Discussion Crawdaunt VS. Slowking

[Robin Aisaga]

These are the cards in question. It seems Slowking booked some succes recently. But I'm not sure why players don't use Crawdaunt instead for energy denial. I listed some pros and cons for both of them.

Crawdaunt discards the energy attached to the active Pokémon without a coin flip. It's a certain hit. The energy is no longer in play. There may be moments where Royal Flash can only move energy to other potential threads. Crawdaunt can be searched with Level Ball. Devolution Spray let's you use Unruly Claw multiple times. Corphish has a disruptive attack that let's you discard a card from your opponent's hand.

Royal Flash can be used every turn. You also do not have to worry about energy being retrieved with Mega Turbo or certain attacks. Special Energy that is type specific can be removed. This way you can effectively remove DDE from a Giratina EX. Slowking's entire line can be searched with Dive Ball. Slowpoke has a semi useful attack that let's you search a Pokémon.

 

[21times]

Hey Robin really great thread idea. I would say Slowking because of one more reason: your opponent really has to think twice about playing any techs. Not being able to play cards like Shaymin and Hoopa is going to slow many decks down. The intimidation factor is as strong as the ability itself.

But this is still limited to mill decks that I hate. And there are A LOT of mill decks around. Fortunately, most of them are very inconsistent and the top tier decks will be able to beat them most of the time.

But I have seen quite a bit of mill decks lately on tcgo. I do think they are contrary to the spirit of the game. If they become more consistent and more prevalent though I might walk away from the game... But this is probably a subject for another thread.

 

[rayquazatopaz34]

I personally play Slowking over Crawdaunt as it is multiple use (excluding Devolution) and it is more fun to play with 2+ benched

 

[Anthony Orosco]

Item lock stops Crawdaunt in its tracks. Even in standard, first turn item lock is possible and currently very prevalent. After that, the entire evolution line is just Ultra Ball fodder. While you most likely won't see a first turn Garbodor, ability denial also shuts off Slowking. So really, I say Slowking since you will get at least 1 them off against Mewtwo/Garb and MScizor/Garb.

 

[Ivy_Profen]

Slowking is the best option imo. not only does it work multiple times with less space of the deck taken up. with all the ways to recover energy and special energy. slowking can trap energy on useless pokemon like hoopa, preventing recycling.

While crawdaunt removes it, and with special charge and puzzle of time, the energy could be back on the board next turn.