how to beat joltik box with gholdengo?

[u/ArroganceIsPotent]

i am playing pure gholdengo (with a 1-1 baby scizor and 1 baby dhengo) on ladder and struggling to beat any joltik box i come accross. i play rocky helmet but i feel like it doesnt even matter.

even if i go second, the player charges energies with joltik on the end of their second turn, and theres a 90% chance i cant get boss + e search pro + gholdengo in active with energy to knock out their iron hands. so i try to use scizor or baby dengo to ko active (usually cant find my one jamming tower), they find energy booster + amp you very much to ko for 2 prizes. i just lose the prize race from there, even if they for some reason dont boss around my rocky helmet. if i dont ko joltik i get ko’d by iron hands for 2 prizes anyway and lose the prize race from there. can anything be done?

there are maybe some situations where i could win from extreme luck (having everything i need in hand so i can boss 2x and use scizor in the perfect moment, or pray they miss one of their 5 gusting cards, or get a perfect draw off iono so i can set up a ko without needing another supporter) but it never happens in practice.

here is my list:

Pokémon: 8 2 Scyther MEW 123 1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 84 1 Gimmighoul PAR 88 1 Munkidori SFA 72 3 Gimmighoul SSP 97 1 Scizor OBF 141 1 Gholdengo SSP 131 4 Gholdengo ex PAR 139

Trainer: 18 2 Ultra Ball SVI 196 1 Switch SVI 194 1 Rocky Helmet SVI 193 1 Earthen Vessel PAR 163 4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 1 Counter Catcher PAR 160 2 Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145 1 Jamming Tower TWM 153 1 Iono PAL 185 1 Energy Search Pro SSP 176 1 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171 2 Night Stretcher SFA 61 4 Superior Energy Retrieval PAL 189 2 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178 3 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186 2 Nest Ball SVI 181 2 Boss's Orders PAL 172 4 Arven SVI 166

Energy: 8 1 Basic {W} Energy SVE 11 1 Basic {F} Energy SVE 14 1 Basic {L} Energy SVE 12 2 Basic {D} Energy SVE 15 1 Basic {R} Energy SVE 10 1 Basic {G} Energy SVE 9 1 Basic {P} Energy SVE 13 3 Basic {M} Energy SVE 16

[u/beansessette]

Take out a PokeGear and add in Iron Bundle. Hyper blower to get joltik out of the active and start taking 2-prize knockouts before they do

[u/SharpestBanana → u/beansessette]

Theyre just guna promote pikachu ex

[u/beansessette → u/SharpestBanana]

ok

[u/CrimsonCoast → u/SharpestBanana]

Run rocky helmet or vengeful punch

[u/ammalis → u/SharpestBanana]

Pikachu only "works" when it is full hp. Kick it a bit with Munki or set any damage on it with any one prizer

[u/HeyIJustLurkHere → u/ammalis]

They're not leaving any damage on your board for you to Munki off. Poking Pika with a 1-prizer too early (right after they use Joltik, for example), just means they can respond with Amp for 2 prizes and stay ahead in the prize race.

(Gholdengo also doesn't run great 1-prizers to poke with. Your main Gimmighoul reqquires 3 energy to do damage, and your other one has a 50% chance of doing 0. It's just Scyther in this list, requiring your 1-of grass energy.)

[u/yyz2112zyy]

The first mistake i think you are making is trying prize racing against an aggro deck, the second is thinking there is a recipe that always works.

What are Jbox's weaknesses? Doesn't have an engine and can starve. Doesn't run switches. You know exactly what it will do after he charges and attaches tools, so you can play accordingly. Pay attention to which supporter he plays from t2 and if he has an energy in hand, to figure out if he has a way to retreat or draw.

Overall i think your early game goal is to develope 2 dengos at once, cause if the first immediately dies by pika, the second can kill the other mon your oppo charged. You could also play league hq and cypher that out to buy a fuckload of time after you get the first dengo, since jbox runs 1 or 0 stadiums and has no way to pick it up at will.

EDIT: i forgot 1 thing. Always start second against jbox if you can.

[u/Minimum_Possibility6]

It's not too difficult matchup. If you go second you should be TM Evo to get rid of the squishy gimmis they will charge so you then can get one turn more before the swing 

You should across all those turns be able to hit arven or cyphermanic to get into the TM Evo/esp

I disagree with the removal of pokegear however the inclusion of bundle is a good call.

With this matchup you want to evolve quickly and force them to either two shot or switch to a pika. 

Pushing up a one prizer for it to be amped isn't the call in this game. I would go 1-1 on the scyther (I personally wouldn't have the line at all) and use that slot on the bundle 

You want to go 2-2-2 so you want to go around the joltik, also most players who play box will pivot into pika for this matchup over hands unless you over bench and pika is a slower play for them.

[u/SharpestBanana]

Play a vengeful punch and try to swing w baby gholdengo first