Alternatives To Claydol

Hi members of the Pokémon community! I would like to talk about some cards that may be able to replace Claydol in your decks.

Ninetales HS

pokemon-paradijs.comNinetales can be used for good draw power because of his “Roast Reveal” Poké Power. “Roast Reveal” lets you discard one fire energy from your hand and the draw 3 cards. This is okay but is power sprayable. Ninetales pairs well with Typhlosion Prime because Typhlosion lets you attach a fire energy from you discard pile to a Pokémon of your choice. (see the combo?)

I suggest using a 2-2 line of Nintales and a 1-0-1 line of Typhlosion Prime or a 2-1-2 depending on the number of energy and Rare Candy you use. I have found great success with a 2-2 Nintales and a 1-0-1 Typhlosion.

Recomended decks: Charizard, decks with a lot of fire energy and decks with Pokémon that need a lot of C energy.

Night Teleporter

Night Teleporter doesn’t let you draw any cards, but if you get heads on a coin flip you shuffle your hand into your deck and search your deck for one card (Uxie anyone?). If you choose to get Uxie, you can get 7 new cards. I have found some succsess with 2. In some decks you might need 3, but if you play it use 3 max.

Recomended Decks: Decks with a lot of Uxie, some SP decks and I have seen it used in Gyarados.

Dusknoir SF

pokemon-paradijs.comDusknoir has a good Power called “Shadow Command” which lets you draw 2 cards the put 2 damage counters on Dusknoir the damage counters are good and I will tell you why. Dusknoir has an attack called damage even which for 1 Psychic and 1 C energy lets you put the number of damage counters on Dusknoir on any of you opponents Pokémon.

This is good for taking out low HP pokemon your opponent wants to hide and taking down Gengar SF with out worring about “Fainting Spell”. His only problem is his high Retreat Cost. I use a 2-1-2 in my Flygon deck (with great succsess) because his Retreat Cost stinks and he can snipe non LV.X cards well.

Recomended decks: Decks with psychic energy and rare candy, Flygon and possibly Jumpluff or Gyrados.

Well let me what you think and tell me if I missed anything.

Reader Interactions

38 replies

  1. Chris Barrieau

    Nice =]

    My opinion: Ninetails isn't flexible enough in terms of which decks you can stick it in, so I'm not too fond of that…
    Dusknoir is a Stage 2, and might be a little difficult to get out. Furthermore, it'll get KOed after a while unless you support it with some healing… Sure, Nidoqueen can work for that, but that's an extra 2 Stage 2's, you know? Starting to get a little complicated for my taste, even for S2 decks.
    Night Maintenance however, I have to say works quite nicely. =] Unless you're being trainer locked, decks running a heavy amount of draw trainers such as pokedex handy, poke drawer, and SSU's for Uxie will work nicely with Night Maintenance. The only thing that would REALLY suck is if you play your Night Teleporter, get an Uxie, play it, and get Sprayed…. Then you'd be stuck top-decking, and having your turn ended prematurely, basically. So, that is to be watched out for. =]

  2. James Hall

    I know I am going to get smacked around for this but I have been using Cleffa from HGSS as a backup for a crappy start. I know it isn't optimal but with the limited resources that I currently have it has got me out of some tight situations. And yes I know, it is all dependent on a flip of a coin, but it has worked for me so far.

  3. Chris Barrieau

    Dude. Use Sableye, but not for Donk. Have some Pokemon Collector, Prof. Oak's new Theory, Cynthia's Feelings, etc. in your deck and just impersonate. The only counter is Judge/GiratinaLetLoose.

  4. Chris Barrieau

    That's why you use Night Teleporter SMARTLY. You're just talking about randomly using it. …Especially with that “Oops” in there. :P Use Night Teleporter a little later game after you've had an opportunity to search your deck once. Whenever you're running NT, make sure you check for Uxie, and other key cards for your game. Also, don't depend on the NT. It's flippy. Therefore it can't be depended on. So play smartly and you'll be just fine with NT.

  5. Chris Barrieau

    That's why you don't depend on NT. Don't use it as a “replacement for claydol”. Use it as one of the building blocks for your replacement for Claydol.

  6. James Hall

    Thanks! Didn't think of that. I just started back up to pokemon tcg when the Indiana Regionals were going on. I started with the original cards and when I tried to get a decent deck together for regionals I was like, “wtf is a supporter?”, “wth, a stadium card?” so yeah, this is completely different from what I am used to. This is also why I am creating The Replacement. Thanks again skyAoiSora.

  7. Chris Barrieau

    Haha no problem man! =]

    And btw: There were stadium cards for a long time, since those “Light Pokemon” came out so many years ago with the third set of HG I think it was. Or fourth. Not sure. Anywho. W/e. :P

    I used to have Sableye in for donks.. then I discovered how good this is:

    Use Sableye to use Pokemon Collector… Go get a main attacked (or basic of it), a tech (usually basic) and an uxie for after you finish your hand next turn.

    Hope this helps you man! =]

  8. Alex Pike

    To be honest I think I'm just gonna be lazy and run a 2-2 line of Dodrio to draw extra cards and see how that goes

  9. The Wii Man1234

    One of my favorite ideas are Banette PL with Uxie since it can't be Trainer locked, or Power Sprayed.

    • Theo Seeds  → The

      bannete can be power sprayed, but they’d save it for uxie.

      Poke-Power: Temper Tantrum

      Once during your turn (Before Your Attack) you may discard as many cards from your hand as you like. If so, put that many damage counters on Bannete. This power can’t be used if Bannete is affected by a special condition.

  10. Chris Barrieau

    XD LMAO! You're a noob :P Sure Banette can't be sprayed, but Uxie will! :P You'll be stuck with an empty hand. :P

  11. Chris Barrieau

    Would depend on how your deck is built. My deck would die because of bench space. :P

  12. ctaylor33

    Makes me not want to play Pokemon anymore. Magic the Gathering anyone?

  13. Zade Kaakarni

    Dusknoir only gets damage on it if you have more than seven cards in your hand. If you use it with more than seven cards, you have to discard until you have six as well as the two damage. It could work.

    Also, if you save up the damage counters for damage even, its possible your opponent can KO the dusknoir while it is active or with a bench targeted attack. Too risky if you don't know what your up against but has potential.

    The others are situational IMO

  14. Ryan Graham

    I like the calssic nintendo arcade game Donkey Kong too!

  15. Alex Pike

    You can find bench space for 2 Claydols but not 2 Dodrio? :O

  16. Carter Giese

    great article night teloporter is a good idea what would you think about 4 in pluff

  17. Matthew Riddle

    Dusknoir takes the 20 damage whether or not you have 7 or more cards in your hand. The “Then place 2 damage counters on Dusknoir” isn't reliant on the previous sentence regarding the discarding from the hand. It's dependent on the use of the poke-power. If Dusknoir only took 20 damage when your hand had 7 or more cards in it, the Poke-Power would read:

    “If you have 7 or more cards in your hand, discard a number of cards until you have 6 cards in your hand AND put 2 damage counters on Dusknoir.”

    But it doesn't read that way. The discarding is a separate action from the damage infliction and are not related.

  18. Zade Kaakarni

    'mk. I get what your saying, thanks for clearing that up before i took it into a battle :P

  19. Colin Peterik

    Best draw engine- 4 Unown R, 3 Rescue, 3 Collector. 4 Dex 4 Handi, 4 comm. 2 Uxie. Yeah Gastly is an auto loss but it is the best other than that..

  20. Martin Garcia

    Those are way too many cards just to draw, how do you plan to fit all that in your bench, and in your deck?
    If you find a way, please do tell me, becouse it would be interesting.

  21. Garrett Williamson

    And even if uxie is prizes you can always get azelf and time walk next turn for uxie? lol

  22. Garrett Williamson

    Arent we also forgetting that Noctowl HGSS lets draw one extra card per turn? One’s better than none.

  23. T_tibke

    What’s a 1-0-1 line (Typhlosion was mentioned)? How can you use that? You can’t evolve past Cynda’, even w/ Broken TS or Rare Candy…. can you?

  24. Colin Peterik

    All of those cards are burnable, making it so you draw into what you need. You don’t need Roseanne’s or Interviewer’s because you draw into energy. If you Dex into an R or a Drawer, you keep playing stuff until you get what you need, and try to consolidate your resources. It essentially turns any deck into an Uxie Solitaire engine, and it WORKS especially for low energy attackers like Pluff, Phan, Champ and Kingdra.

  25. Gordon Yet

    Actaully you would need another card as azelf requires you to put a card back ino the prize :P

  26. Chris Barrieau

    Rare Candy lets you play the Typhlosion directly onto your Cyndaquil, even if it’s the turn you played it. This has been one of the biggest card of the game for years. How can you not know this? :P

  27. Morgan Stamps

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