Shuppet Donk (Aka T1 Shuppet) Decklist

by Ed ~ January 18th, 2010.

I don’t have a great article to go with this. I wanted to post these decklists mainly for archival reasons, but if you are someone that’s stumbled upon these, please feel free to leave any questions in the comment section. I’d be happy to elaborate on how the decks play.

First off, I want to present what I feel like is the basic T1 Shuppet Donk decklist. This doesn’t have any specific tech in it. That would be left up to the player to tweak. All this deck does is aim for a T1 double-donk. When it misses that mark, it will almost always get a single OHKO on its first trainer turn. Your first trainer turn will be maddening for your opponent as you cycle through the majority of your deck looking for Expert Belt, 4 Plus Powers, Shuppet, and an energy. On the way there, you will, no doubt, be dropping Crobat G for damage, Poke Turning him for more damage, Poke Blowering for damage, and Super Scooping for damage (or for Uxie’s Set Up Poke Power).

The draw engine is powerful enough to deck yourself on the first turn, but with Shuppet you don’t need to do that. When you have enough trainers piled on Shuppet to KO the opponent, you don’t need to keep drawing cards (unless you want to see if you can finish off a benched Pokemon with a Blower/Crobat). The main card drawer here is Uxie, but there is plenty more. Unown R really does work wonders here, as his Retire Poke Power allows you to sac him to draw a card. All the Pokemon search can grab an Unown R, and Pokemon Rescue and Night Maintenance can recycle them. In this deck, Quick Ball really shines. Most of the time, it will get you an Unown R or an Uxie. Either way, it’s a win. Sometimes you’ll come up with an Unown Q or Unown G when you don’t need them, but at least they don’t take up bench space (since you can attach them to another Pokemon). Dusk Ball is good for when you have to attack with Uxie (as you will need if Shuppet gets prized). Otherwise, you can just burn it to see what’s on bottom, hope for an Unown R or Uxie, and then Set Up.

The majority of the cards in this deck combo well with Uxie. They can be burned for some effect, and then you can Set Up for more cards. I often draw 6 or 7 cards when I Set Up. The only problems here are extra Energy, extra Supporters, and a full (or near full) bench. Early Plus Powers and Expert Belts can be stashed on a Crobat G (because you’ll Poke Turn him later) or Uxie (if you have one down already). Of course, you want them on Shuppet, but sometimes you don’t draw into Shuppet right away. Remember, you can always attack with Uxie, get him back into the deck, and grab him with a Dusk Ball. The only drawback here is that you will end up putting his Expert Belt and Plus Powers back into the deck. I do run 2 Expert Belts, and an Uxie attack (if it will KO) with one Ex Belt is a good way to get one out of your hand when you have two.

Okay, I didn’t intend to add so much text, so here are the decks. This is the vanilla skeleton. In this version, some or all Roseanne’s Research can be replaced by Buck’s Training, Cyrus’s Conspiracy, or Pokemon Rescue. Dusk Ball can be interchanged with Great Ball (but I don’t like that Great Ball won’t activate Set Up or Flash Bite). You can run less energy if you want, but I add 3 just in case I need them against a late Mr. Mime. An early Mime can be dealt with via Crobat/Blower. If you want other ideas on how the deck can be modified, check out this article documenting my Spiritomb Shuppet decklist.
Uxie
16 Pokemon:
1 Shuppet
2 Crobat G
4 Uxie
4 Unown R
1 Mr. Mime
2 Unown Q
1 Unown G
1 Spiritomb

37 Trainers:
4 Poke Turn
4 Super Scoop Up
4 Poke Blower+
4 Poke Drawer+
4 Pokedex
4 Plus Power
4 Quick Ball
3 Dusk Ball
1 Luxury Ball
2 Night Maintenance
2 Expert Belt
1 Pokemon Rescue

4 Supporters:
4 Roseanne's Research

3 Energy:
3 Psy Energy

Now, here’s the version that I built for my 6-year-old daughter to play in her first City Championships. It actually plays quite well, but it has some deficiencies. The notable lack of Mr. Mime and Unown Q should be obvious. That, in itself, hurts the consistency of the deck. The 4 energy and 3 Energy Search also clog up the hand. The only good thing there is that you can always fail the Energy Search if you already have an energy. 2 Shuppet (vs. the single one above) help insure that you don’t have to go Shuppetless due to prizing. Buck’s Training gives you extra damage and two cards without presenting any difficult choices (like Cyrus or Roseanne could). Crobat G always goes up as the post Fade Out free retreater in this version, but his x2 weakness can really hurt against some decks. As you can see, this version is intended to play like the previous build, while limiting choices and confusing situations (like attaching Unown Q or Unown G). It was a big success as far as teaching my daughter how to play the deck. Ultimately, though, she went 0-4 in her first tournament. I don’t really feel like going into why here, because I assume that, if you’re reading this far, you’d be more interested in the above decklist rather than the one below, anyway. Here’s the list, though.
Crobat G
14 Pokemon:
2 Shuppet
4 Crobat G
4 Uxie
4 Unown R

38 Trainers:
4 Poke Turn
4 Super Scoop Up
4 Poke Blower+
4 Poke Drawer+
4 Pokedex
4 Plus Power
4 Quick Ball
2 Great Ball
1 Luxury Ball
2 Night Maintenance
2 Expert Belt
3 Energy Search

4 Supporters:
4 Buck's Training

4 Energy:
4 Psy

I should add that I did play this build at a Pokemon League and ended up whooping up fairly handily with it. I can’t recommend playing these decks at league, though. They’re not very fun for your opponent.

Category: Deck Discussion | Tags: , , ,