When Undaunted first hit the shelves here in Australia I was quite disappointed by the lack of any “stand out” cards in the set. Sure Vileplume and Weavile are quite good and maybe format defining; however the rest of the set in my opinion was rather lackluster. I then stumbled upon Combee UD (I must have been living under a Geodude).
Royal Rush is a rouge deck based around Combee UD’s attack “Enraged Assault”. For one colourless energy, it does a measly 20 damage but if you have a Vespiqueen on your bench that has any damage counters on it, it does an additional 60 damage. Quite a good output for one energy. So here are my thoughts on what could make this deck work in the current metagame and an analysis of the cards.
The Strategy
The strategy for this deck would be get out Vespiquen as quick as possible, and swarm Combee’s to attack your opponent. It sounds simple in theory, but there are many techs that can potentially increase the odds of pulling this off.
Shaymin LV.X (landform) gives all of your grass types an additional 40 HP using its Poké-Body “Thankfulness” which can be extremely handy in this deck. Unown P is a tech card that allows you place the damage counters on your benched Vespiqueen to power up Combee’s Enraged Assault.
I have toyed with running Sunflora HS in this deck as a quick way of getting out Combees, especially after recovering some from the discard pile with supporters such as Palmers Contribution and it worked quite well.
The Cards
Combee UD, as noted above will provide the damage output for this deck. It is a basic Pokémon with a Hoppip low 30 HP; a weakness to fire and a Retreat Cost of 1. Besides its attack it is quite horrible and opens you up for some destructive first turn donks.
pokebeach.comVespiquen UD, unlike its pre evolution has a very respectable 100 HP, the same weakness to fire and a terrible 3 Retreat Cost. Its attack, Mach Wind, for 1 grass and a double colourless does a low 60 damage but does come with the bonus of nullifying the Retreat Cost for a turn.
Vespiquen also sports a pretty cool Poké-Body in “Defense Sign” that basically nullifies all attacks that try to snipe your benched grass Pokémon.
Shaymin, as I am sure most of you are aware, is an excellent but sometimes clunky tech in grass decks. The basic form I prefer to use is the Unleashed one because of its Poké-Power “Celebration Wind” that allows the user to move around Grass energies when played from your hand.
From a little bit of testing, I am more inclined to go with 2 Shaymin UL and 1-of each of the LV.X forms. This might seem odd, but Shaymin LV.X (Sky forme) has a Poké-Body “Revenge Seed” that allows Shaymin to do an additional 60 damage if one of your grass Pokémon was Knocked Out in your last turn.
This is very handy with such low HP attackers. Shaymin Sky forme also comes equipped with a free Retreat Cost and a resistance to fighting (and by extension, Donphan Prime + Machamp) which always makes your day.
pokemon-paradijs.comSunflora UL, the permanently happy sunflower will bring a grin to your face every time you can search your deck for a grass Pokémon using its power “Sunshine Grace”. That is basically the extent of Sunflora’s usefulness as it sports a horrible attack, 80 HP for a stage 1 and a woeful Retreat Cost.
T/S/S
Memory Berry is here solely for Vespiquens to take to the fray and start hammering your opponent using Combee’s attack.
PONT or Professor Oak’s New Theory as its known in Kanto, is this decks primary means of draw. This is because all of the other draw engines either suck (Noctowl, I’m looking at you mate) or are type specific (Ninetales where art thou in my hour of need…) or are geriatrics (Claydol…sniff). I also live in fear of the hype train, that seems to be tooting Viletomb variants as the flavour of the month.
Judge; what can I say, the look on an SP players face is almost priceless (for everything else there’s mastercard right?).
Super Scoop Up’s are a personal thing; I seem to be a very lucky coin flipper and they usually come through for me.
Expert Belts: eh, I’m undecided to be honest. They can be more trouble than they are worth both being trainer locked and in a low HP deck, but a 160 HP Vespiqueen that hits like a truck is nothing to sneeze at either. (Doesn’t everyone love ideal, perfect scenarios?)
The List
Pokémon – 21
4 Combee UD |
T/S/S – 23
2 Palmer’s Contribution |
Energy – 10 |
You will notice that there is only 55 cards, the remainder I believe should be up to personal preference; run the risk with some more trainers or perhaps beef up your Pokémon lines. Personally, I run 3 BTS and 2 Rare candies for consistancy.
I’m fairly new to competitive Pokémon, but I do try, so here is the list as best as I can see it. It’s probably never going to be Tier 1, but that makes it even more fun to beat Tier 1 decks with.
Potential for Disaster
As with any deck there are weaknesses, and I wont shy away from any of them. First off is the already noted low HP of unthankful Combees which can be potential disaster for being donked in a Sableye/Donphan environment.
Next is the aforementioned trainer choking that Viletume provides. (everyone will just start playing Chatot MD…right???) While trainer locking doesn’t affect this deck as much as say an SP deck, mostly due to Sunflora, it does hurt its ability to use Memory Berries and SSU’s.
It should be noted however, that Gengar does suffer a little bit against Vespiqueen as it cannot snipe the bench full of Poké-power (Unown P says hi) users and can be KO’d with the help of poison from Enraged Assault.
Many people will be quick to point out Jumpluff as the contender for speedy grass deck, but in my most humble of opinions I believe this stage 1 deck, with a higher HP evolution to be almost on the level.
Of course well timed Power Sprays / Dialga G LV.X can really hurt this deck by shutting off powers and bodies respectively, and I expect Dialga to make a massive comeback in an evolving metagame.
A final note: Charizard completely annihilates this deck and if I ever see any in my area I will start using a Metapod tech that would help compensate for this.
I’m afraid I don’t want to invite disaster by posting rather unhelpful “match ups” as I believe anyone can plainly see what scenarios could be bad for this deck, however if I have overlooked something feel free to comment (constructive, if possible haha) as I am definitely not the best player and this is surely not the new BDIF.
I will end on saying that Royal Rush will Rampage Relentlessly into the Reaches of your Recreation.
Gengar SF can still snipe the bench. “Shadow Room” places damage counters, and does not deal direct damage. Also, Unown P is not a grass type, meaning it is not protected.
Why no BTS? And only two PKMN Coll? One collector for this deck is almost an auto-setup going turn two: Two Combees and an Unown P.
BTS was mentioned. its amazing how people skip articles and read decklists.
Decklists are nothing…
Deckllist should be a summary of the overall article. I put stock into reading for school. Pokemon is a past time, not a lifestyle.
You should also consider using the Vespiqueen SF. It’s body is great for coming from behind in prizes and also it has a much lower retreat cost. Better attacks too. Just a thought.
I think there should be at least 2 SF Vespiquens…
I think there should be at least 2 SF Vespiquens…
This is my version of the deck. Seen it played a league, and it does fairly descent.-2 Sunflora-2 Sunkern-1 Shaymin-1 Shaymin skyforme-3 UD Vespiquen-4 psychic+2 Cherubii+2 Cherrim (salty sweet pollen pokebody)+3 SF Vespiquen+4 Rainbow energySo… you have your Queen on the bench shielding everyone with either a rainbow on her, or unown P setting 1 dmg counter on her. 2 Salty sweet pollen, And a SF queen active with an EXPERT belt on her. so she is now hitting for 60 damage and is regenerating all of that lost health. NOW you only need to fit a metapod in there. Heres your perfect scenario for you. Your queen now has a max of 160 health, no weakness, bench cannot be sniped, and is hitting like a semi for a MINIMUM of 60 damage and is regenerating 60 health every turn.
What metapod are you speaking of?
HGSS
What about it makes it special?
What about it makes it special?
Mmm hate to break it to you, but salty sweet pollen is an attack, not a pokebody, it deals 20 damage and you can heal those 20 damage for no energy.
Cherrim´s pokebody is called sunny day, and adds 10 damage to fire and grass pkmn´s attacks.
I think you should only play one UD Vespiquen and and for the other 3 places you should use the Vespiquen from Stormfront because of its Green Dignity Poke-Body, which allows you to do 10 more damage for each of your grass Pokemon on your Bench if you have more prizes left than your opponent. But it really looks like a solid list to me.
I think you should only play one UD Vespiquen and and for the other 3 places you should use the Vespiquen from Stormfront because of its Green Dignity Poke-Body, which allows you to do 10 more damage for each of your grass Pokemon on your Bench if you have more prizes left than your opponent. But it really looks like a solid list to me.
Yeah, I agree. Use the one UD Vespiquen to really help with the SP matchups because it helps agains Honchkrow G and Garchomp C Lv.X.
Use the other 3 to add more of an attacking power.
Like I said on the last Combee article, Combee has HUGE potential to be a tier 2 deck(i have big doubts about it beating out LuxChomp for 1). However, when people try to work on decks that aren’t well established, they add in way to many techs and ditch consistancy.
You should make it a 2-3 or 3-3 Sunflora line, get rid of the Shaymin lines. Get in some switches to you can get Uxie Lv.X in play quicker. Get rid of 1 grass and 1 psychic energy for 2 rainbow energies. Also, reduce Unown P to 1. Also, get an Azelf in there.
I think this deck’s best bet to do well would be to be ubber consistent with enough techs to get rid of auto-losses, but keep it consistent. That is a big reason why rogue decks don’t do well, cause they just aren’t fast/consistent enough(see gyarados when it came 8th at worlds for the exception)
It should run somewhat like a mix of Jumpluff and Beedrill.
For some reason this site is not working on Google Chrome………
I just updated and it is working fine for me….
It just stopped working about 3 days ago. I know he updated the site but for some reason it doesnt work with Chrome on my computer anymore. It works in IE and Firefox but I dont like using those but I guess I have to now……..
I am seeing this now all of a sudden. This is a Chrome issue…
I just updated and it is working fine for me….
I actually only use Chrome so I’m not sure why it isn’t working for you.
What happens exactly, do you get a blank page?
Yeah, it doesnt load at all. Almost like it times out.
Yeah, it doesnt load at all. Almost like it times out.
Adam, I am now seeing this now all of a sudden. It is probably an issue with Chrome and not your site. I am having some issues at work too. We can look over it tonight if you like…
Let’s plan for Thursday again, I had some obligations tonight.
I used to use google chrome and eventually it just crashed and stopped working. Same thing happened to a lot of my friends. Not a very reliable browser…It was good while it lasted haha
I hate Sunflora! Lol
-1-1 Sunflora
+1 Bebe
+1 Comunicator
-4 Pyschic
+4 Call (You probably make a mistake here)
-4 SSU
+4 Whatever make this faster, you dont need SSU
I love sunflora lol.
I love Sunflora too- + 10 sunkurn/sunflora!!!
me too
Haha I just gotta rev unown P haha random I know. But ya, I’ve hared a lot about this deck but I’ve only seen it played once. I can see where people are coming from when the set up takes too much and with Viletomb increasing in popularity there’s going to be a lot of gengar SF, which like ofr3ako said has shodow room which takes out and exposed combee…but thats only if Shaymin Lv X isn’t out. Overall I really like the deck.
P.S. People always say “Vespiqueen” but there’s only 1 “e” at the end so it’s not “queen” it’s “quen” lol just though I’d through that out there.
I’ve been playing Galactic HQ Stadiums on a Combee deck for past few weeks since it’s nice handy move to get damage on Vespiquen without spending an energy to it or using one Bench space for Unown P. I’m not sure how well would this work on a “Vespiquen deck” (aka Memory Berry Combee) since your Vespiquens would take 20 damage every time you evolve it in play.
I hadnt tought about the HQ, its a really good idea and saves bench space, great job.
Yeah, Galactic HQ sounds like it would work really well. Great idea!
“PONT or Professor Oak’s New Theory as its known in Kanto, is this decks primary means of draw. This is because all of the other draw engines either suck (Noctowl, I’m looking at you mate) or are type specific (Ninetales where art thou in my hour of need…) or are geriatrics (Claydol…sniff). I also live in fear of the hype train, that seems to be tooting Viletomb variants as the flavour of the month.”
Haha great lines there!
As far the deck goes I think you’re going to need some Warp Energies, Warp Points, or Switches to get Shaymin out a little easier. Right now you have to wait for a knock out and retreat.
Warp Energy could also really help if a benched Vespiquen gets pulled active somehow.
-4 psychic ( i like the idea of unown doing damge… its just not enough to make it worth while)+4 Call-1 Palmers-4SSU-1 PONT-1 Judge (judge hurts you more than helps)+3 Pokemon Rescue+1 Memory Berry+1 Unown Q+1 Collector+1 CommunicationI also think you should run 1 combee honey… also I would find room for 1 Dept Store Girl and 3 BTS
Pokemon – 21
4 sableye MORE SPEED TO RUN OF SOPORTERS
4 Combee UD
4 Vespiqueen SF
3 Uxie LA
2 Shaymin UL
2 Shaymin LV.X (Landforme) 80 more of HP is pretty good no?
2 Unown Q They do miracles
T/S/S – 25
4 pokedex FAST
4 Professor Oak’s New Theory
4 Super Scoop Up
3 Memory Berry
2 Expert Belt
3 Pokemon Collector
3 Bebe’s Search
2 galactic HQ
1 Palmer’s Contribution For it have you 4 – 4 of vespiqueen not?
Energy –10
4 call energy
4 raibown energy
2 dark special energy
3 carts more to its choice
Good changes, but i definitly think this needs sunflora to speed up the reffiling of combees, considering you left 3 free spots, a 1-1 sunflora would be nice. Also, as cpeterik said, you NEED to read shaymin´s body again xD
Fuck … you have reason
-1shaymin
-1shaymin
-1uxie
+2uxie lvl X
+1pre of sunflora
+1sunflora
+2pokemon cominucation
do you like it?
Read the last sentence of “Thankfulness” a littttttle more carefully……
First off, I love this deck, and even more so, I’m glad I play charizard so this won’t be an issue XD. Great deck with alot of potential, but there are some very valid points in the comments here. Another collector wouldn’t hurt at all. With 2 you draw into them mid to late game mostly and they’re not that usefull then. The SF queen imo is superior, although I do like the bench shield as a body. Cherrim with their 10 extra damage would be killer, and sometimes you need to do more than 110 damage. Any deck with lv x’s needs some switch trainers or you’ll find it hard to get them out and nothing is worse than that lv X in your hand that you get to finally play after it’s effect wouldn’t help you much… seeing as your active was just knocked out. (we’ll see how well switch and warp point play after viletomb becomes the new luxchomp) I can’t wait to see this deck kick some butt, combee for worlds!
this is a really cool deck idea, and I hope you can get it to work. Ignore the sunflora comments- YOU NEED THIS!!! Also, I like the idea of adding a 1-1 Metapod line to help you with weaknesses.
I’d also run a little heavier supporter line than trainer line and definitely would run 4 bebes, but that’s just because I hype trainer lock decks so much (ha,ha). Also, I agree with eondusk below to add Sableye or perhaps Spiritomb and take out the psychic energy. In fact, you could throw in 4 special dark energy to give you the option of getting the T1 donk since combee only needs 1 colorless. Or, you could run call energy. I would probably try something like 3 rainbow, 2 grass, 4 call and 4 sp dark.
Hope this deck works for you- great idea!
I don’t think there’s a need for Metapod since most Fire pokemon are gonna kill anything here in one hit regardless.
“When Undaunted first hit the shelves here in Australia I was quite disappointed by the lack of any “stand out” cards in the set. Sure Vileplume and Weavile are quite good and maybe format defining”
Don’t you think that there are no “stand out” cards and yet, two of them are “format defining” is a little paradoxical? :p
It is paradoxical, but its not Pinocchio said “my nose will grow” paradoxical.
It is paradoxical, but its not Pinocchio said “my nose will grow” paradoxical.
Woah! Idea!
-4 Psychic Energy
-1 Shaymin UL
-1 Shaymin LV. X (Sky Forme)
+4 Fire Energy
+1 Vulpix (HGSS)
+1 Ninetails (HGSS)
You have no real need for Psychic energies, as Unown P’s attack isn’t that great. So instead, replace those Psychic with Fire and add a 1-1 Ninetails for extra draw power! I havn’t tested it, but on paper it sounds pretty good. In my opinion, you don’t need Sky Forme and the second Shaymin, so that’s what I took out. Mabey it’ll work, but will probably be too clunky. Anyway, I just thought that would be cool to try out!
really¡¡ is a good idea more speed, i take new ideas for this deck
An issue with the deck is that you only have very weak basics. When I ran this deck for a short time, I used 4 call energy (probably -2 sunkern -2 sunflora, imo) to avoid (try to avoid) donks.
You also need unown Q to get shaymin out of the active.