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Pokemon TCG Decklists and Articles

January 2010

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

HGSS: Decks To Prepare For

Omar 4 Comments

Im thinkin that this next set will change how people play the game completely. There are a lot of new weapons starting up, pokemon prime, better trainer cards, and my favorite, double colorless energy.

Because of this, i think some decks will re-emerge, and some will start to emerge. Lets begin with decks that will start next season:

Fire deck: Typhlosian HGSS, Charizard AR, Ninetales HGSS
This deck is one i think will see a lot of play. Being able to play 2 energies a turn, draw 3 cards a turn, and do more for each fire pokemon out is a big deal. The charizard, being your main attacker, will tank anything you have, since it will have 160 life with an expert belt, and do roughly 80-100 damage for 1 energy with that belt. Yep, 80-100 with one. Or, 130-150 for 3. Take you pick. Dialga, get owned. This deck should see play, seems very consistent since there is a beter draw engine then claydols, and it benefits charizard to. Some key things this deck will prolly tech is a 1-0-1 exploud line to get rid of the consistent weakness of water everywhere. As for other techs, i dont think this deck will need anything but consistency cards(Rosies, uxie, collecter, bebes) and rebound cards, like cynthias. Nothing to special. Boom.

Deck 2: Feraligatr
People will try to get this card to be useful, with as many energy drps as need be per turn, no question it will be used. Its even better with a grass weakness, because luxray snipe wont be an issue on this guy. Mabye the retreat will be, but there isnt a limit to the neergy drops and it should be able to get one shot unless SP decks start to run a grass SP counter. Not worth it imo. Some combos could be with blastoise, kingdra, or mabye even just straight feraligatr with crobat G and something else. idk. it will be used in some way, shape, or form.

Those are the 2 decks i think will see the most play, the other pokemon prime arent as consistent or appealing in my opinoin as these 2 are. As for decks that will re-emerge or become more popular

Deck 1: GG
Garde gallade isnt run very much right now due to the slow pace it plays at. Well, not only needing 2 energy drops on all attackers, welcome back my man. The speed and consistency will raise, and expert belt can be now teched since it shouldnt take as long to set up as it has been in the past. PLOX ftw.

deck 2: Garchomp
Someone will use this to destroy people. With the garchomp used from i wanna say SV, its second attack, doing 120-20 for each energy on the opposition, will see lots of play. I also think that with its lvl. X to compliment it, this card will become golden. Doing 80 usually for 2, 140 health, and a nasty pokebody against anyone, this card should see some use.

Deck 3: Flygon varients
Everyone saw this coming, flygon, the already consistent and well paced deck just got faster. Nuf said.

deck 4: Garchomp C
Heres something i would have never seen, garchomp snipes for 1 energy and an e-gain. huh, 80 target damage for 1 energy, it already comes out of nowhere, and now it can just drop on you without a bronzong switch. Sweet mother. The double colorless will help dialga garchomp conserve the e-gains and speed up the chomp. No if its used in luxchomp or ladygaga, you can keep your energy with luxray, or bronzong it to another pokemon to further prepare them and just snipe with garchomp with 1 energy. im not gonna like that.

deck 5: Porygon Z
Now that all the yummy special energies will be out, porygon will ravage your use of them, discarding them so they arent accessible at all, since most specials cant be recycled at all, and swing from anywhere in the 40-200 range as need be. Lets see, take out energy drops, only needs 1 mabye 2 to attack. yum.

Now, those are some of the main things i see emerging next set. others may be tested or used, idk, but these are the ones i see to be the most used and consistent. Now, the next portion is specifically for us SP based lovers out there (Me, ed) since abdi dreads playing it, idk why. What decks will we start to see become more consistent or played more. lemme give you a hint.

PALKIA!
the power lock will probably see more play. With all the new powers and speed everyone will have, this deck will slow them down, and take them out before they can even do anything about it. No powers, making all the new powers that will be used all over the place gone. decks might get something set up fast with cards in hand, but Sp decks take the opposition advantage and create a counter to cripple them even more. And with power locks. Yum.

LUXRAY
It doesnt matter the varient. The more cards come out that need prep time, the more this card will be sought after. target sniping or bringing someone up to slow your opponent down, delicious. this card also helps vs most water matchups, but might have a tough time vs Feraligatr(grass weakness).

Dialga~.~
jk. with the fire focus coming back into decks, whether it be blaziken FB or the new one coming out, dialga is slowly getting teched against and slowly declining in play. The tank form of this cant even tough blaziken FB, and even with the carizard body off, he still crushed dialga. end of story.

So, with the sp deck choices hardly declining, what deck is cheap yet destructive. with newer trainers coming out that speed everyone, and a target supporter snipe from the top 7 cards, Sp will become more conisistent as if they alreay arent. The decks i would suggest to play would be Palkia lock or lady gaga. period. nothing else to say on that

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

City Championships

My Battle report for Cities in MN on 01/10/10

Omar 3 Comments

So, i decided to play Palkia lock instead of lady gaga because i havent played gaga enough to know what to do in a lot of situations, so i went with a pretty basic lock that consists of Palkia g, luxray g, and then as counters i had promocroak g for luxray g and ambipom for garchomp c. here is how it went.

Round 1 vs Mamoswine G Empoleon G….

This was a joke. i won in i think like 4 turns, and his first 4 turns consisted of energy drops and his only basics were the ones listed above. idk if he know what was goin on or if he was just playing because it was free, but whatever, point being it was over 4 turns, and thats all there is to it.    1-0

Round 2 vs Beedrill

So, i play my buddy alex round 2. Everytime i play against him, it seems like he is using beedrill, and i am using a plox type deck. Turns out that was the same thing for today. He starts a baltoy, attaches a grass energy, and ends his turn. i figured id he gets powers with beedrill im screwed, so i drop mesprits turn 1, 3, 5, and 7. 2 4 6 were covered by sprays. He did however get 1 uxie off due to a heads on a SSU. He ends up setting up 3 beedrill even tho he was completely locked, with the active one expert belt heavy. I knocked that out with a little help from crobat, he was locked so he couldnt flutter, i killed claydols and power sprayed uxie. sorry dood.    2-0

round 3 vs Kingdra

This game i started terrible, getting a lone unown g and a azelf in hand start, with no supporters in hand and 5 of 6 pokemon that were critical to me prized, being palkia g x, luxray g, bronzong, mesprit, lucario.  my frist draw was cyrus. YES. i then azelf and see i have everything i need prized, grab a luxray for weakness, attack my gain and energy, and i missed out on a first turn mesprit. My opponent then end up drawing in total 14 cards with uxie and SSU heads, and got baltoy, horseas and seadras, bts, and energy, but wasnt able to get kingdra or claydol. He then does 60 damage to my active g for ko, and my next turn, i start the lock. I sp radar for luxray, roseannes for mesprit and palkia, and then ko after ko, grabbing lucario as my first prize for weakness, and then smashing his water dudes left and right. No lookin back from there.            3-0

round 4 vs garchomp c blaziken g luxray g

Saori was playing this one, and he plays very similar to abdi, he enjoys playing but since he is new to the tournament scene, this being his 2nd tourney, he is afraid of play mistakes and like all noobies, intimidated against high end players(i have way to big an ego). anyways, i start the game with a lone unown g and supporters and energies in my hand, but no other basics, and he starts luxray active blaziken benched. i go first, and top deck call (Woohoo) and get 2 basics, putting me out of donking range. The funny thing is last time i played him, it was the exact same start, literally, and i top decked call. so he then attaches an energy, a gain, and bites me. My turn consists of roseannes, placing an energy and a gain on palkia, then dropping mesprit, then uxie, and then azelf MT so his attacks cost 1 more, and then end. he plays the same, energy drop on blaziken, bite for Ko. My turn i put luxray active, Lv. X him, bring up his fire pokemon, turn my luxray, attach my energy to palkia, x my palkia, and start the lock with my mesprit and uxie in hand again, then ko his dudes left and right after that. He didnt get a supporter but aarons all game.     4-0

Round 5 vs radu.

Same deck as above with different techs. I misplayed huge in the beginning of this game. I could have set it up to a point where i would have KO’ed hus luxray turn 2 after he Ko’ed my palkia, but when i used my azelf to time walk, i accidentally put the card i needed(sp radar) as a prize, which makes it impossible to get to my toxicroak G. My hand was roseannes heavy, with no cyrus. So i prized the card that could have got me a little ahead, but after that i was always behind, and he was 2-3 turns ahead for the rest of the game, winning 4-0 on prize count (idk how i got 2 prizes)  4-1

So its cut to top 4 leaving these standings.

1. Radu  2 Me  3. Thomas  4 Soari

So 2 of the people i played are in tops, and the other one is running kindra, let alone everytime i play him i get donked.

top 4 cut vs. Thomas

I was expecting to get donked again since i always seem to. We both start crobat G. He goes first. He passes. On my turn, i drop luxray, put a water energy on him, then energy gain, poketurn my crobat, drop it and put 1 on his, drop mesprit, then azelf MT, and then uxie for like 5 or 6, and couldnt get the second turn for win, so i do 60 with bite and he has 10 hp left. His turn, he drops horsea and an energy on him, and cant do anything else due to mesprit. My turn. i top deck cyrus, get a turn, look thru the deck, and both my electric energies got prized, grab a water, and then grab another cyrus. I turn the crobat, knock his out, take a prize, and there was my electric energy. I attach it to luxray and trash bolt my water energy to finish him off.  5-1

Top 2 vs radu.

this game was intense. I top decked everything i would need to stay in the game all game. if i needed to get a supporter because i didnt have any, i would. If i needed more cards, i would top deck an uxie. it was redic. I played him Ko for Ko this game. Every time he would Ko my palkia, i would return fire with toxicroak. Everytime he snime someone with garchomp, i came back with ambipom. unfortunately, he drew blood first, and after 40 min, the count was 2-1. He outplayed me a little in some places, but i could take the loss in that game. It was a fun and exciting game to play, and i end the day in 2nd with 10 packs woohoo. :)

Deck Discussion Practice

The Problem With Porygon

Ed 8 Comments

I’ve been playing Porygon a bit. The deck is definitely fun to play, because it does a lot of things that aren’t really possible in most decks. Setting up can be slow if you don’t get the right pieces early, but with Call Energy, TS-1 Evoluter, Roseanne’s, Bebe’s, etc. you can usually get a good double supporter (thanks to Download) plus Claydol turn on turn 2 or 3.

There are two main problem areas that I’ve found: getting energy and losing TMs. They both stem from a single problem, though, and that is letting your active Porygon take damage.

The deck can run on very little energy, and you could easily win a game with only 2 with the right draw and matchup. The problem is that your active Porygon-Z will, at some point, take damage. When that happens, you will want to retreat, Switch, Warp Point, etc. You would usually have another Porygon-Z waiting on the bench, and it’s easy to Install TMs onto the waiting Porygon. What is not easy, however, is getting energy onto the waiting Porygon.

The same issue applies to TMs. Sure, you can move them around, but what happens when your active gets KO’d? You can’t move all those TMs once you’ve attacked. You’re bound to lose some at some point, and when you do, they aren’t easy to retrieve from the discard pile.

For example, let’s assume that your opponent can attack for 60 each turn. I’ve recently played against Shuppet Donk, so we’ll use that as an example. Your goal is to get a bunch of TMs and attack for KO damage each turn. Let’s assume that you do that. So, you gear up, drop your 2nd energy, and KO the opponent’s Pokemon. On their turn, they hit your Z for 60. Now what? Sure, you can drop an energy on a benched Porygon. Then what? If you attack and take another prize, they’ll just KO your Z on their turn. You’ll lose your precious TMs you’ve built up. If, instead, you decide to Warp Point, then you can’t attack without another energy.

I’ve thought about it a bit, and I’ve looked at some other posts about Porygon. Here are some ideas.

PokeHealer+: With Porygon-Z LvX, you can Decode 2 Healers to the top of your deck. With all the drawing capabilities the deck has, you should easily be able to draw them and pull 8 counters off a Porygon.

Super Scoop Up: This can work in a similar way as the healers. You have a good chance of flipping a heads if you try for 2 of them, but you still have the energy issue.

A free retreater (or Unown Q + Mr. Mime/Spiritomb/etc.): Given the example scenario laid out, this would allow you to Warp Point up the free retreater giving you an extra turn to get your attack ready. It’s not quick, but it could also be strategic depending on the retreater you put up. Mime or Spiritomb could be good stallers against certain decks.

I’d have to say that I like the Poke Healer + idea. It takes the most deck space (you’d probably need 4), but it is most likely to be quick and very effective. It can also be done with Poke Blower + for some Gust of Wind action, but that would take another 4 slots. If you get the Healer/Blower early, you can always Cosmic Power it to the bottom of the deck. The most effective use would be allowing Porygon-Z to take some damage, and then surprise LvX and Decoding the double Healer.

I was thinking about something like this…
Porygon-Z Level X
Pokemon: 21
x4 Porygon GE
x4 Porygon2 GE
x3 Porygon-Z (Promo)
x1 Porygon-Z Lv. X MT
x2 Baltoy GE
x2 Claydol GE
x2 Unown G GE
x1 Uxie LA
x1 Mr. Mime MT
x1 Relicanth PL

Supporters: 10
x4 Bebe's
x2 Rosie's
x2 Volkner's Philosophy
x1 Palmer's Contribution
x1 Marley's Request

Trainers: 18
x4 Technical Machine TS-1
x4 Technical Machine TS-2
x3 VS Seeker
x1 Luxury Ball
x4 Poke Healer+
x4 Poke Blower+

Stadium: 2
x2 BTS

Energy: 7
x4 Call Energy
x2 Fighting Energy
x1 Upper Energy

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