StormFront
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Clash of Legends - -
Article by: StormFront
Title: Clash of Legends - HGSS-ON
Date: 3rd May, 2011
Division - Masters
Latest set released: Black&White
Current Format: HGSS-ON
I am making a strong assumption we will be seeing a rotation on July 1st, and would like to cover how I think the format will effect nationals and worlds. I would like to note when I use the word trainers. I am referring to it as an umbrella term for trainers/supporters/stadiums and trainers like potion will be called an item. What makes the situation different is the small card pool and the lack of time to prepare. I aim to demonstrate my approach when blindly faced with a new format, which I call the bottom-up method. By first looking at the trainer cards which dictate the speed, consistency and effects that can be used. Secondly, I will look at the tech pokémon. These are not part of a deck's core strategy, but can be used in any deck due to their ability to hit high for low energy and counter your deck's core weaknesses. They may also have useful coming into play
powr: , or have a powr: or ability they can use every turn on the bench. Lastly, for my grand finale, I will give my opinion on what I feel are currently the top 10 cards in the format. It is based on how good the card is and the support engine that could be based round it. I have no intention of providing any deck lists so no luck there :tongue:.TRAINERS
Before we take a look at the pokémon we should first look at the best trainer items, supporters and stadiums. I've decided to split items and supporters into tier 1 and 2. Tier 1 Supporters
Pokémon Collector - By far the best supporter in the game. Expect this card to be played in almost 100% of decks. Being able to search for 3 basics provides huge consistency.
Fisherman - Because draw power and energy searching supporters have largely diminished, it's going to be much harder to get energy into your hand every turn. The card will provide better consistency when it comes to attaching energies every turn, because you will be able to take up to 4 basic energy from your discard put them directly into your hand. Which is useful if your active pokémon has used an attack which discards energy, or has its been knocked out.
Copycat - This is a situational supporter, I've included this as a tier 1 supporter because of its synergy with Yanmega Prime. By shuffling your hand into your deck you can draw into the same number of cards as your opponent is holding and attack with no energy cost.
Judge - I've included this for much the same reason as Copycat. It's a little more useful because it disrupts your opponent's hand.
Engineers adjustments - Allows 4 cards to be drawn after discarding an energy card. What's great about this card is that you can use energy retrieval to get basic energy cards which were just discarded.
Seeker - I can see 6 uses this card will have.
1.By forcing your opponent to pick up a benched pokémon you can guarantee a successful hurl with Mew or Gengar Prime.
2.To heal a damaged pokémon.
3.To abuse Reuniclus damage swap ability. By moving damage counters from the active onto a benched Zekrom/Reshiram.
4.To abuse coming into play powers like Pachirisu's Self-Generation
5.To abuse Promo Shuckle's poke body. By using Emboar's ability you can attach unlimited fire energy's a turn to Shuckle. For each energy card attached Shuckle you get to draw a card. You can then pick him up and get all the energy back and attach them to other pokémon.
6. To get the donk. If you are opponent only has 2 pokémon in play you can force them to pick up their remaining bench and KO the active.
Twins - Most likely to be used slower deck's, or a deck that tries to achieve a win via Lost World. Being able to search for any 2 cards in your deck when you are down on prizes are huge.
Professor Juniper - One of the most hyped cards of the new format. A card many thought would never be reprinted. Its the old Professor Oak as a supporter. Expect most decks to be running at least 2 of this card and any deck that relies heavily on items to be running 4 of them. It forces you to discard your hand and draw 7 new cards. Discarding your hand might hurt you if you have several important cards in your hand, but it all comes down to judgment from the players as to whether it will benefit them.
Tier 2 Supporters
Professor Elm's Training Method - The only supporter that allows stage 1/2 cards to be searched. The big downside is that Legendary cards from HGSS sets cannot be searched which is disappointing.
Interviewers Questions - The only supporter that allows for energy cards to be searched. However, you can only look at the top 8 cards of your deck. What's great about this card is you can put special energy cards into your hand. The most likely decks to use this card is energy acceleration based decks.
Professor Oaks's New Theory - I expect Juniper to be favoured over this card as it provides a greater chance of not drawing into the same cards you just shuffled into your deck. However, you do not need to discard your entire hand to use this cards effect.
Flower Shop Lady - This card replaces what Palmer's Contribution did. Provides recovery by getting both 3 pokémon and basic energy cards into the deck.
Tier 1 Items
Energy Exchanger - Provides a way for special energy cards to be searched. By shuffling one of your energy cards into your deck you can put any energy card into your hand. It's also useful for searching a small number of basic energy cards which are required for tech cards.
Junk Arm - By discarding 2 cards from your hand you can put any trainer from your discard into your hand. This will probably be used to reuse key trainers rather than to get pokémon and energy in the discard, such was the case in the past.
Revive - Like pokémon rescue but not as good. It allows for a fully healed pokémon to put from the discard to on the bench. The big disadvantage is you cannot use coming into play powers since a pokémon has not been played for your hand. It will also prevent stage 1/2s being played again. However this will most likely see play in decks that revolve around basic attackers like Mew Prime and Reshiram/Zekrom.
Energy Retrieval - Much the same as fisherman except you can put 2 basic energy cards from your discard into your hand. This will provide great synergy with Ninetales and Engineer's adjustments. I expect a lot of deck's will run 4 of these.
Pokemon Communication - The best search trainer in the format. It allows card any pokémon to be searched at the cost of shuffling a pokémon from your hand into your deck. I expect this card to see as much play as pokémon collector.
Energy Returner - Same effect as fisherman except you shuffle 4 basic energy cards into your deck.
Rare Candy - It's been errated to what pokémon breeder used to be, so you cannot play it right away. This makes running it in stage 1 decks pointless, but it will still benefit stage 2 decks. I believe the new ruling on rare candy will give stage 1 decks a big advantage over stages 2's because it will give them more room to add techs.
Super Scoop UP - A coin flip is required but the rewards are well worth it, the only disadvantage with running this card is that stage 1/2 cards cannot be played back down again. Most of the uses for this card have already been covered by what was said about Seeker.
Tier 2 Trainers
Switch - Do not overlook this card. Retreat costs on average are much larger compared to the previous format. A popular tactic you are likely to be see on high retreat pokémon is Crobat Prime poison via Mew Prime and then retreat to Gengar Prime, then send them to the lost zone via Gengar Primes body.
Dual Ball - The only playable pokéball trainer. By flipping 2 coins you get to search for a basic pokémon times the number of heads.
Lost Remover - I am not sure how much play special energy cards will see. This will almost certainly hurt dark/steel decks. If a popular special energy gets released in subsequent sets expect the usefulness of this card to shoot up fast.
PlusPower - Not a card to be overlooked. By using one of them in conjunction with Donphan Prime, Reshiram or Zekrom. It will allow Donphan prime to one shot Zekrom and opposing Reshirams and Zekroms to 1HKO one another.
Research Record - I do not expect this card to see that much play. What's useful about the card is you can put cards you do not want to draw into at the bottom your deck. This will optimize draws.
Pokegear 3.0 - You look at the top 7 cards of your deck and choose a supporter to put in your hand. If you run a high number of crucial supporters then it might be worth running this card.
Stadiums
Burned Tower - When this stadium card is in play you get to flip a coin. If heads put a basic energy card from your discard into your hand. The only downside since it's a stadium is that your opponent will benefit as well.
Lost World - Not much explanation required here. If your strategy revolves around lost zoning your opponents pokémon then you will be playing this.
POKÉMON TECHS
Now that I've covered the most playable items, supporters and stadiums, I shall now cover tech pokémon. These pokémon do not have to be part of a decks core strategy, but can be used as a 1-1 line or single copy in just about any deck because of their versatility. 
Donphan Prime: Zekrom will be huge, if he gets popular then expect this card to start seeing play. He can come very close to KOing Zekrom for one :fighting:, by exploiting Zekrom's weakness to :fighting:. He also has a handy resistance to :lightning: and
body: which effectively reduce its attack by 40. 
Bouffalant: The new Toxicroak G, it's a basic which for :colorless::colorless: can do 70 damage if the opponent previously knocked out a pokémon. 
Marowak:I prefer running this card as a Zekrom counter, because its boomerang attack can be used for :colorless::colorless: meaning you do not have to run any :fighting: energy.
Cinccino: It makes a great deck on its own, but doing 100 damage with a full bench for :colorless::colorless: is no joke.
Noctowl: Using its
powr: allows you to draw an extra card each turn. While it might not seem great. The advantage of using his powr: is that it can stack and you can use his powr: at any time during your turn. 
Smeargle: Arguably the best starter in the game. Being able to use 2 supporters early game is very useful. You also get to see what hand your opponent has in the process. I expect this card to become very pricey.
Stantler: I am including this card as a starter because of its call for family attack which allows you to search your deck for 2 basics and put them on the bench. This is the same effect as call energy used to have.
Umbreon: Moonlight fang is a very disruptive attack against decks that overly rely on bodys and powers as it negates all effects and damage from pokémon with either
body: or powr: . Unfourtunatley this will not help against pokémon with abilities. 
Yanmega: Since it can attack for no energy cost if you have the same number of cards as your opponent is holding. You can snipe a damaged pokémon that has previously retreated. Yanmega Prime also has a free retreat cost and good hp.
Unown Return: A situational card, if you play Unown Return from your hand you can move all energies attached to one your pokémon back to your hand.
Unown Dark: If you run a dark tech with a special darkness then running Unown Dark might be better for consistency.
Dodrio:When Dodrio is on the bench your actives retreat cost is reduced by 2. Expect to see a little more play than it used to since we no longer have Unown Q or warp energy, and retreat costs on average is a lot higher. This could work very well with smeargle since you can promote him after your active has been KOd and portrait a supporter and immediately retreat afterwards.
Zoroark: The ultimate tech pokémon in the format. Using one the opponents attacks against them for :colorless::colorless: is sure to provide a solid counter against most decks.
THE BIG BOYS
I've now covered the main trainers and pokémon that can be used in spashable techs. I will now rank what I consider the 10 best pokémon cards in the format. I understand this is highly subjective, I've based this on how good I believe the card is and the support engine that could accompany it.
10
When I first read this card I thought it was going to be broken. Being able to use any attack the defending pokémon has for :colorless::colorless: blew my mind. After analyzing it for a bit, I realized he will not be very much use against Mew or Gengar Prime. Not to mention there may be instances where you cannot meet the conditions to pull of the attack. Ideally, you want to use Zoroark against a pokémon with a high energy attack, or an attack thats strong enough to knock out the defending pokémon like Cinccino's Do the Wave. Despite all that, I expect Zoroark to see play with Zekrom and Reshiram being so popular.
9
When HGSS originally came out it was seen as "ZOMG LUXRAY KILLER!!! BEAST ! BEAST ! BEAST!" What killed the card was Gyarados. There was just no way for Donphan Prime to compete, and do not get me even started on the ridiculous SP engine it had to compete with. 120hp is huge for a stage 1; his
body: is great; his resistance is good; his :water: weakness is OK and 1 for 60 is nothing to laugh at. His retreat cost is gargantuan. Donphan Prime's main attack has the side effect of doing 10 damage to all its bench. This will leave the bench vulnerable to snipes from Mandibuzz and Yanmenga Prime. 8
Unless you've been living under a tree for the past year you would have heard how potentially broken Gengar Prime is with lost world stadium, otherwise known as LostGar. Sadly these predictions have not materialized , but I do believe LostGar is a good deck with the right list.
7
The last deck to emerge from our previous format. Magnezone Prime has a fantastic
powr: and attack. What hurts Magnezone Prime is that he is a stage 2 pokémon. However, the big question with Regirock gone is will Magnezone Prime be able to get the energy acceleration required to keep up with the format? I suspect the engine most likely to be used will be similar to the Zekrom donk engine, which uses Pachirisu and Shaymin. 6
While this card works in a similar way to Jumpluff. I believe he is better for several reasons.
- He is a stage 1
- His damage output is much less variable
- Does not need to have a deck built around him to work
- On average he will be doing more damage per turn
- He has :colorless: attacks
5
sychic: weakness will hurt him as much as it used to. The best way to play him is to Lost Zone a stage 2 card with a powerful single energy attack, preferably a sychic: or :colorless: type. Once a pokémon is in your lost zone, you can repeatedly swarm with Mew Prime's by using revive and rescue energy. No matter what anyone else tells you, nothing can consistently setup and recover as fast as Mew Prime can. If a card rivaling the attacking flair of Rhyperior Lvx comes out, then expect Mew Prime's score to shoot way up. 4
3
2
I consider this the BACIF (Best Attacking Card In Format). Zekrom is proof that donk decks are not yet dead. With Pachirisu and Shaymin, you can get :lightning::lightning::colorless: on Zekrom on the first turn and do 120 damage. What makes this equally scary is your opponent is unlikely to return the KO and will get KO'd again, meaning 2 straight prizes. However, you will not be able to get the KO if your opponent has a Reshiram or Zekrom active. If that's the case, you will need to use his outrage attack to avoid getting KO'd first. If he gets knocked out, you can play revive to swarm.
1
He has a terrible attack and an absurd retreat cost of 4. On the upside, he has 150hp which is amazing. So why do I consider this the BCIF (Best Card In Format)? Well, his ability is completely broken. His ability mimics the power base set Blastoise used to have. Except he has the ability to attach unlimited fire energies every turn to ANY of your pokémon. Not just :fire: types, which makes his ability extremely abusable. The most obvious combo is to use his ability to fuel Reshiram's attack every turn, but I consider that only the tip of the iceberg. If you attach as many fire energies as you can to promo shuckle, you get to draw a card for every energy you attach. You can then seeker, super scoop, or even use Unown Return's
powr: to move all energies attached to Shuckle back to your hand. Another card that's proven to work well with Emboar is Rayquaza+Deoxy's legend. :fire::fire::lightning::colorless: attack is normally hard to power up. If you can pull it off, you get to do 150 damage and then you discard all :fire: energies. It might seem like a lot of hassle, but if you can get a knock out you get to take 2 prize cards instead. You can then power up the attack again to take 4 prize cards in 2 turns. What makes Rayquaza+Deoxy's legend ridiculous is he can pull off his attack in one turn. If he gets popular, expect players to be teching Cinccino and Zoroark. Let's not forget most of the best items and supporters greatly aid Emboar. CONCLUSION
I Expect Zekrom donk and ReshiBoar decks to be tier 1 decks. That's because they can hit fast, hard, consistently and can tank much like SP did last format. For tier 2 decks, I favour YanmegaPhan and LostMewGar. Yanmega can constantly disrupt with judge, and with juniper and copycat in the format. It's not hard to hold the same number of cards your opponent is holding every turn to pull off his attacks. Running him with Donphan Prime is likely to make Zekrom matchups more favourable. LostMewGar is an interesting deck, sending a pokémon your opponent is holding into the lost zone is disruptive in its own right. The 2 cards Mew Prime is likely to make use of is Gengar and Crobat prime. Both are stage 2 and can attack for a single psychic energy. Crobat Prime's severe poison attack will no doubt give Donphan Prime huge trouble, because of his high retreat. He may also hurt Emboar if he happens to be active. After poisoning the active, Mew Prime can then retreat to Gengar prime and Lost Zone the active. Without Broken Time Space and an errated rare candy, it's much more likely your opponent will have pokémon in there hand. Even if they do not have anything to lost zone, you can still rely on seeker and Spiritomb to force pokémon into their hand. I do not believe the format is balanced as it's too biased towards favouring fire decks. I do not believe steel, water or dark decks in general can cope due to their weakness to the most popular attacking cards. Donphan Prime, Marowak, Cinccino and Zoroark are great counters against Zekrom. That's because Zekrom's Bolt strike does 40 damage to itself after using it, leaving him with 90hp. Apart from Marowak, no pokémon I listed can do 130 damage to him in one turn unless they attach pluspowers. I am certain I've overlooked or not considered many viable decks and techs. If people look hard enough, I'm sure they will find the next Gyarados or Sablelock deck.
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