Squeaky’s Spring Regional and Battle Road Reports

First off, I would like to apologize for not going into deep detail during my last article. It is really hard for me to remember my matches throughout the day, and I would also like to say sorry for not posting anything new until now.

Spring Regionals

I headed to Athens, Georgia for Spring Regionals. I tested a lot of decks and decided that my favorite deck at that time was Landorus/Bouffalant. If you haven’t read Sam Liggett’s article about the deck, here is a link to it. We tested this deck a lot. He had good faith in it, but overall he liked Darkrai the most while I liked Landorus/Bouffalant more.

There was only one issue with that deck, and that was a turn 2 Keldeo with 4 or 5 Energies straight away. Besides that it had good matchups across everything else, including Klinklang which I thought was going to be the biggest deck for that event.

Here is the list I played.

Pokémon – 7

4 Landorus-EX

3 Bouffalant DRX

Trainers – 41

4 N

4 Professor Juniper

3 Bianca

3 Random Receiver

 

4 Pokémon Catcher

4 Hypnotoxic Laser

3 Eviolite

3 Max Potion

3 Energy Switch

3 Ultra Ball

3 Switch

1 Scramble Switch

 

3 Virbank City Gym

Energy – 12

8 F

4 Double Colorless

As you can tell from the deck I tried to max out everything I could for consistency. I decided to play 3 Eviolites for the day because I thought that Landorus would be everywhere and with an Eviolite on a Benched Bouffalant they couldn’t snipe any damage onto it. I also thought that Scramble Switch was a better play than any other ACE SPEC because you could always Scramble 3 Energies to a fresh Bouffalant or Landorus and then Max Potion the damaged Bouffalant or Landorus.

Recap

keldeo-ex-boundaries-crossed-bcr-49pokemon-paradijs.com
The bane of my deck.

As for the tournament I can only remember small details about it because it has been a while since the tournament. I know I went 4-0 from the start and still missed cut. One of my losses was because my opponent had the turn 2 Keldeo with 6 Energies. Another loss was a close matchup where I N’d my opponent to two and he drew the Catcher to KO my Landorus.

I didn’t play against a single Big Basic or a Klinklang deck the whole tournament. The last detail is that last round my opponent played an Articuno-EX/Garbodor deck which crushed me but was probably the most fun game all day.

Overall the tournament was fun, but I was sad that I missed cut, though I did learn several things about my deck during the tournament. My deck needed a counter to Keldeo, whether that be in the form of Tornadus or Mewtwo, that is up for play testing to decide. The 3 Eviolites did help some, but I would rather have more consistency than those defensive cards. Especially since I didn’t run Skyla I might’ve drew into cards I needed if I ran 4 of them instead of 3.

The last thing is I want to congratulate Mike Newman for winning that tournament with RayEels and for Sam Liggett testing with me a lot.

Week 1-of Battle Roads

For the first week of Battle Roads I didn’t do a lot of testing because I had finals and work has kept me busy, so for the most part I have been theorymoning more than playtesting. In my head I think my Landorus/Bouffalant still has a chance in this new Plasma format even with Kyurem PLF running around.

I do admit that straight Landorus/Bouffalant will be crushed by Kyurem, but there are ways to one shot a Kyurem back. The two ways I have thought of are a Tornadus EX Power Blast with a HypnoLaser is 130 damage, and a Kyurem with 3 Energy facing a Mewtwo EX with a DCE + HypnoLaser = 130 damage. But with Tornadus they have Thundurus and with Mewtwo they have Deoxys to counter back.

Overall I think Mewtwo is the better option to me because the Plasma player needs a Colress Machine and a Prism to 1-shot your Mewtwo back. Also with Mewtwo it helps out the Keldeo matchup too which was the biggest downfall for me during Regionals. So, for the first Battle Roads I went to Brandon, Mississippi with a Landorus/Bouffalant/Mewtwo deck.

Here is the list I played.

Pokémon – 7

3 Landorus-EX

2 Bouffalant DRX

2 Mewtwo-EX NXD

Trainers – 41

4 N

4 Professor Juniper

3 Bianca

3 Skyla

 

4 Pokémon Catcher

4 Hypnotoxic Laser

4 Switch

4 Energy Switch

4 Max Potion

3 Ultra Ball

1 Scramble Switch

 

3 Virbank City Gym

Energy – 12

8 F

4 Double Colorless

I decided to drop the Eviolites for more consistency cards. I took out a Landorus and Bouffalant to add in the 2 Mewtwo. Also I decided to take out the Random Receiver because Ghetsis was receiving a lot of hype and I didn’t want to be left without any way to get a Supporter just in case people where playing it.

Once again it is hard for me to remember the details of every matchup, but I will try my best to explain each match the best I can.

Round 1 vs. Sam Liggett with Darkrai/Sableye

pokemon-catcher-dark-explorers-dex-111pokemon-paradijs.com
Sorry, Sam.

My first round was against Sam, of all people. I start off Knocking Out his Sableyes with Mewtwo. I go up on Prizes 2-6. One turn I have to leave a Landorus Active with Poison which gets Knocked Out going to his turn and I have to promote a damaged Mewtwo. During his turn he can’t heal one of his Darkrai on the bench and he Knocks Out my damaged Mewtwo. After that I have the Catcher to win the game.

1-0

Round 2 vs. John with Darkrai/Sableye/Absol/Gold Potion

During this game he never gets anything going and uses his Gold Potion one turn to heal his Absol. He tries to take Prizes with Absol but never succeeds because of the 4 Max Potions in my deck, and after I Knock Out his Absol he doesn’t have any attacker with Energy. I keep Land’s Judgmenting + Lasering his Darkrais which eventually wins me the game.

I remembered one turn he had to Juniper away 2 or 3 Dark Patches which didn’t help him at all.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Matt with Kyurem PLF/Mewtwo EX/Terrakion-EX

My opponent goes first and flips over two Kyurem which I knew was trouble from the start. On his turn he drops down a Terrakion-EX (which made me think he wasn’t playing Plasma deck), attaches a Blend WLFM to Kyurem, and Colress Machines to his Kyurem. He hits my Landorus for 60 and I knew I was in a bad spot from there on out.

He eventually Knocks Out my Landorus and a Bouffalant with Kyurem after I used a couple of Max Potions. During the next turn I didn’t know if he had a Mewtwo counter or not, but I Knock Out his Kyurem with my Mewtwo. But, during his turn he drops a Mewtwo, Scramble Switches to it, and Knocks Out my Mewtwo.

Next turn I drop another Mewtwo to Knock Out his Mewtwo again and just prayed he didn’t any way to get a knockout because I had my Scramble Switch and a Catcher in hand to KO his bench Terrakion-EX. But fate would not let me win. He attaches a third Blend to the Terrakion-EX, Catchers a Benched Bouffalant, and Knocks it Out for the game.

The game overall was close and fun, but it felt like he played a direct counter to my deck.

2-1

Round 4 vs. Andrew with Klinklang

cobalion-ex-plasma-storm-pls-93pokemon-paradijs.com
An interesting card in the metagame.

He opens up Durant to my Landorus. I eventually take out a Klink and his Durant before he sets up a Klinklang on the bench. After this I dead-drew for about 7 or 8 turns. I remembered I put him to sleep with Laser for roughly 3 turns. I used Max Potion 3 turns in a row to prevent a Knock Out on my Landorus.

He eventually Knocks Out one of my Landorus and puts 100 damage on my other Landorus. I knew if I didn’t draw into anything I would get benched out but I topdeck an Ultra Ball. I then Ultra Ball for a Bouffalant and Scramble Switch to it and Knock Out his damaged Cobalion-EX.

He then promotes another Cobalion-EX, attaches an Energy to bring it up to two Energy, and uses its first attack for 10 damage to my Bouffalant. My turn I just do Gold Breaker right away to bring his Cobalion up to 120. During his turn he Junipers away his hand to try and get a third Energy but misses it and retreats the damaged Cobalion.

I have the Catcher in my hand for the game. During that game I only used two Bianca and none of my other Supporters were Prized. Close game, but I get the win.

3-1

Round 5 vs. Anna 2 Deoxys with rock guard

During this game she only gets out two Deoxys and nothing else. She uses Rock Guard which made me think about how to damage her Pokémon, but I Catcher up the Deoxys without Rock Guard to snipe around it. I slowly kill the 2 Deoxys and win the game.

I found out she is playing an Eevee deck, so I would really like to see what the potential of the deck is especially since at the time she was 3-1.

4-1

I end up going 4-1 for the day getting third overall with the deck. The first and second place decks are pure Plasma decks which didn’t surprise me all. Another thing to note is that I watched the undefeated deck which was Plasma vs. a Darkrai deck in round 5. The Darkrai player played 3 Enhanced Hammers, 3 Crushing Hammers, and only flipped two tails during the whole game.

Even with all the Hammer tactics the Plasma deck still beat the Darkrai deck, but it should also be noted that the Darkrai deck did not play Lasers/Virbank so I don’t know how big of an impact that made during the game.

What I Learned

float-stone-plasma-freeze-99pokegym.net
This card rocks.

During this Battle Road I learned that every Plasma deck has to play Keldeo with Float Stone. I am not sure on how many, but this is very necessary in this deck. Kyurem is better than Thundurus, but Thundurus is still needed in the deck to get back Energies, just in case. The new Plasma Landorus helps out its Darkrai matchup a lot, so look out for that.

Landorus/Bouffalant/Mewtwo is still a strong deck in this format, but I don’t know how good it is with all the Kyurem running around. I think that Cobalion-EX/Landorus-EX is a good combination, but not sure how good it is yet. I will most likely be testing this deck before my next Battle Road which is June 1 in Memphis.

Conclusion

If you have any suggestions or ideas on how to tweak Landorus/Bouffalant or anything else, please put them in the comments below. I will be testing it out and keeping you updated. Thanks for reading and a have good day/night.

Reader Interactions

11 replies

  1. Piplup_isPimp

    Every TDK deck does not have to play keldeo w/ float stone. Float stone should be played solely for the purpose of retreating a catcher stalled pokemon or so that the player can be able to promote the float-stoned pokemon and then retreat when they have decided on an attacker. Keldeo on the other hand only takes up bench space, which could be used for another deoxys, thundurus, etc. depeneding on the situation and because it is not a team plasma pokemon. While this may seem ignorant and silly, a non-team plasma pokemon in a team plasma deck means that for keldeo, it will take 2 turns minimal to power up a keleo (DCE+prism/blend) and the attack would only do 70 damage. Also because of the non-team plasma factor, keldeo can’t be charged by thundurus, and after keldeo gets tool-scrapper you have a useless attacker who is the best catcher bait available for your opponent (deoxys can at least attack the turn it is catcher stalled).

      • Piplup_isPimp  → Squeaky

        I only pointed out that with keldeo in your deck you have a useless attacker and if you’re going for the strategy of rush in, retreat, blizzard burn (if you can accomplish this setup) every turn, it won’t be long before your opponent knocks out your kyurem once again rendering keldeo worthless. Ok, so you get this combination for one to two turns before your kyurem gets knocked out. It will take at least two turns to fully power up another kyurem (if you can access another) unless you have other prism/blend energy in play and can get access to a scramble switch. Another problem with keldeo is that it takes up bench space and while the 120+ every turn from kyurem may seem nice, Lugia does a much better and faster job of taking prizes, if you run the right cards.

        • Gerardo Del Toro  → Piplup_isPimp

          I don’t understand your hate towards Keldeo has now festered into a dislike for Kyurem…

          Not every Pokemon in a deck has to be able to attack. By your definition Klinklang is a useless attacker, and yet it serves its purpose in the deck. And the setup of Keldeo+Kyurem isn’t really that difficult to conceive… And you talk as if Keldeo becomes useless, as if getting a perpetual free retreater that can get you out of HTL shenanigans is useless…

          “it won’t be long before your opponent knocks out your Kyurem once again rendering keldeo worthless.” If I have the freedom to be doing 120+ damage for a while as my opponent takes a few turns to knock out Kyurem and take a single prize, I’m fine with that. T1 Kyurem is potentially already putting pressure on the opponent and T2 the opponent has to deal with 120+ damage each turn, thanks to Keldeo. And it isn’t like Kyurem is that hard to power up again, nor is it the only attacking Pokemon you have.

          I have noticed that you love Lugia, due to your comments on previous articles, and I agree that it is good, but by no means should it replace Kyurem. Just saying…

        • Piplup_isPimp  → Gerardo

          No, no, no. The problem I had with Keldeo isn’t that fact that it has to attack, but the fact that it shouldn’t. Kyurem is a great starter in TDK and your goal early game should be to power one up asap so that you do as much damage as possible. Keldeo makes it easier to constantly attack with kyurem, and this wouldn’t be a problem if Keldeo could attack in TDK. However, the transition from early to mid or mid to late game is why I seem to dislike kyurem when it comes to this point in the game. Most players tend to setup another kyurem after the first is knocked out, which is my biggest problem for the deck and why I always praise Lugia. Lugia is the best card in that deck overall when it comes to mid to late game and should be used in such a way. None the less, most players ignore Luiga and focus on Kyurem as the clean up pokemon, which is what causes the deck to do so bad mid to late game. If you re-read my comments about TDK, I was talking about this type of transition of from kyurem to lugia with either manual attachments or scramble switch. If you play the deck in this manner you will notice how the deck takes advantage of other decks such as blastoise and darkrai. With Lugia, all you need to do is setup damage with kyurem, then finish off two exs or a basic (blastoise/absol) and two exs. Without Luiga, darkrai decks reck your kyurem as soon as they get a darkrai with dark claw set up and blasoise decks only have to get 4 energy on a keldeo and one shot all your kyurems. This is what makes TDK so viable and weak mid to late game and, if isn’t fixed soon, will be the weakness to TDK. That is my main point, a point that I have trying to make in my past comments. As for keldeo, it just takes up the one space for Luiga on your bench and is why I don’t run it in my TDK list. On that note, I apologize to the author, Squeaky Marking, for discussing a topic mostly unrelated to the article above, and I did enjoy the first half of the article.

        • Gerardo Del Toro  → Piplup_isPimp

          Then why do you refer to Keldeo as an attacker when its purpose is clearly supportive? That’s the issue I have, that you keep calling it a “useless attacker”. Incorrectly label a card and it becomes “useless” as well (ex. Lugia is a useless starter, it isn’t supposed to be a starter, unless it’s some form of turbo Lugia).
          You really made no mention of a transition in this article, which would’ve made your argument have more validity and less confusing at the start, since it just came off as if you were bashing on Kyurem.
          It would’ve been better if you made a reference to Lugia, the shift for mid-game, and why that decklist may not need Keldeo. You just made it seem like you wanted to tear apart a single statement in the article that you took umbrage with.
          Now I understand your viewpoint a little better. It took us a while. xD

        • Piplup_isPimp  → Gerardo

          OK, yeah, lol mostly everything I tried to acknowledge in that big comment above were issues you brought about in your last comment. Kind of like I already explained those purposes and you just asked why. (ex “You really made no mention of a transition in this article, which would’ve made your argument have more validity and less confusing at the start” when I clearly said, “If you re-read my comments about TDK, I was talking about this type of transition of from kyurem to lugia with either manual attachments or scramble switch.” But, whatever, I justed wanted to have my say in it. :)

        • andrewgn23  → Piplup_isPimp

          honestly i prefer to power up another kyurem then lugia, kyurem only need 3 energies to deal 120 + deoxys while lugia need 3-4 with DCE and 1 of them must be plasma and it must be discarded, kyurem also has a mini poke attack, and kyurem is a non EX pokemon. I dont know y u hate kyurem so much, if it is a personal reason please dont share your hate in the community.

        • Piplup_isPimp  → andrewgn23

          So I take it you didn’t understand a word I said above in my comments? Either that or you were just too lazy to read and comprehend them properly, because you clearly couldn’t read, “Kyurem is a great starter in TDK and your goal early game should be to power one up asap so that you do as much damage as possible.” and “However, the transition from early to mid or mid to late game is why I seem to dislike kyurem when it comes to this point in the game.” Allow me to spell things out for you and everyone else: Kyurem isn’t a bad card. In fact it is an excellent one, and should be regarded as such. Lugia, in my opinion is a stronger and faster card (its acatully faster to power up a Lugia, dce+double colress machine, than it is a kyurem, double prism/blend +colress machine which would require two turns of attachments) and should be played in TDK decks for maximum output of speed and domination.

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