I Do Believe in Fairies!

A Quick Look at Xerneas/Aromatisse

Well hello again, SixPrizes! It has been almost a year since I’ve posted an article here. A lot has changed in the TCG these past few months, especially with the November rule changes. When they came in to effect, I felt the format slowly getting more bland, and the game became less interesting. All of that is seemingly changing for the better now with the recent release of XY.

New decks are rising, old decks are crumbling, and I notice I’m having more fun with my games now, which is something that I haven’t felt since the HS-NVI format. With the release of XY, PCL added a new type: Fairy! I knew instantly that this new breed of Pokémon would get amazing support, and I could not have wished for anything better than what we got.

Let’s take a look at some of the cards that make up of my new favorite deck, Fairies.

The Core

Xerneas XY

xerneas-xy-96-official
Xerneas is your ideal starter.

This baby deer is one of the most important cards of your deck. For 1 Y Energy, ‘Geomancy’ allows you to pick two Pokémon on your Bench and search your deck for 1 Y Energy to attach to each of them. Not only is this a great way to accelerate your Energy attachments, but this also thins your deck into drawing your consistency cards.

Rainbow Spear isn’t too much to brag about, but it can be useful in certain situations. This attack is your answer to Klinklang PLS, Sigilyph DRX, and Suicune PLB, as most of your other attackers are EXs.

Recommended Count: 3

It’s a great starter, but you don’t need it much after you have board position. I would attack with this when necessary. You want to keep as much Energy in play as possible.

Aromatisse XY

Aromatisse has the Ability ‘Fairy Transfer,’ which is a mechanic we are very used to as Klinklang BLW and Hydreigon DRX 97 have similar Abilities of Energy manipulation. Being able to move your Y Energy around as early as T2 is what makes the core of this deck, but what frightened me is its low 90 HP.

I then recalled back to the days of Eelektrik NVI and remembered what a force it was. Yes, it was the world’s most popular Pokémon Catcher target and Garbodor stopped it with relative ease, but then I remembered something: Catcher was automatic back then, Eelektrik didn’t have a free retreat from a Stadium, and it STILL did well.

Am I implying that Aromatisse is a modern day Eelektrik? Possibly. We’ll have to see how the format plays out. [Editor’s note: That seems like a stretch comparison to me seeing as they have completely different Abilities.]

Recommended Count: 2-3

You could probably get away with playing 2 Aromatisse, but since it is so important I wouldn’t risk the chance of pieces ending up in your Prizes.

Slurpuff XY

slurpuff swirlix by astronpixiv.net

Also at 90 HP, we have Slurpuff. The Ability ‘Sweet Veil’ is the Fairy version of Virizion-EX’s ‘Verdant Wind.’ This in conjunction with Aromatisse allows you to cure Status Conditions at will and retreat for free with the aid of Fairy Garden.

Recommended Count: 0-1

This card is great, but I have a feeling there won’t be much room for it in most Fairy decks due to space on the Bench. I would rather have a second Aromatisse in case 1 gets KO’d than to have 1 Slurpuff that isn’t helping much. Of course, this opinion may change when I play the deck more, but as of now, it’s a luxury I can survive without.

Xerneas-EX

When this card was first revealed, I felt it wouldn’t be that great due to high Energy cost attacks. However, thanks to Xerneas and Aromatisse, attacking quickly with this card becomes a lot more manageable.

For 1 Fairy and 2 C Energy, Break Through is basically a watered down Night Spear. Break Through does 60 damage to the Defending Pokémon and 30 damage to one of the opponent’s Benched Pokémon. This is great for setting up KOs on Benched Pokémon for future turns.

Its second attack, X Blast, does 140 damage, which is not bad for 2 Fairy and a Double Colorless. The downside of the attack is you can’t use it your next turn. It is wise to set up KOs on EXs so that you can finish them off with an X Blast.

Recommended Count: 3

This guy is your main attacker, and you want to be able to set another one up quickly if the active one gets KO’d.

Fairy Garden

fairy-garden-xy-117-official
Free retreat is awesome!

I cannot express my love for this card. Only after seeing the synergy behind everything else did this card make my day. All of your Pokémon that have Y Energy attached have no Retreat Cost. This makes it even easier to get around Catcher (because people still play it); you can ‘Fairy Transfer’ to your Active, retreat back to your attacker, and keep swinging.

I know what you’re thinking… it gets replaced by Virbank City Gym/Tropical Beach too easily and there goes that plan. Isn’t that the argument with EVERY STADIUM EVER? Run more copies of it to win the Stadium war.

[Editor’s Note: I think most people play Catcher these days when doing so will net them an immediate KO. Catcher stalling isn’t as prevalent as in the past.]

Recommended Count: 3

I’ve never needed a fourth one, and 3 is a pretty solid number if you know when to play them.

The Deck

Now that we’ve covered the core of the deck, let’s take a look at how a typical Fairy decklist should look like:

Pokémon – 14

3 Xerneas XY

3 Xerneas-EX

3 Spritzee XY

3 Aromatisse XY

1 Mewtwo-EX NXD

1 Mr. Mime PLF

Trainers – 35

3 Professor Juniper

3 N

3 Skyla

3 Shauna

1 Colress

1 Random Receiver

 

3 Ultra Ball

2 Level Ball

4 Max Potion

2 Muscle Band

2 Tool Scrapper

2 Super Rod

2 Switch

1 Dowsing Machine

 

3 Fairy Garden

Energy – 11

11 Y

Card Choices

1 Mewtwo-EX

mewtwo pokemon openingpokemonscreenshots.tumblr.com
X Ball is the ying to X Blast.

This should come to no surprise as Mewtwo-EX loves any deck that uses Energy manipulation or acceleration to generate a powerful ‘X Ball.’ It almost seems fitting as Xerneas-EX has the attack ‘X Blast’ to complement.

1 Mr. Mime PLF

The last thing you want is to have your Aromatisse and friends get sniped on the Bench from Hammerhead, Frost Spear, or Night Spear. Mr. Mime has proven itself more than worthy to protect your Bench from these threats and should definitely play a role here. Mr. Mime is part Fairy type, after all.

3 Shauna

More often than not, I don’t want to give my opponent a new hand. Shauna guarantees you 5 cards, while N is dependent on your Prize count. Three is a good number to work with; there’s never a bad time to play it. I feel that Shauna will be played similarly to Colress.

4 Max Potion

As we’ve learned from Aromatisse’s predecessors, Max Potion abuse is a necessity for success. You can effectively undo your opponent’s turn if they fail to 1HKO your attacker by using ‘Fairy Transfer’ to move Energy from your damaged Pokémon to a healthy one, Max Potion the damaged Pokémon, and move all of the Energy back on to your now healed Pokémon. I wouldn’t play less than 4 because the more often you set back your opponent a turn, the more time you have to bolster your side of the field.

2 Super Rod

Let’s face it: your Pokémon are going to get Knocked Out. You’re going to lose Energy, and you need to get them back to win. One of this deck’s flaws is that it invests so much Energy in attacking that it can be tough to set back up after being 1HKO’d. Super Rod offers that chance of revival. I feel 2 is a decent number; any more would be kind of unnecessary.

1 Dowsing Machine

conkers_bad_fur_day_n64_2
“It’s sensitive to context!”

This is arguably the best ACE SPEC. It provides that late game coverage that can turn the tides in your favor. It’s your “5th” copy of all of your Trainers. To quote Conker’s Bad Fur Day: “It’s context sensitive.” It means it’ll give you just what you need at that moment in time.

Conclusion

While I can not accurately predict the metagame for the future, this deck is looking really promising. It has a lot of consistency, speed, power, and adaptability to do well. I would not be surprised if it does well enough to win some major events within the next few months. Thanks everyone for reading this article, and if you are ever in the Topeka-Kansas City area for a tournament, come say hello!

Reader Interactions

18 replies

  1. Grant Manley

    It’s a good article, don’t get me wrong, but the deck itself isn’t that great. You get steamrolled by Blastoise and Emboar, and there’s no way around that. Also, mr. mime is pretty useless nowadays because Darkrai will have Garbodor with a tool when they Night Spear, Genesect’s 20 doesn’t matter, and nobody uses Kyurem and Landorus anymore.

    Also, Genesect can roll you or set you back a ton with G-booster. i would suggest using Spriritomb LTR to help against Genesect. You sort of have to take the loss to Blastoise and Emboar (which makes it pretty bad). OR you could run Dialga EX to make the matchup marginally better.

    • Tim Long  → Grant

      Its sad but true that most tanky decks can’t stand up to OHKO decks such as Blasty and Emboar. But while those may be somewhat of auto-losses, dropping Mr. mime is NOT a good idea.

      Genesect’s 20 may take 5 turns to KO an aromatisse, but it can set up damage on your bulky pokes, and can threaten spritzees/swirlixes. Also, Garbodor shuts down the mime, but, since you play scrapper and kind of rely on abilities anyway, mr. mime can keep forcing them to play tools and can limit their damage output. Plus, when mentioning bench hitters, don’t forget Xerneas EX when in the mirror, who can 3-HKO Aromatisse.

      • Ziggmiceter  → Tim

        For once, I completely agree with Grant. Mime doesn’t help decks that aren’t Empoleon much anymore. Any smart Darkrai or Genesect player would only go after Aromatisse if you could KO it, meaning Catcher or Red Signal. Even if they are threatening anything, you should have a way to get Max Potion fairly easily. Also, if you’re facing a non-Toolbox or Plasma Aromatisse mirror, your meta must be pretty bad/underdeveloped.

    • James  → Grant

      whoa, whoa, whoa, Kyurem and Landorus are still being played and not all darkrai decks play Garbodor, 20 damage with genesect still matters. Long story shot blocking bench damage is an amazing thing to do and still should be played if you have the space.

  2. Jack Stensrud

    One semi-important thing that could be noted is that decks such as Team Plasma that run Prisms could potentially take advantage of Fairy Garden to have free retreat on something like Deoxys or Lugia/Snorlax (especially Snorlax.) I personally would rather run a Darkrai to abuse, and a Yveltal EX over Mewtwo EX with a few Prisms/Rainbows to abuse. Adding Prisms/Rainbows also gives the deck a bit more techability if you find yourself having trouble with various decks.

  3. joe mammano

    I found lasers were needed to ohko most decks. This deck is almost what I built but I did not use mime. I like the list in a whole and the article wad great. Reason for no virbank is because with 10 hp short u only need a laser pop to take down an ex

  4. Joe Wenneman

    You really should run either Virizion EX (with Prisms) or Keldeo EX for status prevention. There’s really no reason not to. Keldeo can also double as a rush-in retreater to reset X Blast’s effect if you can’t find a second Xerneas to swap energy to. Also, if you run prisms, you can run Yveltal EX instead of Mewtwo.

  5. KENNETH ECKER

    Judging from the comments, the only thing you people care about is the deck list. This isn’t my personal list, you know. Its a basic “here’s a list, have fun, tweak it however you want” list. The article is about the archetype as a whole, not how this is the only way to play the deck and my word is all. Jeesh…

    • Gerardo Del Toro  → KENNETH

      Woah, woah, woah, no need to turn on us…

      Did you not expect people to not comment on the decklist? And what is wrong with discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the decklist you posted?

      This is a community that likes to analyze deck lists, so it is in our nature to discuss and argue over card choices. Yes, I can understand being defensive over a deck you like, especially when people have their own opinion on what to run, but you did, afterall, post this article and shared a decklist.

      We did not assume that this is the only way to play it. Rather, we are discussing what we see is the best way to use the cards you talked about. And I also understand that you figure most people just went straight for the decklist, disregarding your content. That may be the case with some, but it cannot be helped.

      So please, don’t get angry at us. Get mad at those who attack your article without valid points, not those who actually make an attempt to give their input and create a discussion, in a proper and mature fashion.

      Thank you.

      • KENNETH ECKER  → Gerardo

        its certain comments like “you should do this and you should do that” that irk me. I feel as if they’re trying to one-up me…The article was just to talk about the concept of the deck and you can tweak the list however you want. Just don’t tell me how to build my deck when people assume the list I post is my personal list. Plus, people bashing the concept of a deck for the purpose of bashing is ridiculous. You can talk about any deck in format and theres always gonna be that guy who’s like “you autolose to garbodor, so your deck is bad” etc.

        • Jak Stewart-Armstead  → KENNETH

          You’re being really oversensitive here. By internet standards the response to this article is respectful and constructive,

          All anyone has done is make suggestions to improve the deck, or mention possible weaknesses. Neither counts as ‘bashing’. I dunno what else you expect really. Either use it to develop your own counter arguments or incorporate their suggestions into a future article or list.

          Either way, it will benefit you as a writer and a player. You have zero justification for getting all upset about it.

        • KENNETH ECKER  → Jak

          Well, now that I’ve actually eaten something, I feel a bit better… but it just feels like no one cares about the rest of the article and only the list, and when they do see the list, they immediately try to say “this is better” and “you should change this” That makes me feel like I’ve failed, and its really demotivating to have put 8+ hours of work into an article, and have people discredit your work. Whether its your intention or not, its how it makes me feel. Don’t criticize the list, criticize the points made in the article. Something like “Wow, Xerneas XY’s Geomancy is really underrated, I’m glad you touched up on points about it” or “You should have talked about how this deck does against other matchups” would suffice. Those would help me as a writer, not “Virizion > Slurpuff” or “Keldeo > Fairy Garden”

          I hope this makes sense…

        • Jak Stewart-Armstead  → KENNETH

          I can see what you mean, but as a writer on the internet, you need to develop a thicker skin. You set yourself up for criticism and can’t dictate how people will give it . . . they aren’t always going to act like a super positive parent or mentor, because that’s not what they are.

          Fact is, if someone feels that Virizion or Keldeo are important points to make, they will make them, rather than telling you how great your point is about Xerneas (which does nothing to further discussion). Nothing here was rude or disrespectful and on the intenet that’s the most you can ask for.

  6. BirdboyII

    Why doesn’t anybody try using the Flashfire Snorlax? Slurpuff can keep it awake and you would have a solid 120 damage attack. It would be worth it for the fewer prize cards you would give the other player when compared to using an ex.

  7. Joshua Goss

    just run two xerneas EX One active and one on your bend, and alternate X Blasts with each one, moving energy if necessary, packing quite a punch if used right.

  8. Laura Cao

    One question: How to prevent the steel type autoloss? I tried teching in things like reshi LT, but it just slows down the deck.

  9. Justin Bates

    diance ex should be a in any fiary deck if you are expected to run againt any heavy ex deck

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