Raichu Prime Lv.X (MD-on)

[Sabett]

3-3-1 Raichu
2-1-2 Magnezone (SF Electric)
1-1 Dewgong RR
1 Rayquaza
1 Regice
2-1 Uxie
1 Azelf
1-1 Staraptor FB

4 Professor Oak's New Theory
3 Bebe's Search
3 Hunter
3 Pokemon Collector
1 Pokemon Communication
1 Luxury Ball
2 Rare Candy
3 Energy Restore
2 Interviewer's Questions
2 Warp Point
2 BTS
1 Palmer's Contribution

2 Multi Energy
9 Lightning Energy

So here's the card:

Raichu - Lightning - HP100
Stage 1 - Evolves from Pikachu

Poke-Power: Voltage Up
You can use this power any number of times during your turn. Move 1 Lightning Energy attached to one of your Pokemon to this Pokemon. This Power can't be used if this Pokemon is affected by a Special Condition.

[L][L][C] Mega Thunderbolt: 120 damage. Discard all Energy attached to Raichu.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: Steel (-20)
Retreat: 1

Hunter - Supporter

Each player returns 1 of his or her Benched Pokemon and all cards attached to it to his or her hand. You return your cards first.

You can only use 1 Supporter card during your turn. To use it, place it next to your Active Pokemon and discard it at the end of your turn.

So if you haven't looked at a Raichu deck before, the long story short is that we build up a Raichu with 3 energy on it, level it up, and take two prizes using the body. The Magnezone's are a typical addition to Raichu decks, as nearly every Raichu printed has their main attack involving discarding energies. Fisherman brings back energies from the discard so you can use them for the Lv.X's attack again.

Now that you're up to speed a bit, or if you're familiar with Raichu Lv.X, let's talk about some new innovations the oncoming sets will bring. First and biggest change, Raichu Prime. With this new Prime to use, a few interesting windows open for Raichu, the first is one of Raichu's most common problems when using Magnezone SF, the damage that comes along with it's power. Now, with the primes poke-power, when retreating into a raichu, you can attach to your active, as well as attaching every turn, since you can always switch it to Raichu later. This also opens Raichu up to use Rayquaza's power, it's flippy, but it's a basic and potentially explosive. Another interesting thing that the future brings is Hunter, with the obvious utility of grabbing a damaged pokemon, Uxie, or any other pokemon as seen fit, lets talk about using it with the X. With two Raichu out, we could level one up, explode with two attacks, retreat next turn, hunter the X back to hand, load up the new raichu with energy, level it up and explode. This also ties into my next matter, Staraptor FB, one thing that's been a problem with Raichu is getting energy back into the hand to use for the level X's attack. With this guy we'll be able to grab Fisherman, or interviewer's questions as seen fit. It also suffices as a new draw engine when coupled with PONTs. Other than that I feel like everything else is self explanatory.

The problems I kinda feel are there is that maybe the crobat is too much, or rayquaza's not good enough either. Also, if maybe if we're worried about donphan too much, we could add Sunyshore City gym. I'm also thinking that 1 more BTS might be needed. Anyway give your opinion on the deck, critique, take it out for a test-drive, do w/e.

Changes over time:


1.

-1 Pikachu
-2 Fisherman
-1 Rare Candy
-3 Lightning Energy
-1 Crobat G
-1 Poketurn
-1 Hunter

+2 Multi Energy
+1 Seel
+1 Dewgong
+3 Energy Restore
+2 Staraptor FB
+1 Palmers

2.

-3 Poketurn
-1 Crobat G
-2 Staraptor FB

+2 Pokemon Communication
+2 Warp Point
+1 BTS
+1 Electric Energy

3.

-1 BTS
-1 Lightning Energy

+1 Uxie
+1 Uxie Lv.X

4.

-1 Pokemon Communication

+1 Luxury Ball

D'oh

 

[Gyaradan]

Well, I play a similar Raichu Lv. X themed deck right now and I can honestly say that a good Donphan player is going to give your deck lots of trouble with or without Sunyshore. I decided to tech in a small 2-1 Lanturn Prime line to deal with him as he can OHKO Donphan for an Electric and a Double Colorless and he's not bad in general. Personally if you decide to take that Route I'd get rid of the Rayquaza but that's just me. Hope I helped. Great deck idea by the way though and I hope it does well. =D

 

[Sabett]

Well, I play a similar Raichu Lv. X themed deck right now and I can honestly say that a good Donphan player is going to give your deck lots of trouble with or without Sunyshore. I decided to tech in a small 2-1 Lanturn Prime line to deal with him as he can OHKO Donphan for an Electric and a Double Colorless and he's not bad in general. Personally if you decide to take that Route I'd get rid of the Rayquaza but that's just me. Hope I helped. Great deck idea by the way though and I hope it does well. =D

What could a Lanturn Prime do that a sunyshore city gym couldn't help a raichu with? Lanturn Prime get's KO'd just as easily as raichu. If I went the route of sunyshore city gym, at least it wouldn't be KO'd by one hit from a donphan. Also, you wouldn't have used Rayquaza in your build at all right? He's there because of Raichu Prime's power.

 

[Gyaradan]

Well the point is if you know you're facing a Donphan deck you'd already be powering Lanturn on the bench, and then you could free retreat Raichu for Lanturn and OHKO with Powerful Spark. Then again, you don't use the same Raichu as I do so but I believe they both have free retreat so it would be pretty much the same idea.I'm not saying that adding Sunyshore is a bad idea because I run 3 myself. The point I was trying to make is that Donphan will normally hit you before you hit him for 60 damage. You'll hit him and most likely not KO him. Then he WILL KO you. With or without Sunyshore. Also, I see why you use the Rayquaza now so I guess if you did decide to use Lanturn that might not be the card to take out. Again, I was just trying to help. I've faced a pretty good Donphan player in the last few days quite a few times (My tournament organizer) who is a professor and I couldn't seem to beat him until I teched in the Lanturn Prime.

 

[Sabett]

Well the point is if you know you're facing a Donphan deck you'd already be powering Lanturn on the bench, and then you could free retreat Raichu for Lanturn and OHKO with Powerful Spark. Then again, you don't use the same Raichu as I do so I guess it wouldn't work out quite the same. The point I was trying to make is that Donphan will normally hit you before you hit him for 60. You'll hit him and most likely not KO him. Then he WILL KO you. With or without Sunyshore. Also, I see why you use the Rayquaza now so I guess if you did decide to use Lanturn that might not be the card to take out. Again, I was just trying to help. I've faced a pretty good Donphan player in the last few days quite a few times (My tournament organizer) who is a professor and I couldn't seem to beat him until I teched in the Lanturn Prime.

I don't understand how Lanturn Prime Helps. So it KO's donphan in one hit? So would I with sunyshore city gym, a crobat, and a poketurn, or expertbelt. The only difference is that with sunyshore city gym, Raichu won't be KO'd in one hit, but Lanturn would be. That's what I see here. One thing gets KO'd back in one hit, the other takes two, or more if it has belt on. If there's something else I'm not seeing here, then I just don't understand, but would like to.

Although adding both would be interesting. Hitting on weakness and eliminating your own.

 

[Gyaradan]

Well, yes that's what you're missing. I mean that with Sunyshore in play you can send out a fully Powered Lanturn Prime active and OHKO Donphan by turning water for that turn. Then, next turn they send out whatever and you're back to being Electric Type, so you still have no weakness due to Sunyshore. That's how I personally counter Donphan best anyhow. I normally start with a Promochu as my active and attach an Energy (if I have one) to use Recharge. If I flip heads I'm already fully powered and ready to go. Then, next turn I can normally get out Raichu and hit hard for 100 or 120 with an Expert Belt. Again though, I use the HGSS Raichu. If they look like they're going for Donphan I scramble hard to get out Lanturn and begin powering him up. Then, if I can survive until I do so I free retreat Raichu for Lanturn and OHKO Donphan.

 

[Sabett]

Well, yes that's what you're missing. I mean that with Sunyshore in play you can send out a fully Powered Lanturn Prime active and OHKO Donphan by turning water for that turn. Then, next turn they send out whatever and you're back to being Electric Type, so you still have no weakness due to Sunyshore. That's how I personally counter Donphan best anyhow. I normally start with a Promochu as my active and attach an Energy (if I have one) to use Recharge. If I flip heads I'm already fully powered and ready to go. Then, next turn I can normally get out Raichu and hit hard for 100 or 120 with an Expert Belt. Again though, I use the HGSS Raichu. If they look like they're going for Donphan I scramble hard to get out Lanturn and begin powering him up. Then, if I can survive until I do so I free retreat Raichu for Lanturn and OHKO Donphan.

Ok cool, I'll just edit the OP to add a list of things to take in and out to tech for donphan. A few questions though. 1-1 or 2-2 lanturn? 1 or 2 sunyshore city gyms? Also what would you suggest taking out for it? If it was just taking out stuff for donphan it would be pretty easy, the whole crobat thing doesn't do a whole lot, and if I'm not using raichu that much, maybe cut down on the Fisherman. But those things need to stay there, and I don't want to take out rayquaza out either. What do you suggest I take out?

 

[Gyaradan]

Ok cool, I'll just edit the OP to add a list of things to take in and out to tech for donphan. A few questions though. 1-1 or 2-2 lanturn? 1 or 2 sunyshore city gyms? Also what would you suggest taking out for it? If it was just taking out stuff for donphan it would be pretty easy, the whole crobat thing doesn't do a whole lot, and if I'm not using raichu that much, maybe cut down on the Fisherman. But those things need to stay there, and I don't want to take out rayquaza out either. What do you suggest I take out?

I personally would take out the 2 Crobats and a Pikachu for a 2-1 Lanturn prime line. I know it's pyramid but it ups your chances of getting a Chinchou in your starting hand against a potential Donphan deck and get the ball rolling that much faster without wasting a trainer/supporter to get it out. I don't even use Fisherman in my deck actually to be honest because I'd rather save my supporter for something else. Instead I run a 2-1 Electivire FB line to recycle the energy back onto all my pokemon in 1 to 2 turns and hit them hard with powerful spark for around 80 damage. it really is a great mid late game card, even if he doesn't last that long because instead of taking a turn just to get the energy back into your hand you can get it back AND attach it on whatever you want. Granted it ends your turn but he can normally survive 1-2 turns of attacks with a Sunyshore in play. He can really get you back into the game when you're running out of energy because of Raichu's constant Energy burning attacks. I'm not saying you should do that though, it's just a suggestion. As far as the Sunyshore goes I would run at least 2 and preferably 3. With 3 you will get one early pretty consistently in my Experiences and that's always a good thing.

 

[Ralts4ever]

Magnezone only attaches to your active pokemon. That could be a problem. So you'll need a good way of healing now. Nice to see that your already posting the deck.:thumb:

 

[Arcanite]

Use 2 Raich HGSS - Cheaper attack = Turn 2 madness!

 

[Denjin Hadou]

Even if Raichu GS's attack is cheaper, Lv. X still needs 3 energy to attack, so by the time you get around to using Raichu GS's Thunderbolt, that's 3 energy discarded instead of 2.

 

[Sabett]

I personally would take out the 2 Crobats and a Pikachu for a 2-1 Lanturn prime line. I know it's pyramid but it ups your chances of getting a Chinchou in your starting hand against a potential Donphan deck and get the ball rolling that much faster without wasting a trainer/supporter to get it out. I don't even use Fisherman in my deck actually to be honest because I'd rather save my supporter for something else. Instead I run a 2-1 Electivire FB line to recycle the energy back onto all my pokemon in 1 to 2 turns and hit them hard with powerful spark for around 80 damage. it really is a great mid late game card, even if he doesn't last that long because instead of taking a turn just to get the energy back into your hand you can get it back AND attach it on whatever you want. Granted it ends your turn but he can normally survive 1-2 turns of attacks with a Sunyshore in play. He can really get you back into the game when you're running out of energy because of Raichu's constant Energy burning attacks. I'm not saying you should do that though, it's just a suggestion. As far as the Sunyshore goes I would run at least 2 and preferably 3. With 3 you will get one early pretty consistently in my Experiences and that's always a good thing.

Ok, so a to me this deck has drastically changed since last we replied, but I'll try to cover the essentials.

First thing, I really dont like Eletivire FB. It soaks up a turn, where as magnezone/rayquaza sit on the bench. Also if he get's sprayed, your turn still gets skipped.

Second thing, I've found a better counter for Donphan than Lanturn, and I think it might be the right choice. Dewgong RR. There are also plenty of donphan decks running mesprit, so this will always be water. All I have to do is switch out some electrics for multis. I don't have to worry about setting up a stadium either. Also, I don't see why we would run a 2-1 line, if we don't know when we're going to be playing against Donphan.

Third thing, I've made a bad misconception, with my attempt to Raichu X turn after turn, via hunter and fisherman, I've accidentaly planned to use two suppporters at once. To rememdy this I suggest replacing Fisherman with Energy Restore. With this we can do the following:

*Just double attacked with Raichu X last turn, and have another raichu waiting in the wings*

*There are also currently 5 energies in the discard*

We use Energy Restore, hopefully getting back 2 energies.

Attach to Raichu X from magnezone and Rayquaza powers, then retreat Raichu X, bringing up the Raichu waiting in the wings.

Then attach all the energy to the new Raichu, via it's power, then Hunter the Raichu X up.

Level Up the New Raichu, and go to town.

That's the plan anyway.

Fourth, another thing I've noticed is that it's not the easiest thing to get Staraptor FB. (Not that I've tested it yet.) So upping the count of it to start with might be essential. This also means we can cut down on the pikachu like you said.


Fifth, I also can't believe I hadn't added a Palmer's, yet.

Here's my take on it, what do you think?

-1 Pikachu
-2 Fisherman
-1 Rare Candy
-3 Lightning Energy
-1 Crobat G
-1 Poketurn
-1 Hunter

+2 Multi Energy
+1 Seel
+1 Dewgong
+3 Energy Restore
+2 Staraptor FB
+1 Palmers

Magnezone only attaches to your active pokemon. That could be a problem. So you'll need a good way of healing now. Nice to see that your already posting the deck.:thumb:

Darn you, I know you've been changing the rules behind my back. LoL, can't believe I was victim again to RTC, thanks, I'll fix it.

Even if Raichu GS's attack is cheaper, Lv. X still needs 3 energy to attack, so by the time you get around to using Raichu GS's Thunderbolt, that's 3 energy discarded instead of 2.

This.

 

[Denjin Hadou]

At most, I would run 2 Multi Energy in this deck, and by dropping Electric Energy, you lower your chances of running into any energy at all through Interviewer's Questions.

 

[Sabett]

At most, I would run 2 Multi Energy in this deck, and by dropping Electric Energy, you lower your chances of running into any energy at all through Interviewer's Questions.

Are you talking about how I dropped the energy count to 11? Or did you not realize interviewer's questions can grab multis? Would you still change the count to 2?

 

[Denjin Hadou]

I'm fully aware that supporter can grab any energy, what you should be concerned about is your lowered chances of running into energy.

 

[Sabett]

I'm fully aware that supporter can grab any energy, what you should be concerned about is your lowered chances of running into energy.

Then what do you suggest to take out for the energy?

 

[Denjin Hadou]

First thing's first; how dependent are you on Staraptor FBX?

 

[Sabett]

First thing's first; how dependent are you on Staraptor FBX?

I haven't tested, but it seems awfully key. I don't see the big deal between 12 and 11.

 

[Leafia]

Which Raichu are you using ?? 3 primes ? And what is the Regice for?
I would take down the crobat G and poké turns to add 1 more energy and 2 pokémon communication and a palmer, or just 3 poké communication. If you want you can take down the staraptor line for 3 Cyrus's Conspiracy, it lets you search the supporter you need and a basic energy but you will only be able to play the supporter next turn... just a suggestion. Maybe try to add some expert belts since it would work extremely well with the raichu lv x, you double attack 100 snipe and 140 with mega thunderbolt to the active pokémon then retreat and hunter him back to your hand so the opponent doesn't get a chance to take down two prizes from the e-belt.

And also thx alot for this post, I learned alot on how raichu decks works because i have been wanting to make one

 

[Denjin Hadou]

I was considering dropping the whole Staraptor line for 1 Uxie and 3 Electric Energy, bringing up Uxie to 2 and your total energy to 13.

Which Raichu are you using ?? 3 primes ? And what is the Regice for?

The Regice is for getting Energy in the discard to make use of Magnezone's Super Connectivity and Rayquaza's Speed Gain as well as force a switch on the opponent's Pokémon. Raichu Prime's Voltage Up transfers energy regained by Rayquaza to Raichu.