The West Coast STS is almost here folks.  Of course we know that Feraligatr is

going to be popular, but do any underdogs stand a chance against it?  What new

pokemon decks are we looking forward to battling and not battling against?

Let’s just see what I think can spring up and do some good damage to the

Modified format.

Since this is a hefty load I’ll have to get a few opinions from Raichu and

Jumpluff while talking.  First up guys, Is gatr still going to be as strong as

it is?  Does Typhlosion have a chance against it as it did in the past?

Raichu:  Well sure its going to be strong.  Neo 3 Parasect combined with it can

let gatr use Riptide without shuffling water back into its deck.  This lets it

do continuous damage but the only downfall with this is that he can deck out.

Jumpluff: But its not to likely that Feraligatr won’t get the job done before

you deck out.

nikePK: You make a good point Jumpluff, is there anything that can counter

against Feraligatr and win against this beast?  Trainers have tried before to no

avail…

Raichu: I personally think that It can be stopped.  Trainers have tried the

Bellsprout + Darkness energy thing, and that’s just one way.  Erika’s

Victreebell with chaos gym is always a good deck to have against a gatr.

Jumpluff:  With neo 3 Parasect though, Gatr doesn’t need the amount of trainers

each and every turn just to do some damage, making chaos gym almost hurt you.

But the main point is that it evolves from the bellsprout, so matter what you’ve

almost guaranteed you knock out the gatr somehow.

nikePK: With all of the Gatr counters that will probably be played, one would

think that Fire decks would most likely dominate, right?

Raichu:  Well, yes and no.  Rocket’s scyther, Erika’s bellsprout, and Discovery

Scyther all have weakness to fire.  But on the other hand, with neo 3 we get one

of the best gatr killers in my opinion, Crobat (weak to psy).  With 2 or more

heads that’s major damage to gatr PLUS confusion to him.

Jumpluff: Of course, this is for 3 energy, my neo 3 cousin can do 60 to grass

weak pokemon such as gatr and donphan for just one energy, which is incredibly

nice.

nikePK: Ok, well that’s enough about Feraligatr.  Let’s move on to what other

types of decks will work.

Raichu:  Certainly many decks will be popular.  Mainly Steelix and slowking,

Typhlosion and Blaine’s Arcanine, and Donphan even a few will play.  I think

that neo 3 puts some great cards to use in modified.  Just to name a few we’ve

got; Me, Raikou, Ampharos, Crobat, Piloswine, Jumpluff, Graveler, Magneton,

Magcargo, and some more.

Jumpluff:  I think a really big hitter and surpise could be neo 3 Kingdra.  This

guy is sweet!

Raichu:  I think even Starmie could do some good with maybe something like the

Rocket’s Training gym.

nikePK: Any of you guys think Rocket’s Hideout will pump some more life into

Dark Muk or Dark Golduck decks?

Jumpluff:  I’m going to have to say no on this one.  Almost every deck plays at

least 3 counter gyms, its pretty much necessary.

Raichu: Maybe combined with RSA, it could possibly work, but are you going to

need the HP for only a few turns in the game?  I doubt it.

nikePK:  Tyranitar…

Raichu:  Basic form is weak to that darned Bellsprout.  It doesn’t even need

darkness energy on it for a ftko.

Jumpluff:  I gotta agree with Rai there.  If you can get it out though, it can

cause some terror.  If its combined with Porygon 2 then it can power up trample

faster, but Tyranitar will get out slower most likely.

nikePK: Do either of you see any types that will completely dominate?

Raichu:  It’s a toss up here.  Each type has a really great lineup.  We all know

who it is in water and fire.  Grass has a few guys to choose from;  R’s scy,

Sabrina’s Venomoth, Meganium and Erika’s Victreebell.  Psychic has the awesome

Sabrina’s Alakazaam and mewtwos all around.  Combine him with SI mew for some

bench destroying.  Colorless is mainly Cleffa and igglybuff, but a few stars

stick out.

Jumpluff:  Fighting has Giovanni’s Machamp and Rocket’s Hitmonchan.  But what

about Lightning… Wow, It’s got about the same magnitude of awesome cards as

grass does.  Both  Ampharos, Raichu, Zappy, Raikou, and Surge’s Buzz with 70 hp.

nikePK:  Some key cards that could come useful I think would be Rocket’s

Training gym to slow down babies and prevent easy double gusting.  Key cards

from you guys?

Raichu:  Basically counter gyms will be key to winning some matches.  Chaos gym

especially can be handy in a lot of spots.  Also, having enough energy in your

deck can really be good for you.

 

Jumpluff:  I think with Slowking, instead of Steelix, put in  Status Effect

pokemon.  What’s key about this?  Well poison gets around focus band plus with

Slowking out its harder for them to use a double gust or a warp point to get rid

of the condition.  Balloon berry will be popular among the big retreaters, but

if they have that on it, then they can’t play the focus band on it.  They can

just retreat the balloon berry off but then they are just wasting space in their

deck for the berry.

nikePK:  Looks like Modified is going to be really exciting as well as this

WCSTS.  Neo 3 seems to change the environment quite a bit.  So everyone break

out those original modified decks and start playtesting.  Cya’s later.

comments, questions?  email me at PANDNKENNEDY@prodigy.net