Hi there, Onehitko readers, my name is Ethan Cooke and I will be writing a weekly deck analysis for this website every Wednesday. Before I begin this week’s analysis, I would like to introduce myself as far as the world of Pokemon is concerned. I’ve been a fan of everything related to Pokemon ever since I can remember, and my first premier TCG event I attended was the State Championships in Texas as a Master during the HS-NXD format with my girlfriend, Samantha.
We had no idea what the format was or even what was legal in the first place, and, consequently, our decks dated back to DP Base set. Luckily, we found a professor that goes by “Master Professor Birch” who was nice enough to give us each theme decks and sign our decklists thus eliminating the need to wait in line. We were so new to the world of Pokemon that we assumed it was played in Single Elimination as opposed to Swiss, and we went home after losing the first round.
Fast forward a bit to the BLW-BCR format, and I know a lot more about playing the TCG than I did at my first event; I got 2nd place at Tyler City Championships with my rogue deck, Registeel EX/Blissey DEX. Fast forward to BLW-PLF, and I took home a 2nd place victory cup with Rayeels. Here are a few other things you may want to know. I’ve never had an official local league so I do a great deal of testing online. I tend to never play the same deck at 2 different premier events, and I recently passed my Professor Exam (the week after my 18th birthday, actually).
And finally on to the analysis!
The deck I have chosen to analyze today is a deck that has been around for quite some time now and that deck is Darkrai EX/Hydreigon. I feel like this deck is potentially one of the funnest decks around and can be more competitive than some would think. The goal of the deck is a simple one: use dark trance to alternate between attackers, heal attackers with the aid of Max Potion and even give all Pokemon free retreat with the aid of Darkrai’s Dark Cloak. It’s pretty easy to see how this deck can succeed in the right metagame but also easy to see how Max Potion can be a dead draw in some matchups including Blastoise, TDK, and even Virizion/ Genesect.
This is what I feel to be a pretty solid list for this deck: Read More
Hey OneHitKO people, it’s getting to be time where you guys need to see another article, so I thought I may as well do a tournament report like Pikkdogs used to do (Except these will be somewhat successful reports) even though I usually don’t write reports (Although the purpose of the reports are more to show you more about playing the deck), and then so you have something interesting to read about I’ll do a deck analysis of the deck I believe is the BDIF of this format, Hydreigon/Darkrai. Anyway, I feel like getting this started, so here are the reports:
Saturday, November 17th: Cameron Park, CA
I wake up early, make my decklist, and wait for the people who I promised a ride to to show up. Once they both get here, we start the two hour drive to Cameron Park.
When we get there we are greeted by cabd from the SixPrizes forums, and I play some fun games with the people I came with. It turns out that 15 Seniors show up, 1 short of a Top 4. I wait a bit for pairings and I am already paired against someone I’d rather not play early.
Round 1 vs. Emily w/Blastoise
I start Sableye to her Kyurem and she goes first. I have a dead hand, and when she plays a Juniper my hopes sink, but then she plays her Tropical Beach and I’m happy. I play a few cards and Beach, drawing into a Supporter and a Dieno. The next turn I opt to Confuse Ray as I still don’t have Items that would be worth Junk Hunting for, and I get a heads. A Confusion Tails and a Candy to Hydreigon later I Night Spear to KO her Kyurem. I then proceed to take out her Blastoise, and although she manages to get a new one out I still steamroll.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Griffin w/Hydreigon
I start Ditto to his Dark Deino, and I see relief in his eyes when I Transform into a Sableye. I bench a couple Deino and a Darkrai and Junk Hunt for stuff that would net me a Hydreigon next turn. He Ns me, but I still manage to get the Candy-Hydreigon. When he manages to get his Hydreigon out I Dragonblast it. He makes a crucial misplay late game by Max Potioning his Darkrai before retreating, meaning that he no longer can KO my Hydreigon because he has a Darkrai stuck active, and I manage to win from there.
2-0
At this point everyone I had come with was 2-0, while five of the other good Seniors had taken a loss already (including Griffin and Emily). The only other 2-0 at this point is playing a Tornadus Donk deck and we all feel confident. We joke about how height is an advantage in Pokemon (The shortest of us is 5’10), and eat lunch. Lunch then proceeds to end and I get my Round 3 pairing.
Round 3 vs. Blake w/Hydreigon
Blake is the other guy I came with, and I’m 3-1 against him at Premier Events, so I know that at least I’m not facing a donk deck. However, I’m not confident here because I know that he’d been playing Hydreigon a lot longer than me, but I had also been playing it long enough that the Hydreigon mirror is usually determined by who set 2 Hydreigon up and who didn’t. Knowing that, I kind of felt afraid because I had been having some consistency issues recently, but I had cut my 1-0-1 Serperior tech recently as well, hoping that it would help.
However, I start Deino to his Sableye and he gets a T2 Night Spear to kill my only Dieno in play. I make a game out of it for a bit, but when time is called I have no way to take prizes without giving some up.
2-1.
At this point I know I need extremely good resistance to cut, but I feel like I should try to get points out of this at least.
Round 4 vs. Conner w/Mewtwo/Rayquaza/Eels
I start Sableye to his Rayquaza EX and he Celestial Roars, and I’m surprised when he flips over a Double Colorless Energy. I read the text on Celestial Roar and I laugh a bit when it says that you have to attach the energy, meaning the Rayquaza would have a useless energy attached until it was knocked out. He gets a couple Eels set up, but I Catcher-kill them and he has none left. He can’t power anything up, and I kill a Ray with Dragonblast and a Mewtwo with Cresselia for game.
3-1.
I think it’s the middle of that game when I hear chatter from the next game over about the Fliptini someone teched into their Hydreigon deck for Deino paralysis. Griffin says “Victini is strange. Like a three-legged donkey”. Honestly I don’t know what that has to do with the article, but I thought it was a funny thing for someone to say.
Blake lost against the other guy I came with, Paulo, but I find out that my tough games in the first two rounds paid off as both were 3-1. My tiebreakers consist of 3 3-1s and a 2-2, and Blake’s consist of a 4-0, 3-1, and 2 2-2s, meaning we’re both at 11-5, but because he doesn’t have the 4-0 in his Opponent’s Opponents I sneak into cut. This would have been so much simpler if another Senior had shown up.
Top 2 vs. Paulo w/Klinklang
Game One: We both start with dead hands, but my Sableye start plus Skyla topdeck nets me a Computer Search that I Junk Hunted for about 5 times to get a slow but certain setup. He is finally forced to Juniper 2 Rare Candy and 2 Klinklang away and he draws crap off of it. From there I put Eviolites on board and steamroll.
Game Two: He is unable to evolve his Klinks early game and I kill 3 in two turns. Afterwards I kill his EX’s with Night Spear, and when he Max Potions his active Darkrai when I have two prizes left I Catcher-Dragonblast the other for game.
So I end the day with a win, and while the only good thing I pull is a Ditto, I still get a cool-looking trophy and 50 points (or so I think). Turns out I made a mistake on my POP ID meaning that I don’t get the points from it. Oh well.
In the end, the results looked like this:
1st: Theo S w/Hydreigon
2nd: Paulo A w/Klinklang
3rd: Blake U w/Hydreigon
4th: Emily C w/Blastoise
Friday, November 23rd: Modesto, CA
After my win in Cameron Park I decide I like Hydreigon enough to play it again. I make no changes to my list except that I cut a Catcher for a Golden Catcher I had traded for at league two days before. I meet up with Benjamin, the Junior who I’m giving the ride to today, and we start the hour-and-a-half drive to Modesto.
I meet up with some of the guys from the Sacramento area including Griffin, Connor, and Zachary, and we see that once again only 15 Seniors had shown up. We complain about that until pairings are posted, and I’m paired against Griffin for the second Cities in a row.
Round 1 vs. Griffin w/Hydreigon
This game is fairly uneventful. I get a T2 Night Spear and his Deinos don’t survive very long. When he drops his Mewtwo I have Catcher-Cresselia for my final two prizes.
1-0.
Round 2 vs. Will w/Blastoise
This was one of the most nerve-wrecking games I’d ever played. I get a quick start but he manages to load up a Keldeo with enough energy to one-shot an Eviolited Darkrai. Thankfully I Juniper into the Blend I need to score a KO on the Keldeo as it had been hit with the 30 Night Spear damage, and after that I N him to one to lock his energy and Junk Hunt for the Catcher I need to win. He whiffs both the N and the Energies he needs and I Catcher out his Mewtwo and use Cresselia. It’s safe to say that if I don’t draw that Blend he takes the win.
2-0
Round 3 vs. I don’t remember w/Hydreigon
I get my second T2 Night Spear of the day and kill all his Deinos, and he scoops.
3-0
Round 4 vs. Zachary w/Darkrai/Landorus/Terrakion
I remember actually having an early lead (possibly thanks to another T2 Night Spear maybe), but when he uses Terrakion to take four prizes he’s down to one left to my three. However, I take a prize somewhere (I think on a Sableye), and then time is called. He attacks with Landorus during his turn, and his field consists of the following: A damaged Darkrai with two energy attached, a Keldeo with a Darkness, and an active Landorus with a Fighting. I N him to one and Junk Hunt for the Catcher he needs for the win, and he whiffs the Energy or Energy Switch.
I actually feel bad for him because he whiffs cut on resistance, but I guess it’s what you have to do to guarantee safety. Yay!
Top 2 vs. Will w/Blastoise
I’m surprised to see my Round 2 opponent, but I guess his deck worked against other decks. Anyway, we talk a bit, and then things start.
Game One: I get a quick Hydreigon and I start hitting Keldeos for 90 and 30, after hitting a clutch Tool Scrapper to get rid of both his Eviolites, and his early game pressure doesn’t work as well as 3 EX kills in four turns.
Game Two: This game goes pretty much the same as Game One except that I kill his Blastoise. Sorry man, but that’s the way things work out sometimes.
Hydreigon Deck Analysis
Remember in my Regionals article where I said I had tried and tried to get Hydreigon to work, but I never had? Well, I have. It’s won me two Cities so far, and it’s probably going to be my play for the next few.
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Max Potion
3 Dark Patch
3 Rare Candy
2 Ultra Ball
2 Random Receiver
2 Eviolite
2 Tool Scrapper
1 Heavy Ball
1 Computer Search
-24
4 N
4 Professor Juniper
2 Skyla
1 Bianca
-11
7 Darkness Energy
3 Blend GRPD
-10
Some of the odd things about this list is the fourth Catcher, fourth Max Potion, and fourth Sableyeas well as the Heavy Ball instead of a third Ultra Ball and the second Tool Scrapper.
The four-of Catcher and Max Potion are mostly so that you have four to use over the course of the game. Getting the game-winning Catcher in a crucial spot where you’ve used 3 already is clutch, and Catchers are great against Eel decks and they are also necessary against Blastoise decks so that you can KO the damaged EX with Hydreigon. Catchers are also your most valuable tool in the mirror (I’ll explain below).
The fourth Sableye is there because Sableye is my ideal starter, and I want to increase the chance of that happening. With the fourth Sableye you have it in your opening hand 40% of the time and if you include mulligans you start Sableye a good amount (I’m bad at math, so I’m not even going to try). I like having it there because starting Sableye is the key to a quick Hydreigon and it also allows you to get back the clutch Catchers and Max Potions you discard with Ultra Ball and Juniper early game assuming you have extra space for Junk Hunting.
The Heavy Ball is so that I can pretty much Skyla for a Hydreigon as well as thinning my deck a bit. I’d prefer to do this without Ultra Ball as most of the time I don’t want to discard anything (I’ll get to this later in the article).
The second Tool Scrapper is there for the mirror. It forces your opponent to retreat their active Darkrai for a new one, and if you’re the player with Hydreigons remaining at the end of the game this can be really clutch. Even if you don’t, you’re a Catcher away from two prizes without having to Dragonblast, an action that can be risky in the mirror.
Matchups
The Mirror – 50/50
When I first started playing Hydreigon (Right after Regionals), I asked my friend who had been playing the deck for three months now “How do you play the mirror?”.
His response was simple: “You win the Hydreigon war”.
After that, I had to ask “What’s the Hydreigon war?”.
His response was “It’s like the Mewtwo war, but a lot more fun”.
Anyway, back to what makes sense: This matchup will come down to one of two things: Either who gets the first Night Spear or who gets the most Hydreigon out. If you can get an early Night Spear plus a clutch Catcher on the Deino or Zweilous your opponent is waiting to evolve, or if both players have Hydreigons out then it results in yes, a Hydreigon war (Which is, if you ask, more fun than a mindless Mewtwo war).
The Hydreigon war is, unlike the Mewtwo war, commonly won by the player who starts it. Why is this? Because the player who starts the Hydreigon war will have the first kill on a Hydreigon, and if both players get the same number of Hydreigon out either before or during the Hydreigon war the player who starts it will commonly win.
Another clutch factor during the Hydreigon war is energy. For each Hydreigon that goes down you lose 4 energy (with the exception of the first Hydreigon that dies, that one will commonly have none), so you need to have some extra energy on the field at your disposal or have enough Dark Patches to get another Dragonblast off next turn.
One thing I would advise during the Hydreigon war is taking a turn without using a Hydreigon to attack. While this can be a risky play, getting a Night Spear off while you get extra energy into play or Junk Hunting for two Dark Patches to get more energy in play (This will usually net you 1-2 energy unless you get N’d). Unless your opponent has a Catcher you will probably be able to buy a turn (Although it is important not to put ANY energy on your remaining Hydreigon, not necessarily just then but any time you aren’t attacking with it). Doing this buys you a turn to get extra energy on the field. Of course, if you have enough energy to Dragonblast already this is not necessary.
Another thing to note about the mirror is that it is about 70% luck. There is no skill involved in getting a T2 Night Spear and there is little in getting multiple Hydreigons out. The little skill in this matchup is probably the Night Spear damage, knowing whether to Max Potion Hydreigon or Darkrai (Almost always Hydreigon unless you have multiple out) and knowing when to Junk Hunt (Which is fine mid-game in my opinion).
I haven’t played a Hydreigon mirror in a while where both players had Hydreigons out at the end of the game, and I haven’t played in a Hydreigon mirror ever where a player won without Hydreigons (Not that it isn’t possible). The one thing I don’t like about Hydreigon is the luck-based and common mirrors.
Some cards you should include if Hydreigon is popular in your area are:
Zweilous DRX 95
I usually end with the weird techs, but I don’t feel like it today. Zweilous is good in the mirror because it can OHKO an opposing Hydreigon with its second attack for only three Energy and it’s also possible to discard important Blend Energies with a Crunch flip. While it isn’t the best tech, if Hydreigon is common in your area you might consider dropping the Draw In or NVI Zweilous for this.
A Fourth Dark Patch
Dark Patches are really good in the Hydreigon mirror because A: You’ll be discarding energy with Hydreigon’s attack that is incredibly important in the mirror, and because if you’re the player that loses your Hydreigons you still have a separate engine, although you’re still definitely not in a good position.
Blastoise – 75/25 in your favor (If no healing) or 50/50 (If healing)
Keldeo ain’t got nuthin on me.
Unlike the mirror, playing against Blastoise is more about leading Darkrai and finishing Hydreigon than leading Hydreigon and finishing Darkrai. Your best bet is to put Night Spear damage on Keldeos, Tool Scrap Eviolites, and knock out their Blastoise. I believe that in the report I discussed how early game pressure is no match for knockouts on EX’s.
If they manage to load up a Keldeo with enough energy to OHKO anything on your field, do two things: First, knock that Keldeo out as soon as possible, and N them to a low hand. Unless they hit a draw Supporter or a Cilan they will likely energy drought until they topdeck something useful. And since their energy acceleration is from hand and not from field or discard like Hydreigon or Eelektrik, they will likely not have enough energy to attack for the rest of the game, and you can continue to KO three EX’s to win the game.
If they play Super Scoop Up or Max Potions, things could get interesting, however. If they can heal the damage done by Night Spear to any of their Pokemon, you can no longer take three EX kills in four turns. However, most lists I’ve seen that use healing only play 3 Super Scoop Ups or 3 Max Potions, so your goal in the early game should be to do what you can to make them use up the healing. Your win will only be delayed a couple turns barring them hitting heads or Energy Retrievals a lot more frequently than you’d like. If they take a few early prizes, Ning them could be great.
Some players will try to go early game Kyurem against you. Have none of it, Dragonblast that Kyurem right away. If there’s an Eviolite attached, Tool Scrapper is your friend. Max Potion the Darkrais that got hit and then Junk Hunt the Max Potions back. While this does use up a turn and give up a prize, unless you somehow go down four prizes before you start your “3 EX kills in four turns” strategy you usually win from that alone.
Unlike some people, I see no need to tech for this matchup unless your area has a whole lot of it. Seeing as how in 10 matches I played against it 3 times (1 of which was the same player), and how I’ve won all four games I played against it, I see no need to tech a card that, in fun games with my friend, makes him instantly scoop when I start it (about 1 in 10 games, imagine starting Shaymin Round One), and it’s only really been the difference in the game (meaning he won because of it) a couple times. I see no need to tech for a matchup that is 60/40 in your favor at the worst.
I will admit Shaymin has other uses, but I really just don’t like it. If your area is 75% or more Blastoise (The only time I’d tech for it), I’d play Virizion EPO instead. It goes through Eviolite and doesn’t require the opponent to take prizes before you. This is just my opinion, I know some people love Shaymin, but I honestly don’t like it.
RayEels – 60/40 in your favor
RayEels is the BDIF from Cities results so far (although I still say Hydreigon is), so a decent matchup is in order. RayEels is usually based on whether you hit clutch Catchers and whether you set 2 Hydreigon up. Their strategy will to be to use the Shiny Ray to kill Hydreigons and go through Eviolite on Darkrai. Your best bet is to try to hit the Ray with Night Spear damage early game and Catcher-KO their Eels to prevent them from using Rayquaza EX to run through you.
If they drop a Ray EX, use Hydreigon to knock it out. Even if they do kill your Hydreigon, you will have taken two prizes to their one off of that, and you will be able to take more prizes with Darkrai in a turn or two. If you have enough of a prize lead from killing the Eels you should be able to win at the end if they drop a Ray. If you use 3+ Catcher killing Eels you should try to get a Junk Hunt off to get them back, as you will need a game winning Catcher in a lot of games with this deck.
If RayEels is popular enough in your area you could tech Giratina and Giant Cape (Although I wouldn’t recommend it). Giratina OHKOes any Dragon-weak Pokemon and the Giant Cape will prevent mini-Ray from OHKOing it right back.
I honestly don’t know much else about this matchup as RayEels isn’t too popular in my area. There are probably other articles that describe this matchup in more detail, so check those out if you have extra time.
Landorus Decks – 50/50
Dragon Deino is mainly there for the Landorus matchup. It could also be useful in combination with the three legged donkey (If you don’t get that go back and read the article), but I don’t think I would play that. Landorus applies a lot of early game pressure to you, although two Night Spears and a Dragonblast result in two Landorus kills for you if you manage to get a Hydreigon out. One thing to watch for is them using Land’s Judgement, but if you get enough energy in play this shouldn’t matter, and if they can for sure next turn you can always use Cresselia (Sure, you might lose a Darkrai, but you won’t lose the Energy).
If they use Garchomp as a secondary attacker, be sure not to keep Blends on your active as Mach Cut will be bad for you and your ability to Dragonblast.
There aren’t any techs against Landorus that I can think of, but playing more Dark Patch can certainly help because they will probably get a Land’s Judgement off on your Darkrai once or twice a game (Although if it’s twice you’re in trouble), and you need to keep your energy in play.
A Couple Tips and Tricks
A couple things I’ve found while playing Hydreigon are that if you start with Sableye and another Pokemon, it’s often best not to start that Pokemon on your bench. If you go second and your opponent has a Catcher, you will be less likely to have a T1 Junk Hunt, and it’s definitely better to T1 Junk Hunt for sure than a possibility that the Darkrai or Deino you’re holding will be your active Pokemon. Even if they do N, you will be likely to get a Deino playing 2 Ultra Ball, 1 Computer Search, 2 Skyla, 3 Deino, and 11 outs to Supporters that aren’t previously listed.
Another thing is that you don’t want to discard too much energy for Dark Patch early game. Remember that you only have 3 Dark Patch (if you go off of my list), and some of those you’ll want to use to recover from discarding energy because you used Dragonblast. You want to rely more on manual energy drops and less on Dark Patch with Hydreigon because Dark Patch isn’t all that critical to your strategy.
Sometimes leaving Energy on your active so that you can then Max Potion and discard the Darkness so that you can Dark Patch it back is good so that you can play a Dark Patch and make yourself less vulnerable to a late-game N or so that you can draw an extra card with Bianca. This is a pretty rare scenario, but it can be a good play at times. If you don’t have a Dark Patch, however, definitely don’t do that because it’s better to have the energy in play for sure.
One more thing I want to say is that a mid-game Junk Hunt is not always a bad thing. Of course if you need to kill something that turn it’s not the best play, but giving up a turn and a prize for two Trainers you need late game isn’t always the worst possible play. In the late game I oftenly find myself looking for that last Catcher to win the game, so I see no reason not to turn your 1-2 outs to a Catcher into 2-4. In the mirror this is a bit less viable because it gives your opponent another turn to look for the Max Potion, but if you time it right there won’t be damage for your opponent to remove.
What do you guys think about Hydreigon for Cities? I like it right now because it has access to Sableye and you have to OHKO to take prizes most of the time. I also like the favorable Blastoise matchup and favorable Eels matchup. If you guys have questions or comments, feel free to comment below, and I’ll try to get an article out about a deck I played against recently that I found to be fairly interesting. Thanks for reading, and I bid you farewell.
Hey OHKO people, it’s me, coolestman22 again. I wanted to get something out before Regionals, so I thought I’d do something like the Battle Roads preview I did back in May or something like that. I think what I’ll do is review the dominant decks from Autumn Battle Roads and then give you guys lists or something like that, so, without further ado, let’s get started.
Before I review any decks, I’ll post some results of Battle Roads. The results of the Battle Roads that The Top Cut has followed are the following (To save time I’m only doing the decks I’m covering):
Eels: 25 wins, 21 2nd, 45 3rd-4th.
Hydreigon: 24 wins, 26 2nd, 34 3rd-4th.
Ho-oh: 7 wins, 6 2nd, 4 3rd-4th.
Hydreigon
In my opinion, Hydreigon has proven itself to be the BDIF of this format. Why I never got the deck to work is beyond me, Darkrai must just not like me. Even though the numbers show Eels as the top deck, Eels also has two different variants, and Hydreigon has only one.
The basic strategy of the deck is to use Darkrai EX to attack and use Hydreigon DRX 97 to move energy from one Darkrai to another, or to do 140 with Hydreigon’s attack. With Dark Trance, not only can you free retreat everything for no cost, you can also abuse max Potion and attack with anything without having to attach an energy. You can use Dark Patch to get energy flowing around, and you can use techs so long as they comply with Blend Energy GRPD, such as Siglyph or Shaymin EX.
In short, the deck functions a lot like the Klinklang BW deck that won U.S. Nationals. I always liked that deck, and I was happy when I heard it had won. I’m glad Hydreigon has proven to be good even though I didn’t get it to work.
Here is a skeleton list for Hydreigon decks:
Pokemon – 12
2 Hydreigon DRX 97
1 Zwelious (Either NVI or DRX 96)
3 Deino NVI
3 Darkrai EX
3 Sableye DEXT/S/S – 32
4 Professor Juniper
4 N
3 Bianca/Cheren
3 Random Receiver
4 Max Potion
3 Dark Patch
3 Rare Candy
3 Pokemon Catcher
3 Ultra Ball
2 Eviolite
1 Super Rod
1 Tool ScrapperEnergy – 11
7 Darkness Energy
4 Blend Energy GRPDTotal Cards – 57
Open Space – 3
Techs
Shaymin EX
To be honest, I’m not a big fan of Shaymin EX. My reasoning behind this is that for every game Shaymin is a big help and you wouldn’t have won without it, you’ll start with it. You’ll probably start with it a bit less, which means that yes, it would win you games to have the Shaymin.
However, it might win you more games to not have the Shaymin and to play another tech or Supporter or Dark Patch instead. If you opt to play a Supporter over the Shaymin and you just happen to have that Supporter and no other Supporter, then having that Supporter might be the difference between winning and losing.
However, I did say that I haven’t tested the deck, and I know people who do play it and say they like Shaymin a lot. If you want to play the deck I would suggest trying Shaymin out and seeing if it’s worth the deck spot and occasional lone Shaymin start.
Siglyph DRX
Of all the techs I’m going to mention, Siglyph is probably the one I like the most. It’s the only tech I play in the build I have online that I use to test against (Which honestly isn’t that good). Without Siglyph, a Mewtwo with a lot of energy will run you over, and you need a response to that. the only time I beat a Hydreigon deck with an Eels build all BR’s long was the time I played against a build without Siglyph, that I knew beforehand had no Siglyph.
However, earlier in the tournament that player played against a Hydreigon build that used two Siglyph, and won. It may be that he got lucky, or, more likely, the two consistency spots he had that his opponent had devoted to Siglyph, which was a relatively useless card in the matchup to my knowledge, might have been the difference between a win and a loss.
I think it definitely is worth playing Siglyph in a Hydreigon build if you don’t have a different response to Mewtwo, but if your area has more Hydreigon than Eels it might be wise not to play it, and instead play a Mewtwo counter that helps in the Hydreigon matchup more, such as, I don’t know. You’ll have to think this up yourself.
Giratina EX
Giratina EX is an interesting tech option in a Hydreigon deck. The place where I bvelieve it would help the most is against a Terrakion deck or any deck involving Terrakion, but honestly I don’t know what it’s for. All I know is that there are people who play Giratina EX in their Hydreigon build.
Reshiram EX
Reshiram is another one of those techs that doesn’t make sense to me. I know it would be helpful in the Hydreigon mirror match, and honestly that’s all I know. What you could do is, out of nowhere, drop your Reshiram, Dark Trance to it, move it up because all of your Pokemon have free retreat with the combination of Dark Trance and Dark Cloak, Catcher your opponent’s Hydreigon, and take a prize. However, if you don’t manage to get an Eviolite on your Reshiram and flip tails for the self damage, you could get one-shot right back and lose 2 prizes, 2 Blend, and 2 Dark if your opponent was able to either get another Hydreigon out or use a Giratina or Shaymin EX to get a knockout. Honestly though I don’t think it’s too likely you’ll be OHKOed unless you whiff on the Catcher and attack anyway.
Hydreigon NVI
The last tech I want to review is the Hydreigon from Noble Victories. While it isn’t too likely you’ll set it up, it is a good card and when you do set it up its attack is pretty good, but it’s also fairly situational.
I remember reading somewhere about the combination between Night Spear and Dragon Blast (Or whatever Hydreigon’s attack is called). Basically what you can do is if your opponent drops an EX with 160 or 170 HP, you can Night Spear and put the bonus damage on that. Then, you can Catcher that EX up and hit it for 140 and the knockout, and essentially draw two prizes with one attack (Especially if you drew a prize with the 90 from Night Spear). Well, with the NVI Hydreigon you can essentially use the same combination on any non-Eviolited EX. You can also snipe something else, either that has low HP, 130 and you want it to be within Night Spear range, or another EX to Dragonblast later.
If you can get an early Hydreigon NVI, that also helps big, because you can snipe two Swablu or Tynamo or other low HP basics of support Pokemon. If you don’t draw a prize with it off the basic, it puts pressure on them to evolve it next turn or have it knocked out. This might force them to play a Juniper over an N, discarding some key resources and thinning out the deck. If they don’t hit it, they will have wasted the resources and they won’t be able to get their support Pokemon out.
Eel decks are decks that I am much more comfortable with. I played Eels for all four of my Battle Roads and I escaped with 25 Championship Points, so I can definitely provide more insight on Eels than any other deck.
Right now, there are three different ways to play an Eel deck: Zekeels with Mewtwo, which is the box version, Rayquaza/Eels, and TerraEels. I have played all three variations and the one I like the best right now is the Terrakion version. Here is a basic list you can use, and then you can build on to it which variation you like the best:
This is what a Shiny Eel would look like.
Pokemon – 13
4 Eelektrik NVI
4 Tynamo Split (NVI 38, NVI 39, DEX 45)
2 Zekrom BW
1 Raikou EX
2 Emolga DRXT/S/S – 31
4 Professor Juniper
4 N
3 Cheren/Bianca
3 Random Receiver
4 Ultra Ball
3 Switch
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Tools (Eviolite, Rocky Helmet, etc.)
2 Tool Scrapper
2 Level Ball
1 Super RodEnergy – 12
8 Lightning Energy
4 Tech Energy (Depending on your variant)Total – 56
Open Space – 4
To make it a straight Zekeels variant, you would add 2 Mewtwo EX and then either more consistency cards or a few techs, and make the tech Energy Double Colorless. To make it RayEels you would add two Rayquaza EX and 2 Shiny Rayquaza. For the Terrakion variant, you would add 2 Terrakion, a single Mewtwo, and something else.
Techs
Thundurus EPO
Thundurus was considered necessary in an Eel deck during the HS-NXD format, but I played without it to success. In this format it is a good idea, though, because of the format’s dependence on basics that turn into Stage Ones and Stage Twos. if you get a T1 Charge off and hit both of your manual energy attachments you can, on Turn Two, Catcher-KO a Deino, Tynamo, Swablu, Shelmet, Gible, Piplup, or whatever. It allows you to take an early lead, as well, which could help you out a lot in the prize race later on. It also discards energy for Dynamotor later on.
The problem with Thundurus is that it doesn’t have quite high enough of a damage output to be good in the late game. Unless your opponent is playing Quad Tornadus Thundurus just doesn’t get the OHKOes you need to win games later on. So to play Thundurus effectively, I have found you need to run enough to consistently start with it. You also need to use Call For Family on Turn One a lot, meaning that a T1 Charge can be, well, a bad idea sometimes.
Zapdos NXD
Zapdos is another one of those early-game cards, but there are a few things that separate Zapdos from Thundurus.
The first is that Zapdos requires a Double Colorless Energy to attack on Turn Two without support from Eels, whereas Thundurus doesn’t. This means that your energy attachments aren’t going to be as easy as they are on Thundurus.
The second is that Zapdos doesn’t require a Pokemon Catcher to attack what you want to attack (Unless you want to hit for Weakness or get around Resistance). In a format without Junk Arm this is a big deal, because you only get to use 4 a game. Not using them in the early game will not only mean that you have them later, but you also have a larger number of them later, meaning you are more likely to draw the Catcher to get the Shaymin EX or Eelektrik active to KO it and win the game. Conserving resources is important in this format, especially in a deck like this without access to Sableye DEX.
The third is that Thundurus puts your energy in the discard pile, while Zapdos doesn’t. While this does seem like a positive at first (And it mostly is), keep in mind that also means you’ll need to hit your manual energy attachment next turn and use it on Thundurus. This is mostly good, though, as discarding energy in this format is extremely hard without Junk Arm.
The fourth is that Thundurus has a higher damage output than Zapdos does. The 30 more means that Thundurus OHKOes the Deinos, Gibles, Shelmets, Archens, etc. that Zapdos doesn’t without some sort of damage support such as PlusPower.
Tornadus EX
Tornadus EX is mainly used in Eel decks as a counter to Fighting. if your meta has a lot of Terrakion EX decks or Terrakion decks, Tornadus EX is a good option. Otherwise, it’s bad in the mirror and you should steer clear.
Zekrom EX
Zekrom EX is another tech I don’t like. I was big on it last format, but this one it just isn’t as useful. The only Stage Two deck you’re likely to have troubles with is Hydreigon, and they will usually Catcher-kill your Eels and make it so that you can’t use Zekrom EX effectively, and Rocky Helmet (I played this last season in Eels) will just get Tool Scrapped, making it no longer very good against Mewtwo for these sort of situations.. If your meta is full of Garchomp, though, it’s a decent idea.
Energy Switch
Energy Switch isn’t a card I’ve experimented with yet, but it could be good in some situations. It’s good for getting the energy attached to your Emolga somewhere more useful. You can also pull some good plays with Mewtwo with it, and move the third energy from Zekrom BW after retreating it.
To learn more about Eel decks with a more in-depth article, I found a pretty good Eel deck article here. This article definitely isn’t as good as the Hydreigon one, but it provides you with wwhat you need to know. I do think 4-4 Eels is necessary in BW-on, however, and that’s the one part of the article I disagree with. (Do note that the article was written before Dragons Exalted came out, however).
Ho-oh EX
Ho-oh EX is a really cool deck. It has built-in energy acceleration, can hit for 180 with some effort, and is fast with the right list.
I haven’t been able to get the deck to work properly, but I am able to provide some sort of list:
Phoenix? More like Scottsdale.
Pokemon – 10-11
3 Ho-oh EX
3 Sableye DEX
4-5 Tech AttackersT/S/S – 32
4 Professor Juniper
4 N
3 Bianca
3 Random Receiver
4 Ultra Ball
4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Energy Switch
3 Switch
2 Tool Scrapper
1 Super RodEnergy – 17
4 Double Colorless Energy
3 Darkness Energy
10 other Basic Energy (At least one of each)Total – 59-60
Free Space – 0-1
Techs
Mewtwo EX
Mewtwo EX is probably the best tech to put in here. It can get a T1 donk, and it helps a lot against Mewtwo coming in and OHKOing Ho-oh. Mewtwo is Mewtwo, and it’s pretty necessary in a deck like this.
Tornadus EX
Tornadus EX is a tech that a lot of people like, but I don’t see a reason for. Ho-oh already has a Fighting Resistance, and it just gets zapped by Eel decks for 2 prizes. It is good with Stadiums for a T1 60, but unless you choose to run SAB you don’t run any Stadiums.
Darkrai EX
Since you’re already running all those darks for Sableye, why not give all your Pokemon free retreat? It seems logical enough. If you have space for a Darkrai, I’d suggest playing one.
Sigilyph DRX
Sigilyph would serve two purposes in the deck: countering EX’s, and countering Sigilyph. If you play a Sigilyph you can stall for a bit, especially against Eel variants that are a bit teched out. They would be forced to use Eelektrik’s attack, which is a 2HKO on Sigilyph, and in the process possibly lose an Eel.
Terrakion NVI
Ah, Fighting, the meta’s weakness, and Terrakion does the best job of capitalizing on that of anything in the modified format. With a Tool Scrapper it can OHKO any Fighting-weak EX with an Eviolite attached, and it does so for only two energy assuming your opponent got an OHKO the following turn. If they don’t KO it back, you can attach another Fighting and OHKO another EX (With the help of a Tool Scrapper or Catcher in most scenarios). If that happens, which is pretty likely, you will have taken four prizes while only giving up one. Terrakion is just that good.
There are so many techs I could talk about, but since I need to get this article published before Regionals, I’m just going to link you to another article that talks about them. There weren’t many Ho-oh articles to choose from, but I feel the Skittles part of this 6P article did a good job:
I would love to cover some more decks, but I started this article way too late and I need to get it published now, so I’m going to hold off on them. Those are the three main decks of the format and if I wanted to win a tournament I would play one of those three, so I feel like that’s enough.
Anyway, as always, leave a comment below if you have a comment, I’m open to any feedback, discussion, or whatever else. And, of course, good luck at Regionals!
A big Hello to all you OHKOers out here, this is Pikkdogs here with a Stupid Deck Idea. I am also bringing with me my extra-dimensionary sidekick, Pedro. A Stupid Deck Idea is an article that spotlights a deck that either is more of a fun deck, or a deck that was not tested very much. This deck will be one that has not been tested. In this article I will just be giving out a list for a Hydreigon deck, I have not tested them yet so I will leave those for you.
How lazy of you.
Well that is what I am, Lazy. Do we have any news for the good folks Pedro?
Yes, lots of news. Our first bit of news is that Yanmega Prime will soon be coming out in a promo box with 2 packs, and evolution line, and one theme deck. It is called the “Prime Challenge” box. The price has not been announced yet, but I would assume it would be about 25 bucks. The box will also be coming out with Machamp, Umbreon, and Espeon Primes. What do you think of that Pikkdogs?
Well, I do not like the decision. It is great for beginners, but it is a big slap in the face for us who have been collecting the card. We had value in our cards, and we might have spent a lot of money in getting cards like Yanmega Prime. It is overall not a good thing for the good players who already had the card. I like what Adam from www.sixprizes.com said about this piece of news. He said that if they want to give out good cards as promos, they should do it when the card first comes out. This would keep the price even and keep the young players and the older plays just as happy. Any other news Pedro?
Well, the Prague Challenge Cup was held this weekend.
Where?
I’m assuming Prague.
Gotcha. And what happened there.
All three winners were French, and all three winners played Zekrom. The second most successful deck was Primetime. That leaves those two decks poised to do very well at regionals.
Thanks, Pedro. Well I don’t want to sound like a doubter about this format, but man I can’t wait till Regionals is over and we can use Noble Victories cards. Enough complaining, let’s just go on to the article.
Deck Strategy
Hydreigon is a really fun card. It has 150 HP, a resistance to psychic, and has an ability that let’s you count all energy on Hydreigon as dark. It’s attack costs DDDD, and does 60 damage to the active and then 40 to two benched Pokemon.
The strategy of a Hydreigon deck would be to get Hydreigon up as fast as possible using something to load energies on Hyrdeigon. It doesn’t matter what kind of energies since his Ability turns them all dark. Then you would be ready to hit for 60 damage and then snipe twice for 40. Depending on the deck you are facing, it could be a very challenging deck to play against.
There are five major forms of energy acceleration in the format. The first is Pachirisu Cl. It let’s you attach two lightning energies to Pachirisu as you play him to your bench. Those energies could then be moved around by something like Shaymin Ul. The second form of energy acceleration is Floatzel. Floatzel let’s you attach one water energy to him per turn. You would then need something like Shaymin to move them over to Hydreigon. The third energy acceleration Pokemon also uses water energies, it is Feraligatr Prime. His ability let’s you attach as many water energies to water Pokemon as you wish, you would again need something like Shaymin to move them over. The fourth Pokemon is similar to Feraligatr, but can be attached directly to Hyrdreigon, I am talking about Emboar Bw. The last Pokemon is Electrode Prime. He has an ability which let’s you look at the top 7 cards of your deck and attach them to any Pokemon. The drawback being Electrode is then knocked out.
So what is the best way of the five. Pachirisu is nice, but only works once and requires Shaymin. Floatzel is also good, but requires a lot of stage 1 Pokemon. Feraligatr Prime is nice, but Emboar can do the same thing without needing Shaymin. Emboar is great, but it is stage 2 and a Pokemon Catcher liability. Electrode is useful, but it gives up prizes and you will need to run a very focused build with a lot of energies. I think the best two Pokemon to use would be Pachirisu and Emboar. But, Pachirisu may be the best.
So now we got two energy accelerators, let’s look at the positives and negatives of this deck.
Positives
Deck is Really Fun Unique. No other card can really do what Hydreigon can do. It is a really unqiue deck that nobody has seen before. It is also a really cool Pokemon. A dragon with three heads is pretty cool, cooler than a dragon with two heads I think.
Great Gothitelle Matchup. No Gothitelle is not the deck to beat right now, but it is a popular build. So it is a good thing that this deck can handle most Gothitelle decks. It will be very hard to keep all of their Pokemon alive when you are taking advantage of them spreading damage around.
Solid Idea with Only One Weakness. Hydreigon is a simple deck that is not that complicated. It is based on one idea that should be fairly easy to operate. The only drawback is that it has a fighting weakness, and almost all Pokemon has a weakness.
Negatives
Well, Donphan. Donphan Prime can make quick work of Hyrdreigon, so that will always be a bad matchup.
Energy Acceleration. No matter how good an energy accelrator is, it still will be a liability. They make the deck clunkier than it should be. Especially with Pokemon Catcher in the format.
The 4 Energy Attack. Even though you can use DCE and energy accelerators, 4 energies is still tough to get out. It iwill slow the deck down.
The List
This is just a list that I drew up without testing it, so it will not be a great list. You will have to make it yourself and test it. It could be close to being a decent deck or it could be a crappy deck that never works, I am not sure. Here is a rough list that I made up for testing purposes.
Pokemon-18
4-Deino
2-Zweillous
4-Hydreigon
2-Pachirisu
2-Shaymin
2-Cleffa
2-Tornadus-Gives you a better Donphan Matchup and more donking ability.
Trainers-32
4-Junk Arm
2-Energy Search
4- Pokemon Catcher
2-Switch
4-Professor Oaks New Theory
3-Professor Juniper
2-Sage’s Training
2-Cheren
1-Super Scoop Up
3-Rare Candy
1-Super Rod
4-Pokemon Communication
Energy-14
Double Colorless Energy-4
Lightning Energy-10
Well that’s a rough list to get you started. I know it is not the best deck out there, it is probably more of a fun deck than something I would take to Cities. But, this should be a really fun deck to play, so I’m sure the deck should get a little bit of play from the rogue players. It will not be a great deck, but it will be pretty cool.
Final Words, and Words About Matchups.
Matchups for this deck are fairly easy to think about. Fast decks like Stage 1 Rush will be hard to beat if they setup very quickly. But, if you can setup at the same time, this will be quite an interesting matchup depending on what version of the deck they run. Reshiram and Zekrom will be quite a tough matchup because of their “Outrage” attacks. Plus Power will probably almost even the matchups. Gothitelle matchups will be fairly easy, and Donphan decks will be fairly hard.
So this is not the best deck, but than again it is a “Stupid Deck Idea.” But this deck will be really fun to play. It is a unique deck, so it should keep you interested for a while. So what do you got for us now Pedro? I’m all done.
Well we already talked about the Pokemon news. We can tell the boys and girls that regionals are this weekend and that they should remember to leave their Noble Victories cards at home, they are not legal for this tournament. So what are you playing for regionals Pikkdogs?
Well, I don’t know. Should probably find that out soon. I keep thinking of ideas with NV card, than realize that I can’t play them. I think this condition is driving me crazy, I’ve even been thinking of making a deck with Accelgor.
Well, that will all go away when you win Regionals………………..Hahahahahahahaha. Just kidding, you’re probably going to lose really bad.
Thank’s for the confidence Pedro. Good night everybody!
A big hello to all you OHKOers out there. This is Pikkdogs here with a Pikk Three Article. If you haven’t seen this article before….
Yeah, like anyone reads your articles.
True dat, Pedro, but be quite while I’m trying to introduce the article. Geez its hard to find a good side kick now a days. Back to the article, some people may have had the unfortunate luck to stumble past this site before and read a Pikk Three article. Pedro, will you explain the Pikk Three article.
Well, its like a big card of the day article on a site like Pojo, Pokegym, or Sixprizes. Except this article will review three cards; one that is a popular card, one that the fat guy feels is under-rated, and one that is from a new or unreleased set; and nobody will read this article.
Thank You Pedro…… I think, now lets get on to the article.
Card #1 Vileplume UD
Details– Vileplume is one of the most popular cards in the last couple years. He first saw play with Gengar Sf as a part of the popular Trainerlock deck. This deck saw a lot of victories at tournaments, and was something to be feared. After Gengar SF was rotated out, not many people played Vileplume right away. Now, we expect to see a lot of Vileplume in the upcoming season. Either in the deck with Mew Prime, or in a deck with Beartic. If you do not play Vileplume you still should know all about it because you still will be seeing it around a lot.
It is a stage 2 120 HP Grass Pokemon. It is weak to psychic and has a 2 retreat cost. Its attack is pretty lack luster, “Dazzling Pollen” does 50 damage for GGC. The attack also lets you flip a coin, if heads the attack does 20 more, if tails the defending is confused. In over a year of playing this card I only used the attack 1 time. The Poke-Body is what everybody is talking about, the ability to lock all tra…. items is very good. With most decks running 4 Pokemon Communications, possibly 3 Rare Candies, 4 Pokemon Catchers, and 3-4 Junk Arms; that is about 15 trainers. The ability to lock 15 important cards is really awesome. Item lock will be very important in the next season, and Vileplume is the Pokemon that will bring it about.
Analysis– As mentioned, Vileplume will have a big impact on the upcoming season. It is hard to get Vileplume out really quickly, but once it is out there is a huge advantage. Just being able to take out Pokemon Catcher from use is quite an amazing thing. It makes the game a lot simpler and that is to your advantage. While it is true that decks without a lot of trainers will not be as good, at least your deck will be prepared for the loss of trainers, other decks will not.
As I previously mentioned, the most talked about Vileplume decks have been Mewbox and Beartic. The strategy of Mewbox is to Lost Zone a Muk and a Jumpluff early. While you are doing that you can set up the trainer lock. You can bring up a bench sitter with Muk’s attack and then either snipe around them with Yanmega Prime or use “Mass Attack” to knock them out. It is fairly slow, but it is very disruptive. Beartic is a deck that we don’t really have a list for yet. But, it will probably involve setting up a Vileplume fairly quickly and prevent your opponent from attacking by using Beartic’s “Sheer Cold” attack. Without the use of Switch, you will not be able to attack or retreat, and will have to watch your Pokemon get beaten on by Beartic.
The drawback to Vileplume is the speed. Most of the time you will not be able to lock trainers until your opponent has already setup. Another drawback is the 2 retreat cost, your opponent can tech in a Bellsprout in an attempt to make your Vileplume active. The Bellsprout can then retreat next turn and then Vileplume will be able to get knocked out. The last drawback is the meager 40 HP on Oddish. If you do not setup a Vileplume before your opponent can setup a Yanmega, you may not be able to get Vileplume out.
Final Rating– 9/10– Yes there are drawbacks but you just gotta love the best item locker around.
Card #2 Great Ball EP
Details– Great Ball is an item with a simple effect, look at the top 7 cards of your deck and put any one Pokemon you find there into your hand.
Analysis– If this card came into the format last year, I would not have taken another look at it. We had cards like Bebe’s Search and Luxury Ball that could do the job better than Great Ball. But, those cards are now gone and we do not have a lot of search cards.
If you play a deck with a legend in it, the only way to find a Legend Piece is basically to draw into it. You cannot Elms it, nor can you Dual Ball it. Now, with Great Ball you can finally grab a legend piece out of your deck. Legend Pieces usually enter later in the game. By this time you will have gone through enough of your deck as where the top 7 cards should be about 25-33 percent of your deck, if not more. While you probably can’t rely on this card to get you the card you need, most of the time you will be able to grab at least 1 Pokemon.
And that is the weakness of this card. It just is not consistent. It is very versatile and very useful, but you never know what you are gonna get. If all you need to do to get your first prize is search for a Yanmega Prime, the chances are you will not get it with Dual Ball. For that reason I can only recommend this card if your deck has a lot of Pokemon in it.
Final Rating–6/10– Nobody is talking about this card, and that is a shame. It is a good card that deserves some play. Although it will not be a great card, decks that run about 20 Pokemon should fit this card in.
Card #3- Hydreigon Red Collection
Details– This card is from the Japanese set called Red Collection. It will probably be in our Noble Victories set.
It is a 150 HP Stage 2 Dark Pokemon with a fighting weakness, psychic resistance, and a 3 retreat cost. Its ability lets you treat every card attached to it as a Darkness Energy. Its one attack lets you do 60 damage to the active, and then snipe for 40 to two benched Pokemon! The attack will cost 4 energies.
Analysis– Wow a 150 HP Pokemon that lets you attack for 60 and then snipe twice for 40. If you are able to attach a couple Special Darkness Energies to this Pokemon, you could be taking 3 prizes every 2 turns!
Of course it is not always as easy as it looks. Once you are able to pick off 2 Pokemon on the bench it is unlikely that your opponent will then put 2 more Pokemon out there to snipe. Also, the fighting weakness is a big drawback because of how good Donphan is. Although it is easy to counter Donphan, it is never nice to have a fighting weakness.
The biggest partner for Hydreigon is Emboar BW. Emboar lets you attach as many fire energies per turn as you want to whoever you want. With Hydreigon’s ability, you will be able to make all those fire energies dark, and be able to attack a lot faster. Even though it is hard to get 2 Stage 2 Pokemon out, the Magneboar deck has proved that 2 Stage 2 Pokemon can work.
Final Rating– 8/10– While it is impossible to tell how big of an impact this card will have, I think it will see some play. Doing 60 damage and sniping twice for 40 is just too good to pass up.
Well thats all we have for today. Pedro, how do we usually end articles here.
Uhhh…. the mister Rogers song?
I don’t think we do, but lets try it anyway.
“
It’s such a good feeling to know you’re alive.
It’s such a happy feeling
You’re growing inside.
And when you wake up ready to say
I think I’ll make a snappy new day
It’s such a good feeling,
A very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we’re friends.
It’s a good feeling
It’s a happy feeling
It’s such a good feeling
To know you’re in tune.
It’s such a happy feeling to find you’re in bloom
And when you wake up ready to say
I think I’ll make a snappy new day.
It’s such a good feeling,
A very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we’re friends.
And I’ll be back
When the day is new
And I’ll have more ideas for you.
And you’ll have things you’ll want to talk about.
I will too.
” No Pedro, I’m almost sure that is not the way we end things here.
Ethan Cooke 
coolestman22 
Pikkdogs 
