Chrome Dome: The Other Magnezone Deck

Hello everyone. Cabd here back from my lurking antics, ready to highlight a deck that seems to not have gotten much attention here at SixPrizes, that is, Magnezone/Eelektrik.

Those of you that played last season will probably remember the speed in which Magnezone Prime / Regirock LA picked up steam late last format. The idea of that deck, as well as this new one, is to use Magnezone Prime to 1HKO everything, while accelerating energy using the Bench-sitters.

The List

Pokémon – 19

4 Magnemite TM

2 Magneton TM

3 Magnezone Prime

3 Tynamo NVI 38

3 Eelektrik NVI

2 Thundurus EPO

1 Cleffa HS/CL

1 Pachirisu CL

Trainers – 28

4 Pokémon Collector

4 Sage’s Training

3 N

2 Professor Oak’s New Theory

 

4 Pokémon Communication

4 Junk Arm

3 Rare Candy

2 Switch

2 Pokémon Catcher

Energy – 13

13 L

This deck is rather straightforward, but I’ll explain it all the same. In the early game, the focus should be on powering up Thundurus to hit for 80 and start getting lightning energies into the discard pile. At the same time, you should be setting up at least two Eelektrik, and begin accelerating energy to the benched attacker, and your big hitter: Magnezone.

Magnezone comes in once you’re ready and just starts going to town, 1HKO-ing everything in sight. Think of this deck as a “Reverse Tyram” of sorts; in that you use a Stage 1 Energy acceleration engine and a mix of Stage 2 and Basic attackers.

Pokémon

Magnezone

pokebeach.com
I may be ugly, but I'm useful!

The “Chrome Dome” himself. Going in with a beastly 140 HP, he brings multiple roles to this deck. He serves as attacker, draw engine, and deck-namer all in one! I run a 4-2-3 line (with 3 Candy) for a few reasons. Firstly, four Magnemite is just necessary in a format defined by Pokémon Catcher. That gives you the highest possible opportunity to get your attacking lines out and ready to roll.

I run two Magneton because of where I live. California loves Trainer Lock variants, so having the ability to manually evolve twice is worth the spot in my deck. Lastly, there’s the three Magnezone. Three is more than enough, because with 140 HP, anything that is able to consistently 1HKO three of them can easily nab the fourth as well.

Eelektrik

The name kind of says it all. This guy, a Stage 1 Pokémon, is very similar to Typhlosion Prime. The trade-off is being easier to evolve to, in exchange for not being able to attach to the active. His attack is garbage, so don’t bother attacking with it unless you absolutely have to. Astute players will note that I run the 40 HP basic, and not the 30 HP one, even though the smaller one has free retreat. I do so for two reasons.

Firstly, in a format where Kyurem exists, the extra turn is needed. Secondly, retreating is not a huge issue for us, as energy in the discard is a good thing for this deck. Surviving the random Tyrogue donk attempt is always helpful as well. All things aside, 3-3 is a nice, healthy number, as getting one or two of these guys running is vital to your deck’s performance.

Thundurus

This guy is Tornadus’ overlooked cousin. And he only has a role in a few decks. This is one of those decks. In the early game, this guy serves as a way to get cheap quick damage. He also serves to put lightning energy into your discard pile in an efficient manner. Some people prefer Zekrom here, but Zekrom is a bit slower to get the energy discarded. I only run two of him, because after about the fourth or fifth turn, he’s no longer needed.

Pachirisu

pokebeach.com
Now that I've killed my buddy Yanmega, the price war is all mine!

By far one of the most expensive cards in our format, he’s great for getting a quick 100 damage in play for Magnezone’s attack, and can donk in some cases. Only one is needed, and if you can’t afford him; don’t worry, he’s not too important.

Cleffa

We only run one, but having a “consistency crutch” is just too good to pass up. This deck can also justify playing Manaphy UL here, as the Energy loss is not such a big deal. It’s personal taste, really. The idea, of course, is to replace your stale hand with a fresh new one.

Trainers/Supporters

4 Pokémon Collection isn’t really an option; it’s a requirement. Whiffing Collector is the same as sealing a loss. Being able to grab three Basics is just too powerful to pass up, and extra copies of this card make great junk arm fodder in the mid and late game.

N finds his way into this deck for a few reasons. In the early game, he’s simply a PONT. In the late game, however, you can pair him with magnezone to make him read “Your opponent shuffles in and draws the same as the prizes they have left. Give yourself a fresh new hand of six cards.” It’s that good. I could even see playing more of these and no PONT. For now, 3-of him is perfect.

Sage’s Training works in this deck for the same reason it works in Tyram. Discarding Energy while providing draw power that can aim for a specific card (mostly candy) is slick. It deserves the 4 copy count that I run it in.

Rounding out our Supporters is Professor Oak’s New Theory (PONT). I run only two of these, and they’re more of a preference call. Some players may prefer to use Juniper or Engineer’s Adjustments for these two slots. The reason I went with PONT is that when I play Magnezone variants, I always find myself dangerously close to decking out if I run too much discard-draw.

Junk Armpokebeach.com
Bye bye junk, hello resources!

Rare Candy is played as a 3-of. Four is too many, two is not enough, three is just right. Since we have two Magneton, Candy is not always a desperate need, but it sure doesn’t hurt to draw into.

We play four Pokémon Communication for the same reason we play four Pokémon Collector. It’s not really an option for any setup-based deck. It allows you to get what you need when you need it. Very useful.

We play the maximum count of four Junk Arm for several reasons. Junk arm allows us to get back all of our Trainers, but it also serves other, more vital, roles. In this deck, it gets L Energy into the discard pile quickly. Getting Energy in there is very important, as energy sitting in our hand is rather useless. It also frees our hand size up for a larger Magnetic Draw use.

Switch is played with two copies, and for good reason. We don’t want Energy-less Magnezones sitting up front, nor do we want an Eelektrik stuck up there. Everything else can manually retreat just fine; burning Energy to the discard is fine by us.

Pokémon Catcher only deserves two copies in this list. Why? Well, when you can KO anything you want, main attackers serve just fine. Two is sufficient to cripple opposing Energy accelerators, like Typhlosion Prime and Emboar. With our four Junk Arm; getting a third or fourth Catcher isn’t too much of an issue, either.

Energy

We only run basic L Energy. It’s mobile in this deck, bouncing from the discard to the board and back, and then finally to the Lost Zone. 13 is a high count, but that gives us a lot of room to play with, as far as Lost Burn goes.

Matchups

pokebeach.com
Objection! No more theory-mon!

I played ten matches using this deck against each of these lists, alternating which deck goes first. The lists used to test against were the most recent copies of the UG lists, which can be found on the UG forums. This was done to diminish anyone who might claim that a bad list was tested against. I honestly advise anyone putting matchups in their articles to do the same number of matches, minimum. Here’s my scale:

0W: auto-loss

1W: auto-loss

2W: Highly Unfavourable

3W: Unfavourable

4W: Slightly Unfavourable

5W: Even

6W: Slightly Favorable

7W: Favorable

8W: Highly Favorable

9W: auto-win

10W: auto-win

Vs. Gothitelle/Reuniclus: 8W, 2L

pokebeach.com
Some Donphan just want to watch the world burn...

This matchup is highly favorable, no doubt about it. Both losses were due to lone Basic starts with no Supporters for several turns. Magnezone plows through Gothitelle like nobody’s business. Add in the second Magneton designed to combat this sort of lock, and you’ve got a silver, Goth-slaying machine in your hands.

Vs. The Truth (Donphan Variant): 3W, 7L

Donphan + Trainer Lock –> We cry a bit inside. It’s winnable if they only play one Donphan, but if both Donphan and the dragons hit the board, you’re a goner.

Vs. Magnezone/Yanmega: 6W, 4L

This match is a bit in your favor, but not much. It really comes down to a Magnezone war, as your Thundurus makes Yanmega cry. If they manage to take out your Tynamo early game, you’re in hot water, so bench two at a time. You accelerate energy, they don’t.

Vs. Typhlosion/Reshiram: 4W, 6L

This is slightly unfavourable. If you manage to take out all the Typhlosion, you win. Otherwise, trying to take down multiple Reshiram will end you. It’s just too much HP, you cannot afford to go after their dragons. Smart opponents will catcher up and disrupt your Eels before you can get the Typhlosions.

Vs. Zekrom/Tornadus: 5W, 5L

This is a fairly even matchup. Your Magnezone can withstand a Bolt Strike, so as long as you survive the early game, they’ll run out of resources well before you do. Of course, the very nature of this deck is to deny you the late-game. They manage to lock you out of acceleration, you lose. Simple as that.

Techs

pokebeach.com
This one is for you, Coolestman22

This deck, as it is a mix of various Lightning cards, has plenty of flexibility for techs. I’ll go over the more notable ones, but feel free to try anything in here, so long as it can use lightning energy, have a blast with it.

First up is Zekrom BLW. He can take the place of Thundurus as your opening attacker. Putting him in means less Energy in the discard early game, but higher HP, and the advantage to nearly auto-win Durant variants. He’s definitely a solid option.

Secondly, we have Lanturn Prime. Lanturn serves as a “hard counter” to Donphan variants, in that you can trade a stage one for a stage one, except you have energy acceleration. It’s another solid option, but if you go this route, play at least 2-2; 1-1 simply won’t cut it.

Third, there’s the option of running Tornadus EPO. He serves as a softer Donphan counter that can also help move your energy around as the need arises. He’s less useful than in other electric variants, however, because we do not run Double Colorless Energy.

And speaking of energy, feel free to test out both Double Colorless Energy (big if you mix in Zekrom or Lanturn) and Rescue Energy. Both can serve vital roles.

If you find yourself hitting with your “big Basic” of choice often, you might even consider Eviolite. Of course, one should only run one or two at most. Remember that Junk Arm can bring back Pokémon Tools. In the same vein, one can run Rocky Helmet, also from Noble Victories, to force your opponent into taking damage just for hitting you. As far as this deck goes, Rocky Helmet on your pokemon turns an opposing Donphan into a three energy Lost Burn instead of four. That’s a very important change.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Once I trade for the few cards I still need, I’ll be recording matches using this list on TCGO. I’ll place links to them in the comments, or have a mod edit them into the front page. In the meantime, feel free to check out other recorded matches I’ve done.

~Zackary “Cabd” Ayello (cabd@sixprizes.com)

Reader Interactions

57 replies

  1. Lee

    I was electrified by the magnitude of this shocking article! I was a tiny bit lost, but now have been charged with a ton of thunder in the energized patch of my heart that is the love of good articles and Poke-puns.

      • Jak Stewart-Armstead  → theo

        I was electrified [obvious] by the magnitude [MAGnezone] of this shocking [obvious] article! I was a tiny [Tynamo?] bit lost [Lost Burn], but now have been charged [obvious] with a ton [MagneTON] of thunder [obvious] in the energized [obvious] patch [Pachirisu] of my heart that is the love of good articles and Poke-puns.

        amidoinitrite?

        • theo Seeds  → Jak

          caught all but tynamo, pachirisu, and magneton. Thank you, baby-mario.

  2. Jared

    Really glad someone did an article about this deck, because I’ve been messing around with the idea and also saw it win seniors at my Cities over the weekened. I also really like how you tested the matchups and scaled them, I think more people ought to do this. Excellant artcle, and glad to see some ideas for this deck confirmed.

  3. DrMime

    Great review of this deck. You clearly put a lot of time into testing it, which is great!

    Thundurus does get energy into play, but Zekrom has higher HP and greater damage output. Maybe one of each? (Thundurus as your first attacker, Zekrom as your second?) I use 2 Zekrom myself, but I see the value of all of those options.

    One issue I have with this deck–not with your list or article, just with the deck in general–is energy economy. When Magnezone is playing sweeper, mopping up all of those high HP guys your opponent has built up, I sometimes end up with too many energy in the lost zone. It’s also annoying how many times your eels will get catchered up in one game. This is a thinking deck, maybe not as tough as Truth, but one that definitely has options.

    • Anonymous  → DrMime

      Well, I’m usually a Magnezone/Yanmega player, so I’m a bit used to “magnezone math”.  It does take some getting used to at first, I’ll definitely grant you that. 

      The one nice thing is that an un-damaged reshiram and an undamaged zekrom are the same number of energy with OR without eviolite.

  4. tim h

    Just going to add my two cents:

    Lanturn is a godsend in this deck. You skim over it, but it is the filler in the cracks that you fail. Not perfect, but still. You also need at least 1 Tornadus to prevent donphan from walking over you – and lanturn helps vs Truth. Zekrom doesn’t really fit into the deck, other than being a big hitter.

  5. Jak Stewart-Armstead

    I would want another Lightning and a 4-3 Eel line in there, but that’s just me.

    The article is sound and this is a Tier 1 deck.

      • Anonymous  → theo

        I respectively disagree with you there, coolestman.  It’s already taken down several cities.  It has as many wins as tyram right now.  It’s maybe tier 1.5, but it’s definitely up there and can and WILL win events.

      • Jak Stewart-Armstead  → theo

        Not this exact list, but Zone/Zek/Eel is tier 1 and has been winning CCs.

        Not something you usually see from tier 2.5 decks.

  6. Anonymous

    “I may be ugly, but I’m useful.”

    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. True.

  7. Ron Routhier

    The best Match-Up section I’ve read on 6P since I’ve been reading these articles. Your 0W-10W chart should be a staple in every deck article that deals with match ups. Genius!

    Just wondering if there is a reason you don’t run a Tornadus or two to deal with the Fighting matchups. I know the list is very tight, but I think DnD and Terrakion will see more play if this deck goes off, which it looks like it could.

    Funny how just two months ago a lot of people were writing off Magnezone with the arrival of Catcher. Now it’s more popular than ever…………

    • Julian Chen  → Ron

      100% agree. Actually playing out the matches and posting the results is so much more reliable than just a lot of theory-crafting. Great article overall.

    • Anonymous  → Ron

      Magnezone prime is one of those cards that just laughs off whatever new pops up.  He’s a thick-skulled pokemon, that’s for sure. 

      As for my lack of fighting counter?  The only fighting decks around here are Ross variants.  If I did have fighting around here, i’d do the following:

      -1 Magneton
      -1 Pachirisu
      -2 Thundurus
      and
      +2 Chinchou
      +2 Lanturn Prime
      or
      +2 Tornadus
      +2 Rescue Energy
      or
      +2 Tornadus
      +2 DCE

      depending upon preference, of course. 

      Leavany is too clunky, I considered it, but nah.

  8. Clint

    I think this deck has real potential, I just think it needs something to counter fighting types.. 

  9. Martin Garcia

    I would love to see some lanturns in here, and maybe one super rod, the eels are easy targets with only 40hp, so it cant hurt to get a few extra coopies from the discard pile.
    DCE also seems like a nice adittion if you include lanturn, maybe even boufallant if you are a bit greedy.
    The rest of the list looks good to me, so i will play around with it for a bit and see what happens.
    Nice deck concept.

  10. Benjamin Bolival

    liked! eel deck variants  will definitely make a splash in the upcoming cities.

    • Anonymous  → Benjamin

      They already have actually.  They’ve won two events already in masters, and countless more in juniors and seniors.

  11. n1ghtmare90

    I see you’ve come around about eelektrik/magnezone

    • Anonymous  → n1ghtmare90

      Yeah.  It took a bit of testing, and for the record, me writing an article about a deck does not mean it’s my personal BDIF or anything like that, it just means I felt it deserved a good write-up and being shown. 

        • Anonymous  → n1ghtmare90

          For the record, I also write articles about tier twenty-billion decks.  But in this deck’s case, I’d place it tier 2 or tier 1.5.  Probably needs work to be tier one. 

  12. Jamie Serhan

    I really like to concept of this deck, however there are a few things I’d change. I personally don’t understand why you’re running the N in there in exchange to say Professor Juniper. If you’re running 4 Junk Arm, you can just revive all your trainers and by adding in a Super Rod to revive your Pokemon along with the Eelektrik for energy attachments, it just makes your Discard Pile really accessible. The other side to running the Juniper is it’ll also enable you to feed through the deck a lot quicker. I’d love to play the Zekrom in there, but it does feel very exposed as they’re all sharing the same weakness say to Donphan or Landorus so for that reason, I’d have to probably run Tornadus or at least that’s what I think anyway. Really like the deck idea though! x

    • Anonymous  → Jamie

      I addressed why I don’t play juniper, actually, in the article.

      When playing magnezone with discarding techs, I always get too close to decking out for my own taste.  Juniper makes it worse for me. 

      • Jamie Serhan  → Anonymous

        I guess it’s just player preference. I’ve found that Juniper is a card I’m more likely to use in the early game and for me, just gives that acceleration I need to set up an early Magnezone as well as dump the Energy for the Eelektrik. I do understand why you would fear the deck out though but in the later game, just play PONT instead x

  13. CalebM

    if  its true that “4 Pokemon Collection isn’t really an option; it’s a requirement. ”  then can you tell me what set its from?  ive never seen that card : P

    sorry, couldnt resist.  but on a more serious note, amazing article, would REALLY like to see more from you soon! 

    • Anonymous  → CalebM

      For what it’s worth, this was written at 4AM my time.  It being a bit off is to be expected. 

      I do these on occasion, but usually prefer to let other people do the writing. 

      My main function here is to deal with the forums, assist new members, that sort of thing.

      I just saw that we were slow, and pitched in. 

      • CalebM  → Anonymous

        haha i was just kidding around about the typo, im sure if i ever do one of these it will also have mistakes haha

        yeah….it seems like articles get uploaded a few at a time, then none for a while?

        • Anonymous  → CalebM

          The regular non-UG site is entirely at the mercy f the FP authors. When stuff gets sent in, they edit it up and post it.  If nobody sends anything in, they don’t post anything new. 

          Traditionally, weeks during major events get more articles, and times right before and after a set release get articles, and the rest is slow.  That’s why you’ll see more non-meta articles during those times, such as my “teacher deck” series.

        • Dakota Streck  → Anonymous

          Also, more articles seem to come out on the weekend or at the very beginning of the week. I think this is because people have the most time to write articles on the weekend, less school, work, classes, etc.

        • Adam Capriola  → CalebM

          I usually edit and schedule articles very shortly after they’re sent in. If there are no articles for a while, it more than likely means we don’t have any submissions at the moment for whatever reason.

  14. Adam Capriola

    I was very tempted to change your second sentence to “Cabd here back from my Golurking antics” to play up the Pokemon puns, but I thought that would make the article TOO good.

    • Anonymous  → Adam

      Yeah, if you did that, i’d win first, second, AND third on this month’s poll.  Gotta leave something for the rest of the FP authors!

  15. Anonymous

    Does anyone have an extra thundurus on TCGO?  That’s the only card I’m missing to play this exact list.  Naturally, I’d trade for it, I have extras of most metagame staples. 

    Also, Coolestman22, I am disappoint.  You’ve yet to comment. 

  16. theo Seeds

    Great article, I’m glad that you actually tested the matchups instead of just saying autoloss, unfavorable, autowin, highly unfavorable with little explanation.

    As for the deck, I think that Magnezone/Eelektrik (or The Chrome Dome) will be decent. I honestly can’t see Zekrom as a starter as it can’t T2 attack and doesn’t discard energy when it does. The only thing is no Juniper OR Engineer’s Adjustments in a deck that relies on discarding energy? I think those would be helpful regardless of how many Sage’s Training you run. I would run one more Thundurus just to increase the odds of starting with it.

    I am glad you have an explanation for running 40HP Tynamo, but free retreat is good when you start with it, otherwise a T2 Disaster Volt isn’t likely. It is a matter of personal preference however, just my personal preference is the other one.

    More Switch is a must if people will be constantly catchering up Eels, having 2 plus 4 Junk Arm gives you maybe 4 during the game as you will want to use Junk Arm for other stuff and most lists run 3-4 catcher as well as 3-4 Junk Arm, giving them 4-6 Catchers, meaning you need 4 Switch. It also helps the T2 Disaster Volt situation.

    I personally would cut an N, a Pachirisu, a Pokemon Communication and a Sage’s Training for 2 Switch, a Thundurus, and a catcher, but you could go any way with it.

    Some advice for next article is to instead of give a 60 card list, provide a skeleton list and a list of techs regardless of how much testing you have done, and then give reccomendations for techs and rate them with how much it helps on a scale of one to ten.

  17. Joe Lewis

    Do you think this deck or megazone is better? Amazing article. I would personally go with tornadus over thundurus, but they both work.

  18. Anonymous

    Two different variants of this T4’d in my City Championships today (in Seniors): One of them was this plus Zekrom (it won the event), and the other was like ZPST + Magnezone + Eelektrik + Tornadus. It got 3rd.

  19. Chris Yeah…no

    What do you think of Twins in this deck? Is it necessary or simple excessive you think?

    • Anonymous  → Chris

      You should be taking prizes by turn two, if not, for sure by turn three.  If you’re in a situation that you need twins, you’ve probably already lost. 

      Better to run more consistency cards instead.  

  20. Anonymous

    Just to provide an update of sorts.

    This deck is:
    78 wins
    13 losses
    on TCGO.

    This article has been receiving a lot of views lately.

    This is, as far as I know, the only public-facing article of zone/eel that provides a list and testing results. Lots of people are telling me they used this list as a base for their winning lists; so I’m quite pleased.

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