Discussion Can Persian GX be a solution to Stage 2 GXs?

jamashawalker

Ikouze!
Member
Before I get into it, this will be a long post. So feel free to look at the TL:DR at the bottom.

So Persian GX and Stage 2 GXs.

At the moment we all know Stage 2s are in a non-existent state in the metagame. What caused this situation to happen? The metagame got too fast for them to keep up with basics and their Damage+HP is lower than what we want out of a stage 2 GX pokemon. We also want consistency throughout the game. The way I see it stage 2 GXs fall into 2 simple problems.

1.) We want to set up them up attacking by turn 2.
2.) We want to be able to set up multiple stage 2s throughout the game consistently so that we can streamline attackers without whiffing a turn attacking.

A-ninetales(A9) Solves this first problem fairly consistently. By turn 2 we can evolve our vulpix and grab our rare candies, choice band, ultra ball etc. However by mid-late game when resources are wearing thin and you need to dig through your deck for those combo pieces, another A9 can't help too much in that regard.
In comes Persian GX. As soon as your Stage 2 GX pokemon is knocked out and you have another basic on the bench, you will not be missing a beat.

This thought came after I was testing a straight Persian Silvally Deck without Zoroark and it did fairly well(Zoroark is better mind you) Then I saw this video from The SAbeleyes.

Shoutouts to them for the idea.
I tested it out, fell in love with Gardevoir all over again. Being able to get those combo pieces and retaliate was huge. Something we have never been able to do consistently in the past with Stage 2 decks. We can all agree that at times we fall short of that retaliation after a KO because of the difficulty getting another Stage 2 on board.
After some fun matches with Gardevoir testing I decided to look through the list for any other GX pokemon can appreciate Persian GX. It never disappointed! My next test was Blastoise GX. I switched over the A9 build with the 1-1 line of Persian in there and it solved my issue with the A9 build. If someone wanted to guzma KO A9 that's a big problem for them because it allowed Persian to search for a strong counter play. After testing it out some more with random Stage 2 GX pokemon Salamence, Blaziken etc. I've began to really see that Persian is something a lot of teams can/should build around. I believe it also deserves a lot more spotlight on it for how versatile it is not only in Stage 2 decks but stage 1 decks as well. Also it's not a bad attacker with it's GX attack in case you're ever in that scenario lol

TL:DR - Persian allows you to set another Stage 2 GX up after the first one gets KOed. Giving you an immediate fast counter.
 
EDIT because the forum won't let me edit: This isn't to say Persian will make every stage 2 GX viable. Salamence is bad no matter how many tools you give it. But it is to give some thought it some previous stage 2s who struggle to stay consistent mid-late game. IE Gardevoir.
 
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