Intro:
This is a fun deck I made one day to challenge myself and practice deckbuilding. I'm overall pretty happy about how it turned out, but like everything, there's definitely room for improvement (That's why I'm posting here ^.^). Any constructive criticism or feedback is appreciated!
List:
Pokemon - 15
4 Spiritomb LOR 117
1 Radiant Jirachi SIT 120
4 Inkay XY 74
1 Bunnelby PRC 121
1 Electrike PRC 60
4 Malamar PR-XY 58
Trainer - 44
1 Computer Search BCR 137
1 Team Flare Grunt GEN 73
1 Field Blower GRI 125
1 Gladion CIN 95
2 Lusamine CIN 96
4 Steven's Resolve CES 145
1 Black Market ◇ TEU 134
1 Miss Fortune Sisters LOR 164
3 Crushing Hammer CRZ 125
2 Boss's Orders RCL 154
2 Galar Mine RCL 160
2 Scoop Up Net RCL 165
4 Yell Horn DAA 173
4 Level Ball BST 129
3 Tool Jammer BST 136
1 Path to the Peak CRE 148
2 Rescue Carrier EVS 154
1 Team Rocket's Handiwork FCO 112
1 Pokémon Ranger STS 104
4 Robo Substitute Team Flare Gear PHF 102
3 VS Seeker PHF 109
Energy - 1
1 Draw Energy CEC 209
The Basics:
Inkay from XY has a unique ability that we've not seen printed often or at all on other Inkay, let alone other cards in general since. It states that during your turn, whenever you are confused, you can search your deck for a Malamar and evolve it. What's so good about this ability is that it can be used on the turn Inkay is put into play. Another strong aspect of it is that you evolve AFTER the confusion happens, which basically means you can get a stage 1 Malamar into play easily with little downsides.
So how do we get Inkay confused? Well, there are a couple of ways to confuse your own Pokémon, but the most straightforward and best way I found was Yell Horn from Darkness Ablaze. It is an Item card that allows you to leave both active Pokémon confused. Having your evolution condition be tied to an item card is one thing, but as Honchkrow-GX and Dusk Stone have showed us, an item that evolves you turn one, even going FIRST, is a very powerful thing to have.
Another thing that Honchkrow-GX has taught us is that having a busted ability on top of the aforementioned ability to evolve turn one is incredible. The Malamar XY Promo card, while not having the most powerful ability, makes up for it in synergy with Yell Horn. Contrary makes it so that your opponent's coin flips will ALWAYS come up tails. All of them. Even with Will, or Victory Star Victini, and even Glimwood Tangle. Since the ability affects your opponent, it bypasses all coin rigging options. This includes the confusion that you just gave to your opponent! That's right, that means your opponent literally cannot attack you!
But that's not even where the positives end for Malamar. Beginning in Primal Clash, Ancient Traits were a new and mostly underwhelming addition to the Pokemon TCG, with the most notable cards receiving it being Mega Rayquaza-EX and Groudon-EX. Aside from those noteworthy contenders however, the majority of the cards printed with these were incredibly bad. But to this Malamar card's benefit, it ended up with one of the better Ancient Traits: Theta Stop. It nullifies any abilities thrown at it. This includes Bide Barricade, Garbotoxin, and other means of ability lock, meaning that it can work even if these other Pokémon are on the field. It also is immune to those pesky gusting abilities that crop up when you think you're safe from the Guzmas and Escape Ropes that plague the lands of Expanded.
All in all, this combo works incredibly well together, in a synergy that only these 3 cards possess, and when you get it going, it can be extremely punishing for your opponent.
Setting Up:
Designing the draw engine was a bit of a challenge for this deck, and it's still not even perfect, but the premise of it is simple: Let your opponent knock out your Pokémon.
Now that may sound silly for a stall deck, but let me explain. In this list, I run 4 Spiritombs with the Cursed Message ability. It's a very simple ability, but it can get you started in the direction you need. It allows you to simply search your deck for a card and put it into your hand. Usually, you'll want to be searching out a Steven's Resolve with these, as you essentially turn a one card gain into a three card gain. And of course, Jirachi is just worth 3 of these guys, so it was a no-brainer to include it. Keep in mind, however, that Path will shut its ability off.
In addition to this, I decided to run Black Market Prism Star, making your Spiritomb's heroic sacrifice not it vain. It forces your opponent to waste resources and search out a stadium to get rid of it, or for them to hit into your Spiritomb and let you take a free card while the take no prizes for their hard earned work. Finding Black Market can be hard in the early game, as you can only run one, but it can be clutch in some situations, early or late.
And obviously, the Supporter that holds it all together, Steven's Resolve. Since the combo relies on a specific few cards, it is very important to search them out as fast as possible, even if we have to end our turn to get them.
As I stated, the draw engine is definitely flawed: You have to give up prizes for KO's AND you have your hand at risk of Marnie or N. In the event of this, it's important to keep as many Robo Subs on the bench, and use as many Crushing Hammers during this phase of the game to slow your opponent down.
The Combo in Action:
The cards you'll want to have in your hand when you pull this off:
-1 Inkay or Level Ball.
-1 Yell Horn
-1 Boss' Orders
-1 Electrike
-1 Galar Mine
-1 Tool Jammer
-A Scoop Up net if you have a Spiritomb in the active
Preforming the combo can be done in one turn, provided you have the cards. You may be able to pull this off turn one, or it may take several turns, so patience is key.
Step 1: Play Inkay to your bench.
Step 2: Discard All Robos in play (You can get them back with Bunnelby) and Scoop Up any Spiritomb that also may be in play.
Step 3: Bring Inkay to the Active Spot and use Boss to bring a desired bench-sitter to the active.
Step 4: Play the Yell Horn and search your deck for a Malamar.
Step 5: Play a Tool Jammer onto Malamar and play Galar Mine.
Step 6: Play Electrike to the bench.
Congratulations! You've successfully locked your opponent in the active! So now what?
Well, you can get started with Milling! Miss Fortune Sisters and Rocket's Handiwork should help you push through your opponent's deck relatively easily while Lusamine can grab 2 at a time out of the discard pile. You can also prepare to get another Inkay combo set up with more Steven's Resolves.
So This Sounds Great and All, But Can't Your Opponent Just Retreat?
Yes.. due to the nature of confusion, your opponent will still be able to retreat regardless. If this were using Base-Neo rules of retreating on a coin flip, this deck would be a lot better, but it doesn't. But as Bewear Grylls once said, 'Improvise, adapt, overcome'.
To prevent the opponent from retreating, we'll need to incorporate some cards to prevent the opponent from doing that. Galar Mine will increase all active Pokémon's retreat cost by 2. This effect is not to be underestimated as combined with Crushing Hammers and Team Flare Grunt, you can ruin a single attachment retreat from your opponent.
But what about Float Stone? No problem, we have Tool Jammers at our disposal, completely nullifying Float and other similar cards. This alone can cripple a lot of decks that rely on being able to free retreat rather than spend an expensive retreat cost.
Guzma? Electrike. Omega Barrier prevents Trainer cards to not effect it, allowing you to safely bench a back up in case Malamar gets KO'd.
With all this being said, there are still a few cards that will still infiltrate your lock. Switching items like Escape Rope (Which is not affected by Electrike by the way, as it targets the Active, not the Bench), Switch, and Scramble Switch especially is a get out of jail free card a lot of the time, so always be prepare to set up another Malamar at any time. If all else fails, you have access to Rescue Carrier and Bunnelby to help get set back up again.
Conclusion:
Overall, I think this deck has the ability to work in casual play, but it might be worth testing in a more competitive environment. I think with a few tweaks here and there, this may turn out to be a decent Stall deck. As stated in the introduction, any comments or suggestions would be appreciated, and with that, I will leave you with the visual list. Happy Battling ^.^
This is a fun deck I made one day to challenge myself and practice deckbuilding. I'm overall pretty happy about how it turned out, but like everything, there's definitely room for improvement (That's why I'm posting here ^.^). Any constructive criticism or feedback is appreciated!
List:
Pokemon - 15
4 Spiritomb LOR 117
1 Radiant Jirachi SIT 120
4 Inkay XY 74
1 Bunnelby PRC 121
1 Electrike PRC 60
4 Malamar PR-XY 58
Trainer - 44
1 Computer Search BCR 137
1 Team Flare Grunt GEN 73
1 Field Blower GRI 125
1 Gladion CIN 95
2 Lusamine CIN 96
4 Steven's Resolve CES 145
1 Black Market ◇ TEU 134
1 Miss Fortune Sisters LOR 164
3 Crushing Hammer CRZ 125
2 Boss's Orders RCL 154
2 Galar Mine RCL 160
2 Scoop Up Net RCL 165
4 Yell Horn DAA 173
4 Level Ball BST 129
3 Tool Jammer BST 136
1 Path to the Peak CRE 148
2 Rescue Carrier EVS 154
1 Team Rocket's Handiwork FCO 112
1 Pokémon Ranger STS 104
4 Robo Substitute Team Flare Gear PHF 102
3 VS Seeker PHF 109
Energy - 1
1 Draw Energy CEC 209
The Basics:
Inkay from XY has a unique ability that we've not seen printed often or at all on other Inkay, let alone other cards in general since. It states that during your turn, whenever you are confused, you can search your deck for a Malamar and evolve it. What's so good about this ability is that it can be used on the turn Inkay is put into play. Another strong aspect of it is that you evolve AFTER the confusion happens, which basically means you can get a stage 1 Malamar into play easily with little downsides.
So how do we get Inkay confused? Well, there are a couple of ways to confuse your own Pokémon, but the most straightforward and best way I found was Yell Horn from Darkness Ablaze. It is an Item card that allows you to leave both active Pokémon confused. Having your evolution condition be tied to an item card is one thing, but as Honchkrow-GX and Dusk Stone have showed us, an item that evolves you turn one, even going FIRST, is a very powerful thing to have.
Another thing that Honchkrow-GX has taught us is that having a busted ability on top of the aforementioned ability to evolve turn one is incredible. The Malamar XY Promo card, while not having the most powerful ability, makes up for it in synergy with Yell Horn. Contrary makes it so that your opponent's coin flips will ALWAYS come up tails. All of them. Even with Will, or Victory Star Victini, and even Glimwood Tangle. Since the ability affects your opponent, it bypasses all coin rigging options. This includes the confusion that you just gave to your opponent! That's right, that means your opponent literally cannot attack you!
But that's not even where the positives end for Malamar. Beginning in Primal Clash, Ancient Traits were a new and mostly underwhelming addition to the Pokemon TCG, with the most notable cards receiving it being Mega Rayquaza-EX and Groudon-EX. Aside from those noteworthy contenders however, the majority of the cards printed with these were incredibly bad. But to this Malamar card's benefit, it ended up with one of the better Ancient Traits: Theta Stop. It nullifies any abilities thrown at it. This includes Bide Barricade, Garbotoxin, and other means of ability lock, meaning that it can work even if these other Pokémon are on the field. It also is immune to those pesky gusting abilities that crop up when you think you're safe from the Guzmas and Escape Ropes that plague the lands of Expanded.
All in all, this combo works incredibly well together, in a synergy that only these 3 cards possess, and when you get it going, it can be extremely punishing for your opponent.
Setting Up:
Designing the draw engine was a bit of a challenge for this deck, and it's still not even perfect, but the premise of it is simple: Let your opponent knock out your Pokémon.
Now that may sound silly for a stall deck, but let me explain. In this list, I run 4 Spiritombs with the Cursed Message ability. It's a very simple ability, but it can get you started in the direction you need. It allows you to simply search your deck for a card and put it into your hand. Usually, you'll want to be searching out a Steven's Resolve with these, as you essentially turn a one card gain into a three card gain. And of course, Jirachi is just worth 3 of these guys, so it was a no-brainer to include it. Keep in mind, however, that Path will shut its ability off.
In addition to this, I decided to run Black Market Prism Star, making your Spiritomb's heroic sacrifice not it vain. It forces your opponent to waste resources and search out a stadium to get rid of it, or for them to hit into your Spiritomb and let you take a free card while the take no prizes for their hard earned work. Finding Black Market can be hard in the early game, as you can only run one, but it can be clutch in some situations, early or late.
And obviously, the Supporter that holds it all together, Steven's Resolve. Since the combo relies on a specific few cards, it is very important to search them out as fast as possible, even if we have to end our turn to get them.
As I stated, the draw engine is definitely flawed: You have to give up prizes for KO's AND you have your hand at risk of Marnie or N. In the event of this, it's important to keep as many Robo Subs on the bench, and use as many Crushing Hammers during this phase of the game to slow your opponent down.
The Combo in Action:
The cards you'll want to have in your hand when you pull this off:
-1 Inkay or Level Ball.
-1 Yell Horn
-1 Boss' Orders
-1 Electrike
-1 Galar Mine
-1 Tool Jammer
-A Scoop Up net if you have a Spiritomb in the active
Preforming the combo can be done in one turn, provided you have the cards. You may be able to pull this off turn one, or it may take several turns, so patience is key.
Step 1: Play Inkay to your bench.
Step 2: Discard All Robos in play (You can get them back with Bunnelby) and Scoop Up any Spiritomb that also may be in play.
Step 3: Bring Inkay to the Active Spot and use Boss to bring a desired bench-sitter to the active.
Step 4: Play the Yell Horn and search your deck for a Malamar.
Step 5: Play a Tool Jammer onto Malamar and play Galar Mine.
Step 6: Play Electrike to the bench.
Congratulations! You've successfully locked your opponent in the active! So now what?
Well, you can get started with Milling! Miss Fortune Sisters and Rocket's Handiwork should help you push through your opponent's deck relatively easily while Lusamine can grab 2 at a time out of the discard pile. You can also prepare to get another Inkay combo set up with more Steven's Resolves.
So This Sounds Great and All, But Can't Your Opponent Just Retreat?
Yes.. due to the nature of confusion, your opponent will still be able to retreat regardless. If this were using Base-Neo rules of retreating on a coin flip, this deck would be a lot better, but it doesn't. But as Bewear Grylls once said, 'Improvise, adapt, overcome'.
To prevent the opponent from retreating, we'll need to incorporate some cards to prevent the opponent from doing that. Galar Mine will increase all active Pokémon's retreat cost by 2. This effect is not to be underestimated as combined with Crushing Hammers and Team Flare Grunt, you can ruin a single attachment retreat from your opponent.
But what about Float Stone? No problem, we have Tool Jammers at our disposal, completely nullifying Float and other similar cards. This alone can cripple a lot of decks that rely on being able to free retreat rather than spend an expensive retreat cost.
Guzma? Electrike. Omega Barrier prevents Trainer cards to not effect it, allowing you to safely bench a back up in case Malamar gets KO'd.
With all this being said, there are still a few cards that will still infiltrate your lock. Switching items like Escape Rope (Which is not affected by Electrike by the way, as it targets the Active, not the Bench), Switch, and Scramble Switch especially is a get out of jail free card a lot of the time, so always be prepare to set up another Malamar at any time. If all else fails, you have access to Rescue Carrier and Bunnelby to help get set back up again.
Conclusion:
Overall, I think this deck has the ability to work in casual play, but it might be worth testing in a more competitive environment. I think with a few tweaks here and there, this may turn out to be a decent Stall deck. As stated in the introduction, any comments or suggestions would be appreciated, and with that, I will leave you with the visual list. Happy Battling ^.^
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