Standard Deck Tech: Great Tusk ex & Iron Treads ex - New Decks

The second special set in the Scarlet & Violet block, Paldean Fates, brought new Paradox versions of Donphan: Great Tusk ex sv4pt5 53 and Iron Treads ex sv4pt5 66.

These Pokémon will be the center of new decks that are great for those who want to learn the game and try out new strategies, even if they aren't competitive decks in Standard.

Great Tusk ex

Decklist

Before we start delving into this deck, let's get familiar with our main Pokémon:

Great Tusk ex

1) Its ability, Quaking Demolition, has the following effect: if Great Tusk ex sv4pt5 53 is your active Pokémon at the end of your turn, you'll unfortunately have to discard the top five cards in your deck.

This is terrible, but we can go around this issue if we're smart: while Path to the Peak CRE 148 is active, it will disable any "Rule Box" ability, and, therefore, it will also cancel Great Tusk's ability.

2) Its attack, Great Bash, deals 260 damage (which is excellent, even if it is a bit expensive) and it also goes through any effect your opponent's Pokémon may have. In this case, it can go around defense effects or abilities, such as "this Pokémon isn't affected by Pokémon ex attacks", Mimikyu sv4pt5 37's ability.

Garchomp ex Terastal: Great Tusk ex's Incomparable Companion

Our goal is to use its first attack, Hydro Lander, always, which will allow us to attach up to three Basic Fighting Energy sv1 258 from the discard pile to our benched Pokémon in any way we want. This will help us attack with Great Tusk ex sv4pt5 53 (not to mention that Great Tusk ex sv4pt5 53 itself also takes advantage of Professor Sada's Vitality sv4 170).

To discard these energies, we can use:

1) Garchomp ex sv4 38's second attack, Sonic Dive.

2) Earthen Vessel sv4 163.

3) Ultra Ball sv1 196.

4) Squawkabilly ex sv2 169's ability on turn one or also Professor's Research (Professor Sada) sv1 189.

Additionally, Garchomp ex Terastal is an excellent Pokémon because its attacks are cheap, and you can retreat it for free. This allows us to protect Great Tusk ex sv4pt5 53 as much as we can and also saves us items that we'll use to retreat this Pokémon, such as Escape Rope BST 125 and Switch sv1 194.

Starting Hands

In this scenario, ideally, we'll:

1) Place Manaphy BRS 41 as the active Pokémon and use Battle VIP Pass FST 225 to look for a Great Tusk ex sv4pt5 53 and a Gible sv4 94.

2) Afterward, use Irida ASR 147 to look for another Trainer of your choice (preferably another Battle VIP Pass FST 225) if you want to set up more of your benched Pokémon, such as another Gible sv4 94 (optional) and a Bidoof CRZ 111 (priority). Considering this card's second effect looks for a Water Pokémon, we'll get Radiant Greninja ASR 46.

3) You'll use Radiant Greninja ASR 46's ability to discard the Fighting energy card in your hand and draw cards. Ideally, you'll draw a Rare Candy PGO 69 and a Garchomp ex sv4 38 to evolve your Gible sv4 94 on the next turn.

4) Then, equip Ancient Booster Energy Capsule sv4 159 on Great Tusk ex sv4pt5 53 to filter your deck and give this Pokémon an extra 60 HP.

5) On the next turn, if you can't draw good cards to set up your game plan, use Iono sv2 185.

In this scenario, our hand is generous: place Bidoof CRZ 111 as the active Pokémon and attach one Fighting energy card on it to retreat it. Next, you'll use Earthen Vessel sv4 163 to filter your deck because you'll use Squawkabilly ex sv2 169, and activate its ability after you play it from your hand to your bench. Discard your hand and draw six new cards, and, meanwhile, discard the Fighting energy cards you have in your hand.

In this scenario, the strategy of using Squawkabilly ex sv2 169 will be similar to the one we used before:

1) Place Gible sv4 94 as your active Pokémon and place your other Pokémon on your bench, except for Squawkabilly ex sv2 169.

2) Use Earthen Vessel sv4 163 and discard Bibarel BRS 121 to pull two Fighting energy cards from your deck into your board.

3) Use Nest Ball sv1 181 to look for a basic Pokémon that is efficient for the following cases:

- If you're threatened by an enemy Pokémon that has "sniper" attacks, get Manaphy BRS 41.

- If you want more consistency in your game, and you want to evolve a Garchomp ex sv4 38, get Gible sv4 94.

- If you want to draw more cards, get Radiant Greninja ASR 46.

4) After this, get Squawkabilly ex sv2 169 to use its ability and renew your hand with six new cards.

In this scenario, our hand is much simpler:

1) Place Gible sv4 94 as the active Pokémon and place Manaphy BRS 41 on your bench.

2) Then, use Battle VIP Pass FST 225 to look for a Bidoof CRZ 111 and another Gible sv4 94.

3) On the next turn, use Irida ASR 147 to look for Rare Candy PGO 69 and Garchomp ex sv4 38, and evolve your Gible sv4 94, which is your active Pokémon. Next, place the Bibarel BRS 121 that was in your hand in play to evolve your Bidoof CRZ 111. The rest will come naturally, according to your luck, top deck, and Bibarel BRS 121's ability.

Iron Treads ex

Decklist

Iron Treads ex

Your attack deals 150 damage, and has an extra effect, which gives yo two options:

1) Declare your attack as usual without activating the effect.

2) Activate its effect, which allows you to discard one Future Booster Energy Capsule sv4 164 attached to this Pokémon after you attack. Like so, you'll reduce the damage this Pokémon takes from enemy attacks by 150 points (after applying weakness and resistance).

It is supposedly a "tank" Pokémon, even if this is a bit expensive, considering this format doesn't have Trainer cards that retrieve tools that you discarded, except for Roseanne's Backup BRS 148.

To discard tools, we need to know when we must play them and if it is worth it because we won't be able to get them back.

If we don't have Future Booster Energy Capsule sv4 164 available, we'll have Technical Machine Crisis Punch sv4pt5 90 to solve our problems.

Origin Forme Dialga VStar: The Deck's Support Attacker

Considering our Metal energy cards need to be recycled, we can easily use Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR PR-SW SWSH256's first attack thanks to Magnezone PR-SW SWSH208's ability, and, in the best-case scenario, we can deal 200 damage with five Metal energy cards. However, we'll focus on using its VStar attack, "Star Chronos", which deals 220 damage and forces our opponent to skip a turn. Like so, it will be our turn again, and we'll be able to attack again, which is why this Pokémon is on this list.

Iron Hands ex: The Deck's Situational Attacker

This list uses Magnemite sv2 65, the Electric type, and that's not for nothing: its first attack, Magnetic Charge, for one colorless energy card, gets two Basic Lightning Energy sv1 257 from the discard pile and attaches them to one of your benched Pokémon - in this case, Iron Hands ex sv4 70.

So, you'll use its first attack to deal more damage; you'll deal 160 base damage, and, maybe, if the game allows us, and we use Future Booster Energy Capsule sv4 164, we'll get an extra 20 damage and zero its retreat cost, which will total 180 damage. This knocks out Pokémon like Lugia VSTAR SIT 211.

Its second attack (which is this Pokémon's main goal) deals 120 damage, costs very little, and allows you to draw an extra Prize Card if you knock out a Pokémon. Obviously, if you use Future Booster Energy Capsule sv4 164, you'll deal 140 damage. If you apply weakness against Lugia VSTAR SIT 211, you'll deal 280 damage, and draw three Prize Cards at once!

About Recursive Pokémon

1) Magnezone PR-SW SWSH208 has its ability, Giga Magnet: during your turn, you can look at the top six cards in your deck, and, if you find any Metal Energy SUM 163 there, you can attach them to your Pokémon in any way you want. It will be the heart of this deck, energy-wise.

We'll try to use Trainers to filter our deck a bit more because, if a Pokémon with these Metal energy cards is knocked out, we can use Energy Recycler BST 124 and recycle them.

2) Radiant Greninja ASR 46, through its ability, Concealed Cards, discards one energy card from your hand to draw two cards.

Ideally, Radiant Greninja ASR 46 will discard at least all three Basic Lightning Energy sv1 257 from our deck so it can enable Magnemite sv2 65's combo with Iron Hands ex sv4 70.

3) Mew ex sv3pt5 151 will be a wildcard for us: its ability, Restart, allows us to draw cards until we have three in our hand, and you can attach energy cards to it with Magnezone PR-SW SWSH208 or even with Technical Machine: Crisis Punch sv4pt5 90. Then, we can use its attack, Genome Hacking, which copies attacks from enemy Pokémon.

4) Finally, we have Lumineon V PR-SW SWSH250, which allows us to get a Supporter card with its ability, Luminous Sign. Additionally, if the game is going badly, and we can't use Origin Forme Dialga VStar's VStar attack, we can use Lumineon V PR-SW SWSH250 with Forest Seal Stone SIT 156 and use its VStar ability to look for a card.

Starting Hands

In this scenario, ideally we'll:

1) Place Magnemite sv2 65 as our active Pokémon and Iron Hands ex sv4 70 on our bench. Then, we'll add Future Booster Energy Capsule sv4 164 to Iron Hands ex sv4 70.

2) Play Ultra Ball sv1 196, discarding Basic Lightning Energy sv1 257 and Iono sv4pt5 80, to look for a Mew ex sv3pt5 151 or a Radiant Greninja ASR 46, and draw more cards on the next few turns.

3) Then, we'll play the Iono sv4pt5 80 that is still in our hand and renew our cards.

In this scenario, we can be more flexible:

1) Place Magnemite sv2 65 as your active Pokémon and play a Battle VIP Pass FST 225 to look for another Magnemite sv2 65 and a Radiant Greninja ASR 46 (if it is in your deck); otherwise, look for Iron Treads ex sv4pt5 66.

2) Play Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146 to look for a basic Pokémon in your Prize Card pile.

3) Use Radiant Greninja ASR 46's ability, discarding the energy card in your hand, and draw two cards.

In this scenario, we depend on our deck, and we need to act carefully to set up our game plan:

1) Place Magnemite sv2 65 as the active Pokémon and play Battle VIP Pass FST 225 to look for another Magnemite sv2 65 and a Radiant Greninja ASR 46.

2) Play Irida ASR 147 to look for a Lumineon V PR-SW SWSH250 and a Rare Candy PGO 69.

3) Use Radiant Greninja ASR 46's ability, discarding Basic Lightning Energy sv1 257, and draw more cards.

4) If the cards you drew weren't good, activate Lumineon V PR-SW SWSH250's ability and look for Adaman ASR 135 by discarding two Metal Energy SUM 163 from your hand to look for any two cards you want in your deck.

In this scenario, the situation is a bit complicated, and you need to be wise when choosing your plays:

1) Put Iron Hands ex sv4 70 in play and equip Future Booster Energy Capsule sv4 164 straight away to zero its retreat cost.

2) Play Adaman ASR 135 discarding two Metal Energy SUM 163 to look for any two cards you want in your deck. Specifically, get Origin Forme Dialga V ASR 113 and Mew ex sv3pt5 151 (or Radiant Greninja ASR 46).

3) After adding them to your bench, use Mew ex sv3pt5 151's ability to draw cards. If you can't draw anything efficient, use Iono sv4pt5 80 to renew your hand.

Did you like these deck suggestions? Which one interested you the most? What would you change in them? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section.

Thank you for reading this far.

See you next time!