Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

MSI: Luxray GL/Garchomp C

Great article. I have a few minor nitpicks with the list though:

No bronzong! The card is so legit in this deck.

Energy pickup could be something more productive, like a 3rd radar, a VS seeker, 4th spray, etc.

Also, after our testing, this deck (with DCE) is 1-4 vs FlyChamp. However, it's winnable if you just rush them while spraying anything they need. T2 bright look and T3 Dragon Rush or something as fast as that works.

Glad to see this on front page brosef!
 
Don't like the name - but it's better than Lady Gaga... *Shudders*


Agree w/ everyone else though - you need Zong. Zong is really awesome with making the deck much more fast and versatile... 1-1 DGX really, really does help a ton of matchups too, I always play it. You could take out a looker's for 1 of the cards, because DGX shuts down shuppet donk even with sp. metals. Sure shuppet still gets 10 on you, but just poke turn or warp point, toss out garchomp to heal, free retreat back to dialga, and do it all over again. I too agree with you tho on the Claydol issue. Every other deck I've played needs it - but not Luxchomp. 2-1 uxie works just fine. I tried playing Claydol in it and by the time I got it out my hands were way too fat to make much use of cosmic power (esp. with a bunch of power sprays in my hand I didn't wanna get rid of just yet). And no stadiums? Wouldn't galactic HQ help get some damage counters on early game? This isn't a criticism, I'm just analyzing the deck and wondering if stadiums are neccessary or not... galactic hq early could help with machamp... esp. if you can deafen with an unown g'd dialga... then poke turn the dialga, attach unown g to the uxie x and whack away at machamp.
 
I think that this a a well written article and I quite enjoyed reading it. I found that there are a few "off" things from your lists but, everyone plays differently. Overall, one of the better articles on the gym.

Oh, and you might want to add in a few more match-ups.
 
Jeez, fanboy. You're far more articulate than I ever realized. I've encountered you around this joint many a time and never noticed your skill with words. Your article was very well written. I appreciated how you had a side note to explain every single topic you touched on, regardless of it's significance. I have a question though. - How come you're not running any stadiums? Just being able to get rid of one your opponent is using can be a tremendous help.
 
Good article.


. . .

Good list.


. . .



*Rubs eyes*



. . .




*Pinches himself*



. . .



Wow, who would have thought it! A good front page article!



One thing though. . .



Energy Pick Up?

Fair enough it splits it wrong the rest, but with just Uxie's this deck doesn't need that many dead draws.

I myself just find it a dead draw, flippy card, and Dialga and Spiritomb hurt it.

But yeah nice job!

Also, Flychamp is pretty much 55/45 to Flychamp. or 60/40. Not much in it at all, but Flychamp has that little edge.
 
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Maxwell Sage said:
Jeez, fanboy. You're far more articulate than I ever realized. I've encountered you around this joint many a time and never noticed your skill with words. Your article was very well written. I appreciated how you had a side note to explain every single topic you touched on, regardless of it's significance. I have a question though. - How come you're not running any stadiums? Just being able to get rid of one your opponent is using can be a tremendous help.
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I'd like to say "Thank You" and then address the Stadium point.
Stadiums, for the most part, are a metagame call. I dislike them in this deck.
You don't really have the space -- you could argue that the 3 Energy Pickups are "flex" spots, but if I'm not running those there are other cards I'd want to run first.

Stadiums get readily countered. Yeah it'd be nice to counter BTS/Moonlights against decks that depended on them, but how much utility would I get out of them? Albeit, sometimes, it can be a huge leg up.

Lastly, however, is the issue of Flygon. It's a favorable matchup. Why would I do anything to make it less favorable? The potential attach an Upper and Sand Wall out of nothing on board could pose quite the problem. Given that Flygon is a great deck for making Top Cut (albeit not winning the whole bag).

What would I run?

Galactic's HQ - evaded by Spiritomb. Given the number of times my opponents went Baltoy-Darkness Grace-Claydol, I'd whiff on it being effective on the most desirable target.

Sunnyshore - what resists electric that is big in the meta? Flygon and Nidoqueen. I don't want to hand any favors to Flygon, and Nidoqueen I should be punching with Uxie X for OHKOs, in general. She'll heal off the 60 damage down to 40 anyway, without resistance.

As for what hits Luxray for weakness, there are two main answers ran. Toxipromo, and to a lesser extent, Mankey. The most common three decks, excluding mirror, to run these are Dialga G, Palkia-lock, and Gyarados. Dialga G can afford to run stadiums because it can lock them in. Gyara runs BTS like it's a treadmill. Therefore, Sunnyshore would only have lasting value against Palkia-lock, which is rarely played.

And, I'm late for class -- long story short, with EPU they're not dead once you go down an attacker or have to retreat out of say an Azelf start. It was a concern, but they were worth the lulzy benefit.
 
awwww... whats wrong with running Shuppet in masters? It gave me 1st in Spokane Valley and then 1st again in Spokane...
Great article btw, I'm making Lady Gaga for my girlfriend (she has an obsession and I'm TRYING to deal with it) and this gave me a few ideas *cough promocroak cough*
the sad part of making SP decks here in spokane is: METAGAME!
Nobody has the trainers and supporters. I only JUST got my first Cyrus's conspiracy, and still not a single Power Spray...
 
Awesome deck and awesome article. I like how you personlized the deck with energy pickups rather than going with whatever most people would consider "standard." There's a lot of room (as with most SP decks) to tailor fit the deck to your playstyle imo. The cool thing about this deck is that it doesnt look to be outdated anytime soon too (if anything, dce+garchomp c will ensure this deck stays top tier for a long time)

Two thumbs up :thumb::thumb:
 
Great article. Super entertaining!!! My brother needs to check this out!
 
Prodigal, you are a master of comedy, simple as that. Thank you for giving what I am dubbing as the best article I've seen on these fourms for a while.
 
Dear P_F:

Thank you for being alive.
And thank you for being on the 'Gym so you can show up all those cruddy articles that have seen the board recently.
Kudos.

Constructive criticism: I personally found Bronzong G to be absolutely critical to MSI. With EPU I guess it's not such an issue, but it's considered staple for a reason most of the time.

I also personally believe that Dialga G is the best anti-anti-SP tech.
 
Thanks, everyone! Kayle, we've already had the Bronzong G discussion, but thanks for your contribution. :thumb:

Laphroaig said:
Thank you for nice article.
Japan is dominated by MSI w/ DCE lol
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I'm shocked. ;)

Edit: I'd also like to take a moment to make a statement. A surprising number of those who read the article have, in replies, referred to the deck as 'MSI'. No one I know ever actually refers to it as such, myself included. The name given in this title is a commentary on the obtuse and somewhat arbitrary naming system currently in place. However, I suppose, as long as you and the person you are talking to are both aware of what is meant by 'MSI', then it serves its purpose regardless of intent.

Props to Nobodys for the grammar point.
 
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I'm not sure about actual correctness. I have a better sense for the tone and mood given by the grammatical structure than I do what is actually correct. So I guess I can give some insight on that - it feels to me more like keeping the punctuation outside gives a greater sense of sarcasm, criticism or mockery, i.e., people have started calling the deck "MSI". Whereas, when you include the punctuation, it feels more formal, as in: your article's short-version title was "MSI."

I think it is supposed to be the latter, but I agree, neither look terribly correct.
 
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prodigal_fanboy said:
Side note for my grammarians: when indicating nicknames in quotation marks, does punctuation precede or succeed the second quotation mark? I know how it works for actual quotes, but I'm wondering if the rules change for nicknames, given that neither of the two placements look proper in my eye.
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Pretty sure it's after. Also, if something is a nickname, I'm almost positive its supposed to be in single quotes, like this: The deck 'MSI' is dominating in Japan.

Or, "Dude, you play 'MSI'?"

Something like that... my teacher said the only time you use actual " " quotes in is dialog.

Y u worried aboot grammar ne wayz it is teh internets u on :p
 
prodigal_fanboy said:
Again, thank you. As for matchups, I didn't want to post anything that I hadn't actually played against in premier play, and so while I could've talked theory for a few decks (Gyarados, Dialga/Chomp) against this one, I decided it's best not to post anything I haven't empirically shown to myself.

Yeah, I think the Ambipom G one is an incredibly tricky thing based on small differences in how it operates, however, a ruling is a ruling, so take advantage of it (and keep the printout in case your opponent objects).

And yes, hypocrisy is so pro.
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Your welcome! That's a good reason and what you typed up proves the decks strengths and what its capable of so maybe many match ups aren't really necessary.

"And yes, hypocrisy is so pro." That is so going into my signature. :tongue:
 
Just a note on Chatot. I've been running Warp Energy in my Spiritomb setup decks for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the "trap." Of course, that trick only works once, but if I can get out of there and eat the Chatot, I think it's worth it. Well-written, as usual, Mr. Fancy-Schmancy Trojan!

Hope to see you soon (Saw you brother... last time, I believe).

Keep up the good work.
 
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