Cyrus
Iron Chef - Master Emeritus
~~~Pidgeotto Trainer~~~
”“Why can’t I just use it as a tech.dec”
Pokemon 27
4 Holon’s Castform
3 Treecko d
2 Grovyle d
3 Sceptile ex d
2 Beldum d
1 Metang d
2 Metagross dx
2 Natu d
2 Xatu d
2 Nidoran d
1 Nidorina d
2 Nidoqueen d
1 Latios*
Trainers 24
4 Holon Transceiver
4 Holon Mentor
2 Holon Researcher
1 Holon Scientist
1 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Farmer
2 Copycat
4 Rare Candy
1 Mr. Briney
1 Strength Charm
3 Windstorm
Energy 9
2 Holon’s Magnemite
3 Metal
4 Psychic
Sceptile ex is by far at its most useful as a simple tech, as its great poke-body only needs one of to work, and anymore is useless. I know Kettler would strike me down for not using the card as the main piece though. =/
I had many ideas of how to make the best Sceptile attacking deck possible. I came to the conclusion that some form of energy manipulation was needed. I could not think of a deck that could simply work on 3 separate energy attachments per attacker. No competitive deck is that slow, except maybe something like Polistall, which can afford the time. To settle for 3 separate energy drops would be to settle for losing imo.
So that left me fewer options. I could run Crystal Shards +Battle Frontier, making a great 2 energy attacker. It wouldn’t allow me to use Xatu though, which I thought was crucial. The combo itself doesn’t seem to be too reliable either. I had several ideas with Sceptile Energy Trans, with perhaps Starmie d and Castforming the Metals to have 2 Grass to move. Perhaps such a combo would have been more ‘creative’, but it simply would not be as good as Metagross. Starmie would run out of Metals and not always have Castform, Metagross is by far the most reliable energy manipulator, which I determined Sceptile needed. I thought about Flygon, but the extra bench space of Chimecho when I wanted Xatus etc. was troublesome. Plus, Metagross allows me to play Latios star which is huge. Sceptile ex is AMAZING vs ex decks, so it needs some help against stage 2 decks where it has no natural advantage. Latios* is probably the best weapon against stage 2s in the game. For stage 1s, Sceptile’s attack should be enough on its own. (Think about Delta, one Xatu and I don’t even need to drop a prize to ohko everything). So we got ex’s, stage 1s, and stage 2s covered, it looks we got the format pretty well covered.
The main attacker is Sceptile though, and it has a nice simple attack that can reach huge amounts of damage. The Xatus are key to adding to that strength. They ko 1, and suddenly you have a 3 for 100 ready? That’s pretty good. The Xatus are especially key so Sceptile can reach the 120 plateau lategame. The Strength Charm is also good for the right spot. Opponent has 3 prizes, they still have to ko 2 Sceptiles, but thanks to 2 Xatus and Charm, you ALREADY have the 120 ready. I did not add more Xatus over the Charm due to bench space concerns. As I said, energy manipulation was needed, and Queen was needed to search out the Manipulator (though Queen adds overall speed and consistancy as well). For the stage 2 matchups, I can recycle the Latios* with Farmer and Queen very quickly.
Trainers should look pretty standard. Holon engine is just the best there is. Copycats for a bit more consistancy. 1 Briney as bench space is precious and your Castform may not get ko’d. You can also lategame scoop a Metagross or Queen in favor of the 2nd Xatu or something similar. Along with being a switcher, it is a good utility card. 3 Windstorm seems to be enough. Not many gyms really hurt this actually. I can get by not having Nidoqueen for spurts against BF or Holon Legacy. Cursed Stone would have to stick a long time to make me worry. If someone Cessation Crystals me, then I get a 2 for 60+ in Sceptile ex!!
Energy should be fine. Once I get one Psychic/Metal, Metagross will recycle it plenty. I will draw into one easily with Castform draws (Castform itself just needs Mentor for Magnemite, also easy). If worst comes to worst, I Researcher for Metal, Metagross really doesn’t need a lot of energy.
I had more ‘creative’ ideas for this, but I deemed none of them to be good. Energy manipulation is needed if you really want a Sceptile attack focused deck. Metagross gives you the most efficient energy manipulation, as well as a great secondary attacker in Latios*, whose strength is basically the one area that Sceptile doesn’t cover, high hp stage 2, non-ex’s. Needing an extra attachment beats basically all ex decks on its own. Banette for example just can’t function NEARLY as well if you have to attach 3 to each one. Ex decks just slow down so much against Sceptile. Metagross gives Sceptile the speed to beat other decks, and Latios* to help fight the stage 2 decks that Sceptile would struggle against. It may not be too flashy, but I am quite sure this is the best way to make a Sceptile attacking deck.
Thanks for reading.
The Truth Is Out There.”
Deck (8/10): The list looks pretty solid, but I have a couple issues as always. Briney is a great play, but it seems like your list is overall very vulnerable to status effects, and brings down versatility. Other than that, the trainer line is excellent. Just a suggestion (i. e. not counting off for this), but maybe instead of Windstorm altogether you could just play a stadium? But EH, I digress…The Pokemon line also looks good, although 2-1-2 Metagross seems too flimsy to be extremely effective, especially when factoring in that Latios. Energy also seems dangerously low (even one extra psychic would have been great).
Creativity (2/5): I don’t see anything too overwhelmingly creative here: Xatu d/insert stage two ex go boom. However, I do like that you added in an energy manipulator, a normally unexpected thing in a deck like this, IMO.
Card Use (3/5): I think you do well in the card use department, albeit in a very bizarre, indirect way: both Sceptile and Nidoqueen benefit greatly when you start to lose Pokemon in the game, so not only do they deal greater damage, but are great compliments to one-another in terms of weakness coverage. Overall I’m thinking this combination does a great job of “using” Sceptile ex, but not pushing it even further.
OVERALL: 13/20
~~~Gymbo ex~~~
“Alright, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually sat back and really evaluated a card, then created a deck around it for display (and in this case, grading). It’s time to go back to my old days of Pojo for a little while. Anyways, my ingredient for this second round challenge was Sceptile d ex. This was not a very easy card to find a good combination and build around. But before I get that far, let’s look at Sceptile himself.
Sceptile d ex 150 HP
Stage 2 Psychic Pokemon
Poke-BODY: Extra Liquid: Each player’s Pokemon-ex cannot use any PokePowers and pays C more to use its attacks. Each Pokemon cannot be affected by more than one Extra Liquid Poke-Body.
PC: Power Revenge: 60+ This attack does 60 plus 10 more damage for each prize card your opponent has taken.
Weakness: Fire, Grass
Resistance: Water
Retreat: 1
The card isn’t terrible. It’s also not great either. Power Revenge isn’t bad, but the attack is really PCC in terms of energy cost because of Extra Liquid. Even Extra Liquid isn’t that bad, there’s a lot of ex Pokemon being used now. The main problem this deck has is its weakness. Very rarely do I look at anything with double weakness. The matchups this thing has is pretty bad because of its weakness. So that was the first thing I took care of first. Holon Legacy works with Sceptile because it does not turn off Extra Liquid, and eliminates the dual weakness. However, Legacy is little more than a glorified Ancient Tomb, and relying on a Stadium for anti-weakness is asking for trouble. So, next I added in Golduck d. With Golduck in play, Holon Legacy remains fixed in play thus negating all of my weaknesses for the Delta Pokemon I have in play, specifically Sceptile d ex. Now, I had some extra space left in my Pokemon spots. So I decided that since I was already utilizing a combo with a Stadium with Golduck, that I might as well make my Sceptile’s attacks do a little bit more damage. So I decided to add in Gyarados d as well. Delta Reactor is nice because Holon Legacy is locked in with Golduck. Getting a couple Gyarados in play with the Golduck and the Sceptile effectively gives me a situation where I have a 150 HP Pokemon with no weakness hitting for 20 extra damage a turn. This Pokemon then also has resistance to Water and only 1 retreat cost. With these statements in mind, I present to you my [deck list]:
Pokemon: 21
4 Treecko d
3 Grovyle d
3 Sceptile d ex
1 Sceptile (Energy Trans)
3 Magikarp d
3 Gyarados d
2 Psyduck d
2 Golduck d
Trainers: 23
4 Holon Transceiver
4 Holon Legacy
3 Professor Elm’s Training Method
3 Rare Candy
2 Copycat
2 Warp Point
2 Holon Mentor
1 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Scientist
1 Holon Farmer
Energy: 16
4 Holon's Castform
4 Psychic
4 Delta Rainbow
4 Rainbow
I added the description of why I added the Pokemon that I added above, but I also included a Sceptile that has Energy Trans because it can move my Special Energies among my Delta Pokemon. (I checked, it can move Delta Rainbow between Delta Pokemon) However again, the basic premise of my Pokemon includes: Get a Sceptile d ex in play with 1-2 Gyarados d and 1 Golduck d. I also had a Chimecho d in earlier drafts of this deck to effectively let me use the Holon Trainers for free, but I figured since I was running the Energy Trans Sceptile to help out with the Sceptile d ex, I should run a good bit of Special energy, so I can have maximum energy control, especially since I am running different types of Pokemon. Castform of course also doubles up as a Basic Pokemon to start the game when I have a good amount of Delta Pokemon in play to maximize Delta Draw.
My Trainers are fairly straightforward, but I believe they balance the deck. The Transceiver and Legacy are core components of the deck. The Transceiver of course lets me utilize my Holon Supporters early and again as I progress through the game. I initially had Holon Researcher in this deck so I could get any Pokemon I wanted, with the exception of Energy Trans Sceptile. Then I decided to split Researcher/PETM, however with the removal of Chimecho d from this deck, I opted to go all PETM. Warp Points are nice to have even though my deck has a pretty good retreat cost all around. Sceptile only has 1. I like having that little bit of disruption, especially if I’m staring down a Safeguarder. The Holon Trainers are self-explanitory. I believe I can get away with a 1/1 Adventurer/Scientist since I am going agro-Transceiver in this list. Farmer is in for recovery, especially with discards to use the Holon Trainers.
Sceptile d ex was not a very easy Pokemon to make an effective deck with and still have a lot of originality. Gyarados d/Golduck d is an old combo. However, I believe it is perhaps more useful in this deck as opposed to others. This deck needs Golduck and Legacy to eliminate the weakness factor that for the most part cripples Sceptile ex. I had considered Crystal Shard/Battle Frontier, but while that takes care of the additional cost of Extra Liquid, it only works four times at max. The four Shards also take four spots in the deck which reduces consistency. And perhaps most importantly, it leaves your weakness factor completely unchecked. I believe I have effectively evaluated this card. And perhaps more importantly, I believe I have placed it at the center of a deck and built around it to maximize its positive attributes and eliminate its negative ones.
Thank you for allowing me to continue, for reading, and for judging. I want to wish all of my fellow competitors good luck and a happy holidays.”
Deck (7/10): It’s a solid list overall. I disagree with what was done on the evolution searching (if you decided to not go a max of PETM, then it seems like a single copy of researcher would have been nice). You have a solid energy lineup, although things may get tough if you don’t have an attachable-to-basic energy by the first turn or two. Although you not playing Windstorm in the list would be grounds for counting off usually, sceptile ex d is its own special case, so if anything that’s a plus in not running it. The one real issue I have is that the concept is so vulnerable to Windstorm, and there’s no way to compensate for that. Also, not pulling the Holon Legacy ASAP can be a pain, but whateva.
Creativity (4/5): While there’s not much to stop the big drawbacks for this deck (other than maybe discarding windstorms with Golduck), the concept as a whole is very intriguing and neat. Holon Legacy is a great choice to lock in, and the damage with Gyarados really does seem to pile up. Gyarados adds its own situation amount of damage to the deck, but these stage ones are good partners for the big boss.
Card Use (3/5): Well…you have a way to solve the awful weakness problem, and I see indirect card use by “not” playing Windstorm (lol). While the deck is creative, I don’t feel you pushed it far enough in this category to make Scepty ex d a real killer.
OVERALL: 14/20
Gymbo’s gymming creativity is what ultimately gave him the edge over Ross. Once again, congratulations you guys! Good decks and good competition overall.
”“Why can’t I just use it as a tech.dec”
Pokemon 27
4 Holon’s Castform
3 Treecko d
2 Grovyle d
3 Sceptile ex d
2 Beldum d
1 Metang d
2 Metagross dx
2 Natu d
2 Xatu d
2 Nidoran d
1 Nidorina d
2 Nidoqueen d
1 Latios*
Trainers 24
4 Holon Transceiver
4 Holon Mentor
2 Holon Researcher
1 Holon Scientist
1 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Farmer
2 Copycat
4 Rare Candy
1 Mr. Briney
1 Strength Charm
3 Windstorm
Energy 9
2 Holon’s Magnemite
3 Metal
4 Psychic
Sceptile ex is by far at its most useful as a simple tech, as its great poke-body only needs one of to work, and anymore is useless. I know Kettler would strike me down for not using the card as the main piece though. =/
I had many ideas of how to make the best Sceptile attacking deck possible. I came to the conclusion that some form of energy manipulation was needed. I could not think of a deck that could simply work on 3 separate energy attachments per attacker. No competitive deck is that slow, except maybe something like Polistall, which can afford the time. To settle for 3 separate energy drops would be to settle for losing imo.
So that left me fewer options. I could run Crystal Shards +Battle Frontier, making a great 2 energy attacker. It wouldn’t allow me to use Xatu though, which I thought was crucial. The combo itself doesn’t seem to be too reliable either. I had several ideas with Sceptile Energy Trans, with perhaps Starmie d and Castforming the Metals to have 2 Grass to move. Perhaps such a combo would have been more ‘creative’, but it simply would not be as good as Metagross. Starmie would run out of Metals and not always have Castform, Metagross is by far the most reliable energy manipulator, which I determined Sceptile needed. I thought about Flygon, but the extra bench space of Chimecho when I wanted Xatus etc. was troublesome. Plus, Metagross allows me to play Latios star which is huge. Sceptile ex is AMAZING vs ex decks, so it needs some help against stage 2 decks where it has no natural advantage. Latios* is probably the best weapon against stage 2s in the game. For stage 1s, Sceptile’s attack should be enough on its own. (Think about Delta, one Xatu and I don’t even need to drop a prize to ohko everything). So we got ex’s, stage 1s, and stage 2s covered, it looks we got the format pretty well covered.
The main attacker is Sceptile though, and it has a nice simple attack that can reach huge amounts of damage. The Xatus are key to adding to that strength. They ko 1, and suddenly you have a 3 for 100 ready? That’s pretty good. The Xatus are especially key so Sceptile can reach the 120 plateau lategame. The Strength Charm is also good for the right spot. Opponent has 3 prizes, they still have to ko 2 Sceptiles, but thanks to 2 Xatus and Charm, you ALREADY have the 120 ready. I did not add more Xatus over the Charm due to bench space concerns. As I said, energy manipulation was needed, and Queen was needed to search out the Manipulator (though Queen adds overall speed and consistancy as well). For the stage 2 matchups, I can recycle the Latios* with Farmer and Queen very quickly.
Trainers should look pretty standard. Holon engine is just the best there is. Copycats for a bit more consistancy. 1 Briney as bench space is precious and your Castform may not get ko’d. You can also lategame scoop a Metagross or Queen in favor of the 2nd Xatu or something similar. Along with being a switcher, it is a good utility card. 3 Windstorm seems to be enough. Not many gyms really hurt this actually. I can get by not having Nidoqueen for spurts against BF or Holon Legacy. Cursed Stone would have to stick a long time to make me worry. If someone Cessation Crystals me, then I get a 2 for 60+ in Sceptile ex!!
Energy should be fine. Once I get one Psychic/Metal, Metagross will recycle it plenty. I will draw into one easily with Castform draws (Castform itself just needs Mentor for Magnemite, also easy). If worst comes to worst, I Researcher for Metal, Metagross really doesn’t need a lot of energy.
I had more ‘creative’ ideas for this, but I deemed none of them to be good. Energy manipulation is needed if you really want a Sceptile attack focused deck. Metagross gives you the most efficient energy manipulation, as well as a great secondary attacker in Latios*, whose strength is basically the one area that Sceptile doesn’t cover, high hp stage 2, non-ex’s. Needing an extra attachment beats basically all ex decks on its own. Banette for example just can’t function NEARLY as well if you have to attach 3 to each one. Ex decks just slow down so much against Sceptile. Metagross gives Sceptile the speed to beat other decks, and Latios* to help fight the stage 2 decks that Sceptile would struggle against. It may not be too flashy, but I am quite sure this is the best way to make a Sceptile attacking deck.
Thanks for reading.
The Truth Is Out There.”
Deck (8/10): The list looks pretty solid, but I have a couple issues as always. Briney is a great play, but it seems like your list is overall very vulnerable to status effects, and brings down versatility. Other than that, the trainer line is excellent. Just a suggestion (i. e. not counting off for this), but maybe instead of Windstorm altogether you could just play a stadium? But EH, I digress…The Pokemon line also looks good, although 2-1-2 Metagross seems too flimsy to be extremely effective, especially when factoring in that Latios. Energy also seems dangerously low (even one extra psychic would have been great).
Creativity (2/5): I don’t see anything too overwhelmingly creative here: Xatu d/insert stage two ex go boom. However, I do like that you added in an energy manipulator, a normally unexpected thing in a deck like this, IMO.
Card Use (3/5): I think you do well in the card use department, albeit in a very bizarre, indirect way: both Sceptile and Nidoqueen benefit greatly when you start to lose Pokemon in the game, so not only do they deal greater damage, but are great compliments to one-another in terms of weakness coverage. Overall I’m thinking this combination does a great job of “using” Sceptile ex, but not pushing it even further.
OVERALL: 13/20
~~~Gymbo ex~~~
“Alright, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually sat back and really evaluated a card, then created a deck around it for display (and in this case, grading). It’s time to go back to my old days of Pojo for a little while. Anyways, my ingredient for this second round challenge was Sceptile d ex. This was not a very easy card to find a good combination and build around. But before I get that far, let’s look at Sceptile himself.
Sceptile d ex 150 HP
Stage 2 Psychic Pokemon
Poke-BODY: Extra Liquid: Each player’s Pokemon-ex cannot use any PokePowers and pays C more to use its attacks. Each Pokemon cannot be affected by more than one Extra Liquid Poke-Body.
PC: Power Revenge: 60+ This attack does 60 plus 10 more damage for each prize card your opponent has taken.
Weakness: Fire, Grass
Resistance: Water
Retreat: 1
The card isn’t terrible. It’s also not great either. Power Revenge isn’t bad, but the attack is really PCC in terms of energy cost because of Extra Liquid. Even Extra Liquid isn’t that bad, there’s a lot of ex Pokemon being used now. The main problem this deck has is its weakness. Very rarely do I look at anything with double weakness. The matchups this thing has is pretty bad because of its weakness. So that was the first thing I took care of first. Holon Legacy works with Sceptile because it does not turn off Extra Liquid, and eliminates the dual weakness. However, Legacy is little more than a glorified Ancient Tomb, and relying on a Stadium for anti-weakness is asking for trouble. So, next I added in Golduck d. With Golduck in play, Holon Legacy remains fixed in play thus negating all of my weaknesses for the Delta Pokemon I have in play, specifically Sceptile d ex. Now, I had some extra space left in my Pokemon spots. So I decided that since I was already utilizing a combo with a Stadium with Golduck, that I might as well make my Sceptile’s attacks do a little bit more damage. So I decided to add in Gyarados d as well. Delta Reactor is nice because Holon Legacy is locked in with Golduck. Getting a couple Gyarados in play with the Golduck and the Sceptile effectively gives me a situation where I have a 150 HP Pokemon with no weakness hitting for 20 extra damage a turn. This Pokemon then also has resistance to Water and only 1 retreat cost. With these statements in mind, I present to you my [deck list]:
Pokemon: 21
4 Treecko d
3 Grovyle d
3 Sceptile d ex
1 Sceptile (Energy Trans)
3 Magikarp d
3 Gyarados d
2 Psyduck d
2 Golduck d
Trainers: 23
4 Holon Transceiver
4 Holon Legacy
3 Professor Elm’s Training Method
3 Rare Candy
2 Copycat
2 Warp Point
2 Holon Mentor
1 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Scientist
1 Holon Farmer
Energy: 16
4 Holon's Castform
4 Psychic
4 Delta Rainbow
4 Rainbow
I added the description of why I added the Pokemon that I added above, but I also included a Sceptile that has Energy Trans because it can move my Special Energies among my Delta Pokemon. (I checked, it can move Delta Rainbow between Delta Pokemon) However again, the basic premise of my Pokemon includes: Get a Sceptile d ex in play with 1-2 Gyarados d and 1 Golduck d. I also had a Chimecho d in earlier drafts of this deck to effectively let me use the Holon Trainers for free, but I figured since I was running the Energy Trans Sceptile to help out with the Sceptile d ex, I should run a good bit of Special energy, so I can have maximum energy control, especially since I am running different types of Pokemon. Castform of course also doubles up as a Basic Pokemon to start the game when I have a good amount of Delta Pokemon in play to maximize Delta Draw.
My Trainers are fairly straightforward, but I believe they balance the deck. The Transceiver and Legacy are core components of the deck. The Transceiver of course lets me utilize my Holon Supporters early and again as I progress through the game. I initially had Holon Researcher in this deck so I could get any Pokemon I wanted, with the exception of Energy Trans Sceptile. Then I decided to split Researcher/PETM, however with the removal of Chimecho d from this deck, I opted to go all PETM. Warp Points are nice to have even though my deck has a pretty good retreat cost all around. Sceptile only has 1. I like having that little bit of disruption, especially if I’m staring down a Safeguarder. The Holon Trainers are self-explanitory. I believe I can get away with a 1/1 Adventurer/Scientist since I am going agro-Transceiver in this list. Farmer is in for recovery, especially with discards to use the Holon Trainers.
Sceptile d ex was not a very easy Pokemon to make an effective deck with and still have a lot of originality. Gyarados d/Golduck d is an old combo. However, I believe it is perhaps more useful in this deck as opposed to others. This deck needs Golduck and Legacy to eliminate the weakness factor that for the most part cripples Sceptile ex. I had considered Crystal Shard/Battle Frontier, but while that takes care of the additional cost of Extra Liquid, it only works four times at max. The four Shards also take four spots in the deck which reduces consistency. And perhaps most importantly, it leaves your weakness factor completely unchecked. I believe I have effectively evaluated this card. And perhaps more importantly, I believe I have placed it at the center of a deck and built around it to maximize its positive attributes and eliminate its negative ones.
Thank you for allowing me to continue, for reading, and for judging. I want to wish all of my fellow competitors good luck and a happy holidays.”
Deck (7/10): It’s a solid list overall. I disagree with what was done on the evolution searching (if you decided to not go a max of PETM, then it seems like a single copy of researcher would have been nice). You have a solid energy lineup, although things may get tough if you don’t have an attachable-to-basic energy by the first turn or two. Although you not playing Windstorm in the list would be grounds for counting off usually, sceptile ex d is its own special case, so if anything that’s a plus in not running it. The one real issue I have is that the concept is so vulnerable to Windstorm, and there’s no way to compensate for that. Also, not pulling the Holon Legacy ASAP can be a pain, but whateva.
Creativity (4/5): While there’s not much to stop the big drawbacks for this deck (other than maybe discarding windstorms with Golduck), the concept as a whole is very intriguing and neat. Holon Legacy is a great choice to lock in, and the damage with Gyarados really does seem to pile up. Gyarados adds its own situation amount of damage to the deck, but these stage ones are good partners for the big boss.
Card Use (3/5): Well…you have a way to solve the awful weakness problem, and I see indirect card use by “not” playing Windstorm (lol). While the deck is creative, I don’t feel you pushed it far enough in this category to make Scepty ex d a real killer.
OVERALL: 14/20
Gymbo’s gymming creativity is what ultimately gave him the edge over Ross. Once again, congratulations you guys! Good decks and good competition overall.
