My name is Myles O’Neill and I am a Pokémon player from Canberra Australia. I am 21 years old and currently in the final year of my undergraduate degree in Genetics and Computer Science. Today I am here to introduce you to a new deck which I have dubbed EX Corners (also known as 6EX Corners, sEX Corners, or Myles’ crazy rogue deck).
I began work on this deck over two months ago at the end of January, and after laborious testing and revising, I am happy to report its success at the two State tournaments Australia has had so far. The deck plays with a style not quite like any other in the current meta and its design must be catered to deal with your local meta. The deck is incredibly fun and rewarding to play and I hope you will give it a try.
The Drive Toward Originality
savagechickens.comI am a very competitive player in Pokémon and all other games I play. Winning is the name of the game and you should always strive toward that goal. However in my opinion the most challenging skill in Pokémon is deck design. Playing a deck can be challenging, but for pro players who have tested a deck inside out, the challenge fades. Such players rarely have to think about which action to take in a game – and when they do, it’s not thinking about how to do something, rather it’s about weighing up the pros and cons of different options.
Designing decks on the other hand is a constant, complex, and compelling struggle. Decks must have synergy, consistency, strength, and must above all the ability to deal with ‘the meta’. The meta can be considered on a few levels: there is the overall strength of a set, the popular decks currently in play, and the decks in play in your local area.
While Roserade UL/Amoonguss NXD/Leafeon UD looks like a great deck on paper (having synergy, consistency, and strength) – it just doesn’t cut it against the meta; its Pokémon are too weak, its setup too slow, and its weakness to Fire too crippling. This consigns such a deck to the realm of fun rogue decks, which just aren’t up to tournament play.
The problem with designing decks which are able to deal with the meta is that they inevitably ARE the meta. The best decks are designed, often simultaneously by multiple people, well before a set comes out. It is tough to be original and be competitive. There are two real ways to get around this as a competitive creative deck builder.
The first is to design rogue decks and try and push them toward excellence, but this will rarely give you a deck which is truly competitive. The other way to go is to take a meta deck and tech it in an interesting way, this is the more competitive option but in the end its fundamentally not as satisfying as creating something from scratch.
There is a third type of deck though – those rare decks that come out of the woodworks with truly original and competitive ideas. This is the holy grail of the competitive deck builder; these are the decks like The Truth. EX Corners is not a deck like this, its idea is not entirely original – but I do think that it is unique and highly competitive. This deck is my greatest achievement in Pokémon – which is why I want to share it with you today.
The Inception
I have been playing Pokémon for almost two years now and at the start of this year I played Reshiploshion. The deck was quite successful toward the beginning of the year, but throughout Cities it just didn’t quite cut it. By the end of these tournaments I decided I wanted to build a new competitive deck for the new meta which would arrive with the release of Next Destinies.
After looking at the set in detail, I decided that what I wanted to try and do was create a revised version of Six Corners – utilising the new Prism Energy and powerful EXs. Why Six Corners you might ask? One quote from Esa Juntunen (the man who introduced us to this deck in the first place) in his article “6,7,8!? Corners” was what sold me on the idea:
People usually say that a good player can outplay 6 Corners, but they usually forget that a good 6 Corners player can also outplay any deck. The success of 6 Corners in the hands of good players is no coincidence.
I love the idea of a deck like this – the more skill a deck requires you (and your opponent) to have the better it is. The other thing about Six Corners is that it is by and large an anti-meta deck. Anti-meta decks are decks which are built directly to beat what the most popular decks currently are. Mono-Terrakion in the current meta is an anti-meta deck, designed to directly counter Zekeels. What makes these decks enticing to deck builders is that they require you to constantly study and survey the ever-changing meta of the game. Decks like these are hard to make and play, but very rewarding when you can pull it off. And so that is why I set out to create EX corners.
The Decklist
Before explaining just what makes EX corners so different and how it actually plays I figure it will make more sense to just show you the decklist. I considered for a while not revealing the decklist – after all there is a large advantage to be had in the element of surprise. But I’ve decided that its worth showing for a few reasons. The first is that I’d like to see how successful the deck can be in the hands of others, particularly all the fine players across the seas in the USA and Europe (among other places!).
Secondly, Dark Explorers is on the horizon and the deck will inevitably change to fit the changing meta. But with more States/Regionals all around the world happening right now – I’m sure many people can put this deck to the test if they so wish. So without further ado here is my current list:
Pokémon – 14 2 Kyurem EX |
Trainers – 31 4 N
4 Junk Arm 3 Switch 2 Revive 2 Pokégear 3.0 |
Energy – 15 4 Prism 4 Rainbow 3 R |
How the Deck Works
en.wikipedia.orgBefore analysing what each of the cards does and why they are each included, I want to spend a little bit of time explaining how this deck is played and what makes it different from Six Corners.
Six Corners is a deck which is, in my opinion, essentially dead now. In the pre-NXD format it was a tier 2 deck which relied on high HP Basic Pokémon which could hit any opponent for weakness. While it generally couldn’t 1HKO many things, it could 2HKO basically everything and was very tough to kill (especially with Evolite). Six Corners was iconic for using Virizion NVI heavily as a strong opener (as either a draw engine or an early hard hitter).
The deck didn’t use energy acceleration, but relied mostly on low 1-2 energy attacks which made this ok. Kyurem was also a popular addition given its ability to put many enemy pokemon within 1HKO range.
EX Corners has some similarities with this deck, hence the name derivation. Like Six Corners, EX corners relies on hitting your opponent for weakness with high HP Basics without the aid of energy acceleration. However in the new era of Pokémon-EX – the old strategy of 2HKOing was made less achievable, furthermore even with Evolite many of the Pokémon in a Six Corners list can easily be KO’d by EXs which break the old magical 120 damage ceiling.
So what do you do if you can’t beat EXs? You use EXs! EX corners uses Pokémon (including many EXs) which attack for 2-3 energy which are able to 1HKO enemy Pokémon (often with the aid of PlusPower).
Let’s quickly look at the attacking Pokémon in the deck and what they can do:
Pokémon | Energy | Raw Damage | With Weakness (and PlusPower) |
What this 1HKOs |
3 Terrakion NV | 1F, 1C [2F, 1C] |
90 | 180 (200) | L |
2 Kyurem-EX NXD | 1W, 2C [2W, 2C] |
60 [120] | 120 (140) [240] | R |
1 Reshiram-EX NXD | 1R, 2C [2R, 2C] |
50 | 100 (120) | M |
1 Zapdos NXD | 1L, 2C | 50 | 100 (120) | Tornadus EP |
3 Mewtwo-EX NXD | 2C | 40+ | 80+ (100+) | Mewtwo-EX NXD |
What should hopefully be evident from this table is that the deck runs a 1HKO counter to basically everything in the current meta. Against Lightning decks (Zekrom, Magnezone, Zebstrika, etc.), Terrakion is a great counter. The hardest thing to KO in these matchups is Zekrom-EX with an Evolite, and all you need is a PlusPower to get past that.
Two Kyurem EXs is a scary sight for any Fire decks (Typhlosion, Emboar, etc.). Using Frozen Wings Kyurem can 1HKO damaged Reshirams, with a PlusPower it can take out undamaged Reshirams and Typhlosions, and its Hail Blizzard is one of the few attacks in the game able to 1HKO Reshiram-EX.
pokemon-paradijs.comReshiram-EX is for the Durant matchup, but can also 1HKO Cobalion and Shaymin EX with a PlusPower. You’ll notice the three non-special energies in the deck are Fire, this is to help keep the Durant matchup as consistent as possible (as it often comes down to energy denial). Reshiram-EX is also a decent card in almost every matchup, with its high HP and damage output. With two PlusPowers it is also able to 1HKO Mewtwo – a potentially game winning way to break a Mewtwo war.
Zapdos is a counter to Tornadus in CMT, able to Random Spark with a PlusPower for a KO – and usually forcing your opponent to return KO with Mewtwo, giving you a prize advantage in the imminent Mewtwo war. It also gives you the potentially game winning ability to snipe Pokémon on the bench.
Finally we have Mewtwo EX – and its inclusion in this deck should be no surprise to anyone. Almost every major deck right now runs Mewtwo and often the second half of games comes entirely down to Mewtwo wars. Other decks can have a slight advantage in these due to easier energy acceleration. To stay competitive, this deck runs 3 Mewtwo, 2 Revives, 4 PlusPower, 4 DCE, 4 Collector, 2 Pokégear and 4 Junk Arms – enough to stay very much competitive in these situations.
Shaymin can also always be dropped to get those extra energy onto Mewtwo if necessary. Against a deck like this, many opponents will decide they’d rather push the Mewtwo war than deal with the rest of the deck – which is why the deck needs to be ready to beat such strategies.
Mewtwo is also a great card in general with good damage output and the capability of donking. Against non-meta decks Mewtwo is the best fallback attacker – able to compete with most rogues, despite not necessarily hitting for weakness. This is very important in tournaments, as you can’t guarantee you will face meta decks.
Playing the Deck
pokemon-paradijs.comYou should have a pretty decent idea of what this deck has at its disposal for dealing with opponents now, but how does it actually play? The answer is: slowly and retaliatory. The biggest difference between this deck and Six Corners is speed. Six Corners relied upon hitting hard and fast with early attackers such as Virizion. EX Corners on the other hand is slower, it requires set up.
Getting Pokémon out is easy. Setup for this deck almost exclusively refers to energy – without energy you are dead in the water. You need to be placing one energy down each turn no matter what – even if it means attaching energy to a Cleffa – it can always be Shaymin’d away later and will often prove essential. This is why the energy count is relatively high in the deck – this consistency is vital.
Thanks to the fact that energy in this deck is primary Rainbow/Prism/DCE – it is very easy to drop a Basic and use Shaymin’s Celebration Wind to move energy across to it, allowing you to quickly (and potentially unpredictably) switch up the way you are attacking. This gives you a significant advantage as your opponent finds it hard to know what you will do next – but first you need energy on the field.
There is a huge temptation to start attacking in the first 2-4 turns of the game with the energy you place, but in most cases you are better off spreading out energy and stalling with a high HP Pokémon with no energy active or ideally with Cleffa (for max consistency and a decent chance of damage immunity). In early versions of the deck, I used Virizion instead of Cleffa, but the problem is that the two turns of energy attachment Virizion needs are much better used on setting up other Pokémon.
Zero energy attack Pokémon are thus the best starters – which limits you to babies and Yanmega Prime. Yanmega doesn’t fit the deck at all and while I have experimented with other babies – the consistency which Cleffa brings to the table is too good to pass up. Other good baby options include Smoochum HS, Elekid TM, and Tyrogue HS.
Thus, compared to Six Corners, EX corners takes longer to set up and start swinging – but when it does the 1HKOs it brings to the table are often very hard for your opponent to deal with and the pressure is on them to keep up with you for the rest of the game.
Deck Choices
pokemon-paradijs.comI’ll now briefly go through the reasons for the numbers of each card in the deck beyond the main attackers. In general the deck is made with consistency heavily in mind. Consistency, as has been expressed by so many people before, is the most important thing in a Pokémon deck. Your deck needs to be able to consistently do what it is meant to – if it can’t then you are just asking for losses, especially in a tournament.
Two Cleffa are in the deck for just this reason. Its such a core free-retreat/stall/consistency card that it would be mad to run just one in my opinion. Two Shaymin are also included; their drops are essential and extremely useful during games, allowing you to conserve and redistribute energy at will.
The deck does not however run any Super Scoop up or Seeker. If there was more space I would include Seeker. Seeker is great card – but in my experience the supporter slot is rarely free to use and the card is very situational. Super Scoop Up is a pretty good choice too, but far too flippy for my taste.
These cards also have the advantage of making donking easier (Seeker), acting as another way to retreat an active (Super Scoop Up), allowing you to fully heal damaged EXs, and get bad openers off your bench to free up space. Despite all these advantages I think all of the other cards in the deck are more useful – but feel free to experiment with this.
The deck runs 4 Collectors and 10 draw/shuffle Supporters. N is an amazing card in the format right now, so it’s definitely worth maxing out in my opinion. PONT/Juniper preferences are slightly personal, but I find that with so many special energy and cards like Mewtwo (that you neither want to play or discard) it can be problematic to run too many Juniper. This said, its great to fill your hand with dead cards (Pokémon for other matchups) and Juniper them away – so both have uses.
The deck also runs two Pokégear – these are great for consistency because they can be Junk Arm’d as well as providing a good way to get out Collector for those important Mewtwo EX + Shaymin drops (or even just for early game setup).
pokemon-paradijs.comIn terms of Trainers, it really comes down to not having enough space to include everything you will want. While cards like Evolite go nicely in the deck, they just aren’t as good as the other choices – and it’s not worth sacrificing consistency or matchups (Pokémon) to include them. The deck runs four Junk Arms for consistency. Four PlusPowers, along with the Junk Arms means you’ll almost always have them when you need them (and this deck definitely needs them).
Four Switch is better than three, but with Cleffa as a free retreater in the deck three is an acceptable minimum. Catcher are essential in every deck in format at the moment and two seems to do the job. Finally Revive, as mentioned before, is great for Mewtwo wars – but also helps you in basically every matchup, helping you get back your only attacker in certain matchups or helping when a number of Pokémon for a certain matchup are prized.
Speaking of prized Pokémon, this is one thing which a good EX Corners player needs to be prepared for. It’s always annoying when the card you need for a specific matchup is prized. In these situations the best strategy is to play very aggressively, taking as many cheap prizes as possible (usually this means attacking with an early Mewtwo EX). By doing this you can potentially get the card you need from your prizes and get back into the game from there.
Other Options
You should now have a decent idea of what this deck is and how it works now. What are other cards you can include to help against varying matchups you might face? In general you want Basic Pokémon which can hit for roughly 50-70 damage on two-three energies (ideally with two Colorless so you can use a DCE). Against lots of Terrakion players, Virizion or Shaymin EX are both good options.
If for some reason Ghost Pokémon (Gengar Prime, Chandelure NVI) are popular near you, Absol Prime is another great option. If Kyurem is popular (in COKE/CAKE, The Truth, or Kyurem/Ferraligatr), Cobalion NVI is another great Pokémon to include – Cobalion can also work decently in a lot of other matchups so is a good tech.
The non-EX dragons, a staple in Six Corners, don’t really work now due to that fact that Outrage requires not being 1HKO’d. Kyurem has potential for softening up opponents, but in my opinion the energy cost is just too high. There are lots of other options out there too, but I’ll leave you to look for and try those out yourself.
Biggest Threats
This deck can deal with almost everything the meta can throw at it. However it has two Achilles’ heals. The first is energy denial, in the form of Lost Remover and Crushing Hammer. These cards can be somewhat devastating for the deck to deal with given the lack of energy acceleration.
But from my testing I’ve found it takes a very large number of these to completely shut down EX Corners. So an opponent who directly techs against the deck will probably have a strong edge – but all those Lost Removers and Crushing Hammers will just be wastes in their other matchups, making them not very tournament viable options.
The other threat is Scizor Prime – which almost directly counters this deck thanks to its Red Armor Poké-Body. Thankfully, Scizor is hard to run in anything remotely meta right now. If you do come up against it the best bet is to kill Scythers before they can be evolved, snipe off any other Pokémon which are benched, and try and remove special energies from Scizor with Kyurem if desperate.
Finally the real goal in this matchup is to attach the 3 normal Fire energies to Reshiram-EX to kill Scizor – which, although challenging, is possible. So it’s not an auto-loss per sae, but it’s easily the hardest matchup to play against.
Does the deck actually work?
So you may have read all of that and thought: that’s all well and good on paper, but where are the results? In my testing, the deck has been able to stand toe to toe with every deck in format. It doesn’t auto-win or auto-lose any matchup, and many games come down to skill and not misplaying – and boy is it easy to misplay with (or against) this deck! I have now taken the deck to the two State Tournaments which have been held in Australia so far (Victoria and Queensland). Note that in Australia all tournaments use Best of 3 format in Swiss.
In Victoria I went 4-2, beating three Zeekeels decks and one Reshiploshion deck. I lost to one Zeekeels deck and one Reshiploshion deck. Both losses came down to tiebreakers during third games in time, so overall I think the deck performed very well. I missed out on top cut (of 8) by tiebreaker – coming 11th overall.
In Queensland I lost my first match to a mono-Terrakion deck which ran a lot of Lost Removers and Crushing Hammers. Following this I had a bye, giving me the opportunity to come back with a decent tiebreaker. I then went on to win against two Zeekeel decks and one CMT deck. With a final score of 4-1 I scraped into the top cut of 4.
I proceeded to win my next match against another (very good) Zekeel deck, before going into the final against a MagneBoar/RDL deck. I lost the final game in a nail-biting conclusion, potentially due to a few misplays by myself (I’m not the best under pressure) and due to some excellent plays by my opponent. This placed me as 2nd overall in the tournament. For an idea of how the deck plays, the finals has been uploaded online, which you can view below (albeit with my deck erroneously called Terrakion!):
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
A few points about the game. I’m the guy in the black shirt on the right. In the first game I had all three Terrakion prized to my horror. I was also fairly unsure about what his deck was at the start. In retrospect I should have gotten out Kyurem EX and tried to take out Emboar with it – but that just goes to show how essential it is to test every matchup, even the unlikely ones!
Matchups
I’ve tested almost all matchups with this deck, the popular ones much more than the rogues, but nonetheless these are my estimated matchup ratios (listed as %For – %Against). Its important of course to note that a huge amount of these matchups comes down to skill of the players involved, making it hard to judge.
45 – 55 vs CMT
The speed of CMT is the real scary thing here, if you have trouble setting up you lose. But if you get a decent opening you should be able to keep up with them in the inevitable Mewtwo wars. My normal opening against CMT is to set up Cleffa, Zapdos, and Kyurem – all of which are decent responses to any non-Mewtwo things CMT decides to do.
60 – 40 vs Zekeels
Zekeel games tend to quickly switch into Mewtwo wars when the opponent realises they can’t keep up against your Terrakions. However the advantage Terrakion brings to the table against the rest of their deck definitely swings the matchup in favor of EX Corners.
55 – 45 vs Magnezone
Magnezone’s strength against EXs is problematic, though Terrakion works very well against it. This makes it a bit better than Zeekeels, but I’d still say EX corners has the advantage.
70 – 30 vs Reshiploshion
Two Kyurems just helps this matchup so much, and given damaged Reshirams are put in range of KO by afterburner – its very easy to shut this deck down. Not only that, but Typhlosion itself can be easily Catcher’d up and Knocked Out, shutting down their engine.
60 – 40 vs Emboar
Emboar is a bit better off than Typhlosion due to the fact that it can’t be as easily Knocked Out by Kyurem and its ability to drop the dreaded RDL. Nonetheless with Kyurem this matchup is still in EX Corner’s favor.
55 – 45 vs Durant
This match basically comes down to whether Durant can kill all the energies on Reshiram-EX early enough. A lot of the game comes down to how many energies they can kill with each devour. One good trick in this matchup is to build up a huge hand and then N when needed to refill the deck. If Reshiram-EX is prized, Terrakion is the best fall back option.
40 – 60 vs Terrakion
pokemon-paradijs.comTerrakion is a scary prospect unless you include Virizion or Shaymin EX, which might be a good call as the meta swings toward the deck. The key in this matchup is to kill their Terrakions which have Exp. Share and hit at exactly the right time (too early and your deck struggles, too late and they will be too set up). The other cards useful in this matchup are Zapdos (resistant and able to snipe Terrakions into 1HKO range), and the often overlooked Shaymin UL – which can hit for 60.
Sadly its resistance isn’t enough to put it out of 1HKO return kills, but if you are lucky your opponent will forget it’s even possible for you to attack with Shaymin.
40 – 60 vs The Truth
I will admit to not having properly tested against this deck, but I don’t think the matchup is great. This deck hits too slowly to really shut down The Truth in time and if they get Kyurem out and fully powered your only hope is Mewtwo EX. Trainer lock doesn’t help either. If they go the Kyurem route and there are Truth players in your meta I would recommend including Cobalion.
70 – 30 vs Six Corners
Six Corners just can’t do the damage it needs to in order to deal with EX Corners – and although the match is one of the more challenging in terms of Pokémon decisions, I have yet to lose a match against it.
Conclusion
EX Corners is a rogue deck by all accounts, but I honestly believe it is more than capable of taking State/Regional Championships. To be honest I’m pretty surprised no one has come up with this idea before me – but I can promise you the deck does work. If you are looking for something a little different (yet still competitive) to play – give this deck a chance! You won’t regret it. If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments.
Finally I’d like to thank all of my friends in Canberra for their help and advice in the development in this deck. It is vital to have good players to test against, so thanks to Sameer, Shanan, Blaine, Luke, Antony, and everyone else.
I did mention in the YT description that your deck as “Terrakion w Techs”
But yea BL in game 1.
Is the name sEX really necessary?
Its a pun, like COKE or EXTC. Feel free to simply call it EX Corners if you feel it to be inappropriate. I personally do not consider the word sex to be rude – but each to their own.
I have absolutely no problem with sex. The word itself isnt rude, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to connect sEX and the the thumbnail pic (Kate Upton?). Probably not something that most parents want to have to discuss with their little kids thanks to a pokemon article. 6p may be “PG-13” but this is kinda pushing it IMO.
As for the article, it was alright but I’d like more Catcher in the decklist.
dont like sex, player?
at first I thought you weren’t cool, but then I realized that you say player at the end of every single sentence so you must be cool
Absolutely. Just reading this made me think of 1991 Salt N Pepa.
Oh, and of something else.
Well done making it to Top 2. Hope to see you again at Nationals :)
Also sEX corners is just like saying Six Corners with a New Zealand accent :P
(But not me, I’m only half Kiwi)
:0
Hey that’s just the aussies. NZs can speak proper england.
If only I could afford 3 Mewtwo EX, I would totally play this deck. Maybe Verizion would help if a player can’t afford Mewtwo EX and/or has Terrakion present in their meta.
Its one of the sad sides of the current meta that Mewtwo EX is so core. I’ve been currently making do by borrowing off of friends. This said, I’ve run the deck with 1-2 Mewtwo EX in the past and its certainly doable, its just difficult in Mewtwo wars which come up. Running extra revives might be a good way to stay consistent if you can only run 1.
Verizion is a decent play with lots of Terrakion around (which seems to be the case now). I think you are right about it being a decent replacement for Mewtwo, as it fills the role of “general damage dealer” for non-meta match ups.
I have found out that cobalion is a good mewtwo counter (resistance of 20) + throw an eviolite on it and maybe a special energy. But looking at the deck list I see no room for spec. Metal. But if you can’t afford mewtwos, (which have started to get banned in tournaments in Japan) cobalion is the way to go I find.
Also like you said Virizion is a good counter to terrakion but can’t 1HKO. So maybe 1 sacred sword virizion could work to get them down then use switch to put someone else in since it can’t attack again for the next turn
I don’t know if your metagame plays many tornadus but I have yet to play against one even though I always face celebi mewtwo, I guess I’m quite lucky. So zapdos seems like a bad investement. Since we’re already doing EXs, Zekrom EX might be a good replacement since it also does 50 damage but can do 80
On the N I was wondering if it was good to run 4 since the goal of 6 corners and variants is get the prize card lead early game.
I really like the deck list and will be using a variant of it for upcoming battle roads. I like how it remains recent cards but has the power of the regular 6 corners.
FYI, I swear to god I saw that guy in the Montreal tournament. I swear he played my brother (he was using durant)
Sorry if I mentioned something you already said. Lots of info, couldn’t remember it all
Some good comments. In my experience I’ve found Cobalion to just not cut it as a Mewtwo EX counter, but if it works for you – go for it. Its certainly better than nothing.
Sacred Sword Verizion is an interesting idea, but I’m wary of its high energy cost. Normal Verizion isn’t actually that bad. First hit does 80 damage, making it an easy 2HKO – which (given they can’t 1HKO you) is actually respectable. More importantly what you should aim to do is get it swinging early and thus start hitting for 160 damage, 1HKOing as much as you like.
Ideally I think I would start with Virizion, turn 2 hit for 80, turn 3 catcher if possible and 1HKO for 160. Then you might get another KO off before they take you out. Either way, once your first Virizion is KO’d, you can send up Zapdos to snipe any Terrakion’s with 80 damage on them, or damage fresh ones. The next Verizion you follow up with can then hit one of these damaged ones for 80, KOing it. As per usual, an evolite can be stopped using a plus power if necessary. The damage actually comes out quite nicely.
My meta does indeed have a fair amount of Tornadus, and if yours doesn’t then Zapdos isn’t a great option (although it is useful vs. Terrakion as explained above). I would advise strongly against Zekrom EX – its attack is effectively as good as Zapdos’, without the good resistance and without being a single prize. The second attack isn’t an option as you can’t afford to discard energies. IMO its not a good card in this deck.
As for N – this deck is slower than normal 6 corners, as a result N actually works quite nicely. Its also just amazing in this format, the ability to lock down a winning opponent and get back in the game is huge. It can also win you a mewtwo war or simply give you and edge after they knock out one of your EXs.
All that is just my opinion though, good luck running the deck at your upcoming battle roads! Tell me how it goes!
Alright, that makes a lot more sense, thanks. I’ll let you know for sure in a month or two since battle roads start in May for me. And with some good pay cheques coming in soon, shouldn’t be too hard to get the cards.
great article.
but kind of grossed out by sex corners. In my experience, you aren’t supposed to be dealing with corners in sex. If you do, you are probably doing it wrong………….and to a table.
um… this is pokemon
so, what’s your point?
I wouldn’t really worry about it, David. Pikkdog’s seems to have lost all self-respect for himself (just read some of his conversations he has with his imaginary friend Pedro, and the rather disgusting detail he goes into involving certain McDonald’s food items), and has resorted to trying to actually relate Pokemon and Sex.
After Game 3 your second sentence contains an error.
“I’m the guy on the right in the black shirt on the right.”
Otherwise Durant seems much more of a threat than you say. The fact that it can use Crushing Hammer up to 8 times to take out only 3 fire energy, and Lost Remover up to whatever times to take out the Prisms/etc. seems like a big threat.
And I don’t see how Zekeels can be overrun by your Terrakion, especially considering you don’t run Exp. Share.
Otherwise an interesting read.
Durant isn’t really popular in Australia at the moment for some reason, its hardly played in the meta here. Its possible to tech further against it by including more fire energies and maybe a second Reshiram EX. They could use Crushing hammer up to 8 times, but in practice they need to use those junk arms for other things (like revives) too. Don’t forget that you can attach any of the 15 energy in the deck to Reshiram EX in order to set it up, not just fire. But I do agree, Durants which run lots of lost remover and crushing hammer can be tough for this deck.
All you really need to do with Terrakion against Zekeel is bench three and attach one energy to each before attacking – at that point you can retaliate to your hearts content. Exp. Share isn’t really an option since it doesn’t work on special energy.
I understand how in theory it feels like the deck just can’t compete without energy acceleration, but in experience and testing its more than possible – and the matchup against Zekeels is actually quite good (6-1 match wins to this deck in my tournament results so far for whatever that is worth).
Like the concept, but not the list.
2 Catcher…?
The rationale behind 2 catcher is that, unlike aggressive decks like Zekeels and CMT, this deck tends to focus on return KOs – where you don’t need to use catcher. I feel that two, with four junk arms, is enough for the situations where it is useful.
Always up for constructive criticism though, what other problems do you have with it?
No Eviolite annoys me, and I would cut the 2 Revive for a Super Rod, and a card of choice (would be Catcher for me). It helps more against Durant, and can get back those few basic energies. Eviolite is useful for Terrakion, Mewtwo, and even Cleffa (Tyrogue, which is seeing play).
I can see your logic, evolite is definitely a great card in the deck – its just a matter of what it is worth cutting to include it.
As for super rod it might be a decent option for the deck, given that it can get back multiple pokemon – but I’d find that it would be rarely used (or needed on energy) except against Durant. It also means you need to search out the pokemon which commits you to using a collector for the turn (or trying to get them by luck with a shuffle supporter). By only running one you are also making it slightly less consistent and given that in some situations you will really need those pokemon back ASAP it could be a problem.
But I agree with you, its a good alternative to revive, particularly if there are a lot of Durants around. I must admit to not having considered that. Thanks :)
why don’t you call it flex corners
why don’t do you call it flex corners
Missing that catcher and going to time hurt in our top 4 match. I’d list the Zekreels match at 50-50 with your deck. I think our games were a very good indication that a very good Zekrom list can win in a lot of scenarios. Your average Zekreels player would fail miserably.
Our match was a very good indication that the Eels may actually be 50-50. I think most players in our country play the deck badly. I’d have been very interested in the outcome if our top 4 match did not go to time :( Pro article and a very good deck concept however. It does catch players off guard if it’s not on their radar, which is another thing that can be crucial to the deck’s success. Cheers for sharing :)
In a way the article is a little bit self-defeating since it takes away some of the advantage of the deck. I still hold though that the sEX Corners player will have an advantage against a meta deck though as they will have more experience with the matchup.
I agree with you that a well made Zekeels in a good player’s hands is probably a 50-50 matchup, Zekeels is nothing to be scoffed at. Thanks for the games :)
I definitely agree you have an inherent advantage that’s for sure. Even if the opponent knows your deck, it’s a difficult deck to outplay. Missing one crucial card or misplaying once (Should have burnt a catcher early game…) can turn the matchup from 50-50 to 40-60 in your favor.
Terrakion is the reason we can’t have nice things :(
The biggest problem for your deck when facing durant isn’t the removals, but the catchers, and I’m saying this from a durant player’s point of view. All your attackers save cleffa, especially terrakion, has enormous retreat costs, and accessing those switches and shaymin is hard when being milled. Keep that in mind (along with your energy) when playing durant.
Excellent article by the way, +1 from me. I agree that 6C variants, including this version, is a true test of a player’s skill level.
Definitely a good point, generally the aim is to set up a lone Reshiram EX if possible. But when you start with another pokemon (and when not running seeker/SSU) you will have one stuck on the bench. Milling can make getting switches hard, but it also puts switches into the discard – which means you can generally get it with junk arm. Not ideal of course, but I haven’t had too much trouble with catcher locking me out in my experience. This might have to do with the play styles of the durant players in my area though.
Really good article.
THIS is how you convince people that a deck is viable: explanation, thorough playtesting, and actual results. Other writers please take note.
I would get my pets and parents to Like this article if Adam would let me.
Thank you for the kind words, I’m glad you liked the article :)
not sure how sex and corners fit together.
not to mean to be a troll but terrakion murks this deck. Lost removers your entire field(which you forgot in your testing) and terrakion’s ability to swap 2kos for 2kos. most often your OHKO get 2KOd by terrakion and are EXs.
I did mention both Terrakion and lost remover in the article – as well as mentioning my loss to it in the tournament. My specific list isn’t teched to deal with the deck – but as I stated, adding Virizion/Shaymin EX goes a long way – as it takes 3HKOs for Terrakion while you can 1HKO. Its definitely possible to beat Terrakion.
look. i get that you were trying to make a pun with the name of the deck, but keep in mind that it’s not JUST masters who check this site. seniors and juniors do to. i have no problem with the name, it just doesn’t seem like it should be a name of a deck in a kids’ game.
overall, it was a pretty good article. i just disagree with what you called the deck.
In the rules Adam states that the site (specifically the forums, but I believe it applies to the site as a whole) should be kept at a PG-13 level, and the name of the deck definitely doesn’t warrant an R rating.
Besides, from my knowledge, most seniors know what sex is, and I don’t think many juniors visit this site.
P.S. Not trying to start a fight.
still. you get my point, right?
yay! adam finally changed the name of the article!
For the record, I support his decision. This is of course his website and it is his call as to what is appropriate or not.
I also of course stand by the name, but thats just me. If it were up to me I would have probably chosen a very different thumbnail pic for the article though :P
Thank you for voicing your objection in such a civil and appropriate manner. :)
you’re welcome. i tend to try and follow the comment guidelines (posted after each article for those who skip them) and pride myself on doing so.
This is the most fun deck I have used ever since I started playing about a month ago. I play it on playtcg.me and I enjoy this the most. I am going to test Shaymin EX, Super Scoop Up (works sort of like switch and I can get my energies back) and Seeker (for Shaymin shenanigans).
Great to hear you like it! SSU and Seeker definitely open up the possibility for some interesting plays.
Since the name of the article was changed I think that the picture on the front page should be changed as well.
It is confusing now and makes no sense.
In my opinion, anything that plays 3 of the most popular and most expensive card currently in format is not anti-meta. It’s like saying you were playing an anti-meta deck last format with a Luxray-GL lv X and Garchomp C lv X tech in it….
When I started playing pokemon, sixprizes was such a great website for beginners and even people that had been playing competitively for only a short while to be exposed to new ideas and a place for creative people to share their fun/but also competitive deck lists and cool ideas. It really sucks to enter the website now an abundance tournament reports, and articles about why you should eat a good breakfast before the tournament. It’s letting me down, and really making me navigate more toward Heytrainer.
As a relatively new player I’ve found the content on the site to be interesting, inspiring and very informative. I’m afraid our definitions of anti-meta differ, mine relies on running a deck which is able to “counter” the most popular decks in format, rather than focussing on pure damage output. This deck, as its name should imply, is quite expensive as decks go. But then you could always just play it online.
-forget this-
I just noticed that if you used Tyrogue instead of cleffa, you could of won game 1? Do you use cleffa’s attack often? Do you often need card refresh from cleffa?
Tyrogue donking is definitely something a lot of people are fans of, and I think it definitely works with this deck. Personally however I prefer the consistency which cleffa’s attack gives you. Even with 10 draw/shuffle supporters and 2 poke gear its quite possible to end up with a dead hand (and this is true of all decks). Once you get cleffa out though this ceases to become a problem – for this reason I find it to be invaluable.
On the other hand if you find N is used heavily in your meta then cleffa might not be as useful as your opponent might give you a new hand themselves. This of course relies on you bluffing a little bit (or at the least not revealing that you have a dead hand if possible).
Tyrouge vs cleffa imo is about risks – Tyrouge is a risk of dead hands, Cleffa is a risk of missing out donning opportunities. Personally I go with cleffa and use Mewtwo to do baby donking when its possible (as happened in game 2) – but Tyrogue is a great choice in the deck for certain playstyles/metas.
Why did you use 3 Fire Energy?
Why not Fighting Energy?
So how do you think this deck could hold up after DEX is released? I am thinking of replacing the Kyurem EX with Darkrai EX and the basic energies for basic dark energy (or special), so everybody gets free retreat. Then running Dual Ball, Heavy Ball, and Ultra Ball over Collector. What do you think?
I think the deck will be viable after DEX comes out, the biggest fear IMO is the rise of fighting and dark. Fighting because those decks tend to run lost removers which is a pain, and dark in the form of rush decks which can be difficult to deal with – but time will have to tell.
Kyurem really depends on the meta, if Entei or Groudon/Landerous see much play its worth keeping around – its also nice for the odd fire matchup (around here there are a decent number of people still playing it).
Darkrai EX might work in the deck, but I’m not sure – the problem is that it doesn’t really do much – free retreat is nice, but only if you can utilise it. As an attacker Darkrai is also nice but sadly isn’t really hitting anything for weakness in the format, 3 energy can also be tough. This said, I think in the right build of the deck Darkai has a place.
Ball engines over Collector are definitely feasible – this might also allow you to run a heavier discard line of supporters – but then you run into problems losing special energy.
In answer to your last question, I used fire energy instead of fighting to increase the durant matchup. The type of normal energy you choose is basically a choice of which matchup is the hardest/most common for you.