Noc-Lock

On January 1st, Modified changes yet again. Instead of a set changing out like usual, a certain card is banned and will never be allowed again. That card is Slowking. You can expect to see a major change in the environment because decks will no longer have to metagame the trainer denying BEAST.

In all honesty, only bad players will be happy by the decision to eliminate Slowking. Most of the people who complain about cards being overpowered are the same people who would say Professor Oak is an awful card because you have to discard YOUR WHOLE HAND.

Espeon has always been a solid card in Modified. Ever since Neo 2 was released, Espeon has found it's way into many of our hearts. The most popular card that has been used to support Espeon was Slowking. But with the recent elimination of Slowking, and the elimination of it's best pre-evolution (league Promo eevee), espeon just seemed to have had it's luster taken away, till now.

Pokemon-23
4-Eevee (Neo 2)
3-Espeon
1-Umbreon
4-Hoot Hoot
4-Noctowel
2-Murkrow
2-Tyrogue
2-Cleffa
1-Mew

Denying your opponent's the ability to use trainers is a great attribute to have and can give you the winning advantage. But there is more to this deck that meets the eye. The Noctowl is more than just a cheap way in letting you strip your opponents hand of trainers, but will allow you to know when the perfect mean look opportunity comes along. You have to Max out on Hoot-Hoot and Noctowl, because it is best to have a swarm of these out since the power is stackable.

Murkrow is basically the star of this deck. Being able to constantly have your opponent's hand in check will allow you to swoop in for perfect mean look opportunities. I've seen so many different cards lose the game from being Mean looked. Just about every popular deck out there right now has cards that will lose them the game when mean looked properly. Intense Fire has the Entei, Kabtuops Steelix has Kabuto, Kingdra can have horsea mean looked if you see them without any energy in hand. The possibilities are endless.

The Umbreon is simply the players preference. I've just been tinkering with the idea of playing a lone Umbreon just to add to the idea of disrupting the bench. Tyrogue and Cleffa are all around great cards. The 25% baby kill chance Tyrogue packs is pretty nifty, and will help you against people who are dumb enough to still play Ampharoes. Espeon will be your main attacker. Espeon still can duel with the best of em. It is one of the most solid cards in modified. Also, it one hit KO's Muk, which is believed to be the downfall of this deck. *rolls eyes*. And finally, the lone Mew is situational and can really help mount you a comeback when your up against a big beefed up evolution card and you've ran out of resources.

My current version of Noc-Lock doesn't run the Umbreon and has an Elekid in it's place. Only do this if you expect to see a lot of people use this deck in your area. The little thunder wonder can be a lifesaver.

Trainers-22
4-Professor Elm
4-Copycat
4-Double Gust
3-Focus Band
3-Pokemon Trader
2-Pokemon Center
1-Gold Berry
1- Energy Stadium

There really isn't anything special about the trainer engine in this deck. Playing four Pokemon trader is also a personal preference. I mainly rely on Professor Elm's and Copycat's to get what I need out. Also, if you remember, Eevee's Pokemon power gives you the 50% chance of getting out a free Espeon first turn, which also lets you use less searching power.

Previous versions of Noc-Lock played Four Focus band as well. But the lone Gold Berry can really save your ass in weird scenario's. Also, having Gold Berry on a Murkrow can let you mean look an Espeon to buy you a turn or 2.

You may notice my lack of playing Time Capsule. Everyone seems to have one in their decks, so a personal secret of mine is, if you don't play any, you can just leach off of the one your opponent uses and save yourself a deck space. If you are a paranoid freak who must use time capsule, you can just die.

The pokemon center is anti Pichu. When you have 2 Noctowl's that have just been zapped twice, it is nice to know you can free them of all that damage using a single center. I've had Pokemon Center save noctowel so many times it's rediculous. This is where the Gold Berry would also come in handy. Lastly, I feel I needed a stadium. You can go with Healing Fields or Energy Stadium in this one, but since I play so little energy as is, I stuck with the energy stadium. Speaking of energy...


Energy-15
10-Psychic
4-Darkness
1-Recycle Energy

Not too much energy is played here, but just enough to get by. The lone recycle is nice for those situations where a lone tyrogue is staring down a large evolution card and your down to your last energy reserves. Knowing you will get it back and use it on a cleffa or something, can be a sigh of relief.

This deck changes constantly. Since I usually play apprentice games, I have played just about every deck imaginable. This deck can consistently beat: Kingdra, Steelix variants, Kabutops Steelix, Other Noctowl Variants, Ampharos, E card Feraligatr, and there's more rogue decks that will just go nameless. I believe this deck is the definition of rogue. It also helps that I'm the only one who plays it, lol. You may also want to try using Broken Ground Gym in this deck, it has proven useful in the past.

The only deck I see (as of now) beating this consistently is Intense Fire (my favorite deck), because the deck outspeeds anything. But the game is still winnable, making use of your Murkrow mean looking Entei's will be the key.

With all that said, you guys should give Noc-Lock a shot. I came up with this deck to give Espeon a home since Wizards keeps picking on the poor kitty kat.


Until next time, keep playing!

-Martin Moreno

AIM: Martin Returns
email: MartinReturns@aol.com