pokemon-paradijs.comUnless you’ve been living under a rock in the Pokémon TCG, you’ve no-doubt heard the hype of trainer-locking and its newest proponent, Vileplume from the new Undaunted expansion. Not only does the hype seem founded, but in the fallout of the 2010 World Championships, Dialga G LV.X is rapidly growing in popularity as a sea of imitators (myself included) try to capture the success of Yuta Komatsuda’s winning deck.
With Battle Roads coming up, and these two monsters sure to be popular choices, everyone seems to be forgetting about a certain flaming chicken that’s angry at having lost his spot when Double Colorless Energy was released. Cue obligatory history lesson here.
Almost overnight, when LuxChomp gained Double Colorless Energy as a great source of ammo for Garchomp C’s “Dragon Rush”, Blaziken FB went from one of the most feared Pokémon of the most powerful deck in the format to a faded memory that was used more as a tech than anything else, and not very often at that. With all of the hype surrounding Dialga G as the new “big” tech for LuxChomp, it’s ironic that what it replaced was actually its greatest counter.
Blaziken FB is, in short, one of the best disruptors in the new format, and almost a perfect counter to both Vileplume and Dialga G. The main draw is, of course, its “Luring Flame” attack. gusting in a Pokémon and burning it was originally the favored method of having free snipes with Dragon Rush, but here it would serve the purpose of actually drawing up your main concerns.
pokemon-paradijs.comWith Blaziken FB LV.X’s Poké-Body “Burning Spirit”, you can easily 1-shot either of the above threats the turn after Luring them up, and unless they use Warp Energies or Poké-Turns in Dialga’s case (which would allow other bodies anyway, so putting the pressure on your opponent to make that choice is a good move), there’s nothing they can do.
In fact, Blaziken FB is so versatile for this purpose that it can function as a great tech in BOTH VileTomb and LuxChomp for countering each deck’s respective threat. Other possibilities are there as well, such as teching Blaziken to work alongside Mewtwo (as a way of luring in their Mewtwo counter, such as Drifblim, Honchcrow, or again, Dialga G and decimating them before they’ve adequately built up enough to counter Mewtwo), or just as a tech in ANY of the lower-tier SP decks.
The beauty of Blaziken is that all of the talked-about strategies in recent sets do not affect Blaziken’s usefulness whatsoever. The tanking decks like Steelix Prime and DialgaChomp can both lose their main proponents in one shot when encountering Blaziken, and the same can be said for the newly-talked about Scizor Prime. Umbreon, while not as often talked about as Scizor, is also contained when using the base level of Blaziken FB to gust and burn without having the Poké-Body yet.
To say that Blaziken FB is a flexible tech would be an understatement. A line of 1/1 and two R Energies for security is easy enough to fit into any type of deck if you have a problem with Dialga, Vileplume, or anything else that Blaziken has the ability to counter (in fact, the only matchup it might hinder you on would be against Gyarados). That said, give the fighting chicken some love. If Trainer-lock and Dialga G’s rising popularity are any indication, it will be a solid answer to many of these metagame hazards.
Very well written article, but…
Enormous problem. Most VileTomb lists will run 4 Warp Energy. And if you’re holding more than 3 Trainers/Supporters when they warp out, bye bye Blaziken.
Even so, it’s still i really good counter to both Dialga and VileTomb because it can drag up both of them. Also, it could be used to drag up a Claydol or another big-retreat bench sitter. It’s not quite as good as Garchomp cause he can just kill them, not use an attack to drag them up, but still.
Also, you gotta remeber that, warp energies are special energies, meaning only 4 can be played, so just remember that.
Summary: Still a great card, deserves to see some play in perhaps Sablelock or something, but it is not a perfect card.
Ok… Claydol is out of format, and maxing out Warp Energy makes retreat cost irrelevant. Playing 4 Warp Energy gives the VileTomb player a pretty solid chance of hitting one, especially considering they only need to Warp out 1 time, then Blaziken is dead and the Luring threat is gone. Also, the VileTomb list that has been doing well in our Monday night tournies has been attaching Unown Q, meaning Vileplume only needs 1 energy to retreat.
I’ve decktested against a very good VileTomb player countless times now, trying to get my match-up to at least 50/50. I don’t use Blaziken, but “Bright Look” is virtually the same thing (but better, because you can still attack) and it’s mostly been useless as a stall because of all the Warp Energy. It’s still good for getting a KO, but you don’t have that option with Luring Flame because your turn ends. My best chance so far has been to get Dialga G Lv. X out, spray the Level Down as many times as I can, and maybe spike 2 heads on a Remove Lost to really mess up Poltergeist. Or, I play all my trainers, PokeTurn Dialga G Lv.X and put Dialga G back on the bench to be leveled up the following turn so that he isn’t a target.
Summary: if you’re playing SP, your Anti-VileTomb tech should be Dialga G Lv. X. If you’re not, check out Umbreon UD. I watched a brand new, completely untested Flygon/Umbreon deck take a very good VileTomb down to 1 prize last night. VileTomb ended up having to poison Umbreon with Oddish and hang on for dear life.
Ok… Claydol is out of format, and maxing out Warp Energy makes retreat cost irrelevant. Playing 4 Warp Energy gives the VileTomb player a pretty solid chance of hitting one, especially considering they only need to Warp out 1 time, then Blaziken is dead and the Luring threat is gone. Also, the VileTomb list that has been doing well in our Monday night tournies has been attaching Unown Q, meaning Vileplume only needs 1 energy to retreat.
I’ve decktested against a very good VileTomb player countless times now, trying to get my match-up to at least 50/50. I don’t use Blaziken, but “Bright Look” is virtually the same thing (but better, because you can still attack) and it’s mostly been useless as a stall because of all the Warp Energy. It’s still good for getting a KO, but you don’t have that option with Luring Flame because your turn ends. My best chance so far has been to get Dialga G Lv. X out, spray the Level Down as many times as I can, and maybe spike 2 heads on a Remove Lost to really mess up Poltergeist. Or, I play all my trainers, PokeTurn Dialga G Lv.X and put Dialga G back on the bench to be leveled up the following turn so that he isn’t a target.
Summary: if you’re playing SP, your Anti-VileTomb tech should be Dialga G Lv. X. If you’re not, check out Umbreon UD. I watched a brand new, completely untested Flygon/Umbreon deck take a very good VileTomb down to 1 prize last night. VileTomb ended up having to poison Umbreon with Oddish and hang on for dear life.
you seem to forget that blaziken is a basic, and only needs a fire energy, both things easy to get with an aarons, and since night is gone, many sp decks will now run 2, now considering you can only warp 4 times, and you need to get the energy withouth a reliable draw power, well . . . you may be lucky and hit the warp 2 times in a row, but the 3rd is not going to be so easy to get.
Even so, i dont know about blaziken as a tech, 4 slots in a deck seems like too much, considering there are better options to countering both vileplume and dialga, on the otehr hand, i think blaziken as a deck (blazechomp or blazeray) will regain a lot of popularity since it has a good chance against both dialga and vileplume, who seem to be the preferred choices of non-SP players.
I guess I didn’t explain myself very well. The problem isn’t Blaziken in general, it’s the tactics behind it. Stalling against VileTomb doesn’t help you… all it does is allow useless trainers to pile up in your hand. And if you eventually kill the Vileplume (by dragging it up, praying they don’t retreat it or warp it, and then killing it the following turn) it will usually be back the next turn, as the wise VileTomb player will sit on an Oddish/Rare Candy/Vileplume all game long. That means you STILL didn’t get to play your trainers (because you killed the Vileplume and then your turn ended), but the VileTomb player got to play them for a whole turn before the Oddish-Candy-Plume drop (which, if he’s smart, will come as the last play before he attacks you).
Hence my suggestions: if you’re struggling against this deck, either shut off Vileplume’s body with Dialga or wall against Gengar with Umbreon UD. I’m not trying to hate on this Blaziken article (which, as I said, is very well written, but flawed) or on other people’s suggestions. I simply despise Vileplume and want to help everyone figure out the best way to deal with it so it will (hopefully) be so incredibly teched against that it won’t be worthwhile to play.
Wow…I must say, I’m impressed with this reply. Someone that has a clue how to play Dialga.
BTW, if you just happened to have bought some Collectors on Ebay recently, that was from me ;) Got them out last night.
I love Blaziken and wished it had seen more play. This will be teched in more than in the past, but gengar/vileplume already has an anti dialga G – Either Gengar X or dropping 6 damage counters for 2 turns. It seems Blaziken FB will also take 2 turns, so I don’t see it teched into genger/vileplume decks. I do see it teched into alot of different decks to deal with Dialga G’s pokebody and to pull up vileplume though.
how exactly are they gonna be dropping 6 dmg counters on dialga G x?
in 2 turns :)
Initially I would think with Shadow Room, but Dialga G X (and Dialga G for that matter) doesn’t have any powers, so…?
I played this guy in my charizard deck for battle roads spring, and the main problem, and I can’t stress this enough: Luring flame is almost completely USELESS when luring someone with 1 or 0 retreat. 9/10 times they find a way to get him back, and this little guy is just a sitting chicken. It worked very well against claydols and guys with 2 or more retreat but with claydols gone, I actually took him out of my deck.
You don’t luring flame a 1 retreat cost pokemon… or a 0
It’s alreay been stated, but 4 Warp Energies make a folly of this play, and the opponent is definitly sitting on Oddish>Candy>Vileplume. Perhaps if you manage to Judge the turn you kill it they will be out a plume for a few turns, that might be tour best bet.
I like the Judge idea. That could also work well the turn you kill Gengar. Even if you get Fainting Spell KO’ed, they’d be in big trouble if they didn’t have another Gengar set up and got judged.
Just last night I put this in my Luxchomp. Iv played Blaziken, Luxray, Garchomp before but I had ERL in it. I never used ERL so I said Eff it and took the deck apart haha
Just last night I put this in my Luxchomp. Iv played Blaziken, Luxray, Garchomp before but I had ERL in it. I never used ERL so I said Eff it and took the deck apart haha
No Doubt that blaziken is a good card.
But I feel like he even may lose more play in the coming days
In my testings Blaziken Fb doesn’t make a big difference in the vileplume matchup.
And Infernape 4 might see more play because he can OHKO a fully loaded Steelix Prime.
And steelix prime may see a lot more play if we can ever get a good list
No Doubt that blaziken is a good card.
But I feel like he even may lose more play in the coming days
In my testings Blaziken Fb doesn’t make a big difference in the vileplume matchup.
And Infernape 4 might see more play because he can OHKO a fully loaded Steelix Prime.
And steelix prime may see a lot more play if we can ever get a good list
I really like blaziken fb and hope he sees a comeback. I’ve even thought blaze could warrant it’s own deck build. Nice job on the article!
I really like blaziken fb and hope he sees a comeback. I’ve even thought blaze could warrant it’s own deck build. Nice job on the article!
<—Likes chenlok
I've been playtesting this. It has Blaziken.
I think this is a great article and a very viable tech in the proper deck. With Vileplume and Dialga SURE to see an increase in play, Blaziken FB and the Lv. X are great to have on hand.
Thanks for writing this article. I enjoyed it and will look forward to any future write-ups by you.
I actually just started teching in this Balziken in my Charizard deck. I run Roast Reveal Ninetales for draw power, and instead of running Typhlosion Prime like a lof of Charizard decks run, I have the Stage two Fire Breath Blaziken. This actually works out pretty well because Blaziken FB Lv X has only a retreat cost of 1 and I can warp point him out, level him up, play an energy, retreat for Charizard which is already built up with one energy, Fire Breath, hope it dosent get sprayed, and attack with Charizard and use Blaziken FB Lv X’s poke body to increase damage by 40. usually the attack does 110 for one fire energy.
hey nice idea! I never thought that way before but hey, how can you retrieve your lost energies? I, as an extensive CZard fan, I would like to recommend a Burned tower? Yeah you might be wondering but its worth to have than a Typhlosion. Still, I am getting ready to use my “Evolved Fire Starters Deck” but not the way you think. I’m hoping that my article would be approved and would be shown here. I’m very interested on fire Pokemon…. PEACE OUT!
hey nice idea! I never thought that way before but hey, how can you retrieve your lost energies? I, as an extensive CZard fan, I would like to recommend a Burned tower? Yeah you might be wondering but its worth to have than a Typhlosion. Still, I am getting ready to use my “Evolved Fire Starters Deck” but not the way you think. I’m hoping that my article would be approved and would be shown here. I’m very interested on fire Pokemon…. PEACE OUT!
hey nice idea! I never thought that way before but hey, how can you retrieve your lost energies? I, as an extensive CZard fan, I would like to recommend a Burned tower? Yeah you might be wondering but its worth to have than a Typhlosion. Still, I am getting ready to use my “Evolved Fire Starters Deck” but not the way you think. I’m hoping that my article would be approved and would be shown here. I’m very interested on fire Pokemon…. PEACE OUT!
hey nice idea! I never thought that way before but hey, how can you retrieve your lost energies? I, as an extensive CZard fan, I would like to recommend a Burned tower? Yeah you might be wondering but its worth to have than a Typhlosion. Still, I am getting ready to use my “Evolved Fire Starters Deck” but not the way you think. I’m hoping that my article would be approved and would be shown here. I’m very interested on fire Pokemon…. PEACE OUT!