Top 5 Decks to watch out for at the City Championships 09/10

By SuperSlowpoke (AKA OllieK) – 26/12/09

 

With the City Championships well under way, I thought it was sensible to write an article about the decks to look out for at your local city championships. Alternatively, you can use this article to choose which deck to use.

 

5.  T1 Shuppet Donk:

 

When many people first learnt of this new deck, it was laughed at and was conceived by the Pokemon community as a “joke deck”. Then people started testing it.

 

The star of the T1 Shuppet Donk deck, as expected, is Shuppet.  This deck is based around the attack Fade Out. For a single Psychic energy you do 30 damage and return Shuppet and all cards attached to it back to hand. At first glance you think: that’s pretty average, right? Wrong.  The strategy of this deck relies on using whatever you can to stream through your deck using cards such as Unown R, Victory Medal, Uxie and PokeDrawer + to obtain as many pluspowers as possible to attach to your active Shuppet. Other essential cards include the brilliant new card Expert Belt to bulk up your Shuppet, as well as Crobat G’s, Poketurns and pokeblowers to finish off your opponent’s benched Pokemon, or  simply to the opponents active in some cases where your opponent only has a single Pokemon in play. Then you simply use Fade out, returning all the Pluspowers and other cards back to your hand, so you can re-use them.

 

After the assault many players then send out Mr. Mime from Mysterious Treasures as a barrier, while you restack the Shuppet. Unown Q is attached to Mr Mime as a way of retreating back to Shuppet easily. Mr Mime is used because of its amazing poke body, which simply put, prevents any Pokemon with 2 or less energy from attacking it. This card is also a brilliant tech against Kingdra, Machamp and Gyrados decks. Improving the decks overall matchups.

 

With all the Pluspowers and Expert Belts, as well as cards like Crobat G sapping damage counters, it is very likely the opponent will obtain the T1 Donk. So always keep be keen to bench every Pokemon possible (even Uxie) if you know your opponent is playing Shuppet.

 

If you know Shuppet is popular in your area, then Dialga Garchomp is your best bet. As soon as you get a deafen attack on your opponent they may as well scoop, seeing as they are basically powerless seeing as they can’t attach any pluspowers. Dialga also has -20 psychic resistance, meaning that if your opponent wants to fight to you end, you really wind them up by waiting until your opponent to use 10 odd fade outs, only for you to retreat and drop Garchomp C Lv.X.

 

Gengar can also be favourable VS Shuppet; mainly because you can Pitch Dark the opponent to deaf then simply demolish the Shuppet with Poltergeist. However, Shuppet is unaffected by fainting spell, seeing as it goes right back to the owners hand after attacking. Mr Mime can also annoy Gengar, but some players will attach a third psychic to use the attack of Gengar LV.X, in a bid to snipe all the vulnerable Pokemon on the opponent’s bench.

 

Lookers Investigation is also excellent as it shuffles all the pluspowers back into the opponent’s deck, but is rarely used seeing as it doesn’t suffice as a source or draw power, or you might have an amazing hand, and your opponent might have a terrible hand, which means either way, your opponent gains an advantage.

 

4. Gengar Variants:

 

Gengar is a card that has been around a while now, and just when people thought the card was dead, it came back to life (as ghosts do), with the help of the new Gengar Lv.X.

 

Gengar is one of the most flexible decks in the format. It has 2 very good attack’s, especially in this current format.  It’s first and most famous attack, Shadow Room, places 3 damage counters on one of the opponents Pokemon, which is already good seeing as it bypasses resistance. Then if the targeted Pokemon has a pokepower, place an extra 3 damage counters, an insanely brilliant attack. If only if Uxie only had 60Hp instead of 70! This can be used in conjunction with cards such as Crobat G, and Gengar Lv.X. Some players use Metagross, but this never works seeing as it gives your main attack a mere 90Hp, which is NOT good. It works on paper, but as mainly people have discovered, it just does not work during play.

 

Gengars second attack, Poltergeist, is also excellent. It hits 30 for each T/S/S in your opponent’s hand. This attack can deal massive blows, especially in conjunction with gastly’s infamous pitch dark attack.  A pitch dark attack, followed by a rare candy and a second energy drop, you can easily unleash 150 odd damage in a single blow. Gengar also has a free retreat cost, which is never bad. 

If you thought Gengars attack were amazing, you will be surprised to know Gengar also has the most annoying pokepower ever. Fainting spell makes your opponent alter their strategy completely, and will really scare some people who aren’t keen on taking massive risks. So what does Fainting spell do? Simply put, when Gengar gets knocked out by the active Pokemon, you flip a coin, if heads, the attacking Pokemon gets knocked out too. 

So you’re probably sat there thinking, wait, why doesn’t EVERYBODY play this amazing deck? Well the main reason is that Gengar cannot consistently place damage counters. Another reason why Gengar is not as popular in the masters in that Gengar is so easy to play around, I.e. the opponent gets rid of all there trainers with cards such as Claydol. The opponent can also stock up on Unown G’s to protect the forever vulnerable Uxie’s and Claydol’s, which primarily are Gengars usual victims, seeing as it completely slows down the opponent, or are simply easy prizes for Gengar. Crobat G’s and Uxie’s are used to finish off Gengars, without the risk of a fainting spells.

 

So many believed Gengar was dead after worlds. It could be easily be beaten by a good player, and Flygon was just simply better. Then the Arceus set was released. The Arceus set gifted Gengar generously, by giving it a decent Lv.X as well as another Ghost buddy, Spiritomb. Gengar LV.X allowed a new way of finishing of bench, as well as an improved matchup VS Flygon and Dialga. It is never wise to return cards which have effects activated once they enter play, such as the popular Luxray GL Lv.X.

 

Spiritomb is often used in Gengar, seeing as it locks trainers into your opponent’s hand, allowing Poltergeist to achieve maximum potential. However, some dislike the card, seeing as it locks you as well. Machamp is also a friend of Gengar; the two have some sort of odd synergy. The pair, known as “GeChamp” when mixed together, is a popular deck in some areas.  It is a popular SP counter, especially in the current format, seeing as it can kill Pokemon in one hit before the dreaded Garchomp C LV.X can unleashed the horrible healing breath.

 

Another common SP counter in Relicanth, seeing as Grand Swell can demolish benched SP Pokemon, seeing as Energy Gains and Unown are bound to be on your opponent’s side of the field. By simply preventing a poltergeist, you are allowing Relicanth to gain power, which is why it is essential in almost any Gengar deck.

 

To beat Gengar you need to get rid of all your trainers ASAP, as well as protecting your Pokemon from shadow room at the same time. However, like I previously mentioned, this allows Relicanth to thrive, so keep a keep a keen eye on Relicanth at all times, and be wary on the amount of Pokemon tools you are potentially attaching.  

 

3. BlazeRay:

 

BlazeRay is one of the most brilliant SP decks, seeing as it has so many options against different matchups. Created out of the remnants of the infamous Luxape, many found Blaziken FB LV.X as a better alternative to Infernape 4, seeing as it can cause so much chaos, especially in conjunction with Luxray GL LV.X.

 

Fire type is a very good type to have, seeing as it helps Dialga and Beedrill matchups. Blaziken can 1HK0 a Dialga G, even if it has 4 special Metals! Blaziken FB’s Luring Flame works with Luxray GL LV.X in a similar fashion as Infernape 4 Lv.X Intimidating roar, by completely messing around with your opponent’s bench, causing all sorts of annoyance.  It gains flexibility with a Garchomp C Lv.X, giving you an auto heal which can really annoy an opponent.

 

BlazeRay is also super fast, especially with help from energy gain. This deck can hit fast, as well as the ability to interrupt set-up *cough* power spray *cough*.  I know some of you won’t admit it, but there is nothing better than playing a power spray in a cocky, annoying fashion, especially when the opponent is so desperate for cards.

 

Blaziken causes havoc with burning. Luring flame has great synergy with Burning Spirit, and Bright Look has good synergy with Jet Shoot, seeing as it can burn an innocent Claydol into smithereens.

 

Because of this flexibility, BlazeRay is incredibly hard to defeat. It lacks difficult matchups, and is therefore a very powerful threat. The 2 weaknesses defend eachother, with the weakness of Fire being backed with the lightning type. Lightning is such a good type to have also because it keeps Gyrados and Kingdra at bay, get it? Water Pokemon, bay? No? Ok.  Never mind… 

 

2. Flygon Variants:

 

Ever since worlds 09, Flygon has been a very dominant force. It has so many different cards to be paired with, as well as an awesome Level X card. Flygon is flexible and can be used with many different cards, so there are many different Flygon variants to look out for.

 

I will start with the Flygon variant that dominated worlds: Fly champ. Fly champ is still popular, as it provides an SP counter, as well as the synergy that Flygon provides.

Machamp also allows Flygon to become more offensive, and gives the deck many options, which is why it is the most popular Flygon variant.

 

Another variant seen a lot less recently is Fly Vile, mainly because it limits Flygon’s options. The main concept of Fly Vile is to use Weavile to abuse dark energy’s to not only power up Flygon quick, but to give Flygon more power. This is not always a good thing as it limits the number of attackers available, because it rely’s on Flygon to do everything with Weavile supporting, when the two cards should have the same role with both cards being dominant attackers.

 

Flytrap was quite common during the battle roads, and is likely to be around in your city championship.  There are also new arising variants, with most failing. After looking through the pokegym, there are new variants including Flygon/Ryperior, Flygon/ Tangrowth and Flygon/Dusknoir.

 

A more fun Flygon variant is Flygon/Palkia, which rely’s on bringing out an active which is easy to lock for ages, then using memory berry with trapinches sand tomb in conjunction with Wind Erosion to thin your opponent’s deck, and their options.

 

Overall Fly champ is still the favourite Flygon option, solely because if gives the deck a good SP matchup, which is essential in this current format.

 

Defeating Flygon can be very hard, because you don’t know what it has been paired with. But if you watch for misplays, you can punish the opponent. Flygon needs 3 whole energies to start attacking effectively, so used this slowness to you advantage before double colourless energy is re-released in the forthcoming Heart Gold Soul Silver Set.

 

1. Dialga Garchomp:

 

This deck is the one to watch out for. It has been sweeping cities across the nation, as is the deck to play at the cities this season. It rely’s on using deafen to suffocate your opponent by trapping Rare candies and BTS from Stage 2 decks, but also trapping pluspowers from Shuppet Donk. You then bulk up Dialga with metal energies as it rips your opponent apart with second strike. When your machine is low on energy, you use switch to bring out Garchomp C, level up, fully heal Dialga, plus any benched SP’s such as Crobat G that a Gengar had been sniping for prize fodder, then free retreat back to Dialga and continue the assault.

 

There are many options to this deck. Some add Luxray GL LV.X as a bonus tech giving it favourable Kingdra and Gyrados matchups. So already this deck beats Shuppet, Stage 2 decks, Gyrados and Kingdra, some of the most popular decks around. However, as all decks have, there are many bad points. Blaziken forces Dialga to hide on the bench, and Relicanth’s grand swell can be VERY problematic. The occasional Machamp also causes chaos, seeing as all the metal energies do nothing, and there is no time to heal the counters.

 

You may also find problems with deck space.  Along with all the common SP trainer line (Energy Gain, Power Spray, Poke Turn), as well as a lot of energies (well, a lot for an SP deck) you will find problems squeezing all the cards you want into a deck. You may want to limit your Pokemon lines, or remove the Luxray line, seeing as it is not essential in the deck.

 

The best thing about this deck is that you can do whatever you want; you can tank, snipe, lock, annoy, whatever fits your playing style.

 

So this deck maybe the deck to play, it’s defiantly the one to watch out for. Dialga G’s have always been in demand, so you may have a tough time building this deck. However, I believe it is worth it. Mewtwo Lv.X is the best tech against this deck, seeing as it runs no basics. You will have to watch out for the psychic resistance, but that doesn’t pose as a real threat at all.

 

I really hoped this article Helped!! – Any questions mail: ollytheduck@hotmail.co.uk