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I Control The Spice

I Control The Spice

SendHelpNow Gym Leader Challenge 1,348 views May 05, 2023

Budget

Deck Primer

A colourless control deck designed to frustrate and mill out unsuspecting opponents.

Control as a playstyle lends itself particularly well to GLC as options are limited to single cards and recovery is slim. This issue can be exacerbated heavily by discarding your opponent’s hand, attached energy and items, making it very difficult to get running again.

Below are some key card and combos to give an idea of just how disruptive this deck can be.

Ambipom (Pokémon GO) + Trick

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A colourless control deck designed to frustrate and mill out unsuspecting opponents.

Below are some key card and combos to give an idea of just how disruptive this deck can be.

Ambipom (Pokémon GO) + Trick Coin (Phantom Forces) + Memory Energy (Lost Thunder)

Ambipom's innate ability to ignore an attack on a coin flip is already pretty good in a format with very few ability negation options but it can get so much worse. Using Memory energy (or Shrine of Memories in a pinch) allows the use of Aipom's first attack "Bustle"

On a coin flip, Ambipom becomes unaffected by damage and effects until next turn. If that coin flip doesn't go in your favour then Trick Coin comes in. Do it again. This is surprisingly consistent. You may even wish to substitute Galar Mine (Rebel Clash) for Glimwood Tangle (Darkness Ablaze) to make this even harder to miss. Any head flip means Ambipom is very likely to survive another turn and allow you to continue disrupting your opponent without conceding to many prizes.

Snorlax (Pokémon GO) + Ghetsis (Plasma Freeze) OR Miss Fortune Sisters (Lost Origin)

Snorlax blocking your opponent from retreating their active Pokémon is already a good effect, made infinitely worse by discarding energy off of their active via the use of Team Flare Grunt (Generations) or confusing them with Yell Horn (Darkness Ablaze)

Better still is stopping your opponent from using switching items to negate this effect. That’s where Ghetsis (Plasma Freeze) comes in. Not only do you cripple your opponent’s hand, you get to draw for every item card you rip away.

Or maybe your opponent has already played their hand down and is hoping to top-deck something useful. Miss Fortune Sisters (Lost Origin) scrapes the top of their deck and discards any items you find, prolonging their misery.

Lt. Surge's Strategy (Hidden Fates) + Delinquent (BREAKpoint) AND + Mars (Ultra Prism)

This is one of the most unfriendly combos I have ever encountered. As you don’t ever really attack with this list you'll almost always be at least one prize down. This is exactly what you need. Discarding 4 cards from your opponent’s hand is both hilarious and cruel. Doing it after a Red Card (Generations) or Reset Stamp (Unified Minds) is even funnier. You leave your opponent with few options, potentially an empty hand if you get a little sneaky and plan out your use of Steven's Resolve (Celestial Storm) to set this up early.

Stoutland (Boundaries Crossed)

No combo here. This dog is enough to deal with on its own.

A complete block on supporters as long as this Pokémon is active can absolutely cripple your opponent early game. No Welder (Unbroken Bonds) or Gardenia's Vigor (Astral Radiance) , no Boss's Orders (Shining Fates) or Guzma (Burning Shadows) to move it out of active, not even a Hex Maniac (Ancient Origins) to shut down its ability. If you can set this puppy up early and keep it alive with Max Potion (Guardians Rising) and opponent disruption you can pull so far ahead your opponent can't realistically catch up.

Keep in mind, you should be wary of cards like Frosmoth (Sword & Shield), Blastoise (Plasma Storm) or even Malamar (Shiny Vault) as their ability based energy acceleration can turn the tide very quickly and will ned special attention if you want to keep this lock going long term.

Having Munchlax (Unified Minds) on the bench using “Snack Search” every turn to recycle supporters is also a valid strategy to repeatedly discard or mill your opponent with them having very few options to retaliate. I once played team flare grunt 5 turns in a row. Didn't win any friends that day...

Team Rocket's Handiwork (Fates Collide) + Bellelba & Brycen-Man (Cosmic Eclipse)

The two main sources of card mill in this list, both recoverable via Munchlax (Unified Minds) or VS Seeker

Keep flipping and recycling and your opponent will be running low sooner than you think.

That's all I will detail here. Just remember these words of infinite wisdom

Lost friends are won matches. Only you should get to play.

If you control the spice, you control the universe.