Deck Spotlight: Flyperior (Flygon and Rhyperior Lock and Mill)
by Pikkdogs ~ March 26th, 2010.Hello to all members of Team Omar. My name is Pikkdogs, or Josh, and I am pleased to present you with my first post. I first started following Team Omar a few months ago when Omar referenced one of my articles from SixPrizes.com. From then on I have enjoyed reading some of the things included on this site. Now, I am proud to present my first article.
This article will be about the deck that I just took to the Michigan State Championships. I call it the Flyperior Lock and Mill deck. Usually Flygon is paired with either Machamp or Donphan Prime, my deck forsakes all those fighting Pokemon for another one, Rhyperior DP. The decks strategy is to use Flygon Lv.x RR and Rhyperior to lock in a weak opponent and then mill them, or discard cards from their deck.
The Basics
There are certain steps that allow the user to do this. The first step is to establish a Flygon Lv.x, with a Trapnich Sw underneath it, and a Memory Berry attached to it. With Memory Berry, Flygon can now use the attacks “Inviting Trap†and “Sand Tomb.†First the user would use “Inviting Trap†to select a weak Pokemon such as Claydol GE or Mr. Mime MT. Preferably the Pokemon you choose with this attack will have a high retreat cost and in ineffective attack.    Then after you have the Pokemon you want in your opponent’s active position the user then uses the attack “Sand Tomb.â€Â This attack does ten damage and does not allow the defending Pokemon to retreat next turn.
Once you have your trap set up, then the milling starts. With Flygon Lv.x’s Poke Body “Wind Erosion†you may discard the top card in your opponent’s deck between turns. Then, on the bench, the user can set up a Rhyperior DP. It’s Poke Power “Earth Fissure†lets the user discard the top three cards of the opponents deck. Then the user would make sure they have a Broken Time Space in play, and then use the card Super Scoop Up to pick up Rhyperior, and then lay the Pokemon back down and use “Earth Fissure†again. Then the user repeats this strategy until the opponent decks out.
My Decklist
This is the decklist that I used for states. It is not a perfect decklist, but it worked well for me. If anyone has any comments on it, I would love to hear them.
2-1 Palkia Lv.X – Used to bring up a benched Pokemon with his Poke Power “Restructure.â€Â I use Platinum Palkia, but any Palkia can be used.
3-3 Claydol GE - A 3-3 Claydol line makes it easy to set up fast, it also helps feed Flygon’s “Power Swing†attack.
4 Trapinch SW - Believe it or not Trapinch has the attacks that the user will use most often. He is the back bone of this deck
2 Vibrava RR – A Blah Pokemon just used to evolve to Flygon can use the SW version if you want.
3 Flygon RR – He gives you the HP you need to make Trapinch’s attack works. His Poke Body rainbow float also lets you use Palkia Lv.x many times. His attack “Power Swing†can also be devastating.
1 Flygon Lv. X – Used because of “Wind Erosion.â€
1-1-1 Rhyperior DP – Essential for the “Earth Fissure†Poke Power.
2 Unown G GE
1 Azelf LA
1 Relincanth SV - If your opponent starts getting smart and uses Unown g to negate Trapinch’s attacks, then use Relincanth to vanquish your opponent.
Trainers
2 Rare Candy
4 Bebes Search – Even though Claydol’s come easy to this deck, you still need lots of searching power for the Rhyperior Line.
3 Roseanne’s Research
1 Team Galactics Wager – Just a fun card.
3 Memory Berry – Three are essential
4 Super Scoop Up – Four are essential
1 Poke Radar – A staple of any deck I make.
2 Warp Point – Useful for getting a benched Palkia Lv.x
2 Broken Time Space
1 Luxury Ball
1 Night Maintenance
Energy
5 Fighting Energy
2 Water Energy – Just to give Palkia free retreat, he could also be used to attack if need be.
2 Double Colorless Energy – This is what you use if the trap situation is not working. This energy helps Flygon use the moves “Extreme Attack†and “Power Swing.â€
Possible Techs
Rhyperior Sv-It is possible to extend the Rhyperior line and involve Rhyperior SV to finish off a Pokemon that you sand tombed, in order to mill more cards. The attack ‘Deep Scrap†is pricey, but if you are able to power it up and combo it with sand tomb, you will hopefully mill some important cards.
Dugtrio Pt- This would cause you to change your strategy up a little. But Dugtrio’s Poke Body “Sink Hole†puts 2 damage counters on a Pokemon each time your opponent retreats them. If a user constantly attacked with inviting trap, you would force the opponent to either leave the Pokemon in the active position or put 2 damage counters on it.
Wobbufet promo- The new Wobbufet promo has a Poke Body named “Tenacious Bind.â€Â This body   would increase the retreat cost of your opponent’s Pokemon by 2.  If for some reason the Flygon that your were trapping with has been knocked out, you can bring up Wobbufet and the defending Pokemon will still not be able to retreat because of the Poke Body. Allowing the user to buy time and set up  another Flygon.
Pokemon Communication- This trainer is nice because it is like a Bebe’s search, it would help the user bring a Rhyperior out a turn or two earlier.
Flygon SW- Pokemon like dunsparce and Garchomp C can be an issue for this deck because of weakness. So if you run a Flygon SW (which is a fighting type) you will be able to set up a trap without running into a weakness problem. You can then put the level x on it when you are ready.
Match Ups
I have not tested this deck out against every deck out there, but I know a little bit about the match ups.
Gengar
Gengar is actually a pretty easy matchup for this deck.  The Poke Body “Fainting Spell†won’t affect you because you will not be knocking out many Gengars. Just grab their Claydol and trap it. Eventually they probably will find a Gengar Lv.x. If they do, you must use “Extreme Attack†to get rid of it before “Level Down†affects the game too much.
SP Decks
I want to test more against SP’s, but it seems like most SP decks give this deck a run for its money. If the opposing player is running Mesprit or Claydol, just lock down that Pokemon. If not then wait till they use their Poke Turns up and then try to lock a Lucario GL, or Bronzong G. If that doesn’t work then hopefully use “Extreme Attack†to knock out Garchomp C. Lv.x and other Lv.x’s.
Rogue Decks
Rogue decks like Scizor/Cherrim, Arceus and others can pose a problem. They usually don’t run a Claydol, so the strategy is different. If possible find something to lock, for example I locked a Water Arceus in the recent States tournament. If locking doesn’t work then start using “Power Swing†and hopefully you can out power them.
Gyarados
I haven’t actually tested against Gyarados yet, but I will soon. I would imagine that Gyarados can be quite a problem here. But none the less, just bring up Regice and lock him up. And Hopefully they will roll tails enough times on their Super Scoop Up attempts.
Uxie/Shuppet/other Donk Deck
Donk Decks are a problem for this deck. Trapinch and Baltoy only have 50 HP, so if you don’t have a Palkia start, this could be a short game. But if the user is able to withstand the first couple turns and get a couple “Cosmic Powerâ€s off, you should be in good shape.  The opponent will use a lot of trainers to go through their deck very fast, this is in your advantage. Once they use a lot of cards, milling their deck is much easier. Make sure you have an active Flygon when they first attack with Uxie or Shuppet. They will probably retreat to Mr. Mime. Then you just need to lock Mr. Mime in his place. Then your opponent will flip for Super Scoop Up, if they aren’t able to hit a couple of heads, you will be able to mill most of their deck away.
Closing Thoughts
This is a nice fun deck. It will never be a super popular deck, but it can win (my top 8 at States proves that). Unfortunately it is a pretty expensive deck, so I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. I thought of this deck when I heard a player ask if this game had any concept of mill. I said it didn’t but that didn’t mean that you can’t introduce it. I always liked Rhyperior DP and wanted a partner for him, and that partner was Flygon with Trapinch SW. Even though I came up with this deck idea by myself, I didn’t do it first. I learned that this combo was used before, but not to much success, and of course the Flygon trap strategy had been around for a long time I ever made this deck.  If anyone has any suggestions to make the deck better, please let me know.
And thanks to Ed and Omar for letting me post on their site.
Peace.
Category: Deck Discussion | Tags: Flygon, Rhyperior