talentbookingusa.comStates/Regionals may be over for some of us, but for the rest of you, every new article brings a little more information to help you in your quest for a Worlds invite.
For my part, the journey is over. I attended three States using two different decks, earning a respectable eight Championship Points.
My first States was held in Malaysia, where I played an almost exact copy of the CMT build that won ECC, liking the impressive speed Tornadus EPO gave me without losing too much power in the Mewtwo war… not. Actually, my friend was just bugging me to use the build since I had already playtested with it the past two weeks instead of my pet deck. However, luck was not on my side, and I even made a horrendous misplay against a Truth deck to end up 3-3.
Back home in Singapore, I decided that because of the huge expected turnout, I could go easy with my deck choices and went back to my Durant deck. With a result of 4-2 (lost to Chandelure NVI and Durant/Scizor Prime), I whiffed Top 16 by resistance, but 70+ players and a position of 22 meant I still went home with two points.
I promised myself before the tournament that if I managed to break into Top 8, I would play a planned Reshiram rogue for the next States. That didn’t happened, so back to Durant it was for me.
pokemon-paradijs.comThis time, luck was on my side. I got into Top 8 with a score of 5-1, losing only to the mirror who topdecked a Junk Arm on his last turn, although I also had a near heart attack against a Chandelure NDE rogue where I barely won because I milled his last Switch. I lost against a CMT due to a prized Rotom UD in the Top 4 match, and ended up 3rd overall.
So that’s a brief review on my States outing. Now to the analysis.
In all three States, I saw a rather strong showing of Durants, all of differing builds and varying results. The conclusion may be obvious to some of you, but I just want to reiterate the fact that there is no such thing as a standard Durant deck.
Attackers
Aside from the standard counts of Durant and Rotom, what makes each build different is what their secondary Pokémon is. Often, that secondary Pokémon is an attacker that grabs prizes. I heard from a friend that Canada saw a Durant build with a Mewtwo EX tech with two DCE, which was an idea I was already playing with weeks before States to shore up my CMT matchup.
The idea is simplicity at its best. CMT players often try to load up energy on Mewtwo ASAP to win the match. Mewtwo’s best counter is itself. Therefore, in response, the Durant player can play a Mewtwo in his/her own deck to counter their Mewtwo.
There are, of course, flaws in this idea. Starting with Mewtwo is worse than starting with Rotom, which is already a scary thought, because of its Retreat Cost and the fact that you are giving up two free prizes with it. The upside to this is that starting with Durant and a DCE in hand might just allow you to donk that solo Tynamo, Cleffa or Tyrogue. Maybe.
The traditional Cobalion NVI tech is still relevant in today’s meta because it is just that good against a loaded Mewtwo EX. Iron Breaker also shores up your match against a T2 Vileplume (except Chandelure decks), allowing you to not depend too much on Flower Shop Lady to win the match. And if Mewtwo EX already has a hard time dealing with one Cobalion, why not play two?
pokemon-paradijs.comThe third attacker I will mention is Shaymin EX, the hardest attacker to use because of its HP, specific energy requirement, and reliance on N to actually be viable. Shaymin is the only other EX that can 1-shot a Mewtwo EX if your opponent has taken 5 Prizes, which coincidentally also happens to be the best time to play down N. The problem then becomes how to power up Shaymin without your opponent Knocking it Out before you Knock Out their attacker.
Many players believe that it is simply a matter of milling away their Catchers and Knocking Out their main attacker. But that means you have to pray that they don’t have either Catcher OR Junk Arm, or a way to access either of them. Personally, I believe that Energy Switch is the best method to do this, even if it means having several card at hand at the same time.
Playing with attackers is risky because of the added risk of starting with it. Personally, I recommend playing at least one switch and one Baby Pokémon to reduce the chance of starting with your attacker.
Babies
The idea of using babies as support attackers has interested me ever since I started playing Durant. They have free retreat, and when asleep, are virtually invulnerable to whatever attacker your opponent is using. The most popular options are Mime Jr. CL, Smoochum HS, and Tyrogue HS.
Mime Jr. is by far one of the most popular choice because it supports the same strategy as Durant. Basically, it allows you to remain milling even without Durants or energy. And being able to send key cards to the Lost Zone like Super Rod is always a nice bonus.
dawnzyTyrogue is a newcomer to the scene, due to the popularity of Zeel and the drop in Kyurem NVI showings. The idea is that it allows you to get the occasional donk on anything with 30 HP, or 70 with Black Belt. One proposed idea against CMT is to hit Celebi for 30, then use Seeker on their lone Mewtwo on the bench for a really quick win. Personally though, I feel that this is too long a shot to happen; the CMT player will see the Seeker coming by a mile.
Smoochum is my personal favorite because of a famous Durant “counter”: play down two Pokémon on the bench to prevent Seeker shenanigans. It acts as an unlimited Energy Removal, removing as much energy as I can from their attacker to their useless Bench-sitter, often Cleffa or Eelektrik. While using Energy Antics denies you a turn of using Devour, it pays off in the long run when they either spend more resources to get their remaining energy and/or remain unable to attack for an extra turn or two.
Countering the Meta
CMT, Zeel and Terrakion are the most common decks you will see besides Durant itself, alongside the random Truth, Magnezone, and Mew Box decks. The key to winning the matchup is knowing how the decks will aim to counter yours and stopping it from happening. You may also need to tech your deck depending on your meta.
Celebi/Mewtwo Variants
There are three general ways for them to play. The first is to power up Mewtwo EX with five energy and proceed to sweep. This is often done with Celebi Prime and switch plays, alongside Skyarrow Bridge. Having your own Mewtwo will turn the matchup vastly in your favor. Or you could just use Seeker if all they have is Celebi and Mewtwo, slowing them down drastically. Best followed with N on your next turn.
Another way to counter this is to simply snipe with Rotom twice. A minimum of two Prism Energy is needed in every Durant deck, but three is better if you expect to be doing this often. Also, Battle City helps prevent your catchers from turning into junk. Just remember to count their Skyarrow Bridges in their discard pile.
The second way is by using two Tornadus EPO and abusing Skyarrow Bridge to repeatedly hammer on your defences. Generally though, this is already a favorable setup for you; copious amounts of Eviolite and special metal, along with well-timed Crushing Hammers and Battle City, will slow them down tremendously.
The third way is by using Virizion NVI’s Leaf Wallop and Catchers. Generally, you will only encounter this situation if your opponent starts with Virizion. Like the Tornadus setup, eviolite and special metals will do you good. You can also mess around with them by using Rotom to threaten a KO and force them to drop more Pokémon, during which you can simply use Catcher to stop the Leaf Wallop.
Occasionally you will see the rare Regigigas-EX popping up. You don’t have to worry about it too much, as Giga Power’s damage output is similar to Tornadus and Virizion, and a powered Raging Hammer is easily threatened by Plasma Arrow. Not to mention that its Retreat Cost makes the perfect catcher bait if it accidentally falls on the bench.
Zekrom/Eelektrik variants
I don’t care what everyone says, the Zeel matchup is so much in favor of the Durant player if both players are of equal skill, in my opinion. They have so many baits for Catcher, and Eelektrik cannot power up their attacker in the Active Spot.
amity-square.deviantart.comThe ideal setup is to start with Thundurus EPO and use Charge, slowly transitioning to Zekrom mid-game, playing down the eels as and when they are needed. The problem is that Thundurus, like Tornadus, cannot KO an Eviolited Durant without help, and both Zekrom and Eelektrik have relatively heavy Retreat Costs.
Again, a well-timed N and Catcher on an empty Zekrom/Eelektrik provides a good enough stall for you to burn their resources. Smoochum is especially boss here, moving energy to Eelektrik until they don’t even have enough energy in the discard pile for Dynamotor.
The newer strategy is to use Zebstrika NXD to lock out your Revives. The strategy here is relatively simple, but hard to pull off. You need to sacrifice a prize pronto, then use Twins to get out as many Eviolites and special metal as you can. They cannot do much damage without breaking the lock, and they only have so many Catchers and Junk Arms at hand. If you expect heavy Zebstrikas, play FSL and a couple of Rescue Energy.
Terrakion Variants
Terrakion NVI cannot 1HKO a fully armoured Durant. If they attempt to load more than three energy on Terrakion, a single Plasma Arrow will force them to drop another Pokémon, most probably another Terrakion, and you can proceed to use Catcher and Hammers to stall them out.
Mew Box Variants
They will use Crobat Prime most of the time, and Yanmega Prime where possible. Your Catchers are useless; use them as Junk Arm fodder for Hammers, and use Super Rod to get back your Basic Metals to help you retreat every turn against the poison. Remember to sacrifice an already damaged Durant early to activate Twins to access your energy. Against Yanmega, N is your best friend.
The other See-Off target is Jumpluff HS. Often used if Rotom is played for a minimum of 110 damage. While this won’t KO a fully armoured Durant, Mass Attack is a very cheap attack, making it far more dangerous than Terrakion. Removals are your only hope against the onslaught, so save those Junk Arms for Lost Remover.
Durant Mirror
Word on the street is that the first to use Devour wins, with lots of luck. Sorry guys, but that’s not how it works. The Durant mirror requires so much skill and counting of cards that it gets stressful pretty quickly.
Your best weapon against the mirror is N. Neither of you will be taking prizes, but you will still be playing your disruption. Therefore, you hand count drops below six pretty often. What N does is to add cards into your opponent’s hand as much as it does yours, effectively speeding up the mill. To counter this, simply try not to reduce your hand below six as far as possible.
Additionally, every time you refresh your hand with a Supporter, take note of how many extra cards you are drawing. The more cards you are drawing compared to your opponent, the faster you will be on the track to losing.
The play of Catchers and Hammers get slightly more complicated. On average, a Durant build will have 10-11 energy cards total they can use. You cannot simply drop every energy that comes into your hand, because our opponent may use Catcher on you and you are stuck without another energy to power up the active Durant. Likewise, if you can spare the energy, drop as many as you can for insurance against Catcher, but always have one in your hand.
The ideal hand against the mirror is as follows: Junk Arm, Metal or Prism Energy, and a hand refresher. Similarly, these cards are the same ones you need to keep track off in both players’ discard pile. Beware the unexpected Super Rod or Junk Arm that will throw your math off-balance.
Lastly, always keep track of the deck size for both you and your opponent. No matter how conservatively you play, you might have unconsciously used more cards than your opponent, and knowing the exact difference will help you plan your moves much better.
Sample Decklist
So I heard you like decklists. So here’s mine:
|
Pokémon – 6 1 Rotom UD |
Trainers – 41 3 N 3 Twins
4 Junk Arm 3 Eviolite 3 Pokégear 3.0 3 Revive
|
Energy – 13 5 M – Basic 4 Metal – Special 3 Prism 1 Rescue |
Enjoy!
“I don’t care what everyone says, the Zeel matchup is so much in favour of the Durant player if both players are of equal skill”
Lol. Skill for Durant? Doesn’t take much. So I quit reading right there. Sorry.
If there is no skill in playing Durant how do you explain weaker players playing it at bottom tables and stronger players playing it up top?
Are all the better players who win and do well with it (Ness, Galladeava and all the other Cities/States winners) just flipping more heads?
I think not.
While this is mostly true, it might be part of the deckbuilding process. I’ve also seen stronger players’ girlfriends getting it to the top tables.
Ness does well because A. He’s Ness, B. He nails his Mischievous Tricks with precise knowledge. He always knows what’s in and out of the deck, and I think that this (along with lots of other things) makes him a great Durant player.
Most players in general can not do Rotom Tricks, or Rotom Tricks at the level of Klacz.
Let’s go to cities for a few personal examples.
Texas Marathon-Day 3. Durant player makes cut and makes it in to the finals. What was this Durant players ELO prior to the start of the day? 1550. He obviously wasn’t a very good player if he had such a low ELO in my honest opinion. This isn’t a personal bashing, merely an observation.
OKC Cities- Top Cut. One of the players in top was a Durant player who state, “I don’t understand why I can cut with this deck and no other deck!?!?” Players ELO was in the negative (under 1600) and he proceeded to get thrashed by a good player in top.
You can ask nearly any good player what Durant comes down to, Coin Flips. There is not a large amount of skill in rolling a die of flipping a coin (coin manipulation aside) if you ask me.
If we are going to be using Jason as an example, then we shouldn’t just speak his name, we should go more in depth on WHY he does good with the deck.
A. His decklist for it is probably 6+ cards off from most other Durant lists. (The decklist makes the deck)
B. His ability to use math with Rotom’s Poke-Power, “Mischievous Trick”. We can’t just put the ability to use Mischievous Trick solely into the Durant grouping, you could use it in nearly any deck to your advantage. Anyone who has the ability to take 15 seconds to go through their deck, use mischievous trick, and then go back through their deck and tell you exactly what card they switched into their prizes is on a different level than most.
Most Durant players who play it (see how I used the word most?) just use it to get the cheap win. Ask nearly anyone who has attempted playing it how much fun it is to use. They generally won’t say that it is fun nor skill intensive. Rotom Tricks on the other hand are a different story.
I personally find Durant really fun to play. You need to decide what to Catcher or when to Crushing Hammer or when to N etc.
So about 1/4 as much stuff as doing what a regular deck does?
I don’t understand how people can play this monotonous deck.
Different strokes for different folks. I playtested Durant, and it’s not something I’d play again, but it does take skill. It just has a higher success rate with unskilled players because it’s playing the mill game rather than the prize game.
Different strokes for different folks. I playtested Durant, and it’s not something I’d play again, but it does take skill. It just has a higher success rate with unskilled players because it’s playing the mill game rather than the prize game.
Shame be upon thou!!!
If Durant took luck at all I wouldn’t be nearly as successful as I am nor would it have as much success overall(but especially that first part because I have no luck whatsoever and my record is great even though I play against fire decks all the time).
but the biggest thing you can do to stop any durant from walking all over you be the durant player relying on luck or skill is a 2-2 RDL being able to take two prizes per durant has stopped my deck every time. Now the point may come up that if just 1 half is gone then you can’t pull it off, Well excuse me I thought we had these things called flower shop lady and super rod; Oh wait we do being able to take all six prizes in your last three turns(I guess only if you use the big ol boar for acceleration) or at least just the last two prizes on the last turn is just to good for anyone to pass up. Unless of course you run mono terrakion in which case I don’t know what you should do.
But all the same just remember durant takes lots of skill so please don’t hate.
Durant takes skill, mirror matches (sigh) i hate those.
I literally just wrote up a 3000 word article on Durant. Way to beat me to the punch. Haha. Mine discusses more rogue Durant ideas, but still… good timing. Not sure if I should publish it anymore… Maybe I could wait a bit.
p.s. Glad to see another Smoochum fan.
Personally, I would still love to see it
No, baby Pokémon is not a good play in Durant. Think about it and you might figure out why.
Are you talking about the potential to be donked? Using his list as an example, 1/6 games you might start Smoochum. And of those games, you’ll go first half the time. And of the games that you don’t go first, your opponent will get the donk… let’s say 67% of them time. That’d be 5.56% of the time you get donked. Those numbers would probably include Tornadus donks, so assuming the 67% is accurate, the games you lose due to Smoochum donk are even lower than 5%.
If it’s because you don’t get to mill per turn, then clearly you aren’t a Durant player. Not many games end where you devour for 4 to deck them out. Often your last devour is for 1-3 cards. The point being that the number of devours remains constant (or even goes down) when you stall for a turn with a baby. And if the number of devours goes down, then that baby stall was just as good as a Devour. This can be applied in numerous fashions.
a) Their draw that turn was the 1 card difference.
b) The catcher they Junk Armed for to take a prize that turn netted 2 less cards out of the deck/hand
c) They needed to use draw support to get around your sleeping baby
d) They didn’t even get to KO a Pokemon that turn, meaning it was absolutely justified
d) is the most common by far with the use of further disruption, but all of those scenarios are positive results of using a baby.
Tyrogue is becoming more popular, especially in Zekeels decks, any chance of getting donked just sucks. As if durant isn’t fragile enough, playing babies guarantees your opponent at least one free prize in the game. Also, while the baby sleeps, your opponent reloads energy and the like. And relying on them to mill themselves through draw has never proven reliable for Durant, especially with N being such a popular play. Constant devours, rather than continuous stalling is what wins the game IMO.
Eh… based off of my guesswork, I’ll take a 1/20 chance increase in getting donked if I perceive it to win me at least more than 1/20 games.
No, because you can Collector or Level Ball for the Tyrogue.
Baby Pokemon are just too risky imo. If they stay asleep that is valuable Devour turns and if you start with it you can get donked easily, not to mention that Smoochum is kinda useless with every deck having energy acceleration these days.
Switch. You can easily grab it with Twins. And Smoochum is only useful BECAUSE decks have energy acceleration. I think the author pointed it out too. The more energy they accelerate, the more energy smoochum can put on an Eelektrik.
I agree there are risks, but there are rewards too. And your build and playstyle will determine which outweighs the other.
In my opinion.
Putting energy onto bench-sitters like eelektrik just makes catcher useless =/
Not if they have two eels. But yeah. Your build has to compliment your playstyle of course.
Still not a fan of babies, as they are easily donkable when they are your lone starter and can stay asleep far longer than you want.
In my first week of states I made top 4 with a Durant list similar to yours. I used Battle City and Level Ball as well. I missed second week, but in my third week of states I made top 4 again with Durant, except with a different build. I cut out extra cards and decided to make it consistent as I could- 4 Juniper, 3 PONT, 3 N, 3 Twins, 4 Collector and 4 Pokegear.
Here is my current list:
Pokemon: 5
4 Durant NVI
1 Rotom UD
I/S/S: 43
4 Pokemon Collector
4 Professor Juniper
3 PONT
3 N
3 Twins
1 Black Belt
1 Flower Shop Lady
4 Crushing Hammer
4 Revive
4 Junk Arm
4 Pokegear 3.0
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Lost Remover
2 Eviolite
1 Super Rod
Energy: 12
6 Basic Metal Energy
3 Special Metal Energy
3 Prism Energy
Getting that T1 Collector is extremely important. In my states run with this list I think I only missed it one time. I also think that 8 draw supporters might not be enough (referring to your list). Battle City I really like but it really only helped my opponent in my top 4 match in my first week. Also, why only 3 Revive? You may not need all of them but it’s really important to draw them quickly.
I might try to find room for a 3rd Eviolite, but I really didn’t need it. I also use the one FSL in case I run into any trainer lock decks.
Your list is fairly similar to mine, though I’ve never much liked Crushing Hammer. I’m currently experimenting with a Mewtwo variant.
Pokemon: 6
1 Rotom UD
4 Durant NV
1 Mewtwo EX
Trainers: 42
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Twins
3 Judge
3 Professor Juniper
3 N
4 Junk Arm
4 Revive
3 Pokegear 3.0
3 Crushing Hammer
3 Level Ball
2 Pokemon Catcher
2 Lost remover
2 Eviolite
1 Alph’s Lithograph
1 Switch
1 Battle City
Energy: 12
5 Metal
2 DCE
3 Special Metal
2 Prism Energy
So far… not terrible. It’s tough to say for sure though since part of the effectiveness is in the surprise Mewtwo, which I now expect (as my own testing partner).
Wait why black belt if there’s no attacker in your variant?
There actually is an attacker because rotom is sometimes used for plasma bolt to KO big threats in case you missed that part of the article
“I don’t care what everyone says, the Zeel matchup is so much in favour of the Durant player if both players are of equal skill”
You were joking right?
Aside Zeel has huge variations in terms of its bulid. When I tested my Zeel against Durant I only lost 2 out of 30 games. Zeel can keep using Junk Arm with Super Rods and can PONT and N there massive hands back into their deck.
Add Zekrom BW to that magic.
Thank you, good sir, for covering the mirror matchup. I played Ross at one cities and went 1-3 just because there was nothing online telling me how to play the mirror.
Personally, I use 1 Cleffa for my baby Pokemon. It’s great to start with if I’m not getting the cards I need and has even proven useful mid-game.
What are your thoughts on using Cobalion in the mirror match? I run 2 and feel that puts the odds much more in your favor. I also run 4 Oaks and no N. I can see why N would seem appealing in Durant at first, but to me it seems like if you use it late game it just puts more cards in their deck and buys them more turns (and gets you less cards if they forced you to kill a Zekrom with Rotom or some other similar scenario).
I placed 17th in the Ontario provincials with this deck, going 5-2 and losing only to a “scrub” deck (random assortment of cards, really) due to an awful start not being able to get more than 1 ant out; and reshiphlosion (I honestly do not think there is a way around this autoloss)
Since then I’ve included 2 Battle Cities. I’m wondering what your thoughts behind running just one are? It seems too much like something that maybe comes up in a match, maybe it doesn’t sorta thing and takes away any semblance of consistency. The only way I’d search it out with Twins was if I’d desperately needed to get rid of a Skyarrow Bridge. Even then, you only run 3 Twins (also wondering about your reasoning for this). For me I find 4 Twins to be such a crucial part of my deck, sometimes even searching out another Twins with it, if I don’t need 2 cards specific cards right away, just for its undoubted usefulness later in the game.
I also find some my matches coming down to the last turn or two. This makes these matches tense and exciting and all the more satisfying to win, but the defeat can be crushing when you were just so close. Fortunately, I am usually able to pull off a win in these situations. These situations can usually be attributed to bad starts, though. I’m hoping the change from 2 to 4 Pokegears I’ve made since along with the Battle Cities will be able to increase my consistency with getting everything out on time, haha
Good article!
Cool.
Thanks again for the replies, everyone.
This report is meant as an analysis on Durant’s newest techs (mewtwo, tyrogue) and how to play against common decks. It is not meant as a guide on how Durant should be played, or how little skill is needed to play Durant. Everybody who says that needs to be whacked on the head. It is NEVER the deck, and ALWAYS the player. Saying it’s a deck requiring no skill pretty much insults Uxiedonk, Darkrai LvX, KGL and a whole multitude of other decks in history.
That said, most people who say that Durant is luck-based are usually the ones who don’t know how to play it properly in the first place. Durant doesn’t lose just because of consecutive tails from hammer; I’ve flipped my fair share of six-tails-in-a-row hammers and still come out on top of the game.
More importantly, I included what I feel is information that has been long overdue: how to play the mirror. Which I can assure you, being a long-time durant user, is FAR from being luck based.
Regarding babies, it’s original purpose in my deck was just to reduce the chances of starting with Rotom. As it turns out, Smoochum has become the MVP in my deck, and is the reason why I can confidently say that I have an extremely good matchup against Zeel.
@Crawdaunt: Please, publish your article. Any good article deserves to be published.
@Rotting Awesome: I find that playing cobalion in the mirror only allows your opponent to have access to the most dangerous card in the deck: Twins. Which is why I personally will never advocate it. Different people have varying result with it though, so it’s up to your playstyle.
As mentioned, N is crucial in the mirror, which is the sole reason I run 3 copies. Same reason goe for Twins, since they are dead cards in the mirror, and besides, you’re burning so many trainers per turn; a hand refresher serves me better than Twins, which is only crucial situationally.
On close matches, I find that it’s actually the better way. You don’t want to burn too much resources when the math already guarantees that you will win before they take the last prize. Four turns of stall is generally enough to pull the win, and as long as I can pull that off, I’d rather devote my resources to reviving Durants. Using too much disruption (with minimal to no results) is probably the reason why many players are losing. Especially in the mirror.
So, I’ve done some more playtesting against Zekrom/Eelektrik, and I have to say the matchup is heavily in favor of the Eelektrik player. The sad reality is that the deck is just too fast for Durant. Durant needs to buy a couple of turns in order to mill them before they take all their prices, and that just doesn’t happen. Reason being that Zekrom/Eelektrik decks play about 10 cards that can counter your catchers so easily. You catcher up their Eelektrik, they just need to draw a Switch, Junk Arm or Double Colorless and they can send out Zekrom BW again. Also, Crushing Hammer doesn’t do much at all since they just dynamotor the energy right back. Lost Remover doesn’t help either because a smart ZekEel player will use his DCE’s to retreat Eelektrik and not for anything else. Smoochum might help the matchup a little bit though, can’t say for sure since I haven’t tested with it.