Standard Circle Circuit Raichu

[Merovingian]

My daughter and I started playing the card game around Christmas and we are about to go to our first League in February.

I'm investing in a very trolly unlimited deck at the moment while my daughter uses a Circle Circuit deck (as so graciously dreamt up by Asmer).

My daughter is chomping at the bit and I know it's only going to be a matter of time until we start doing league challenges/tournaments together. And with that, I'm slowly acquiring Standard staples while I try and decide on something to use. Honestly, the only two viable options I'm looking at is also running Circle Circuit Raichu...Or Sylveon GX (once it's released in english, which I figure would be in a month or two)

CIRCLE CIRCUIT:

POKEMON: 18
4 Pikachu (BKT)
4 Raichu (GEN)
4 Unown (Farewell Letter)
2 Audino EX
2 Shaymin EX
2 Hawlucha

TRAINERS: 33
4 Professor Sycamore
3 N
3 Professor Kukui
3 Lysandre

4 Sky Field
4 Level Ball
4 VS Seeker (These are important)
3 Trainers' Mail
2 Ultra Ball (Since Level Ball grabs everything)
1 Escape Rope
1 Switch
1 Super Rod

ENERGY: 9
5 Lightning Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy


PINK TOMBSTONE

POKÉMON: 12
4 Eevee (Sun/Moon)
4 Sylveon GX (Sun/Moon)
2 Hawlucha
2 Spinda (Primal Clash)

TRAINERS: 35
4 Professor Sycamore
3 N
3 Lysandre
3 Team Flare Grunt
3 Professor Kukui

4 Crushing Hammer
4 Trainer Mail
4 VS Seeker
2 Enhanced Hammer
2 Super Rod
1 Escape Rope
1 Special Charge
1 Switch

ENERGY: 13
9 Fairy Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy


The big difference I can see in the decks is that CC Raichu is much more poised to one-shot opponents minions. The Sylveon deck is more of an 'increasing-pressure-on-the-tempo' sort of deck. I'm not too privy on the meta and I'm not sure what would be the better investment.


Also, I'm completely new to standard, im trying to catch up on reading about the meta and how to handle it and make mine and my daughters decks better.


Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[21times]

The first thing that strikes me is the 3 Lysandres. Back in November I ran 4 Lysandres in all of my decks. While Lysandre is a powerful card, it tended to make my hands clunky (lots of supporters not enough other cards). Also, Lysandre stall isn't part of the strategy of these decks (no bench snipers) so you could probably cut a Lysandre.

You have no stadiums and you don't run Delinquent. This means whatever stadium your opponent plays sticks and you are unable to remove. This puts you at a significant disadvantage and would result in an autoloss against decks like Mega Ray and Rainbow Road. I would recommend a parallel city and a Delinquent.

You don't run any tool cards. You might want to consider bursting balloons.

There are a lot of Raichu videos on YouTube. There's a post recently here in Pokebeach about who the best youtubers are. I'd check that out, that'll give you plenty of ideas and tricks. Good luck, have fun, and just remember that there are a lot of good players out there who have a ton of experience so don't get down if you struggle at first.