~~~TOP EIGHT REPLACEMENT CHALLENGE~~~
---SuperWooper VS Brady1---
-SuperWooper-
“Pokemon: 22
3 Swinub (LA #123)
2 Piloswine (LA #69)
3 Mamoswine (SF #21)
1 Mamoswine (LA #9)
2 Gible (MT #85)
1 Gabite
2 Garchomp
2 Garchomp Lv X
2 Baltoy
2 Claydol
1 Regirock
1 Azelf (LA #19)
Trainers: 24
4 Bebe's Search
1 Luxury Ball
4 Roseanne's Research
4 Felicity's Drawing
3 Pokeball
4 Rare Candy
2 Time-Space Distortion
2 Stark Mountain
Energy: 14
8 Fighting
4 Water
1 Grass
1 Metal
I expect Brian to use something like Swampert/Regirock or Togekiss or Weavile, so the goal here is to set up a Garchomp Lv X while he's accelerating and put a few Mamoswine/energy in the discard with Regirock and Felicity's Drawing. Typically, the most Mamoswine can do with its second attack is 180 (60 plus 40x3), but if I get out Mamoswines via Garchomp Lv X's rebirth, I can also build Swinubs from the ground up and add twenties with Piloswine. The damage that Garchomp Lv X's power sticks on my opponent's guys plus the damage boost I get from putting Mamoswine onto the bench as basics should put me over the top in the damage war.
Not only does Regirock discard stuff so Garchomp works more effectively, it also works nicely with Stark Mountain. I only run 1 Regirock and 2 Stark Mountain, because I expect to accelerate mostly with Garchomp Lv X, but the option is still there.
I run 1 Grass and 1 Metal because Mamoswine LA is weak to metal, and Mamoswine SF to grass. I can power up a Garchomp and do 110 to a Mamoswine this way, which is 30 short of a KO. But if I've used the LA Mamoswine earlier in the game (which can do 40 to the bench), I can set up a OHKO without the use of a Stormfront Mamoswine, and keep him safe so that I don't get that -40 on my damage output.
3-2-4 line on the Mamoswine seems odd, but it works because of Garchomp Lv X and all that. 2-1-2-2 Garchomp Lv X line is thin, but I'm running 4 Bebe/3 Pokeball/1 Luxury Ball. Still pretty setup intensive but I have confidence in it.
Time-Space to grab Swinubs or the Garchomp Lv X when it dies. I do play 2 Garchomp Lv X, but that's just to get it out more easily.
Basically, I think Garchomp is a great partner for Mamoswine because for Mamoswine to work, you need A) a lot of energy and B) a lot of Mamoswines. Garchomp Lv X is the only guy around who can accelerate both all by his lonesome. I doubt my build will be as consistent as Brian's, but once this build gets rolling it looks like it would be quite nasty.
Hope you like it.”
Deck list (7.5/10): Playing any deck with two Stage Two Pokemon (one being a lv.X , and the other costing four energy to attack reliably) puts a certain amount of pressure on you to make the build just right. While you have a solid amount of search, and a decent amount of draw, the reality of it is that setup is insanely tough; you won’t normally get an attacker by about turn four-six onwards, let alone an effective “Parade” combo. All of the fundamentals are there, which is excellent...But unfortunately, monster setup decks require super efficiency, which your build does not have.
Creativity (4/5): Garchomp, hmmm? *tilts head sideways*
Long story short, I like what you’re doing here!
Card Use (3.5/5): There’s some loss of focus on Mamoswine brought about by Garchomp, but at the same time, you’ve chosen a partner that really brings out the best in Parade. It also does, to “some” extent, address the energy issue.
TOTAL::: 15/20
P.S. This challenge was not metagame-oriented; I never said anything about making metagame assumptions. Thankfully, though, your grades weren’t really hurt at all (bar the grass/metal choices, but even that only knocked off an extremely insignificant fraction of a point).
-Brady1-
“Card: Mamoswine SF
Mamoswine is one of those pokemon that has everything you would like on paper: A large amount of hp, a weakness that isn’t that popular, a resistance to a good type, and two attacks that can OHKO a lot of things. However, speed is always a factor with pokemon of such nature, and the mammoth is no exception. With this in mind, an energy accelerator is a must for this type of card. Also, the swine requires a large bench of specific cards, so pokemon search is a must.
List
Pokemon (21):
4 Swinub SF
3 Piloswine LA
3 Mamoswine SF
1 Mamoswine LA
2 Baltoy
2 Claydol
1 Ralts
1 Gardevior
2 Sneasel DP
2 Weavile SW
Energy (15):
4 Special Darkness
7 Fighting
3 Water
1 Basic Dark
Trainers (24):
4 Rare Candy
4 Bebe’s Search
4 Roseanne’s Research
1 Luxury Ball
4 Pokehealer+
2 Night Maintenance
3 Pokeball
2 Moonlight Stadium
Pokemon:
Swinub: I choose the stormfront Swinub over the legend awaken one because he has a stalling attack and a solid second attack for one energy (20+60=ko for mostly anything). Both Swinubs are okay at best but auto-conditions on a basic gives this one the advantage.
Piloswine: Unlike the Swinub, I choose the LA Piloswine because he has a very rushy attack and can easily net a t2 KO. 30+an additional 30 will usually result in a KO on mostly anything, and the additional 20 done by Swinub will usually be enough to KO most stage 1s. 60+sleep for 4 is alright, but very overpriced and probably won’t be used often. The other Piloswine is rather slow and doesn’t do a whole lot early game. He can do more later game, especially against a spread deck, but is otherwise useless. Since this deck is on the slow side, having a stage one that can hit for damage is definitely a plus.
Mamoswine: I decided on the 3-1 split for a few reasons. One because even though grass is a good weakness, metal is just as good. Also having 3 types of attackers (fighting, water, and darkness) gives you a good chance of hitting for weakness against a deck. The SF’s first attack probably won’t be used very often, but can get an OHKO with some luck, at the price of probably losing most of your life. His second attack is where the damage is at. With the addition of gardy, hitting for the 90 with a full bench of Swinubs shouldn’t be hard. With 2 benched Mamoswines, it is swinging for 140 damage, which is an OHKO in nearly all situations. The other Mamo is used as a disruptor and getting those last few prizes at once. His first attack does a solid 40 for 3 and a chance to both paralyze and remove energy from the Pokemon, which is clearly game winning. The second attack is where it is at. Doing 60 for 4 is weak, but adding 40 more and 40 to a benched Pokémon at the price of taking 40 damage can net 2 prizes and the game. This can also be used to KO a claydol and stalling the opponents’ searching options for a few turns.
Baltoy: Used to evolve into claydol.
Claydol: Consistency....again. lol Enough said.
Ralts: Used to evolve into gardy.
Gardevior: Mamoswine needs all the support it can get, and that includes as much Pokémon search as possible. This list does not run any draw supporters, so Gardevior is used to use the opponent’s supporters to draw cards or to use their Bebe’s and search for a swarm of swine.
Sneasel: Used evolve into Weavile
Weavile: Weavile has 2 purposes in here: To turn Mamoswine dark and to attach energy to Mamoswine. Turning Mamoswine dark allows it to take advantage of special darkness for even more damage potential, to get around resistance, to hit for weakness, and to free retreat with moonlight stadium. He also gets 2 darkness from the deck and attaches them to Mamoswine as his attack, which allows Mamoswine to take 2 turns to power up instead of 4. 2 Shadow charge should result in 2 Mamoswines being powered up, which should last long enough to get a 3rd mamo powered up.
Energy:
4 Special darkness: Energy for Weavile to grab and attach to Mamoswine. Also add damage to Mamoswine’s attack.
Fighting and water because mamo takes both for his attack.
1 Basic dark in case a special dark or two are prized.
Trainers:
Rare Candy: A must for any stage 2 deck. Allows Mamoswine to hit for an additional 40 out of nowhere.
Bebe’s Search: Needed to get out the pokes, and helps claydol draw additional cards.
Roseanne’s Research: Get your basics and specific energy.
Luxury Ball: Gets any pokemon without a drawback. Enough said.
Pokehealer+: What’s the point of 140 hp if he dies in 2 hits? Healing 80 off of a 100 damaged Mamoswine allows it to take another 100 damage without fear, which is just incredible. Also Mamoswine has a huge retreat and there are no switching cards in this deck list, so special conditions need to be dealt with.
Night Maintenance: Recovers a mamo line or whatever, which keeps the damage output high.
Pokeball: Additional Pokemon search.
Moonlight Stadium: Free retreat for Gardevior or anything with Weavile in play.”
Deck List (8.5/10): This list is overall a well-oiled machine. While Gardevoir truthfully seems like a pain to setup, as opposed to, say, merely dropping an Uxie, Azelf, Chatot, etc, your build runs nicely. It suffers a bit of clunkiness brought on by a lack of draw, but the searching is fine. You have a reasonable goal, with very reasonable ways to see it happen.
Creativity (3/5): A standard case of guy + energy accelerator + Claydol normally would have sent you straight into Camp Two, but you have quite a bit of inspiration that keeps your creativity afloat. The Healers are a very nice touch for something that screams “tank,” the Moonlights are a very effective (yet obvious) way of compensating for the CCCC retreat, and although I disagree with its use, the Gardevoir is a nice attempt at making Parade function reliably.
Card Use (4/5): Your method of charging up Mamoswines is very reliable. You also do a fine job of accounting for the attacks, the hefty retreat, and the occasional instance of Fighting not being a very good type for SW.
TOTAL::: 15.5/20
WINNER: Brady1
