The Big Four of Pokemon Reveal Explosive Walker Deck Lists

Please find the original Japanese-language article here. Note my translation is not a perfect translation and I have rearranged and reworded some parts of the original article for clarity and readability. Find also some explanatory comments inside square brackets, italicised. This website is in no way affiliated with Pokemon, Nintendo, Creatures Inc or GAME FREAK inc, and claims no rights to the original article. 

Note: The ‘Big Four’ is an officially recognised title of outstanding performance. Currently, the Big Four players of Japan are (from left to right): Shintaro Ito, Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, Daichi Shimura and Keito Arai. 

In this article, deck lists featuring cards from the new mini set, Explosive Walker, will be introduced.

Shintaro Ito: Centiskorch VMAX

This is a deck I would recommend to people who get their hands on the feature card of Explosive Walker, Centiskorch VMAX! You can attach lots of Energy using cards like Electrode GX or Welder and then use Max Centiferno to knock out your opponent’s Pokemon!

Key Points

This is a deck that aims to make the most of two Centiskorch VMAX per game. Since there’ll be no Pokemon with Abilities in play [Note: Electrode GX is discarded immediately after its Ability has been used], I built this deck using a Green’s Exploration engine. By using Electrode GX’s Ability, Extra Energy Bomb, you can attach many Energy to Centiskorch VMAX at once. Not only can you attach Basic Energy with this Ability, you can also attach Special Energy, so you should use Professor’s Research aggressively in the early game! If Centiskorch VMAX is damaged, you can heal it using Mallow & Lana or Great Potion.

Feature Cards

Electrode GX

 

You can accelerate Energy with the Ability Extra Energy Bomb. While this means your opponent can take two Prize cards, attacking with Centiskorch VMAX should solve your problems [Note: Your opponent will need to knock out two Centiskorch VMAX regardless], so it’s fine to use the Ability.

Heat Energy

You can take advantage of VMAX Pokemon having high HP even further with this card. The effect stacks, so you can attach multiple of these to increase Centiskorch VMAX’s strength more and more!

Lillie’s PokeDoll

You can put this card in play as if it were a Pokemon. You can use this card to buy time when your set up is a little slow.

Deck List

Yamaguchi Yoshiyuki: Butterfree VMAX

I wanted to make a deck using Butterfree VMAX’s Max Poison Wind to Poison and Confuse my opponent’s Pokemon.

Key Points

While you are powering up Butterfree VMAX by attaching Energy to it, you should use Pokemon Research Lab to set up Lileep and Omanyte.

Once you evolve into Cradily and Omastar, you should use Butterfree V’s Dizzying Poison or Butterfree VMAX’s Max Poison Wind to combine Special Conditions and restrict your opponent’s moves.

To be able to attack with Butterfree VMAX for an extended time, you can use Mallow & Lana or Life Forest Prism Star to recover HP, Big Charm to increase HP or Weakness Energy to protect against Fire Pokemon.

Feature Cards

Omastar

I ran this card to ensure that my opponent could not use any Item cards. This is mainly for stopping Switch to maximise the advantage gained by Butterfree VMAX’s Special Conditions. You can also use Scoop Up Net to decrease the number of Pokemon in play.

Cradily

I ran this card to ensure that Pokemon affected by Special Conditions would not be able to retreat. If used in combination with Omastar, all your opponent can do is attack. It’s also useful if your opponent has Jirachi in their deck, as they cannot retreat after they have used Stellar Wish.

Tag Call

With this card, you can search for Pheromosa & Buzzwole GX, Guzma & Hala and Mallow & Lana, so it can be useful in all throughout the game. This is a card you definitely want to find with Jirachi’s Stellar Wish.

Deck List

Daichi Shimada: Gardevoir VMAX

Gardevoir VMAX has high HP and a healing attack, Max Cure. It can surely hold its own, even in tough battles against other VMAX Pokemon. I’ve included many other healing cards, so that the deck is not reliant on only Max Cure!

Key Points

Gardevoir VMAX has incredibly high bulk. This endurance can be extended by using Items which recover HP, such as Strange Can, which is particularly synergistic. Using it in combination with Malamar’s Psychic Recharge is especially strong. Instead of running Jirachi, I have replaced those slots with recovery cards. These cards can be used in combination with disruption cards like Marnie and Trevenant & Dusknoir GX, allowing Gardevoir VMAX to be used for longer.

Feature Cards

Lillie’s PokeDoll

You want to use this card aggressively in the early game, before you have set up Gardevoir VMAX. Keep in mind that if you have Lillie’s PokeDoll on the bench, you can retreat Gardevoir VMAX and then discard Lillie’s PokeDoll immediately, allowing you to promote Gardevoir VMAX again.

Indeedee V

This is mainly used to heal Gardevoir VMAX, but it actually has another important role. It can counter Centiskorch VMAX, which has the potential to one-shot Gardevoir VMAX. Centiskorch VMAX’s damage output increases with the Energy attached to it, but Indeedee V’s damage also increases with the number of Energy attached to the opposing Pokemon.

Trevenant & Dusknoir GX

Gardevoir VMAX is weak to Metal Pokemon, so it has a hard time against Zacian V decks. Though Trevenant & Dusknoir GX and Gardevoir VMAX are both Psychic types, they have different weaknesses, so I decided to run it as a secondary attacker. At key points it can be a trump card, as you can use its GX attack to get rid of all your opponent’s Energy.

Deck List

Keito Arai: Galarian Stunfisk V

The main feature of Galarian Stunfisk V is that it has an attack, Trap Bite, that causes your opponent’s Pokemon to receive damage themselves when attacking. For this deck to function, you must force your opponent into attacking Galarian Stunfisk V. I built the deck with the concept that Galarian Stunfisk V would be the sole attacker, and I therefore minimised the number of other Pokemon while including Lillie’s PokeDoll.

Key Points

Essentially, this deck is one that tries to disrupt your opponent’s strategies. While reducing the damage done by your opponent, you can set up your board. While aggressively denying your opponent Energy through Crushing Hammer and Lucario & Melmetal GX’s Full Metal Wall GX, you can set up Galarian Stunfisk V. Since Full Metal Wall GX can also reduce damage, you want to use this as quickly as possible. Oranguru has been included to reuse Crushing Hammers so you can disrupt your opponent’s board multiple times.

Feature Cards

Lucario & Melmetal GX

Full Metal Wall GX is incredibly useful, and you should always be thinking about when you can pursue this line of play. If you use it against an opposing Pokemon with many Energy attached, you can even turn around a bad situation.

Marnie

This card disrupts your opponent’s hand and forces them to return it to the bottom of their deck, so I ran four copies. If you use Marnie at the same time you use Full Metal Wall GX, you can force your opponent to dig for a switching card.

Lillie’s PokeDoll

You definitely want to get this card out before one of your Pokemon is knocked out. Even if your opponent can take down Lillie’s PokeDoll, they can’t take a Prize, so it’s useful for buying time. You can use this extra time to play Metal Saucer and set up your benched Pokemon. It’s a pretty situation-dependent card.

Deck List

Please find the original Japanese-language article here.