The Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon—Guardians Rising expansion is full of incredibly powerful cards that are sure to enhance current strategies and create new ones. Some of those cards were covered in our Card Highlights, and today we’ll look at how to put a few of them into action to build a fun and effective deck.

• Garbodor

Garbodor

Pokémon

• 3

  Garbodor

  51/145

  sm2 51
• 1

  Garbodor

  57/122

  xy9 57
• 4

  Trubbish

  56/122

  xy9 56
• 3

  Drampa-GX

  115/145

  sm2 115
• 2

  Tapu Lele-GX

  60/145

  sm2 60
• 1

  Shaymin-EX

  77/108

  xy6 77

Energy Cards

• 9

  Basic { Psychic } Energy

  xy12 95
• 4

  Double Colorless Energy

  sm1 136

Trainer Cards

• 4

  Professor Sycamore

  xy9 107
• 2

  Lysandre

  xy7 78
• 2

  N

  xy10 105
• 1

  Brock's Grit

  xy12 74
• 1

  Olympia

  g1 66
• 1

  Pokémon Fan Club

  xy10 107
• 2

  Team Magma's Secret Base

  dc1 32
• 4

  Ultra Ball

  sm1 135
• 4

  VS Seeker

  xy4 109
• 3

  Choice Band

  sm2 121
• 3

  Float Stone

  xy8 137
• 3

  Max Elixir

  xy9 102
• 2

  Field Blower

  sm2 125
• 1

  Rescue Stretcher

  sm2 130

More Info Copy Deck List ****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ****** Pokémon - 14 3 Garbodor GRI 51 1 Garbodor BKP 57 4 Trubbish BKP 56 3 Drampa-GX GRI 115 2 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60 1 Shaymin-EX ROS 77 Trainer Cards - 33 4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107 2 Lysandre AOR 78 2 N FCO 105 1 Brock's Grit EVO 74 1 Olympia GEN 66 1 Pokémon Fan Club FCO 107 2 Team Magma's Secret Base DCR 32 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135 4 VS Seeker PHF 109 3 Choice Band GRI 121 3 Float Stone BKT 137 3 Max Elixir BKP 102 2 Field Blower GRI 125 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130 Energy - 13 9 Basic { Psychic } Energy EVO 95 4 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136 Total Cards - 60 ****** Deck list generated on Pokemon.com ******

Garbodor stands out as one of the most intriguing cards from the latest expansion. Garbodor takes advantage of the fact that most competitive decks play a lot of Item cards—sometimes 20 or more. For example, the Lapras-GX deck that James Arnold used to win the recent Roanoke Regional Championships contained 23 Item cards. Once those Item cards hit the discard pile, Garbodor’s Trashalanche attack starts dishing out massive damage, all at the low cost of one Psychic Energy. It’s not unusual for this attack to do more than 200 damage near the end of a game, which is the kind of power and efficiency you can certainly build a deck around.

There’s one major flaw with the Trashalanche attack: if the opponent doesn’t put many Item cards in the discard pile, it won’t do much damage. Field Blower can help a little bit by discarding the opponent’s Pokémon Tool cards, but that’s not the most reliable strategy. For that reason, Garbodor needs a partner that can apply early pressure, before the opponent discards many Item cards. One of those can be Tapu Lele-GX, one of the most versatile Pokémon in the current environment. Its Wonder Tag Ability can be used to search for a Supporter card to help get things moving, and its Energy Drive attack can be quite threatening with enough Energy attached. With Double Colorless Energy, it’s easy to attack quickly with Tapu Lele-GX.

Another great partner for Garbodor is Drampa-GX. This Colorless-type Pokémon has three attacks that can be useful in different situations, but its main purpose for this deck is the Berserk attack. If there’s even a single damage counter on any of your Benched Pokémon, Drampa-GX can smash the opponent’s Active Pokémon for 150 damage for just three Colorless Energy. Add Choice Band into the equation, and that number jumps up to 180 against a Pokémon-GX or Pokémon-EX, which is enough to take down many of them in one attack. The main hurdle is finding a way to get damage onto your Benched Pokémon quickly. One possible solution is Team Magma’s Secret Base, which puts 2 damage counters on any Basic Pokémon you play from your hand onto your Bench. With the pressure from Drampa-GX, the opponent typically has to play Item cards to keep up the pace, which opens the door for Trashalanche to finish things off.

Since this deck is already running Trubbish, it’s easy to include a different Garbodor, the one with the Garbotoxin Ability. This pesky Ability can shut down other strategies, so having it at your disposal is incredibly valuable. Your opponent will have to figure out if they’re dealing with Trashalanche, Garbotoxin, or maybe even both. It adds one more layer to this pungent strategy.

There are many new strategies to discover in the Sun & Moon—Guardians Rising expansion. Be on the lookout for new cards to make an impact immediately. And for the latest Pokémon TCG strategies and updates, be sure to check back at Pokemon.co.uk/strategy. Good luck, Trainers!