Discussion Card-draw Supporter "Engine" for the New Standard-play Season

TuxedoBlack

TuxedoBlack

Old School Player
Member
Going into the upcoming, Standard-play season, I've started to re-think my "general", card-draw Supporter engine. Key Supporters like N and Professor Sycamore will rotate out of Standard game play soon; so, what are your general thoughts regarding how this rotation will impact your Standard decks for the new season?

Following is a list of the new season's, Standard play, card-draw Supporter pool and my thought(s) regarding its play viability:

Bill's Maintenance - draw 3 cards after shuffling a card from your hand into your deck. Not that useful vs. other similar Supporters.
Copycat - shuffle your hand into your deck and then draw cards equal to the number of cards in your opponent's hand. Very (?) limited opportunity use.
Cynthia - shuffle your hand into your deck and then draw 6 cards. Perhaps the strongest card-draw Supporter.
Hala - shuffle your hand into your deck and draw either 4 or 7 cards depending upon whether or not you've used your GX attack. Not that "strong" prior to using a GX attack.
Hau - draw 3 cards. Decent, but Hala may be better.
Judge - each player shuffles his/her hand into his/her deck and then draws 4 cards. Disrupts both players' hands, but not significantly impactful.
Lillie - draw till you have either 6 or 8 (1st turn only) cards in your hand. Strong.
Looker - draw 3 cards from bottom of your deck. Decent-good depending upon deck.
Mallow - search your deck for any 2 cards and place them on top of your deck in any order. Good-strong depending upon the deck.
Mars - draw 2 cards and discard a random card from your opponent's hand. Decent depending upon the deck.
Pokémon Breeder - (conditionally) draw 2 cards and heal 20 damage from your Active. Very limited use, if at all.
Professor Kukui - draw 2 cards and boost attack damage ouput (onto Defending) by 20. Decent-strong depending upon deck.
Steven's Resolve - search your deck for 3 cards and put them in your hand. Shuffle your deck and your turn ends. Very limited use, if at all.
TV Reporter - draw 3 cards, then discard a card from your hand. Decent.​

Supplementing these Supporters, one can also leverage Pokémon for card-draw support:

Magcargo - Smooth Over Ability allows you to search for a card in your deck and place it on top of your shuffled deck.
Oranguru - Instruct Ability allows a player to draw up to a hand size of 3 cards.
Tapu Lele GX - Wonder Tag Ability allows you to search and get a Supporter (which could be a card-draw Supporter).
Zoroark GX - Trade Ability allows you draw 2 cards after discarding a card from your hand.​

In addition, there are now cards that allows a player to recover and recycle discarded resources:

Lusamine - put up to 2 discarded Supporter(s) and/or Stadium(s) back into your hand.
Pal Pad - shuffle up to 2 discarded Supporters cards back into your deck
Oranguru (Resource Management) - recover 3 discarded cards and place them on the bottom of your deck.​

Although the deck one plays tend to have a significant impact on one's card-draw Supporter engine, but it seems that my initial thoughts are leaning towards the following card-draw Supporters for the upcoming, Standard play season:

4 Cynthia
3 Lillie
2 Professor Kukui​

At this moment, I am not certain if I will play 2 Tapu Lele GX, as a "standard", in my decks anymore since Parallel City Stadium will not be available; so, it will be more difficult to remove unwanted/unneeded benched Pokémon. Further, 1 or both of the aforementioned Orangurus may just become a deck "staple".

Your thoughts/comments of your card-draw Supporter engine post-rotation? Thanks.
 
Hi TuxedoBlack,

Here is a list of draw supporters in order of relevance to be considered:

1) Cynthia: Stable draw supporter and best option in the post-rotation standard format. Would run four of them in almost all decks.
2) Sightseer: This is not a Sycamore replacement but the best discard-and-draw supporter we have thus far in standard. Would run three of them in most decks.
3) Lillie: Since hand sizes will be lower in the new standard format this provides decent draw and is an excellent turn one supporter: Would run three in most decks.
4) Tate and Liza: Decent and dependable shuffle-draw supporter that can be used in decks that cannot use either Sightseer or Lillie.
5) Professor Kukui: Moderate draw power but increases the damage output. Would run two to three of them in certain deck. Buzzwole is an example.
6) Tv Reporter: Decent to moderate draw supporter with the option to decide what to discard after drawing.
7) Hala: Would consider two copies in decks that use their GX attack early. An example would be Leafeon Lurantis builts. Unfortunately most decks do not tend to use their GX attack early.
8) Sophocles: Decent draw supporter but you need to dicard two cards from hand prior to using it. Sometimes this can be an issue.

Personally I do not consider Judge to be a draw supporter most of the time. It is more themed around disruption and depending on the opponent's draw supporter count an early or well-timed Judge can work out. However, it may also hurt yourself.
 
TeamAqua4Life #HEYNICK said:
Have you thought about sightseer?
http://www.pokebeach.com/2018/06/sightseer-from-sm7a
Click to expand...
My list only included those cards available immediately post-rotation. This Supporter seems to be an "improved" Professor Sycamore perhaps and definitely helpful to "thin-out" one's deck. Thanks.

Thanks @Dark Espeon for your feedback. Appreciate your update about Tate and Liza as well as Sophocles. I forgot to originally include those cards.

Any thoughts regarding whether or not you'll run Oranguru (Instruct and/or Resource Management?) in your post-rotation decks?



 
TuxedoBlack said:
Any thoughts regarding whether or not you'll run Oranguru (Instruct and/or Resource Management?) in your post-rotation decks?
Click to expand...
Me, nah. I'm planning a Genesect GX deck and think Oranguru would be a waste as I never find myself with less than a three card hand while testing since I'm testing without N or Delinquent.
 
TuxedoBlack said:
Any thoughts regarding whether or not you'll run Oranguru (Instruct and/or Resource Management?) in your post-rotation decks?
Click to expand...

It all depends on the deck. On usual I tend to run between ten to eleven draw suppoters in the new standard format to ensure to have one in hand whenever I need one. In initial test runs hand sizes have been low post rotation but not as low as being hit by N to a hand size of one. I can see Instruct Oranguru as a one-off in some decks and the other one as a tech in decks that need to recycle certain resources. I would not recommend either as a stable inclusion in each and every deck.
 
Steven's Resolve - search your deck for 3 cards and put them in your hand. Shuffle your deck and your turn ends. Very limited use, if at all.
Click to expand...

I would think that this would see a lot of play in Stage 2 Decks - anything that doesn't attack on it's first turn (going second) would probably be willing to end the turn by playing the card. Your opponent could counter with Judge, but it might be worth risking to get something your Stage 2, a Rare Candy, and another supporter (For instance) in hand for your next turn.

Heck, even decks like Zoroark GX, Beast Box, and Malamar Box don't really attack first turn. I think this card will be at a one-of as a first turn option in a lot of decks.

Comparing it to Lillie, getting 4-6 cards you might like to have (assuming that a player doesn't commonly play down to zero cards in hand) versus 3 that you absolutely want makes Steven's Resolve sound a bit more consistent, although slower. You can whiff a Lillie - you can't really whiff 'Put whichever 3 cards you want in hand'.
 
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