Garden of Eden
Not one pair of primordial humans were created—but five pairs (Italian/Latina, then Asian, then Arabian, then Indian, then African). Each was created at the pinnacle of evolution, separated only by time, and their diversity was intended to reflect the full spectrum of God's beauty and character.
These primordial children of God lived together in peace among the "Garden of Eden", which was truly a garden—with no animals or insects—only trees and plants. The children were invested by the depth of God's reason and compassion the liberty of free-will unbound, for it is what makes each of them their own unique person. And without it—they become like a lobotomized child (stripped of who they are—with the sentiment of what they do failing to come from their own heart).
Despite this, among them was a simple command, to live up to the ideal of their creation (the purpose of their existence)—and be perfect as God (their loving parents) are perfect—perfectly intelligent, perfectly compassionate, and perfectly devoted.
God had seemingly done the impossible to take the conscious (fully stable and unbound in God's massive being) and concentrate it into this tiny organic form. But unfortunately, the complexity of this organic system can be subject to some biological overhead, which can breed instability in the conscious, and is further encompassed by chaos element, that is the conscious itself (the infinite of possibility).
Akin to this, a concept described as "the Cain" began to stir in the hearts of some of the primordial children of God. Negative emotional capacity and thoughts towards the other, secretly building up dissension in their hearts. As the Cain stirred, and the possibility of the infinite began to overtake some, it ultimately lead to up to a romantic temptation between the second primordial couple, and the first.
In this temptation, Adonai (Adam) is approached by Lilith (the primordial Asian woman of Genesis)with an invitation to consummate with her—but she turned away by him. At the same time, Gaea (Eve) is approached by Szun (Lilith's husband—and the primordial Asian man of Genesis) but instead accepts his invitation. This begets the biting of the apple, in which the two are left to their free will by the will of God, and consummate with each other; breaking the one command that God (the lovers) had bestowed upon them. This begins the fall of mankind, as the two abandon the God and the faithful children, to become fallen angels, and take up a life of hedonism everafter.
Following this romantic unfaithfulness, God has a great collapse, and begins to cry immensely over the betrayal of their beloved children. The force emitted from God's body during this emotional breakdown was so immense—it pinned everyone in their presence to the ground unable to budge—unintentionally enabling the unfaithful couple to escape far into the reaches of space.
And thus, beginning the Exodus after them, to undo all the evil they set into motion and restore order, so that mankind can return to peace amongst the presence of God (their loving parents) once again. And this begins the tale of this deck—which revisits the romantic temptation in the Garden of Eden.
This is a M Heracross deck—that originally sought to bridge off the energy acceleration of [Synthesis] Shaymin-EX to quickly energize M Heracross for consecutive One-Hit KOs with [Big Bang Horn]. For those who might be unaware, [Synthesis] Shaymin is actually faster than [Emerald Slash] Virizion for energy acceleration—if playing second and used on Turn 1. I then experimented with [Helping Hand] Illumise, which is a great card for M Heracross, but ultimately came to this Max Elixir strategy here (given its synergy with a more prominent corner stone of this deck—[Return] Tropius).
Tropius was a really amazing card from the Team Plasma era, and has been a staple in this deck from the very start. The main problem running two different starters is that you can only start with one—and the two particular cards require different deck structures built around them.
Ultimately, Tropius is a better starter than Shaymin-EX or Illumise for the Type-diversity it provides with weakness to Lightning-type (opposed to Fire-type). This provides some edge against Fire-type decks, that would be totally lost running Shaymin or Illumise. This aspect was further reinforced here by a recent addition of Tauros-GX, who acts as our fallen angels Satan and Moloch (or the faithful children of God after them), providing Type-diversity and diverse offensive potential among this deck's Pokémon.
Tropius' [Return] stacks immensely well with Pokémon Fan Club, Skyla, and Max Elixir, neting bonus card advantage in the absence of draw Supporters play and effectively helping to place a Heracross-EX on the bench and resource Max Elixir for it.
I had originally began with a 4-3 line for M Heracross, for heavy consistency could make up for a bulk of the resourcing, but has now been dialed down to just a heavy tech on M Heracross—so that it hopes to be there if you need it—yet ultimately hopes to guide this deck's potential to greener pastures (as M Heracross can be a very liable card in this deck structure).
You see, this deck doesn't include any mobility such as Float Stone, which can be troublesome when M Hercross suddenly faces some anti-EX effect. For this reason, this deck attempts to place less of an emphasis on M Heracross, to help prevent players from mindlessly guiding themselves into a dark corner.
As a new addition to this deck, [Prize Count] Virizion hopes to boast some potential as a strong follow-up to Tropius. [Prize Count] can deal a sizable amount of damage, and when following up from a couple hits by Tropius, [Prize Count] can amount to a One-Hit KO. Anti-EX can also be really troublesome, and Tropius doesn't really deal enough damage by itself, so the team between the two of them (alongside Tauros-GX) hopes to get the job done against anti-EX effects.
A strong healing suite in etched into the foundation of this deck between the cards Healing Scarf, Herb Energy, Super Potion, Gold Potion, and Pokémon Center Lady. These combined healing effects naturally stack with each other, but the three cards especially—Super Potion, Herb Energy, and Healing Scarf—boast some special synergy with one another.
Super Potion discards an energy card to heal 60 damage, which usually means having to equip an additional energy to make up for it, where Healing Scarf can chime in and recover an additional 20 damage. Make that energy an Herb Energy—and the three together can heal a total of 110 damage!
If M Heracross ever does go active, this is definitely the kind of healing power it needs to stay in the game with [Big Bang Horn]. As a backup though, this deck includes Shrine of Memories to enable M Heracross to tap into [Guard Press] and [Giga Power] as alternative attacks if it needs to.
Gather Light
Here's a unique deck that I came up with while crafting variants from the Spread Eagle deck structure. The strategy behind this deck revolves around [Gather Light] Arceus and {Rebirth} Ho-Oh-EX. The technique for this strategy involves getting as many Ho-Oh (and about 3 energy) into the discard pile on Turn 1—then using {Rebirth} to bench at least 1 Ho-Oh with 3 different energy attached to it—so that [Gather Light] can be used to collect those energy and effectively enable a One-Hit KO next turn with [Judgement Blast].
Mew-EX provides an extension on this potential at the start of the game with its {Versatile} Ability. This enables Mew to start the game in place of Arceus and use the [Gather Light]/[Judgement Blast] combo to deliver a One-Hit KO.
This deck includes a number of technical utilities to best its disadvantages. One of these includes the addition of 2 {Long-Distance Hypnosis} Munna—alongside Chaos Tower. {Long-Distance Hypnosis} can be used to put the opponent's Active Pokémon to Sleep, which potentially prevents them from attacking next turn, and can effectively disable any preventive effects from attacks (such as Jolteon-EX for example). Chaos Tower is a bracer to this, as it can be set in place to prevent this deck's Pokémon from being put to sleep by {Long-Distance Hypnosis}. This can then enable defensive maneuvers in the rare chance that both Munna come up as tails.
Parallel City enables a powerplay with Hoopa and Ho-Oh EX, enabling a crunch on the bench that can get Hoopa out of the way, and provide a reset on {Rebirth} Ho-Oh for another play on it with [Gather Light]. I would really want 3 Chaos Tower to better enable this powerplay, but it would take some playtesting that I can't do, so I'm not sure what copy (if any) can be exchanged for an additional copy of Chaos Tower.
Zekrom is included in this deck to provide some important diversity against this deck's potentially worst matchup—Yveltal-EX. Yveltal deals massive damage with its energy-based attack, and would almost always be able to Knock Out a [Gather Light] Pokémon (even with Fighting Fury Belt) before [Judgement Blast] could chime in. I had originally thought to include Emolga-EX in this deck to check against Yveltal, but Emolga's potential is significantly decreased if it doesn't start out as the opening Pokémon. And with just 2 copies of it in the deck—that's not likely to be the case when it needs to be.
[Outrage] Zekrom on the other hand makes an amazing selection for how versatile and adaptable it is. Zekrom is a better starter; it's less liable as a single prize Pokémon; it operates on low energy; it stacks immensely well with Fighting Fury Belt; and it can more effectively do to Yveltal what Yveltal would do to everyone else in this deck.
Since only 1 Ho-Oh should technically be needed for [Gather Light] to soak up enough energy for a One-Hit KO with [Judgement Blast] next turn (alongside the energy drop each turn)—this deck only includes 3 copies of Ho-Oh to spare a much space as possible. This is also one of the rare decks that explicitly benefits from running 4 Professor Juniper and 3 N (when conventionally it's the other way around). This deck can more effectively afford to purge its hand at the start of the turn to get to Battle Compressor/Ultra Ball/etc—where running 4 Professor Juniper significantly helps to secure a stronger startup for this deck.
A great powerplay for the first Battle Compressor can involve discarding all three copies of Ho-Oh to get them out of the way. Then using the second one to net three energy card—or use Ultra Ball/Computer Search/Professor Juniper to discard the three needed energy for a single {Rebirth}. Hoopa-EX also provides a special powerplay, in games where an Ultra Ball or Computer Search comes up next to a Professor Juniper. Where Hoopa can effectively be searched for an used to collect all three Ho-Oh at once, then discard them all with a Turn 1 play on Professor Juniper. Steven is intended to provide extension to diverse energy, and Skyla is intended to provide extensions on important few and far between cards (such as Chaos Tower and Parallel City).
Gen 2 Prototype
This is a creative deck concept I came up looking to create a unique deck with a Generation II theme. This deck pairs the combo of Lugia BREAK and Ho-Oh BREAK, with an energy acceleration strategy, in hopes of capturing and unleashing the power of the two Legendary Pokémon.
The strategy here leads with Victini-EX and its [Turbo Energize] attack. I had originally sought to include a 3-2 line for Lugia and Ho-Oh, in order to help get the feet on the ground at the start of the game, but later adapted this to a 2-2 line for each, in order to make way for 3 Pokémon Fan Club (which hopes to effectively increase accessibility of this deck's Pokémon overall).
Victini can get Knocked Out pretty quick without Fighting Fury Belt, which I opted out here in place of Muscle Band to better suit Lugia and Ho-Oh BREAK (since their attacks don't breach One-Hit KO levels by themselves). A pair of Enhanced Hammer are included here to help Victini at the start of teh game and stall for time when possible, but this deck also has a primary backup to this, and seeks to bounce back from a Knock Out on Victini through the heavy presence of N and Ace Trainer. These two cards effectively help to put the opponent at a card disadvantage after a Knock Out, while Lugia BREAK or Ho-Oh BREAK effectively swing in to turn the tables with a One-Hit KO of their own.
As mentioned, Muscle Band is included in this deck to reinforce their potential for this, and is backed up here with a tech on Volcanion-EX as well, whose {Steam Up} Ability can be used in their place (or in combination with Muscle Band) to breech One-Hit KO thresholds. A tech on Professor Kukui provides an additional extension on this further, and would question if this deck could benefit from an additional copy of Professor Kukui, in exchange for a copy Enhanced Hammer; or that—plus a 1-3 split between Professor Juniper and Professor Kukui (if proven to be more beneficial).
Float Stone is included in this deck to help provide mobility for Volcanion and Volcanion-EX. These are two very heavy Pokémon, that I foresaw dreadful mobility issues for, if Float Stone weren't included for them. And last but certainly not least, [Jet Blast] Aerodactyl makes a special guest appearance in this deck to further the unique flavor here alongside Twist Mountain (aka Mt. Silver).
Ghost Hunt
Here's a deck about Ghosts N Stuff. Like for example, that awkward feeling you get walking through the woods, where you feel like it's haunted, even though it's broad daylight. This is deck takes you on a Ghost Hunt, or more specifically, leads you on the hunt as a Ghost. This is a [Creep Show] Gengar/Ancient Trait Celebi deck that I had originally pitched the concept for to someone on Reddit—and eventually got around to fully piecing it together myself.
This final version of the deck headlines with a unique split between [Teeter Punch] Spinda, Ancient Trait Celebi, and [Close Encounter] Deoxys. Each one of these cards make great starters for Gengar, as their attacks can effectively enable [Creep Show] in a single attack. Between these three cards, some Type-diversity further helps to offset the troubling aspect of Type-disadvantage.
Rocky Helmet is included in this deck to instantly close the gap on a Pokémon that's able to One-Hit KO Ancient Trait Celebi. The single damage from [Sparkle Motion] stacks with the 20 damage from Rocky Helmet, effectively enabling Gengar to swing in and finish the job. Weakness Policy is like the Ouija board—that makes ghosts invincible. I figured it could be a really important card for this deck, given how severe weakness to Dark-type can be.
Gengar can be pretty frail at just 130HP, which further explains the tech on AZ and Scoop Up Cyclone here, which are intended to enable powerplays that return a heavily damage Gengar to the hand, for a starter (such as Spinda) to swing it and enable another instant KO with Gengar's [Creep Show] while it respawns on the Bench.
Teammates was originally suggested as a staple card for this deck, given how it can effectively play off a Knock Out, and instantly close up gaps to evolve a Ghastly to Gengar with Rare Candy. However, I later dialed Teammates down to a split between Wally as I felt it would provide more adaptable potential.
This deck engine in general seeks to do something different than the usual for me. The arrangement attempts to keep the draw as one-sided as possible, while netting as many cards as possible given the Stage 2 resourcing needs. I had thought about utilizing Judge and Ilima for the disruption, but feared this deck (with its immense resource needs) would suffer from it more than anything else.
I'm not sure how well this card advantage strategy itself does. But I figure one could easily just swap the consistency between N and Shauna if it didn't play out so well. Just be careful with the Teammates, as this deck won't be able to afford to wait on Teammates when it doesn't get a Gastly in its opening hand.
Ghost Man on 3rd
This is a creative concept I came up with looking to make a deck with [Shining Eyes] Azelf in it. This is a Trevenant BREAK deck that gets a really interesting partner in Jolteon-EX. This was a really spontaneous addition for me as I looked for a card to pair Trevenant BREAK with. But ultimately, there were a number of reasons behind why Jolteon appeared to be a great partner for Trevenant BREAK.
Jolteon is a powerful card by itself, that can lockdown Basic Pokémon, and is compatible with Double Colorless Energy to boot. It also retreats for free, which can enable Trevenant to easily build up on the bench, soak up the energy play each turn, for Jolteon to make a free retreat and move Trevenant in. But most importantly, Jolteon has a supreme advantage over this deck's worth possible match-up—Yveltal-EX—which basically sealed the deal that I would try to put this team together.
On the other end of the split with Jolteon is {Bide Barricade} Wobbuffet, whose a classic staple with Trevenant BREAK, and makes a great alternative starter here for the sheer potential of being able to shutdown non-Psychic type Abilities and stall the opponent's setup.
To add some general potential to the Trevenant line, I affixed this deck with a 4-2 split between Crushing Hammer and Enhanced Hammer. The energy disruption these cards provide stack immensely well with {Nervous Seed} and can help bide some crucial time for [Tree Slam] Trevenant to get a jump on the damage stack enough to overpass a powerful Pokémon.
A tech on Shrine of Memories provides a potential powerplay towards the mid-endgame with Wally, enabling a Phantump can go Active jump straight to Trevenant BREAK through a double play with Wally and [Ascension] off Shrine of Memories. Despite this being some great potential, the split here still leans in favor of Dimension Valley, because it's really important towards Wobbuffet's offensive potential. The final tech on Azelf provides a potential game-finisher after a number of Pokémon have been heavily damaged between [Tree Slam] and [Silent Fear], where a single play from the Ghost Man on 3rd sends some Pokémon packing and takes home plate for the win.
Grass on the Field
"If there's grass on the field play ball!"
Here's a unique deck of mine that seeks to utilize a custom strategy I came up with between quick attacking Fighting-type Pokémon, the mobility of Float Stone, and the healing effect of {Aroma of Gratitude} Shaymin-EX. The technique here basically involves just that. Quick hitting Fighting-type Pokémon lead the offensive, while a powerplay on Hoopa-EX loads up the bench with {Aroma of Gratitude} Shaymin. From there, Float Stone enables the Fighting-type Pokémon to freely retreat between one another while the Shaymin mass heal the heavily damaged Pokémon from the Bench.
Parallel City enables a powerplay to drop Hoopa off and get it out of the way, while Pokémon Center can quickly replace it, and effectively stack with the healing effects from {Aroma of Gratitude}. A tech on Random Receiver enables a powerplay with Korrina to call for another Supporter when the hand is empty. And the heavy presence of Pokémon Center Lady helps to guard this deck's Active Pokémon against Special Conditions, while enabling some full heal potential on the Bench with Shaymin and Pokémon Center.
There are a number of different concepts I could have went with for this deck, but I decided to include [Jet Blast] Aerodactly for the sheer volume of special qualities it provides to this deck—including its Type-diversity, quick attacking, heavy damage, energy disruption effect, and free retreat cost. The utility that Aerodactyl provides this deck more potential against anti-Basic and anti-EX effects. These are major weaknesses to this deck as it stands, so reserving a spot on the bench for Aerodactyl, and getting it out as soon as possible can be pretty important.
A variant for this deck includes replacing Aerodactyl and Old Amber for 3-3 Carbink/Carbink BREAK line and a copy of {Regi Power} Regirock-EX. Another variant involves replacing Aerodactyl and Old Amber for a 3-3 Phapy/Donphan line—and a copy of Regirock-EX—or a tech on [Safeguard]/[Energy Keeper] Carbink.
Heavygrinder
This is a deck about the legendary Metal/Electro Queen DJ Heavygrinder. This deck features a Metal/Electric combo in respects to the style of the OG herself.
The strategy behind this deck in a hybrid-[Outrage] one, that utilizes damage amplifying effects with damage-based attacks to effectively create one big Metal/Electro crowd. You got the mosh pitters, you got the crowd surfers, you got the Heavygrinder tee-shirts, and the Queen herself taking center-stage.
Fighting Fury Belt is one of the primary resources to this deck, it boosts the HP of this deck's Pokémon to help them survive the rough conditions of the crowd. Frozen City is the second main outlet, which acts as a damage amplifier to get the edge on the damage stack against the opponent while secondly acting as an enabler for Tauros-GX and [Outrage] Dragons.
This deck contains a heavy assortment of technical Supporters to reinforce this strategy. The first includes the pair of Team Flare Grunt and Xerosic, which acts as energy disruption, and furthers the edge of Frozen City against the opponent. As Tauros-GX (aka Red Bull) is the lead for this deck, this energy disruption helps Tauros better lead with [Horn Attack], while [Rage] builds up for a potential One-Hit KO. The second is the heavy presence of Pokémon Center Lady, which effectively guards against Special Conditions, to best help this deck's Pokémon to survive through the night.
Some tech additions for this deck include a 2-2 [Thunderclasp] Raichu line, a copy of Cilan, and a copy of Elesa. [Thunderclasp] stacks really good with Frozen City and the energy disruption in this deck—making for a potentially strong finisher. The tech on Cilan helps to resource particular energy, which when it comes to cards like Jolteon and Magearna, can come in really handy mid-to-endgame. Elesa makes a great play at anytime to load up this deck's Pokémon with Fighting Fury Belt, which helps protect against the cold of Frozen City, and the effects of hot cards like Lysandre.
A potential adaptation for this deck involves replacing the 2-2 Raichu line with a 2-2 {Zap Zone} Zebstrika line. Zebstrika would be like the Drum & Bass, DJ Heavygrinder is a huge Drum & Bass fan. The effect of {Zap Zone} can enable Jolteon-EX to lead more effectively, enabling is damage to bust through preventive effects. This would be a great adaptation to make alongside replacing 2 copies of Tauros—for a copy [Outrage] Zekrom and another copy of Reshiram. This helps to provide more Type-diversity to guard against Fighting-type disadvantage, but for maximum security, a copy of Pokémon Center Lady can be replaced further for another copy of Team Flare Grunt.
Hellfire Country Club
The Hellfire Club is an old Satanic cult that originated in England in the 18th Century by Philip, Duke of Wharton. The club was especially extended to, and reserved for corrupt aristocrats, who used the secret society to live outside the law, carry out Satanic rituals, commit other immoral acts together. This concept is where the Freemasons truly take their roots from, as they considered themselves a neo-Hellfire Club, secretly indulged themselves in lifestyle of hedonism and devil worship.
The strategy behind this deck is a [Hexed Flame]/Special Conditions one, that seeks to combine the power of [Hexed Flame] with the double Special Condition invoking effects of [Dancing Tentacles] and [Eerie Light]. This deck is coupled with a Virbank/Laser strategy to reinforce the potential of [Hexed Flame] if-and-when Ninetales is on its own.
The only major weakness to this deck as it stands is {Verdant Wind} Virizion and {Mystic Heart} Magearna, which can be checked against by replacing 2 Chandelure-EX for another Tentacool/Tentacruel, replacing a Level Ball for another Ultra Ball, and then replacing Dimension Valley for Silent Lab entirely. I would also suggest tech'ing just a single copy of Fighting Fury Belt and Mystery Energy with this arrangement, in exchange for basic Psychic energy, and another copy of Float Stone (to prime the mobility for Tentacruel—and better guard against Enhanced Hammer).
Help Me Beat Kaboom!
This is a deck with another Trickster Online theme. Kaboom was a sub-boss monster who patrolled the Caballa Relics Dungeon area. While chilling in Caballa Relics with shop open or something, new characters would prominently approach you inquiring if you could help them beat Kaboom—so they could pick up an easy Badge Seal he drops needed for the 2nd Job Change quest.
This deck utilizes [Explosion] Golem from the Flashfire set. It's a really powerful card, whose [Explosion] attack not only deals and immense 150 damage, but the recoil damage doesn't fully Knock Out Golem for a neat bonus. This deck further includes Protection Cube, with the intention of enabling Golem to use [Explosion] consecutively without Golem suffering any recoil damage at all.
This final edit of the deck switched up to a Carbink BREAK strategy, which fits the flavor of the deck better, and enables a quicker (more fluid) operation with Golem. Battle Compressor is further added to this, which makes a great powerplay with Strong Energy, Double Colorless Energy, and [Diamond Gift] to enable Golem to swing out and deal some 190 damage or more! Weakness Policy is included to take the edge off this deck's prominent weakness to Grass-type. It's like the hax—another concept (and prominent term) that Trickster Online players would shout in-game.
Honeymoon in Paris
Here's a deck I came up with in the 2014 Season during the Phantom Forces release. This is [Horror Note] Gourgeist deck that used [Triple Draw] to load up the hand with tons of cards fast, to quickly evolve Gourgeist and swing it in for a One-Hit KO. Gourgeist's Ability is really prime, as the 200HP enables Gourgeist to slug it out with strong very Pokémon. The straight draw tactic is heavily reinforced with Cheren, Tierno, and Roller Skates for some immense hand strengthening potential.
An addition on {Premontion} Lunatone then gives that extra card advantage before the end of the turn, which is really beneficial for getting to those very important cards in time.
This final edit of the deck includes 2 copies of Pokémon Fan Club to help resource Pumpkaboo and Lunatone. It's not as beneficial to [Horror Note] as another copy of Tierno would be, but alongside Caitlin, it hopes to put this deck a few turns ahead when it is used. Professor's Letter is a classic staple to this deck, given its combined synergy to resource crucial energy, while acting as a 2 for 1 towards the power of [Horror Note].
This deck is find of vulnerable to N, especially late game, so having an energized Kangaskhan or Deoxys on the bench is pretty important. I had originally included M Kangaskhan in this deck to help further its adaptability against this, but it was later omitted. A better replacement these days would be a Pokémon-GX, which I didn't bother adding, because I figured I would just leave it as it is.
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