Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Current decks vs Platinum decks, the stackup

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darkartisan

New Member
So in this topic, I will be discussing PT vs Current decks: Kingdra, Dusknoir/Gengar, against the decks to come, such as Dialga G lv X.

Scizor/Cherrim:

Details:

Scizor/Cherrim is a mighty two turn deck. With the ability to hit for 70+ turn two is really something. Not to mention that is you do get 4 Cherrim on the bench, you end up hitting for 110, and let's not forget the Pluspower.

Dusknoir varients:

Dusknoir looks like he has finally found a way into the competitive tcg heart. With a move such as Nigth spin, he can effectively take on things named Kingdra, and especially with the LV X that deals 10 a turn, you could easily snipe combo with Starmie, pull Damage over time with Gliscor, support and attack with Bronzong, the possibiblities are endless!

Ttar/Darkrai/Weavile/Sableye:

Tyranitar has always been that pokemon that takes too long to set up, and out of practically all of the packs, he has been tough to run. With Weavile in the wings, no longer is Tyranitar an energy hungry baffon. No, never again( until he gets outdate =/), in T2 you can get a Ttar up, set up a 'Vile, and start packing those energies. Darkrai only adds to the chaos with a powerful sleep move, and let's not forget our t1 donker, Sableye. This deck has so much to offer, especially with Drapion X coming to the fronts.

Machamp:

This deck really packs a punch! With the ability to T2 donk with Take out, deal possibly 120 damage with Hurricane punch, and use rage, he has quite a few deck options, and a large movepool. His ability as a LV X. no guard, allows him to deal 60 more damage with each attack, and take 60 extra damage. With 150 Hp, it isn't much of a problem. Not to mention his attack, which allows him to stay alive as long as the user can keep flipping heads.

AMU:

AMU has been ripping apart many decks quickly and efficiently, although it can easily get beat. This deck relies on mainly luck(in my opinion) to the fact that you need Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit LV X out to be able to use it properly.

Kingdra:

Words cannot describe how broken this card is. For those who don't know, Kingdra can easily get out t2 and donk the opponent. His main attack requires one energy, and allows you to discard 2 cards in order to deal 20 extra damage to the active, on top of 20 damage to anything. The discarding combos with His other attack, Upstream, which requires no energy and deals 10 damage for each water energy in your discard, not to mention that it puts all those water energies on top of your deck.

PLATINUM:

Dialga G LV.X LV.X – Steel – HP120
Level-Up (SP)

Poke-Body: Time Crystallization
Each player's Pokemon (excluding SP-Pokemon) can't use any Poke-Bodies.

[M][M][C][C] Remove Lost: 80 damage. Flip a coin until you get tails, for each heads remove an Energy attached to the Defending Pokemon and put it in the Lost Zone.

Weakness: Fire (x2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: 2

Pretty broken eh? This now means that most of our beloved staple decks aren't going to be running as well as they used to, Scizor/Cherrim gets slammed, etc. I'm sure that this will be a staple tech, that is, if you can get your hands on it.

Drapion LV.X – Darkness – HP130
Level-Up

Poke-Power: Triple Poison
You can use this Power once during your turn. Flip a coin, if heads 1 of your opponent's Active Pokemon is now Poisoned. In between turns, place 3 damage counters on the Poisoned Pokemon instead of 1. This Power can't be used if this Pokemon is affected by a Special Condition.

[D][D][C][C] Snipe Tail: 40 damage. This attack also does 40 damage to 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon. The Defending Pokemon can't retreat during your opponent's next turn.

Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 3

Another monstrous card, 4 darkness energy wont be hard to attach with the help of Weavile, I predict that this is going to be a big deck, sort of like Tyranitar, although it snipes and deals 40, with the darkness energy, it can deal anywhere from 40-80, add the 40 to any pokemon, and the 30 damage for poisoned. That's a total of (40)(darkness energy[1-4])+40+30= minimum of 110 damage, PER TURN. Max of 150. This card is a serious contender.

Giratina LV.X – Psychic – HP130
Level-Up

Poke-Body: Invisible Tentacle
Whenever one of your opponent's Pokemon attacks, if your opponent doesn't discard 1 card from his or her hand, that Pokemon can't attack. This Body stops working if you have another Invisible Tentacle Poke-Body in effect.

[P][P][C][C] Dark Lost: Does 30 damage to each of your opponent's Pokemon. If any of your opponent's Pokemon are Knocked Out by this attack, the Pokemon and all cards attached to the Pokemon are put in the opponent's Lost Zone instead of the discard pile.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)
Resistance: Colorless (-20)
Retreat: 3

A GREAT card to snipe with, Dusknoir looks like he may have found a new best friend. 30 to each benched looks great, it seems like a Tyranitar minus 10 hp, and a pokebody.

Toxicroak G LV.40 – Psychic – HP90
Basic Pokemon (SP)

Poke-Body: Anticipate
Prevent all effects of attacks, excluding damage, done to this Pokemon by your opponent's Pokemon.

[P][C] Deep Poison: 20 damage. If the Defending Pokemon is Poisoned, this attack does an additional 40 damage.

Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

Toxicroak gets a free Unown G? That's really sick. Drapion and Toxicroack look like they can make a great pair. Not to mention he's a basic. A good card to run with Skuntank G.
Manectric LV.45 – Lightning – HP90
Stage 1 – Evolves from Electrike

Poke-Body: Electric Barrier
Prevent all damage done to your Benched Pokemon (excluding any Manectric) by attacks.

[L] Power Wave: Does 30 damage to every Pokemon in play with any Poke-Powers.
[C][C] Induction: 40 damage. Search your deck for 1 Lightning Energy card and attach it to one of your Pokemon. Shuffle your deck afterward.

Weakness: Fighting (+20)
Resistance: Steel (-20)
Retreat: 0

A good pokemon in geenral, he can work as a tech, or a straight up sweeper, just thought i'd mention him.

Ampharos LV.57 – Lightning – HP130
Stage 2 – Evolves from Flaaffy

Poke-Body: Damage Bind
Each player's Pokemon that has any damage counters on it can't use any Poke-Powers.

[L][C] Giga Bolt: 30 damage. Flip a coin, if heads this attack does an additional 30 damage. If tails, the Defending Pokemon is now Paralyzed.
[L][C][C] Energy Reflect: 70 damage. Move 1 Energy attached to Ampharos to one of your Benched Pokemon. (If you don't have any Benched Pokemon, ignore this effect.)

Weakness: Fighting (+30)
Resistance: Steel (-20)
Retreat: 2

This card is so broken, not even professor oak can fix it! (Ok, that was a little cheesy XD), anyways, with the ability to stop pokepowers in their damn tracks, he is sure to be a great card. Especially paired with Manectric.

Blastoise LV.60 – Water – HP130
Stage 2 – Evolves from Wartortle

Poke-Power: Well Digging
You can use this Power once during your turn. Look at the top 3 cards from your deck. You may choose any number of Water Energy you find and attach them to your Pokemon in any way you like. Then, discard the remaining cards. This Power can't be used if this Pokemon is affected by a Special Condition.

[W][C] Aqua Press: Does 20 damage plus 10 damage for each Water Energy in play (yours and your opponent's).
[W][W][C][C] Double Launcher: Discard 2 Water Energy attached to Blastoise and do 60 damage to 2 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon. Blastoise can't use Double Launcher during your next turn.

Weakness: Lightning (+30)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

Blast/Catty looks to be another contender this year. They have amazing synergy, and with his ability to snipe two pokemon on the bench for 60 each, he looks to be painful. Can you imagine his level X?!


Well, that about sums it up. It seems like pokehealer's going to be going into a bunch of decks for states, poison is the name of the game in PT, and let's not forget the reprint of Rainbow energy!!! Team galatic's invention allows the subtraction of one colorless energy from any pokemon's energy requirements, sure to be a staple. Time space tear is really great to evolve with, you can evolve the pokemon the turn it goes on the bench.

-DISCUSS-
 
Dialga is not its own deck (could be I guess..) but more useful as a tech.
Drapion is too slow for power it has, and its power is a bit flippy.
Giratina could be good with some form of power lock (Mesprits + G Spray), but still costs a lot of energy.
Toxicroak seems like a decent play.
So many ways around Amphy + Manectric, even then, Uxie will always leave you with 7 cards.
Blastoise has potential, I'm going to have to test this one.

Overall, I'd say the old decks are better than the new ones. I still see, even after this set, Kingdra and Dusknoir being the top two decks, what exactly is coming out that effectively beats them and still does decent in the overall meta?
 
Kingdra, Dusknoir, Regigigas were the three biggest decks and what has G done to answer them?

None rely on a body, and seem like they would still fare well. I think the same decks will still be played a lot- there's nothing that should stop a kingdra player from continuing to play it, etc.
 
The new Ampharos and Manetric are something of an answer to Kingdra, Noir, & Gigas ... but it's not clear to me how much either of them will see play due both to their limitations and the fact that Dialga G can counter them so easily.
 
vanderbilt_grad said:
The new Ampharos and Manetric are something of an answer to Kingdra, Noir, & Gigas ... but it's not clear to me how much either of them will see play due both to their limitations and the fact that Dialga G can counter them so easily.
Click to expand...

Like you mentioned, Dialga G can quite easily be teched into Dusknoir and Gigas without much hinderance at all. Kingdra, not so much, but early prize lead along with a teched Crobat G can easily make the match-up 50-50.
 
I see Manetric as a counter to Kingdra. For 1 energy you will do 30 to everything on the bench with powers; uxie , claydol , dusknoir tech , Spirtbomb , etc. Kingdra will also have to 2hit KO Manetric therefore that an automatic 60 to everything with power. For 2 energys it will do 70 and charge up another manetric or something else useful.
 
ryanvergel said:
Kingdra, Dusknoir, Regigigas were the three biggest decks and what has G done to answer them?

None rely on a body, and seem like they would still fare well. I think the same decks will still be played a lot- there's nothing that should stop a kingdra player from continuing to play it, etc.
Click to expand...

Regigigas really will have a lot of trouble with rampardos
 
In theory I would agree with Rampardos giving Gigas a hard time due to weakness and the fact that Gigas doesn't have an Uxie type card to hit Rampardos back.

However I see this:
* Rampardos OHKOs whatever Gigas put up & takes 40 damage.
* Gigas hits Rampardos for 100 & the KO.

The Rampardos player is going to HAVE to keep his swarm going quickly to keep up with that. Doable but I could see Regi pulling off an upset win.
 
I wonder if scizor/cherrim player will tech in shaymin lvx ground form.
ampharos/manectric deck lack energy acceleration to be much of a factor unless they can find room for electivire or magnezone(ugh....).

blaziken ge/blaziken pt/maybe heatran lvx: can burn and can snipe for 80 or do 100 to active.
 
...Shaymin Lv X anyone? Torterra gets a huge boost from this, you're talking about 180 HP Torterras running around, and a 200 HP Lv X as well. If you can somehow fit this guy in with Scizor/Cherrim as well, you're also getting a huge boost; Honeycomb Defender becomes all that much better since you have the extra 40 HP, Cherrims aren't sniped as easily and can come out to heal, etc...not to mention that Shaymin Lv X is also pretty much ANY grass deck's friend.

Along with that, we should also be getting Miasma Valley, which will bring a great Stadium out for Grass decks instead of using Dawn Stadium.
 
Regigigas vs. Rampardos - Having a fossil as a basic is LAME. You can only search for it with Fossil Excavator. BUT, I do feel Rampardos has the advantage here. Guaranteed OHKO (without snowpoint in play, or a simple plus power fixes that even) to every Regigigas lv.X. If OHKO'd on turn 2-3, the Regi player won't be able to come back and win the game. Against everything else, I feel Rampardos will have more trouble. The fossil basic just makes it so unconsistent.

Dialga G lv.X - This card is messed up and will ruin half the decks in the format. Many of the cards in the new set will be ruined too.

I agree with Ryan that many of the decks that did well during Cities will just keep going at States. Kingdra/Machamp/Dusknoir especially. Machamp will become more popular as time goes on and more decks try to work in G, GL, C, etc Pokemon.
 
I personally think that the addition of shaymin X into a scizor/cherrim deck is going to be great. Keeping that Scizor in for the extra turn can make a big difference. And with 4-4 scizor , 4-4 cherrim , 2 unown....there's room. I run mine with 12 energy and get them out with out any trouble at all.

I'm just a big scizor fan =X.
 
The sad part is that a 1-1 Dialga G can turn off both Shaymin's body and Scizor's.

Still the other deck will have to be able to survive the quick damage and setup that Scizor does to just get the Dialga out.
 
Am I the only one who sees a tech Blasty line in kindra as sick?!?! that card screams tech in Kingdra, maybe makes salamence playable, turbo-Abomasnow, turbo empoleon even. Blasty is sick. Some of those other cards look good too, but blasty looks like a real winner for sure.

POKEMAN
 
Hm... ok here my opionion how the old decks will do in Platinum metagame.

Scizor/Cherrim gets Shaymin, which makes it really strong. Actually, both of the Shaymin Lv.X are great in the deck, the only problem is Diagla G Lv.X. It shuts off all the PokéBodies in the deck and leaves it back as an average T2 deck like Kricketune has been before.

Dusknoir can be played, but Dialga G Lv.X isn't just a good addition, it's a must-have for Dusknoir. Not only it protects the deck from having autoloss against Amphatric, Dialga G also has an attack that can block kickgyms. Dusknoir's Night Spin is a very good attack against Galactic decks, it OHKO's Toxicroak and prevents them from using cheap attacks with Energy Gain.

Tyranitar has huge problems with Dialga G. Besides this, it can still compete in the metagame. With psychic resistance and massive damage (90+), it has one of the best matchups against pure G-decks.

Machamp looks nice at the first view because of the G-Pokémon and Ampharos, but most of the G-decks have Toxicroak as mainhitter which is immune to Take Out. I think it should stay back a while until BET is released G-decks with other mainhitters thanToxicroak enter the field. But no matter what, it will still be a dangerous contender for states decks.

AMU has problems with Power Spray, but can easily get rid of that Shaymin-boosted grass Pokémon. It's one of the very few decks that is really hurt bei Palkia Lv.X.

Kingdra is one of the decks losing most in power. Amphatric has pretty much autowin against it, as long as it doesn't get donked. Dialga G tech would heavily reduce speed in a Kingdra deck, and even if they play it, there's still weakness left.

Regigigas can compete with the new decks, AmphyLock doesn't hurt too much, it only prevents Regigigas from healing (but since Ampharos does low damage, it's not that kind of problem). Maybe there'll be more counters against basic Pokémon because of the G-stuff, so Regigigas could have a harder time, even if it doesn't face it's worst nightmare - Rampardos.



Now to the new decks:

Galactic-Decks, everybody knows they're possible and they have absolutely great trainer support. However, their biggest problem are Pokémon with OHKO attacks, in other words, 90 or more damage. With Torterra, Blaziken, Regigigas, Tyranitar and some more Pokémon there are still a lot of them in the metagame. Galactic's key to defeat those decks is to block the opponent from building up by giving early attack pressure with Toxicroak while blocking his setup powers with PowerSpray.

Ampharos/Manectric would easily be one of the best decks, if there wasn't Dialga G to counter it. Incredible power lock and lots of spread options make the deck a tough opponent. On the other side it does low and expensive direct damage and is almost completely shut off by Dialga. But autowin matchups against Kingdra and Blastoise and adventages above Dusknoir, Blaziken and many other decks still make it a good choice.

Grass decks get a great boost with Shaymin Lv.X. The new Torterra is no limited to 100 damage per turn and can be a heavy OHKO monster. Nobody can stand a Pokémon that has 200 HP and does 100+ damage per turn in a direct battle. But like many other decks, Dialga G destroys their strategy, and even without this card, decks can snipe or drag for the weak spots on the bench - Shaymin and Claydol.

Rampardos is another donk deck. The fact that it's a fossil makes it a little bit slower than Kingdra, but it does more damage an hits more meta Pokémon for weakness. It will probably see some play, but I don't think it's will get a top tier deck like Kingdra has been for BRs and CCs.

Blastoise/Delcatty is way overrated in my opionion. Autoloss against Amphatric, and even if the deck manages to bring out Dialga and the other Pokémon with blocked powers, it's a very difficult match. The second attack can only target the bench and has to disard two energy. A simple 1-1 Manectric in any deck can block this. The first attack may be ok since the deck has good energy acceleration (but keep in mind it needs two Pokémon and energy in the discard pile for this - Magnezone SF and Typhlosion MT don't need a second Pokémon as support and are still not played that much), but it's nothing special.

Blaziken/Heatran is another good deck that could come up if Kingdra won't be played as often as now. Heatran can either be set up by Switches or the new Level max card, depending on the playing style. Once those Pokémon are set up, Blaziken does consistent 120 damage per turn. The GE blaziken allows the deck to snipe and to speed up energy attachment with the first attack, while the new one can burn the opponent even from the bench. Problems are Amphatric which can shut the powers and prevent sniping, as well as water decks like Kingdra and Blastoise, but all of those are far away from autoloss, and adventages over any G-decks and grass-decks can compensate this easily.
 
POKEMAN said:
Am I the only one who sees a tech Blasty line in kindra as sick?!?! that card screams tech in Kingdra, maybe makes salamence playable, turbo-Abomasnow, turbo empoleon even. Blasty is sick. Some of those other cards look good too, but blasty looks like a real winner for sure.

POKEMAN
Click to expand...

Yes, you are the only one. The point of Kingdra is that it *doesn't* take a lot of energy, and if you're thinking of using Blastoise to discard water energy, keep in mind that you'll also discard a lot of cards, i.e. Candy, PlusPower, other Kingdra... The main way to make sure you discard water would be to have like 20 energy in the deck. SF Bronzong(like a Roseanne's you have to topdeck a card to use) is a better tech than Blastoise, and even that gets in the way. Gets in the way of T-1 Kingdra, I mean. Personally, T-1 Kingdra is preferable to discarding a few more water energy. But maybe that's just me...

JasonTran said:
I see Manetric as a counter to Kingdra. For 1 energy you will do 30 to everything on the bench with powers; uxie , claydol , dusknoir tech , Spirtbomb , etc. Kingdra will also have to 2hit KO Manetric therefore that an automatic 60 to everything with power. For 2 energys it will do 70 and charge up another manetric or something else useful.
Click to expand...


Negatory. Kingdra will put down 2 PlusPower (or Buck's), Dragon Pump, and happily go on.
OR: since Manetric's PokeBody excludes Manetric, then when he's on the bench, Kingdra will naturally put the 20 on him, then K.O. him with Dragon Pump when you send him up. Or Warp him up.

-My two cents. Is it too obvious I play Kingdra? :lol:

Great article, darkartisan!!! Flariados, add me to your list.
 
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