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Pokemon TCG Decklists and Articles

Ed

Deck Discussion

HGSS Shuppet Donk Deck – Dunsparce GS

Ed 39 Comments

Last month, I posted talking about my Shuppet Donk Deck. The lists posted there didn’t take any of the HeartGold SoulSilver cards into account. To be honest, there isn’t a whole lot that HGSS brings to the deck. There is only one real big thing that HGSS allows this deck to do, but it’s enough to keep the deck alive and not fade out.

Oh, speaking of fade out, there’s a Pokemon in HGSS that has an attack named “fade out.” Isn’t that what Shuppet’s main attack is? Let’s take a closer look.

Dunsparce (from the GS set) is a 50HP basic Pokemon that can do 20 damage and return itself (and all attached cards) to your hand. Shuppet’s main attack does 30, so why would we want to sacrifice 10 damage in a donk deck? I can think of a few reasons: weakness, resistance, and attack cost.

When I say weakness and resistance, I’m not talking about Dunsparce’s (or Shuppet’s). If you play the deck well, they will never be attacked. I’m talking about the defending Pokemon’s weakness and resistance. In the past, if you played Shuppet against a Psy resistant foe, you might be in trouble. You didn’t have any other options. Now, you have Dunsparce. Also, in the past, the only weakness you could exploit was Psy, but now you can switch it up and get an easier KO on that Flygon, Garchomp C Lv. X, or whatever.

Another big thing about Dunsparce is that he gives you another colorless attack. I say “another,” because you already had Uxie. Uxie wasn’t the main attacker in Shuppet Donk, but he was there if you needed him. If you needed to clear some bench space or wanted to do another Set Up, you could always Psychic Restore placing Uxie at the bottom of the deck. Maybe you could even Dusk Ball him back the next turn. His attack was colorless, but, because it wasn’t an attack you wanted to rely on, you probably wouldn’t run any energy besides Psy in the deck. Now, that’s all changed.

What do you do when you are up against Spiritomb AR with a standard Shuppet build? Well, you hope and pray that you can KO that Tomb ASAP. Dunsparce has another answer, and it’s called Cyclone Energy. Dunsparce can use the Cyclone Energy to blow back the defender and still attack that turn (which Shuppet couldn’t do). Cyclone Energy is quite nice here. If you want to use its effect, just drop Dunsparce, retreat your active (to bring up Dunsparce), then drop Cyclone. If you don’t want to swap out the defender, drop Dunsparce, drop Cyclone, then retreat your active (to bring up Dunsparce).

If you still don’t believe me, take a look at the SixPrizes article titled “A New Friend for Shuppet!” It’s not a long article, but there really isn’t a whole lot to say, and there are some good comments there.

So, maybe I’ve sold you on the idea of Dunsparce, and you’re all ready to build your Dunsparce Donk Deck. Well, now I’m going to show you my current build that runs only 1 Dunsparce and 1 Shuppet. I keep reading deck discussions about different ways to build this sort of deck. Whenever I see a title about a Shuppet deck, I try to at least browse the decklist. They rarely impress. The deck is about raw speed, and people keep mucking it up with extra Shuppets, Banettes, weird tech Pokemon, etc. I’m not saying that mine is better than theirs, but I think it is.

If you want to understand how this deck works, I suggest some background reading. Check out SLOW DECK’s “UR Double Donked.Dec – The original.” It really is quite a deck. I even ran a similar build in a City Championship before moving to Shuppet. The straight Uxie build is ultra potent, but the Shuppet build adds consistency. Just take a look at that Uxie deck, though. Ain’t it lean and sexy? That’s how I think the Shuppet version should look. It’s still lean and sexy, but it’s a bit more grown up and can deal with a bit more adversity.

I know. You want the list.
Dunsparce GS

Pokemon: 17
1 Shuppet PL
1 Banette PL
2 Crobat G
4 Uxie LA
4 Unown R
1 Mr. Mime MT
2 Unown Q
1 Dunsparce GS
1 Unown G

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

Supporters: 3
3 Roseanne’s Research

Energy: 3
2 Psychic Energy
1 Cyclone Energy

Deck Workshop

Juniors Pokemon Deck Workshop, Scizor Cherrim

Ed 51 Comments

Ava has been playing Shuppet, and, while she knows the cards and how to play them rather well, I think she’s a bit timid about playing when it comes to battling an opponent she doesn’t know well. This is not good when playing a deck that will, ideally, take most of its play time in its first trainer turn. On top of this, it’s not a “fun” deck (especially to play against).

What I think she needs now is a deck that she play for fun that is able to compete with the good decks out there. Ava went 0-4 at her first tournament, so let’s work on building her a deck that can help her improve on that score. I still think she could do it with Shuppet, but let’s leave that on the back burner for now. Let’s give her a second option to train with (and hopefully more fun to play against).

My current thought is to build a deck based around Scizor from StormFront. SixPrizes has a good article on this strategy. Check out “Deck Spotlight: Scizor/Cherrim Beatdown!” I would build it a bit different both to account for HGSS cards and Ava’s playstyle. Here’s a quick decklist of something like I would consider.

Scizor SF

Pokemon: 19 (12 basic)
2 Scyther (SF)
2 Scizor (SF)
4 Cherubi (DP)
4 Cherrim (SF)
1 Caterpie (GE)
1 Metapod (GS)
4 Unown R
1 Unown Q

Trainers: 25
4 Pokemon Communication
1 Luxury Ball
4 Pokedex Handy 910is
2 Expert Belt
3 Night Maintenance
3 Pokemon Reversal
4 Energy Search
4 Plus Power

Supporters: 10
4 Prof Oak’s New Theory
2 Professor Elm
4 Pokemon Collector

Energy: 6
6 Grass

The transition from Shuppet to this wouldn’t be so huge. There is a lot in there that Ava is already used to using. I do have some concerns, though.

Should she play the Expert Belt? I’m not sure that she understands the drawback, and how it effects HP. With Shuppet, she’s never had to concern herself with these issues, because, to that deck, it’s just like 2 PlusPowers.

Are the Unowns enough of a help here? They add to the count of basics without really changing the way the deck plays. The deck has a limited (compared to Uxie/Shuppet) draw engine, because I don’t want her to worry about BTS and Rare Candy and all that comes with those. The thought here is that she should be able to set up an attacking Scizor by turn 2. At some point, switching to Jumpluff would be an option. The deck is fairly single-minded.

Is Professor Oak’s New Theory worth anything at all? I put 4 in, and it’s the only real draw power the deck has. Buck’s Training is really for when you need 10 extra damage, but it’s draw-2 capability is always welcome. I’ve always liked the card Energy Search in decks like this. It just thins the deck so that, next time you draw cards, you have less of a chance of drawing energy (and you don’t need much at a time in this deck).

Before I put in the 1-1-1 Jumpluff line, I had some Pokemon Rescue in the deck. Now, it’s just 3 NM. What do you think about that? Should the deck run Pokemon Reversal, Warp Point, etc?

Ultimately, though, I don’t just want comments about how to make this deck perfect for Ava. Perhaps there’s another deck that’s better altogether. If so, I want to hear about that deck, and I’ll split this article into a Scizor/Jumpluff/Cherrim workshop and a workshop for Ava’s new deck.

Practice

Pokemon Solitaire Playtesting (TCG Deck Testing)

Ed 4 Comments

You’ve thought up your next great deck. You’ve worked out some ideas on paper (or in Excel as I’ve taken to doing recently). You’ve even gone as far as building a deck (with a few proxies here and there). Now what do you do?

Of course, you’d like to test it out against some known decks. For various reasons, that might not be the next step, though. You might just want to play the deck by yourself first to see how things go, but how do you go about playing Pokemon TCG Solitaire? That’s exactly what I want to know, too.

If you have the same question, then it’s only fair for me to tell you how I’ve played Pokemon cards by myself. I’ve done it a few different ways, so I’ll lay them out below. I’d love it if you could respond and tell me how you do it. I’d like to try some new ideas for solitaire playtesting.

1) Just Draw

This is the most simple way that I can think to test your newly built deck, and it can be incorporated into any other solitaire game. Shuffle your new deck, and draw 7 cards. Look at the cards, and decide if it’s a good starting hand. You could even lay out the basic Pokemon and decide what you would do if you went first or second. When you’re done, shuffle the deck and draw another 7. I could even see making a little tally sheet with good vs. bad draws, and I’d have to categorize a mulligan as a bad draw. Do this 10 times or so to get a fair idea if the deck can start the game well. Shuffle well between draws, though. I might even recommend a (6 or 7) pile shuffle here.

2) Vs Another Deck

Pick one of your known working decks, and pull 6 Pokemon. Depending on the challenge level you want, you can pick the best 6 or some mix. I would pick the strongest 6 Pokemon (even if they are Stage-2’s or Lv. X’s), but it may make sense to drop something on the bench that’s representative of something that might actually be an easier target (like a Baltoy or Unown G). Lay out the 6 Pokemon as if you were playing against them. Shuffle your own deck, and draw 7 cards. If you have to mulligan, just do it, but make a note if it happens too often. Put out your prizes, and then roll to see who goes first.

I have a bunch of D&D-style dice, so I mark things with those. You could use paper, or you could just use the cards themselves. Here are some ideas. Whenever the “opponent” plays, pull a card off the top of their deck and place it in their “hand.” That way, you can tell how many turns they took. If you want to use a die, place it on top of your deck. Then, whenever you draw for the start of your turn, increment the die. I also keep track of how many KO’s the opponent got. For that, you could put out 6 prizes for the opponent, and turn one up for each KO. If you like the dice, though, you can just keep another counter going.

The opponent needs to do something on their turn, and this is where the realism of the solitaire game wanes. Lately, the only thing my opponent does is attack for 60 damage each turn. I do this on every turn, even the first. It puts pressure on me from the start, but it can be too little later in the game. It’s also very predictable (which can be good or bad). In a real match, you can often guess how much the opponent will attack for on their turn, but you could get surprised. Maybe you’d want to roll a die for damage. Maybe like 1 through 5 does 60 damage, but if they get a 6 it does 100 damage. Another thing that I tried before was, instead of fixed damage, the opponent always did the max damage that their active Pokemon could dish out. That can be rough, but it can be negligible, too.

Things my solitaire “opponent” never does is retreat, use PokePowers, play cards from their hand, etc. This makes some situations or draws worthless for testing. For example, Power Spray is a dead draw against this technique. Trainer locking or power locking would be pointless here. You get the idea.

Just play out the game. See how many turns it takes for you to grab your 6 prizes and win the match. I tend to favor quick and aggressive decks, so this style of testing works okay for me. If I can win in 8 turns or less against a brain-dead opponent, then maybe I have a chance versus a real foe. If you’re building a slow and controlling style of deck, it might not make sense to test using this method.

So, I’ve laid out some of the ideas I’ve had and used for testing decks all by my lonesome. I mean, you have to do something when your friends are too afraid to show up and test against you. What do you do?

Deck Workshop

Dialga Garchomp Deck Workshop

Ed 10 Comments

Here’s a deck that I think will fare quite well when the HGSS set comes out. Omar has run a similar “Lady Gaga” Deck, but I can’t condone such behavior (because of the name). Let’s just focus on the Dialga Garchomp Deck for now. We will start with the following deck that Omar has built and tested, which he posted about before.

Pokemon: 19
3 Luxray GL
1 Luxray GL Lv. X
2 Garchomp C
1 Garchomp C Lv. X
2 Bronzong G
1 Dialga G
1 Dialga G Lv. X
2 Uxie
1 Uxie Lv. X
1 Toxicroak G (Promo)
1 Lucario G
1 Crobat G
1 Unown G
1 Azelf

Trainers/Supporters: 29
4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy
4 Roseanne’s Research
4 Energy Gain
4 Poke Turn
4 Power Spray
3 SP Radar
2 Night Maintenance
1 Aaron’s Collection
1 Bebe’s Search
1 Luxury Ball
1 Expert Belt

Energy: 13
4 Call Energy
4 Electric
2 Psychic
2 Warp Energy
1 Metal

The thing is that this is a fairly known deck by now. There isn’t a whole lot to say about it. Luxray can Bright Look up an opposing Pokemon and pretty much own it in one shot with either Trash Bolt or Flash Impact. Garchomp C Lv. X heals your SPs while adding an 80 damage Dragon Rush snipe attack. Dialga is a bit more situational and defensive shutting down trainers with its Deafen attack while also shutting down Poke-Bodies with its own Time Crystal Poke-Body. This all adds up to another potent SP deck. Have you noticed a theme yet? Take Luxray GL Lv. X. Mix it with some other SP Pokemon. Win.

If you want to keep winning, though, you’ll have to adapt for the changing environment. Heart Gold / Soul Silver is coming out, and it’s bringing some new cards into the format. How can we build a winning HGSS Dialga Garchomp Deck? Well, the easy answer is to take out 4 cards, add in 4 Double-Colorless Energy (or DCE), and then just roll. Are there any other new cards that we ought to consider? Is the metagame going to change enough to warrant a shift in this deck?

Many people believe that the more Dialga-heavy (and I think therefore more controlling) version will be a better choice come DCE time. Dialga and Garchomp both get a nice boost from the Double-Colorless Energy. Dialga G’s Second Strike and the Lv. X’s Remove Lost both have a double colorless component. Remove Lost can even remove your opponent’s DCE. Garchomp C only requires colorless energy, so DCE gives him quite a nice boost. Even Luxray GL’s Bite and Trash Bolt attacks have a double colorless requirement. In most of these cases, the DCE doesn’t really combo with Energy Gain, so it works as more of a replacement for EGain. Garchomp C (and Lv. X), however, can now do an attack that would seem to cost 3 energy by dropping EGain and DCE, so Dragon Rush can do 80 to a benched Pokemon in one quick move. It doesn’t even have to discard 2 energy cards to do it (if you only have a single attached).

Let’s discuss it a bit and see if we can come up with a nice new Dialga Garchomp Decklist for HGSS. Here’s the workshopped version.

Pokemon: 20

2 Garchomp C
2 Garchomp C Lv. X
1 Bronzong G
3 Dialga G
1 Dialga G Lv. X
2 Uxie
1 Uxie Lv. X
1 Toxicroak G (Promo)
1 Lucario G
1 Crobat G
1 Skuntank G
1 Unown G
1 Azelf

Trainers/Supporters: 27

4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy
4 Roseanne’s Research
4 Energy Gain
4 Poke Turn
4 Power Spray
3 SP Radar
1 Night Maintenance
1 Aaron’s Collection
1 Bebe’s Search
1 Luxury Ball

Stadiums: 2

2 Snowpoint Temple

Energy: 11

2 DCE
1 Psychic
3 Metal
3 Special Metal
1 Warp Energy

Deck Workshop

Winning LuxApe Deck Workshop

Ed 25 Comments

I just got done laying out a plan for our Pokemon Deck Workshop. If you are confused by how this article looks, go back and read that.

Now, let’s get to building me a winning LuxApe deck. Here’s the deal. I recently got myself an Infernape 4 Lv. X and an Uxie Lv. X. Now, I want to use them for fun and profit (where profit may be league stamps, premier rating points, etc.). What deck should I build? I think the obvious choice is Luxray GL with Infernape 4. Let’s start there. What else do I need? Other people run all kinds of crazy stuff that should be considered, but that’s not part of the article, that’s part of the discussion. I’ll wait to add my thoughts to the discussion until after I get at least one comment, and we’ll build the decklist together.

Here are my guidelines for this deck:
1) It needs to include Uxie Lv. X and Infernape E4 Lv. X.
2) I want it to be fast, because that’s how I roll.
3) I want it to abuse some game mechanic(s) that most decks don’t use, plan for, have a hard time responding to, etc.

Infernape E4 Lv. X
==== Team Omar LuxApe ====

Pokemon: 18
2 Luxray GL
1 Luxray GL Lv. X
2 Infernape 4
1 Infernape 4 Lv. X
2 Uxie
1 Uxie Lv. X
1 Bronzong G
1 Crobat G
1 Lucario GL
1 Vulpix (Shiny) PL
1 Ninetails MT
1 Toxicroak G (Promo)
1 Azelf LA
1 Rayquaza LA
1 Unown G GE

Trainers: 17
4 Poke Turn
4 Power Spray
4 Energy Gain
3 SP Radar
1 Night Maintenance
1 Luxury Ball

Supporters: 10
4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy
4 Roseanne’s Research
1 Aaron’s Collection
1 Bebe’s Search

Stadiums: 2
2 Stark Mountain

Energy: 13
3 SP Energy (or Call Energy)
1 Psychic Energy
3 Electric Energy
6 Fire Energy

NOTE: If you don’t like the Raquaza / Stark Mountain combo to get energy back from the discard pile, here’s the recommendation.

-2 Stark Mountain
-1 Raquaza

+1 Aaron’s Collection
+1 Unown G
+1 Expert Belt

Deck Workshop Team Matters Website

Pokemon Deck Workshop

Ed No Comments

I really like how this website is shaping up. We’re getting a good amount of interesting Pokemon TCG articles here. We’re even getting more and more traffic from people searching for information about different decks and cards. In fact, our top search is for info about a dialga garchomp deck, so Omar will need to write an article titled “Dialga Garchomp Deck” in the near future. [winks and points finger at Omar]

So, the site is becoming a good repository of information, but I feel like we’re missing out on it being a good resource/medium for discussing things as a team and working together to create something or come to a decision as a whole. A tournament report really ought to be one guy’s take on what happened, and the comments are probably just going to be like “good job” or whatever. Reporting about how a deck worked while play-testing or in an actual tournament/league situation (like what I did with The Problem With Porygon) could generate some interesting discussion if others show up and have questions/comments, but it really is just another report. These things are in the past, and therefore they can be somewhat standalone and don’t require much interaction.

I’m thinking, though, that we need a new way to interact in such a way that there is a back-and-forth discussion that results in and end product. I know that Omar tried to do something like this in the past with articles like “Palkia G Lock and Lady Gaga.” I’m going to create a category called Deck Workshop for this.

Here’s how I am hoping it will work. This could go for things other than deck building, but building a deck is the focus for now. The original author will lay out a request for comments. Then, anyone who wants to help can leave comments with suggestions. This includes the original author. This can go back and forth, round and round, etc. All the while, the original author will be taking the best pieces from the comment section and using them to build up the original main article. Instead of having a static original article with a bunch of comments below it, parts of the original article will be in flux based on the comments and suggestions. Let’s test it out while trying to build me a winning LuxApe deck.

Deck Discussion

Palkia G Infernape 4 Lock

Ed No Comments

I tested out a Palkia Infernape deck last night, matching up against 4 very different opponents and decks. My idea was that Infernape 4 Lv. X could replace Luxray GL Lv. X as a way to bring up the opponent’s benched Pokemon for setup disruption while the well-known combo of Mesprit and Palkia G Lv. X would lock the opponent’s Poke Powers. Here’s the list. It’s pretty much Omar’s Palkia Power Lock deck with Infernape swapped in.
Mesprit LA

Pokemon: 22
1 Azelf LA
1 Azelf MD
3 Palkia G
1 Palkia G Lv. X
2 Infernape 4
1 Infernape 4 Lv. X
4 Mesprit
3 Uxie
1 Uxie Lv. X
1 Bronzong G
1 unownG
1 Toxicroak G
1 Lucario G
1 Crobat G

Trainers/supporters: 26
4 Cyrus
4 Rosie's
4 E-Gain
4 P-turn
3 P-Spray
2 NM
2 SP Radar
1 Bebe's
1 Aarons Collection
1 Luxury Ball

Energy: 12
3 Call
5 Water
1 Warp
1 Psychic
2 Electric

I think power lock style decks will be good against the metagame while it’s in flux due to HGSS hitting the scene. For me, though, I think it’s not my style. I need something a bit harder hitting and quick. I like the disruption that Mesprit, Power Spray, and Infernape 4 Lv. X can cause, but it really requires a good knowledge of the metagame and a patience to wait for the right strike. I want prizes, and I want them now. I play this deck too aggressively for my own good, and that’s why I’m going to scrap the idea and move on to something else. I feel that players they’re comfortable with, and (at least for now) control isn’t my game. I’m thinking LuxApe might be my game, so expect to hear about that sometime in the future.

Deck Discussion

Shuppet Donk (Aka T1 Shuppet) Decklist

Ed 2 Comments

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.

Deck Discussion Practice

Shuppet Vs. SP

Ed 4 Comments

I brought my/Ava’s Shuppet Donk deck to test with Team Omar last night. I know that some people just hate the idea of Spiritomb AR in a Shuppet deck, but I wanted to see if it could help against SP. I think I played 4 matches, and 3 of them were against different SP decks. If I recall correctly, I only won 1 game. Even that one was questionable, because (for testing purposes) we replayed an early risk I took that would have resulted in a loss for me.

The funny thing is that I found all my matchups to be fairly positive. I feel like Shuppet should get completely owned by SP, but with the right Spiritomb start, I can stall the opponent enough to get a few early KOs. If one of them happens to be a Dialga G, it might just win me the game. As it was, I only did well against the fighting-heavy SP mainly due to weakness. I did pretty well against Abdi’s SP deck, too, until he realized exactly how my deck worked. Then Dialga shut me down. I had a really close and odd match with Omar (who reminded me multiple times that he didn’t run Dialga G). I think I may have won it, too, if it wasn’t for a misplay Scooping Up the wrong pokemon. It helped a lot that he started with Azelf active, so he could never Time Walk.

Here’s my decklist. I really like playing the deck, but I just think it’s no fun to play against. That makes it almost worthless for league play. It’s a neat tourney deck, because many people aren’t prepared for it and are in awe when it starts rolling. It can win against anyone with the ability to double-donk on the first trainer turn, but it completely falls apart when facing Dialga’s deafen.

The inclusion of Spiritomb is a nifty trick, but I feel like I have to run 4 Roseanne’s (and Unown Q) to support the single Spiritomb. If you start with Spiritomb active, you have to Roseanne’s for an Unown Q (and probably Shuppet/Uxie) to start things rolling. You can’t afford to run a single Unown Q, because it might get prized (and it’s also useful for Mr. Mime). Ultimately this means that the single Spiritomb adds about 6 cards to trainer lock the opponent. When it works, it’s effective. When you start with Unown Q active (or even on the bench to prevent the donk), it can really hurt. I don’t know. The base deck is designed for blazing offense, and Spiritomb (and Mr. Mime to an extend) is quite a defensive move. I have yet to decide if the deck should be pure offense or if it should attempt these defensive measures.
Shuppet PL
Spiritomb Shuppet
1 Shuppet
2 Crobat G
4 Uxie
4 Unown R
1 Mr. Mime MT
2 Unown Q
1 Unown G
1 Spiritomb AR

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 Roseanne's Research

3 Psy Energy

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