Welcome back, Subs, to another short piece by yours truly! I have felt quite stale about this format and deck choices, and this has made it hard to deep-dive into what I write. Hopefully this piece can give you some good lines and a solid safe pick for the tournament if you’re just looking to snag some points.
My previous article advocated for Klawf/Terapagos as a solid play to EUIC, and what do you know – it became the eventual Champion! This excited me, as the player was very deserving of the win – Ryuki Okada has been a force to be reckoned with this season. Also, I felt very fulfilled to be on top of the meta, even though I haven’t played a major tournament for almost three months. Just for clarity before hopping into Gholdengo: I will most certainly be playing Klawf to Vancouver, as it’s what I’m most prepared with.
Alright, let’s jump into Gholdengo, and the magnificent performance it had at EUIC.
For those who are unaware, it rains a lot in London, so no wonder Gholdengo was a perfect match! As funny as my jokes are, Gholdengo’s success is no laughing matter. Isaiah Bradner’s collection of top players managed to secure six cash spots from Top 64 and up, all the way to Xander Pero’s 4th place finish. Gholdengo’s strength is hard to be questioned when so many top players decided to bring it. Alongside Bradner’s group, familiar faces from the Gholdengo fan club, Illya Kornilov and Jelle Van Kampen, also made Top 32 and Top16 respectively. With stacked finishes like these, it’s hard to argue viability as well.
Let’s go over some of the strengths this deck possesses in the Prismatic Evolutions format. Firstly, Gholdengo’s unlimited damage cap is the most appealing factor in this deck. Pokemon like Gardevoir ex or Dragapult ex are extremely difficult to KO, however Gholdengo has no problem making it rain on these Pokemon. Another strength is the semi-loose reliance on Items, which in this Budew-heavy format is very strong. Lastly, a core strength is the light Arven+TM:Evo engine that was included, not only to bolster our consistency against Budew, but also to give us a solid backup option to find our important one-of Item cards in the late game. Meta position-wise, this deck doesn’t take a lot of unfavorables. Positive matchups for the deck also include Dragapult ex, Miraidon ex, and Archaludon.
Lets go over the list that placed in the Top 4 by Xander Pero.
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