Hey OHKO people, I decided it was time to get a new article out, and since I haven’t tested quite that much of Boundaries Crossed, I thought the category Pikkdogs oftenly used, “Stupid Deck Idea” would suit this better than “Deck Analysis”. Stoutland is probably going to be Tier 2-3, but I felt that a deck review for a deck that I am liking would be a good thing to do.
I have only played a couple games with Stoutland, so the deck might not be perfect, but I’m just going to post a deck I have been testing so you guys can get an overview of the deck and an option for something to play at a Cities if you opt
Like Gothitelle, but for Supporters.
to.
Stoutland revolves around locking your opponent’s Supporters via Stoutland’s Ability, Watchdog, which, well, shuts off Supporters so long as Stoutland is active. On top of that, it attacks your opponent with “Wild Tackle” (Not sure about the English name of this attack, so for my proxies I just put in cool sounding names, such as “The All-Mighty Stoutland Attack”), which does 90 and has a possibility of hitting Stoutland for 20.
The problem with this strategy is that Pokemon Catcher can manipulate what you have active, and if something other than Stoutland is your lock is down. To counter this, I have found that if you set 3 Stoutland up by Turn Four and don’t bench anything else, your opponent can’t get out of this situation. If you can get an active Stoutland up early, they will need to burn a Catcher as well to play a Supporter, and without a Supporter they might not have a Catcher to use. This also helps when you’re forced to put down extra Lilipup because your opponent is attacking you and you are about to run out of Stoutland.
The first thing I have to say is that Stoutland basically scoops once your opponent sets up. Since the main idea of playing a Supporter is to get the things you need in your hand, if you already have everything you need on the field you don’t rely on Supporters as much. They’re a nice benefit, but you don’t absolutely have to play a Supporter most of the time when you’re fully set up. Stoutland’s attack also isn’t quite enough to keep up with most of the decks in the new format.
Here is a basic skeleton list I have to provide for Stoutland decks:
3-4 Rare Candy
3-4 Pokemon Catcher
3-4 Level Ball
2-3 Heavy Ball
3 Switch
3 Rescue Scarf
3 Hammer Mix (Can be mini-Hammertimed with Lilipup’s attack)
2 Super Rod
1 Computer Search
-23-27
0-1 Asperita City Gym
-0-1
6-7 Basic Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
-10-11
Total – 53-62
Lillipup
This is the best Lillipup in my own opinion. Being able to do half of a Junk Hunt gives you some access to some good plays where you Heavy Ball for one Stoutland and then get it back with Pickup, and then Heavy Ball again and Rare Candy to two Stoutland. It’s definitely not as good as Junk Hunt, but it gets a bunch of points for being part of the Stoutland family, and it allows you to use extra Hammers and Catchers. I feel like there’s a bit of an argument to be made for the Collect one, but in the end getting an Item back is definitely better than just drawing a card.
Herdier
This Herdier is the best Herdier because it can use Collect for a DCE to draw 3. It’s not a great attack and you wouldn’t want to play it in any deck where you can’t evolve it, but for a deck where Herdier is your Stage One to your Stage Two main attacker, this is the best Herdier available.
I could explain Stoutland, but that would just be explaining the deck’s strategy once again, which I already did above.
4 Juniper, 4 N
I feel like this is the best draw Supporter split a deck can have in this metagame. Because you have Skyla, you can use Skyla to search for the Supporter, and this deck runs mainly off of a Skyla engine. I feel like 8 Supporters is enough if you’re playing the 4 Skyla and 1 Computer Search, because that’s 13 outs, and 14 if you also play the Hugh.
Skyla
Skyla is the card that makes Stage Twos a lot better in this format. You can use it to search for the piece of your Stage Two/Rare Candy by getting an Ultra Ball (Or in this deck, a Heavy Ball), or the Rare Candy itself. I know a lot of people aren’t convinced that Skyla is a 4-of in everything yet, but I feel like it is in decks like this which rely on getting multiple Stage Twos out.
Hugh
Hugh is a tech that I play in my list just because your opponent’s hand is likely to be so built up from lack of Supporters, not just because they have cards they can’t play but because they have cards like Catcher that they’re holding on to, and cards like Switch that they don’t need to use, and cards like Rare Candy that they can’t use but need to hold onto for when they draw something specific . It could force your opponent to discard that Catcher they so desperately need to break the lock once you need to bench a Lilipup (Although if they do discard a Catcher they probably have another, N away), and at the same time it provides you with a nifty draw Supporter.
Rare Candy
I don’t feel a need to do that much explaining for Rare Candy in this deck. It is needed to get a Stage Two out on Turn Two, and it allows you to have extra Stage Ones in a sense. It is a staple in any deck that runs a Stage Two (Except maybe Vileplume decks in MD-on), and this deck is no exception.
Pokemon Catcher
Same with Rare Candy, I don’t feel like there’s much explaining to do as to why I run Catcher. This isn’t a Trainerlock deck and Catcher is an amazing card.
In this deck you can also use Catcher to take out the few Eelektriks that your opponent managed to set up, meaning that the little setup that your opponent needs to win is gone.
Level Ball/Heavy Ball over Ultra Ball
In this deck I think I would prefer Level Ball and Heavy Ball over Ultra Ball simply because you don’t have to discard cards with them and you can Skyla for the one you need. Heavy Ball gets Stoutlands out and Level Ball gets Herdiers and Lillipups out. The only downside is that it takes up more space, but with Ultra Ball you’ll end up discarding cards that you might want later.
Switch
Stoutland has a 3 retreat cost, and people might Catcher other Stoutlands without energy in order to stall for a bit. Having a couple Switch means you can Skyla for one if this scenario ever pops up.
Rescue Scarf
Right now I like this card in any deck that attacks with a Stage Two just because it helps you evolve the Basics/Stage Ones of it you already have down. In this deck it isn’t as important since you shouldn’t have Lillipups sitting too much, but normally when a Stoutland is KO’d you might want to put down another Lillipup. Rescue Scarf gives you that Lillipup even if your opponent does N, and it also gets you a Stoutland back.
Hammers
The third picture in a row that starts with S.
In decks like Stoutland which revolve around your opponent not setting up before you get a lock established, Hammers are great for buying you that extra turn before your opponent Night Spears you to death.
Super Rod
Sometimes your Rescue Scarves will get Tool Scrapped, which can force you to get a new Lillipup or Stoutland on the field. Super Rod not only increases your odds of doing so, but it allows you to later in the game as well.
Computer Search
Stoutland is one of those decks where you could use any consistency boost you can get, and Computer Search is great for that. It also allows you to Skyla for your Double Colorless.
Asperita City Gym
Yes, this is the Gym that gives all Colorless Pokemon 20 more HP. This is great for avoiding several magic numbers, such as Dragonblast or Night Spear + Wild Tackle damage + Bench Night Spear damage, and forces Keldeo to have one more energy (Which sounds easy, but under Supporter lock it’s harder than it sounds, especially if they haven’t set up a Blastoise). It also gives you a counter to other Stadiums if your opponent plays any (RayEels and Flygon decks both do).
Double Colorless Energy
Your main attacker’s attack requires CCC, which is perfect for Double Colorless Energy. There’s no reason not to play it.
Normally this would be the part where I would talk about techs, but with this deck I feel like you need to steer clear of techs (At least Pokemon techs). Why? Because with Stoutland, you need to have all Stoutland on the field at the same time to maintain a guaranteed Supporter lock. If you were to play a Pokemon down of any sort, even if you’re not planning on attacking with it, it’s still something that your opponent can Catcher up and break the Supporter lock with.
The Trainer techs, such as Hugh and Asperita are ones I’ve already talked about. If you have another idea, feel free to comment and let me know.
Normally this would be the part I talk about matchups (Hate to do this again), but I honestly haven’t tested them much. I have tested enough to know that if any deck sets up against you, it pretty much just wins. If you can establish a lock first, however, you win unless your opponent can break the lock or set up under the lock. If I test matchups I’ll edit this, but for now I can say something like this:
Hydreigon: Unfavorable. Because they have Junk Hunt, they can get the Candy-Hydreigon pieces they need to set up,
It’s not this one-sided, though.
even under Supporter lock. If you can hit clutch N’s early game and attack early on, the matchup is in your favor. Otherwise, you kind of just bash them with your wimpy attack and hope for the best.
Eels: Slightly Favorable. Because they rely on Professor Juniper to discard energy, if you can get an early Stoutland out and your opponent doesn’t hit a Catcher, you can sometimes lock them out of Dynamotors. Then, once you start attacking you can Catcher-KO the Eels until they all disappear.
Blastoise: Even/Slightly Unfavorable. Because they rely on the hand for energy attachments, being locked out of Supporters means no Cilan, and no Juniper or N to draw into Energy. However, if they do manage to load up a Keldeo with enough energy to OHKO Stoutlands, you aren’t in a good position. If you run an Asperita, you might want to spend extra effort trying to get it.
Alright, that’s it for my Stupid Deck Idea. If any of you guys has questions or comments, Disqus has a nifty feature below that I encourage you guys to use. Thanks for visiting OneHitKO and bothering to read the articles, and I’ll try to put something new out soon.
Hey OneHitKO, it’s me, coolestman22 again. After a fairly good Regionals run (I posted a report on the SixPrizes forums, if you want to check that out), I felt like I needed to write another article. Since I wanted to test the Boundaries Crossed metagame before I write an article about any of those decks, I may as well do an article similar to my first ever OneHitKO article, but for Boundaries Crossed.
One thing I want to say before I start this article is that I am very, very disappointed in TPCi for cutting Bike, Ether, and
Why, TPCi?
Escape Rope from Boundaries Crossed. Virbank isn’t so important to me, as the only decks that would play it would be Tier 3 stuff like Scolipede/Celebi EX and Amoongus NXD decks. Escape Rope I wasn’t expecting to see too much play either, mostly because a lot of decks liked to Catcher-stall and it would force you to play your Escape Rope before your Catcher for plays to KO a bench-sitter. There would be some decks that played it, but most of the time it would take a back seat to Catcher. I was only testing it in one deck, and that deck was one I wanted to run more than 4 Switch in.
Bicycle I am disappointed with, but I can live without Bicycle for 3 months. It would have been nice to play Skyla and draw in the same turn, but I feel that Bike isn’t the worst of our wounds.
Ether is the card that I am furious with TPCi for cutting. Ether was going to be great for our format. It would open up a lot of possibilities for Quad decks, and it is amazing for a lot of decks. I was testing a Quad Kyurem NVI deck that relied on EtherDex and Exp. Share, and it was incredibly fun to play. In my first 5 games, I got a T2 Glaciate in 4 of them. I almost never got a T1, so a donk was unlikely (although not out of the possibility). Ether would allow Quad Terrakion to be good once again and keep Darkrai and Eels in check. Ether would allow for a bunch of fun Tier 2 options, such as Quad Keldeo, and it makes Landorus EX a lot more viable. Ether makes the meta way better instead of a stale Blastoise/Hydreigon/Eelektrik meta we’re probably going to have.
Don’t get me wrong, Boundaries Crossed is still a great set. We have a lot of cool Tier 2-3 attackers coming out, such as Charizard and Flygon, as well as a couple good new archetypes, such as Blastoise, Stoutland, and Vileplume. I am happy with PCL for potentially giving us such a great metagame, and I am unhappy with TPCi for taking away 50% of it.
So with that, let’s get this set review underway.
Vileplume
I really like the idea of a Vileplume Box deck. What it does is it forces your opponent to get OHKOes starting really quickly and not drop an EX, or else it will go down in one hit.
The issue I’m seeing with this deck is the reliance on Special Energy. If your opponent has metal, water, or lightning weakness your best attacker uses a DCE. After four KO’s you will have run out of energy. The answer to this would be Recycle, but that is a flippy card that makes the deck significantly more clunky.
Here are the attackers that a Vileplume box deck would probably run:
Grass – Maractus BW 12
Fire – Larvesta NVI 20
Water – Lapras NXD 25 (Plus you get a Call for Family attack for a WLFM or Prism with this)
Lightning – Emolga EPO
Psychic – Mewtwo EX/Mew EX
Fighting – Landorus EX
Dark – There really isn’t a good dark attacker for Vileplume box. Hopefully you won’t play against Chandelure NVI decks or Cofagrigus DEX tool chuck decks (And if you do you can always go aggro Durant NVI deckout)
Metal – Durant NVI (Yes, you do get to use Vice Grip for something other than donks. Take that, Kyurem EX).
Dragon – SR Rayquaza
And I don’t believe there is a single card in BW-DRX with Colorless weakness. The only legit card last format that did was RDL, but before that we would need something to take care of Garchomp C Lv. X. Ah, the good old days where Ambipom G was good.
Most of these are only hitting for 160 max, meaning we need something to boost the damage output a bit, such as PlusPower or Aerodactyl DEX. If I end up liking VileBox, I’ll write an article about it.
I think Vileplume is going to be a Tier 2 deck that people will test against, but it won’t necessarily do too well at Cities. If it wins a Winter Regionals in Masters, tell me and I’ll eat my hat.
Celebi EX
I’m honestly not too big a fan of a bench-sitting EX with 110 HP. Even with an Eviolite attached, Hydreigon and Keldeo EX still easily OHKO it. Without an Eviolite, you can add Zekrom BW and Darkrai EX with a Dark Claw attached to that list.
The Ability is really nice, however. It’s the first card that lets us use our prevo’s attacks since Platinum (Memory Berry). It is necessary for Scolipede to ever work competitively, however. I don’t think Scolipede will ever be a good deck, but if it is then you can say I told you so.
Charizard
I really like Charizard, although I don’t see it ever being good enough, especially with a Water weakness. Although I
It’s CCHHAARRIIZZAARRDD!!
don’t like it as a partner with Celebi or Emboar (shudder), I do feel that its first attack deserves a mention.
With Split Bomb you can hit two EX’s, Tynamos, or other things. If you hit EX’s, you are two Flamethrowers away from taking four prizes. After that, if you can keep Charizard alive long enough, you can take a couple more prizes via Flamethrower or Split Bomb. The deck is extremely fragile and I don’t think it would work at all, but I feel like taking prizes that fast deserves a mention. Charizard will probably never enter a Tier One deck, however.
Blastoise
Blastoise is in my opinion the best evolved Pokemon in Boundaries Crossed. Getting Rain Dance back into the game is huge in my opinion, especially because it has a legitimate partner, unlike all of the previous Rain Dancers we’ve had (That includes you, Emboar), with the exception of possibly the Base Set one. I feel that Blastoise will have the largest impact on the format of any of the Pokemon, and possibly any of the cards in Boundaries Crossed.
With Cilan and Energy Retrieval in the format, and a respectable partner in Keldeo, it is probably going to be the first Tier One Rain Dance since Base Set.
Keldeo EX
I honestly don’t think I can write anything here that I wouldn’t have said in the Blastoise section except for how amazing I believe Step In is. Step In makes it so that it is nearly impossible to Catcher stall against a Blastoise deck. Even if you have a different main attacker, Keldeo is just amazing and it should be played in any Blastoise variant.
Step In also allows you to run Musharna NXD as extra draw support. One of the main problems for Rain Dance is that if you don’t have any energy in hand, you don’t have acceleration. If you get N’d late in the game down to 1 or 2 cards, Musharna can give you the extra draw support that can change the outcome of the game.
Step In also increases the viability of a Klinklang BW deck. If they try to Catcher-stall, you can Step In, move a Prism to Keldeo, and free retreat via Dark Cloak. Keldeo is also a decent attacker in Klinklang because Water and Metal are together on the same Blend.
Psyduck
No, I’m not kidding. Psyduck seriously trolls Rayquaza/Eels decks. For one water energy, it discards a fire energy attached to the defending Pokemon. This means that if they were attacking with Rayquaza EX and they just discarded all their Lightnings and they only had one fire attached, they have a couple turns to replace it or else they are stuck not attacking every other turn.
If you could pull off an Extinguish, that means that they would likely have a benched Ray that still had a fire energy, and that could come in and OHKO Psyduck. Whoop-de-doo. They would have two turns to get a fire back or else they would be forced to attack with something else.
Against Rayquaza Dragon Vault, it gets better. If they used Shred last turn, they have 3 energy attached, one of which was a fire. If you could discard their fire, they would be forced to either get a new fire or retreat, burning both their energy and forcing them to waste Dynamotors later just to get them back instead of using them to power up something more worthwhile.
I don’t think Psyduck will be a serious option, but it is an interesting card and if you could pull of enough Extinguishes you could seriously limit your opponent’s attacking options.
Jellicent
The last water-type I want to cover is one that hasn’t been getting much hype, but I feel like it might have some sort of impact on competitive play in the future. Jellicent is a Stage One that increases the retreat cost of all of your opponent’s Pokemon by one.
Some people may remember Ariados MT and how this is pretty much exactly this, and Ariados did see some play in Flygon Lv. X mill decks. The problem with Jellicent in this format is that we have Darkrai EX and Keldeo EX that pretty much just nullify Jellicent. I do believe that if mill becomes good once again, Jellicent might see some play in mill decks (Durant/Jellicent?), but right now the metagame is just not in Jellicent’s favor.
There is a Bellossom from this set that does 10 damage plus 20 more for each energy in the defending Pokemon’s retreat cost, so if your meta is shifted towards Blastoise decks instead of Hydreigon ones Bellicent might be a decent call for a Cities or two. Bellossom can OHKO a Keldeo if there are two Jellicents in play, and always OHKOes Blastoise. The problem is that against Darkrai decks, anything with a Dark Energy attached automatically has 0 retreat, meaning Bellossom only does 10 damage.
Electivire
Electivire has an attack for LCC that does 30 to each of your opponent’s benched Pokemon. This probably isn’t going to ever be competitive, but this combined with Eelektrik NVI for an engine could make a decent Tier 3 spread deck. Spread is nice to have, and in a format with big EX’s you are six spreads away from an OHKO on them. I think I might test this for a bit.
Dusknoir
Dusknoir has an Ability that is basically Darkrai and Cresselia LEGEND’s Moon Invite attack, just in the form of an Ability. This is amazing if you can ever get it out because if your opponent has an engine of some sort that you want to make disappear, you can KO it and then attack later on. It also works pretty good against Hydreigon decks because if they retreat to another Darkrai instead of Max Potioning, you can move all the damage to the new Darkrai (Or enough for an OHKO) and then take two prizes and three energy off your opponent’s side of the field.
With the Trainers in Boundaries Crossed, I could see 1-0-1 or 1-1-1 techs becoming a thing again, although I don’t expect every deck to play them. Although I would much rather play a Serperior BW, that might just be because I like defensive decks.
People are also suggesting playing Dusknoir alongside stuff with spreading-like attacks such as Groudon EX, Kyurem NVI, or Flygon (Which I will cover later). The only one of these I see potential in is the Flygon one because it doesn’t rely on a nonexistent EtherDex engine.
Swoobat
Swoobat is a card from Boundaries Crossed with an interesting attack that mills one for each Psychic Energy it has attached. People are talking about pairing this with Gardevoir NXD, but honestly I’m not seeing it. I would much rather play Durant if I were to play a mill deck because it can attack from T1 and has a much more powerful mill.
Cresselia EX
Cresselia EX is probably my favorite of all the EX’s from Boundaries Crossed. It OHKOes Mewtwo, tanks, and has no weakness when you attack with it. If you could get it going early enough it could be devastating, especially with an Eviolite.
Just think about this: Darkrai does 90. With an Eviolite, that’s immediately reduced down to 70. Then, with the Ability that goes down to 50. Factor in one Potion and all of a sudden Night Spear only did 20 damage to you.
Start playing a thick line of Serperior BW, and you got yourself one big tank. Even if your opponent attacked with a heavier hitter, like say Hydreigon, that does 140. Eviolite and it’s down to 120. After a single Royal Heal and Sparkling Particles (Yes, that is the name of the Ability), it’s 80. Add 1 Potion, you’re back down to 50. Set up 2 Serperior, that’s 30. Another Potion, it’s all gone.
CressTank is going to be pretty good, but I feel like it’s missing something big. Oh yeah, Ether.
Munna
Munna is a basic Pokemon with an Ability that flips a coin. If heads, your opponent’s active is asleep, but if it’s tails your active is asleep.
Right now I don’t think a card that has a 25% chance of working for you, a 25% chance of doing nothing, and a 50% chance of making it so that you need a Switch to attack this turn isn’t very good. However, there may be a use for it later on.
Scolipede
Scolipede is a Stage Two from this set that has an Ability, Poison Point, which Poisons the defending Pokemon when Scolipede is attacked.
Whirlipede EPO has an attack for one energy that does 10, and then 60 more if the defending Pokemon is Poisoned. Meaning that hits for 70, and 20 more from Poison damage, if Scolipede was attacked last turn. That’s 90 damage for one energy. If Virbank City Gym were in the set, that’s 130 right there, so maybe they had a good reason to cut it. (Of course you would need to have Celebi EX out for this to work right).
Landorus EX
Landorus EX is really good in the early game. It donks Tynamos and Dark Deinos, and hits for 30 on a benched
The DCIF.
Pokemon. If you do this twice early on, you’ve got yourself 120 damage on the board, which is amazing if you set up a Dusknoir later on, or you can hit EX’s and take 2 easy prizes via something later. You also can OHKO a Hydreigon or Blastoise with the second attack if you end up using it.
If they hadn’t cut Ether, Landorus would be a lot more prominent because Quad Fighting would be a lot better. Right now, though, Landorus might not be as good in everything. Anything running Fighting, Prism, or the appropriate Blend should at least consider Landorus, though, as it gets a bunch of donks and opens the door for big plays later on.
Skarmory
No, once again I’m not kidding. Skarmory OHKOes Kyurem NVI for 3 of any energy, meaning that if you’re playing Eels or Hydreigon and are having trouble with Kyurem techs in Blastoise decks, you’ve found your guy. Kyurem shouldn’t be that prominent, though, but PCL needed a way to keep it in check.
Flygon
Flygon is one of my favorite cards from the new set. The Ability I like, and the fact that it needs no energy I like. I feel that if TPCi had given it 20 more HP it would be able to compete more in this format. As it is,.though, it’s a Stage Two that spreads and can abuse Max Potion and Tropical Beach.
I have been testing Flygon/Dusknoir for about a week now, and it doesn’t have the best matchups, but it gets set up faster than you would expect. Your opponent is forced to be careful playing benched Pokemon, and you can take out crucial support Pokemon. You can almost always get a Switch if they Catcher-stall.
The problem? You can only run 4 Rare Candy, which is huge. To get a T2 Flygon and T2 Dusknoir, you’ve already used 2 of your Rare Candy, meaning that you only have two more to set up a backup Dusknoir and extra Flygons. This usually leads to running out of Rare Candy and not being able to set up any more Flygon.
I am still trying to work with Flygon, however. I don’t feel like I should give up quite yet, because if it ends up working I have myself a deck with a built-in draw engine that can abuse Max Potion that most people won’t test against. I hope I can get it to work, but right now I’m pretty doubtful about it.
Black Kyurem EX
I’m not big on the idea of this. Even with your 300 HP, you’re still down your Ace Spec and a Tool Scrapper away from being a normal EX again. If Gothitelle/Reuniclus were to suddenly become viable again, I might consider this with my Ace Spec being devoted to this just for the sake of being able to Max Potion 290 off, but otherwise it just looks pretty and is screwed over by a staple Trainer.
White Kyurem EX
Pretty much the same as above, except that there is a little bit of hope in being able to do 200. Still not convinced, though. Steer clear, people.
Raticate
I remember back when this card was revealed, everyone was hyping it to death. It was going to be paired with Rocky Helmet, Amoonguss, all that stuff. The hype has significantly died down as people realize that a Stage One with 60 HP just might not cut it.
The best part is that it has synergy with Shedinja DRX, another Stage One with 60 HP. Honestly I’d rather use Raticate with Eels and Rocky Helmet, and then with Poison Hypnotic Beam once it comes out. Raticate will be Tier 3, but until PHB is out I don’t see Raticate being that good.
Ditto
Ditto is a pretty good card, in my opinion. It increases your odds of starting with what you want, and the ruling is that if you wait a turn and then Transform you can go directly to the Stage One (I’m not sure about this with Rare Candy and Stage Twos, or going Ditto-wait a turn-Basic-Stage One-Stage Two), so you could use Ditto with Milotic DRX to skip the 30 HP Feebas phase.
However, I’m not sure that many decks will have the space for Ditto. It’s a great card and all, but most of the time I’d rather have that fourth Catcher or Skyla.
I’m assuming the ruling is that you can’t Transform into a Restored Pokemon, but if you can, please tell me so that I can troll you with Archeops.
Exploud
Exploud is a Stage Two that just happens to evolve from my favorite Pokemon. It also has the Round attack, which is pretty good. Its Round does 50 per Round, so that means that you’re OHKOing an EX with a couple Wigglytuffs. I doubt that Round will get much better because of this, however.
The attack I’m more interested in is actually the first attack, Roar of Destruction, which discards all the Items in your opponent’s hand. This could be really good if you manage to set this up as it completely wrecks Sableye and screws over anyone hoping to get a Rare Candy to a Stage Two next turn. You can argue that Sableye will just get them back, but then Exploud will wreck them again. Sure, they could Catcher-stall you, but the Catcher gets wrecked first. I am actually really interested in this attack, and I want to have some fun trolling my league with it. Especially since it evolves from my favorite Pokemon.
Stoutland
I remember looking through the Freeze Bolt and Cold Flare scans, and I saw a Stoutland. I thought to myself “Maybe we’ll finally get a good one”.
I looked at it, said “That’s pretty interesting, but Catcher screws it over”.
Then about two weeks later I was at league, and then I just randomly realized how good that Ability actually is. It completely shuts off your opponent’s draw power. Sure, they can Catcher, but getting a Catcher involves drawing Catcher. Drawing cards becomes significantly harder without a Supporter. You could just sit there bashing with Stoutland all day, and your opponent would dead draw all game.
Well, now that Bike and Escape Rope aren’t in the set, two cards that pose threats to Stoutland are just gone. Meaning that Stoutland might actually be good.
Stoutland also has something really rare in this format: Options for prevos. The ones I’ve determined as the best are Lillipup BW 80, which PUTS AN ITEM CARD FROM YOUR DISCARD PILE INTO YOUR HAND, and Herdier BW 82, which draws 3 for a DCE. These two are just, well, amazing. They make a Stoutland deck a lot less stupid of an idea, in my opinion. Skyla and Computer Search help a good deal, too.
I haven’t started testing Stoutland yet, but I have a feeling I’m gonna like it a great deal.
Audino
As we wrap up the Pokemon in the set, we get to one I’m not particularly fond of, which is Audino. Audino has an Ability where you discard it from your hand and heal 10 damage and a Special Condition from your Active Pokemon. The only use for this I’m seeing right away is as another way to heal in CressTank. If the meta gets too full of paralysis, Espeon DEX is a much better answer. If there is ever a format where Espeon is rotated and paralysis is legit, Audino may be our answer, but until then I think I’m going with Espeon.
Town Map
Town Map is an interesting card that lets you flip your prizes over. Honestly I think this won’t see too much play, but in Dusknoir and Chandelure decks where you can take prizes mid-turn it’s huge. Take a prize to get the Max Potion or Juniper or whatever for a fact, I’ll take that.
Hugh
Hugh is a Supporter that makes both players either draw or discard cards from their hand until they have five left. I’m honestly not too big on this card, and if it gets big enough I’ll start anticipating it and minimizing my hand size. It will see a bit of play early on and then take a back seat to cards like Bianca and Skyla.
Skyla
Skyla is one of my favorite cards from Boundaries Crossed. Searching for the game winning Catcher, that Rare Candy or Ultra Ball to get your Stage Two engine out, or grabbing a game-changing N for next turn is just so good. (Sure, they could N, but you could bet they wouldn’t be drawing many cards if the N you would play is game changing). People who aren’t playing it as a 4-of should consider starting.
Asperita City Gym
I’m not really big on this card right now, seeing as there aren’t any dominant Colorless Pokemon in the format right now. It will make a fun Tier 3 deck with Regigigas EX and will be a 1-2 of in Stoutland. Other than that, it will just be something that sits in your binder.
Computer Search
Computer Search is my preferred Ace Spec. Discarding cards is big in 2 of the 3 Tier One decks, and it can lead to some big plays in the third. Getting cards is always nice, especially when you’re trying to set up your Stage Two engine. This will be the Ace Spec most decks play, so expect to see a bunch of this.
Gold Potion
I really like Gold Potion. I really do.
I just think that Computer Search is just so much better in anything not involving all basics or discarding cards.
This card basically says “You didn’t attack last turn”.
The problem is that Computer Search helps consistency, which is the #1 thing in most decks.
If you play Roserade DRX 15, I would have to say Gold Potion is the way to go.
Well that’s about it for this article, thanks for visiting OneHitKO and taking the time to read this article, and feel free to leave a comment. As always, I’m open for some discussion, because I know everyone has their opinion. I think Cities are going to have a great format for the third year in a row (At least), and I am really looking forward to it. I’ll try to get some deck analysis articles out soon so that you can read about how awesome the decks for this format are. Good luck at Cities, and thanks for reading!
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!
Hello everyone at OneHitKO! Today I’ve got a tournament report for you with none other than Ho-oh EX, which has been seeing some success at this season’s Battle Roads and is a very fun deck to play.
Anyways last season I had started out playing Reshiram/Typhlosion, a great beginner’s deck, and netted me my first top cut. From there, I proceeded to play strictly Tier 1 decks that I knew were doing well like ZPST, CMT, and a Darkrai/Terrakion variant through nationals, which gave me a 6-3 record at nationals (after going 6-1 and then having to face some brutal trainer lock decks).
However, since this would be my second season, I wanted to branch out a bit more and be more creative with deck choice. Of course that went right on the afterburner when I started testing Darkrai/Hydreigon at the rotation to BW-on, and instantly loved it. It’s what I would end playing for my first couple BR’s of season, having a 4-1 bubble at the first, and then 4-2 for a top 8 and championship points finish at the second. Even though I still loved the deck, but I was very curious to try Ho-oh EX after some friend’s success and losing to it in the last round of the previous BR’s. So I threw it together and tested it a bit with fellow OHKO writer Joel the week of, and had a blast playing it (I mean, how can’t you with a deck that has every single energy type)! Here’s the list I took to the tournament: Read More
If you go to any premiere event; you will find my reserved table. Just look for the highest numbered table and that’s where you will most likely find me. Stop by some time on your way to the lower numbers and say hello! If I am not there, wait a round, I’ll get there soon enough. Our unofficial sub-league team membership varies but I appear to be the solid foundation. You can give me the exact same deck that is destroying any event, and I will find a way to make it not work, misplay and have EVERY needed card prized. I am a horrible deck builder, a mediocre player yet I LOVE THE GAME.
When we got there, my oldest son had a VERY OLD deck made from some cards given to us. We didn’t know how to play and didn’t know what to expect in Indy. We wandered a bit during league play and the final matches of the TCG and the Video Game championships. We took the obligatory pictures with Snivy and Pikachu. As we were watching some league event players play some pick up games, an event organizer came over and asked us if we were playing. I mumbled that I have NO IDEA what is going on, that my oldest had an old deck, and that my youngest and I had nothing. He simply smiled, said, “Let’s take care of that” and off we went.
From there, he took us to the head table. He had someone produce for us a Tangrowth theme deck and some large number of booster packs. He sent my oldest off to play TCG and video games with others since he was eager and had some sense of how to play. Then, he sat my youngest down with a very young master player. He told him to show my son how to modify his deck, play with him and take him through the league line. My youngest played his first game ever and “won” while my oldest jumped from game to game playing anyone who would look his way. Four or five hours later, we emerged from the convention center with bags, cards, mats, boxes, hats, lots more swag and a lifetime of memories.
Over time with Summit City, I got more and more involved and finally became a Professor and League Leader. I also am a member of the Safari Zone league and help with that league from time to time as well. I don’t just help run leagues, but I TRY to play well, and I also TRY to build decks that might actually work. Through everything though, I stay involved because it is FUN and it is good to see the juniors and seniors and the masters for that matter, enjoying themselves.
Now, I won’t say that I never get frustrated when I am not playing well. It happens, A LOT, but that is ok. By keeping my focus on the fun, and not the winning, I am able to meet some incredible folks and have some awesome times. How many people can say that they went to a Spring Battle Roads and lost to a “Baby Six Corners” deck that was put together literally with spare cards and even included a Grimer with no Muk? I can and it was HILARIOUS! We were near the end of Swiss and I “technically” won at the end of 30 plus 3 on prizes, but we were having so much fun and a crowd had gathered, because I was laughing so hard I was crying. I eventually decked out with an Eelectrik stuck active and Mime Jr. using “sleepy lost” to eat my cards away.
By focusing in on the fun, I am able to have a great conversation, and fun match while still losing. I am able to return that awesome hospitality shown to my family when I see other new players. I am able to trade my Secret Rare Rayquaza with my son for a decent trade of some cards I needed/wanted even though I was a little on the short end of the trade.
I love the challenge of the game. I love the puzzle of trying to find the best 60 card combination that will yield consistency and victory. I have more failures than successes, but it is the fun that keeps me going. The friends I have made and the smiles I see on the kids faces is like Thanksgiving with the family combined with Christmas morning every time I go to League or a premiere event.
While we may, “!want to be the very best!” we need to keep in sight the Spirit of the Game Tenents: Fun, Fairness, Honesty, Respect, Sportsmanship and Learning. With these in mind, no matter how poorly you may play, you will have fun. We run across many people who get wrapped up in rankings, or championships points. We run across even more people who complain about prize support from time to time. Prizes are great and often help keep people stay involved; but for me, more than anything, it is the fun an adventures that keeps me involved.
This past Nationals was even more fun and exciting for me, even though I went 2-4 drop. I even got donked in the 6th round by a Durant deck. Yeah, I said Durant. Lone Tynamo start he goes first. Flips over Mewtwo EX and either had the DCE or top decks it. Can’t remember either way, but oh well. Some would get mad and express their frustration; me? I thought it was hilarious and couldn’t wait to tell all my friends from league. Now, like I said before, I still get frustrated and can be a realist. I decided after that donk, that I would drop and focus on side events. It was in the side events where I started to have some real fun. I played some pick up games and entered some 8 man pods with varying luck. Regardless of the outcome, I had some fun matches and even more fun talking with others. We chatted about where we were from, poked fun at each other, but still had a great time.
Perhaps the most memorable event for me though was my first professor cup. My first round I was paired up with Big Daddy Snorlax from the PokeGym. While at the time, I had no idea who he was, we had a battle for the ages, coming down to the wire and some lucky draws. What I enjoyed he most, was seeing the juniors who were judging, remind me that I needed to spread out my prizes, watching them monitor the game play and enjoying their authority over a bunch of professors! After that round, he game me a PokeGym die and to this day it is my favorite. I didn’t care if I won or lost, the game was awesome.
I apologize for my ramblings, but I struggled to really explain why it is that I like the game when I am SO bad at it. But, if you follow my thoughts from above, you will see that it is the journey that keeps me engaged. It is the people I’ve met and will meet, the challenges that get put in front of me. It is the smile on the faces of the other players I battle. It is being able to give back to the community and help others grow in return for all the generosity that I’ve received. It is the sense of extended community and family that I’ve built over the last15 months.
I’ve enjoyed watching my friends and family grow and have fun. I look forward to every new set, to every challenge put in front of me. I watch all the major sites, and read almost everything that gets posted. I love the hints, thoughts and theories. I am going to try and write some more articles. Now since I am not very good, I will most likely do tournament reports, random thoughts, and stupid deck ideas. I look forward to meeting you all in person, so stop by the bottom of the rankings and say hello some time! Of course you can also leave a comment below if you want to chat and let me know what to write my next article about.
coolestman22 
Jared 
SGT Pokedad MD 
