Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

PT4 Scans + translations posted

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Prime said:
Like I said earlier in the thread, Torterra PL is superior. For 2 energy, it is doing a base of 80. Throw a grass on a benched Pokemon, and it is doing 100. Have 4 grass energy in play and Torterra does 120 damage.

The difference between Torterra and Sceptile is that Sceptile has to have all the energy on it. Torterra can spread it around to all of the Pokemon. You could 3 energy sitting on Sceptile on the bench while there is 2 on your Active Torterra, rocking away for 140 damage a shot. For Sceptile to do that, you need 4 energy on Sceptile, which you will lose when it gets KO'd.

Also, Torterra has the Lv.X to borrow extra HP and attacks from, and a pretty sweet Poke-Power.

I don't really see any variants of Sceptile GE becoming that big, but of all the variants, I feel Sceptile GE/Torterra PL is the strongest and least vunerable to Fainting Spell flips, or Machamp Hurricane Punches for OHKOs.
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Except....

That's still more energy, with lines too thickfor techability. You also have to remember that once Gengar is out and about with his level X, your Torterra Lv X is just a liability and probably won't stay in play for long, not even mentioning the implications of a Flygon matchup.

Sceptile is all around faster, which is what you need in this format. The only real regret I suppose is the OHKO from Infernape 4, but that's easily remedied with a Shaymin tech, which, unlike Torterra, won't clog your list since you actually have room for techs. Plus, you can always move energy around as needed with the Energy Trans Sceppy. I myself would play a 4-3-2-1-1 line to begin with, but that would need further investigation. The point is, that's 11 card slots, whereas the bare bones of Tort is gonna be at least 14 cards and even that isn't very consistent. And that's two Stage 2 with different lines you need to setup, Sceppy needs only 2 of the same line, much easier to do.

This leaves room for your Claydol line, a couple Unown G, Uxie maybe, whatever you like!
 
SF Energy Trans Sceptile. One of the two major TecHs in my version of Torterrable.

Here's how I spot it...

Torterra Pros:
Less energy required.
More HP.
Able to build a more solid evolution line.
Torterra LvX

Torterra cons:
Less room for TecHability.
Less room for consistency.
Less room for Speed.

Sceptile Pros:
Self-contained attacking line.
Similar damage potential for less energy total.
Energy Trans.
Poison (Gengar shudders).
More deck space for TecH

Sceptile Cons:
Less HP
No LvX.
Less consistent attacking ability (i.e. need to run more Maintenance)

Torterra is probably stronger over a long game. But I don't see the game slowing down enough for Torterra to be an adequate threat for that long. Sceptile is slightly faster because it can leave more room for TecHable stuff (like Uxie, Claydol, Chatot, etc). Depends on how you see the thing.
 
i think sceptile would be better.. torterra costs three to use it's first attack, without sceptile GE. sceptile AoA is only 1 to start attacking, and can start dealing damage on T1, where torterra can't. so sceptile could have 2 energy on T2, and hit for 40, without sceptile GE. torterra is doing nothing.. and a chance of sceptile GE+torterra on T2 is so slim.. then on T3 scpetile AoA will probably get a sceptile GE out and start hitting for 120 damage a turn.
 
Barebones of Torterra taking up 14 spots? 4-4-3-1 doesn't take 14 spots. I mean, WHAT? I mean, barebones means the absolutely least amount of cards needed to run it.

3/2/3-1 Torterra - lv.X
2/1/2 Sceptile GE (no need for SF, as energy is already spread across board)

That is 15 cards.

4/2/2/2-1-1 Sceptile AoA-GE-SF is already 12 cards.

That is a difference of 3 cards. And if you lose the GE one, or it is prized, your messed. If any of your Treecko are prized, or killed early, your messed.

You can run less energy in any Sceptile GE deck, so you run 12-14 energy and easily get away with the extra space needed.

Luxray/Infernape is the main reason why neither of these decks are playable though. The reason I said earlier on that neither deck would be Nats/Worlds viable. Heck, I bet Blaziken FB lv.X variants would give it a lot of problems too.
 
If the format was just Infernape/Luxray, I'd have no problems running a Sceptile based deck, because Sceptile would still work during my turn.

If there was any possibility of Dialga being run, however, I'd stay as far away from a Sceptile deck as I possibly could.
 
Wormys/Mothim are cool, little too slow.
Charizard is interesting.
Rapidash unfortunately fails.
Another Heatran that is terrible compared to the P8 one, i'd love to use it, except the x2 Weakness.
Fossils are neat.
Froslass/Glalie could be fun, if they had Netoteny lol.
Pichus a cool starter.
Zapdos is VERY nice.
Manectric could be teched into the PL ones deck.
Luxrays cool, it's nice to see it can use tools like that.
A nice Haunter, and a couple of terrible Gengars (Main set and Lv.X)
Would like to see another playable Golem...Don't think it's going to happen anytime soon.
Fossils are cool.
Toxicroak is cool, should be easy enough to use.
Spiritomb...idk SP, you may have to pack your bags and leave, I mean how many trainers do S2 decks need after Rare Candy (Which is solved by Spiritomb) and Luxury Ball.
Probopass WILL be fun.
Cate is cool.
SF Salamence could make things interesting with the Lv.X, lol trying to fit the SF, Lv.X and newest one into a deck.
I like Lopunny's Power.
Expert Belt=Yum.
Bench Shield=Meh, I'd think 1-1 Manectric would be better than 2 of these.
TD Gengar is nice, a way to snipe non G'd things.
TD Bronzong=YES, attach a special Metal and start spreading.
 
OK, I think they made Gengar a little too broken with that Lv. X. :eek:

The Spiritomb would be a great starter in, say, a Flygon deck or even a T-tar. Power Spray this!

I've said it before, but Salamence + Delcatty PT = cool combo.

Expert Belt looks pretty nice, especially with Regigigas Lv. X.

I also noticed the lack of retro-reprint cards. Are there any in this set?

- Croatian "Arceus rising" Nidoking
 
Energy link might actually be Feasible thanks to department girl. I had completely forgotten about that card, but I would like to see it get second life.
 
The Knee said:
Energy link might actually be Feasible thanks to department girl. I had completely forgotten about that card, but I would like to see it get second life.
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I agree. I once tested it (without Department Girl) and it was terrible. You could never get two out. It's a great card with two out, and will get 100% better with Department Girl.
 
Prime said:
Barebones of Torterra taking up 14 spots? 4-4-3-1 doesn't take 14 spots. I mean, WHAT? I mean, barebones means the absolutely least amount of cards needed to run it.

3/2/3-1 Torterra - lv.X
2/1/2 Sceptile GE (no need for SF, as energy is already spread across board)

That is 15 cards.

4/2/2/2-1-1 Sceptile AoA-GE-SF is already 12 cards.

That is a difference of 3 cards. And if you lose the GE one, or it is prized, your messed. If any of your Treecko are prized, or killed early, your messed.

You can run less energy in any Sceptile GE deck, so you run 12-14 energy and easily get away with the extra space needed.

Luxray/Infernape is the main reason why neither of these decks are playable though. The reason I said earlier on that neither deck would be Nats/Worlds viable. Heck, I bet Blaziken FB lv.X variants would give it a lot of problems too.
Click to expand...

Well sure, but count the successful Torterra builds with no acceleration on your fingers.
 
Prime said:
3/2/3-1 Torterra - lv.X
2/1/2 Sceptile GE (no need for SF, as energy is already spread across board)

That is 15 cards.

4/2/2/2-1-1 Sceptile AoA-GE-SF is already 12 cards.

That is a difference of 3 cards. And if you lose the GE one, or it is prized, your messed. If any of your Treecko are prized, or killed early, your messed.
Click to expand...

Except for the fact that you need 2 Stage 2 lines out for it to run at all...
 
Same for Sceptile AoA. Without Sceptile GE out, Sceptile AoA takes too long to power to do 80+ damage.
 
Hence why I would personally run it 4-2-2/2 AA/GE, without the SF one. Simply because this way, you can keep up a rather consistent 80 for 2 throughout the game.
 
A consistent 80 for 2 doesn't win you games. Doing 140 damage and OHKOing the opponent's fresh stage 2 is what wins you games.

Working with just AA/GE Sceptile, that requires a lot more resources, since you need 4 energy on Sceptile for that to work. If your sceptile gets knocked out, there goes 4 grass energy.

Working with just GE Sceptile / PL Torterra, you NEVER need more than 2 energy on any of your Pokemon, and it is easier to reach higher damage amounts because of how much better you can conserve energy on the field. You may need more energy overall on the field, but you don't lose as much energy with each of your Torterra getting KO'd, so it works out better over the length of the game.

If you're wanting a quick 80, there are other avenues. If your wanting a big stage 2 grass pokemon OHKO'ing everything in sight, Torterra PL/ Sceptile GE is your best bet.
 
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