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Chillus Maximus (Vanilluxe / Thundurus EX)

darkpulse24

darkpulse24

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Pokemon:

  • 4-2-4 Vanilluxe PLF
    2 Thundurus EX
    1 Victini
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:

  • 4 Rare Candy
    3 Hard Charm
    2 Plasma Ball
    3 Ultra Ball
    2 Energy Switch
    1 Scramble Switch
    2 Bicycle
    2 Evosoda
    1 Startling Megaphone

    2 Lysandre
    4 Skyla
    4 N
    3 Professor Sycamore
    2 Colress
Energy:

  • 4 Double Colorless
    8 Electric

Strategy:

So I was ranting the other day about how upset I was with the TCG being restricted in terms of originality, because I'm a new player and to be competitive it seems that you have to adopt one of a small group of elite meta decks. As opposed to building decks around your favourite Pokemon. Well, Chillus Maximus is the result of a mix between the two.

This is basically a Plasma deck that replaces Lugia with Vanilluxe. I really wanted to make a deck around Vanilluxe, and this deck seems potentially better than Lugia now since Pyroar can't stop Vanilluxe. The main goal is to quickly stack energy on Vanilluxe and then ChillMAX for the win. Victini is on the bench solely to support Vanilluxe and try to roll for more heads. Only 1 is needed. I have the Eeveelutions because I find the HP boost from Umbreon really helps, and I sometimes need Jolteon as an attacker to fill in when Thundurus EX is out or Vanilluxe isn't yet ready to be brought out. Hard Charm along with at least 1 Umbreon on the bench gives Vanilluxe an effective HP of 170 so it can survive longer. Thundurus EX uses Raiden Knuckle to bring back energy to a benched Vanilluxe.

When it works it is hugely successful. But it doesn't always work, that's why I'm here to ask you guys how I can improve it. I'm not sure that my energy balance is very good for starters. I used to have Rainbow Energy, but that doesn't work on Energy Evolution Eevee. As for my trainers I just added what felt right, so there are probably better options. As for the Pokemon, Jolteon isn't really doing anything. I rarely need to use it, and when I do need to use it I can't. So that could probably be dropped. I thought about having Glaceon, but all my Pokemon only have a retreat cost of 1, so I'm not really missing out.

Weaknesses:

Mewtwo is probably my biggest threat as it uses all the energy stacked on Vanilluxe against me. Gallade and Dedenne are similar threats (yes, Dedenne fries Vanilluxe to pieces with just 1 energy). I've also had trouble with Mew since it uses ChillMAX on me.
 
RE: Chillus Maximus (Vanilluxe / Thundurus EX / Umbreon)

I dont think this deck needs dark energy. Umbreon will hopefully never attack.

There is an interested card you could use for this deck. It is Milotic with Energy Grace. it puts 3 energy from your discard onto a non ex pokemon. Which is what your main attacker is. Vanilluxe just got knocked out and you lost all your energy, but you have Milotic and another Vanilluxe on your bench. Use energy grace and attach for turn and all of a sudden you have 4 energy, flipping 4 coins. Having a Milotic on your bench will make your opponents think twice about sending in mewtwo to knock out your non ex pokemon.

The energy should probably be something like
6 electric
4 Plasma
2 DCE
More electric so you can recycle it, 4 plasma to accelerated it out. DCE is the last of the energy that is lower. It is nice to be able to slap it down and flip 2 additional cards. But Plasma does have multiple benefits.

Next add in Plasma Frigate. Any pokemon with plasma energy now has no weakness. This can help Thundurus survive fighting type attacks.

You also need to add at least 2 megaphones. Since your strategy is based around fliptini and Umbreon. Garbotoxin will really hurt.
 
RE: Chillus Maximus (Vanilluxe / Thundurus EX / Umbreon)

I don't think the Eeveelutions will really help you much in this deck- especially the Umbreons. Even though you can Megaphone Tools off of Garbodor, all they have to do is put another one on and you're back down to 130HP. You also need to thicken the Vanilluxe line. A lot. It is the main attacker, after all. MewtwoEX should be a 2-of in here because you'll want to have it out almost every game. Prizing an only MewtwoEX will really hurt. It doesn't have the benefit of being able to use Colress Machine, but a DCE should work most of the time against opposing MewtwoEX.

Suggestions: -The 6 Eeveelution cards, + 1-2-1 Vanilluxe, +2 MewtwoEX.

In terms of the Energy, I think replacing all the basic energy with 4 Lightning should do fine. Rainbow Energy's 10 damage could be the difference between ThundurusEX surviving an Evil Ball or fainting. Aaand you need at least 3 more draw support cards to keep the deck going. I'll leave the decision of what to remove up to you because I'm not exactly sure what is least useful in the list.
 
RE: Chillus Maximus (Vanilluxe / Thundurus EX / Umbreon)

Thanks for the suggestions. I played around with Milotic a bit, but it definitely doesn't work here. It seems to slow down my deck a lot. Besides, most of my energy is Special Energy (Plasma and DBC).

I'll remove the Eevee line and make Vanilluxe 4-2-4 as suggested.

I can add 2 more Professor Sycamore, maybe drop a Skyla, and add a Shauna. I'll be back to edit this with how it went.

EDIT:

Ok I don't know if it was just luck yesterday that had me winning like crazy, but today after all these tweaks this deck feels so bad now :( Almost all of my starting hands are bad and leave me with few options. Basically having to N every turn I can get it, and still it rarely gives me what I need. And N helps the opponent at the same time as well. I don't know what is going wrong. I'll keep changing things. Having Vanillish hasn't helped so that will go, as Skyla + Rare Candy works faster. I think I need to add a bulky basic Pokemon or two. Ideally Plasma Pokemon so they can benefit from Thundurus EX, Team Plasma Ball and Colress Machine.

I haven't been able to trade for any Mewtwo-EXs on TCGO yet.
 
RE: Chillus Maximus (Vanilluxe / Thundurus EX / Umbreon)

If you change your energy count to 6 it would definitely help. I use miltotic in my Shiftry deck and it makes crazy plays happen. I think i only run 7 basic energy.
 
RE: Chillus Maximus (Vanilluxe / Thundurus EX / Umbreon)

Please update your deck list with any changes you've made. I might be able to give you a few suggestions if you're having trouble, but I need to know where we're at first. ;)
 
RE: Chillus Maximus (Vanilluxe / Thundurus EX / Umbreon)

Thanks Mora :) I really want this deck to work. I think it can despite coin flipping being frowned upon.

Pokemon:

  • 4-0-4 Vanilluxe PLF
    2 Thundurus EX
    1-1 Milotic
    1 Victini
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:

  • 4 Rare Candy
    3 Hard Charm
    2 Plasma Ball
    2 Ultra Ball
    4 Colress Machine
    2 Energy Switch
    1 Scramble Switch
    2 Super Potion

    2 Lysandre
    3 Skyla
    4 N
    4 Professor Sycamore
    2 Colress
Energy:

  • 2 Double Colorless
    4 Plasma
    6 Electric

The changes are in italics. I added Milotic back in after increasing the basic energy to 6. Milotic actually pulled off in a nick of time and helped me win a game with its ability.
 
RE: Chillus Maximus (Vanilluxe / Thundurus EX / Umbreon)

I'm going to put your changes in your original post.

You mentioned that you were having trouble with consistently getting set up. The best way to fix that is to take out some of the gimmicky inclusions in your deck. I've found that going back to a bare-bones list is the best way to solve consistency problems. You might find that after doing that, you can afford some space to put back in some of those non-essential inclusions.

I'm going to recommend that you either play with Thundurus EX or Milotic, but not both. They both serve the same purpose, making one of them more or less redundant. They both have their pros and cons. Thundurus takes up less space and doesn't give up a prize to accelerate Energy and offers much more consistent acceleration, however it gives up two prizes when it's knocked out. Also, you're no able to Raiden Knuckle to Vanillites. Milotic has the problem of being a one time use Energy acceleration, and you need multiple Energies in the discard pile in order to make it more effective then Thundurus. Since we're looking for consistency, I'd say try just Thundurus for now. You might have room for that 1-1 Milotic line for late game acceleration, or you might even find you like Milotic better than Thundurus. With the extra space, I'd think about playing 1 or 2 of the Stage 1's since Trainer lock is actually relevant this format. Seismitoad completely shuts your deck down.

Another thing that would make your list more consistent is not playing both Double Colorless and Colress Machine + Plasma Energy. They both let you attach two Energy per turn, but Colress Machine takes up more space, and can even be a dead card in your hand early game when you only have Vanillites in play. Since it's not a Plasma Pokemon, you can't Colress Machine to it. Double Colorless feels more consistent.

I don't like Super Potion because it makes you discard an Energy, which takes away from your potential output, and when using it on Vanilluxe, it's not even guaranteed that it will change your opponent's math. Either way, I think it's non-essential. Replace them for Bicycle so that you can Skyla for draw. I also feel like you should have another Ultra Ball somewhere.

Try out a few of these suggestions. I hope you see better results!
 
Great tips! Thank you. They definitely make it more consistent. I updated the current decklist on OP, here are the changes:

- 1-1 Milotic
- 2 Super Potion
- 1 Sycamore
- 4 Colress Machine
- 4 Plasma Energy

+ 2 Vanillish
+ 2 Bicycle
+ 1 Ultra Ball
+ 1 Startling Megaphone
+ 2 Evosoda
+ 1 Skyla
+ 2 DBC
+ 2 Electric Energy

Changes:

I can usually fill my bench faster than the previous deck.
Draw support is more even and I don't have to rely on N or Sycamore as much.
An extra Ultra Ball makes Victini much more accessible early game.
More Electric Energy makes Raiden Knuckle more accessible.
Having 4 DBC is better than the Plasma Energy/Colress Machine.

Room for improvement:

A bulky basic Pokemon or two to 'sponge' attacks if Vanilluxe isn't ready (e.g. Plasma Snorlax for the ability, or FF Miltank for Powerful Friends). Or even Mewtwo EX as previously suggested.
More draw support? Some of my starting hands are so rubbish its practically all over for me by Turn 2.

Other:

I see that ChillMAX is set to lose its place as the best (as far as I know) coin flipping attack. Malamar EX from Phantom Forces has CalamariMAX which is more or less the same (60x damage per energy per heads). Because its a basic Pokemon you could practically set it up right away with 3 Energy (1 DBC and 1 Dark Energy from the new Hydreigon). That, and put the opponent to sleep on the same turn...

EDIT: I have added two Mewtwo-EX to the deck. If anyone would like to battle me on TCGO my username is the same as this one.
 
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