Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Revamped Salamence

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Coryace

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Hey all. Last night Jimmy O'Brien and I spent some time talking about the Cedar Grove GC and my choice to play Swampert/Suicune ex/Wob/Delcatty. I was commenting that in all of my games against Blaziken variants, they were either won or lost on Pokemon Reversal flips. I'd get the set up every game, but if I couldn't force out the Blaziken ex to KO with Suicune ex or Wob, they'd keep Bex on the bench, bring it up to take out Suicune ex, and then work around Wob with Manetric or Combusken. When I'd get Reversals off, I'd win flat out. Without them, I'd usually lose in a close game.

The same logic applies to the Gardevoir ex vs Blaziken Variant match, which both Jimmy and I have played to some extent. Gardevoir would seem to have the tools to beat it: Wob, Crystal Shard, psychic type, Reversals, and so on. That match always comes down to whether or not the Garde player gets a Reversal off before Blaziken ex or Rayquaza ex gets powered.

This in mind, we decided on Salamence as a deck worth looking at. It's got the constant Gust ability and as I'll show, can play incredibly fast. With Suicune ex and Wob as support it has the tools to be Blaziken Variants and speed and gusting ability keep it in the game against most everything else. I'll go through the list and then explain the strategy and common match ups.

Pokemon-14
4 Dunsparce
3 Bagon
3 Salamence
2 Suicune ex
2 Wobbuffet

Energy-22
14 Water
4 Multi
4 Double Rainbow

Trainers-24
4 Oak's Research
4 TV Reporter
3 Rare Candy
3 Desert Shaman
3 Fast Ball
2 Switch
2 Friend Ball
1 Strength Charm
1 Pokemon Nurse
1 Briney's Compassion

Basically it's just a concept and I'm sure it needs to be tweaked a bit, but I think the basic strategy is very nice. You can take various openings. Second turn Salamence to do Agility/Gust is do-able with Fast Ball/Rare Candy. Dunsparce works like any other typical start. Energy Flip and Desert Shaman can disrupt early game. Basically, you're just trying to be faster or disrupt them early so when Sal' gets up you can pick off stuff on their bench rather than contending with a main hitter.

Double Rainbow speeds up the Sal' set up without really changing what it can and can't OHKO. Rayquaza, most popular evolution chain basics, etc, are still gust targets. Nurse works nice with Suicune, Briney is cool with Wob. Strength Charm allows for a Dragon Claw to take out a Manetric, often very handy against Blaziken and something they won't see coming. Multi makes Wob usable or takes care of the Fire cost for Sal' if you choose not to drop the Double Rainbow. Friend Ball will target their Dunsparce usually, but since most things play Wob and there's a lot of water played, it can be helpful to get either of the support hitters.

Gardevoir is hurt a lot by Wob and you can Gust around their Wobs with Sal'. If need be, you can Gust and then Switch to get a Suicune ex or Wob out as is appropriate. Blaziken Variants can't use Ray as they can't power it in one turn, so you just gust and KO it. Resistance to fire stops them from going with Blaze swarm, and Suicune ex/Wob can handle the Blaziken ex well enough. This pretty much outspeeds Sceptile, picking off benched stuff, etc. Against most anything else you disrupt early and get Sal' going. They'll probably try to Crystal Shard, in which case you bring out Wob or Suicune until you can rebuild.

Anyway, I'm sure this needs some tweaking, so go for it. It's just an interesting list, I think, and a simple enough design to be fast and effective...
 
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Hey Cory, awesome to see ya on the boards, man.

Not sure how well Compassion would be for you since you're using Rare Candy. I guess scooping a Wobbs would be okay though. Still, I think you could fit some other stuff in this deck like Warp Point. You want to be able to be able to switch out without killing off your eneergy, so you need some max switching power in this deck. I'd drop a few energy and run like 3 Warp Point and keep those 2 switch. This way you can have wob up there. Switch, Use Salamence for Gust and switch back or something. I also dunno how well 1 s. charm would work for you. Same w/ the nurse. You're not using Oracle, so its kinda hard to grab those when you need them. I'd figure something else to put in there instead. Maybe a counter gym.

GL with it man, this looks pretty slow, but I may be mistaken.
 
yeha, i dont know how you are going to attach so many energy in time for suicune ex. i dont like briney here, i like 2x strength charm. i dont get what nurse does. pretty good deck, maybe use sharpedo (ru/sa) instead of suicune, and some high pressure system as a counter stadium.
 
Pat: Hey, thanks for the reply and welcome. I don't really know what you mean about it being slow. It's a turn two Salamence if you need it, turn three attacking in full with DRE. You don't need that though. You can go Shaman/Energy Flip to mess with them while you build a Sal'. Once the Sal' is up you're gusting and KOing so you can you can just use the normal energy drops to power Wob/Suicune. It's three turns, yeah, but it's no slower than pumping anything else, and you have the time since you're disrupting and taking prizes. I agree about getting more Switch/Warp Point though, that's a good point. I might run some Oracle to make the singles work and getting Rare Candy easier. The point you made on AIM about Ancient Ruins or whatever the does-damage-to-ex gym is called is really valid. Anyone have ideas on what a good counter gym is here? Worst case I can avoid playing the Suicune until I have control of the gym...right?

JasonThePwnda: Thanks for the reply. Briney is mostly for Wob, with the self-damage I'd rather just scoop it after a series of attacks and bring out Salamence (which you've had time to build while attacking) than let it get KOed, but as I said to Pat, it may end up going in favor of more reliable stuff or a counter gym. The point of Nurse is after a Hydro Reverse with Suicune you can Nurse it before attaching another energy and doing Energy Flip, damage removal with no cost. I'd rather not help out Blaze with High Pressure, but it's an idea worth considering. As for how I'm getting the energy down? Playing it from my hand. Energy Flip is a decent disruption attack early game, and Hydro Reverse is only a three energy cost. You can build it on the bench while attacking with Salamence. You bring it up for a KO against Bex or whatever and Switch/retreat out for Sal' or Wob.
 
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nikePK said:
I also dunno how well 1 s. charm would work for you.
Click to expand...

I agree in part, I'm wondering if perhaps cutting energy for Strength Charms might be worthwhile? With 7 supporters that shuffle the hand into the deck, the odds of having energy are pretty good. What about playing some actual fire energy? Just curious what people think on that one. In a way it could slow down suicune, but in another it does so much for it... just a thought. Why use Warp Point over Switch in this deck? Sorry if that seems like a bad question, but we have auto gust.
 
This Still Losses to Gard

Even though you can gust around the wobbs or atk with your wobbs,they can OHKO ur wobbs with 1 nrg,And they can OHKO you you cant OHKO there gex.
 
try using... O_O Azumarill!

I'm serious. Azumarill x3 in this deck would work wonders. It'll give you a free retreat poke and more advantage over blaze.
 
Mudkip/Krazie: How does this lose to Garde? No, really, explain. This can win with 4 energy in play, can Shaman to make their work with Wynaut early useless, can have Wob against their Garde ex, can OHKO a Wob that has attacked twice or has had Garde's power used on it, can take out Ralts to stop them from getting both Gardes out...what about the match up puts this at all at a disadvantage?

Mr_Fuji: I've a feeling that'd slow this down, forcing us to abandon the whole Fast Ball thing, but thanks for the reply. I'll at least consider it.

Jim: I've not had a chance to really test much, for lack of a Apprentice patch that has TA/TM in it, but it does appear that we can save some space on energy. Priorities look like a counter gym, more Swtich-ish stuff, and Strength Charm. I'd actually really like Oracle as well, just thinking that the draw engine is somewhat shakey. I'll talk to you on AIM.
 
I can see this losing to gardy if you can't get setup fast. Gardevoir can get enough energy out on the board before you can get a good swarm going and once Gardevoir ex comes out, its going to be an ohko... or at least 2 hit ko on Salamence... there goes 3 energy down the drain. If you do get the t2 Sally, then yes, I can see you taking an early advantage if you can shaman those blasted Wynauts. If you can't, then you'll be in trouble because a Gardy or Gardy ex can get setup on you fast. Then, you have to take 3 more turns to power up a Wobbuffet... this is quite some time.

I think 4 Shaman should be necessary in this. Just my opinion.
 
Krayzie: How do they knock out the wob in one hit with one energy? We're using Multi and not rainbow, so if I am correct in thinking I know what you're thinking, then Ralts doesn't pull a OHKO.

Mudkip: Why do you have this opinion, same as everyone else?

Anyone: TA/TM Apprentice patch to further test this deck?

Anyone think one or two Copycat would be better than TV reporter? I don't like TV in any deck that doesn't pull back the energy, or just not care about its cards. I'm also thinking about that supporter that lets you peek at the top 4, draw 2, and put the rest on the bottom of your deck. I forget the name, sound good/interesting to anyone?
 
My main problem with Sal was that the Blaziken decks could power up Raquaza Ex in one turn and OHKO him.

Now, with the new Ancient Tomb stadium card, I think that Sal might be a lot more viable.

I wonder if the Blaziken decks will run Ancient Tomb to protect themselves from Kyogre EX?
 
No I wasnt talking about Ralts.There gardevoir with1 nrg will ko a 3 nrg wobb.Almost all new gard list play reversal.So they can gust out your wobb you just spent 2-3 turns attaching to and ko it.Salamence is good,I like the power,but he has no energy manipulation.
 
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