Metagross (MD-on)

[Regis_Neo]

Ever consider messing around wit Judge or Copycat? Judge especially would add a nice disruptive element and somewhat solve your large hand problem by forcing it down to 4 cards...now granted, there's the element of risk there to yourself as well, but if you're ending up with 14+ card hands most of the time, it shouldn't be hard to recover your hand. Or optionally, there's Copycat, as odds are your opponent will not have that many cards sitting around in their hand and it refreshes your own hand. I'd normally suggest Professor Rowan here (as you could then just keep an Uxie on hand to use it right away), but the last legal copy of it was printed in SW, which isn't legal next format. And finally, as an inbetween option between Judge and Copycat is Professor Oak's New Theory, which nets you a new hand of 6 cards, plain and simple. Hope that helps a bit.

 

[burnpsy]

Ever consider messing around wit Judge or Copycat? Judge especially would add a nice disruptive element and somewhat solve your large hand problem by forcing it down to 4 cards...now granted, there's the element of risk there to yourself as well, but if you're ending up with 14+ card hands most of the time, it shouldn't be hard to recover your hand. Or optionally, there's Copycat, as odds are your opponent will not have that many cards sitting around in their hand and it refreshes your own hand. I'd normally suggest Professor Rowan here (as you could then just keep an Uxie on hand to use it right away), but the last legal copy of it was printed in SW, which isn't legal next format. And finally, as an inbetween option between Judge and Copycat is Professor Oak's New Theory, which nets you a new hand of 6 cards, plain and simple. Hope that helps a bit.

Judge makes quite a bit of sense. How many should I add? Should I up the Uxie count after that since my hand won't be as consistently big?

 

[Denjin Hadou]

Yes. If your hand grows big often, I would say three Judges should do it.

 

[burnpsy]

I tested with 2 Judges. Miraculously the problem seems to be almost completely gone!

What should I remove for the 3rd Judge? As I go through this deck:

Azelf - Needed mainly to fix bad starts
Crobat G - Required for several KOs
Jirachi - Remains at 4 for great starts
Metagross - Must remain
Uxie - Easier to draw into at 3 with Judge than at 2
Luxury Ball - No comment
Poké Healer + - Allows Metagross more chances to attack before getting KO'd
Rare Candy - No comment
Super Scoop Up - Needed to reuse Crobat G, and can reuse a sprayed Uxie or Azelf
Switch - Obviously required, cannot be Warp Point for obvious reasons
Expert Belt - I miss some KOs without this
Bebe’s Search - No comment
Cynthia's Feelings - No comment
Judge - No comment
Palmer’s Contribution - Usually not needed, but I'll leave it in just in case
Pokémon Collector - No comment
Professor Oak's Visit - The draw from this is actually quite nice, and Judge stops the hand growth from interrupting me
Energies - Already at a fairly perfect number, I rarely don't have one

As you can see, I'm stumped on where to add the 3rd...

 

[Denjin Hadou]

Try a couple games with one less Basic Steel. If not, stick with two Judges.

 

[shadowanimelover]

I would suggest Emcee's Chatter.

With your Support-friendly Deck, I would suggest adding Sableye from SF.

VS Seaker and PokéRadar might also be nice.

 

[burnpsy]

Try a couple games with one less Basic Steel. If not, stick with two Judges.

That worked out fairly well, so I'll make that change now.

I would suggest Emcee's Chatter.

With your Support-friendly Deck, I would suggest adding Sableye from SF.

VS Seaker and PokéRadar might also be nice.

I mentioned it myself. Profressor Oak's Visit is superior in every way possible. Sableye SF doesn't allow me 2 activations of a supporter per turn. Also, Sableye lack free retreat. Sableye doesn't fetch me something as it dies, etc. I can't use Uxie LV.X because I can't afford the energy to retreat, so...

Also, no need for either of the other 2 cards mentioned.

 

[Denjin Hadou]

That worked out fairly well, so I'll make that change now.

I mentioned it myself. Profressor Oak's Visit is superior in every way possible. Sableye SF doesn't allow me 2 activations of a supporter per turn. Also, Sableye lack free retreat. Sableye doesn't fetch me something as it dies, etc. I can't use Uxie LV.X because I can't afford the energy to retreat, so...

I'm glad I could help.

Also, I wouldn't dismiss Sableye SF too quickly. His attack allows you to use two supporters per turn, one before your attack, and one as your attack. In that way, you can Judge first, burn any useful cards there, and then Impersonate for Oak's Visit or Oak's New Theory. What I would find more preferable would be a Porygon2 line since its Download power lets you use up an extra Supporter before attacking. Too bad it gets rotated out this fall.

 

[burnpsy]

I'm glad I could help.

Also, I wouldn't dismiss Sableye SF too quickly. His attack allows you to use two supporters per turn, one before your attack, and one as your attack. In that way, you can Judge first, burn any useful cards there, and then Impersonate for Oak's Visit or Oak's New Theory. What I would find more preferable would be a Porygon2 line since its Download power lets you use up an extra Supporter before attacking. Too bad it gets rotated out this fall.

But, as I said, I can't even use Uxie LV.X because it slows me down to pay for retreating.

...*sigh* What's your idea here? Some sort of mix of Jirachi and Sableye in the deck to constantly double up on supporters? It may be worth testing, but I wouldn't know how to fit that in for testing. The space here is overwhelmingly tight, so there'd be nothing aside from splitting the Jirachi and Sableye in half, or:

4 Jirachi
3/1 Jirachi/Sableye
2/2 Jirachi/Sableye
1/3 Jirachi/Sableye
4 Sableye

I still prefer Jirachi for the searching and free retreat, but I want to hear which of these you intend for me to do - or something else.

 

[Denjin Hadou]

Oh, no... I was just considering Sableye SF instead of Jirachi RR, that's all.

 

[burnpsy]

Just tested all of the combos quickly. 3 Sableye and 1 Jirachi made the most sense. Jirachi actually has a use after setup, Sableye is a dead draw at that point. Also, I can't go full Sableye because I have to get Switch in my opening hand to use it best.

 

[Barkjon]

So, what are the problems with the deck now (if any). I see the big hand issue resolved.

 

[burnpsy]

There are no issues that are currently apparent. Even facing DP-on decks, this deck can keep up with their speed, disrupt their start, and proceed to deal enough to score KOs early and late game. A fairly nice rogue for next season if I do say so myself - even if switched to the bench. It even manages to keep up with SPs.

Well, there's one thing... I may or may not want to up the count of Switches. With Sableye being my opener here, I may have to use them.

P.S. I changed it to 4 Sableye. I don't draw supporters as often as I'd hoped in my opening hand, plus Jirachi is dodged by snipers and I want to get the consistent same setup.

 

[Barkjon]

Well, nice to see that the deck worked out. Good luck next season!

 

[Denjin Hadou]

Let's see, try dropping PokéHealer+ for a couple of games and substitute in 4 PokéTurn. If you do that, you can save those Super Scoop Ups for Metagross. I think by doing that, you'll have a more offensively-oriented deck.

Not running into enough Supporters at the start of the game does make sense when you notice you're running 11. With Sableye, you've probably noticed that having such a low Supporter count is okay since you'll always be using them up with him around.

The only thing I can think of to squeeze in one more Switch would to be to drop either a Rare Candy or a Basic Steel. For the sake of consistency, I wouldn't drop either.

 

[burnpsy]

Let's see, try dropping PokéHealer+ for a couple of games and substitute in 4 PokéTurn. If you do that, you can save those Super Scoop Ups for Metagross. I think by doing that, you'll have a more offensively-oriented deck.

Not running into enough Supporters at the start of the game does make sense when you notice you're running 11. With Sableye, you've probably noticed that having such a low Supporter count is okay since you'll always be using them up with him around.

The only thing I can think of to squeeze in one more Switch would to be to drop either a Rare Candy or a Basic Steel. For the sake of consistency, I wouldn't drop either.

Actually, I've never had to use SSU on Metagross. SSU is something I typically use to set-up. Crobat G's presence hasn't been nearly as pronounced as before after I added Metagross SV and upped the deck's speed. It's sorta just there in case I need it - I barely put it in play anymore. Also, I typically go with the PokeHealers instead to not reset Extra Comet Punch.

...yeah, consistency says to leave the cards alone rather than add Switch.

Y'know what I just noticed? Crobat G not really being needed anymore means... I can toss it for something else and add EVEN MORE consistency in here.

Unless someone has a good idea though... I'll leave it for 100-170 HP opponents.

 

[Denjin Hadou]

If you had to drop your Crobat, toss in an extra Expert Belt and a Switch.

Also that sig of yours is a lie; you've gotten plenty of help.

 

[burnpsy]

When I made that sig say that, there was barely anything.

Anyways, I suppose that change makes sense.