There were intense games in Ursiiday’s Pocket Weekly tournament, and we witnessed Golem Druddigon Marshadow win it all. This was our first major tournament in the Mythical Island meta, so players were trying out their new builds and testing them in a competitive atmosphere.
The fighting deck has no Ex Pokemon, so it’s perfect for both Ex and No Ex tournaments. It also forces the opposing player to knock out three of your Pokemon to get the win.
Golem Druddigon Marshadow Decklist
Pokémon: 10
2 Geodude A1 147
2 Graveler A1a 44
2 Golem A1a 45
2 Druddigon A1a 56
1 Hitmonlee A1 154
1 Marshadow A1a 47
Trainer: 10
2 Brock A1 224
2 Leaf A1a 68
2 Professor's Research P-A 7
1 Giovanni A1 223
2 Poké Ball P-A 5
1 Potion P-A 1How to Play
Early Druddigon
We’re using Druddigon in the early game to tank hits and buy us time as evolve Geodude and Graveler. Druddigon‘s Rough Skin ability can dish damage back when attacked. Every time Druddigon takes damage, the opponent’s attacker will take 20 damage from Rough Skin. We won’t even use Dragon Claw in this deck, we’re mostly using Druddigon for the early tanking.
Golem Win condition
Having Geodude in play as early as possible is great for our strategy, but we usually want him on the Bench so he’s not in threat of getting knocked out. Evolving him into Graveler makes him a lot tankier, the 100 HP Pokemon won’t easily get one shot in the early game. Lunge Out attack isn’t that frightening, but it can be nice to deal chip damage and weaken an opponent’s Pokemon.
Evolving Graveler into Golem is where things get interesting. 160 HP is a massive tank for opponents to deal with, but Golem has more up his sleeves when it comes to being a tanky wall. Guard Press deals 120 damage, great for knocking out low HP or damaged Pokemon, but when activated, Golem will take 30 less damage from attacks on the upcoming turn. This will force the opposing player to attack more to knock out Golem, which gives you more turns to activate Guard Press and get the Match Points you need to win the game.
Guard Press costing 4 Energy is expensive and can be slow, luckily we have Supporter card, Brock to help speed things up.
Brock synergizes with Golem, allowing you to take a Fighting Energy from your Energy Zone and attach it to Golem. This speeds up your game plan, giving you an opportunity to start attacking a turn earlier and benefiting from the -30 damage protection on Golem.
Other Damage Dealers
The list has two other Pokemon to support Golem in dealing damage, Marshadow and Hitmonlee find use in different scenarios.
Marshadow is perfect when Druddigon is knocked out, capable of going to the Active spot and using Revenge to deal 100 damage. Marshadow shines just when one of your Pokemon is knocked out, allowing you to go for a high-damage attack.
As for Hitmonlee, he only needs 1 Fighting Energy to activate Stretch Kick. Stretch Kick only deals 30 damage, but it targets the opponent’s Benched Pokemon, perfect if they have a low HP Pokemon trying to hide on the Bench.
Marshadow and Hitmonlee can also be useful to tank in the early game, as they’re easy to retreat whenever they’re low on HP.
Battle Cards
Since Geodude, Graveler, Golem, and Druddigon have a high retreat cost, Leaf is perfect to retreat them back to the Bench and have
Giovanni gives an extra 10 damage to your attack, perfect if you’re missing 10 damage to knock out a Pokemon.
Potion is great to prevent one of your Pokemon from getting knocked out on the upcoming turn. It can be great when used on Golem with the combination of guard Press’ -30 damage protection.
Draw Value
Play Professor’s Research, a Supporter card that allows you to draw two cards, early in the game when you don’t need to play other Supporter cards like Sabrina or Giovanni.
Poke Ball draws you a Basic Pokemon, helping you find your Basic Pokemon and thin out your deck to find the cards you need.
