Of many hello friends. This is my pet deck, my favorite deck, and while I'd never play it in a truly competitive environment, I find it is a surprisingly potent deck despite being so roguish.
The idea is pretty obvious. Amass at least one Ariados on the bench, place a Sceptile in front, and start working on your Machamp in the back. Poison your opponent with Ariados, hit for 150 with muscle band (hopefully), poison ticks twice by your next turn and that will kill 170 hp EXs. Giovanni is present to help kill 180s if that's the correct play at any given moment. Machamp is capable of OHKOing 180s with a muscle band or with 2 ticks of poison. If it comes around in reverse order, that works fine, but Sceptile opener is optimal. Ariados is also capable of killing Night Marchers, but not particularly effectively, but if it comes down to a late game prize trade, him being non-EX might be the difference between a single prize victory. The rainbow energy makes our energy selection more consistent while also acting as a sort of smaller Strong Energy on Machamp. 10 damage has almost never mattered on Machamp, but it has sometimes led to me taking out a Joltik on the play. It is an entirely optional card choice, but I find it does more good than harm.
Other than that, the rest of the shell is entirely standard. Shaymin/Sycamore/N draw package, toolbox VS Seeker package, 2 battle compressors for putting the toolbox cards away, and a utility stadium for knocking Dimension Valley off the board. I choose Parallel City to improve my Zoroark matchups (and incidentally M Ray / Raichu matchups, but that's super not important), as well as potentially removing vulnerable Shaymins in the Night March matchup if possible (doesn't come up much, I've found). Forest of the Giant Plants is also usable as a way to increase the viability of Ariados, but I find that it almost never was relevant as you can't open a Sceptile's second attack when playing second anyway. The only time it really matters is if you can't find a Spinarak on your first turn.
In my opinion, if TCPI ever prints a Fire equivalent to Ariados/Hypno (that presumably would cause burn), then this deck would be viable. But the unreliability of Sceptile one-shotting 180s holds this deck back. Reprinting Bangle would also work, as it would knock up his attack to 160. It also does not play particularly well against night march, but after rotation this deck may become more viable.
I am open to suggestions as I do not get a chance to test this deck much.
4 Machamp-EX
4 Sceptile-EX
4 Spinarak
3 Ariados
3 Shaymin-EX
4 Ultra Ball
4 Trainer's Mail
2 Battle Compressor
4 Muscle Brace
4 VS Seeker
4 Professor Sycamore
2 N
1 Giovanni's Scheme
1 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
1 Pokemon Center Lady
3 Parallel City / Forest of Giant Plants
4 Rainbow Energy
4 Grass Energy
3 Fighting Energy
The idea is pretty obvious. Amass at least one Ariados on the bench, place a Sceptile in front, and start working on your Machamp in the back. Poison your opponent with Ariados, hit for 150 with muscle band (hopefully), poison ticks twice by your next turn and that will kill 170 hp EXs. Giovanni is present to help kill 180s if that's the correct play at any given moment. Machamp is capable of OHKOing 180s with a muscle band or with 2 ticks of poison. If it comes around in reverse order, that works fine, but Sceptile opener is optimal. Ariados is also capable of killing Night Marchers, but not particularly effectively, but if it comes down to a late game prize trade, him being non-EX might be the difference between a single prize victory. The rainbow energy makes our energy selection more consistent while also acting as a sort of smaller Strong Energy on Machamp. 10 damage has almost never mattered on Machamp, but it has sometimes led to me taking out a Joltik on the play. It is an entirely optional card choice, but I find it does more good than harm.
Other than that, the rest of the shell is entirely standard. Shaymin/Sycamore/N draw package, toolbox VS Seeker package, 2 battle compressors for putting the toolbox cards away, and a utility stadium for knocking Dimension Valley off the board. I choose Parallel City to improve my Zoroark matchups (and incidentally M Ray / Raichu matchups, but that's super not important), as well as potentially removing vulnerable Shaymins in the Night March matchup if possible (doesn't come up much, I've found). Forest of the Giant Plants is also usable as a way to increase the viability of Ariados, but I find that it almost never was relevant as you can't open a Sceptile's second attack when playing second anyway. The only time it really matters is if you can't find a Spinarak on your first turn.
In my opinion, if TCPI ever prints a Fire equivalent to Ariados/Hypno (that presumably would cause burn), then this deck would be viable. But the unreliability of Sceptile one-shotting 180s holds this deck back. Reprinting Bangle would also work, as it would knock up his attack to 160. It also does not play particularly well against night march, but after rotation this deck may become more viable.
I am open to suggestions as I do not get a chance to test this deck much.
4 Machamp-EX
4 Sceptile-EX
4 Spinarak
3 Ariados
3 Shaymin-EX
4 Ultra Ball
4 Trainer's Mail
2 Battle Compressor
4 Muscle Brace
4 VS Seeker
4 Professor Sycamore
2 N
1 Giovanni's Scheme
1 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
1 Pokemon Center Lady
3 Parallel City / Forest of Giant Plants
4 Rainbow Energy
4 Grass Energy
3 Fighting Energy