Does it Stand a Chance? – Magnezone

pokebeach.comHello SixPrize readers, I am (hopefully) going to run a short series of articles that are meant to investigate if some Pokémon we currently know (and sometimes love) will have a place in the upcoming HGSS-on format. The first Pokémon I will present is Magnezone Prime (Triumphant). This card was my favorite card since the Missouri State Tournament. You can read my Regional report here, and see how I messed it up.

Let’s go over the basics. In our current format, this card recently saw an uptick in play. Morten really brought the MagneRock deck concept to the forefront with an 8-0 swiss record at the ECC. Magnezone Prime is a Stage 2 Pokémon with 140 HP. If has one attack and a Power.

The “Magnetic Draw” Poké-Power is extremely viable in the next format. With the loss of Uxie, the format is going to need a very good draw engine. This is one of two obvious sources of draw power (the other is Ninetales’ Roast Reveal).

The “Lost Burn” attack is beastly. It does 50 damage for each energy you move from the field to the Lost Zone. This attack can hit extremely hard and is a great late game closer.

You might ask, “if the attack is great and the power is great, why wouldn’t this card see play?” Well, many people are afraid of Stage 2 based decks without Broken Time-Space and a nerfed Rare Candy.

However, I think that this Pokémon is going to be very playable, possibly even Tier 1 if the list can be perfected. So, let’s look at a few potential lists to run with Magnezone, their positives and negatives.

List 1: Zekrom, Pachirisu, Magnezone Prime

pokegym.netThat brings us to 53 cards with seven slots left to fill. These could possibly be filled by maxing out several of the Trainers for consistency or adding a starter Pokémon for consistency like Stantler. Other cards to be considered would be Professor Oak’s New Theory, Judge, Professor Elm’s Training Method, Seeker, Super Scoop Up, etc.

This deck works like a Major League Baseball team. The deck has a leadoff hitter that can “get after it” quickly and then has a bulky, powerful clean-up hitter. You obviously want to start Zekrom and start hitting for 20+ damage turn one and up to 120 damage by turn two. Zekrom has such a high hp that it can stall long enough to set up your Magnezone Primes to close out the game.

Magnezone Prime is a very good draw engine. Pachirisu is possibly the most consistent energy accelerator in the format. This is because it is a basic that can Energy Switch and Switch allows you to save your Lightning energy before Zekrom is KO’d and to power up Magnezone the turn it hits the field.

The problem with this deck is Donphan Prime, Lucario, or other fast fighting decks. Right now, this deck does not have a good counter to those decks.

In all, this deck could hit for solid damage early and fast. Then it transitions to its clean-up player. It could be very good.

List 2: MagneGatr

pokemon-paradijs.com

This list has 54 cards. The list could be filled by most of the same cards as earlier.

The benefits to this deck are energy acceleration, draw power, and heavy hitting attacks. This deck includes a tech to counter both Reshiram and Donphan. It’s my “super secret” tech: Golduck!!! Golduck does 30+10 for each water energy in play. Paired with Feraligatr, this card can easily 1HKO both Donphan Prime and Reshiram.

The main drawback to this deck is relying on two Stage 2 Pokémon. Relying on that many Stage 2’s was risky before the Rotation and even more so in a HGSS-on format. I think that one Stage 2 is fine, but multiple could spell trouble.

This deck could be solid, but the list will have to be extremely tight for it to run well.

List 3: Magnezone Prime / Emboar

Pokémon – 18

3 Magnemite TM
3 Magneton TM
3 Magnezone Prime
2 Tepig BW
1 Pignite BW
2 Emboar BW
4 Reshiram BW

I am skipping the Trainer and Energy lines. It will need a standard list with either 4/5 Lightning Energy or 4 Rainbow energy.

This deck works like the MagneGatr deck, except that this deck will get to run a better starter.

So, what’s the verdict?

I definitely see potential with Magnezone Prime in the HGSS-on format. Out of the three decks that I presented, I think that the most likely deck to see play will be the Pachirisu/Zekrom/Magnezone Prime deck. It is the fastest of the three. It has a solid early game and great late game presence.

There are other pairing options for Magnezone, but these seem to be the most viable.