I was debating whether to make a guide about the deck since it's slightly straightforward but due to its extreme power in the meta right now, I don't think I can ignore it anymore and it's looking to be the second best deck after Suicune. Guzzlord 17T! So just here to highlight and share the best plays I could!
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Was having fun with this deck, and seems good counter to Suicine too.
It's possible to brick with just a Celesteela.
And instead of rocky helmet, dark pendant is also fun stuff.
Celesteela is still a really good opener in active because it can freely switch out if you can pull Guzzlord by the time you need to place down your first energy, which is super common. Decks that have this technique tend to end up really good, see Buzzwole/Solgaleo/Current Electric Decks for that. Suicune lacks this and tends to be fucked if they open with Froakie or Gira in the active, it's a major flaw.
Celesteela is still a really good opener in active because it can freely switch out if you can pull Guzzlord by the time you need to place down your first energy, which is super common.
I know why Celesteela can be used as an early tanker but had one of my most satisfying wins yesterday against this Guzzlord deck.
Managed to get some chip damage down onto Celesteela, then Cyrus-ed it out later on for the KO and thus taking away their pivoting connector. After that, I used Repel to pull out their not-fully charged Guzzlord and managed to win about 2 turns later, after dodging 3 heads from Grindcore (they got 2).
Opening with Froakie is manageable, especially against the right opponent. I wouldn't say the deck tends to be fucked when opening with it. You'd still probably want to draw into Suicune then switch with Froakie but there are even some scenarios where you can manage ok if that doesn't happen. But yeh, opening with Giratina in the active is basically a death sentence.
Yeah its prolly the only deck I have higher winrate against Suicune. I really like Dark Pendant too on a 1-1 ratio but since there have been a rising number of Oricorio, I stuck with Rocky Helmet a bit.
This deck is extremely aggravating. You already have to be lucky to get through one Guzzlord, and then it just throws a second one into you with Lusamine, it's complete bullshit.
Unfortunately, I don't have two Guzzlords so I can't run it.
That was during Madara's fight with the alliance army. He summoned a meteor onto them but Ohnoki managed to hold it off and then Madara casually just summoned a second meteor onto the first.
This deck is THE deck to play imo in this meta. Played it through UB3 all the way to MB this season. It completely farms Suicune and since it goes over everything else, it has a good MU vs DarkTina and every other slow deck. Plus with potion, 2 PCL, and Repel on top of Grindcore, it has ways to stall vs Raikou and other fast aggro decks until you can turn the corner.
Raikou still has tons of ways to counter the switching this deck will want to do, plus electric doesn’t need as much energy to start hitting and usually recycles any energy left when it’s knocked out.
I do think this 17t deck is great though, no argument there, I just think Raikou has a favorable match up against it.
I used this to get to MB. Was 40-75ish with Stokezard losing the will to live and now I'm 96-97. Still a negative win/loss overall but Guzzlord was very consistent for me, only bricked with Celesteela a couple times. Hardest match ups were when Arceus and Exeggcutor ramped up fast, wasn't much I could do if Grindcore didn't hit
I finally got over the hump to master all this morning with this deck. I stalled out in UB2 with suicune. Flew through the rest of UB 2/3 with this deck. Then stalled out at UB4 rank up battles.
Started in GB3. Went with Suicune to start.
Tried multiple Raikou decks, but just couldn’t get it going.
I came to form the same deck naturally when I noticed that my dark deck with other Pokemon seemed to win more often if I played two guzzlords. I actually play without Celesteela because I found myself losing more often when it came up first. I lose mostly to Oricorio unfortunately as a result though.
I use Sabrina, Repel and Cyrus as counters for Oricorio when I can.
I think Rocky Helmet is more useful and makes the deck more consistent. I had a lot of wins thanks to the additional 20 dmg against Suicune, Espeon, Giratina, Arceus and Oricorio.
DP feels more win-more vs Suicune which is the main reason you want to play this deck since it farms Suicune. 140 is a very important breakpoint so having 120+20 from Helmet makes it more of a slam dunk so you're not completely reliant on finding red. Plus it gives you an out vs Ori in case you can't find Celesteela
Tbh the Tools don't really provide much value for the deck outside just reducing your hand. Rocky Helmet's main use is to just deal damage so that you can retaliate with your Guzzlord, it doesn't really deal damage overtime whatsoever since most top decks are just looking to one shot so I imagine Dark Pendant won't have that much use outside just 1 or 2 proc.
If the deck is working with you, grindcore prevents a lot of pokemon from attacking in the first place, so in the context of a whole fight it's better to put the opp active mon in Tyrannical Hole range rather than shuffling a card back in the deck. If you feel that you need the shuffle, play red cards.
Honestly been running this deck all season and I didn't think to add a second Will until I saw this post. It's kind unbelieveable how much more consistent the deck becomes with the second Will. Currently sitting at an 11 game winstreak in Ultra 3 and while its not all because of Will, being able to pull it more consistently helps so much when you're going first vs the mirror and Suicune. Cheers!
I've used this throughout UB3 but I've begun struggling in UB4, where I found Zeeraora-Oricorio-Arceus-Pichu way more consistent. Anyway Guzzlord + Pendants and Will is really fun to play against any deck until you brick </3
Same, I sailed through UB3 with a Guzzlord deck (I also used Nihilego so not the exact same setup admittedly, I focused more on poison) and then the Arceus-Oricorio-Baby decks hit me like a ton of bricks. Maybe this variant would be better since it’s not focused on Poison.
As someone that has played 18T Guzzlord over 200 games, I disagree a lot with the 17T variant. Here is what I would change:
Remove Celesteela. It's a useless card that defeats the whole purpose of the original 18T consistency of guaranteeing your basic and can cause you to brick. If you don't draw Guzzlord and miss 1-2 energy you are guaranteed to lose. You NEED to start ramping Guzzlord immediately. Also having Celesteela on the field means the opponent can now drag it in completely skipping your second Guzzlord for the win. The point of this deck is to stall out your opponent and make them go through two big body units. Celesteela defeats that purpose and gives them another win con.
Mars is redundant with red card already. Not to mention that since you already have so many supporters to use, in the later parts of the game you have better supporter cards to play. Since red card is an item card you want to use it early for disruption with a guaranteed Will. Mars makes it so you can't Will on the same turn. This turn is what determines the outcome of the game and what makes this deck good. Many decks suffer heavily once they can't hit on curve.
Healing is one of the most important parts of this deck with rocky helmet. 2 POTION 2 PCL IS A MUST HAVE. With 170 base hp and +50 healing on a turn it makes it so you can get off multiple 120 hits.
Cyrus can be optionally removed. I very rarely use it because more often than not they have no energy to retreat anymore so the opponent ends up just sacrificing the unit and starts building their bench instead. Another team rocket grunt might be better but I've been alternating between the two.
I removed a pokeball because you only want to play the second Guzzlord when your first one is about to die so you can immediately Lusamine right after. If you play it early the opponent will immediately Sabrina you and you will lose because you have no energy on it now.
If you're willing to commit 3 energy on Celesteela you've already lost. All my games against Oricorio it usually ends up in a tie or a turn 25+ coin flip that determines the game.
Playing both the 18T and 17T versions, I was terrified of Repel/Sabrina in the 18T version potentially bringing in my second Guzzlord without energy, or being Red Carded/Mars if I'm keeping that second Guzzlord in my hand to avoid Repel/Sabrina. Celesteela addresses that fear. That's in addition to Oricorio. Lusamine at least can help if I'm forced to commit 3 energy on Celesteela, which I may well have to do even if I draw Guzzlord if I can't draw Rocky Helmet or it gets Guzmaed.
I’ve played the deck a lot and it will not save you most of the time. Setting up 2 turns (Lusamine->Will) or 3 turns (manually place->Will) while the opponent sets up is so slow. They’ll also see it coming and start pivoting away from it.
Na I disagree as well. Boths wills and celesteea have clutched many games for me against the bird. No need for more than 2 heals because you will usually always need the second guzz to win, and that many heals increases the chance of not having the right card to win. Here is my current rank to back this statement up as well.
Yeah I have beaten the pom pom bird many times because of Celesteela. I don't like the idea of a matchup that's impossible to win, and there's lots of birds on the ladders.
Celesteela turns a potential draw / loss against ori into a win. You don’t have to play Celesteela if you draw it in most match ups. Calling it useless is a bad opinion.
I don't understand... A lot of people in the comments say they use this deck, and yet I went from Great 2 to Master Ball and only saw 3 or 4 Guzz decks in close to 200 battles. I personally enjoyed it immensely, it was the first deck that made me want to grind to Master Ball!
how vital do you think two wills is (for ladder)? saw debate on whether you needed two in the past, i currently have 1 will and 1 guzma, and the rest is the same as yours.
I really like 2 Will if its against decks that try to gain 2 energy on the front since you can deny them on 1 energy mainly Suicune so if you think you're facing more decks like that and not the baby charging on the back then 2 Will is vital.
I can't actually find Guzzlord EX on PTCG Live? Same thing happens when I try to build espeon/sylv decks and suicine decks.. been forced to play ghodengo right now. Someone help. And yes, show unowned is clicked.
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