Snorlax Stall (TCG)
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Snorlax Stall is a Pokémon Trading Card Game deck archetype that was mainly played in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons of the Standard format. The deck's strategy revolved around trapping a Pokémon in the Active Spot with Snorlax's Block Ability and stalling until the opponent ran out of cards in their deck. The deck saw some play early in the 2023-24 season, but did not become a serious contender until Counter Catcher was reprinted in the Paradox Rift expansion. Snorlax Stall was a solid contender, finishing in the Top 8 of the 2023 Latin America International Championships and 2024 European International Championships, as well as winning several Regional Championships.
Strategy
Snorlax Stall aims to win by stalling until the opponent's deck runs out of cards. It primarily accomplishes this by bringing a weak support Pokémon such as Manaphy or Rotom V to the opponent's Active Spot with Boss's Orders or Counter Catcher, then preventing it from retreating with Snorlax's Block Ability. In order to ensure these weak Pokémon enter play, the deck also runs cards such as Accompanying Flute and Erika's Invitation to put these Pokémon onto the board. Pokémon Tool cards such as Bravery Charm and Hero's Cape bolster Snorlax's durability, while Penny can return a damaged Snorlax to the hand.
Once the lock is established, the deck uses Supporter cards such as Eri and Miss Fortune Sisters to hinder the opponent. These cards can discard Item cards that can break the lock, such as Switch Cart and Prime Catcher. Rotom V's Instant Charge Ability allows the deck to draw three cards every turn, while Cyllene, Team Yell's Cheer, and Pal Pad ensure that the player does not deck out before the opponent.
In case it is not possible to trap a weak Pokémon in the Active Spot, the deck also runs supplementary Pokémon such as Mimikyu and Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex, who can block the attacks of powerful Pokémon with their Abilities.
Key cards
- Snorlax - Snorlax's Block Ability prevents the opponent's Active Pokemon from retreating, allowing it to trap a weak Pokémon in the opponent's Active Spot. It also has high HP for a single Prize Basic Pokémon, allowing it to take multiple hits with Pokémon Tool cards such as Bravery Charm and Hero's Cape.
- Rotom V - Rotom V serves as the main draw engine of the deck, as its Instant Charge Ability draws three cards at the cost of ending the player's turn. As the deck typically does not attack, this means that Rotom V's Ability can be used without any drawback. As a Pokémon V, it can also use Forest Seal Stone's Star Alchemy VSTAR Power to search for any card in the deck.
- Mimikyu - Mimikyu's Safeguard Ability prevents all damage from the attacks of the opponent's Pokémon ex and Pokémon V, allowing it to survive attacks from powerful Pokémon that can Knock Out Snorlax in one hit.
- Arven - Searches for an Item and a Pokémon Tool card. It is primarily used to search for Counter Catcher, as well as powerful Pokémon Tool cards such as Forest Seal Stone and Hero's Cape.
- Penny - Returns a Basic Pokémon and all attached cards to the hand. It is primarily used to heal a damaged Snorlax. It also returns all attached Pokémon Tool cards to the hand, making it superior to Professor Turo's Scenario in this deck.
- Eri - Reveals the opponent's hand and discards up to two Item cards found there. Hinders the opponent's setup, as well as discarding Item cards such as Switch Cart and Prime Catcher that can break the lock.
- Miss Fortune Sisters - Looks at the top five cards of the opponent's deck and discards any number of Item cards found there. Like Eri, this card can discard Item cards that can break the lock. It also decks the opponent out more quickly.
- Cyllene - Flips two coins, putting a card from the discard pile on top of the deck for each heads. This card recycles the deck's resources. Cyllene itself can be recycled with Team Yell's Cheer and Pal Pad, allowing the deck to keep replenishing its resources.
- Counter Catcher - If the player has more Prize cards remaining than their opponent, it switches one of the opponent's Benched Pokémon into the Active Spot. As the deck does not take Prizes, this ensures that Counter Catcher is always live once the opponent takes a Prize card. Boss's Orders is a more reliable version of this card, but it takes up the Supporter card for the turn.
- Accompanying Flute - Reveals the top five cards of the opponent's deck, and puts any number of Basic Pokémon found there onto the opponent's Bench. This brings weak Basic Pokémon into play, where they can be dragged into the Active Spot. Erika's Invitation fulfills a similar role while dragging a Pokémon to the Active Spot, but it takes up the Supporter card for the turn.
- Handheld Fan - If the Pokémon it is attached to is damaged by an attack from the opponent's Pokémon, it moves an Energy from the Attacking Pokémon to one of the opponent's Benched Pokémon. This makes it harder for the Attacking Pokémon to launch consecutive attacks.
- Bravery Charm - Gives the Basic Pokémon it is attached to 50 HP, increasing its durability.
- Hero's Cape - Gives the Pokémon it is attached to 100 HP, increasing its durability. Notably, this gives Snorlax a maximum HP of 250.
Typical decklist
Possible tech cards
The following cards are often used in Snorlax Stall in place of certain cards included in the above lists.
- Chi-Yu ex - Its Jealousy Singe attack discards the top two cards of the opponent's deck, which speeds up the deck out process. It can discard an opponent's Pidgeot V, which can keep returning itself to the deck with its Vanishing Wings Ability.
- Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex - Its Cornerstone Stance Ability prevents all damage from the attacks of the opponent's Pokémon that have an Ability, which lets it wall certain attackers that Mimikyu cannot.
- Pidgeot ex - Its Quick Search Ability allows the player to search for any card from their deck. Pidgeot ex makes the deck more versatile, but it takes up more space in the deck.
- Luxurious Cape - It gives Pokémon that do not have a Rule Box 100 HP, but gives up an extra Prize card when that Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from an opponent's Pokémon. However, the drawback can be circumvented with Penny. It serves as a high-risk, high-reward version of Hero's Cape.
- Giacomo - Discards a Special Energy from each of the opponent's Pokémon.
- Temple of Sinnoh - Causes all Special Energy cards to provide
Energy and have no other effect. Notably, it prevents Lugia VSTAR and Giratina VSTAR decks from breaking the lock with Jet Energy.
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This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. |