Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

The splashable water tech that counters Donphan and Reshiram (HGSS-on)

M

Mazu

New Member
I've been looking into which cards will be big next format, and there are two that poses a great threat for the single reason that there is no splashable tech available against them. Yanmega is a viable Donphan-counter, but I have yet to find anything as good as this against Reshiram. If you have not guessed it yet, the card I am talking about is Suicune & Entei Legend.

Now, why will this particular tech be so effective against the likes of Donphan and Reshiram?

Positives:
-It can OHKO pretty much everything with a water weakness for one fire and 2 colorless
-It has a ton of HP, making a revenge OHKO hard to pull off
-It has a measly one retreat, making it easy to bench and seeker healing 120 damage
-It is compatible in a lot of decks, considering they run rainbow/fire energy (DCE is also useful)
- In all Reshiram variants it will help greatly in the mirror, seeing as you can put down and charge it in one turn

And, for the sake of the argument, some negatives:
-If it gets KOed you lose two prize
-Hard to search out of the deck
-Limited to decks running rainbow/fire
-Gets OHKOed by itself (and Zekrom, but half-bad players will not set this up against anything lightning)

I see this coming to most use in Emboar/Typhlosion variants, though it could work in decks like Cinccino/Ninetales too. Thoughts, suggestions and additions to the positive/negative list are more than welcome.
 
Why is everyone suddenly randomly teching Legends into decks?

The rotation/HGSS-on format's effect on the playability of Legends is marginal at best. I don't see them as any more viable now than they were previously.
 
Politoed666 said:
Why is everyone suddenly randomly teching Legends into decks?

The rotation/HGSS-on format's effect on the playability of Legends is marginal at best. I don't see them as any more viable now than they were previously.
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I don't know why people are teching them more but it might be because everyone is playing 4 poke comm in every deck which is the best way to search them out.

Less Viability? No Machamp. No SP. Nerfed rarecandy to slow stage 2s. Slower Format. I dont know why these things wouldn't help legends become at least a little bit more playable.
 
Zard1111 said:
Less Viability? No Machamp. No SP. Nerfed rarecandy to slow stage 2s. Slower Format. I dont know why these things wouldn't help legends become at least a little bit more playable.
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While all of that has truth to it, but you are discussing how to build a tier2 deck. There are several ways to get more speed than a LEGEND is going to carry. That speed will be what makes the decks you see at the top tables. Why waste the time with so many discussions about them?

I think that's what Politoed was getting at.
 
Laturn Prime seems to be the best counter. I don't know of anything that is faster and it kills Yanmega Prime.
 
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^ That's very true, but Yanmega isn't the problem card (Zekrom, Reshi, Cinccino all KO it easily).

Most people are looking for a Donphan counter, and while Lanturn one-shots Phan for 3 Energy, Phan gets the return KO for a single Energy. That's not a race you can win with a tech line.

What people want is a Pokemon to OHKO Donphan with the minimum of set up that doesn't get revenge killed.
 
baby mario said:
^ That's very true, but Yanmega isn't the problem card (Zekrom, Reshi, Cinccino all KO it easily).

Most people are looking for a Donphan counter, and while Lanturn one-shots Phan for 3 Energy, Phan gets the return KO for a single Energy. That's not a race you can win with a tech line.

What people want is a Pokemon to OHKO Donphan with the minimum of set up that doesn't get revenge killed.
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And that is exactly what this card is. It does require some energy and is unfortunately a Legend card, but I can't think of anything better.
 
It's definitely not the worst idea out there.

Yanmega is the usual answer, but there as to be something better than that, surely?
 
baby mario said:
It's definitely not the worst idea out there.

Yanmega is the usual answer, but there as to be something better than that, surely?
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Yanmega can only 3HKO it, while SEL OHKOs and ca not be revenge KOed. It is also easy to retreat and heal off all the damage. Combine this with the fact that it is a viable Reshiram counter it think it is a card to be seriously considered in the HGSS-on format.
 
Mazu said:
Yanmega can only 3HKO it, while SEL OHKOs and ca not be revenge KOed. It is also easy to retreat and heal off all the damage. Combine this with the fact that it is a viable Reshiram counter it think it is a card to be seriously considered in the HGSS-on format.
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Another issue there is that with one pluspower, Badboar just ohko'd you and gave your opponent two prizes.
 
cabd said:
Another issue there is that with one pluspower, Badboar just ohko'd you and gave your opponent two prizes.
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Very true. :/ It seems like Reshiboar just has the answer for anything, but it remains to see if it will actually hold up in real tournaments.
 
Red Gyarados from Unleashed.


If Donphan is your problem, he owns him

For one colorless:
Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 30 damage plus 20 more damage. If tails, Gyarados does 20 damage to itself.



Gyarados also has 130 hp, and 20 resistance to fighting.

If you get heads, you do 80 damage to him. If tails, you do 40 damage. The max he can do is 40 to you with his first attack.
 
Jahikoi said:
Red Gyarados from Unleashed.


If Donphan is your problem, he owns him

For one colorless:
Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 30 damage plus 20 more damage. If tails, Gyarados does 20 damage to itself.



Gyarados also has 130 hp, and 20 resistance to fighting.

If you get heads, you do 80 damage to him. If tails, you do 40 damage. The max he can do is 40 to you with his first attack.
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I agree that Red Gyarados is a viable counter against Donphan, but Reshiram will still be a problem. SEL can OHKO both and not get revenge KOd, and get back to the bench if it takes a hard hit. If Donphan is your only problem Red Gyarados is probably better, but I have yet to find a better counter for Reshiram than SEL.
 
In testing so far, Yanmega still seems to be the best tech to counter Donphan. I've been testing ZPS HGSS-on vs current rotation decks and it is holding up reasonably well. Even against my buddy's Donphan deck it's not getting steamrolled. It's not an easy win by any means, but it's still not an auto-loss.

What I believe we're trying to find now is a good counter to :fire: decks that seem to be so prevalent in the coming format. And honestly, it looks like the best "tech" for that is Zekrom or Reshiram if you run Fire or Lightning. Alomomola is an interesting idea but I don't think it'll be used too much.

SEL is definitely something to be considered though. The idea that it can hit the field, jump up, one shot something, then get seekered away is handy. Especially if you use it late game once you're out of other resources and you just need to down that last Reshiram. I think it could be used much like ERL was used last season to drop and destroy a field of pixies.
 
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