Exploring Green’s Exploration / Centiskorch VMAX in Standard

Hello PokeBeach readers, in this article I’m going to be going over Green's Exploration / Centiskorch VMAX. I believe this variant of Centiskorch VMAX is more consistent and just as strong in most matchups. The biggest downside of not running any abilities is obviously the amount of burst potential the deck loses, however, I feel a consistent build that plays a slower game is often strong enough in this format and gives less room for your opponent to steal the game.

Upsides of Green Centiskorch VMAX

The original goal behind the deck was to have a better and more consistent Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX matchup rather than giving them a target by benching a Pokémon-GX or a Pokémon V. By removing unnecessary benched Pokémon, ADP has to attack at least three times which gives Centiskorch VMAX a huge advantage as you can one-shot anything in their deck.

With that matchup in mind, I figured this deck would maintain a good Lucario and Melmetal-GX matchup, as well as a good matchup with Decidueye. With these matchups set to be favourable, I wanted to look at Eternatus VMAX next as I felt this matchup was one of Centiskorch VMAX’s hardest matchup overall. After some thought, I decided the best way to win this matchup was through a combination of Reset Stamp and Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star. Since Eternatus VMAX can only attach one Energy a turn, my game plan was to take over the game after they had already taken a few Knock Out; I lead with some Centiskorch V using Radiating Heat to discard some of their Energy, then when they take one or two Prizes, evolve into the VMAX, play Reset Stamp to give them a small hand, and play Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star. This game plan combined with potentially a few heads flipped on Crushing Hammer makes it extremely hard for Eternatus VMAX to close out a game as they often run out of Energy or draw a dead hand from the Reset Stamp.

One way this matchup could be improved is the addition of a Memory Capsule so you can use the Centiscorch VMAX to discard their Energy – I currently don’t think that it’s necessary, but it certainly helps if you feel this is a matchup you want to tech for. Pikachu and Zekrom-GX is the last real matchup in this format and I think it is one the better matchups for Centiscorch VMAX. Pikachu and Zekrom-GX relies heavily on Dedenne-GX as well as Mewtwo and Mew-GX to keep their deck flowing rather than having to set up two attackers. Tactically, the Centiskorch VMAX deck plays Power Plant to completely shut down that strategy. You are often able to get an early lead in this matchup as Pikachu and Zekrom-GX takes an extra turn to use Boltund V while setting up.

The biggest problem Pikachu and Zekrom-GX can throw at this deck is being able to paralyze your Centiskorch VMAX, but I play a tech for that in a copy of Full Heal. While Full Heal is a pretty bad card objectively, you can search it off a Green’s Exploration making it easy to get rid of paralysis. Between Full Heal and Power Plant, I think this matchup is favorable for Green’s Exploration / Centiskorch VMAX. With these matchups, this deck is well-positioned in the meta and gets a large boost in consistency compared to a normal Centiskorch VMAX build as this deck doesn’t rely on Abilities and has access to better draw Supporters.

The List

Four Volcanion, Three Centiskorch V

There isn’t much to talk about when it comes to the Pokémon line with this deck, but I will go over the basic counts because I feel they are a little more in-depth. This deck runs four Volcanion and three Centiskorch V because you want to start Volcanion every game. This is also the reason the deck doesn’t run any techs such as Reshiram and Charizard-GX or Cramorant V as while these cards do have their uses and can be helpful, they detract from the main strategy and can hurt the consistency of the deck. I have debated playing a fourth Centiskorch V so it’s easy to find off a draw Supporter, but I feel this leads to starting a Centiskorch V too often which can hurt the deck a ton in some matchups. If I did find myself needing more outs to Centiskorch V I would add another Quick Ball as it won’t reduce your chances of starting with the Volcanion, and it can even find a Volcanion if you do happen to start a Centiskorch V.

Supporter Line-up

As I said, I wanted this deck to have more consistent Supporter options so I tried to fit as many as possible. Centiskorch VMAX has the upside of not actually needing Welder to compete in most matchups; hitting for 120 then 200 is more than enough to maintain a strong game against most of the decks in the format. Since Centiskorch VMAX is low-maintenance and can thrive simply with normal attachments, I felt Marnie was the best secondary draw Supporter besides Green's Exploration as it can cause the opponent to stumble and can be combined with Power Plant to potentially cause your opponent to dead draw.

Welder, while not the most consistent source of draw, is still needed so the deck can have some potential to take big Knock Outs, however, on most turns you’d rather play a Green’s Exploration or a Marnie. The one-of Professor's Research is to help your odds of getting a Supporter off Pokégear 3.0 – if I could fit another Supporter I’d add another copy of Professor’s Research but I wouldn’t add any more than that as then you’re getting to a point where your hand is going to be clogged with Supporters rather than having more useful cards.

This concludes the public portion of this article.

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