Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Big Stick Diplomacy
 

This here is an original Rogue deck of mine that's among my original collection of decks. The strategy here was to combine the immense disruptive power of Crushing Hammer and Virbank/Laser, alongside powerful Slugger Pokémon to bring the pain with the Big Stick Diplomacy between them. I complimented this with a heavy addition on Ghetsis, to up the irons on the disruption potential even more, and provide this deck the potential to strip the opponent of their own copies of Crushing Hammer, Hypnotoxic Laser, and other crucial Item cards (like Ultra Ball) to crush their overall setup potential.

 

The starting Pokémon for this deck was originally split between [Return] Tropius, [Double Draw] Virizon, and Virizon-EX. Each boasted their own unique advantages and startup potential. Tropius offers diversity against Fire-type Weakness, further boasting immense draw potential with [Return], which could quickly replenish depleted Crushing Hammers and Hypnotic Lasers at the start of the game.

 

Virizon was sorta just a backup to this. It's less liable as a single prize Pokémon, and offers solid draw potential at the start of the game like Tropius does. Virizon was also complimented by the disruption potential of Lysandre and Pokémon Center Lady, coupled with the offensive potential that [Leaf Wallop] boasted in this deck alongside the disruption assistance of Crushing Hammer and Hypnotoxic Laser which could also be used to stall for the turn needed to boost [Leaf Wallop] to its max damage. Virizion EX is the natural power setup. Not much needs to be explained here. It aces out other Virbank/Laser decks while quickly and heavily energizing this deck's powerful Slugger Pokémon.

 

[Double Draw] Virizon has since been replaced to split the starting Pokémon between just Tropius and Virizon-EX now, making room for a tech on Tauros-GX, as well as a tech on Eco Arm to help reinforce the new addition of the Bursting Ballon/Rock Guard suite I added in this final edit of the deck. I would normally prefer to run 2 Eco Arm, but honestly can't even begin to find the room for it—opting instead of a tech on Fighting Fury Belt—which hopes to compensate to some even greater potential.

 

The Bursting Balloon/Rock Guard suite is intended to best compliment the Slugger theme. It's really a power Slugger utility. So I figured it would naturally boost this deck's potential up a few leagues. Crushing Hammer and Hypnotoxic Laser can help to spare copies of Bursting Balloon when they're not going to be of any use yet, and I would further suggest (with the heavy addition of Lysandre) that a second copy of Eco Arm isn't even needed here.

 

The heavy presence of Lysandre and Pokémon Center Lady was another original strategic aspect implemented into this deck from the very start. Their purpose can basically be explained in the same way as the Bursting Balloon/Rock Guard suite—in the sense that I've legendarily found them to be power utilities for Slugger style decks. The Grass-type further enables the addition of Herb Energy here, which compliments Pokémon Center Lady very well, and creates a mini healing suite between them in the league of some super Gold Potion power.

 

One interesting quirk about this deck is the addition of just 2 Virbank City Gym, which back in the day was actually pretty intuitive, as it was a very popular card, and packing 4 of them could ultimately end up in them wasting 4 card in your deck if-and-when the opponent was able to play theirs first. Considering this, I figured 2 would be plenty, and strived to play off the opponent's Virbank City Gyms instead—using the space opened to squeeze in more copies of Lysandre and Pokémon Center Lady.

 

Another quirk could be the selection of Pokémon here, which are sentimental to me akin to the original theme of the deck, so they're not going anywhere despite how their arrangement offsets the balance against Type-disadvantage for this deck.

 

If there could be one adaptation I would suggest for this deck, it would be to dial back a copy of Ghetsis, Lysandre, Pokémon Center Lady, and/or Professor Juniper for three copies of Professor Kukui—which I strongly believe could boast some immense potential to the Slugger combat strategy—yet am not going to bother with it myself as this would be an experienced-based adaptation that I won't be able to evaluate.

 

Bird Flu

This is the original deck that Early Bird Gets the Worm spawned off of to become a pallet swap of. I came up with this deck at the release of the Dialga-EX card in Phantom Forces, intrigued by the art, and deciding to use it as centerpiece of flavor for a creative deck theme. The strategy for this deck revolved around preventive effects, pairing the immense power of Dialga's anti-EX attack back then, alongside the absolute preventive effect of Ferrow's [Fly] attack.

 

I believe Trick Coin was originally utilized to brace the success of [Fly] (with money being how they spread the Bird Flu), but was later replaced with {Victory Star} Victini to open up power potential in the Pokémon Tool card lot. This especially includes copies of Muscle Band, which is really crucial to up the power of [Fly] as much as possible. Although preventive effects can be amazing, one has to consider the liability of the time factor, which enables players to make powerplays on cards like Lysandre or Pokémon Center Lady, and potentially offset any advantage right away.

 

Considering this, despite the power of preventive effects, it's still in this deck's best intentions to Knock Out the opponent's Pokémon as quickly as possible to combat the time clench. Professor Kukui now backs this up immensely, I would consider to be a power addition to this deck for that reason.

 

This final edit of the deck also splits the heavy consistency of Dialga-EX between techs on Lugia-EX and Snorlax-GX, given how the anti-EX effect is likely to see increasingly less potential as the GX era carries on. Lugia and Snorlax help to diversify upon this deck's offensive potential some, coupled by a high consistency of Skarmory to provide a good alternative starter to the Fearow line.

 

[Call for Family] can be used when playing second to make a perfect setup for [Fly], with the potential to quickly switch up to [Blow Through] next turn and begin getting a jump on the damage stack for the follow-up with [Fly]. I wouldn't say that Skarmory is explicitly a better starter though, given one particular bad matchup with Jolteon-EX, where Spearow's [Whirlwind] can be an effective energy burn on the opponent, effectively biding the time needed to evolve into Fearow and begin the preventive effects of [Fly] to ultimately beat out Jolteon entirely.

 

On a final note, I polished this final edit of the deck off with a heavy addition on Delinquent. This should hold some immense potential to strip the opponent of game-changing cards. I was originally going to split this 2-2 between Ghetsis, given the potential powerplay there, but decided to just weigh heavy in favor of Delinquent, given its more universal potential to bring the sickness to the opponent.

Black Cloud

M Manectric deck apart of my first builds with the card—coupled with it's counterpart variant Thunder Climb. This deck sought to combine the power of [Turbo Volt] with the crushing power of [Black Ballista] Black Kyurem-EX. I thought to do something unique with this deck, so I implemented [Team Plasma] Rotom as a prime starting Pokémon for this deck, given its synergy with the [Turbo Volt] attack, and its ability to quickly enable a powerplay on Ace Trainer.

 

This final edit of the deck now replaces Ace Trainer for what I considered to be the more universal potential of Teammates, and prime synergy it holds with Mega Pokémon and Spirit Links. This final edit also includes a full playset of Judge, to enable more effective disruption potential at the start of the game without having to wait on a Knock Out to get it. [Electribonus] compliments this with a quick bounce back from a Turn 1 Judge—coupled with a heavy presence of Professor Juniper—Master Ball/Ultra Ball—and a tech on Shaymin-EX to back up the recovery potential further.

 

The heavy presence of Balls is mostly intended to enable the quickest powerplay with Hoopa-EX, for use of its {Scoundrel Ring} Ability to quickly resource Pokémon for the most effective setup on M Manectric (while also significantly thinning the deck for an even greater proficiency for a Turn 1 play on Judge).

 

The new Promo [Frosty Thunder] Black Kyurem now takes the place of the previous place holder here—[Outrage] Kyurem-EX. Black Kyurem is less liable as a single Prize Pokémon, and boasts a lot more natural potential with this deck's Electric/Water theme. A tech on [Outrage] Zekrom is further included to provide another good single Prize/non-EX Pokémon option behind Black Kyurem—while the tech on [Icecalibur] Kyurem-EX is intended to compliment the tech on Black Kyurem-EX in the same way.

 

One quirk about the addition of [Icecalibur] Kyurem that I would question here is the fact of just 5 lone Water energy here, which even despite the 3 Professor's Letter, could be a little difficult to resource for [Icecalibur]. I would suggest finding some way to bring the number up to 6 in the least, but strongly discourage from removing any Electric energy to do this. The reason being that 11 is a magic number to secure certain mathematical proportions needed for the best possible percentile clench from the opening of the game—proceeding through the first 5 turns of the game.

 

Another awkward quirk about this deck is that it originally included 3 copies of Manectric Spirit Link, which I dialed back one on with the addition of Teammates here, and would naturally question how significantly this will effect Manectric's potential as the starting Pokémon. However, I don't see any superior potential available dialing back on anything else here to bring the numbers back up to 3—so I guess it's just stuck like that.

Black Dog

"Hey, hey mama—said the way you move;
gon' make you sweat, gon' make you groove!"

 

This is a [Team Plasma] Umbreon deck pallet swap from the Dark Side of the Moon deck. This deck used to want to make explicit use of [Team Plasma] Absol to fit the theme, but Absol is a white dog? all things considered—and as Max Elixir and [Dark Pulse] Darkrai took precedence in this deck—the utility of Colress Machine and the potential that [Team Plasma] Absol boasts without it was too trivial in comparison to hang on to.

 

This updated version of the deck now includes a heavy lead from Tauros-GX, which hopes to boast immense potential mid-to-end game with the immense HP boost it can get from multiple {Dark Shade} Abilities. The new tech on Umbreon-GX is another card that hopes to see some elevated potential from the Plasma Badge/{Dark Shade} combo. Tauros-GX further makes a great Pokémon to [Strafe] behind at the start of the game after an {Energy Evolution} from Eevee to Umbreon-GX.

 

The Supporter array here does its best to support the quickest gathering of multiple [Team Plasma] Umbreon. 3 Bridgette help to see to this most of all, which I'd normally compliment with 3 or 4 Professor Juniper, but here have included 4 copies of Misty's Determination instead attempting to break new ground, and more tactically resource copies of [Team Plasma] Umbreon (or other important cards) after (rather than purging the hand in a number of desperate draws). Misty's Determination holds a lot of potential with Max Elixir as well—which is another notable point to add about this addition and why I sought to provide the utmost consistency of Misty's Determination for this deck.

 

Two Pokémon Center Lady offer a little cushion for the pushing—great at any time of the game. I'd normally like to include 3 copies of this card for best results, but here have dialed in down in suite of more technical support. 2 Fighting Fury Belt boast some stand-alone potential to this deck at the start of the game, it's a great compliment to Tauros-GX or [Dark Pulse] Darkrai starting out, and I was going to split the Pokémon Tool cards 3 to 1 here, but decided to cut loose the desperation for the additional 10 damage, to assert some decent consistency of Plasma Badge for Umbreon-GX.

 

Brain Freeze

Here's a deck about the cold burning pain of the legendary brain freeze. You know that sudden moment after you just guzzled down half your whole slushy, and suddenly the colors ring over you in a cascade as the ringing pain begins to tightly wrap around your burning head. This is a M Glalie/Spirit Link/Max Elixir deck that combines a number of Ice-type Pokémon to provide offensive diversity and add perfectly top off the flame.

 

This deck incorporates a Slugger strategy, through the crushing damage of this deck's heavy hitting Pokémon, with a tech on Manaphy to enable free retreat between them, Frozen City to amplify the damage factor abroad, and Pokémon Center Lady to help take the burn off this deck's Pokémon while they slug it out with the opponent.

 

This deck would have had an immense weakness to Metal-type, so I decided to include 3 [Outrage] Reshiram for the Type diversity it adds to the deck, coupled alongside the potential to gain a strong Type advantage against Metal decks instead. This was topped off last minute with a tech on Tauros-GX, which could easily be split between Reshiram, or replace another tech in this deck to some great success.

 

The Supporter array doesn't have any particular tricks to it. Slugger strategies generally have simple needs, where a bulk draw generally makes up for the majority of them, and creative additions from there can be implemented to help diversify the flow of the cards overall. That's basically what we have here, with N to make up the majority of the bulk drawn, then Misty's Determination to top it off, adding that crucial extended draw after a play on N that works so amazingly well to grab additional copies of Max Elixir while leaving the deck's energy consistency untouched. 

 

Two copies of Professor Juniper provide some fair draw potential for a power draw or two when it's needed. This is included with a split on Judge, which can compliment a Slugger deck very well, cutting off the opponent's card advantage in the face of crushing damage. Would consider a tech on Ninja Boy here with the potential it boast with various Pokémon (such as Kyurem and Tauros-GX), but just going to leave that as a suggestion, since it would be an experienced-based addition that makes my brain numb thinking where to include it as-is with how tight-knit the deck structure is here.

Bubble Bath
 

This is a parody deck I made with a theme about the Fat Hawaiians throwing Amy into the volcano. The strategy that the deck was built on is a M Groudon one that sought to setup with [Rip Claw] Groudon and {Victory Star} Victini for the energy disruption power play. Traditionally, Team Flare Grunt is a staple to this strategy, but I decided to take the high road and utilize a Crushing Hammer/Enhanced Hammer suite instead to supplement the energy disruption of [Rip Claw].

 

Another crafty addition to this deck comes in the form of [Stun Poison] Gligar and [Submission Hold] Gliscor. This pair of cards compliments the starting potential of Groudon, and enables Groudon to setup up from the bench with Float Stone instead of Groudon Spirit Link. I tech'd a single Groudon Spirit Link here just in-case it might come in handy, supplemented by the fact that Korrina can pair the two up (M Groudon and Groudon Spirit Link) in a single play.

 

Even though a split between the two version might boast more adaptable potential, the Theta Max Groudon is the solo M Groudon for this deck to help consistently provide the dire healing factor if-and-when Groudon starts the game. Energy Disruption is nice, but it's not entirely reliable, and a split between the two would significantly detract from the ability to make the full heal when it's needed.

 

Shrine of Memories takes a nice spot here to support M Groudon's offensive potential in place of [Gaia Volcano]. This is especially important to enable Groudon-EX to M Evolve right away, and offset the damage stack entirely to suddenly set the opponent at an immense disadvantage, and get a jump on the Prize exchange. Shrine of Memories works wonders with Gliscor as well, enabling the use of Gligar's more definite [Stun Poison] attack if-and-when [Submission Hold] won't suffice.

 

A tech on Ancient Trait Regirock is a staple to [Gaia Volcano] as Float Stoning between them can return valuable Stadium card from the discard pile and effectively produce infinite full power attacks with [Gaia Volcano]. Reshiram is a heavy tech to this deck to support a little type diversity.

 

For best results, it would probably want to be 3 copies, but I figure the disruption of [Stun Poison] could hold down the fort in most cases. I had contemplated replacing a copy of Gligar for a tech on {Set Up} Shaymin-EX—or possible another [Outrage] Reshiram, but ultimately decided to leave it as it is, since the utility of this would need to be weighed out from experience.

 
Buck Hunter

 

Here's a deck from an original creation of mine that sought to combine the Xerneas and Klefki with Toxicroak-EX and the Virbank City Gym/Hypnotoxic Laser suite. The idea was to quickly energize off Xerneas, or [Triple Poison] with Toxicroak, then lock the opponent up with [Fairy Lock]. This deck now concentrates the Fairy-type theme and includes [Heavy Perfume] Aromatisse for some quicker and more advanced lockdown potential with the Virbank/Laser suite. Xerneas BREAK is a new addition for the power and diversity it provides, but could also be replaced with Tauros-GX for some Type diversity.

As the needs for this deck are so simple, the Supporter array just strives for some general potential. Getting its bulk draw from N, then leaning towards Professor Kukui for the nice power bonus, and lastly backed up by Professor Sycamore and Skyla for some more advanced resourcing potential. Two Lysandre provide the general hunt power that Lysandre has become so legendarily renowned for. Makes a neat powerplay with Aromatisse's [Hug] against Float Stone, and of course can be used with Virank/Laser + [X Blast] or [Life Stream] for the big game hunter's trophy bag.

Two VS Seeker provides a diverse extension wherever it might be needed. A great example here how less can be more, where actual copies of Supporters make up the reliable bulk, while an intuitive addition of 2 VS Seeker can provide an extension on Professor Kukui for some additional firepower; Lysandre for some advanced hunting techniques; or Skyla for an additional quick retrieval for a crucial resource such as Hypnotoxic Laser, Virbank City Gym, Fairy Garden, or a Pokémon Tool card.

To address the elephant in the room, there wasn't much room for those here, and in the end I decided to go with 2 Giant Cape and a tech on Fighting Fury Belt (for Xerneas-EX). The Giant Cape have universal potential that I believe would be more beneficial to this deck overall—especially in regard to Xerneas BREAK—and the boost its gets from Giant Cape up to 170HP. It can double to take Aromatisse up to 110HP, helping to stretch it farther. The 200HP boost for Xerneas-EX isn't exactly shabby either, as this boost can push Xerneas-EX's HP beyond the traditional conventions of the damage stack, effectively buying an additional turn to get an additional Knock Out before the opponent.

 

 

 

Buffalo Wild Wings

 

This is a deck about a job I once had as a kitchen boy at the legendary sports bar Buffalo Wild Wings. This is a [Hopeless Scream]/Mew-EX deck, coupled with an energy disruption suite to support the setup of [Hopeless Scream], and a diverse array of other Pokémon provide this deck with a powerful alternative strategy on-demand whenever needed. [Hopeless Scream] is a really powerful attack, but it could be very liable as well. Shedinja can only deal 100 damage on average with the attack—falling short of significant One-Hit KO damage. Mew can be stopped cold by preventive effects, so the offensive diversity provided by the other Pokémon I believe to be crucial to this deck.

 

Carnivine and Virbank City Gym allows some shenanigans at the start of the game. The Lysandre-like disruption can help to stall for time, while the Poison damage helps to wear down the opponent's Pokémon and bring them closer to Knock Out range. The energy disruption suite pairs well with Frozen City—which itself is a helpful enabler for the crushing power of [Hopeless Scream]. Professor Kukui makes a great addition to this deck while one of the powerful Swarmers lead. Their offensive advance is its own strategy, enabling this deck to gather cards little by little behind their powerful lead to resource cards for the Mew and Shedinja follow up.

 

The tech on Lysandre helps to create an extension on the potential of Carnivine in this scenario as well. Pokémon Center Lady is present in high volume as it's a powerhouse in this deck. Pokémon Center Lady is first a crucial guard against Special Conditions while heavy Swarmer's lead. It's secondly a powerful healer to support the frailty of Mew—and also provides powerplay like potential with Lugia, Tauros, and Yveltal by considerably offsetting the damage stack at a pivotal moment facing the crushing damage of [Aero Ball], [Horn Attack], and [X Ball].

 

Fighting Fury Belt is an obvious alpha Pokémon Tool card here given the disruption support that surrounds it. Life Dew provides a unique extension on this potential for 2 Prize Pokémon—and is also helpful with Shedinja alongside a tech on Giant Cape—included especially for Shedinja to increase the damage range of its [Hopeless Scream] attack.

 

  

Butterfly Garden

 

Here's a variant deck from a long stretching Sceptile-EX/Forest of Giant Plants/Stage 2 Grass-type deck series I came up with. This deck originally featured {Miraculous Scales} Beautifly as the centerpiece Stage 2, but was replaced last minute with [Dizzying Poison] Vivillon as the EX prevention is sure to increasing see less potential into the GX era.

 

[Dizzying Poison] Vivillon boasts a lot of natural potential with the theme here. The combination of Special Conditions it invokes are pretty useful disruption to stall for a turn and enable Vivillon to retreat for Sceptile's [Unseen Claw] to move in. Float Stone is a common staple in most Sceptile-EX decks of mine. It's included here once again to suite mobility for Vivillon and Sceptile mostly. Olympia provides an extension on this, coupled with Pokémon Center Lady and Herb Energy to create a powerful healing suite between them.

 

Cheren takes its place here for the bulk draw it provides, which is especially important for Stage 2 resourcing. The additional card Cheren draws does significantly put it over Professor Kukui in terms of raw potential. Great Ball and Trainers' Mail see a little additional potential from this as well, as their effects are particularly synergistic to the dynamics of straight draw—providing an additional reach so many cards ahead to further increase the full range of the draw and cards that can be resourced from it.

 

Steven then provides both an extension on this potential—as well as an axis between technical Supporters. Steven's ability to retrieve an additional energy card helps to thin the deck, for a more effective draw with Cheren next turn. It's also significant support to the low volume of energy in this deck. A tech on Professor Juniper is included as a must with Steven—given the powerplay draw option it provides if it's needed or available.  

 

 

Caltrops

 

Here's a neat deck I came up with wanting to centerpiece the elusive [Reflective Shield] Sigilyph. This deck originally began as a considerably budget deck, containing the same array below, with the adaptation of 2 Croagunk, 4 Sigilyph, 4 Toxicroak, 4 Wobbuffet, and 2 Wobbuffet BREAK, 4 Virbank City Gym, 1 Cassius, and 3 Ninja Boy.

 

This version of the deck diversifies upon that array a bit to give it a greater edge against Type-disadvantage. It also replaces Fighting Fury Belt with a Bursting Balloon/Rock Guard/Eco Arm suite to some greater or lesser potential. This suite could be replaced with 4 Fighting Fury Belt and 1 Life Dew as an optional variant.

 

Although Fighting Fury Belt does offer some advanced potential to this deck, one interesting factor to note is that if a Pokémon gets Knocked Out during the opponent's turn, it can actually win you the match. This can happen due to the effect of Bursting Balloon, but not from Poison damage between turns. So it's important to note that Bursting Balloon does boast some advanced potential in draw decisions.

 

The strategy here aims to bridge off the diverse sources of damage between this deck's Pokémon and the synergy between their effects with the Virbank/Laser—Bursting Balloon/Rock Guard combo.

 

The Supporter array here aims to provide bulk draw and bonus disruption to resource important cards, while putting an additional edge on the opponent facing heavy obstacles of this deck. The split between Cassius and Ninja Boy provides some adaptable maneuvers between this deck's Pokémon. Cassius can be used to rip the opponent off on a Knock Out, while providing extensions on crucial copies of this deck's Pokémon. Ninja Boy boast some advanced potential with Tauros-GX, can be used to resource copies of Wobbuffet for a BREAK evolution, and can also be used in a powerplay with Toxicroak-EX, Virbank City Gym, and [Triple Poison]—to move in a [Poison Up] Croagunk—and increase the Poison damage from 50 to 80 damage a turn.

 

The theme from this deck draws inspiration from a vintage Magic the Gathering design—promptly titled—Caltrops.

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Castlevania

 

Akumajō Dracula—or Castlevania is the NES classic, side scrolling adventure game about a valiant warrior's delve into darkness to rid his countryside of the tyrant Vampire that has legendarily threatened its oppressed people.

 

This deck originally began as my attempt to craft a Gengar-EX/{Sneaky Bite}/{Surprise Bite} deck. I personally found to strategy to be immensely underwhelming though in the end, as Gengar isn't exactly as good a Swarmer as it needs to be for Bats. They're mostly counterintuitive resourcing demanding cards, that together wouldn't support the ability to run a full 4-4-4 line of Bats as I wanted to do most of all here.

 

This final edit of the deck replaces Gengar with a broader collection of more effective Swarmer Pokémon to much better suite the Golbat/Crobat line. The deck engine here incorporates a super giant split between Professor Kukui and Professor Sycamore. The ideology here is to provide an equal chance of either preserving evolution cards in the hand until they can be made use of—or purging the hand to power through the high consistency of the Crobat line for more dire needs in desperate times.

 

Two Karen help to make up for any losses in this (as well as creating some cushion for Ultra Ball), and I would wonder if it could even see some greater potential in a split with Brock's Grit instead.

 

Pokémon Center Lady is the must have heal. This deck only has a few precious Swarmers, and so it needs to take precaution to preserve them as best possible. Fighting Fury Belt adds to this significantly, stacking immensely well with every Pokémon in this deck. Espeon-EX is included to help give this deck at least some answer to Jolteon-EX. And as I recall, there was a tossup between [X Ball] Mewtwo and [Damage Change] Mewtwo, in which I chose [X Ball] Mewtwo for the 10 additional damage it deals on average (knowing from experience how significant that can be).

 

Chandelure-EX shouldn't need much explanation. It's like the Holy Water hand grenade. It's Weakness to Dark-type provides diversity against Type-disadvantage, and its [Eerie Light] attack is just immensely power with Dimension Valley and the Crobat line.

 

Taking advantage of the new release, I added 2 Crobat BREAK to this deck last minute for the definite power boost it should provide here. The additional HP is very nice for a successful game-fishing play with [Skill Dive], while the [Silent Bite] attack can be mobilized on a single Double Colorless thanks to Dimension Valley. This enables a deft powerplay against very powerful Pokémon, enabling a Pokémon from the bench to swing in and finish the job, while further providing extensions on the effects of {Sneaky Bite} and {Surprise Bite} with the cards are shuffled back into the deck. Given the heavy presence of Professor Sycamore here, it should also be easy to resource them on the recon as well.

 

  

Cedar Point

 

Here's a pallet swap from the Iron Dragon deck, which are both pallet swaps from the Springfield Power Plant deck. When originally developing that one, I noticed there were so many Dragon-types that had potential with this strategy, I wanted to do them all, and was going to put them all into one deck. But it wasn't after long I noticed that Kingdra's potential would be best if concentrated, so decided to split it up into two different decks.

This is another deck with a Cedar Point theme, the Roller Coaster Capital of the World, located in my home state of Ohio. The flavor here embodies the whole park, rather than an emphasis on a single ride. Each Dragon-type EX represents a different legendary roller coaster. From left to right, you have the Millennium Force, the Raptor, and the Gemini a twin rollercoaster with racing pairs red and blue (the red side is the best side). There are actually so many more I could have put in here, but just like going to the park itself, there was no way to get to them all in a single go.

The strategy for this deck is a hybrid Swarmer/Out-Fighter strategy, that seeks to either lead with [Energy Stream] Zekrom or [Energy Assist] Manectric. Zekrom can keep pace with the damage stack while a waiting in line to ride one of the big Dragons. [Energy Assist] is like the fast pass, that through the combined effects of Ultra Ball, Professor's Letter, and various other Supporters, can fully energize one of this deck's Dragons in a single turn.

Hoopa-EX is included for the powerplay to gather all the dragons if-and-when it's available. This deck utilizes a straight draw technique to concentrate the proficiency of the Professor's Letter/Ultra Ball setup, so Hoopa's Ability is an effective powerplay to concentrate the contents of the deck for a more effective straight draw directly after. This is topped off with the presence of Parallel City, which can be used blue side down to drop Hoopa off the bench and get him out of the way.

On a final edit, Professor Kukui takes an elevated presence here over Cheren. The damage boost is significant to a Swarming [Energy Stream] Zekrom—as well as every other Pokémon in this deck. Steven made the cut over Skyla in the end as well, given how Steven boasts far more potential in combination with Cheren, Misty's Determination, and Professor Kukui. It's kind of so significant, I reduced Professor Juniper to a single tech (given the extension Computer Search provides) to get an additional copy of Steven in this deck to up the irons on that potential as much as seems would be comfortably possible here.
 

 

CEO of Burger King

 

 "Hello, who is this? ...I'm the CEO of Burger King!" ~Click

 

BK is open late. You should go there, and get yourself...three...three regular cheese burgers. Seriously...that's the good stuff. Anyways, this a fun deck I had original thought to craft for the Standard format in the 2015 Season. As with most decks I craft for the Standard format, I don't get much experience with it, and the season is over before you know it.

 

The strategy here intended to combine a few really interesting disruptive effects between this deck's Pokémon. Toxicroak and Malamar are a really strong combo together, effectively acting like a Super Hypnotoxic Laser, so the synergy there was obvious to me. The same is sort of true for [Entangling Control] Malamar as well, which can retreat leaving the opponent's Active Pokémon Confused while Toxicroak moves in for the [Triple Poison].

 

Malamar-EX and [Team Aqua] Muk also have a symbiotic relationship together, as {Hyper Hypnosis} can effectively enable the power boost for [Pester] from the bench. Despite this, Malamar-EX is only a tech here, since it really only has tech potential at most. It's on the lower end of the split with Toxicroak and [Reflective Shield] Sigilyph—which provides a much better option to duck behind after [Triple Poison]. Not to mention, the bulk of [Confusion Wave] Inkay and [Entangling Control] Malamar should more than make up for the absence of Malamar-EX.

 

The Supporter array is a really interesting one that combines a full 4 copies of Professor Sycamore with a full 4 copies of Misty's Determination. These two make a really strong pair together, as Misty's Determination provides an excessive reach after a bulk draw with Professor Sycamore, enabling this deck to preserve its hand in reach for whatever card it needs and might be missing. If you get two Professor Sycamore in your hand at the same time, Misty's Determination can make use of one of them for a really concentrated draw.

 

"I want to speak to the manager." "I'm the assistant manager." Steven is intended as an extension between Supporters, mainly to get to technical supporters right away with the neat bonus of energy selection that's likely to come in handy here. The tech on Skyla is really just here to provide an extension on this potential, added up with the bonus of being able to get to Stadiums and Pokémon Tool Cards mid-to-endgame when they're likeliest to be few and far between.

 

Delinquent is included as another simple extension card, in lieu of its synergy with the disruptive theme, as well as the potential synergy with [Trash Tentacle]. It would seem as though I forgot to add an Ace Spec card to this deck though (since it feel out of the Standard format), but you can just add your own and have it your way.

  

Chemotherapy

Here's a creative deck about fighting cancer. The idea for the theme here came from the art of one of the centerpiece cards, Wobbuffet, which I had entertained an interesting strategy for using its [Mirror Barrier] attack to effectively bide for all kinds of time to put together a very powerful M Mewtwo Y.

As {Victory Star} Victini would be a must for this strategy to work, I thought to diversify upon the offensive resources with a neat addition from [Tight Jaw] Sableye and {Bench Barrier} Mr. Mime. These two cards provide strong alternative starters, who can effectively provide the same potential as Wobbuffet (plus damage), through the effects of their Paralyzing attacks.

 

The Supporter array here is a rather complex team of bulk draw, direct retrieval, and technical Supporters intended to provide some advanced rush support to this deck. Ninja Boy provides a tactical accessory alongside Mewtwo Spirit Link here, enabling this deck to cache a Mewtwo Spirit Link on another Pokémon, and then use Ninja Boy to make good use of it still. Ninja Boy also enables a rather interesting powerplay with Wobbuffet as the lead, which can transform a perfectly preserved Wobbuffet into a stronger Pokémon that can begin a surprise offensive.

 

Ninja Boy is here in somewhat of a split with Pokémon Fan Club, which can provide immense resourcing, as well as a deft option in the face of a bad Item lock matchup. The classic team between N and Professor Sycamore make up the bulk draw, provided with an extension from Steven to bring odd ends together, and call on technical Supporters when they are needed.

 

The presence of Pokémon Center Lady is almost a must with M Mewtwo Y. Although it's a very powerful card, M Mewtwo Y is still in the lowest HP tier for M Pokémon, and immensely vulnerable to Special Conditions, where the tender care of Pokémon Center Lady is like the Make a Wish miracle.

 

A last minute addition from Espeon-GX finds its place here as it provides all kinds of immense potential for this deck. It's lightning fast as Eevee's Ability can evolve it right away, and Espeon-GX has a number of really powerful attacks—which boast disruption, bulk power, and the potential to snipe troublesome Benched Pokémon (such as {Fairy Transfer} Aromatisse & {Garbotoxin} Garbodor).

 

    

Chuck E. Cheese

 

Here's a cute deck about the legendary place where a kid can be a kid. This is a [Circle Circuit] Raichu deck I came up with towards the mid-term of the return to Pokémon Trading Card Game. The strategy involves quickly filling up the bench between [Call for Family], the consistency factor, and pair of Level Ball/Master Ball.

Since Raichu typically faces the challenge of having just 90HP, I decided to try pairing it up with a heavy defensive suite between Hard Charm and Jamming Net. This would provide an technical, exponential HP boost, as the damage from the opponent's attacks is reduced by 20 to 40 damage on average, thus better enabling Raichu to Two-Hit KO more powerful Pokémon on a single Double Colorless Energy.

 

Given that Emolga and Raichu both retreat for free, this enables a lot of advanced mobility between. For example, Emolga can be sent active on the transition, enabling a play on a Supporter to fetch a Raichu or energy needed for another Raichu to make follow up offensive. Jolteon-EX was added to this deck later to further upon this potential, while providing from tactical power with its [Flash Ray] attack. It's not something you want to rely on explicitly, but it can be really effective to bide for a turn or two while this deck gets another Raichu together more a more solid advance.

 

Given the likely Prize exchange here, this deck seeks to make explicit use of both Ace Trainer and Teammates. It has a very fair chance of working here, but an alternative option is also available to concentrate this to one side (with 3 copies of one or the other), then adding the remaining copy to another Supporter (such as a tech on Shauna—a great preserving wheel Supporter—that I would personally double up on in this case and replace the tech on Colress with a second copy of).

 

Pachirisu is a cute staple to this deck. Its [Trick Sticker] attack enables a powerplay that can produce a One-Hit KO against very powerful Pokémon. The potential Knock Out it is also to avail, as it's likely to enable a double play off Ace Trainer or Teammates.

 

The tech on Raikou was added to provide some alternative bulk power. Raikou make a nice addition here as its Ability naturally stacks with this deck's defensive strategy, and its attack can measure up to some sizeable power as well. Raikou makes an excellent Pokémon to energize while Raichu leads with a Double Colorless Energy, but the energy hike is still too high to make explicit use of it, and the utility of Jolteon is far too superior to switch their numbers. So despite our Skeeballing adult's power, just like the Skeeball hogging adults, it's most comfortable as tech here.

Clanging & Bangin'

 

Here's a deck about going to the gym to get some Clangin' & Bangin' in. This is rogue Slugger deck with an energy disruption strategy at the foundation of it. Energy disruption is really effective support for getting the edge on the damage stack, and enabling offensive advantages for Pokémon whose most available attacks are two energy or more. Some Pokémon types have some very prominent weaknesses to them, and with how powerful and popular Fire-type tends to be, Metal-type is definitely one of them.

 

That's why this deck includes two Weakness Policy. Weakness Policy is a must for some Types. At least, it's sure to be immensely effective. You'll be so glad it's there when you need it. This deck also diversifies its offensive resources by including 2 Tauros-GX and 3 copies of [Outrage] Kyurem (both EX and non)—which are very powerful Sluggers—and can turn things around entirely and give this deck the Type advantage against Fire Pokémon. Water is really important when you go to the gym. You don't just want to take a sip here and there, it's crucial to drink water after each set, so it's very befitting that Kyurem is included here in moderate volume.

 

One Shaymin-EX is included for a potential powerplay if-and-when it's available. I think it's really helpful for this deck, as it includes a lot of technical Supporters and Item cards. Professor Kukui takes a heavy presence here to effective provide all the training tips you need to take your power to the next level. Really great card for this deck and its simple needs. Professor Sycamore is backs this up, which aims to be a very effective play to get to additional Crushing Hammer and Pokémon Tool cards.

 

A split between Judge and N provides some additional disruption potential against the opponent's card advantage, which is very helpful mid-to-endgame. It helps to guard against decking, can disrupt the opponent's card advantage, and doubles as an effective draw after the contents of the deck have been thinned.

 

The choice stadiums here are a finishing touch to this deck. Parallel City enables a powerplay to drop Shaymin off and get it off the bench; it stacks well with Shield Energy to improve this deck's Slugger potential; and can disrupt the opponent's bench space if-and-when needed as a nice bonus. Steel Shelter was the original stadium for this deck. It's really effective as an extension to Magearna's Ability, and given the low mobility here, provides a crucial guard against Special Conditions while this deck's Pokémon exchange hits with the opponent.

 

 

Crappy Jelly

 

Mayumi is an Asian girl who's new to cooking, when she gets a hot tip from a friend of hers explaining how she can collect the pan drippings from baked chicken and beef, so that the solids can be used to amp up the flavor of her soups and ramen. The technique turns out to be an immense success, and in her excitement, Mayumi comes to dub the golden ingredient crappy jelly.

 

This is a variant I created from the Turkey Eat You deck structure. The strategy for this deck involved using Latias or Sableye to quickly energize Mew or Arceus Pokémon, then use {Goodnight, babies} to enable a power play between [Type Switch] and [Power Blast] to gain the Type-advantage for a One-Hit KO against almost any Pokémon in the game.

This final edit of the deck detracts from the emphasis on this a bit and diversifies more to broaden this deck's offensive options. Arceus is now just a tech, split between a tech on Snorlax-GX to pound the opponent with [Collapse], and potentially enable a GX attack later in the game. Was going to use the Secret Rare Tauros (that true beef flavor), but wanted some uniqueness here apart from the other variant below.

 

The deck engine strives to bridge off consistency and heavy use of Balls mostly. Despite Pokémon being stretched a bit thin, every one of them is effectively powerful, stack very well with Fighting Fury Belt and {Goodnight, babies}. This makes any one of them an excellent choice to hit the ground running with. Pokémon Center Lady then takes a special place here to compliment Chaos Tower, and help dial back on the damage stack (as the Pokémon here lack defined One-Hit KO potential). A powerplay on Pokémon Center Lady can also help better enable an effective execution of the [Type Switch] technique, to gain the Type-advantage for a turn, and One-Hit KO a very strong Pokémon.

 

 

Crazy Grandma's House

 

My grandmother (on my mom's side) had a mental handicap of some kind. Not entirely sure what it was, but my father wasn't exactly too understanding of it, as he had prominently titled her "Crazy Grandma". This deck is another variant deck I came up with from the Turkey Eat You deck structure, that tells a small tale of my parent's experiences at Crazy Grandma's House while my mom got pregnant at the age of just 16.

 

The strategy for this deck utilizes a strong pair between Mew-EX and Ancient Trait Sableye, alongside Battle Compressor to setup for some heavy energy acceleration with [Energy Hunt]. Since Mew can effectively double as an opening Sableye, the adaptability here is prime for this deck to be able to consistently follow through with its setup. A number of powerful Pokémon take a place here as strong options for the [Energy Hunt] acceleration. Given this is an Out-Fighter strategy, this deck can face somewhat of a challenge to catching up with the game pace—which is where the addition of {Goodnight, babies} plays in—as an effective disruption effect against the opponent's momentum.

 

Chaos Tower and {Goodnight, babies} effectively pair up to enable this deck to put the opponent's Pokémon to sleep without suffering any disruption itself. A tech on Parallel City hopes to provide a powerplay that enables this deck to drop off copies of Shaymin and Hoopa liable on the bench. With the disruption from Hypno, can't say it's that crucial, but it's nice tech to have in any case.

 

The Supporter array is arranged based on this deck's most prominent needs. Heavy presence of Pokémon Fan Club aims to provide the crucial support needed to resource Drowzee from spare numbers and can furthermore be used to grab Hoopa or Shaymin for a double play. This is backed up a heavy presence of N and Professor Juniper for strong bulk draw, with Misty's Determination provided for the helpful utility of selective retrieval.

 

As this deck hopes to make use of Sableye in the opening play, it includes a heavy volume of Ace Trainer to bank off this as best possible when available. There are more than enough Supporters to resource without them, and in games where they're not going to be of any use, they can simply be filtered out on the second play with Battle Compressor to get them out of the way. 

 

  

Dark Side of the Moon

 

This is a [Team Plasma] Umbreon deck of mine that originally began paired up with an Ether/{Premonition} Lunatone strategy center-piecing Regigigas-EX as the main attacker. Although it performed well, and I really loved the explicit use of Regigigas, this final version of the deck switches over to a more modern Max Elixir strategy which I believe better suites the dynamics of running [Team Plasma] Umbreon. This is a resourcing demanding card itself, which doesn't exactly compliment the immensely resourcing demanding console needed to fully support Ether/Lunatone.

 

I figured if I was going to use that combo, I mine as well just use Fighting Fury Belt at this point(which didn't exist at the time) and do away with the [Team Plasma] Umbreon strategy to lighten up the deck structure in better suite of Ether/Lunatone use. Here is the deck I came up for that if you're interested. [1]

 

Considering this, the deck structure here switches over to a Max Elixir strategy instead, taking advantage of new releases to include a more flamboyant array of cards to best capture the full flavor of the Dark Side of the Moon theme. This deck leads with Yveltal for the double up on energy acceleration it can provide, which isn't especially needed as much as the swarmer damage is to keep pace with the damage stack while this deck builds up [Team Plasma] Umbreon.

 

This deck includes a heavy presence of Bridgette to lay down the foundation for Umbreon, then complimented with a heavy presence of Professor Juniper to quickly bounce forward to some card advantage. A small array of complimentary Supporters between Misty's Determination, Steven, and N all support additional card advantages potential alongside this.

 

Misty's Determination helps to reach in farther after a deep draw with Professor Juniper, and grab any pieces needed that might have not collected in the bulk draw. N provides some alternative bulk draw potential, very important to diversity, and preservation, with a special bonus for this deck as N is likely to act as Judge level disruption. Steven then provides a connecting piece between Supporters, and should be very reliable to this deck's particular resource needs, as it can effectively help to best control the flow of the cards based on what exactly is needed (and what can't afford to be lost).

 

Misty's Determination also pairs with Ultra Ball to help further enable the effect for [Destruction Wing] Yveltal. This further explains why only a single Nest Ball is teched here. Scramble Switch is included as the Ace Spec for the hopeful mid-to-endgame potential it boasts. I would worry that Yveltal might not be able to pull through with [Destruction Wing] late game if it's needed, while Scramble Switch can be used with energy cached on ANY Pokémon to provide a full energy boost.

 

This deck techs a single Umbreon-GX to help give it more potential in the event it has to start with Eevee. Not exactly my style for this particular type of strategy, as consistency can be so crucially important, and normally I would have went with 4 [Team Plasma] Umbreon for the security of it.

 

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Dark Advocates

 

This concept here (about the Devil's Advocate) begins a series of decks with the title "Dark" to them.  Two of these decks have already been showcased—Dark Skies & Dark Dreams—and each of is variant of one another that utilizes the "Dark Engine"; a very simple, yet very proficient deck engine I came up consisting of 4 [Dark Wing] Yveltal, 4 Ultra Ball, 4 Dark Patch, 3 Professor's Letter, 4 Cheren, 2 Professor Juniper, 4 Steven, and 13 Basic Dark energy.

 

[Dark Wing] Yveltal is a very effective Swarmer, that only needs some simple conditions fulfilled to begin doubling up its advantage potential. This deck engine sought to bridge off that potential with a very concentrated straight draw/tactical retrieval combo, which brought all its needs together very quickly, and accelerated energy at a pace nearly no other deck could keep up with.

 

The original formula was immensely successful, including {Dark Cloak} Darkrai to enable free retreat, Dark Claw to boost measures of damage—and tech additions from [Junk Hunt] Sableye (for its synergy with Dark Patch)—or {Sealing Scream} Spiritomb to shut down all Ace Spec potential.

 

Each variant sought to centerpiece a different Dark-type Pokémon EX as its vessel for the effect of [Dark Wing] Yveltal—to unlock its alpha potential with the Dark Engine. These final edits of the deck seek to diversify upon that potential some, including more customly arranged Supporter spreads, and additions of other technical cards in hopes of furthering the deck's overall potential and adding flare to the deck's given theme.

 

As a special bonus, here's a brand new addition to the series, Dark Wits, that I just whipped up last minute especially for this presentation. This deck doesn't seek to centerpiece any Dark-type Basic Pokémon at all, but instead revolves around {Propagation} Exeggscute, and a diverse array of Stage 1 Pokémon—including the illustrious Umbreon-GX. And ss another special bonus, here's a neat brush up of the Dark Dreams deck.

 

 

Dark Space

 

A deck about Angles and Demons. It seeks to utilize Judge in the Supporter spread for its synergy with [Disaster Wing]—in hopes of bringing out the most potential for that attack—by shuffling the opponent's hand back into their deck, and hoping to increasing the concentration of Trainer cards in it. Judge also makes good disruption embodying the lesser end of M Absol's damage, which is further backed up by a heavy presence of Professor Kukui, and could see even further support by opting out the Stadium select for 3 copies of Dimension Valley.

 

 

Dark Stars

 

The deck that started it all. Inspired and determined to unlock the alpha potential of M Tyrannitar, I developed the Dark engine to effectively be able to swing out M Tyrannitar out by turn three. It was immensely successful and consistent. The theme for this deck revolves around the Black Star Dragonballs, and the dark energy that accumulated within them, due to Goku and the Z Fighters seeking to take advantage of their power to be as careless and negligent as they'd like.

 

 

Dark Streets

 

A deck about a crooked female cop, who has been abusing her authority to take advantage of unsuspecting victims, while her liaison in the FBI that she's connected with uses their technology to hide what's recorded on the video feed like nothing ever happened.

 

 

Dark Waters

 

A deck about the dark life or cutthroat pirates and life on the high seas. After jumping aboard your ship, and taking everything precious from your cargo (especially your most beautiful women), the Captain makes you walk the plank in shark infested waters to send you down to Davy Jones' locker. This final edit of the deck diversifies quit a bit from the original formula, and includes a heavy presence of energy disruption Supporters to double up on the potential of Sharpedo's [Jagged Fang] attack.

 

  

DEBO

 

This is a deck I had designed bottom-up, putting the functionality first, and wrapping the flavor and theme around it later. This deck was designed to boast some alpha potential in the 2016 Season. I had come up with the concept towards the late end of the season, and didn't get to put it to much use. The strategy here involves utilizing the natural power of Yveltal and Yveltal-EX, alongside the immense advantage that Shadow Circle provides, with a very creative addition of Furious Fists Slaking to provide offensive diversity and tactical prowess.

 

You see, Yveltal provides the raw power as the terrifying powerful Slugger/Swarmer combo. No explanation needed here. This is potential they've legendarily dominated with since their release. Meanwhile, Slaking builds up from the bench to back them up with the immense tactical potential of its [Amnesia] attack. This attack straight up shuts down Mega Pokémon (as they only have a single attack) and can heavily disrupt other Pokémon from being able to successfully advance in their offensive (thus effectively biding time while getting the jump on the damage stack).

 

This deck further included a tech on Malamar-EX for the powerful synergy between its {Hyper Hypnosis} Ability and Yveltal's crushing damage. It also included a very recently released card at the time, Umbreon-EX, with the intention of putting the crushing edge of its [Endgame] attack behind Yveltal-EX—as a quicker backup to Slaking—and where it's undoubtedly the scariest.

 

This final edit of the deck replaces 2 Muscle Band for 2 Fighting Fury Belt, as the HP boost for Yveltal and other EX plays a crucial role in the damage stack, and how it can help to extend the effects of their attacks for an even greater benefit. This final edit of the deck also switches up the Supporter array just slightly to replace Professor Birch's Observations for 3 Professor Kukui.

 

As though it really needs to be explained, Professor Kukui and Yveltal-EX are a powerplay all their own. Not so much for [Evil Ball], but for [Y Cyclone], which can be boosted past the 130 damage threshold with Professor Kukui, enabling One-Hit KO's against other Yveltals, while doubling as energy acceleration for this deck's Pokémon, and a damage guard against other Yveltal-EX.

 

 

Desert Strike

 

Here's a cool deck of mine that sought to combine the team of [Spinning Turn] Donphan with [Venoshock] Whirlpede. The concepts and artwork of these cards boast a lot of synergy and flavor together, so I thought it would make a really awesome concept to put the two cards together. Going along with the natural strategy involving Donphan's [Spinning Turn] attack, I added Gengar-EX to this deck for the additional synergy it could provide, given how [Dark Corridor] can be used in the same way as [Spinning Turn] (and with the same resources—such as Robo Substitute).

 

The strategy for this deck is majorly a stick and move Poison strategy, involving attacks that retreat to the bench, ducking behind a Robo Substitute or another card while the opponent's HP is heavily worn down by Virbank City Gym. Hypnotoxic Laser is included to support Donphan's lead and its inability to invoke the Poisoned Special Condition for itself. Venipede also makes a really tactical Pokémon to duck behind for [Spinning Turn], as the opponent won't be able to attack it without invoking the Special Condition against their Active Pokémon.

 

M Gengar as been added here for lulz, alongside a tech on [Damage Change] Mewtwo, who effectively provides an powerful extension to duck behind in place of Venipede or Robo Substitute. As this deck should be able to make heavy use of Teammates, it's included here in high volume in hopes to tap into that potential. Teammates makes an amazing ticket to instantly pair up M Gengar and Gengar Spirit Link—as well as Mewtwo-EX and Fighting Fury Belt—or pretty much any other crucial resources this deck might need right away.

 

The remainder of this deck's Supporter array focuses on providing consistent flow of the cards, that bridges off the high consistency of this deck and its contents. The theme for this deck is based on the Gulf War, and the Electronic Arts Helicopter shoot 'em up game respectively created about it.

 

 

Dignified Fighter

 

Here's another cool deck of mine that began my experiments with the Wally/Evosoda Stage 2 leap. This technique enables a Stage 2 deck to jump straight to its highest evolution in a single turn like Rare Candy. However, since it bridges off the natural evolution process, it's more self-reliant, and resistant to preventive effects such as Item lock.

 

This is about the very original version of the deck too, whose concept was to centerpiece the mighty {Dignified Fighter} Empoleon, and unlock some alpha potential for its Ability. I had originally thought to combine this effect with Seismitoad-EX, but then got the idea that [Outrage] Kyurem would be a far better choice, given its greater stand-alone potential as a powerful Slugger card.

 

The strategy here involves leading a powerful Slugger, and then building up Empoleon from the bench to increase the power of their attacks. [Rage] and [Outrage] are both powerful attacks by themselves, but they can have a hard time beating the damage stack 1 for 1. {Dignified Fighter} however helps to provide the critical damage boost needed, to effectively enable those attacks to do just that, and produce a Knock Out a turn ahead of the opponent.

 

Tauros-GX is a new addition to the deck, included for the Type-diversity, and general potential of the GX brand. This deck further techs just a single {Safeguard} Suicune for the potential disruptive power—and a copy of Ancient Trait Articuno for its immense potential with the power boost here.

 

The Pokémon here can actually be further diversified from the current version by replacing the non-EX Kyurem with more Type-diverse [Outrage] Dragons (such as Reshiram and Zekrom). More adaptations would have to be made though to accommodate this though, since this deck will then want to replace Dive Ball with another Ball card for best results.

 

A number of quirks surrounding this deck involve the presence of Evosoda over Dive Ball, which effectively does nothing, as Dive Ball can be used to the same effect with Wally (and potentially greater effect as a direct retrieval for Piplups). Another quirk is the addition of just 2 Wally—which might be fair to go to 3 with. However, my primary concern over this was that Wally isn't explicitly needed that much here considering a number of factors, so more just might end up going to waste. 

 

Consistency makes up a good amount of resourcing in this deck—where between N, the consistency factor, and direct retrieval—Wally doesn't have any place. A play on also Wally locks up your Supporter play for the turn, while a play on Dive Ball/Evosoda enables a double play with N, effectively helping to thin the deck, and concentrate the potency of your next draw.

 

This deck doesn't really need to put a strong emphasis getting to Empoleon anyways, as Kyurem is a very powerful Slugger that doesn't even really need to rely on the power of {Dignified Fighter} so explicitly. It's really just a nice bonus, so considering these factors, I arranged the Supporter array here to lean in the favor of the general card advantage, over the technical support of the Wally jump.

 

 

Dogs of War

 

Nam was crazy son. This was a deck I had originally thought to craft for the Standard Format in the 2015 Season, featuring M Houndoom-EX as the centerpiece powerhouse, then utilizing Shaymin-EX for the card acceleration, and diversifying its potential through [Mind Jack] Zoroark. This version of the deck now finds its place in the Expanded format, and is accompanied by a number of adaptations to suite the format change.

 

The strategy here leads with [Sol Generator] Solrock to gather Burning Energy for M Houndoom, thus enabling M Houndoom to swing out and consistently deal its maximum amount of damage with [Inferno Fang]. Hoopa-EX is provided for the quick resourcing of Houndoom and M Houndoom explicitly, then backed up with a moderate presence of Ninja Boy, to enable a powerplay that enables Hoopa-EX to be turned into a more adaptable resource (such as Zorua or Snorlax-GX). 

 

Illumise is a really creative addition to this deck, and Ms. Me Love You Longtime was included here for the Type diversity she provides (specifically against many Water Pokémon)—accompanying her disruptive potential to Confuse powerful Pokémon—and either stall for time while an offensive is prepared, or directly enable another Pokémon to swing in right away with a greater chance of landing a flawless Knock Out.

 

The 2-2 Zoroark line has been retained from the original version for the Type-diversity it adds in addition to the overall Expanded format potential it carries (as many Expanded decks fill their Benches up) I then teched the [Foul Play] Zoroark just for the offensive diversity, since [Mind Jack] can also come up very short handed when the opponent's bench is empty.

 

The Supporter array combines a mix of cards that aim to support this deck from as many different angles as possible. As [Sol Generator] leads, the last thing this deck wants to do is discard precious Special Energy to make a draw, which is why N makes up the bulk of the draw here, Steven then takes its place as the primary backup, and Professor Sycamore has been reduces to a single tech. Professor Kukui makes a nice addition to this deck with its potential to support the One-Hit KO potential of M Houndoom, providing a successful extension to the power of Muscle Band, while further compensating for the exchange of power made for the utility of Houdoom Spirit Link.

 

Two copies of Blacksmith then hope to provide some general potential as a backup to M Houdoom and the energy dependency of its attacks. However, as they are the only Fire-type Pokémon in this deck, I would question how useful they really are. Possibly this deck only needs to tech a single a Blacksmith, and could afford to replace the other copy for another Professor Sycamore, another Professor Kukui, another wheel Supporter to help reinforce the flow of the cards, or another technical Supporter such as Lysandre to add an additional powerplay to this deck's potenital.

 

 

 

Drag Queen

 

Here's the original pallet swap I made from the Dante's Inferno deck. This is a [Burning Roar] Entei deck with a deck structure that's been specially arranged to make the most out of this high risks/high profits attack. One major problem about this deck style, is that it heavily relies on starting with Entei, and at a full playset, that only generates a mediocre 47% chance. However, due to the nature of the starting Pokémon element in this game, in which the game can't proceed with one, by narrowing the Basic Pokémon base as strongly as possible, it helps to dramatically improve the success of starting with Entei (as Entei's consistency places it well within 3 out 4 odds—like a double coin flip).

 

This deck structure might be running a little hot, with an addition Basic or two than the best odds, but each card aims to be significant to the theme and overall potential of the deck. Hoopa-EX is included as a tech for the immense advantage its Ability plays in here. It's an instant 3 for 1, and helps the significantly thin the deck to improve the probable success of [Burning Roar]'s effect.

 

This deck also runs a really neat combo between Malamar-EX and Flareon-EX that can be put together instantly through Hoopa. The powerplay involves attaching a Fire energy to Malamar (triggering its {Hyper Hypnosis} Ability to put the opponent's Active Pokémon to sleep), then using Flareon's {Flare Fire} Ability to move the energy over to Flareon and empower its more reliable [Blaze Ball] attack. The disruption Malamar can help to bide time for Entei and [Burning Roar], which was the entire concept behind its place here.

 

Yveltal-EX was then later added for the sheer power of it, and Tauros-GX now finds a spot here as a last minute addition over Lugia-EX for the diversity it provides. Although Snorlax-GX seems like it could have been a great option, it was ruled out here as this deck doesn't run any Double Colorless Energy, and Snorlax could face a difficult startup when it can't get the [Burning Roar] boost. Tauros on the other hand is very adaptable, and in a high risks/high profits deck flooded with energy, that kind of startup potential is crucial.

 

This deck also features a 2-2 Pyroar line with a split between {Intimidating Mane} and {Flare Command} Pyroar. This was originally just {Flare Command} Pyroar for consistency of its Lysandre-like Ability, but was later split between {Intimidating Mane} Pyroar to provide an additional (and more definite) answer to Jolteon-EX.

 

The Supporter array attempts to diversify as best possible in support of [Burning Roar]. N takes the lead here, as a bulk draw is pretty significant in hopes of getting to Pokémon for [Burning Roar]. Maintenance is a classic staple to this deck to shuffle energy from the hand back into the deck to prime the potential of [Burning Roar] as best possible. It also works wonders with Professor Juniper, as Maintenance can help to preserve precious cards from being discarded by her effect. Steven then takes a place here in significant volume, as getting to those few and far between Dark energy can be critically important.