GLC Dragon Deck - Dragobox
How to Train Your Dragon
It was Tuesday evening, around 6:30 PM on February 18th, 2025, when I took a moment to briefly visit the CBW discord server and lurk for a bit. To my surprise, I found gold – the kind of rare content that makes all the lurking worthwhile. To Lee Hoffman’s credit, his “Drago Box” deck really suits my taste. In a way, it reminded me of the item based draw engines or “turbo” concept I used when making the “Turbo Combo” and “Lost Circle” decks. These ideas were taken another level by Jeoshua Obladi in his “Coal Madness” and Phoenixfire712 in his “Turbo Dark”. Drago Box seems to be the natural progression of this style of deck, but it takes it a step further. At the time, I played the same deck for over a year, but I was starting to crave something new and refreshing. It seemed like the perfect deck had come along just when I needed some change, but I soon discovered that my excitement was premature. I flew to London for EUIC the following day and I didn’t have enough time to build a new deck. I also forgot to pack my “Lost Bomb” deck, so no GLC for me this weekend.
Atlanta Regionals
Moving forward, Atlanta Regionals was approaching in April and I heard about the CardBoard Warriors hosting a Friday Night GLC event. I put the Drago Box together a while before this, but I hadn’t played any games with it. I decided to just have some fun and go into the tournament blind. Round 1 started and all I really knew was that I wanted to attack with Raging Bolt turn one. I believe I opened access to Guzma & Hala and Max Elixir, so I was able to do everything I wanted. I kept bench sniping his support Pokémon and he never really got set up. Raging Bolt took all of my prizes and I was thoroughly impressed with how oppressive the deck felt. Round 2 I did a similar thing and Raging Bolt carried me to victory. Round 3 was the quickest round of the day. I actually lost the die roll and went first this round, but my opponent went Manaphy pass and the game was just over. In the last round I played against Psychic and it was actually a pretty good game. The only issue was that my deck ran out of gas. After a few of my Pokémon were knocked out, I couldn’t find any more ball search or Pokémon recovery cards. In the last round, I finally took my first loss in the tournament. I ended up finishing third place, which is pretty good for my first time playing the deck. Overall, my tournament run was carried by the power of Raging Bolt, even though I had a lot of mulligans. With only six Pokémon, the deck mirrors the traditional team size from the video games and anime. However, in the TCG, such a low count could be problematic. If the first attacker doesn’t survive a couple of turns, the deck would become very fragile.
Milwaukee Regionals
The next time I played GLC was at the Milwaukee regionals. I hadn’t played since Atlanta so I didn’t make any changes and I wasn’t confident in the deck, so I didn’t play any side events. I did play about ten games against one of my friends on Hop’s Colorless while I was there. I lost the first 4 games, but I won the next six. I would consider this my main source of prep for NAIC. These games really helped me understand how the deck ebbs and flows. Although, I was still having some trouble finding Pokémon. These games did help me realize some little things that would impact my play in the future.
Early Game
To start out, I typically try to find as many Pokémon as possible. The more Pokémon you can get out early, the easier it is for you to produce consecutive attacks. If you draw well enough to take a knock out on your first turn going second, you should take full advantage of it. Applying early pressure can set the tone for the entire game. If that option isn’t available I’d try to use Technical Machine: Turbo Energize, Reshiram, or any of the other energy acceleration cards to get multiple energy on the board. In this scenario, you’ll have to find less resources as the game goes on. If you don’t have the option of either of those, I’d at least try to use Tatsugiri or Regidrago’s ability. Adding more resources to your hand increases your odds of attacking the following turn. If this deck were a sports team, Raging Bolt would be the franchise player – the undeniable MVP. It carries the most weight, often single handedly winning games when it matters most.
Mid Game to Late Game
In my opinion, Regidrago is the most important card in the deck. It’s the glue that holds everything together. In most instances, Regidrago is the only Pokémon that can draw you cards and attack. In specific matchups, such as psychic decks with Memories of Dawn Mew or Delta Plus Natu, Tatsugiri can play a similar role. Its lower damage output limits its overall impact. The main thing you want to do for the rest of the game is sustain your attackers in the easiest ways possible. This is where tools, such as Wishful Baton and Luxurious Cape come in. They allow you to charge up another Pokémon or increase the HP of your Pokémon. Depending on the situation, such as what energies are on your current attacker or what attacker you plan on using next, one of the tools is typically better than the other. Another important thing is, to keep accelerating energies if possible. There is nothing wrong with having multiple Pokémon ready to attack. Multiple attackers means you are less susceptible to hand disruption or any other disruptive things that your opponent could do. If possible I’d try to hold Double Dragon Energy until closer to the end of the game. It lets your revenge attacker Druddigon attack for one energy and it doesn’t require a specific supporter for turn. It’s the easiest way to get an attacker set up, if your opponent knocked out your lone attacker.
NAIC GLC Switch Series
At this point in the season, I was confident I had secured enough points to qualify for the World Championships. So when the opportunity came up, I was actually more excited to compete in this GLC side event than the main event at NAIC. Although my streak of not playing any games between events continued, I remembered the testing I did in Milwaukee, so I had a solid idea of what I thought the deck needed. I wanted more Pokémon search cards and a better way to recover energy other than recycle, special charge, and Cyllene. The only thing I thought of was Artazon, but I decided to check out the CardBoard Warriors Community Deck lists page to see what other people were thinking. The most impactful cards I saw being included were Dragonium Z: Dragon Claw, Mela, and Battle VIP Pass. I actually thought about Dragonium Z for the “Hydro Pump” matchup, but I couldn’t find a copy of the card before the event so I ruled it out. Mela on the other hand was a card I did actually play. In theory, it’s a second Raihan so I thought it would be really good. In practice, it was the worst card I played. I always discarded it or there was always a better supporter for me to play. I only played it one time throughout the event and that ended up being the only swiss round that I lost. The last new include was Battle VIP Pass. This is a card that I was very skeptical of. I’ve tried it in other GLC decks, but I never found it consistently and it just ended up being a dead card in the deck. This time around, the card was more impactful than I thought it would be. Drago Box already had a multitude of cards that could find items cards. Cards like Arven, Peony, and Volkner can directly search for it. Tatsugiri and Pokegear can find cards that search for VIP Pass. Regidrago, Bicycle, and Trainers’ Mail can potentially let you find VIP Pass or the other cards that search for it. Out of all the GLC decks I’ve played, this deck had the most access to it. I didn’t actually play more Pokémon search cards like I wanted to, but I played a more impactful search card. Getting two Pokémon from one card was very strong, especially in a deck that has basic Pokémon with abilities that get you more cards. I played out one test hand where I opened access to VIP Pass and I was able to get four Pokémon down turn one. After that I was set on the list and ready to play the event.
Much like in Atlanta, Raging Bolt once again ran away with games. The early 2 to 3 prize leads were too much for most of my opponents to deal with. In the Drago Box mirror and Hop’s colorless matchups, Regidrago was the most important attacker. I would typically try to wait until my opponent played Field Blower so I could go Luxurious Cape and take a knock out. If possible, I’d also try to combine it with a Hex Maniac or Marnie. This play doesn’t seem to be impactful on the surface, but attacking with Regidrago meant it’s going to be in the active spot next turn. I was guaranteed to see more cards next turn with its ability. This just made it easier to set up my next attacker. The Cape gave it more survivability as well. A cool play I would do is tank a hit with Cape, then use Scoop Up Net on the following turn. This basically meant my opponent didn’t do anything on their last turn. Scoop Up Net after Hex Maniac or Marnie was really devastating in some games and it allowed me to further my lead or make a comeback if I had a slower start. Some of the harder matchups for this deck include anything that has Pokémon with more than 160 HP. In this event, I played against Hydro Pump, Metal, Ursaluna Control. All three of these decks typically have Pokémon with more HP than that magic number of 160. Hydro Pump put enough smaller Pokémon in play so Raging Bolt got me far enough ahead, so I was able to two shot their final Pokémon. The metal matchup had a very similar outcome, the key difference was that my opponent decided to use Iron Crown as an attacker in the early game. Iron Crown’s “Deleting Slash” attack does 40 + 80 more damage if I have 3 or more benched Pokémon. In a deck known for its small amount of Pokémon, I was able to use that to my advantage and only put 2 Pokémon on the bench. One of which was Raging Bolt that I attached a Luxurious Cape and 6 energies to. This allowed its Thunderburst Storm attack to do 180 damage two turns in a row on an Archaludon and an Iron Crown with Fighting Fury Belt. Ursaluna Control played out similarly to the end of the matchup with metal. Every turn I attached an extra energy to Raging Bolt and I sniped their benched Pokémon until I found Field Blower and had 6 energies on Raging Bolt. They could never set up another Ursaluna so the game was essentially over. These games showed me exactly why Dragonium Z is a necessary inclusion in the deck moving forward. The deck has a lot of access to tools and this is just an easier and faster way to get a big ko other than hoping you can buy enough time to load up Raging Bolt.
After 8 rounds of swiss and two top cut games, I made it all the way to the finals only to fall short, losing out on my chance of winning a Nintendo Switch. Regardless of the result, this was the largest and longest GLC event I’ve ever played in, and that was an incredibly rewarding experience.
Takeaways
Raging Bolt is the MVP
Regidrago is the glue
Early Aggression is the way
Prep multiple attackers in advance
Dragonium Z can help bad matchups
Conclusion
This deck is easy and very fun to play. After a couple of games you should be able to pilot it well enough. The game plan is very consistent and the list feels like it has room to put in a multitude of tech cards to counter your problematic matchups. For the time being, I expect this deck to remain as one of the top decks in the GLC. Post NAIC, I’ve cut Enhanced Hammer, Scoop up net, and one grass energy for Dragonium Z, Lost Vacuum, and Switch Cart. Other than missing Scoop Up Net, I’ve been considering another HP boosting tool like Fighting Fury Belt, but I’m unsure if it's needed. The last card I want to cut is Mela, but I haven’t found anything that I feel is better. Best of wishes to everyone that reads this article and I hope you all can continue enjoying the best way to play Pokémon.