Archie's Ace in the Hole (Blastoise / Keldeo EX)

[joemauer]

Alright here is a cute little Blastoise deck I through together.

Pokemon:

• 
  4 Keldeo EX
  3 Clamperl
  2 Huntail
  2 Blastoise
  1 Jirachi EX

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:

• 
  1 Startling Megaphone
  4 Archie's Ace in the Hole
  1 Professor Juniper
  4 Professor's Letter
  4 Superior Energy Retrieval
  4 Maintenance
  4 Ultra Ball
  1 Computer Search
  4 Battle Compressor
  4 VS Seeker
  1 Rough Seas
  2 Dive Ball
  4 Acro Bike

Energy:

• 
  10 Water Energy

Strategy:

Pretty straight forward. Manipulate your hand to one card via items and get Blastoise with Archie ASAP. The deck can be crazy explosive with Keldeo EX attacking for 110 on turn one. The deck has the faults of a typical combo deck though. It can just fall flat on its face, especially when Jirachi is prized.
With all the Seismitoads running around it is very important to get Blastoise in play on turn one, which happens a lot but not every game.

Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated.

 

[Neil Klima]

RE: Blastoise / Keldeo EX

if youre gonna use the archie build, i like the amount of ball trainers you run, its a good idea. however, take out the exeggcute. i know what it does, im just not a fan of exeggcute in anything other than weavile or exeggutor/dragalge decks, its extra space and if you happen to open with one, its basically giving away a game, especially if your opponent has lasers. other than that, id run maybe 2 squirtles just to up your basic count, that way if you cant pull off the archie turn one and you know you can't, you can go the traditional blastoise route and hope for the turn 2 rare candy. also, up your energy count if you can, blastoise decks generally thrive with somewhere from 12-14 energy. you can get away with 11, but its not recommended, even with all the superior retrievals you are running. Cut a couple prof letters, you dont need 4 of them, 2 should be enough, and cut 1 battle compressor and an acro bike to fit 4 sycamore in your deck, that way archie isnt the only thing you have in there, cause lets face it, its not always gonna pop off like that. also, run some powerful storm huntail if you can, it hits as hard as keldeo does and gives you a couple more basics to work with that way youre not mulling 6 times a game, which can really do you in when youre not running N in your deck. also, put in a rare candy or two and cut maybe one escape rope, that way you have one for emergencies, and with comp search it will be easily accessible.

 

[joemauer]

RE: Blastoise / Keldeo EX / Archie's Ace in the Hole

I have recently cut Mewtwo and Wailord for a 2/2 Huntail/Clamp line, also ditching my escape rope. Escape rope is/was in there for wobbuffet out. I've put a singleton Startling Mega Phone because apparently people still play Garbador.

I could see cutting eggexcute. Could not cut Battle Compressor though, easiest way to get Blastoise or trainer in discard pile.

I have tried a one of Juniper instead of Lysandres TC. I like the one of but can't have more with fear of Supporter glut.

This deck is moving away from Rare Candy. It does not want to auto lose to Seismitoads. But when the deck doesn't lose to itself, it's usually losing to Leafeon.

 

[Neil Klima]

RE: Blastoise / Keldeo EX / Archie's Ace in the Hole

well let me just say that after going to VA regionals, i only played one deck with seismitoad the entire tournament and i saw a lot of Landorus EX/Hawlucha/Crobat decks. I think that if you stuck to a more traditional build you still wouldnt suffer as badly as you would trying to rely on archie, but if thats the style you wanna build for, go for it. it can certainly be good when it does go off as intended and i think huntail is a very good additon, i recommend it for prize trading and the ability to OHKO a lot of stuff once it gets going.

 

[Jandops]

you might want to look into random reciever. since you run so few supporters itll almost always pull down an archie.

 

[Mora]

You need to play 4 Professor Juniper. Archie's Ace is your only draw supporter, and given how conditional it is; you can't rely on it for all of your draw power. I'd take out 3 Dive Ball and a Wailord. Considering you'll typically never play a search card for Blastoise, you have seven Balls to search out eight Pokemon. That's a bit excessive. Wailord is just bad.

 

[joemauer]

I've updated my list. Let me try address the posts.

you might want to look into random reciever. since you run so few supporters itll almost always pull down an archie.

I have actually considered running it. I haven't tried it yet. Wasn't sure what to take out and I was worried about pulling Professor Juniper when I didn't need it though.

You need to play 4 Professor Juniper. Archie's Ace is your only draw supporter, and given how conditional it is; you can't rely on it for all of your draw power. I'd take out 3 Dive Ball and a Wailord. Considering you'll typically never play a search card for Blastoise, you have seven Balls to search out eight Pokemon. That's a bit excessive. Wailord is just bad.

I put one Professor Juniper in which I feel is enough to get when I need it. I can get it with Battle Compressor into VS Seeker or Ultra Ball into Jirachi. The Juniper is there for mid to late game when I already have Blastoise in play. Every now and then it is good to get a new hand first turn.

I had the dive balls for a second route to get Blastoise into the discard pile via Dive Ball into Ultra Ball into Jirachi when I don't draw Battle Compressor.

As for Wailord, he is bad. I have been enjoying Huntail so far.

 

[gromitxt]

As a big fan of Archie/Maxie decks (even when they don't necessarily work better than the traditional route - sometimes complicated is fun), I like where you're going with this. I'm tempted to give it a shot with Primal Kyogre instead of Blastoise, since it partners well with Huntail. Definitely won't be powering up Huntail as fast as Blastoise would, but big hitters are always fun in their own way.

That new Trainer's Post from emerald break could really amp up this kind of trainer-heavy shenanigans.