One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here with a post Pokemon Catcher deck analysis.

The subject of this article will be a deck that features Magnezone Prime and Floatzel.  One of the most popular decks going into Battle Roads will be Prime Time (Magnezone Prime and Yanmega Prime), this deck is a little different.  I consider this deck to be the spirtual successor to Mangeboar.  I am unsure if this a tier 2 deck or a fun league deck, maybe you can help decide.

Since Pokemon Catcher will make it more difficult to run a deck with bench sitting Pokemon, I decided to try a deck that had energy acceleration and free retreat from the bench sitters.  Now, you can still run Magneboar but in the Post Catcher (PC) format, the deck that started out a little shakey is about to get even shakier.

The decks main goal is to use Magnezone Prime’s “Lost Burn” attack to get a One Hit Knock Out each turn.  To get more energies on the field, Floatzel is used.  His “Water Acceleration” Poke-Power lets you attach a water energy to each Floatzel you have in play per turn, that does not include the 1 energy you can attach for your turn.

Of course this deck is very similar to Magneboar, so lets look at the pro’s and con’s of using this deck over Magneboar.
Continue reading "Deck Analysis: FloatZone"

[youtube width=”556″ height=”450″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVFPTDtIK-4[/youtube]

Hey everyone, this week we are going rogue; no political reference there.  By rogue we mean less mainstream, not bad by any means. We have always had a fascination with off-beat decks so this week we chose to look at two very different concepts. Jumpluff/Yanmega and Blastoise/Floatzel., are two decks you may have heard about, and we feel deserve a look.

We will start with Blastoise/Floatzel. Blastoise has always been a fan favorite Pokémon, and the Blastoise from UL seems to live up to the name. Sniping is something this format seems to lack and can be a very powerful tool with so many techs bench sitting these days. Blastoise’s attack Hydro Launcher combines well with his Wash Out ability allowing him to continuously snipe for 100 when combined with the Water Acceleration of Floatzel.

Blastoise has several favorable matchups against some of the more popular decks this format. Blastoise is a direct counter to Reshiram, a very popular archetype that will see large amounts of play for at least the next season or two. Reshiram also requires energy acceleration in the form or Emboar or Typhlosion, while weakness is not taken into effect on the bench, Blastoise can two shot either of these. Blastoise also has 130 HP and will not be OHKOd by Reshiram without the use of a Plus Power. Another bench sitter you will often see in a Reshiram deck is Ninatales or Shuckle, either of these can be taken out with just 1 Hydro Launcher. Donphan is probably the second most popular archetype that will be played this format. While Donphan is usually safe with 120 HP and Exoskeleton, this fails against Blastoise. Whatever Donphan is paired with also suffers from Blastoise, Machamp is normally slow to setup and its evolutionary forms will sure draw the attention of a Blastoise Player.
Continue reading "Going Rogue"