HGSS-on Metagross/Zoruark

[Emily848]

Hi, This is my first post. I’ve only been playing Pokemon for a few months. My 9-year-old nephew got me into it because he collects the cards and has been wanting to learn how to play. We’ve been having a lot of fun playing together. I’d like to help him with strategy and take him to a tournament at some point. I’m also enjoying building my own deck. Any tips would be much appreciated! Here’s what I have now:

18 Pokemon:
4-2-3 Metagross (Unleashed)
2-2 Zoroark (BW)
2-1-2 Togekiss (Undaunted)

11 Trainers:
4 Rare Candy
2 Junk Arm
3 Pokemon Communication
2 PlusPower

17 Supporters:
4 Professor Elm
3 Pokemon Collector
4 Engineer’s adjustments
2 Interviewers questions
2 Fisherman
2 Flower Shop Lady

Energy:
14 Psychic

Ideal first three turns:
Turn 1: Beldum as active; back-up Beldum on bench; Zorua on bench; Use “Engineer’s adjustments” to discard an energy and draw cards; apply energy to active Beldum and attack for 10

Turn 2: Use “Engineer’s adjustments to discard an energy and draw cards; Evolve active Beldum to Metang; Evolve Zorua to Zoruark; apply energy to benched Beldum; use Metang’s “Energy Crane” attack to pull (2) energies out of discard and apply to Zoruark

Turn 3: Evolve Metang to Metagross, apply energy to Metagross (if possible evolve benched Beldum also)
Option 1: If opponent has relatively weak attacker then use Metagross' “Pulse Blast” to attack for 60
Option 2: If opponent has a strong Pokemon, retreat Metagross (his Poke-Body gives zero retreat cost), put up Zoruark and use “Foul Play” to use opponents strongest attack against him. May need to give Zoruark “PlusPower” for a killing strike.

General strategy:
Metagross and Zoruark for attacking. Metagross’s Poke-Body gives zero retreat cost, so I can swap them out as needed. Metagross’s 60 damage “Pulse Blast” is not bad, and I like the “Double Leg Hammer” option to do 40 damage to two benched Pokemon. With a 130HP Metagross can take a beating, so when he’s hurting I can retreat him for Togekiss who heals all Pokemon and then jumps into my deck with all cards so I can bring Metagross (or Zoruark) back strong as ever.

A real problem is getting two Engineer's Adjustments, Beldum, Metang, Zorua, and Zoruark in my first two turns, and also taking a minimum of three turns to hit strong, but I think the deck has potential. I’ve been thinking about throwing in a Cleffa or two, but this is what I’ve got now. Any thoughts?

Thank you!!

 

[LeafPoison]

I think that the main strength in metagross is that you can continuously retreat your attackers for free, allowing you to spread out all the damage and prevent them from being killed. metang's attack is handy but i doubt you will be able to use it very much with most decks setting up turn 2-3, even if you go first, your opponent will kill metang after you energy retrieve. so a starter is highly reccomended,

so to take advantage of the free retreat i think that a fast hitter like donphan prime would work great.
not only is donphan a better tank than metagross as a stage 1, but he can take full advantage of the free retreat with one rainbow energy and even though you hurt your bench, you're running togekiss to heal

you might actually have the time to get 3 energies on him if you switch between donphans with free retreat and then you wont hurt your bench anymore

 

[Emily848]

Thanks, that's something to think about. I'm trying to stay away from :fighting:, :water:, :grass:, or :lightning: energy so that I can give or trade those cards to my nephew as he's building his deck. So I'm trying to concentrate on sychic:, :metal:, :dark:, and maybe :fire:. My nephew wanted me to use the symbols for the energies .

I played the deck against my nephew, and it was a lot of fun to be able to have free retreat and healing. I definitely would have been in trouble against a Pokemon that can snipe at my bench as I ended up with several severely damaged Pokemon on the bench before I pushed Togekiss up to heal. I'll think about adding in a heavier hitter if I want to be more competitive. I'm thinking that if Zoroark was ready on the bench, then I might just lose one Pokemon to a strong attack before moving Zoroark up and using the opponent's attack against him. I'm also thinking about adding in a couple of Black Belt so that if I am a prize card behind then Zoroark will have some real hitting power.

Thanks again!