One Hit KO

Hello readers!  I am back with another article for your reading pleasure!  This time we get back on track with the current modified format and talk a little bit about what many others including myself consider the top 4 decks at the moment

 Darkrai EX/Garbodor

 Blastoise/Keldeo EX/Black Kyurem EX

 Genesect/Drifblim/Virizion

 Plasma Variants

But before we go into that, let’s take a look at what changes plasma lists have undergone to combat this new proposed tier 1 of decks that contain a lot of Plasma hate.

So my current list runs one of each basic energy to help out against the onslaught of enhanced hammer that has become this format.  I also switched out the Bikes for Skylas to make getting the one lightning on Thundurus EX much easier early game vs enhanced hammer heavy decks.  I honestly believe if you want to do well at Regionals with Plasma you have to run at least one of each basic energy.

You may be asking, how does Plasma match up against the rest of these decks?

Darkrai EX/Garbodor

This deck is much harder to play than previous Darkrai variants, which I think will turn some people away.  More so than ever, a single junk hunt can easily determine the outcome of a game.  I assume a lot of veteran players will turn to this deck when Regionals rolls around just because of the options it has and all around even to favorable matchups.

I don’t think this matchup is as bad as people think it is.  In best of three 50 minute rounds your opponent won’t be able to stall you out of resources game 3.  Just take your time and be careful with your resources, and don’t overextend because that is what they want you to do.  I honestly think this matchup all comes down to when you hit your basic lightning energy, the list of the Darkrai EX/Garbodor deck, and honestly how much the person has played Darkrai EX/Garbodor.

Blastoise/Keldeo EX/ Black Kyurem EX

This matchup is fairly even.  Blastoise seems like it should be more consistent, but I always find myself having to Juniper away resources that I end up needing later.  I’ve seen some players even play Jirachi EX (including myself) just to give themselves more outs to a supporter through the onslaught of N’s.  I have never been a fan of how weak this deck is to N, but it still seems to do well for some players .  The sheer power of being able to do 200 damage a turn every turn is not matched by any other deck.

As far as the matchup goes it all comes down to how many Blastoise they can get in play throughout the game and how fast you can take them out.  Usually if they commit to a Blastoise early and you can take it out, the game is yours. As always, N is your best friend throughout the game.  I expect the lists designed to get more than two Blastoise out a game to be the most successful ones at the upcoming Regionals.  This can be done by running one or two copies of Wartortle to take the pressure off of your Rare Candies.

Genesect/Drifblim/Virizion

This sort of a rogue-ish deck was created by Henry Prior for the KO, and will see some play at Regionals.  The list for the deck is fairly hard to figure out, and really depends on what you want to do in each matchup.    Equally as hard is playing the deck correctly, I’ve found.  Obviously once you understand why each card in the deck is there it becomes much clearer how to play this deck and why it is good.  The best way to describe this deck is a mixture between Darkrai and Blastoise decks, with a bit of Plasma hate mixed in.

This deck was designed to beat Plasma, and is quite good at doing it.  This deck also runs a few enhanced hammer to take advantage of Plasma’s limited basic energy.  The best way to beat Genesect/Driflbim/Virizion is to get a quick Kyurem or Absol and target down the Drifblim line.  You can deal with a Genesect or two if you are allowed to get set up a bit.  Just make sure to watch out for those late game Shadow Steal Drifblims for incredible amounts of damage.

 
Wrapup
So that’s how Plasma sort of stacks up against the other top tier decks at the moment, and my thoughts on how each matchups feels from my testing so far.  Obviously everyone still has a lot of testing and fine tuning to get out of the way before Regionals gets here, but I think I have a good grip on the format and current decks.

One thing we may also see is the emergence of another Rogue deck that is designed to beat these top decks.  There are quite a few hard counters to some of these decks out right now that work really well together.  I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see someone break the format once again with some rogue concept thrown together out of some of the counters that already see some play.

I can’t thank everyone enough for reading these articles, please do leave us some feedback in the comments and what you would like to see in future articles.  We want to get some healthy discussion going among readers to help this site grow into the Competitive Pokemon TCG hub I know it can be.  Until next week!

-Mike (Choncey) Lesky