Some questions about googlebox

Rock Wrecker

Rock Wrecker

I want to be a Pokemon master :-)
Member
I just had some questions about googlebox because it is very popular and I realized I didn't know all the little details to it. So, after getting out basics with Pichu, do you want to immediately get out a Vileplume if you can and then get out Donphan and finally Reuniclus? How many turns does this usually take and is tropical beach a neccesity for setting up? With the release of Kyurem it should be added because Donphan is pretty popular, right? Also what reasons are there for using SEL? Could Suicune Raikou Legend work instead? I would think adding a few lightning energy could be used for Zekrom or SRL for more damage to spread. Let me know if I'm completely wrong, answer my questions, or just comment about Rosbox. Thanks!
 
Some of the stuff I'm not completely sure about, but I'll try to say what I know:

After Pichu, Vileplume comes first (to stop Catcher and hinder your opponent), then everything else– though someone else will have to say whether Reuniclus or a main attacker is the higher priority; I'm not sure (I would guess Reuniclus, though).

What should be in the deck entirely depends on your metagame. SEL is used primarily for Reshiram; getting OHKOs with Bursting Inferno is always nice.

To be honest, I'd take SEL over Kyurem against 'Phan, since it serves a dual purpose there. It won't get OHKO'd, but can OHKO it back.

Raikou and Suicune Legend isn't as good as SEL– one of its attacks doesn't OHKO much, and the other leaves it vulnerable. After setup, you want to get done quick and not run out of space for damage counters. But again, it depends on your meta; maybe there's a matchup I'm not considering.
 
No, that's pretty much it. You set up Vileplume asap to lock them, then you set up whatever you need by milling through your deck with sages. Donphan is used for a cheap attacker and a stall that can take a lot of damage. SEL is used to counter tyram (a huuuuuge part of the meta) through weakness. The whole point is simply that few things can reach the 130hp or higher mark without trainers, so you manipulate damage to make sure your side never goes down. It runs almost entirely on a twins engine since you have little other search power in the deck. Blissey/seeker are used to heal everything. Zekrom is there for a yanmega counter and because, again, it has the magic 130hp. All of the attackers in the deck are used for different matchups, you should never have to get everything out in 1 game.

Most people say Tropical Beach is necessary, but it isn't. That being said, the deck will never run anywhere near as good without it as it does with it. It lets you set up, 1-3 turns faster on average, which is huge.

It is a very fine tuned decklist, so I wouldn't try to change too much of it. There are many variations, but the set up google uses is more or less understood to be the best.
 
Q1. So, after getting out basics with Pichu, do you want to immediately get out a Vileplume if you can and then get out Donphan and finally Reuniclus?
A1. Vileplume followed by Reuniclus are vital in this deck. You need to get them out asap. While at the same time, if you can, get your main attacker on the bench and start getting him ready.

Q2. How many turns does this usually take and is tropical beach a neccesity for setting up?
A2. Typically you should be set up by turn 3 at the latest with at least a Vileplume and a Reuniclus. Tropical Beach isn't a necessity, but it does help. Things like Twins are more of a necessity than Tropical Beach.

Q3. With the release of Kyurem it should be added because Donphan is pretty popular, right?
A3. Kyurem is an interesting choice over Zekrom, but the dragons are in there more so to hold damage than to be used as an attacker.

Q4. Also what reasons are there for using SEL? Could Suicune Raikou Legend work instead?
A4. google used SEL because his deck covered {l}, {R}, {f}, and {w} weakness for the minimal amount of different energies. Which those weaknesses were fairly common at worlds. RSL could be viable in this format with so many decks using Reshiram, Donphan, and Yanmega are running a muck.

I hope this helps you understand the deck better. Good luck.
 
One thing that no one has yet mentioned is that you can not use Rare Candy if you play Vileplume first. At that point, you would have to manually evolve through (your sometimes single count of) Duosion. If possible, you really want to set yourself up to Candy into Reuniclus, then Candy into Vileplume, all in the same turn. However, I know that isn't often possible, and you might have to just rely on your Duosion(s) because Vileplume is the most important card.
 
Rock Wrecker said:
I just had some questions about googlebox because it is very popular and I realized I didn't know all the little details to it. So, after getting out basics with Pichu, do you want to immediately get out a Vileplume if you can and then get out Donphan and finally Reuniclus?
Click to expand...

Vileplume then Reuniclus. The other deck being able to knock out you attackers is what is not supposed to happen.

Rock Wrecker said:
With the release of Kyurem it should be added because Donphan is pretty popular, right? Also what reasons are there for using SEL?
Click to expand...

SEL is better because it can knockout a Donphan, and there is a low chance of the return ko. Kyruem has to have 50 damage on it, so a Donphan using Heavy Impact can knock it out.


I wouldn't reommend using RSL because it does 50 to itself, making it easy to knockout. Zekrom too- it leaves itself with 90 HP, so a Reshiram or a Bouffalant or many other things could knock it out.
 
you would recommend Raikou Suicune Legend because it does 50 to itself? I would imagine you mean you don't. However, Zekrom is still a good play because it very very rarely will be using Bolt Strike in this deck, it's primarily used as a Yanmega counter (60 for a DCE and 40 damage on Zekrom).
 
No, he said add in electric energy for Zekrom (meaning for its attack).

And you are correct, I mean I would not recommend it.
 
No. There's no game plan for googlebox. You can go in with a turn-by-turn plan for it, like you would a deck like Zekrom or Reshiram, but it's not going to happen 9/10 times. Opening a Twins instead of a Sage's Training completely changes that plan. Playing against Yanmega is completely different from playing against Reshiram, which is completely different from playing against Magnezone.

Pichu is not a necessity to get out every game. A Collector more often than not will do the job. If you open Collector, you usually don't need Pichu.

Vileplume should get out before Reuniclus, if possible. Setting up an attacker if often last priority. However, again, this varies on a game-by-game basis. If you're handed the evolve into Donphan, no reason not to take it. Similarly, if you're playing against a Stage 1 deck, and you're handed the Rare Candy into Reuniclus, and you know there's another Reuniclus in the deck, no reason not to evolve into Reuniclus.

Tropical Beach is pretty much necessary. A list without it is a less than ideal list. A 2nd Cleffa is as close to replacing it as you can, but it's hardly an acceptable replacement.

The dragons hardly attack, and you dominate Donphan anyway, so I see no reason to include Kyurem. 1-2 Zekrom OR 1-2 Kyurem is good, a 1/1 split is fine, but no, don't ever have more than 2 dragons in the deck.

SEL is there to beat Reshiram. It has other purposes, but that's the primary one, and usually the only thing it ever does.

I suggest you actually play with googlebox instead of posting a thread about it. It's not like other decks, where people can really answer these questions fully without any in-game context. The deck is incredibly hard to master; the hands down hardest deck to use in the format, except maybe Magneboar or Mewbox. You can learn the answers to your questions, and get a head start on mastering it at the same time. :) If you're considering playing this for Regionals, I don't recommend it. It's a great play, but if this is your understanding of the deck right now, you won't be able to master it in less than a week.
 
SEL also can murder Reuniclus, giving you a better chance against other google decks and Gothitelle decks, which are kind of popular. Just wanted to point that out.
 
The realistic chance of that working and then making a difference in the game is way too slim for it to even deserve mention. Believe me, I thought about it while posting. Basically, whoever gets the lock first in that type of matchup is going to win 90% of the time.
 
Thanks to everyone for helping explain this to me, especially Celebi.
Celebi23 said:
No. There's no game plan for googlebox. You can go in with a turn-by-turn plan for it, like you would a deck like Zekrom or Reshiram, but it's not going to happen 9/10 times. Opening a Twins instead of a Sage's Training completely changes that plan. Playing against Yanmega is completely different from playing against Reshiram, which is completely different from playing against Magnezone.

Although I know that it's different set-up for every deck this really helped

Pichu is not a necessity to get out every game. A Collector more often than not will do the job. If you open Collector, you usually don't need Pichu.

This really cleared things up, I wouldn't have realized for a while that Collector would work. I assume search for Oddish, Solosis, and Phanpy?

Vileplume should get out before Reuniclus, if possible. Setting up an attacker if often last priority. However, again, this varies on a game-by-game basis. If you're handed the evolve into Donphan, no reason not to take it. Similarly, if you're playing against a Stage 1 deck, and you're handed the Rare Candy into Reuniclus, and you know there's another Reuniclus in the deck, no reason not to evolve into Reuniclus.

Ok, already understood this

Tropical Beach is pretty much necessary. A list without it is a less than ideal list. A 2nd Cleffa is as close to replacing it as you can, but it's hardly an acceptable replacement.

:/ Is there any good way to get Tropical Beach? It's like $100 and trading for it doesn't seem like a possibility. Will I have to stick with Cleffa because I didn't go to Worlds?

The dragons hardly attack, and you dominate Donphan anyway, so I see no reason to include Kyurem. 1-2 Zekrom OR 1-2 Kyurem is good, a 1/1 split is fine, but no, don't ever have more than 2 dragons in the deck.

Now that I understand what SEL is for, I see no need for Kyurem. I'll stick with 1-2 Zekroms.

SEL is there to beat Reshiram. It has other purposes, but that's the primary one, and usually the only thing it ever does.

Using it against Donphan is also important, right?

I suggest you actually play with googlebox instead of posting a thread about it. It's not like other decks, where people can really answer these questions fully without any in-game context. The deck is incredibly hard to master; the hands down hardest deck to use in the format, except maybe Magneboar or Mewbox. You can learn the answers to your questions, and get a head start on mastering it at the same time. :) If you're considering playing this for Regionals, I don't recommend it. It's a great play, but if this is your understanding of the deck right now, you won't be able to master it in less than a week.
I will not be playing it for the Regionals coming up, most likely Citys if I get a good understanding of it and States. This and other comments really helped, I will be testing and if anyone would test with me I would much appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Well, thanks again! Sorry I'm such a noob I'm still not a good player and I hope to continue to improve.
 
Celebi23 said:
The realistic chance of that working and then making a difference in the game is way too slim for it to even deserve mention. Believe me, I thought about it while posting. Basically, whoever gets the lock first in that type of matchup is going to win 90% of the time.
Click to expand...

I was playing a google varient and it beat me by killing my Reuniclus... Although, yeah, that is uncommon.
 
About the collector, you get whatever you need for the matchup. For example, if you are against megazone, you would probably get multiple oddishes so they don't get sniped by yanmega every time you lay them down 1 by 1.
 
I never said or thought you were a newb xP I just said you didn't have mastery of one deck in one format. In general, it's best to take multiple Oddish to avoid Tyrogue + PlusPower or other random attackers. The third Collector card can vary, although it's often a Solosis, a 3rd Oddish or a Cleffa. If you take the Solosis, it's sometimes best not to play it down if you don't have 2 left in the deck. The 3rd Oddish only happens if you don't have direct access to Twins, but have a Sage/Cleffa/Tropical Beach. This is a rare case, however, and I basically never play more than 2 of the 3 at a time.

The only good way to get it is to borrow it, if you don't have the money.

I often prefer my own Donphan against Donphan. Zekrom can't build up an Outrage KO on it, and Donphan is always paired with Zekrom and/or Zoroark. Getting SEL out is more work than it's worth when they can counter it. They have no direct counter to a Donphan, so I prefer that.
 
Celebi23 said:
I never said or thought you were a newb xP
Click to expand...
Yeah I was calling myself a noob xD
Ok just some more stuff, most of my questions are just relating to deck building and learning how to use it. So is Blissey a necessity? It seems very situational to me and I rather have more Seeker, but someone usually does a great job of explaining perfectly obvious logic to me. Also should I be playing 4 Collectors 1 Pichu or 3 Collectors 2 Pichu? Thanks, I'll definitely be testing this out for a while.
EDIT: Also when having an Oddish or Solosis in hand while having another good active basic, do you play it or hold it for a little later?
 
Blissey is a very good card. Seeker takes up your supporter for the turn and can't heal anywhere near as much damage. I think it's pretty crucial to the deck's strategy. Basically the only situation it's useless is when you don't have Reuniclus out, at which point it's early game or time to scoop.

The 4/1 vs 3/2 Pichu/Collector split is pretty much personal preference. I like 3/2 since it means more double basic starts, which means less donks. It also decreases the chance of it being prized, or you getting donked out of your only Pichu. It's also an easy KO to stay down on prizes when necessary.

The Oddish/Solosis depends on the deck you're playing. Usually hold it. Unless it means you're going to get benched.
 
Yeah, if you have only one Oddish or Solosis, you probably want to save it until you can play 2 down in one turn. That way, your opponent would have a very hard time knocking them both out in the same turn (unless they have Kyurem but that's not in the format currently).
 
Here's how google works:
1. Just do everything you can to set up vileplume (except in mirror match)
2. Attack with dragons to wall
3. Set up reuniclus and keep your dragons alive.
4. Get out donphan or SEL and lock them while doing heavy damage.
5. Keep your pokemon alive with blissey or other healers such as bellosom.
6. Take six prizes and win (you usually want to do this)
And the reason SEL is good is because it has 160 hp and it one shots half the cards in most decks (Reshiphlosion, donphan, etc.)
 
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