Clever/Common Techs n' Combos - Strategy Challenge

[Rogue Archetype]

Let's help each other get focused on creative deckbuilding.

This is going to run ALMOST like a random topic thread except you get to flex your deckbuilding/Strategic skillz in this one

First, let's NOT get into an argument about the term "tech" as I am allowing a very loose definition of "tech" to mean ANY modified legal card that is splashed into a deck to help it with a specific issue/problem/counter.

Step 1: RATE THE TECH/COMBO above yours post .. (feel free to comment respectfully)

Step 2: Give us a GOOD tech/combo

Step 3: Give us the strategy/"how to" use the combo or tech card.

Don't forget to:

-- Name the Deck
-- Tell us the card(s) involved
-- Tell us how you work it.

Note: Many of our visitors aren't familiar with "common techs," so feel free to offer any 'obvious' combos/techs that "everyone knows." The more the merrier!

Hopefully, this thread will help us create a thread that will serve as a resource to many.

I'll go first:

1. Rating for Above = ^^ 7/10 for the Combee tech in the Gyarados above.
The bench space created by the Combee may be bait for Dark Palm late game.

2. My Deck = Gengar/Nidoqueen is the deck.

3. Tech = Relicanth SV.

4. Strategy = Once the opponent has attached a couple of Unown Gs (and other tools like Expert Belt) , bench, free retreat, attach to Relicanth and smash the Claydol (or other important Pokemon on the field) with Relicanth's snipe attack. This is a great last prize snipe FTW (for the win).


Next?

[Kayle]

1 - 8/10; retreating Relicanth is difficult and running a Fighting/multi in Mother Gengar seems a little silly otherwise. But it is an excellent tech to have if you can make use of it. Decks using only one or two Unown G present problems, but Expert Belt's popularit boosts it up again.

2 - Tyranitar.

3 - Alakazam MT.

4 - Discard two cards to stop your opponent's power - oh, let's say, two darkness energy - but since it counts as them using that power, pick up an energy from the discard pile. It'll make your opponent think twice before using any kind of powers.

[Amt]

Can't stop Fainting Spell with Zam, Kayle.

[kwisdumb]

Rating for Above: You can't stop Fainting Spell that way, so...0/5. For other powers it works, though. So...2/5.

Deck: Mother Gengar

Tech: Toxicroak G Promo

Strategy: After your Pokemon is knocked out by Luxray GL Lv. X, send up Toxicroak G with an Energy Gain and an Energy, and swing for the OHKO. Next turn use his power for a 50% chance of going back in your hand and doing it again next time.

Great thread!

[Kayle]

Fainting Spell was SUCH a typo. I put it in because I was specifically thinking about the fact that you can't stop Fainting Spell w/ Alakazam. Distractions! >_< I meant powers in general.

How about...

1 - 6/10; it requires fighting energy and energy gain so it takes up more space than a basic tech should. However, Luxray GL Lv. X threatens Nidoqueen and we don't want Nidoqueen to go away - it won't stop your opponent from getting it, but it'll make them think twice.

2 - Garchomp SV tank.

3 - Mewtwo Lv. X.

4 - Run it w/ Lucian's Assignment so you can drop Mewtwo and transfer all your energy to it when you bring it active. Shuts down SP decks that might otherwise give you a lot of trouble; with Expert Belt you can swing consistent 80 and they need to Bright Look or Luring Flame to get rid of you (and from what I am hearing of Unown G, using it blocks Luring Flame if you don't mind swinging 60 instead).

[baby mario]

Originally Posted by kwisdumb

Deck: Mother Gengar

Tech: Toxicroak G Promo

Strategy: After your Pokemon is knocked out by Luxray GL Lv. X, send up Toxicroak G with an Energy Gain and an Energy, and swing for the OHKO. Next turn use his power for a 50% chance of going back in your hand and doing it again next time.

Great thread!

Rating 2/5: You don't want to run E Gain in Mother Gengar, and if you leave it on the Bench, Luxray will most likely target it anyway. Mankey SV and Relicanth are faster.

Tech: Ditto LA

Deck: Anything that can run a Psychi/Multi Energy

Strategy: 2HKO any Gengars that don't have Unown G attached and avoid Fainting Spell!

[PokeChampofPokeBeach]

Rating: 2/5. Relies too much on Special Energy to work against anything other than Gengar.

Deck: Speedrill

Tech: Spiritomb

Strategy: slowly evolve all of your Pokemon and when Spiritomb gets KO'd, send in your Bees and win.

[Leaf]

Rating: 0/5, Beedrill is a fast deck, not a set up deck.

Deck: Machamp

Tech: Omastar MD

Strategy: Evolve Omastar and devo your opponent's bench, then use a Looker's or a TGW to get rid of them, and let your Machamp sweep. It's a little hard to pull off because Omastar is a fossil, but it's great when it works.

[kwisdumb]

@Kayle: It doesn't require F energy.

----------

Rating: 1/5. I thought the whole point of Beedrill was to be speedy? Pokemon Radar, Rare Candy, Super Scoop Up, maybe a ball engine? It could work, and I'm no Speedrill player, but I see it as limiting yourself much more than your opponent.

Deck: Any SP deck

Tech: Lucario GL

Strategy: Drop it when it can ensure a KO, like vs. Gyarados or Kingdra when using Luxray and a Crobat, etc.

[xcfrisco]

Rating: 4/5. Lucario is great in almost every sp deck but isn't required if your not running types that hit the metagame for their weakness (Dialga+Infernape for example). Pretty much a staple in all other SP decks though.

Deck: Any deck that runs poke-turns+ Crobats for extra dmg.

Tech: Cyrus Conspiracy

Strategy: Always a nice tech card to have early, mid or late game. Grabs an energy, a poketurn for that potential KO, and search for any Supporter that you want is really cool. Works best when you run other tech supporters like lucians, palmers, lookers, etc so you can search them out and use them on a more frequent basis. The usefulness of this card isn't only limited to SP decks.

[kwisdumb]

Rating: 5/5. Cyrus should be a staple in all SP decks.

Deck: Gengar, Mother Gengar, etc.

Tech: Crobat G + Poke Turns

Strategy: Drop a Crobat when you need that essential 10 damage. For instance, when Shadow Rooming a pixie, drop a Crobat beforehand and hit for the KO. Or when Shadow Rooming a Claydol, drop one and Turn it for the KO. Of course, Unown G can really wreck your day, but it's worth putting in, IMO.

[corypoke2]

Rating: 5/5, Need to be careful with bench space...an now an extra tweak

Deck: Gengar + LuxrayGL + CrobatG

Tech: Power Sprays

Strategy: Power spray when they play Unown G and then KO it with Shadow Room.

[legotack]

Rating: 8/10. Power Spray is amazing, but you may not always have three SP's out when you really have to block that Set Up/Cosmic Power.

Deck: Almost any deck.

Tech: Luxray GL/X

Strategy: Positively amazing. It can fit into almost any deck for a free Gust of Wind (bring one of your opponent's benched Pokémon up). Free retreat is also great, so you can switch to a big attacker.

[TheGeneral]

Rating: 10/10. Luxray is a sweet and reusable gust of wind. Lux X + 4 Poke Turn anyone?

Deck: Kingdra

Tech: Expert Belt

Strategy: Use the broken combo of a 1 energy attack to smack the active for 80 and one of the bench for 20. With 130HP, it is ridiculous trying to take down a swarm of them.

[Shino Bug Master]

Rating: 10/10 Why wouldn't you run it? Just be careful of those Relicanths running amok on your Claydols if you have a BTS/2 Belt in play.

DecK: Monarchy

Tech: Hippowdon Lv.X

Strategy: Set up, regardless of the situation and use Hippowdon to rid the field of energy and tools (mostly Unown G), then you can 0 energy Poison Rub on Claydols, crippling the decks recovery.

[emodicer]

Rating: 7/10. It is a nice idea but you need at least 2 Nidoqueen MT in play to reduce Poison Rub's cost to 0. Also, adding Hippowdon LV. X makes the deck a bit too clunky. Other decks that require few Energies (Beedrill, Gyarados, and Kingdra) can sometimes play SSU to get out of the lock. If they flip heads, they can proceed to recover and attack again. Warp Points and Switches can also break the lock.

Deck: Beedrill

Tech: Cherrim SF

Strategy: If you are already able to set-up 4 Beedrills and have BTS in play, it is a searchable "Pluspower" that can help Beedrill 1-hit KO 130 HP attackers. This makes you less reliant on Pluspowers, which are somewhat difficult to draw into at the right moment. Cherrim can also help boost damage if you still can't draw into that Expert Belt.

[Gliscor28]

8/10 I myself, played Speedrill a long time, and every time i'd have out all my Bee's, i'd either have a Claydol or 2, or an Uxie/Azelf. Not much room, But i like that tech.

Deck: Sally

Tech: Delcatty/Infernape 4

Strategy:
Use Infernape 4 to Snipe, then when ever you Lv Up, Switch for Sally/AR Hit the active fer 50 snipe for 20, and if you lay down Sally X, Up to 4 Prizes, for 2 KO's, Catty for getting back the Energie's you discard.

[pokeking11]

Rating 4/10 Bence space is already tight enough in bees claydol, 4 bees, and a pixie too many things going on to run cherrim as well.

Deck: Palkia lock aka LEGOS

Tech: Garchomp C Lv.x

Strat: Another poke that can do 80 to any poke for the cost of 2 discarded energy pokepower is beast with total heal of all SPs and free retreat.

[gashmoigidy]

5/10, palkia already has that exact same attack, and I don't think garchomp works too well as a whole.

Deck: None in particular

Tech: Luxray GL

Strat: You'd be surprised, I think this card is underused. You better have a dang good reason for not running a 1-1 in your deck. It can kill their setup quite easily, which can greatly help out any deck.

[emodicer]

Originally Posted by gashmoigidy

5/10, palkia already has that exact same attack, and I don't think garchomp works too well as a whole.

Deck: None in particular

Tech: Luxray GL

Strat: You'd be surprised, I think this card is underused. You better have a dang good reason for not running a 1-1 in your deck. It can kill their setup quite easily, which can greatly help out any deck.

10/10 Luxray is a great card. It has already been stated, though.

Deck: Salamence (with Salamence SF as main attacker)

Tech: Typhlosion MT + Starmie RR + Energy Links (attached to Typhlosion and Salamence)

Strategy: Once you set up Salamence with at 4 Energies, you can almost effectively attack with Steam Twister every turn, whether your opponent has a 120 HP Pokemon or not. Although Starmie does not directly attach the Water Energy, it can return the Energy to your hand and makes for your Energy attachment for the turn. They can also help accelerate early game with the aid of Felicity's Drawing.

[FLCLFANMAN]

Originally Posted by emodicer

10/10 Luxray is a great card. It has already been stated, though.

Deck: Salamence (with Salamence SF as main attacker)

Tech: Typhlosion MT + Starmie RR + Energy Links (attached to Typhlosion and Salamence)

Strategy: Once you set up Salamence with at 4 Energies, you can almost effectively attack with Steam Twister every turn, whether your opponent has a 120 HP Pokemon or not. Although Starmie does not directly attach the Water Energy, it can return the Energy to your hand and makes for your Energy attachment for the turn. They can also help accelerate early game with the aid of Felicity's Drawing.

2/10 - Too clunky even with the advent of Department Store Girl. Also the lack of space in Salamence makes it hard as well. I'd rather use lucians or energy restore

Deck: Magneray (Luxray(LA)+ Magnezone(SF lightning)

Tech: Mr. Mime(MT), Spiritomb (AR)

Strategy. Use mr. mime to fend off low energy attackers (kingdra, gyarados,beedrill, machamp( w/ unown G) and to (if neccesary) set up a punch and run strategy of hitting for 60 with Gyro Ball, switch to Mime for blocks. then retreat and repeat next turn using super connectivity.

Spiritomb is to help smooth out bad hands with lots of energy or basic searchers like Roseannes. call for spiritomb and baltoy then next turn retreat and darkness grace out a claydol. Also great for temporarilt locking my opp. trainers and evolving my stage 2s quicker.

[KAZUTO!!!]

Mime: 4/5, nice but can be Warped out of and needs Unown Q or attached Metal Energy and Zone DP on Bench (if I remember Zone DP's wording correctly).

Tomb: 5/5, great tech.

Deck: Any deck.

Tech: Energy!

Strategy: My Energy powers up my Pogeymanz.

[astewart]

Arceus... you deserve a metal! energy is a totally super powerful tech XD

[Darkwalker]

Energy? Really?

Ok, well the only deck that uses energy as a Tech is Gyrados, since it's main attack costs zero energy. In that I'd give it a 4 out of 5 depending on which energy is chosen.

Deck: Gliscor/Spiritomb lockdown

Tech: Purugly G

Once your opponent has built up a big handful of trianers that Spiritomb has prevented them from playing during the game, drop this little beastie on the bench with an energy and Chip Off their hand down to 5 cards while you randomly discard the rest of their hand. You can then Poketurn the Purugly back next turn or just leave it out there to get KO'd while you gather up the trainer lock again.

[Time for Pain]

1/5, sorry just not a big fan of that. I would rather keep the lock going.

Deck: Any deck with Spiritomb AR

Tech: Unown Q

Give that spiritomb free retreat so you don't have to waste energy on the bugger. People might say moonlight > this, but at least the q is searchable.