Playing Tricks on Your Opponent with Zoroark Lycanroc

In early October there was a lot of talk about this deck that was doing really well in Japan with a card that people were really excited for seeing release in North America. That deck was Zoroark-GX with Lycanroc-GX. This deck was crazy successful in Japan at the time and some players though that the success in Japan would carry over to success in North America. However, when Zoroark-GX was released this concept suddenly stopped receiving hype, likely because the Japanese Zoroark Lycanroc lists lose some crucial cards moving into our standard format, such as Sky Field.

Then, just a few weeks ago London Internationals took place and Zoroark-GX proved the hype behind it by seeing major success in decks like Zoroark Golisopod, Silvally Metals, and Zoroark Decidueye and of course sitting in top 64 was 2 Zoroark Lycanroc decks. I think this is a very strong deck. I think people underestimated it going into the London Internationals and when we look to building the list we can learn a lot from the Zoroark Golisopod decklists that did well.

The Lists

This is the list a member of my team took to a top 8 finish at a 48 person league cup last Sunday. There is a lot to like about this list. The list has some strong spread attackers like Tapu Koko and Buzzwole GX and you have a way to beat Buzzwole GX deck in Mew EX.

The deck plays two Enhanced Hammer to disrupt deck like Gardevoir GX and Golisopod Zoroark. The Mallow allows you to search for any two cards with Zoroark's Trade.

Finally Puzzle of Time allows you to reuse all of your valuable resources and Trade makes two Puzzle of Time much more accessible like in the Golisopod Zoroark list that one the London Internationals.

Playing the deck in the future:

These are the changes I've made to the deck so far after some extensive testing.

The Changes

-1 Mew-EX +1 Mewtwo

This is the one change I made immediately when I picked up the list. Mew-EX can do a very good job of picking up the KO on something like a Buzzwole GX but it only has 120 HP so it gives up two prize cards very easily. I replaced it with Mewtwo because the deck can struggle against Buzzwole and does need a way to beat it.

-1 Buzzwole GX -2 Strong Energy +1 Special Charge

I didn't find the Buzzwole GX that necessary to the way the deck runs. Most matchups it is even worth using. After cutting the Buzzwole the number of fighting energy I had seemed like a too many considering I was only using them to power up Lycanroc GX for the most part. I decided to cut two Strong Energy instead of any fighting energy for the sake of preventing my energy from being removed by Enhanced Hammer as often. Once I had removed the two Strong Energy I put in the Special Charge to ensure that I'd have access to as many energy as I needed throughout the game with the combination of energy, Special Charge and Puzzle of Time.

+1 Switch

After testing a lot I felt like I needed one Switch to make it easier for me to apply pressure in the early game while still attaching an energy to an attacker every turn. I decided to play the Switch over one Float Stone so that I could use it on a Pokemon with a Choice Band attached and so that I could reuse it with Puzzle of Time without needing to have it discarded by something like Field Blower.

+1 Rescue Stretcher

Rescue Stretcher isn't an essential card in this deck because of Puzzle of Time but it can be an easy way to boost your damage for Zoroark GX and if you draw Lycanroc GX at the wrong time then you can reuse when you need it using Rescue Stretcher later in the game.

Matchups

Golisopod-GX/Zoroark-GX

This matchup is a very tricky one because you want to attack with Lycanroc GX as it hits Zoroark GX for weakness but you have to be careful because Golisopod GX will hit Lycanroc for weakness. The goal is to set up a Lycanroc GX on the bench while pulling up and knocking out Wimpods. Then if your opponent plays a Golisopod GX you can knock it out with Lycanroc's Dangerous Rogue-GX. Once Golisopod GX isn't a threat you can use Lycanroc's Claw Slash to take consecutive knockouts on your opponent's Zoroark GXs

Silvally-GX/Metals

This matchup is very favorable. You can use hit after hit on your opponent's steel type attackers and knockout Silvally GXs and Type: Nulls before they get set up.

Gardevoir-GX

The only way you can win the Gardevoir-GX matchup is by applying a lot of pressure on your opponent's evolving Pokemon in the early game to slow your opponent down then using Dangerous Rogue-GX when your opponent manages to set up a Gardevoir.