Hey there SixPrizes, it’s been a while! I’ve been pretty insanely busy with my Masters project and most of my writing time has gone to TCGwithHats.com. But today I’ve finally got a bit of a day off as I’ve finished marking my students’ term papers and final exams (I’m a lab instructor at the moment). And where does my mind wander when it finally has some breathing room? Pokémon!
Today I decided to jot down some ideas on a few decks, and write up an article on my pet deck of last format, adapted to this one.
For anyone with Underground, you might have seen my article on October 22nd, which featured a Garbodor/Accelgor/Drifblim/support deck. My friends and I termed this deck “Monstrosity” as it looks like you’ve just crammed a bunch of anti-meta cards into a deck, and thrown in Accelgor for goodness-knows what reason.
But I vouch for the deck as being a solid play with the right tech-age for the format. I’ll introduce the deck’s ingredients here, then go over my list for the current format.
The Ingredients
BulbapediaAccelgor is the main reason this deck is called Monstrosity, rather than Eeveelutions + Fighting or something similar. The first question you may ask yourself is “Why would you play Accelgor in this day and age?”
Well… there are a number of good reasons. Accelgor’s generally good effect is so incredibly versatile that it’s hard to think of it as bad against any deck (barring Virizion-EX, and even then…).
Below is a list of cards which Accelgor helps deal with. It can either Loop these cards (have the Pokémon die by Poison coming into your turn), outright 1HKO them (often alongside Bangle or Virbank), or just combo for a 2HKO while only giving up 1 Prize (due to Paralysis preventing them from attacking next turn).
For reference, D&C = Deck and Cover (Accelgor’s main attack).
- 170 HP EX’s: Loop via D&C + Bangle D&C, or pseudo-1HKO.
- 90-110 HP Pokémon: Loop via D&C + Virbank.
- 180 HP EX’s, and especially Darkrai EX: Combo for 2HKO.
- Keldeo-EX: 1HKO with a Bangle.
- Empoleon DEX: This deserves an in-depth commentary, but it either loops or pseudo-1HKOs.
- 70 HP Pokémon, like Trubbish PLS 65/Sableye DEX: Loops or 1HKOs with Virbank.
That is a massive list of cards Accelgor helps against. It’s probably more efficient to list cards Accelgor doesn’t help against to be honest, but that wouldn’t get you to think about how versatile Accelgor is right now.
In the past, Accelgor saw its greatest success when it set up perfect loops via Chandelure or Dusknoir. But Accelgor also saw minor success, winning some Battle Roads and City Championships in one of my favorite pet decks, Empoleon/Accelgor. The new-age Accelgor plays very similarly to the style of Empoleon/Accelgor, so keep this in mind as you think about the rest of the deck.
The other great advantage Accelgor has right now in terms of playing to that style is the damage modification in the format tuned for Accelgor. We have Silver Bangle which lets Accelgor add 30 damage to its numbers against EX’s. This lets Accelgor perfectly loop 170 HP EX’s with 2 D&C’s, as long as one of them had a Silver Bangle attached.
We also have Virbank City Gym, which lets Accelgor perfectly loop Pokémon in the 90-110 HP range, and deal a total of 140 damage heading back into their 2nd turn if they haven’t switched out. This is the pseudo-1HKO on Empoleon, and also pseudo-1HKO on 170 HP EX’s. If the 170 HP EX stays in, then it dies by Poison entering your 3rd turn post-D&C. If it retreats, it’s but a Hammerhead snipe away from being KO’d.
The last advantage to Accelgor is how Energy-efficient it is. You haven’t actually lost any Energy by using Deck and Cover. The biggest problem Flareon has against most decks is losing its DCE’s before it can finally reach strong vengeance levels. Accelgor deals early damage without losing your Energies. Very helpful.
I hope that list really demonstrates just how strong Deck and Cover is right now. Accelgor is well worth the inclusion.
Eeveelutions
pokemon-paradijs.comFlareon PLF and Leafeon PLF are both very good Pokémon. Flareon is the most useful as it gives you a way to combat Virizion/Genesect decks, which you sorely need. Leafeon is redundant in a deck with Accelgor though.
But there is another Eeveelution this deck should be considering. Jolteon DEX. For L, Jolteon DEX can deal 20 + 40 damage if it discards a L Energy attached. This, combined with Silver Bangle, gives you a 1HKO on Lightning-weak EXs like Lugia EX.
Who cares about Lugia EX? YOU DO! The whole point of this deck is to make favorable Prize trades. If Lugia is allowed to throw that away by taking KOs two turns in a row, you’re going to lose. Garbodor can do some good to aid this (especially now that Catcher is errata’d), but it’s nonetheless a nice option to consider if you’re already running Flareon.
The choice between these two is somewhat personal preference. I think a healthy Stunfisk count is very nice to have as a way to trade non-EX’s against Darkrai. But Landorus-EX is also highly appreciated as (one of) the only card(s) in the deck that can tank a hit. Everything else has middling HP, which is quite unfortunate.
Both add much appreciated snipe to the deck (and as I’ve been over, the 30 snipe is actually an important number against 170 HP EX’s). Adding Stunfisk snipe to the deck is also something that can be an unexpected win condition. Simply put, the option to potentially deal 100 + 20 or 50 + 20 out of nowhere via Silver Bangle is not something everyone accounts for. The extra damage to the Active is the important option to have.
pokebeach.comGarbodor is a necessity. Garbodor + Accelgor is an automatic win against Blastoise. It’s essential to prevent Red Signal against VirGen. It’s a great card to level out the Empoleon matchup. And it’s a wonderful card to prevent Rush In from other decks like Darkrai. It removes Abilities. We like our Abilities. Garbodor is good.
Drifblims
In the last format, Drifblim was necessary to win the Plasma matchup. This format, you’d be forgiven for dropping it from the deck as Plasma is nowhere near the threat it once was. And the greatest threat Plasma has to offer right now is Lugia EX, which is dealt with by Jolteon DEX as mentioned earlier.
Mewtwo EX
Mewtwo is a generally good attacker against a wide variety of decks. I found myself playing Mewtwo at BC Regionals, but it’s not the best answer to any single deck. Mewtwo’s inclusion in the current format is questionable, since Virizion/Mewtwo is dying down, as is Plasma (a deck Mewtwo helped against). With the rise of Empoleon as well, Mewtwo is probably cut from the new age list.
The List
How does one mash these cards together into a cohesive deck? Well… it’s a bit of a monstrosity, but…
|
Pokémon – 20 0 Jolteon DEX |
Trainers – 32 4 N 3 Colress 4 Bicycle
3 Silver Bangle
|
Energy – 8 4 F |
One of the fun bits about this deck is Accelgor’s use of Tools. If you’re about to discard some Tools via Juniper, you can slap em onto a Shelmet/Accelgor and shuffle them back in later via Deck and Cover. This isn’t a great solution (I find they’ll end up Scrappered before they’re shuffled back in more often than not), but it’s still better than just discarding them.
The 3 Float Stones are nice to have as an option as you’ll want to use the optimal Pokémon in the Active slot as soon as possible. Hitting a Float Stone early can let you retreat out of a Stunfisk/Landorus/Trubbish start.
Matchups
This is a deck of resource management, and varying your strategies against varying decks. I don’t think I can say much more to the background logic, but I can speak a bit to how to run the deck against various matchups.
Vs. Darkrai
pokebeach.comSet up Garbodor at your leisure, and use Accelgor to annoy the crap out of them. Stunfisk and Landorus deal major damage as well as snipe. Any time you miss out on the KO after a D&C, you can finish things with snipe and start on the next KO.
A Bangle’d D&C alongside Virbank will deal 110 damage to Darkrai off the bat, shuffling back the Bangle. That sets up Darkrai to be KO’d by Stunfisk next turn. If you can use Stunfisk to smack Darkrais off the bat, you’ll be in a good position. The only other threat is Absol, which is looped by Accelgor with Virbank in play.
Vs. VirGen
Setting up Garbodor quickly is ideal to make more cards in your deck useful. With Garbodor up, Accelgors are suddenly capable of dealing 50 + whatever else you can tack on (Bangle, Virbank). This allows Accelgor to combo better in 2HKOs. However Accelgor’s 50 damage alone is already appreciated. Dealing 50 puts Genesect/Virizion at 120 HP, which means a Vengeance with only +40 damage will finish things off. More importantly, you’ve dealt reasonable damage without losing a precious DCE.
Later, this damage alleviates the need to hit a Bangle, or discard lots of Pokémon early. Discard your Accelgor pieces if you can to power up Vengeance, and feel free to ditch a Stunfisk or Landorus. Both will be useful, so don’t remove your potential for snipe entirely. Also, be sure to keep the option for Deck and Cover in mind, as it shines in the late game after they’ve lost their Scrappers. That’s what Super Rod is for.
Vs. Blastoise
Hah! K… so there’s this card called Accelgor. And another called Garbodor. Use both.
Vs. Empoleon
This is the toughest matchup to navigate. Set up a Garbodor as soon as possible. After that, effective use of Accelgor will make the biggest difference between a win and a loss. Your other pieces (Landorus, Stunfisk, Flareon) are all near useless. Ditch them. You’ll be able to Super Rod them back later if you need a snipe to win the game.
So how does one effectively use Accelgor here? There is a temptation to try and perfectly loop the Empoleons with 140 HP by using Deck and Cover twice. This is a mistake. This is a horrible strain on resources, and will rarely work out. They can bring up Prinplups and evolve to get out of Paralysis. They can Switch out on either of the 2 turns you’re giving them. It’s tempting to go for perfect loops, but it’s much more effective to just 1HKO them.
Virbank is key here. D&C deals 80 damage initially. If they immediately switch out, Flareon can finish them off. If they don’t switch out, you’ve 1HKO’d them over the course of two turns. Take the second turn to set up and prep your bench. They’ll be unable to use Dusknoir to much effect since they’ll either 1HKO you, or you shuffle the damage back. This keeps Garbodor safe from Scrapper, so keep Garbotoxin in play as much as possible. If you can take Empoleons and deny them Diving Draw, they’ll have difficulty recovering mid-game and you can take the lead.
This is probably the most skill-intensive matchup to play against. Know what to sacrifice, when, and what to keep, and the playing field is relatively even. This matchup is nonetheless a little unfavourable.
Vs. Anything Else
Accelgor will lead you to victory. Flareon will support. Landorus will be used to great effect. Garbodor is a garbage card and I don’t get why anyone uses it.
Conclusion
wchfh.orgTry to think of a matchup this deck can’t deal with. Now, I’m not trying to say it’s favorable against the whole format, but honestly Accelgor is so good at providing coverage that nothing can just beat this deck outright. It has an amazing Blastoise matchup, a good Darkrai matchup, an even VirGen matchup, and a slightly unfavourable Empoleon matchup.
The only matchup I haven’t mentioned is Plasma, but I haven’t done that because I think the decklist is very important to determine whether the matchup is good or not. It largely depends on their number of Switch, and if you can sneak a Bangle’d Stunfisk 100 + 20 into the mix against a Thundurus EX. If they switch their Kyurem out with 60 damage, that just means it only has 70 HP the next time it’s Active. Accelgor likes that number. Accelgor + Virbank also pseudo-1HKOs Kyurem outright, so you’ve got options.
Against any other deck, Accelgor is going to be a big pain. Tool Drop? Accelgor. Opposing Flareon/Fighting? Accelgor. Ho-Oh? Accelgor, especially if they’re using Terrakions and Suicunes. Shedinja? You’ve got Garbodor. Garchomp? Plays like Empoleon except you can use Landorus and Flareon.
I could go on trying to think of viable decks right now, but I hope the point is clear. Accelgor + Flareon + Garbodor is going to deal with it. And Landorus/Stunfisk will provide snipe to finish off any damage dealt.
So there’s my Monstrosity. Hope you enjoyed! And if you end up playing it let me know how you do!
Cheers,
Crawdaunt out
P.S. Be sure to check out TCGwithHats.com! I have another deck to discuss I’m maybe even more excited about, and we’re thrilled to announce we have a third author joining us. Find out who soon!
Oh man.
The Deck and Cover double loop in the Empoleon matchup could be replaced by something as simple as Stunfisk hitting Empoleon for the KO.
Well… the Virbank will “OHKO” Empoleon anyways, just over the course of 2 turns. If you don’t have Virbank up, Stunfisk won’t finish off Empoleon anyways.
So… What’s Stunfisk doing?
Is 1-1 Garbodor enough to have an “auto win against Blastoise?”
Accelgor + Bangle is. Garbodor is just the icing on the cake.
1-1 Garbodor, how do you set it up quickly, and consistently?
Do you see how many Balls the deck runs? If it’s not prized, you can Level or Ultra for Trubbish, and Heavy or Ultra for Garb. Heavy also searches Shelmets.
If it’s prized, you’re just not gonna set it up. But it’s actually not that hard to set up a Garb if you prioritize it.
I’d add, most matchups don’t need a quick Garbodor. Only Virizion/Genesect, and in that matchup it’s still more important to be setting up Flareon KO’s first. Garb is an afterthought for the deck. it has answers without Garb. Garb just strengthens a relatively even matchup against Ability-based decks.
Jolteon should probably be included in the final list imo, replacing
a Landorus or Stunfisk. It not only helps against Lugia as you mentioned,
but also Empoleon.
Not that I disagree, but more in-depth reasoning is explained here: http://www.tcgwithhats.com/2013/11/garbodorflareonfighting-in-new-format.html
Simply put, Jolteon doesn’t actually OHKO Empoleon, which is just trading 2HKOs for OHKOs. It also forces you to run Blend WLFM. This hurts your ability to Super Rod Fightings back in other matchups. Flareon does about as well against Empoleon tbh.
So not that I disagree having Jolteon would help against Empoleon, but it’s really not much of a help. But Plasma/Lugia seems to have done well this past weekend, so maybe it goes in the deck anyways :)
I really do not think that catcher was such a centerpiece to Plasma. I have been playing it quite a bit and it still performs for me. I cut Thundurus and dependant on the relevance to the match I will just opt to play second so I can attack first and possibly do something necessary. At the moment I am likely going to tech in a Genesect to make Plasma energy, which I do not need after the initial Colress machine unless I need Deoxys attacking, a catcher. Beyond these 2 points I see no reason for Plasma do lose much of anything.
Plasma/Lugia has been seeing some success at Cities. It’s more the first turn rule that Plasma dislikes. A lot of Plasma’s past success came from being the quick rush deck of the format. 50% of games it could deal damage on T1 setting up the KO on T2. That contributed a lot to the success it saw (and it wasn’t exactly the BDIF once the format had stabilized a bit, just standard Tier 1).
Nowadays… Plasma/Lugia is fearsome. Enough that I’d consider teching a 1-1 or 2-2 Drifblim line again. But it’s completely meta-dependant. It’s definitely not something you expect to face every second round, like it used to be. That’s my definition of dying down :)
what’s the best pokemon to promover after D&C…. landorus+float to tank the hit in case of switching?
What’s the best pokemon to promote after D&C? Landorus+Float?
Depends on what you’re facing and what point in the game you’re at? Most of the time they won’t get out of paralysis, so anything that can retreat for free, or finish things off is a good choice.
I’d say I most often bring up something like Flareon or a Shelmet/Accelgor. Garbodor is likely to be holding a Float, so it gets sent up sometimes too. but it’s dangerous to bring Garb up in case they scrapper you and you end up stranded in the active. It’s really too situational to give a concrete answer. This deck has no concrete answers, haha. ^_^;
Played at cities, 2/4 (Not many in my age division). You really need to add the fact that this deck isn’t very good against Acceligoth.
’tis true. It kinda folds to GothGor. But that still isn’t a major concern with VirGen being the most winning deck of Cities…
It wan’t in Hollister (Yeti dominated).
I don’t recall saying it was.
I meant that VirGen wasn’t a major concern in Hollister, so that advantage was near useless. Sorry if I sounded somewhat mean, I din’t intend to.
Not at all! I was more just commenting that the major concerns are what should be addressed in an article. And the seniors metagame of hollister isn’t very relevant to the North American masters metagame. VirGen isn’t very popular in my area either, which is actually why my list was down to 1-1 garb for this article. But if I were to take this to any old tournament, I’d have to throw in an extra 1-1 garb I think.
I piloted this deck at a LC and boy, did it throw some people for a loop! No Virgen but plenty of Blastoise/Keldeo Darkrai and other decks-though I did soft misplay against Empoleon and lost :( definately a hard match-up to navigate correctly. I’d love to revamp this deck for the new XY set but it almost is a shame to not see this go farther, especially since we have access to Evo Soda next set.
Would you consider dropping the Fighting guys and going down to only 4 DCE?