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One of the best cards that arrived alongside the Paradox Rift expansion in thePokemon TCGwas Gholdengo ex. If you play it well, this card can knock out every card in the meta. The sticking point is that it requires discarding several Energy Cards to do so.
To make Gholdengo a great card, you must accompany it with cards that supply it and retrieve the discarded Energy Cards. With the right deck and strategy, though, Gholdengo ex as the potential to reach the so-called S-tier of the meta.
Gholdengo Ex Decklist
This is the list of all the cards you’ll be using when playing this deck:
Gholdengo ex PAR (x4)
Basic (M) Energy (x11)
Gholdengo Ex Deck Key Cards
Out of all the cards shown above, these are the cards you’ll be using the most while using this deck:
Gholdengo
Gholdengois the shining star of this deck.It’s a steel-type card with 260 HP, a bit less than the usual HP for Ex Cards. This means that Gholdengois not designed to be exposed in the Active Spotfor long periods; you must use it only to attack. As it’s a Steel-type Card, it’s weak to Fire-type attacks, but thankfully, the Fire-type does not have a strong presence in the meta.
Gholdengo has an ability,Coin Bonus, which, once every turn,lets you draw a card.But you candraw two if Gholdengo is in the Active Spot.The most important thing about this ability is thatit’s stackable, so if you have four Gholdengos in play, you can draw four cards, or even more, if you have one in the Active Spot.
Its attack isMake It Rain, which costs a single Steel-type Energy Card anddeals 50 damage for each Steel-type Energy Card you discard from your hand.This is a great attack, but it has a major drawback: you need to discard several Energy Cards if you want to reach good damage output. For instance, you need to discard seven Energy Cards to knock out cards like Mew VMAX or Charizard Ex.
But this isn’t a real problem, asGholdengo will have toolsthat will help you draw those cards from the deck and then take them back from the Discard Pile when it needs them again.
Scyther And Scizor
As Gholdengo is not designed to be in the Active Spot for long, you don’t want to risk it during the match’s early stages, hence the inclusion of bothScyther and Scizoron this deck. Aside from beingone-prize cards(so they don’t give the upper hand to your opponent if they defeat them),Scizor is heavily compatible with Gholdengo.
Scizor has an attack namedPunishing Scissors, which costs a single Steel-type Energy Card anddeals ten damage plus 50 for each of your opponent’s cards in play with an Ability.It’s some great damage at a very low cost.
Scyther isn’t behind either, asit’s a card with no retreat cost, so if one of your cards gets knocked out, you’re able to send this one to the Active Spot while working on building your next attacker, and then, if you need Scizor to attack, you can retreat and evolve it easily.
Radiant Greninja
Radiant Greninja will be helpful if you need a specific card but can’t make it appear. This card is a staple in the meta, and it’s because of its ability, Concealed Cards. To proc it, you need todiscard an Energy Card.If you do,you’re able to draw two cards from your deck.
This deck does not use Water-type Energy Cards, soyou won’t use Moonlight Shuriken.
Bidoof & Bibarel
Bidoof, and more importantly,Bibarel, willoffer protection against cards like Iono or Roxanne, which forces you to have hands with just a few cards, which can compromise your strategy.
Bibarel has an ability namedIndustrious Incisors, whichlets you draw cards until you have five in your hand.That’s enough to help yourself if an Iono (or any other card) leaves you without cards to play. The Gholdengos on your bench will help you, too.
Bibarel will be more helpful in the match’s early stagesor when you don’t have Gholdengos on your benchthat can draw cards easily. It can always happen. That’s why these two cards are on the deck.
Battle VIP Pass
Your aim with this deck is tobuild it pretty quickly while,at the same time,keep searching for Energy Cards.The list is rather small as you need a whopping amount of Energy Cards to make this deck work, so you have few resources to work on.
That’s why a card like theBattle VIP Passis so necessary, as itlets you search for two Basic Pokemon on your deck.It’s fair to sayyou can only use this card on your first turn. After that, it only works to be discarded.
Earthen Vessel
The Earthen Vessel is vital for Gholdengo, asit lets you search in your deck for two Energy Cards, but at the same time, you must discard a card. This card will be your Energy supplier during the matches.
Energy Retrieval & Superior Energy Retrieval
Shortly after Gholdengo attacks, all the Energy Cards you used will head to the discard pile. That’s not good as you might need them to attack again, so to take them out of their misery and make them return to your hand, you’ll be using theEnergy Retrievaland theSuperior Energy Retrieval.
The Energy Retrievallets you recover two Energy Cardsfrom the Discard Pile, while the Superior Energy Retrievallets you search for up to four Energy Cards, but only if you discard two cards.
Avery & Worker
The key to making this deck work is tokeep your hand in your hand as much as possible; that’s why supports likeAvery and Worker work like a charm.
Averylets you draw three cardsand forces your opponent todiscard cardsfrom their handuntil they have three.Worker, on the other hand, lets youdraw three cards and discard a stadium in play.All these side effects benefit the deck, letting you keep your hand.
PokeStop
Regarding stadiums, you’ll only need thePokeStop, which is good for drawing items.If this card is in play, both players mustdiscard the top three cards of their deckwhenever they want during their turn. If there are anyitemswithin these three cards,you must keep them in your hand.
Gholdengo Ex Deck Strategy
An ideal first hand should haveGimmighoul and Gholdengoor at least aBattle VIP Pass to draw them.It’s also great to have a Superior Energy Retrieval in your hand or a PokeStop to try to draw them. In the first turn, you aim to find a couple of Gimmighouls and send them to the bench. At the same time, you musttry tofind the respective Gholdengos to evolve those Gimmighouls.
You must keep drawing cards with your items for the next few turns. TheEathern Vesselis vital, so you start having Energy Cards in your handif you need to attack with Gholdengo. As you have built the Gholdengos,attach an Energy Cardto one of them,use the Energy Retrievalsin case you already discard energy Cards,then go for it and attack.The same goes if you want to attack with Scizor.
But things change slightly if you consider thatattacking withScizoris better, given your opponent’s deck.Prioritize drawing Scyther and Scizor; draw an Energy and attach it to Scizor, and you’ll be ready to attack.Don’t stop getting your Energy Cards; you’ll never know when you must use Gholdengo to attack.
Take into consideration that you shouldn’t use Gholdengo against mini-cards.Keep it for when you are against Ex, VMAX and VSTAR cards. Against one-prize cards, try to find and use Scizor.
If you need to discard some cards to activate others (which is the case with Radiant Greninja, Ultra Ball, Superior Energy Retrieval, and so on),prioritize discarding Energy Cards and others like Battle VIP Pass.You can recover those Energy Cards with Superior Energy Retrievals.
Gholdengo Ex Deck Common Threats
Any deck that canmake you lose the cards in your handis a big threat to this deck. It’s essential to keep your hand as you want those Energy Cards to attack with Gholdengo; if you lose them, you can’t attack.
The problem is that almostany deck on the meta uses cards like Iono, which forces you to switch your hand entirely, which can severely punish this deck.Bibarel can help yourecover some cards in case an Iono lands on you when you only have a Prize Card left, yet losing your hand is problematic, no matter the moment.
Another big threat for this deck isPath to the Peak, as it cancels Gholdengo’s Ability, so you can’t draw cards with it. Thankfully,it’s easy to eliminate itwith the PokeStop or the Worker.
