Now that I’m done with finals I’ve been enjoying the nice month I have off before my summer class starts. I’ve gotten the chance to play quite a bit and really test a lot of different decks and tech ideas I’ve been working on. In Josh’s last article he gave you what he felt were the top 3 decks of the format (Emboar/Magnezone, Machamp/Donphan, and Turn 1 Zekrom).
In my article I’m going to give you my personal list for all 3 of these decks as well as everything I’ve learned from my hours of playtesting. Hopefully you’ll be able to take what I’ve learned and apply it directly to your deck and your own testing and put yourself well ahead of the competition heading into the United States National Championship coming up in only a few short weeks.
Playtesting
Here are some important things I always keep in mind when I’m playtesting (and so should you!):
Playtesting Group: The better the players you playtest with, the better you will become. Playtesting against weaker players and weaker lists may lead to inaccurate testing results. You will also become much better much faster if your playing and learning from players well above your skill level.
Testing a Matchup: I like to test a match up a minimum of 10 times before I start to feel good about the results. I feel 10 games starts to decrease the odds of bad hands and fluke games skewing results.
Testing the Meta: A majority of your playtesting time should be spent playing against what you feel are going to be the most popular decks at the tournament. I feel it’s a good idea to at least have a general idea how to play against less popular decks, but don’t waste too much time on them.
Time: If your playing a deck (like Lostgar) that has trouble with timed games, you need to do at least some (if not most) of your testing timed. It’s important to make it as much like a real tournament as possible, so test both 30 +3 for swiss rounds, and test 60 +3 to simulate top cut matches.
Don’t get to accustom to certain lists: In a tournament you will never know your opponent’s exact list. If you get used to testing against a particular list especially one you know card for card you might play differently in testing. A way to avoid this is to have your playtest group switch certain card counts or techs on you, especially ones they feel your taking advantage of.
pokebeach.comFor example if you’re testing against Emboar/Magnezone and you find your playtesting partner playing Rayquaza/Dexoys Legend too early in the game, you could try teching in a Bouffalant (BW #91) to punish them for it.
Take advantage of last-minute tournaments: All the playtesting in the world cannot replace real tournament experience. Most years at both Nationals and World they hold last-minute tournaments to help players prepare for the big main event.
Unless you plan on playing an ultra secret deck that nobody has ever seen before you’ll get more out of this last-minute practice than you will from attempting to hide your deck. These are also good tournaments to watch because they will give you an idea what is going to be popular on the big day.
Deck Biases: The more time you spend testing and perfecting one or two decks, the better they will become and you will become at playing them. It’s important to keep in mind that while these decks will continue to become better the rest of your lists will most likely stay constant which can begin to skew testing results. By trying to test against players that are “experts” at the deck you want to test against you will gain a lot more from your testing than testing against mediocre players and lists.
For example, if I wanted to test against LoxChomp, I would hit Josh up for a game, but if I wanted to test my Vilegar match up I would go to Kettler. Since they have each spent more time testing and perfecting their respective decks and they might hit me up for a game if they wanted to test against LuxChomp. This isn’t always going to be possible but it’s something you should take advantage of whenever possible.
Repetition is key: I’m sure you have all heard this in every sport you’ve ever played, but it really is true. If you want to be good at a deck or Pokémon in general, you have to playtest a lot.
Allow each other to take moves back: The entire point of playtesting is to simulate a real tournament game, and you have to assume in a tournament your opponent is going to play perfectly. This also helps both of you get better.
Take Notes: This one is far more important in tournament games than it is in playtesting but it’s still good to keep in mind. Why players show up to a tournament without a notebook and pen is beyond me, there literally is no reason not to.
Be a good playtesting partner: Remember you’re not the only one who wants to get better, if your friends are helping you test certain match ups be willing to do the same for them.
Play against your deck as well: Playing against your deck puts you in the mindset of your opponent and gives you insight to what somebody is thinking when they are playing against you. I feel the best about a match up when I can’t beat my own deck in the match up.
What I’ve Learned from Hours of Testing
Cleffa/Pokémon Collector/Sages Training is probably the best and most consistent set up engine we have right now; I’m running it in a majority of my decks. The ability to get set up and have access to your key cards before your opponent is the difference between winning and losing. It does take some getting used to though, especially when you’re presented with tough discarding choices, and it’s not perfect for every deck.
That being said, I feel this engine really shines in speed based decks that need to set up quickly and draw into their key tech and disruption based cards. As far as slower Stage 2 decks go I’m still loving it in both Emboar/Magnezone and Donphan/Machamp.
I am having a harder time with it in other Stage 2 decks that can’t deal with the discarding. I’ll talk about some other alternatives later in the article.
The synergy between Sages Training and Junk Arm is amazing. Sages allows you to burn through your deck at an alarming rate allowing you to quickly set up your key Pokémon or search for answers to your current situation. This also fills your discard pile with Trainer cards, which allows Junk Arm to become a tool box of sorts.
This synergy really shines in the late game when your discard pile is normally full of Trainers. Not only can this give you access to key cards like Rare Candy or Pokémon Communication if you need them, but it also lets you get away with having to run fewer copies of tech cards like Switch, PlusPower, and Pokémon Reversal.
Professor Juniper is amazing in speedy Basic and Stage 1 decks that are able to play their hand down. Faster decks also play far more Trainers and discarding them isn’t all bad thanks to Junk Arm and its tool box I talked about earlier.
However, I found Juniper to much of a liability in Stage 2 and set up decks that can’t afford key cards getting discarded. Professor Oak’s New Theory is much better alternative for decks that can’t deal with the discarding.
Pokémon Collector > Dual Ball in every set up deck and a toss-up in speed based decks. I know both Josh and Mikey love Dual Ball, but I just haven’t found the card to be as useful. With the exception of Zekrom, all my decks run 4 Pokémon Collector before I even consider running Dual Ball.
Cleffa > Smeargle in almost every deck. Without access to Unown Q for free retreat, and the ability of the person going first to play supporter cards (like their Pokémon Collector before you get the chance to use it). Smeargle just isn’t as reliable as he used to be the only thing he really has going for him that Cleffa doesn’t is his beefy 70 HP.
Pokémon Catcher is going to be bad for the format. I assume almost every deck will run 3-4, the card is simply to splash able and to game changing not to run. The format is going to drastically change when this card is released.
The format is really a 1HKO format. So many Pokémon do large damage with relative ease (Magnezone, Bad Boar, Machamp Prime, etc.). This has made tanking Pokémon almost unplayable, (sorry Steelix Prime) going on along those same lines any deck that has to put a lot of effort in getting their main attackers up and ready is going to struggle.
The top decks will cover be able to cover their weakness. Type matching is nothing new to Pokémon and has been around since the start. Being able to effectively cover your own weakness gives you an edge over other decks. If you look at the big players in this format Magnezone/Emboar, Machamp/Donphan, Zekrom/Yanmega, their main attackers don’t share the same weakness.
Promo Tepig > Regular Tepig. The chance to burn a Baby in this format out shines a very vanilla 10 damage. I have toyed around with a 2-1 split on the Tepigs, but for right now I’m sticking with 3 of the promo one. That being said, I have never actually had a game where it has made any difference at all on the outcome. If you can’t get your hands on the promo Tepig don’t think you are at some huge disadvantage.
Cards jump in price quickly. Okay, so maybe this isn’t as much playtesting as it is just a basic observation. Cleffas were .25 a piece when Fulop’s Emboar/Magnezone article came out and RDL pieces were $6-$7. I just looked the other day Cleffas were $4 a piece and RDL pieces are like $20. I’m glad I got my stuff early.
It’s important to keep in mind in a quickly developing format that card prices can shift rapidly don’t wait too long to pick up key cards.
The opening coin flip is huge! With literally no restrictions on going first, whoever goes first will be a full turn a head of their opponent throughout the entire game.
Stage 1’s are slow. Stage 1’s in set up decks have always simply been a means to an end. With Broken Time-Space gone and everything getting 1HKO’d so easily, they’re horribly slow. I have never found a need to run more than 1 copy of the Stage 1 in anything 3-1-3 or less, and never more than 2 in a 4-2-4 line up. Between Rare Candy and Junk Arm you shouldn’t need any more than that.
Tyrogue: For me the jury’s still out on this one, he’s testing okay in fast speed decks and more poorly in slower set up decks. Even getting the KO on a Cleffa might mean I go up a prize, but it always seems to put me behind in the set up race for Stage 2 decks. I really don’t feel comfortable at this point to tell you guys to run him or not to run.
Turn 1 Zekrom
I have two different lists: one is straight Zekrom; it’s faster and more consistent, but loses out right to anything that plays Donphan or I guess Fighting in general. The second is the more standard Zekrom/Yanmega deck.
Speed Zekrom
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Pokémon – 13 3 Cleffa CL |
Trainers – 31 4 Professor Juniper |
Energy – 16 16 L |
Zekrom/Yanmega
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Pokémon – 15 3 Cleffa CL |
Trainers – 31 4 Professor Juniper |
Energy – 16 16 L |
pokegym.netThe first version is very fast and gets the Turn 1 Zekrom pretty consistently, but dies late in the game. Sure it takes 3, 4, or even 5 Prizes relatively easily, but it just can’t seem to finish games. The fact it loses to, well, anything Fighting doesn’t really help its case easier.
The second list really has the same problem; it just can’t seem to finish games. The Yanmega helps the Donphan and other Fighting problem somewhat, but any dedicated Fighting based deck is still going to rip you to shreds.
I would like to point out the pair of Pokémon Circulator in both lists. This is my only little tech, when I begun testing the deck I noticed how I could just never seem to beat the bigger decks when they got going and it didn’t take long for them to realize they could just hide behind their Baby Pokémon until they were set up.
Sure, Pokémon Reversal helped, but the coin flip really hurt especially since a lot of the time I didn’t care what I Knocked Out I just need to draw a prize. So Pokémon Circulator was the answer it allowed me to such out the Baby for a quick prize, or let me steal late games by forcing my opponent to such to a weak Pokémon. Three was just too many and I never seemed to be able to draw into the 1 reliably enough to make it worth it.
I’m sure after these last few paragraphs I’ve done a great job at convincing you how amazing this deck is. The deck is horrible, there is just no other way to put it, it revolves around to many coin flips and has too many glaring weaknesses to play at any sort of high level tournament.
The deck will most likely deserve another look when we have Catcher, but right now the deck is just plain bad. I’ve tested multiple lists and different versions, and I don’t have a positive record in our testing. The deck has enough hype behind it that you need to be aware of the deck and prepared for it but don’t play it.
You guys want to know about the best decks in the format not the worst, so I’m not going to waste anymore of this article talking about this deck. If you have any questions, comments or want to talk more about this, hit me up on the forums, send me a private message, or e-mail, I’ll be more than happy to talk about it.
Donphan/Machamp
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Pokémon – 21 4 Cleffa CL |
Trainers – 28 4 Pokémon Collector |
Energy – 11 5 F |
A lot of people have been asking about this deck on the forums, so this is my personal list for it and I’ve really been liking it in testing. While perhaps not noticed at first glance, the deck really does have a lot of synergy outside of the Donphan/Machamp combo.
The Donphan allows you to put early pressure on the opponent in the early game and then it’s able to transition into the slower hard-hitting Machamp. Obviously it has a good Zekrom match up and has been going 50-50 or better in a majority of our testing. It’s also been right around 50-50 with Emboar/Magnezone.
Something I’ve really liked about the deck is how much room I feel I have for personal preference. It’s pretty easily techable to help different match ups. I’ll go ahead and give you guys a quick break down and some of the reasoning behind my choices.
Despite the back lash of damage coming from Donphan, I still run 4 Cleffa; it’s just such a good starter and helps set up that quick Donphan. Sure, occasionally a Cleffa will be Knocked Out by damage from a Donphan’s attack, but YOU decide if and when it is. Despite that drawback I’ve never felt a reason not to play 3.
3-3 Donphan plays right, 2-2 seems too few, and 4-3 or 4-4 never seems needed. Same reasoning behind the 3-1-3 Machamp, 2-1-2 isn’t enough and 4-2-4 is just too much. I played a 1-0-1 Magnezone as one of my tech Pokémon. I like the added draw power (it’s by no means essential though) and it also gives me an alternate attacker. Plus it stops certain decks like Steelix and Tangrowth from being able to tank Pokémon.
While I haven’t tested any of these, there other numerous techs you could try in that 1-0-1 spot, Reuniclus, Serperior, and Kingdra Prime all come to mind quickly. The 1-1 Zoroark is my second tech at just a 1-1 it’s relatively easy to set up.
pokegym.netMainly it’s a counter to both Bad Boar (Emboar BW #19) and RDL Legend, but has often proven to be a nice alternative attacker in other situations. Plus I already run 3 Double Colorless Energy so it’s not hard to take advantage of it.
For the Trainer lineup I decided to go with a Sage’s Training based engine. While I’ve had mixed results with this engine in Stage 2 decks, it has tested quite well for this list. 4 Pokémon Collector and 4 Pokémon Communication are pretty standard. I play a full 4 Rare Candy for speed and consistency and never had any issues.
The 1 Professor Elm’s Training Method is for a bit of added consistency, while the 1 Judge is for a touch of disruption. They both test well at 1 apiece and never really had any issues of needing more than a single copy. I’m finding 1 Flower Shop Lady really goes hand in hand with any deck running the Sage’s Training engine.
Lastly, 3 Pokémon Reversal and 3 PlusPower round out our Trainer lineup. I’ve played around with these numbers a bit trying 4 Pokémon Reversal and 2 PlusPower and vice versa, but I just like the 3-3 split the best. Basically you have 6 spots devoted to Pokémon Reversal and PlusPower, and it’s personal preference how you want them divided up.
The Energy count is lower than I’ve see with a lot of other people’s, but I’ve never really had any problems with it. Plus I have the Flower Shop Lady which helps with getting F Energy back. Three just seems to be the right fit on Double Colorless Energy.
The Rainbow Energy allow me to attack with Magnezone Prime and add damage to Machamp’s attack; the extra 10 damage has never been a big enough issue not to run them. Lastly, the 5 F Energy just round out the list.
Honorable Mentions
Bouffalant: This guy could very easily make his way into the list and was actually one of my last cuts, but I decided not to play him for a few reasons. First, he only countered RDL, while Zoroark countered both RDL and Bad Boar. It was a really bad starter with a CC Retreat Cost and gave really no way to put early pressure on the opponent.
Tyrogue: On paper this guy looks amazing in this deck, but I ran into a few issues when testing with him. The odds of donking an opponent with this guy aren’t exactly great; normally you have to win the coin flip, they have to start with a Baby, and you must have a way to get Tyrogue and a way to get him active.
That might not seem horribly difficult, but meeting all of these situations at the same time is rare (far from impossible though) and since I was normally hitting turn 2 or turn 3 with Donphan anyway I was already putting early pressure on the opponent.
Second, this is a set up deck, so while I was usually applying pressure early on my opponent, normally I found myself hiding behind a Cleffa trying to get set up for the first turn or two of the game. Lastly, during a majority of my games I would either start Cleffa or be force to bring one up to get a new hand.
So even if I went aggressive early with Tyrogue, I would have to normally bench Cleffa as well, meaning I had 2 30 HP Baby Pokémon in play. That Donphan damage does add up, you might get away with giving up one free prize to your opponent, but you really can’t afford to give up two.
I’m not saying Tyrogue is a bad card in this deck, but you really do have to think before just slapping him down on your bench.
Emboar/Magnezone
pokegym.netAfter all of our testing I’ve found Emboar/Magnezone to be the most well-rounded deck in the format, but not the only deck in the format. I’m usually right around 50-50 against it with it many of the format other top contenders including the Machamp/Donphan list I gave you earlier.
While the deck doesn’t have very many auto-wins, it doesn’t really have any auto-losses; to put it simply it has the most well-rounded matchups. Nothing I’ve tested against it so far have I ever felt like I had worse than a 40-60 match up.
As SixPrizes Underground Teammates you’ve been exposed to mainly two different lists the first being Chris Fulop’s most updated list. The second being Kenny Wisdom’s list. They both play an identical Pokémon line up, but in the Trainers and Energy you see some of their creativity come out.
Chris opts to play a very fast and aggressive line up based around Sage’s Training. I feel like some of his other choices back up the Sage’s Training such as playing a full 4 Junk Arm and a Flower Shop Lady.
Kenny on the other hand plays what I would consider a more “traditional” line up, which includes more shuffle and draw cards over the Sage’s Training. As for their Energy lineup Chris plays a pretty straight forward line of 10 Fire and 5 Lightning. Kenny on the other hand plays a far more daring line of 10 Fire, 3 Lightning, and 2 Rescue.
To help myself and all of you get a better idea what kind of impact these differences can have, I played a full 10 games of these 2 decks matches against each other. I used card for card the exact same lists that they gave us, and out of the 10 games, I played 5 games with Kenny’s deck and then switched and played the last 5 games with Chris’ deck.
pokegym.netWe only rolled to see who went first in the first game we simply switched back and forth after that to reduce the odds of going first being a factor. This means that out of our 10 games both Chris and Kenny’s decks went first 5 games apiece.
My playtesting partner was my brother. I won’t waste a ton of time listing off all of his accomplishments, but will say he has 5 Worlds invites which include 2 Top 32’s and 2 Top 16’s, and he also has a Top 8 Nationals finish as well as a Top 32 and Top 64 out of his 4 Nationals.
To put it simply, I was testing against a high quality player. To be honest, he is the only reason I’m as good as I am today. But enough about that, let’s just jump right into the testing:
Test Games
Again, I started off playing Kenny’s deck.
Game 1: I went second and opened really well, but it seemed like my opponent was always one turn a head of me the whole game (which he was, I guess). I felt like I got lucky with my opening hand, but my opponent was kept up by playing multiple Sages and Communications, even though I drew into most of what I needed.
Since my opponent was one turn a head of me, he also always seemed to have the prize lead. My downfall came in the middle of the game when I couldn’t draw a L Energy for a few turns. I was really cursing those 2 Rescue Energy as I was scooping up my cards.
Chris: 1 – Kenny: 0
Game 2: I opened much stronger than my opponent did this time. I had multiple Magnezones set up before he hit his first. I really liked the Professor Elm’s Training Method this game since it grabbed me an early Magnezone when I didn’t have Communication. Due to my much better opening, hand I won this Game 6-4 on prizes.
Chris: 1 – Kenny: 1
Game 3: I opened Cleffa, Tepig, and Magnemite going second. My opponent gets a first turn Emboar on me and has the 4 energy to drop and gets a quick KO. Thankfully I’m able to get another Cleffa and the next few turns is basically me using “Eeeeeeek” and getting crucial tails, then heads.
My opponent really doesn’t play any Supporters, but after about 5 turns he tops a Magnezone Prime. Despite me being fully set up the game is close because he’s up on prizes. Toward the end we’re tied 2-2 on prizes. My second RDL piece is prized, and the next 5 turns is each of us using “Eeeeeeek”.
I need him to get tails so I can attack (hopefully) two turns in a row for the win. He has 11 cards in his deck and needs the RDL and 4 energy, but in the end I got the win off a small misplay on his part by jumping the gun on a Junk Arm.
Due to the fact he should have won and this game literally coming down to a ton of coin flips, we called it a draw.
Chris: 1 – Kenny: 1 – Draws: 1
Game 4: This was pretty boring game. My opponent just couldn’t get anything going and by the time he got a single Magnezone and Emboar, I was to far ahead for him to catch up.
Chris: 1 – Kenny: 2 – Draws: 1
Game 5: Exact opposite of Game 4; I drew nothing and never got anything set up despite multiple “Eeks” It got to the point where I was attacking with Magnemites and Tepigs just hoping to get the special conditions to slow him down, but this wasn’t even a game.
Chris: 2 – Kenny: 2 – Draws: 1
At this point we switched decks and I would be playing Fulop’s deck for the last set of 5 games.
Game 6: I had a faster set up, but my opponent was far from out of this game. It seemed like once again those Rescue Energy were hurting him and he missed a few key KOs by not having L Energy to work with. I was ahead this game, but that was the defining thing that put him out of the game.
Chris: 3 – Kenny: 2 – Draws: 1
Game 7: My opponent got a much quicker set up on me. Despite being down numerous resources, I was able to stick with him on the prize count and pull out a clutch RDL at the end to steal the game. This was the most insane come back we had so far.
Chris: 4 – Kenny: 2 – Draws: 1
Game 8: Another boring game. My opponent got a turn 2 Magnezone on me while I didn’t see my first one till turn 4. I took 3 Prizes, but he always had the return and I eventually ran out of steam. It’s really important to remember how big consistency is in mirror.
Chris: 4 – Kenny: 3 – Draw: 1
Game 9: My opponent got a faster start on me, which lead me to relying on Sage’s Training far more than I should have, especially with my Flower Shop Lady prized. I nearly decked out in the end which forced me to skip using Magnezone’s Power several times. This game was close, but I just simply could not pull it out.
Chris: 4 – Kenny: 4 – Draw: 1
Game 10: I opened amazing this game with a turn 2 Magnezone and turn 2 Emboar. Turn 3 I had another Magnezone and I just never looked back. My opponent took some prizes, but I had just to much of a lead.
Chris: 5 – Kenny: 4 – Draw: 1
How to Win Mirror
Mirror match is probably going to be a very common site at Nationals this year. I’m sure many of you are hoping that I’ve come up with some ultra top-secret strategy that will guarantee victory, but to be honest there really isn’t. The Emboar/Magnezone mirror reminds me a lot of Jumpluff mirror and whoever takes the first prize normally wins, however I have found some thins to keep in mind that might just give you that edge over your opponent.
pokemon-paradijs.com– In total I’ve tested over 30 games of mirror, probably a lot more than that to be honest, and one thing I noticed is whoever got the first Magnezone Prime out won, I would say about 80% of the time. Keep this in mind when building your lists including a ton of techs that help other match ups will most likely harm your mirror. Keeping your list as fast and streamlined as possible is best approach in regard to mirror.
– Another thing to keep in mind is that there is no playing from behind; if your opponent ever gets more than a 1 Prize lead on you, you might as well scoop, outside of hoping they miss a return KO somewhere along the way (which is unlikely due to the fact the deck is extremely consistent once it gets going).
There have been many times where my opponent would have a much better set up and many more attackers than me, and I would have to do whatever possible to get a KO. It didn’t really matter what our fields were; I knew I had to get that KO to stay in the game.
– Watch your energy and don’t throw away a game you have won. When I first picked up the deck I had several games where I got down to one or 2 Prizes, but due to poor energy management I ran out of energy and was unable to finish my opponent off. With the addition of Bad Boar and more practice on my part, this hasn’t been an issue, but it’s something I still constantly think about and monitor throughout the game.
– Be careful of decking out, especially if you’re playing the Sage’s Training version of the deck. This is another thing that has become less of an issue the more I’ve playtested. In the later stages of the game unless you absolutely have to play a Sage’s Training, don’t. The card is mainly in the deck for the early stages of the game to help you get set up. I guess the bottom-line I’m trying to get across here is don’t throw away games you have won.
– Avoid misplays, especially early on. A lot of the time it wasn’t a misplay I made the last turn that cost me a game, but a misplay I made 10 turns ago that cost me a game. A lot of the time these misplays would either have to do with poor energy management or poor discarding choices with Sage’s Training.
Playtesting is probably one of the best things you can do to prevent this, but it’s something to think about throughout the game. It’s really important to realize that in this format early decisions can drastically affect you later in the game.
What I Learned
Sages Training vs. Professor Oaks New Theory: I’ll be honest, I thought Kenny’s Trainer lineup looked horrid on paper, but it actually played really smoothly. The Sage’s Training engine was slightly better at the start of the game, but quite weak in the end. I could never really play more than 1 or 2 Sage’s Training over the course of a game just out of fear of decking out.
Professor Oak’s New Theory on the other hand was a little less useful at the start of the game, but was a great deal superior mid and late game. I’ve still got to give the nod to Chris though; how quickly a player sets up is usually the deciding factor in mirror, and since Sage’s Training gets you out of the gate just a tad bit faster, I feel it’s the better choice.
That being said though I also feel the Sage’s Training engine is a lot harder to play and many times can put the player in tough situations. If you just don’t like Sage’s Training or it really doesn’t fit your play style, I would suggest testing PONT over it and I’ll think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
This is also a suggestion I would make to players and parents in the Seniors and Juniors. Having a slightly better set up engine just isn’t worth it if it’s not something you feel totally comfortable with. An idea I have been toying around with I haven’t been able to pull the trigger on yet is a 3-1 split between Sages Training and PONT, in theory it shouldn’t hurt your early game much, but it would leave you with a nice late game option.
Rescue Energy: It’s just plain bad in the deck. Sure there was a few times when it was nice, but I never had a game where I felt Rescue Energy won it for me. However, there were multiple times where I felt like it lost me games, the deck just simply can’t get by with only 3 Lightning.
It was hard to drop as well because to throw it under a Magnezone I had to drop it one turn, and then drop the Lightning the next, and a lot of the time I had to Lost Zone it anyway because I simply could not afford to Lost Zone an L Energy.
pokemon-paradijs.comSure, I could drop it under other stuff but outside of a Magnezone there was nothing I really cared to get back. If you’re dead set on playing it, never drop below the 10 Fire and 5 Lightning mark. It’s more of a 16th Energy in my opinion, but I suggest just sticking with a Flower Shop Lady if you’re looking for recovery cards.
Judge: I really liked Judge in this deck despite the fact it wasn’t horribly useful in mirror. It’s one of the few come-from-behind cards this format has. It stops your opponent from customizing their hand or getting a huge hand you can’t deal with.
Dropping a Judge and then scoring a huge KO can be devastating. With many decks running Magnezone Prime and increased draw Supporters, I feel like 3 is overkill though and this is more of a 1 or 2-of card.
Professor Elm’s Training Method: I really liked this card. It felt like a 5th Pokémon Communication and helped get that early Magnezone Prime. The other thing I really liked about it was it felt useful throughout the whole game, and not just at the start like Pokémon Collector or toward the end like Junk Arm. The fact that you could only grab evolutions really holds this cards back a bit, which makes it more of a 1-of card.
My List For Emboar/Magnezone
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Pokémon – 20 4 Cleffa CL |
Trainers – 25 4 Pokémon Collector |
Energy – 15 |
Yes this is exactly what looks like, I copied Fulop’s list and changed 2 cards in it. In our testing, Fulop’s list fared amazingly; it just had a few small things I didn’t like about it. I will admit Fulop and I have very similar play styles, so this list might not be right for everybody.
One of my gripes was that it lacked any sort of disruption whatsoever. While I will agree with him and say that I thought 3 Judge was just way too many, I do feel like 0 might not have been the way to go either.
As for the Elm’s Training Method, it added consistency to the deck, and one of the biggest draws to it was how I found it useful throughout the entire game, and not just at the start or the end like other Trainers and Supporters in the deck.
The Reshiram, outside of being a big basic Pokémon never really did much in any match up that I tested it in. In this format with so many 1HKOs flying around 120 damage really isn’t that impressive. It can’t one shot anything in mirror, it can’t one shot a Donphan, or a Zekrom, or numerous other popular Pokémon in this format.
As for the Junk Arm, I actually really like 4, I just never seemed to use all 4 and I needed room.
So hopefully all of you guys really enjoyed the article and were able to get some good information out of it you can take and apply directly to your testing. With Nationals only a few weeks away I’m sure a majority of you are narrowing down your deck options and making last-minute card choices.
I’ll do my best to make myself as available as possible to all of you. You can get a hold of me by either sending me a private message on the SixPrizes forums (username Jaeger) or by shooting me an email at jay2007jaeger@yahoo.com. I will respond to all of your messages and I’ll be more than happy to help with whatever you guys need, all I ask is that you remember me when it comes to the end of the month voting.
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