Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX – Cosmic Eclipse Pokemon Review

Vince

Looks like we’ve got another pair of Tag Team Ultra Beasts after Buzzwole & Pheromosa.

So Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX has some decent features that might work in a deck, but as a loose pick as far as I’m concerned. Violent Appetite Ability lets you discard a Pokémon to heal 60 damage from this Pokémon, and with 280 HP, it’ll affect certain attacks that would change from 2HKOs into 3HKOs. This isn’t a good way to constantly heal damage because once you discard a Pokémon, unless you have recovery options like Brock’s Grit, you won’t be able to use them for the rest of the game. Pokemon Prism Stars are completely out of luck as it gets sent to the Lost Zone. Expanded, however, does have a Pokémon that brings itself from the discard pile onto your hand, and that’s Exeggcute from BW Plasma Freeze. You’ll have no fear of losing resources. Jet Pierce costs PDC for 180 damage, which is good for the energy invested, and while it may not achieve certain OHKOs, you can on some of them such as almost all non-GX/EX Pokemon.

But Chaotic Order does seem to speed up the process. For one energy, you get to turn all of your Prizes face-up. However, if it has extra energies to make it the same cost as Jet Pierce, which is also PDC, you take 2 prize cards! I guess the goal is to save your GX attack as a finisher; you focus on getting the first four prizes through knock outs, whether it be 2 EX/GX Pokemon, 4 single prize Pokémon, or 1 Tag Team and single prize Pokémon. And then you use Chaotic Order and win the game. And as a Dragon Type, N’s Resolve may be able to fuel up the PDC attack cost if you’re lucky. This is a LOT easier to use than Guzzlord-GX’s Glutton attack. That costs five dark energies for 100 damage and only gives you two more prizes if you knock out the Defending Pokémon with this attack. Chaotic Order just straight out take 2 prizes whatsoever!

Overall, they have potential only you dedicate your GX attack to Chaotic Order. If you already used your GX attack before this one…..well, you wouldn’t be using it at all.

Ratings:

• Standard: 3/5
• Expanded: 3/5
• Limited: 4.5/5

Otaku

Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 158/236, 223/236, 224/236, and 260/236) is next in our week of Runners-Up.  TAG TEAM Pokémon come with all the good and the bad of being a Pokémon-GX, except they give up three Prizes when KO’d (instead of just two), have their own support and counters to deal with (plus those that apply to Pokémon-GX), and are automatically Basic Pokémon instead of their usual Stage.  Being a Basic is a huge advantage just because of game mechanics and some effects favoring it, though there are some Basic-specific counters to worry about.

The [N] Typing is poor for Type-matching but comes with excellent support in both the Standard and Expanded Formats, and though [N] Type counters exist, only Fairy Charm [N] is likely to matter.  Being an Ultra Beast adds yet another layer of support and of counters, with both likely to prove relevant by the end of this review.  Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX’s 280 HP is just 20 short of the maximum printed; most attackers outside of [Y] Types – due to this card’s Weakness – and specialists should have a hard time scoring a OHKO… maybe even a 2HKO.

The lack of Resistance is typical, and maybe justified because of the HP and the Ability.  The Retreat Cost of [CCC] is difficult to pay without some help; due to the support available, a higher cost of [CCCC] would actually have been better, perhaps even too good.  Why?  The same reason the 280 HP is likely to last a while; the card’s Ability, “Violent Appetite”.  Once per turn you can discard a Pokémon from hand to heal 60 damage from this Pokémon.  It can be any Pokémon, and adding those to hand or recycling them from the discard isn’t difficult.  60 might not sound like much, but with 280 HP?  2HKO’s will require 340+ damage, 3HKO’s 400+ damage, etc.

Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX’s regular attack is simple but good; [PDC] pays for “Jet Pierce” to do 180 damage, enough to OHKO most single-Prize targets and many Basic Pokémon-GX (excluding TAG TEAM Pokémon).  Thanks for Beast Ring, the Energy cost isn’t much of a problem. The card’s GX-attack, “Chaotic Order-GX” has a base cost of [C], which flips up all your Prizes.  If you pay an additional [P] and [D], Chaotic Order-GX also takes two Prizes.  This is great unless you’re facing a 2-Prize target you could already KO with Jet Pierce; whether due to massive HP, protective effects, or just being a single-Prize Pokémon, Chaotic Order can just take two Prizes and ignore your opponent’s Active!

Viewed as a whole, we have a big, beefy Basic that can last at least a little longer most of the time (via its Ability), deliver reliable 2HKO’s with a solid chance of OHKO’s (Beastite and/or Beast Energy {*} to buff Jet Pierce), and can help you see what is stuck in your Prizes while also taking two Prizes with its GX-attack, for a strategic open or almost impossible-to-prevent finish.  How do you reliably fuel this with Beast Ring?  A Japanese deck has already shown us the answer: Mismagius (SM – Unbroken Bonds 78/214).  Its “Mysterious Message” Ability lets Mismagius KO itself so you can draw until you have seven cards in hand; you just need to pull it off twice!

Mysterious Treasure makes searching out Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX and Misdreavus easier, while Dusk Stone not only searches out Mismagius but lets you evolve Misdreavus into it the first turn Misdreavus is in play.  That means this deck can go second but instantly go on the offensive!  The Retreat Cost of [CCC] means Buff Padding isn’t an option, but Choice Helmet still makes your Naganadel & Guzzzlord-GX that much harder to OHKO… and Choice Helmet plus Violent Appetite both will make multi-turn KO’s a chore for your opponent.  Wait, didn’t we already give up two Prizes?  Yes, but the deck in question only runs today’s TAG TEAM and the Mismagius line; your opponent will still need to KO two TAG TEAM Pokémon to win!

The Japanese deck in question included a few cards that aren’t in our Standard Format… but only a few, and nothing essential.  If this deck doesn’t work for us, it will likely be because of how the cardpool differences affect other decks.  Speaking of those, you might be worried about things like Keldeo-GX or Fairy Charm [N], but the upside of running a just a single Basic line and Stage 1 line (even when maxing them out) is a few extra slots for TecH… like Ultra Forest Kartenvoy and Faba.  I am worried about the [Y] Weakness, both in our Standard and Expanded Format.

If you pull Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX for Limited Format play then run it, and as a Mulligan (+39) deck where it is your only Basic Pokémon.  Include a lot of Evolutions to feed Violent Appetite, which should buy you time to power-up and use Jet Pierce twice on single-Prize targets before Chaotic Order-GX gives you the win (remember, four Prizes for Limited).  There is a risk your opponent pulled and is running mostly [Y] Types, but the real concern is one that also applies to Standard and Expanded: Silvally-GX (SM – Cosmic Eclipse 184/236, 227/236, 262/236).  Its GX-attack lets it automatically OHKO your Active Ultra Beast for just [CC]!

Ratings

Standard: 3.8/5

Expanded: 3.5/5

Limited: 4.8/5

That Japanese deck showed me I wasn’t thinking about Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX correctly, though that doesn’t change that our #1 pick from this set is nearly a hard-counter to it.  Nor does it change that it didn’t make my Top 11, either (not just the site’s).  I can’t think of which card I’d swap out for it… because there are just that many great cards in this set!  Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX ended up as our 13th-place pick for that reason.