BW-On: Garbador/Terrakion

[Secret Pikachu]

Introduction:

Hello! This is the first time that I have posted a deck list in the "Deck Garage" sub-forum. In this thread we will be discussing a deck for the upcoming BW-On format. The Pokemon and strategy in this deck are fairly well known, however it seems like it is being looked down upon and is not considered a top tier deck.

I will note that I did not create this deck from scratch. I saw a skeleton list online, chose an attacker and made a couple of small changes.

What are your thoughts about the deck and its strategy? How would you change the deck? The main attacker in this version of the deck is Terrakion NVI 73. If you feel that there are better attackers for the deck, please post that as well! Thanks!


Pokemon:

4 Trubbish NVI
3 Garbador DRX
4 Terrakion NVI

Trainers:

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
3 Cheren
3 Bianca

4 Heavy Ball
3 Ultra Ball

4 Exp. Share
3 Rescue Scarf

4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Switch
2 Super Rod

Energy:

11 Fighting


Strategy:

Garbador (Stage 1 Pokemon that evolves from Trubbish) has an ability, called Garbotoxin, that shuts off all other abilities in play (excluding Garbotoxin) if it has a Pokemon Tool card attached to it. The majority of the top tier decks of the next format rely heavily on abilities in order to function well. This card is powerful because it shuts off all of those abilities.

Terrakion NVI will do 30 damage (+60 if any of your Pokemon were knocked out last turn by damage from an opponent's attack) for one Fighting Energy and one Colorless Energy. Terrakion will do 90 damage for two Fighting Energy and one Colorless Energy. This Pokemon is good for a few reasons. It can 2HKO almost anything that doesn't have an Eviolite or Giant Cape attached. It fares well in the prize trade because it is not an EX card. It hits two of the most popular top tier decks for weakness (Darkrai and Eels variants).

In terms of Pokemon Tools, you need to run an amount that allows you to consistently set up Garbador while not slowing down the rest of the deck. Rescue Scarf allows you to pick up Garbador if it is killed and potentially place it down on a Benched Trubbish during your next turn. At the very least it saves Garbador from going to the discard pile. Exp. Share can be placed on Garbador if necessary, however it also benefits Terrakion by being able to attach a Fighting energy from a Terrakion that was defeated onto a Terrakion that is sitting on the bench.

Heavy Ball searches for both Garbador and Terrakion. Ultra Ball can search out any of the Pokemon in the deck (making it better than Level Ball which can only search out Trubbish).

The Supporter line is fairly standard. Further testing is required before I can say that Cheren is better than Bianca, or vice versa.

Pokemon Catcher is standard as well. Switch is very important as it allows you to switch a Garbador or Terrakion (with little or no energy attached) if it is catchered up by your opponent. Super Rod allows you to put energy and Pokemon back into your deck. It really helps to get the needed energy onto the field, especially if a loaded Terrakion is killed and you don't have any Exp. Shares on your Benched Terrakion.

The energy choice was easy to make. The only Pokemon that will ever be attacking is Terrakion, and the only energy it needs to attack aside from Colorless is Fighting.


Conclusion:

I apologize if this was too long to read .

I am open to any and all suggestions! I am very interested in hearing some feedback about this deck as I am interested in playing a competitive Garbador variant, and at the very least know how to play against it.

So far I have played three games with the deck. It had a very close loss (lost by one turn) to Garchomp/Altaria, had a very close win (won by one turn) to Garchomp/Altaria, and a very close win (won by two turns) against Darkrai/Hydreigon. It sets up pretty quickly but slows down once the opponent starts to attack. I will post more results as soon as I have played the deck more.

Thanks for reading (and discussing) .

 

[RobertBenjamin]

My first impression about your pokemon line-up is the high probability of having Trubbish as a lone starter which opens you to a Mewtwo EX donk at turn 1. Keep in mind the meta is made of different decks and not only Garchomp/Altaria and Darkrai/Hydreigon but there is one thing we are sure of, Mewtwo Ex will still be popular because it is still a very good card.

To minimize this, I suggest adding 3 Landorus, dropping 2 super rods and 1 of your draw supporters. Besides adding Landorus gives you the opportunity for a turn 2 80 attack that can OHKO most basics and stage 1s.

 

[RogueChomp]

3-3 Trubbish is fine. I only run 3 in my secret variant of Garbodor Terrakion, and it works fine, in fact, I'm 14-2. The deck works great, but I suggest adding Energy Switch and a Mewtwo and or Terrakion EX. Mewtwo sweeps this deck so you need to counter it quickly, and Terrakion EX boosts acceleration and consistency, as well as you having a high HP attacker.

 

[Secret Pikachu]

I'm definitely considering adding Terrakion-EX to the deck. That would solve the problem that RobertBenjamin mentioned concerning having Trubbish as a lone starter.

I'd probably want to add two or three Terrakion-EX. To do that I would drop one Trubbish (I agree that 3-3 is a good amount). I could also drop two supporters or one Supporter and something else (probably a Heavy Ball considering I find that a lot of them are dead draws because the bench sets up quickly enough with one or two Heavy Ball and draw power).

I like Super Rod because it gets Energy back into the deck late game which can be crucial if a few Terrakion have been Knocked Out and you had a couple of Exp. Share prized (or just couldn't seem to pull them at the right time).

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[RobertBenjamin]

You should also consider adding 2 Bouffalant DRX in your list since sometimes 90 isn't enough to get the KO. It is also a very good counter against Shaymin Ex which is a staple tech in Hydreigon/Darkrai EX decks. Another alternative is having Enhanced Hammers to take care of any special energies in the field.

 

[PokéCastXVll]

I personally wouldn't going along the route of Landorus. Not a bad card, but takes away the consistency factor of this deck. If you opted for Landorus, you'd have to reconstruct the deck entirely different. Bouffalant also isn't too bad of an option but again, how are you going to power up three {C} in a single turn? Better yet, why would you need to knowing you could just Retaliate? It also conflicts in terms of Ability with Garbodor.

Your best options would be a Mewtwo or Terrakion EX with Terrakion being the obvious choice. I can't help but feel that Mewtwo is needed in this deck, as much as I hate to admit it. On that note, I wouldn't be too keen on playing DCE, so perhaps Energy Switch isn't all that bad of an idea? Will have to test though.

 

[Flys Gone 2071]

I started play-testing a garbodor/terrakion EX. It is excellent and I've gone 8-1. I have problems with mewtwo and shaymin. My lose was that my opponent let darkrai EX get ko and I take 2 prizes while he went OHKOing it with shaymin.

 

[RobertBenjamin]

My lose was that my opponent let darkrai EX get ko and I take 2 prizes while he went OHKOing it with shaymin.

That is the very reason why I think Bouffalant DRX will be a good tech in this deck. You can power it up using Terrakion EX and must only place it on your bench once you have a Terrakion EX powered up and have energy in your hand. Terrakion's retaliate attack isn't sufficient to take down a Shaymin EX since it is also resistant to Fighting.

 

[Secret Pikachu]

I think that the benefit of having Bouffalant DRX decreases as the game goes on. You'll be equipping energy to your Terrakion and Terrakion-EX. It would be hard to get three Energy in your hand mid to late game, especially if your opponent played N.

Your opponent will probably try to get Shaymin-EX out as soon as they see that you have Terrakion or Terrakion-EX. You would have to find a way to stall for a while before you could set up a Terrakion-EX with enough Energy and get a Bouffalant DRX and three more Energy in your hand. Exp. Share might help but that could still be a pretty tricky combo to pull off.

 

[raymond25962]

I think you should use Mewtwo, because as of right now, you have no answer to Mewtwo, he can sweep right through your deck.

 

[RobertBenjamin]

The good players only place Shaymin Ex at the end when you have 1-3 prize cards left for you to take. Shaymin EX only works when you have taken a lot of prizes else your opponent's Shaymin EX wouldn't OHKO your terrakions and terrakion exes. If your Garbodors have been knocked out or has been stripped of its tool and he has max potions still in his hand it's basically good game especially if he has a Hydreigon set-up.

Let's face it, without weakness Terrakion/Terrakion EX/Garbordor will only hit 90 per turn (and will only hit 90 at the third turn) and probably that is why this deck didn't rise in the Japanese meta. As raymond25962 put it, this deck doesn't even have an answer to Mewtwo Ex. The real path is really Mewtwo EX + Terrakion + 1-2 other pokemon in order for this deck to have a chance to beat other decks in the meta.

 

[Flys Gone 2071]

The good players only place Shaymin Ex at the end when you have 1-3 prize cards left for you to take. Shaymin EX only works when you have taken a lot of prizes else your opponent's Shaymin EX wouldn't OHKO your terrakions and terrakion exes. If your Garbodors have been knocked out or has been stripped of its tool and he has max potions still in his hand it's basically good game especially if he has a Hydreigon set-up.

Let's face it, without weakness Terrakion/Terrakion EX/Garbordor will only hit 90 per turn (and will only hit 90 at the third turn) and probably that is why this deck didn't rise in the Japanese meta. As raymond25962 put it, this deck doesn't even have an answer to Mewtwo Ex. The real path is really Mewtwo EX + Terrakion + 1-2 other pokemon in order for this deck to have a chance to beat other decks in the meta.

I'd been thinking of enhanced hammer. It will stop hydreigon, sigilyph, giratina and shaymin from attacking. And in Garchomp/Altaria stopping dragonblade and rayquaza. Will also stop mewtwo using tons of DCE.

 

[Secret Pikachu]

The good players only place Shaymin Ex at the end when you have 1-3 prize cards left for you to take. Shaymin EX only works when you have taken a lot of prizes else your opponent's Shaymin EX wouldn't OHKO your terrakions and terrakion exes. If your Garbodors have been knocked out or has been stripped of its tool and he has max potions still in his hand it's basically good game especially if he has a Hydreigon set-up.

Let's face it, without weakness Terrakion/Terrakion EX/Garbordor will only hit 90 per turn (and will only hit 90 at the third turn) and probably that is why this deck didn't rise in the Japanese meta. As raymond25962 put it, this deck doesn't even have an answer to Mewtwo Ex. The real path is really Mewtwo EX + Terrakion + 1-2 other pokemon in order for this deck to have a chance to beat other decks in the meta.

I agree. However Shaymin-EX could be a decent mid-game play against a Garbador/Terrakion deck. As soon as two prizes have been taken Shaymin-EX can OHKO Terrakion and Terrakion-EX. A bit riskier if Exp. Share or another Terrakion-EX is in play though.