Snorlax / Greninja / Giratina ex Control Deck Guide
This deck revolves around early pressure, efficient evolution, and a late-game threat that can take over once your opponent is on the back foot. It cleverly combines Colorless, Water, and Psychic-types to form a balanced, multi-pronged strategy.
Core Strategy: Snorlax is your primary attacker in the early game. With Barry reducing its Attack Cost, Snorlax can begin using Collapse as early as turn 2, hitting for 100 damage—a powerful tempo play against most evolving Basics and early-stage attackers.
While Snorlax leads the early charge, a 2-0-2 Greninja line is silently being set up in the background. This build completely bypasses Frogadier, relying entirely on Rare Candy to evolve Froakie directly into Greninja. Once established, Greninja becomes a potent mid-game tool with Water Shuriken, capable of spreading damage across the board and softening targets for follow-up KOs.
As the match progresses, Giratina ex waits on your Bench. Thanks to Broken-Space Bellow, it can self-accelerate and set up without needing too much outside support. Its presence serves as a late-game sweeper, particularly useful against high-HP threats or any opponent trying to stabilize.
Support & Synergy: 2x Pokémon Center Lady are key utility cards, not only healing damage but also waking Snorlax from Sleep after using Collapse. This effectively lets you attack two turns in a row with Snorlax, maintaining pressure while denying your opponent an opening.
The deck runs both Water and Psychic Energy, giving you flexibility in who you power up. Water Energy fuels Greninja for Mist Slash when needed, while Psychic Energy allows you to charge Giratina ex earlier, especially in matchups where Broken-Space Bellow isn’t viable (e.g., against disruption or control decks).
Psychic Energy also allows Giratina ex to come online faster than in standard Darkrai/Giratina builds, where setup is usually slower and more reactive. This means your deck has faster offensive potential when needed, and doesn’t rely on Darkrai to support its acceleration.
