pkmngif.tumblr.comHi! My name is Ryan Moorhouse and I’m a Senior from the UK. I’ve been playing the Pokémon TCG for over a year and a half now, and have many achievements such as a 1st place Nationals and Regionals win.
When Plasma Storm was first released I had my heart set on Keldeo-EX/Blastoise/Black Kyurem EX due to its ability to constantly hit for high amounts of damage and difficulty to be stalled (thanks to Keldeo’s Rush In).
Black Kyurem-EX PLS adds to the high damage output Keldeo-EX and Blastoise Deluge onto the field, being able to 1HKO any opposing Pokémon-EX (excluding any Eviolite/Tornadus EX/Aspertia City Gym shenanigans) for the cost of WWLC. Three of your four Energy do need to be discarded though.
This may seem hefty, but with Energy Retrievals and Blastoise’s Deluge Ability, this can be replenished fairly easily.
The Tournament
I woke up early with a horrific headache. We’d had jabs at school – and it decided to kick in on today of all days. Here are the Pokémon and Energy lines I played:
|
Pokémon – 14 4 Squirtle BCR |
Trainers – 33 3 Super Scoop Up |
Energy – 13 |
Why Victini?
I knew that at least one person was playing Plasma Klinklang in Seniors. This was my tech to try and counter it. In Plasma Klinklang there is no energy acceleration – meaning that Victini has the ability to sweep if you get it out quick enough.
Other Notes
Prism makes Victini possible. It also could fuel Mewtwo EX’s Psydrive attack if you’re lucky enough to be able to attach both and another type of Energy. If Klinklang wasn’t a problem these would have been Blend WLFM Energies.
The 2 L Energy are for Black Kyurem-EX PLS. I decided not to play Wartortle after it not having much effect in play testing other than to manually evolve from Squirtle.
Even though I won’t be revealing the Trainer lines, I did play Super Scoop Up. There have been many times where it’s been game changing, and thus I ran 3 in this list.
On to the tournament itself! The rounds were single Swiss and Top 2 cut.
Round 1 vs. Arun w/ Plasma Klinklang
pokemon-paradijs.comArun and I are good friends. I haven’t beaten Arun since last season at Nationals where we met. I start with Mewtwo EX and have a hand consisting of Ultra Ball, Tropical Beach, and Juniper. He went first and also started Mewtwo EX. He didn’t do anything interesting other than Benching a Klink and passing.
I draw and Ultra Ball for a Squirtle, put down the Tropical Beach, and Juniper into another Squirtle and Keldeo-EX along with Rare Candy. I Bench the Keldeo-EX and the Squirtle and use Tropical Beach, leaving Mewtwo EX up there. I knew my opponent played DCE, but I had a hand where I could retaliate with a 3 Energy Mewtwo, having the Rare Candy Blastoise combo in hand.
He proceeds to attach a DCE to his Mewtwo EX and used X Ball for 80.
I then Rare Candy into Blastoise and attach the 3 Energy to KO his Mewtwo EX, gaining a 2 Prize lead. He then got Klinklang out with its Plasma Steel Ability, meaning I can’t attack his Metal type Pokémon. He attaches to a Cobalion he Benched and used Switch to bring it to the Active and proceeded to use Tropical Beach after Catchering out my Keldeo-EX.
Then things get crazy in my next turn, where I proceed to Scoop Up my Mewtwo, retreat my Keldeo-EX and get an incredible 6 W Energy onto Blastoise, being able to 1HKO the Cobalion. Arun just looked at me and went “Is that really a 6 Energy Blastoise?” I then continue to KO his Cobalion with Blastoise.
After this I take 2 more Prizes with Blastoise, leaving me at 1 Prize left. He kept trying to power up a Metal Pokémon but I always had the Catcher to KO it. My deck had thinned by now until I had 6-7 cards in the deck. He finally got a Mewtwo EX with a DCE from a mixture of Super Rod, Ultra Ball, Switch, and Colress. He KOs my Blastoise, leaving him with 5 Prizes left.
I attached a L Energy to my Mewtwo and used Ultra Ball to see what’s left in my deck. I was extremely nervous to find out I had no energy left in it, meaning all I had was the 1 L Energy in my hand. I pass. He gets the final DCE to KO my Mewtwo EX. I checked my deck and his to see if I could deck him out – but I couldn’t.
I scoop, losing the first game of the format. Victini never came into play due to discarding my 2 Prism Energy when retreating Keldeo-EX and using Juniper.
0-1
Round 2 vs. Owain w/ Big Basics
pokemon-paradijs.comI start with Keldeo-EX and Squirtle. He starts with a Plasma Durant. I attach a W Energy and pass, with the Rare Candy / Blastoise combo in hand. He attached, benched some EX’s and passed. I got the T2 3 Energy Keldeo and won 6 Prizes to none with a huge 7 Energy Keldeo-EX.
1-1
Round 3 vs. Jack w/ Keldeo Blastoise
I started with Keldeo-EX and Squirtle after getting 2 mulligans. He starts Mewtwo EX. We both have extremely slow starts, with me using Ultra Ball for Mewtwo EX. After a few turns I KO his Mewtwo EX and he KOs mine, but with him still not getting a Supporter. He hits heads on a Super Scoop Up to save another of his Mewtwo EXs he had Benched, sending Keldeo-EX up.
I Deluged 3 W Energy onto Keldeo-EX and put 110 Damage onto his with Secret Sword. He tried another Super Scoop Up but to no avail. I then KO Keldeo-EX and KO everything afterward to win the game.
2-1
Next was the final round before top cut started, and it was important. If I win I had a good chance at top cut as Arun was 3-0 at this point.
Round 4 vs. Charles w/ Darkrai Laserbank
I start Black Kyurem-EX PLS and 2 Squirtles. My hand had the T2 Blastoise, but 0 Supporters, meaning I needed to go first to try and get my opponent to N me unless I topdeck a Supporter.
He goes first and discards his N and Junipers. He attaches to his Sableye he has Active and Benches Darkrai EX, uses Dark Patch onto his Darkrai EX. He then uses Hypnotoxic Laser and Catcher my Squirtle, and finally places a Dark Claw and Virbank City Gym to be able to KO one of my Squirtles.
I top deck Energy Retrieval. I attach Water to Black Kyurem and pass. He proceeds to Juniper and Catchers up a Squirtle, KOing it.
No Blastoise comes into play the whole game, and fast forwarding 3 turns my Black Kyurem was one Night Spear or Hypnotoxic Laser away from being KO’d. I had Skyla in hand, and used Skyla to Catcher a Sableye with no Energy on. He topdecks the Energy to retreat one turn later for the game.
2-2
Arun and his Plasma Klinklang Deck goes on to win the Senior Division, while the Masters Top 4 looked like this (in no particular order):
Plasma Klinklang
Plasma Klinklang
Hydreigon
Ho-oh
Things I Would Change
pokemon-paradijs.comI would get rid of 1 Mewtwo EX and add in an extra Black Kyurem-EX PLS. One Kyurem never felt like enough, and it handles any Mewtwo wars I get into.
Energy Search is another idea. There were many times when I misplayed in my first game, but an Energy Search may have helped.
Props
- Testing out the new format.
- Meeting my friends.
Slops
- Feeling ill all day.
- Going 2-2.
- Buying 3 packs and pulling nothing.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading and feel free to leave comments or feedback below.
Ryan
Yeah I’m liking this deck [in particular the BKEX variation] so far at tournaments. I managed to win Shoreham Cities with a similar list except I ran 0 Mewtwo and 2 BKEX and it went brilliantly for me in particular in the mirror matches where the opponent was running Mewtwo EX’s and lower counts of BKEX.
What would the difference be between the blend and the prism if the prism can fulfil the energy requirement of your basics anyway?
Since Prism Energy can fulfill Victini’s attack, that’s the main reason I played the Prism.There’s only Blastoise that can’t use the Prism.
“Trainers – 33
3 Super Scoop Up”
Whaaaaa???
I guess it could be kinda hard to understand what I meant there…
On my computer, the only TSS that show up are the 3 SSU. :/
He didn’t write any other trainers, attempting to hide a list that didn’t win. I don’t understand why you would keep your list secret unless it did really well, but we’ve seen enough Blastoise lists to know how to make and play it.
At the point of writing I was using the list for another Cities, realistically I should of put in the list, main things were 4 Energy Retrievals, 4 Rare Candy, Computer Search, Beach.
Nice article Ryan!
Great idea with the Victini, I might just do that to solve a few problems with my deck (for “problems”, read as a game against CobaliKlang where I took all of no Prizes and had only Blastoise to attack!)
I also run 2 BKEX and it works fin… I actually made a PLS Klingklang deck that I play against myself and I don’t worry about a non-ex attacker and use blastoise use a catcher and do a 2 hit KO with him…That may leave that blastoise vulnerable but I usually have more than one out
Try,instead of a water with mewtwo and victini,try comboing it with the strong fire of reshiramEX and emboar. Thatswhat i did, and i have been undefeated all season.
Regular Reshiram is better than the EX, Hands-Down.
You should drop the Lightning for two more Prism energy. Makes a Victini easier to set up.