Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Fire Yoshi

 

Let'sa go! This is a deck with a Super Mario theme that utilizes [Sol Generator] Solrock as the primary starter to gather Burning Energy for M Houndoom-EX (Fire Yoshi). From there, M Houndoom and swing in and boast some One-Hit KO potential with [Inferno Fang] (and a play on Professor Kukui if needed). Professor Kukui is a new addition to this deck that seeks to add some much needed firepower. It's so important, that it could be in this deck's best interests to find a way to get another copy of Professor Kukui in here. I would have done this myself, but this is a very technical odd-end that would need to be playtested, so I just left it as it is for balance (replacing Tierno for Professor Kukui).

 

Since its damage effect would go wasted while Solrock leads, Kukui finds itself on the lower end of the split with Cheren. The additional card that Cheren provides is really important to resource the quickest setup possible at the start of the game alongside Scored Earth.

 

Float Stone was originally included to provide quick mobility for M Houndoom in the absence of typical One-Hit KO potential, enabling Reshiram, Houndoom, or another M Houndoom to move in the for kill. And remains as it's still an amazing card with M Houndoom. Float Stone is also a must for Camerupt-EX, a power tech in this deck alongside [Team Magma] Camerupt, that in some really creative fun, can turn into Fire Mario, and shoot Fire-energy like fireballs with [Explosive Jet] to deal crushing amounts of damage that can One-Hit KO any single Pokémon in the game.

 

 

Five Star Running Back

 

This is a unique deck I came up with featuring a Football theme. There's a special concept behind this deck, in which it's intended to be played against itself, creating a theme deck like matchup that hopes to be as fun as a real game of Football between the checks and balances the deck offers among its own content. A nice adaptation to this deck not included here to fit the entire deck in a single frame includes replacing a copy of [Take Down] Tauros for a copy of Lucario-EX.

 

 

Flash of the Blade

 

"You'll die as you lived in a flash of the blade...in a corner forgotten by no one.
You lived for the touch, for the feel of the steel
One man—and his honor!"

 

Here's a classic deck of mine featuring a turbo Ancient Trait Excadril hyper-defense strategy. The idea here was to do the exact opposite of what was popularized in the mainstream with Ancient Trait Excadril at that time, with people were using an offensive strategy with Muscle Band to unlock 140 damage attacks, that can potentially overlap onto the opponent's Benched Pokémon through the effect of Omega Barrage. One big problem with that style of deck is that it leaves Excadril pretty vulnerable at just 120HP. 

 

That's where I got the idea for this deck which seeks to use [Dredge] to load up Excadril with Shield and Metal Special Energy. These energy reduce the damage of an opponent's attack by 10 each, then stacking with the effects of Hard Charm, Jamming Net, and Parallel City to prevent up to 90 damage from the opponent's attacks! Excadril can then attack for 100 damage a turn, in increments of 50 each, while the opponent is entirely helpless dealing 10 or 20 damage on average if they're lucky.

 

I had originally stacked this with Super Potion, which could enable a single Excadril to basically finish off an opponent by itself. Super Potion has since been replaced with Pokémon Center Lady for the bonus guard against Special Conditions (as Steel Shelter has also since been replaced with Parallel City to supplement damage prevention—especially against Fire-type Pokémon disadvantage). A final tech on Tauros-GX finds its way here just because, and a copy of Hard Charm as been replaced with a tech on Assault Vest for much of the same reason.

 

 

Flea Bomb

 

This is a [Team Plasma] Tornadus/[Super Fang] Raticate deck that I came up with seeking to use the hyper card advantage of [Windfall] to resource Raticate from the bench, then quickly enable a series of One-Hit KOs between its [Super Fang] attack and Hypnotoxic Laser. The theme for this deck revolves around the concept strategy, essentially dropping the bomb on the opponent with Raticate to wipe them out through [Super Fang] and poison damage.

 

The original deck led with 4 [Team Plasma] Tornadus, but this final edit includes a split between Lapras-GX for the diversity it hopes to provide against Type-disadvantage. [Team Plasma] Kyurem has always been a staple to this deck, and was included to provide a strong Swarmer in place of Tornadus as the starting Pokémon. This was originally supplemented with 3 Colress Machine, which has now been dialed down to just two, but should still be fine for building up Kyurem from the bench.

 

Disruption from Judge has since been added to help to hold the opponent's card advantage back while [Windfall] or [Collect] leads to instantly bounce back from it. There's somewhat of an overhead resourcing all the cards this deck needs, so the disruption from Judge hopes to really come in handy. A double wheel powerplay from N then backs this up, given how this deck really can't afford to discard any precious copies of cards. This also explains why this deck only techs a single copy of Professor Sycamore—which just like the Nuclear Disarmament—was kept around just in case.

 

This deck includes Plasma Frigate to help ward off Type-disadvantage further, but could possibly see some great success replacing it for Parallel City. Parallel City helps to reduce the damage of prominent types, which can be essential to the frailty of Raticate, especially on the transition after a Knock Out. Parallel City can also be used in a powerplay that enables a heavily damaged Tornadus (that led with [Windfall]) to retreat to the bench, and duck into the shelter of the discard pile, when Parallel City crunches the bench.

 

  

Flying Goomba

 

Here's a cool concept I came up with when I got the crazy idea to create a deck that had three Stage 2 Pokémon in it. While pondering the idea, I came up with a brilliant concept to possible make this work that involved fragmenting one of the Stage 2 lines, and then including 3 Rare Candy to help compensate the difference between various gaps between Basic and Stage 2 cards.

 

To reinforce this, I included [Call for Family] to help set the foundation for such a heavy and diverse Stage 2 climb. [Call for Family] effectively helps thin the deck as well, which concentrates the flow of the cards, and effectively brings everything that much closer together.

 

The three Stage 2 Pokémon in this deck were selected by the concept idea to begin with the full Gengar and Crobat line, as the two Pokémon have amazing Synergy with one another, and their middle evolutions both boast helpful Abilities. I then filled in the final spot with Ancient Trait Nidoqueen, for its quick hitting power, and Ability to get a jumpstart on Benched Pokémon as Knock Outs from its Omega Barrage effect overlap. A diverse array of Supporters find their place here to help reinforce this deck's potential as best I could come up with.

 

The theme between them paints the picture of a Flying Goomba, an enemy in the Super Mario 3 games that was able to spit out little tiny flying Goombas that could swoop down on Super Mario and slow him down.

 

 

Flying Nimbus

  

This is an original concept I came up with and pitched on Reddit, where it seemingly caught on, and became somewhat of a mainstream concept. I came up with this deck seeking to utilize a technique I pioneered for myself in the development of the Supercharged and Poundtown decks. This technique involves utilizing [Geomancy]'s energy acceleration to quickly rev up Colorless attacks where Double Colorless Energy can then be used to quickly close the gap on their costs. I was looking to centerpiece [Toss and Turn] Snorlax here, which obviously makes another great selection for this technique.

 

The strategy here involves that exact technique, while building up {Goodnight, babies} Hypno from the bench. From there, Hypno's Ability can be used to disrupt the opponent's Pokémon and boost the damage of Snorlax's [Toss and Turn] attack. Fighting Fury Belt then helps boost this damage a little more, atop a nice HP boost to help guard Snorlax on the transition after a Knock Out.

 

This deck includes Fairy Drop to heavily offset the damage stack, while a tech on {Victory Kiss} Jynx turns it into a free play on Super Potion, and also doubles as a great enabler for Altaria-EX and its [Powerful Gain] attack. Altaria is important to diversify against Type-disadvantage. Fighting-types can deal a lot of damage very quickly, easily KO'ing Snorlax (or the even mightier Snolax GX) in a single attack. Altaria however turns the tables against Fighting-types with its resistance factor—and the amazing healing synergy between Fairy Drop, {Victory Kiss}, and the effects of its own attacks.

 

As a fun fact, I had originally included two Rainbow Energy here to enable a powerplay between [Powerful Gain] and {Victory Kiss} Jynx. It was later omitted though, as I felt it wouldn't see enough potential in this deck structure to bother including it.

 

Chaos Tower is provided in a split with Fairy Garden to unlock more potential for {Goodnight, babies}, so it can be used just as effectively with Altaria and M Altaria as it can be with Snorlax and Snorlax-GX. A possible tech on Big Malasada can be added here in place of a Fairy Drop to provide an extension on this—and boost some synergy with {Goodnight, babies} while Fairy Garden is in play.

 

Professor Kukui is a last minute addition to this deck, hoping to add some prime potential I recognized. Professor Kukui stacks nicely with Snorax's [Swallow] attack; enables M Altaria to breech One-Hit KOs against 130HP Pokémon; and enables Snorax-GX's [Thunderous Snore] to breech One-Hit KOs against 210HP Pokémon (such as many Megas and other Fighting Fury Belters).

 

An additional note about the presence of Professor Kukui is that it helps to keep the opponent at a disadvantage after a play on Judge, which further explains this deck only techs a single copy of N.

 

...

 

"On the next, Dragon Ball Z...Goku has gotten so fat that he can no longer call upon the Flying Nimbus. Upon trying, Goku falls through the mighty cloud and crashes to the ground with a thunderous boom."

 

 

Friend Zone

 

Here's a deck I originally came up with for the Standard format right before the turn of the 2017 Season. This is a [Gale Thrust] Scizor deck based on the nightmare of being put in (or stuck in) the Friend Zone. The strategy for this deck strives to make an invincible combination out of Max Potion/Float Stone/{Metal Links}—and Scizor's [Gale Thrust] attack. These cards possess some amazing synergy together, acting as both enabler and amplifier to Scizor and its own potential.

 

The technique here is pretty simple. Float Stone enables free retreat between Scizor, which can enable two Scizor to switch in and out between one another to deal 110 damage with [Gale Thrust]. Max Potion can then be used for a full heal on a heavily damage Scizor, while {Metal Links} (and the turn's energy play) can easily make up the difference for the energy loss.

 

Although it's the centerpiece card, this deck doesn't really want to start with Scizor (since it can't make use of [Gale Thrust] that way). It also may suffer having to waste its first turn energy play on another Pokémon other than Scizor (because it may not be able to make that double energy play). [Quick Guard] can be useless against Wally/evolution decks, as Scizor-EX can be useless against anti-EX effects. Considering all this, the deck structure here seeks to diversify as much as possible to help guard against all these obstacles. 

 

This is then backed up by a heavy volume of Float Stone, which is present here in the least consistency needed to support availability for a quick retreat and attack with Scizor on Turn 2. Olympia helps to provide an extension on Float Stone and doubles with Pokémon for some additional healing power alongside Max Potion. This is great with Float Stone, as a free retreater can move in after a Knock Out and enable Pokémon Center to heal an additional 20 from a Pokémon before moving it in for the attack.

 

A number of techs play their own special parts in diversifying this deck's potential. Aegislash is included for potential lockdown effect and synergy with {Metal Links}. Snorlax-GX also makes a last minute appearance for the natural synergy with {Metal Link} and Float Stone. Cobalion-EX provides an ace against Jolteon-EX and other preventive effects—while a tech on Bronzong BREAK helps to provide an additional extension on this.

 

Since Fire-type Weakness can be so prominent, I originally wanted to include a copy of Lugia-EX (alongside the 2 copies of Weakness Policy) to help give this deck more of a fighting chance against Fire-type decks, but later decided to just leave it as a suggestion for everyone to experiment with for themselves. If you're not going to be up against this, the Weakness Policy can obviously be replaced with a copy of Pokémon Center and a copy of Lugia-EX or one of the Cobalion to strengthen the core of this deck further.

 

 

Frogger My Nig

 

Here's an oldschool deck of mine among the very first decks I came up with at my return to the Pokémon Trading Card game in 2013. This is a deck based on the Classic arcade game Frogger.

 

The strategy behind this deck centerpieces to terrifyingly power Stage 1 Pokémon—[Revenge] Toxicroak and [Sludge Drag] Muk alongside Virbank City Gym and Robo Substitute to lure out the opponent's Pokémon one after the next and squash them. As a powerplay with [Sludge Drag], considering using it to drag out a number of the opponent's Pokémon, in order to stack up some damage on each of them for an easier finish with [Revenge], [Pester], or [Smash Uppercut].

 

Robo Substitute is a great enabler for [Revenge] and Teammates, that provides some bonus here enabling this deck's Pokémon to hide behind Robo Substitute while Virbank City Gym poison damage quickly stacks up.

 

A final edit of this deck includes Silent Lab to help give this deck a fighting chance against {Verdant Wind} Virizion-EX and {Mystic Heart} Magearna-EX. If those aren't a concern, this deck can replace Silent Lab for another Virbank City Gym and something else (such as Hypnotoxic Laser—which was originally present in a whole playset here—but was later omitted to make room for Silent Lab and tech 2 Enhanced Hammer (to some lesser or greater success) in its place. 3 Hypnotoxic Laser could be a great replacement for Silent Lab and a copy of Enhanced Hammer if not needed.

 

A tech on Ditto has been here for the flavor ever since the start, and its {Transform} Ability provides a neat evolution chain cache—enabling Ditto to {Transform} into Croakgunk or Grimer—then evolve straight into a Stage 1 Pokémon as long as Ditto has been on the bench for a single turn.

 

  

Frost Bite

 

This is an Ether/Lunatone deck from my "Everything Does Better on Ether" kick. This was before the release of Max Elixir, where the potential of Ether might have possessed some challenge to it, but was well worth it for the power it could provide. Yveltal-EX leads this deck, and through the power of {Premonition} and Ether, this deck can play second and attack with Yveltal on the first turn!

 

This deck majorly centerpieces a M Glalie and Frozen City combo, where the technique involves using Yveltal's [Y Cyclone] to pass energy back to a benched Glalie to bypass the Frozen City effect. From there, M Glalie can swing in and leave the opponent trapped under ice facing increasing heavy damage.

 

4 Lunatone is traditionally recommended for this style deck, but here I've opted out a copy for 2 Darkrai-EX, as I believe consistency of {Dark Cloak} is very important. 14 Basic energy is also the minimum for an Ether/Lunatone deck (given the short range of Ether's effect). This deck could even possibly want to exchange a copy of Double Colorless Energy for another Basic Water energy—in the same way it might want to replace a copy of Darkrai for another Lunatone.

 

The Supporter array is designed to provide the best selection to this deck's primary needs (Pokémon and Ether), while the direct retrieval effects provide the advanced potential to shuffle up the deck for a second chance of making use of an Ether in hand (via a second {Premonition} Lunatone on the bench). A last moment addition from Lapras-GX hopes to further this deck's adaptability, and further provides a decent alternative starter to Yveltal-EX.

 

 

Frozen Yogurt D.C.

 

Here's a deck of my from the mid-term of the return to the Pokémon Trading Card game. This is a [Team Plasma] Tornadus deck that pairs the powerhouse with Water-type, including [Team Plasma] Articuno-EX as the backup Plasma Pokémon, with [Team Plasma] Glaceon riding shotgun, and a special guest appearance from {Slippery Soles} Vanilluxe.

 

The original strategy for this deck thought to use [Windfall] and Colress Machine to power up Articuno-EX for an unstoppable offensive with [Frost Prison], while the combo between {Freeze Zone} and {Slippery Soles} enables this deck to serve everyone up, and potentially finish them all in a single attack with [Blizzard]. This final edit of the deck strives for more adaptable potential, and dials down the presence of Articuno to a single tech. Articuno can be a really poor starter when facing Anti-EX effects, while the burning up all your Colress Machine trying to make the bird fly can put this deck in immense debt (given the high energy costs of its Pokémon—and the dependency on Plasma Energy for their power).

 

This final edit here includes Glaceon-EX for offensive diversity, and the potential to shutdown Evolved Pokémon. Rainbow Sherbet Lapras-GX now headlines the starting pair for this deck, as its [Collect] attack works nearly as well with Judge as [Windfall] does, to disrupt the opponent's card advantage, while enabling this deck to speed ahead of it. Another last minute addition from Parallel City provides a crucial powerplay for this deck, that enables it to drop the President back off at the White House (mostly safe and sound) after a heavy lead with [Windfall].

 

Brb...the President of the United States of America is taking us all to Dairy Queen now.

 

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Garden of Eden

 

In the beginning of all things, there was God (a masculine and feminine essence born from a phenomena in space); from came the primordial children of God, whom the lovers had created in their image, to revel in the mystery of life, and the miracle of love (which had given meaning to the life of God—when God was once all alone—and there was no reason to survive amongst the wilds of space or study the physics of all things).

Not one pair of primordial humans were created—but five pairs (Italian/Latina, then Asian, then Arabian, then Indian, then African). Each was created at the pinnacle of evolution, separated only by time, and their diversity was intended to reflect the full spectrum of God's beauty and character.

 

These primordial children of God lived together in peace among the "Garden of Eden", which was truly a garden—with no animals or insects—only trees and plants. The children were invested by the depth of God's reason and compassion the liberty of free-will unbound, for it is what makes each of them their own unique person. And without it—they become like a lobotomized child (stripped of who they are—with the sentiment of what they do failing to come from their own heart). 

 

Despite this, among them was a simple command, to live up to the ideal of their creation (the purpose of their existence)—and be perfect as God (their loving parents) are perfect—perfectly intelligent, perfectly compassionate, and perfectly devoted.

 

God had seemingly done the impossible to take the conscious (fully stable and unbound in God's massive being) and concentrate it into this tiny organic form. But unfortunately, the complexity of this organic system can be subject to some biological overhead, which can breed instability in the conscious, and is further encompassed by chaos element, that is the conscious itself (the infinite of possibility).

 

Akin to this, a concept described as "the Cain" began to stir in the hearts of some of the primordial children of God. Negative emotional capacity and thoughts towards the other, secretly building up dissension in their hearts. As the Cain stirred, and the possibility of the infinite began to overtake some, it ultimately lead to up to a romantic temptation between the second primordial couple, and the first.

 

In this temptation, Adonai (Adam) is approached by Lilith (the primordial Asian woman of Genesis)with an invitation to consummate with her—but she turned away by him. At the same time, Gaea (Eve) is approached by Szun (Lilith's husband—and the primordial Asian man of Genesis) but instead accepts his invitation. This begets the biting of the apple, in which the two are left to their free will by the will of God, and consummate with each other; breaking the one command that God (the lovers) had bestowed upon them. This begins the fall of mankind, as the two abandon the God and the faithful children, to become fallen angels, and take up a life of hedonism everafter.

 

Following this romantic unfaithfulness, God has a great collapse, and begins to cry immensely over the betrayal of their beloved children. The force emitted from God's body during this emotional breakdown was so immense—it pinned everyone in their presence to the ground unable to budge—unintentionally enabling the unfaithful couple to escape far into the reaches of space.

 

And thus, beginning the Exodus after them, to undo all the evil they set into motion and restore order, so that mankind can return to peace amongst the presence of God (their loving parents) once again. And this begins the tale of this deck—which revisits the romantic temptation in the Garden of Eden.

 

This is a M Heracross deck—that originally sought to bridge off the energy acceleration of [Synthesis] Shaymin-EX to quickly energize M Heracross for consecutive One-Hit KOs with [Big Bang Horn]. For those who might be unaware, [Synthesis] Shaymin is actually faster than [Emerald Slash] Virizion for energy acceleration—if playing second and used on Turn 1. I then experimented with [Helping Hand] Illumise, which is a great card for M Heracross, but ultimately came to this Max Elixir strategy here (given its synergy with a more prominent corner stone of this deck—[Return] Tropius).

 

Tropius was a really amazing card from the Team Plasma era, and has been a staple in this deck from the very start. The main problem running two different starters is that you can only start with one—and the two particular cards require different deck structures built around them.

 

Ultimately, Tropius is a better starter than Shaymin-EX or Illumise for the Type-diversity it provides with weakness to Lightning-type (opposed to Fire-type). This provides some edge against Fire-type decks, that would be totally lost running Shaymin or Illumise. This aspect was further reinforced here by a recent addition of Tauros-GX, who acts as our fallen angels Satan and Moloch (or the faithful children of God after them), providing Type-diversity and diverse offensive potential among this deck's Pokémon.

 

Tropius' [Return] stacks immensely well with Pokémon Fan Club, Skyla, and Max Elixir, neting bonus card advantage in the absence of draw Supporters play and effectively helping to place a Heracross-EX on the bench and resource Max Elixir for it.

 

I had originally began with a 4-3 line for M Heracross, for heavy consistency could make up for a bulk of the resourcing, but has now been dialed down to just a heavy tech on M Heracross—so that it hopes to be there if you need it—yet ultimately hopes to guide this deck's potential to greener pastures (as M Heracross can be a very liable card in this deck structure).

 

You see, this deck doesn't include any mobility such as Float Stone, which can be troublesome when M Hercross suddenly faces some anti-EX effect. For this reason, this deck attempts to place less of an emphasis on M Heracross, to help prevent players from mindlessly guiding themselves into a dark corner.

 

As a new addition to this deck, [Prize Count] Virizion hopes to boast some potential as a strong follow-up to Tropius. [Prize Count] can deal a sizable amount of damage, and when following up from a couple hits by Tropius, [Prize Count] can amount to a One-Hit KO. Anti-EX can also be really troublesome, and Tropius doesn't really deal enough damage by itself, so the team between the two of them (alongside Tauros-GX) hopes to get the job done against anti-EX effects.

 

A strong healing suite in etched into the foundation of this deck between the cards Healing Scarf, Herb Energy, Super Potion, Gold Potion, and Pokémon Center Lady. These combined healing effects naturally stack with each other, but the three cards especially—Super Potion, Herb Energy, and Healing Scarf—boast some special synergy with one another.

 

Super Potion discards an energy card to heal 60 damage, which usually means having to equip an additional energy to make up for it, where Healing Scarf can chime in and recover an additional 20 damage. Make that energy an Herb Energy—and the three together can heal a total of 110 damage!

 

If M Heracross ever does go active, this is definitely the kind of healing power it needs to stay in the game with [Big Bang Horn]. As a backup though, this deck includes Shrine of Memories to enable M Heracross to tap into [Guard Press] and [Giga Power] as alternative attacks if it needs to.

 

   

Gather Light 

 

Here's a unique deck that I came up with while crafting variants from the Spread Eagle deck structure. The strategy behind this deck revolves around [Gather Light] Arceus and {Rebirth} Ho-Oh-EX. The technique for this strategy involves getting as many Ho-Oh (and about 3 energy) into the discard pile on Turn 1—then using {Rebirth} to bench at least 1 Ho-Oh with 3 different energy attached to it—so that [Gather Light] can be used to collect those energy and effectively enable a One-Hit KO next turn with [Judgement Blast].

 

Mew-EX provides an extension on this potential at the start of the game with its {Versatile} Ability. This enables Mew to start the game in place of Arceus and use the [Gather Light]/[Judgement Blast] combo to deliver a One-Hit KO.

 

This deck includes a number of technical utilities to best its disadvantages. One of these includes the addition of 2 {Long-Distance Hypnosis} Munna—alongside Chaos Tower. {Long-Distance Hypnosis} can be used to put the opponent's Active Pokémon to Sleep, which potentially prevents them from attacking next turn, and can effectively disable any preventive effects from attacks (such as Jolteon-EX for example). Chaos Tower is a bracer to this, as it can be set in place to prevent this deck's Pokémon from being put to sleep by {Long-Distance Hypnosis}. This can then enable defensive maneuvers in the rare chance that both Munna come up as tails.

 

Parallel City enables a powerplay with Hoopa and Ho-Oh EX, enabling a crunch on the bench that can get Hoopa out of the way, and provide a reset on {Rebirth} Ho-Oh for another play on it with [Gather Light]. I would really want 3 Chaos Tower to better enable this powerplay, but it would take some playtesting that I can't do, so I'm not sure what copy (if any) can be exchanged for an additional copy of Chaos Tower.

 

Zekrom is included in this deck to provide some important diversity against this deck's potentially worst matchup—Yveltal-EX. Yveltal deals massive damage with its energy-based attack, and would almost always be able to Knock Out a [Gather Light] Pokémon (even with Fighting Fury Belt) before [Judgement Blast] could chime in. I had originally thought to include Emolga-EX in this deck to check against Yveltal, but Emolga's potential is significantly decreased if it doesn't start out as the opening Pokémon. And with just 2 copies of it in the deck—that's not likely to be the case when it needs to be.

 

[Outrage] Zekrom on the other hand makes an amazing selection for how versatile and adaptable it is. Zekrom is a better starter; it's less liable as a single prize Pokémon; it operates on low energy; it stacks immensely well with Fighting Fury Belt; and it can more effectively do to Yveltal what Yveltal would do to everyone else in this deck.

 

Since only 1 Ho-Oh should technically be needed for [Gather Light] to soak up enough energy for a One-Hit KO with [Judgement Blast] next turn (alongside the energy drop each turn)—this deck only includes 3 copies of Ho-Oh to spare a much space as possible. This is also one of the rare decks that explicitly benefits from running 4 Professor Juniper and 3 N (when conventionally it's the other way around). This deck can more effectively afford to purge its hand at the start of the turn to get to Battle Compressor/Ultra Ball/etc—where running 4 Professor Juniper significantly helps to secure a stronger startup for this deck.

 

A great powerplay for the first Battle Compressor can involve discarding all three copies of Ho-Oh to get them out of the way. Then using the second one to net three energy card—or use Ultra Ball/Computer Search/Professor Juniper to discard the three needed energy for a single {Rebirth}. Hoopa-EX also provides a special powerplay, in games where an Ultra Ball or Computer Search comes up next to a Professor Juniper. Where Hoopa can effectively be searched for an used to collect all three Ho-Oh at once, then discard them all with a Turn 1 play on Professor Juniper. Steven is intended to provide extension to diverse energy, and Skyla is intended to provide extensions on important few and far between cards (such as Chaos Tower and Parallel City).

 

  

Gen 2 Prototype

 

This is a creative deck concept I came up looking to create a unique deck with a Generation II theme. This deck pairs the combo of Lugia BREAK and Ho-Oh BREAK, with an energy acceleration strategy, in hopes of capturing and unleashing the power of the two Legendary Pokémon.

 

The strategy here leads with Victini-EX and its [Turbo Energize] attack. I had originally sought to include a 3-2 line for Lugia and Ho-Oh, in order to help get the feet on the ground at the start of the game, but later adapted this to a 2-2 line for each, in order to make way for 3 Pokémon Fan Club (which hopes to effectively increase accessibility of this deck's Pokémon overall).

 

Victini can get Knocked Out pretty quick without Fighting Fury Belt, which I opted out here in place of Muscle Band to better suit Lugia and Ho-Oh BREAK (since their attacks don't breach One-Hit KO levels by themselves). A pair of Enhanced Hammer are included here to help Victini at the start of teh game and stall for time when possible, but this deck also has a primary backup to this, and seeks to bounce back from a Knock Out on Victini through the heavy presence of N and Ace Trainer. These two cards effectively help to put the opponent at a card disadvantage after a Knock Out, while Lugia BREAK or Ho-Oh BREAK effectively swing in to turn the tables with a One-Hit KO of their own.

 

As mentioned, Muscle Band is included in this deck to reinforce their potential for this, and is backed up here with a tech on Volcanion-EX as well, whose {Steam Up} Ability can be used in their place (or in combination with Muscle Band) to breech One-Hit KO thresholds. A tech on Professor Kukui provides an additional extension on this further, and would question if this deck could benefit from an additional copy of Professor Kukui, in exchange for a copy Enhanced Hammer; or that—plus a 1-3 split between Professor Juniper and Professor Kukui (if proven to be more beneficial).

 

Float Stone is included in this deck to help provide mobility for Volcanion and Volcanion-EX. These are two very heavy Pokémon, that I foresaw dreadful mobility issues for, if Float Stone weren't included for them. And last but certainly not least, [Jet Blast] Aerodactyl makes a special guest appearance in this deck to further the unique flavor here alongside Twist Mountain (aka Mt. Silver).

 

 

Ghost Hunt

 

Here's a deck about Ghosts N Stuff. Like for example, that awkward feeling you get walking through the woods, where you feel like it's haunted, even though it's broad daylight. This is deck takes you on a Ghost Hunt, or more specifically, leads you on the hunt as a Ghost. This is a [Creep Show] Gengar/Ancient Trait Celebi deck that I had originally pitched the concept for to someone on Reddit—and eventually got around to fully piecing it together myself.

 

This final version of the deck headlines with a unique split between [Teeter Punch] Spinda, Ancient Trait Celebi, and [Close Encounter] Deoxys. Each one of these cards make great starters for Gengar, as their attacks can effectively enable [Creep Show] in a single attack. Between these three cards, some Type-diversity further helps to offset the troubling aspect of Type-disadvantage.

 

Rocky Helmet is included in this deck to instantly close the gap on a Pokémon that's able to One-Hit KO Ancient Trait Celebi. The single damage from [Sparkle Motion] stacks with the 20 damage from Rocky Helmet, effectively enabling Gengar to swing in and finish the job. Weakness Policy is like the Ouija board—that makes ghosts invincible. I figured it could be a really important card for this deck, given how severe weakness to Dark-type can be.

 

Gengar can be pretty frail at just 130HP, which further explains the tech on AZ and Scoop Up Cyclone here, which are intended to enable powerplays that return a heavily damage Gengar to the hand, for a starter (such as Spinda) to swing it and enable another instant KO with Gengar's [Creep Show] while it respawns on the Bench.

 

Teammates was originally suggested as a staple card for this deck, given how it can effectively play off a Knock Out, and instantly close up gaps to evolve a Ghastly to Gengar with Rare Candy. However, I later dialed Teammates down to a split between Wally as I felt it would provide more adaptable potential.

 

This deck engine in general seeks to do something different than the usual for me. The arrangement attempts to keep the draw as one-sided as possible, while netting as many cards as possible given the Stage 2 resourcing needs. I had thought about utilizing Judge and Ilima for the disruption, but feared this deck (with its immense resource needs) would suffer from it more than anything else.

 

I'm not sure how well this card advantage strategy itself does. But I figure one could easily just swap the consistency between N and Shauna if it didn't play out so well. Just be careful with the Teammates, as this deck won't be able to afford to wait on Teammates when it doesn't get a Gastly in its opening hand.

 

  

Ghost Man on 3rd

 

This is a creative concept I came up with looking to make a deck with [Shining Eyes] Azelf in it. This is a Trevenant BREAK deck that gets a really interesting partner in Jolteon-EX. This was a really spontaneous addition for me as I looked for a card to pair Trevenant BREAK with. But ultimately, there were a number of reasons behind why Jolteon appeared to be a great partner for Trevenant BREAK.

 

Jolteon is a powerful card by itself, that can lockdown Basic Pokémon, and is compatible with Double Colorless Energy to boot. It also retreats for free, which can enable Trevenant to easily build up on the bench, soak up the energy play each turn, for Jolteon to make a free retreat and move Trevenant in. But most importantly, Jolteon has a supreme advantage over this deck's worth possible match-up—Yveltal-EX—which basically sealed the deal that I would try to put this team together.

 

On the other end of the split with Jolteon is {Bide Barricade} Wobbuffet, whose a classic staple with Trevenant BREAK, and makes a great alternative starter here for the sheer potential of being able to shutdown non-Psychic type Abilities and stall the opponent's setup.

 

To add some general potential to the Trevenant line, I affixed this deck with a 4-2 split between Crushing Hammer and Enhanced Hammer. The energy disruption these cards provide stack immensely well with {Nervous Seed} and can help bide some crucial time for [Tree Slam] Trevenant to get a jump on the damage stack enough to overpass a powerful Pokémon.

 

A tech on Shrine of Memories provides a potential powerplay towards the mid-endgame with Wally, enabling a Phantump can go Active jump straight to Trevenant BREAK through a double play with Wally and [Ascension] off Shrine of Memories. Despite this being some great potential, the split here still leans in favor of Dimension Valley, because it's really important towards Wobbuffet's offensive potential. The final tech on Azelf provides a potential game-finisher after a number of Pokémon have been heavily damaged between [Tree Slam] and [Silent Fear], where a single play from the Ghost Man on 3rd sends some Pokémon packing and takes home plate for the win.

 

 

 

Grass on the Field

 

"If there's grass on the field play ball!"

 

Here's a unique deck of mine that seeks to utilize a custom strategy I came up with between quick attacking Fighting-type Pokémon, the mobility of Float Stone, and the healing effect of {Aroma of Gratitude} Shaymin-EX. The technique here basically involves just that. Quick hitting Fighting-type Pokémon lead the offensive, while a powerplay on Hoopa-EX loads up the bench with {Aroma of Gratitude} Shaymin. From there, Float Stone enables the Fighting-type Pokémon to freely retreat between one another while the Shaymin mass heal the heavily damaged Pokémon from the Bench.

 

Parallel City enables a powerplay to drop Hoopa off and get it out of the way, while Pokémon Center can quickly replace it, and effectively stack with the healing effects from {Aroma of Gratitude}. A tech on Random Receiver enables a powerplay with Korrina to call for another Supporter when the hand is empty. And the heavy presence of Pokémon Center Lady helps to guard this deck's Active Pokémon against Special Conditions, while enabling some full heal potential on the Bench with Shaymin and Pokémon Center.

 

There are a number of different concepts I could have went with for this deck, but I decided to include [Jet Blast] Aerodactly for the sheer volume of special qualities it provides to this deck—including its Type-diversity, quick attacking, heavy damage, energy disruption effect, and free retreat cost. The utility that Aerodactyl provides this deck more potential against anti-Basic and anti-EX effects. These are major weaknesses to this deck as it stands, so reserving a spot on the bench for Aerodactyl, and getting it out as soon as possible can be pretty important.

 

A variant for this deck includes replacing Aerodactyl and Old Amber for 3-3 Carbink/Carbink BREAK line and a copy of {Regi Power} Regirock-EX. Another variant involves replacing Aerodactyl and Old Amber for a 3-3 Phapy/Donphan line—and a copy of Regirock-EX—or a tech on [Safeguard]/[Energy Keeper] Carbink.

 

 

Heavygrinder

 

This is a deck about the legendary Metal/Electro Queen DJ Heavygrinder. This deck features a Metal/Electric combo in respects to the style of the OG herself.

 

The strategy behind this deck in a hybrid-[Outrage] one, that utilizes damage amplifying effects with damage-based attacks to effectively create one big Metal/Electro crowd. You got the mosh pitters, you got the crowd surfers, you got the Heavygrinder tee-shirts, and the Queen herself taking center-stage.

 

Fighting Fury Belt is one of the primary resources to this deck, it boosts the HP of this deck's Pokémon to help them survive the rough conditions of the crowd. Frozen City is the second main outlet, which acts as a damage amplifier to get the edge on the damage stack against the opponent while secondly acting as an enabler for Tauros-GX and [Outrage] Dragons.

 

This deck contains a heavy assortment of technical Supporters to reinforce this strategy. The first includes the pair of Team Flare Grunt and Xerosic, which acts as energy disruption, and furthers the edge of Frozen City against the opponent. As Tauros-GX (aka Red Bull) is the lead for this deck, this energy disruption helps Tauros better lead with [Horn Attack], while [Rage] builds up for a potential One-Hit KO. The second is the heavy presence of Pokémon Center Lady, which effectively guards against Special Conditions, to best help this deck's Pokémon to survive through the night.

 

Some tech additions for this deck include a 2-2 [Thunderclasp] Raichu line, a copy of Cilan, and a copy of Elesa. [Thunderclasp] stacks really good with Frozen City and the energy disruption in this deck—making for a potentially strong finisher. The tech on Cilan helps to resource particular energy, which when it comes to cards like Jolteon and Magearna, can come in really handy mid-to-endgame. Elesa makes a great play at anytime to load up this deck's Pokémon with Fighting Fury Belt, which helps protect against the cold of Frozen City, and the effects of hot cards like Lysandre.

 

A potential adaptation for this deck involves replacing the 2-2 Raichu line with a 2-2 {Zap Zone} Zebstrika line. Zebstrika would be like the Drum & Bass, DJ Heavygrinder is a huge Drum & Bass fan. The effect of {Zap Zone} can enable Jolteon-EX to lead more effectively, enabling is damage to bust through preventive effects. This would be a great adaptation to make alongside replacing 2 copies of Tauros—for a copy [Outrage] Zekrom and another copy of Reshiram. This helps to provide more Type-diversity to guard against Fighting-type disadvantage, but for maximum security, a copy of Pokémon Center Lady can be replaced further for another copy of Team Flare Grunt.

 

  

Hellfire Country Club

 

The Hellfire Club is an old Satanic cult that originated in England in the 18th Century by Philip, Duke of Wharton. The club was especially extended to, and reserved for corrupt aristocrats, who used the secret society to live outside the law, carry out Satanic rituals, commit other immoral acts together. This concept is where the Freemasons truly take their roots from, as they considered themselves a neo-Hellfire Club, secretly indulged themselves in lifestyle of hedonism and devil worship.

 

The strategy behind this deck is a [Hexed Flame]/Special Conditions one, that seeks to combine the power of [Hexed Flame] with the double Special Condition invoking effects of [Dancing Tentacles] and [Eerie Light]. This deck is coupled with a Virbank/Laser strategy to reinforce the potential of [Hexed Flame] if-and-when Ninetales is on its own.

 

The only major weakness to this deck as it stands is {Verdant Wind} Virizion and {Mystic Heart} Magearna, which can be checked against by replacing 2 Chandelure-EX for another Tentacool/Tentacruel, replacing a Level Ball for another Ultra Ball, and then replacing Dimension Valley for Silent Lab entirely. I would also suggest tech'ing just a single copy of Fighting Fury Belt and Mystery Energy with this arrangement, in exchange for basic Psychic energy, and another copy of Float Stone (to prime the mobility for Tentacruel—and better guard against Enhanced Hammer).

 

 

Help Me Beat Kaboom!

 

This is a deck with another Trickster Online theme. Kaboom was a sub-boss monster who patrolled the Caballa Relics Dungeon area. While chilling in Caballa Relics with shop open or something, new characters would prominently approach you inquiring if you could help them beat Kaboom—so they could pick up an easy Badge Seal he drops needed for the 2nd Job Change quest.

 

This deck utilizes [Explosion] Golem from the Flashfire set. It's a really powerful card, whose [Explosion] attack not only deals and immense 150 damage, but the recoil damage doesn't fully Knock Out Golem for a neat bonus. This deck further includes Protection Cube, with the intention of enabling Golem to use [Explosion] consecutively without Golem suffering any recoil damage at all.

 

This final edit of the deck switched up to a Carbink BREAK strategy, which fits the flavor of the deck better, and enables a quicker (more fluid) operation with Golem. Battle Compressor is further added to this, which makes a great powerplay with Strong Energy, Double Colorless Energy, and [Diamond Gift] to enable Golem to swing out and deal some 190 damage or more! Weakness Policy is included to take the edge off this deck's prominent weakness to Grass-type. It's like the hax—another concept (and prominent term) that Trickster Online players would shout in-game.

 

 

Honeymoon in Paris

 

Here's a deck I came up with in the 2014 Season during the Phantom Forces release. This is [Horror Note] Gourgeist deck that used [Triple Draw] to load up the hand with tons of cards fast, to quickly evolve Gourgeist and swing it in for a One-Hit KO. Gourgeist's Ability is really prime, as the 200HP enables Gourgeist to slug it out with strong very Pokémon. The straight draw tactic is heavily reinforced with Cheren, Tierno, and Roller Skates for some immense hand strengthening potential.

 

An addition on {Premontion} Lunatone then gives that extra card advantage before the end of the turn, which is really beneficial for getting to those very important cards in time.

 

This final edit of the deck includes 2 copies of Pokémon Fan Club to help resource Pumpkaboo and Lunatone. It's not as beneficial to [Horror Note] as another copy of Tierno would be, but alongside Caitlin, it hopes to put this deck a few turns ahead when it is used. Professor's Letter is a classic staple to this deck, given its combined synergy to resource crucial energy, while acting as a 2 for 1 towards the power of [Horror Note].

 

This deck is find of vulnerable to N, especially late game, so having an energized Kangaskhan or Deoxys on the bench is pretty important. I had originally included M Kangaskhan in this deck to help further its adaptability against this, but it was later omitted. A better replacement these days would be a Pokémon-GX, which I didn't bother adding, because I figured I would just leave it as it is.

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Hot Date
 

Simisear is going on a hot date with Simipour. They're going to play laser tag and get something to eat after. This is a cute and creative deck I came up with seeking to combine the effects of the [Water's Power] Simisear with [Stadium Wave] Simipour. Both of these attacks appeared the have some deck synergy to them, as they both put Pokémon to sleep, and can be used in conjunction with one another.

 

The original version of the deck didn't have much a strategy to it, but simply attempted to get by on the Special Condition. This re-vision of the original deck now frontlines with a Virbank/Laser strategy to better pair with the Asleep Special Condition between Simisear and Simipour, also complimenting their low damage and HP. Toxicroak-EX has further been added for its synergy with Virbank City Gym, alongside an array of [Outrage] Dragons, for their universal potential, and the Type-diversity they add to the deck. [Outrage] Dragons also pair very well with the Virbank/Laser combo, and presence of Fighting Fury Belt here helps to take them over the top.

 

Complimenting this is a very hard disruption concept, revolving around a heavy presence of Judge and Ilima aside Professor Juniper and Delinquent. This aims to provide fast recoveries from Judge and Ilima  as well as crunch the opponent's hand facing the nightmare of the Virbank/Laser combo.

 

Delinquent has a lot of natural talent with Virbank City Gym, enabling an effective outlet for multiple copies that could otherwise just sit around. Delinquent also enables the opponent's copies of Virbank City Gym to be aced out in place of one's own.

 

Ilima has a 1 in 4 chance of coming out as an Ace Trainer, and further doubles to hold the same potential that Judge naturally has with Delinquent (effectively leaving the opponent with just a single card in hand). For a creative adaptation, Delinquent can be replaced with Team Skull Grunt in disruption strategies like this that include Red Card, Ilima, and Judge—to some questionably greater success. It would definitely be something neat to try out here, but I wouldn't say this is the best strategy to make use of an Ilima/Judge/Team Skull Grunt combo.

 

House of Di Dracian

Here's an alpha {Dragon Call}/[Mach Cut] Garchomp deck. This was a deck that ruled the ranks back in the Team Plasma era for its speed, power, and prize exchange grind. Gabite's {Dragon Call} provides some immense resourcing potential for evolution chain building. Seeking to get the most out of this, the Garchomp line is paired here with the {Fight Song} Altaria, whose Ability boosts the attacks of Dragon-type Pokémon by 20 damage each. To super-reinforce this deck's resourcing potential, I included a full 4 Level Ball and took Master Ball as the select Ace Spec. This enables lightning fast evolution chain building with {Dragon Call} for Garchomp and Altaria.

 

This deck doesn't use Wally, can be used to get the jump on the climb to Garchomp right away. In its place (since Wally wasn't around back then), I tactically arranged this deck's Garchomp line with a 4-4-3 arrangement. This enables a Gabite to lead with {Dragon Call} and take a Knock Out, without the deck suffering any overlapping odd ends. Meanwhile, another Garchomp and several Altaria can build up on the bench behind it, potentially swinging out for a One-Hit KO.

 

This final edit of the deck replaces a previous tech on Silver Bracelet with a tech on Fighting Fury Belt instead for the more universal potential it provides (especially facing the arrival of Pokémon-GX). This final edit also include a split between the original [Power Blast] Garchomp-EX and the new-since-then [Shred] Garchomp-EX for the diversity this split provides. The [Shred] Garchomp isn't entirely better, since its second attack is significantly more expensive, and when time is a factor, one might not make it to the Knock Out (where [Power Blast] could have definitely delivered).

 

This final edit of deck gets a much needed tech from Karen, to provide crucial extensions to the Garchomp line. This was traditionally a weakness of the deck, if-and-when it ran out of Garchomp. Giovanni's Scheme now takes a tech spot behind Karen, with a heavy presence from Professor Kukui instead, given its immense potential here with heavy resourcing taking the burden off the need for cards (while the additional 20 damage helps to push Garchomp's attacks that much higher).

 

 

Hunny with a Hallpass
 

Does that girl have a...Hallpass? This is a deck about being taken back to school, walking the halls, and the risk of detention for naughty boys and girls that get caught without a hallpass.

 

This is a Whimsicott deck that combines some hard hitting Pokémon, with a defensive suite, and the effect of [Windy Mischief], for some hardcore lockdown action. This deck further includes a tech on Wailord-EX, which was the original concept and combination with [Windy Mischief] that started it all. Wailord has an immense 250HP, and for whatever reason, can be equipped with Fighting Fury Belt to increase its HP to an immense 290HP.

 

From there, Fairy Garden enables a free retreat for Wailord, and [Windy Mischief] can be used to switch all the damage from Wailord to the opponent's Active Pokémon. I originally wanted this to headline the strategy, but as it's too vulnerable to Lysandre-like effects, a Slugger style between Diancie and Florges takes center stage in its place. This strategy enables a stronger damage exchange against the opponent, which effectively acts as a more proactive effort towards victory.

 

I had thought to tech a copy of Xerneas BREAK in here just for the alternative offensive potenital, but there's no way to directly resource it here. And although it works good with the strategy, I think it would better off in a deck structure more custom built around Xerneas BREAK specifically (with the same defensive suite—or possible additions from cards like Giant Cape).

 Hunt to Kill
 

This a deck about the Stone Cold Steven Austin movie where a group of thugs kidnaps him and his daughter and forces them to guide the thugs through the Wilderness, from which Stone Cold uses his combat expertise and knowledge of the ground to best the thugs one by one.

 

The strategy for this deck pairs the combo of Trevenant BREAK and [Creep Show] Gengar. These two have some major chemistry together like apple and cinnamon. The deck strategy also helps to build itself, given the utility of Phantump's [Ascension] attack, which helps to take the edge off the need for resourcing evolution line Pokémon. Shrine of Memories then takes its place here to further bank off the effect of [Ascension] and its synergy with Wally—which effectively enable a Phantump to go active and evolve straight to Trevenant BREAK in a single turn.

 

Toxicroak-EX and [Hyperspace Punch] Hoopa both add synergy to this deck, stacking well with Trevenant BREAK and Gengar's [Creep Show] attack. They also help to take the edge off what would otherwise be an immense vulnerability to Dark-type. This aspect is mostly why Trevenant takes its place on the higher end of the split with Gengar, because its disruption potential with Item lock or {Nervous Seed} provide a better fighting chance against Dark-type Pokémon.

 

To supplement this further, this deck includes Judge in high volume as the best play to make on Turn 1 with [Ascension] and Trevenant's disruption effects. High volume of Professor Sycamore then backs up the disadvantage of Judge, which all comes full circle with a tech on Brock's Grit (helping to provide extensions on copies of cards lost to Professor Sycamore or Ultra Ball).

  

I Am the Batman
 

"I am the night—I am the Batman!"

Here's a deck about the legendary Dark Knight. The idea for this deck came from the art on M Gallade, which suddenly just made be burst out with, "I Am the Batman" one day. It was an lol moment that inspired me to see what kind of deck I could come up with a Batman theme.

 

The concept I came up with here seeks to combine the synergy between Noivern's [Boomburst] and M Gallade's [Unwavering Blade]. To compliment this further, I naturally paired them with a disruption strategy featuring Judge and Professor Sycamore in high volume. The idea here is to offset the opponent's card, then making dash with Professor Sycamore to jet off into the night, while leaving the opponent all tied down.

 

Giovanni's Scheme plays the main backup Supporter to this. I was going to run in it a split with Professor Kukui, but the card advantage potential risks being less effective when Ultra Ball comes up next to Professor Kukui after a play on Judge. In this case, it'll be a much better to play Ultra Ball, and then make a draw to 5 with Giovanni's Scheme, because it'll effectively net you an additional card, with a direct selection of any Pokémon in the deck to boot.

 

Professor Kukui also has no effect with Noivern's [Boomburst], since the attack doesn't actually deal any damage, which is another reason I didn't include more copies of Professor Kukui here. It does make a great play mid-to-late game though, especially with the ability to enable M Gallade to One-Hit KO 130HP Pokémon.

 

{Cursed Eyes} Absol was included for the powerplays as an enabler for the bonus damage of M Gallade's [Unwaivering Blade], and the ability to close up odd ends and instantly Knock Out Pokémon with just a few HP remaining. A tech on Ghetsis was included for the sheer flavor of it. How useful it really is I can't say, but it can make a really amazing play at any time in the game.

 

This deck lastly techs just a single Mystery Energy to help brace Noivern's energy needs facing a Turn 1 play on Judge. Every basic energy is going to be significant when it comes to landing one after the wheel on Judge comes around. Mystery Energy could be omitted entirely even, but I decided to keep just one, since Gallade does have an even chance of starting the game after all.

  

I Am the Viking!!!
 
"I am the strongest—I am the Viking!!! ARRRRRGGGHH!!!"

This is a deck about the 1988 World's Strongest Man competition between Jon Pall Sigmarsson—and his greatest rival—Bill Kazmaier. This is a Slugger style Fighting deck that seeks to overpower the opponent with immense levels of damage. Carbink BREAK plays a backup to this, whose intention is to enable the energy focus to remain on the Active Pokémon, while Stage 2 Machamp build up on the bench. Instead of having to grind in a rush trying to energize their costly attacks, {Fighting Fury} Machamp can simply build up on the bench and get easily energized later with Carbink BREAK.

 

Adding volume to the overpower strategy is a Bursting Ballon/Rock Guard/Eco Arm suite, intended to help further offset the damage exchange against the opponent. This works especially well with Machamp-EX, as it helps to better enable a One-Hit KO against the opposing Pokémon with [Steaming Mad]. You can't use [Steaming Mad] on the first turn anyways, since it costs two energy, so Bursting Balloon and Rock Guard provide that extra damage needed to enable Machamp to Knock Out a 180HP Pokémon that deals at least 60 damage to it.

 

Random Receiver provides a powerplay with Korrina towards the mid-game scenario, enabling a call for another Supporter to secure the flow of the cards on the next turn. Magnetic Storm lastly provides the edge against Pokémon with Resistance, making it the best the Stadium for this deck by far, given the desperate need for that additional 20 damage when it comes to the turn sequence involving the damage stack. Magnetic Storm hopes to spare that one additional turn this deck can't afford to lose.

 

 

Ice Fishin'

 

Here's a deck that takes you ice fishing in the wilds of the north. This deck features an excessive collection of direct retrieval, alongside a mass straight draw strategy between [Triple Draw] Kangaskahn and [Collect] Lapras, intended to super resource {Water Shuriken} Greninja/Greninja BREAK on the bench. From there, Frozen City kicks in and stacks with multiple {Water Shuriken} and {Giant Water Shuriken} as a damage amplifier. This helps to bring down high HP Pokémon even faster, and enables damage to stack up on Pokémon before {Water Shuriken} Greninja hits the board, so that they can be more easily picked apart later.

This deck originally featured Rare Candy exclusively for the quickest jump to Greninja BREAK, but now includes 2 Frogadier to suite Splash Energy for the greater potential that Splash Energy provides to Greninja BREAK. Splash Energy can be used to provide extensions to the availability of Greninja BREAK, so that more can made use, and less copies can be included in the deck to free up space for other things. This is really important potential, as the elevated HP of Greninja BREAK can be essential to victory.

This deck runs a little heavy on Item cards, so it can suffer some against Item lock, but there are adaptations that can be made to arm it against Item lock—such as dialing down the Rare Candy to a single copy, and replacing a copy or two of Dive Ball, with Pokémon Fan Club. It would also be suggested to replace the Master Ball with Dowsing Machine—which is a great potential adjustment for this deck as it stands. Tech'ing just a single copy of Super Energy Retrieval—in exchange for another copy of Fisherman or another Supporter.

 

 

Imperial Grade Green Tea

 

Here's a cute deck about the power of green tea. Green tea contains powerful anti-oxidants, which neutralize free radicals—helping to prevent reactions of oxidation—that can cause DNA damage leading to cancer and other complications. Imperial Grade green tea, such as Gyokuro and Matcha, contains especially high levels of anti-oxidants, boasting more power than any other type of tea.

 

This deck centerpieces Reuniclus as the power of green tea. Its original concept revolved around mass evolving lots of [Net Force] Reuniclus on the bench (with one {Damage Swap} Reuniclus) then leading with Mew-EX or Reuniclus while {Damage Swap} moves all damage done to them over to a benched Cresslia-EX. This would provide endless full heals for the Active Pokémon, while the damage is then permanently healed by the effects of {Sparkling Particles}.

 

This final edit of the deck replaces the [Net Force] Reuniclus with the more powerful [Link Fusion] Reuniclus. [Net Force] is really better for a [Lifesplosion] Cradily strategy, while [Link Fusion] holds a lot more universal potential here, given the slower pace.

 

This deck utilizes [Call for Family] as the primary starter to help set the foundation for the Reuniclus evolution line, and consistency helps to make up the difference from there. High volume of Professor Juniper enables some desperate draw potential that could be desperately needed here, while a tech on Karen helps to make up for any losses. Pokémon Fan Club is further included to especially help in games where this deck doesn't get to start with [Call for Family].

 

Although {Damage Swap} might see less potential with Mew and Mewtwo—thanks to [Damage Change]—it's still included here for the flavor of it, and because the combo is still works great with both [Link Fusion] Reuniclus and Skarmory. Floral Crown, Pokémon Center Lady, and tech on Pokémon Center create a small healing suite together, which aims to effectively help remove stacks of damage with {Damage Swap}.

 

  

Intelligence Gathering

 

This is a deck that I originally came up with for the Standard Format in the 2016 Season. This is a [Bee Revenge] Vespiquen deck that attempts to do all kinds of fancy things with Shaymin-EX, Sky Field, and Parallel City. The strategy behind this deck involves disrupting the opponent while resourcing as many cards as possible—as quickly as possible—to tactically build up for the [Bee Revenge] attack. The technique for this begins with a heavy presence from Judge, which alongside 4 copies of {Set Up} Shaymin, holds a lot of synergy together to disrupt the opponent's card advantage while providing tons of support to instantly bounce back from any disadvantage.

 

Sky Field opens up space on the bench to play out as many Shaymin as possible, setting up for a powerplay with Parallel City, which enables a crunch on the bench to effectively discard every copy of Shaymin and get them out of harms way, while adding to the power of [Bee Revenge]. {Farewell Letter} Unown is another powerful utility included here to supplement, adding a 1 for 1 each to the draw and power bonus. These make great alternatives to Shaymin for recovering from Judge.

 

In the initial test runs that I made, the deck out-performed my expectations for it. But I did find that the deck had one major weakness. The deck can run out of cards really, really fast. This was originally why Great Ball replaces the conventional Ultra Ball. Great Ball is even better in this deck with Judge and Shaymin than Ultra Ball is. Great Ball doesn't force you to discard crucial energies, Supporters, or copies of Combee and Vespiquen—which can be crucial for surviving a long game.

 

The deck ended up just sitting around until the 2017 Season rolled around, which is how {Sudden Cyclone} Hawlucha found its way into this deck. This card makes a really amazing addition given the Lysandre-like potential, alongside the natural synergy with the Sky Field/Parallel City powerplay. [Psychic] Mewtwo also found its way in here this way, and is intended to provide a catch for the opening spot (to spare Combee) while helping to take precautions against possible anti-EX effects.

 

This also has to do with why there are just 2 Lugia in this deck. It's to help prevent having to start with Lugia unless it's necessary. Lugia is very vulnerable to anti-EX effects (such as [Safeguard] Carbink), and against the typical swarmer, this deck is going to want to place Lugia starting out on the bench, so that Lugia can then swing out, get the first hit, and hit for as much damage as possible with the time it had to load up energy. If you have to play first, there's no chance of this happening starting with Lugia.

 

Paint Roller makes a really awesome addition to this deck to help ace out opponent's Stadium Cards. It nets a bonus card, rather than just getting nothing, and it can also be used with Sky Field to make an emergency evacuation when Parallel City isn't available. This deck also originally contained 3 Pokémon Fan Club, but I later thought to add Delinquent as a tech. That's like when your intelligence is bad. It can be crushing. Not sure how well it actually really does. But for safety, it's only a tech for similar reason Teammates is. It's because this deck can't afford to wait on Teammates at the start of the game it can't wait on Teammates, it needs to hit the ground running, so it techs just a single Teammates in hopes of being made use of sometime mid-to-endgame.

 

 

Iron Dragon

 

The Iron Dragon is an over-the-water roller coaster at Sandusky's Cedar Point amusement park. It's my grandmother's favorite roller coaster at Cedar Point. The roller coaster features a hanging railway cart, that takes its rider on a wild ride over the water, and has in recent times been experimenting with adding VR headset technology to the ride experience.

The strategy behind this deck is an energy acceleration one, that seeks to use Manectric's [Energy Assist] to load up Kingdra-EX from the bench with Lightning energy. Kingdra's [Dragon Trail] is a very powerful that attack, that does a standard 150 damage with three Lightning energy. This makes it a great pair with the [Energy Assist] effect. The damage potential also has no limit, which enables the attack to do an additional 30 more damage for each additional Lightning energy added after.

 

This could have used a Battle Compressor strategy, with a purely Out-Fighter strategy packing 3 [Energy Assist] Manectric or more. However, the style here is a hybrid one, that enables the deck to switch up to a Swarmer style with Zekrom, while Mancetric sets up from the bench. This was a decision made to best suit the fact of Kingdra's natural power failing to reach typical One-Hit KO thresholds.

Akin to this hybrid strategy, this deck runs an Ultra Ball/Professor's Letter combo, alongside Cheren  to support the straight draw, and Skyla to help bring everything together. This deck structure helps to provide more universal and adaptable potential. Muscle Band is also included here in high volume to further Support Kingdra and help [Dragon Trail] reach for that One-Hit KO.