[WOTC-GLC] Control Deck Theory + Key Trainer Overview

I've recently gotten into watching the streams of (actually, primarily listening, but Pokémon is like baseball in that regard) gym leader challenge (GLC) tournaments. I particularly enjoyed one event featuring a "Colorless Control" deck centered around this Ursaluna card, which has the ability to recur two cards from the discard pile with a single attack. In a singleton format (just one of each card is allowed) this is incredibly powerful, and with enough maneuvering lets you shut the opponent out of playing, often by trapping something un-retreatable in the active or healing off whatever damage is dealt, at which point you can try to take prizes, deck them out, or even bench out. A good explanation of the strategy is found here, though I'm not sure it's the exact same decklist. I've also encountered a cool deck for the RS-PK format (Generation 3, not singleton) called "ratlock" which makes use of this Raticate card's incredible ability to recover resources. An in-depth explanation of the decklist and strategy is found here, but similar vibes to the Ursaluna deck.

Even ignoring the power-crept HP & damage on Ursaluna, the effects of these attacks (if legal) would make any Base-Fossil player start visibly salivating.

So naturally when folks on the Pokémon 1999 discord started discussing the prospect of "WOTC-GLC" the same week, I started to wonder: is there enough functionality in the old WOTC cards for a control deck? Here's (roughly) the ruleset:

• Legal cards Base set - Skyridge, English only.
• No Baby Pokémon (too dominant for setup, not distributed well between types)
• No Crystal Pokémon (ambiguous typing)
• Bans: Chaos Gym, N1 Slowking (I think because these are broken on TCG One but hey)
• Decks are 60 cards for 6 prize games. 
• Only one of each card with the same name allowed in a deck, except for basic energy.
• Only one printing of Mankey is allowed, for example, but you can have JU Mankey, Blaine's Mankey, and Brock's Mankey 67 in your deck.
• You may also have JU Primeape and Dark Primeape, for example, but only one Mankey to evolve (one evolution may be unused).
• Each deck must contain only 1 type of Pokémon.
• This puts a soft ban on Dark and Metal types for the moment.
• Usage of errata and other rulings TBD!

This is a slower format, with a lot of otherwise broken combos disrupted by the lack of consistency (you can't run full playsets of your favorite Pokémon or draw trainers) and resources-at-hand (limited search, and discarding something might be the last time you see it!). This seems like a situation ripe for some control shenanigans. Let's start by thinking about what functionalities a control deck needs. I'll call out important Trainers related to each category, but I might do a full trainer evaluation at a later date. (By the way, there are similar and excellent reviews of trainers and strategies for the Prop 15/3 format here and here, which has some commonalities in that it also deals with card count restrictions.)  

Recursion
Very difficult but very important. Trainer cards are the best way to immediately put the opponent at a disadvantage. Most turns your opponent will make incremental progress, and you just have to reset that frequently enough to win. Recursion lets you use your best tricks several times, ideally choosing the trainers that counter your opponent's current approach. There are only five cards that re-use a spent trainer, and only Item Finder has a guaranteed effect. (The total expected value is 2.75 recursions.) Note that Recycle and Trash Exchange are also the only "universal" recursion cards. Most decks will probably play a subset of these, so budget for your opponent having ~2 possible recursions for all their trainer functionalities. If you can use recursion from your Pokémon to repeat power trainer effects, you can run your opponent out of resources and take control of the game.

Since you are relying on certain Pokémon, you may have to recur them as well, which is fortunately easier than recurring trainers. Pokémon can be brought back directly into play with a few cards, Revive and Max Revive being the most reliable. (The expected value is 2.75 recursions for a basic or 1.625 recursions for an evolution.) Practically, damaged Pokémon are also recoverable from play by means of Super Scoop Up or other trainers, which also avoids conceding a prize, but sometimes things end up the discard despite our best plans. Pokémon attacks or abilities that can return 2+ Pokémon to the hand are therefore impactful to use even once!

Recovery of Pokémon to the deck is less costly but also competes with the recovery of basic energy. In recurring a single target Pokémon, these cards are all equivalent (expected value of 1 recursion each) so to maximize value, multiple Pokémon can be used to fill the same roles. Most decks will likely run at least Nightly Garbage Run and Town Volunteers, recovering 8 total Pokémon and/or basic energy. Between the immediate and deck-search recursion options, your opponent will likely be able to keep at least one of their key pieces 'live' if they are willing to spend for it (in lost energy recovery, deck slots, and consistency cards to dig it out of the deck). Therefore you will likely have to cope with at least part of your opponent's combo functioning at any given moment. Since you’ll also want to use these when you can to save resources, it would be good to have stalling power to wait for re-drawing your tools.

Non-competitive (with Pokémon) energy recursion is available from several cards. The expected value of the finite cards is ~13.5, with Energy Stadium being an unbounded source. This does not consider cards that are able to conserve energy on the board like EXP.ALL, Ecogym, or Energy Flow. Overall, it is unlikely to run a prepared opponent out of energy in deck, so removals should be used in coordination with attacking pressure and/or disruption to limit energy in hand and force the use of consistency cards. 

Special energy, however, has almost no dedicated recovery, leaving Energy Charge and Power Charge as the only options. In fact -- ruling pending -- these may become mutually exclusive in the format! Relying on special energy thus poses a risk, so being able to recur it through Pokemon becomes a huge advantage. The exception to this is Recycle Energy, which is self-recurring, and should probably be in every deck just for paying retreat costs alone. Unless you discard it intentionally, you'll always have at least one energy in hand.

Watch out for the following cards in setting up your recursion strategy. These strongly limit the ability to re-use cards in the discard!

Gusting

You will need time to carry out your tricks and (if early) set up your combo pieces or (if late) begin the threat of deckout. One of the best ways to buy time is to gust something like JU Rhyhorn or BS Alakazam (3 retreat, max 30 damage, high cost attacks) into the active facing one of your Pokémon with the corresponding resistance. Gusting is also useful for taking a quick knockout on a bench sitter or a big attacker building up. Gusting is available through just 5 cards (if metal types are ever added, six), though note that Warp Point and Cyclone Energy are "Whirlwinds" that allow your opponent to select the new active. Even if your opponent is able to retreat into their preferred active, hopefully they spent some of their energy, perhaps their attachment for turn, or a switching card.

There are a limited number of outs to a good gust. Decks will likely play the six cards below for switching options. However, your opponent may use up their Warp Point and Double Gust for gusting and their Scoop Up for KO prevention, so you may only have to burn a few of their switches before they are stuck with manual retreating. Note that Balloon Berry is a “soft” switch and is restricted by other anti-retreat measures. These are probably the best available options, but there are a few other retreat-assisters which could be added in specific decks, like Lt. Surge or Super Scoop Up. 

Overall, there are ~4.5 gust effects and ~6 commonly used switching cards. To start getting Pokemon to "stick" in the active, or at least force retreats, you could incorporate additional gust effects from Pokémon to save on trainer recursion. Alternatively, many Pokémon have "snare" abilities which limit manual retreating. This is a good way to force your opponent to burn switching cards even if they use many free retreaters. (In fact, a deck with many free retreaters may be ultimately easier to lock as they may have chosen to play fewer switch cards!) There are several stadiums with a similar effect, though note you will also be subject to the restrictions. Stadiums will likely be hotly contested, as they are sort of a “naturally recurring” trainer card, which can add a lot of consistency to this inconsistent format.

Switching

You need to match your defender to their attacker. Besides just weakness and resistance, you probably have a different “answer” to Blastoise versus Lapras in your deck. You’ll probably want to have some of the same switching cards as your opponent, plus an edge if possible. Free retreaters ("pivots"), attackers that can move to the bench, and powers that assist retreating are worth their weight in gold. 

Disabling

Getting a Pokémon stuck is half the battle - now you need to keep it from taking prizes. There are several routes to disabling an attacker and ideally you can try all of them. The classic approach is (Super) Energy Removal. Without recursion these cards net maybe ~4 energies removed, which is good but outmatched by energy recovery. (There is also Thought Wave Machine, but, uh, yeah.) This is why it’s probably good to supplement with removal from Pokémon and try to get them to waste energy retreating. Keep in mind an apparently removal’d Pokémon may still have a one-energy attack through a technical machine, or if it is an evolution, recall, memory berry, or N3 Aerodactyl. Energy Removal is also not a perfect strategy so long as cards like Brock's Protection exist. As for removing tools, only one currently unusable trainer can, so that is a Pokémon-exclusive effect.

Paralysis, confusion, and to a lesser degree sleep will prevent attacks. If used early in the match, they may prompt using a switch card. Poison and burn are trickier. They require a more immediate response from the opponent (good) and threaten a KO (good) but might also remove the only high-retreat Pokémon from their board (bad), so use carefully. Although ignored in “normal” formats, Full Heal, Full Heal Energy, and possibly Miracle Berry might become worthwhile inclusions to save on switches. (I doubt Heal Powder will make many lists.) Pokémon can also inflict a number of unique status conditions like Amnesia, Leer, or Smokescreen, not treatable by Full Heal or similar.

If you are unable to actually disable the attacker, you may be able to mitigate its damage or discourage attacking using one of the trainers below. The most impactful is probably Focus Band, as it can "block" an unlimited amount of damage, but it is also somewhat unreliable. Metal energy is also excellent as a permanent defensive/anti-recoil which does not occupy the tool slot, but is a prime target for removal and difficult to recover. In addition, there are several protective attacks and powers used by Pokémon, like Agility, Harden, Invisible Wall, or Minimize, which can slow or mitigate the progress of an attacker. Successful use of these abilities may buy several turns to re-draw into recurred trainer cards. 

Healing

Attempts to disable the opponent’s Pokémon will not be completely successful. Use of healing trainers is important to erase incremental progress made by your opponent. If you are going to accumulate damage, it's important not to leave any of your attackers within KO range. There are four universal cards which can add damage before an attack with an maximum value of +40 (expected +35). Pokémon with a tool already attached won't be able to use Strength Charm, so subtract 10 from your mental math there. Darkness Energy also has a severe drawback for non-Dark Pokemon. Playing around a possible +20 or even +10 from listed damage is likely sufficient, keeping in mind the possible evolutions from the current board. Note this number changes when facing Misty's, Lt. Surge's, or Koga's Pokémon or relying on resistance.

There are tons of trainer cards that remove damage counters. The most impactful (and the cards you'll want to re use) are shown below; these offer a lot of healing for their cost, especially if you are stalling with low energy counts on the board. KO-denial cards like Scoop Up or Mr. Fuji are also excellent. Since this is a slower and limited format, there may be opportunities to make use of weaker cards like Potion or Brock. Additionally, since a main goal with healing could be to maintain a lock, cards that heal the opponent as well (Erika's Kindness, Healing Field) may actually be useful to prevent your opponent breaking the lock by self knockout. Keep in mind this healing has to be used with other disabling strategies or Pokémon-based healing, as there is simply not enough to soak a strong attacker (50+ damage/attack) for an entire game, even with recursion.

Disruption

You won't always have the best position. You can recur your tricks eventually, but your opponent might have something really good set up and they just need to play a few cards from their hands to seal the deal. Or you're just about to win by prizes and need to make sure they don't have any outs. Or they just stacked their deck with Oracle and you'd rather not have them draw whatever that is. That's when you use disruption to shuffle their hand (or just some cards) back to their deck. There are several cards that can disrupt, but these are the most prominent options for giving them a small hand to work with afterwards. (There's also Tickling Machine, but this is more of a milling card when combined with Imposter Professor Oak, since they will get those cards back fairly quickly.) The Rocket's Trap might be a riskier card in a 'normal' deck, but paired with recursion it has more potential. Disruption alone is not going to win the game, and is actually counter-productive from a stall standpoint (you're refilling their deck!), so make sure you have more deck-refilling options than your opponent. You want to use the advantage from disruption to (1) remove key board pieces or (2) apply pressure so that your opponent uses consistency cards to go digging for what you knocked out of their hand. Both of these are accomplished by pairing disruption with threats (see below). A few Pokémon have mild disruption abilities, but your main effects will be from these trainers. 

Threats

The ideal control deck has the ability to respond to the opponent's slow play by starting to take prizes and apply pressure. To that end, you will need Pokemon that are capable of significant damage output (50+) or at least threatening significant output. Think of a Scyther using swords dance with one energy attached - no damage dealt, but your opponent has to play like there's 60 damage coming down the pipe. A few high-damage attackers also lets you knock out your opponent's key supporting Pokémon. There aren't really any trainer cards that suddenly deal 50+ damage (thankfully), but multi-energy cards, Energy Switch, or Pokémon that enable energy acceleration/transportation can lead to a powerful surprise attack. (Your deck, with recursion, is in an excellent spot to use powerful cards like Boost Energy!) Leaving a threat Pokémon in play partially energized will draw your opponent's fire as they continually try to disable it, giving you time to set up other lines of strategy

Consistency & Refill

Like any Pokémon deck, you're going to need to find cards to play them. There are too many cards that let you draw and search for cards to list in the current post. But below are some of the best, reliable cards for draw power. There are a few Pokémon that have supplementary draw power, and it doesn't take much for to replace the effect of a Bill, for instance, so it may be prudent to save your draw card slots for the most impactful. For some of the cards where your opponent can also draw, like Erika, or Lucky Stadium, or any of the Blaine's Quizzes, you can use these as a soft milling tactic.

And some of the best cards for deck search. You'll need search cards because (1) search by Pokémon is somewhat limited and (2) you might need to find a card to quickly respond to keep things under control. Search is also often as good as draw, because you can go search for your draw cards when you actually need them.

These are some great cards for draw power as well (along with Desert Shaman from earlier in a pinch), but they share a unique property. With a large hand accumulated, they will lead to a net refill of your deck. This supplements the direct recovery of Pokémon and energy by trainers from above to prevent decking out. If you want to deck out your opponent, you've got to keep track of how many of these refill cards have been used. Ideally, make them use these cards with small hands, leading to net draw from the deck and restricting their late-game plays.

One more thing...

Here Comes Team Rocket! Is probably going to be very important for looking at prizes in a singleton format, unless your deck has another way to do that. That said, your opponent might play it too and then you get all the benefit, so it's a bit of a game of chicken to see who will make the deck space.

Outlook for control decks

There is surprisingly little redundancy among the trainer set for impactful tricks like energy removal, gusting, and special energy recovery. There are also a few ways to set up long-lasting lock situations with limited escape cards. The major challenges I forsee are (1) surviving the early game and finding the key pieces to setup and (2) establishing loops without heavy reliance on coin flips. The two most promising types for control decks are probably colorless and psychic. For my next posts, I'll review the different functionalities of the Pokémon of those types to get ideas on how to structure such a deck.