The Roguenomicon, Volume III – The Seven Decks of Christmas

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“Decks for all!”

It’s Christmas Eve, and while I’m not sure how many of you will be reading articles when you could be eating food, drinking cocoa, and opening up cases upon cases of Pokémon cards, I figured today it would be fun to go back to our roots: decks, decks, and more decks!

However, we need to turn our attention to some very cool, very interesting rogue concepts that have gone under the radar for far too long. Some of these you haven’t seen in a while; others you may have never seen before in your life. But they’re all very capable decks that could make a huge tear during Cities and Regionals.

Generally, these articles are very self-contained, but I’ve deliberately kept this one thinner to make digesting the bare facts easier. I more than encourage you guys to discuss with me some of the more specific decisions found in this volume of the “Roguenomicon.”

With that, let’s fire away!

Table of Contents

Flygon/Dusknoir

Pokémon – 16

4 Trapinch BCR
1 Vibrava BCR
4 Flygon BCR
2 Duskull BCR
1 Dusclops BCR
2 Dusknoir BCR
2 Attackers (Minimum)

Trainers – 35

4 Professor Juniper
4 N

4 Skyla
3 Colress

 

4 Rare Candy

4 Ultra Ball
3 Float Stone
2 Max Potion
2 Tool Scrapper
1 Super Rod
1 Computer Search/Dowsing Machine

 

3 Tropical Beach

Energy – 4

4 Double Colorless

Open Spots – 5

flygon-boundaries-crossed-bcr-99pokemon-paradijs.com
“The Sandman”

The strategy is simple: set up with Tropical Beach; slowly wear your opponent down exclusively with Flygon BCR’s Sand Slammer Ability; and move around damage with Dusknoir’s Sinister Hand to KO your biggest threats.

However, this alone is not enough to win most games, so I also have space for at least two attackers to clean up the board when you’re ready. In almost all of my lists, this attacker has been Mewtwo EX: It does big damage to any charged-up EX, and is usually the key to closing out a game where Flygon cannot.

Generally, your matchups with this deck are good. Rogue concepts meant to exploit popular mechanics or type advantage fall very quickly to your unique Ability-centric way of winning, and the basic metagame itself has trouble handling 140 HP behemoths that win games all on their own. Yet decks that can consistently 1-shot your Flygons, such as Blastoise and Emboar, are tough to deal with.

Now, a good player and precise list can take this deck into nearly any metagame. But as mentioned above, it is not without its weaknesses, so the final list choices should revolve around addressing these.

Options

1. Aside from Mewtwo, Bouffalant LTR is an excellent utility attacker. Like Mewtwo, it too places significant damage on EXs. However, it is better and worse in two specific regards: better in that it is a non-EX, so will yield less benefit for Black Kyurem EX in the Blastoise matchup, yet worse in that it is less durable than a 170 HP juggernaut.

2. Want something to do other than use Tropical Beach every turn? A small Accelgor DEX line will Poison and Paralyze with its Deck and Cover attack, buying you free turns while also adding more damage to the field for you to play with. This is at times difficult to work in practice, given that you need to get a lot of cards on the board. However, the benefits can be extraordinary, and this has actually proven successful at a City in Wisconsin!

3. If you want to deal with Black Kyurem EX specifically, Zoroark NXD and Palkia EX are both interesting options. Zoroark is about the hardest counter you can manage, hitting Kyurem for a clean 200 with no drawback, but it is next to useless against RayBoar, hitting Rayquaza EX for a grand total of… zero.

Meanwhile, Palkia EX can hit both for 100, but save itself by moving back to the Bench, presumably bringing a Flygon up to allow for another round of spread. The downsides, though, are many: your Energy lineup is awkward for a CCC attack, it 1HKOs nothing, and the opponent could just Pokémon Catcher up your Palkia EX.

Still, both are worth considering!

Gothitelle/Gardevoir

Pokémon – 20

4 Gothita LTR 69
1 Gothorita LTR
4 Gothitelle LTR
3 Ralts PLS
2 Kirlia PLS
2 Gardevoir DEX
1 Jirachi-EX
1 Mr. Mime PLF
1 Solosis PLB
1 Reuniclus DRX

Trainers – 31

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Skyla

 

4 Rare Candy
4 Ultra Ball
2 Level Ball
1 Escape Rope
1 Silver Mirror
1 Super Rod
1 Tool Scrapper
1 Rock Guard

 

4 Tropical Beach

Energy – 9

9 P

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The throwback version of Goth.

Unlike Flygon, this is more of a work-in-progress, but it’s already showing some fairly impressive results. For those of you who don’t remember Gothitelle being a thing back in 2011, the idea is to swarm Madkinesis attacks while employing Item denial through Magic Room.

Gardevoir and Reuniclus both serve exclusively as support: Gardevoir to double the attack power of your Gothitelles, and Reuniclus to move around damage, keeping your Active Gothitelle healthy enough to blow away threats.

Against many of the biggest decks, Magic Room walls the opponent completely: Darkrai no longer recovers Energy with Dark Patch; Blastoise/Rayquaza suffers a devastating Energy limit without Superior Energy Retrieval; and Genesect/Plasma become woefully incapable of scoring a 1HKO without Kyurem PLF. But just like every other Gothitelle variant over the years, the challenge is setting up. This is the reason why I’ve included so much searching, Skyla, and Tropical Beach, and for the most part I believe it works.

Beyond that, your only real decisions lie in the techs. My biggest concern is determining whether to go further with the Reuniclus’ inclusion, or cut it out entirely. If I go with the first option, then maintaining a healthy Gothitelle will be easier, and I could even include an Outrage attacker for late-game cleanup, such as Kyurem-EX PLB. However, by removing the thin 1-0-1 line, there’s more room for consistency or Tools.

…And speaking of which, Tools are even more significant to the equation here. My only two inclusions at the moment are Silver Mirror for Plasma, and Rock Guard for everything else. With regard to Rock Guard, it singlehandedly wins you Keldeo-EX exchanges, either forcing them to take 6 counters after you’ve hit them for 110, or vice versa. For other options, though, I would consider Rocky Helmet as a supplement to Rock Guard, as well as Giant Cape to make it even harder to eliminate an active Goth.

Last of all, Jirachi-EX holds our consistency together even further. With its influence, you can turn a Supporter-less hand into draw, search, or a lock, and under the veil of said Item lock, you’re immune from all gusting bar Red Signal.

Terrakion Tech, Revisited

Pokémon – 17

2 Terrakion-EX
2 Victini-EX
2 Terrakion LTR
3 Drifloon PLB
3 Drifblim PLB
2 Kecleon PLF
2 Tropius PLB
1 Mr. Mime PLF

Trainers – 29

4 Professor Juniper

4 N
3 Skyla

2 Bicycle
2 Random Receiver

 

4 Ultra Ball
3 Switch
2 Silver Bangle
1 Energy Search
1 Super Rod
1 Victory Piece

 

2 Tropical Beach

Energy – 14

8 F
3 R
3 G

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“Big Tex”

I just don’t get it: This deck is really good, yet dropped completely off the face of the earth once the new rules were implemented. When I first started work on this thing months ago, it was already pretty decent. By the time I used a revised version at October Regionals, it was good enough to get me a top sixteen finish, and another player the victory.

Sure, the improved viability of other non-EX decks diminishes this thing’s standing to a certain extent, but all of the decks it beat – Darkrai, Plasma, Genesect – are still very popular. And now that Pokémon Catcher has been nerfed, previous threats like Blastoise are hardly even threats anymore. Therefore, I feel this is certainly worth revisiting…

There aren’t a whole lot of major changes, except for the exclusions of Pokémon Catchers. I considered my reasons for doing this, but at the end of the day, this is a naturally reactive deck, playing Weakness games versus the field at large. And why unnaturally make it less reactive when I could reinforce its ability to, well, “react” well?

That’s why Basic techs Tropius and Kecleon mentioned in my previous article make a return. Although I did not use them in my Regionals list, opting to forfeit the Blastoise matchup entirely, the only thing that held them back at all was the strength of Pokémon Catcher. Now that this strength is no longer a threat, I can load up my Tropius or Kecleon without fear, and just wait until one of those EX’s rear their ugly heads.

As an alternate option to suggest here, I’ve found that Hypnotoxic Lasers and Virbank fit surprisingly well. Between the Bangles, a Tropical Beach, the Bicycles, and *sigh* one of the tech Pokémon, making space for them is very doable. While this might slightly lower your consistency, as well as distort your Darkrai and Genesect matchups, it makes brutal non-EX opponents such as Empoleon a lot easier to beat.

Lastly, I’d like to address the weird engine again. It did marvelously for me at Regionals, and so makes another return here. However, I included Bicycles for two reasons: First, they keep your overall draw count higher than they would be otherwise; and second, they have fantastic synergy with Skyla, effectively turning her into a draw Supporter for the turn. And while this deck may be “reactive,” drawing cards multiple times in a turn certainly helps realize that goal.

Flareon

Pokémon – 23

4 Eevee PLF 90
3 Flareon PLF
2 Leafeon PLF
3 Drifloon PLB
3 Drifblim PLB
2 Terrakion LTR
1 Kyurem DRV
1 Mr. Mime PLF
4 Floating Spots

Trainers – 27

4 Professor Juniper

4 N
2 Skyla

3 Random Receiver

 

4 Ultra Ball
4 Silver Bangle
2 Switch
1 Super Rod
1 Computer Search

 

2 Tropical Beach

Energy – 10

6 F
4 Double Colorless

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It’s out for… vengeance.

This build is very similar to the ones used by Tyler Ninomura and Kyle Sucevich this past Regionals season because a California player and I were also testing it. Although it’s a good, fun deck, I ultimately opted against using it because Flareon had was too far spread at the time. Put simply, its good matchups weren’t good enough, while its bad matchups (particularly against Darkrai) were horrendous.

Now that Catcher suffered errata, things are different. Darkrai can’t disrupt you into infinity with Junk Hunts for Catchers anymore; rogue decks don’t devastate you as horribly; and those disturbingly close games versus Blastoise no longer look so close!

However, I too have traded my Catchers in for more of everything that makes this list as similarly reactive as Terrakion tech: more Energy and more Pokémon allow for an easier time with getting Vengeance out. Still, I have maxed the Silver Bangle count so as to make EX revenge kills so much easier, particular with playing off of Weakness or reaching that magic 150 number with Flareon.

One major inclusion I have here is Kyurem DRV. It is nothing special beyond CCC 60, yet it serves much the same purpose as Kecleon has in my Terrakion tech builds, slaying Black Kyurem EX with a Silver Bangle and no trouble at all. Beyond that are the many floating spots, of which I’m not too sure of as of writing. But as a strictly theoretical exercise, it may be worth running a Jolteon PLF/Deoxys-EX gimmick to beat Empoleon.

Oh, one very important note! Now that Crushing Hammer is back, Sableye is far stronger then it was once before against this deck’s low energy count. Therefore, you have to treat each Energy attachment as something precious, investing them only where you see a worthwhile knockout, huge board control opportunities, or both. So playing a Double Colorless on a Flareon to deal 50 to a Sableye is almost never worth it, while saving that Energy until it can be KO’d has the opportunity to be very worthwhile.

Weavile

Pokémon – 21

4 Sneasel PLF
4 Weavile PLF
4 Exeggcute PLF
4 Sableye DEX
2 Voltorb PLF
2 Electrode PLF
1 Mr. Mime PLF

Trainers – 29

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
2 Skyla

2 Bianca

 

4 Dark Patch
3 Ultra Ball
2 Level Ball
2 Super Rod
2 Tool Scrapper
1 Town Map
1 Dowsing Machine

 

2 Tropical Beach

Energy – 10

10 D

weavile-plasma-freeze-plf-66pokemon-paradijs.com
Flareon’s foil.

A deck that’s been floating around yet rarely seen Underground mention, Weavile is the reverse of Flareon, drawing its strength through the constant discarding of Pokémon rather than leaving them dead and lost in the discard. Like just about every other deck in this article, Weavile gains a significant amount from the new going first rules, as well as the Catcher nerf.

The list is painfully straightforward in that you get the Exeggcutes discarded pronto, perhaps get an Electrode into play for its Magnetic Draw, and then rain down Weavile attacks. However, we are still not without a bit of nuancing.

In addition to the Skyla/Beach engine I’ve applied to many concepts, I run a single copy of Town Map so that I can identify if any Exeggcutes have been Prized. This turns one of the biggest luck factors with this deck – bad Prizing – around in your favor, and should yield better win percentages. It also gives you something really handy to do on turns where you would have nothing else to Skyla for.

Unlike several of the other decks listed, Weavile can easily be made into a non-Tropical Beach build: just run more draw in place of Beach and Skyla! I think either incarnation is really effective right now, although not without its Garbodor issues.

“New” Big Basics

Pokémon – 12

3 Trubbish DRX
2 Garbodor DRX
3 Mewtwo-EX NXD
2 Tornadus-EX DEX
2 Chandelure-EX

Trainers – 36

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

2 Skyla
2 Bianca
2 Bicycle

 

4 Hypnotoxic Laser
4 Float Stone
4 Pokémon Catcher
4 Ultra Ball
2 Max Potion
1 Escape Rope
1 Computer Search

 

2 Virbank City

Energy – 12

8 P
4 Double Colorless

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Gives the deck some much needed finesse.

A local player recently won an astounding four Cities with this deck, so I decided it would be worth giving it my own spin. Essentially, it’s the revival of the Landorus/Tornadus/Garbodor concept over the past year, but with a whole new outlook due in no small part to the increased prominence of Blastoise. Although we know Mewtwo EX and Tornadus EX quite well as this point, and definitely know Garbodor’s Ability-locking Garbotoxin, there is one very special addition to this take on Big Basics.

Meet Chandelure-EX, the one new addition most people thought of as no more than a novelty. Here it plays no big, decisive role the way our main attackers do, but what Chandy EX lacks in raw power, it more than makes up for in finesse. Cursed Drop lets you bypass several common Bench damage deniers, such as Mr. Mime and Squirtle, but more importantly, it gives you total control over how that damage is divided. As a result, you can pull off some very clever moves, such as locking the active in the Virbank-induced Sleep coma while devastating the Bench with Cursed Drop.

To add insult to injury, we run a good Max Potion count. Since Chandelure-EX’s Weakness is extremely uncommon against everything outside of Darkrai, and since Pokémon Catcher has gone down in play, this guy stands a strong chance at being an honest-to-goodness wall.

I think this deck loses to respectable Tool Scrapper counts. I also think this deck loses to decks with high switching capability. However, those are extremely few and far between, and are often at the expense of consistency. A good Darkrai player should handle this concept without trouble, but a huge chunk of the rest of the metagame should be sure to play very carefully if it sees a Chandelure-EX on the board.

Seismitoad/Meloetta-EX (“Round”)

Pokémon – 15

4 Tympole LTR
3 Palpitoad LTR
4 Seismitoad LTR
4 Meloetta-EX

Trainers – 33

4 Professor Juniper

4 N
4 Colress
2 Skyla

 

4 Rare Candy
3 Level Ball
3 Ultra Ball
2 Great Ball
2 Switch
2 Super Rod
1 Computer Search

 

2 Tropical Beach

Energy – 12

8 P
4 Double Colorless

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Sounds pretty good.

Our seventh and final stop for today is the Round swarm deck, which centers around getting as many Pokémon with the attack “Round” into play. In the last two formats, this thing has been kind of a joke, since setting up enough attackers for 1HKOs has been nearly impossible to do.

But with the glorious demise of Pokémon Catcher, as well as friendly new X and Y rules, it easily gets the award for “biggest improvement of 2013.” Meloetta-EX puts this thing even further beyond its own capabilities, making Round a genuinely viable threat.

The list itself is straightforward, relying on a thick line of Seismitoad and Meloetta to get out Round attackers as quickly as possible. For the umpteenth time this article, I do a large draw-search engine topped off with a Skyla/Beach splash. More noticeably, though, I run a heavy number of Item search cards, with a mix of 3 Level Ball/3 Ultra Ball/2 Great Ball. This topping off with Great Ball gives us greater variety, allowing for hope spots in situations where you have a low-sized hand, yet need to hit a Seismitoad or Meloetta. This in turn makes your N-to-one a winnable scenario in its own way.

Despite the main attacking prowess of this deck being plain, I’ve identified that late-game locking can be very problematic. Whether it’s due to barrages of Pokémon Catcher heads, Crushing Hammer heads, or a combination of the two, making sure the right attacker is in the Active Spot can become quite troublesome. For that reason, you might consider removing a Psychic for a third Switch, or maybe even a Skyarrow Bridge (an excellent alternative for those who don’t own Tropical Beach, by the way).

Conclusion

santa claus stantlerBulbapedia
Merry Christmas!

As always, I hope you enjoyed the discussion. Again, I highly encourage more thorough discussion about specific choices, viability, etc. to be directed to the forum thread. I will tell you all, though, that of the above ideas, I consider Flygon and Gothitelle to have the most overall promise. However, each deck in this article was included not only because of “rogue” status, but overall quality and genuine ability to win tournaments.

But beyond that… Go eat food! Play with your new toys! Attend a massive, week-long Pokémon marathon! SixPrizes can wait; memories can’t. I hope you all have a great holiday season, and an even better start to the new year.


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