Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Impact corner! A look at the new Arceus Set!

Ariadosman said:
Why do people act like you can only play EITHER AR Sally OR SF Sally? Play both!
Click to expand...

I likely will. It's just the spread that I'm arguing about ATM. I think it should be 2 AR, 1 SF, 1 LvX, and then you only play the SF if you're facing a beefy S2 deck. Otherwise, the AR one can either one-shot, or spread and set up a 4 prize attack from the LvX.
 
Lopunny is terrible in Kingdra:
-It's inferior in terms of healing capabilities to Nidoqueen.
-In higher energy counts (not modern) builds, between retreating once per turn and Dragon Pump, you were able to get 3 energy in the discard per turn anyway if you so chose.
-In modern builds, extra consistency/damage boosters are ran that can be discarded for Dragon Pump more readily, rather than energy. However, as they are not water energy, but T/S/S, they don't boost Aqua Stream, defeating your purpose for including Lopunny.

It's a cute idea, but not reasonable.
 
Thats the thing with kingdra players. They think that the build they have is best and reject every thing else. Lopuny is just THE POOR MANS NIDOQUEEN! if Darkstar likes it in his kingdra, and you don't, fine. Just because you don't like lopunny and think Nidoqueen is better, doesn't mean that you have to bash it. There is no ONE WAY to play a deck. I think that if you TRIED it, you might jsut find a way to make it work.

*Ralis just saved Darkstar from having to say that^*
 
prodigal_fanboy said:
Lopunny is terrible in Kingdra:
-It's inferior in terms of healing capabilities to Nidoqueen.
-In higher energy counts (not modern) builds, between retreating once per turn and Dragon Pump, you were able to get 3 energy in the discard per turn anyway if you so chose.
-In modern builds, extra consistency/damage boosters are ran that can be discarded for Dragon Pump more readily, rather than energy. However, as they are not water energy, but T/S/S, they don't boost Aqua Stream, defeating your purpose for including Lopunny.

It's a cute idea, but not reasonable.
Click to expand...

hmmm, ok, lets go over this bullet for bullet.
-Yes, it is inferior in healing capabilites, but 2 things Lopunny has that Nidoqueen doesn't, first off,
it's a stage 1 instead of a stage 2. Most kingdra decks I know run broken time space, allowing you to
get out Lopunny MUCH easier than Nidoqueen in Kingdra. And the obvious, it doesn't let you discard
energy, which is a standard approach for Kingra techs. The only difference over other kingdra techs
like Regice, Alakazam, and Blissey is that it heals, and heals the whole field for rotation purposes.
I don't see how Lopunny is an 'inferior' choice.
-Yes, it is nice that the standard rotation gives you the option of 3 water energies in the discard, but
what if that isn't enough for me? Why not shoot for 5? Late game, the Kingdra deck is usually set up
and just rotating kingdra back and forth, it has the capability of building up 2 Lopunny in the process.
With a couple of felicities thrown in there, you could be knocking out Flygon in 2 turns worth of
discarding. Live the dream I say!
-Yea...I kind of wasn't arguing that Billy Bobs super consistancy build with 4 uxies, and 100% Donk
style deck would work for my 'Late game boosting' approach to how Lopunny would work. If you are
going for the Donk, and adding in the Damage Boosters and Draw power cards, then we aren't talking
about the same thing.
*I wouldn't suggest running Lopunny in your Machamp Deck either.

I'm not saying Lopunny is the only choice, or even the best, I'm just saying that it is worth looking
into, and I believe it will work. But most importantly, it is a cute idea, but it is also reasonable.

Cool part is that if I'm running it with Expert Belt, the Rotating/Healing thing would work even better!
I'm doing 80-20, it's got 150 HP, with healing all over the place, and then Aqua Stream does X number
of damage from my Water Discard cards +20.

-Jason
:)dark::colorless:20)
 
Last edited:
LegendaryLugia said:
Anyhow, nice article. Are you planning on doing a series?
Click to expand...

Thanks! And yes, I would like to do one after each release, but to be honest, I'm a reeeealy busy guy
between work, school, and 'trying to have a life'. So we'll just have to see! I really liked this set though,
so I just decided to do it!

^And sorry, I guess I can get a little carried away in the heat of battle, I love a good discussion/Debate!

-Jason
:)dark::colorless:20)
 
A good article. However, Salamence... Well, don't buy the hype. Unless you can find something that can do substantial sniping while taking up very little space in your deck, then trying to get four KOs with Double Fall is pretty futile. I'm still playing around with the idea, so I might be wrong, but it's not looking good... But I've got a few ideas I haven't used yet. There are some decent water-type snipers that could make this burden much easier, but, at the moment, Double Fall is more or less there to get you that second prize (third if your opponent has Expert Belt Equipped) and that's it.

Also, I'm running 4-3-3(1 SF, 2 A)-1 Salamence at the moment... I'm really considering taking out one of the Arceus Sal's and returning it to the original 2 SF, 1 A line. Especially if I put in one of the Pokemon that I'm thinking of putting in.

As for many of you who do not like Charizard, there's going to be plenty of reasons to adore it come HG/SS. Fire's going to get a little more support when that set comes out.

Everything else looks solid, though I must agree that Spiritomb is one of the best cards in the set.

Edit: Also, a word to the wise (though I doubt they'd do this, anyway); never retreat a Pokemon with Expert Belt only to equip another one with the thing when playing opposite of Salamence. I had an opponent that did this. Needless to say, they were shocked when I took six prizes a few turns later. Then again, I don't think they exactly knew what Salamence Level X did until it hit the field.
 
Bug Boy said:
What about:

Cherrim AR and Arcanine SW

Spiritomb AR and Gliscor lv.x LA

Luxray AR and Expert Belt AR
Click to expand...

Well, *Goes to the Research Tower to lookup Arcanine SW*
That would be a cool little Combo, You would have to run it with the right things to set it up for
Inferno Onrush, cause 4 energy is a lot. But it could be cool. It would give it defensive power to
counter it's own being hit by 40, which makes it cooler if you have 3 or 4 of them on the field.
But any way you slice it, 4 energies for 120 is gonna be slow in this speedy format. Nice
Combo tho. I can dig it.

I stick with my origonal opinion about spiritomb until I actually see it beat me.
-Being Trainer Locked doesn't make it autoloss.
-More people will run supporters because of the hype Spiritomb is getting.
-It's only got 60hp people, my mother could knock that out, and she doesn't even play, it's basically
a free KO.
I'm not saying Spiritomb is bad, but it's far overhyped. I don't see this combo working any better than
Honchkrow and Dark Genes where you are using your 60 hp Murkrow that can use the Honchkrow X
attacks, the Murkrow are too low of HP to be affective against quick strikers like Luxray X, Kingdra,
Flygon...and the list goes on. Being trainer locked will slow those decks down, but not enough to make
a difference in the game in my opinion.

I mentioned Luxray AR in the Article, it's under Medium Impact. I like the combo again, but again, any
way you shape it, 3 energies for 80 isn't that good. Flygon has it's Resistance, Machamp has it's
weakness, Kingdra out speeds it, weakness or no, and Gengar snipes the bench techs while hoping to
just drag you down with it with Fainting Spell, while hoping you have gambled on leaving he Expert Belt
out. It's a great combo, just not great for this format.

-Jason
:)dark::colorless:20)
 
Last edited:
Sorry, missed the Luxray article. I'm the kind of person who would miss a whole page of a book and not know it.

I don't think you're getting how I meant to use Spiritomb. It wasn't supposed to be a main attacker. Never will be. You could level up, Shoot Poison, then Night Slash with the Gliscor and then bring up Spiritomb. In this deck, it's an evil little wall that means they can't Warp Point, Switch, or Pokéturn their way out of the conditions, while keeping Gliscor safe. Then on your turn, you can retreat Spiritomb and Burning Poison or Night Slash, depending on how much HP they have left. You could also use Spiritomb to set up.

I'm not saying it's awesome, but I think it's great in this deck.
 
Yea, I saw the combo there, it's just kind of a short term gain, for a long term loss when you think about it. Pretty
much the Maximum number of times you could pull off that combo is 3 i think in one game, and that's just not
enough to get you across the finish line in a game of pokemon. I don't see Gliscor winning many big matches.

Plus, when you talk about Poketurning, you are probobly speaking of countering SP decks like Luxape, but they
usually run powersray, which could conteract Shoot Poison. And since Gliscor is active when you use it, and not
spiritomb, they would have the opportunity to play that trainer at that time. Then they aren't locked.

-Jason
:)dark::colorless:20)
 
Indeed, Spiritomb and Gliscor is way too clunky and slow. Especially against SP decks who will just play Power Spray and then wreck you. The deck is too reliant on T1 Tomb start. Leave it for playing at leagues.
 
salamence lv.x deck

-HoboJoe465
hey what would be a good deck to put the new salamence and salamence lv.x?

Back to back posts merged. The following information has been added:

what would be good to put the salamence and salamence lv.x into with?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The regular Salamence from AR isn't that good due to the fact that you either have to rely on Delcatty/Dialga PL or risk discarding something important. The SF Salamence actually works better with the LV.X due to its Poké Body.
 
^Perhaps, but I think only time will tell on which Salamence is better. For now, I am running it with the AR one,
and attempting to set up two of them on the field with 1 delcatty, this way I essentally get 3 energies on the field
per turn. And lets face it, with spiritomb to help you set up and get those evolution cards out there, and expert
belt on the the salamence X, you are looking at a 180 HP Monster!

I've also been trying it with 1 Crobat G, and 3 or 4 poketurns in the deck. That way I can snipe somthing
on the bench the turn I level it up, and get set up for that sweet little 4 prize Shoot Through I was talking about
in the article. I need to adjust the engine a bit, but so far, the deck looks promising.

-Jason
:)dark::colorless:20)
 
Hey! I played against a Spritomb Gliscor deck the other day. MAN did I not do my homework on that one!

The whole, burning poision, returning it to the hand, and leveling it up every turn to paralyze and poision and
burn. OUCH! That just aint right! It is definatly tear 2. Not to mention that it slows the opponents set up
while it builds itself. I'm not sure it's gonna beat all the speed decks, and pokemon can level up or evolve
out of those special conditions and ruin you if you don't have a back up Spiritomb early, but it's a cool
combo that deserves more credit than I gave it.

I also really like my Kingdra/Lopunny combo more than I thought I would. I've been playing it for weeks, and
I like it a lot. If you're not giving it a second though, it's time to! :smile:

Luxray is ok for me so far, I've only started trying it. But it gets run over by machamp. And it's not that great
against flygon. I tried something crazy though. I am running it with 2-2 uxie, and using the uxie for Zen Blade
if needed. It likes having Expert Belt a little too. With a moonlight stadium, you can run a 1-1 Palkia X line for
Restructure, cause then the Uxies have free retreat, and so do the Luxray. (PUMA combo!) It's the only way
i've been able to spicen up the deck, and it's a little crazy, and hard to set up, but I liked it a little.

I also like Salamence, but I havn't gotten it consistant yet. I could dumb it down and just make it a tank
deck with spiritomb, but I tried running it with expert belts and Crobat G with 4 poketurns to go for the
'Flash Bite a bench and Shoot through for 4 prizes' combo. It worked a couple of times. And I'm 6-0 in
local tournaments... (But some of the matches were too close for comfort.) And the thing just DIES against
Gengar.

I don't like Arceus. I havn't built it myself, but I havn't seen a real awesome build yet. I know that some people
will build it well and do good, but it's slow, and honestly, it's just not that good. Even with all the arceus fully
built up, I just crushed it with Kingdra. It can't do enough to compete with the top tier decks in the format right
now, maybe next year Arceus.

-Jason
:)dark::colorless:20)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top