Granbull was a Pokémon Trading Card Gamedeck archetype played in the 2018-2019 and slightly in the 2019-2020 seasons. The deck aimed to leave the player with an empty hand every turn to deal consistent damage with a powerful one-Energy attack. Granbull has been featured at Top 2 in LAIC 2018, as well other relevant spots at Regional events.
Strategy
Granbull is a Stage 1 Pokémon that can, for one Energy card, attack for 160 damage if the player has no cards in their hand. The player would use this attack to try to win the game, always maintaining a board state with multiple Granbull in reserve and using cards that emptied the player's hand, even if said cards otherwise have no practical effect in the decklist such as Fiery Flint or if the player purposely failed to get cards from the deck with their effect.
Deck consistency and card sequencing are important to get around the game's limitations such as playing only one Energy or Stadium card from the hand per turn, so Oranguru and Magcargo serve as supporting Pokémon that are used to draw cards that the player would need later and manipulate the cards they would get from the deck.
Granbull - For one Energy, Granbull's All Out attack deals 30 damage plus 130 if the player has no cards in their hand, enough to Knock Out some weak Rule Box Pokémon such as Dedenne-GX in one attack with no other modifiers. Granbull notably had a resistance to Zoroark-GX's type and its 130HP allowed it to survive a few other attacks from other important Pokémon in the metagame.
Oranguru - Once per turn, allows the player to draw cards until they have 3 in their hand. While being the main or only drawing support Pokémon in the deck, this hit the right amount of resources for some cards such as emptying the hand with Ultra Ball or to just recover from turns when the player is left with no cards in hand.
Magcargo - Stage 1 Pokémon that, once per turn, allows the player to put any card from the deck on top of it. Played either before Oranguru's Ability to draw the desired card immediately or before attacking to better guarantee a card in the next turn.
Ditto ♢ - Can evolve into either Granbull or Magcargo with its Ability.
Shrine of Punishment - Places 1 damage counter on all Pokémon-GX between turns, making Knock Outs on larger targets easier.
Diantha - Played only if a Pokémon was knocked out in the opponent's last turn to put 2 cards from the discard pile into the player's hand. The retrieved cards would usually include a Granbull that was just Knocked Out to set up another one for the turn.
Typical decklist
Nicolas Galaz's decklist at the 2018 Latin America Internationals
The following cards are often used in Granbull in place of certain cards included in the above lists.
Zebstrika - Supporting Pokémon that benefited from the deck playing Ditto ♢ as a means to draw more cards.
Fairy Charm Ability - Prevents damage to the Pokémon it is attached to from Pokémon with Abilities. Fairy Charm L could also protect damage against some popular Pokémon in the metagame. It was usually preferred to use Choice Band as removing Tool cards from opposing Pokémon was common at the time.
Apricorn Maker - Searches the deck for three Item cards with "Ball" on their name. Granbull was one of the few decks where this card was consistently useful, as Ultra Ball in particular was one of the best cards to use to empty the player's hand.
Reasons for the loss of playability
The following expansions released TAG TEAM which, despite giving the player three Prize cards when knocked out, had more HP and were Basic Pokémon. Pikachu & Zekrom-GX was notable as it could knock out two Pokémon in one attack and disrupt the player's pace. The metagame also saw the increase of damage reduction and healing cards, making it harder for the deck to exchange Prize cards as effectively, besides control decks. Granbull also suffered later from the end of support at the Scarlet & Violet era, and the new Pokémon V raised the average HP of two-prize Pokémon while making its cards that dealt exclusively with Pokémon-GX less useful. Finally, Choice Band and Oranguru had also left the 2019-20 Standard format, leaving less reliable cards in their stead.
Pokémon was knocked out in the opponent's last turn to put 2 cards from the discard pile into the player's hand. The retrieved cards would usually include a Granbull that was just Knocked Out to set up another one for the turn.
