Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

what will be THE tech against Empoleon MD?

R

revdjweb

New Member
My vote is for Rayquaza ex. sure it's an ex worth two prizes but it has no weakness, it's great if you are behind. with lake boundary it can ohko empoleon and it already has an established tradition with GG.

it's either that or Dusknoir & warp point, even more of a staple with GG decks. i know Empoleon players are all geeked up about the kind of damage it can do but unless you've got glaceon lvl x or a pokemon holding a cessation crystal reserved on your bench i don't see how Dusknoir is not going to be a total nightmare.

Of course eeveelutions will run jolteon while both garchomp and porygon-z just need the right kinds of energy.
 
For some reason, I just don't see Empoleon being big...

Either way, G&G probably beats it anyways, and if Water really rises that fast, Electivire could increase also.
 
If the Empoleon player uses Latilock, Bastiodon and Dugtrio are not Worthwhile.

Electrode is another interesting option but most of the useful lightning pokémon need lightning specific energy to attack at all.

Really inconvenient and difficult to work. A reliable way is to take advantage of the bench with Steven's Advice and Crawdaunt ex or Dusknoir. As long as you can prevent bench damage and its surf 100 from KOing you should be able to avoid a one hit KO. Other options include outspeeding it, or taking advantage of the special energies. Shuckle or Crystal Beach. Very tough card though, archetype material.
 
Dugtrio and Dusknoir.

Anything else mentioned here won't work or isn't worth the slots.

Electivire won't come back as long as G/G is big.
Ray ex needs Lake Boundary to OHKO and brings two prized cards if knocked out. Remember you opponent can snipe it in late game.

Shuckle will not stop it, doing a little poison as attack while Empoleon will snipe the bench. Leafeon will not prevent that either, but it can do some damage and make attacks against it ineffective (resistance & Leaf Guard).

Crystal Beach isn't a real problem for Empoleon because even if it will play DRE and Scramble most of the times, it doesn't need them to run well (unlike G/G, Infernape and some other decks).
 
ShadowGuard said:
Gallade flips 4 prize cards for 1 Empoleon and Sonic Blade doesn't work because of Holon Energy WP.
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Flip one prize hit it for 80 then Plox for the KO, draw the faceup prize, and lock them out of their powers.
Why does everyone think Gallade ALWAYS needs to either OHKO or Sonic Blade....

Incidently, If you use Holon WP then you can't use Scramble and Empoleon Lv X becomes useless.
 
SPARTA said:
Flip one prize hit it for 80 then Plox for the KO, draw the faceup prize, and lock them out of their powers.
Why does everyone think Gallade ALWAYS needs to either OHKO or Sonic Blade....

Incidently, If you use Holon WP then you can't use Scramble and Empoleon Lv X becomes useless.
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Holon WP is only a tech so you still can attach 3 Water or a Scramble.

If you don't OHKO Empoleon, it can attack another turn. Usually with first attack it does 30 to your Gardevoir and Gallade, and without KOing Empoleon or sending it to bench you can almost be sure to lose either Gallade (100 to active) or Gardevoir (in case it is not leveled up) if Empoleon manages to get Lv.X and a third water energy.
 
ShadowGuard said:
Holon WP is only a tech so you still can attach 3 Water or a Scramble.

If you don't OHKO Empoleon, it can attack another turn. Usually with first attack it does 30 to your Gardevoir and Gallade, and without KOing Empoleon or sending it to bench you can almost be sure to lose either Gallade (100 to active) or Gardevoir (in case it is not leveled up) if Empoleon manages to get Lv.X and a third water energy.
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You will have to excuse my lack of fear at my opponent going Aggro Empoleon, since a good Empoleon deck should be relying on Scrambles. If they go Aggro vs me, Gallade is more powerful and will crush them. If you decide to frag my Gallade, I can bring another one up and do the same to you. If you hit my benched Gallade, I bring up Garde and say "lol plox" then Gallade finishes you. Go Aggro vs Gallade with just Empoleon and you will die.

Incidently, since you should be Scrambleing, Holon WP becoes a worthless tech, since Sonic Blade isn't even that scary.
 
SPARTA said:
You will have to excuse my lack of fear at my opponent going Aggro Empoleon, since a good Empoleon deck should be relying on Scrambles. If they go Aggro vs me, Gallade is more powerful and will crush them. If you decide to frag my Gallade, I can bring another one up and do the same to you. If you hit my benched Gallade, I bring up Garde and say "lol plox" then Gallade finishes you. Go Aggro vs Gallade with just Empoleon and you will die.

Incidently, since you should be Scrambleing, Holon WP becoes a worthless tech, since Sonic Blade isn't even that scary.
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OK lets say I attack first. I won't do so if you got better setup than me, so when I attack first, I already have Claydol and a second Empoleon can be in play after next round (unless you Wager & lock). You still have your starter active but already Gardy and Gallade on your bench, I have Empoleon with 2 Water energy and attack both Gardy and Gallade for 30 each.

Now you can choose to bring Gallade and Psychic Cut for KO. If you do, the next Empoleon will attack with Scramble. Filling the Bench is no problem, so Gallade is knocked out after that und there is absolutely no way to OHKO the Active Empoleon (if you don't manage to get a second Gallade, 2HKO is impossile as well).

Another option after the first attack of Empoleon is to bring Gardy as active Pokémon. Play TGW and Psychic Lock, leaving my Empoleon with 50-60 dmg. I will most likely get a third energy and knock out Gardevoir even if it levels up.

Then the third thing is (like you mentioned before) to face only one Prized Card with Gallade or Sonic Blade Empoleon. Answer could be upgrade to Lv.X and snipe to Gardevoir (in case of Sonic Blade I'll have to bring it back active with WP or by reatreating a Pokémon that already had energy attached). The damaged Empoleon is lost next turn because Psychic Cut KOs no matter what, but you lost Gardevoir which is crucial in early game and you didn't lock so I'll get my second Empoleon in time.
 
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I will say at best GG or PLOX (whatever) has at best a 50-50 against the new empoeleon. Especially if it runs the aerodactyl. I personally am not concerned about GG as it has been tested with dyer results.

As far as a tech against empoleon? I like electrode more than any other lightning poke at this time. It does not give them scramble advantage but allows you to pull ahead in the energy attachments. It also has a solid attack that keeps some of your opponents attackers at bay.

This I feel will be far more effective than dugtrio, cloyster, ray....

Jimmy
 
Well, what about the Cess. Crystal-ran Empo decks, like mine??? I mean Those Empo decks should NOT be overlooked, I dont know why I am stating this, because CC is MY best friend in most my Empo decks, lol!!! G/G doesnt have a great matchup against Empo, I usually run 4 WPs, and a Fast set-up or a Starter like Sableye CG or Lapras, which helps with set-up or stall!!! I mean, I dont understand why Empo is getting picked on so much, I mean OF COURSE I am running him, but there are other BIGGER threats in MD, in my opinion!!!
 
mca3 said:
Well, what about the Cess. Crystal-ran Empo decks, like mine??? I mean Those Empo decks should NOT be overlooked, I dont know why I am stating this, because CC is MY best friend in most my Empo decks, lol!!! G/G doesnt have a great matchup against Empo, I usually run 4 WPs, and a Fast set-up or a Starter like Sableye CG or Lapras, which helps with set-up or stall!!! I mean, I dont understand why Empo is getting picked on so much, I mean OF COURSE I am running him, but there are other BIGGER threats in MD, in my opinion!!!
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Cess means you cannot setup with Claydol, Holon WP means you may as well not run Scramble. That means that you are totally reliant on Draw cards in order to setup, and GG can easily use those draw cards. Holon WP means you may as well not use Emp Lv X (if you don't have a WP on an Emp, it will get Sonic Bladed, thus leveling up would be foolish. And placing 4 energy on a Emp is silly). Phione bieng out means GG kinda laughs at your Cess because they can setup anyway, and it also means that Wager+Warp can easily rip you apart. Aggro Pacharisu isn't fun either, a Basic nailing you for 70 is just not right.

Cess on Empoleon was decent last format, but now that we have so many ways of setting up without the use of powers, it just kinda fell over and died.
 
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