Articles

“Ghetsis Gets His:” a Look at the Expanded Turn-1 Ghetsis Format

“I’ll play Ghetsis…”

What is up with it CutorTap! My name is Russell LaParre and this will be my first article for CutorTap. To drop a little bit of info about myself, I’ve been a competitive Pokemon TCG player for three years now with a few major tournament tops and wins to my name, including 2 Nationals Top 16’s, nine Regional Top 16’s, and two Regionals Top 8’s. I’ve been competing in competitive TCG games since the release of the Metal Raiders set from Yugioh and I made a big switch into the Pokemon Trading Card Game shortly after the release of Plasma Blast. I’m known in the community for coming up with intricate rogue decks that can compete with the top tier decks of the format. Since rogue decks are still not as consistent or powerful as most of the top tiers, a majority of my deck decisions are extremely risky. I usually bomb a tournament or go on a complete slaughter through Day 2 and just miss out on Top 8. Today I’m going to discuss the upcoming Expanded Format (with and without Karen) to help out those attending AZ Regionals in a month. Let’s dive in!

Tier List:

Tier 1:

Yveltal Gallade or Turbo Yveltal
Trevenant BREAK
Night March

Tier 2:

Primal Groudon
Rainbow Road
Mega Ray

Tier 3:

Vileplume Tech
Eel/Raikou
Darkrai Turbo

Tier 1:
Yveltal
Yveltal Gallade and Turbo are equal in terms of strength, in my eyes, and are the top deck to beat in the Expanded format. The deck takes many 50/50s across the field but it’s packed with utility to deal with every deck in some way. I think the best players of Yveltal are rewarded with high placing results as the deck allows players to snowball and punish their opponents’ mistakes extremely hard with Yveltal BKT and Dark Patch.

Trevenant BREAK
Trevenant BREAK is the annoying deck that will never leave the format due its consistent turn 1 item lock, and its ability to grind out free wins against any deck. Even with the high number of Yveltal decks played in at tournament, they still find a way to win. Whether it’s playing Bursting Balloon or Crushing Hammer, this deck has solid ways of dealing with its tough matchups and will remain a top threat in the format due to the lack of decks running Rough Seas.

Night March-
Night March takes a backseat in this format due to Jirachi/Ghetsis, and the increased number of Silent Lab played. Night March players will often have a dead opening hand and need a few Shaymin-EX to get things rolling, but a turn 1 Silent Lab that sticks can end games quickly. Trevenant BREAK has a more consistent Turn-1 Wally through Jirachi-EX and Yveltal can constantly put up Yveltal BKT and Darkrai-EX as attackers vs Night March due to the inclusion of Dark Patch. We saw fewer Night March decks played near the end of the Regional season due to Jolteon-EX but now that Pokemon Ranger has been released, I think we’ll see a bit more Night March in the field.

private accessYou must have a Stage 2 Membership to see the rest of this post. If you don't have a Stage 2 account, you can Sign Up for one here.