One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with an article about decks from Next Destinies.  There is no question that Next Destinies will be an impactful set.  The set is chock full of cards that will make it into decks right away.   This article will kind of overview some of these decks and explain what they are all about.  Of course I can’t cover every deck, so this will be just the major changes.

New Deck(s)

Mewtwo

The card that has literally been the poster boy of Next Destinies is Mewtwo EX.  He is also probably the focal point of the only great new deck that will come out of Next Destinies.  There is no doubt that ND cards will be in a lot of decks, but the Mewtwo deck is the only one that is really new to the format.

Since you can only play 4 Mewtwo EX cards in one deck, that will leave you  with at most 56 cards to work with.  If you add in cards like Eviolite and DCE, that still gives you about 50 cards to work with.  If you add in the staples and some more energy, you still have about 25 cards to play with.  That leaves a lot of options.  Cards that have been mentioned are energy accelerators and manipulators like Pachirisu, Emboar, and Gardevoir.  But, the one deck idea that has been suggested the most has been Celebi Prime.

Celebi Prime has a Poke-Power, called “Forrest Breath”, that lets you attach an extra Grass Energy on the field when Celebi is active.  Many people have suggested that this deck add cards like Skyarrow Bridge to it.  This would give Celebi free retreat, and would give Mewtwo some energy acceleration while not giving up the ability to attack each turn.

Most of these deck variants also have a secondary attacker.  Tornadus, Terrakion NV, and Cobalion NV are the most talked about secondary attackers.  A secondary attacker is needed in this deck so that a good Mewtwo counter will not be able to take control of the game.  For example, Mew Prime will be able to dominate Mewtwo EX very easily, but if you only use your secondary attacker, Mew Prime will not be so dominate.

This deck sets up fairly quickly and easily.  You are going to want to start with Celebi Prime, though, a  Mewtwo start isn’t the end of the world.  If you do start with Celebi Prime, you are going to want to use Pokemon Collector or Pokemon Communication for Mewtwo EX.  You are going to then want to use Celebi’s Poke-Power to attach energy to Mewtwo.  You can attack on turn 1 possibly, if you want and have Skyarrow Bridge in play.  From then on it will be a matter of getting energy on the field, and trying to keep it there.  Here is a basic skeleton list, you can fill in the rest of the cards from there.

Pokemon- 12-16

• 3-4 Celebi Prime
• 3 Mewtwo Ex
• 2-4 Secondary Attackers (like Tornadus, Terrakion NV, or Cobalion NV)

Trainers-28-32

• 10- Draw or Hand Refresh Supporters
• 4-Pokemon Collector
• 3-4 Pokemon Catcher
• 3-4 Junk Arm
• 2-3 Switch
• 3-4 Skyarrow Bridge
• 3-Eviolite

Energy-15

• 4-DCE
• 8-11-Grass
• 0-3 Rescue Energy or Prism Energy

That will give you about 5 spaces to work with.  So it’s a decent skeleton, just fill it in, mess around with it, change it up, and you might have a decent deck.

Current Decks that Will be Effected

Not only will there be new decks, but a lot of current decks will be radically changed by some new cards.  Here are some of those decks.

Chandelure

What’s being added– There is no debate on Chandelure ND, it is not a great card, and does not deserve a deck of its own.  However, since it is a Fire Pokemon, it will be of interest for Chandelure players to play 1 of the new Chandelure to get a type advantage on some decks.  Chandelure has always been too slow to counter Durant, plus, Durant had the type advantage.  So an easy to fit in fire Pokemon is really nice.  What will be added to this deck is basically 1 Chandelure ND, to give it more versatility.  I could also see this deck playing Cilans, since it now needs to run some different types of energies.

How it will change-  This deck can work with only 3 of the psychic Chandelures, since you probably will only want to setup 2 or 3 all game.  So, having to take out the 4^th Chandelure for this fire one, will not hurt your consistency.  It will probably only give your deck better matchups.  The Cilan will also help this deck, making it a little quicker.  This deck always had a hard time finding energy at the right time, Cilan will help with that.  These changes will make the deck better, I am not sure if it will take it to another level, or even keep it from falling, but these changes will help the deck.

Reshiphlosion

What’s being added– The deck that won’t die away just got another big help.  Reshiram EX can now be played in your Reshiphlosion deck.  Although it only adds 30 more damage to your maximum damage output, that could be helpful in certain situations.  So, most decks will probably only add 1 or 2 copies of Reshiram EX, I do not see a lot of other new cards being added to this deck.  Although, 1 copy of Mewtwo EX may be added as a tech.

How it will change– These changes will probably not affect the deck too much.  The deck will continue to work the same as it always does, it will just have a bigger attacker when needed.  I think the ND set does more to hurt Reshphloson than it does to help it.  “Blue Flare”, maybe with a Plus Power or two,  used to be enough to take down most playable Pokemon.  Now, we have a bunch of very playable 180 HP and 170 HP Pokemon.  This means that you are going to have to use “Blue Flare” more times than you normally do.  This could put a lot of strain on your deck, and could hurt your consistency.

That being said, the deck still is a very consistent deck and can still do really well.  Even though a lot of other decks around Reshiphlosion got more than it did, the deck will still be played.

Reshiboar

What’s being added– The bacon is back.  Next Destinies brought us many things, one of those things is a return of your favorite fire-pig, Emboar.  Since it has been so long since we have seen this card, let’s get a little history lesson.  Reshiboar was the first Reshiram BLW deck that was played.  It was set to be a very good deck at U.S. Nationals last year, but Reshiphlosion came out of absolutely nowhere and became the fire deck to play.  Reshiboar kind of stayed afloat with the addition of Magnezone Prime into the deck.  The deck now was a merger of Reshiboar and Magneboar.  It saw a little play at Worlds last year, and continued to see a little play at Battle Roads and Cities.  But, for the most part Reshiphlosion was the favorite fire deck.

So, let’s go back and get on topic here.  What is being added to this deck is 1 or 2 copies of Reshiram EX.  Like in Reshiphlosion, this will give it more pop, but it will not be that great.  The major card that is added here is Cilan.  Being able to get 3 energies into your hand will be amazing for this deck.  This means that you can easily power-up your attackers on one turn.  This is something that Typhlosion Prime cannot even do.

How it will change– The war for the best fire deck is back on.  Reshiboar now has Magnezone Prime and it can say that it is faster and more consistent than Reshiphlosion.  There will be some problems with getting energy from the discard pile, but this could be a reason why Reshiram EX could be better.  Perhaps Victini will make an appearance in this deck to make sure that Reshiram EX does not end up damaging itself.  It is hard to say what will happen at states, but from what I see, I think that Reshiboar could overthrow Reshiphlosion as the best fire deck.  And, this is very important with Durant being so good.

Zekrom

What’s being added– At first, I was kind of cool on Zekrom EX, but now I am not sure.  I was not happy about being forced to discard 2 energies, this forced you to run both heavy Pachirisu and Shaymin lines, as well as Eelektrik lines.  Then, I noticed you could also discard the DCE.  This means that as long as you don’t rely on this attack too much, you won’t have to get too much back from the discard pile.

Of course, Zekrom EX will be added to this deck.  Probably somewhere around 2 copies of this card.  Zekrom BLW and Torandus will still be in this deck, but Zekrom EX will be a bigger attacker.  Another card that will be added is Cilan.  Cilan works perfectly with Pachirisu, and will make it a lot easier to more quickly load up your attackers.  Skyarrow Bridge will also be in this deck.  It will make it harder for your opponent to stall by Pokemon Catchering a benched Pokemon.  Since you only have basic  Pokemon with fairly low retreat costs, this card is a no brainer for this deck.

How it will change– Zekrom was hands down the best deck during Battle Roads.  But, it did run out of steam later in the Cities season.  Something that will make this deck hit harder with more consistency was desperately needed, and now it is here.  This deck should have what it takes to stand up to Mewtwo EX.  I really like this deck because Zekrom EX gets rid of 2 energy after he attacks, this means that there are 2 less energies to power-up Mewtwo EX’s attack.  Zekrom should be poised to make it to a lot of the top tables at states.  It is hard to say how good the deck will be, but it should be really good.

Ross Deck (the Truth)

What’s being added– Time for another history lesson.  The Ross Deck was coincidentally invented by a guy named Ross, what are the chances of that?  Ross Cawthon brought it to Worlds and went fairly deep into the top cut with a deck based around Donphan Prime, Vileplume, and Reuniclus BLW.  It was the talk of Nationals, and it caught on around the country for Battle Roads.  It did fairly well there, and it even saw a little play during Cities.  However, the novelty of the deck has worn off, and its play has dropped off.

Now the big EXs are here and they stand to reinvigorate Ross Deck.  Ross Deck was good because it could take a hit and then redistribute it among the bench.  Now not only do you have a couple 180 HP Pokemon to use to keep damage counters on, but you can use one of them to take a hit.   It will now be almost impossible to beat Ross Deck once it sets up.  It will still be a slow deck that is vulnerable to a bad start in an increasingly fast format, but the deck did get a lot better, and here is how.

The deck will get a lot of great 180 HP Pokemon, like Regigigas EX, Reshiram EX, Kyurem EX, and Zekrom EX.  I think the best Pokemon to use in this deck is Kyurem and Regigigas.  I think that instead of Donphan, Machamp, or Steelix; you can just use Kyurem.  Kyurem can sit there, hit for 120, and take a hit, while Ross deck does what it does best.  You also have Regigigas that can be used in the right situation for a knockout.  I can see a person running 3 Kyurem EXs and 1 Regiggas.  The stadium Pokemon Center is also a perfect fit for this deck.  This will make it even easier to get rid of damage.

How it will change– Sure Kyurem is slower than Donphan, but it requires less deck space and can hit a lot harder.  Unless you play a deck with Steelix Prime, Scizor Prime, or Conalion Nv you will probably never lose a Kyurem.  It is very hard to get rid of a Kyurem EX without using weakness.  The deck might get even a little slower, but it will also hit harder and become even more defensive.  The weak point of this deck has always been the setup, and this set does nothing to help that, but it does maximize the deck in a lot other areas.  I am not exactly sure if ND will make Ross Deck the best around, but it should make it appear on a couple of top tables around states time.  Players of this deck will need to address the Durant problem, but if they can handle that it should be smooth sailing for this deck.

Well that is all I got, good luck to you for all your state testings.

So Long and Thanks for all the fish!

Category: Deck Discussion | Tags: Chandelure deck, Magneboar, Mewtwo EX decklist, Reshiboar, Reshiphlosion, Ross Deck, The Truth, Tyram, Zekrom EX Deck