle of time we will be able to outlast guzma and ber able to strand a target in their active eventualy.

Not saying a recursion engine cannot work, I do not have any experience trying it out and for my playing strategy as well as construction of the deck, needing to keep basics to the 4 eevees, I believe that best use of space is used otherwise on hand disruption.

 

[JellyBeanXD]

The consistency of this deck goes way down with adding additional basic pokemon. I would not add any more basics than the 4 eevee.

Plumeria is not the ideal primary option due to the cost you have stated. you really only want to play Plumeria once or twice a game, even discarding a plumeria as part of the cost of another Plumeria. Flare grunts and crushing hammers are the go to and most used. If they are loading up their bench that much where you are wanting to play Plumeria 3,4 or even 5 times then you might want to use a timely Plea GX attack to stall them.

The deck utilzies both hand disruption and energy denial. If they do N us like you mentioned that doesn't hurt us as we can ribbon again while they are using their resources as well as their supporter for the turn and 9/10 games we are gnna have 6 prizes and get to draw a hand of 6. When we red card/delinquent them we are getting rid of resources and are forced to use N or sycamore if they draw into or else they are in trouble. I have been N'ed 8 turns in a row before, no lie, in WI regionals this past June and still won the game. The point of the deck is to wear away their resources. The edge we have is utilizing puzzle of time, which is even bigger with VS seeker rotating, plus we pick any cards we want not just supporters or even trainers, but any 2 cards.

Also we could strand energy on pokemon so Plumeria is not as vital. The key is to rid of float stones with field blower, as we will win stadium war and should focus on field blower for tools. Also most players will play 3 guzma as this deck probably will, but again with puzzle of time we will be able to outlast guzma and ber able to strand a target in their active eventualy.

Not saying a recursion engine cannot work, I do not have any experience trying it out and for my playing strategy as well as construction of the deck, needing to keep basics to the 4 eevees, I believe that best use of space is used otherwise on hand disruption.

I have been running your version of the deck to great success today and am getting a feel for how to play it. I like it a lot. All of my losses were misplays as well which means the deck is great. My post rotation version really is a whole different deck in terms of strategy and definitely strictly worse. Thanks again for posting your list.

 

[Alphahitman4]

I have been running your version of the deck to great success today and am getting a feel for how to play it. I like it a lot. All of my losses were misplays as well which means the deck is great. My post rotation version really is a whole different deck in terms of strategy and definitely strictly worse. Thanks again for posting your list.

Glad to hear. Misplays will happen until you get alot of games in. I def made my share of plays but more practice you getin the more natural itll come to you. Bonus we also have are that majority of ppl have written off Sylveon to be competitive so they arent prepared for significant amount of energy denial. Glad to help. If you see anything through your play testing hope you share it.

 

[Adi]

I am considering running a Sylveon GX deck for the new format. Here would be my decklist.

Pokemon: 8

4 Eevee
4 Sylveon GX

Trainers: 38

Items
4 Crushing Hammer
4 Puzzle of Time
2 Enhanced Hammer
2 Field Blower
4 Red Card
3 Tormenting Spray

Supporters
3 Team Flare Grunt
2 Team Rockets Handiwork
4 Delinquent
2 Plumeria
3 Guzma
1 Acerola

Stadium
4 Parallel City

Energy: 14

11 Fairy Energy
3 Double Colorless Energy

My list is a little different from yours, but in general I like your list right now. My list is completely post rotation, but I thought the Flareon and Vaporeon idea is genius for expanded. I agree this deck has been written off as not competitive, so it should do well against a lot of decks. Your worst match up is probably Metagross because you have the weakness and energy denial doesn't do you much against Metagross GX. That may just be one match up you won't win. I hope this helps.

 

[Alphahitman4]

I am considering running a Sylveon GX deck for the new format. Here would be my decklist.

Pokemon: 7

4 Eevee
3 Sylveon GX

Trainers: 39

Items
4 Crushing Hammer
4 Puzzle of Time
2 Enhanced Hammer
2 Field Blower
4 Red Card

Supporters
4 Team Flare Grunt
3 Team Rockets Handiwork
4 Delinquent
3 Plumeria
3 Guzma
1 Team Skull Grunt
2 Acerola

Stadium
4 Parallel City

Energy: 14

11 Fairy Energy
3 Double Colorless Energy

My list is a little different from yours, but in general I like your list right now. My list is completely post rotation, but I thought the Flareon and Vaporeon idea is genius for expanded. I hope this helps.

Like the decklist and that you bumped up some supporter counts. My main suggestion would be to maybe try a 2-2 split with chaos tower and parallel city. Espeon gx confusion really hampers ability to use magical ribbon and chaos tower puts a stop to it. Also i really like 4 sylveon, previosuly tried 3 and had some tough games when 1 or 2 are prized, plus if u have an extra sylveon in hand u dnt need u can use ro discard for plumeria.

 

[Adi]

I haven't deck tested yet, so you are probably right about the 4 Sylveon GX. Post Rotation Espeon GX is supposed to become a really bad card because of Guzma, so I'm not really worried about that matchup.

 

[Alphahitman4]

I haven't deck tested yet, so you are probably right about the 4 Sylveon GX. Post Rotation Espeon GX is supposed to become a really bad card because of Guzma, so I'm not really worried about that matchup.

Good point, garb variants might switch over more to drampa bc of guzma. Looking forward to play testing for next rotation more. Hope sept gets here soon

 

[Adi]

This is a combo which I think could make Sylveon GX a tier 2 or higher deck. You play Red Card, and bring your opponent down to 4 cards. Then you use Delinquent assuming you have a Stadium, and bring them down to 1 card. Most likely that card is a Draw Supporter, so then you play Tormenting Spray. This is what Tormenting Spray does.

Torment Spray – Trainer
Item

Choose 1 card from your opponent’s hand and reveal it. If it is a Supporter card, your opponent discards that card. If not, put it back into your opponent’s hand.

This is so overpowered. Imagine your opponent top decking cards to try and get something. You might think that this requires 3 cards, and a stadium, so there is no way you can pull it of. With Magical Ribbon you can pull that combo as long as you have 1 of the 4 required cards in hand. Even if you don't have the cards, and you really have to pull this move off there is not too bad a chance in those 4 cards they pulled they didn't get a draw support. The only way an opponent can counter this is if they play Oranguru and Octillery, but not very many decks play through those cards. That is also why I run 3 Tormenting Spray opposed to 4 because it is useless if you play against a deck that runs Octillery or Oranguru. Tell me what you think of this combo, and if there is something I missed that won't allow it to work. Also I made some changes in my list to include a 4th Sylveon GX, and 3 Tormenting Spray.

 

[Alphahitman4]

This is a combo which I think could make Sylveon GX a tier 2 or higher deck. You play Red Card, and bring your opponent down to 4 cards. Then you use Delinquent assuming you have a Stadium, and bring them down to 1 card. Most likely that card is a Draw Supporter, so then you play Tormenting Spray. This is what Tormenting Spray does.

Torment Spray – Trainer
Item

Choose 1 card from your opponent’s hand and reveal it. If it is a Supporter card, your opponent discards that card. If not, put it back into your opponent’s hand.

This is so overpowered. Imagine your opponent top decking cards to try and get something. You might think that this requires 3 cards, and a stadium, so there is no way you can pull it of. With Magical Ribbon you can pull that combo as long as you have 1 of the 4 required cards in hand. Even if you don't have the cards, and you really have to pull this move off there is not too bad a chance in those 4 cards they pulled they didn't get a draw support. The only way an opponent can counter this is if they play Oranguru and Octillery, but not very many deck play through those cards. That is also why I run 3 Tormenting Spray opposed to 4 because it is useless if you play against a deck that runs Octillery or Oranguru. Tell me what you think of this combo, and if there is something I missed that won't allow it to work. Also I made some changes in my list to include a 4th Sylveon GX, and 3 Tormenting Spray.

It's definitely been talked about as a combo with torment spray. I pull off r d card delinquent combo frequently. The main challenge is finding 2 to 3 spots to fit torment spray but it would be huge hit to your opponent if you left them with nothing in hand and they were left top decking.

 

[Adi]

Another idea I have been debating is running a 1-1 ability lock Garbodor. This seems weird and out of place, but here's why I think it might work. For one it means you don't have to worry about Octillery and Oranguru when you use the combo that gets them down to 0 cards. My second reason is that so many decks use abilities in this format. Here are some of the top decks, and how much they rely on abilities from 1 to 3. 3 means they rely on it a lot, 2 means a pretty good amount, and 1 means barely.

Gardevoir GX(2)
Volcanion EX(3)
Alolan Ninetales(1)
Tapu Bulu GX/Vikavolt(3)
Metagross GX(3)
Greninja BREAK(3)
Tapu Koko GX(2)
Golisopod GX/Lurantis(2)
Darkrai EX/GX(1)
Zoroak BREAK(1)

Someone may call some of my calls controversial, but the point is abilities are really big in the new format. You will have to find space though for 3 or 2 Field Blowers. So 5 or 4 cards overall with the 1-1 Garbodor line.

 

[Alphahitman4]

Another idea I have been debating is running a 1-1 ability lock Garbodor. This seems weird and out of place, but here's why I think it might work. For one it means you don't have to worry about Octillery and Oranguru when you use the combo that gets them down to 0 cards. My second reason is that so many decks use abilities in this format. Here are some of the top decks, and how much they rely on abilities from 1 to 3. 3 means they rely on it a lot, 2 means a pretty good amount, and 1 means barely.

Gardevoir GX(2)
Volcanion EX(3)
Alolan Ninetales(1)
Tapu Bulu GX/Vikavolt(3)
Metagross GX(3)
Greninja BREAK(3)
Tapu Koko GX(2)
Golisopod GX/Lurantis(2)
Darkrai EX/GX(1)
Zoroak BREAK(1)

Someone may call some of my calls controversial, but the point is abilities are really big in the new format. You will have to find space though for 3 or 2 Field Blowers. So 5 or 4 cards overall with the 1-1 Garbodor line.

Adding a trubbish would be rough bc you are gnna get 1 basic pokemon hands majority of the time and if you are stuck with jusy trubbish turn 1 it is pretty much an auto loss. Also you would have to find slots for tools as well, which just makes it tough to add withour hurting the consistency of the deck