BW-on Plasma Klang for Battle Roads

[animus303]

Hey guys, this is my deck list that I'm thinking of taking to some upcomming battle roads. Just looking for any minor tweaks that could be made to bennefit it. I've gone to one Cities and one State Championship tournament with my Blastoise Keldeo deck, but at the moment I can't afford 3 black kyurems or tropical beach so I am going to try this deck out instead. Thanks for any input.

Pokemon 13
4 Klink (Dark Explorers) 75/108
1 Klang (Dark Explorers) 76/108
2 Klinklang (Plasma Storm) 90/135
2 Klinklang (Black & White) 76/114
4 Cobalion EX (Plasma Storm) 93/135


Trainers 35
3 Colress
4 N
4 Skyla
3 Pokemon Catcher
4 Rare Candy
4 Float Stone
4 Heavy Ball
2 Bianca
3 Max Potion
2 Tool Scrapper
1 Super Rod
1 Computer Search

Energy 12
12 Metal

The stratedgy is pretty straight forward, you're using plasma klang to lock down all these rediculous EX's that are dominating the format. Your primary attackers are Cobalion EX and Cobalion from NV. Keldeo is there for lasers as are the float stones. The other Klinklang lets you shift metal energy around and is the only form of energy acceleration in the deck and it also lets you use your max potions without discarding all your energy which is really useful in this deck. The tool scrappers are there for Garbodor/Landorous which is arguably this deck's worst match up.

 

[fluttercraft]

i played this deck pre-plasma and i dont think that it is as good as it was then. That being said, i do think that it is still a viable deck that will win a few battle roads. here are the changes i would make:

-1 cobalion
-1 keldo ex

+1 Klang (dark explorers obviously)

In this format even more than last cobalion dosent do a whole lot for this deck. with float stone on top of keldo ex most decks can get around iron breaker. energy press is only really good against keldo ex decks but that is already a favorable match up even without cobalion. i would still keep one anyway because it is helpful against keldo ex and in the mirror. keldo ex is still helpful but it is not a necessity and is often a free prize because it dosent have metal cover. no metal conver means it is targeted often so not only is it a free ko but it is an obvious target so you wont have it that long ether.

the single klang is immensely helpful at any point in the game. on turn 2 getting 2 rare candies and 2 different klinklangs is very challenging. klang on turn 2 makes getting the 2nd klinklang on turn 3 a pretty easy option. its also another path to get klinklang out if you are drawing bad or face a gothitella deck (actually a legitimate deck now)

-1 scramble switch
-2 catcher
-1 cheren
-1 max potion

+2 tropical beach (note if you only have one the just remove one catcher, if you have zero then add another bianca and play 3 catcher )
+1 computer search
+1 skyla
+1 heavy ball
+1 bianca (for cheren)

even though scramble switch is good if you cant get 2nd klinklang out but the computer search makes getting the second one out much much easier. when i played this deck i found that i hardly used catcher other than early game stalling. tropical beach however is absolutely amazing in this deck. it removes the early game inconsistencies with getting both klinklangs out almost entirely. one might say that 4 skylas is to many, but in this deck there is to many situational trainers like max potion to not play 4. it also can be a heavy ball for a klinklang or a rare candy to evolve to even further boost consistency. with tropical beach the fact that skyla is your supporter for the turn dosent matter because you can draw 3-4 cards anyway. if you havent gotten the general idea behind all of my suggestions so far im just gonna toss it out there, consistency consistency consistency. thsi deck is an auto win against anything other than garbodor (not as bad as some people think, just be smart with tool scrapper. only use them when having the abilities is life or death) and a well built plasmabox deck (biggest threat), but only if it gets turn 2-3 klinklangs. that is why i also suggest the 4th heavy ball. when i played this deck bianca always got me 3-5 cards, rarely less than 3 so i would play over cheren. if you prefer cheren then by all means play cheren instead.

hope this helped!

 

[animus303]

Upon contemplating it, I agree with you on the computer search as it allows you to get any card. Unfortunately I just can't afford Tropical Beach, so I will keep the catcher and add the Bianca and see how that goes. Hadn't considered the keldeo vulnerability now that float stone is around, so I also agree with taking him out. I had the second cobalion in there because it just seemed very risky to have so few attackers but am willing to try it without the second. I'm not big on loading up Klinklang with energy to attack. I toyed with the idea of the extra skyla's and heavy ball but thought I might be just a bit too paranoid. I will try 4 of each and see how it goes. So an updated list might look like;

Pokemon 13
4 Klink (Dark Explorers) 75/108
1 Klang (Dark Explorers) 76/108
2 Klinklang (Plasma Storm) 90/135
2 Klinklang (Black & White) 76/114
3 Cobalion EX (Plasma Storm) 93/135
1 Cobalion (Noble Victories) 84/101

Trainers 35
3 Colress
4 N
4 Skyla
3 Pokemon Catcher
4 Rare Candy
4 Float Stone
4 Heavy Ball
2 Bianca
3 Max Potion
2 Tool Scrapper
1 Super Rod
1 Computer Search

Energy 12
12 Metal

 

[Assassin_Thief]

With the changes you made, float stone might note be as good anymore. It was good with Keldeo to avoid Sleep conditions but how is it going to help you now that you cant even retreat? Plus if they are catchering to stale you out they would just catcher the things with out float stone. If you decided to hold on to the stone to just play it when they do catcher you then it might hurt the consistency of the deck. 2-3 Switches might be better in these cases.

 

[animus303]

The float stones in my mind are a reusable switch. I would put them on the klinklangs cause they like to get dragged off the bench for a beating. I've found them to be more useful than switch personally. If they use the logic of catchering out all my pokemon without float stones, then they're bringing out my attackers, which is what I want anyways.

 

[fluttercraft]

you dont need to worry about catcher stalling in this deck because with just 3 energy on the field and klinklang shift gear everything in the deck can use any attack it chooses. as to attacking with klinklangs, nether would be any good without their abilities. that said the attacks arent horrible. the shift gear klinklang can potentialy do 160 and usually does 80. thats not horrible if it gets catchered and any ex that has been hit with steel bullet usually is koed with it. the other klinklangs 70-20 isnt very good at all, but ive found odd times for it to be helpful like in my top 16 at michigan the guy had an emolga that i had done 30 to on the first 2 turns and i took my last prize of game 1 with the 20 off of klinklang

 

[animus303]

I agree flutter, I've never had issues with catcher, especially after switching Switch with Float Stone. ^_^ And you're right, that 160 is rather nice, IF you can get it to pop off. Not a fan of relying on flips. (Had an 0/20 streak on super scoop up over the course of 2 months at league.)

---------- Post added 05/29/2013 at 03:44 PM ----------

Slept on it, and I'm gonna take out the NV Cobalion. Rightous Edge is just too useful in this special energy heavy format.
So

-1 Cobalion NV
+1 Cobalion EX

 

[fluttercraft]

i started testing this some more to possibly play at a battle roads myself and i noticed a few things that i want to change.

first: keep one NV cobalion, its really helpful against kyrem because the second move one shots it. plasma klinklang can as well but i dont like leaving that active unless i have another benched already.

second: from my testing 12 energy is too much and has often bogged down my hand. what ive been doing that works much better is 10 energy and a energy retrieval (not super, regular). i havent made a final decision on that last card but ive been considering running one switch for poison and sleep when you need that attacker again that turn A.K.A early-mid game.

lastly: i agree with running 4 cobalion ex, instead of dropping NV cobalion, drop a colress or N. i often find supporters being another thing that bogs down hands, 12 is still plenty enough.

+1 cobalion NV (assuming the subtraction in your post)
+1 energy retreval
+1 ??? for now i say switch or maybe run 11 energy,

-2 metal
-1 N/colress

 

[animus303]

I bumped the energy up to 12 from 11 because I was being shorted when I had only 11. Kyurem is weak to steel regardless of whether it's Cobalion NV or Cobalion EX, and with the special energy being played, Kyurem needs a minimum of 1 plasma to do his thang. Play testing is going well 4 Cobalion EX and no Cobalion NV. To quote the professor of our league, "I feel the NV one is not as good as the EX version especially since it will be AWESOME against the Plasma EX deck (Deoxys/Thunderus/Kyurem) since it only runs specials. Talk about keeping that deck on its toes lol. The biggest drawback to the NV one is that it says "the defending pokémon can't attack". Well, retreating/switching gets rid of that effect, even if they bring it back out, and that 3 energy I'd rather use to do 100 damage past everything on their pokémon. HOWEVER, that's your preference so don't let me talk you out of it if you really really like that card lol."

At this point I'm agreeing with him. Playtested once against Darkrai/Lasers and it DOMINATED.

 

[Flygon999]

I apologize for skipping the posts, so my bad if I repeat something someone else has said.

I couldn't help but notice that you only have 8 draw cards (4 N, 3 Colress, and 1 Cheren). In a deck like this you do need lots of hand refreshers, so its a good thing that you've got 4 Ns, but I'm not too big of a fan on Cheren. Juniper is probably one of the greatest draw cards in this format but I understand why you wouldn't use it in this deck (can't lose Klinklangs or Candies) but I still think you should play at least 1 or 2. And if you do happen to discard some vital evolutions, you can use your super rod to bring them back. I do this a lot with my stage1/stage2 decks. Also Ghetis is an interesting card which could even work better than Cheren while at the same time disrupting your opponent by removing their important Catchers or Switches, who knows, and at the same time you get about 1-5 cards as well as taking a peek into their hand to see what's coming.

-1 Colress
-1 Cheren
-1 Tool Scrapper (in a cramped deck (stage 2s) you can't waste space)

+2 Juniper
+1 Ghetis

Hypnotoxic Laser is a popular card so you really do need at least 2 switches, seeing that you've already got a scramble switch, I'd recommend taking out a float stone for +1 switch. Its basically a one-time deal which isn't as great as float stone but it can get you out of sleep (you don't want to lose a turn sleeping).

-1 Float Stone

+1 Switch

And last but not least...you really need at least one Klang, so that you can search it with a heavy ball. Its up to you on what to take out but I'd say a Cobalion EX.

Anyways good luck!

EDIT: This is going by your first post (idk if you "updated" the list with another post)?

 

[fluttercraft]

This is going by your first post (idk if you "updated" the list with another post)?

updated about half way through the thread with a few tweaks after that.


I think the reason that my list has problems with too many energy may be the tropical beaches, i played 12 energy before plasma freeze but i didnt have beach then and 12 energy was never too many

 

[Shadow-Bario]

Yo. If u don't have a water Pokemon..... someone is gonna just ruin ur day with some fire pokemon. V-create.victini. or any other fire tech. So that's why keldeo is important. Maybe think about playing the Durant with pull out. It helps a ton with getting back resources. I play plasmaklang too so pm me if u need anything

 

[fluttercraft]

klinklang decks should be able to handle at least 1 victini with no water type. there isnt really a good tech for this deck anyway because the blend is a special energy and darkrai decks now play several enhanced hammers. keldeo takes 3 energy to power up for the ohko where as cobalion ex can discard the special energy being used by the victini for only one energy.

 

[animus303]

I can one shot v-crate victini with either Cobalion EX or Keldeo EX, but it's easier to shift gear energy if it's cobalion, so while he may get one shotted, he's easier to set up and I don't have to tech 4 cards in my deck for just one potential pokemon. The tool scrappers are 100% necessary for Garbodor. As for the Junipers, I like Colress better for late game. The cheren was removed for Bianca's. I'll update the first list. I wouldn't mind maybe adding 1 switch for 1 energy. Maybe...

 

[Shadow-Bario]

Trust me dude. U need Keldeo. Many-a Klingklang decks got the fire Pokemon drop on em and weren't ready for it so they lost. U don't need blend. All it takes is 1 well played fire pokemon to ruin ur whole setup.

 

[fluttercraft]

as far as i can tell no one is teaching for klinklang because even though it is still competitive it isnt as good or popular as it was. the only senario in which i would suggest playing keldo ex in here is if everyone starts teching 2 benchtini or gothorita/accelgor becomes more popular as (IMO) it is now easily a T2 deck and i think the latter is more likely.

 

[ddbargardi]

-1 Cobalion EX
+1 Cobalion

 

[animus303]

Nah, with float stone/keldeo the Iron Breaker attack can be nullified with a simple rush in/retreat. 4 Cobalion EX runs so much better, especially with so much special energy being played right now.

At states, I did in fact see a friend of mine loose in top 8 playing Plasma-Klang against the bench-tini in a Landorous and Friends deck. But over all, he was only one of 2 people playing the deck in a tourney of 56. So while I do see your point, I guess I'm sacrificing the potential to deal with victini in hopes of getting set up much faster. If I tech Keldeo, I'll have to add ultra ball in the event that computer search is prized. I already feel like the list is pretty tight. I could maybe let an energy go for the keldeo and perhaps a Bianca for ultra ball as I don't seem to find my self drawing into them much during play test. N is proving to be much more useful.

I'm starting to agree with you guys, lol. Gonna try it out.