Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Severe Weather Warning

 

This is a pallet swap of the very first deck I ever built coming back to the Pokémon Trading Card game at the start of the XY era. This is in-fact the second deck I ever created, boasting the same [Outrage] Dragons Slugger strategy that Thunderstorm Warning has, with the addition of the Fire-type (and Yveltal-EX) to further diversify upon the potential Type advantage. This diversity was the main idea behind this deck, as I was naturally seeking to unlock some alpha potential against the Meta between [Outrage] Dragons through their universal Colorless attack and the wide array of diversity between their Types. I didn't really put this deck as much use, but as I recall it did just as well (if not a little better) than Thunderstorm Warning—with the addition of Yveltal-EX.

 

Back in its prototype version, there was only a single copy of Yveltal-EX in this deck, with [Dragon Pulse]/[Shred] Rayquaza taking the lead as it does in Thunderstorm Warning. In this final edit of the deck, I've respectively moved Yveltal-EX to the front as the primary lead where I didn't originally want to put it—because Yveltal-EX was such a cliché card back then—and I was looking to do something unique. [Shred] Giratina-EX also takes the place of [Dragon Pulse/[Shred] Rayquaza here to some lesser or greater success. And last but not least, this deck has been affixed with a Bursting Balloon/Rock Guard/Eco Arm strategy—to further its uniqueness—and help to set it apart from its counterpart.

 

 

Shikaka

 

Bubblebee tuna! Greetings, this deck takes us on an adventure to Africa with the one and only Ace Ventura Pet Detective in search of the legendary Shikaka (albino bat). The strategy here is an improvised M Gengar/Bats tactic that includes a tactical 2-2 split between [Ultra-Toxic Fang] Golbat and {Surprise Bite} Golbat. The reason for this tactical split is to help provide diversity to this deck's offensive potential against anti-EX effects. {Surprise Bite} Golbat is considerably too weak for this, and Kangaskhan's [Comet Punch] is considerably too unreliable. [Ultra-Toxic Fang] however is insanely powerful alongside Virbank City Gym in this deck—dealing 40 outright—then stacking up 60 damage in Poison on the opponent's Active Pokémon between turns.

 

AZ is the choice technical Supporter for this deck for its diverse utility here. However, this deck has an immense resource overhead with heavy Crobat line, so it needs lots of card advantage Supporter to heavily reinforce it. That is why you only get 1 powerplay with AZ here—with an extension on this potential provided by Scoop Up Cyclone. This deck also runs 2 Robo Substitute to help reinforce Gengar-EX's [Dark Corridor] attack, and your best move can be to chalk up a Prize for a greater powerplay off Teammates. However, AZ and Scoop Up Cyclone still hope to act as more advanced copies of Robo Substitute—providing a full HP reset, opening up bench space, and also enabling the exchange of one Crobat for another.

 

 

Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja

 

Here's a deck that seeks to make a power combination between M Gallade-EX and [Team Plasma] Weezing. These two cards boast some powerful synergy together in this deck with Dimension Valley, where Weezing's [Smogbank] loads the opponent's Pokémon up with damage counters for M Gallade-EX to swing in and quickly finish the opponent off. [Team Plasma] Weezing also boasts a very powerful ability, that acts as disruption against the opponent's draw, discarding 4 card off the top of their deck when Weezing is Knocked Out. This can cause an opponent to lose precious copies of game saving cards. And with 4 copies of Weezing here, this deck aims to be seriously competitive.

 

A few ninja tools of the trade are also included here to further this deck's versatility and adaptability. Enhanced Hammer can be a heavy disruption that forces an opponent back one extra turn they can't afford, while Escape Rope and Scoop Up Cyclone provide this deck to pull off some advanced ninja moves with Mystery Energy, as well as help to guard against Special Conditions.

 

 

Simply Teaching

 

The half-art Ancient Trait cards boast some incredible artwork, they look even more brilliant in real, so I set out to see if I could build a competitive deck for each that tapped into their potential. I never did get around to finishing that, but this here is the deck concept I came up with that revolved around Ancient Trait Eelektrik. The theme here is about a very talented woman in the art of Suki Suki, who stumbles upon a charm school, and seeks to teach the girls everything she knows about the art she's mastered.

 

The deck strategy here is a heavy healing one, that seeks to utilize the combination of {Victory Star} Victini and {Victory Kiss} Jynx to bring out some alpha potential in Thundurus-EX and the Ancient Trait Eelektrik line. The combined effects of these two cards strongly reinforce coin flip attacks, and also help to offset the damage stack and boost survival. Alpha Recovery Eelektrik gains an especially benefit from this, as with just 1 copy of Rough Seas and Jynx out, the opponent will have to deal a One-Hit KO to knockout Eelektrik. Might not seem difficult today, but this was back Seismitoad-EX rules the Meta with a max 50 damage a turn at most bridging off Item lock to win.

 

I hate to think that a based on just Eelektrik could be super competitive, and I'd also hate to waste the potential to make use of its Stage 2 evolution, and that's why 2 copies of [Suction Heal] Eelektross also make an appearance here. This Black White era card boasts a lot of synergy in this deck between the combination of its attacks. The first of which stacks perfectly with the heavy healing theme here, and the second which boasts some Lysandre-like potential, that can flat claim Benched {Set Up} Shyamin-EX for two Prize cards.

 

In this final edit, I removed a copy of [Thunder Fang] Raikou-EX for an additional copy of Mewtwo-EX to provide a higher consistency (for a higher availability) against Fighting-type decks where Mewtwo-EX turns the tides from Type disadvantage to a powerful Type advantage.

 

 

Skurt Reynolds

 

"I ain't wit it had to swerve, I ain't wit it had to swerve, I ain't wit it had to swerve
...like skurt!"

—heRobust

 

This is M Tyrannitar deck that pairs the heavyweight with a duo of [Dark Wing] Yveltal and [Mighty Wind] Togekiss-EX. Given the utility of their energy acceleration attacks, both of these cards boast some amazing potential with M Tyrannitar-EX in an Out-Fighter strategy. The theme of the deck here is about dirty men who knock women up and then leave them when they're pregnant. The strategy here involves powering up Tyrannitar/M Tyrannitar-EX from the bench with Yvetal or Togekiss-EX. There's a lot of support for quick resourcing to bring this all together, while cards like Rocky Helmet and Rock Guard help to setup for the big finish once M Tyrannitar-EX hits the Active spot.

 

 

Skydiver

 

Here's a deck that seeks to combine the power of {Fight Song} Altaria with the mighty {Bust In}/[Jet Sonic] Dragonite-EX. This Dragonite-EX was an entirely overlooked card, yet I believe this card possesses some alpha potential that could have easily took 1st Place at the Worlds Championship. This deck is about a Fat Japonais Gold-digger, who lives for the thrill of life, and is about to take life to the next level by becoming an accomplished Skydiver.

 

The strategy for this deck and its setup revolves around the team of [Energy Stream] Zekrom and [Energy Glide] Emolga-EX, whom both boast immense potential with {Bust In} Dragonite. [Energy Stream] Zekrom might actually work a little better with 3 Ultra Ball, but I don't really think this deck can afford to be discarding cards all like that. The 2-2 split here between Level Ball and Ultra Ball helps to provide continuity. This deck doesn't really need to attach heavy amounts of energy to Zekrom anyways, since Double Dragon Energy can easily make up the difference.

 

Zekrom and Latias-EX both provide amazing barriers for a start-up involving [Energy Glide] and Emolga, which is a prime combo of mine with {Bust In} Dragonite-EX. The copy of AZ here helps to provide an extension on Scoop Up Cyclone, enabling a powerplay with Dragonite-EX for a full-reset and another play on {Bust In} next turn. The 2 copies of Sky Field also provide a similar potential, hopefully enabling this deck to load up the bench with Altaria, then make a powerplay with {Bust In} from the hand when the bench was previously loaded.

 

 

Slip N' Slide

 

A young doctor is having some trouble adjusting to the Hospital life, when the head nurse (who has some seniority over him) steps in to help guide him. The two get off to a really good start, and to repay the favor, the young doctor (being considerably talented) offers to help her with some pain she's been experiencing. "I'm just going to put a little pressure here...and...****"  "And now a little pressure here...****" It wasn't soon after, and with his magic touch, the nurse was feeling better than ever. The two become very close friends with each other after, and eventually went on to get married.

 

 

Slow Jamz

 

"She said she wants some Marvin Gaye, some Luther Vandross
...a little Anita...will definitely set this part off right."

 

This here is a {Fight Song}Latias/M Latios deck about the sweet art of lovemaking. The primary strategy here revolves around the tactical power of Latios-EX and its [Mach Flight] attack, which gained a lot of potential with the release of Double Dragon Energy, given how it enables Latios-EX to attack right away on a single energy.  Latias-EX and Hydreigon-EX also boast some very technical effects and ability, which between them all aims to create a very formidable team on all fronts.

 

Heavy use of Fighting Fury Belt helps to offset the damage stack as a compliment to the power boosting effect gained from {Fight Song} Altaria. This is further akin to a decision I made to reinforce the deck structure in favor of Latios-EX/Basic support/Fighting Fury Belt being the first priority strategy over M Latios, Latios Spirit Link, and Shrine of Memories as the second priority strategy.

 

The combat logic behind this decision involves the fact of the uphill energy costs for the attacks this deck's Pokémon. A strategy more focused on M Latios would desperately rely on being able to keep Shrine of Memories active (which can be a rather unreliable venture—even with heavy consistency). Now, M Latios does retreat for free, but the only card you're going to be able to move in and attack right away with is another copy of Latios-EX (given how it's the only Pokémon that can attack on a single energy). Considering this, I decided to reinforce the deck structure here around this deck's most versatile option in attempts to spare myself any run around.

 

I would have liked a heavy tech of 2 Lysandre here as well, but I'm not entirely sure how I would fit it in. The obvious adjustment would be 1 less Bridgett, 1 less Misty's Determination for 2 Lysandre. However, running less Bridgette terribly hoses the consistency so that it might not ever be of any significant use at all. While with the sniping power of M Latios, I question if Lysandre is really needed here at all. To me, it seems better to reinforce the flow of the cards for this deck as much as possible, because this deck possesses such a diverse array of multifaceted resources. That's why all the Supporter cards in this deck help get to these resources.

 

Even the heavy consistency of Misty's Determination is really important, because it can use unneeded copies of Bridgett and Latios-EX to provide the greatest extension possible to very crucial cards—such as Double Dragon Energy, Double Colorless Energy, Shrine of Memories, Latios Spirit Link, and copies of Altaria. Spamming through the deck with Professor Juniper can be considerably careless, and ultimately waste precious resources and run you out of cards. So the heavy utility of Misty's Determination here hopes to spare it from any premature Defeat.

 

This deck here is actually running naked with just 4 copies of Misty's Determination alone. As it can be a somewhat unreliable card itself, and that's why I prefer to run it alongside 4 copies of VS Seeker to back it up.

 

 

Slurm

 

Furturama was the inspiration behind this parody deck, namely the Slurm episode featuring the party animal Slurms MacKenzie. The strategy here is a Virbank/Poison strategy that runs dual Muk lines between the terrifying [Sludge Drag] Muk and [Team Aqua]'s Muk. These two cards boast a lot of synergy together, and could probably make an interesting deck with both lines in highest volume, but for this deck I decided to dial down the [Team Aqua] Muk to make room for a considerably more powerful starter in Philip J. Fry—Toxicroak-EX. Poison doesn't really work against Float Stone, so it's important to have some type of hard physical power to lean back on.

 

Unfortunately, I never really got to give this deck a go, because I came up with the idea the Unlimited format was removed from the online venue. But the main strategy is all here and solid, and with a 3-2 split between Virbank City Gym and Silent Lab, this deck might even gain a fighting chance against cards like Virizion-EX.

 

 

Smoke on the Water

 

"We all came out to Montreux, on the Lake Geneva shoreline...

But some stupid with a flare gun...burned the place to the ground."

 

Here's another oldschool deck of mine from the Flashfire era based on the legendary Deep Purple, that  retells the tale of this song in graphic illustration. The original concept behind this deck was to create something that tapped into the potential of [Clamp Crush] Cloyster. At its release, I recognized this card had some amazing potential to it. Not only does its [Clamp Crush] attack leave the opponent's Active Pokémon Paralyzed, but it also discards an energy card attached to that Pokémon!

 

I originally thought to pair this with Team Flare Grunt to double up on the energy discard and more effectively set opponents back entire turns. However, I found myself struggling to make explicit use of Cloyster as it tended to be more of a vulnerable card than anything else. It's [Clamp Crush] attack just doesn't do enough damage (even despite its effect) and its second attack is entirely unreliable, for even more unreliable amounts of damage. Finding a strong pair for this card would be important to bring up the bulk for this decks potenital, and that was where M Blastoise came into the picture.

 

The original deck featured the original [Hydro Bombard] M Blastoise, to provide an extension on the damage done across the board, and provide a compliment to the potentially underwhelming power of [Clamp Crush] Cloyster. A [Seafaring] strategy was then tagged with this to accelerate the offensive time frame. However, this updated version of the deck seeks to take full advantage of the crushing [Dread Launcher] M Blastoise, whose 180 damage attack not only boasts more potential in an Out-Fighter strategy, but also boasts a lot more technical potential as a finisher with Lysandre.

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Space Invaders

 

This is an inventive deck concept I had at the swing of the Virizion/Genesect era. At the time, I had thought about alternative strategies involving the [Team Plasma] Genesect. I contemplated if there was some greater alpha potential available for this card beyond the mainstream Virizion-EX strategy. After some scenario crunching, I came up with an idea that first involved paring [Team Plasma] Genesect-EX with the non-EX version of [Team Plasma] Genesect as a greater lead; then loading the bench with [Team Plasma] Deoxys for the power boost they provide; and ultimately utilizing Exp. Share for energy acceleration on the Benched [Team Plasma] Genesect-EX. After all, insects as a hive—possess a hive mind, so this hive mind strategy began the concept for this deck.

 

I secondly felt that the non-EX [Team Plasma] Genesect possessed some alpha potential all its own, especially embodying the fact that its first attack can invoke Confusion. Although this doesn't necessarily work against Virizion-EX, as far as the broader spectrum of decks were concerned, this potential would in theory give this deck some edge against Fire-type decks that the Virizion/Genesect deck entirely lacked.

 

It was another theory of mine at that time there was obviously some uncharted Fire-type deck that no one had figured out—yet would have ripped the Virizon/Genesect apart if anyone had. So what I thought to do was—build a [Team Plasma] Genesect-EX deck that would have a fighting chance against Type disadvantage decks.

 

The strategy here combines energy acceleration and Special Condition invoking to lock up the opponent's Active Pokémon, then quickly finish them off with powered up attacks. It also strives to include more single Prize Pokémon to offset the Prize exchange.

 

To arm this deck against Virizion/Genesect itself, I think a simple heavy tech of 2 Tool Scrapper (or the latter Startling Megaphone) could do the trick. Without the utility of G Booster, Genesect/Virizon becomes entirely helpless to cards like {Safeguard} Suicune and Sigilyph (which was yet another vulnerability I strived to check in this deck through the utility of the non-EX [Team Plasma] Genesect). Back then there weren't any anti-Basic effects either, where cards like Jolteon-EX could pose a serious challenge to this deck these days, but I think this deck could be armed to deal with cards like this through notable techs such as [Shred] Giratina-EX and maybe even G Scope.

 

Although Skyarrow Bridge enables many of the Pokémon in this deck to retreat for free, a heavy presence of Switch was originally provided in this deck to help guard its Pokémon against Special Conditions like Asleep and Paralyzed in place of Virizon-EX, yet this has since been majorly replaced with a heavy presence of Pokémon Center Lady for her bonus effects.

 

 

Spider-Man 2099

 

I consider this deck to be one of my crowning achievements, although I never got to put it to much use. This is undeniably one of the coolest decks in my collection. This deck is about the technoverse Spider-Man 2099 timeline, where the young Mexican student, Miguel O'Hara becomes the legendary Spider-Man. The strategy for this deck primarily revolves around the [Dark Penalty] Weavile, whose [Dark Penalty] attack can deal an amazing 90 damage for just a single energy. The only catch is that the opponent's Active Pokémon has to have a Pokémon Tool card attached to it, and this technicality began the development of the deck structure you see here.

 

To first reinforce the effect of this attack, I included the Head Ringer in this deck. Head Ringer acts as a double negative against the opponent, first providing the enabling condition for [Dark Penalty] while both potentially stalling their Pokémon-EX and preventing the opponent from attaching their own Pokémon Tool cards to it. The natural tech I run for Team Flare gear includes a heavy 2 copies of Xerosic, which enables a powerplay later in the game to remove an opponent's Pokémon Tool card and equip them with Head Ringer. Xerosic also acts as disruption that can set the opponent back en entire turn, which in this deck sees some very explicit potential given the contents here.

 

Now, although 90 damage for a single energy is a lot, it's still considerably underwhelming because it's not a One-Hit KO, and Weavile only has 90HP. To add some synergy to this, the Virbank City Gym/Hypnotoxic Laser combo was added here to further the damage stack against the opponent. Normally, a deck running this combo would definitely want 4 copies of Virbank City Gym to ensure it remains the dominant Stadium card. However, at the time this was a very popular Stadium, where it was likely to be the dominant Stadium by default, so you didn't want to run more than three copies because it would likely just sit around end up adulterating the consistency of the deck.

 

Three is still the magic number when it comes to cards you want to get to within a single wheel, so this deck was pretty secure running just 3 copies of Virbank City Gym. Not to mention, the synergy between the cards in this deck is outstanding. Everything here boasts immense synergy with Yveltal-EX, which makes for a primary starting Pokémon that most opponent's might not even make it past.

 

 

Springfield Powerplant

 

"The Simpsons..."

 

It's another hopeful day in Springfield, as this deck stars a huge collection of the Simpsons cast—from Marge, Homer, Lisa, and Bart—to Mr. Smithers, Mr. Burns—even Lenny and Carl. The strategy of the deck here is my take on the super preventive strategy between collective the effects of Jolteon-EX, Glaceon-EX, and [Resistance Blizzard] Regice. The effects of these cards effectively prevent all damage from a certain type of Pokémon, the collection of three here are intended to provide a diverse array of options to lockdown the opponent under various conditions.

 

This deck strategy further employs the energy acceleration of [Energy Assist] Mancetric to quickly energize Pokémon from the bench, while the deck engine here contains a number of cards (from Professor's Letter to Ultra Ball and Cheren) to up the synergy of the deck and bring everything together in a single turn for a quick and perfect execution of [Energy Assist].

 

Alongside the preventive effects, this deck hosts a heavy presence of Pokémon Center Lady to stack with the healing effects of Rough Seas, and powerfully offset the damage stack against opponents. A 1-3 split between Parallel City and Rough Seas might do better to support this, but the reason the 2-2 split exist here is to support against other Water-type decks where Rough Seas can be a dominant cards. In this event, Rough Seas can become a liability whereas Parallel City can be used against the opponent to prevent damage from their Water-type Pokémon and further offset the damage stack in this deck's favor.

 

 

St. Michael's Sword

 

Legend speaks of an Archangel in the Garden of Eden who guards its gates with a flaming sword. This is an inventive [Solar Birth] Volcanion deck affixed with a heavy defensive strategy. This deck contains a toolbox like assortment of Pokémon, the collective of which aims to provide diverse options against various different types of decks. Many of these Pokémon have defensive effects that stack with other defensive content in this deck—furthering the synergy between the cards—and helping to create an impenetrable defense.

 

A clever tech of 1 [Transform] Ditto here enables a powerplay in the event you have one of the Pokémon you want to use in your hand, and can't use [Solar Birth] to put it on the Bench and energize it. With this powerplay, you can choose Ditto from your deck with [Solar Birth] then use Ditto's Ability next turn to play the Pokémon you want directly from your hand.

 

  

Starship Troopers

 

In the 23rd century the people of Earth have become a space colonizing civilization, on a Military expedition to search for new words, they encounter a race of giant predator insects from the distant planet Klendathu that threaten to rip them apart. Here's another one of my original series decks, from back when I first got back into the Pokémon Trading Card game. The idea behind this deck was to utilize all single-prize Pokémon with a special combination between the technical effects of the anti-EX [Steel Slash] Scizor, and the tactical [Metal Sound]/[Metal Wallop] Bisharp.

 

This was at a time when decks loaded with nothing but Pokémon-EX dominated the Metagame, so striving to improvise against this play style, I took this set of intriguing Stage 1 Pokémon to put together a superbugs deck with them. This deck relies on the technical potential of Energy discard effects, anti-EX effects, and Confused Special Conditions in order to lockup the opponent's Active Pokémon and eventually overwhelm them with crushing numbers.

 

 

Strahd Von Zarovich

 

Here's a deck that takes you on an adventure through the Dungeons & Dragon's Ravenloft campaign, pitting its opponent against the mighty Fighter/Necromancer class Vampire boss, Strahd Von Zarovich. The strategy here is a Slugger/Swarmer hybrid that utilizes the power of Lucario-EX and Landorus-EX alongside the damage accelerating Golbat/Crobat evolution line. The Supporter spread here aims to keep the draw as one-sided as possible to work against the opponent's card advantage, while bridging off the card advantage potential of Lucario's [Corkscrew Smash], to enable the heavy use of more technical Supporters (such as the crushing Ghetsis and Giovanni's Scheme).

 

As a Fighter-class boss monster, Strahd Von Zarovich packs a fierce punch, and his crushing power is strongly symbolized here between the addition of M Lucario, and the array of technical disruption cards between the heavy tech of 2 Enhanced Hammer, and the selection of the Rock Guard as the Ace Spec card for this deck. When you're up against the crushing power of Landorus/Lucario/Bats, the last thing you can afford to do is lose a turn, or have the damage stack exceeded further. Bats can further be used as an outlet to retreat Lucario-EX with Float Stone for a quick mega evolution—and that makes these cards very powerful accessories for this deck.

 

Having an ace against Fighting-type resistance was another main reason why Enhanced Hammer and Rock Guard were included here, but this deck could probably ascend another level by replacing 2 copies of Fighting Stadium for 2 copies of Magnetic Storm (to further reinforce its potential against Fighting-type resistance).

 

 

Street Fighter: Dhalsim

 

This deck is apart of a Street Fighter deck series and that I had a concept idea for after piecing this deck structure together. This is the only deck I have for the series, which would seek to utilize Max Elixir as an axis to the central theme for the series. Among card Type, there are typically cards with energy supportive effects that can compliment the accessory of Max Elixir. The deck here utilizes Carbink BREAK as a recovery option after your Max Elixir [SUPER] gauge is used up.

 

The tactic here embodies a Slugger/Swarmer strategy between the combo of Landorus-EX and Lucario-EX. From there, [Stretch Kick] Hitmonlee provides some unique flavor and sniping potential to this deck—while the 2-2 addition of [Pure Power] Medicham further supplements this—atop some added tactical power from its Confusion invoking [Windmill Kick] attack.

 

 

Strike of the Champion

 

Here's one of my first decks created around the start of the XY era. This deck features the crushing [Strike of the Champion] Haxorus, a very powerful Stage 2 Pokémon with two immensely powerful attacks. The first, [Dragonaxe] is an energy based attack that does 40 damage times the number of Steel energy attached to Haxorus. And the second, [Strike of the Champion], is an effect based attack that cold Knocks Out the Defending Pokémon if it's a [Team Plasma] Pokémon.

 

The original version of this deck utilized a Swarmer strategy, between a trio of cards including Excadrill-EX, {Premonition} Lunatone, and [Axe Smash] Haxorus. This strategy aimed to utilize Excadrill-EX to soften up the opponent with [Dig Out], while {Premonition} Lunatone and the effect of [Dig Out] double up on the energy drop for Benched Axew/Fraxure/Haxorus. This version of the deck utilized split between Fighting and Steel energy, where I ultimately decided it would probably be better to just revert to a pure Steel energy base, to super reinforce the power of [Dragonaxe].

 

Akin to this, I decided to include {Fight Song} Altaria to further reinforce the power of Haxorus in place of Pokémon Tool cards. This would enable me to focus the deck's Item resources on evolution chain building cards, in hopes to provide the deck with a more linear, fluid operating function. Double Dragon Energy then gave this deck another heavy power up, as when it's attached to Haxorus, it counts as TWO Steel energy for [Axe Smash].

 

I once experimented with a [Call for Family] strategy to help resource the deck's heavy evolution chains, but it's now been replaced with a powerful Evosoda/Level Ball/Wally combination—to hyper jump Axew to Haxorus—and start dealing mega damage right away. Training Center and Hydreigon-EX provide further tactical potential to this deck, that enables free retreating for Haxorus to ward off Special Conditions, while also enabling the potential to HP cache between several Haxorus together.

 

 

Sun and Steel

 

"Sunlight, falling on your steel. Death in life is your ideal—life is like a wheel."

 

Here we have an Aegislash deck that seeks to create an impenetrable defense through a combination of Float Stone and two [King's Shield] Aegislash. This was a fairly popular deck back at the start of the XY era, but my version is considerably different, and seeks to improve upon the deck structure with the addition of heavy Special Energy disruption to offset the time exchange between the opponent's offensive movement and our energy hike.

 

Special Energies (especially Double Colorless Energy) can be really tough to recover the loss from. This deck runs 2 Enhanced Hammer alongside the power of [Righteous Edge] Cobalion-EX (our captain here), who for a single energy can ace a Special Energy card attached to the opponent's Active Pokémon. It's second attack can also pierce through preventive effects, which is an amazing utility to have if-and-when you can't afford to let up on your offensive movement.

 

[Call for Family] Skarmory is only a backup starter here, intended to create some diversity, while primarily helping to provide a catch at the start of the game in place of the considerably vulnerable Honedge. The combination of Evosoda/Wally is here to help to supercharge the evolution process of our Aegislash line in general, while the majority of this deck's Supporter spread focuses on the highest draw ranges possible—to promote the greatest measure of resource gathering—which is crucial given this deck's heavy resource needs.

 

A dominant split between {Miracle Guard} Aeglislash is present to guard against overwhelming Type disadvantage from Fire-types—while Steel Shelter helps to brings the perimeter lockdown full circle—and guard this deck's Steel Pokémon against Special Conditions.

 

 

Super Battleship

 

C4—hit or miss? This is a deck about the legendary Battleship board game. Like battle on the high seas, this action packed deck runs a rather suspenseful strategy, that revolves around the power of [Damagriiigus] Cofagrigus. This attack removes all the damage counters from 1 of your Benched Pokémon and places them on your opponent's Active Pokémon. It's basically a powerful 2 for 1, and this deck seeks to utilize the full potential of this card through its mighty crew of high HP Pokémon.

 

Wailord-EX is of course the mighty battleship here. It starts out with a whopping 250HP—and for that reason alone—is a perfect match for [Damagriiigus]. Wailord-EX can go straight out to the frontline and crash any opponent who can't get around it against the rocks. [Call for Family] Skarmory is our air fleet, and it makes our primary starter here because I find the utility of [Call for Family] to be especially beneficial to this deck's diverse and specific needs.

 

It's a free mass direct retrieval, which aims to free up the deck structure here for more technical content (such as copies of Float Stone, Switch, and Trainer's Mail) needed to reinforce the central strategy and batten down the hatches as strongly as possible.

 

Deoxys and Gallade-EX make up the crew, providing tough offensive power to break through frontiers. While Chandelure-EX plays the role of our mighty captain. The power of Chandelure-EX and [Eerie Light] is simply legendary with the support of Dimensional Valley. It alone can sink entire fleets, but here becomes a ruler of the high seas with all the immensely supportive content to promote Chandelure-EX's mobility and endurance.

 

A considerable adaptation for this deck could involve a just 1 Wailord-EX and 2 Chandelure, but from what I recall, it's a little better having the Wailord-EX in consistency to help provide a the potential to blockade an opponent when they would have the type advantage but can't directly play around Wailord-EX.

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Super Ghost Kamikazi Attack

 

This is one for all the DBZ fans! Here we have a {Fainting Spell} Chandelure deck revolving around the mighty Super Majin Boo from the Dragon Ball Z series. In the series, Super Buu is able to defeat and absorb the team of Gotenks, thus enabling Super Buu to perform the Super Ghost Kamikazi Attack (their signature technique) against the Z fighters. This seeks to capture that legendary moment, and unleash this powerful attack against its opponents.

 

The effect of {Fainting Spell} potentially Knocks Out the Attacking Pokémon with Chandelure, so attempting to take full advantage of this powerful Ability, this deck seeks to first utilize Chandelure-EX and its very powerful [Eerie Light]—boasting two powerful Special Conditions (Confused and Burned)—to lock up the opponent's Active Pokémon with these Special Conditions. Then, while the Active Pokémon is heavily dazed, [Cursed Drop] Chandelure is moved in to act as a powerful wall and while placing some heavy damage counters on the opponent's Pokémon.

 

For diversity, I included a tech of 1 [Cursed Shadow] Chandelure. I figure late in the game, it's Ability could enable opportunities to close up the game and finish off some Benched Pokémon with less than 30HP left. Since this deck also involves heavy Pokémon loss, Life Dew is included to help offset the balance of the Prize exchange. This is especially important since {Fainting Spell} relies on the flip of a coin, and is not entirely reliable for that reason. A tech of Eco Arm hopes to provide a crucial extension on this potential, of which I would have really like to include a heavy tech of 2 Eco Arm, but from here on out it's up to you to factor out what card (if any) could be exchanged for this.

 

 

Super Macho Man [Remastered]

 

Here's a re-mastered version of my original Punch Out!! series deck Super Macho Man. This updated version of the deck includes the utility of the Carbink BREAK to help provide some backup support to the main central theme revolving around  [Aero Turn] Meinshao (Macho Spin Punch), the Super Macho Man's signature move. Given the utility of Carbink BREAK here, this deck does away with Silver Bangle and utilizes a 3/2 split between Float Stone and Muscle Band to provide much needed mobility between its Pokémon. Parallel City also makes it way here representing Hollywood, CA. It provides a good utility to this deck with its ability to cut down the opponent's bench and provide resistance against a few very prominent types.

 

 

Supercharged

 

I'm not entirely what the theme of this deck is...or was supposed to be. It could be about the power of love I guess, but this deck is based on brilliant concept I had to combine the power of [Geomancy] Xerneas with the mighty {Dual Type} Golurk. This Golurk boasts some incredible power with the potential to gain the Type advantage against Pokémon that are weak to Fighting and Psychic. Its shortcoming however, tended to be the fact of its only attack, [Superpower], requires a heavy four energy to use.

 

This is an immense uphill climb that pretty hard to achieve against aggressive Swarmer Pokémon like Lucario-EX and Yveltal-EX. However, noticing how this attack requires only colorless energy to use, I decided to see if I could supercharge this card with the utility of [Geomancy] Xerneas. It seems to work really well, and stacks really amazing with Stage 1 Boosting Eeveelutions to further diversify the Type advantage.

 

This deck includes Diancie-EX and M Diancie-EX for their technical power to shutdown Pokémon-EX decks—and further reinforces its deck structure with the utility of 2 Weakness Policy (to prevent against easy follow-up Knock Outs on Golurk from cards like [Dark Wing] Yveltal).

 

 

Surf's Up

 

This is a deck with a theme based on the animated film Surf's Up. It features a number of characters from the cast, alongside the legendary Big Z {Dignified Fighter} Empoleon to amp up the attacks of Basic Pokémon. Akin to the surfing theme, this deck utilizes a hybrid {Seafaring} strategy to quickly energize our powerful main characters under the tutelage of Big Z, and ride the big wave of damage to send the opponent crashing under the water. Since this deck attempts to utilize Rare Candy, it includes a heavy tech of 2 Bridgett to thin the deck and heavily load up the bench.

 

Battle Compressor decks can run really thin on resources, so this deck tries not to discard cards too excessively. A heavy tech of 2 Teammates might have some place in here, but the heavy wheel power is intended to provide all that's needed alongside the utility of heavy deck thinning Battle Compressor. This deck could also easily replace the 3 {Errand Running} Lapras with 3 {Seafaring} Lapras, but as I recall, I had worked with that deck engine too much and was looking to do something new here.

 

 

Sushi Chef

Vi Nguyen is a Vietnamese girl on a crazy food challenge. She's eaten everything from earthworms to her own boogers, when someone issues the dare for her to eat one of the most dangerous, yet exquisite delicacies in the world—the poisonous Japanese pufferfish—Fugu. The price paid is high, and she's ready for the challenge, with the master Sushi Chef and his Number 1 Headband serving up the dish. But when she arrives to the restaurant, someone has apparently collapsed from a poorly prepared Fugu, and needs to be rushed to the hospital.

 This deck is a somewhat oldschool one of mine that tinkers with the [Lifesplosion] Cradily and [Allergic Shock] Beedrill. It also include a tech of 1 [Swift Sting] Bedrill for offensive diversity, and the strategy of this deck involves using [Lifesplosion] to fill the bench with Stage 2 Bedrill, then utilize their [Allergic Shock] attack to clear all the tables and send everyone home or to the hospital.

 

 

Take Your Meds

 

Here's a Turbo M Mewtwo X deck that I took a shot at awhile back to see the best I could do. It utilizes a straight draw technique to quickly resource a couple key cards needed to lightning assemble (and fully energize) M Mewtwo X—to then deliver up to your opponent a heavy dose of defeat. This deck has no problem assembling and fully energizing several M Mewtwo X, whose only challenging aspect lies against decks filled with lots of hard hitting, single prize Pokémon (such as Night March).

 

  

Team Plasma PMS

"Ach! Hans, Run!! It's Lhurgoyf!!!"

 

This one's for all the ladies. This is an oldschool deck of mine about the pain of PMS. This deck sought to make use of [Team Plasma] Heatran-EX's [Heat Boiler] attack long before the release of {Poison Nest} Ariados, by utilizing the Ability of the Heart Gold Soul Silver era card, {Poison Moth Wind} Venomoth. This deck makes use of [Outrage} Dragons with Virbank/Laser. This deck could have easily utilized Frozen City/Crushing Hammer to much of the same success. Just a Protip for anyone would like to veer away from the cliché Virbank/Laser combo and put a more unique spin on this deck. 

 

 

Team Rocket

This deck is a pallet swap of the Stand Alone Complex deck. It paints a graphic illustration of the legendary Team Rocket; an organization so powerful, they have Team Plasma and Team Flare in their pocket. This pallet swap attempts to make use of the Team Rocket's Handiwork card with this deck engine that boasts an immense amount of disruptive potential. Between the effects of the two Malamar [Entangling Control] and [Mental Panic], an opponent faces a 1 in 4 chance of being able to attack. Malamar-EX and its {Hyper Hypnosis} further extend upon this disruptive potential, as Virbank City Gym and Hypntoxic Laser super reinforce an already powerful damage stack.

 

I thought about possibly removing Umbreon-EX and opting out Virbank/Laser for Shadow Circle/Vs Seeker (along with maybe a Lysandre) in order to make more explicit use of Team Rocket's Handiwork. However, this card doesn't need to deck an opponent entirely to win you the game. Just a single good play is all it takes to discard a card the opponent desperately needed, and sweep victory right out from under their feet.

 

 
Team Rocket's Casino

 

Team Rocket's legendary underground gambling hall. Hardcore fans of the game are sure to get all kinds of nostalgic feelings from this one. The only way to get there is to have them blindfold you and put you into a potato sack. This wouldn't be a place for children—it would be a den of thieves. And this deck aims to be just as dangerous. It combines the terrifying power Yveltal-EX with a hard foundation of damage acceleration , and the utility of the Prize acceleration from Umbreon-EX and Greedy Dice.

 

This deck aims to empty people's pockets fast. Skyla replaces Misty's Determination here as the deck's needs are simpler and more predominant. At standstill moments, this deck only needs to get to an Item or a Stadium, and that's why Skyla takes the direct retrieval spot here. Skyla provides an instant ticket to cards like Ultra Ball, Shadow Circle, Computer Search, and Pokémon Tools.

 

Rotom Dex can also be used to provide a reset on your Prize cards—boasting the potential to either land more Greedy Dice among your Prizes to be collection—or place some there to be collected (if-and-when lady luck may not have been with you at the start of the game).

 

 

Team Rocket's Casino 2

 

Team Rocket's legendary underground gambling hall—level 2. This deck here runs with the same main strategy, only utilizing the dreadful Malamar-EX and its immense potential with this deck strategy. Malamar's Ability is a really powerful utility alongside the combination of Virbank City Gym/Hypnotoxic Laser. It provides a sure backup to Asleep in the event the flip for Hynotoxic Laser comes up short. With this immense damage stack, and these disruptive Special Conditions, the presence of Greedy Dice becomes especially scary here.

 

To make things even scarier, Rotom Dex can be used to provide an effective reset on Greedy Dice that land among your Prize cards! And this deck's central combination of cards is itself so powerful, it doesn't even really need to rely on Greedy Dice to win—Greed Dice simply becomes an amplifier to the speed this deck can clear the table (which are the perfect conditions to host Greedy Dice IMO).

 

In this deck, Misty's Determination takes the place of Skyla because this deck's needs are more complex and diverse. Double Colorless Energy for example can be a really importance resource for Malamar-EX—which Skyla can't get to. Misty's Determination can also piece together Virbank City Gym and Hypnotoxic Laser, all while enabling a player to hold their hand and guard against decking themselves.

 

Farewell Friends — My Entire Collection

Ten Thousand Fists

 

Here's one of my favorite decks among my whole collection. This is a very rare Barbaracle deck that seeks to unlock the full potential of the absolutely crushing [Rock Rush] attack. Back when this card came out in the Flashfire set, it was entirely overlooked by the community. Everyone said that the card was garbage, and that didn't have any potential whatsoever. Naturally, I decided to see how well I could do to build a competitive deck around this intriguing card.

 

Starting with a straight draw strategy, the technique would involve taking in an huge surplus of cards from [Triple Draw] until Kangaskahn gets knocked out, then swinging out with Barbaracle to literally One-Hit KO ANYTHING with [Rock Rush]. With lots of energy fetching cards and energy returning support, Barbaracle would be able to quickly clear the board of a Pokémon-EX dominated meta at that time.

 

It worked really well in my initial tests runs. I once played a match where my opponent quickly Mega Evolved to a fully energized  M Charizard X—only for Barbarcle to swing out next turn and KO it in a single attack.

 

As a fun fact, the prototype name of this deck was ebpooface, but there are only a very select number of individuals in the world that would understand the reference of that.

 

 

Texas Twister

 

The Texas Twister is a rapid-spinning thrill-ride at the once legendary Geauga Lake amusement park. It's also the name of a Marvel superhero that first appeared in the Fantastic Four. He was a S.H.I.E.L.D. and held a psychokinetic ability to accelerate air molecules to high velocity from being exposed to radioactive particles during a tornado. He's an expert rodeo rider, lasso thrower, and sharpshooter. This deck basically joins to the two concepts for a day in the park.

 

This deck utilizes a hand sync strategy to attack for free with Yanmega Prime and immensely boost the damage of [Twister Throw] Tornadus. It further utilizes the heavy card circulation of Team Plasma [Windfall] Tornadus to quickly resource the offensive tactic. Virbank City Gym/Hypnotoxic Laser plays a secondary part in this deck's strategy, furthering the damage threshold of this deck's Pokémon to breach a Knock Out as quickly as possible. Muscle Band further reinforces this strategy with it's additional 20 damage to the stack; while the combination of Head Ringer/Xerosic stack with both this and the Virbank/Laser combo with the intention of locking down the opponent for more turns than they can afford.

 

Tha Crossroads

 

"Bone bone bone bone....Bone Bone Bone Bone Bone."

 

On this track is a Yanmega BREAK/Forest of Giant Plants deck based on the music video for the Bone Thugs N' Harmony song, Tha Crossroads. This deck aims to tap into the hyper acceleration of Forest of Giant Plants and the free attack potential of {Sonic Vision}. This deck includes 15 energy, because even with that potential, you shouldn't expect to be able to attack for free all the time. The energy help to provide safety backups in the event you won't be able to sync up with {Sonic Vision}. They also make great cards to play or hold in order to best sync up with {Sonic Vision}.

 

Heavy consistency of the technical Supporter AZ provides good chance to make powerplays for full HP resets for Yanmega BREAK and additional bonus plays on {Set Up} Shaymin and {Sudden Cyclone} Hawlucha. While the heavy consistency of Giovanni's Scheme provides good chance of breaching Knock Out amounts of damage with attacks like {Assault Boom}, {Barrier Break}, {Aero Ball}, and {Deep Hurricane}.

 

 

The Haunting

 

Electronic Arts presents, The Haunting staring the infamous ghost kid Polterguy. This is a creative deck about the old Electronic Arts game for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive. It's a game about a punk rocker ghost who seeks to maliciously persecute a family with a rotten attitude and continuously scare them all from their homes. As Polterguy, you go around jumping into inanimate objects to animate them by the power of your Ectoplasma to scare the members of the Sardini family. Once your Ectoplasm runs out, you're sent back to the basement of the underworld to collect more amongst the dangers that lurk there.

 

This deck is chock-full of symbolism from the game, and runs a M Gengar strategy that seeks to use [Dark Corridor] to some immense potential between the suite {Empty Shell} Shedinja and Robo Substitue, which Gengar-EX can hide behind after attacking with [Dark Corridor] to prevent the opponent from being able to directly retaliate or collect any Prize cards.

 

 

The Longest Yard

 

 "He's going downtown...will he make it?" Here's an Ether/Lunatone deck about getting in it for the long haul and trying to grind it out. This deck utilizes an Item Lock/Red Card/Judge strategy to heavily block the opponent's resources while your main man goes all the way. Vaporeon takes a place here to diversify upon the offensive potential—being a Stage 1—and seeks to benefit superiorly off the {Energy Evolution} Ability of Eevee, and the potential of that under the card oppression of Judge. [Gold Breaker] can be a mighty strong attack for just two energy, but I'm sure they'll eventually be a Vaporeon-GX that'll blow this one out of the water. The final edit of this deck included a tech of Glaceon to further diversify upon its offensive/defensive potential.

 

 

The Miracle of Life

 

This was a deck that I put together just derping around at the start of my comeback to the Pokémon Trading Card game. It's a really old school deck of mine that utilizes a number of tactical Stage 1 Poison-type Pokémon, whose card art illustrated the miracle of life when projected from right to left in the deck's Carousel view. The deck itself boasts a Virbank City Gym Poison strategy with [Sludge Drag] Muk playing the dominant role. This is easily one of the most powerful cards in the game still. [Sludge Drag] acts as both Lysandre and super Hypnotoxic Laser for a single energy (given the advantage of Confused over Asleep).

 

There's a lot of other synergy between these cards are well. Hypnotoxic Laser and [Spirit Scream] Gourgeist for example is an instant Knock Out combo—that can make any Pokémon vulnerable to Special Conditions bust instantly. [Eerie Voice] and [Smogbank] also both boast loads of synergy together as well; while their damage stacking is further complimented by the power of Virbank/Laser (doubling up on the damage an Active Pokémon would take)—and finalized by the mighty [Sludge Drag] Muk—which can easily draw out any benched Pokémon close to the edge to finish them off.

 

 

The Unforgiven

 

Here's a deck that I threw together utilizing the Battle Compressor/Ancient Trait Sableye deck engine. This strategy here attempts to utilize the fast paced energy acceleration of Ancient Trait Sableye to quickly and immensely power up Mewtwo-EX to then make a quick Mega Evolution to M Mewtwo X or M Mewtwo Y for a crushing sweep behind the power of their attacks and the utility of a [Damage Swap]/Shrine of Memories combo.

 

Never really got around to tinkering with this one too much, but I would question a tech of just 1 Wobbuffet for another [Energy Assist] Latias just for good measure. Wobbuffet does make a decent catch for the starting spot in some cases, given the utility of its own Ability shutting down non-Psychic Pokémon; which is why I think I ended up leaving it like it was.

 

This deck is a tribute to the legendary Metallica song, The Unforgiven, which tells the grim tale of a man brutally oppressed by the people of the world, and forced to live in the misery of imprisonment until he eventually dies at the moment he would be set free. This deck pretty much aims to put the opponent on the Unforgiven side of the table, grinding against the ruthless aggression of M Mewtwo and the merciless oppression of the [Damage Swap] attack.

 

 

The Weider Classic

 

Joe Weider, legendary bodybuilder and trainer to some of the greatest champions in the bodybuilding world. This deck hosts an enchanced Ether/Lunatone strategy, that further includes the power of [Dig Out] Excadrill, and strives to tap into this collective potential to build the world's greatest bodybuilding champion between Landrous-EX and {Craftsmanship} Conkeldurr.

 

Both cards work incredibly well with the energy acceleration strategy here, although the new addition of Strong Energy might be a little greedy for power. The deck would certainly show significantly more proficiency if they were Basic Fighting energy, and could also benefit to be some non-Fighting energy in order to provide an energy catch for Landorus-EX's punishing [Land's Judgement] attack. Master Ball might also make a great replacement for Life Dew, but Life Dew itself boasts an incredible amount of potential here given the heavy volume of Pokémon-EX.

 

Thorn In Your Side

 

Virizon/Trevenant deck that aims to combine a energy acceleration benefit with a disruption style deck engine to simultaneously put the opponent at a disadvantage. While Virizon or Shaymin-EX would be powering up a Benched Pokémon, an excessive play on Judge aims to cut off the opponent's card advantage, and become a heavy thorn in their side. Further disruptive potential is provided by a 2-2 line of [Torment] Simisage, whose attack can single-handedly shut down Mega Pokémon and heavily stall other Pokémon by preventing them from using their most powerful attacks.

 

To drive the nail further, this deck includes some heavy healing accessories between the likes of Gold Potion, Pokémon Center Lady, and Herb Energy, from which double plays on these cards can set an opponent turns behind and leave them left for dead.

 

 

Thunder Climb

M Manectric deck from back when it was super popular. I noticed that Manectric would genuinely suffered some HP issues, so I decided to try something different, and instead of utilizing a Swarmer strategy with Manectric Spirit Link, worked up an Out-Fighter style strategy with {Plump Body} Snorlax at the lead, alongside a heavy Hard Charm/Jamming Net defensive tactic to back it up. This deck also utilizes Darkness energy for the Weakness acing effects of Shadow Circle, as well as the unique benefit it provides (as an energy catch) for Pikachu and Raikou-EX's most punishing attacks. The name of this deck takes inspiration from the Secret Wonders Raikou [16/132]—which I pulled in a random pack once—and happen to love everything about the style of the card's design.