Trevenant: A Silent Fear for Richmond?

My name is Alec Geissler and I’d like to talk about Trevenant, a deck that’s been slipping under the radar for a little bit now. I have been thinking about Trevenant for a while now and I think something like Toronto Regionals last year is what we are going into Richmond with. We are in a “blind” meta with a new set, we have no idea what’s good (this time we do with Control decks) and we have no tournament results to base off. For Toronto, everyone thought Pikachu and Zekrom-GX was going to be the play and everyone was preparing to beat it with decks such as Hitmonchan/Wobbuffet, BuzzGarbShrine, etc.. When everyone was talking about the counter to the main deck, 16 people thought ahead and thought about the counters to the counters which was Trevenant at the time. Of those 16 people that brought Trev to the event, 10 of them Day 2’d running all the way to Top 4 piloted by Will Jenkins. I do think something similar is happening here where we know that these control decks are good, people are trying to counter them with these turbo decks that just puke energy on the board turn one and I think Trevenant could make another decent showing if you are able to dodge all the turbo dark and ZoroControl. We did see this happen once last year and I wouldn’t be shocked if we saw it again. I’m not going to Richmond, but I would consider Trev as one of my top plays for the event if I were going. Let’s go ahead and look at the list I would play. As a quick note, this is pretty much the core I would play but the counts I would make changes to depending on what I feel comfortable with. This is the list that I have been testing and liking the most however. 

 

I normally talk about some tech cards or specific cards that have a place in the list but there aren’t really any cards that haven’t been included in Trevenant lists that we haven’t seen before besides Power Plant and Double Colorless. I will be going over those cards in a couple matchups here so let’s go ahead and hop into the matchups!

The matchup is bad for us if I’m going to be honest. Turbo Dark and ZoroControl are the two matchups that would make me not want to play Trev, but I feel that you can beat both decks. Against Turbo Dark, they are going to explode turn 1 and play a ton of their items so it doesn’t matter in a way. The only potential out to this matchup I see working is sticking a late game N/Power Plant combo while being able to counter catcher a two retreat Pokémon with zero energy on it. It sounds ridiculous to pull off, I totally understand but if you can get this going and have them avoid two to three turns of knockouts, you are going to be back in the game to the point where you stand a chance. I do think the matchup is even harder if you sit across from two Greninja Zoroark both with two energy on them. That seems almost impossible to beat as Trevenant. I think most of your matchups are very board state dependent but there is a game-plan.

I was testing this matchup as the ZoroControl player when Trev didn’t play the Double Colorless energy and I felt the matchup was very simple for me when they would put down their Necrozma-GX to attach and try getting the Black Ray-GX off, but as soon as they would put it down I would do the huge combo of bringing up the Necrozma, getting rid of the energy, down-sizing their hand and manipulate their top deck to get them into the lock. For this reason, I think Double Colorless is the way to stand a chance against them. Assuming they put down three Zoroark’s, which is what typically happens, you will be able to take six prizes off Silent Fears and Black Ray GX with Dimension Valley. Most of the time you’re going to be attaching energy onto your Trevenant’s, so they won’t have a real reason to Team Skull Grunt you. If they do get rid of the Double Colorless somehow, I think the game is pretty much over, but that is so hard for them to do unless they realistically have nothing else to do. This sounds kind of obvious but if you suspect you’re going to get Skull Grunted (going from 90 to 120 on their Zoroark’s using Silent Fear) and you have the Necrozma-GX/Double Colorless in hand, play a hand refresh supporter and then go for the combo next turn. If you think you can afford to Black Ray a turn earlier than you would to board wipe, it should be okay to do that, but I don’t highly recommend that because as soon as that Necrozma is benched, it’s pretty much game over. You want to be able to stick item lock as much as possible versus them and any other benched Pokémon stops that.  The potential combo of Marshadow SHL “Let Loose” and Power Plant is a huge detriment to their game plan and very hard to recover from if you can get that to stick for a turn. If you keep pace meaning you can get four Silent Fears off before they take five prizes on five Pokémon assuming you don’t bench a Tapu Lele-GX and they don’t kill it, you should win most of the games assuming you don’t prize bad. You also want to N them as many turns as you can because Zoroark will get a huge hand and if you have a benched Pokémon that isn’t a Trevenant, they will take advantage of bringing it up and thinning their hand. Bench space is very key to this matchup and you must be careful with what you bench when you do. 

This is one of the reasons why I think Trevenant is such a strong play for this weekend. A lot of people are hyping up BuzzGarbPlant because of the Let Loose and Power Plant combo which disrupts a good chunk of this meta. Trevenant obviously doesn’t really care if you do that but if you do draw Lele off Let Loose as your only out and you’re plant locked, you got unlucky if I’m honest. Those odds are so little that you realistically shouldn’t be worried about that. Otherwise, BuzzGarb really doesn’t stand a chance against this deck if I’m totally honest. If I would go into the regional thinking what would I want to hit 9 rounds in a row, I would say this matchup. Buzzwole can’t really do any relevant damage once you’re getting up into Trevenant’s, Garbodor doesn’t really do anything because we are item locking them out of being able to Garbotoxin, we don’t play enough items for Trashalanche to be relevant at all and their deck fiends off of items to continuously go and do anything. I’m trying to think of more words for this matchup but it’s close to free honestly.

Archies can explode turn one and get a huge turn of energy, I am fully aware. However, if you can get into Trev Break fast enough and trap their Blastoise, you are in a very strong position. Starting Wobb while going second is a big enough setback for them to climb ahead and run away with the game. Stealthy Hood does get around Bide Barricade so they can Deluge all their energy when you start Wobb, but Archie’s is inconsistent and it’s hard for them to get all of that. Being able to lock abilities for a whole turn and then switching into item lock is so hard to work around and detriments how many outs they must get Archies on turn one. Typically, Archies in the past had a rough time versus Trevenant unless they played Keldeo-EX because of the consistent pressure Trevenant puts on trapping Blastoise in the active. I don’t think this will be the case anymore because people are letting Trevenant slip under the radar and Keldeo is just not right for the meta we’re in. Plus, Keldeo isn’t relevant unless you play two. The one tech that Trevenant should be scared about but won’t be played is Manaphy-EX. If you can get an early Power Plant to stick you should be in very good shape considering Archie’s only plays one stadium and they have to raw draw it to find it/hit it off Trainers’ Mail which is very hard to do with such a big turn in the beginning. If you can apply the pressure to the blastoise like I said and get their Guzma/Tate and Liza down without being able to seeker them, you’re in a very good position. 

I feel like this matchup is very draw dependent. I have heard players from both sides share their opinions and they are correct in their respective side’s opinions. In my opinion, I do think Trevenant is unfavored if you come up against a good player. What I mean by that is if your opponent gets Garbotoxin out with Klefki, a Trubbish down with a Float Stone and a way to get that Trubbish evolved into a Garbotoxin next turn, you’re going to be put far behind. Although, I do think that Trevenant can strive off a big Miraculous Shine turn. If you are able to spread two to three times and get 60 to 90 on 3 Zoroarks and 1 Garbodor, trading 4 prizes to 2 is huge in the long run because after that happens, 99% of games ZoroGarb will have a lele down so you can swing into them with a Black Ray-GX to finish off the game for 6 prizes. Enhanced Hammer and Faba chaining in this matchup are very big because they are bound to miss attack one turn if you can stick a late game N and an enhanced hammer combo. Counter Catcher is also very important in this matchup too because counter catcher-ing Garbotoxin without a float stone on it makes it so they either can’t ability lock and they can’t play items, or they have to find guzma which are low counts in their deck without VS Seeker. Being able to trap that Garb in the active is a big turn that brings you back into the game. The matchup is very draw dependent and whoever gets going first definitely has a slight advantage. 

If I am sitting down and my opponent flips over a Sableye, I’m feeling very confident in the matchup. Sableye typically has a hard time to item lock since that is what their whole deck revolves around basically. If you can establish item lock without them getting a float stone on a Trubbish, it is very hard for them to come back from because you can Faba their one float and then lock them. If they do get 2 float stones on two Trubbish, the matchup can be a little bit harder because they are going to be able to loop Garbotoxin lock for a good chunk of the game which is all they need. I wouldn’t be worried about them getting to that point. Their deck is inconsistent to the point where if they do get that, they are going to win that game versus any deck anyway. Conserve your dimension valley’s accordingly because of Articuno GX’s Cold Crush attack being able to clear off a Trevenant and getting it stuck in the active if you somehow don’t have a response. I would just walk in with your head high and trust that you’ll be more consistent than your opponent.

I think this matchup is unfavored strictly due to the factor that they can take up to three prizes in one turn (4 Giratina LOT Distortion Dooring your Ditto Prism and using Lost Boomerang GX killing and lost zoning 2 Phantump). If they don’t somehow get that (they usually do because it doesn’t take much), then you should be in very good shape because they need to clear their board to be able to OHKO a Trev Break and you’re trading one prize for three. Also, if you’re able to get a Power Plant to stick in the mid to late game that makes them miss attack, that’s a huge turn you’re gaining back that in the climb that Trev typically sees. I don’t know if there is anything to really make this matchup any better besides Mew but benching something breaking item lock must have merit to your board or disrupting your opponent which Mew doesn’t do solidly. This matchup is a little shaky don’t get me wrong, but if you are able to pull the comeback that Trev does with a late game N, power plant stick and chain attacks you should be able to make the comeback like you would versus any other deck.

In conclusion, I do think Trevenant is one of the more solid plays this weekend. You have a very good shot versus most things in the “format” we are running with. The counts in the list above can be tweaked but that is the core of the deck I’d be running. If I were going to Richmond, Trevenant would be my number 2 play as of right now because I am just too scared of the Turbo Dark and Control matchups personally but if you think you can be on TOM’s good side and avoid them all or find something to make their matchups favorable, then I would pull the trigger on Trevenant. I would like to give a shoutout to the website for allowing me to write this piece, I’d like to shoutout my sponsor Nerd Rage Gaming for all the benefits and support they give me and a shoutout to you people reading this right now because you guys are awesome for clicking on this and reading. Thank you so much and I hope you guys enjoy reading my content to come back for more. I hope you guys consider Trevenant for Richmond and I will catch you guys next time!