Rainbow Rising

 

 

Pokémon [21]

2 — Hoopa EX — Ancient Origins (89/98)

1 — Rayquaza EX — Roaring Skies (75/108)
1 — M Rayquaza EX — Roaring Skies (76/108)

1 — Ho-Oh EX — Dragon's Exalted (119/124)
1 — Jirachi EX — Plasma Blast (60/101)
1 — Shaymin EX — Roaring Skies (77/108)
1 — Virizion EX — Plasma Blast (9/101)
1 — Yveltal EX — XY (79/146)
1 — Jolteon EX — Generations (28/83)
1 — Latias EX — Plasma Freeze (85/116)

1 — Klefki — Steam Siege (80/114)
1 — Suicune — Plasma Blast (20/101)
2 — Xerneas — BREAKthrough (107/162)
2 — Lunatone — Plasma Storm (73/135)
4 — Skarmory — Roaring Skies (69/108)
 
Trainers [23]
 
2 — VS Seeker — Roaring Skies (110/108)
4 — Ultra Ball — Dark Explorers (102/108)

1 — N — Noble Victories (101/101)
1 — AZ — Phantom Forces (117/119)
1 — Lysandre — Flashfire (104/106)
2 — Pokémon Fan Club — Flashfire (106/106)
2 — Colress — Plasma Storm (135/135)
3 — Cheren — Boundaries Crossed (148/149)
4 — Steven — Ancient Origins (95/98)

3 — Sky Field — Roaring Skies (89/108)

Energy [16]

2 — Rainbow Energy — XY (131/146)
4 — Prism Energy — Next Destinies (93/99)
4 — Double Colorless Energy
6 — Fairy Energy
 
Epilogue

Our headliner for tonight is none other than the legendary Rainbow! And on the roster, are a brilliant array cards representing some of their most iconic lines and songs. Prepare yourself for an evening of mystery, as the symbolism of the cards will be left in enigma tonight, so that functional details can be thoroughly explained.

You see, this is a complex toolbox style deck, full of so much flavor—that much like all the previous band members of Rainbow—we'd never be able to comfortably fit all on one stage in one night if we tried.

Beginning the anthology, [Rainbow Force] Xerneas naturally takes place as the centerpiece of our deck. [Rainbow Force] Xerneas however—has a few challenging aspects concerning its potential—such as its low HP and moderately high energy costs to attack. For this reason, Rainbow Rising involves a Out Fighter style of play, where our primary objective is to set up our offensive resources from the bench, in order to come out swinging with one crushing punch after the next.

Akin to this, we have our primary starter [Call for Family] Skarmory, who aims to add the most tactical foundation to our Out Fighter style toolbox setup. Depending the state of your opening hand, you can either use Skarmory as a decent wall while you spend your energy turns on your Benched Pokémon—or for a single energy—can be used to hyper-accelerate your bench stats with [Call for Family].

On our opening turn, our biggest play will almost always involve {Scoundrel Ring}—which is why there are 4 Ultra Ball and 2 Pokémon Fan Club to back up our access to Hoopa EX. Which cards in particular that should be reached for with this play will majorly depend on our advantage or disadvantage in our hand and on the board.

One of the best turn one plays with {Scoundrel Ring} involves reaching for any tactical EX card—along with both Rayquaza and M Rayquaza EX—in order to Δ Evolution on turn 1 without any consequence since we're not using a Spirit Link here. If one of the two Rayquaza are missing, then the next best move will be reaching for any tactical combination of EX instead.

You should know what you need when you go to reach for it.

Among the technical selections, Shaymin EX is here to provide a free draw option if-and-when our opening hand is empty; Jirachi EX is here to provide a bridge between the diverse array of Supporters (especially when left without one); and Ho-Oh is here to be used tactically with Ultra Ball—alongside the amazing potential of being able to boost our bench stats from the discard pile with {Rebirth}.

Other technical selections include Virizion, Latias, Jolteon, and Yveltal EX. Virizion EX in only here to protect us against Special Conditions if-and-when needed. This can be really useful—or really useless—so this might not be a card you need to place emphasis on. Latias EX is somewhat the same. It can entirely block Pokémon with Abilities (and retreats for one energy)—yet requires a lot of technical energy attack otherwise—so arguably has only defensive potential here.

Joleton EX is our primary technical powerhouse. Providing us an unstoppable path through (and heavy cover against) all Basic Pokémon with [Flash Ray]. Jolteon EX also retreats for free—making it a great transitional resource to move in between knockouts of your Pokémon. Keeping the option of free retreat at your fingertips before you would pass over the turn is definitive strategy—so make good use of it as often as the opportunity presents itself.

Yveltal EX is our secondary backup technical powerhouse. Many times over, raw power may be all you need to win the game, and [Evil Ball] is genuinely just that. [Y Cyclone] is also very amazing for this deck—as it allows us to salvage our precious Double Colorless Energy—and transfer Rainbow Energy without the consequence of damage.

These attributes (especially the immense power [Evil Ball]) are what made Yveltal EX the prime selection for the Dark-type slot over other tech options—such as {Sealing Scream} Spiritomb or Malamar EX.

At the end of our tactical collection of Pokémon, we have Klefki, Suicune, and Lunatone.

Klefki is an ultimate tech against Mega Pokémon. It can either buy us a free turn to further set up—or enable us exchange attacks with a Mega Pokémon entirely undamaged. Klefki also counts as an additional type for [Rainbow Force] as well, so it fits perfectly on the bench to double as an accessory for that.

Suicune is our anti-EX tech. The stand-alone potential of the {Safeguard} Ability sets it apart from other anti-EX options like {Resistance Blizzard} Regice. It's more versatile and undemanding—enabling us to work around it at our leisure. Suicune can also be mobilized right away against EX swarmers. And as a standard basic—is less of a liability. All of these reasons being why I felt like this Suicune would make the greatest selection for the Water-type slot here.

Last we have Lunatone—which is probably our greatest tech in the entire deck—and possibly the greatest tech of all time. The ability the filter through the top two cards of your deck is simply champion class potential. It most prominently enables you to get to precious Supporters and Double Colorless Energy twice as fast as you normally would. That alone is game-breaking. To top it off though, Lunatone makes a decent starter to set up from the bench behind—while doubling as a prime transitional resource to send active and stall for time (giving up only a single prize if Knocked Out).

Moving over to the second stage, our collection of Supporters is tactically arranged to help bring everything together with highest definition of digital quality. Although there are many other Supporters I would have liked to include in this deck for their Rainbow-esque style. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to compromise if you want things to work out for the best.

And that was the scenario here, which boiled down to only being able to add the additions of AZ and Lysandre as tactical Supporters (without any room for Pokémon Center Lady, Pokémon Rangers, Skyla, or Xerosic). Additionally, you only get one power play with each, and only two copies of VS Seeker to extend upon that potential. They are very much just our special effects though.

Taking center stage—is the array of our draw supporters—lead by Steven. Steven makes makes one of our best turn one plays, seconded only by Pokémon Fan Club. Steven is great here because it works tactically to bridge us between a diverse array of different Supporters with different potential depending on our current advantage.

When the advantage is strongly in our favor, we might want to reach for a Colress, but N is most likely always going to be our best reach with Steven. It's a powerful turn two play to replenish your hand on the second turn and disrupt any of our opponent's retrievals retained in their hand.

Designing this deck engine, I started with a lot of N, but the short wheel effect seemed to work against the deck more than anything else. That's when I had the idea to reduce N to a tech and replace the majority of those Supporter slots with Cheren for the straight draw potential.

This replacement made the deck engine significantly more proficient, as Cheren naturally works wonders with Steven, but here unlocks some really amazing potential with Colress. The straight draw potential enables us to more potently draw from the top of our deck—while retaining a large number of cards in our hand after a big play with Colress.

And that is the secret behind Cheren here—so try not to waste them so you can tap into this potential where it was intended—to catch the Rainbow.

Somewhere Back In Time

Pokémon [19]

2 — Hoopa EX — Ancient Origins (89/98)

4 — Alakazam EX — Fates Collide (125/124)
3 — M Alakazam EX — Fates Collide (118/124)

4 — Deoxys — Roaring Skies (33/108)
2 — Hoopa — Steam Siege (51/114)

2 — Porygon — Plasma Blast (72/101)
2 — Porygon-Z — Ancient Origins (67/98)

Trainers [27]

1 — Master Ball — Plasma Blast (94/101)
2 — Rare Candy — Dark Explorers (100/108)
3 — Ultra Ball — Flashfire (99/106)

1 — Elesa — Legendary Treasures (RC20/RC25)
2 — N — Dark Explorers (96/108)
2 — Colress — Plasma Storm (118/135)
2 — Teammates — Primal Clash (141/160)
3 — Cheren — Dark Explorers (91/108)
4 — Steven — Roaring Skies (90/108)

2 — Sky Field — Roaring Skies (89/108)
2 — Dimension Valley — Phantoms Forces (93/119)

3 — Alakazam Spirit Link — Fates Collide (90/124) 

Energy [14]

4 — Mystery Energy — Phantom Forces (112/119)
3 — Double Colorless Energy
7 — Psychic Energy

Epilogue

In this rendition of Masterpiece Theater, Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrian is being dragged on a journey through time and space by the legendary immortal Eddie the Head, who's hunting down some of the most notorious evils ever to haunt the tides of time. Now this probably wouldn't have ever been the case, but Nicko McBrian doesn't have anything better to do. He's all out of dope—and the end of his rope.

And thus begins our journey somewhere back in time, in hopes of scoring some ancient treasure from the past—with our endearing heroes Eddie the Head (portrayed by Deoxys and Hoopa)—and Nicko McBrian (portrayed by Alakazam).

You've got to watch them be quick or be dead, and that's why we want to always play first if we can, and on our best games, probably lead with [Close Encounter] Deoxys to get the jump on our game. Our first move is looking to get Hoopa EX on the table and summon up as many Alakazam (or Mega Alakazam) we can use to fill the bench, and setup for the grandeur of Mega Evolution.

You see, our old friend just isn't suited for the harsh conditions of time travel. He has a fear of the dark, and it's not likely that he would last very long as he stands. For this reason, we're seeking to ascend Nicko McBrian to the legendary status of Time Lord (king of all the land—in the kingdom of the sand).

This of course would be a dream come true for Nicko McBrian (who's always dreamed of being a Time Lord)—and a dream come true for his road crew (who have always dreamed of possibly traveling time with one). With that said, they've pledged their loyalty to Nicko McBrian, and their secrecy to Eddie the Head to help us with as much as they can.

Know them well—and know well enough to lead with anything that's a straight draw when the consistency of the deck is in its highest concentration—unless of course the hand itself is empty. We have two power plays with MI6 Colress. We'll want to save them for when the bench is fully loaded. Two power plays Teammaters. We'll want to save at least one of them for an emergency—in case we need to locate a Porygon-Z (hallowed be thy name) and have it take us home through the Stargate.

From there, we have four plays with Steven and three plays with Cheren (both representing Bruce Dickerson). Now, we can't take Bruce back in time, because he'll be running all over the place and touching everything. But with all the energy he has (and the compensation we offer him) he can work some miracle to pull some strings for us in the present.

As always, a great 1-2 Supporter play involves Steven—then Cheren. As one tactically thins the deck, and sets up for the other to make a more concentrated draw next turn. Cheren is also great to net some extra cards as bait for Ultra Ball—so don't even go thinking you know better and removing them for something else.

Last in line, we have two powerplays with Jesusfreak Steve Harris (aka N). We can use one right away (and it's recommended to do so) but we'll always want to be cautious to save the other for the end of the game. That's when Eddie is likely to reveal the tragic revelation to him that Jesus was truly a terribly man—and when N most prominently become the savior himself—shuffling our hand back into our deck and potentially saving us from running out of cards and losing the game.

Now from here, our offensive will mostly depend on our place in time between—Dimension Valley (the brutal past) [1]—and Sky Field [1] (the unforeseeable future).

Dimension Valley is obviously our most favorable hunting ground, since it enables us to lead with attacks such as [Close Encounter] and [Hyperspace Punch] for free—while enabling us to use other attacks such as [Hyperdrive Smash], [Suppression], and the powerful [Zen Force] for a single energy.

However, we'll always want to lead with Sky Field unless it's a matter of life and death. The reason for this is because Sky Field serves but one purpose, and then doesn't have much potential afterwards. This purpose involves playing Sky Field and bridging off multiple Hoopa EX to overload the bench—then acing out Sky Field to remove the otherwise sitting duck Hoopa EX from the enemy's line of sight.

[Hyperspace Fury] is far too resource demanding here for us to make any use of—and therein lies the importance of removing Hoopa EX from play as a liability once his work is done.

Not that we aren't prepared for all out war here, because we are. With many tactical additions such as 4 Mystery Energy to provide free retreat to almost everyone—and 3 Double Colorless Energy to suite the tactical retreat of cards like Hoopa, Hoopa EX, and Alakazam especially. Since this power play help us to significantly preserve those resources and put them to greater use—it's still significant.

Playing Sky Field first also helps to draw out Stadium bait from our opponents—so we can more comfortably make the jump to Dimension Valley without as much fear of getting trapped between from here to eternity (the worst song in Iron Maiden history).

An with that said, may we all take a lesson from Eddie the Head,

"Do not waste your time always searching for those wasted years. Face up...make your stand. And realize you're living in the golden years."