This is Rayeggs, a list I made based off the new colection Emerald Break (EB). I playtested it with proxies and crudly refined it in the past few days - it is surely subject to changes as this set releases and we get a good hang of how it behaves on the metagame.
Pokemon: 20
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 30
Energy: 10
EDIT (31/03/2015): Recent discussions made me reconsider my opinion on Mega Turbo. I suggest you still playtest with and without it to see what better suits your playstyle. To include Mega Turbo, adjust the list like this:
-2 Grass Energy
-1 Repeat Ball
+3 Mega Turbo
Strategy:
(The description of yet-to-release cards will be inside Spoilers)
With the new set Emerald Break, we got a new attacker that will surely design a new archetype around him, and that is the Colorless Mega Rayquaza-EX:
There has been some controversy regarding the sheer power of this card. Many have argued that it is not capable of dishing OHKOs fast enough, since it relies on having a lot of benched Pokémon and the support of another EB card, Skyfield:
The basic strategy of the deck, based on the 2 cards I already presented, is to bench as much Pokémon as possible using the power of Skyfield and attack for up to 240 damage with Mega Rayquaza-EX. This strat is the basis of all decks revolving around [C] M Ray; what changes between lists is exactly -what- you're benching.
Our first unique bench filler is going to be Exeggcute from Plasma Freeze. Exeggcute has the ability Propagation, wich lets you put him in your hand directly from the discard pile, and you can do that as many times as you want in your turn. Because of that, if we are able to put Exeggcute from our deck into our discard pile, it can instantly turn into a bench sitter, and that's exactly why we have 3 Battle Compressors - I'll get into them later. There are other 2 major uses for Exeggcute in our deck: it's an easy way to not discard important resources with Ultra Ball; also, if Skyfield gets discarded, it's a safe Pokémon you can discard and then instantly replace when you get another Skyfield out. Always remember to only bench the strictly necessary amount of Exeggcutes to get the Knock-Out - leave the excess inside your discard pile to be able to pull Ultra Ball plays later on in the game.
Swablu and Altaria are both there exclusively to tech against Thunder types that can OHKO our Mega Rayquazas. With Altaria's trait, wich is shared with our M Rayquaza-EX too (I'll get into his case later), you can pull this little combo off in one turn. If the matchup does not present any threat of hitting for weakness, you can always use Battle Compressor and get those 2 out of your deck.
Shaymin-EX from Emerald Break is another amazing bench-filler. It allows us to have a really good draw-engine when paired with our high count of Ultra Balls. With some degree of luck and a lot of planning, Shaymin allows us to draw through more than half our deck on turn 1, wich combos really well with M Rayquaza's Delta Trait. If you start with a Shaymin there is also the possibility to use his attack and retrieve him and the DCE.
The list uses 2 Mr. Mimes because you can't afford to have your Exeggcutes exposed to bench damage ever. Running only one means that there will be times you'll have it prized, and that is asking to be Lysandre'd into a double knock-out by a Landorus EX.
Jirachi-EX is here not only for consistency, but because this deck runs a very low supporter line - wich I'll explain why later - and a very high Ultra Ball line.
Genesect from Legendary Treasures and Virizion-EX are the reasons why we run Grass Energy as our basic type. Virizion-EX not only provides immunity to Laserbank but it also serves as an alternative starter in slower games against - guess what - Toads. Genesect, with 2 Grass Energy and a Double Colorless, can OHKO both the Safeguarders and Seismitoad. It won't be knocked out back by a Toad deck unless they tech in fire types, wich potentially will net you 4 Prizes. We need direct counters to Toads in this deck because of the low supporter count and the very high dependance on item cards like Ultra Ball, Battle Compressor and Rayquaza Spirit Link. Alternatively you could run Exeggutor from Plasma Freeze, wich brings in a good stall attack in Blockade and can potentially hit for the same 90 on a coin flip but for one less energy - this one needs more playtesting, it can be better than Genesect because of the water resistance (thanks CruelBear for the suggestion).
The low supporter count is there because we are running Battle Compressor, 4 VS Seeker and Shaymins. Doing so gives the deck the flexibility to get the support we want, discarding it directly from the deck and getting it back with a VS Seeker. The draw power in this deck is also provided by Shaymins, wich makes drawing through the deck an easy task even with only 5 draw Supporters. This makes the deck succeptible to item lock by Toads, and hence why the direct counters splashed in.
Battle Compressor is there not only to discard the Exeggcutes early on, but also to get desirable Supporters on the discard pile, as already mentioned, and to discard our 4 tech Pokémon when they are not going to get any use (Swablu, Altaria, Genesect and Virizion EX). For that purposes, 3 is more than enough and 4 would end up just taking unnecessary space.
The list also runs 4 Ultra Ball and 2 Repeat Ball. If we could run 8 Ultra Ball, I swear we would. This deck relies a lot on getting specific Pokémon out in specific orders and turns, and a lot of it's draw power and damage power comes from that. The 4 Ultra Balls will end up being (95% of the time) Master Balls because of the 4 Exeggcutes. Repeat Balls are there as an extra oomph on the Pokémon search engine, just to get more Rays/M Rays and Shaymins out.
Rayquaza Spirit Link's usage is obvious, but lets not forget that Mega Rayquaza-EX has the so-useful trait Delta-Evolution, wich lets him evolve on the first turn or on the turn that Rayquaza-EX is benched. This won't necessarily make our M Rays attack on the turn they are benched, but surely adds in more consistency on getting them out, since you can pull everything out in the same turn and not risk getting your M Ray N'ed away. It also opens up the possibility to Mega Evolve without the spirit link on the first turn without much drawbacks.
Scoop-Up Cyclone, despite being a sub-par Ace Spec, combos really well with our cards mid to late game. It can retrieve a damaged M Ray, wich can then be benched instantly abusing his Delta Evolution trait. It can retrieve a Shaymin-EX or a Jirachi-EX, making their abilities useful again or getting them outside the risk of being targets of a Lysandre.
The Startling Megaphone is a quick answer to Garbodor, wich this deck struggles with. It is a complimentary tool to the 2 Lysandre-4 VS Seeker, and can be dished out if your metagame does not have a lot of Garbodors.
A single Switch is there to get any bad starter out of the front line, since most of our Pokémons have one or two energy retreat cost and we can't afford to waste an attachment only on that. The best starter in this deck, despite being one turn exposed to damage before using Emerald Break, is actually Rayquaza EX. It can start dishing a little damage with his first attack, but mostly is a good starter because all the other Pokémons are bad starters (except Virizion in certain matchups) and shouldn't leave the bench. You surely should consider running more switches or escape ropes.
Why I am not running:
I am not running Ninetales from PC because, on playtesting, I found it really clunky to pull out. Also, not having him and actually running 4 Skyfield makes for some interesting strats: if you need to have more benched Pokémons next turn, just discard Exeggcutes and get them back on the field with Propagation as soon as you have another Skyfield up. If you have spare Exeggcutes to bench, when Skyfield gets discarded you can simply discard Shaymins or the Jirachi and remove the threat of them being Lysandre'd.
I'm going to quote my comment from another thread on why I am not running Mega Turbo:
I am not running Skarmory nor Winona because this deck does not need more engines to fill up it's bench - Exeggcute, allied with Battle Compressors and 6 Balls is more than enough.
I am also not running Aromatisse because - not only it takes a lot of space - it makes the deck very clunky to run and you'd end up Mega Potioning a DCE away most of the time. It is more effective to run a fast-paced deck with a stream of Mega Rayquazas. You'd also not benefit from Fairy Garden.
Things that you might consider running in this deck:
- More counters to Toads/Safeguarders
- Heavier Supporter line
- More Switching Cards
- More Megaphones
- Less Balls
- Mega Turbo if you manage to profit out of it
- Another Non-EX Grass attacker, instead of the regular Genesect.
100% open to discussing this deck. If I have already thought of something you suggest, I'll explain why it's not in the list.
Pokemon: 20
3 [C] Rayquaza EX
3 [C] M Rayquaza EX
4 Exeggcute (PF)
1 Swablu (EB)
1 Altaria (EB)
3 Shaymin EX (EB)
2 Mr. Mime (PF)
1 Jirachi EX
1 Tropius (LT) OR Genesect (LT)
1 Virizion EX
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 30
4x Professor Juniper
1x N
2x Lysandre
4x VS Seeker
4x Skyfield
4x Ultra Ball
2x Repeat Ball
3x Battle Compressor
3x Rayquaza Spirit Link
1x Scoop-Up Cyclone
1x Startling Megaphone
1x Switch
Energy: 10
6x Grass Energy
4x Double Colorless Energy
EDIT (31/03/2015): Recent discussions made me reconsider my opinion on Mega Turbo. I suggest you still playtest with and without it to see what better suits your playstyle. To include Mega Turbo, adjust the list like this:
-2 Grass Energy
-1 Repeat Ball
+3 Mega Turbo
Strategy:
(The description of yet-to-release cards will be inside Spoilers)
With the new set Emerald Break, we got a new attacker that will surely design a new archetype around him, and that is the Colorless Mega Rayquaza-EX:
M Rayquaza-EX – Colorless – HP220
Mega Evolution – Evolves from Rayquaza-EX
When 1 of your Pokemon becomes a Mega Evolution, your turn ends.
Δ Evolution: Once during your turn (before your attack), you may play this card from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokemon even if that Pokemon was put into play this turn or if it’s your first turn.
[C][C][C] Emerald Break: 30x damage. Does 30 damage times the number of Pokemon on your Bench.
When a Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1
Mega Evolution – Evolves from Rayquaza-EX
When 1 of your Pokemon becomes a Mega Evolution, your turn ends.
Δ Evolution: Once during your turn (before your attack), you may play this card from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokemon even if that Pokemon was put into play this turn or if it’s your first turn.
[C][C][C] Emerald Break: 30x damage. Does 30 damage times the number of Pokemon on your Bench.
When a Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1
There has been some controversy regarding the sheer power of this card. Many have argued that it is not capable of dishing OHKOs fast enough, since it relies on having a lot of benched Pokémon and the support of another EB card, Skyfield:
Skyfield – Trainer
Stadium
Both players may have up to 8 Benched Pokemon.
If this Stadium card is no longer in play, each player discards their Benched Pokemon (and all cards attached to them) until there are 5 Benched Pokemon left.
This card stays in play when you play it. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play. If another card with the same name is in play, you can’t play this card.
Stadium
Both players may have up to 8 Benched Pokemon.
If this Stadium card is no longer in play, each player discards their Benched Pokemon (and all cards attached to them) until there are 5 Benched Pokemon left.
This card stays in play when you play it. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play. If another card with the same name is in play, you can’t play this card.
The basic strategy of the deck, based on the 2 cards I already presented, is to bench as much Pokémon as possible using the power of Skyfield and attack for up to 240 damage with Mega Rayquaza-EX. This strat is the basis of all decks revolving around [C] M Ray; what changes between lists is exactly -what- you're benching.
Our first unique bench filler is going to be Exeggcute from Plasma Freeze. Exeggcute has the ability Propagation, wich lets you put him in your hand directly from the discard pile, and you can do that as many times as you want in your turn. Because of that, if we are able to put Exeggcute from our deck into our discard pile, it can instantly turn into a bench sitter, and that's exactly why we have 3 Battle Compressors - I'll get into them later. There are other 2 major uses for Exeggcute in our deck: it's an easy way to not discard important resources with Ultra Ball; also, if Skyfield gets discarded, it's a safe Pokémon you can discard and then instantly replace when you get another Skyfield out. Always remember to only bench the strictly necessary amount of Exeggcutes to get the Knock-Out - leave the excess inside your discard pile to be able to pull Ultra Ball plays later on in the game.
Swablu and Altaria are both there exclusively to tech against Thunder types that can OHKO our Mega Rayquazas. With Altaria's trait, wich is shared with our M Rayquaza-EX too (I'll get into his case later), you can pull this little combo off in one turn. If the matchup does not present any threat of hitting for weakness, you can always use Battle Compressor and get those 2 out of your deck.
Altaria – Colorless – HP90
Stage 1 – Evolves from Swablu
Δ Evolution: Once during your turn (before your attack), you may play this card from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokemon even if that Pokemon was put into play this turn or if it’s your first turn.
Ability: Clear Humming
As long as this Pokemon is in play, each of your [C] Pokemon has no Weakness.
[C][C] Wing Attack: 30 damage.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1
Stage 1 – Evolves from Swablu
Δ Evolution: Once during your turn (before your attack), you may play this card from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokemon even if that Pokemon was put into play this turn or if it’s your first turn.
Ability: Clear Humming
As long as this Pokemon is in play, each of your [C] Pokemon has no Weakness.
[C][C] Wing Attack: 30 damage.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1
Shaymin-EX from Emerald Break is another amazing bench-filler. It allows us to have a really good draw-engine when paired with our high count of Ultra Balls. With some degree of luck and a lot of planning, Shaymin allows us to draw through more than half our deck on turn 1, wich combos really well with M Rayquaza's Delta Trait. If you start with a Shaymin there is also the possibility to use his attack and retrieve him and the DCE.
Shaymin-EX – Colorless – HP110
Basic Pokemon
Ability: Setup
Once during your turn (before your attack), when you play this Pokemon from your hand to your Bench, you may draw cards until you have 6 cards in your hand.
[C][C] Sky Return: 30 damage. Return this Pokemon and all cards attached to it to your hand.
When a Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1
Basic Pokemon
Ability: Setup
Once during your turn (before your attack), when you play this Pokemon from your hand to your Bench, you may draw cards until you have 6 cards in your hand.
[C][C] Sky Return: 30 damage. Return this Pokemon and all cards attached to it to your hand.
When a Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 1
The list uses 2 Mr. Mimes because you can't afford to have your Exeggcutes exposed to bench damage ever. Running only one means that there will be times you'll have it prized, and that is asking to be Lysandre'd into a double knock-out by a Landorus EX.
Jirachi-EX is here not only for consistency, but because this deck runs a very low supporter line - wich I'll explain why later - and a very high Ultra Ball line.
Genesect from Legendary Treasures and Virizion-EX are the reasons why we run Grass Energy as our basic type. Virizion-EX not only provides immunity to Laserbank but it also serves as an alternative starter in slower games against - guess what - Toads. Genesect, with 2 Grass Energy and a Double Colorless, can OHKO both the Safeguarders and Seismitoad. It won't be knocked out back by a Toad deck unless they tech in fire types, wich potentially will net you 4 Prizes. We need direct counters to Toads in this deck because of the low supporter count and the very high dependance on item cards like Ultra Ball, Battle Compressor and Rayquaza Spirit Link. Alternatively you could run Exeggutor from Plasma Freeze, wich brings in a good stall attack in Blockade and can potentially hit for the same 90 on a coin flip but for one less energy - this one needs more playtesting, it can be better than Genesect because of the water resistance (thanks CruelBear for the suggestion).
The low supporter count is there because we are running Battle Compressor, 4 VS Seeker and Shaymins. Doing so gives the deck the flexibility to get the support we want, discarding it directly from the deck and getting it back with a VS Seeker. The draw power in this deck is also provided by Shaymins, wich makes drawing through the deck an easy task even with only 5 draw Supporters. This makes the deck succeptible to item lock by Toads, and hence why the direct counters splashed in.
Battle Compressor is there not only to discard the Exeggcutes early on, but also to get desirable Supporters on the discard pile, as already mentioned, and to discard our 4 tech Pokémon when they are not going to get any use (Swablu, Altaria, Genesect and Virizion EX). For that purposes, 3 is more than enough and 4 would end up just taking unnecessary space.
The list also runs 4 Ultra Ball and 2 Repeat Ball. If we could run 8 Ultra Ball, I swear we would. This deck relies a lot on getting specific Pokémon out in specific orders and turns, and a lot of it's draw power and damage power comes from that. The 4 Ultra Balls will end up being (95% of the time) Master Balls because of the 4 Exeggcutes. Repeat Balls are there as an extra oomph on the Pokémon search engine, just to get more Rays/M Rays and Shaymins out.
Rayquaza Spirit Link's usage is obvious, but lets not forget that Mega Rayquaza-EX has the so-useful trait Delta-Evolution, wich lets him evolve on the first turn or on the turn that Rayquaza-EX is benched. This won't necessarily make our M Rays attack on the turn they are benched, but surely adds in more consistency on getting them out, since you can pull everything out in the same turn and not risk getting your M Ray N'ed away. It also opens up the possibility to Mega Evolve without the spirit link on the first turn without much drawbacks.
Scoop-Up Cyclone, despite being a sub-par Ace Spec, combos really well with our cards mid to late game. It can retrieve a damaged M Ray, wich can then be benched instantly abusing his Delta Evolution trait. It can retrieve a Shaymin-EX or a Jirachi-EX, making their abilities useful again or getting them outside the risk of being targets of a Lysandre.
The Startling Megaphone is a quick answer to Garbodor, wich this deck struggles with. It is a complimentary tool to the 2 Lysandre-4 VS Seeker, and can be dished out if your metagame does not have a lot of Garbodors.
A single Switch is there to get any bad starter out of the front line, since most of our Pokémons have one or two energy retreat cost and we can't afford to waste an attachment only on that. The best starter in this deck, despite being one turn exposed to damage before using Emerald Break, is actually Rayquaza EX. It can start dishing a little damage with his first attack, but mostly is a good starter because all the other Pokémons are bad starters (except Virizion in certain matchups) and shouldn't leave the bench. You surely should consider running more switches or escape ropes.
Rayquaza-EX – Colorless – HP170
Basic Pokemon
[C] Rising Burn: 10+ damage. If your opponent’s Active Pokemon is a Pokemon-EX, this attack does 50 more damage.
[C][C][C] Dragon Pulse: 100 damage. Discard 3 cards from the top of your deck.
When a Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 2
Basic Pokemon
[C] Rising Burn: 10+ damage. If your opponent’s Active Pokemon is a Pokemon-EX, this attack does 50 more damage.
[C][C][C] Dragon Pulse: 100 damage. Discard 3 cards from the top of your deck.
When a Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 2
Why I am not running:
I am not running Ninetales from PC because, on playtesting, I found it really clunky to pull out. Also, not having him and actually running 4 Skyfield makes for some interesting strats: if you need to have more benched Pokémons next turn, just discard Exeggcutes and get them back on the field with Propagation as soon as you have another Skyfield up. If you have spare Exeggcutes to bench, when Skyfield gets discarded you can simply discard Shaymins or the Jirachi and remove the threat of them being Lysandre'd.
I'm going to quote my comment from another thread on why I am not running Mega Turbo:
RideLith said:
I am not running Skarmory nor Winona because this deck does not need more engines to fill up it's bench - Exeggcute, allied with Battle Compressors and 6 Balls is more than enough.
I am also not running Aromatisse because - not only it takes a lot of space - it makes the deck very clunky to run and you'd end up Mega Potioning a DCE away most of the time. It is more effective to run a fast-paced deck with a stream of Mega Rayquazas. You'd also not benefit from Fairy Garden.
Things that you might consider running in this deck:
- More counters to Toads/Safeguarders
- Heavier Supporter line
- More Switching Cards
- More Megaphones
- Less Balls
- Mega Turbo if you manage to profit out of it
- Another Non-EX Grass attacker, instead of the regular Genesect.
100% open to discussing this deck. If I have already thought of something you suggest, I'll explain why it's not in the list.
