Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Attack Command

This deck was an original pallet swap of the Dignified Fighter and USS Donald Rumsfeld decks. The strategy for this deck combines the powerful evolution line jump of Wally and Ultra Ball with the {Propagation} Exeggscute/Sky Field combo to superpower {Diving Draw} Empoleon's mighty [Attack Command].

 

Improvising a bit here, I've included Misty's Determination in the Supporter array, which hopes to benefit from the natural synergy with {Propagation}. Pokémon Fan Club also compliment this, with its potential to resource copies of Exeggscute for Ultra Ball (and effectively get them out of the way)—as well as its natural potential to proficiently resource copies of Tauros-GX and Piplup (and set a strong foundation on the Bench for a powerful follow-up).

 

N makes up the bulk draw for this deck, which attempts to be a conservative as possible given the need to preserve precious copies of the Empoleon line. This also explains the lone 2 copies of Professor Sycamore with a tech on Colress. The Empoleon line itself is dangerously shaved to provide more room to the Supporter base, and hopes to bridge off the effect of Splash Energy to provide extensions on copies of Empoleon and Empoleon BREAK to make up for this.

 

I like to tech a copy of Suicune for the {Safeguard} effect, as it's a technique I've relied on to great success from the start of my Pokémon Trading Card return. If one wanted to replace it, I'd suggest a copy of Audino-EX maybe, given the presence of Double Colorless Energy, and the synergy of [Do the Wave] with the {Propagation}/Sky Field strategy here.

 

Another questionable adaptation would be replacing a copy of Double Colorless Energy with another Basic Water Energy. For the best probable success (and longevity) for colored energy, 11 is generally the magic number that I swear by (16 if you're running Judge). So should any energy instabilities present themselves, definitely consider that adjustment to fix it.

Avatar of Woe
 

Here's a brutal deck concept I came up with, that attempts to shut the opponent down by Turn 2 through a combination of Red Card/Judge, Delinquent, and the effect of [Dark Edge] or [Astonish] to effectively strip the opponent of their entire hand and leave them with nothing. This final edit of the deck replaces Level Ball with a more proficient split between Nest Ball and Ultra Ball.

 

In the event the powerplay doesn't come together, this deck has a strong backup strategy it can rely on with M Absol and its synergy with the hand disruption provided by Judge and Red Card. Since I am so avid about beating the game clock, even under favorable conditions, I included [Team Plasma] Cofagrigus in this deck, who's Ability can be used to boost the damage of [Disaster Wing] to typical One-Hit KO ranges. 

 

The theme for this deck revolves around the legendary Magic: the Gathering card, Avatar of Woe, from the Prophecy set; an Avatar creature that revolutionized competitive potential in the game through the combination of it's immensely synergistic cost reduction effect, powerful evasive potential, and the ability to flat out destroy ANY creature in play with its legendary Activated Ability. The strategy of this deck seeks to enrapture that dark potential in contrast of its own.

 
B-52 Bomber

This is a concept deck of mine that attempts to make a turbo strategy out of [Team Plasma] Thundurus and [Team Plasma] Electrode. Max Elixir and Colress Machine boost some strong energy together, enabling a [Tunderous Noise] to fully energize in just two turns. Jolteon-EX then adds some additional tactical support to this deck that was previously missing before its release, complimented by the Slugger power of [Outrage] Zekrom, and the Ghost Ship of Tauros-GX.

 

This deck is a bit vulnerable to Fighting-type Weakness, so a copy of Weakness Policy is included alongside 2 Flash Energy. 1 Fighting Fury Belt for another Weakness Policy could be a more proficient adaptation for this however—just to say. Another possible adaptation could involve removing the tech on Professor Birch's Observations for another Professor Sycamore. This could enable a more reliable ability to powerslide for desperate copies of Colress Machine and Max Elixir in crunch time.

Baby Leviathan
 

Here's an old school deck of mine that was actually the fourth installment of the [Seafaring] Marine series decks I showcased at the start of this blog. The original version of this deck was like a mix of what's shown here, only including the utility of Random Receiver like Big Kahuna uses. In this final edit of the deck, I've added M Glalie as an alternative option to Ancient Trait Swampert for Archie's Ace in the Hole.

 

I've also adapted the Supporter array bit to something I would hope to be even more successful than the immensely successful deck structure that the original version used. The effect of Manaphy's [Last Wish] holed some strong synergy with Archie's Ace in the Hole, so what this does is add more support to help thin the hand and effectively make that play off Archie's Ace in the Hole as simply as possible.

 

The theme for this deck is about a little monster baby. The original theme mostly revolved around the aspect of a diaper change (revolving around Ancient Trait Swampert), but this final edit now includes the bonus flavor provided by Lapras-GX; who's like the baby crying, and screaming bloody murder, but then you make the silly face (represented by M Glalie)—and that does the trick for baby Manaphy, who instantly stops crying and smiles at you—as if you were the comforting presence of Mommy herself.

 
Backyard Brawlers

Here's a deck that started out featuring 4 Seismitoad-EX and 3 {Safeguard} Suicune as the headliners with Dugtrio. The strategy intended to use Item lock and Judge to ground and pound the opponent hard. This final edit of the deck replaces this strategy with a more diversified on to offset Type-disadvantage (which considering Vileplume Item lock would have made an impossible matchup).

 

The strategy for this deck involves a true Slugger-style, with each Pokémon in this deck intended to go out there and swing it out to the end. No retreating—no healing—just raw power. This does make the deck a little vulnerable to Special Conditions, but if one wanted to reinforce this deck against this some, a tactical addition of 3 Olympia could easily be implemented to increase mobility and provide a ward against Special Conditions. If I were to have made this adaptation for myself, it's a tough call, but I would have probably replaced the copy Professor Birch's Observations, a copy of Judge or N, and maybe a Basic Fighting energy for the 3 Olympia.

 

I enjoy the immense powerboost potential between the 4 copies of Professor Kukui and the tech on Giovanni's Scheme, so I wouldn't have touched that. Five copies pushes the probable success past the 50% threshold, which hopes to significantly increase the potential for this deck to pull ahead of the opponent on the damage stack, Prize exchange, and the overall game pace.

 
Ball Python

 

This is another variant in my Sceptile-EX/Forest of Giant Plants/Stage 2 Grass deck series. This was actually a deck I had envisioned long before starting the deck series, and before the release of {Serpentine Strangle} Servine as well, which now adds some significant potential to Sceptile-EX and [Unseen Claw].

 

The strategy here involves using Forest of Giant Plants to quickly evolve the Serperior line on the bench, disrupt the opponent with {Serpentine Strangle}, and effectively get the jump on the damage stack against the opponent with crushing power of Lugia and Sceptile. It's a very potent tactic for the both of them in general—while the split between them itself, further helps to provide some Type-diversity to the deck's general potential.

 

The Supporter base for this deck is a little improvised from the traditional array that I would run with this deck strategy. There's generally a significant resource dependency that needs to be accommodated for given the Stage 2 Grass line and Forest of Giant Plants; which generally best involves including more extensive draw Supporters to help quickly (and consistently) resource the bulk of those cards as they're needed throughout the game (without excessively wasting any).

 

However, with potential of Sceptile's [Sleep Poison], and the tech on Victini here, I felt the potential was available to include the disruption potential of Judge as a power utility in exchange for the common placeholder—Shauna or Professor Birch's Observation. This logic also considers the heavy presence of Pokémon Center Lady, and her natural potential to guard against Special Conditions and offset the damage stack to effectively buy additional turns to much of the same effect as {Serpentine Strangle}.

 

Pokémon Center Lady makes a strong compliment to Professor Kukui as well, further hoping to help reduce the dependency on {Serpentine Strangle}. You see, the power-boost helps Sceptile and Lugia breech One-Hit KO's faster, while Pokémon Center Lady then helps to preserve them as Active resources. A couple Herb Energy could compliment this further, but I never got the chance to evaluate the deck structure as it stands to include it myself. Judge might not even work here, or the technique might involve replacing a copy of Professor Kukui with another Professor Juniper to help make it work.

Another interesting addition would be the replacement of Victini (or a copy of Sceptile-EX) with the up-and-coming Tapu Bulu-GX. That's definitely a card that looks to have a lot of natural synergy with the {Serpentine Strangle} strategy. The Special Condition can shut down the opponent's momentum, thus enabling Tapu Bulu to smash away at the opponent with [Horn Attack] and get a jump on the damage stack while it builds up energy for its most powerful (rather costly) attacks.

 

This adaptation would make the deck more reliant on the success of {Serpentine Strangle}, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if this would further require a small adaptation to the Supporter base, which would likely include replacing the 2 copies of Judge (and a copy of Professor Kukui) with 3 copies of Shauna to provide a greater volume of in-depth resourcing.

 

   

Battletoads & Double Dragon

 

Here's an oldschool deck of mine from my original collection of decks. This was a pallet swap from the Frogger My Nig deck, that replaces Virbank City Gym with Dimension Valley, and switches its combat strategy from technical and disruptive, to brute offensive power. The suite of cards collective represent different game elements from the Battletoads Double Dragon game, including the hovercrafts, the metal pole, the juicy fly, and the big toe WHOMP finisher. 

 

At their not here just for flavor, the cards all boost synergy together as well. I found some special potential Acro Bike and Professor Kukui, so I added that combination here in the final edit. Acro Bike does really well to extend the reach of Professor Kukui's short draw providing a nice extension on its resourcing potential. Together, they create a technical 4 card draw, that can help to thin the deck, and increase the proficiency of this deck's Wheel supporters.

 

The remaining Supporter array is totally balanced in 2's, which I probably wouldn't have done if not for my spare resources. If I could have done it any way, I'd probably split N and Professor Birch's Observations in a 3-1, given the immense potential of N here with the Prize exchange strategy. The remaining Supporter would probably be fine, Teammates has explicit potential, but the needs of this deck are not complex enough to warrant additional copies. The only real outlets for Pokémon Center Lady are Gengar and Toxicroak, so Pokémon Center Lady doesn't need to do too much here either.

 

And considering all this, I'd probably leave the rest just as it is.

  

  

Bearzerk

 

This is an Ursaring Prime deck where I sought to unlock some alpha potential for Ursaring Prime with Rainbow Energy. It wasn't after long, I decided the energy hike involved forced Ursaring Prime into the Out-Fighter territory at best, so I dialed down Ursaring Prime to a 2-2 line (as a powerful follow-up Pokémon to build up on the bench).

As the Unlimited format was removed of the online venue, I wasn't able to playtest this deck much, but did my best in this final edit of the deck to optimize the strategy and potential of this deck as best possible.

 

The Eeveelutions strategy has been here from the start, so that's nothing new. It was intended to help further the offensive potential of Ursaring Prime and its [Hammer Arm] attack to breech typical One-Hit KO ranges. If you notice Espeon-GX, that however is a new addition to this deck alongside the Eeveelution. I naturally saw the potential available here with the presence of Psychic energy to include Espeon-GX a powerful offensive resource and nice compliment to the Eeveelutions strategy.
 

To accommodate for Espeon here—and the reliability of being to resource it with {Energy Evolution}—I actually had to cut back a copy of Rainbow Energy, and replace Mystery Energy with basic Psychic energy to bring the volume of basic energy up to a reasonable about to assert some probable success with {Energy Evolution} at the start of the game.

 

The rest of this deck is filled with powerful Swarmers and Sluggers, the diversity between them helps to diversify the deck's overall potential, complimented with a heavy presence from Professor Kukui to boost their power further, and Pokémon Center Lady to guard against Special Conditions and offset the damage stack against the opponent.

 

The defensive suite is another utility that's been here from the start. This was intended to further Ursaring Prime's longevity, given how HP challenged it is as a card (especially through the EX era). Parallel City is apart of this as it can add a little extra defensive power to the accessories between Hard Charm and Assault Vest. Defensive suites go really well Slugger strategies and Pokémon Center Lady, so the potential here should still be prime. Training Center then tops of the Stadium split, given its natural synergy with Espeon-GX and Ursaring Prime especially.

 

If you're alarmed by the fifth wheel addition of Paint Roller, you can remove it, but it's another card that's been apart of this deck from the start. I didn't want to remove it given the boost it adds to Stadium control (which is a very prominent game aspect), so in the final edit process, I simply boiled it down to a tech in contrast to the increased Stadium split.

I would have really liked to get another Pokémon Center Lady in here in the final edit as well, but between the two most prominent replacement options (Paint Roller and Assault Vest), I couldn't eye which was the deck could do without, because I'd consider it an experience-based decision you'd have to evaluate the general environment to discern.

 

  

Between Angels & Insects

 

"You just can't win—just can't win. And all the things you own—own you..."

 

Here's a Virbank City Gym deck that isolates the potential of the [Dark Corridor] Gengar-EX and the {Poison Point}/[Venoshock] Whirlipede line. The strategy here revolves around Poison damage, where Virbank City Gym leads as the primary accessory to the effects of {Poison Point} Venipede, Hypnotoxic Laser, and [Dark Corridor].

I had first utilized this combo with [Spinning Turn] Donphan, and given the like-potential of [Dark Corridor] to [Spinning Turn], its seemed prime for some synergy with Gengar-EX. Primarily, Venipede makes a powerful alternative starter in this deck, which can pose a heavy threat against aspiring Swarmer decks that will begin stacking up heavy Poison damage on themselves for an easy finishing blow with [Dark Corridor], [Phantom Gate], or [Venoshock], or maybe even [Blow Through].

 

In addition that, there's also the primary potential to evolve Venipede and begin dealing an additional 90 damage with [Venoshock] on a single energy. 90 damage is pretty extensive by itself, but atop the culminating Virbank City Gym Poison damage, Whirlipede can finish off very powerful Pokémon EX/GX by itself for an easy 2 for 1 Prize exchange.

The Supporter base for this deck now includes a heavy presence of Professor Kukui as an adaptation I made in the final edit here. This is intended to help compliment the power of [Dark Corridor], [Venoshock], and [Blow Through]—in order to help breech Knock Outs even faster and beat the game clock against powerful Swarmers.

 

I originally had 4 Robo Substitute here as a general Golden Rule for Gengar and [Dark Corridor]. The same was true for Hypnotoxic Laser, but that makes an easier adjustment given the prominence of Venipede and {Poison Point} as a starter, where Hypnotoxic Laser can become a redundancy.

I'd suggest trying to get back up to 4 Robo Substitute, but I'm not entirely certain what card can be adjusted for it. I'd suspect the {Poison Point} Whirlpede, as it was the most recent blind addition to the deck, that wasn't initial needed, and added to the deck with the intention to test the extent of a powerplay involving Mystery Energy, to provide an extension on the use of {Poison Point}.

 

  

Beyond the Mat

 

This is a unique Ether/Lunatone deck includes Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick as a sub-strategy to it. The theme is a throwback to the Professional Wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat, which tails the showbiz life (and private lives) of various professional wrestlers, including Mick Foley, Jake the Snake Roberts, and various others. The strategy here seeks to combine Ether/Lunatone with Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick because they're pretty intuitive strategies to one another.

 

One of the major issues to Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick, is the unreliable chaos element of the draw, which can botch a potential play on Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick entire. However, {Premonition} is a power utility for Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick, which can enable its decks to more effectively control the draw, and cycle to the top cards that won't block the hand next turn and hinder it potential. The energy acceleration further provides something reliable to fall back on, as a very powerful, and universal amplifier this deck's potential.

 

This deck further includes Misty's Determination, which holds a lot of synergy with Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick and Ether. It can thin the hand to help enable the play—or it reach deep into the deck for either card without adulterating the consistency of the hand or the deck's energy base. The shuffle that Misty's Determination can provide to the deck can also enable a second chance for a play on Ether, just the same as cards like Ultra Ball, Computer Search, and Skyla can do with 2 Lunatone on the bench.

 

The Pokémon base here incorporates somewhat of a toolbox, that originally also included Aegislash-EX, and overall has always been intended to diversify the deck's overall offensive and potential. There is also a wide array in the Weakness-types between Fighting-type Pokémon in thin deck, furthering it overall offensive and defensive diversity available.

 

M Lucario has always been intended as the prime target for Maxie's Hidden Ball Trick here, and in this final edit, sees a very powerful alternative option in the mighty [Sensitive Blade] Gallade; the throw-away wrestler who can deal easily 130 a turn, with an even more powerful {Premonition} than Lunatone for unlocking even greater potential with Ether.