Tulip's Espathra (PTCG Live Expanded)

This deck focuses on sequencing Espathra's ability so that the opponent is either walled or forced to gust around it. While it does not hit high numbers, it has access to variety of techs that allow it to run the pace of the game as needed.

The deck's central attacker is Espathra (Paradox Rift) which has the "Stance" ability. Once evolved, Espathra may prevent all damage and effects of damage (this includes placing damage counters or status effects) done to it on the opponents' following turn. This

This deck focuses on sequencing Espathra's ability so that the opponent is either walled or forced to gust around it. While it does not hit high numbers, it has access to variety of techs that allow it to run the pace of the game as needed.

The deck's central attacker is Espathra (Paradox Rift) which has the "Stance" ability. Once evolved, Espathra may prevent all damage and effects of damage (this includes placing damage counters or status effects) done to it on the opponents' following turn. This is a potent and disruptive ability that allows Espathra to force the opponent into awkward lines of play. It will slow down the game considerably. Espathra's only attack is Glittering Eyes, which deals 70 damage + and additional 70 damage if Tulip (Paradox Rift) is in your discard pile. While 140 is very low damage, its still relatively cheap and will allow you to deal 280 combined damage if the opponent can't get around Stance. 280 is a very good breakpoint, allowing you to two-shot several popular Pokemon in PTCGL expanded like Regidrago VSTAR (Silver Tempest), N's Zoroark ex (Journey Together), Pidgeot ex (Obsidian Flames), Lugia VSTAR (Silver Tempest), Arceus VSTAR (Brilliant Stars), and Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX (Cosmic Eclipse). This damage can be further modified by Defiance Band (Scarlet & Violet) and Maximum Belt (Temporal Forces) in order to defeat bulky Stage 2s, VMaxes and Tag Teams. One copy of Espathra ex (Paldean Fates) is also included for an additional source of damage and disruption, as well as for securing 2-hit knockouts on Grass weak Pokemon like Charizard ex (Obsidian Flames), but should not be relied on otherwise.

Tulip (Paradox Rift) is the central engine for the deck as it serves the twofold purpose of activating Glittering Eyes and allowing us to recover pieces once an Espathra or Xatu is knocked out. Xatu (Paradox Rift) serves as both our energy acceleration and draw engine with Clairvoyant Sense, which is crucial as Espathra wants to be attacking for every turn of Stance uptime. The draw engine is also neccesary as this deck is very light on draw supporters.

Another important addition to our attacker list is Lillie's Clefairy ex (Journey Together), which allows this deck to contend with the likes of Regidrago VSTAR (Silver Tempest) and Raging Bolt ex (Temporal Forces). With its Fairy Zone ability, Espathra can now one-hit KO all relevant Dragon Pokemon in the format. With Regidrago VStar being easily the best deck in PTCGL Expanded currently, this massively improves the list's overall viability as a single prize rogue deck. Clefairy is also a good attacker in any dragon matchup, as they tend to fill their bench. It also makes a decent cleanup/backup attacker in general. 

As for support Pokemon besides Xatu, we use one copy of Manaphy (Brilliant Stars) and Mew ex (151) respectively. Manaphy is an important tech against Regidrago VSTAR (Silver Tempest) due to its usage of Kyurem (Shrouded Fable). Without Canceling Cologne (Astral Radiance), Regidrago and other spread decks are forced to gust and kill Manaphy, which buys us time in such poor matchups. Mew can function as an attacker, but its inclusion is mostly for one thing: to counter late-game Iono (Paldean Fates). When we are put down to 1-2 card hands, we often cannot rely on Xatu to bail us out. Mew offers the best protection against Iono and should really only be benched in anticipation of it happening- otherwise, it is a 2-prize liability we do not want on the bench. 

Rounding out the attackers are Mimikyu (Paldea Evolved) and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex (Twilight Masquerade). Mimikyu functions as a wall against popular ex and V attackers in the format (though it doesn't stop GX attackers- so be wary of that), and can contribute significant chip damage while doing so. Bloodmoon Ursaluna will knock out nearly anything in the format after a Glittering Eyes, making it the optimal cleanup attacker when you are ready to take your last knockout.

For trainer cards, the deck uses a combination of Artazon (Paldea Evolved), Quick Ball (Sword & Shield), and Mysterious Treasure (Forbidden Light) for our Pokemon search. As this deck doesn't run consistent means of searching out specific trainer cards, it is necessary to keep these counts high so we maximize our chances of drawing into them through Xatu or Mew. Mysterious Treasure is especially good as it will allow us to search any of the psychic Pokemon we need, regardless if they are basic or evolutions. In addition, we run 2 Iono (Paldea Evolved) and 2 Professor's Research (Paldean Fates) to assist in drawing through our deck, with Iono also being a great card in many matchups where we will be playing down in the prize race. Morty's Conviction (Temporal Forces) is also included, and is an especially good card in matchups against Budew (Prismatic Evolutions). 2 Night Stretcher (Shrouded Fable) have been included for moments where we do not want to use another Tulip as our supporter, allowing us to recover things like Espathra for another Stance loop or Manaphy after it has been knocked out. 1 Super Rod (Paldea Evolved) is also included, both as recovery and potential insurance against mill strategies.

For gust, one copy each of Boss's Orders (Brilliant Stars), Guzma (Burning Shadows), and Counter Catcher (Paradox Rift) have been included. Guzma is particularly important for moments when we have cards like Xatu or Ursaluna trapped in the active. For similar reasons, one copy each of Escape Rope (Burning Shadows) and Professor Turo's Scenario (Paradox Rift) are included, with Turo also useful for continuing the Stance loop by using it on an Espathra and then evolving the Flittle that you promote. Counter Catcher is an obvious inclusion, and if we can find the space, it wouldn't be a bad idea to include more.

Raihan (Evolving Skies) is the secret sauce to this deck, which suffers from damage output issues against bulky multi-prize attackers. Once we have swung once or twice and then been KO'd in retaliation, Raihan acts as both energy acceleration and the deck's only consistent way of searching out Maximum Belt (Temporal Forces), Defiance Band (Scarlet & Violet) or Espathra ex (Paldean Fates). These cards can enable us to hit much higher numbers depending on the situation and secure crucial knockouts to keep up the momentum. Pal Pad (Scarlet & Violet) is used for supporter recovery. Finally, Hisuian Heavy Ball (Astral Radiance) is a much needed consistency card to ensure we can search out Manaphy or Clefairy.