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.