GLC Turbo Psychic - Gabodor

Garbodor is an underexplored card in GLC with an extremely powerful ability. It admittedly was a card I overlooked until Pheonixfire712 brought it up in the Cardboard Warriors discord server. This is understandable, since it is associated with a number of weaknesses. Locking abilities means that the Garbodor player is unable to rely on them for energy acceleration, or the presence of constant draw. Luckily, psychic has ways to accommodate a lack of energy acceleration with cards like Shining Mew, a number of pokemon with attacks compatible with double colorless energy, and Dimension Valley. Mismagius and Marshadow are also potent one time draw pokemon. The issue with these accommodations, however, are their transience. Shining Mew’s viability drops the longer it takes for you to put it into play. The usefulness of Mismagius and Marshadow is normally relegated to the early game as well, since you want to activate Garbotoxin as soon as possible. If the lock falls apart, you will struggle to keep up with your opponents as they get full access to the benefits of their abilities. The deck values the early game aggression of Shining Mew in order to end games quickly, but this requires a way to pull off the Shining Mew play early consistently.

Babautette shook up the GLC scene when he introduced Coal Madness, an archetype that solved Fighting’s lack of dig by using an item-based Pokestop engine. The deck proved to provide its pilot with extreme accuracy in their plays as well, as showcased by the deck’s ability to pull off multiple Maxie’s Hidden Ball Tricks in each game. jk (Likkle Paulinki) is another player that has showcased the accuracy of item-based engines with their psychic deck’s ability to put shining mew into play on the first turn consistently. The deck presented leverages the digging power and accuracy provided by the Pokestop engine in order to ensure consistent turn 2 attacks and the ability to dig for pieces required to activate Garbotoxin as early as possible, as well as keeping a steady stream of attacks.

The Pokemon

Shining Mew is the beating heart of this archetype. It possesses the uniquely powerful qualities of being a basic that can accelerate two of either basic or special energies from the deck into play. It is tailor made for a deck that shuns the usage of abilities. Being hisuian heavy ball compatible is huge, as it allows you to dig for a way to grab it from prizes through the usage of supporters, PokeStop, and/or the item-searching cards in the deck. The ability to play this card turn 1 is the main reason for the deck’s aggressiveness.

Necrozma and Deoxys are the main targets for acceleration of Shining Mew, as they are basics that can attack the following turn. Deoxys is normally the first Pokemon to power up, as it does not need an extra energy attachment due to its Double Colorless Energy compatibility and its reliance on Fusion Strike Energy to hit hard. You get the Fusion Strike energy onto Deoxys first in order to mitigate the risk of discarding it to PokeStop. Necrozma is a fine target for the scenarios where either Deoxys or Fusion Strike Energy are prized, as many outs to energy are run.

Bringing up the rear are Golurk and Mimikyu. Both are capable of outputting tremendous damage (for cheap thanks to Golurk’s Double Colorless Energy compatibility and Dimension Valley) with their Megaton Fall and Copycat attacks, with Golurk being capable of outputting a respectable 150 damage with Reinforced Punch with a tool attached as well. Golurk’s tankiness is also helpful in buying you time to recover and power up your other attackers if necessary.

If you can’t beat them, bring them down to your level. Garbodor is what allows you to keep up with the insane abilities of juggernauts like water and grass. In fact, it turns those into your best matchups. Many of the best decks in glc are as powerful as they are due to their abilities, so an early Garbodor can flat out win you the game sometimes.

Marshadow gives you that extra bit of dig early game to allow you to grab the pieces you need for your combos. The deck is designed to play off a small hand with all of the item draw and search, so you are placed in a much better position after a Let Loose than your opponent. So much so that going for a turn 1 Let Loose is far less risky than in a traditional psychic deck.

The Engine

Because of the plethora of items ran in this deck, this card essentially nets you an extra 2-3 cards per turn. It is extremely helpful in getting you out of dead hands and thinning the deck.

The accuracy of the deck is improved greatly with the inclusion of Acro Bike, Judge Whistle, and Trekking Shoes. Because these cards can be played with no drawback, at all times and always let you draw a card, they essentially make the deck 57 cards. This is extremely valuable for a deck that needs to make a specific play turn 1.

Because a majority of cards in this deck are items, it is very easy to reduce your hand size. This turns Bicycle and Custom Catcher into potent turn-extenders, allowing you to see more of your deck and find the pieces necessary for a given turn.

The viability of Cram-O-Matic and Order Pad increases with the high percentage of items in the deck. You are able to use Cram-O-Matic in more situations than normal decks, and Order Pad now has the potential to turn into a draw card on top of already giving you the option to search for something specifically. Because Bicycle and Custom Catcher make having a small hand a good thing, even if you miss the coin flip with these cards you are still left with some benefit in the form of more draw.

The Tools

After much testing, I have found that 4 tools is enough to achieve your win condition. Float Stone provides generic retreat, while Muscle Band allows Golurk to hit 170 damage with its Reinforced Punch, a key number for many stage 2s and Fighting Fury Belt Basics in the format. U-Turn Board is great for it’s ability to always stay in play, and Wishful Baton aids in generating a constant stream of attacks.

Recovery

Because PokeStop discards things indiscriminately, it is important to run ample recovery to respond to the inevitable discarding of important cards. Klara is run over Super Rod because putting things back into your hand is very powerful for a deck of basics and stage 1s. If your opponent somehow knocks out Garbodor while under Garbotoxin, then the potential to put the evolution line back into play the following turn facilitates the continued presence of Garbotoxin. Klara’s ability to be recycled by Cynthia & Caitlin, Lusamine, and VS Seeker is also great for having constant access to recovery.

Outs to a Turn 1 Shining Mew

On top of the aforementioned search and draw items, the deck runs a number of ways to ensure you are attacking right when the game starts. Green’s Exploration really unlocks the deck by allowing you to remove any two barriers to the turn 1 Shining Mew. With all the outs to items, we are able to fully utilize the powerful Battle VIP Pass. This card guarantees you Shining Mew and an attacker for it to power up from nothing. Fog Crystal and Professor's Letter are ran in order to allow Green’s Exploration (or an item out) to remove the energy barrier, and Escape Rope and Scoop-Up Net allow you to get Mew into the active, on top of the switching tools already run. Scoop-Up net also has the added benefit of removing Shining Mew or Marshadow from the board to prevent an easy prize and allow Green’s Exploration to be played respectively.

Closing Thoughts

With the new Scarlet and Violet ruleset, the deck now runs the risk of losing access to tools to PokeStop. As with most things, however, there is always an out. Like Pokemon and special energy recovery is run to mitigate the impact of losing important pieces, tool recovery like Eco-Arm can be run to mitigate the impact of losing tools to PokeStop. If you find that drawback to still be too much of an issue, look out for Pheonixfire712’s future take on Garbodor. This is just one of many applications of the newly-discovered PokeStop engine that has been explored. If you ever have an archetype idea that benefits from a specific turn 1 board state or are using a deck that needs the accuracy to pull off Archie’s Ace in the Hole, Maxie’s Hidden Ball Trick, or Mustard plays, consider leveraging the accuracy and dig of a PokeStop engine

Deck List

##Pokémon - 9

• 1 Deoxys FST 120
• 1 Golett DAA 076
• 1 Marshadow SLG 045
• 1 Mimikyu GRI 058
• 1 Necrozma UNM 101
• 1 Shining Mew SLG 040
• 1 Trubbish BKP 056
• 1 Garbodor BKP 057
• 1 Golurk CRE 066

##Trainer Cards - 41

• 1 Lusamine CIN 096
• 1 Cynthia & Caitlin CEC 228
• 1 Professor's Letter XY 123
• 1 Bicycle PLS 117
• 1 Trainers' Mail ROS 092
• 1 Mysterious Treasure FLI 113
• 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
• 1 Evolution Incense SSH 163
• 1 Ultra Ball DEX 102
• 1 Wishful Baton BUS 128
• 1 Acro Bike PRC 122
• 1 Dimension Valley PHF 093
• 1 Marnie SSH 200
• 1 PokéStop PGO 068
• 1 Nest Ball SUM 123
• 1 Escape Rope PLS 120
• 1 Special Charge STS 105
• 1 Raihan EVS 152
• 1 Guzma BUS 115
• 1 Professor Juniper DEX 098
• 1 Scoop Up Net RCL 165
• 1 Fog Crystal CRE 140
• 1 Klara CRE 145
• 1 Judge BKT 143
• 1 Guzma & Hala CEC 193
• 1 Green's Exploration UNB 175
• 1 Battle VIP Pass FST 225
• 1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
• 1 Town Map BCR 136
• 1 Custom Catcher LOT 171
• 1 Float Stone BKT 137
• 1 Tag Call CEC 206
• 1 Quick Ball SSH 216
• 1 U-Turn Board UNM 211
• 1 Judge Whistle TEU 146
• 1 Muscle Band XY 121
• 1 VS Seeker PHF 109
• 1 Level Ball NXD 089
• 1 Order Pad UPR 131
• 1 Cram-o-matic FST 229
• 1 Trekking Shoes ASR 156

##Energy - 10

• 5 Psychic Energy SMEnergy 005
• 1 Twin Energy RCL 174
• 1 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136
• 1 Fusion Strike Energy FST 244
• 1 Mystery Energy PHF 112
• 1 Horror Psychic Energy RCL 172