Hey everyone,
BulbapediaSo for my first article for SixPrizes, I thought it would be interesting to give you all an overview of how I think this upcoming format is going to develop. I’ll go over a card I believe is one of the most influential in Boundaries Crossed, and a few ways to make good use of it. I hope you guys like the article and find it useful when trying to build your Cities decks. Enjoy!
The card I want to talk about is the highly-anticipated Blastoise from this set. Its Ability, Deluge, allows for Energy acceleration in form not unfamiliar to the game. Reminiscent of its predecessors Blastoise from Base Set, Blastoise ex from FireRed & LeafGreen, and most recently, Emboar from Black & White, it’s no surprise this card is receiving the kind of hype it is.
In each of these past examples, the capability to attach any number of Energy cards from one’s hand has been a tier 1 strategy, and has even been format defining. But, as was the case with these other “Rain Dance” Pokémon, this ability means nothing unless paired with a Pokémon who can abuse this kind of instant Energy acceleration.
For this Blastoise, Keldeo EX from Boundaries Crossed seems to be the obvious partner. It almost feels as though this Keldeo was made just for Blastoise. Its high HP, unpopular Weakness, and amazing Ability, not to mention an attack almost tailor-made for Deluge, make this deck a sure-fire hit. Here’s my take on a list for this deck:
|
Pokémon – 13 3 Squirtle BC |
Trainers – 35 4 Professor Juniper |
Energy – 12 12 W |
Card Choices
There are probably a few things about this list that aren’t standard, and with such a changing format, some choices are more obvious than others, so I’ll go over why I picked certain cards over others.
From what I’ve seen, Skyla is quite the controversial card. There are a few people who swear by it, while others think the card is trash. I personally feel that this card is somewhere in between. It’s not the kind of card you love to see when you’re really hurting for an explosive turn early on, but late game, this is a game changer. Cards like Tool Scrapper, Catcher, Eviolite, and Computer Search are all pretty huge cards late game, and being able to search for them exactly when you need them can be huge.
What makes me put this card into the list, though, is that it has greater early game implications in Stage 2 decks than it would in a faster deck like Darkrai or Landorus. The ability to search out Ultra Ball and Rare Candy can be just as good as getting an early Juniper, simply because most of the time, you’re looking for the missing piece to get out that second turn Blastoise.
Another really important reason why Skyla made the cut is that Energy Retrieval is such a critical part of this deck. Playing only two can only be justified by having at least two Skyla and a Super Rod. Having so much versatility early, mid, and late game is what makes Skyla a must in any Blastoise variant.
I feel like people underestimate how good this card is in Blastoise decks. Because the two EX attackers in the deck have only 170 HP, Eviolite is very important for keeping Energy on the field. 170 with an Eviolite also gives great numbers against Eels decks, because Rayquaza has to dump four Energies instead of three for a 1HKO.
Another reason this card shines in this deck is Kyurem. Because Kyurem is not an EX, having to put resources into KOing one is an unrewarding venture for an opponent. Its already-high HP supplemented with Eviolite can swing the Prize trade mid-game, which is a incredibly desirable in this blow-for-blow format.
Some might say that an Eviolited Kyurem doesn’t really take away any magic numbers, but in the upcoming format, being able to prevent the 30 bench damage dealt by Darkrai, and now Landorus, really ensures that Kyurem will be able to attack twice.
Unfortunately there’s only room for one Eviolite in this list, but higher quantities of this card is something to keep in mind as that “61st” slot.
There’s not too much to say about this choice. The sole reason for having 12 Water and one Energy Search as opposed to a 13/0 split is Skyla. I don’t think that this deck can go through 13 actual Waters, especially with two Energy Retrieval and a Super Rod, so having the versatility to search for an Energy with Skyla is an option not worth passing up on.
This card is one that I believe most Blastoise players will be including in their final lists for cities. Essentially providing +60 damage late game with a Keldeo, it can be the difference between a 2-shot and a 1HKO. The reason I chose only to play one is the situational nature of the card. The idea that this card is only useful after a full setup with Blastoise and Keldeo on the board at the same time makes it difficult for me to justify going higher than two max. The other reason to make this card unique in the deck is the already-high Supporter count.
Because having a high Supporter count was not really a problem through Battle Roads and Regionals, I believe a big mistake many inexperienced players will make is putting too many Supporters into a deck. Just a warning with this card, it’s got a lot of late-game potential, but be wary of stuffing your decks with Supporters, because you’ll start seeing some pretty clogged hands.
The Other Way to Play Blastoise
pokemon-paradijs.comAnother variant of Blastoise is one that focuses on healing and keeping Keldeo from being Knocked Out. This version of the deck makes great use of Keldeo’s Ability, Step In. Because the Blastoise player doesn’t have to worry about retreating, they can freely use Super Scoop Up to bring a Keldeo back to their hand, then immediately replay it and send it Active without having to have a free retreater or another Keldeo.
The Super Scoop Up version of this deck has its pros and cons. Its advantage over the other version is that with a little bit of luck, it can keep the same Keldeo and Energies recycling without ever giving up a prize. Because Grass is so underplayed with the exception of Shaymin EX, a Keldeo with an Eviolite is unlikely to get 1HKO’d by anything other than a Rayquaza with four Electrics on it.
By getting the maximum amount of attacks out of a single Keldeo, the Blastoise player is allowing himself a little extra time to set up, because once set up, this version will perform much better late game. This pocket of time in the early turns of the game, however, is also the deck’s biggest fault. This version of the deck will probably find itself struggling to set up early game, whether it be to losing Squirtles, or to falling so far behind that there’s no way to get around being Catchered for the remaining prizes.
The main concern for many high level players, though, is the flips associated with playing and relying heavily upon Super Scoop Up. Experienced players generally tend to stay away from cards that bring luck into the game, and SSU is the epitome of this kind of card.
By and large, the other version of this deck, which has a steadier early game, will most likely appeal to a larger group of players than the SSU version will. Regardless, without having seen any results in this format thus far, it is impossible to discount the potential of this deck, so here’s a list I’ve drawn up for this deck as well:
|
Pokémon – 12 3 Squirtle BC |
Trainers – 37 4 Professor Juniper |
Energy – 11 11 W |
Card Choices
It’s pretty apparent just from a first glance at this list that it’s much less consistent than the first list. Those four spaces for Super Scoop Ups, the extra Eviolite, and the Max Potion definitely take up a lot of the room that had previously been dedicated to supporters like Cheren.
Nonetheless, that’s what needs to be done to keep the important things in the deck, but keep in mind how much less consistent this deck is compared to the version without Super Scoop Up. Here’s some analysis of the cards in here that aren’t represented in the first list.
pokemon-paradijs.comThis card choice should make apparent that I am very opposed to having to flip coins for any reason, especially after I missed around 75% of my Hammer flips at Philly Regionals. Max Potion adds some certainty to a deck that is heavily reliant on Super Scoop Flips.
Assuming you start flipping tails, you can always rely on a Max Potion/Cilan/Energy Retrieval to keep you afloat until your next SSU opportunity. I think that having the 2nd Eviolite in the deck is what warrants Max Potion in this deck, because without it, Rayquaza 1-shots would be too devastating, and Max Potion would become too situational.
This card also proves to be rather versatile in that it can offset a Raikou’s 100 to a Blastoise. Having that kind of damage dealt/removed back and forth can really ruin an Eels player’s game. It also means that the Blastoise that took so long to get onto the board isn’t going anywhere unless they put a lot of resources into Knocking it Out instead of a tanked Keldeo or Mewtwo.
This is a must in this build of Keldeo/Blastoise. There’s no way around playing at least two of this card, if not three. When your goal is to keep big EX’s alive for as long as possible, Eviolite seems all too intuitive. Keeping both Keldeo and Mewtwo out of 1HKO range for Rayquaza is too important to pass up on if you’re looking to scoop it up later.
I also can’t stress enough that Eviolite will be a huge card in a format full of Landorus. Being able to prevent a Landorus player from putting 30 on a Mewtwo or Keldeo then 1HKOing it later on with Landorus’s second attack can be important for the deck. While Landorus is already a good matchup for Blastoise because of Weakness, Landorus will set up far more quickly, and getting 2 Prizes in the fashion described above can actually be game ending depending on what point in the game it happens.
Eviolite appears to me to be one of the only reasons a version of Blastoise reliant on SSU’s can function in the upcoming metagame.
11 Water
pokemon-paradijs.comThe last big difference between the two decks is the energy count. While the first list plays 12 Waters and an Energy Search, this version plays only 11 total. The reason for this is simply that there’s no room. The space that was dedicated to Energy and Energy Support had to be cut back on in order to fit the healing cards.
While generally this does not seem like a good place to find space for potency cards like SSU and Max Potion, it is justified by the idea that Energies will leave play less often. By playing these healing cards, the Blastoise player ensures that each Energy that comes into play will get maximum usage before going to the discard.
This method of preserving Energies is one that works in theory, but depending on how quickly the first Keldeo is Knocked Out, it could mean trouble finding enough Energy to power a second attacker for a response. This is just one of the many weaknesses this version of the deck faces.
Overview
In this article I described two very different ways of making good use of Blastoise’s Deluge. The first concentrates on consistency and returning attacks, while the second focuses more on late game potency and Energy efficiency. While I don’t believe one is clearly better than the other, I do believe there is a medium at which bother versions can overlap.
For example, instead of playing four SSU and cutting back significantly on Trainers, one could play two or three SSU and incorporate the healing strategy into a consistent version of the deck. The thing to keep in mind is that you don’t have to “pick” one way of running the deck, but rather by putting your own spin on the deck, you can keep the best aspects of both lists.
I hope everyone found this article useful, and I hope it provided some good insight as to why Blastoise will be making a splash come cities. Thanks for reading!
Mike
Nice article, I like the two different strategies you show.
I think you could have brought up some of the reasons that
this deck should have such an impact on the metagame.
First being squirtles ability ‘Shell shield’ which will
protect it from Darkrai, Raikou, Landorus and any other spread/snipe attackers,
allowing you to candy to Blastoise much, much more reliably.
Second Keldeos ability ‘Rush in’ overcomes catcher stall, is
the death knell of paralysis lock and gives the deck space that switch usually takes.
Third water typing has a lot of impact right now with Ho-oh
and Landorus being other potential high tier decks.
You did mention the fact that it has a good weakness right
now with Grass being rare in decks but I wouldn’t be suprized to see more Shaymin techs to
combat both this and Terrakion.
This is one more deck that gets hit hard by Garbodor, but I don’t
know if its enough to see that deck get more popular.
Lastly Blastoise can double as a Siglyph counter although not
very well as you have to attach 4 energy to do so and then they are stuck there
(as well as Blastoise being Mewtwo bait at that point).
Looking at (theorymoning) all the angles I see this deck
being pretty big in the cities metagame at least the first couple of weeks.
One question, why Kuyrem? You put him in your first list but didn’t discuss why, I
am just curious on your thinking, anything specific that he gives you or could
he be changed for other options?
The idea behind kyurem in the deck is for spread damage to allow Keldeo EX and other attackers to take prizes without having to stack too much energy on them. For example, a darkrai with 60 damage on it means Keldeo EX only needs for 4 energy to KO it. 60+130=190. Though for this to be abused properly, cards like tool scrapper are key. It also ruins decks who have high retreat cost pokemon like ho-oh if they can hit their switches. At regionals, I used registeel against both of my ho-oh mirror matches and it ruined them.
I want to be respectful as it’s your first article. I don’t like either of your lists and disagree with a lot of what you say. first on the lists: No DCE (Mewtwo, Keldeo, and even Kyurem NVI abuse this well), crazy supporter amount/lines, I love energy search with skyla but don’t agree with it in your lists as they only have 1 energy type (would have loved to see meta counters in addition to the energy search such as terrakion, shaymin ex, etc.), a lot of 1-of trainers that skyla can take advantage of but overall makes your lists way too inconsistent. Overall I feel like you should have held off on the article until the cards were released and fully tested. As it stands now everything seems untested and fully theorymoned (good for discussion, but unhelpful to most competitive players).
“Reminiscent of its predecessors Blastoise from Base Set, Blastoise ex from FireRed & LeafGreen, and most recently, Emboar from Black & White, it’s no surprise this card is receiving the kind of hype it is.” -This kind of acceleration has never been very good. It isn’t the re-done ability, it’s the other factors that blastoise is being hyped. Most notably his partner (Keldeo EX) sporting a decent attack with an ability that doesn’t allow opponents to catcher stall blastoise. without Keldeo EX do you think people would be talking about kyurem EX/blastoise, samurott/blastoise, etc.? Nope. Without Keldeo EX blastoise would see hardly any real competitive play at all imo.
These are just some things I disagree with. Again, not trying to be rude or anything. The article is very well written and you take the time to explain a lot of cards.
Entirely agree with the DCE. I have been playtesting this deck for over a month now – DCE is crucial (at least for how I play the deck).
If you are going to run Kyurem NVI, you will need to run more than just one Tool Scrapper.
Max Potion/Energy Retrieval is amazing in this deck. Just saying.
i disagree with you on so many levels(though you were trying you were disrespectful).
~mewtwo is a meta counter
~1-ofs like super rod aren’t inconsistent
~untested?
~Blastoise Ex and Emboar won worlds, also, base set Blastoise and haymaker were the best decks at the time
~snyergy won’t make-or-break Blastoise
~you were rude and said you weren’t trying to be rude to srub-a-dub-dub the mess you made
1. Mewtwo is not a metacounter. Mewtwo is a Mewtwo counter that will likely be effective against keldeo. It doesn’t counter darkrai, it doesnt counter rayquaza, it doesnt counter empoleon, it doesnt counter landorus ex, it doesnt counter garchomp, etc.
2. You’re right. 1-ofs like super rod are not inconsistent. 1-ofs of 5-6 different cards are inconsistent.
3. Yes, untested. What’s the question?
4. Emboar won worlds because of Magnezone. Just like Blastoise will be good because of Keldeo EX. Similarly, Lugia EX.
5. Play Blastoise with anything other than Keldeo EX if you wish.
6. I don’t believe I made a mess at all. It’s better to say that you’re not trying to be rude to point out no negative intentions than to not say it at all and have the writer believe I posted all of that to discourage him. Everyone has a right to disagree and I don’t believe I could have disagreed in a nicer way.
I thought @facebook-548515521:disqus was polite. You on the other hand are coming across a bit more brash.
Anyway, nice article Mike! I like the Energy Search – good logic there.
EN J Wilbur was definitely polite. (Plus, I usually mind my own business but he was so polite and you were so correct I had to agree).
1 Energy Switch is so you can essentially Skyla for an energy. With Skyla 1-ofs just got a lot better.
And just because cards aren’t released doesn’t mean they haven’t been testing. Once the Japanese translations come in, many people start testing.
Also, he mentions that it is Keldeo EX that makes it good. “But, as was the case with these other “Rain Dance” Pokemon, this ability means nothing unless paired with a Pokemon who can abuse this kind of instant Energy acceleration.”
a lot of your problems with the lists don’t make any sense. DCE makes zero sense in this deck as it drastically reduces keldeo’s damage output and you should generally have blastoise out for a turn or two anyway, which is long enough to power up attackers substantially. second, with the “one ofs” not only does skyla do a good enough job of searching them out, but even besides that there are a lot of decks that play one ofs of those same cards without skyla and are still consistent. with only one tool scrapper and super rod, sure you may not hit it every time you need it, but those aren’t cards like catcher that you need to always have. running 2 or more super rod and scrapper often times ends up being superfluous. next, saying that the list isnt good because there are no metagame counters just doesnt compute. first of all, playing different types of energy in this deck is going to make it less consistent. if he were going to show a techy build with terrakion, shaymin, etc, then he would have gone the whole way with it. second, you cant build a metagame counter version of this for every single metagame out there, but the lists he gives provide a strong enough basis to add in a tech attacker. for example, adding shaymin and switching some waters for prisms just isnt that hard to see how to do. lastly, this type of energy acceleration HAS been good in the past (i seem to recall that emboar won worlds) magneboar was incredibly dominant for a time, and the main problems with emboar have been almost completely remedied by keldeo EX. obviously the card by itself isnt that strong, but neither was emboar, and neither would even eelektrik be if it didnt have a plethora of lightning-discarding, ability-abusing attackers. obviously without keldeo blastoise would be near unplayable, BUT THAT DOESNT MEAN THAT BLASTOISE IS A BAD CARD. you can keep arguing that its just the other factors that make blastoise good, but it doesnt matter, because the only important thing is that blastoise IS good. in the quote that you stated, he was just making a point, there’s really no need to go into why that statement is completely false(which it isnt)
you say that he should have waited on the article to do some more research, while it really seems like you’re the one that doesnt know what you’re talking about. i appreciate that you were trying to be polite, but i don’t think that your advice was at all useful
“DCE makes zero sense” – DCE is not necessary for this deck, sure. Saying it makes zero sense is going way too far. Mewtwo does abuse DCE like I said. Kyurem NVI drops DCE to use outrage. Keldeo EX attacks turn 2 with DCE and water. Like in Darkrai/Hydreigon, you won’t always establish your stage 2 (Blastoise).
“there are a lot of decks that play one ofs of those same cards without skyla and are still consistent.”- Not sure which decks you are talking about, but the ones I do know of that run a lot of 1-ofs are decks with basics (some that run roserade). Not stage 2 decks. If there is a stage 2 deck that has been successful with 1-ofs I would like to know as darkrai/hydra, garchomp/altaria, empoleon, etc all have fairly tight lists from what i’ve seen.
“lastly, this type of energy acceleration HAS been good in the past (i seem to recall that emboar won worlds) magneboar was incredibly dominant for a time, and the main problems with emboar have been almost completely remedied by keldeo EX.”- I pointed out that Magneboar won worlds already and also that it was good because of Magnezone and Blastoise will be played because of Keldeo. You said almost exactly what I said. you also point out that Blastoise is near unplayable without Keldeo (also what I said). You do insinuate that I said Blastoise is a bad card. I never say anywhere that Blastoise is a bad card.
“you say that he should have waited on the article to do some more research, while it really seems like you’re the one that doesnt know what you’re talking about.”- Everything you said up until this point was in bounds. Not much to say on this. I could say the same for you, but I don’t know you at all. If I told you that you don’t know what you’re talking about it would be as justified as it was when you said it to me. (Not very)
Going off that last point, (and I don’t feel the need to explain this, but will anyway) I never said the writer didn’t know what he was talking about either. I disagreed.
ok, i’m sorry about the last bit, i definitely spoke out of turn. however, i stick by most of my points.
DCE: DCE is much more of a situational card in this deck, and i feel like the consistency of running more waters and other cards instead is preferable.
one-ofs: most decks run one super rod, many decks run one tool scrapper, a lot of darkrai or eels decks run a tech max potion, darkrai terrakion abuses one energy search, and other decks run one stadium(skyarrow). in addition to this, comp search and skyla make these much better. a lot of the time these are things that you definitely want in your deck, but there just isnt enough room for more than one. like i said, you may not always have access to the card, but having any chance of drawing one of those game changing trainers is better than none. you can argue “oh just cut the tool scrapper for another consistency card,” but then you have no way of discarding tools. the one-of count is basically an attempt to balance versatility with consistency, and is almost unavoidable unless you just want a barebones build
blastoise hype: you didnt say that blasoise was outright a bad card, but by saying that the hype was unfounded and that keldeo should be hyped instead, you sort of implied that blastoise isnt good. personally it should just be the whole deck being hyped, because neither blastoise nor keldeo is all that good without the other one. you also implied that the ability was bad by discounting the usefulness of the ability in the past. the bottom line is that this is a powerful type of ability, and so it can be extremely good in decks that find a way to use it
like i said before, you stated that he should have waited to post the article until he had done more testing, which doesnt literally say that he doesnt know what he’s talking about, but it does say that he doesnt know enough to write a useful article at this point. i apologize for offending you. your arguments didnt really convince me any more though.
dce is a laughing matter in this deck… why? you play blastois for a reason…
and anyway, rain dace abilities always have been broken and always will be… as long as there is a partner.
good cards come in pairs. hydreigon would suck without blend and darkrai. darkrai would suck without patch. hammers without sableye. turtle without pony. zek without eels. you get the point.
put one scrapper and one claw in hydra. these cards are great as one-ofs. besides, you claim that 5-6 one-ofs are inconsistent, but wartortle, comp, super rod, and scrapper barely count and any deck can afford the inconsistency of 2 more one-ofs.
Great article–I’m glad you started the conversation about this deck, cuz so far nobody seems to want to bring it up. Now that Ether isn’t in the set, I’d say it’s that much more likely you’ll see this deck at Cities.
xD
Welcome to Sixprizes! The article was well-written and I don’t dislike the choices (though I would build it very different personally), but one aspect of your list made me laugh.
Why do you have an Energy Search in your list? What is it doing? Why not just make it a Water Energy?
There are many comments I could make, but I’m mainly curious about what possessed you to run Energy Search in a deck with only one Energy type. ^_^;
he runs energy search to deck thin
he tells you. Skyla is bossy-er with it
K… admittedly I skimmed and missed that ^_^;
But it still… I mean… just search Energy Retrieval! Pokemon decks (especially ones running stage 2’s) do not have so much deckspace that they want to deck-thin or anything. He already has Energy Retrieval and Super Rod. Why not add another… Eviolite? Or just any card for boosted consistency.
With running Energy Search, he upps the odds of accessing energies. He has 12 energies, 1 cilan, 1 energy search and (because of energy search) 3 Skylas. If he is in really need of an energy card, now he can just get the energy search with skyla. Get it?
Yes… if you noticed I suggested searching one of his two energy retrieval instead of Energy Search. That card gets him 2 energy to hand, not one, and doesn’t take up more deckspace. That deck is running a lot of 1-of’s, and Energy Search really doesn’t seem to make the cut.
Oh, okay. Misunderstood you! I do see your point of argue, yet I think it’s up to taste and feeling. Maybe this guy don’t lose that many energies, so energy search works better for him. :P
However, if it were up to me, I would play the deck list entirely different. As you’re pointing out, he’s using a lot of 1-of’s, which I think is terrible in the BW-on format.
Admittedly skimmed and missed that. Thanks Adam ^_^;
I see a lot of discussion on energy search in here which is great that the writer brought it up with skyla because, like I posted before, I love the two together. Picture facing darkrai decks and you have 1 energy search, 1 terrakion, 1 fighting energy in your deck. After a ko drop/search for terrakion, skyla for an energy search to find the fighting energy, attach and deluge a water energy to terrakion and you have an instant darkrai one-shot. Same can be done in the keldeo/blastoise mirror with shaymin ex. Skyla allows something like this to be easy to pull off.
But that’s not what he discussed. He has a straight list running energy search, so he can use a skyla to grab 1 energy.
All that said, I didn’t mean to discourage the writer! I just feel energy search is a particularly questionable inclusion.
I was just commenting off of what you wrote because it discussed energy search. You’re fine, no one is accusing you :p
I can see the purpose of energy search even with one type of energy, but I don’t think it is most effective used in this way. I see more potential having multiple basic energy types. This was a part I disagreed with too so I am with you on that Crawdaunt. Still, the logic he provides is there and it generates good discussion.
I think this deck has way too much hype… Evolutions are still way to risky to be relied on in this format, especially that there is high chance for 60 hp donks… All I can see is ways to easily shut this deck down
evolutions are not a risk when they are not your main attacker, and there is no way to easily shut this deck down
Mewtwo + catcher shuts down any evol
Yes well, with Blastoise/Keldeo EX, Catcher would be a wasted card unless you knew for certain you can get a ko on a Blastoise.
Great article Michael! Apparently Delbarton has a strong English department- your writing is excellent!!
Anyway, the first list seems a lot better to me. Without Kyurem, I’m not sure how Blastoise can beat Eelektrik variants. Annihilating the Eelektriks/Tynamos with the 30 spread is probably the best strategy for that matchup.
I’m surprised you didn’t address Kyogre EX? What do you think about him?
~Colin
Optimistic, smart people like you restore some of my faith in humanity.
So true.
Hey mike, I think the best play for the style you seem to want is somewhere between both lists…in that first list, -2 cheren +2 eviolite or +1 eviolite +1 max potion seems superior, and in your second list -1 ssu +1 kyurem just seems completely obvious to me. This is not really a criticism because honestly lists are always so arbitrary and the space is always tight in every evolution list ever, so we all end up picking and choosing things, just my thoughts on the matter. Your supporter line is dead on, 4 Juniper 4 N 2 Bianca 3 Skyla 1 Cilan has been my starting point for the deck.
This article is so great it makes me feel like I will be furious if I don’t get a Blastoise or Keldeo EX at a prerelease.
I’m trying to build this myself. I know two weaknesses: 1) It uses a Stage 2, and 2) It’s tough to nab OHKOs without 6 or 7 energy (SSU is handy). A happy medium seems excellent.