Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Trash Lock

Hatter™

Hatter™

Active Member

Trash Lock
By: Josh B.
Format: MD-UD
Special thanks to: Team Hatter​
The following deck is proof that inspiration could be found in the strangest of places. I was testing out various lock decks for Battle Roads [Houndoom UD, Ursaring (Prime), Glaceon RR), when, one day, my dad asked me to play. I said, sure, why not. So, I decided I would use my sisters Wormadam deck, since it was always fun. On my 3rd turn I played Wormadam (Trash Cloak) and was not familiar with the 2nd attack, so, I read it and *LIGHTBULB* the idea came to me. What if there was a way to control your opponents hand while giving them a nothing to draw? I immediately thought of the other Lock Decks I was trying and decided to put my brain to use for something.


Strategy:
The strategy for this deck is a straight forward, yet complicated one. It begins off a lot like Sablock, in that you want to Use the combo of Impersonate + Cyrus’s Initiative to mess with their hand, in turn, giving them nothing. Next, you want to use Weavile UD’s Poke-Power, Claw Snag, to get rid of anything left over, or that you might deem useful later in the game. The third step is to get out Slowking HGSS, so that you can control the next 3 cards in their deck. Finally, you want to use Wormadam (Trash Cloak)’s 2nd attack to put a card from their discard pile onto the top of their deck. Rinse and repeat steps 2-4.
WAIT A SECOND?!? What if they have a good card in their discard pile, what do you do then?
A card can be good or bad depending on the situation of the game. A goal of this deck is to make sure your opponent never has energy to attack. So, giving them a Poke-Turn or Energy Gain would be a good choice, because they are useless at that point. Also, Team Rocket’s Trickery can help you out in that process [which will be explained in a bit].


I will now explain the 2 techs in the deck:

~ Wormadam (Sandy Cloak):
It does nothing for the decks overall strategy, except that it counters Luxray GL and can do 90 damage for 3 Energy(a simple Fighting and Double Colorless).


~ Roserade GL:
Roserade GL, in the right situation, can change the game around. It can be good against Spiritomb AR’s and Sableye SF’s, for the fact it can put you in the position to knock out the Pokemon when your opponent’s turn ends. Allowing you to attack the new active Pokemon via poison or another Pokemon such as either Wormadam.



There are other techs that I have tried, which can be very effective in their own right:

~Drifblim UD:
This is in case your opponent happens to get a big hitter up and running. Sometimes your opponent will get 1 attacker up, in this case, you can use Drifblim’s 2nd attack to put that back in their deck, and leave your opponent with an only out being a top deck, since you should have their hand crippled at that point. Lucian’s Assignment would be needed for this ideally, but, it shouldn’t be that hard to put in the deck.


~Mightyena LA: If you are having trouble against SP, Mightyena has the solution. Using its first attack, Bite On, will stop your opponent’s non-evolved Pokemon from attacking, while you make sure they don’t draw anything useful [in the case of SP’s, Poke-Turn].
~Ambipom G RR: This is a simple Garchomp C counter, and can easily be used via Double Colorless.



Key Trainers and Supporters; most of the Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums in this deck are in there for obvious reasons, however, I would like to go in depth on a few of them:


~ Cyrus’ Initiative:
It was stated earlier as to why it is in the deck, but, I would like to explain how it can be used late game to help you out. If your opponent knocks you out, that adds an element of surprise to their hand, which is something you do not want. It’s a good idea to use Initiative the turn after something is knocked out so you can eliminate luck and surprise in the game. It is easy to get trigger happy sometimes with this card, even when it wouldn’t be beneficial. Playing a card for the sake of playing a card is never a good thing.


~ Team Rocket’s Trickery:
That Team Rocket! Up to their old tricks. Team Galactic’s Mars leaves the format, and they just sneak right in to take its place. Except, that it is insanely better than Mars. Draw 2 cards. Simple. Your opponent discards a card. Amazing. How could a card your OPPONENT chooses to get rid of, be good? Simple. They will most likely get rid of something terrible. Stay with me here.. that useless card [such as an extra Broken-Time Space] will come back to haunt them later when they draw it again thanks to Wormadam (Trash Cloak). There are quite a few times where an opponent won’t have a hand. You can use Wormadam’s 2nd attack to put Card A back on top of their deck so they draw it. Once they draw the dead card, chances are they can’t play it. So, you then can play Trickery, in turn, making them discard that card.. just so they can draw it again next turn.


~ Aaron’s Collection:
There is only 1 SP Pokemon, why would play this? You play it so you can get back basic energy. You can and usually do survive a whole game with just the 2/2 Wormadam line (because they usually won’t be able to knock you out). Basic energy can be at a premium here for any of your attackers.



~Why no Judge?~
Judge would seem like an amazing card in this deck. Personally, I am not a fan of it due to it giving your opponents hand the element of surprise. You want to control as much as you can with this deck, and Judge, simply does not allow for that to happen.


Matchups:
I would like to give you matchups and whose favor it is in, but, this decks matchups are all the same: They get set up, they usually win. So, I will post what you should get rid of in the matchups, and what to let them have.

General Tips:
Get rid of set up Trainers/Supporters first, Energy 2nd. Always use Slowking before you play a Supporter on your side so you can see what you may need in the future.

SP Decks: If they Cyrus once, it is ok. You can discard the other Cyrus, allowing them to be 2 down.

~Cards to give them with Wormadam:
Anything not a Supporter or Energy. They can have all of the SP Radar, Energy Gain, and Poke Turn they want, it won’t do them any good. Even giving them basics is ok, because they won’t be able to attack anyway.

~What to watch out for:
(Chatot G): Search and Escape can be used to search out Luxury Ball. Make sure you always have an out to get Weavile/Initiative at a moments notice.

~Decks with Spiritomb AR/Sableye SF:
These cards are great trash cards for late game. Awesome to put back with Wormadam’s attack. Be sure to have a way to get rid of cards for when they attack with Sableye though.

~Stage 1 or Stage 2 decks: Let them get their attacker out, if it has no Energy available, it’s useless. Your opponent can have 4 Donphan Primes on the field, but, with no energy. They’re just cool looking prizes.

I hope you enjoyed. While Wormadam may not be the BDIF, it sure can be a lot of fun to play, and cause a lot of pain for your opponent in the process.
 
Last edited:
Hey im the first one well how many times have you played this deck it seems a bit situatinal i wouldnt run this deck in a tournment.
 
Very nice article, I read your one BR report and was thinking "geez, this is pretty wacky and either genius or he's pulling my leg", but reading through the article, everything makes sense that sets up for a very interesting control deck. Mad props.
 
As I said in the first thread you wrote about this deck- Absolutely amazing use of very overlooked cards! The only suggestion I have (since it's an article) is that this:

The strategy for this deck is a simple, yet complicated one.
Click to expand...

could be changed to this

The strategy for this deck is a straight forward, yet complicated one.
Click to expand...

so it isn't self contradicting.
 
Imma lovin' this deck a lot. But knowing that this is pokegym, the trolling/bashing will probably start real soon.
 
Looks an interesting article.

I'll probably be building this tonight.

Thanks for the article.

EDIT: Just realised that you play the Burmy sandy cloak from AR and not MD. Why? The MD one has better attacks, more HP, same rereat and same weakness. It doesn't have the Pokebody, but I'd choose less donks over the Pokebody myself.
 
Last edited:
WOW. I wake up to see this on the front page? I'm happy I did! This deck obviously has obviously gone through alot, and I just wanna say that you have an ability that most others don't; the guts to pull off something creative. Whenever you have the chance, make more of these, cuz I like waking up happy on Sundays =)

~Jacob
 
ashinto said:
Imma lovin' this deck a lot. But knowing that this is pokegym, the trolling/bashing will probably start real soon.
Click to expand...

I doubt, Hatter hasn't claimed that the deck is BDIF or has no bad matchups. He's been honest about it, written a good article and has shown people a fun alternative deck for Battle Roads. It's a great article :thumb:
 
From the things I read about the article, it sounds like a fun deck to play. I'm not sure if it has what it takes to compete in CC's in the future, but time will tell.

Well done! :thumb:
 
This deck has a great idea, and I really enjoyed the article. I'm sure you caught several opponents by surprise when you played it.

The only thing that I would be concerned about is 3 SSU and not 4- I'd like to have 4 in any deck that uses them, but if 3 works, that's great too.

Great article!
 
Interesting deck! However, I do have one thing that I have a problem with.

Yes, the deck may probably win, but Match-Ups, to me, are very important when reading deck articles. Yes, the match-ups may be "all the same," but it still should be mentioned.
 
@Deoxys; You never know when a Turn 1 30 will be useful

@Chompy: I will be adding Hunter into the deck for more fun Weavile Shenanigans.

@Nek: I am usually a 0 or 4 guy on SSU too, but, it was felt that SSU wasn't that important, BUT, could be crucial at certain times.

@Yuna: It is in there to retrieve Supporters from your deck, and, with Roseanne's Research being gone, it can get you your Basic Energy.

@Shadow: Alright, I will try and come up with "actual" matchups to the best of my ability.
 
It still isn't worth it though.

50hp is better than 40hp by a lot, and the first attack can kind of be decent at times. . . Well better than nothing anyways.

Donks are so popular these days, I'd try to do anything to not get donked.
 
Deoxys: That's true, there was not really a not of Sableye here, so I never really took it into consideration. I will be sure to change it though.
DCP: Hilarious.
 
you could add vileplume tho this deck. that would really shut them down. only give them trainers that they can't use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top