Strategy Article: Harnessing (or Repelling) the Power of Power Spray
Pikkdogs A big hello to all members of Omar-Nation, your buddy Pikkdogs is here to bring you a quick strategy article.
We all know that most decks in the upcoming format will rely on Uxie LA for draw power. Just by putting him on your bench you can draw until you have 7 cards in your hand. A lot of decks will be counting on getting good draws with Uxie for their deck to work. 
But we also know what the counter to Uxie La is, Power Spray. As long as you have 3 Pokemon SP in play you can play this card on your opponents turn and cancel out the effects of your opponent’s Poke-Power. And without drawing those extra cards, most decks are locked down.
So Power-Spraying Uxie is good, but what are the best ways to use Power Spray, and what ways can you get around Power Spray? Here are a list of ways to use Power Spray effectively and how to play against it effectively.
Ways to use Power-Spray
1. Use it Early– The most effective Power Sprays come early in the game before your opponent can fully setup. You might want to run Call Energy or 4 Pokemon Collectors in your SP deck to get a lot of basics out quickly, which allow you to Power Spray. These things should help you have enough basics so you are able to Power Spray an Uxie.
2. Run 4 in your Deck– Power Spray is a good card and should occupy 4 slots in a normal SP deck. There are some situations in which I only run a couple, but most SP decks should run 4 so you have a good chance at starting the game with it. Drawing into the card is also key to keeping the surprise factor, as opposed to showing it to your opponent as a part of Cyrus’s Conspiracy.
3. Keep it a Surprise– This goes with the last step, if at all possible don’t show Power Spray to your opponent. If your opponent knows you have a Power Spray in your hand he/she will either play around it or use a card like Judge or Looker’s Investigation to send your Power Spray away.
4. Think it Through– Just because your opponent is using a Poke-Power and you have a Power Spray in your hand doesn’t mean that you have to spray it. Save your sprays for something you really don’t want your opponent to do, don’t let your opponent play you like a fiddle.
5. Don’t Sleep on the Spray– Your opponent may take a long time on his/her turn, but don’t zone out. Keep close watch on what he/she is doing and the minute they try to use a Power that you don’t want them to, drop that spray. This also goes back to the fact that before a tournament you should get enough rest and a good breakfast, so you don’t lose focus (yes, the Frosted Mini-Wheat commercial is right “Keeps em full, Keeps em focused.)
Ways to Avoid the Spray
1. Know Your Opponent– Before the tournament do some studying and find out what decks run Power Spray and what decks don’t. And if you think your opponent runs Power Spray then be aware when your opponent gets the card.
2. Decide when to use a Poke Power– So what do you do if you need to use Uxie La, but you know your opponent has a spray? You can try to use it quickly if you think your opponent is sleeping, but that doesn’t work against good players. You first can try to use a Poke Power that you don’t really need and see if the opponent will spray that instead. SP decks can drop extra “Flash Bites” or normal decks can include a Pokemon that has a sole purpose of using up opponent’s Power Sprays (the new Smeargle comes to mind). If all those options don’t work you can use Uxie anyway to make your opponent burn the Power Spray or choose to use your resources so you can try to run your deck without Uxie. It may be worthwhile to play Uxie just to evolve into Uxie Lv.X.
3. Get Rid of the Sprays– It may be helpful to include a lot of Judges or Looker’s in your deck to get rid of your opponent’s Power Spray. But also make sure to include a lot of Pokemon Communications and Uxies in order to get an Uxie after to use Judge.
4. Lock em up– One of the best ways to protect against Power Spray is to make sure that they can’t use the card. If you have an active Spiritomb Ar or a benched Vileplume UD, your opponent cannot play any trainers, so they can’t play Power-Spray. Spiritomb makes an excellent shield for you to drop as many Uxies as you want, then use Unown Q’s power, “Quick”, to retreat Spiritomb and then attack with your main attacker. Vileplume may be a little slower then Spiritomb, but it will be very hard for an SP deck to get the win over any deck that gets Vileplume out in the first several turns.
So that’s what I learned about using and playing against Power Spray. I encourage you guys to share your stories about playing and playing against this card. My favorite moment was when I was playing against a BlazeRay deck. I had a Claydol out and I knew my opponent had a Spray in his hand. I only had one card in my hand, which was a Level X that I wanted to play next turn. So Power Spray or not, I didn’t want to use “Cosmic Power” this turn because that would take away my Level X. But since I knew he had a spray in his hand, I used “Cosmic Power” anyway, he sprayed it, I laughed, and next turn I used “Cosmic Power” for the cards I needed.
Thats all for today, once again this is Pikkdogs signing off saying So long and thanks for all the fish.
