Godzira Saves Christmas

Pokémon [16]

4 — Charizard EX — Power Trio Tin (XY29)
1 — Mega Charizard EX — Flashfire (108/106)

4 — Yveltal EX — XY Base Set (79/146)

1 — Lugia EX — Ancient Origins (68/98)

4 — Lunatone — Plasma Storm (73/135)
2 — Sableye — Dark Explorers (62/108)

Trainers [26]

1 — Computer Search — Boundaries Crossed (137/149)
2 — Ultra Ball — Dark Explorers (102/108)
4 — Ether — Plasma Storm (121/135)
4 — Trainers' Mail — Ancient Origins (100/98)

1 — Lysandre's Trump Card — Phantom Forces (118/119)
2 — Professor Birch's Observations — Primal Clash (159/160)
3 — Shauna — XY Base Set (127/146)
3 — N — Dark Explorers (96/108)

2 — Parallel City — BREAKthrough (145/162)

4 — Float Stone — Plasma Freeze (99/116)

Energy [18]

4 — Double Colorless Energy
9 — Dark Energy
5 — Fire Energy

MAIN STRATEGY

Charizard EX & Yveltal EX: 'Twas the night before Christmas—and Santa was nowhere to be found in the land of Nihon. Why? Because Yveltal was eating all the cookies and drinking all the milk—threatening to ruin Christmas for everyone! This calls for a state of emergency. But there was nothing the Imperial Army could do, because Yveltal was far too powerful. Only one monster could possibly stop Yveltal and save Christmas for everyone—Godzira!

Charizard and Yveltal are our two centerpieces for this deck. Both work as powerful starting Pokémon. But just like in any Godzilla movie—the enemy monster comes first here. The main strategy here involves leading with Yveltal, and then getting Charizard EX on the bench so that we can begin pumping him up with energy by using [Y Cyclone]. That would be like the cyclone Yveltal creates while he's guzzling down all the milk down and munching all the cookies.

At Christmas time, nothing is sure to make Godzilla angrier than that—because Santa normally leaves Godzilla all of the cookies and milk that he can't finish as a gift.

As a secondary option (if we have to start with Charizard EX), we'll want to use [Stoke] in hopes of scoring a huge power boost for [Wild Blaze] later. If we can't get the energy right away, we're probably going to want to retreat (as Godzilla does sometimes to bide his power). Either way, we can use Float Stone to retreat for free—and from the bench either finish powering Godzilla up—or jumping straight into our mega evolution. Once Supercharged Godzilla hits the board, it's generally going to be all downhill from there. One-hit KO—after one-hit KO.

And if by some chance they are able to knock Godzilla down (it happens sometimes), between those turns you should have plenty of time to charge up another powerful monster to finish through for the win. Which of course really just depends on what you're up against. Power lines have always been a weakness to Godzilla monsters, so if you're up against an Electric deck, you'll going to want the champion of taking high voltage to powerhouse through that.

Yveltal and Lugia are going to be out of the question for sure. And Yveltal itself has a much more technical purpose in this deck opposed to most Yveltal decks. For example, [Evil Ball] is a really strong attack—but it's not our lead attack here. Don't be alarmed. You should find that this actually works out for the best, because [Evil Ball] is actually a much better attack late in the game, against a powerful enemy Pokémon that's been loaded with energy.

Overall, I would say that the [Evil Ball] strategy is generally second class in most cases. If you have to attack twice anyways to knockout most Pokémon, why not power up some of your Benched Pokémon in the process? It's a two-for-one—while the energy shifting technically makes it a three for one by helping to spare Yveltal from other energy based attackers. This is the winning strategy here, so try not to deviate from it. Lead with [Y Cyclone] and save [Evil Ball] as your follow up later—where you'll have had lots of time to power up Yveltal EX by stuffing it like a Christmas turkey.

Lunatone & Sableye: The night of Christmas Eve—and the little boy who stays up all night waiting for Santa Claws—yet late into the night sees that there's still no presents underneath the tree.

Lunatone is a second centerpiece to this deck. For best results, you're going to want to get at least two of them on the bench so that you can double-up on the power of {Premonition} for Ether. This deck gives you a lot of options to reset the stack, in the event you don't have any energy cards at the top of it to make use of Ether. However, you're going to need a second Lunatone in play to peek the top-two cards of your deck, and put that energy in place if it comes around the second time but also slips into the second spot. That is why Lunatone is in such high volume here. The high volume enables us to make really exceptional use of the combo potential between the two cards.

Sableye is our very distant back-up resource. If you ever have to even send one out, you'll want to use [Junk Hunt] in order to put extra copies of Ether and Trainers' Mail back into your hand for some bonus gifts. Helping Santa is after all a very good deed, sure you put you somewhere on the nice list even if you've been naughty all year. You're not just helping him, you're helping all of the nice children that Santa rewards, and that's sure to score you some extra gifts just like [Junk Hunt].

Lugia EX: Our friendly cameo monster—who is here to help save Christmas. After Yveltal is defeated, Lugia uses his psychic powers to put all the milk and cookies back into their rightful place.

As our cameo monster, you can't expect to see much of Lugia EX in this deck, but it's always going to be there when you need it. Just as with M Charizard EX—a single copy helps to keep Lugia out of the way—while Ultra Ball is there to call upon his power right away if we need to. As for that power, we're going want to lean towards [Deep Hurricane] as strongly a possible. It's the main reason Lugia EX is in this deck. The ability to thrash our opponent's troublesome Stadium cards (like Virbank City Gym—where they don't even believe in Godzilla or Christmas) is a really great power to have on reserve for ourselves.

Lugia can also breathe fire in this deck. And cast a shadow so strong, it eclipses all the lights in total darkness. So feel free to ask him for some hot chocolate—or some help with putting your children to bed on Christmas Eve. Lugia is a miracle worker in ways. Let him work a Christmas miracle for you.

Computer Search: This would be the city going crazy. First from all those damaged power lines creating power surges—then from the other half of the nation jamming up the internet looking for information and updates on Santa's arrival or not.

Computer Search is a really great backup to Ultra Ball mostly. With only one copy of M Charizard (and only two copies of Ultra Ball), it's definitely helpful to have some extra potential to back that up. It can also be used to get to Lysandre's Trump Card right away, thus preventing it from getting discarded by [Wild Blaze] when Supercharged Godzilla begins on a rampage. Getting you to Supporters is yet another great use for Computer Search in this deck. Even if Santa isn't going to make it through this year, you can at least spend Christmas with your loved ones. After all, that's what the holidays are supposed to be about more than anything else—enjoying the company of your loved ones—with peace on Earth and goodwill towards men (the true spirit of Christmas).

Ether: When you gotta supercharge the atomic breath. The people of Nihon also had this clever idea of pitching all their alcohol to the monster. So that Yveltal would get drunk and go home—and Godzilla could beat him with Drunken Boxing. It was actually pretty clever—and effective. Which could even be an understatement if compared to how effective Ether can be in this deck. Lunatone and {Premonition} are an extremely powerful combo, which can enable us to play second, and attack with any of our Pokémon EX on turn one!

From there extra copies of Ether can be used to further supercharge our Pokémon—and light up board as thought the entire city was decorated in Christmas lights. Ether is a card that stacks perfectly with our energy-based attackers, and is also essential to getting M Charizard quickly powered up to the immense five energy that he needs for [Wild Blaze].

Alongside Double Colorless Energy, Ether, and [Y Cyclone]—you can be attacking with M Charizard by no later than turn three—which is lightning fast for a card as restrictive as that one. This potential speaks volumes for the power of Ether. Which will probably sell like crazy next Christmas season—if Ether happens to be what saves Christmas for everyone this year.

Trainers' Mail & Ultra Ball: All of the chimneys that Santa has yet to go down—and the presents that have yet to be delivered to all the good little children of Nihon. These two are utility cards that we use to bring the contents of the deck together. We basically only need the success of Ether (and maybe a little help from Float Stone) to win the game. And at its best, that's what Trainers' Mail does here—it's a powerful catalyst to the power of Ether and {Premonition}.

At first, Trainers' Mail can be used to reach through your deck (like letters to Santa) in hopes of getting just what you're looking for. Then, it can also be used to reset the deck, thus giving you a second chance to make the nice list if there wasn't an energy card sitting at the top the first time. As with the flip of a coin, a second chance will tend to prove itself immensely successful—and will generally guarantee you the energy card that you're looking for on the second time around.

Keep in mind—that you will need at least two Lunatone on the bench to do this. But that doesn't mean you should limit yourself to only two copies—more is definitely better—since it allows you to continuously check your deck after multiple resets with Trainers' Mail, Supporters, or otherwise.

As for Ultra Ball, making good use of it here is much like Christmas presents themselves. You can open them right away, but that's just likely to spoil the spirit of things. We only have two copies in this deck, and you're definitely going to need one to get to M Charizard EX most of the time. So your best move is usually going to be saving those Ultra Ball for the big moment so that you don't miss out on it.

We do have a little extra space to play with, since we have Computer Search to back us up, but it's definitely bad strategy to cop-out that everytime—simply because that backup support is always there. Doing that can actually end up forcing us to waste Computer Search on something below it's greatest potential. Ultra Ball is here for a reason (to spare us from that) so let it be made use of it for what it's there for. Much like those clothes (or other odd gifts) that you might get from friends or family. Everything has its use. So don't despair—just make the best of it.

Float Stone: This would be the coal. Yveltal definitely gets the coal for almost ruining Christmas for everyone. Float Stone can also be the moonstone (that goes with Lunatone)—as well as the meteorite that goes with Godzilla (to supercharge his powers).

A really great technique with Float Stone here involves using it across various Pokémon to create an HP cache between them all. By continuously retreating for free—it can enables us to absorb a large amount of damage between various Pokémon without ever suffering a single KO. As well as enabling us to come back around with our most powerful attacks without having to wait. Given their naturally elevated HP, this technique works especially well with Pokémon EX.

And with the exception of Lysandre (as well as few other technical effects)—this technique can be used to set your opponent at an immense uphill battle—that they simply won't be able to clear alongside all that offensive power pushing them back like the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Professor Birch's Observations & Lysandre's Trump Card: With all the cookies and milk restored, Santa can now deliver all the gifts to the all the nice people of Nihon. But time is of the essence, so Santa has to hustle if he wants to get the job done. That's when Santa realizes he's going to have to pull out of the heavy weapons if he wants to get all the presents to everyone in time.

The big guns. That would be Lysandre's Trump Card—an Acme Deluxe Present Shooting Machine. It shoots the presents all across Nihon, which fall perfectly down the shoot, and snug under each and every Christmas tree. Santa Claus has had lots of practice with this machine to ensure his success in the event of just such a crisis. And with all the presents perfectly in place when the smoke clears—that experience has clearly proven itself.

With all the Christmas presents quickly delivered, Santa then takes a sample tray of cookies (with a carton of milk)—and kindly leaves the rest for Godzilla—and all the lovely people of Nihon.

Professor Birch's Observations is pretty much here as a catalyst to N. With the crazy power of Yveltal EX and Ether, we can start picking up prize cards really fast, which means that N can quickly turn into more of a liability in this deck. To cover for this, N's numbers have been dialed down, and a bleed has been created between Shauna and Professor Birch's Observations. This aims to gives us a higher range of potential to lean on if-or-when the prize cards quickly pick up—and thus put N's potential against our favor.

Even as the game progresses, getting as many cards as possible from your draws with this deck will remain pretty important. Those crucial copies of Ether and Trainers' Mail are going to narrow down as we make use of them—furthering the distance between each copy as the game progresses.

For this reason, you're going to want to save Professor Birch's Observations for later in the game. Since his greatest potential isn't promised, we'll want to lean towards the more promising ranges first to put as many definite cards in our hand as possible. Which in turn should help this deck make use of various resources that thin its contents out—thus concentrating what's left.

And that is why we'll always want to save Professor Birch's Observations for when this deck is thinnest. The content will be spread further apart, yet to somewhat of a much more concentrated degree—where the both the higher and lower ranges will have some support to them.

Lysandre's Trump Card is something like an ace card of itself. Its main purpose is to protect us from decking ourselves with [Wild Blaze]. But if you've got the potential to spare—you can use it as a deck reset to help make use of Ether. Lysandre's Trump Card can also be used to sabotage the setup for [Intelligence Gathering] and [Night March] decks. Those decks tend to run their course really quickly, and drain themselves out of cards in their hands—so that a well-timed Lysandre's Trump Card can leave those decks out in the open where Godzilla alone can stomp them all like bugs.

N, Shauna, & Parallel City: "Christmas is saved! Let's go eat sushi or something." These cards represent all the nice boys and girls on Christmas day—and the land of Nihon itself fully restored to perfect condition (thanks to Lugia—who also used his psychic power to fix everything better than it was).

Parallel City is a powerful utility card here. But it's present here in low numbers because this deck doesn't explicitly benefit from Stadium cards. That room needs to be reserved for our more prominent resources (like Ether and Trainers' Mail). Two copies of Parallel City can still work wonders for what we can do with it. It's a great ace against bench loading decks—yet on the reverse side can be used to limit our own bench space—so that we can drop off heavily damaged Pokémon that we might have cached on the bench (thus preventing them from being KO'd by bench punchers or the effects like Lysandre).

From there, Lysandre's Trump Card can even put those cards back into our deck, so we can put them back onto the bench refreshed entirely. It's some astrayed potential—but it's possible.

Now, since we only have two copies of Parallel City in this deck, you're definitely going to want to save them until you can use one to ace out an opponent's Stadium card. We won't be able to compete against decks that thrive on Stadium cards (and thus are loaded with them)—so the best we can do is not to waste those aces we do have (throwing them out too promptly only to get aced ourselves).

Next, N and Shauna make up the bulk of our drawing power. There is an even split between the two, because this deck would more likely suffer with those cards at any other numbers. For best results with Ether, getting as many cards as possible early in the game is very important. There are more than a few resources involved with this, and we need them all together to make the magic happen.

Especially when it comes to the reset option, because the first time has a decent chance to fail, and getting that energy from Ether on the first turn is very crucial to our immediate success. For this reason, that one extra card that N provides over Shauna at the start of the game can make a world of difference for this. And if N were present in any lower numbers, we wouldn't nearly have as fair a chance to tap into that potential. There are significant drawbacks to both cards, and that is why we have a medium balanced range between the two (in order to even out the liability on both ends).

We've got about two turns to make the best use N (given how it usually takes two attacks before we KO our first Pokémon)—and that is we want to lean towards N as strongly as possible at the start of the game. Keep in mind that it'll also rake your opponent of any cards they search for and reserve for themselves (which is a nice added benefit). And not only that, but given the sheer volume of this deck's power, it shouldn't even hurt you to put cards into your opponent's hand (if they've happened to play theirs out). Through the momentum of Ether, Lunatone, and Trainers' Mail, you should still be able to pull out several turns ahead of your opponent.

Last we have Shauna, which is our second primary Supporter, and continues the wheel power here since this deck can't afford to excessively discard anything. Whatever we can afford to discard needs to be done so through Ultra Ball and Computer Search, yet those spare resources could likely not even be available to if discarded due to the effects of Supporters like Professor Juniper.

Shauna is a much better caregiver here. She will get us all kinds of gifts—without ever taking anything away from us. That kind of support is really important for such resource dependent deck, and Shauna will even get more effective as we tear through the contents of our deck like Christmas presents. So let's not be too shy to cuddle up with her. Enjoy the warmth and Christmas cheer that she brings. Shauna is sure to save Christmas in her own special way. Bringing us something far more precious than presents—tender love and care (the true Spirit of Christmas).

Celestial Roar

Pokémon [10]

2 — Hoopa EX — Ancient Origins (36/98)
4 — Rayquaza EX — Dragons Exalted (85/124)

4 — Audino — Boundaries Crossed (126/149)

Trainers [22]

1 — Computer Search — Boundaries Crossed (137/149)
3 — VS Seeker — Roaring Skies (110/108)
4 — Pokédex — Black & White (98/114)
4 — Energy Recycler — Ancient Origins (72/98)

2 — Pokémon Center Lady — Flashfire (105/106)
2 — Pokémon Fan Club — Flashfire (106/106)
2 — Professor Juniper — Plasma Freeze (116/116)
2 — Skyla — Boundaries Crossed (134/149)
2 — Skyla — Boundaries Crossed (149/149)

Energy [28]

14 — Fire Energy
14 — Electric Energy

MAIN STRATEGY

Hoopa EX & Rayquaza EX: Our lovers—these two about to have a stormy make-out session here. Rayquaza EX is the centerpiece of this deck. And among the contents of the game, it's one the most powerful Pokémon EX cards of all time! Given this potential, my goal was to find the rhythm that unlock the ultimate power of Rayquaza EX (the rhythm of love)—which appeared to lie within the power of [Celestial Roar]; the catalyst which powers the immense potential of [Dragon Burst].

Since both attacks are very energy demanding, the first aspect of this potential had to involve incorporating an elevated measure of energy. Simply put, there could be no other way of seeing any great potential from [Celestial Roar] without shaping the deck's energy structure suite it. Originally starting at 32—the number of energy in this deck has been dialed down to 28 here—in order to sharpen the deck structure and actually increase its proficiency in more technical situations.

Somewhat of a less is more principal, it still enables us to follow through with the main strategy of the deck. Which involves always playing second—and attacking [Celestial Roar] to gather energy so that we can attack with [Dragon Burst] next turn for a one-hit KO against virtually anything.

The entire deck structure has been built to suite this operation (including Hoopa EX) whom has all kinds of passionate fire bottle up inside to put behind this kiss. Hoopa's ability is really amazing for this deck, because it enables us to filter out every existing copy of Rayquaza EX and get them out of our way for [Celestial Roar]. This in turn increases the potency of available energy for that attack. Really, really important here—and well worth the space that Hoopa EX might be taking up.

To some lesser potential, Hoopa can make a great wall to stall for time while you power up for another [Dragon Burst]. Once Rayquaza's momentum gets going—it gets really hard to stop! So if all you need for that is a little time—that's not asking much of Hoopa EX. Hoopa is here to deliver the goods—whatever that might be. Your greatest heart's desire—just let it be known and it can be yours.

Audino: Our neighbors. They're not nosey. Let's just call them curious. Audino here is high volume to support our lead Pokémon against troublesome Special Conditions and odd ends of damage. Both can be momentum breaking factors against a deck that thrives on keeping a passionate momentum. {Busybody} helps keep the fire alive. It's an exciting way to take the edge off wondering what to do next. [Hip Bump] can also be used to much success in the event you have to stall for time, and creates a possible ticket out of tight situations against cards like {Safeguard} Suicune & Sigilyph. Those cards are generally a weakness for this deck—where something is a lot better than nothing.

It's a bit of a stall to power up Audino for [Hip Bump] here, but in the end can pay off big time when it comes to buying us several more turns to power up Rayquaza EX for a one-hit KO [Dragon Burst]. For this reason, it can be good technique to place your first Audino on the bench, and start attaching energy to it right away—so that you can have [Hip Bump] there to back you up in a tense situation.

Computer Search: Our entertainment system—this provides the slow jams we need to make it a special night. It also has a visualizer—but we're just going to keep that off (it would spoil the mood). Computer Search gets us in tune with whatever we might need—whenever we might need it. For a deck like this (which runs so strictly on time and resources)—Computer Search is miracle worker.

Most prominently, you'll want to use Computer Search early in the game to get you a copy of Pokémon Fan Club. While secondly, you'll probably want to use it as extra access to Pokédex—a very important card in this deck for tuning the power of [Celestial Roar] in our favor. Anything else you might need more importantly (such as a late game Vs Seeker—to return the power of your Supporters to your hand) should be a special case that you know you need more when you need it. Just keep in mind that the options mentioned here are among Computer Search's greatest potential.

Pokédex, Energy Recycler, & VS Seeker: Our ambient lights in the home—and the remote we use to control them and set the mood. Next we have our sparkling drinks—and a toast to good health (because our drinks are non-alcoholic). These three cards stabilize the deck structure so that Hoopa and Rayquaza can get intimate without any interruptions.

Pokédex is probably the most prominent of the three. It's our enabler for [Celestial Roar]—which can be used to get the maximum benefit of three whole energy with its effect. We can then place the next card we want to draw in the forth spot, thus increasing our access to the spare resources we have here.

Energy Recycler is the mid-to-late game card we use to recharge the potency of our deck's contents and increase the blind power of [Celestial Roar] when we don't have Pokédex to use. It's like an extension in ways, that works really well—given how at five cards at a time—Energy Recycler is going to increase the consistency of our deck's energy base by up to 12% each time. This is good for a number of things, which includes setting more space between our non-energy cards, to lessen the chance that they get shuffled to the top and then discarded from the effects of [Celestial Roar].

VS Seeker is the universal extension to the power of our Supporters. To suite the energy demands, the contents of the deck have been concentrated as strongly as possible. When it comes to Supporters, this technique involves sparer numbers, which provides a touch of each and their unique power. Alongside this, the addition of VS Seeker provides us with a greater extension on the unique power of each Supporter, whose potential would be otherwise unavailable to us in any higher volume.

Some of our Supporters here in particular serve an immensely important role here (such as Skyla). Where despite already being present in high volume—the ability to further extend upon Skyla's retrieval power is sure to help dramatically stabilize the flow of the cards here. The contents of this deck are very scattered, and can get worse over time. Where Skyla is our primary instant solution to fulfill whatever our needs might be. And with that, VS Seeker becomes an instant solution that grants us additional on-demand copies of Skyla when we afford to wait for one.

Other Supporters in this deck have a much greater potential available to them, yet due to the concentrated numbers see that potential hindered. We simply don't have the space to present them in any higher volume than they're already present, because the deck structure is so compact. Pokémon Center Lady is a great example of this—whose healing power is essential to any deck that revolves around the staying power of a single Pokémon. Getting damage off Rayquaza EX is generally going to be a make or break aspect of the game against more aggressive decks, where only two copies of Pokémon Center Lady can be insignificant to keep pace with the game. However, VS Seeker give us a strong extension on Pokémon Center Lady—which can enable us to keep our momentum with Rayquaza EX nearly unstoppable.

It was pretty much a definite must-have for this deck for so many reasons. Especially given how VS Seeker works so intuitively as a check and balance against the blind consequences of [Celestial Roar], when its effect discards one of our important Supporters from the top of our deck. Being an extension to discard pile is also perfect compliment to the deck structure itself, which was probably the greatest bit of potential when considering VS Seeker as the best selection for this deck. Toast to greatness—because that's what the golden essence of this card provides. Purity and greatness.

Skyla & Professor Juniper: When we turn the lights down low to set the mood—then stretch over to make the first move. Skyla has already been covered pretty extensively for the little that it does here. There's not much more to it. Skyla is primarily our extension to Pokédex—which is one of the most important cards in this deck. Skyla acts as four on-demand copies of Pokédex, which is generally what you're going to be looking for with her.

Pokédex not only enables us to get 100% our of [Celestial Roar], it generally doubles as direct access to another Supporter or Item card setting at the top of the deck (which we place in the fourth slot to draw it next turn). This doubles up Skyla's card advantage potential, hyper-accelerating the flow the cards. And that's primarily why this is the move you're going to want to make with Skyla most of the time. If you happen to need anything else more prominently, that will take precedence by default. Yet for best results, try to keep Skyla's focus on Pokédex as much as possible. It's the game-winning move.

Two copies of Professor Juniper act as an emergency boost if-and-when we might desperately need it. Without Professor Juniper, this deck can get caught up in being out of cards—with no way of drawing any either. This can be a critical drawback when all that's separating you from a one-hit KO with [Dragon Burst] is a single energy—yet there's no possible way of getting to that energy. And that's what Professor Juniper covers here—while cards like Energy Recycler and VS Seeker cover the potential liability of Professor Juniper discarding any of our precious resources in the process. It's definitely another must-have for the contrast it provides here (a depth that's sure to always take us straight to the action).

Pokémon Center Lady & Pokémon Fan Club: Because one thing leads to another—so now we spend our romantic evenings doing more responsible activities. Pokémon Fan Club is a really important utility for this deck, yet is offset by two copies of Hoopa EX (which help lessen the dependency on Pokémon Fan Club)—since Hoopa EX (alongside a copy of Audino) is exactly the card you're going to be looking for with Pokémon Fan Club. The two work very intuitively with one another, where in a single play, you can filter out nearly every Pokémon from this deck.

Extra copies of Pokémon Fan Club can then be used to grab additional copies of Audino. Which we can use to rebound against Special Conditions and odd ends of damage—also thinning the deck by two more cards and increasing the power of Pokédex and [Celestial Roar] even further. At only three cards, the range on that effect is rather limited—while the consistency of non-energy cards can actually be a little problematic for us at times here (even with the elevated energy base). So the potential that this combo holds to increase the concentration of energy in our deck by nearly 20% (in a single go) definitely makes a huge difference!

This combo brings the two really close together for some hot action. And so long as the results of it doesn't tear us apart—the action should be well worth it.

Doragonraida

Pokémon [18]

2 — Giratina EX — Dragons Exalted (124/124)
2 — Giratina EX — Ancient Origins (57/98)

2 — Latias EX — Plasma Freeze (85/116)

1 — Hydreigon EX — Roaring Skies (103/108)

3 — Audino — Boundaries Crossed (126/149)

4 — Swablu — Ancient Origins (24/98)
2 — Altaria — Dragons Exalted (84/124)
2 — Altaria — Boundaries Crossed (152/149)

Trainers [25]

2 — Enhanced Hammer — Primal Clash (162/160)
2 — Red Card — XY Base Set (124/146)
4 — Level Ball — Ancient Origins (76/98)

2 — Judge — BREAKthrough (143/162)
2 — Shauna — XY Base Set (127/146)
3 — N — Dark Explorers (96/108)
3 — Professor Birch's Observations — Primal Clash (159/160)

3 — Fairy Garden — XY Base Set (117/146)

1— Life Dew — Plasma Freeze (107/116)
3— Head Ringer — Phantom Forces (97/119)

Energy [17]

4 — Double Dragon Energy — Roaring Skies (97/108)
4 — Blend Energy — Roaring Skies (117/124)
4 — Prism Energy — Next Destinies (93/99)
2 — Rainbow Energy — XY Base Set (131/146)
3 — Double Colorless Energy

MAIN STRATEGY

Giratina EX: This is our dragon—xxSWEETYxx—and we want to ride her into victory. Since the release of Roaring Skies, [Shred] Giratina has been a superpower card. Double Dragon Energy enables us to start dealing 90 damage extremely fast. And with just two Altaria on the bench, that damage can quickly climb to 130 (enough to KO a baby Yveltal or Xerneas in one hit).

Originally, this was the only Giratina card in this deck (and the centerpiece of this deck itself). It was present in high volume and ruled the Active Pokémon spot with its crushing power. However, in the re-development process to perfect this deck, I slid a copy aside to make room for two copies of the {Renegade Pulse} Giratina, from Ancient Origins. It's a bit of a steeper climb to begin attacking, yet this Giratina EX offers some great tactical contrast with the power of its two effects.

Mega Evolutions have been pretty prominent on the scene since there introduction. So being able to stop them cold in their tracks with {Renegade Pulse} is worth all the space we've made for it. It's a much stronger strategy to handle Mega Pokémon opposed to trying to beat them with the raw power of [Shred] Giratina alone. That is an extremely powerful card—yet my logic is like this. It's so powerful—that one should be enough. And if it's not enough, you have to be better off with something more tactical to back you up. Well, {Renegade Pulse} Giratina is just that. It's a perfect contrast to our original Giratina EX—given the unique tactical edge it provides for our defense.

[Chaos Wheel] itself dealsa heavy 100 damage, which is enough to KO lots of things in one hit (and most everything else in just two). [Chaos Wheel] is also going to lock our opponents down from playing some of their most prominent content. This can be crushing at any time in the game—yet I would say that late-game scene sees greater potential for this. For this reason, it's best to keep {Renegade Pulse} Giratina on the bench as our strong reserve. If we need it right away, we can send it out. Yet the four energy climb on [Chaos Wheel] can be too easily derailed for comfort.

That is why [Shred] Giratina should be our lead between the two. It boasts more raw power, the damage of [Shred] can overrides effects and abilities—while at only three energy to attack—it's also a lot easier to recover from if we happen to get derailed by something like [Enhanced Hammer].

[Shred] is also our lead attack for Giratina as well, so stick to your guns while this Pokémon is active. [Dragon Pulse] is like your bomb—don't waste them. If you have to attack twice anyways to knock out a Pokémon, there's no reason not to use [Shred]. If you spam [Dragon Pulse], you can end up wasting precious cards that will get discarded from the top your deck—so reserve this attack for one-hit KOs. Together, the two attacks boast some amazing power—and that is why this Giratina is still the centerpiece of this deck by far.

xxSWEETYxx is a beautiful & powerful dragon. Give her all the attention you can. This dragon can make all of your riding dreams come true if you give her the attention she needs.

Latias EX & Hydreigon EX: This is us riding the dragon. It's really exciting trying to hold on as she zooms back and forth all over the place. Akin to the theme of this deck, these two are a constellation to our lead Pokémon. Each of them reinforces the technical advantage that their constellation pair provides. This in turn doubles up on the raw power and tactical prowess that this deck commands.

In this constellation, Latias EX and the defensive power of {Bright Dawn} reinforces the defensive power of Giratina & {Renegade Pulse} to stop the advance of certain Pokémon cold where they stand. Latias EX even boasts a little more power than Giratina as well, given how {Bright Dawn} revolves around Pokémon with abilities (rather than Mega Pokémon).

Abilities are an even more prominent attribute in the game, and that means Latias EX is going to be able to stop some of the most powerful cards dead in their tracks. Cards like {Rush In} Keldeo EX, {Verdant Wind} Virizion, and even {Safeguard} Suicune. Cards like Suicune would be a predator to Latias EX, yet this scenario flips around the other way entirely here. Not only does Latias EX stop Suicune instead—but [Barrier Break] can rip through Suicune's {Safeguard} ability as well (damaging what should normally be an untouchable Pokémon).

It's such an amazing card—that adds so much power to our deck. With nearly perfect offensive and defensive potential, it's about as close to riding a real dragon as it gets.

Hydreigon just the same—is here to add power. But not for the tactical power of {Dragon Road}—for the raw power of [Shred]. This Pokémon adds another heavy unstoppable attacker to our offensive line-up. And it's the very reason why I have Hydreigon EX in this deck over some of the other options that were available. The power of [Shred] is simply unsurpassable. And when it comes to unstoppable power like this—you can never have too much. That's what makes Hydreigon the greatest selection here among all other options.

{Dragon Road} is a really nice bonus too. It give us a back up a on the moving power of Fairy Garden. Which is another one of those aspects of such importance—there's almost no such thing as having too much of it. Hydreigon EX is truly like riding a hydra dragon Ferrari—given how it provides such a diversity of power, speed, and handling—for our riding pleasure.

Altaria & Audino: Altaria is like a dragon ride for the kids. It's goes up and down—and weeeeee! We're too big to ride this dragon, so we just watch like Audino. This pair of Pokémon continues reinforcing the raw and tactical power of this deck through constellations.

Altaria is like a second centerpiece—and gives us a background task to accomplish while we feed our dragons energy. {Fight Song} increases the power of our dragon's attacks by 20 damage each—so we want to get all of our little Swablu on the bench—so they have some fun too riding Altaria. Since this is a priority of ours, Level Ball has been placed here in high volume to help out.

You see—{Fight Song} can provide us so much power—that it makes Altaria a main resource in the deck by default. And that's why it's in our best interests to build the deck structure with an emphasis on supporting this Pokémon as a main resource. And that's what Level Ball is for—it acts as four on-demand copies of either card. This is one of the greatest uses for Level Ball in the game.

It's like the Love Up. That's when the love we have for someone levels up—because they treat us so good. The method for using Level Ball is going to involve focusing your attention on Swablu first, then shifting over to Altaria once you've got at least two of them on the bench. This deck provides a lot of wheel power, where Level Ball helps to increase the power of our Supporters, by thinning the deck if we focus its potential on cards that we can put to use right away (such as Swablu).

From there, our copies of Altaria will come closer together naturally, while left-over copies of Level Ball can be used as on-demand copies of Altaria if we don't draw into one. If you try to go one for one, that's only to hold you back, because you won't be able to evolve your Swablu to Altaria right away. That bench time is very important to the flow of the cards. So for best results, focus Level Ball's attention on Swablu with the method I've explained here.

Audino works as our assistant caregiver here in the usual ways. As a Basic Pokémon, Audino provides some cover for the opening spot—helping to reduce the trouble of starting with Swablu. [Hip Bump] can be used to stall for time as always, yet this offensive potential shouldn't be something you have to exercise very often in this deck. Our Double Colorless Energy are a rather precious resource to our main dragon. So much so, that we want to put an emphasis on desperately saving them for xxSWEETYxx. Sparing one for an Audino shouldn't be too bad—but not one more.

Audino is more of a tactical resource in this deck. Where the offensive power of our dragon Pokémon takes such precedence, that Audino shouldn't even have the opportunity to be of much use for anything else. Save them in your hand, or shuffle them back into your deck for later. What we want to do here is reserve the power of {Budybody} to save our dragons from Special Conditions. Audino provides the contrast we need to cover this short-range weakness of this deck. And it's your only ticket out of troublesome conditions like Asleep, Poisoned, and Paralyzed—so hang on to them for dear life to keep your dragons from getting hijacked like that.

Enhanced Hammer, Red Card, & Judge: At first glance, you might think that these cards represent the justice system and we're in big trouble. But nope—these cards represent us. We are justice.  Because we have a dragon, the golden hammer of Thor, and we can throw kinetic cards like Gambit. You better watch your ass. Because if you think you can escape justice, we're coming for yours next.

This deck heavily relies on the power of Pokémon EX, and that makes it rather vulnerable when it comes to Prize cards. In addition to that, our Pokémon EX heavily rely on Special Energy cards, which furthers our vulnerability to being derailed by Special Energy removal. This dependency also creates a lapse of at least two turns before our dragons are initially ready to go. And so, in addition to this deck always wanting to play first for the energy lead—that's what these tactical weapons are all about. They're intended to oppress our opponent's resources and break their pace so that we can strongly overtake them once our dragons are ready to roll.

Enhanced Hammer should be used right away to break our opponent's energy pace, while you'll want to generally keep your Red Card on reserve to help balance the short end of your Supporters. Red Card makes an excellent compliment to the wheel Supporters we have here, since it can take away from any advantage they might gain from cards like N—while evening the scale for cards like Shauna, as well as the short end of Professor Birch's Observations.

As for Judge, it's a really great compliment to Red Card itself. It's like Red Card on a stick—as some might say. It's a wheel supporter than doubles as two additional copies of Red Card—putting more of that power in our hands without totally taking away from our own card advantage.

We've only got two though, so try not waste them. Save them for later in the game unless your opponent searches for something important, or their hand is dangerously high. Judge can pose as a liability early on in the game (due to the short range of the draw we get)—so try to filter out your decks a much as possible before you use them—and lean towards Red Card in the meantime. It's an expendable Item Card that takes nothing away from us by using one. I'm not saying to waste them either, but keep in mind that Judge is here to back us up on this, so don't be timid when it comes to throwing the Red Card down. Lay it down—and the hammers too—and let there be justice for all!

Professor Birch's Observations, Shauna, & N: Professor Birch's Observations would be like the news reporters running all over town—collecting eyewitness reports of a flying Ghost Rider on a dragon. Shauna would be like our girlfriend—she wants to rides the dragon. And that would make us N—we want to take her on the wildest ride of her life.

Since this deck is so concentrated, and doesn't have many spare resources, the Supporter spread here relies exclusively on wheel cards to spare our resources from being lost to discard. This is a deck that aims to thin itself out very well—and very quickly (where the power of wheel Supporters can thrive). The technique for using this blend of Supporter involves channeling the ones with highest draw range first (in order to amass as many cards as we can to get as much as we can into play). This is going to concentrate our deck, and help to increase the potency of our lower range wheel Supporters (detracting from the chance we get short-handed by them when we use them).

If you use them early on in the game (before the deck has been thinned out), then the chance of redundancy in your draw is going to be very high—and you're very likely to draw into overlapping content rather than the cards you're looking for. So stick to the Supporters that have the highest draw ranges first, and save the other ones cover the difference later.

This would mean playing N early in the game, Shauna through the mid-game, and then save Professor Birch's Observations for the late-game scene. If you're feeling lucky, you can trying play Professor Birch's Observations through the mid-game instead. You should have Red Card and Judge there to back you up on the short-end—so put that fatty to work. He's like a dragon in ways. And I guess if you're comfortable with yourself, you can ride him to Shauna, and then Shauna to victory! As her boyfriend, that's of course the dragon we want to ride most of all.

Head Ringer, Life Dew, & Fairy Garden: Head Ringer is like the bad ass tunes we jam while riding the dragon. Everything is better with good music—and Head Ringer brings the noise like the Skull Candy Smokin' Buds 2 (which are some really badass headphones). Head Ringer is another tactical utility help control the pace of the game in our favor. I opted for this Pokémon Tool card over the raw power of Muscle Band, because the potential advantage it provides is far superior to suite the needs of this deck. Losing a turn to Head Ringer is going to set our opponents back a more than the additional 20 damage from Muscle Band would set us ahead.

Not only does Head Ringer potentially waste an energy of our opponent's, it can spare our dragons from damage when our opponent's can't attack, as well as buy us the turn we need to fully energize our dragon. Head Ringer also prevents our opponents from using their own Tool cards (such as Spirit Links), and all these benefactors together are what make Head Ringer the superior choice as far as I can tell. Power is great—and a concentration of power can be really devastating—but tactical contrast reigns supreme when you've already got as much power we do here. We have 70, 80, and 90 damage [Shred] attacks—as well as multiple copies of {Fight Song}. Alongside the vulnerabilities we have, what we need in a Tool card is some contrast to that power. Contrast is going to cover our weakness, and that's going to enable us to exercise the power we have to its greatest potential without disruption.

Life Dew is like the magic potion. Because having a dragon like automatically makes us a wizard or something. And wizards have to have magic potions. So like—here it is. This deck solely relies on the power of Pokémon EX, which again are a huge liability when it comes to Prize cards. For this reason, I felt like this deck absolutely needed Life Dew to ease the tension of that aspect. In a deck full of Pokémon EX, that kind of potential is unmatched by anything else. And that's what makes it the best Ace Spec card for this deck—hands down. So just chug it. It's like Red Bull. It gives you wings.

Fairy Garden would be the resting place for our dragons. Because I guess that's where dragons like to sleep—on a bed of roses. There's not much else to it though. It's a great card to have in the deck so that we ace out our opponent's Stadium cards, as well as move our heavy dragons around. Fairy Garden is like a perfect compliment to this deck with heavy the presence of Special Energy cards here. There's such a liability in losing one, that the ability to move our dragon out on one energy is prime. And although we have Audino to back us up against Special Conditions, this is more of that potential you just can't have too much of—and that's logic here behind Fairy Garden. Against crushing Special Conditions such as Poison and Confusion—Fairy Garden is sure to be a life saver.

Lay them to rest there and let the sleeping dragons lie. Legend says to never wake a sleeping dragon, and I don't know why—but if it's anything like being woken up in the middle of night by our baby—I can't even.

Panty Raid

Pokémon [18]

2 — Hydreigon EX — Roaring Skies (62/108)

2 — Latios EX — Roaring Skies (58/108)
2 — Latios EX — Powers Beyond Tin (XY72)
3 — Mega Latios EX — Powers Beyond Tin (XY72)

2 — Regice — Ancient Origins (24/98)
3 — Deoxys — Roaring Skies (33/108)
4 — Unown — Ancient Origins (30/98)

Trainers [25]

2 — Enhanced Hammer — Primal Clash (162/160)
3 — Acro Bike — Primal Clash (122/160)
3 — Trainers' Mail — Ancient Origins (100/98)

2 — Steven — Roaring Skies (90/108)
2 — Professor Sycamore — XY Base Set (122/146)
2 — Giovanni's Scheme — BREAKthrough (162/162)
4 — Professor Birch's Observations — Primal Clash (159/160)

3 — Team Magma's Secret Base — Double Crisis (32/34)

4 — Latios Spirit Link — Roaring Skies (85/108)

Energy [17]

4 — Double Dragon Energy — Roaring Skies (97/108)
4 — Double Colorless Energy
4 — Psychic Energy
5 — Water Energy

MAIN STRATEGY

Steven & Latios Spirit Link: "Boys...we're going on a panty raid!!" Steven would be our frat brother (he's a bad-influence on us)—and Latios Spirit Link would be the girl's panties. Legend has it, this magical item can somehow be a divine link between us and the object of our affection. But no one has figured out yet exactly how to unlock that potential. They just seem to collect their panties for the rapture, when knowledge of this can send them all to hentai heaven.

As for Steven, just like around the house, we don't see much of him in this deck. He's just a supplementary resource that gives us an extension on our other Supporters. In addition to this, Steven also provides some selective diversity between the array of Supporters we have together.

In particular, the tactical pair of Giovanni's Scheme and Professor Sycamore. Ideally, they do two different things entirely—and both have such conditions that their greatest potential only becomes available at select times. This has prominently been my main use of Steven since its release (as the gateway between a tactical spread of many different Supporters).

In those spreads, copies of Steven appear in high volume—and so this deck here shows the opposite potential of that, using Steven in spare copies as an extension of our more prominent Supporters (rather than being the prominent Supporter itself that then connects us after).

And there is a good reason for that application here. You see—this deck is very desperate for resources, and vies on being able to obtain a diverse amount of resources very quickly. We need M Latios, we need Latios Spirit Link—Double Dragon Energies—and we also want to get Team Magma's Secret Base out as soon as possible. Due to this high demand, we can't afford to idle our turns away through Steven as our primary Supporter. He works best as an access extension here—helping tie up loose ends in a similar way that Random Receiver can be used to do.

The added bonus of Steven's energy retrieval is the main reason why I chose him over 2 copies of some other card (such as Shauna, Tierno, Acro Bike, or Trainers' Mail). Steven is a definite answer in the event you need to get to a specific energy right away, but can't afford to leave it on the luck of the draw. A definite answer is generally the best option over a gamble. And that principal is especially applies here, since we have two different types of Basic energy, and each are in spare numbers. Where despite the spare numbers of Steven, this low volume aims to serve us best when we need it most (late in the game—when such resources are few and far between).

Team Magma's Secret Base: The sorority house—Mega Alpha Bitch. This is where the panties be. Yet one should beware—this is a dangerous stronghold. Behind these cold walls lies a mob of young girls with poor nutrition, known to prominently stay awake all hours of the night indulging themselves—or cramming because they spent all their free time indulging themselves.

Aside from the flavor aspect, the main reason Team Magma's Secret Base is our select Stadium card for this deck—lies in M Latios' [Sonic Ace] attack and its damage limitations. [Sonic Ace] only does 120 damage, where that extra 20 damage from Team Magma's Secret Base puts us in range to one-hit KO anything at 140HP or below. Although this still doesn't put us in range to one-hit KO most Pokémon EX, it's still very useful to take out prominent cards with [Sonic Ace] (such as [Geomancy] Xerneas—and [Oblivion Wing] Yveltal).

Our Pokémon can be expected to take a hit from Team Magma's Secret Base as well (which I suppose is the equal to getting whapped by one of the sorority girls). Yet this should hardly matter—since we're prominently flying high on M Latios EX's 220HP. And Hydreigon EX mostly just sits on the bench and never sees any combat. Then have Unown, which is an immediate expendable resource anyway (where the damage doesn't even matter). And lastly, if Regice goes active, it's generally to flawlessly finish the game for us anyways—so it's not a big deal.

Just like a real panty raid (or some real panties)—your best bet is to just put it down quick and forget about it. On a final note, keep in mind that we only have three copies of this card here. I had to cut back from four copies so that a more prominent resource of ours (Latios Spirit Link) could take the higher volume that it more prominently needs. Consistency with that card is far more essential to our success than with Team Magma's Secret Base—so I had to budget.

With this lower volume, it means that we can't be sure to come across another copy if we cash out our hand—so we want to just get it out there right away and roll with the punches. It'll be far more important to get those counters on your opponent's Pokémon during their next turn, than it will be to spare our own Pokémon from a couple damage counters by not playing it right away. Kind of like if someone confronts you during the raid—just push them over and run.

The College Board of Supporters: Here we have the part where the Dean of the school calls you into his office for questioning. "I heard there was a break-in at the Mega Alpha Bitch house..." But you didn't hear anything about it, and you've got to go right away, because you're late for class. "Ahhh, behold my glorious panty collection—and I sell some too." The Dean also leads a second life—but let's not go into that now. Let's just hope nobody blames him for it.

As I said before, this deck has a lot of diverse resources that we need to obtain right away, so it can't afford to idle much time away on short draws or round-about Supporters. In addition to that, this deck's resources are also incredibly precious to our success—so that we can't really afford to be throwing them away either. Since this deck was intended to be legal in the current Standard Format, this left me with Professor Birch's Observations as our lead Supporter. Yet that's not to say this was a bad thing by any means, because Professor Birch's Observations is a mighty Supporter here.

The technique for this deck revolves around Professor Birch's Observations pull out a bulk draw for us—then boost off our additional Item retrieval cards—to reach further into our deck, and thin out the contents so that Professor Birch's Observations is made more effective each play. These item retrieval cards also help to take the edge off the short end of Professor Birch's draw (in the event we only get four cards). There are 10 retrieval cards to back us up here (not including Deoxys)—which we'll need to use to reach through our deck and nab additional cards.

Professor Sycamore resides as a power back up to this. The potential of a straight seven card draw is a nice ace to have on reserve. Later in the game (once we've got the bulk of our content on the table) we can come to likely situation where we only need a certain specific resource to follow through for the win (like Double Dragon Energy or Double Colorless energy for this deck).

That event is a very likely scenario for this deck. So much so, that having Professor Sycamore around is probably essential to this deck. It's the only Supporter that can dramatically clear our a situation like this. Not to mention, since we have Steven in this deck, we can further that potential—since Steven operates an a round-about extension of Professor Sycamore. Steven can provide a gateway to Professor Sycamore whenever we need it, thus enabling us to cut back on the liability of running Professor Sycamore in high volume.

Giovanni's Scheme is our tactical back-up. I like to consider him a tactical pair with Professor Sycamore. They both do similar things, yet one offers some distinct contrast to broaden our overall potential. It might not be much, but those few extra cards we can get from Giovanni's Scheme can really save the day. And it also works along the same lines as Professor Birch's Observations does with our item retrieval cards (which is a nice bonus).

As for the contrast, every additional damage counter can be just as significant as every extra card—where the 20 additional damage that we can get out of Giovanni's Scheme can pull us ahead of the game—where we might otherwise fall behind a turn.

The most prominent example of this would be in a follow up attack with [Fast Raid], after we hit our opponent with [Sonic Ace]. M Latios EX is going to deal 120 damage, yet at the cost of two energy that we might not be able to replace right away. Instead, we can retreat M Latios EX, then follow up with [Fast Raid] & Giovanni's Scheme which would deal 60 damage—and bring us to 180 damage total (enough to KO most Pokémon EX—which reside at 170HP or greater).

Acro Bike, Enhanced Hammer, & Trainers' Mail: If you're on a panty raid, you want to get in and out as quickly as possible. First of all, you don't want to be walking, because that's an easy way to get busted near the premises with the goods (goods?). But you don't want to be running either, because that's actually not fast enough. It creates an easy trail to follow and it's suspicious. What you need for this job is a bike. It's fast, and blends right in with the surroundings. Oh, and don't forget your bandit tools—to bust into the panty drawer.

M Latios EX is a very technical card. [Sonic Ace] requires us to discard 2 energy just to use the attack—and although it's range is unlimited—for that cost it only does an average amount of damage. Based demanding resources such as this, I conceived that I would need to strongly reinforce the deck structure here with resource obtaining cards in order to stabilize it. From this, I choose to include two very prominent cards for this (Acro Bike and Trainers' Mail)—then placed them both at even numbers with one another. The even numbers were to ensure balance here, since both cards have their own unique potential in how they operate, yet this deck in particular wouldn't seem benefit from having the cards in some higher volume than the other.

For example, Acro Bike is the only one between the two that can get us special energy—while Trainers' Mail can get us to everything else (as well as to copies of Acro Bike). However, the drawbacks are that Trainers' Mail can't get to copies of itself (while Acro Bike can)—yet Acro Bike also forces us to discard a card in the process (something considerably counterproductive here). Not wanting to tilt towards either extreme, I felt like it would just be best to even them out—and that balance between the cards inevitably seemed to do what it was intended perfectly.

In deep pockets of our backpack, we have Enhanced Hammer, which has been included to provide some powerful support to this deck's momentum. It's a really great removal card, which works wonders to buy time that's desperately needed. Just one turn can be extremely significant to this deck, especially when it comes to M Latios EX and [Sonic Ace]. At only 120 damage a hit, it's generally going to take at least two hits to knock out most Pokémon EX. And with that, Enhanced Hammer becomes an amazing card for knocking our opponent's momentum back, so that we can more flawlessly overtake them with M Latios EX & [Sonic Ace].

Unown & Regice: Unown—our panty raiders; or sorority sisters (checking the house); or maybe even the police. You can bet that they're going to have some questions for us like the Dean. Now Regice—those are the granny panties. No one wants those. But they're great to pwn your enemies, so it might be intuitive to grab yourself a dirty pair if you have the personal space for them. Unown is here to further the concentration of cards such as Acro Bike and Trainers' Mail—helping to further accelerate the flow of the cards—and fulfill our resource demands faster. It's nearly essential too. It does literally take all this concentrated potential to bring this deck together. Without it all, there's probably no way we would be able to get as much use out of M Latios EX as we do here.

Now, making good use of Unown may sometimes involve a little technique.

For example, if you're going to use Professor Birch's Observations (unless you have a ton of cards in your hand)—it's generally going to be a good idea to wait until after you play Professor Birch's Observations before you active any {Farewell Letter} you have (just in case you pull the shortest straw). This doesn't mean you'll always want to save your card advantage stuff like this though. I find that it's a give and take, where you'll want to play one and save one for best results. Saving them all can actually end up polluting the deck and resulting in a dead draw whenever you do get around to using it. So do be mindful to apply a little technique when working with these cards. Don't just spam them mindlessly—but don't obsessively hoard them either. Try to create a flow with them—because that's exactly what they're intended to provide.

Last we have Regice, which is a far simpler resource to make good use of. If you need it, it's there for you—while the lower volume present helps to keep the card out of your way if it doesn't happen to be much use to you. Moreso than not, we should be able to get the job done with just M Latios EX alone (even against Pokémon-EX). However, there are always bound to be a few really tough scenarios (especially in regards to certain Pokémon-EX)—and primarily why Regice has been included in this deck. It's a somewhat lesser version of {Safeguard} Suicune—with its own advantages and disadvantages. Take it for what you will. It's definitely better than nothing—which ironically is how some poor souls feel about granny panties.

Latios & M Latios EX: This is you and your bro—digging through the panty drawer (and the dirty clothes) lookin' for the goods—then taking off like Sonic the Hedgehog once you've got 'em. M Latios EX is our centerpiece for this deck, which makes Latios EX our primary starter. Unlike most decks I create, the strategy for this deck involves always playing first if you can. It's the main reason why we have [Close Encounter] Deoxys here instead of something like [Solar Generator] Solrock. It's so that we can consistently play first, because consistency is very important in this, and our turn order is not something we can afford to be in the dark about it.

The offensive edge provided by [Fast Raid] is the main reason Latios EX is our primary starter—this damage helps to convex (or round out) the lesser side of [Sonic Ace]'s damage. [Fast Raid] gives us a jump start on the damage aspect, which can be expected to bottom out on us once we Mega Evolve. The energy advantage is another big reason why we want to lead with Latios EX. The energy demand for these two cards are very high. M Latios EX has to expend a vast amount of energy in order to keep attacking, and the energies we use for M Latios are also very susceptible to cards like Enhanced Hammer—so we want to get them on and off as quickly as possible. For this reason, taking the energy lead is also very important to us.

And with that, getting to M Latios EX as quickly as possible is also crucial to our success. As stated, that is why I've included Latios Spirit Link in such high volume. What M Latios EX offers is tactical power, an aspect that's naturally balanced in this card by curbing its raw power. This challenging factor becomes an aspect of time, which we can only make for by doubling time. And that is the logic behind how and why making good time is so important for this deck.

The tactical edge of [Sonic Ace] can be its own balance at times. With [Sonic Ace], we can go around our opponent's active Pokémon, and start to rack up the damage on whatever they might be trying to put together on the bench. This is another big benefactor of [Sonic Ace] over Latios EX's stronger attack, [Light Pulse]. That attack requires four energy (a much steeper climb)—is even more susceptible to Enhanced Hammer—and also forces us to play through our opponent's active Pokémon.

This factor can stall for turns against us—or take up unnecessary amounts of energy—as well as grind us against the force of explicitly powerful cards (such as Rock Guard, Dangerous Energy, and Lucky Helmet). This should stress the importance of getting to [Sonic Ace] right away in a littler greater detail. The ability to bomb around can be vastly superior to brute forcing your way through ranks of Active Pokémon. Give it a whirl and see what I mean. You might not be able to realize true greatness of this until the power's at your fingertips. Unfortunately, I don't think the same can be said about panties—so don't trust anybody that tries to say that.

Hydreigon EX & Deoxys: Here we have the sorority sisters. Deoxys represents what could be a [Close Encounter] in your panty raid—if say one of the girls suddenly comes home—or wakes up because she thinks that she hears somebody perving. The second—Hydreigon EX—represents the other sorority girls in a darker form. These pretty ladies look pretty pissed. Not only have their panties been stolen, but it's their fancy expensive ones that are missing. This of course—can bring about the Apocalypse. Which is why someone called the police—and that's why they were around earlier—but now we have everyone running around commando. Which is kind of neat, since it's exactly what we have Hydreigon EX do in this deck.

Hydreigon EX is a tactical resource, which can also double as a backup to M Latios EX. Although Hydreigon EX also requires three energy to attack (and only does 80 damage) it's still an amazingly useful card to have around. Just the potential of [Shred] alone is considerably worth it, seeing as how [Shred] can get around stubborn abilities that would otherwise prevent us from damaging our opponent's Pokémon at all. Much like those backup granny panties you'll be needed to bust out—it's always better to have them and not need them—than to need them and not have them. This explains the tactical contrast Hydreigon EX provides, which I'm sure you'll find to be amazing if you ever face off against any granny Regice for yourself.

However, keep in mind that Hydreigon EX's main purpose here is not an offensive one. It's mostly to just to be seated on the bench, so that we can freely move between our copies of Latios EX. {Dragon Road} reduces the retreat cost of Latios EX to zero, which is really great to transition them between M Latios EX—for either the clean-up or the follow-up. {Dragon Road} also enables Hydreigon to retreat for free as well, and given how this is our primary use for Hydreigon EX, it's very helpful since we generally don't want to put much emphasis on attaching energy to them. M Latios EX is going to need those energy far more prominently—so try not to misplace them.

On the far end, Deoxys is our secondary starter for this deck. As previously mentioned, [Solar Generator] Solrock was a deep consideration in place of Deoxys. However, Solrock had no offensive potential here, and wasn't compatible with the play first power of [Fast Raid]. This took away my ability to consistently play first, and thus made the deck unstable.

Deoxys on the other hand (as a starting Pokémon) enables us to play first every time. As our primary attack, [Close Encounter] works arguably even better than [Solar Generator] to get us the resources we need here. [Close Encounter] can get us to special energies, it can get us Mega Evolved faster, and it can get to any Supporters we might need to keep our momentum going. However, keep in mind that Latios EX remain our primary starter between the two—so make sure to always bench Deoxys if you have to choose between the two.

Beyond the crucial demand for resources that we face, we also face the lower curve of [Sonic Ace]'s damage potential, which readily threatens to set us behind the pace of more aggressive decks. Playing first and getting that first attack with [Fast Raid] can essential to victory. Don't think you can make up for it with Deoxys & [Overdrive Smash], because that can actually end up putting you behind. [Overdrive Smash] requires two energy, and takes two turns before the damage it does becomes reasonable. That sets us three turns behind, and two energies behind even beginning to power up Latios EX. We need to start strong if we want to finish strong. A loss in momentum like that, and we're bound to crash and burn, so keep Deoxys as your secondary unless you opening hand suffers so terribly [Close Encounter] is your only hope.

As some secondary potential, Deoxys can also be thrown out there to stall for a few turns while we either put together another M Latios EX—or get one fueled up for another hit with [Sonic Ace]. Deoxys and its 110HP sets it a slightly above the curve and enables Deoxys to eat up a 100 damage attack without giving way. That added grit is going to be extremely significant in a tight spot, further proving Deoxys to be a superior resource. Much like your nerdy sorority sister who always stays home. If it wasn't for her, the panty raiders might have gotten away with your dirty toys too—and you would have probably blamed her for it—some sister you are.

Big Ol' Bag of Candy

Pokémon [17]

2 — Toxicroak EX — Flashfire (41/106)
2 — Toxicroak EX — Flashfire (102/106)

2 — Sigilyph — Plasma Freeze (118/116)
3 — Venipede — Boundaries Crossed (72/149)
4 — Skarmory — Roaring Skies (69/108)

2 — Gulpin — Phantom Forces (37/119)
2 — Swalot — Phantom Forces (38/119)

Trainers [26]

4 — Hypnotoxic Laser — Plasma Storm (123/135)
4 — Robo Substitute — Phantom Forces (102/119)

2 — Ace Trainer — Ancient Origins (69/98)
3 — Teammates — Primal Clash (160/160)
4 — N — Dark Explorers (96/108)

4 — Virbank City Gym — Plasma Storm (126/135)

1 — Rock Guard — Plasma Freeze (108/116)
4 — Rocky Helm — Boundaries Crossed (153/149)

Energy [17]

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

MAIN STRATEGY

Skarmory & Sigilyph: Skarmory represents going door to door on Halloween to collect candy—and Sigilyph is like when we get home and pour out the candy to see what we got. These two are not a starting pair though. Sigilyph holds about as much potential as a starter in this deck as Gulpin does. It's pretty low. Skarmory is our primary starter for this deck. And the strategy generally involves playing second, so that we can use [Call for Family] right away.

Even at first, the contents of this deck appeared to me as though they were going to be really difficult to work with. Yet by the end of the development process, it had been assured that this was one of most difficult deck structures I had ever developed. I was extremely surprised to learn that this deck would literally require Skarmory to stabilize the flow of the cards—especially since this deck doesn't run high on evolution chains, or rely on the bench in any way.

Given the prominence of item cards here, I had originally tried working with [Close Encounter] Deoxys—yet that card kept falling terribly short in the test runs (even with Dimension Valley—the original Stadium card for this deck). It was then I had the idea to try [Call for Family] instead—given how universal the potential of that effect tends to be. And it was from that decision that I had discovered it was the Pokémon base in this deck that had been polluting the flow of the cards.

And it was by filtering them out—with [Call for Family]—that I was majorly able to unlock this flow. Unfortunately, the art on the card for Skarmory didn't match the Halloween theme as well as the art on [Close Encounter] Deoxys did—but I guess I actually ended up getting a little more flavor out of it this way. Because sometimes it rains on Halloween, and other times you have to Trick or Treat in the daylight—both of which can spoil the fun of Halloween a little.

As for Sigilyph, it could probably double as our secret stash given how it often plays out here. You see, Sigilyph has a habit of hiding away, and doesn't see much action in this deck (at least based on my experiences with it). It's very much a distant backup resource, that you save for a rainy day (thus the double entendre). And even if you perceive that you don't need it, keep in mind that it can block up the flow of the cards if you carelessly shuffle them back into your deck.

For this reason, there is somewhat of an importance of not keeping them in your hand (even if you can't use them). In order to snug in all of the tactical content that was needed to stabilize the deck structure, it thinned out our card advantage resources pretty well. And given how many of them are conditional, we don't want to pollute the contents of our deck any—so try to play out the first Sigilyph you get into your hand (even if you don't need it)—and get it out of the way to help concentrate the flow of the cards.

Gulpin & Swalot:

"Why don't you give meee some candy?"

"Ewuuuu...I don't think so...you're fat enough."

These two represent our dysfunctional family—always trying to get us to do stuff we don't want to do. Which is an interesting gem of symbolism, since developing this deck literally involved forcing myself to figure out how in the hell to make good use of Phantom Forces Swalot. I had not choice either, because this card was the counterpart to Gourgiest, and the centerpiece for a post-Halloween deck revolving around the theme of eating candy. Ironically, figuring out how to use this card was more like Nightmare on Elm Street. Which is actually kind of funny—when you look at the art for the card.

In my attempts to work this magic, I had originally started with [Dimension Valley]—feeling as though its power was needed in order to bridge the high costs of Swalot's attacks. This didn't work out however—since the power of [Poison Gas] is miserably low for a Stage 1 Pokémon (even at 1 energy). And Swalot's HP is also too low to make consistent use of [Swallow Up] (even at 2 energy).

I had tried a bunch of different combinations trying to unlock the hidden potential. It was like the Hellraiser puzzle box. At first I included [Close Encounter] Deoxys and [Psychic Assault] Wobbuffet—both of which attack for one energy—and work incrementally with attacks like [Poison Gas] and [Triple Poison]. With such quick attack power, I was convinced that there had to be someway to get Dimensional Valley to in this deck with Swalot. However, I had come to conclude that the deck structure was just too unstable with Swalot.

And so, this forced me to try something new. And in the end, I had learned something unique from this experience. Normally, I like to run a broad line of 4/3—or 3/3 for my Stage 1 evolution chains. You need a broad line like that in order to ensure consistency. It's essential to quickly get your cards on the table and make decent use of your Stage 1 Pokémon.

However, it appeared to be that Swalot was a special case. Where seemingly, the only way to get the card to actually work—is by running the evolution chain in a thin line like we have here. The reason for this was because the card itself isn't especially useful. It does have potential, yet that potential is so narrow, it requires you to run a thin line if you want to actually make good use of it. If you try to run a broader line, then the lesser qualities of the card are going to hold you back.

As far as I can tell, Swalot's best potential seems to be as a late game finisher—when you only have one two prize cards left, and you need to deal a troublesome 100 damage to finish the game. This can't be achieved in one attack with any other Pokémon in this deck—and that's where Swalot rises above the crowd a little. So maybe it wouldn't be so bad to give him a little candy. After all, Swalot is likely to be the one that has your back when no one else does.

Toxicroak EX & Venipede: This combination probably sums up the fun of Halloween for us all. We all start out as a little peapod in this big world, looking back at Mom & Dad, and wondering if they're really going to send us up to the door all by ourselves—to a broke kid in college running around on Halloween all by ourselves with no shame in collecting free candy from other adults. Toxicroak EX can make quick of pretty much anything in this deck—like some horror movie killer. And that's why there are four of them here, because Toxicroak is an explicitly strong starting Pokémon.

In this deck, all you need is a double colorless energy, and you can totally dominate with [Triple Poison] between Virbank City Gym, Mystery Energy, and Robo Substitute. You'll be stacking up 50 damage a turn on your opponent without even needing Toxicroak EX to remain your active Pokémon, while Mystery Energy enables you to vanish like Michael Myers. Put a Rocky Helmet Toxicroak—and you'll be tearing them up like Jason Voorhees. Throw Rock Guard on there—and that's like Jason Takes Manhattan. Heads will roll.

Venipede on the other hand is our distant backup starter in this deck, and doubles as a transitional resource whenever we need to switch to a defensive stance. {Poison Point} and Virbank City Gym go hand-in-hand. This combination can keep a smart opponent at bay, while more reckless opponents are going to start stacking up some heavy poison damage on themselves from {Poison Point}—thus adding some offensive edge to what would otherwise be an unprogressive stalling tactic.

As such a resource, Venipede also doubles as an enabler for us—working powerful Supporters like Ace Trainer and Teammates. We couldn't possibly get this much out of any other basic Pokémon in the game, which kind of makes Venipede appear to me as the old lady at the top of the hill, who drops so much candy in your bag—you can't help but love her. She's our favorite person in the world to visit on Halloween, and just ringing her door bell makes our heart glow like a jack-o'-lantern.

Hypnotoxic Laser & Robo Substitute: Robo Substitute—that's like us at the hospital. I think we might have eaten too much candy. And Hypnotoxic Laser is like equipment they have to use to see if we're going to go into diabetic shock. Both of these cards are powerful resources for any Virbank City Gym deck. Hypnotic Laser can jump start the poison damage when we can't even begin to attack yet, while Robo Substitute can extend the range of that damage to at least 90 over the course of a single turn (and that's not even including our follow up attack).

Toxicroak EX makes a sweet pair with Robo Substitute as well, further increasing the overall synergy of the deck. Over the course of a single go, your opponent will get one attack on Toxicroak EX—and by the time it comes back around next turn (after Robo Substitute gets knocked out)—200 damage will have passed from [Triple Poison]. You can use this technique to bag fresh Pokémon EX that your opponent sends out from the bench but hasn't powered up yet. They won't even be able to get two energies on it and it'll be gone.

I guess that could make this pair of cards something like having to fend off our siblings from our candy with a Super Soaker (because they ate all of theirs already). They might be lucky to get one to two pieces, but it'll take a true fat ass to stand there and mooch our candy in the face of getting hosed.

Our Halloween Crew & Virbank City Gym: Ace Trainer reminds me of the perfect Halloween date. There's nothing quite as romantic as a night on the town together amidst the Halloween atmosphere. Virbank City Gym is like our neighborhood on Halloween—or possibly our real home afterwards (where everyone steals our candy). Ace Trainer also represents our friends, where Teammates is like our little sister and her friend. We said that we would take them Trick or Treating so they didn't have to stay inside on Halloween. We don't mind if they tag along. It would have broke their heart to have had to stay inside—which I guess makes us like the brave and endearing hero N by default.

This spread of Supporters is truly beyond anything I would ever think possible. Yet it was through forcing myself to develop this deck that I had unlocked the potential to do the impossible. I had first tried a bunch of different Supporter combinations, many of which were very successful for similar deck structures of mine—yet none of them seemed to work very well at all for this deck in specific. Ultimately, it was in the final major revision of the deck—that there should be some extremely rare and unique potential for this deck's Supporter spread.

After I had unlocked the secret of Skarmory's potential for this deck, and switched over from Dimension Valley to Virbank City Gym (adding Venipede to the deck to suite it)—I had concluded that this deck should have the potential to run an explicitly tactical Supporter pair featuring both Ace Trainer and Teammates. This was something totally unprecedented otherwise (due to their restrictions)—yet in this deck should thrive, given the immense number of satellite resources we have to heavily support both cards. For this same reason, it was obvious to me that N would make a beautiful compliment at the core of this Supporter spread. It works along the lines of the main strategy—and provides the support needed here to accentuate the flow of the cards.

Ace Trainer makes a really great follow up to N, mid-game for example, after your opponent has knocked out one of your Skarmory, Venipede, or even Toxicroak maybe. Yet it's still too conditional to see any extensive use here (due to the prominence of poison damage). The style of this deck is not intended to provide some perfectly one-sided landslide victory. It vies on explicit tactic—revolving around the consistency of poison damage, and all of our tactical resources to support that. Our opponent is likely to pick up more than a few prize cards as we strive to counterstep them, yet we should ultimately pull victory out from under them.

This tactical style is one of the greatest techniques in the game, because it not only works best deck's that are based on simple brute force, it is the only type of deck that has a chance to best other explicitly tactical decks. And this is where title of endearing hero is going to take full perspective for both Ace Trainer & N—with their ability to aggressively short our opponent's hand while they collect prize cards off our satellite resources.

While Teammates plays for free off Robo Substitute—giving us all kinds of tactical retrieval power—that's sure to be especially dangerous in this deck. In fact, it should not only save the day for us—but keeping the pressure on our opponents with Hypnotoxic Laser, Virbank City Gym (and anything else we might need) should come natural.

Rocky Helm & Rocky Guard: Rocky Helmet is like the knots on your head—tryin' to steal my candy; and Rock Guard is like our candy collection when there's nothing left but Tootsie Rolls. You can have them all. It could also be like our stash of the good stuff I guess, versus all of the junk stuff that we give to our family to keep the fiends out of our stash. It could even be our stomach in knots after eating too much junk food (that's how we ended up in the hospital). There are lots of possibilities here...makes it hard to pick just one.

Luckily, making good use of these cards is about as simple as can be—you won't have to put too much thought into it. You'll just want to save Rock Guard for Toxicroak as often as possible—as well as Rocky Helmet for something like Swalot or Skarmory. We want to get the most out of these cards, so we don't want to attach them to any Pokémon with low HP, unless it would be a game winning move. So eat up all the good stuff right away, but try to savor the flavor if you can. That's what's most comfortable, so that's always going to be our best move.