GLC Water Hydro Pump

Hello, my name is Safetysam. I played Magic the Gathering for almost 15 years (Modern and Standard) before moving to playing Pokemon due to cost restraints. At the Full Grip Games GLC 1k event with over 100 participants, I piloted Hydro Pump water into 7th place. This was my first in-person event and it was a blast to meet some of the Cardboard Warrior community in person. I am very excited to participate in future live events!

Hydrodance decklist

Why Water?

Originally, I was planning to play psychic, but after bombing during the standard event the previous day, I just wanted something consistent, powerful, and comfortable. As water was my first GLC type, I made the decision to play Hydro Pump in this large tournament, since the deck made me feel right at home.

What is Hydro Pump

The main strategy for the Hydro Pump deck is to utilize deluge effects like Baxcalibur and Frosmoth to set up multiple attackers and to attack for big damage. Generally these attackers utilize moves that care about the number of energy on them, such as Wailord (SV JTG) and Lapras (SM TEU). Being able to chain beefy attackers that can hit for 120-300 can be devastating for opponents to deal with, as it forces your opponents into tough situations. Do they target the key support Pokemon like Frosmoth (SWSH SHF) or Baxcalibur (SV PAF) while leaving alone your massive and powered up Wailord? Or do they KO your attackers, which can easily reenter the field if your abilities are left untouched? 

Attackers

Wailord (SV JTR) is the pinnacle of the Hydro Pump archetype: a 240 hit point wall with a 210 base attack. It forces your opponent to answer quickly, otherwise the game can easily snowball out of control in your favor, easily getting you at least 2 prizes before falling. This new Wailord is strictly an upgrade to the previous iteration from Sword and Shield’s Vivid Voltage, having 40 more HP and does 10 more damage per energy. It also loses the “useless” ability that the SwSh Wailord had that was easily punished by Weavile (SM UPR) and Cofagrigus (SV SSP).

Lapras (SM TEU) is a smaller attacker which hits for 30 damage per energy, as opposed to Wailord’s 50, but can easily take a KO for 4 or 5 energies. Dealing 130 or 160 is enough to break through the most common basics and stage 2s (such as Lugia from SWSH CEL and Gallade from SWSH ASR). Lapras’s first attack causing confusion is also a decent option, as it typically forces your opponent to manual retreat, burn a precious resource such as Guzma (SM BUS), or risk an attack on a coin flip, which could easily go in your favor. With only 2 energy, you easily put pressure on the most popular type, Colorless, as 70 damage is enough to KO a Fan Rotom or a self damaged Hop’s Snorlax. Lapras being a basic is a lot easier to recycle into play and has the benefits of being aggressive the same turn it was recycled by using cards such as Rescue Stretcher (SM GRI) or Nessa (SWSH VIV).

Kyogre (SWSH CRZ) gives this deck the flexibility to attack anywhere on your opponent’s board, whether that is a support Pokemon on the bench or a threat in the active. The measly cost of returning 3 water energy to hand in order to do 180 damage anywhere on your opponent’s board is not really a “cost” in Hydro Pump when you have your Baxcaliber set up and ready to roll. Between sniping bench supports or punishing opponents who try to buy time with a sacrificial Pokemon in the active, Kyogre can single handedly win entire games. Returning energy to hand also makes your next attacks much more flexible. Instead of losing 4 water energies when Kyogre is KOed, you only lose one and have 3 water energies in hand which you can use to power up your next Lapras or Wailord without burning additional recovery cards.

Inteleon (SWSH SSH) serves a dual purpose: water’s best support with the Shady Dealings ability and a cheap attacker doing 120 to active and 20 damage snipe. Though not a primary attacker, 2 energy 120 can be more than enough to help clean up the late game and the 20 damage snipe helps fix troublesome Hydro Pump math.

Wishiwashi (SM CEC) is one of the most overperforming cards in my run at the 1k. Though 3 energy for 130 damage is on the low end of what hydro pump is capable of, the ability Scatter and having 180 HP makes Wishiwashi a difficult pokemon to deal with. If the opponent is unable to KO Wishiwashi in one hit, a lucky coin flip can shuffle the damaged Pokemon away, removing damage from the field and denying a prize. I was able to use this ability to great effect, walling off attacks for a few turns when I found myself on the back leg.

Supporter Pokemon

Octillery (XY BKT) is the primary draw engine for water. Being able to fill your hand to five cards every turn is usually enough to keep your deck moving, and makes it very difficult for a late game Iono (SV PAF) or N (BW NVI) to stick. Cards we don't find off of Octillery can be easily grabbed with the Inteleon line. Between Octillery keeping your hand full and Shady Dealings on the Inteleon line, water has some of the best support Pokemon out there.

Frosmoth (SWSH SHF) and Baxcalibur (SV PAF) are the backbone to the Hydro Pump archetype. Flooding energies from hand onto bench or active can enable lethal attackers like Wailord and Kyogre at any point in the game. Though powerful, this deck has a glaring achilles heel: ability lock. A well timed ability lock or frequent targeting of these lines, which lost me my top 8 game in against Colorless, dramatically decreases the ability to attack and potentially stops you from attacking at all. Building up your “dance” lines should be high on your priority list, since being able to attack the turn a dancer is set up will usually swing the pace of the game in your favor.

Alolan Vulpix (SM GRI) allows Hydro Pump to have a search attack going second. Being able to search for any 2 Pokemon and hold them in hand allows you to easily search for key evolutions, such as Drizzile (SWSH SSH) or Octillery, or fill out your board further with basic Pokemon. The big downside of A. Vulpix is it really makes your opponent want to disrupt your hand and it does not let you put your Pokemon on your field until the next turn. I did not use A. Vulpix a single time in my run and it really underperformed. I felt that the format was too fast to take an entire turn to grab Pokemon, just to see them go back into my deck.

The Trickiest Part

The Shady Dealings abilities are both powerful and daunting. Being able to search for any trainer is great, but knowing what to grab and when makes the difference between a good pilot and a great one.

When using Drizzile early, you want to prioritize searching for key boardstate components that you are missing. For example, when your bench is full, prioritize grabbing Irida (SWSH ASR) or Ball Guy (SWSH SHF) to search for evolutions. Irida is one of, if not the strongest, cards to search for with Drizzile early since it can guarantee a Rare Candy + Baxcailibur play or a Frosmoth + Prof Letter (XY XY) play in order to start flooding your board with energy. But there are times when Irida may leave your hand dead during your next turn, so opting for a draw card like Iono or Colress (BW PLS) will help keep your game from stalling. The bottom line is, if your hand isn’t dead after Irida and grabbing her leads to a KO, go for Irida. Otherwise, grab a card that gives you a better hand or boardstate, such as Ball Guy or Colress.

Inteleon is basically Drizzile, but twice as powerful. The best options for what to grab varies wildly based on your current board state, which means if you grab the 2 wrong options with Inteleon, there can be dire consequences. For example, if you are ready to attack with Kyogre you can grab Guzma and Float stone to be able to both trap something into the active and snipe a threat off the bench. Scoop up Net (SWSH RCL) and Superior Energy Retrieval (BW PLF) is a good option if you are behind, setting up Kyogre and resetting Shady Dealings to give you more flexibility and search. What to grab with Inteleon comes down to boardstate and what you want to accomplish. Figuring out what the best cards to grab with Inteleon comes with experience (though I could really go on and on about this topic).

A major pitfall of the deck is over extension. Though we have ways to recover energy like Nessa and Superior Energy Retrieval, we need to be mindful of where our energy is located. When powering up Kyogre, only put on 4 energy since it is frequently returned KOed, and you really don’t need to do more than 210 damage with Wailord, so be careful about overloading that beefy attacker. Over extension from burning through your resources too fast will leave your late game high and dry and easily disruptable. Make sure to always leave a route to victory and don’t just burn cards because they’re playable.

Supporters

The main supporter package is straightforward. Water specific supporters (Irida and Nessa) help set up the board and can be key gameplan elements, while draw supporters  (N, Iono, Colress, and Marnie from SWSH SSH) get more cards and can disrupt your opponent. Tate & Liza (SM CES) is a flexible option, typically used to draw cards but can be a pivot in a pinch.

Ball Guy is my choice of Pokemon search. Playing Ball Guy going second turn one lets you go wide with board set up as well as a potential second turn Drizzile. I prefer Ball Guy to Supporters like Arezu (SWSH LOR) and Gloria (SWSH BRS) since it stays live longer in the game, allowing me the flexibility to grab evolutions and basics mid to late game.

Hex Maniac (XY AOR) is one of the best tech cards in water. Not only does it get rid of bench barriers allowing your Kyogre to run free, but it also can drastically swing tempo in your favor in matches against opposing water, colorless, and grass decks.

Acerola (SM BRS) is a personal tech card because it allows you to reset a damaged Pokemon without losing the energy or tools used (such as Luxurious Cape from SV PAR and Pot Helmet from SWSH BRS). This powerful new addition to the deck  makes some attackers prize trade very favorably, sometimes taking 2 or 3 prizes before my opponent gets one. It is also very key to keeping energy in hand, making pivots to new attackers easier and keeping precious resources like Nessa and Super Scoop Up available for later in the game.

Other key tech supporters include Teammates (XY PRC) and Guzma.Teammates is a fantastic come back card and lets you get any two cards letting you set up a strong board. Guzma is my choice of gust which allows for strong plays like disrupting your opponent’s boardstate.

Items

The item package is fairly ubiquitous; balls for Ball Guy, Buddy-Buddy Poffin (SV TEF) for small guy set-up, Evolution Incense (SWSH SSH) for Drizzile/Inteleon and other evolutions, Capacious Bucket (SWSH RCL) and Prof Letter for energy, Rescue Stretcher (SM GRI) and Superior Energy Retrieval for recovery, and Scoop Up Net for resetting attackers or Shady Dealings. Some more in depth cards are Field Blower (SM GRI), and Escape Rope (BW PLS). These cards are both offensive and defensive in nature. Field Blower can get rid of opposing capes and retreat tools while Escape Rope pushes to remove ability based ability lock or a more desirable target from the bench. Used correctly, these cards can swing games and momentum into your favor.

Tools & Stadiums

I decided to play a few more Tools and Stadiums than normal for this event. Luxurious Cape and Pot Helmet makes math more difficult for opposing attackers and can make Wishiwashi live a hit that might have otherwise taken the prize. Wishiwashi becoming a 3 hit KO instead of a 1 or 2 hit KO increases the odds of it being shuffled away, denying your opponent an otherwise guaranteed prize card. Float Stone (BW PLF) is a staple in most decks, since free retreat is just undeniably strong. My stadiums of choice are Brooklet Hill (SM GRI) and Chaotic Swell (SM CEC). Brooklet Hill is great in setting up my board and also lets me cheekily grab Wishiwashi out immediately after a Scatter shuffle away, letting me stall multiple turns if needed. Chaotic Swell is there to deny Colorless their Town Store (SV OBF) or Artazon (SV PAL), as well as other strong stadiums for other types, forcing them to burn their Field Blower in order to play their stadium, letting me play Luxurious Capes for free later.

Energy

As I think 8-9 basic energy is optimal for Hydro Pump, I run 9 basics in my list. Any less and you risk being unable to set up enough attackers quickly or prizing too many energies. Any more and you risk opening with a hand flooded with energy. Splash Energy (XY BKP) also makes an appearance because it’s “free” Pokemon recovery to hand, saving the whole line of Pokemon that it was attached to. Using it on evolutions like Wailord or Inteleon is typically the best decision.

Fighting Hydro Pump

Hydro Pump though powerful, is very susceptible to ability lock. Being able to deny Hydro Pump’s energy acceleration with something like Woboffet (XY PHF) or Hex Maniac can be devastating. Targeting down Frigibax and Snom is also quite effective, preventing the deck from setting up its dancers. Forcing us to attach one energy per turn can almost entirely shut down our chances at attacking quickly and with enough damage.

Conclusion

Though this deck lacks the depth that many other types have, Hydro Pump being fairly straightforward and easy to pilot, I believe Hydro Pump is still very powerful and should be respected. I feel this deck is about 90% solved, meaning there are very few people trying to find new ways to mitigate the glaring weakness of relying on the deluge abilities. That being said, if you are able to navigate those tricky matchups where you are denied access to these abilities, you are a strong pilot. 

Would I change anything about my deck or run? Absolutely not! I think that my comfort and matchup knowledge was a huge part of my success. I could go more in depth about many parts of the deck including possible revisions including the revenge Basculegion (SHSW ASR) or either Palafin (SV OBF or TEF). Feel free to hit me up on discord if you have any questions, or ideas for my deck. 

Happy hunting, and good luck! 😁

-Safetysam

Edited by Eonforest4