Is HL the Answer to a Balanced Modified?

[YoungJohn06]

Here are my opinions on some of the cards


Machamp: I know some don't think it is but the thing is a beast if it is played right. It DOES do 70 for 2... Pokebodys poke powers weakness resistance OR ANY other effects on the DEFENDING pokemon. Over Zealeus (sp?) is an effect on Machamp. If it gets ruled otherwise it's a horrible ruling. The 2 for 70 thing is broken combine this card with DRE and boost and you've got a speedy ex killing machine and it can go toe to toe with any other card out there

4/5 I think it's very tournament playable.

Walrein: This card is very good, and apparently not seen for it's true strengths. One of the better cards in the set.

4/5 Tournament worthy... may have a few problems with Gardevoir and other things not Blaz, but otherwise a stable card that can be a good deck.

Crobat: This card looks good, seems good plays well however it's got more weaknesses than it has strenghts IMO. Gardy rips it up, Blaziken can dominate it... While it CAN beat this decks it simply doesn't have the amount of power a tier 1 deck needs... the poison is the real damage if you come up against something immune to special conditions you're toast...

3/5 Good. Roguish for tournaments will see play, but will have problems later on in the higher rounds of a tournament.

Stevens Advice: I think the most anticipated card of the set, and with good reason. It has barely any flaws, except in decks that have HUGE hand sizes constantly other wise this belongs in all decks with at least 3-4 in nearly every deck.

4.5/5 Very tournament worthy will see TONS of play.

Ancient Tomb: Great stadium for all those rogue decks with non exes... expect it to see play.

3/5 Good not broken but it is gonna be in a lot of decks.

Ancient Technical Machine (Rock): Sandstorm Omastar in trainer form, this thing can be devistating, if they've candied up all their pokes then this just ends the game almost for them.

4/5 With all the decks playing candy this thing is well worth it. Gonna be played a lot

Desert Ruins: Very good card for non ex decks like Crobat and Machamp... it basically says "all ex pokemon in play have poison on the bench or otherwise. No ex sees play with under 100 HP so that won't be a problem almost ever.

3/5 Great card for rogue decks probably won't be in many archetypes like metagross, Blaziken, Swampert or Gardevoir.

Jirachi: It has it's advantages and it has it's flaws... It can provide the same effect that rare candy can (if used first turn you get the stage 1 and turn 2 put stage 2 on it) basically. Play candy over this however it can be used for combos.

 

[Kyogre]

Crobat: This card looks good, seems good plays well however it's got more weaknesses than it has strenghts IMO. Gardy rips it up, Blaziken can dominate it... While it CAN beat this decks it simply doesn't have the amount of power a tier 1 deck needs... the poison is the real damage if you come up against something immune to special conditions you're toast...

3/5 Good. Roguish for tournaments will see play, but will have problems later on in the higher rounds of a tournament.

Open your mind more! I agree with all your other suggestions but all Crobat players will have another attacker in their deck. My personal favorite is Gorebyss, its a Gardy and Blaze counter that you already pointed out that Crobat is weak to.

 

[swanton1717]

I wish I could say that was an uncommon response, but I think it goes towards style a lot... or a lack of this simple concept: if a card or card combination is broken, but not illegal, then while you do weigh cards against it, just because another card is not broken enough to compete against it doesn't mean it's bad. Well, unless you're a pure "Spike" (someone who only plays this game to win a game) in which case, I would recommend Magic: the Gathering. Exploud is more a "control" Pokemon. Look at its attacks. Turn two I can Rare Candy to it (or if I used Jirachi to Evolve into Loudred, Evolve normally. Either way, I can then play an Energy on it, and hit for upwards 60 damage. Its all spread out, but that can be an advantage. Next turn, drop another Energy, and smack the Pokemon of my choice for 30. Thats enough to take out some of the Weakest Basics by then. Of course, I don;t think that will be that useful-I'd hit them all for 10 again. Third turn, we get to a nice supporting attack. Outside of classical BAR (using the Ampharos), its going to be an annoyance for most decks if I use Thunderous Roar, which for 3 Energy of any type, does 30 damage and automatically Confuses the opponent. Yeah, they can retreat out of it... but if this is a deck geared towards Exploud, I might consider running TA Hideout or Mirage Stadium to make that hard. Even if I don't (or they get knocked out of play), my opponent needs the a total of Energy equal to the retreat cost of the active and the attack cost of another Pokemon, minus one. Or the retreat cost Energy and Switch or Warp Point. Not too difficult, not too easy. Against a RAMBO style Firestarter, jumping that Energy is more difficult-TA Manectric's Power has a lot more retrictions on its Poke-Power. Any, that Confusion can buy you more time to keep hitting the Bench. FInally, if you do keep piling Energy on, Hyper Voice is a very solid 60 for (CCCC), which can probably finish off most of the guys you've been nailing with Breaking Sound. Of course, this doesn't sound like enough to handle most tier one decks. It may not be. Fortunately, we are talking maybe 10 cards of a 60 card deck right now? I plan on trying it with Sandstorm Xatu, as another Gojira deck: healing 20-40 damage each turn, might buy me some time: it means opening hits aren't going to stay around long, and remember, Exploud does double damage to Ray ex (when its active). Even against Ray ex, I need just one Energy for Breaking Sound... that means that for now, I can use Pokemon Nurse to heal up to 110 damage. Finally, and this is what realy should frustrate BAR, I can drop a Boost and OHKO a Ray ex (if I had any other Energy already attached). Even after that Rotates out, Double Rainbow Energy still makes it possible to hit with less than 4 Energy cards. two normal and a Rainbow means 50 damage, and times two, thats enough for a OHKO against Ray ex. Oh, and all that damage I spread out? Wonderful Set-Up for Ancient Techincal machine Rock.

So, will it be the next big thing? Really, really doubtful. Could it be a fun deck without being broken? Yeah.

Kyogre: THe deck was tried, it didn't work. I've combined Xatu with a lot of things. I found SS Steelix a better fit, especially now that I can both hit for great bench damage, devolve, and reap the protection of Metal Energy.

For exeryone looking at these cards, remember, jusdge the cards in context. Comparing them to a deck that is broken is not a fair evaluation. When you can relaibly OHKO anything in the game 6 times in a row, its pretty bad. Yeah, that's an ideal set-up. Only the worst set-ups kill the deck, and then you need to have a good set-uyp yourself to take advantage of it. With a poor set-up or above, you're still able to OHKO probbaly ahlf the Pokemon in the game. It's like comparing your higheschool Track team's times to Carl Lewis.

Honey have you actually used Exploud? Have any of you actually used it, or played against it? A GOOD version that is. I only know of 2 players who are actually using a good version of it. And Xatu is not good, removing 10 damage is crap right now. Everyone is doing like a million damage, removing 10 isn't going to do anything. Waste of space it is.

I guess you all just don't think doing 10 to every Pokemon for one energy isn't very good =\ It piles up people, who cares if they kill an Exploud thats one prize for them and you have another one ready to go.

In Exploud you barely use the other attacks, and if you do they are just to get quick prizes. You just constantly use Breaking Sound over and over to pile the pebbles. Then Nurse/Briney all the damage done to you away, rinse and repeat. Its a very simple combo to pull off, unlike Blaziken where you need like a million things out to get its combo to work, this needs energy, exploud and nurse.

I've tested Exploud against practically everything and it only consistently loses to Metagross, and it beats most everything else.

You have to be in a certain thought process to play Exploud, it is different then most other decks. It makes you and your opponent think, many many times my opponent will not know what to do against me and make some errors that allow me to take the lead. You cannot just pick up an Exploud deck and do well with it, it takes practice. But once you get it down, the deck is a beast.

~Colin

 

[TheAnswer3]

Colin: Ive also been playin Exploud recently. A list pretty close to the other board.. And it is a very good deck. Im 4-1 vs. Blaze, 3-1 vs. Swampy. What people seem to not understand is its not that difficult to get 2-3 Exploud going and swarm them and drop the ATM Rock and Boom 2-3 prizes in a turn. I completely agree that Exploud is a very good deck.

Cya at Nats
tA

 

[DARKGeNGaR094]

Just to pop in my two cents, Blaziken ex isn't king, BAR or RAMBO might be, but Blex is just TecH for those decks. I mean, how many Blaziken ex do you run in a deck? I have seen it slaughter things, but I've seen Rayquaza ex slughter a lot more. In the games where it does come out, Blex is a nightmare, but its the Blaziken and Energy mover that let it do its thing. Without those, it'd be a wasteful chicken. THe first attack is good, but would not have been enough to offset its dual Weaknesses.

Gah, I have class tomorrow, and have been on too long. Looks like I have to wait to "enlighten" (yeah right XD) you guys on the other cards.

Yeah, rayquazas are great... until you have to play another Bex, I often beat Bexes just because they play Rayquaza. Rayquaza is FOOD!

btw, I play 4-4-3/2 (no RCs), with Delcatty, Manectric, 4 Dunce and nice draw power.

 

[JasonthePwnda]

Theres a bunch of problems with exploud... miltoic, healing off 4 turns of breaking sound, vileplume, making no atm rock, and blaze ex, with its awesome killing power. blaziken's attack twice, blaze ex can ohko the whole lot of explouds.

 

[swanton1717]

Theres a bunch of problems with exploud... miltoic, healing off 4 turns of breaking sound, vileplume, making no atm rock, and blaze ex, with its awesome killing power. blaziken's attack twice, blaze ex can ohko the whole lot of explouds.

Mmmk you're right, Exploud sucks. I will never play it again.

~Colin

 

[pokedood68]

hey electrode doesnt suck if u suprise them with a boost energy

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

Theres a bunch of problems with exploud... miltoic, healing off 4 turns of breaking sound, vileplume, making no atm rock, and blaze ex, with its awesome killing power. blaziken's attack twice, blaze ex can ohko the whole lot of explouds.

Mmmmhmm, Milotic helps out Exploud more than it does it's own Pokemon. I don't see Vileplume seeing any play because of it's weak fourty attack and psychic weakness (Gardy) and Blaze ex versus Wobb or ATM Rock (plus massive healing power)... GG!

hey electrode doesnt suck if u suprise them with a boost energy

Read the attack a bit more, no special energies.
-Phil