Working With Ditto: A Review of 1-1 and 1-0-1 Techs
coolestman22 Hey OneHitKO people, it’s me, coolestman22 again, here with another article to try to help keep the site going. I said in my last article that I would try to write about the techs Ditto brings to the table, and I decided to do just that.
Anyway, Esa wrote a neat article about how good Ditto is on his blog (Which I recommend reading if you haven’t), but
he didn’t go over the usefulness of the techs you could set up via Ditto. He mentioned a few, and he did a bit of reviewing them, but he didn’t go that much in detail.
So without further ado, I guess I should start the article. Please do note that these are not ranked, they’re just there in the order they came to my head in.
Dusknoir BoC
Dusknoir is probably going to be the most popular Ditto tech. The Ability is just so powerful that if you manage to get a Dusknoir out, it will probably lead to a few prizes by itself. You could also use it to take out your opponent’s all-important Stage Two Energy accelerator, or use the damage from the EX they retreated to kill their active EX with energy.
However, without Ditto, the second a Duskull hits the field, it is very likely to be Catcher-killed, even without Junk Arm in format. That is why you need Ditto to play a Dusknoir tech. If you can get a Dusknoir out, it is a very powerful thing to have on the field.
Zoroark BW
Zoroark is an interesting tech (I wonder how many times I’m gonna say that this article), but it’s not one I’m big on this format. Last Cities I played a 1-1 in my Audino Box deck (That was my crazy stupid rogue that I would have played if I had gone to one more Cities) to hit Chandelure, Magnezone, Cobalion, and other things for “I win”. It was extremely good, but I had to cut it because of space concerns.
I don’t think I like Zoroark all too much now, however, because nowadays it just doesn’t have anything to hit for either weakness, OHKOes, or an effect. The main meta things now are Rayquaza, Landorus, Darkrai, and Keldeo, and Zoroark just isn’t good against any of those.
Maybe in another format, Zoroark will be really good, but I doubt that will happen any time soon. It does have a secret rare in NXD, so if the rotation is NXD-on maybe Ditto will allow for it to be good.
Ninetales DRX
Ninetales serves as a 5th Catcher. If your opponent sees four Catcher in your discard pile, they will probably play differently until you Junk Hunt them back (if you do). However, if you play a Ninetales you’ll be able to use a Catcher
that they likely won’t see coming, and therefore it will probably be much more devastating.
Also, who wouldn’t want an extra Catcher? If you have space for a 1-1 Ninetales tech and you don’t play Rare Candy, Ninetales might just be the best possible tech you can play with Ditto. I really like the surprise factor it has, and having a 5th Catcher can win games.
The reason that Ninetales wasn’t played in BW-DRX is, of course, there was no surprise factor, and the Vulpix is likely to be Catcher-KOed. With Ditto, you get the surprise factor as well as a higher HP basic to sit there instead of a Vulpix (Which matters in the case of Mewtwo or Darkrai), and if they put enough damage on the Ditto you can Transform it into something else.
Serperior BW
Serperior is an interesting tech indeed, and it’s one I have experimented with in my Hydreigon deck with success. It brings me back to the days where 1-0-1 Nidoqueen RR techs were a thing because of the old Rare Candy rules. Serperior is just a stackable version of that, and in Darkrai mirrors it can be devastating (It’s practically an Eviolite that can’t be Tool Scrapped and reduces more damage the longer it goes unattacked). I have found that with Serperior you can switch Darkrais around via Dark Trance, and then slowly heal all of them when they get damaged.
It’s also really good against the Night Spear damage that Darkrai does to the bench. Suddenly, that 30 becomes 10 before your opponent can do anything. So with Serperior in play that 90-30 becomes a 70-10, and if you retreat to a fresh Darkrai it will become a 50-0 or 50-20 depending on whether they Night Spear the same Pokemon.
Against other decks it isn’t too shabby either if you’re using Darkrai. If you Eviolite your Darkrai the Keldeo is only doing 90 (Assuming 3 waters) or 110 (Assuming four waters), and then you make that 70 or 90. If you retreat to a fresh Darkrai that turns into 50 and 70.
I’m not going to keep talking about Serperior, but I have found it’s great in any Darkrai deck, especially Darkrai/Hydreigon. With Ditto, you can disguise your Serperior tech as something more prominent and then go Transform-Rare Candy-Serperior.
Krookodile DEX
This tech probably isn’t as legitimate as the others, but I feel like giving it a shout-out. What it does is that it has an attack called Bombast that does 40 damage for each prize card you’ve taken. What this does is that if you’ve already taken five prizes, it will OHKO anything barring Wailord with Giant Cape and Regigigas EX/Tornadus EX with Asperita City Gym and either Eviolite or Giant Cape.
This pretty much cancels the need for a game-winning Catcher because you have a card that can OHKO everything meta regardless. However, the attack costs four energy (Two Darks included) and in any Darkrai deck you’re likely to have extra Night Spear damage somewhere that can be moved around with the most likely better Dusknoir tech. So unless you’re playing some weird Zoroark variant, Dusknoir is likely the better call if you have the Darks to make playing Krookodile somewhat reasonable.
However, it does have a cool shiny version from Dragons Exalted, so for league play if you want to use your shiny Krookodile you can.
Bronzong NXD
This would be the anti-Max Potion tech that the format needs so much. It has existed, but it’s always been Catcher bait. However, with Ditto a 1-1 Bronzong NXD tech could turn your Hydreigon match in the right direction seeing as they need to attack with Hydreigon to OHKO unless they have a Dark Claw, and if you can hit the Hydreigon somehow first they will have to either retreat and not OHKO Bronzong and instead try to Night Spear it to death, and even then you can either power up a Raikou or other sniper or Catcher it out. If they only have one Hydreigon in play this could win you the game.
Leavanny NVI
Leavanny is probably not the best tech you can play, but it certainly has its ups.
Imagine you’re playing Hydreigon/Darkrai and your opponent is playing Terrakion EX/Terrakion with at least 2 Tool Scrapper. You’re not going to be able to keep your Eviolites when you need them, so what do you do? Get your Leavanny out. Leavanny will single-handedly win you the matchup against any deck with Terrakion if you manage to get it out, and it also makes benching Cresselia/Mewtwo/etc. a less risky decision. However, it isn’t something I’d recommend unless your meta is full of Terrakion.
Reuniclus BW
Reuniclus is an interesting tech, and I can see a couple of uses for it. Imagine you’re playing Blastoise/Keldeo, and you need to heal your Keldeos. Reuniclus can give you a turn or two of invincibility before it gets Catcher-killed, and you can put the damage pretty much anywhere you want, meaning that the damage you have in play can be spread out to 10 or 20 everywhere and likely not making any difference. Since Reuniclus is going to get Catcher-killed anyway, you won’t get your field flooded.
Another play is that if your opponent uses all four Catcher, you can Transform-Rare Candy-Reuniclus and gain invincibility until they either use a Ninetales, Junk Hunt, or your field floods.
You should probably put 80 damage on Reuniclus itself unless you’re playing against Darkrai, Chandelure, or Flygon, because the Reuniclus is going to get knocked out, so you may as well heal 80 (Even if your opponent has used all of their Catcher, it’s still the safe play).
Reuniclus is certainly an interesting tech, but it will likely take a back seat to Dusknoir and Ninetales, and other preferred Ditto techs. It’s something to experiment with in any deck that plays the Ditto and Rare Candy already, and it may end up being the tech you like the most.
Empoleon DEX
Empoleon is basically a draw engine if you get it out. If you run Waters or Blends for Attack Command it’s useful too, but Empoleon is mostly just a way to discard useless cards and get out of N lock.
However, this is a lot more useful than that paragraph makes it out to be. N lock can be the difference between a clutch win and a devastating loss. Hand-reliant decks that play Ditto and Rare Candy such as Blastoise and GothGor should definitely consider Empoleon as a tech to not only provide a draw engine to get out of N lock but to also to use Attack Command in clutch spots.
Salamence DV
Salamence was probably the only hyped Pokemon from Dragon Vault unless you count Rayquaza, but it probably isn’t going to live up to the hype. However, it does make for an interesting 1-0-1 tech for its Ability. While you don’t have Hooligan’s or other things to reduce it more, forcing your opponent to discard until they have four is really good, especially if you force them to draw cards somehow. However, there are much better techs to use, and Salamence is probably best used as a fun thing for league.
Milotic DRX
Milotic is an interesting tech because it’s not for the late game, but instead more of an early game set-up assister. Having a triple Computer Search can be great for slow decks and it’s something I would consider in any slow deck.
However, starting with a 30 HP Feebas isn’t something I would look forward to.
Shiftry NXD
Oh, god. This would be hilarious if someone pulled this off. However, Shiftry’s flippyness makes it unviable for anything other than league play.
But it would be hilarious if someone pulled off a Giant Fan. I think I’ll play a 1-0-1 line at league just for the lolz (However, I don’t think I’ll ever top my Carnivine DEX tech in Hydreigon)
Toxicroak BoC
Toxicroak is like a Psychic-type Terrakion, except it uses any energy. This is great against Mewtwo if you manage to surprise your opponent with it, because it will OHKO any non-Eviolited Mewtwo and with a PlusPower or Tool Scrapper you can get around that.
Toxicroak is an interesting tech in any deck that has a hard time against Mewtwo, and the surprise factor works really well with it. I think I’m gonna test Toxicroak a bit in some decks, and you certainly should too.
Chandelure NVI
Chandelure is another interesting tech that would see zero play without Ditto. I felt it was worth a mention, but as I described it I thought of more and more uses for it and now I think I’m gonna try it out.
Remember back in the day when Kingdra Prime was considered a tech? Well, this is like a triple Kingdra Prime when you can somehow get it active, whether it’s via knockout, or whatever. A Chandelure tech combined with Night Spear can get the OHKO on more things and it can also get knockouts on the bench, and it’s also useful for knocking out EX’s with either Dragon Blast alone or extra Night Spear damage, and it can serve as the single or triple PlusPower you need for 
the knockout when your active gets killed. And because Hydreigon can give anything free retreat, it’s no big deal to get it out of the way.
It’s also useful in Blastoise because whenever you need extra damage you can either retreat or use a Switch if you play it, and go to Chandelure, get extra damage on the board, and Step In. I could see someone playing either Hydreigon or Blastoise variants with a 1-0-1 or 2-0-2 Chandelure line just because of the lack of need to worry about retreating Chandelure.
Vanilluxe NXD
Vanilluxe is probably going to be another rarely-played one, but I can see people liking a Warp Point a turn. Not only is Vanilluxe a free Switch whenever you need it, meaning that it’s not only whatever you want active when you want it and an out of special conditions, but it also puts pressure on the opponent. For instance, let’s say you’re playing against Darkrai/Hydreigon and they just whiffed the Max Potion and only have two Darkrais out. They are forced to either promote the damaged Darkrai, give you a free hit at their Hydreigon (Remember that they whiffed the Max Potion last turn, which means they only have one hand to get it if any unless they Skyla for it),or give you a free prize on a Sableye or something else with low HP, and you can always Catcher something else up if you don’t like what they gave you.
Drifblim DRX
Drifblim is an interesting tech that I would consider in any metagame with a bunch of Special Energy, because it can hit really hard once some hit the discard pile. It is a good tech in either Hammertime or Garchomp decks because they both run cards that discard Special Energy. When you get 3 Special Energy in the discard pile suddenly Drifblim is swinging for 150, and with Enhanced Hammer and Mach Cut you can usually discard your opponent’s specials. Now with Ditto it’s more of a surprise tech and you can get away with a 1-1 line if you can hide it.
Well, that wraps up this article. You guys know I like when you leave comments, so any discussion is welcome. I’ll try to get another article out sometime this week. So ta-ta for now, and I’ll try to get something out soon.
