Winning Slowly but Surely with Metagross-GX/Solgaleo-GX

When the format began to form Metagross-GX was seeing a lot of talk but not a lot of success due to unpolished and inconsistent lists. However, as the format has evolved, decks that have hard match-ups against Metagross-GX have done increasingly well. At the Philadelphia regional championships, Metagross-GX decks that had a way to knock out Zoroark-GX in one hit, did very well, placing 4th and 22nd. I'd like to focus on Aaron Rucker's top 4 Metagross-GX/Solgaleo-GX list, as I think it is a better meta call for the foreseeable future.

The Lists

The list that Aaron piloted to a top 4 finish was super solid. He maxed out on most of his consistency card like Cynthia, Ultra Ball, and Nest Ball. He played 2 of all both of his set up supporters, Lillie and Steven's Resolve in preparation of unfortunate prizing. Lastly he played Solgaleo-GX to offer the deck some extra mobility if the opponent tried to play the Guzma game on a Metagross-GX or he played against something like Zoroark-GX that had more than 180HP. On the contrary, I found even this list still had some very gimmicky aspects to it. These are Dhelmise, Metagross, and Judge. I don't know how effective Aaron found these tech cards but in my testing they were dead most games. Hitting 190 damage with Metagross-GX is really unimportant in this format where Necrozma-GX, Marshadow-GX, Buzzwole, Zoroark-GX, and Rayquaza-GX are the most common attackers to play against. Metagross is not a very good way to swing the prize trade, especially because of Metagross' slow early game and its ability is very difficult to pull off unless your opponent takes a one hit knockout on your attacker while you have Metagross and Solgaleo-GX on your bench as well as Steven in hand and no need for a different supporter that turn. Lastly, Judge is a great card but the amount of set up you need in the early game makes it very rarely playable and in the late game you are looking to hit Max Potion plus Metal Energy almost every turn.

The Changes

-1 Metagross, -1 Dhelmise, -1 Judge.

+1 Metal Energy +1 Choice Band

So I added these two cards two the list just to make the deck more consistent. Giga Hammer for 180 damage is your main attack against Necrozma-GX and Rayqauza-GX so I just like being able to use it more consistently. However, I can see cutting the Metal Energy for an additional draw supporter like Lillie or Tate & Liza if you're worried about early game Judge or Marshadow from your opponent.

+1 Cyrus Prism Star

This is just for the Malamar match-up. Their goal is to knock you out with a four energy Marshadow-GX and by playing Cyrus and taking a knockout on the active on the same turn, you guarantee at least one turn they can not stream that if they do not already have a Marshadow-GX with 2 energy on the bench. Sudowoodo was also suggested to me; however, I don't like taking the risk that I open a Pokemon that I can not retreat into Alolan Vulpix on the first turn.

Match-ups

Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX

This is actually the deck's hardest match-up of the tier one decks because of their speed. Their goal is to knock out your Pokemon before you set up. Winning this match-up is very simple however, if you are able to make a Steven's or Algorithm-GX stick so that you can get a Solgaleo-GX and 2 Metagross-GX into play, you'll probably win. Just be mindful of Dangerous Rogue-GX, don't forget you have Cyrus, and stomp them with Sunsteel Strike.

Rayquaza-GX/Vikavolt

This match-up is like solitaire for your opponent. You just set up with Steven's and Algorithm-GX like normal and once set up take one hit knockouts with Giga Hammer. Whether or not you lose really just depends on how much resources your opponent burns setting up, how much energy they can get out before you start streaming knockouts, and how quickly they run out of energy.

Buzzwole/Shrine of Punishments.

This is easily your best match-up. To win this match-up you just don't take your 2nd prize until you're set up to avoid a disruptive sledgehammer, and you keep checking your math after every tick from Shrine so that you know exactly when to max Potion.

Team Update