I’m Thankful for the New Format

Delicious Decks and Talk of a Beach-less Future
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Thankful for the new format.

Our newest set of rules changes just came into effect earlier this month and I’ve been working hard to test as many decks as possible to find out what works and what doesn’t to help give my readers an edge at League Challenges and Cities Championships.

The first LC’s have already started a few weeks ago while Cities start this weekend for the majority of the player base. I’m sure many people are lost when building a deck at the moment with so many seemingly viable options, but I hope I can give some insight and help speed your testing process along so you’re ready when these tournaments start.

The biggest issue that my testing partners and I were having trouble with was deciding whether to play Pokémon Catcher. There was a lot of back and forth on why or why not to include it in decks, but for almost every deck we decided against it. The first argument was that Pokémon Reversal was played as a 4-of in almost every deck back when we had our early rotation to Black and White. The main reason this worked was because we had Junk Arm to go along with it. There were also Baby Pokémon like Cleffa HS and Tyrogue HS that could decide a game if they stayed Asleep for too long and Reversal helped overcome them.

For the most part when Pokémon Reversal was legal for around 8 years prior to the release of Black and White it only made its way into a minuscule amount of decks. After playing games with and without Catcher I realized that the space wasn’t worth it and other cards provided a lot more utility. Relying on a coin flip shouldn’t be your go-to strategy, which is why the decks that have been working best for me utilize strategies that don’t need Catcher.

Another change that recently happened was a ban on Tropical Beach and Champions Festival at the upcoming Battle Fiesta tournaments in Japan. These tournaments will take place this December and will be played with the sets Black and White to X and Y. I expect us not to get the ban at least until the worldwide release of the X and Y set in February (if we do get the ban).

Anything could happen of course, but I think one of the reasons for the ban is the scarcity of Japanese Beaches and Festivals, so the rest of the world might not have the ban at all because we have greater access to them without taking into account price, though their cost is still very similar to that of the Japanese versions.

In today’s article I’ll go over a few decks and cards I really like. I’ll also talk about how the possible Tropical Beach ban would influence the format and each deck specifically. I hope you all enjoy it and find something that helps you prepare for all the tournaments we have coming up the next few months.

Table of Contents

Virizion/Genesect

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The missing ingredient.

It’s pretty obvious why this deck is so good with the rules changes. First of all, you don’t attack turn 1 to begin with. Secondly, it gains Energy Switch which really helps the deck out. And finally, you have Red Signal while other decks have to either flip for Catchers or have no gusting at all.

So far from my testing Virizion/Genesect is the deck to beat. Along with the built-in Catcher effect it also has a 200 damage attack with G Booster and Energy acceleration with Virizion.

The only problem with Virizion being so obviously good is that it now has a huge target on its back. People will be playing decks or cards designed to counter it like Victini-EX or even Drifblim to gain an advantage. I’ve also found non-EX Dusknoir decks to be very annoying because you have to use G Booster to knock their attacker out and they can usually get a lot of damage on your side of the field while you don’t have a good answer to their attacks.

I moved away from the Drifblim variation to a more standard, consistent list. I chose to take out Drifblim because of the huge decline in Plasma decks which don’t function very well without Catcher. Here is what I’ve been testing:

Pokémon – 10

3 Virizion-EX

3 Genesect-EX

2 Mewtwo-EX NXD

1 Mr. Mime PLF

1 Lugia-EX

Trainers – 36

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

4 Skyla

2 Colress

1 Shadow Triad

 

4 Energy Switch

3 Float Stone

2 Switch

3 Ultra Ball

3 Colress Machine

2 Tool Scrapper

1 Super Rod

1 G Booster

 

2 Tropical Beach

Energy – 14

10 G

4 Plasma

I’ve blended the 2 Virizion variants to help give more options. With so many decks in the format I think having versatility is the key to surviving a tournament. Regardless of the deck you decide to play make sure it has an option against any deck or card you could think of as being viable. Mewtwo EX and Lugia EX are both cards that can be used against a majority of matchups, especially Mewtwo.

I don’t think Virizion/Mewtwo/Bouffalant is nearly as good anymore since it doesn’t have access to Red Signal. It isn’t feasible to run both Plasma Energy and Double Colorless in that deck in my opinion, but I think it could be viable if someone can find a way to balance the two without taking away from either strategy. That could be pretty difficult to achieve, but it would have some great advantages.

Losing Tropical Beach would be pretty huge for Virizion based decks, if it were to be banned, because most of them don’t have any first turn attackers and take advantage of Beach very well. I would go as far as saying Virizion would lose most of its advantage against the format. This deck along with Blastoise would lose the most in my opinion.

Dusknoir

dusknoir sepia mangaBulbapedia
A dastardly duo.

Dusknoir has shown the most potential for me in testing because of the strength it gains as a Bench-sitter and because it can be paired with almost anything and create a viable deck. Right now my top two Dusknoir decks are Empoleon/Dusknoir and Darkrai/Dusknoir. Both Empoleon and Darkrai take advantage of Dusknoir very well.

Empoleon usually wastes damage counters by doing not quite enough damage to Knock Out a Pokémon in one hit and then having to attack it again the next turn. With Dusknoir you can move all the excess damage counters and set yourself up for one shotting EXs down the road or picking off low HP Basics on their Bench.

Darkrai EX gains the same benefit as Empoleon but with the added 30 damage to the Bench with Night Spear.

I prefer the Empoleon version, so I’ll go over that one first:

Pokémon – 19

4 Piplup LTR RC6

2 Prinplup LTR

4 Empoleon DEX

2 Duskull BCR

1 Dusclops BCR

2 Dusknoir BCR

1 Eevee PLF 90

1 Leafeon PLF

1 Mr. Mime PLF

1 Exeggcute PLF

Trainers – 35

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

4 Skyla

2 Colress

 

4 Rare Candy

4 Ultra Ball

3 Level Ball

3 Silver Bangle

2 Max Potion

1 Escape Rope

1 Super Rod

1 Dowsing Machine

 

2 Tropical Beach

Energy – 6

6 W

The biggest objective here is getting set up, which can be difficult at times having two Stage 2 lines. This makes consistency a key more than ever. You need to make sure you have enough search cards and Supporters before moving forward. Right now I’m playing 16 consistency cards including Tropical Beach and Supporters as well as 7 search cards. After getting an Empoleon out, Diving Draw makes any further setup much easier and is a huge advantage of the deck.

I’ve added Leafeon to improve the Blastoise matchup, which can be very unfavorable if they try to load a Keldeo-EX with Energy and take out 2 Empoleon before you’re able to KO it.

Empoleon seems to be the safest deck in the format so far. It has options for almost anything it could get paired against and doesn’t have any terrible matchups. I would recommend playing this deck if you have no idea what other players are using or you’re unsure how your other decks would fare against a commonly played deck. The consistency it has with Diving Draw can really help in a League Challenge when you have to go undefeated to win and in a large Cities with a wide variety of decks.

The second variation I’ve been testing, Darkrai/Dusknoir, hasn’t had as good results, but is still a great deck for the right metagame. It does very well against Virizion/Genesect as well as Empoleon. Here’s a list to start you out on:

Pokémon – 13

3 Darkrai-EX DEX

2 Sableye DEX

2 Absol PLF

2 Duskull BCR

2 Dusclops BCR

2 Dusknoir BCR

Trainers – 37

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

3 Skyla

3 Colress

2 Random Receiver

 

4 Ultra Ball

4 Dark Patch

4 Energy Switch

2 Dark Claw

2 Escape Rope

2 Enhanced Hammer

1 Energy Search

1 Max Potion

1 Super Rod

Energy – 10

10 D

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Mr. Mime can be annoying.

Darkrai/Dusknoir was doing well in testing until most decks started adding Mr. Mime, which defeats the purpose of Dusknoir and makes the normal Darkrai EX variation better. If you find people in your area are taking out Mr. Mime or not running him at all it would be a great opportunity to play this deck.

One of the interesting things about this deck is the combination between having a small Stage 2 line and a Basic attacker. Right now I don’t run Rare Candy, but it would be feasible to include one or two depending on what Dusknoir line you play, but I’ve found that running a 2-2-2 line lets you set it up when you need it without running any Rare Candy.

Overall Dusknoir is an amazing card and I’m going to continue to try new variations to find what works best. As for how this deck fares without Tropical Beach, it’s ultimately up to which variation you’re using. The Empoleon version benefits pretty well from Tropical Beach and I expect it to lose some steam if there is a ban.

Darkrai/Terrakion

I played Darkrai/Terrakion at my League Challenge last weekend is it was very fun to play and also got me 1st place with a 5-0 record. There’s a lot of versatility in the deck, which is one of the main reasons I chose to play it. I threw together this list last minute, so there are a few changes that I plan to make, but for the most part the list was great. Here’s what I played:

Pokémon – 11

4 Darkrai-EX DEX

2 Sableye DEX

2 Terrakion LTR

1 Mewtwo-EX NXD

1 Ho-Oh-EX

1 Shaymin-EX NXD

Trainers – 35

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

3 Skyla

2 Random Receiver

 

4 Dark Patch

4 Energy Switch

3 Ultra Ball

3 Dark Claw

2 Tool Scrapper

1 Energy Search

1 Potion

1 Escape Rope

1 Computer Search

 

1 Tropical Beach

1 Champions Festival

Energy – 14

9 D

4 F

1 G

ho-oh drawingthesafarizone.tumblr.com
Ho-Oh opens up a lot of neat plays you may not notice at first.

This list is very similar to the one I ran at Fall Regionals last year. I took out Shaymin EX the morning of Regionals last year, but I added it back in because it’s much better without the threat of Catcher. I tried out Champions Festival; it didn’t really affect anything in any of my games so I plan to take it out for my Cities tomorrow, but I’m still undecided on what to put in its place. I would add either a Max Potion or a 2nd Escape Rope; both of which are equally useful in my opinion.

It’s hard to get used to the deck at first because you have to think of every option you have a your disposal. Ho-Oh EX can make some very interesting plays, but without practice you’ll realize you missed opportunities, most commonly involving Rebirth and Energy Switch plays that can help you get attackers out much sooner than normal. I’ve been able to get out turn 2 Darkrai EX’s in situations where I normally couldn’t. It’s a great way to surprise your opponent if they aren’t considering it and can make them misplay if they don’t think about the possibility of Rebirth.

I enjoy playing this deck for both the unique play style it brings, along with the fact that it’s also a very good deck. I would recommend everyone test it out and see how they like it and even play it at a tournament and see how you do. I plan on working out some of the downfalls of the list and playing it for at least my first few upcoming tournaments.

Without Tropical Beach this deck doesn’t lose all that much. I have 1 in there because it works in basically every deck and there isn’t any reason not to play it if you own one, but I wouldn’t miss it all that much if I couldn’t play it. You always have the option to Junk Hunt if you go 2nd which is better than Tropical Beach in many situations.

Chandelure

This has been my pet deck since the format change and I really enjoy playing it. I still need to work on it a lot more to make it tournament worthy, but it’s been doing very well against most of the format so I decided to give you guys a look at my rough draft. It might look like some deck you see at League, but it holds its own against everything but Darkrai from my testing. Here’s a basic list to get you started:

Pokémon – 14

4 Litwick PLS

2 Lampent PLS

3 Chandelure NVI

1 Chandelure NXD 20

2 Chandelure-EX

1 Ditto BCR

1 Mr. Mime PLF

Trainers – 41

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

4 Skyla

 

4 Hypnotoxic Laser

4 Switch

4 Rare Candy

3 Float Stone

3 Ultra Ball

2 Level Ball

2 Max Potion

1 Super Rod

1 Escape Rope

1 Dowsing Machine

 

2 Tropical Beach

2 Virbank City Gym

Energy – 5

4 Blend GRPD

1 P

The objective of the deck is all about spreading damage around and getting cheap knockouts. Against any Stage 2s it’s easy to pick off their Basics on the Bench before they can get set up, which ruins their whole strategy and puts you way ahead. Almost any Basic they put on the Bench can be taken care of in one turn while Hypnotoxic Laser deals with their Active.

One of the issues I’ve found with the deck is not being able to deal enough damage, or deal with EXs which can bring about issues; but I’ve been able to beat Empoleon, Hydreigon, and Blastoise quite consistently which makes the deck a viable option in my opinion. You have to make sure you’re able to get a good amount of damage on the field while your opponent is setting up so that you can Knock Out larger attackers in 1 or 2 turns, but it can be very difficult at times.

Chandelure NVI has been one of my favorite cards of all time and has brought me a lot of tournament success so I was glad to make it work in a deck once again. I would encourage you to try out the deck; it might not get anywhere, but I’m going to try to tweak the list and hopefully even play it in a tournament this winter.

I really like using Tropical Beach in here, but I could see the deck working without it as well. It’s great to use when you have to leave a Chandelure NVI active or aren’t able to attack because of an Energy drought which can happen pretty often with only 5 in this list. There are lots of times when I have to make a decision between Virbank or Beach and most of the time they aren’t too far off in usefulness, so only playing Virbank wouldn’t be too bad.

Conclusion + Looking Ahead

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Don’t be caught off guard this winter.

I hope I was able to help everyone out with my article with anything from figuring out what’s good to fine-tuning your decklist for a tournament this weekend. I know the drastic changes to the format can be daunting at times, but we should have a clear-cut definition of what’s good and what isn’t after the first few weeks of Cities. I plan on trying out as many ideas as I can to make sure I don’t miss any viable decks that could still be out there.

Be sure to keep up with what’s doing well from forums, Facebook groups, and future SixPrizes articles to stay prepared for tournaments. “Not getting the memo” about a new deck could make or break your tournament performance more than ever in this format, so I’d recommend staying up to date on your information. In the past, formats were pretty inelastic and would take a long time to change even a little bit, but I predict a vastly different format by the time Winter Regionals come along.

For next month’s article I’m planning on bringing you guys more information from Japan. This time I’ll do an article similar to my first one for the site, which was my analysis of the Battle Carnivals back in May. This time around I’ll talk about the Battle Fiesta along with a review of the X and Y set. I’ll work hard to get as many of the top lists as I can as well as some opinions from players on how the set has changed the game and how the loss of Tropical Beach affected their decks. We’ll be getting the same format as them only about a month after the Battle Fiesta, which makes the information much more applicable than in the past.

I plan on continual Japanese coverage from here on out, as most of my readers have said they would enjoy it. I like to make my articles unique from the other Underground writers’ and make sure you’re paying for a wide variety of topics throughout the month. I know Esa’s old “Eye on Japan” series was a big hit both here on SixPrizes and on his blog and many players were disappointed when he discontinued the series, so I hope everyone still has the same interest on this kind of information.

Good luck to everyone at your upcoming tournaments and happy holidays! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

– Henry


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