Accomodating for Trainer Lock Syndrome?

NJPokeDad

NJPokeDad

Aspiring Trainer
Member
What changes is everyone making to their decks with the surge of trainer lock decks being played?

I was playing my sons Donphan/Nidoqueen deck against a GengarPlume deck my daughter and I just built.

It is painfully apparent that anything not running DGX (SP decks) or Umbreon is going to have a very hard time with Plume. The speed of Donphan is shot and late in the game after refreshing your hand enough times you just cannot get rid of all your trainers to keep the effects of poltergeist down.

Is everyone going to start teching in counters to Plume or is everyone going to cut down the amount of trainers you are running. If you cut down on trainers it is really going to hurt speed decks like Donphan, Jumpluff, and Gyarados.

So what is everyone's opinion. How can I make his deck work and still be competitive at BR against trainer lock decks, which I expect to see a lot of.
 
DGLX is definitely something to consider if you have it. If not, definitely run more Supporters like Judge and Lookers. Lookers is really good against gengar trainer-lock decks because the text says:

Look at your opponent's hand, then choose you or your opponent. That player shuffles his or her hand into his or her deck and draws up to 5 cards.

So basically you can shuffle your hand in and only draw 1 card if you want to stop Poltergeist
 
Yeah I threw a few Lookers in there. However, what do you do about setting up.

In general is everyone playing less trainers and more supporters. Is it worth slowing your deck down?
 
I think it is worth the speed, because donphan doesnt necessarily need to outspeed them, it can also tank with 3 energies.
 
Use Regice to (1) Move away the Spiritomb start they have and (2) discard trainers over the course of the game.

You could also use Regirock + Stark Mountain to (1) discard trainers just like above and (2) speed up your Donphan.
 
Hahaha, Trainer Lock Syndrome. I like it.

I'm just packing my deck with more Supporters, and running Unown R to speed up my game instead of PokeDex Handy910is. More Uxie LA goes into the list, and Regice LA will be taken into consideration.
 
LOTS. OF. HAND. REFRESH.

Seriously.

In a couple of decks I have built, I run three PONT's, one judge and a cynthia's feelings. Very effective way to keep cycling through the deck.

EDIT: I pretty much replaced 2-2 Claydol w/ 3 PONT 1 Cynthia lol
 
The problem with Uxie is that Gengar SF snipes it.
I play Dialga G X in my Gyarados and I also add Crobat G an Floatzel GL X so that the SP trainers don't get to wasted.
I don't think that cutting down trainers is a good thing to do, it will make you have a desadvantage against other decks even before the game starts.
Another good way to counter poltergiest is with Banette PT, but you need to find another use for it in your deck.
 
The best way to beat these kinds of decks is to join them. If you are truely worried about Polterplume, you should run either that or Dialgachomp.
 
With speed decks less trainers and more supporters isn't really going to slow you down to much. If you play more Bebe's, Collecter, and hand refresh cards like PONT and Looker's you may not have as many trainers but your more likely to have a supporters in your hand, which will definitely help.

I play Charizard which isn't much of a speed deck, but I used to play it like one. I played 3-4 Rare Candy, 3-4 Pokemon Communication, I even played Super Scoop Up, But by getting rid of the Super Scoop Up, cutting back on Candy and Communication, and adding more supporters, my deck became much more consistant.
 
Thanks to all for the advice.

I added lots of hand refresh, the problem is you wind up with a lot of trainers and supporters.

So I added Regice as suggested and it worked wonders. You can refresh your hand without having to worry much cause you can discard any extra trainers you don't need. Sadly it only takes two turns for Gengar SF to Shadow Room it for the KO but it works well until he does.
 
If theyre sniping regice instead of attacking your main attacker, thats a very good thing.
 
Agreed, let them hit Regice, I am fine with that.

I just thought of this..how about adding Sage Training, allows you to draw cards you need and dump the rest that would help set up poltergeist.
 
It may not work for everyone, but I like to set up little tricks against my opponents. Like if I NEED to survive for 1 more turn I may throw down an Unown Q on the bench and "forget" to attach it. Then on my opponents turn they must choose, the attacker, or that free prize on the bench.

It's fun to do as well. xD
 
Well unfortunately when the main attacker is reducing damage by 20 a turn and they have a Nidoqueen on the bench, sniping Regice seems like a great option as long as you have a second Gengar on the bench.
 
I took out a lot of staple trainers and put in more supporters to my deck, biggest addition was PONT, which proved to helped a lot in the tournament format.
 
I found that using draw power (ninetails HGSS, Delibird, etc.), and/or using hand refresh (chatot, manaphy UN, judge, etc.) have been very good as anti-trainer-lock. Also, people in my battle roads are using 90% supporters in their deck to counter trainer lock. I, however, am not sure that adding that many supporters is good, especially in most speed meta decks. (Donphan, Jumpluff, etc.)
 
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