Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

A Fresh Grass Deck (Celebi/Wormadam)

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zapatosunidos

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I was just throwing together a deck for my son with some random cards I had, and it has ended up being surprisingly good.

The basic strategy of the deck is to start with Celebi, using it as an energy accelerator for a Wormadam or Mothim ASAP. Benching Burmy Plant Cloak while keeping Wormadam and Mothim in hand makes the transition from Celebi to Wormadam very smooth: Leaf Tornado (move energy to Burmy) > KO > Burmy to active > Wear Cloak > evolve to Wormadam/Mothim. After Celebi is gone, a slight variation makes subsequent transitions just as easy: Burmy to bench > attach Grass > KO > Burmy to active > Wear Cloak > attach grass > evolve. If you have a benched Mothim, you can move him into place temporarily after a KO until you figure out what you are going to draw and play, switching is easy due to zero retreat cost.

Buffer Piece is maxed to help with lower HP. Quagsire d comes to the bench to dig out used Buffer Pieces. Crystal Beach exploits your opponent's dependence on DRE, Scramble, Boost, etc. since Celebi and Burmy can fetch energy out of your deck and discard pile with ease.

Here is the list I have been using:

4-2-3 Mothim, Wormadam Plant Cloak (SW)
4 Celebi (MT)
2-2 Quagsire d (DF)

17 Pokemon

4 Celio's Network
2 Holon Mentor
3 TV Reporter
2 Scott
3 Castaway
2 Great Ball
3 Quick Ball
4 Buffer Piece
2 Night Maintenance
3 Windstorm
3 Crystal Beach

31 Trainer

12 Grass

12 Energy

I know, I know, it is crazy, right? But I have found that it works really well. It may not go up against Magmortar (I have it but haven't tried yet) but it has held its own in some tough matches with Lucario/Breloom, which surprised the heck out of me.

I'd like to really maximize the performance of this deck, however. My son is really getting it, and I'd like to start taking him to a local league, Coming in with a strong deck that he knows how to play will, I think, make him enjoy it that much more, as well as making friends with common interests.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!
 
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I really like this deck. I have a friend that ran this straight wormadam, and it was very intimidating. I would suggest playing tv reporter over holon adventurer, so you can discard after you draw.
 
Yeah, I would definitely do that if I had any. The funniest thing is how well this is doing after just putting it together from spare parts! I am trying to join a local league, and maybe I can find some there.
 
I have made some changes to the deck. I took out the Strength Charm, since I realized it didn't make much sense when I want to have Buffer Piece attached most of the time. I might add some Plus Power if I need it. I made the obvious trade: Holon Adventurer for TV Reporter. I went with Holon Mentor over Roseanne's since I don't really need the energy searching capability due to Castaway, Celebi, and Burmy; Burmy can abuse the discard. I added in Windstorm to make sure my Poke-Bodies continue to work no matter what and upped the Crystal Beach count.

I am finding this deck flows very smoothly, and there are several clever and surprising combos that are fun to play due to the energy flow of the deck, zero retreat on Mothim, crazy Pokemon Powers, no energy attacks, etc. Not to mention that Crystal beach can just totally spoil some deck's plans.

The only remaining problem is bench snipers on the Burmys. To make the best combos totally effective, you have to leave Burmy exposed on the bench with one energy attached, only evolving after getting a chance to Wear Cloak in the active position. 40 HP is a problem. Any ideas?
 
i really like this deck but like you say sniperes are going to be a problem. i can think of a few possibly solutions. maybe putting in a tropius so u can heal 3 counters off your burmys as ur going to have energy on them becuase of the discard draw. but its an attack and might slow down the flow of the deck and theres a few pokemon that can kill a burmy with one snipe like empoleons ice jet. or theres trying a bastiodon line and seeing how that works but its going to be a lot of cards to include just for a tech as its a stage 2 and a cessation crystal will leave your burmys open. the other idea is to be strategic about when you put ur burmys to the bench and make sure u can get buffers out quick enough. but a starting burmy with a damge counter on it isnt a bad thing if youve got a mothim in hand turn two. donk! hope ive been helpfull:pokeball:
 
I think my best option to avoid sniping, like you said, is to bench the Burmys strategically, then protect them with a Buffer Piece if there is a sniper up to bat. The funny thing about this deck is that you should attach Buffer Pieces more frequently than you think, since Quagsire d lets you essentially have eight of them. I took out two Lucarios and a LvX tonight with a Wormadam, a Mothim, and a handful of Buffer Pieces. After all that, the Mothim was still barely alive to get one-shotted by a Breloom!

Another option might be a 1-1 Dugtrio CG. It is another dead spot on the bench, though, like the Quagsires after I dig up the Buffer Pieces. With the Quagsire it isn't too bad, since I mostly want those later game unless I am in trouble, but searching and benching fairly early on might get irritating.

Is there any way to get these guys off the bench nowadays other than SSU?
 
the wormaden's are surprisingly fast and hard to kill being a stage 1 with 120hp and 60dmg with confusion. however after lots of testing i like the mothim slightly better
 
Is there any way to get these guys off the bench nowadays other than SSU?
Click to expand...

unfortunately theres only super scupe up witch is a pain. there might be a pokepower but i dont think so and its going to take up more bench space any way. lol congrats on the lucario smashing. im going to try out this deck and see how it gose at my leage if i make any improvements ill let you know.:pokeball:

p.s dugtrtio cg is the better option one less stage but is it worth taking out two cards u know work well for a tech that could be prized and if ur bench is protected u cant evolve damaged benched burmy to mothims. but give it a try and let me know how you get on
 
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Yes, kirwin, Wormadam is a hefty Pokemon, especially with Buffer Piece. But, like you said, Mothim's zero retreat gives you a lot of quick combos that are difficult for your opponent to see coming. I am thinking of going 4-3-3 on this line, even.

I find that the combos come to me in a flash; sometimes I don't even see the coming on the previous turn. They tend to evolve in my mind as I see the card that I draw. The Wormadam/Mothim combo is absolutely amazing, and the fact that you can have two such cards that evolve from the same basic, with energy acceleration, and with a starter like Celebi with energy acceleration built in is the Perfect Storm.

The Lucario beating amazed me as it unfolded before my eyes. It was wild; there was nothing he could do about it. The key was taking heavy damage on Wormadam with Lucario while using Buffer Piece and hitting him for sixty each turn, then retreating for a fresh Mothim when the LvX came out. At that point I could play Silver Wind since he was using Stance anyway and I couldn't damage him. He put down 80 damage with Close Combat (no Plus Power or Strength Charm left) reduced to 60 by Resistance, at which point I came back with 30 + 40 + 40 for the OHKO. It was a thing of beauty.

Having a zero retreat Pokemon on the bench basically negates Warp Point, which has been a huge disruptor for me in the past.

Tc1993, I have both Holon Mentor and TVR; you don't think that's enough? Plus, energy in the discard is not strictly necessary in this deck if I get a Celebi start; T1 attach + Sprouting, T2 Buffer Piece + Leaf Tornado moves the energy to fully-loaded Mothim or almost ready Burmy which can power itself after Celebi goes down. He is ready to hit T3.

Thanks LVX, I would love to hear your experiences with this deck. I am loving it so far. I have yet to face Magmortar or Absol with it, but that is going to be one interesting matchup, methinks.
 
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