Yesterday, Tobias and I met us for some testgames. I decided to build Speedrill with Luxray GL tech, Shuppet/Electrode G/Metagross and Gliscor for this day. After a few testgames with them I decided to make Sceptile instead of Speedrill. He had Sceptile and LuxChomp, and later decided to build Plox.
Here are the results for those decks:
Speedrill: 1:2 (1 Win vs. LuxChomp, 2 Lost vs. Sceptile)
Shuppet: 1:0 (1 Win vs. Plox)
Gliscor/Spiritomb: 1:2 (1 Win vs. Sceptile, 2 Lost vs. Plox)
Sceptile: 3:5 (2 Win vs. Plox, 1 Win vs. LuxChomp, 4 Lost vs. Plox, 1 Lost vs. LuxChomp)
I’ll start with Speedrill. It has a really fast setup and I also added one Spiritomb (PA) tech to avoid Power Sprays when I’m using my “Flutter Wings´´ to swarm Beedrills. Once I setup my 3-4 Beedrills I can constantly hit for 90-120-140 (With Expert Belt). Beedrill (GE)’s “Band Attack´´-attack does 30 damage for each Beedrill on your side of the battlefield. For just one grass energy, so you see it’s pretty easy to recover from a Knock Out. I played only three Night Maintenance along with one Palmer’s Contribution.
It’s really hard to win against decks that feature high HP Pokémon, like Sceptile as he had Shaymin LV.X (PL) as a tech for the 40 extra HP. Together with Expert Belt he had a huge 180HP tank with the ability to heal for 20 each turn. I had to 2-3HKO him while he could easily 1HKO all my Pokémon. The Crobat and Pokéturn didn’t help that much, but Pokémon SP are an easy game for Speedrill, as along with the Spiritomb tech you can setup pretty fast and sweep them. The only Pokémon SP that can cause any problems is Blaziken FB LV.X.
Another nice tech for this deck is 1-1 Cherrim (SF). It’s a searchable PlusPower and can help you to KO a Pokémon. I think Speedrill with or without Luxray GL LV.X is a solid choice for City Championships.
Next up was my Gliscor/Spiritomb deck, which I decided to play against his Sceptile deck. He didn’t play any Dawn Stadium or Warp/Cyclone/Recover Energies, so I realized pretty quickly that he can’t do anything against my deck. By turn 5 I had the lock set up. I used Palkia LV.X’s “Restructure” to Knock Out his Claydol first, so he couldn’t draw anymore cards later. Then it was just a question of time when I’d win this game, after a few 30 minutes I finally one this.
Later this day I played the deck again, but this time against his Plox, which is my worst matchup in my opinion. I randomly added in 1-1 Blaziken FB LV.X along with one R Energy into my Gliscor/Spiritomb deck, against his Venusaur (SV) tech. *Insider. Surprisingly it does well against Plox, it got me about 3-4 Prizes each game, but then I fell badly; Gliscor/Spiritomb-Lock can barely do anything against Plox; no power, no special conditions makes it impossible to 1HKO or 2HKO their Pokémon. He played Expert Belt and 4 Buffer Pieces in his Plox-variant, so I bet on Relicanth (SV) to Knock Out something with his “Grand Swell´´ attack which does 30 damage for each of your opponent’s Tools and Stadiums, but it didn’t help that much.
So tonight I decided to take out Blaziken FB LV.X techline for a 1-1 Scizor (MD), with his “Special Blow´´ attack it can hit for 80 against Pokémon with Special Energy cards attached, along with his Psychic resistance it could do pretty well against Plox in my opinion.
Lunch break, we went to McDonalds for some food, then I built my Sceptile deck. It featured only two PA Sceptile and one GE Sceptile, along with a 1-1-1 line Tangrowth LV.X which did pretty well against his LuxChomp deck after all Power Sprays are gone. The ability to heal up to 60 damage from your Sceptile with “Green Breath´´ and “Healing Growth´´ is awesome against Pokémon SP because of their low damage output. Well, I lost many matches against his Plox with this deck, why? Because of Gallade, he’s a beast, with his “Psychic Cut´´ attack it can easily 1HKO my Sceptile.
The only chance I had is to get him to use Gallade so I’m out of the lock, then I could use my Dusknoir to “Dark Palm´´ his benched Gardevoir and hit his Gallade with Uxie until it dies. (Side note: One time I drew with Cosmic Power only three cards, what? Duskull, Dusknoir and Rare Candy! :D) After all those games, we both checked that Sceptile has a really difficult matchup against Plox, it’s almost impossible to win. The SP matchup is pretty easy, except against Blaziken FB LV.X, but he didn’t play it. All you need to do is not to play down much low HP Pokémon like Uxie or Azelf. Their always free prizes for SP since Luxray GL LV.X can “Bright Look´´ them for a Knock Out and Garchomp C LV.X can easily hit them with “Dragon Rush´´.
After all these fails against his Plox deck I was frustrated so I took out my Shuppet deck and gave him a beating. This matchup is so easy, I’d say about 90-10 for Shuppet, even if he has a Spiritomb start. After his Spiritomb get benched you can start using your trainer engine. If you get Shedinja out, you can get him away from the lock because he has to attack either with Gallade or Kirlia to get rid of Shedinja. Anyway, Palkia LV.X is really annoying if the Plox player uses it.
So in my opinion, two of the best deck choices for City Championships are either Spiritomb/Plox or Speedrill, they both can do well.
Isn’t it GREAT to read about results from REAL PLAYTESTING before you go out on a ledge and run these things??!!! This is an awesome head’s up.
I think Speedrill is a solid deck regardless of format. The problem is, it never seems to be enough to sweep the whole thing :/
Gliscor is a clever deck, but in the top tables, you WILL be facing powerlocks at some point, so I don’t know if it’s worth running when your rating is at stake. (same thing can be said for Shuppet)
Perhaps the most interesting/fascinating read here is the STRAIGHT Sceptile deck w/ a Land Shaymin LvX boost. That’s a very intriguing proposition!
Even though the article’s author suggested Beedrill and Plox, I’m seeing the Sceptile as a deck that warrants the most consideration.
P.S.
Why doesn’t anyone squeeze Shaymin X into Beedrill?
Isn’t it GREAT to read about results from REAL PLAYTESTING before you go out on a ledge and run these things??!!! This is an awesome head’s up.
I think Speedrill is a solid deck regardless of format. The problem is, it never seems to be enough to sweep the whole thing :/
Gliscor is a clever deck, but in the top tables, you WILL be facing powerlocks at some point, so I don’t know if it’s worth running when your rating is at stake. (same thing can be said for Shuppet)
Perhaps the most interesting/fascinating read here is the STRAIGHT Sceptile deck w/ a Land Shaymin LvX boost. That’s a very intriguing proposition!
Even though the article’s author suggested Beedrill and Plox, I’m seeing the Sceptile as a deck that warrants the most consideration.
P.S.
Why doesn’t anyone squeeze Shaymin X into Beedrill?
Because it needs a bench slot, which isn’t available if you play Beedrill.
So how is Venusaur good in Plox when his body only protect your grass Pokemon. So far its seems like a ridiculously narrow tech that works mostly on only one strategy and even then he only protects himself and no one else.
Why would you NOT play Dawn Stadium in Sceptile when you can heal 30 per turn? I had the 1-1 land Shaymin tech in my Sceptile, but for some reason it seemed to make my deck just slow enough to push me back a turn or two. Luck of the draw I guess.
Don’t understand how Sceptile beat Speedrill. Recovery, low energy costs, speed, hits HARD. High energy cost (for OHKO), slower, with expert belt = two prizes to one. But maybe I’m looking at it wrong.
Sceptile is awesome though!
Why would you NOT play Dawn Stadium in Sceptile when you can heal 30 per turn? I had the 1-1 land Shaymin tech in my Sceptile, but for some reason it seemed to make my deck just slow enough to push me back a turn or two. Luck of the draw I guess.
Don’t understand how Sceptile beat Speedrill. Recovery, low energy costs, speed, hits HARD. High energy cost (for OHKO), slower, with expert belt = two prizes to one. But maybe I’m looking at it wrong.
Sceptile is awesome though!
Please, public the lists of the decks tested!
Please, public the lists of the decks tested!
I’ll make them later, then I’ll post them ;)
Great article, it’s always awesome to read about testing results.
I wasn’t even considering Beedrill for Cities…maybe I’ll take another look at it.
Because it needs a bench slot, which isn’t available if you play Beedrill.
shuupet finally see that hope is on top to stay with that deck this Sunday
shuupet finally see that hope is on top to stay with that deck this Sunday
Shuppet has autoloss against Dialga G Lv.X. That’s why I thought to add in 2-1-2 Machamp, what do you guys think?
So how is Venusaur good in Plox when his body only protect your grass Pokemon. So far its seems like a ridiculously narrow tech that works mostly on only one strategy and even then he only protects himself and no one else.
Only problem is that they might G the Dialga. :(
That could be a decent deck idea though, Shuppet and Machamp both taking quick prizes.
Well, it’s better than nothing. IMO they don’t guess a Machamp if they face Shuppet, so they probably attach Energy Gain onto Dialga G.
ok, what does “PLOX” mean???
I believe it means “Please”.
Plox is Gardevoir from Secret Wonders. It’s called Plox because of the P from Psychic and the Lo from Lock, X is for style. You got it ?
ok, thanks
Some decks just have to face that it has an autoloss somewhere in the field and adding a tech that shifts focus, reduce consistency, takes pivotal space in an already tight deck is definitely not the way to go.
Just thought I’d mention that I took first place at CC this past Saturday with my own version of Shuppet.
I might have just gotten lucky, but nothing that I expected to see that can counter the deck was present. No Dialga G, no Spiritomb, no Mr. Mime, no Mewtwo Lv.X. In fact I only got power-sprayed once in a total of 14 games. I guess sometimes your worst fears turn out to be vapor and shadows instead of reality.
One piece of info from my experience at the CC that might be worth sharing is that a single Mr. Mime would have shut down all of the decks I faced except for 1. Nearly everything was attacking with only 1 energy attached, even Charizard PA.
Personally, I don’t see room in Shuppet for Machamp (at least not in my take on Shuppet).
Plox has to run a tgw or looker for the shuppet game. Its Definately a deck everyone should considder. With the upcoming releace of double colourless energy it will be a beast!
Plox has to run a tgw or looker for the shuppet game. Its Definately a deck everyone should considder. With the upcoming releace of double colourless energy it will be a beast!
Plox is a pwnag deck but the Gengar LVX with the PA Gengar with Curse will win if it mainly runs Pokedex Handy 910 and Uxie LV.X, both can get cards from the deck easily, no supporters, just a quick way. Except Gardevoir’s attack Psychic Lock may do some harm. But then just take out Gardy with the SF Gengars Shadow Room or the other move.
I’ll make them later, then I’ll post them ;)
Great article, it’s always awesome to read about testing results.
I wasn’t even considering Beedrill for Cities…maybe I’ll take another look at it.
For some reason I never thought of shaymin for sceptile. Might have to try that out, as sceptile seems like a pretty good deck.
Shuppet has autoloss against Dialga G Lv.X. That’s why I thought to add in 2-1-2 Machamp, what do you guys think?
Only problem is that they might G the Dialga. :(
That could be a decent deck idea though, Shuppet and Machamp both taking quick prizes.
Well, it’s better than nothing. IMO they don’t guess a Machamp if they face Shuppet, so they probably attach Energy Gain onto Dialga G.
I’ve always wanted to try Blaziken FBX in Gliscor, but I never have the space.
I’ve always wanted to try Blaziken FBX in Gliscor, but I never have the space.
ok, what does “PLOX” mean???
I believe it means “Please”.
Plox is Gardevoir from Secret Wonders. It’s called Plox because of the P from Psychic and the Lo from Lock, X is for style. You got it ?
ok, thanks
Some decks just have to face that it has an autoloss somewhere in the field and adding a tech that shifts focus, reduce consistency, takes pivotal space in an already tight deck is definitely not the way to go.
Just thought I’d mention that I took first place at CC this past Saturday with my own version of Shuppet.
I might have just gotten lucky, but nothing that I expected to see that can counter the deck was present. No Dialga G, no Spiritomb, no Mr. Mime, no Mewtwo Lv.X. In fact I only got power-sprayed once in a total of 14 games. I guess sometimes your worst fears turn out to be vapor and shadows instead of reality.
One piece of info from my experience at the CC that might be worth sharing is that a single Mr. Mime would have shut down all of the decks I faced except for 1. Nearly everything was attacking with only 1 energy attached, even Charizard PA.
Personally, I don’t see room in Shuppet for Machamp (at least not in my take on Shuppet).
Plox is a pwnag deck but the Gengar LVX with the PA Gengar with Curse will win if it mainly runs Pokedex Handy 910 and Uxie LV.X, both can get cards from the deck easily, no supporters, just a quick way. Except Gardevoir’s attack Psychic Lock may do some harm. But then just take out Gardy with the SF Gengars Shadow Room or the other move.
I’ve tried it, check my post on the Gliscor article.
For some reason I never thought of shaymin for sceptile. Might have to try that out, as sceptile seems like a pretty good deck.
I’ve tried it, check my post on the Gliscor article.
I’ve playtested a Sceptile deck for about 2 weeks to find that it is unbeatable…once it is fully set up…However against quick hard-hitting decks such is Scizor or Shuppet, that set up will never happen.
I agree I think that against some of the fast hard hitters sceptile won’t last.
I’ve playtested a Sceptile deck for about 2 weeks to find that it is unbeatable…once it is fully set up…However against quick hard-hitting decks such is Scizor or Shuppet, that set up will never happen.
I agree I think that against some of the fast hard hitters sceptile won’t last.
I am making a sceptile deck please help me with my deck. :D
I am making a sceptile deck please help me with my deck. :D
Sure, what do you need to know?
Sure, what do you need to know?
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This website is often a walk-through for all of the data you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Seem here, and you will really find it.
I saw something on MSNBC about this I think