Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Deck Spotlight: SABELOCK - what is it?

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Sabledonk- Just donking with Sableye, not much else.

Sablelock-Deck that is very disruptive w/ Iniative, Judge etc. Also plays Garchomp C LV.X for prizes.

Chenlock-Sablelock w/ Blaziken FB LV.X
 
Ok... Sablelock. It first got popular in States in Florida last year, and soon grew popular. However, it was still extremely mysterious as to what it did. It won Nats in 2010 and was heavily played at Worlds that year.

Simple deck list (mine, if anyone cares):

NOTE ON LIST: It's recommended to play with 2 Crobats, but I couldn't find space for another one... Also, Uxie X is recommended, but I don't have one.

POKEMANZ (19):

4 Sableye SF
2-2 Garchomp C X
1-1 Honchkrow SV (Murkrow SV)
2 Uxie
1 Honchkrow G
1 Azelf
1 Unown Q
1 Promocroak
1 Chatot G
1 Draggy FB
1 Crobat G

T/S/S (29):

4 Cyrus's Conspiracy
2 Cyrus's Iniative
2 Judge
3 Collector
2 Bebe's
1 Aaron's
3 Energy Gain
4 Power Spray
4 Poke Turn
3 SP Radar
1 Luxury Ball

ENERGIES (12):

4 DCE
3 Special Dark Energy
3 Dark Energy
2 Psychic Energy

Alright...

Sableye SF : The starter. The body isn't amazing, but it really helps you get setup quicker. Overconfident is an amazing donking attack - assuming you have a Special Dark on, any Pokemon 50 HP and under is gone. Impersonate is a great attack, allowing you to discard a Supporter from your deck, but effectively using it as you do so.

Garchomp C: Chomp is an amazing card, and forms the basis for the damage of this deck. Claw Swipe can donk an opposing Unown Q/Hoppip with just an Energy and Gain, or DCE. Earthquake can OHKO an opposing Garchomp C X if you Flash Bit first, and it can do good damage to other Pokemon, as well as donking higher HP opponents.

Garchomp C X: This card is probably my favorite card. Free retreat, an amazing power, an awesome attack. Let's start with the power, Healing Breath. Healing Breath is used only when you level up into Chomp C X, but when you do you can remove all damage counters from all your SPs in play. That Honchkrow G that is 10 damage away from being knocked out? All healed. The attack is also amazing. Dragon Rush does 80 damage to anywhere on your opponents field for two energy + Gain/DCE + Gain. It's amazing - it can KO a pixie on the other side, or it can KO Stage 1's about to evolve, or... well, the possibilities are many.

Murkrow SV: Nothing special here, but his first attack can be used to disrupt your opponent's tools. 70 HP is also great for a basic.

Honchkrow SV: Another attacker here, and one I would say is a staple. His power is amazing. It can be used to mess up Gyrados, or power up his attack, or bring up Pixies from discard to Dragon Rush. His attack is also pretty good - assuming you have a full bench, it will do 80 damage - not taking into account what your opponent's bench is like. Plus, he can benefit from Special Darks.

Uxie: The main source of draw for this deck. Imagine, this is the final card in your hand, and you bench it.. you draw 7 cards. The attack is decent, do either donk an opposing Unown Q or to just get Uxie out of the way.

Honchkrow G: This guy is an amazing starter, though Sableye is preferred. He can easily donk if you played a Crobat G, can benefit from Special Darks, and it's first attack is extremely helpful to get set-up.

Azelf: The attack is decent, and one of the reasons I play 2 psychic. Also, the power is amazing to get Pokemon from your prizes that you need.

Unown Q: This card is one of the ones I grab if I have a Sableye start and I got a Collector: his power removes the retreat from any Pokemon in here, excepting Promocroak, if you attach it as a tool. Otherwise, 30 HP stinks.

Promocroak: Promocroak is the ultimate revenge killer. His attack lets you do 60 + Poison for Energy Gain plus Psychic energy (he's the other reason I play 2 psychic). His power is basically an SSU for him.

Chatot G: This card basically furthers the lock. It's power let's you look at the top 4 cards of your opponents deck and put them back on in any order - extremely helpful to prevent your opponent from getting good cards. It's attack can be useful in some situations.

Dragonite FB: Draggy is your SP counter - it can KO most of the basic form SP's, and can KO an opposing Garchomp C X.

Crobat G: This guy is basically a damage counter anywhere on your opponent's field. It's extremely helpful for donking, and he can help do extra damage with Garchomp C.

Cyrus's Conspiracy: This card fuels the deck - it let's you search out a TGI, an energy, and another Supporter. When you use this card, you want to chain it together with another one, by searching out another Cyrus's Conspiracy, and keep doing so until you run out of them.

Cyrus's Iniative: The basis of the lock. You can remove good cards from your opponent's hand early-on or late-game, and hopefully disrupt them.

Judge: This card furthers the lock. If you do it early game, you can severely mess up your opponent's set-up - being reduced to a 4 card hand is terrible.

Collector: Collectors are essential in here, as most of your Pokemon are basic. Play one of these early game and it's golden.

Bebe's Search: This card searches out any Pokemon in your deck. I like playing this and searching for an Uxie if you need draw, as the card on top of your deck reduces your hand size.

Aaron's Collection: The recovery. You can bring back any 2 SP's, energies, or 1 of each. Extremely important late-game if you lost Pokemon, or Dragon Rushed with two basic energy.

Energy Gain: This makes pretty much all SP's go from good to amazing. It reduces an SP's attack cost by one colorless, allowing you to donk much easier.

Power Spray: The final card in the lock. Imagine your opponent's last hope was to play the Uxie in their hand - Spray it. Power Sprays are extremely important here, especially early-game, and best used as a surprise (i.e. not searching it out with Cyrus's)

Poke Turn: This card is amazing. You bring back any SP in play to your hand. Perfect to reuse Crobat/Chatot, heal an SP, get back energies - anything.

SP Radar: Radar is pretty important to get out SP's early, and can help reduce your hand size to fuel Uxie.

Luxury Ball: The final searching card in here. Basically, you can search out any Pokemon (excluding Chomp C X). Should be a staple in every deck.

Double Colorless Energy: DCE's are so important in here - to either donk or get Dragon Rushes going late-game.

Special Dark Energy: It increases dark pokemon's attack by 10 damage, and can fuel Dragon Rushes. Pretty awesome.

Dark Energy: It provides energy for Sableye, Honchkrow G, and Honchkrow SV, as well as Garchomp C.

Psychic Energy: Provides for Promocroak and Azelf, and can be searched out with Cyrus's to help out Chomp.

STRATEGY: Basically, mess up your opponent and stop them from setting up. Judge's, Power Spray's. Iniative, Chatot G all help with that. Garchomp C X help's to take easy prizes.

STARTS:
Here, I go over the things I do when I start with a certain Pokemon.

Sableye: I either donk with Overconfident, or, if I can't donk, use Impersonate for a Cyrus's Iniative to disrupt your opponent, or search for a Collector or Cyrus's Conspiracy if you can't find Initiatives (i.e. they are prized) or you have an extremely bad start. Attach Unown Q to him to get him out of there when you are ready to start attacking.

Garchomp C: I like to level him up and start getting energies on him, and if you can, retreat him t1/t2, bring up a Sableye to start getting set-up. From then on do the stuff I said to do with Sableye.

Murkrow: Basically just get him out of there. His first attack can mess-up your opponent if they attached an Energy Gain/Expert Belt early.

Uxie: Either attach a Q to him and retreat for someone else (preferably Sableye), or Psychic Restore to do damage and get him out of there.

Honchkrow G: I usually do Honcho's Command if you can't donk, generally for a Poke Turn (to get him out of there and save energy, tho you can also attach Q to him) and an SP Radar to start getting SP's out.

Azelf: Lock Up can be useful to mess up your opponent if they had a bad starter, but generally Q him to get him out of there.

Unown Q: GET. HIM. OUT. OF. ACTIVE. That's pretty much all.

Promocroak: Not much to do here, use his power. If you flip heads, Yay! If you flip tails, I hope you have a Poke Turn ready.

Chatot G: Either Poke Turn it to reuse it's power the same turn, or use it's attack to get a Trainer and reuse it.

Dragonite FB: Occasionally you can donk if your opponent has an SP Pokemon, but otherwise Turn him to get him out.

Crobat G: I usually PokeTurn him to reuse his power, but you can just retreat him for, like, a Sableye.

This deck is hard to play, like to decide what to take out of hand w/ Iniative, but it's pretty fun. Once you get used to it it's a very good deck.
 
Devil's Advocate Questions:

1. What's the big deal about Sabeleye? He doesn't even have a big attack!

2. How in THE WORLD do you build a deck around a Pokemon that does 40 damage?

3. Why are people winning with Sabeleye Decks?

4. What's the best version of a Sabeleye Deck to run?
 
Rogue Archetype said:
Devil's Advocate Questions:

1. What's the big deal about Sabeleye? He doesn't even have a big attack!
Click to expand...

Love these questions, R_A! You think like such a newb! Oh wait -

Sableye DOES have a HUGE attack: Impersonate. Sure, you can't do much damage with a supporter - not to your opponent's Pokemon - but Sableye Lock doesn't attack your opponent's Pokemon. It attacks their hand, using Cyrus' Initiative and Judge - which you can play on the first turn before your opponent can do anything, using Impersonate!

2. How in THE WORLD do you build a deck around a Pokemon that does 40 damage?
Click to expand...

It's worth noting that the deck doesn't focus entirely on Sableye. Sableye is what makes it work, sure, by bringing down your opponent's setup before it can even start - but you gotta take those prizes somehow, and that's where Garchomp C Lv. X and Honchkrow SV (or other damage-dealing attackers like Blaziken) come in - once your opponent's been rendered harmless by the hand disruption you can take them down with Dragon Rushes and Riots.

3. Why are people winning with Sabeleye Decks?
Click to expand...

Because in a sense, Sableye's strategy is foolproof: lead with Sableye and hit the T1 Judge or Cyrus' Initiative to screw with their setup. The only way this doesn't happen is if you fail the Sableye, or if you get bad Cyrus flips or Judge draws, and this can happen against any deck. Because of this Sableye has almost favorable matchups against almost every deck out there.

The big problem Sableye does have is that it can't keep up with other SP variants because of all the space dedicated to early disruption!

4. What's the best version of a Sabeleye Deck to run?
Click to expand...

That really depends on your preference and style. Blaziken FB added in (see: Chenlock) is a great way to ensure you have enough lategame to stick around.
 
i see wat u did thar RA

1. lolimpersonateFTWumadbroletsOverEagerfordonklol
2. You don't. You build around a Pokemon that does 80, and then one that does 50 for an inexpensive secondary shot. Way to suggest one-sided question there hoss.
3. wynaut?
4. Too much subjectivity. Depends on yer metagame: if you run alot of Gyarados in your area, then more disruption, otherwise a more solid build with Blaziken can help you hit more and counter Dialga G fiends.

Whole deck - because I know you're going to ask this anyways - is to disrupt an opponent's hand from the first turn. It's a lock that doesn't restrict access to your cards: it eliminates card access by discarding it. A trainer lock prevents usage - a deviation from a lock will return access.

Sabelock eliminates access, not locks it: once you implement the shutdown, it's pretty much permanent, which is why it's effective.
 
I had a long reply typed out, but that darn back button :/

1. Impersonate is amazing - basically a free Supporter from your deck. Plus, Overconfident can donk really easily - any Pokemon under 40 is gone, and you can even go up to KO Pokemon with 90 HP. Really. Seriously. 90 HP! That's, like, 3 times Hoppip's HP. And you know how awesome Hoppip is.

2. You don't really. Sableye just makes it work. If you mess up your opponent early with Judges, Iniatives, and Chatot drops, your opponents Pokemon will be easy targets for Rushes from Chomp.

3. Basically, if you mess up your opponent early in the game, generally from early Impersonates, and then snipe with Chomp/EQ, you can own.

4. Depends on preference and metagame. If you play Blaziken, you get better late-game power, but you have less room for techs. I personally play straight up Sablelock, as you have room and disruption.
 
Barkjon said:
I had a long reply typed out, but that darn back button :/
Click to expand...

Kind of off-topic, but Firefox is your friend. It saves what you type in text fields so that if you accidentally go back and then immediately go forward again (or if you accidentally click a link and then immediately go back) it will just replace your post for you.

SO GOOD.

Barkjon, how do you donk something with 90 HP with Sableye? 4 Bats and a Sp. Dark?
 
Here's a Sabledonk list:

Pokemon 17
4 Sableye
4 Crobat G
2 Uxie
2 Unown Q
4 Unown R
1 Smeargle

Trainer 35
4 Pokedex Handy 910is
4 Pokedrawer+
4 Plus Power
4 Poke Blower+
3 Seeker
2 Cyrus' Initiative
4 Dual Ball
4 Poke Turn
2 Expert Belt
4 SSU

Energy 8
4 Darkness SP
4 Darkness Basic

I've never tried it out, but this should be the way to play Sabledonk....

-Filipp.
 
Darkmot said:
The Judges and Honchkrow SV are everything against Gyarados, and believe me they slow it down sooo much that you can get a decent prize lead, if you want a better description for the MU look at my article....

I've tried all Sablelock versions you can think about and believe me the Smeargle aka "Smearlock" is the most inconsistent, because it relys to much on the oppenent's starthand and they don't always start with what you expect them too.
Smearlock tends more to crappy starts than the normal Sablelock with 3-4 Sableyes and 0-1 Smeargles.

-Filipp.
Click to expand...

Lol at your Signature, you're not 1720+.

I played Smeargelock at all my BRs, and i can't say it was inconsistent at all. I went 3-1, 6-2, 6-1 and 2-1. It is the best Sablelock version imo because off the ability to look at your opponent's hand BEFORE using Cyrus's Initiative/Judge.
 
I like Smeargle when playing mirror. Portrait for an Iniative in your opponent's hand, and remove it from their hand... lol.
 
About the Gdos matchup, what are you going to do if they get a Gyarados in play? Scoop?

I lol'd at your list. i'm pretty sure that if you would add another inconsistant factor, Smeargle, it would flop. I ran 4 Pokemon Collector and 2 Bebe's Search. Like you should.
 
@Haunter Fanboy: Nooo... KO it maybe. Plus you can Judge and disrupt them.. but you do that with every deck you play against, lol.

Who's list?

@KOJ: I think regular Sablelock is better, and it plays Honchkrow. In ChenLock you can play both, but you will probably run out of room.

Yes, I believe Chatot G is staple - it is really the final part of the lock and cam totally mess up your opponent, especially earlygame.
 
I've tried Zong, but he really didn't work well. Chatot g fits with the whole disruption part of the deck, whereas Zong wil only occasionally help.
 
Not totally. Personally I never used Zong, but I used Chatot every game. It's up to you and your preference in the end, as well as how much you actually use it.
 
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