Teching Through the Format

Fantastic article Esa. I've been working on teching myself to swing matchups. I've been experimenting with the mirror of Hydreigon the most. I've come to a lot of conclusions about techs in that deck. For one, Virizion EPO is not the right virizion to consider. I would reccomend Virizion NVI. Unlike Shaymin, you can open with it. Double draw for two cards for one colorless energy. Or you can computer search for your blends and go aggressive second turn, which really hurts the blastoise decks if you can take out their squirtles. It can be super devastating. There are so many times when i opened lone shaymin in a game or had to juniper it away because it was far too tempting as catcher bait to put it down and I didn't have an N. But I love tinkering around with that deck because I didn't play it at regionals in favor of rayeels, but skyla computer search has sold it for me.
 
Esa, as you had said, there have been a lot of very good information packed articles this month, and yours is definatly one of the most helpfull. I know that most people already have their list for any city's tournaments they plan on attending, and really just needed a few tech ideas to bounce around with and this articlew delivered!

I think Emolga is also a great tech for any Eelektrik deck to ensure they get some tynamos when they need to, witch dosent alway have to be first turn, especially if you have Tornadus EX in the deck. Also i have been using Rocky helmet on Tynamos and Eelektriks, because if Landorus EX attacks them (which is always) its a nice FREE 20-40 damage.

And from what i have been testing Roserade is Really good. its ability is just so GOOD, you can do things with it that you cant do with anything else, like turn a level ball into a juniper, or an ultra ball into a DCE.
 
Everyone is talking about using Tropical Beach... How in the heck do you get your hands on 1 much less 2 of those without paying an arm and a leg???... Weren't they just promo cards at worlds?
 
jbcheshire said:
Everyone is talking about using Tropical Beach... How in the heck do you get your hands on 1 much less 2 of those without paying an arm and a leg???... Weren't they just promo cards at worlds?
Click to expand...

Yep. its something i would definatly want to proxy/test out before a purchase, but if you want to be as competitive as you can be, you gotta bite the bullet and buy the cards. Darkrai was up to $50 or so back in the day but if you needed 3 in a deck you had to buy them because you will be playing agianst someone who has 3 in their deck. This is agian the reason i quit MTG, even a type 2 deck (most current format) will run you $800-1500.

Luckily, looks like ebay has some anywhere between $50-100, and for most of its applications you will only need 1-2 copys. Another way is to trade for one when its not being played in anything at the time, alot of judges will have these cards. I traded a Shiny Rayquaza for one, right before battle roads when everyone was looking for it.
 
It seems though that this card is kind of broken because, unlike Darkrai, you can't get this card in any of the legal pokemon packs that TPCI sells. It is only a promo card that a very limited few people received...

Sorry, just my rant. I will get off my SB now..
 
AdamTheGreat: Virizion(NVI) sure is interesting, but I don't like it as the Grass tech for one simple reason - it doesn't OHKO Keldeo EX when you just need to put it in play and get the last (two) prizes. When opening with it, it's superior to other Grass techs, but otherwise I really think it's worse than the other techs.

TechnoLegend: Ahh yes, I completely forgot about Emolga. It's good but in my current Eels builds I have difficult time justifying its play. In some occasions (especially against aggressive Landorus EX) it's very good, but often it's a waste of bench space. And it's good to remember that you can't really play Keldeo EX in Eelektrik if you play Emolga as well, because your bench will be full of useless things after that.

jbcheshire: I think it's too unfair to keep Tropical Beach so expensive, but the truth is that it's only very expensive for U.S. players and to players, who are allowed to play with only X language cards. You can buy e.g. Italian Tropical Beaches from Ebay with 20-30 dollars. In fact, I purchased a Japanese Tropical Beach for my Japanese friend with only $19,99. However, in my opinion they could just reprint it in a tin or something. But it's a card game so oh well. I guess everyone just has to deal with it.
 
jbcheshire said:
Everyone is talking about using Tropical Beach... How in the heck do you get your hands on 1 much less 2 of those without paying an arm and a leg???... Weren't they just promo cards at worlds?
Click to expand...

They were, but considering it was a worlds promo two years in a row it should be easy to get. If you're European then you get access to every beach bar the Japanese beach, hope that helps!
 
Esa, I always look forward to/ like your articles the best because I feel like you offer a well rounded and sober perspective on the metagame while offering up unique ideas I might not have considered and giving explanations for those things. As a mewtwo eels player I found myself testing a lot of the same techs you mentioned in your bit, zekrom ex, tornadus ex, and even druddigon (which you mentioned later), but I think bouffalant deserves a special mention for mewtwo eels now as it has become a near staple in most successful lists (including mine). I will also die by emolga, who I have been playing a two of in place of sky arrow bridge because of his begining boost with tynamos as well as his synergy with switch for a mid-turn mewtwo/ attacker power up. Lastly, I think a tech to consider for mewtwo eels is pokemon center over SAB. When you play emolga, SAB is uneccesary... and pokemon center helps protect your eels from being double KO'ed by landorus, and sniped via darkrai. It also protects mewtwos from being sniped by landorus and then dragged out for the lands judgement KO on the following turn. Mewtwo and Bouffalant often over hit their targets (averaging 100-120 damage) so the potential 20 damage heal doesnt kill you as much as it messes up your opponent's math. Also, I have been able to use it as a pseudo eviolite, taking 90 damage from a darkrai, switch to emolga, heal 20, then promote and attack again. (A lot of times they will then try to catcher and snipe kill the target with 10 hp left, but it does at least force a catcher use).

Enjoyed the article a bunch, and thanks for your insight again!

-Andrew
 
enjoifriend: Thanks a lot for you opinion! Emolga sure is interesting since I really liked it in the beginning of the season, but the more I play with it, the more I just want to get rid of it. Maybe I should give a whole new chance since you guys have been getting good results with it! However, I must disagree with SAB being unnecessary if you run Emolga. Even if you run 2 Emolgas, I think it's pretty risky to rely only on them when it comes to free retreat. If your Emolgas get KOed / you can't draw to them for some reason, it's always frustrating to put Eelektrik / Raikou EX to the active spot and hope for the Switch. However, I can't deny that Pokémon Center would be bad either. Nonetheless, I think that SAB is the number one stadium in Eelektrik - always.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts Andrew!
 
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