Toxitank (TCG)

Toxitank was a moderately popular, although short-lived, in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. It centered around the combination of 's Deep Poison attack and 's Poison Structure , along with a strong and various support Pokémon. The deck won numerous Pokémon Organized Play tournaments soon after the release of the expansion, but it faded into relative obscurity as players moved toward different decks, such as and .
==Strategy==
As previously stated, Toxitank focuses on the opponent's Pokémon with and proceeding to attack with . Since Skuntank G's Poison Structure Poké-Power can be used only if the Toxitank player has a in play, 's Honcho's Command attack is very beneficial early in the game. Along with Honchkrow G, provides a good start for the deck. Its Call for Family attack allows the Toxitank player to set up faster by giving them access to more in play.
In addition to Honchkrow G and Weavile G, Toxitank utilizes an SP Engine based around and a variety of Team Galactic's Invention s, in combination with other such as . The deck generally has no trouble setting up an attacking Toxicroak G early in the game, with a Stadium card in play and Skuntank G on the Bench. Both Toxicroak G and Skuntank G are , and as a result, they are searchable by almost any card. In addition, Toxicroak G needs only to use Poison Revenge, if it has an attached. By using to slow the opponent's setup while stockpiling resources in hand, such as and , the Toxitank player can fulfill the deck's goal of taking easy prizes with fast Basic Pokémon and low-cost attacks.
==Key Cards==
* - This Toxicroak G, a -type Pokémon from the expansion, is the deck's main attacker. Its Anticipation Poké-Body prevents all effects of attacks except damage done to Toxicroak G, making it immune to 's Take Out attack, 's Shadow Room attack, and the attacks of various other popular Pokémon of the era. Toxicroak G's only attack, Deep Poison, does 60 damage for only . If the Defending Pokémon is Poisoned by Skuntank G, Toxicroak G can do significant damage with only one energy attachment, provided is attached.
* - Skuntank G combos well with Toxicroak G because of its Poison Structure Poké-Power. If the Toxitank player has a in play, they can use Poison Structure to both Active Pokémon. However, since it does not affect Pokémon SP, it will generally only Poison the opponent's Active Pokémon, allowing Toxicroak G's Deep Poison attack to do more damage and nullifying any Poké-Powers the affected Pokémon possesses.
* - Honchkrow G is primarily used as a starting Pokémon in Toxitank. Its Honcho's Command attack allows the Toxitank player to search for two in any combination of with Team Galactic's Invention in their name and Stadium cards. This is essential, as the Toxitank player must have a Stadium card in play in order to use Skuntank G's Poison Structure. Honchkrow G can also be used as an offensive attacker; with an energy cost of , its Target Attack does 40 damage to any damaged opponent's Pokémon, meaning it can be used to pick off weakened Benched Pokémon later in the game.
* - In addition to Honchkrow G, Weavile is an ideal starting Pokémon for the deck. Its Call for Family attack allows the player to search their deck for up to two Pokémon SP and place them onto their Bench. This is useful early in the game, since most critical Pokémon in the deck are Basic Pokémon SP. Additionally, Weavile G can provide a powerful attacker at any point in the game. For , Team Attack does 10 damage plus an additional 10 damage for each Pokémon SP the Toxitank player has in play. With six Pokémon-SP in play, including Weavile G, and an attached, Weavile G is able to do 70 damage for only two energy attachments.
* - Uxie provides the deck with its main draw support. When played from the hand, its Set Up Poké-Power allows the Toxitank player to draw cards until they have seven cards in hand. Although the non-leveled-up Uxie's usefulness ends with this effect, provides a powerful attacker, and a continuous draw effect with its Trade Off Poké-Power.
* - Cyrus's Conspiracy gives Toxitank its primary searching power - an SP engine. By allowing the player to search out one Basic Energy card, one , and one with Team Galactic's Invention in its name, Cyrus's Conspiracy gives Toxitank indirect access to most cards in the deck. If they are in need of a Pokémon SP, they can use Cyrus's Conspiracy to search for , which can in turn search for a Pokémon SP. The most common use of Cyrus's Consiracy, though, is to stockpile resources, such as Poké Turn, Power Spray, and various Basic Energy cards, in the player's hand for later use.
* - Poké Turn is often cited as the most critical Trainer card in any SP deck, for good reason. By allowing the player to return any Pokémon SP on their side of the field to the hand, Poké Turn essentially provides for healing, free retreating, and the re-use of coming-into-play effects such as 's Flash Bite. If Toxitank begins with an unfavorable start, such as or , Poké Turn can rectify that by returning the Pokémon to the player's hand. If a Toxicroak G is on the verge of being knocked out, Poké Turn can deny the opponent a prize and effectively heal the Toxicroak.
* - Power Spray is the deck's foremost disruption card, and a primary reason Toxitank was able to compete against Stage-2 setup decks such as and . By negating any used by the opponent during their turn, Power Spray could stall the opponent's setup and temporarily cripple many leading decks that relied on Poké-Powers for support and drawing.
* - Energy Gain is akin to a free energy attachment for Pokémon SP. By reducing the cost of 's Deep Poison attack by , Energy Gain allows Toxicroak G to do 60 or more damage for a cost of only . After using Poké Turn to scoop up a Toxicroak G, Energy Gain can allow the same Pokémon to attack during the same turn, since it reduces the timeit takes to charge a Toxicroak G from two turns to one.
==Typical decklist==
==Possible Tech Cards==
* - Although it can be argued that the addition of Dialga G LV.X changes the deck into a variant of , 1-1 or 2-1 lines were originally considered a tech in Toxitank. By preventing the opponent from using Poké-Bodies and giving the deck the ability to Trainer-lock the opponent through 's Deafen attack, this tech adds to the disruption provided by Power Spray.
* - Mightyena provides an alternate attacker. More powerful but less reliable, it can do 80 damage for no energy if it has been Poisoned by Skuntank G's Poison Structure. If Mightyena is not Poisoned, however, it is virtually useless and provides even less power than Toxicroak G.
* - Pachirisu's first attack, Call for Family, is akin to Weavile G's Call for Family. Pachirisu allows the player to search for three Pokémon instead of two, but also costs , whereas Weavile G's attack is free. This tech also provided the deck with a better matchup against and other -type decks of the era.
* - Unown G was used primarily as a means of avoiding the effect of 's Shadow Room attack. By placing six damage counters on any Pokémon with a Poké-Power, Shadow Room allowed to take easy prizes off Skuntank G, Bronzong G, Crobat G, and various other supporting Pokémon in Toxitank.
* - Generally used in place of either Weavile G or Pachirisu, Call Energy provided an alternate means of placing Basic Pokémon on the Bench early in the game.
Category:Deck archetypes