How to Prepare for Nationals + 10 Decks to Watch Out For

Hi everyone! Today I’m going to be talking about preparing for Nationals, and showing you some skeletons and explanations of some of the predicted top decks.

Preparing for Nationals

1. Starting testing HS-ON decks now. You’re going to want as much knowledge of the decks to expect as you can get. Right now if you hadn’t started testing and finally went hard-core around two weeks from the day of the event, do you think you would have near as much knowledge of the playing field as you would if you started now? If you can start now you’ll be much better off than waiting to the last minute to fix things up.

2. Have some rough idea of what you want to play. Right now I’m liking MagneBoar, and that’s what I’m going to play more. If you don’t have somewhat of an idea, you’re going to be left with two weeks left scrambling and under the stress of choosing your deck. Last year I wanted to play Jumpluff, and for my last Battle Road I took Jumpluff to test it out. I went 6-1 at the Battle Road and won the tournament. Coming prepared will help.

3. Know where you’re going to stay. Make reservations now. I’ve heard a lot of people complaining of forums about how they can’t find a room in a hotel. If you can reserve a room now, you’ll be much better off than being at the tournament site begging people if you can stay in their room.

4. Know what other people are playing. Browse around on the forums such as PokéBeach of PokéGym or even the SixPrizes forums. Look in the deck garages and see what people say they are playing for Nationals. This will help you get a feel for what the format is going to look like, and show you what to test against.

5. On the night before the event, don’t stay up too late. I know you’ll have to test a lot, but you need your rest. You can still play plenty of games, but you’re going to want 8-10+ hours of sleep. I know this might not be the way you roll, be this is how I do it.

I hope these tips help you have an enjoyable and fun time at Nationals!

Decklists and Explanations

1. Magnezone/Emboar

What?

pokebeach.comA lot of people are hyping this new deck. MagneBoar is very fast and consistent. It sometimes can have a few bad starts though. MagneBoar uses Magnezone Prime for its Magnetic Draw Poké-Power and its amazing attack Lost Burn.

Using Emboar’s Inferno Fandango, you can attach as many R Energies as you want to your Pokémon in your turn. You can attach Energies to your Magnezone and then Lost Burn them off to do tons of damage. Some builds play a 1/1 or 2/2 line of Rayquaza & Deoxys LEGEND aka RDL.

RDL’s attack Ozone Buster is broken. It does 150 damage for two R Energies, a Lightning, and a Colorless. Once you attack you discard all R Energies from RDL. Now at first sight this may seem very bad, bur RDL has a Poké-Body that says when you Knock Out one of your opponents Pokémon, draw 2 Prizes. Broken.

If you have two Lightnings attached to your RDL and two Fires, you can discard the Fires and get basically 2 Prizes every time. 150 Knocks Out almost every Pokémon in the game in one shot.

Why?

MagneBoar is fast, fun, and pretty consistent. I think it would be great choice for Nationals.

Magnezone / Emboar Skeleton – 49 cards (11 open spots)

Pokémon – 17

3 Cleffa HS/CL
2 Magnemite TM
2 Magneton TM
2 Magnezone Prime
2 Tepig Promo
2 Pignite BW #17
2 Emboar BW #20
1-1 Rayquaza & Deoxys LEGEND

Trainers – 18

3 Pokémon Collector
2 Judge
2 Professor Oak’s New Theory
4 Rare Candy
3 Pokémon Communication
2 Energy Retrieval
2 Junk Arm

Energy – 14

9 R
5 L

2. Reshiram / Emboar

What?

Reshiboar is a more consistent version of MagneBoar, but it gives up the late game. You’ll start off very fast hitting 120 every turn with Reshiram, until you either run out of energy, or they KO your Reshiram and you can’t recover. I think that MagneBoar has a better late game with RDL, but it’s up to preference.

Why?

I think that ReshiBoar is a pretty good choice for Nationals. It has a very good early game, and if they can’t set up quickly, they’ll lose.

Reshiram / Emboar Skeleton – 53 cards (7 open spots)

Pokémon – 16

4 Reshiram BW
2 Tepig Promo
1 Pignite BW #17
2 Emboar BW #20
2 Vulpix UL
2 Ninetales HS/CL
3 Stantler UL

Trainers – 21

4 Pokémon Collector
3 Pokémon Communication
3 Junk Arm
2 Energy Retrival
2 Rare Candy
2 Interviewer’s Questions
2 Professor Oak’s New Theory
3 Fisherman

Energy – 16

14 R
2 Double Colorless

3. Donphan / Yanmega

What?

Donphan / Yanmega is a fun disruption deck. You can disrupt your opponent by playing Judges. You can give them bad hands, and then control their top decks by using Slowking HS/CL. In the early game you set up a quick Yanmega Prime and Slowking.

You can start Judging, and after you Judge, control their top decks by using Second Sight. In doing this you can slow their set up down a ton, and now you can start setting up a Donphan to KO their Pokémon after they finally set them up,

Why?

It can ruin your opponents hand and give them bad draws. It could be the new SableLock.

Donphan / Yanmega Skeleton – 54 cards (6 open spots)

Pokémon – 19

2 Phanpy CL
2 Phanpy HS
4 Donphan Prime
4 Yanma TM
4 Yanmega Prime
3 Smeargle

Trainers – 25

4 Copycat
4 Judge
3 Pokémon Collector
3 Pokémon Communication
3 Junk Arm
3 Switch
2 Pokémon Reversal
3 Super Scoop Up

Energy – 10

7 F
3 Rescue

Mandibuzz BW4. Kingdra / Mandibuzz

What?

KingBuzz is a spread and snipe deck. You spread damage by using Kingda’s Spray Splash, and then you snipe the Pokémon you did it to with Mandibuzz. It’s a very effective combo. The only decks it has bad matchups against are Zekrom and MagneBoar.

Why?

It’s consistent and fun to play. Many people will be running some kind of Baby Pokémon such as Tyrogue, Cleffa, Elekid, ect. it will be very easy to KO these thirty HP Pokémon when you can snipe them for sixty which is a 1HKO.

Kingdra / Mandibuzz Skeleton – 51 cards (9 open spots)

Pokémon – 21

3 Vullaby BW
3 Mandibuzz BW
4 Horsea UL
3 Seadra UL
4 Kindgra Prime UL
2 Zorua BW
2 Zoroark BW

Trainers – 27

4 Pokémon Collector
4 Rare Candy
3 Pokémon Communication
3 PlusPower
3 Junk Arm

Energy – 13

4 Special D
3 D
3 W
3 Double Colorless

5. Zekrom

What?

In my opinion Zekrom isn’t up to par because it loses to Donphan so much, but it was suggested to me that I add it to this article. Zekrom utilizes Shaymin UL, and Pachirisu CL.

First you play a Pachirisu and do Self-Generation and attach two Lightning energies to Pachi, now you can use Shaymin’s Celebration Wind and move those Energies to your Zekrom.

Why?

It’s a Basic and has a very good attack. It can 1HKO a lot of things and beats two very good decks; Blastoise / Floatzel, and Kingdra / Mandibuzz. It also fairs fine against other decks.

Zekrom Skeleton – 50 cards (10 open spots)

Pokémon – 14

4 Zekrom BW
4 Elekid TM/Cleffa HS/CL/Other starter
3 Pachirisu CL
3 Shaymin UL

Trainers – 22

4 Pokémon Collector
3 Dual Ball
2 Energy Retrieval
4 Super Scoop Up
2 Seeker
3 Junk Arm
2 Professor Oak’s New Theory
2 Interviewer’s Questions

Energy – 14

12 L
2 Double Colorless

6. Blastoise / Floatzel

What?

Blastoise / Floatzel is a deck where Floatzel uses its Aqua Acceleration to attach a W Energy to Floatzel, and
then you Blastoise – Wash Out. Wash Out lets you move a Water from one of your Pokémon to Blastoise. You can move the attached Energy to Floatzel to Blastoise.

Why?

It’s consistent, easy to play, and can disrupt your opponent badly by KOing their Pokémon before they evolve. I think it would be a very good choice for Nationals if you teched in some kind of Zekrom counter; Throh, Donphan, ect.

Blastoise / Floatzel Skeleton – 54 cards (6 open spots)

Pokémon – 19

3 Cleffa HS/CL
3 Buizel UL
3 Floatzel UL
4 Squirtle UL
2 Wartortle UL
4 Blastoise UL

Trainers – 21

4 Pokémon Collector
4 Pokémon Communication
2 Professor Oak’s New Theory
2 Copycat
3 Rare Candy
3 Switch
2 Energy Retrieval
1 Junk Arm

Energy – 14

10 W
4 Double Colorless

7. Steelix

What?

Steelix is a tank deck where you set up a Steelix, and then go ahead wreaking your opponent with heavy attacks. It’s easy to set up because you can use Skarmory to attach Special Metals to Steelix. Scizor is a nice partner to back up Steelix when it gets KO’d.

Why?

I think it’s a ligit contender for the Nationals playing field. It may be a tad slow though. I think if you have a build where you can set it up early enough, then it’s a good choice for Nationals.

Steelix Skeleton – 50 cards (10 open spots)

Pokémon – 16

4 Onix UL
4 Steelix Prime
4 Skarmory UL/CL
2 Scyther UL
2 Scizor Prime UL

Trainers – 20

4 Pokémon Collector
2 Twins
4 Pokémon Communication
2 Energy Retrieval
3 PlusPower
3 Potion
2 Pokémon Reversal

Energy – 14

6 Meta (Basic)
4 Special M
4 Double Colorless

8. Scizor

What?

Scizor is faster than Steelix if you play it with Electrode. You can set up a ton of Energies on your Scizor when you use Electrode’s Energymite. Now that your Electrode is KO’d, you can use Twins to set up even faster! Once you start tanking with all those Special Metals, you’ll be off to an early lead and have a nice chance at the game.

Why?

It’s fast, and relatively an easy deck to play. It can start rolling early, and once you start tanking, it’s hard to Knock Out.

Scizor Skeleton – 55 cards (5 open spots)

Pokémon – 16

4 Skarmory UD/CL
4 Scyther UD #65
4 Scizor Prime
2 Voltorb TM
2 Electrode Prime
1 Cleffa CL
1 Shaymin UL

Trainers – 26

3 Pokémon Collector
3 Twins
3 Pokémon Communication
4 Super Scoop Up
4 PlusPower
3 Switch
3 Junk Arm
2 Dual Ball

Energy – 13

7 M
4 Special M
2 Rescue

 

 

Tyranitar Prime9. Tyranitar

What?

Tyranitar is a tank deck with very high damage output. Tyranitar can be paired with Serperior to continuously heal and tank even more. Tyranitar can also be played with Mandibuzz to use Darkness Howl and then snipe the bench with Mandibuzz.

T-Tar’s Megaton Tail can deal some heavy damage and you’ll be taking the early lead. Tyranitar has a whopping 160 HP and can be hard to KO, and even more so when paired with Sperperior.

Why?

If you want to play a good tank deck, here’s where it’s at. Tyranitar has good match ups all around, except for Donphan, and has great attacks to lighten any deck.

Tyranitar Skeleton – 55 cards (5 open spots)

Pokémon – 23

2 Zorua BW
2 Zoroark BW
4 Larvitar UL #51
3 Pupitar UL #39
4 Tyranitar Prime
2 Snivy BW #1
1 Servine BW #3
2 Serperior BW #6
1 Smeargle UD/CL

Trainers – 18

4 Rare Candy
3 Pokémon Communication
4 Pokémon Collector
2 Professor Juniper
2 Twins
2 Switch

 

Energy – 14

4 Double Colorless
4 Special D
3 D
3 Rainbow

10. Cinccino

What?

Cinncino is fast and fun deck. You swarm out Cinncinos, and then max out Cinncino’s attack by doing 100 damage. 100 for a Double Colorless is amazing. In a slower format this is what might come to bite your back.

I think that Cinccino would be a ton better if you had an ideal way to counter Donphan. Donphan 1HKOs Cinccino, so that match up will pretty much be an auto-loss.

Why?

Cinccino can take down other decks pretty easily with its high damage and speediness. It has decent games around the board too.

Cinccino Skeleton – 49 cards (11 open spots)

Pokémon – 20

4 Minccino BW
4 Cinccino BW
3 Zorua BW
3 Zoroark BW
4 Cleffa BW
1 Bouffalant BW
1 Tyrogue HS/CL

Trainers – 19

4 Pokémon Collector
4 Pokémon Communication
4 Super Scoop Up
2 Seeker
2 Dual Ball
3 Junk Arm

Energy – 10

4 Double Colorless
3 Special D
3 Rescue

The Best Choice (In my Opinion)

When you look at the match ups, I think that MagneBoar is best overall choice for Nationals. Why? It has great match up all around the board. It’s consistent, it’s very fun, hits very hard, and has very good synergy.

I hope this article has shown some insight on the Nationals format and given you some good Nationals preparing skills. Thanks for reading!

Reader Interactions

34 replies

  1. Curtis Hill

    Adding Yanmega to Zekrom helps to shore up the donphan matchup.
    I still agree with you that MagneBoar is the play

      • Emil lumen  → A

        Yanmega has a -20 resist to donphan. It can also snipe for 40. Finishing off whatever donphan’s earthquake is doing to the bench. Sounds like a good partner for Zekrom i guess.

        • Emil lumen  → A

          ….I just read Lanturn prime, 110hp 1 Lightning 2 DCE, it does 40 damage +10 for each energy  on your field, its poke-power: changes into a water type, it one shots donphan for 70 x 2 = 140 – 20= 120 but donphan can one shot it…(dang) plus the pachirisu and shaymin will help out lanturn like it does to zekrom. Also a good counter against fire decks.

          Maybe Lanturn is a better partner than yanmega that doesn’t revolve around changing the deck too much? 

          I dont know about you, but i dont run 4 starters like cleffa or stantler, I rely on trainers/supporters for draw power, and attack with my pokemon rather than search for the turn, cause in the end i may or may not start with them first turn and they end up slowing me down in the end, to me at least, cleffa hates me.

        • A Z  → Emil

          2 tyrogue is the best “starter” to put in zekrom other than straight zekrom because it can kill Cleffa starts turn one and still set up a zekrom behind it to hit whatever is left.

      • Mekkah  → A

        Yanmega buys you some time and snipes Donphan’s bench. Without some other kind of response you’re still going to get rolled over though, especially when Donphan drops Ruins of Alph and starts 2HKOing Yanmega with Earthquake.

        • A Z  → Mekkah

          so it snipes donphans bench which consists of what? more donphans (only take 20 from that so once they see yanmega they wont play anything that can be sniped easily) dont forget that yanmega also only works if you have the same number of cards in your hand as your opponent so it makes you play in a way that might lead to misplays that you have make to kill a lone donphan or something on its bench

  2. Anonymous

    I gave this article a positive rating because it is a good discussion starter.

    However, I think that the 10 decks are very hit and miss.

    You put a Mandibuzz/Kingdra deck but not DonChamp?

    No mention of Reshiram/Typhlosion. This deck is good and is capable of beating any deck out there. I just finished playing 5 games with it. It went 5-0 against the skeleton MagneBoar plus consistency cards to fill out the list. I know it’s only five games, but ReshiPhlosion is good.

    • A Z  → Anonymous

      most of what you say is good but magnegatr is meh.  every advantage you give for running magnegatr is already in magneboar and magneboar has the advantage in a head to head match up

      • Anonymous  → A

        I hear ya, but I respectfully disagree.

        I have not extensively (played about 15 matches with it) tested the deck. But MagneGatr is much more forgiving against anything Fire or Donphan, and both of those are predicted to be big players in the game. The tight energy list is freed up when you can use Alomomola or Samurott or Golduck to OHKO Donphan/Fire Types without having to send energy to the Lost Zone. It is much more forgiving.

        I’m also not too sure how the direct match up drastically favors MagneBoar. My testing (might not be worth much, I know) shows the match up to be pretty close.
        -Their consistency is virtually identical (both rely on Magnezone Prime).
        -They both both extremely hard hitters with virtually unlimited power.
        -They are virtually the same speed (setting up 2 Stage Twos).
        -They both have tech options. (RDL/Reshiram vs Alomomola/Bouffolant and Energy Switch/Shaymin).

        MagneBoar might be better, but not by a lot.

  3. Lee

    Good stuff. Scizor scares me a lot as I plan on running Beartic when he comes out. I hope fire runs rampant at nationals! Not in a literal way, however.

  4. Aydan Aires

    Awesome! :D My special deck I’m using for Nationals isn’t on here!

  5. Eric Lari

    I feel like MewGar is still viable next format. But yeah MagneBoar will be a tough contender for sure

  6. Emil lumen

    Nice! That scizor prime combo sounds good. Dont forget jumpluff too, its still out there, i think it teams up with cincino in some decks. Great work.

  7. Adam Bigott

    I don’t know if I would call MagneBoar fast…
    Also MewGar isn’t mentioned here at all nor is DonChamp which I feel like are decks that are way more likely to see play than Kingdra/Mandibuzz

    • Anonymous  → Adam

      I agree that LostMewGar should be on the list. I think there is a LostWorld deck out there waiting to be broken open.

  8. Carl Scheu

    I like the article but why is there a starter in Zekrom? Zekrom is the starter. But i do think you missed some key decks-
    MegaJudge
    DonChamp
    LostGar variants
    MewPluff

    But the decks you discussed where good, so plus one rating :)

  9. Ryan Graham

    Watch out for Lillipup Lock. Such an underrated deck.

  10. Michael Sison

    This is one of those great articles that only come by every now and then. I’m kind of wondering why LostGar isn’t in your list, though. Still, you’ve done a great job. :-)

  11. Julian Chen

    I think the Steelix and Scizor lists are pretty bad.

     I don’t what Scizor can do for the Steelix deck except add to the autoloss to Fire. Special Energy isn’t even a necessity as it was in MD-on, so Red Armor doesn’t do anything. Double Colourless is merely a speed bonus and the Pokemon that really relied on it are rotated out. Any deck that has DCE in it can also do without it. The odds of a mirror match with another Metal deck are low and there are better ways around it than Scizor. The only real offensive Dark Pokemon to abuse Special Dark Energy is Tyranitar, and Power Claw goes right through Scizor anyway.With Fire being so prevalent now, a counter shouldn’t even be teched, it should be core to the list. A big line of Zoroark or Lanturn Prime is crucial to even stand a chance against Reshiram, otherwise Steelix or Scizor can just roll over and die. Steelix should also run Judge otherwise you will never get out before your opponent.

    The article is not terrible, but I think you haven’t done any testing with the Metal decks because those lists don’t stand any chance of putting up a decent fight. As pointed out by other readers you also missed out important decks are Donchamp and Lostgar.

  12. Jeremy C

    Wait does this mean the format for US Nats is definately HS on? If so where can I sell my MD-HS cards and make a good profit?

  13. Eduardo Hernandez

    All the Decks listed above sound very good, but don’t go with the mainstream choices, they’re many different kinds of combinations to make killer decks, Just look at all the poke-powers/bodies, and find ones that work together.

    For example my Deck, Bench Washer/Life Regeneration, Essentially i have pokemon that attack the bench a lot and thrash them all and the deck heals often.

Leave a Reply

You are logged out. Register. Log in.