Pokémon TCG - Expanded Deck Tech: Celebi & Venusaur TAG TEAM-GX + Yanmega ex

Greetings! Today, we'll explore a Grass list with Yanmega ex DRI 3 and Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1! The idea is to use Yanmega ex's ability (which we can use when we move it from our bench to the active spot) to attach energies to Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1, our main attacker!

This list also plays a few tools to heal and make your Pokémon even more resilient. Let's dive right in!

Decklist

Yanmega ex: The Main Way to Attach Energies

This Pokémon is interesting because of its ability and the combo we can set up with it and its attack. This is how it works:

Buzzing Boost lets us, when we move it from our bench to the active spot, get 3 Basic Grass Energy sv2 278 from our deck and attach them to Yanmega ex.

After that, we can use its attack, Jet Cyclone, to deal 150 base damage and move these 3 Basic Grass Energy sv2 278 to our benched Pokémon.

This explosive way to move and attach energies is how we'll set up Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1 efficiently.

Celebi & Venusaur TAG TEAM-GX: The Main Attacker

Its attack, Pollen Hazard, is the heart of this entire strategy. With it, we'll sabotage our opponent with special conditions. In particular, making enemy Pokémon Confused is extremely efficient because, if the opponent tries to attack with them, they'll have to flip a coin. If they get "tails", their Pokémon will have to take 30 damage.

Besides Confused, they'll also be Burned and Poisoned, which is useful but not as useful as Confusion.

Celebi & Venusaur's second attack, Solar Beam, deals a considerable amount of damage: 150.

As for its GX attack, Evergreen, it also deals a considerable amount of damage (180) and heals all of its HP. If we use an extra energy, besides all of this, it will also recycle all the cards in our discard pile and shuffle them back into our deck.

Keep in mind that we can't use GX attacks more than once per match.

Iron Leaves ex: Alternative Attacker

This Pokémon's ability, Rapid Vernier, lets us swap it with our active Pokémon when we play it on our bench. If we do, we can also move energies attached to our other Pokémon directly to Iron Leaves ex.

We'll mostly use it to protect Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1 if it is about to be knocked out. This way, we'll be able to recycle any Grass energies already in play by moving them to Iron Leaves ex. Then, we can use its attack, Prism Edge.

Combos

Yanmega ex + Celebi & Venusaur TAG TEAM-GX Combo

1) First, we'll start with any Pokémon in our active spot and keep our Yanma DRI 2 on our bench.

2) Then, we'll evolve a benched Yanma DRI 2 into Yanmega ex DRI 3 and use Switch SUM 132 to put it in our active spot. This way, we can use its ability, Buzzing Boost, straightaway.

3) We'll then attach energies to Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1 with Yanmega ex's attack and retreat it to put Celebi & Venusaur in our active spot. Now that it is our main attacker, we can start putting pressure on the opponent.

Celebi & Venusaur TAG TEAM-GX + Iron Leaves ex Combo

1) If Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1 takes too much damage and we have Iron Leaves ex PR-SV 128 in hand, we'll play it on our bench so that we can use its ability and retreat Celebi & Venusaur.

2) Next, we'll use Mallow & Lana CEC 198's effect to retreat Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1, heal it by 120 HP, and move its energies to Iron Leaves ex PR-SV 128. This will be our new attacker.

Healing Combo

In the best-case scenario, we can heal one of our Pokémon by up to 200 HP if we use all the cards below in a single turn:

1) Life Forest ◇ LOT 180 heals 60 HP.

2) Radiant Tsareena SIT 16's ability heals another 20 HP.

3) Mallow & Lana CEC 198's second effect heals another 120 HP.

Recursive Pokémon

► Radiant Tsareena SIT 16's ability, Elegant Heal, heals all our Pokémon by 20 HP.

► Kricketune V BST 6's ability, Exciting Stage, lets us draw up to 3 cards if it is on our bench. If we put it on our active spot, we can draw up to 4 cards. Furthermore, we can use Forest Seal Stone SIT 156 on Kricketune V BST 6 and use its VStar ability.

► We can only use Squawkabilly ex PR-SV 160's ability, Squawk and Seize, on the first turn and if it is our turn. This ability lets us discard our entire hand and draw 6 new cards.

Trainers

Supporter to Retreat and Heal Pokémon at the Same Time

This card does two things:

1) It retreats our active Pokémon.

2) If we discard two cards from our hand, besides retreating our Pokémon, it heals it by 120 HP.

It is one of our key Supporters, as it is a crucial part of the Yanmega ex DRI 3 combo.

Supporter to Get Items and Tools

In this strategy, we'll use this card to get Bug Catching Set PRE 102, Ultra Ball sv1 196, Quick Ball FST 237, and Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146. As for tools, we should get Fighting Fury Belt BKP 99, which is great with Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1.

Supporter to Swap Benched and Active Pokémon

This card is also crucial because it lets us move our Pokémon around, so it is particularly useful in the Yanmega ex DRI 3 combos.

Items to Get Pokémon

► Bug Catching Set PRE 102 lets us get Grass Pokémon and also Grass energies from our deck. With it, we'll have no trouble setting them up.

► Ultra Ball sv1 196 gets any Pokémon (evolution or basic) from our deck if we discard 2 cards in our hand.

► Quick Ball FST 237 lets us get any basic Pokémon from our deck if we discard 1 card from our hand.

► Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146 lets us look for basic Pokémon in our Prize cards. If we find any, we can put this item in the Prize card pile and put the Pokémon we want in our hand.

Since this list only plays one copy of some recursive Pokémon, we'll need this card to make sure they are in our hand and not anywhere else. This list actually plays 2 copies of this item.

Item to Heal

Items to Recycle Cards

► Super Rod sv2 188 recycles a combination of 3 cards in our discard pile - both Pokémon and basic energies.

► Energy Recycler DRI 164 recycles 5 basic energies from the discard pile and shuffles them back into our deck. With it, we'll be able to use our 9 basic energies as efficiently as possible.

► Pal Pad SSH 172 lets us recycle up to 2 Supporters from our discard pile and shuffles them back into our deck.

► VS Seeker PHF 109 is the most important item in this list because it recycles 1 Supporter from our discard pile and puts it in our hand.

Tools

► Forest Seal Stone SIT 156 is better on Kricketune V BST 6, as we can use its VStar ability to look for any card in our deck.

► Fighting Fury Belt BKP 99 makes Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1 more resilient because it gives it 40 extra HP and makes it deal 10 extra damage. This way, Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1 will have 310 HP instead of 270!

Stadiums

► Life Forest ◇ LOT 180 heals a Grass Pokémon by 60 HP and removes all special conditions affecting it.

► Aether Paradise Conservation Area GRI 116 makes your Grass Pokémon take 30 less damage. With it, Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1 will be even more resilient.

ACE SPEC

This card is just like Guzma BUS 115, but it is an Item instead of a Supporter.

Pros

This list easily knocks out "baby" Pokémon and some Pokémon-GX, Pokémon ex, and Pokémon V if they have up to 180 HP, such as Dedenne-GX UNB 57, Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60a, Crobat V PR-SW SWSH110, Lumineon V PR-SW SWSH250, and Squawkabilly ex PR-SV 160.

It heals quite a lot, so our Pokémon will be quite tough to knock out. Aether Paradise Conservation Area GRI 116, for instance, protects Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1 a little bit.

Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1 needs a lot of energies to retreat, but this list actually has many ways to move Pokémon around, so this won't be an issue.

Finally, it should be strong against Charizard ex svp 196, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex DRI 136, and Cynthia's Garchomp ex DRI 104 because all of these Pokémon are weak against Grass Pokémon.

Cons

Fire archetypes are quite problematic for this list because they're strong against Grass Pokémon. This list also doesn't play any tools or special energies to disable this natural weakness.

Water decks that deal a lot of damage for just a few energies, like Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR ASR 40 and Suicune V EVS 31, are quite challenging.

Mewtwo & Mew-GX UNM 71 and Glaceon-EX FCO 20 are difficult opponents for this list because Glaceon's second attack prevents evolution Pokémon from dealing damage (which disables Yanmega ex DRI 3). Jolteon-EX GEN 28's second attack also prevents basic Pokémon from dealing damage (which disables Celebi & Venusaur-GX TEU 1).

Finally, this Regidrago VStar list should be quite difficult to face as well.

With Yanmega ex DRI 3, this deck has become an interesting option for Expanded, and I believe not many players have explored it yet. Before, we moved energies around with Rillaboom SHF 13, but stage 2 Pokémon rely too much on Rare Candy to work, so it's nice to see a different version seeing play.

Other classic options played cards that doubled how much energy we'd get from each card, such as Venusaur SLG 3, and, more recently, Meganium MEG 10. However, they had the same problem with Rare Candy as Rillaboom SHF 13. Now that we have Yanmega ex DRI 3, we have more space to play other cards and make this strategy even more diverse.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!