From now on, I’m going to try to get an article into you guys every Friday. It’s hard to do with school, wrestling, and other responsibilities, but I’ll do my best. Next Friday, however, don’t expect an article. I’m attending a major tournament in Chicago hosted by Pokedok. Some of the greatest players in the Midwest will be there, including Ness, Alex Brosseau, Chris Fulop (Professor Championship Winner), and others. It’ll be very exciting, and you can expect an article from me on Monday about it. For information, go here:
http://boards.wizards.com/tcg-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=78;t=002887
Now if you guys have read my previous articles, you know I’m in love with Dark Blastoise. Well, at least I like to PLAY him in my decks. I used him at the Pokemon World Championships this summer, finishing in 12th place. Not bad, considering it was a “rogue” deck, one that really wasn’t much of an archetype. I did see a few other Dark Blastoise there though, so it’s not exactly original.
The history of this card in organized play actually starts way back when Modified was first used. That was the OLD Modified, Rocket On. Jonathan Brooks placed 1st place in the 10- with a Dark Blastoise/Steelix deck. Other than him, nobody really used Dark Blastoise in Modified, and it never really had many appearances in major tourneys, including qualifiers.
When modified rotated, quite a few people experimented with this card, but simply passed it on as a card with no real opportunity for domination in the format. One day, Satoshi (Derek Heid, long time Deck Mechanic for Pojo) and I were playtesting via Apprentice. He was using Dark Blastoise/Steelix, and I was using Espeon. We ended up winning and losing equally, but I realized the deck had much potential. I started playing Dark Blastoise/Steelix, and occasionally played a Metal on Dark Blastoise. It prevents the damage to self from Rocket Tackle, AND acts as a shield from damaging attacks, something the low-HP Dark Blastoise needed. We eventually realized Steelix wasn’t necessary, and that it slowed the deck down. It was simply a liability.
Derek and I worked hard on the deck (which I planned to use at Worlds), and finally came up with a rough sketch of what it would look like. We tweaked and tweaked, and came up with this. I think I surprised him when I actually DID use it at Worlds, and did well with it. This is exactly what I used at Worlds:
Squirtle x4
Dark Wartortle x4
Dark Blastoise x4
Cleffa x3
Tyrogue x2
Elekid x1
Qwilfish x1
Professor Elm x4
Bill x4
Double Gust x4
Gold Berry x3
Focus Band x2
Pokemon Trader x2
The Boss’ Way x2
Healing Field x2
Rocket’s Hideout x1
Time Capsule x1
Water x10
Darkness x3
Metal x3
The deck faired pretty well, losing mainly to Slowking decks. After Worlds, Dark Blastoise still remained “rogue”. Very few people played it, although more and more began testing it.
Now, Slowking has been banned. With the lack of trainer denial (except in a few cases, like Noc-Lock) Dark Blastoise has little to stop it. You can simply build it up, and have very little worry, except for the occasional Double Gust which will slow you down a bit. Or, you can take the offensive, and start Rocket Tackling Turn 3, while slowly building it up.
I’ve continued playtesting with it, and this is the new version I have come up with, basically updating with the Slowking ban and with Expedition’s release.
Arithmestoise V1.5 Modified
Cleffa x3
Tyrogue x2
Pichu x2
Squirtle (EX) x4
Dark Wartortle x4
Dark Blastoise x4
Professor Elm x4
Copycat x4
Double Gust x4
Gold Berry x3
Focus Band x2
Pokemon Trader x2
The Boss’ Way x2
Healing Field x2
Switch x1
Time Capsule x1
Water x10
Darkness x4
Metal x2
Truthfully, there haven’t been THAT many changes except to modify to the new environment. I put in an extra Pichu because Entei/Cargo may become a threat, and because many decks are arising based around Pokemon Powers. Copycat is in there because it’s simply a great card. I changed Squirtle’s to a 50 HP one for obvious reasons. More HP. You can live a turn extra against Elekid.
Now what I haven’t discussed is how this deck works.
Unlike popular thought, Dark Blastoise isn’t based around hydrocannon, it’s first attack. The deck is actually supposed to be both offensive and defensive at the same time. The ideal is to have a water, darkness, and metal attached to Dark Blastoise turn 3, and to be Rocket Tackling, doing 40 with a possible agility effect. This third turn combo is unrivaled by any card in the format at this point. Doing 40 third turn is an aggressive attack, not to mention you’re being saved 10 damage from your opponent, AND you have a 50% chance of not taking damage next turn.
Once you have a Dark Blastoise up there “stalling” and “attacking” at the same time, you can start loading another one which is there solely for the purpose of one hit killing the major Pokemon in their deck. Try putting up to 4 water, and a couple darkness on it. Doing 90 damage is magical in this format, and it kills the major decks. Kingdra, Entei/Cargo (although you can just Rocket Tackle for this), Dark Tyranitar, Crobat, and others.
With the insane amount of draw power we now have in the format, this deck is capable of getting what it needs when it needs it. You don’t need to rely on luck.
I’ve been playtesting lately against some of the major decks, and I’ve concluded that Dark Blastoise isn’t invincible, but it’s a very strong deck to play. It is capable of beating any deck out there at least once in three games, period. Even Espeon, it’s most formidable opponent.
Until next week, with my article regarding the tourney, have fun playtesting! It looks like February is going to be an exciting month for Pokemon, with Super Battlezone information, and hopefully info regarding the 2003 Challenge Series.
~ RaNd0m