Psychic Gyarados
Author: Christopher Orr (steelorrs)
Deck Created: 11/24/2009
Format: DP and up
I have been playing Gyarados for some time now, teching in several things to make the deck the best it can be. No matter what I put in the deck, such as Luxray GL or Toxicroak G, the deck still consistently lost to Luxray/Blaziken and Shuppet. I then thought of a way to counter both of these enemies of Gyarados: Mewtwo LV.X and Mr. Mime MT.
Decklist
| Pokémon: 23 4 Magikarp SF 4 Gyarados SF 4 Sableye SF 2 Mewtwo MD 2 Mewtwo LV.X LA 1 Mr. Mime MT 2 Crobat G PL 1 Regice LA 1 Azelf LA 1 Uxie LA 1 Combee SF |
Trainers / Supporters / Stadiums: 31 4 Rosanne’s Research 3 Bebe’s Search 1 Luxury Ball 4 Felicity’s Drawing 4 Pokémon Rescue 3 Broken Time Space 4 Super Scoop Up 2 Poké Turn 2 Expert Belt 2 Warp Point 1 Night Maintenance |
Energy: 6 4 P 3 Call |
The Deck
- The Way the Deck is Run
Your goal is to start out with Sableye and Impersonate to get Magikarps in your hand. Then you use either Felicity’s Drawing or Regice LA in order to discard the Magikarps in your hand. From there you use Gyarados’ attack “Tail Revenge”, which does 30 damage times the amount of Magikarp in your discard pile. Your goal is to be doing 90 damage a turn while your opponent struggles to take down big 130 HP Gyarados.
If Gyarados is about to get Knocked Out, play a Super Scoop Up and erase all that damage, then start hitting for 90 again with a fresh Gyarados via Broken Time Space and Crobat G’s free Retreat Cost. Crobat G is used to get the 10 or 20 extra damage on an opponent so that Gyarados can Knock Out 100 HP opponent in one turn. Expert Belt is also used for those opponents, like Beedrill, who have 110 HP. With Expert Belt, Gyarados is “Tail Revenging” for 110 every turn. If Gyarados happens to get Knocked Out it’s no worries, just play a Pokémon Rescue or search for Combee SF and grab a Magikarp out of the discard pile to start attacking again.
Why Mewtwo LV.X?
Gyarados has a very bad matchup against Luxray GL. When an opponent who is playing Luxray puts down a Lucario GL, it makes everyone’s weakness X2; therefore, Gyarados is X2 weak to Lightening. Due to this weakness, Luxray is one shotting Gyarados with a Crobat G drop. SP decks are almost always a guaranteed win against Gyarados.
So how do we fix this problem? Mewtwo LV.X. Mewtwo LV.X’s Poké-Body “Psybarrier” states that Mewtwo prevents all effects of an attack, including damage done to Mewtwo by your opponent’s Pokémon that isn’t an Evolved Pokémon. So Mewtwo LV.X cannot be attacked by Pokémon SP or Shuppet. I run a 2-2 line of Mewtwo for 2 reasons. 1. To have a better chance of drawing the Mewtwo I need. 2. Because of Infernape 4’s Poké Power “Intimidating Roar”, which forces you to switch your active Pokémon with one of your benched Pokémon.
- Why Mr. Mime?
Mr. Mime is a great tech for many reasons. Mewtwo LV.X is great against Shuppet; however, Mr. Mime is even better, as it prevents your opponent from attacking Mr. Mime, unless they have 3 or more Energies attached. Mr. Mime can also be used to stall if you have a bad set up.
All in all, Gyarados is a great deck and I expect it to do great things at premier events this year. I hope Mewtwo helps with the deck’s weaknesses and makes it an even more powerful consistent deck.
I really like the Combee idea, gj!
The Mewtwo seems like a great card to add to the deck especialy in the begining of the game you could stall with Mewtwo or Mr.Mime until you get three Magicarps in the discard pile!
The Mewtwo seems like a great card to add to the deck especialy in the begining of the game you could stall with Mewtwo or Mr.Mime until you get three Magicarps in the discard pile!
if i am right the trainer and energy count is wrong. i like the combee idea but i would max the turns
Cool deck Combee is a cool idea but is it good to have in a deck :D
This is my list of POKEMON:
19 Pokemon
1 Sableye SF
4-2 Gyarados SF
2 Crobat G PL
1-1 Shedinja SV
1-1 Claydol GE
1 Combee SF
1 Regice LA
1 Azelf LA
1 Unown g GE
1 Mankey SV
1 Spiritomb PA
Combee is an old idea which was used to pull up magikarp for the fifth time,but with spiritomb sprouting up,it becomes one of the surest ways to bring back karp.
Your deck doesnt have any answer to glistomb and also since we start with sableye,we NEED 4 calls,else its gg T1 against shuppet.
And IMO gyara doesnt have any disadvantage against luxray,sure the prize count may be in their favour,but we ohko them everytime they ko us.So teching in mewtwo may not be the best idea,but sure is a good one if your meta is full of sp’s,as luxray still brightlooks gyara for the ko.
I really like the Combee idea, gj!
Not a bad article Christopher, but . . .
Just my 2 cents though:
In my opinion, a “smart” Blazeray player is not even going to be worried about the Mewtwo being there (especially after finding out you have no Unown Gs). The Blazeray player will just end up getting past Mewtwo via Luxray GL Lvl X’s Bright Look or Blaziken FB’s Luring Flame.
I sort of disagree with TDA when he says that Gyarados doesn’t have a disadvantage to Luxray. If you’re able to set up a turn 2 Gyarados, you should be fine. This deck is all about the quick setup. IF you don’t get it, you’re basically screwed.
In regards to the Combee — Yes it’s an idea that’s been floating around for a while. I guess it just depends on your metagame. I would consider running it especially if there are plenty of Dialgas deafening in your area. Only bad side to it, of course, is starting off with it.
—-
MORE LATER!
Luring Flame can’t get around Mewtwo Lv. X, dude.
“Prevent all effects of attacks, including damage…”
[Poke-Body] Psybarrier
Prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to Mewtwo by your opponent’s Pokemon that isn’t an evolved pokemon.
Read your cards :]
You literally get AROUND Mewtwo. You don’t attack Mewtwo.
I’m pretty sure rein’s right. Moving Mewtwo to the bench while using “luring flame” is an effect of an attack that would be negated. I’m not 100%, but I think I’ve seen this ruling enforced before, similar to an active Unown G’d pokemon also being unaffected by attacks like “luring flame.”
I’m a hypocrite. Maybe I should read my cards :]
I thought Blaziken’s text read something like, ‘switch one of your opponent’s Pokémon with the their defending ‘ instead of ‘ Switch
the Defending Pokémon with 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon ‘
Luring Flame can’t get around Mewtwo Lv. X, dude.
“Prevent all effects of attacks, including damage…”
You know, you are right iScoop, a smart Blazeray player with kill off the pokemon that are not Mewtwo Lv. X. so this is where a smart Gyarados player comes in. Once you see you are playing a Blazeray deck forget everything you know about Gyarados and use Sableye to get a mewtwo Lv. X set up and try to have nothing else on your bench. They can’t warp you, they can’t Intimidating Roar if they have Infernape 4. Unless they have a Diagla G Lv.X (Which I’ve never heard of one in a Blazeray deck) they cannot attack or kill you at all and you are doing 120 every other turn, therefore, taking a prize card every other turn.
Not a bad article Christopher, but . . .
Just my 2 cents though:
In my opinion, a “smart” Blazeray player is not even going to be worried about the Mewtwo being there (especially after finding out you have no Unown Gs). The Blazeray player will just end up getting past Mewtwo via Luxray GL Lvl X’s Bright Look or Blaziken FB’s Luring Flame.
I sort of disagree with TDA when he says that Gyarados doesn’t have a disadvantage to Luxray. If you’re able to set up a turn 2 Gyarados, you should be fine. This deck is all about the quick setup. IF you don’t get it, you’re basically screwed.
In regards to the Combee — Yes it’s an idea that’s been floating around for a while. I guess it just depends on your metagame. I would consider running it especially if there are plenty of Dialgas deafening in your area. Only bad side to it, of course, is starting off with it.
—-
MORE LATER!
Luring Flame can’t get around Mewtwo Lv. X, dude.
“Prevent all effects of attacks, including damage…”
[Poke-Body] Psybarrier
Prevent all effects of attacks, including damage, done to Mewtwo by your opponent’s Pokemon that isn’t an evolved pokemon.
Read your cards :]
You literally get AROUND Mewtwo. You don’t attack Mewtwo.
I’m pretty sure rein’s right. Moving Mewtwo to the bench while using “luring flame” is an effect of an attack that would be negated. I’m not 100%, but I think I’ve seen this ruling enforced before, similar to an active Unown G’d pokemon also being unaffected by attacks like “luring flame.”
I’m a hypocrite. Maybe I should read my cards :]
I thought Blaziken’s text read something like, ‘switch one of your opponent’s Pokémon with the their defending ‘ instead of ‘ Switch
the Defending Pokémon with 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon ‘
You know, you are right iScoop, a smart Blazeray player with kill off the pokemon that are not Mewtwo Lv. X. so this is where a smart Gyarados player comes in. Once you see you are playing a Blazeray deck forget everything you know about Gyarados and use Sableye to get a mewtwo Lv. X set up and try to have nothing else on your bench. They can’t warp you, they can’t Intimidating Roar if they have Infernape 4. Unless they have a Diagla G Lv.X (Which I’ve never heard of one in a Blazeray deck) they cannot attack or kill you at all and you are doing 120 every other turn, therefore, taking a prize card every other turn.
if i am right the trainer and energy count is wrong. i like the combee idea but i would max the turns
Yeah Mewtwo is good, but if you are trying to stop luxray gl, mewtwo is not your man. You can still run mewtwo if you want, maybe a 1-1 line might be better. But if you are going after luxray gl lv.x, what you do is you wait for luxray to come active and then you use a roseanee’s reasearch to search for a mankey sv and a fighting energy. Then you lay down mankey attach the fighting, then make him your active, and then ohko luxray gl lv.x
I like your idea, but the problem with mankey is that he will get OHKO the very next turn and it doesn’t take much for a luxray to recover and start knocking out gyarados’ again. Mewtwo is good because it cannot be knocked out by a blazeray deck.
Cool deck Combee is a cool idea but is it good to have in a deck :D
This is my list of POKEMON:
19 Pokemon
1 Sableye SF
4-2 Gyarados SF
2 Crobat G PL
1-1 Shedinja SV
1-1 Claydol GE
1 Combee SF
1 Regice LA
1 Azelf LA
1 Unown g GE
1 Mankey SV
1 Spiritomb PA
I think Mewtwo LV.X is that good in this deck for most Gyarados decks dont run much energies, maybe USE gYARADOS TO get some time and set up another Gyarados if one got KOed so you can change it to a 1-1 line and add in 1 more Mr Mime and a 1-1 Luxray GL line by taking out Regice.
Srry I meant use Mewtwo LV.X to get some time to set up another Gyarados.
Mewtwo Lv. X just seems like a waste of space to me. Luxray GL Lv. X is a problem – but Gyarados can hit for 110 with Expert Belt and there are better ways to counter Luxray GL Lv. X rather than placing 7 spots in your deck. A 2-2 Line surely isn’t worthwhile, at least make it 1-1 or 2-1…
Also take out SSU for 2 more Poke Turn and 1 Lightning Energie for my Lux suggestion and add a Mime Jr in case of Blaziken FB and Glistomb. Then take out 2 Psychics for 2 Unown Gs.
Or just get a Toxicroak G promo tech because the deck uses psychics anyway, so onece a Lux takes out a Gyarados, Toxicroak for the KO with 2 Psychics attached and an expert belt and then Poke Turn the next turn.
Combee is an old idea which was used to pull up magikarp for the fifth time,but with spiritomb sprouting up,it becomes one of the surest ways to bring back karp.
Your deck doesnt have any answer to glistomb and also since we start with sableye,we NEED 4 calls,else its gg T1 against shuppet.
And IMO gyara doesnt have any disadvantage against luxray,sure the prize count may be in their favour,but we ohko them everytime they ko us.So teching in mewtwo may not be the best idea,but sure is a good one if your meta is full of sp’s,as luxray still brightlooks gyara for the ko.
Nice article but luxray will still do some damage to you by pulling your gyarados up with its power.
It seems like a nice deck to try though.
Nice article but luxray will still do some damage to you by pulling your gyarados up with its power.
It seems like a nice deck to try though.
Dang that Combee is pro…
Perfect for this format, and unblockable. I didn’t know they had coming-into-play tools…
Yeah Mewtwo is good, but if you are trying to stop luxray gl, mewtwo is not your man. You can still run mewtwo if you want, maybe a 1-1 line might be better. But if you are going after luxray gl lv.x, what you do is you wait for luxray to come active and then you use a roseanee’s reasearch to search for a mankey sv and a fighting energy. Then you lay down mankey attach the fighting, then make him your active, and then ohko luxray gl lv.x
I like your idea, but the problem with mankey is that he will get OHKO the very next turn and it doesn’t take much for a luxray to recover and start knocking out gyarados’ again. Mewtwo is good because it cannot be knocked out by a blazeray deck.
I think Mewtwo LV.X is that good in this deck for most Gyarados decks dont run much energies, maybe USE gYARADOS TO get some time and set up another Gyarados if one got KOed so you can change it to a 1-1 line and add in 1 more Mr Mime and a 1-1 Luxray GL line by taking out Regice.
Srry I meant use Mewtwo LV.X to get some time to set up another Gyarados.
Mewtwo Lv. X just seems like a waste of space to me. Luxray GL Lv. X is a problem – but Gyarados can hit for 110 with Expert Belt and there are better ways to counter Luxray GL Lv. X rather than placing 7 spots in your deck. A 2-2 Line surely isn’t worthwhile, at least make it 1-1 or 2-1…
Also take out SSU for 2 more Poke Turn and 1 Lightning Energie for my Lux suggestion and add a Mime Jr in case of Blaziken FB and Glistomb. Then take out 2 Psychics for 2 Unown Gs.
Or just get a Toxicroak G promo tech because the deck uses psychics anyway, so onece a Lux takes out a Gyarados, Toxicroak for the KO with 2 Psychics attached and an expert belt and then Poke Turn the next turn.
Dang that Combee is pro…
Perfect for this format, and unblockable. I didn’t know they had coming-into-play tools…
Brit Pybas played the Combee tech in the Southwest Missouri area first, you should at least give him his due.
Brit Pybas played the Combee tech in the Southwest Missouri area first, you should at least give him his due.
Lol? Sorry not to be a douche, but that idea of using Combee has been floating around for a long while. Not trying to start a flamewar, but yeah..
Lol? Sorry not to be a douche, but that idea of using Combee has been floating around for a long while. Not trying to start a flamewar, but yeah..
Yeah man, you should AT LEAST mention him in the article. He’s the one that introduced the tech to us. :/
Yeah man, you should AT LEAST mention him in the article. He’s the one that introduced the tech to us. :/
The point is he introduced the tech to the area and should at least give some credit. I’m sure someone thought of it before him but it’s just manners IMO.
I’m going to assume you know the writer of the article?
The point is he introduced the tech to the area and should at least give some credit. I’m sure someone thought of it before him but it’s just manners IMO.
The point is he introduced the tech to the area and should at least give some credit. I’m sure someone thought of it before him but it’s just manners IMO.
I’m going to assume you know the writer of the article?
Before i say anything, is brits_champion brit pybas speaking of himself in third person? Not trying to be rude, just making sure before i say anything.
before i say anything, is brits_champion brit pybus speaking of himself in third person? not being rude, just want to know before i say anything.
Before i say anything, is brits_champion brit pybas speaking of himself in third person? Not trying to be rude, just making sure before i say anything.
before i say anything, is brits_champion brit pybus speaking of himself in third person? not being rude, just want to know before i say anything.
Just one thing I realized: You list says that you play 6 energies, but 4 Psychic + 3 Call are 7 energies total, If I haven’t miscalculated.
You can theorymon it but, if you’re not playing Luxray LvX in your SP deck, this would be a rediculous matchup vs. just about any SP with that MewTwo X in there….
You either get pawned w/ 90 -110 damage output w/ the straight Gdos route, or you bow down to the MewTwo X body (and lets face it, ninetales gets ONE SHOT to do it’s thing before Gdos burries it)
Cool idea man (of course, this means you now have to tech in MORE space for energy into the speed deck that is French Gdos :/)
You can theorymon it but, if you’re not playing Luxray LvX in your SP deck, this would be a rediculous matchup vs. just about any SP with that MewTwo X in there….
You either get pawned w/ 90 -110 damage output w/ the straight Gdos route, or you bow down to the MewTwo X body (and lets face it, ninetales gets ONE SHOT to do it’s thing before Gdos burries it)
Cool idea man (of course, this means you now have to tech in MORE space for energy into the speed deck that is French Gdos :/)
First things first; Brit Pybas was the first person to show me the combee tech and he deserves the credit. I wasn’t trying to steal his spotlight. Sorry bud, wish i mentioned you in the article in the first place. And Rogue, Ninetales is a must in my Blazeray deck for the simple fact that there is a Mewtwo Lv.X If Blazeray doesn’t have Ninetales then they are screwed.
Umm Smart BlazeRays use ninetails as well so Mew2 gets OHKO’s as was said above meeee
Just one thing I realized: You list says that you play 6 energies, but 4 Psychic + 3 Call are 7 energies total, If I haven’t miscalculated.
I’ve played Gyarados deck in 5 BR’s during this season, so I think I would know which techs would work in it. I have played Combee in EVERY Gyarados list and it have been godly. I highly recommend using it. Combee only has Retreat Cost of one, so starting with it isn’t that bad. It also has a nice one energy for one draw attack that switches Combee to the bench afterwards.
Every SP deck is very winable except Luxray GL variations. It’s tough, but you can run over it if you get decent start. By playing expert Belt at the right time, the opponent may have hard time on playing two Crobat’s power during the same turn. If he can, he prob can’t do it again. Usually your opponent doesn’t get more than 3-4 Luxrays during a game. So if you don’t give your opponent a 2-3 prizes head start, this should be quite even match. Your opponent can pull something to front by lvX’s power or can OHKO Mewtwo lvX with possible Ninetales tech. IMO, Mewtwo sounds quite unnecessary for a Gyarados. Getting a Mewtwo at start may ruin your game against various decks. It may work, but I would try it out.
Mr.Mime is a nice tech card. I wouldn’t play it without a Unown Q. Btw, Mr.Mime doesn’t really help against a Shuppet. It may buy you some time to setup, but Shuppet can outplay it. Evolve it into Banette and put needed damage counters to Mime with up to one Energy card.
First things first; Brit Pybas was the first person to show me the combee tech and he deserves the credit. I wasn’t trying to steal his spotlight. Sorry bud, wish i mentioned you in the article in the first place. And Rogue, Ninetales is a must in my Blazeray deck for the simple fact that there is a Mewtwo Lv.X If Blazeray doesn’t have Ninetales then they are screwed.
Umm Smart BlazeRays use ninetails as well so Mew2 gets OHKO’s as was said above meeee
Interesting idea. I kinda like it, will definitely try it out.
Oh, and for the record, Fabien and I did some testing with combee before our nationals to counter dialga’s deafen lock. I just checked our team’s forum, and a message from March 28th as a decklist with combee in it… We removed it eventually because we had our matchup covered anyways.
I’ve played Gyarados deck in 5 BR’s during this season, so I think I would know which techs would work in it. I have played Combee in EVERY Gyarados list and it have been godly. I highly recommend using it. Combee only has Retreat Cost of one, so starting with it isn’t that bad. It also has a nice one energy for one draw attack that switches Combee to the bench afterwards.
Every SP deck is very winable except Luxray GL variations. It’s tough, but you can run over it if you get decent start. By playing expert Belt at the right time, the opponent may have hard time on playing two Crobat’s power during the same turn. If he can, he prob can’t do it again. Usually your opponent doesn’t get more than 3-4 Luxrays during a game. So if you don’t give your opponent a 2-3 prizes head start, this should be quite even match. Your opponent can pull something to front by lvX’s power or can OHKO Mewtwo lvX with possible Ninetales tech. IMO, Mewtwo sounds quite unnecessary for a Gyarados. Getting a Mewtwo at start may ruin your game against various decks. It may work, but I would try it out.
Mr.Mime is a nice tech card. I wouldn’t play it without a Unown Q. Btw, Mr.Mime doesn’t really help against a Shuppet. It may buy you some time to setup, but Shuppet can outplay it. Evolve it into Banette and put needed damage counters to Mime with up to one Energy card.
Interesting idea. I kinda like it, will definitely try it out.
Oh, and for the record, Fabien and I did some testing with combee before our nationals to counter dialga’s deafen lock. I just checked our team’s forum, and a message from March 28th as a decklist with combee in it… We removed it eventually because we had our matchup covered anyways.
You cannot have 4 Mewtwo and 2 Mewtwo Lv. X. Mewtwo Lv. X counts as a Mewtwo.
I think you might want more than 6 energy
You cannot have 4 Mewtwo and 2 Mewtwo Lv. X. Mewtwo Lv. X counts as a Mewtwo.
I think you might want more than 6 energy
Well,he has a 2-2 mewtwo line there…..
The Mewtwo Lv. X is a very neat idea. It is one of few side strats w/ Gyarados that has awesome synergy w/ Sableye instead of trying to compete for bench space w/ it.
I tried something close to your build, but minus 1-1 Mewtwo for 1-1 Claydol. I think Claydol is really important for the deck if you don’t want to flat out lose to a Looker’s when you’re out of Felicity’s. I also like a single Suicune SW instead of the Combee.
The Mewtwo Lv. X is a very neat idea. It is one of few side strats w/ Gyarados that has awesome synergy w/ Sableye instead of trying to compete for bench space w/ it.
I tried something close to your build, but minus 1-1 Mewtwo for 1-1 Claydol. I think Claydol is really important for the deck if you don’t want to flat out lose to a Looker’s when you’re out of Felicity’s. I also like a single Suicune SW instead of the Combee.
Well,he has a 2-2 mewtwo line there…..
I played against a very similar deck at cities in Kalamazoo, MI. Very effective, very interesting and fun to play. I don’t remember all the details, except for the fact that he was running only three energies and had only lost one match that day.
I played against a very similar deck at cities in Kalamazoo, MI. Very effective, very interesting and fun to play. I don’t remember all the details, except for the fact that he was running only three energies and had only lost one match that day.
do you think you could tech in a kingdra line? Replacing the BTS with rare candies. Kingdra second attack alows you to discard 2 cards (i.e. magikarps) doing 60+20 to bench. Also energy would not need to be drastically increased. Just a thought.
do you think you could tech in a kingdra line? Replacing the BTS with rare candies. Kingdra second attack alows you to discard 2 cards (i.e. magikarps) doing 60+20 to bench. Also energy would not need to be drastically increased. Just a thought.
great idea! maybe a couple of Rare candy?
my m8 is using a similar to this but with dialga g set in to!
i love the deck adn cant se many prblems! maybe add a kindraaset in to help discard vital magicaprps!
btw my m8 is jimbo though thats not his name
great idea! maybe a couple of Rare candy?
my m8 is using a similar to this but with dialga g set in to!
i love the deck adn cant se many prblems! maybe add a kindraaset in to help discard vital magicaprps!
btw my m8 is jimbo though thats not his name
Cool… I like the Gyarados… It is strong… With this Gyarados, the player sure can wine easily…
Cool… I like the Gyarados… It is strong… With this Gyarados, the player sure can wine easily…
I put in a banette to discard more Magikarp and aclaydol and also a ditto help with flygon lv x
I put in a banette to discard more Magikarp and aclaydol and also a ditto help with flygon lv x
Wonderful blog! I truly love how it’s uncomplicated on my eyes and the details is well written. I am wondering how I can be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your rss feed which should do the trick! Have a nice day!Also welcome to my website.-GHD Hair Straighteners
Hi there, I discovered this blog once, then lost it. Took me forever to occur back and discover it. I wanted to view what comments you got. Very good blog by the way.
Surprise! You actually covered this subject well. Are there other choices that i will have to verify out?