Toolbox decks are fun! They aren’t as straightforward as the top decks in Pokemon TCG Online, and are also not tournament-winners, but they are great to use on the Ladder, where you will encounter a variety of decks and be able to counter a lot of them. Mewtwo & Mew-GX deck has been one of the most fun decks that fall into this category, and last year we also had the Rhyperior deck that used a variety of Pokemon in it. The 2021/22 Standard meta of Pokemon TCG Online has an actually viable Toolbox deck in the form of Sylveon VMAX.
Unlike Mew3, which relied on the card’s ability to borrow attacks, Sylveon VMAX powers up its attack by having a variety of Pokemon in your deck. Moreover, all of the other Pokemon in the deck allow you to deal with a number of other decks – like different parts of a Swiss knife that you can use for different purposes. The Sylveon VMAX deck has actually been hitting the top positions in recent tournaments, and you can tell that this card was made for a deck like this. This deck also made it to our list of the Top 10 Standard decks for Pokemon TCG online in 2022.
In this guide, I’ll be taking you through the most commonly used and consistent versions of the Sylveon VMAX toolbox deck, and how it allows you to counter a bunch of other decks in the 2021/22 Standard format.
Sylveon VMAX Standard deck list for Pokemon TCG Online
Below are two versions of the Sylveon VMAX Standard deck for Pokemon TCG Online. The first one features Leafeon VMAX.
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******
##Pokémon – 21
* 1 Oranguru SHF 171
* 1 Crobat V PR-SW 98
* 2 Rapid Strike Urshifu V BST 152
* 2 Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX BST 170
* 2 Blaziken V CRE 161
* 2 Blaziken VMAX CRE 201
* 2 Leafeon V EVS 166
* 3 Sylveon V EVS 183
* 2 Sylveon VMAX EVS 212
* 2 Remoraid BST 36
* 2 Octillery BST 178
##Trainer Cards – 29
* 2 Tower of Waters BST 138
* 4 Crushing Hammer UPR 166
* 2 Korrina’s Focus BST 160
* 3 Marnie SSH 200
* 4 Professor’s Research CEL 24
* 3 Boss’s Orders RCL 189
* 1 Tool Scrapper RCL 208
* 4 Quick Ball SSH 216
* 4 Evolution Incense SSH 163
* 2 Air Balloon SSH 213
##Energy – 10
* 3 Grass Energy GRI 167
* 3 Capture Energy DAA 201
* 4 Rapid Strike Energy BST 182
Total Cards – 60
Sylveon VMAX Standard deck list (-Leafeon, +Moltres)
Here’s the first version of the Sylveon VMAX deck, which the player “Mboss11” used to rank #3 (out of 131) in the recent Sunday Open tournament.
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******
##Pokémon – 20
* 1 Oranguru SSH 148
* 1 Crobat V SHF 44
* 2 Galarian Moltres V CRE 97
* 2 Rapid Strike Urshifu V BST 87
* 2 Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX BST 88
* 1 Blaziken V CRE 20
* 1 Blaziken VMAX CRE 21
* 1 Eldegoss V CPA 5
* 3 Sylveon V EVS 74
* 2 Sylveon VMAX EVS 75
* 2 Remoraid BST 36
* 2 Octillery BST 37
##Trainer Cards – 30
* 4 Professor’s Research SHF 60
* 3 Boss’s Orders RCL 189
* 3 Marnie CPA 56
* 1 Korrina’s Focus BST 128
* 4 Quick Ball SSH 216
* 3 Evolution Incense SSH 163
* 2 Great Ball CPA 52
* 2 Energy Switch SSH 162
* 1 Escape Rope BST 125
* 1 Energy Search SSH 161
* 1 Tool Scrapper RCL 208
* 2 Ribbon Badge EVS 155
* 1 Air Balloon SSH 156
* 2 Tower of Waters BST 138
##Energy – 10
* 6 Darkness Energy Energy 7
* 4 Rapid Strike Energy BST 140
Total Cards – 60
Other than the two changes with Pokemon, do check out the different Trainer cards used in this one. You can experiment with these and go with the ones you like, because both combinations of Trainer cards are useful in different situations. If you do change the Pokemon, you will have to be careful with altering your Energy cards as well.
Sylveon V and VMAX
Sylveon V is a pretty good card on its own, with an ability that lets you find any Item card you want (at the cost of ending your turn). Sylveon VMAX’s 3-Colorless-Energy-fueled Max Harmony attack is a clear indication of the card being made for a Toolbox deck.
Max Harmony: 70+
This attack does 30 more damage for each different type of Pokémon on your Bench.
Since this attack is powered by Colorless Energy, it works well with having any other Pokemon in your deck. This is the main attack you will be using to get knockouts with Sylveon VMAX. However, Sylveon’s first attack only works with Psychic Energy.
Precious Touch
Attach an Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Benched Pokémon. If you do, heal 120 damage from that Pokémon.
Blaziken VMAX and Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX
Blaziken VMAX also uses Colorless Energy for its 130 damage attack that lets you recycle Energies from your discard pile. Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX is your attacker who dictates what Energy you use with this deck. Rapid Strike Energy grants Water and/or Fighting Energy (two at a time) to any of your Pokemon, and works perfectly with all of your main attackers since they are Rapid Strike Pokemon.
G-Max Rapid Flow
Discard all Energy from this Pokémon. This attack does 120 damage to 2 of your opponent’s Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
It’s very common for this deck to get multiple knockouts with G-Max Rapid Flow, and often you’ll straight up win the game because of this attack (if you knock out two VMAXes and get 3 Prize cards for each).
Galarian Moltres V, Octillery, and Leafeon VMAX
The other energy the second one uses is Dark-type, which Galarian Moltres V’s ability can pull out of your deck whenever you want. Octillery is good for both decks (and Rapid Strike decks in general) as its ability lets you fetch any Rapid Strike card you want. The Leafeon version doesn’t really have anything different going on and the card in itself works better with Inteleon.
If I had to pick one for competitive matches, I would definitely go for the second one. Having fewer Energies also makes it a lot more consistent.
You can use Oranguru for fetching cards as well, and Crobat V is a good staple for filling out your hand. Eldegoss V helps you retrieve used Supporter cards from your discard pile, but you can use the Item card Pal Pad as well, which lets you add them to your deck instead of your hand.
Trainer cards
Ribbon Badge is the big one you’re looking for, and it is a staple for any deck that uses Sylveon VMAX.
If the Pokémon V this card is attached to has “Sylveon” in its name and is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent’s Pokémon, that player takes 1 fewer Prize card.
None of the other Trainer cards are specific to this deck and you can experiment with them based on what works for you. Marnie, Professor’s Research, and Boss’s Orders are staple cards for both decks and I highly recommend using multiple copies of each. Based on what type of games you’re playing (Ladder or tournament) you will find some of the Trainers being more useful than others.
What makes the Sylveon VMAX deck good in Pokemon TCG Online?
Sylveon VMAX, a Psychic type, is a good counter to Fighting types including Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX itself. Blaziken VMAX, a Fire type, is a good counter to the popular Leafeon VMAX. Urshifu VMAX, a Fighting type, is a good counter to all the Eternatus VMAX and Umbreon VMAX decks out there. This deck has options to counter some of the best decks in the format, and has enough synergy among them to work well as a Toolbox deck.
For more Standard, Expanded, and Theme deck guides and lists, be sure to check out our Ultimate Pokemon TCG Online guide and resource list.
