The Snorlax Tank: A Pokemon Deck Tech

Snorlax is a regular fixture in the Pokemon competitive scene. While it doesn’t always perform well, it’s a deck many players dread to face due to the unfun play patterns it can create. This deck is more of the same but even worse.

This deck is different from most versions in that it leans heavily into absorbing as much damage as possible. Snorlax is the main star of the show, and you should ideally have 1 in the active spot and 1 on the bench. They start with a base 150 HP. If at all possible, one should have a Hero’s Cape equipped, which takes its HP to 250. You will want to play Lively Stadium as soon as possible, giving another 30 HP for a total of 280. Finally, with 2 Bouffalant, Snorlax will take 60 less damage per attack, giving a final effective total of 340 HP for anyone trying to knock it out in one attack.

By tanking as much damage as possible, this gives you time to slowly mill your opponent. The usual trick of using Pidgeot V to make sure you never run out of cards is important, as the deck lacks active mill outside of Miss Fortune Sisters and, arguably, Accompanying Flute. The deck also runs a suite of disruption in Meddlesome Memo and a single copy of Iono. While this doesn’t win games, it can annoy your opponent, especially if they get cards to set up future turns. Iono is helpful to recycle your own hand back into your deck, giving additional turns you wouldn’t normally have.

While Snorlax is the usual and safest thing to use in the active spot, you occasionally need something else. For those situations, this deck runs a single Mimikyu and Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon. Between the two, you can shut down many decks. Anything that turns off their abilities is an issue, but losing either of them isn’t a huge disadvantage. In fact, depending on the board state, it may be worth sacrificing them to activate Counter Catcher.

Overall, this is a deck that requires a lot of patience. While you’re technically milling your opponent slowly, you’re more likely to win with your opponent conceding. Getting to that point requires carefully get the board set to your advantage, which isn’t always fast or easy. You are likely to fall behind before getting things locked down, so staying calm and sticking to the plan is important. It should hold its own against most decks, but two will give you trouble. First, Roaring Moon ex can simply knock you Pokemon out, bypassing the HP and damage reduction. Second, mill decks will be effective since you can’t stop them. Adding Mist Energy will stop the first, while Patrol Cap stops the second. The worst matchup is Froslass, as every Pokemon in the deck has an ability and will eventually be knocked out.

Overall, this is a slow control deck that can lead to interesting matches. However, you should only play it if you’re comfortable with people hating you since it’s not enjoyable to play against.