Round II: Dendrobatida VS Pokemasterflabface

[Cyrus]

~Dendrobatida~

ron Chef, Round Two:

"You know that episode of the Loony Tunes where Sylvester is chasing a mouse, but then a baby kangaroo jumps out instead, and beats the tar out of him? Yeah....its like that." Or, for short, "Kangaroo Rat"...

Pokemon: 18
4 Plusle - DX
4 Rattata - RR, call for family
4 Dark Raticate - RR
3 Meditite - EM, fake out
3 Medicham - HL holo, Meditate and Chakra Points

Trainers: 26
4 Mary's Request
3 Steven's Advice
2 Copycat
2 Rocket's Admin
3 Desert Ruins
2 Pow! Hand extension
4 Wally's Training
4 Curse Powder
1 Pokemon Retriever
1 ATM-Rock

Energy: 16
8 fighting
4 Darkness
4 Multi

Strategy: Again, like last round, I get a pokemon with ridiculous amounts of combos possible....and again, dark TTar seems the obvious choice, but it ain't original. I perseverated between dark raticate and dark gyarados for a long time, but went with raticate because it requires less energy diversification, has better short and long term damage potential, retreats for free, and, well, magikarp sucks. Starting with plusle or rattata isn't bad at all, since all we're really trying to do is get a dark raticate active and a medicham on our bench, and either choice will get us there immediately. Once that occurs, the objective is to swarm with raticates. Spread the damage around, particularly on pokemon on the bench that might be building big. Plusle can also do this with a multi. As soon as possible, get a curse powder on that raticate. When it's knocked out, bring up a medicham and use meditate. With just one attack from raticate, the thing will probably have 20 damage on it. Curse powder will add 30 more. Then medicham can hit for 70, for only 2 energy. That's 120 right there - our magic number. Alternatively, if raticate is facing their big hitter immediately, you can dark seed, let them knock you out, and at the end of their turn, it takes 80, followed by an even 100 from medicham. That'll knock out anything in the game right now...It's dark seed, too, that makes raticate more effective than dark gyarados. Dark G would do an aggregate 60, but you'd lose 2-3 energy in the process. Raticate can do the same thing, +20 more damage, for 1, or at least force a switch card. I didn't find anything in my multiple searches of the databases that spreads damage quicker, with as much choice, or as effectively as dark raticate for that few resources (2 colorless for a total of 40 + poison? 50 with a dark? 60 with 2 darks? And free retreat for medicham? We'll take it...). In short, force them to chase the rat until the kangaroo can whup 'em.

Individual card explanations:

EM meditite: t1 10 damage for any energy, t2 Ko of plusle, paralysis=good.

Draw engine: mary's request is a duh sort of choice. Steven's is there because ludicargo is still beastly. Copycat is a standard, and Admin works well in any swarm deck.

Ruins: Spread...more....damage....

Pow!: though we're usually going after the active, these help so much in a tight spot. Also, since raticate and plusle hit the bench, it's never a bad thing to move a critical energy to the bench and take it away midgame, getting the ko at the same time.

Wally's: T1 dark seed is too good to pass up. We have 8 basics with call for family, and tons of straight draw, so I think we can afford to go vicious over the stability of celios in this case, particularly since we have no need to build benched searching pokemon like magcargo or pidgeot.

Curse Powder: Godly with medicham, and ratatta is the perfect carrier for it, since it works well with dark seed or spread poison.

ATM-Rock: Just one, but it's so useful in damage spreading decks that it's hard to leave it out. Candied pidgeots don't last long against plusle and raticate swarms. Also, a dark seed + curse powder + ATM-rock will take down a scizor -ex, even if it was previously undamaged and had 4 metal.

-Jake/Dendro

~Pokemasterflabface~

First off here is the decklist I made in a hurry:

Pokemon (16)
4x Meditite #55/106 (HL)
4x Medicham #10/101 (HL)
3x Houndour #59/109 (TRR)
3x Houndoom #7/115 (UF)
2x Unown R #R/28 (UF)

Trainers (27)
3x Great Ball #92/112 (FR/LG)
3x Celio's Network #88/112 (FR/LG)
3x Steven's Advice #92/101 (HL)
3x Prof. Cozmo's Discovery #90/107 (DX)
1x Pokemon Retriever #84/109 (TRR)
3x Energy Root #83/115 (UF)
3x Pokemon Reversal #88/115 (UF)
2x Desert Ruins #88/101 (HL)
1x Island Cave #89/101 (HL)
2x Swoop! Teleporter #92/109 (TRR)
1x Copycat #83/109 (TRR)
1x Briney's Compassion #8/17 (POP2)
1x ATM [Rock] #85/101 (HL)

Energy (17)
10x Fighting
2x Fire
4x Double Rainbow #87/106 (EM)
1x Scramble #95/107 (DX)

Strategy:

Pokemon
I was having a hard time trying to think of what to go with Medicham...and the obvious choice was Houndoom. His Lonesome Poke-Body helps keep your Opponent from using Trainers and keeping their Hand size big. Then, using Medicham's Chakra Point Attack..which does 10 Damage plus 10 more for each card in your Opponent's Hand. So...you can deal some good damage if you keep your Opponent's Hand big. Unown R was added to the mix because if you get Heads on his attack...your Opponent returns the Defending Pokemon and all cards attached to it to their Hand, another good way to increase his Hand size.

Trainers
Swoop!/Great Ball was needed just in case I start with the Pokemon I don't want or if I only have one and need another Bench to Survive. Typical Draw Supports have been added and Celio's to get the Stage 1 Pokemon out quickly. Energy Root to help keep Medicham alive...making his HP a good 100 for a Stage 1 Pokemon. Reversal to get the Pokemon I want to Knock Out Active or to try and use Unown R to Return them to the Opponents Hand. Stadiums for when I need them to help me out. ATM [Rock] just in case I need to take out some Pokemon that have already been Damaged.

Energy
Fighting and Fire for this deck...mainly Fighting because Medicham is the Main Pokemon in the deck. Double Rainbow to make the deck faster...Speed is the key. Just 1 Scramble just in case I'm in trouble and need to use it to get back ahead.

In Short, by using Houndoom's Lonesome and Unown R to keep your Opponent's Hand big, you are able to do a lot of Damage with Medicham's Chakra Points.

 

[bulbasnore]

I like the combo for PMFF - I think you could get their hand big and do some good Chakra points, but I think that Dendrobatida has more options and swarm will do the job more reliably between the two.

 

[Dendrobatida]

Dude, pokemaster...Cozmo's over Mary's Request? Ouch!

 

[CleffaGirl]

Go dendrobatida!!!!!! =)

 

[Prime]

Both have interesting decks to say the least.

 

[Dendrobatida]

And while I'm at it, well played, PMFF. While I can't see the logic behind your screenname, your deck is solid. Thanks for the competition! It was fun.

-Jake/Dendro

 

[Cyrus]

Yeah, he's actually a really skinny guy IRL

 

[PokeMasterFlabface]

I made the deck in a hurry...being the day before the Turn-In date, so it was a bit of a rushed effort. Mary's Request totally slipped my mind...ah well this was fun. Good job Dendro. (And yes I am skinny...the Flabface is just a name I've made up.)

 

[BANGINBOX]

for the lunny thunes deck that deck does not make sence Ratticate with Medicham