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Introducing Hoothoot/Decidueye and Updating Yveltal/Garb, Scizor/Raticate, and Vespiquen/Friends with Sun & Moon for Anaheim

Hello everyone! Travis Nunlist here back with another pre-Regional/post-new set piece. Last time I wrote for SixPrizes I discussed which decks I liked after the Evolutions set was released and which ones I liked the most for Fort Wayne Regionals. I ended up placing 12th at the event with a Scizor/Raticate deck I showcased in the last article. Since then I’ve also placed 1st/3rd/3rd at three local League Cups and managed to end 6-2-1 for T64 at Athens after an unfortunate tie for my win-and-in round. After recently being kicked out of T16 in North America I’ve been itching to get on with the new format and to do my best to blow it wide open at Anaheim.

The period after a new set drops and before the first big event is always the most exciting to me and definitely a time where I have the most fun playing Pokémon. Discovering new cards and their interactions with existing cards is always something I’ve really enjoyed doing, and the first big events always seem to reward players that have actually tested and properly prepared for the impact of the new set.

This time around I’ll be discussing how the new Sun & Moon set affects currently existing archetypes and how I believe decks should be updated to handle new cards and threats. I’m going to be focusing less on matchups and more on the decks themselves because Sun & Moon looks to introduce a lot of new concepts into the metagame, and without specific threats to focus on, discussing a matchup spread proves to be long-winded and less helpful than desired.

I believe the following decks are currently top contenders in the Sun & Moon format so be on the lookout for similar concepts at Anaheim!

The Bully: Yveltal/Garbodor

Pokémon – 13

3 Yveltal-EX
2 Tauros-GX
1 Yveltal STS
1 Yveltal BKT
2 Shaymin-EX ROS
2 Trubbish BKP

2 Garbodor BKP

Trainers – 34

4 Professor Sycamore
3 N
2 Lysandre
1 Delinquent
1 Ninja Boy
1 Pokémon Center Lady
1 Professor Kukui

 

4 Max Elixir
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
3 Fighting Fury Belt
3 Float Stone

 

2 Parallel City

1 Reverse Valley

Energy – 13

9 D
4 Double Colorless

Here we have an updated version of the undisputed BDIF of the PRC–EVO format. While it may not have had very strong showings at the last two major Standard events of the season (Dallas and Athens), this is absolutely a deck you should not forget exists. While the deck has not received a drastic overhaul from Sun & Moon, it has received a couple of new options that I believe will help to solve major issues that were being exploited and catapult the deck back to the forefront of the metagame. Garbodor is an incredibly safe play going into a new format because the best way to not have to deal with all of the new Abilities is simply to shut them all off.

Key Cards

2 Tauros-GX

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No bull; this card will be a force.

I’m going to go ahead and get this out of the way: I believe Tauros-GX is the best card to come out of the entire Sun & Moon set. It has three attacks that all cost 2 C Energy. The first is a vanilla 60. The second is a classic Rage attack that does 20 + 10 for each damage counter on Tauros-GX. The third is the GX attack and a beefed-up Rage that does 30× the amount of damage counters on Tauros. The splashability and versatility of the card is unmatched and I would not be surprised to see the card pop up in a lot of decks that already run Double Colorless Energy.

With 180 HP (220 with Fighting Fury Belt) and Garbodor lock behind it, there is very little in the format that can consistently 1HKO a Tauros-GX. This helps to guarantee it can not only trade well, but can also score at least one free 1HKO per game with its insanely powerful GX attack. The ability to do 60–70 damage for a single attachment helps the deck put on early-game pressure much easier than before since you have an attacker that does not require a successful Max Elixir to do significant T1 damage. Tauros-GX is also the only reason that Ninja Boy is included in the deck. If your opponent is playing suboptimally to try and play around the Rage effects of Tauros, you can simply switch into a better attacker for the situation. You can also go the other way and switch from something damaged into a Tauros-GX to pull off a surprise KO.

A very underrated aspect of the card is the different typing. Yveltal was taken advantage of rather well by exploiting not only the deck’s inherent weaknesses, but also the Weakness/Resistance of Yveltal itself. Having a non-Lightning-weak attacker helps make the deck less vulnerable to hard counter options like Zebstrika, and having a non-Dark-type attacker makes Fairy-type Pokémon much less difficult to handle.

1 Professor Kukui

I believe I am currently following a similar line of thought to SixPrizes’ own Michael Slutsky when it comes to this card. I am simply enamored with Kukui and the options it brings to the table. +20 is essentially a free Energy in Yveltal and is often the difference between taking a knockout or not. I can think of a million scenarios where the extra 20 can be game-changing, and am excited to try this card out in many different decks. I would not be surprised to see it pop up quite often in Anaheim so be prepared for the new Pokémon Professor to make his debut.

Other Options

Trainers’ Mail, Enhanced Hammer, Team Flare Grunt

These are all cards that have found their own success in Yveltal/Garbodor at one point or another. Trainers’ Mail is a commitment to consistency and speed that is not to be underrated at a big event like Regionals, especially in a new format where people could show up with all kinds of crazy concepts. This is a card I have always enjoyed having in Yveltal, but it is also something I almost never find myself having room for.

Enhanced Hammer is too situational for my taste, but against decks using Special Energy it can be game-changing.

Team Flare Grunt was cut in favor for Ninja Boy, but if that proves unreliable or inconsistent then fitting TFG back in is a pretty easy switch. Team Flare Grunt is a card I’ve grown to really like in our current Standard format. Draining your opponent’s resources and forcing them to recommit Energy attachments to a damaged Active can flip tempo into your favor or even secure a game by limiting your opponent’s options.

Bird Brains: Hoothoot/Decidueye-GX

Pokémon – 18

4 Rowlet SUM

3 Dartrix SUM

3 Decidueye-GX
3 Hoothoot BKT
1 Noctowl BKT
1 Lugia-EX AOR
1 Tauros-GX
2 Shaymin-EX ROS

Trainers – 32

4 Professor Sycamore
3 N
2 Lysandre
1 Olympia
1 Team Flare Grunt
1 Team Skull Grunt

 

4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
3 Fighting Fury Belt
3 Float Stone
1 Super Rod
1 Timer Ball

 

2 Forest of Giant Plants
2 Silent Lab

Energy – 10

6 G
4 Double Colorless

This deck might seem very crazy and all over the place at first, but it is actually much more familiar than you may initially realize. This is an attempt to recreate the Expanded monstrosity that is Seismitoad/Crobat for our current Standard format. Hoothoot has an attack called Proclaim the Night that prevents your opponent from playing any Item cards during their next turn, and Decidueye-GX has an Ability called Feather Arrow that can place 2 damage counters per turn. Seem familiar? The deck also runs Silent Lab for the terrifying Item/Ability-lock combo that seems to be able to steal games all on its own.

While Hoothoot is clearly not as powerful of a card as Seismitoad-EX, it can still provide many of the same benefits, especially in a Standard format much less prepared for Item lock.

Key Cards

3 Hoothoot, 1 Noctowl, 1 Tauros-GX, 1 Lugia-EX

Quoth the Hoothoot, “Items nevermore.”

The attacker lineup is something I’m still tinkering with. I believe some combination of all of these Pokémon is the best option for Basic attackers with Decidueye-GX. Hoothoot is clearly your best lead to slow down your opponent while you prepare multiple Decidueye and other attackers. When I first began to test I was playing 3/3 Lugia/Tauros and only 1 Hoothoot and often found myself unable to keep up on Energy due to a lack of acceleration. Rather than try and keep up by including Max Elixir and more Energy, I’ve chosen instead to slow the opponent down with continuous Item lock. This gives us ample time to not only set up but also slowly stack Feather Arrow pings across their board.

Noctowl has an attack for CC called High Flight. Both players reveal their hands and the attack does 20× the number of Item cards revealed from both players. It has been surprisingly potent and can punish an opponent for keeping too many Item cards in their hand while under lock, but you have to be very careful when breaking lock with this deck because your opponent will usually have a somewhat explosive turn now that they can finally play all of their Item cards. I think a second Lugia-EX or Tauros-GX may prove correct, as the squishiness of Hoothoot has proven troublesome if the opponent can still set up despite Item lock.

1 Team Skull Grunt

The new bad guys in town have been somewhat hit-and-miss in testing so far. Playing your Supporter for the turn to blindly attack your opponent’s hand is a pretty high-risk, high-reward maneuver. However, even if you miss Energy, knowing the contents of your opponent’s hand can help you build your board optimally for future turns. While spamming Item-lock in the early game, it’s not uncommon for you to have the time to play Team Skull Grunt, but often Team Flare Grunt is a better play if the Active has Energy. The Active usually will have Energy if your opponent drew Energy, and if it doesn’t then Team Skull Grunt is probably a useless play anyway.

The card has proven especially useful when taking a knockout on an Active threat. Ripping their potential attachments from hand for the next threat while Knocking Out the current one has proven to be a devastating play.

Overall the diversity of options Team Skull Grunt brings to the plate make it worth keeping around for now, but it is definitely a card I’m looking forward to figuring out more.

Other Options

Professor Kukui, Trevenant-EX, More Timer Ball

Even though I love Professor Kukui as a card, there is one simple reason it is not currently included in this build of the deck: it cannot add damage to Proclaim the Night. I cut it from my original build to include the Energy removal pair and complement the disruption line of strategy the Hoothoot-heavy version is taking. I still believe the card is very good, and the +20 can provide an insane amount of options when combined with Feather Arrow. The more non-Hoothoot attackers the deck features, the better Kukui becomes.

Trevenant-EX is a card I’m planning to test but admittedly have not tried out yet. Wood Blast costs CCC and does 50 + 20 for each G attached, and is rather costly for having no Energy acceleration. Dark Forest costs G and does 20 damage while preventing the opposing Pokémon from retreating during the next turn and is the real reason we’re looking at the card at all. The attack can prove to be rather devastating under the right circumstances when combined with multiple Feather Arrows. It’s not a card I’m especially fond of at the moment, but it’s definitely worth testing even if it proves suboptimal.

At the risk of echoing fellow SixPrizes writers yet again, I believe Timer Ball is very powerful in decks using Forest of Giant Plants. Having additional options to dig for your Evolutions is exactly the kind of thing these decks have been craving, and as a supplement to Ultra Ball it helps to make them much more consistent. The list currently only has 1 Timer Ball that I’m always happy to see, and squeezing in 1–2 more is absolutely something I’m going to try and make work.

Monkeying Around: Vespiquen & Friends

Pokémon – 29

4 Combee AOR
4 Vespiquen AOR 10
4 Passimian SUM
4 Unown AOR
2 Klefki STS
2 Shaymin-EX ROS
2 Eevee SUM
1 Espeon-GX
1 Flareon AOR
1 Jolteon AOR
1 Vaporeon AOR
1 Mew-EX
1 Oranguru SUM
1 Rattata EVO

Trainers – 25

4 Professor Sycamore
2 Lysandre
2 N
1 Olympia
1 Professor Kukui

 

4 Acro Bike
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
2 Special Charge
1 Buddy-Buddy Rescue

Energy – 6

4 Double Colorless
2 P

Vespiquen has always been a very interesting deck because of the crazy amount of space it has to be teched out for any metagame it may encounter. This was proven at Athens Regionals where three very different Vespiquen decks all made it to the T8 of the biggest Regional tournament ever. Sun & Moon brought a plethora of new options for the Queen Bee and every player should be prepared to square off against some variant of the deck at Anaheim Regionals.

Key Cards

4 Passimian, 1 Espeon-GX, 1 Oranguru

Cousin of King Julien XIII.

Passimian is a neat card that I’m glad has been introduced into our Standard format. It’s a very splashable counter to any Fighting-weak Pokémon currently running around (I’m looking at you, Darkrai) and newly introduced threats looking to become major metagame players (e.g., Umbreon-GX and Tauros-GX). Its attack Team Play does 10 + 30 for each Benched Passimian, which caps at 120 with Passimian/Kukui or as much as 150 with Mew-EX/Kukui. It’s also not a horrible attacker on its own, as having the full slew of monkeys on the field can let you hit 100+ damage with a Basic non-EX.

Eeveelutions are not something new to Standard Vespiquen, but having one that can attack is. Having access to all the typing the original three provides gives you an insane typing spread against the field. I chose Espeon-GX over Umbreon-GX because I believe the GX attack is much more compatible with how Vespiquen functions as a deck. Placing 10 counters across your opponent’s field can help make up for the lack of damage Vespiquen has access to in the early and mid-game. Having to include basic Energy to make the GX work is a bit annoying, but the added bonus of Energy Evolution is quite nice in setting it up.

Oranguru is a great addition to the deck. It has an Ability that can guard against late-game Ns and potentially provide a consistency boost at any point during the game. The attack is pretty niche, but can prove useful in the right situation. While it is not quite as good as something like the Octillery that Dylan Bryan included in his 2nd place list at Athens, it takes up less space and requires less setup which is always a huge bonus for a consistency-booster.

Other Options

A Stadium, Tauros-GX, Araquanid SUM

Something noticeably missing from my current list is a Stadium. While Stadiums have never been a major component, usually 1–2 are very nice to fit in for many different reasons. A 1-of Parallel City, Faded Town, or Forest of Giant Plants all have potential to provide a valuable impact on the game, and at least one Stadium is most likely optimal.

Tauros-GX is another card that can easily fit into the deck and give it a lot of options. While not as powerful of a card without Fighting Fury Belt, it can still prove to be a very powerful 1-of in the right circumstances. It can also give the deck easier access to a decent GX attack if Espeon finds its way out of the deck in favor of other powerful tech Pokémon like Zoroark, Raichu, or Zebstrika.

Araquanid SUM is a very interesting tech that can go in place of the Eeveelutions and the basic Energy if Volcanion takes up a large percentage of the expected metagame. Araquanid has the potential to turn Volcanion from a very hard matchup into a virtual auto-win as long as it can hit the field with its Water Bubble Ability that gives it full immunity from any and all Fire Pokémon your opponent controls.

Vespiquen is the kind of deck that can be properly teched for any metagame if read correctly, and will absolutely be a top contender come Anaheim Regionals.

Pinch Me: Scizor/Raticate

Pokémon – 13

4 Scizor-EX
3 M Scizor-EX
2 Shaymin-EX ROS
1 Hoopa-EX AOR
1 Giratina XY184
1 Rattata EVO
1 Raticate EVO

Trainers – 37

4 Professor Sycamore

2 Lysandre
2 N

1 Olympia
1 Professor Kukui
1 Team Flare Grunt
1 Team Skull Grunt

 

4 Scizor Spirit Link
4 Trainers’ Mail
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
2 Mega Turbo
2 Switch
1 Escape Rope
1 Super Rod

 

2 Silent Lab
1 Parallel City

Energy – 10

6 M
4 Shield

Sun & Moon brought a ton of new options for my favorite deck, and while the Volcanion matchup is still trash, I think it has a ton of potential to keep up with all the fun that the new set has provided. If you want to read more on the concept itself you can check out my first SixPrizes article here, but in this article I’m going to dive into the changes to the list.

Key Cards

1 Giratina, 1 Kukui, 1 Skull Grunt, 4 Shield Energy

Giant Water Shuriken NOPE.

Giratina is the savior we’ve been looking for to finally be able to handle Greninja. While not a new card from Sun & Moon, it is a relatively new card in general and gives Scizor an out to winning one of its more difficult matchups. I believe Greninja and Volcanion were the only real bad matchups for the deck, and gaining a plethora of new tools to deal with Greninja is game-changing for the deck.

Professor Kukui and Team Skull Grunt are more powerful options for the deck that complement it very well. A previous issue with Scizor was the 120 damage cap that often left you struggling to deal with 130-HP non-EXs like Yveltal and Greninja, and now Professor Kukui can let you 1HKO these annoying Pokémon while drawing a couple of extra cards. Team Skull Grunt also aids Raticate a ton by preventing your opponent from being able to hold onto their Special Energy to restrict Raticate’s damage output. Having access to Energy denial on board and in the hand is incredibly tough to play around, and the mind games alone can cause havoc for your opponent. It’s also another card that’s very good against Greninja because you can now access any Energy that has been sent back to the hand via Moonlight Slash.

Playing 4 Shield Energy is something I’ve admittedly copied from the T8 Scizor list from Fort Wayne. While 10 Energy is more than I think I need, I have appreciated the incremental help from Shield Energy, and have considered switching Olympia to Pokémon Center Lady to aid the tankiness of the deck. Having a Scizor being able to tank 3–4 hits before going down has been able to win games on its own, and I do admit I initially undervalued Shield Energy a bit.

Other Options

More Raticate, Delinquent, Pokémon Center Lady

The first thing you may notice about the deck is the reduced focus on Raticate. While it is only down to a 1-1 from a 2-2, it has been very noticeable in initial testing games. Only having access to one Rat per game is something I’m somewhat uncomfortable with because of how powerful the Rat line is in certain matchups, but in reality you only need one to throw off the Prize trade and force your opponent to kill 3 Pokémon-EX. The second Rat would often put the trade back to even which is suboptimal to grinding the game out as long as possible and making the opponent play a 7-Prize game.

Delinquent was a last-minute addition before Fort Wayne and is a card I really liked having access to. Your opponent will rarely play around because Scizor’s attack already discards Stadiums so they don’t really expect Delinquent. However, when combined with Team Skull Grunt, Delinquent has proven to be especially devastating and gives you a bit of hand control the deck really enjoys having.

Pokémon Center Lady complements the tankiness of the Shield Energy strategy very well, and can help M Scizor survive one or more attacks longer than it would have been able to without it. With three other switching cards already, Olympia is somewhat dispensable, which makes Pokémon Center Lady even more appealing.

Conclusion

pokemonscreenshots.tumblr.com
This is the start of something good.

Sun & Moon is an incredible set that will eventually fundamentally change how Pokémon is played. Right now I believe that many cards in the set will have a difficult time keeping up with our current power creep, but I do think this is a set that will age very well. Anaheim Regionals is going to be a blast, and I encourage anyone going to feel free to come up and say hi! I always love meeting new players and readers.

I’m very much looking forward to plenty of crazy concepts going deep and highlighting innovative ideas. I hope everyone has enjoyed my second piece here on SixPrizes and as always I look forward to producing more content. Until next time!


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