End of the World

Pokémon [16]

4 — Dialga EX — Phantom Forces (62/119)

1 — Lugia EX — Ancient Origins (68/98)

1 — Aegislash EX — Phantom Forces (65/119)

4 — Lunatone — Plasma Storm (73/135)

2 — Jirachi — Roaring Skies (42/108)

2 — Bronzor — Phantom Forces (60/119)

2 — Bronzong — Phantom Forces (61/119)

Trainers [26]

1 — Computer Search — Boundaries Crossed (137/149)

2 — Ultra Ball — Dark Explorers (102/108)

4 — Ether — Plasma Storm (121/135)

4 — Trainers' Mail — Ancient Origins (100/98)

2 — Korrina — Furious Fists (111/111)

3 — Shauna — XY Base Set (127/146)

3 — N — Dark Explorers (96/108)

3 — Team Aqua's Secret Base — Double Crisis (28/34)

4 — Float Stone — Plasma Freeze (99/116)

Energy [18]

4 — Double Colorless Energy

14 — Metal Energy

MAIN STRATEGY

Lunatone: New Years Eve. A night as mysterious as Halloween itself—only with bright lights and excitement all around us. Holiday cheer is normally still in full swing. But this year—it's the end of the world. And the Grim Reaper is here to turn New Years Eve into the darkest night of the year.

At the center of the fun, we have Lunatone and Ether, which work the same magic for this deck as they always do. Lunatone is our sigil to the other side, reaching through our deck and enabling us to place our energy cards at the top—so that we can guarantee our success with Ether.

For this reason, more is always better when it comes to these two cards. For starters, we'll want at least two copies Lunatone out in play so that we can second chance our Ether cards—if once we've checked the top two cards (and found no energy). With another Lunatone out, we can reset the deck by using Trainers' Mail (or any other card that shuffles the deck)—then check the top two cards again with a second Lunatone—and possibly make a successful play with Ether the second time around.

Now, with this deck there's no explicit reason you should ever have to hide behind any Lunatone. However, that potential is always available if you need it. And given how important Lunatone is to this deck, it might not be a bad idea to put a Float Stone on one either—making it much easier to move around if you next move depends on being able to make a play you can't immediately foresee. If you've had to throw a Lunatone out there as your starter, Float Stone can also enable you to make a quick offensive (which is very important for this deck)—so don't hesitate on that if it's available.

Dialga EX & Jirachi: Father Time & Baby New Year. These two are the legendary centerpieces of the New Years folklore—and together they take center stage here as the end of days to come.

Dialga EX is our main starter, and also our main offensive Pokémon. Jirachi is only our backup starter, but can also double as a tactical executioner. The strategy for this deck involves always playing second, then trying to get Dialga up to three energy right away so that we can attack with [Chrono Wind] on our first turn. Given how most decks are loaded with Pokémon EX (thrown out there prematurely as starters)—this is the game winning move.

Naturally, the easiest way to do this is through Double Colorless Energy and Ether. Hope to see one of those Double Colorless Energy in your opening hand (or hope to have one come around in your first wheel)—because triggering off two Ether can be as difficult as surviving the end of the world.

Once you get Dialga fully powered up, you'll want to begin the [Full Metal Impact] right away—like swinging the Scythe of Death—to quickly finish off your opponent's Pokémon.

This can be the difference between who sees the end of the world and who brings it. You never know what your opponent can throw out there, so don't waste any time bringing it to an end for your opponent.

If you lead with Jirachi, you'll want to use [Diminutive Desire] to borrow some luck from the year that will never be. Whatever it is you need to accelerate your momentum—take that and run with it.

Popping off a [Doom Desire] next turn for an extra special Happy New Year! is another great move. We have Bronzong there to back us up, so we don't have to worry about those energies. We can just use [Doom Desire] and start the countdown for our opponents right away.

Bronzong & Aegislash EX: Here we have the New Years bell, which ceremoniously rings at the stroke of midnight to welcome fortune in the year to come. And the New Years ball, which ceremoniously drops at the stroke of midnight to signify the end of the last year is final. These two are also legendary to the spirit of New Years—and we hope for their blessings to be with us throughout the end.

Bronzong is our tactical resource—recovering any energy we lose trying to survive through the end. Bronzong is not present in high volume—and although it might seem like more is better—you really only need one Bronzong out to win you the game. Just that single energy Bronzong provides each turn can quickly take newly benched Pokémon up to full power—as well as rearming Dialga EX back to full power in just a single turn.

So if you can get both of them out there, then more power to you, but just one is all you need. This deck also benefits much greater off copies of more tactical cards, where the lower volume of Bronzong helps to keep the deck lite, and enables us to load the deck with support for more powerful cards like Ether. So just try to get one Bronzong out there—and you'll instantly be putting the power of the Grim Reaper's scythe on a chain—fully extending the reach of death to one and all.

Aegislash EX is a tactical card reinforces both our offensive and defensive power here. Even though its power is potentially limitless, Aegislash is not really as powerful as Dialga offensively. However, defensively Aegislash is far more powerful than Dialga—since it can put a definite end to your opponent's most powerful Pokémon so long as it has a special energy attached to it. I guess that could make Aegislash like an angel from above—that swoops down to save us from the end of the world.

No matter which you believe in, Aegislash is a really great ace card—and specifically in this deck—with all the support we have for it here. You see—normally Aegislash can be a really tough ball to get moving. Yet through the power of Ether, we can scoop up Aegislash like the cherry in our Shirley Temple, and drop it on our opponents like the weight of the world.

Expect this to be somewhat of a far away thing however. Aegislash is really only here for aesthetics. We should be able to get the job done with Dialga alone most of the time, all special energy aside.

Aegislash is only here for our darkest hour—and that can come faster than Aegislash can save us if we take up any unnecessary space on the bench with it. For this reason, don't set it down unless you perceive that it's essential. Save that space for something else (like Lunatone or Bronzor), because dropping the ball too early will spell disaster in 1337 backwards.

Lugia EX: Our friendly cameo monster again—who shows up at midnight to throw confetti on everybody. Lugia is also here for aesthetics—and is a really great ace card to have around in games where your opponent might have the type advantage. Dialga can handle this itself really well, yet by itself can be less than what we need for the upset victory. And that's the beauty to Lugia—it has two reasonably powerful attacks that place its power nearly on even ground with Dialga.

Resistance to fighting is another neat bonus (with how popular that type tends to be).

As our cameo monster though, we still shouldn't expect to see much of him. Just try to enjoy the time you have together. It's the end of the world after all—let's party like it and not worry about anything.

Computer Search: The Y2K Virus—or when the internet goes out—which makes it a double end of the world. Order whatever you want—like it's the Taco Bell drive thru. I'll have 4 Mexican Pizzas, some Cinnabon Delights, and four Baja Blast—so I can give the extra away to a fat chick and score.

Ain't no one gonna be around to make fun of me.

Trainers' Mail, Ultra Ball, & Ether: Party poppers, fireworks, and the bubbly we sip all through the night. Dialga is ripping through time, and everything is crumbling down around us—so clearly there's no reason to hold back on the goods. It's time pull out all the stops and go wild. Drink all the bubbly, pop all the poppers, and shoot all fireworks off—from every place that seems like fun.

Alongside Lunatone, Ether is here to top off our holiday cheer. This energy acceleration is the key to this deck's success—with Trainers' Mail here to help accelerate the pace of this technique. For this deck in particular, we'll want to use our Trainers' Mail to close up the loose ends between our less prominent (yet still significant) resources. This would be cards like Ultra Ball (of which there's only two of)—or copies of Float Stone (which are important to get out of the way)—as well as copies of our Supporters (which can fall few and far between).

With two Lunatone out in play, you can also use Trainers' Mail to reset the deck, and give you a second chance to make use of Ether if there wasn't any energy cards there the first time. This is probably the greatest potential of Trainers' Mail. And for that reason, definitely what you're going to want to save your Trainers' Mail for most of the time. If you have to reach for a Supporter, your best bet is usually going to be Korrina, since she can get you to any other useful item in your deck—including Computer Search—which can get you to anything at all in your deck hands down.

Ultra Ball works exactly like fireworks. Pop them off and enjoy the fun.

For best results though, try not to throw away any Metal energy to Ultra Ball, because every energy that you lose is going to make Ether exponentially harder to make use of.  And you'll definitely regret that later, when it comes down to every turn being significant—and you end up getting wasted, because there was no energy at the top of the deck when you needed it. So stick to extra copies of Pokémon with Ultra Ball, save your Metal energy to wheel back into your deck. This will help to keep the potency of Ether as viable as possible.

N, Shauna, & Korrina: Our party people. N and Shauna are about to have some raw fun together, while Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Grim Reaper do the same, in the ultimate tango salsa rumba.

N and Shauna remain the greatest pair of wheel supporters for this style deck. At the start of the game, we need as many cards a we can get to hyper-accelerate the potential of Ether. Making the six cards from N supreme—and the five cards from Shauna significantly better than the four cards we would get from our other wheel options (such as Judge or Professor Birch's Observations). Even with Trainers' Mail there to back us up on a short draw, we have very little room to spare towards expendable resources—or short-handed wheels.

And that's what puts these two at the top of the A-list here.

With Dialga EX as our primary Pokémon, it gives us a little extra time to make the best use of N. However, we still want to put an emphasis on leading with N exclusively as our wheel power before we start picking up Prize cards. This extra time doesn't give us room to fool around with Shauna, all it does is give us some cushion in the event that we can't get to consecutive copies of N right away. So don't fool around like that, and make use of all your N cards right away to get them out of your deck and out of way so they don't hold you back later on.

Korrina is like a trump card over our other Supporters. She can be used to grab both Lunatone and Ether—putting the power of both cards directly in our hands. If you already have an Ether in hand, Korrina can be used to grab another Ether—or any other Item card that's of better use to us. The best pick for this would probably Trainers' Mail (in hopes of getting another Supporter)—but Ultra Ball or Computer Search can be another top pick. Making good use of those resource demanding Item cards can be a real challenge. We don't have much to discard, so we want to be as resourceful as possible when it comes to making perfect use of those cards when we can.

Accompanying this—a great powerplay involves using Korrina to reach for Computer Search—and then discarding a few extra Pokémon in our hand to reach for a copy of Shauna or N (to use next turn).

Float Stone & Team Aqua's Secret Base: The presence of the Grim Reaper—which has disturbed the gravitational force on Earth. And the Underworld—where everyone gets dragged to after the world as ended. It's not impossible to escape the from Underworld—but just ask anyone who's ever done it. It's really hard.

Team Aqua's Secret Base is a tactical selection for this deck. Float Stone enables us to get around the Stadium's restriction entirely—and then we have it's potential alongside the powerful effects like [Chrono Wind]—which freeze our opponent's Pokémon EX cold and prevent them doing any damage. Our opponent's will need to retreat to get around it, but Team Aqua's Secret Base is going to force them to waste an extra energy to do so. It's a really tactical lock combination.

Team Aqua's Secret Base isn't especially important to this deck though—we can do without it—and that makes it somewhat of an expendable resource to cards like Ultra Ball, Computer Search, and Lugia's [Deep Hurricane] attack. Despite this however, make sure to pay attention what you're up against. You don't want to waste your Stadium cards if you're up against decks like Virbank City Gym or Sky Field.

This principal is also true for Float Stone in general. They are crucial to our heavy Pokémon—so don't go wasting them on other Pokémon—or excessively throwing them away to cards like Ultra Ball or Computer Search. Otherwise, there it'll lay in your discard pile—as the stone on your cairn.

Godzira Saves Christmas

Pokémon [16]

4 — Charizard EX — Power Trio Tin (XY29)
1 — Mega Charizard EX — Flashfire (108/106)

4 — Yveltal EX — XY Base Set (79/146)

1 — Lugia EX — Ancient Origins (68/98)

4 — Lunatone — Plasma Storm (73/135)
2 — Sableye — Dark Explorers (62/108)

Trainers [26]

1 — Computer Search — Boundaries Crossed (137/149)
2 — Ultra Ball — Dark Explorers (102/108)
4 — Ether — Plasma Storm (121/135)
4 — Trainers' Mail — Ancient Origins (100/98)

1 — Lysandre's Trump Card — Phantom Forces (118/119)
2 — Professor Birch's Observations — Primal Clash (159/160)
3 — Shauna — XY Base Set (127/146)
3 — N — Dark Explorers (96/108)

2 — Parallel City — BREAKthrough (145/162)

4 — Float Stone — Plasma Freeze (99/116)

Energy [18]

4 — Double Colorless Energy
9 — Dark Energy
5 — Fire Energy

MAIN STRATEGY

Charizard EX & Yveltal EX: 'Twas the night before Christmas—and Santa was nowhere to be found in the land of Nihon. Why? Because Yveltal was eating all the cookies and drinking all the milk—threatening to ruin Christmas for everyone! This calls for a state of emergency. But there was nothing the Imperial Army could do, because Yveltal was far too powerful. Only one monster could possibly stop Yveltal and save Christmas for everyone—Godzira!

Charizard and Yveltal are our two centerpieces for this deck. Both work as powerful starting Pokémon. But just like in any Godzilla movie—the enemy monster comes first here. The main strategy here involves leading with Yveltal, and then getting Charizard EX on the bench so that we can begin pumping him up with energy by using [Y Cyclone]. That would be like the cyclone Yveltal creates while he's guzzling down all the milk down and munching all the cookies.

At Christmas time, nothing is sure to make Godzilla angrier than that—because Santa normally leaves Godzilla all of the cookies and milk that he can't finish as a gift.

As a secondary option (if we have to start with Charizard EX), we'll want to use [Stoke] in hopes of scoring a huge power boost for [Wild Blaze] later. If we can't get the energy right away, we're probably going to want to retreat (as Godzilla does sometimes to bide his power). Either way, we can use Float Stone to retreat for free—and from the bench either finish powering Godzilla up—or jumping straight into our mega evolution. Once Supercharged Godzilla hits the board, it's generally going to be all downhill from there. One-hit KO—after one-hit KO.

And if by some chance they are able to knock Godzilla down (it happens sometimes), between those turns you should have plenty of time to charge up another powerful monster to finish through for the win. Which of course really just depends on what you're up against. Power lines have always been a weakness to Godzilla monsters, so if you're up against an Electric deck, you'll going to want the champion of taking high voltage to powerhouse through that.

Yveltal and Lugia are going to be out of the question for sure. And Yveltal itself has a much more technical purpose in this deck opposed to most Yveltal decks. For example, [Evil Ball] is a really strong attack—but it's not our lead attack here. Don't be alarmed. You should find that this actually works out for the best, because [Evil Ball] is actually a much better attack late in the game, against a powerful enemy Pokémon that's been loaded with energy.

Overall, I would say that the [Evil Ball] strategy is generally second class in most cases. If you have to attack twice anyways to knockout most Pokémon, why not power up some of your Benched Pokémon in the process? It's a two-for-one—while the energy shifting technically makes it a three for one by helping to spare Yveltal from other energy based attackers. This is the winning strategy here, so try not to deviate from it. Lead with [Y Cyclone] and save [Evil Ball] as your follow up later—where you'll have had lots of time to power up Yveltal EX by stuffing it like a Christmas turkey.

Lunatone & Sableye: The night of Christmas Eve—and the little boy who stays up all night waiting for Santa Claws—yet late into the night sees that there's still no presents underneath the tree.

Lunatone is a second centerpiece to this deck. For best results, you're going to want to get at least two of them on the bench so that you can double-up on the power of {Premonition} for Ether. This deck gives you a lot of options to reset the stack, in the event you don't have any energy cards at the top of it to make use of Ether. However, you're going to need a second Lunatone in play to peek the top-two cards of your deck, and put that energy in place if it comes around the second time but also slips into the second spot. That is why Lunatone is in such high volume here. The high volume enables us to make really exceptional use of the combo potential between the two cards.

Sableye is our very distant back-up resource. If you ever have to even send one out, you'll want to use [Junk Hunt] in order to put extra copies of Ether and Trainers' Mail back into your hand for some bonus gifts. Helping Santa is after all a very good deed, sure you put you somewhere on the nice list even if you've been naughty all year. You're not just helping him, you're helping all of the nice children that Santa rewards, and that's sure to score you some extra gifts just like [Junk Hunt].

Lugia EX: Our friendly cameo monster—who is here to help save Christmas. After Yveltal is defeated, Lugia uses his psychic powers to put all the milk and cookies back into their rightful place.

As our cameo monster, you can't expect to see much of Lugia EX in this deck, but it's always going to be there when you need it. Just as with M Charizard EX—a single copy helps to keep Lugia out of the way—while Ultra Ball is there to call upon his power right away if we need to. As for that power, we're going want to lean towards [Deep Hurricane] as strongly a possible. It's the main reason Lugia EX is in this deck. The ability to thrash our opponent's troublesome Stadium cards (like Virbank City Gym—where they don't even believe in Godzilla or Christmas) is a really great power to have on reserve for ourselves.

Lugia can also breathe fire in this deck. And cast a shadow so strong, it eclipses all the lights in total darkness. So feel free to ask him for some hot chocolate—or some help with putting your children to bed on Christmas Eve. Lugia is a miracle worker in ways. Let him work a Christmas miracle for you.

Computer Search: This would be the city going crazy. First from all those damaged power lines creating power surges—then from the other half of the nation jamming up the internet looking for information and updates on Santa's arrival or not.

Computer Search is a really great backup to Ultra Ball mostly. With only one copy of M Charizard (and only two copies of Ultra Ball), it's definitely helpful to have some extra potential to back that up. It can also be used to get to Lysandre's Trump Card right away, thus preventing it from getting discarded by [Wild Blaze] when Supercharged Godzilla begins on a rampage. Getting you to Supporters is yet another great use for Computer Search in this deck. Even if Santa isn't going to make it through this year, you can at least spend Christmas with your loved ones. After all, that's what the holidays are supposed to be about more than anything else—enjoying the company of your loved ones—with peace on Earth and goodwill towards men (the true spirit of Christmas).

Ether: When you gotta supercharge the atomic breath. The people of Nihon also had this clever idea of pitching all their alcohol to the monster. So that Yveltal would get drunk and go home—and Godzilla could beat him with Drunken Boxing. It was actually pretty clever—and effective. Which could even be an understatement if compared to how effective Ether can be in this deck. Lunatone and {Premonition} are an extremely powerful combo, which can enable us to play second, and attack with any of our Pokémon EX on turn one!

From there extra copies of Ether can be used to further supercharge our Pokémon—and light up board as thought the entire city was decorated in Christmas lights. Ether is a card that stacks perfectly with our energy-based attackers, and is also essential to getting M Charizard quickly powered up to the immense five energy that he needs for [Wild Blaze].

Alongside Double Colorless Energy, Ether, and [Y Cyclone]—you can be attacking with M Charizard by no later than turn three—which is lightning fast for a card as restrictive as that one. This potential speaks volumes for the power of Ether. Which will probably sell like crazy next Christmas season—if Ether happens to be what saves Christmas for everyone this year.

Trainers' Mail & Ultra Ball: All of the chimneys that Santa has yet to go down—and the presents that have yet to be delivered to all the good little children of Nihon. These two are utility cards that we use to bring the contents of the deck together. We basically only need the success of Ether (and maybe a little help from Float Stone) to win the game. And at its best, that's what Trainers' Mail does here—it's a powerful catalyst to the power of Ether and {Premonition}.

At first, Trainers' Mail can be used to reach through your deck (like letters to Santa) in hopes of getting just what you're looking for. Then, it can also be used to reset the deck, thus giving you a second chance to make the nice list if there wasn't an energy card sitting at the top the first time. As with the flip of a coin, a second chance will tend to prove itself immensely successful—and will generally guarantee you the energy card that you're looking for on the second time around.

Keep in mind—that you will need at least two Lunatone on the bench to do this. But that doesn't mean you should limit yourself to only two copies—more is definitely better—since it allows you to continuously check your deck after multiple resets with Trainers' Mail, Supporters, or otherwise.

As for Ultra Ball, making good use of it here is much like Christmas presents themselves. You can open them right away, but that's just likely to spoil the spirit of things. We only have two copies in this deck, and you're definitely going to need one to get to M Charizard EX most of the time. So your best move is usually going to be saving those Ultra Ball for the big moment so that you don't miss out on it.

We do have a little extra space to play with, since we have Computer Search to back us up, but it's definitely bad strategy to cop-out that everytime—simply because that backup support is always there. Doing that can actually end up forcing us to waste Computer Search on something below it's greatest potential. Ultra Ball is here for a reason (to spare us from that) so let it be made use of it for what it's there for. Much like those clothes (or other odd gifts) that you might get from friends or family. Everything has its use. So don't despair—just make the best of it.

Float Stone: This would be the coal. Yveltal definitely gets the coal for almost ruining Christmas for everyone. Float Stone can also be the moonstone (that goes with Lunatone)—as well as the meteorite that goes with Godzilla (to supercharge his powers).

A really great technique with Float Stone here involves using it across various Pokémon to create an HP cache between them all. By continuously retreating for free—it can enables us to absorb a large amount of damage between various Pokémon without ever suffering a single KO. As well as enabling us to come back around with our most powerful attacks without having to wait. Given their naturally elevated HP, this technique works especially well with Pokémon EX.

And with the exception of Lysandre (as well as few other technical effects)—this technique can be used to set your opponent at an immense uphill battle—that they simply won't be able to clear alongside all that offensive power pushing them back like the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Professor Birch's Observations & Lysandre's Trump Card: With all the cookies and milk restored, Santa can now deliver all the gifts to the all the nice people of Nihon. But time is of the essence, so Santa has to hustle if he wants to get the job done. That's when Santa realizes he's going to have to pull out of the heavy weapons if he wants to get all the presents to everyone in time.

The big guns. That would be Lysandre's Trump Card—an Acme Deluxe Present Shooting Machine. It shoots the presents all across Nihon, which fall perfectly down the shoot, and snug under each and every Christmas tree. Santa Claus has had lots of practice with this machine to ensure his success in the event of just such a crisis. And with all the presents perfectly in place when the smoke clears—that experience has clearly proven itself.

With all the Christmas presents quickly delivered, Santa then takes a sample tray of cookies (with a carton of milk)—and kindly leaves the rest for Godzilla—and all the lovely people of Nihon.

Professor Birch's Observations is pretty much here as a catalyst to N. With the crazy power of Yveltal EX and Ether, we can start picking up prize cards really fast, which means that N can quickly turn into more of a liability in this deck. To cover for this, N's numbers have been dialed down, and a bleed has been created between Shauna and Professor Birch's Observations. This aims to gives us a higher range of potential to lean on if-or-when the prize cards quickly pick up—and thus put N's potential against our favor.

Even as the game progresses, getting as many cards as possible from your draws with this deck will remain pretty important. Those crucial copies of Ether and Trainers' Mail are going to narrow down as we make use of them—furthering the distance between each copy as the game progresses.

For this reason, you're going to want to save Professor Birch's Observations for later in the game. Since his greatest potential isn't promised, we'll want to lean towards the more promising ranges first to put as many definite cards in our hand as possible. Which in turn should help this deck make use of various resources that thin its contents out—thus concentrating what's left.

And that is why we'll always want to save Professor Birch's Observations for when this deck is thinnest. The content will be spread further apart, yet to somewhat of a much more concentrated degree—where the both the higher and lower ranges will have some support to them.

Lysandre's Trump Card is something like an ace card of itself. Its main purpose is to protect us from decking ourselves with [Wild Blaze]. But if you've got the potential to spare—you can use it as a deck reset to help make use of Ether. Lysandre's Trump Card can also be used to sabotage the setup for [Intelligence Gathering] and [Night March] decks. Those decks tend to run their course really quickly, and drain themselves out of cards in their hands—so that a well-timed Lysandre's Trump Card can leave those decks out in the open where Godzilla alone can stomp them all like bugs.

N, Shauna, & Parallel City: "Christmas is saved! Let's go eat sushi or something." These cards represent all the nice boys and girls on Christmas day—and the land of Nihon itself fully restored to perfect condition (thanks to Lugia—who also used his psychic power to fix everything better than it was).

Parallel City is a powerful utility card here. But it's present here in low numbers because this deck doesn't explicitly benefit from Stadium cards. That room needs to be reserved for our more prominent resources (like Ether and Trainers' Mail). Two copies of Parallel City can still work wonders for what we can do with it. It's a great ace against bench loading decks—yet on the reverse side can be used to limit our own bench space—so that we can drop off heavily damaged Pokémon that we might have cached on the bench (thus preventing them from being KO'd by bench punchers or the effects like Lysandre).

From there, Lysandre's Trump Card can even put those cards back into our deck, so we can put them back onto the bench refreshed entirely. It's some astrayed potential—but it's possible.

Now, since we only have two copies of Parallel City in this deck, you're definitely going to want to save them until you can use one to ace out an opponent's Stadium card. We won't be able to compete against decks that thrive on Stadium cards (and thus are loaded with them)—so the best we can do is not to waste those aces we do have (throwing them out too promptly only to get aced ourselves).

Next, N and Shauna make up the bulk of our drawing power. There is an even split between the two, because this deck would more likely suffer with those cards at any other numbers. For best results with Ether, getting as many cards as possible early in the game is very important. There are more than a few resources involved with this, and we need them all together to make the magic happen.

Especially when it comes to the reset option, because the first time has a decent chance to fail, and getting that energy from Ether on the first turn is very crucial to our immediate success. For this reason, that one extra card that N provides over Shauna at the start of the game can make a world of difference for this. And if N were present in any lower numbers, we wouldn't nearly have as fair a chance to tap into that potential. There are significant drawbacks to both cards, and that is why we have a medium balanced range between the two (in order to even out the liability on both ends).

We've got about two turns to make the best use N (given how it usually takes two attacks before we KO our first Pokémon)—and that is we want to lean towards N as strongly as possible at the start of the game. Keep in mind that it'll also rake your opponent of any cards they search for and reserve for themselves (which is a nice added benefit). And not only that, but given the sheer volume of this deck's power, it shouldn't even hurt you to put cards into your opponent's hand (if they've happened to play theirs out). Through the momentum of Ether, Lunatone, and Trainers' Mail, you should still be able to pull out several turns ahead of your opponent.

Last we have Shauna, which is our second primary Supporter, and continues the wheel power here since this deck can't afford to excessively discard anything. Whatever we can afford to discard needs to be done so through Ultra Ball and Computer Search, yet those spare resources could likely not even be available to if discarded due to the effects of Supporters like Professor Juniper.

Shauna is a much better caregiver here. She will get us all kinds of gifts—without ever taking anything away from us. That kind of support is really important for such resource dependent deck, and Shauna will even get more effective as we tear through the contents of our deck like Christmas presents. So let's not be too shy to cuddle up with her. Enjoy the warmth and Christmas cheer that she brings. Shauna is sure to save Christmas in her own special way. Bringing us something far more precious than presents—tender love and care (the true Spirit of Christmas).

Celestial Roar

Pokémon [10]

2 — Hoopa EX — Ancient Origins (36/98)
4 — Rayquaza EX — Dragons Exalted (85/124)

4 — Audino — Boundaries Crossed (126/149)

Trainers [22]

1 — Computer Search — Boundaries Crossed (137/149)
3 — VS Seeker — Roaring Skies (110/108)
4 — Pokédex — Black & White (98/114)
4 — Energy Recycler — Ancient Origins (72/98)

2 — Pokémon Center Lady — Flashfire (105/106)
2 — Pokémon Fan Club — Flashfire (106/106)
2 — Professor Juniper — Plasma Freeze (116/116)
2 — Skyla — Boundaries Crossed (134/149)
2 — Skyla — Boundaries Crossed (149/149)

Energy [28]

14 — Fire Energy
14 — Electric Energy

MAIN STRATEGY

Hoopa EX & Rayquaza EX: Our lovers—these two about to have a stormy make-out session here. Rayquaza EX is the centerpiece of this deck. And among the contents of the game, it's one the most powerful Pokémon EX cards of all time! Given this potential, my goal was to find the rhythm that unlock the ultimate power of Rayquaza EX (the rhythm of love)—which appeared to lie within the power of [Celestial Roar]; the catalyst which powers the immense potential of [Dragon Burst].

Since both attacks are very energy demanding, the first aspect of this potential had to involve incorporating an elevated measure of energy. Simply put, there could be no other way of seeing any great potential from [Celestial Roar] without shaping the deck's energy structure suite it. Originally starting at 32—the number of energy in this deck has been dialed down to 28 here—in order to sharpen the deck structure and actually increase its proficiency in more technical situations.

Somewhat of a less is more principal, it still enables us to follow through with the main strategy of the deck. Which involves always playing second—and attacking [Celestial Roar] to gather energy so that we can attack with [Dragon Burst] next turn for a one-hit KO against virtually anything.

The entire deck structure has been built to suite this operation (including Hoopa EX) whom has all kinds of passionate fire bottle up inside to put behind this kiss. Hoopa's ability is really amazing for this deck, because it enables us to filter out every existing copy of Rayquaza EX and get them out of our way for [Celestial Roar]. This in turn increases the potency of available energy for that attack. Really, really important here—and well worth the space that Hoopa EX might be taking up.

To some lesser potential, Hoopa can make a great wall to stall for time while you power up for another [Dragon Burst]. Once Rayquaza's momentum gets going—it gets really hard to stop! So if all you need for that is a little time—that's not asking much of Hoopa EX. Hoopa is here to deliver the goods—whatever that might be. Your greatest heart's desire—just let it be known and it can be yours.

Audino: Our neighbors. They're not nosey. Let's just call them curious. Audino here is high volume to support our lead Pokémon against troublesome Special Conditions and odd ends of damage. Both can be momentum breaking factors against a deck that thrives on keeping a passionate momentum. {Busybody} helps keep the fire alive. It's an exciting way to take the edge off wondering what to do next. [Hip Bump] can also be used to much success in the event you have to stall for time, and creates a possible ticket out of tight situations against cards like {Safeguard} Suicune & Sigilyph. Those cards are generally a weakness for this deck—where something is a lot better than nothing.

It's a bit of a stall to power up Audino for [Hip Bump] here, but in the end can pay off big time when it comes to buying us several more turns to power up Rayquaza EX for a one-hit KO [Dragon Burst]. For this reason, it can be good technique to place your first Audino on the bench, and start attaching energy to it right away—so that you can have [Hip Bump] there to back you up in a tense situation.

Computer Search: Our entertainment system—this provides the slow jams we need to make it a special night. It also has a visualizer—but we're just going to keep that off (it would spoil the mood). Computer Search gets us in tune with whatever we might need—whenever we might need it. For a deck like this (which runs so strictly on time and resources)—Computer Search is miracle worker.

Most prominently, you'll want to use Computer Search early in the game to get you a copy of Pokémon Fan Club. While secondly, you'll probably want to use it as extra access to Pokédex—a very important card in this deck for tuning the power of [Celestial Roar] in our favor. Anything else you might need more importantly (such as a late game Vs Seeker—to return the power of your Supporters to your hand) should be a special case that you know you need more when you need it. Just keep in mind that the options mentioned here are among Computer Search's greatest potential.

Pokédex, Energy Recycler, & VS Seeker: Our ambient lights in the home—and the remote we use to control them and set the mood. Next we have our sparkling drinks—and a toast to good health (because our drinks are non-alcoholic). These three cards stabilize the deck structure so that Hoopa and Rayquaza can get intimate without any interruptions.

Pokédex is probably the most prominent of the three. It's our enabler for [Celestial Roar]—which can be used to get the maximum benefit of three whole energy with its effect. We can then place the next card we want to draw in the forth spot, thus increasing our access to the spare resources we have here.

Energy Recycler is the mid-to-late game card we use to recharge the potency of our deck's contents and increase the blind power of [Celestial Roar] when we don't have Pokédex to use. It's like an extension in ways, that works really well—given how at five cards at a time—Energy Recycler is going to increase the consistency of our deck's energy base by up to 12% each time. This is good for a number of things, which includes setting more space between our non-energy cards, to lessen the chance that they get shuffled to the top and then discarded from the effects of [Celestial Roar].

VS Seeker is the universal extension to the power of our Supporters. To suite the energy demands, the contents of the deck have been concentrated as strongly as possible. When it comes to Supporters, this technique involves sparer numbers, which provides a touch of each and their unique power. Alongside this, the addition of VS Seeker provides us with a greater extension on the unique power of each Supporter, whose potential would be otherwise unavailable to us in any higher volume.

Some of our Supporters here in particular serve an immensely important role here (such as Skyla). Where despite already being present in high volume—the ability to further extend upon Skyla's retrieval power is sure to help dramatically stabilize the flow of the cards here. The contents of this deck are very scattered, and can get worse over time. Where Skyla is our primary instant solution to fulfill whatever our needs might be. And with that, VS Seeker becomes an instant solution that grants us additional on-demand copies of Skyla when we afford to wait for one.

Other Supporters in this deck have a much greater potential available to them, yet due to the concentrated numbers see that potential hindered. We simply don't have the space to present them in any higher volume than they're already present, because the deck structure is so compact. Pokémon Center Lady is a great example of this—whose healing power is essential to any deck that revolves around the staying power of a single Pokémon. Getting damage off Rayquaza EX is generally going to be a make or break aspect of the game against more aggressive decks, where only two copies of Pokémon Center Lady can be insignificant to keep pace with the game. However, VS Seeker give us a strong extension on Pokémon Center Lady—which can enable us to keep our momentum with Rayquaza EX nearly unstoppable.

It was pretty much a definite must-have for this deck for so many reasons. Especially given how VS Seeker works so intuitively as a check and balance against the blind consequences of [Celestial Roar], when its effect discards one of our important Supporters from the top of our deck. Being an extension to discard pile is also perfect compliment to the deck structure itself, which was probably the greatest bit of potential when considering VS Seeker as the best selection for this deck. Toast to greatness—because that's what the golden essence of this card provides. Purity and greatness.

Skyla & Professor Juniper: When we turn the lights down low to set the mood—then stretch over to make the first move. Skyla has already been covered pretty extensively for the little that it does here. There's not much more to it. Skyla is primarily our extension to Pokédex—which is one of the most important cards in this deck. Skyla acts as four on-demand copies of Pokédex, which is generally what you're going to be looking for with her.

Pokédex not only enables us to get 100% our of [Celestial Roar], it generally doubles as direct access to another Supporter or Item card setting at the top of the deck (which we place in the fourth slot to draw it next turn). This doubles up Skyla's card advantage potential, hyper-accelerating the flow the cards. And that's primarily why this is the move you're going to want to make with Skyla most of the time. If you happen to need anything else more prominently, that will take precedence by default. Yet for best results, try to keep Skyla's focus on Pokédex as much as possible. It's the game-winning move.

Two copies of Professor Juniper act as an emergency boost if-and-when we might desperately need it. Without Professor Juniper, this deck can get caught up in being out of cards—with no way of drawing any either. This can be a critical drawback when all that's separating you from a one-hit KO with [Dragon Burst] is a single energy—yet there's no possible way of getting to that energy. And that's what Professor Juniper covers here—while cards like Energy Recycler and VS Seeker cover the potential liability of Professor Juniper discarding any of our precious resources in the process. It's definitely another must-have for the contrast it provides here (a depth that's sure to always take us straight to the action).

Pokémon Center Lady & Pokémon Fan Club: Because one thing leads to another—so now we spend our romantic evenings doing more responsible activities. Pokémon Fan Club is a really important utility for this deck, yet is offset by two copies of Hoopa EX (which help lessen the dependency on Pokémon Fan Club)—since Hoopa EX (alongside a copy of Audino) is exactly the card you're going to be looking for with Pokémon Fan Club. The two work very intuitively with one another, where in a single play, you can filter out nearly every Pokémon from this deck.

Extra copies of Pokémon Fan Club can then be used to grab additional copies of Audino. Which we can use to rebound against Special Conditions and odd ends of damage—also thinning the deck by two more cards and increasing the power of Pokédex and [Celestial Roar] even further. At only three cards, the range on that effect is rather limited—while the consistency of non-energy cards can actually be a little problematic for us at times here (even with the elevated energy base). So the potential that this combo holds to increase the concentration of energy in our deck by nearly 20% (in a single go) definitely makes a huge difference!

This combo brings the two really close together for some hot action. And so long as the results of it doesn't tear us apart—the action should be well worth it.

Doragonraida

Pokémon [18]

2 — Giratina EX — Dragons Exalted (124/124)
2 — Giratina EX — Ancient Origins (57/98)

2 — Latias EX — Plasma Freeze (85/116)

1 — Hydreigon EX — Roaring Skies (103/108)

3 — Audino — Boundaries Crossed (126/149)

4 — Swablu — Ancient Origins (24/98)
2 — Altaria — Dragons Exalted (84/124)
2 — Altaria — Boundaries Crossed (152/149)

Trainers [25]

2 — Enhanced Hammer — Primal Clash (162/160)
2 — Red Card — XY Base Set (124/146)
4 — Level Ball — Ancient Origins (76/98)

2 — Judge — BREAKthrough (143/162)
2 — Shauna — XY Base Set (127/146)
3 — N — Dark Explorers (96/108)
3 — Professor Birch's Observations — Primal Clash (159/160)

3 — Fairy Garden — XY Base Set (117/146)

1— Life Dew — Plasma Freeze (107/116)
3— Head Ringer — Phantom Forces (97/119)

Energy [17]

4 — Double Dragon Energy — Roaring Skies (97/108)
4 — Blend Energy — Roaring Skies (117/124)
4 — Prism Energy — Next Destinies (93/99)
2 — Rainbow Energy — XY Base Set (131/146)
3 — Double Colorless Energy

MAIN STRATEGY

Giratina EX: This is our dragon—xxSWEETYxx—and we want to ride her into victory. Since the release of Roaring Skies, [Shred] Giratina has been a superpower card. Double Dragon Energy enables us to start dealing 90 damage extremely fast. And with just two Altaria on the bench, that damage can quickly climb to 130 (enough to KO a baby Yveltal or Xerneas in one hit).

Originally, this was the only Giratina card in this deck (and the centerpiece of this deck itself). It was present in high volume and ruled the Active Pokémon spot with its crushing power. However, in the re-development process to perfect this deck, I slid a copy aside to make room for two copies of the {Renegade Pulse} Giratina, from Ancient Origins. It's a bit of a steeper climb to begin attacking, yet this Giratina EX offers some great tactical contrast with the power of its two effects.

Mega Evolutions have been pretty prominent on the scene since there introduction. So being able to stop them cold in their tracks with {Renegade Pulse} is worth all the space we've made for it. It's a much stronger strategy to handle Mega Pokémon opposed to trying to beat them with the raw power of [Shred] Giratina alone. That is an extremely powerful card—yet my logic is like this. It's so powerful—that one should be enough. And if it's not enough, you have to be better off with something more tactical to back you up. Well, {Renegade Pulse} Giratina is just that. It's a perfect contrast to our original Giratina EX—given the unique tactical edge it provides for our defense.

[Chaos Wheel] itself dealsa heavy 100 damage, which is enough to KO lots of things in one hit (and most everything else in just two). [Chaos Wheel] is also going to lock our opponents down from playing some of their most prominent content. This can be crushing at any time in the game—yet I would say that late-game scene sees greater potential for this. For this reason, it's best to keep {Renegade Pulse} Giratina on the bench as our strong reserve. If we need it right away, we can send it out. Yet the four energy climb on [Chaos Wheel] can be too easily derailed for comfort.

That is why [Shred] Giratina should be our lead between the two. It boasts more raw power, the damage of [Shred] can overrides effects and abilities—while at only three energy to attack—it's also a lot easier to recover from if we happen to get derailed by something like [Enhanced Hammer].

[Shred] is also our lead attack for Giratina as well, so stick to your guns while this Pokémon is active. [Dragon Pulse] is like your bomb—don't waste them. If you have to attack twice anyways to knock out a Pokémon, there's no reason not to use [Shred]. If you spam [Dragon Pulse], you can end up wasting precious cards that will get discarded from the top your deck—so reserve this attack for one-hit KOs. Together, the two attacks boast some amazing power—and that is why this Giratina is still the centerpiece of this deck by far.

xxSWEETYxx is a beautiful & powerful dragon. Give her all the attention you can. This dragon can make all of your riding dreams come true if you give her the attention she needs.

Latias EX & Hydreigon EX: This is us riding the dragon. It's really exciting trying to hold on as she zooms back and forth all over the place. Akin to the theme of this deck, these two are a constellation to our lead Pokémon. Each of them reinforces the technical advantage that their constellation pair provides. This in turn doubles up on the raw power and tactical prowess that this deck commands.

In this constellation, Latias EX and the defensive power of {Bright Dawn} reinforces the defensive power of Giratina & {Renegade Pulse} to stop the advance of certain Pokémon cold where they stand. Latias EX even boasts a little more power than Giratina as well, given how {Bright Dawn} revolves around Pokémon with abilities (rather than Mega Pokémon).

Abilities are an even more prominent attribute in the game, and that means Latias EX is going to be able to stop some of the most powerful cards dead in their tracks. Cards like {Rush In} Keldeo EX, {Verdant Wind} Virizion, and even {Safeguard} Suicune. Cards like Suicune would be a predator to Latias EX, yet this scenario flips around the other way entirely here. Not only does Latias EX stop Suicune instead—but [Barrier Break] can rip through Suicune's {Safeguard} ability as well (damaging what should normally be an untouchable Pokémon).

It's such an amazing card—that adds so much power to our deck. With nearly perfect offensive and defensive potential, it's about as close to riding a real dragon as it gets.

Hydreigon just the same—is here to add power. But not for the tactical power of {Dragon Road}—for the raw power of [Shred]. This Pokémon adds another heavy unstoppable attacker to our offensive line-up. And it's the very reason why I have Hydreigon EX in this deck over some of the other options that were available. The power of [Shred] is simply unsurpassable. And when it comes to unstoppable power like this—you can never have too much. That's what makes Hydreigon the greatest selection here among all other options.

{Dragon Road} is a really nice bonus too. It give us a back up a on the moving power of Fairy Garden. Which is another one of those aspects of such importance—there's almost no such thing as having too much of it. Hydreigon EX is truly like riding a hydra dragon Ferrari—given how it provides such a diversity of power, speed, and handling—for our riding pleasure.

Altaria & Audino: Altaria is like a dragon ride for the kids. It's goes up and down—and weeeeee! We're too big to ride this dragon, so we just watch like Audino. This pair of Pokémon continues reinforcing the raw and tactical power of this deck through constellations.

Altaria is like a second centerpiece—and gives us a background task to accomplish while we feed our dragons energy. {Fight Song} increases the power of our dragon's attacks by 20 damage each—so we want to get all of our little Swablu on the bench—so they have some fun too riding Altaria. Since this is a priority of ours, Level Ball has been placed here in high volume to help out.

You see—{Fight Song} can provide us so much power—that it makes Altaria a main resource in the deck by default. And that's why it's in our best interests to build the deck structure with an emphasis on supporting this Pokémon as a main resource. And that's what Level Ball is for—it acts as four on-demand copies of either card. This is one of the greatest uses for Level Ball in the game.

It's like the Love Up. That's when the love we have for someone levels up—because they treat us so good. The method for using Level Ball is going to involve focusing your attention on Swablu first, then shifting over to Altaria once you've got at least two of them on the bench. This deck provides a lot of wheel power, where Level Ball helps to increase the power of our Supporters, by thinning the deck if we focus its potential on cards that we can put to use right away (such as Swablu).

From there, our copies of Altaria will come closer together naturally, while left-over copies of Level Ball can be used as on-demand copies of Altaria if we don't draw into one. If you try to go one for one, that's only to hold you back, because you won't be able to evolve your Swablu to Altaria right away. That bench time is very important to the flow of the cards. So for best results, focus Level Ball's attention on Swablu with the method I've explained here.

Audino works as our assistant caregiver here in the usual ways. As a Basic Pokémon, Audino provides some cover for the opening spot—helping to reduce the trouble of starting with Swablu. [Hip Bump] can be used to stall for time as always, yet this offensive potential shouldn't be something you have to exercise very often in this deck. Our Double Colorless Energy are a rather precious resource to our main dragon. So much so, that we want to put an emphasis on desperately saving them for xxSWEETYxx. Sparing one for an Audino shouldn't be too bad—but not one more.

Audino is more of a tactical resource in this deck. Where the offensive power of our dragon Pokémon takes such precedence, that Audino shouldn't even have the opportunity to be of much use for anything else. Save them in your hand, or shuffle them back into your deck for later. What we want to do here is reserve the power of {Budybody} to save our dragons from Special Conditions. Audino provides the contrast we need to cover this short-range weakness of this deck. And it's your only ticket out of troublesome conditions like Asleep, Poisoned, and Paralyzed—so hang on to them for dear life to keep your dragons from getting hijacked like that.

Enhanced Hammer, Red Card, & Judge: At first glance, you might think that these cards represent the justice system and we're in big trouble. But nope—these cards represent us. We are justice.  Because we have a dragon, the golden hammer of Thor, and we can throw kinetic cards like Gambit. You better watch your ass. Because if you think you can escape justice, we're coming for yours next.

This deck heavily relies on the power of Pokémon EX, and that makes it rather vulnerable when it comes to Prize cards. In addition to that, our Pokémon EX heavily rely on Special Energy cards, which furthers our vulnerability to being derailed by Special Energy removal. This dependency also creates a lapse of at least two turns before our dragons are initially ready to go. And so, in addition to this deck always wanting to play first for the energy lead—that's what these tactical weapons are all about. They're intended to oppress our opponent's resources and break their pace so that we can strongly overtake them once our dragons are ready to roll.

Enhanced Hammer should be used right away to break our opponent's energy pace, while you'll want to generally keep your Red Card on reserve to help balance the short end of your Supporters. Red Card makes an excellent compliment to the wheel Supporters we have here, since it can take away from any advantage they might gain from cards like N—while evening the scale for cards like Shauna, as well as the short end of Professor Birch's Observations.

As for Judge, it's a really great compliment to Red Card itself. It's like Red Card on a stick—as some might say. It's a wheel supporter than doubles as two additional copies of Red Card—putting more of that power in our hands without totally taking away from our own card advantage.

We've only got two though, so try not waste them. Save them for later in the game unless your opponent searches for something important, or their hand is dangerously high. Judge can pose as a liability early on in the game (due to the short range of the draw we get)—so try to filter out your decks a much as possible before you use them—and lean towards Red Card in the meantime. It's an expendable Item Card that takes nothing away from us by using one. I'm not saying to waste them either, but keep in mind that Judge is here to back us up on this, so don't be timid when it comes to throwing the Red Card down. Lay it down—and the hammers too—and let there be justice for all!

Professor Birch's Observations, Shauna, & N: Professor Birch's Observations would be like the news reporters running all over town—collecting eyewitness reports of a flying Ghost Rider on a dragon. Shauna would be like our girlfriend—she wants to rides the dragon. And that would make us N—we want to take her on the wildest ride of her life.

Since this deck is so concentrated, and doesn't have many spare resources, the Supporter spread here relies exclusively on wheel cards to spare our resources from being lost to discard. This is a deck that aims to thin itself out very well—and very quickly (where the power of wheel Supporters can thrive). The technique for using this blend of Supporter involves channeling the ones with highest draw range first (in order to amass as many cards as we can to get as much as we can into play). This is going to concentrate our deck, and help to increase the potency of our lower range wheel Supporters (detracting from the chance we get short-handed by them when we use them).

If you use them early on in the game (before the deck has been thinned out), then the chance of redundancy in your draw is going to be very high—and you're very likely to draw into overlapping content rather than the cards you're looking for. So stick to the Supporters that have the highest draw ranges first, and save the other ones cover the difference later.

This would mean playing N early in the game, Shauna through the mid-game, and then save Professor Birch's Observations for the late-game scene. If you're feeling lucky, you can trying play Professor Birch's Observations through the mid-game instead. You should have Red Card and Judge there to back you up on the short-end—so put that fatty to work. He's like a dragon in ways. And I guess if you're comfortable with yourself, you can ride him to Shauna, and then Shauna to victory! As her boyfriend, that's of course the dragon we want to ride most of all.

Head Ringer, Life Dew, & Fairy Garden: Head Ringer is like the bad ass tunes we jam while riding the dragon. Everything is better with good music—and Head Ringer brings the noise like the Skull Candy Smokin' Buds 2 (which are some really badass headphones). Head Ringer is another tactical utility help control the pace of the game in our favor. I opted for this Pokémon Tool card over the raw power of Muscle Band, because the potential advantage it provides is far superior to suite the needs of this deck. Losing a turn to Head Ringer is going to set our opponents back a more than the additional 20 damage from Muscle Band would set us ahead.

Not only does Head Ringer potentially waste an energy of our opponent's, it can spare our dragons from damage when our opponent's can't attack, as well as buy us the turn we need to fully energize our dragon. Head Ringer also prevents our opponents from using their own Tool cards (such as Spirit Links), and all these benefactors together are what make Head Ringer the superior choice as far as I can tell. Power is great—and a concentration of power can be really devastating—but tactical contrast reigns supreme when you've already got as much power we do here. We have 70, 80, and 90 damage [Shred] attacks—as well as multiple copies of {Fight Song}. Alongside the vulnerabilities we have, what we need in a Tool card is some contrast to that power. Contrast is going to cover our weakness, and that's going to enable us to exercise the power we have to its greatest potential without disruption.

Life Dew is like the magic potion. Because having a dragon like automatically makes us a wizard or something. And wizards have to have magic potions. So like—here it is. This deck solely relies on the power of Pokémon EX, which again are a huge liability when it comes to Prize cards. For this reason, I felt like this deck absolutely needed Life Dew to ease the tension of that aspect. In a deck full of Pokémon EX, that kind of potential is unmatched by anything else. And that's what makes it the best Ace Spec card for this deck—hands down. So just chug it. It's like Red Bull. It gives you wings.

Fairy Garden would be the resting place for our dragons. Because I guess that's where dragons like to sleep—on a bed of roses. There's not much else to it though. It's a great card to have in the deck so that we ace out our opponent's Stadium cards, as well as move our heavy dragons around. Fairy Garden is like a perfect compliment to this deck with heavy the presence of Special Energy cards here. There's such a liability in losing one, that the ability to move our dragon out on one energy is prime. And although we have Audino to back us up against Special Conditions, this is more of that potential you just can't have too much of—and that's logic here behind Fairy Garden. Against crushing Special Conditions such as Poison and Confusion—Fairy Garden is sure to be a life saver.

Lay them to rest there and let the sleeping dragons lie. Legend says to never wake a sleeping dragon, and I don't know why—but if it's anything like being woken up in the middle of night by our baby—I can't even.