One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs and his sidekick Pedro here with an article about decks you are going to see at Battle Roads.  The rotation, Worlds, and the release of the Emerging Powers set all changed the face of the format.  This article will tell you about the decks that those changes brought on, what are there strengths, and what are there weaknesses.  If you know all about the decks before hand, you should have an easier time when you are sitting across from them.

Review of the Sigilyphs

Recently we had a request to review the Sigilyphs from Emerging Powers.

Why the heck would anybody want a review of 2 crappy cards like that.  They must be mentally deranged.

Now Pedro it’s not nice to make fun of the readers.  Bad Pedro.

I am a bad boy.  I might need-

Pedro this is a family website.  Please try to clean up your language.

A family website, must be a pretty desperate family to read this site.

Lets just go on to the article.

Alright, lets review those Sigilyphs.

There are two Sigs from Emerging Powers, they are both basic Psychic uncommons.  They have the exact same stats; 90 HP, 1 retreat cost, a weakness to lighting, and a resistance to fighting.  These stats are decent.  Its nice to have resistance to Donphan, and the only lightning Pokemon is Zekrom, and he would OHKO you anyway.  The 90 HP is good for a basic that doesn’t evolve, but isn’t the  best these days.  They both also have 2 attacks.   

One Sigilyph is decent, while the other is…..

crap

Thanks Pedro.  The card that is-

crap

yes crap, The card that is least playable is #42.  Its first attack costs 1 psychic energy and lets you flip 2 coins and do ten damage times the number of heads.  Its second attack costs CCC and does 40 damage plus 10 more for every damage counter on the defending Pokemon.  The first attack is….

crap

Is that all you can say Pedro?

Hey I can only tell the truth, if someone suggests a crappy card I gotta point it out.

Anyway, the first attack is not good.  The second attack is not terrible, but I don’t really see a reason to play it.  It is good for finishing a knock out, but this format is all about one hit knock outs, so finishing attacks isn’t a great thing.

Now onto the second card, #41.  Its first attack, “Reflect”, costs 1 psychic energy and reduces any damage done to Sigilyph by 40.  Its second attack, “Telekinesis” lets you snipe for 5o damage for PCC.  Sniping for 50 isn’t great, but its not bad.  And being able to stall with “Reflect” can be useful.

To see how useful #41 is, we must see if it fits into any deck right now.  It does fit into the Mew box deck fairly well.  The problem with this card is that Pokemon Catcher is in the format, if you try to wall with Sigilyph early in the game, your opponent will just use Pokemon Catcher to attack something else.  You could use Sigilyph to try to wall later in the game once you get a Vileplume setup, but it might not always be too effective.

Crap

That doesn’t make any sense here Pedro, wait your turn.  Don’t be so anxious.  Anyway, the sniping attack on #41 is nice, but most decks already run Yanmega Prime, which can snipe for 40 for free.  So even though  this Sigilyph is  nice, I only see it as an okay tech in a Mew Box deck.

Thanks for that suggestion, if any of you readers want Pikkdogs to screw up the review of any other cards or decks, just let him know.

Next we can finally talk about the decks you might see at Battle Roads.  Pedro, please tell the good people how we will do this.

Well folks, we will be talking about each deck individually.  We will tell you a little about it, then give you a link to an article that contains a sample deck list, if possible.  Lastly we will be adding a spot that tells you where the deck shines, and where it falls short.  If we don’t have any questions, lets get it on.

Lets get it on indeed Pedro.

Kingdra/Yanmega

What is it? I decided to talk about Kingrdra Yanmega first because it is the most under-rated deck in the format.  It is a fast disruptive deck that can stand up against almost any deck in the format.  It relies on getting a lot of quick Kingdra’s and sniping out basics with Yanmega, or attacking with “Sonic Boom” after a lot of “Spray Splashes” weaken them.  Jirachi is also used to get a lot of knock outs.   Although I think it is a great deck I don’t think it will get a lot of play.  You can see an older list of this deck here.

Positives- Very disruptive and versatile.   Pokemon Catcher does help this deck.

Negatives– Not very popular with players and can struggle later in the game. 

Magneboar

What is it? The hardest hitting deck in the format.  It relies on Magnezone Prime to attack and Emboar to power up the attacks.  Reshiram is usually included as a secondary attacker.  It was hyped as the BDIF coming into worlds and had a huge number of people who championed the deck.  But, at nationals it was bashed repeatedly by every other deck, and only saw 1 decent showing at Worlds. Here is a link to my Magneboar list that I made before worlds.

Positives-Still a fairly fast and efficient deck.  It can OHKO any Pokemon in the format fairly easily.  It is also fairly easy to play, so it could see a fair amount of play.

Negatives– The deck basically died at Nationals and Pokemon Catcher hurts it.  I don’t see Magenboar doing too well.

Zekrom

What is it? A nationals favorite that is invigorated after the release of Tornadus.  Zekrom is a deck that uses energy acceleration to hit for 120 fairly fast without a discard.  It was destroyed last summer because of Donphan, now it has Tornadus to go against Donpahn.  Some people have also been talking about Thundurus working in this deck as well.  I don’t think Zekrom will be the most played deck, but it will get some decent play.  If ya wanna see a new Zekrom list, you can do so here.

Positives- It hits hard and now has a Donphan counter.  It is also a popular Pokemon, so I could see it getting decent play (maybe even from the better players). 

Negatives– Not as consistent as other decks, so that is a problem.  It will also struggle with trainer lock, and decks with fast recovery.

Reshiphlosion

What is it? A deck that uses Typhlosion Prime to power up the attacks of Reshiram.  It uses Ninetails as a draw engine.  If you can get 2-3 Typhlosions set up you can keep re-using energies and you will be able to stand up just against any other deck out there.  It is fairly fast, is consistent, and hits very hard.  I expect a lot of people to run this deck, it will probably be the most popular deck.  Though I think a lot of newer players will play it, so the quality of decks may not be that high.  One of the early champions of this deck was a guy known as Airhawk, here is an article he wrote about it.

Positives- consistency, matchups, and damage output are all in your favor.

Negatives– Is vulnerable to trainerlock and anything that is really fast.  If you can kill Cyndaquils you will be able to control the matchup.

Reshiboar

What is it? It is just like Reshiphlosion, but it uses Emboar instead of Typhlosion.  It doesn’t change the matchups too much, but this version beats Reshiphlosion while it struggles against Samurott.  Emboar lets you get more energy on the field faster, but once you lose energy it is harder to get them back.  The Emboar line also has a lot of HP, meaning it  is not very easy to knock them out by sniping or de-evolution.  I don’t expect many people to play this deck, the masses will go with Reshiphlosion instead.  If you want to see a Reshiboar list, then you can see Ed’s Nationals list which is located right…………here. 

Positives- Basically the same thing as Reshiphlosion, but has a good matchup against the deck because it does not drop damage counters.

Negatives-  It requires more maintenance then Reshiphlosion and is more susceptible to trainer lock.

Stage 1 Rush

What is it? A deck pioneered at US Nationals by the likes of Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich, who also took it to the finals.

You know i used to dance under the name “Pooka”.  Yeah, the name of the club was called, “The Spray Splash.”

Pedro, its not nice to make fun of Pooka, he is a friend of the website.  Be nice to the guy.  Anyway, Stage 1 rush is usually made up of Donphan Prime, Yanmega Prime, and Zoroark BW.  It is basically a tool box deck that seeks to have an answer to every popular deck.  It uses Pokemon Catcher very effectively, making it very hard to setup a stage 2.  Even though this deck has not been talked about for a while, I think some people will still play this deck, perhaps some of the better players will play it as well.  You can see a testing list of Stage 1 Rush over here.

Positives- It is a fast deck that uses Pokemon Catcher well and has an answer to most of the decks out there.

Negatives– Stage 1 Rush was made to counter the nationals format, this format is a little different.  It gets shut down against Gothitelle and struggles with some of the other better decks out there now that there are more Donphan counters.  I think I would stay away from this deck right now.

Primetime 

What is it? A combination of Yanmega Prime and Magnezone Prime that won U.S. Nationals.  It is very fast and disruptive, and it can also hit for lots of damage later in the game.  It hopes to do a lot of disruption early, so it won’t have to go blow by blow later in the game.  I expect a decent percentage of the better players to be playing this deck.  .

Positives-  It is very versatile and can still hit well while disrupting.  This deck can seemingly do it all.  The draw power is also very good.

Negatives– This deck also might be a little older and not adjusted to the Pokemon Catcher format.  I think Pokemon catcher ends up hurting this deck because the player will not be able to setup 2 Magnezone without the threat of getting one of them pulled up without energy on it.  I can also see item lock hurting this deck.

Gothitelle/Reuniclus

What is it? An item locking damage counter moving deck that is very hard to beat for a lot of the decks out there.  Though it struggles in the early game, if it sets up it is very hard to beat.  You just setup a Gothitelle, and when it gets hit, use Reuniclus to move the damage counters to either Zekrom or Reshiram.  Gothitelle gives you a great item lock, and makes it almost impossible for your opponent to get an OHKO because of the lack of items like Plus Power. T Andrew T wrote a good article about this deck-

Is he the one who you gave the “Smoochum Tip” to? 

Well yes, but its not like its anything dirty.

It sounds like something dirty.

Well yes it does.  I guess if I thanked a girl for a “Smoochum Tip” she would probably slap me.

As would I.

I don’t know what that means.      Anyway, you can access Andrew’s list here, there will be no “smoochum tips” there though.

Positives- Having an item lock on the opponent without having one yourself is amazing.  It makes it very hard to OHKO Gothitelle, and if you can’t OHKO Gothitelle you may not get a knock out the entire game.  It has been getting a lot of hype going into BRs, so I anticipate that a lot of people will play this deck.

Negatives– I expect that the best players will not play this deck, so you may find that the players that are well…..

crappy

Thanks Pedro.  The players that are crappy will play this deck more than the great players.  That doesn’t mean that some great lists won’t be out there,so watch out for some good versions of this deck.

This deck also struggles early game.  They will not get a Gothitelle till about turn 4, if you can attack by turn 2, you might be able to beat the deck before it starts going.

Beartic/Vileplume

What is it? An item lock deck that uses Vileplume.  Beartic is the main attacker here.  His attack will make sure that your opponent will not be able to attack next turn if does not switch out, and Vileplume makes it so that you are able play trainers like Switch.  It strives to setup a Vileplume early, and then setup Beartic and make it so you are not able to attack.  The deck has not received a lot of hype so far, so I do not expect it to see a lot of play.

Positives- It is a pretty fun and crazy lock deck that can give a lot of other decks fits.  Item lock in any form will be great at Battle Roads, and Beartic is a card that is hard to knock out and is made faster by Double Colorless Energy.

Negatives– This is probably the slowest Vileplume deck, and does not hit for all that much.  If you have a free retreating Pokemon like Mew or Yanmega, you should be okay against Beartic.

Disruption (some combination of Ambipom, Sharpedo, and/or Slowking HGSS)

What is it? This deck is another deck that came out around U.S. nationals.  It relies on using Slowking HGSS to make sure you do not draw anything good, and Ambipom or Sharpedo to make sure you lose good things from your hand.  It is a fairly fast and very disruptive deck.  These decks were destroyed at Nationals by Donphan decks.  However, they could see a resurgence since Donphan Prime will probably see less play, thanks to the release of a lot of good Donphan counters.  For some reason disruption decks don’t do well at Battle Roads, they usually save their success for bigger tournaments.  But, we could see these decks doing well this year.  I do not expect a lot of people to run this deck.  You can read my article about this deck here.

Positive– Disruption decks are very fun and very dangerous to play against.  There are a lot of decks that need setup (Reshiram and Gothitelle decks) so we could see these decks coming back.

Negative– This form of the disruption deck relies on a quick start.  Where they are vulnerable is if you can setup an attacker on the first or second turn.  That is where Donphan took care of this deck.  We could see Yanmega Prime and Cincinno giving this deck some problems.

Mewbox

What is it? This is one of my favorite decks.  The term  Mew Box or Mew Lock can mean many different things.  It could mean a Lucario Cl based deck, or it could mean more of a Muk based trap deck.  The best deck will probably be the deck with Muk.  Muk lets you trap high retreaters in the active spot under an item lock, Vileplume locks trainers,  Yanmega is a good secondary attacker and Donphan counter, while Sunflora is a great supporter to both Vileplume and Yanmega.  It is a very fun versatile deck that has a chance against every deck out there.  It is fairly expensive, so I don’t expect it to see a lot of play.  You can read my not so award winning, but pretty good article, right here.

Is that where you gave people the “smoochum tip.” 

Why yes it is.

Can I get a “smoochum tip”.

No we have to move on.

Positives- Sunflora makes Vileplume the fastest Item locker in the format.  Mew is very versatile and can adapt to any situation.

Negatives-  If the deck gets a bad start it will be hard to “See Off” a Muk or a Jumpluff.  This means that not getting a good start could destroy the deck before it gets started.  Also, if you don’t have an awesome list for this deck it could suffer from “item lock schizophrenia”, meaning that it could torn between a regular deck and an item locking deck.

Mandibuzz/Kingdra

What is it? The last deck we will look at is kind of a rogue deck from Nationals.  It is kinda like Prime Time, but features Mandibuzz instead of Yanmega.  Mandibuzz is not as versatile as Yanmega, but can snipe for more, meaning it will be easier to pick off basics from the bench.  If you can get a lot of Kindra’s out fast, your opponent will  be in trouble.  This is a rogue deck so I don’t see it getting a lot of play.  I am including it here because if this deck gets a great start it is almost unbeatable.  Here is a pretty good, but pretty old Kindra/Mandibuzz decklist.

Positives- It can control the early game with a great start.  It is really disruptive for decks that evolve.  I pick Mandibuzz/Kingdra as my dark horse for batltle roads.  Consistency is not as important in such a small tournament, so its possible that if this deck gets some play its players can get lucky and do really well.  It is also a fairly cheap deck, compared to others, so it might see a little more play than the experts think.

Negatives– If it doesn’t get control of the early game it can have trouble going against a deck that is fully setup.  Consistency is an issue here, the luck of the draw is really important.  Plus, Pokemon Catcher made sniping not as useful.

Well, that’s all I got for ya.  As you can see from this list, the field for Battle Roads is very diverse.  This will make for a very good and very fun battle roads.  It also makes for a battle roads that are difficult to plan against.  Make sure you try to get a feel for your metagame before you make a deck choice.  So Pedro, how do we normally end our articles here at www.onehitko.com.

We usually say, “Seacrest Out.”

No we don’t, that doesn’t even make any sense.  That’s what Ryan Seacrest says at the end of his shows.

No, I’m pretty sure that’s our line, that’s how we end our articles.

Ya know Pedro, you’ve been lying to my for a while.  I always ask you how we end articles and you always say something weird.  I don’t believe we ever said “Seacrest Out.”

Well if you refuse, I will end it for ya.  “Seacrest Out.”

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: Decks for 2011 Fall Battle Roads, Mew lock, Prime time, Reshiphlosion, Zekrom Deck