Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Finnish Nationals Masters 2nd place - Amphyleon

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Dennis Hawk

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Hello all,

Let me present you the comeback deck I used in Finnish nationals, ending second after losing to GG in finals.

Deck name: Amphyleon
Format: HP-GE

Pokémon (21):
3 Piplup DP
2 Prinplup DP
3 Empoleon DP
1 Empoleon Lv.X DP

2 Mareep SW
1 Flaaffy SW
2 Ampharos SW

2 Baltoy GE
2 Claydol GE

2 Pachirisu GE
1 Stantler SW

Trainers (22):
2 Celio's Network
2 Bebe's Search
3 Roseanne's Research
3 Steven's Advice
2 Team Galactic's Wager

1 Lake Boundary

2 Warp Point
4 Rare Candy
2 Night Maintenance
1 Windstorm

Energy (17):
5 Water
4 Electric
2 Holon WP
1 Multi
3 Scramble
2 DRE

Strategy:

This is a deck designed for superior spreading and late-game knockouts. If you happen to start with Pachi, just look for Mareep, Piplup and Baltoy and try to go with T2 Prinplup or T3 Empoleon. Getting up Ampharos soon is fairly important to spread damage with early supporter usage, but I'd concentrate getting a solid spreader in the front, which is Prinplup or Empoleon. If you start with anything else, just attack cheap and set up the bench meanwhile.

The beauty is that this can compete with top decks of the format. Gallade spells problems to this deck, but Gardevoir is easy to handle, as this deck uses just a few powers, and Psychic Locking Empo is 3HKO vs. 2HKO or superior sniping to bench. You usually have enough damage spread so that after Gallade has flipped the prizes, Gardy X Brings down it's own pokémon and Gardy itself does just a little damage (and does not shut down anything too crucial). I have had decent matches against Magmortar with this, but the matchup is definitely this deck's favor. MagKiss has both weaknesses, with Empo you don't have to let Magmortar abuse Scrambles to win, as you will want to be behind and knock out their supports. I usually snipe Maggy with Ice Blade for 40 even if it heals if back, so that it's in the KO range if it ever comes forward with hundreds of energy. Mag Lv. X is OHKO anyway.

Against any other deck - well, any other deck uses Claydol. That's where Empoleon Lv. X steps in. Wager, Supreme command, snipe 80 to Claydol knocking it out, and your opponent either has to use supporters and damage all other pokémon or get stuck.

Ampharos takes care of Mirror, Togekiss and amplifies the spreading even more with it's attack, let alone it's body. Weakness to Gallade is nothing really big - Gallade flips 3 prizes with DRE to OHKO or 2HKOs, just like Ampharos does the magic 70 to 2HKO Gallade.

Above all, this deck is a blast to play and a little bit of a fresh air to the GG/Mag dominated format (we didn't have MD in our nats, sadly). I'll definitely want to test this with MD Empoleon too once it comes out here.
 
Lookes good! I'd suggest plus powers, though. Having the opponent JUST out of reach is so annoying. Plus, there unexpected.
 
I'd like PlusPowers, but they eat away consistency. Amphy and Empo 1HKOs or 2HKOs 99% of the format without them, too. Also if your opponent is 10 from being knocked out, it means your opponent won't want to use supporters for a while... :)

1 Strenght Charm couldn't hurt, though.
 
Sounds like a fun deck! Ampharos and Piplup are two of my favourite Pokémon and I built Amphy/Empoleon when Amphy first came out, but it didn't work too well then; I'd like to try it again with Claydol, hope you don't mind :)
 
Cool!

The same deck idea (Empoleon/Ampharos) did very well for Norwegian Junior player Thinh B at Oslo STP, he went 5-0 in Swiss, but lost in Top 4. On the same day - March 30th - another similiar deck (Froslass/Ampharos) won in the Senior division of the Kansai Battle Road in Japan.

Ampharos/damage-spreading-water-Pokémon.dec doing so well in Finland too IMO proves how good the strategy in fact is, and how underrated Ampharos is, and has been ever since it was released in November.
 
My daughter played almost the same list at TN states. She didn't stay with it as it has the problems you noted with beating Gardygallade.

Congrats though on the great result.
 
Thanks for replies! Weavile-Ampharos deck also got in Top8 in masters in our nats, so it should prove a point of Amphy being an usable card.

Beating Gallade (if you can avoid T2 Donk) is manageable - you will have to force Gallade out and setup with Claydols. When Gallade runs out of steam (after like 2 Empoleons, after which you can use scrambles) , it's your turn to shine. I finished 1-1 with GG (1 win in Swiss, losing the first final, ending 2-2 prizes in the second final when they called time). If you can force them to exchange 3HKOs to 2HKOs you should be fine, as the longer the match goes, the better off you should be. Knowing where to put your damages helps this matchup a ton. GG has a slight edge, but it can go both ways.

Bebe's are for Claydol, Celio's are for Stantler. If possible, I try to use Celio's first and Bebe's in the late game (Stantler helps in this).

Jedi_Amara: Please, go ahead! I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't want people to try it. Hope it provides as good results for you as it did for me.
 
It's great to see that someone still use's Empoleon and got so far with it good job!
I have no fixes because I don't see any bad mistakes you have done.
 
I think the Mag match-up was a little bit off. Your forgetting
Empy's weakness. Stalling with Pachi until you set up a Mag
is really easy. I know this because I played against Empoleon
in Provincial's. Sure it didn't have Ampharos but the Strategy
is still the same. Oh btw, you forgot that any Smart Mag Player
would of teched Holon FF, etc just for the Water Match-Ups
they may face.
 
I think the Mag match-up was a little bit off. Your forgetting
Empy's weakness. Stalling with Pachi until you set up a Mag
is really easy. I know this because I played against Empoleon
in Provincial's. Sure it didn't have Ampharos but the Strategy
is still the same. Oh btw, you forgot that any Smart Mag Player
would of teched Holon FF, etc just for the Water Match-Ups
they may face.

Pachi may be somewhat problematic, but as it buys time to Magmortar, it also buys time to Empoleon - they both are slow decks and function best with Scramble. And as Pachi attacks directly, Empoleon/Prinplup spreads damage around. Surprisingly, Lake Boundary helps against Pachi, and if they play Tauros to take it out, well, their loss (of bench space). The thing here is, I usually snipe their Magmortars/wherever they have energy on if they try to hide 'em. Even if it heals twice, 40-20+40-20+80 takes one down from bench. That's why Empoleon Lv.X is a god play here. I don't recall KOing any Pachirisus in the tournament if it wasn't for last prize or a situation my opponent didn't have anything better left. Pachirisu stall also gives me time to build up another Empo/Ampharos in the bench, depending on what they are planning to bring out. If they spread energy equally to make it harder to choose what to snipe hard, Ampharos' attack takes advantage on that.

I played 4 games against Magmortar in the tournament, never lost one (even when my opponent got T2 Togekiss for 5 energies to Maggy, Dusknoired my loaded Empoleon and took down 2 Claydols - although that was a close one). Of course, with Holon FF, it could have been a lot different, but when you KO the supports in Typhlosion/Blaziken edition or take down the Aggromortar in Togekiss edition (Crystal Beach is really the only thing that might hurt you in it), you should be well off.

Didn't see any Holon FFs, but that would have and will be a good tech to play in current format. Smart Mag players have to think about consistency too, and to get FF out consistently it requires 4 of them, that could potentially take out some of Maggy's overall more important cards. Maybe with MD out FF will become more popular, but in HP-GE, water was mostly random/rogue.

All in all, this should have from good to very good matchup against unprepared Magmortar.

I'm a bit sceptical about new Empoleon's superiority with all the Dusknoir ravaging around, but well, got to try it too whenever I get my hands on one or two. At least it has better spreading attack (not necessarily against Magmortar as it can shrug off little damage like 30 easily, though) to grab dual prizes in late game.
 
I like Pachi more, or Luvdisc at some extend (hey, it snipes too, just bad weakness). Amulet Coin just lets Pachi knock you out even faster - might help with Scramble, but Claydol and Steven have pretty much provided me all the draw I need.

As there's only 6 Water Energies (multi + 5 water), there's a high propability that Lapras would end up sitting in front until I get Roseanne. Pachi can take one of 12 energies, which is easier, and Stantler sets up for free, so I can focus on loading bench.

Mono-Water would work with Lapras, but I like consistency more here. Pachi provides that.
 
*shrug* Dennis made the right plays because he was so successful with it. That itself is proof, whatever worked was the right play. In terms of energy attachments to starters, I prefer to use mathematics for those to decide how many energy gives the best chances. (but the same concept of it was the right play applies to the energy too).
 
Good to hear someone doing well with a deck that holds Amphy. I'm getting ready to debut Amph/glace/techs next week at the first battle road I get to play in. I've tested it at league, and it's done very well so far. We'll just have to see if it can win me a BR, then I'll know I'm onto something.
 
I'm workin on something w/ Amphy as well. Can't wait 2 c ur list Secrets! Again awesome deck DH.
 
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