we-are-tcg:

Stallord (Wailord-EX Mill deck)

Here it is! The Wailord-EX deck that’s taken US Nationals by storm! Well…kinda. I wasn’t able to find a satisfactory list anywhere, so I built what I figured it might look like. A few things before going into this, there’s supposed to be a total of 4 Wailord-EX and there’s supposed to be +1 Max Potion and +1 Trick Shovel. I just don’t have the playsets on PTCGO apparently.

This isn’t exactly a “mill” deck in the traditional sense. A mill deck is usually one that actively discards cards off the opponent’s deck. Yeah, there’s 4 Trick Shovel, but that’s not getting your opponent’s deck down to zero cards. Instead this is a tank deck that aims to wait out the entire battle until you win by deck-out. If you’re sitting there thinking “wait a minute, there’s no way that can work” then you must not have heard that [Lysandre’s Trump Card was banned].

So the list I made isn’t at all definitive, I’m sure there are lots of ways to play Stallord (name of my own invention, I like it). Indeed, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what I wanted to put in this deck since you have 56 trainer card slots to fill. I’d love to test this deck but I wouldn’t dare play this deck on PTCGO. If you did, most of your wins would be by concession rather than deck-out, people on PTCGO have no patience. So without any testing, this build is more of an idea builder than a finished deck, it has a little bit of everything and you could probably choose to put a focus on one thing over another. So here’s the breakdown. [Click on the names for links]

Wailord-EX; not much to say, it’s a 250hp basic. KEEP THEM ALIVE AT ALL COSTS
Crushing Hammer/Enhanced Hammer; just used as security for keeping the Wailords alive
Max Potion; keep the Wailords alive
Repeat Ball; probably not necessary, I didn’t like the idea of starting with a single Wailord and no outs towards finding another, can be replaced with Dive Ball if desired
Scoop Up Cyclone; There really isn’t any definitive Ace Spec you could play, Scoop Up Cyclone means you could guarantee a heal on a Wailord and use a supporter on the same turn, but I can see an argument made for Computer Search or even Gold Potion
Super Potion; maybe not necessary with a playset of Max Potion and Rough Seas, but keep the Wailords alive
Super Scoop Up; keep the Wailords alive
Switch; very useful alongside Rough Seas, switch out a damaged Wailord for a fresh one and use the next 3-4 turns Rough Seas-ing all the damage away
Trick Shovel; 4 free one-card “mills” on your opponent’s deck!
AZ/Cassius; honestly these are interchangable, I wouldn’t run 4-4, that’s kind of overkill, and I’ll admit there’s an argument to be made for running a heavier Cassius line over AZ, to keep your deck full of cards, but I don’t think the difference is too overwhelming
Hugh; tricky, tricky, I like it; for the purposes of this deck there’s no downside in using it, either you’re discarding cards from your opponent’s hand, or your forcing them to draw more cards
Lysandre; one Wailord build I saw didn’t run Lysandre, I don’t really know why. I like it because if you Lysandre out a Pokemon your opponent hasn’t powered up or needs, you can force them to expend resources getting their attacker back into the Active position
Pokemon Center Lady; a counter to poison, not truly necessary, because of the switches and potions, but just an extra out. Also heals keep the Wailords alive (KTWA)
Shauna; we don’t use Professor Sycamore in this deck, we don’t ever want have less cards in our deck than the opponent, this will keep our deck nice and plump
VS Seeker; necessary, also how fun would it be to VS Seeker a Hugh for the win?
Rough Seas; KEEP THE WAILORDS ALIVE
Float Stone/Hard Charm/Jamming Net; Float Stone might not be entirely necessary it’s just another way to help you utilize Rough Seas, but I can see it being replaced entirely with a Hard Charm (Hard Charm, btw: KTWA) One build I saw ran 4 Jamming Net. I don’t agree with this, a lot of decks now are using non-EX attackers, you might end up with a bunch of dead cards in your deck

Another idea I saw was to add Suicune into this deck. Again, there are a lot of non-EX attackers in the format, you don’t want to be in a position where you lead with a lone Suicune, whiff on finding another Pokemon, and then getting donked on your opponent’s next turn. Maybe a one-of would do nicely and you can pop it down if you’re playing against a particularly EX-heavy deck.

So that’s this ridiculous deck. Hope this entertained you as much as it entertained me. How would you run this deck? Send me an ask or leave a reply; would you focus on healing over scoop up effects? Is there a card I missed completely you would add? (Click Keep Reading to see a clearer version of this list)

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