The Secluded Springs format for Pokemon Pocket is slowly finding its equilibrium. While we have obvious frontrunners pulling ahead of the pack like Suicune ex and Giratina ex, there is one deck that’s slowly distinguishing itself with some surprising results. Guzzlord ex has been on the fringe of competitive playability for a little while now, but it appears that Secluded Springs is finally the card's time to shine.
Tournament Performance
Thanks to the past week’s tournament data, we’ve found that decks using Guzzlord ex and Celesteela have been making it into at least the top twenty in several tournaments, some even managing to win first place.
The most notable performance of this deck in the past week was at PocketMads’ tournament. Out of a tournament population of over four hundred players, three Guzzlord ex (and Celesteela) decks managed to rank 1st, 13th, and 18th place with an almost 50% win rate.
Deck Structure
Pokemon Roster
The deck structure has a core focus on three cards; two copies of Guzzlord ex and one copy of Celesteela. Due to the programming of Pokemon Pocket, making sure both players always start with a Basic-Stage Pokémon in their starting hand, this team formation basically guarantees a two-out-of-three chances of opening up with Guzzlord ex.
As far as Pokemon go, Guzzlord ex is one of the beefiest Basic-Stage ex Pokemon in Pocket, which takes advantage of the current meta's state. This deck runs a distinct lack of Pokemon, which gives it a much better Suicune ex matchup. That Pokemon won't be able to deal a meaningful amount of damage to Guzzlord ex, and Guzzlord ex gets to Grindcore your opponents out of using their attacks.
Open Card Slots
With such a small Pokemon team, a player has seventeen slots open to customize the rest of their deck. After comparing deck lists from across the various tournaments, however, it looks like the open card slots in actuality go down to nine.
Eight out of the seventeen slots are usually filled by two copies of the following cards:
- Lusamine,
- Professor’s Research,
- Poke Ball, and;
- Rocky Helmet
The copies of Poke Ball and Professor’s Research are more or less consistency options. Starting with Celesteela can be disastrous, so finding your Guzzlord ex consistently is incredibly important.
Lusamine’s presence is usually synonymous with the Ultra Beasts in general. She is their built-in energy accelerant and, thanks to extremely high Energy requirements that Ultra Beasts have, allows the archetype to even function in the first place. She’s there to help smooth the transition between Ultra Beasts once one of them gets knocked out.
As we mentioned previously, Guzzlord ex's position in the meta is strong because it can tank a ton of damage from the Suicune ex decks. Rocky Helmet punishes opponents who need to attack into Guzzlord ex multiple times. Suicune ex gets knocked out from full health from just a Rocky Helmet hit and Tyrannical Hole. The same goes for Greninja, which shuts that deck out of making meaningful attacks outside of just chip damage.
Other Tools
The nine remaining slots of the Guzzlord ex deck leave a lot of room for player expression. As far as we’ve seen, players like to pack a lot of one-ofs to make sure they have at least one playable tactic for every occasion.
The Heals
Potion and Pokemon Center Lady
With only three Pokemon on the team, keeping them healthy provides more time for either ‘Grindcore’ or ‘Tyrannical Hole’ to come online and do their work. While Potion heals less than the Pokemon Center Lady, it’s an Item card that preserves the Trainer slot for the turn if needed.
The Denials
Red Card, Mars, and Guzma
It’s not surprising to see decks packing Red Card and Mars. With all the draw power being generated by Sylveon ex and the Legendary Beasts, players will need these tools to slow down the opponent and force a preferred tempo game.
Guzma’s appearance may be a personal preference, but eliminating potential irritating tools like a Rocky Helmet, a Poison Barb, or a Giant Cape can significantly impact the outcome of a match.
Board Control
Cyrus, Sabrina, and Repel
A lot of the cards appearing in these flex slots commonly show up in any Pokemon Pocket deck. Cyrus is exceptionally important here, thanks to Guzzlord ex's main attack being Grindcore. This can mark damage on important Pokemon for a late-game knockout, and the time bought by Grindcore's Energy displacement gives you more time to make use of these tools.
Repel, however, is an uncommon tech choice beginning to appear in some lists. Considering that Suicune ex, as well as Darkrai ex and Giratina ex are all affected by Repel, it makes a lot of sense. Even Guzzlord ex itself can lose of ground to a well-timed Repel.
Damage Booster
Red
We’ve seen some deck lists run the odd copy of Red now and again. With how prevalent ex Pokemon are, having that extra damage can ensure that ‘Tyrannical Hole’ can bridge lethal numbers quickly against sturdier rivals. Or at the very least, try to ensure a mutually assured knockout with Rocky Helmet.
The Magic Bullet
Will
This Trainer is the deck’s strongest resource against almost any situation. Will guarantees that Guzzlord ex depletes at least one energy from the current active Pokemon or Celesteela is able to one-shot that pesky Lightning-type Oricorio.
You’d think that this particular Trainer card would be an auto-include at two copies, but surprisingly, a lot of players tend to run him as a one-of. Regardless of whether you have one or two copies of Will, knowing when to use this card will be one of the strongest plays this deck can make.