The Gholdengo Palkia deck made an impressive showing at the Pokémon TCG Regionals in Dortmund, finishing in 3rd place. This is remarkable for an off-meta deck that we rarely see. The deck’s strategy revolves around discarding Energy cards to boost Gholdengo‘s damage and includes ways to retrieve those Energy cards back into your hand.
Decklist
Pokémon: 14
3 Gimmighoul PAR 88
1 Gimmighoul PAR 87
4 Gholdengo ex PAR 139
1 Origin Forme Palkia V ASR 39
1 Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR ASR 40
1 Bidoof CRZ 111
1 Bibarel BRS 121
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
Trainer: 36
3 Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145
2 Boss's Orders PAL 172
2 Irida ASR 147
2 Iono PAL 185
1 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171
4 Superior Energy Retrieval PAL 189
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
2 Ultra Ball SVI 196
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
1 Canceling Cologne ASR 136
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
1 Switch SVI 194
1 Energy Retrieval SVI 171
1 PokéStop PGO 68
1 Jamming Tower TWM 153
Energy: 10
6 Water Energy SVE 11
4 Metal Energy SVE 16How to Play
This deck relies on Gholdengo ex as its primary damage dealer, discarding Energy cards for stronger attacks. Unlike other decks, the Gholdengo deck doesn’t need to attach multiple Energy cards to the attacker; instead, you discard them to increase damage. The list includes several cards to retrieve those discarded Energy cards back into your hand from the discard pile to discard them again.
Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR is the second damage dealer if Gholdengo ex is knocked out. You can Attach discarded Energy through its ability to activate Subspace Swell to knock out a Pokemon and win you the game.
Main Win Condition
Gholdengo ex is the main win condition, using its Make it Rain attack, which requires only 1 Metal Energy to activate. The attack’s damage is boosted by discarding Basic Energy cards from your hand — each Energy discarded adds 50 more damage. So it’s important to discard just enough Energy cards to knock out a Pokemon. This also means you’ll end up with many Energy cards in our discard pile, and your list needs to include cards that can put Energy cards from the discard pile into your hand.
Gholdengo ex also has the Coin Bonus ability, which lets you draw cards: one if it’s on the Bench and two if it’s in the Active Spot. This is a draw engine, ensuring you don’t run out of resources easily, and helps you find cards to draw more Energy cards to continue with your attacks.
To set up Gholdengo ex, you need to have Gimmighoul in play a turn earlier. With 4 copies of Gimmighoul and several search cards like Nest Ball, setting up Gholdengo ex early should be easy to achieve.
Draw Engines
The deck includes three additional Pokémon to supplement card draw, so you’re not relying solely on Gholdengo ex’s Coin Bonus.
Bibarel can be a bit trickier to set up since it evolves from Bidoof. However, once it’s in play, you can use Bibarel‘s Industrious Incisors ability to draw cards until you have five cards in your hand. To maximize this ability, try to play as many cards from your hand as possible beforehand, allowing you to draw more with Industrious Incisors.
Radiant Greninja provides another draw option with its Concealed Cards ability, which allows you to discard an Energy card from your hand to draw two cards. Discarding an Energy also supports the deck’s strategy, as you have ways to recover those Energy cards later.
Lastly, Fezandipti ex can sit on the bench and watch over your Active Pokémon, ready to use its Flip the Script ability when one of your Pokémon is knocked out, allowing you to draw three cards. Fezandipti ex doesn’t need to be on the bench when the knockout happens—you can play it from your hand afterward and still activate Flip the Script to draw cards.
Earthen Vessel is a useful card for drawing two Basic Energy cards to kickstart your strategy. However, you need to discard a card to activate it, so it’s best to choose a card you don’t plan to play or need the least or an Energy card you plan on retrieving from the discard pile.
Irida allows you to draw a Water Pokémon—such as Radiant Greninja or Palkia—along with an Item card. The choice of Item card depends on the situation, but in most cases, you’ll want one that helps you draw more Energy cards, making Superior Energy Retrieval a likely pick.
Iono is most effective when played early, especially if your opponent has fewer Prize cards remaining than you. Both players place the cards in their hand at the bottom of their deck and then draw a number of cards equal to their remaining Prize cards.
In the late game, Iono can also be used to disrupt your opponent’s hand, especially if they have a lot of cards, reducing their resources significantly.
Although Ciphermaniac’s Codebreaking doesn’t draw cards directly, it allows you to place two cards you choose on top of your deck. This synergizes well with draw cards like PokeStop, Gholdengo ex‘s Coin Bonus, and Radiant Greninja‘s Concealed Cards, enabling you to plan your next turn strategically rather than relying solely on luck.
Discard Pile Value
Since this deck involves discarding Energy cards, you’ll need tools to retrieve them to continue boosting Gholdengo ex‘s Make it Rain damage.
Energy Retrieval allows you to put 2 Basic Energy cards from your discard pile into your hand, effectively increasing Make it Rain’s damage by 100. Superior Energy Retrieval is even more powerful, letting you draw 4 Basic Energy cards, which greatly boosts Gholdengo ex‘s damage output. However, it requires you to discard two cards from your hand to activate and note that you cannot discard Energy cards with it just to retrieve them immediately.
Nightstretcher offers versatility by allowing you to return either a Pokémon or a Basic Energy card from your discard pile to your hand, depending on your needs at that point in the game.
Alternative Win Condition
Palkia VSTAR serves as another win condition, using two basic Water Energy cards to activate its Subspace Swell, which deals 60 base damage plus 20 more damage for each Benched Pokémon on both your side and your opponent’s side. You can boost Subspace Swell’s damage by filling your Bench with more Pokémon.
Additionally, Palkia VSTAR‘s ability, Star Portal, allows you to attach up to 3 Water Energy cards from your discard pile to your Water Pokémon. Since this deck discards a lot of Energy cards, Star Portal is ideal for retrieving and attaching those Energy cards to Palkia VSTAR to power Subspace Swell. Keep in mind that Star Portal is a VSTAR Power, so it can only be used once per game.
Boss’s Orders and Prime Catcher lets you switch one of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon to the Active spot, allowing you to knock out a key Pokemon or a weaker one to win the game.
Prime Catcher forces you to switch your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon, so it might be troublesome for you at times. Switch lets you move your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon, helping you set up to start attacking.