Falling for the Format

Relevant Techs, RPS Reborn, and This or That Deck Building

Hello SixPrizes readers! I’m back with another article, this time to prepare everyone for the first major test of the year… Fall Regionals! There are many questions that need to be answered before October, so today we are going to focus on ideas and strategies you can use in deck building and actual gameplay.

I am very excited about the new format. After some testing in Standard, it is beginning to feel like solid formats of the past. Many of the top decks aren’t locked into a unanimous 60-card frame; there is flexibility for the first time in a while! Below, I will discuss what makes me believe there is an opportunity for skill to shine.

Table of Contents

Tech Cards: Relevant Again!

ash's mom mr. mimepokemontime.tumblr.com

Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” When you start to prepare for an event, the first question you always should ask yourself is, “Which decks am I expecting to see?” You could look up won recently in that area, or check up on the established players in that region to get a good idea of the current metagame. Once you have a good understanding of what you are getting yourself into, the next question to rush to your head is, “Which deck do I play?” In most formats, where the meta is rather dull, you are going to look at the top three or four decks and choose the most consistent list.

However, this is where I see an opening in the 2014 standard format. Instead of taking your chances and hoping to avoid a matchup, there is room for some really great tech cards to seal up matchups. Here are some of my favorite cards to tech against the early frontrunners of the format:

Seismitoad-EX

I’m sure most of you are aware of the strength of Seismitoad-EX. This card received plenty of hype when the Rising Fist spoilers were first released, and so far Seismitoad decks have been successful in testing and tournament play. What can stop an opposing Seismitoad in its tracks? A Seismitoad of your own, of course. Now, if you are using a Virizion/Genesect or Pyroar deck, teching Seismitoad is probably not necessary. The Fighting decks usually consisting of Landorus-EX and Lucario-EX should consider the toad though.

Mewtwo is another great counter to Seismitoad, but you should be wise not to start a Mewtwo war against a deck that plays more Mewtwo than you do.

A Seismitoad tech puts each player on even ground. Slowing down the Item-heavy deck that is Seismitoad while you load up Energy for an all-out battle suddenly gives you the advantage in a matchup that previously was a major issue.

Crushing Hammer & Drifblim BW64

One of the most-missed cards in the format is Enhanced Hammer, especially with the abundance of Special Energy being using at the moment. Although Crushing Hammer places chance into the equation, the risk seems warranted for the reward. In the absence of Energy acceleration, Crushing Hammer has a chance to effectively end a game on a couple of strong early flips. Missing an Energy drop can be hard to swallow, but having them taken away is often completely devastating.

Crushing Hammer by itself isn’t too hard to add to a deck like Seismitoad or Virizion/Genesect. These decks could also add a Drifblim line to really turn up the heat on those Crushing Hammer flips, as a Drifblim can 1HKO Lucario-EX and Mewtwo-EX after two Special Energy are in the discard. Drifblim also punishes players who play aggressively, discarding their Special Energy with Ultra Ball or Professor Juniper.

Beartic FFI

beartic-furious-fists-frf-22-ptcgo-1
One cool customer.

Want to gain an advantage against Pyroar and Landorus-EX? A 2-2 or 3-2 line of the new Beartic can really turn the tables. For just a Double Colorless Energy cost, Igloo Hold does 20 damage plus 20 more damage for every Energy in the Active Pokémon’s Retreat Cost. This would immediately Knock Out a Pyroar in one hit, and only require a Muscle Band for a 1HKO against Landorus-EX. Beartic fits nicely in Virizion/Genesect decks, as a Pyroar counter is necessary at this point and Fighting decks are going to be popular.

Pyroar FLF

Are you tired of Virizion/Genesect destroying your Seismitoad-EXs? Just add Pyroar to your deck! Although lions aren’t traditionally known for protecting toads from super-powered insects, a mere 2-2 line could turn an auto-loss into a favorable matchup. Pyroar can win matchups simply by hitting the table. Seismitoad and Fighting decks that don’t play an Evolution line, namely Garbodor, are asking to sign the match slip.

Mr. Mime PLF

This little guy saw competitive play when Kyurem PLF and Darkrai-EX ran the format years back, but now he must defend our Bench from Landorus-EX. Expect Fighting decks to be extremely popular. This deck’s typical strategy is mainly based on an overpowered Landorus-EX using Hammerhead to steal quick knockouts and soften up EXs for Lucario to Knock Out in the mid game. Mr. Mime’s Bench Barrier throws a wrench into this game plan, especially if benched early, nullifying two or three of those Hammerheads.

Mr. Mime also helps against Megalo Cannon and the classic Frost Spear, so he might not be a wasted spot even if your opponent doesn’t flip over a Fighting Pokémon.

Garbodor LTR

Don’t take out the garbage! Garbodor’s Garbotoxin is the only thing keeping most of these Big Basic decks from surrendering to the almighty Pyroar. Seismitoad, Fighting decks, and some new brews combining the popular 170-180 HP Pokémon could play a Beartic line or whatever Evolution line you feel can handle Pyroar, but Garbodor is an answer that doesn’t take away from the main focus of your deck.

Seismitoad will continue to lock Items, Landorus will continue to assault the Active and weaken the Bench, and so on. Be sure to play an extra Trubbish with the absence of Super Rod and the popularity of Lysandre!


Some of these cards together actually are strong enough to be a deck by themselves. These cards are listed because they can immediately change a matchup. Creativity along with surprise can factor greatly into the strength of your techs.

I’ll give you an example one of my favorite ways to play some of these techs in the current Standard format (BCR–FFI), but I strongly encourage you to come up with some tech ideas of your own and test them! The only way to truly become a strong deck builder is to grind and see why these 60 cards are the best, rather than grab the same 60 a friend used because they won a tournament:

Pokémon – 15

3 Seismitoad-EX
2 Mewtwo-EX NXD
3 Litleo FLF 18

2 Pyroar FLF

3 Trubbish LTR

2 Garbodor LTR

Trainers – 35

4 Professor Juniper
4 N

2 Colress
2 Skyla

2 Lysandre

1 Computer Search

 

4 Ultra Ball
3 Muscle Band

3 Switch

2 Float Stone
1 Escape Rope
1 Startling Megaphone

 

4 Hypnotoxic Laser

2 Virbank City Gym

Energy – 10

6 R
4 Double Colorless

This is an example of a deck teching for the metagame. Seismitoad and Garbodor are a great combination, as Seismitoad shuts down Items and Garbodor shuts down Abilities without fear of a Startling Megaphone coming down thanks to Seismitoad. Garbodor also shuts off Abilities like Pyroar’s Intimidating Mane, which otherwise would completely nullify Seismitoad’s damage output.

So why would we play a Pyroar in a deck where we shut off Abilities? Matchups. Seismitoad does terrifically against many of the top decks in the format, but if you want to play Seismitoad/Garbodor and there are 5 or 6 Virizion/Genesect decks attending your tournament, you’ll need to make an adjustment. A Pyroar line fits easily into this deck, and the Energy types are irrelevant because the main attacks you’ll be using from Seismitoad and Mewtwo cost two C Energy.

RPS: No Gun

jesse james slingshot team rocketpokemonscreenshots.tumblr.com

Another positive sign for this format is the emergence of what many players call a rock-paper-scissors metagame. In the game of rock-paper-scissors, players either throw rock (which beats scissors), paper (which beats rock), or scissors (which beats paper). Every option can win and lose, meaning there is no overwhelming best choice.

Applying this to Pokémon, Pyroar beats Genesect, Genesect beats Seismitoad/Garbodor, and Seismitoad/Garbodor beats Pyroar. At first glance this may look like a negative, because you are just choosing a deck and hoping your rock keeps finding scissors, but we have the option of tech cards to adjust our chances. If you want to roll the dice and play a really consistent, plain deck, you may just end up a rock covered by paper a couple times and missing top cut. This is where deck building and skill begin to show. Let us take a look at an example:

Pokémon – 8

4 Virizion-EX
3 Genesect-EX
1 Mr. Mime PLF

Trainers – 29

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Skyla
2 Shadow Triad

 

2 Ultra Ball

1 Team Plasma Ball
3 Muscle Band

3 Energy Switch
2 Switch

1 Colress Machine

1 Professor’s Letter

1 Startling Megaphone

1 G Booster

Energy – 13

9 G
4 Plasma

This list is a fairly standard Virizion/Genesect build that I use to test against. In the typical “RPS” format, choosing a deck like this leaves your defenses vulnerable. Consistency is a great tool when there are no auto-losses in the format; however, this format is filled with them. Virizion/Genesect needs to glue some razor blades to its rock so all the paper doesn’t immediately cover it. Let’s take a look at another list:

Pokémon – 12

4 Virizion-EX
3 Genesect-EX
3 Cubchoo FFI

2 Beartic FFI

Trainers – 24

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Skyla
1 Shadow Triad

 

3 Ultra Ball
3 Muscle Band
2 Switch

1 Escape Rope
1 Startling Megaphone

1 G Booster

Energy – 14

9 G
4 Plasma

1 Double Colorless

I’ll tell you right off the bat that this list will not be nearly as consistent as the first, but the sacrifice in regularity is warranted. These few changes in the list should not affect opportunities to seal easy victories, like against Seismitoad/Garbodor, and should prevent some of the losses the deck generally takes, like to Pyroar or a fast start from Fighting decks.

Deck Building: This or That?

colress pls 135 artwork

Slowly but surely we are beginning to see more options when it comes to deck building. My favorite years of playing competitively were when my friends and I would spend hours upon hours working on the best list, playtesting hundreds of possibilities to see what worked best.

With the lack of playable Supporter plays over the past few years, we have seen basically every deck playing 4 Professor Juniper (or Professor Sycamore) and 4 N, amongst other lesser Supporters. I don’t expect this trend to change, but I see do an opportunity for the deck builders to gain an advantage.

Most of the decisions we are going to talk about below come down to a slight edge or player’s preference. Let’s go inside the mind of a deck builder and weigh in on decisions they’ll have to make before settling on their exact 60 cards for Regionals.

Shauna vs. Colress

After the unveiling of the winning US Nationals 2014 decklist, most players had one thought, “SHAUNA?” I certainly was taken by surprise when I saw a deck playing so many Basics and a Raichu line dependent on a full Bench not taking advantage of Colress. I can see why he chose Shauna, as he was mainly focused on the opening turns and not drawing dead, but I don’t think that risk is as high as the reward of 8-10 cards in the mid game when you need multiple Items to take a knockout.

Obviously in this case Brandon Salazar was successful regardless, but most of the time the players who make questionable card choices aren’t going to have their deck spotlighted, and therefore we never get to see why they weren’t successful.

I would suggest that basically every deck play Colress over Shauna at this point in time. Absol PLF is not nearly as much of a threat as in the past, so benching Pokémon shouldn’t really be an issue. I can’t think of a deck focused on a small Bench right now either besides some Seismitoad/Garbodor decks, and even then Colress seems like a better option than Shauna.

Pokémon Catcher vs. Lysandre

lysandre-flashfire-flf-104-ptcgo-1
No flip and not an Item!

Personally I despise flipping coins to determine such a crucial pivot of a game. You may like your odds when it comes to flipping, or you may understand that occasionally a few flips will go your way, but there are other factors to consider.

Lysandre is a great Supporter card, searchable by Jirachi-EX, and it doesn’t come with the fear of running into a Seismitoad Item lock. With the popularity of Seismitoad, I don’t care how lucky your Chansey coin is; you can’t flip heads if you can’t play the Item. Right now I believe that the best option for most decks when choosing between these two cards would be to opt for 2-3 Lysandre.

Computer Search vs. Dowsing Machine

It is absolutely crazy how everything can change after one rotation. I may have thought to use Computer Search over Dowsing Machine in only one to two decks last season, when now I am almost always choosing Computer Search as my ACE SPEC card. To be fair, most Stage 2 decks are obsolete now, and they almost always used Dowsing Machine, as extra Rare Candy could overwhelm your opponent when they see your board position.

Right now speed is the name of the game. With Seismitoad’s popularity, you want to at the very least be able to use your ACE SPEC before you are Item locked. Playing Korrina and Skyla mean that you can feasibly find your Computer Search in time and get the exact card you are looking for in your opening setup, rather than search out a Dowsing Machine and get something not as good.

I’ll also give Scramble Switch and Scoop Up Cyclone some love right now, as they could certainly see some play. Scoop Up Cyclone in Seismitoad has to be one of the most annoying cards for an opponent, as they will have been chipping away at this Item-locking toad and he refuses to go away. Scramble Switch in Fighting decks has been one of my favorite surprises, especially coming out of nowhere with a Lucario-EX or Landorus-EX knockout for the win.

Single-Prize Pokémon vs. Pokémon-EX

Ryan Sabelhaus finished 2nd at the US National Championships in 2013, much in due part to his flawless use of the 7-Prize strategy. This strategy is simple; make your opponent take 7 Prizes instead of the typical 6. The way to do this is by using regular Pokémon alongside Pokémon-EX. Once your opponent is down to their last Prize, you attack with a Pokémon-EX and force your opponent to deal with it to win rather than a normal, non-Pokémon-EX.

Ryan used Kyurem PLF, Absol PLF, and Life Dew to exhaust his opponents while he continued his assault. Many deck builders seem to skip over this idea when setting up their Pokémon lines. Let’s look at an example:

Pokémon – 13

3 Landorus-EX
2 Lucario-EX

2 Mewtwo-EX NXD

1 Jirachi-EX

3 Trubbish LTR
2 Garbodor LTR

Trainers – 34

4 Professor Sycamore
4 N

1 Colress
4 Korrina

2 Lysandre

1 Pokémon Center Lady
1 Computer Search

 

3 Ultra Ball

3 Muscle Band

3 Switch

2 Float Stone

1 Professor’s Letter

1 Max Potion
1 Escape Rope
1 Startling Megaphone

 

2 Fighting Stadium

Energy – 13

6 F
4 Strong
3 Double Colorless

This is a strong list, focused on early aggression with the possibility of shutting off Abilities when necessary. The problem here is that the deck doesn’t take advantage of the 7th Prize. Hawlucha is one of my favorite cards from the new set. With free Retreat and a solid 60 damage for 1 Energy, he can set up your opponent’s Pokémon to get Knocked Out without costing you much investment.

If you are playing in a matchup where Garbodor won’t help too much, don’t bench Trubbish. If you only have Pokémon-EX in play and Hawlucha is Knocked Out, your opponent is now stuck taking 7 Prizes. Let’s take a look at a version of this list that can challenge your opponent with multiple single-Prize attackers:

Pokémon – 13

2 Landorus-EX

1 Lucario-EX

2 Mewtwo-EX NXD

2 Landorus FFI

2 Hawlucha FFI

2 Trubbish LTR
2 Garbodor LTR

Trainers – 34

4 Professor Sycamore
4 N

2 Colress
4 Korrina

2 Lysandre
1 Computer Search

 

3 Ultra Ball
3 Muscle Band

3 Switch

2 Float Stone

1 Professor’s Letter

1 Max Potion
1 Escape Rope
1 Startling Megaphone

 

2 Fighting Stadium

Energy – 13

6 F
4 Strong
3 Double Colorless

The new Landorus and Hawlucha from Furious Fists are incredibly powerful for single-Prize Pokémon. You’ll see that I chose to play two of each in this deck, which doesn’t seem right if we want to place our opponent on an odd Prize count. I do this because we have to remember to only bench Pokémon accordingly with our opponent’s remaining Prizes. If they need 4 Prizes, we can send in two Landorus FFI and a Hawlucha FFI before trying to end the game with an overpowered Landorus-EX. Having an extra regular Pokémon also gives us an opportunity to actually use all four of them if our opponent Knocks Out a Trubbish early or Lysandres up a Garbodor.

Using regular Pokémon as main attackers also allows for the strength of N to really shine. A common strategy that I use with this deck is to attack with a Landorus-EX until it is Knocked Out. When my opponent is down to 4 cards, this is a perfect time to N and start using the regular Pokémon to soften up their field, or even possibly take some knockouts. While they struggle to Knock Out Landorus FFI, I am setting up my field for a long game and continuing to use N.

With a limited amount of cards, my opponent is generally limited when it comes to strategy and they will have to keep on attacking and taking single Prizes in hopes of building any board state. Eventually N and my overwhelming field can handle anything my opponent has available. This is the strength of the 7-Prize strategy, and it has proven itself time and time again, ever since the release of Pokémon ex almost a decade ago.

Conclusion

I’d like to thank you for reading this article, and I hope you’ll be inspired to think outside the box and really put some effort into your lists and strategies for the upcoming Regional Championships. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to message me on SixPrizes, Twitter, or Facebook. Good Luck to everyone attending Regionals!

Until next time,

– Kyle Sabelhaus


…and that will conclude this Unlocked Underground article.

After 45 days, we unlock each Underground (UG/★) article for public viewing. New articles are reserved for Underground members.

Underground Members: Thank you for making this article possible!

Other Readers: Check out the FAQ if you are interested in joining Underground and gaining full access to our latest content.


Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

You are logged out. Register. Log in. Legacy discussion: 1