Goo in the EU: Top 64 at EUIC with Goodra
Hello Ian’s Conspiracy readers! I’m Grant Hays, and I’m happy to be back with another tournament report, this time covering my run at EUIC. I intend to dive into the deck I played, my reasoning as to why I played it, how the event went, and more analysis of the deck and metagame changes moving forward.
Thoughts leading up to the event
After Charlotte, I took a bit of a break from playing much. I was more occupied with watching my friends in Fort Wayne and doing homework leading up to EUIC than I was with testing post rotation, so a lot of my testing leading up to the event was on PTCGLive the week before the event. Everything felt very okay, like just okay. Nothing had really impressed me, and so when I landed in London on Thursday, panic started to set in. After watching my mate Jake Pilch play Goodra into different matchups in the hotel lobby around midnight, meand some other friends impulsively decided to switch to Goodra.
Ok, Goodra isn’t actually that bad
The truth is, Goodra felt like a fine deck. With abysmal matchups into Giratina and Gardevoir, I felt like I’d have to hit the right side of my matchups to go far. And, Goodra did have some solid matchups. The list we’d come up with was easily able to set up board states that were difficult for Lugia and Lost Zone to overcome, and the Mew matchup seemed fine as well. Beyond this, I’d played Goodra a lot before in Silver Tempest prior to San Diego, so I knew the deck more than I knew my other midnight pickup choices. For a big event like an IC, comfort is going to outweigh picking up something you’ve played zero games with that may seem to have a higher power level. After much debate, I settled on this list.
Decklist
Interesting Inclusions
3-3 Goodra VStar
Goodra as an archetype has improved greatly in post-rotation because the format is generally lower, and there’s nothing that can OHKO a Goodra easily besides niche special effects like Giratina VStar’s Star Requiem. The card is a tank now, effectively having 350 HP after an attack. The 3-3 line was fine.
2 Melony
One of the issues with Goodra last format was having to play so many cards to have a workable Lugia VStar matchup. With the Lugia matchup much easier now, less slots need to go towards Temple of Sinnoh and more can go towards consistency. Melony was a great boost to the deck’s ability to get going quickly, and it makes it where you have a map to turn two attack either going first or second. Going second, you can Colress twice and use Flower Selecting to get to seven cards in the Lost Zone on turn two for Mirage Gate, and going first you can go manual attachment + turn two Melony + another attachment to get Rolling Iron going. Melony was very important for me throughout the event both for getting the attack off and for energy recovery.
2 Pokegear 3.0
Gear is so good in any Lost Zone deck. You need to play Colress’ Experiment to play the game, and I’ve been on 2 gear in every Lost Zone list for a long time. Having them this weekend felt great.
2 Roxanne
This was the 2 AM innovation that Ethan Chow and I settled on. We figured 2 Roxanne would be helpful for beating Lost Zone and Gardevoir ex, and the other tech options our group was considering didn’t seem great. However, the second Roxanne didn’t pull its weight very much. In fact, I mainly used the second one to get a Roxanne off when I had to Lost Zone the first one and my opponents didn’t expect the second one! The main issue with Roxanne in a deck like Goodra, at least the way the format is currently is that in order to set it up you need to bench a second Hisuian Goodra V, which goes against the point of the deck.
1 Crystal Cave
The Crystal Cave was used to prevent two-shot KOs from Lugia VStar. Tempest Dive does 140 with the damage reduction from Rolling Iron, and a Double Turbo Energy on Lugia further reduces it to 120. With healing 30 from Crystal Cave, it’s now impossible for the average Lugia list to take a two-shot on Goodra. The card can also matter in the Lost Zone matchup to prevent Lost Mine into Dragonite V’s Dragon Gale.
Exclusions
0 Temple of Sinnoh
Temple of Sinnoh is better into the Lugia matchup than I thought. With a Temple of Sinnoh in play, a V Guarded Tyranitar V gets knocked out by a Goodra with a Choice Belt, making for a better tempo play than healing 30 with Crystal Cave. Going forward, this is an easy substitution.
Day 1 Recap
R1: LZB Sky Stone WW
R2: Goodra LL
R3: Gardevoir WW
R4: Mew WW
R5: Mew WW
R6: Arceus/Flying Pika/Vulpix WLW
R7: Goodra WW
R8: Lugia LWW
R9: Arceus/Dura/Vulpix LWL
7-2, 36(ish?)th seed
Fortunately, day 1 went pretty well. I was surprised to hit the Goodra mirror and Arceus piles twice in day 1, but everything else felt relatively standard. In my round 2 loss against Goodra, my opponent played V Guard Energy, which swings the matchup quite a bit as it allows for being favored in the war of attrition between two Goodras swinging at each other. My round 7 opponent did not have this, making for a much easier time. In round 9, I hit the deck that eventually took down the event. I don’t think the matchup is that tough, as Goodra V can two-shot an Alolan Vulpix VStar. However, it can get out of hand if your opponent is able to Trinity Charge multiple times and build up a Duraludon VMAX and Vulpix. After some tough Pokegear 3.0 whiffs in game 3, I was unable to deal with the Vulpix, and I sunk to 7-2. Definitely not a bad start, but I knew it was going to be an uphill climb in day 2.
Day 2 Recap
R10: LZB Giratina LL
R11: Lugia/Duraludon WW
R12: Lugia/Duraludon LL
R13: Lugia/Duraludon LWW
R14: Arceus/Giratina WLL
R15: Turbo Lost Zone LWW
10-5, 58th place
At least I went even? Definitely a tough day, but I essentially hit four tough matchups, if not auto losses. In the group of those I tested for the event with, we figured the main tech people would bring in Lugia would be a 1-1 Single Strike Urshifu VMAX line. However, we saw a decent amount of Canadian and American players do well with a 1-1 Duraludon VMax line and Impact Energies. This oversight was to our detriment, as the Lugia matchup became exceedingly more difficult with the Duraludon. I managed to beat two because of some lucky draws from me and unlucky draws from my opponent. The matchup is only really tough if they get the Duraludon attacking. However, I wouldn’t count on having a favorable matchup to this build in the future. Beyond this, my last two rounds went somewhat how I expected, as Arceus/Giratina can be difficult due to Path to the Peak and Judge, and turbo Lost Zone is generally a Rolling Iron snoozefest, barring their eventual Escape Rope + Boss’ Orders + Dragonite V attack. In my first game of round 15, I attached to my lone Goodra V and pass. My opponent donked me with Dragonite V. As I was drawing my hand for game 2, I was hoping I could draw another unplayable hand, so I’d be put out of my misery already. Unfortunately, I was able to pop off games 2 and 3, so things worked out for the better.
Reflections from the weekend
This was my first day 2 at an Internationals, as I’ve historically been hardstuck at 6-3 at NAIC. While a top 64 is nothing to scoff at, I was hoping for better. However, I barely managed to get the NAIC stipend from getting top 64, so my complaints quickly vanished after some calculations in the hotel room on Saturday night. I definitely did some throwing throughout the event, and there’s always room to improve. For a deck I picked up out of panic, expecting 6-3 to be hopeful, I did much better than expected and had a great time.
Metagame Post EUIC
Standard is in a much better spot now than it was pre-rotation. I personally don’t think Silver Tempest was a bad format, but it went on too long, to the point where all innovation became 1-card answers responding to other 1-card answers. The format is very unexplored right now, and while I won’t be at the next few major events, I’m excited to see what comes up.
Thoughts On Top 8
This top 8 was full of surprises, and I honestly wouldn’t touch some of these decks with a 10-foot pole. The biggest surprise to me was Arceus winning. Aidan Khus was insistent on us playing an Arceus pile earlier in the week, but we gradually switched off of it because of our inability to come to a perfect 60. The deck didn’t feel great into matchups it was supposed to auto-win, and we figured having a teched-out list for a first-day post-rotation format wasn’t a good idea. It would be impossible to read a 1500+ person field, but I suppose it worked out for the group who did end up on Arceus. Going forward, I think this deck drops off immensely as people adapt. Alolan Vulpix VStar is very easy to answer,
whether with Path to the Peak, Mimikyu ex, etc. The deck had its 15 minutes of fame.
Tldr, here are my overall conclusions and thoughts toward Portland and São Paulo:
-Arceus dies off, or at least plays different attackers
-Gardevoir sees more play, as people underestimated it for EUIC and will test it more going forward
-Lugia/Duraludon will increase in play, and Choice Belt will be a solid answer for the mirror
-Following their overall poor showings, Mew and Lost Zone variants will decrease in play
-Goodra will continue to be a solid play with some changes
List updates and matchups
Going forward, I think Articuno SIT will be an important answer to Duraludon VMAX, Alolan Vulpix VSTAR, potentially the mirror, and more. In my opinion the card is now mandatory. In addition, Crystal Cave swaps for a Temple of Sinnoh. Here’s the list I’d test with now:
Articuno + Raihan allows for essentially free turns against Lugia VStar because the deck has no paralysis outs currently. Against Arceus, Roxanne + Articuno is enough to break Vulpix and likely get ahead. Beyond this, the list is pretty standard, but I’d definitely test with Articuno going forward. Hermanni’s 9th place and Piper’s 23rd place list both had it, so it’s definitely worth considering. The final card I’d consider is V Guard Energy for the mirror, but this is down low on my list of cards I want. It’s a luxury more than anything.
Matchups
Lugia VStar - Favorable
Without Duraludon, this matchup is much easier than it was pre-rotation. It’s impossible for Lugia to two-hit a Goodra that’s attacking, and it’s even difficult for them to find a three-hit! A good line is to heal your Goodra and Boss KO an archeops after Lugia has used tempest dive, as you’ll be ahead on tempo ultimately. KO’ing one or both Archeops causes the deck to tremendously run out of steam. With Temple of Sinnoh to turn off V Guard energy, Rolling Iron with a Choice Belt KO’s Tyranitar V, making it possible to take 6 prizes with a single Goodra or Goodra + Cramorant.
Arceus/Duraludon/Vulpix - Even
Goodra V’s second attack, Rolling Shell, two-hits Alolan Vulpix VStar even with Radiant Gardevoir in play. If you can KO the Vulpix, the game becomes much easier. However, if they’re able to get too far ahead and set up a Duraludon VMax as well, you’re checkmated.
Mew VMAX - Favorable
The line I’ve found the most success with is using attackers by order of setup difficulty. This means swinging with a Goodra VStar first, as this will be the most difficult attacker to assemble following a late-game Roxanne. Usually, the correct order of attackers is.
-Swing with Cramorant for 110 on a Mew VMAX
-Use Rolling Iron for KO on the same Mew
-Use Drapion for KO on the second VMax
You can win the game in 3 attacks, while they cannot. Mew also struggles to KO a Goodra now, as the deck can’t thin for Escape Rope + Boss’ Orders + 3 damage modifiers as reliably.
Lost Zone Variants
Turbo Lost Zone/Sky Stone - Favorable
This matchup is a war of attrition, and with Roxanne, you can usually disrupt them in the late game to come out on top.
Sableye/Charizard - Even
This is similar to the turbo LZB matchup except their deck is slower. Look to take prizes with Cramorant early, as you’re under no pressure to swing with Goodra until Charizard comes online. Also, stay on the lookout for taking Comfey KO’s with Greninja. This matchup can be difficult because of the ability of the Charizard player to use Escape Rope + Boss to deal 250 damage to a Goodra. Roxanne late game usually wins the matchup.
Giratina VStar - Very unfavorable
This variant is extremely difficult, if not an autoloss. Look to use Greninja and Cramorant to set up damage on Giratinas before having to use Rolling Iron. If your opponent staggers benching Giratina though, you’re likely in for a rough time, as Star Requiem invalidades the whole game plan Goodra is going for.
Gardevoir - Unfavorable
We found the Gardevoir matchup to be kind of a toss up. On one hand, they need 10 energy on a Zacian V or Gardevoir CRE to take a knockout on a Goodra that’s used Rolling Iron. However, it is possible for them to hit this. Look to use Boss’ Orders early on Kirlia and Gardevoir to slow them down, and if they don’t have Manaphy on board or don’t play it, an early Greninja attack can put you ahead. If they’re playing Mewtwo V-Union and sit behind Klefkis though, your setup can be significantly impeded.
Other important tips
Cramorant as MVP
I had so many games where getting a T1 Cramorant attack put me far ahead and allowed for Rolling Iron to take a knockout on something important. Prioritize the bird if you can.
Properly using Escape Rope
It’s a principle in Pokemon to do actions involving unknown information before ones with known information. For example, if my hand is Comfey and a Nest Ball and I need to find multiple pokemon, it can be correct to Flower Selecting first to potentially get one of the basics I need rather than going straight for Nest Ball. More obvious examples include using a Cram-o-matic to potentially find a needed card rather than using Forest Seal Stone, playing a Pokemon Catcher before Boss’ Orders, etc. Escape Rope is unique in that the contents of your hand are known information for you but unknown information for your opponent. If you know you want to switch, it’s usually correct to use Escape Rope before playing any other cards, as your opponent should have as little information as possible.
Final Reflections
Overall, Goodra impressed me this past weekend. The deck got significantly better in post-rotation, and I think I had a good run with it overall. With some improvements to the list, the deck is definitely well-positioned going forward.
I enjoyed EUIC a ton, and I’m glad I went. When I first booked my flight, I actually misread what Basic Economy means for international flights, and so I didn’t realize until after Charlotte that I was essentially locked into going. In the future, I would book refundable/changeable. I was quite the lucky duck in that I essentially profited from going to a foreign IC because of the NAIC stipend. With that said, I’ve passed the threshold of 350 CP, and I anticipate slowing down the Pokemon grind. I should be at NAIC and some local cups and challenges, and maybe Milwaukee if I’m really feeling it. Otherwise, I’ll be on the sidelines for Portland and Hartford. This season has been quite packed, but it’s been great overall. I’ll be back with another article soon, which will be more of a recap of my season with stuff that I learned, what I’d do differently, etc. But for now, this is all from me.
See you next time,
Grant
Pokémon (13)
4 Comfey LOR 79
3 Hisuian Goodra V LOR 135
3 Hisuian Goodra VSTAR LOR 136
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Cramorant LOR 50
1 Drapion V LOR 118
Trainer (36)
4 Colress's Experiment LOR 155
3 Boss's Orders BRS 132
2 Melony CRE 146
2 Roxanne ASR 150
4 Battle VIP Pass FST 225
4 Switch SVI 194
4 Escape Rope BST 125
3 Mirage Gate LOR 163
2 Nest Ball SVI 181
2 Ultra Ball SVI 196
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Energy Recycler BST 124
1 Choice Belt BRS 135
1 Crystal Cave EVS 144
1 Beach Court SVI 167
Energy (11)
6 Water Energy 3
5 Metal Energy 8