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Standard Dare to Enter the Forest: PRC-On (M Sceptile/M Beedrill)

Arizaiaz

Arizaiaz

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Origins:
As someone who has been testing and playing Mega Sceptile decks for months now I was very intrigued by the article right here on Pokebeach discussing the impending release of the Mega Beedrill-EX Premium Collection. I have been searching for potential partners for Mega Sceptile in the newly minted format and Mega Beedrill checks off a few of the things I was looking for. But first here is what Mega Beedrill does for the uninitiated...

[G][G] Hazard Stinger: 40 damage
Discard all energy attached to this Pokémon. Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Paralyzed and Poisoned. Between turns, place 4 damage counters on it in stead of 1

Strategy:
Now on to why M Beedrill fits with M Sceptile....

- It has free retreat
-Attacks with only 2 energy
-Stronger against Sceptile's weaknesses (well paralysis disrupts everything that M Sceptile struggles with, mainly Damage Changing M Mewtwo, Fire decks, and M Ray)

As you can see, at least on paper the two have very good synergy. M Beedrill needs to be constantly refueled, M Sceptile can accelerate and heal M Beedrill. In return, M Beedrill uses its automatic paralysis and poison to help M Sceptile and even Sceptile-EX finish off its bulkier opponents. Here is some math...

Hazard Stinger= HS
Jagged Saber= JS
Poison = P
HS(40)+P(40)+P(40)+JS(100)+P(40)=260; in just two turns. One of which the opponent was paralyzed for and you hopefully accelerated energy for the next Hazard Stinger/Jagged Saber... oh and the heal too.

The main problem with this concept and a major one at that, is the need to run 2 different types of Spirit links. I would normally never dream of running 2 Mega lines in the same list but in my opinion Forest of Giant Plants makes it easier to deal with these 2 grass type Megas. Since you really only need to hit one of the links and a FoGP to play two Megas on your first turn. Not bad. I'll also note here that either Mega can attack the first turn possible thanks to Mega Turbo. Again not bad.

And now on to the list I plan on testing with proxies this weekend.

Pokémon: 13
3 Sceptile EX AOR
3 Mega Sceptile EX AOR
2 Beedrill EX PROMO
2 Mega Beedrill EX PROMO
2 Shaymin EX ROS
1 Hoopa EX AOR

Trainers(Supporters/Items/Stadiums): 37(11/22/4)
3 Professor Sycamore
3 N
2 Hex Maniac
2 Lysandre
1 Fisherman

4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
4 Trainers' Mail
3 Mega Turbo
3 Sceptile Spirit Link
2 Beedrill Spirit Link
1 Professor's Letter
1 Escape Rope

4 Forest of Giant Plants

Energy: 10
10 Grass Energy

Thoughts/Reasons and Closing Comments:
I've opted to run a heavier M Sceptile line over the M Beedrill line simply because in my opinion the M Sceptile healing loop will be enough against most decks and will be much more sustainable over needing to hit and refuel Hazard Stinger turn after turn. This way I should only need to hit Hazard Stinger once or twice in a game to shutdown major threats and secure KOs. No non-EXs and a heavy reliance on Megas means running 2 Hex maniacs is nearly a no-brainer to break past Carbink and Giratina. I'll also be relying on Escape Rope and Lysandre against Regice. Everything else seems to be fairly self explanatory.

Off the top, I'm worried about not having enough ways to switch Hoopa/Shaymin out of the active. Only have the 1 Escape Rope at the moment and I'm not sure what else to cut.

Anyways sorry about making this such a long post but I felt that with an idea as ludicrous sounding as playing two Mega lines I really would have to get my points across. The logic seems like its there but I figured a few more minds and play testers wouldn't hurt. Feedback is always appreciated.
 
Dlegge1305 said:
What would be your counter to anti-EX cards, i.e. Regice?
Click to expand...

For Regice in particular, this list currently only has one way of dealing with it. Use Escape Rope, then Lysandre it up to hit it with Hazard Stinger. Not ideal... I know but at least its something. You should also be targeting Regice as soon as possible before it can charge up its attack. Anything that relies on abilities to avoid damage like Carbink and Giratina are dealt with by the 2 Hex Maniacs.

I'm thinking about adding a Pokemon Ranger or a second Escape Rope. Maybe cutting either a Sceptile Spirit Link, Forest of Giant Plants, Grass Energy, or Professor's Letter.
 
Arizaiaz said:
For Regice in particular, this list currently only has one way of dealing with it. Use Escape Rope, then Lysandre it up to hit it with Hazard Stinger. Not ideal... I know but at least its something. You should also be targeting Regice as soon as possible before it can charge up its attack. Anything that relies on abilities to avoid damage like Carbink and Giratina are dealt with by the 2 Hex Maniacs.

I'm thinking about adding a Pokemon Ranger or a second Escape Rope. Maybe cutting either a Sceptile Spirit Link, Forest of Giant Plants, Grass Energy, or Professor's Letter.
Click to expand...

I would cut a mega turbo and add a pokemon ranger. Or I would add a Virizon (AOR) as a non-EX attacker.
 
Maybe you could add a Leafeon EX, as it can be very annoying. As long as you have a stadium, Leafeon can just 2-shot everything and heal itself.
 
The concept is good in theory but you won't consistently draw anything with those numbers. Problem is that the best mega decks run 4, 3 if they run skyla so they can search if need be. Mega Beedrill would probably be better on it's own if you worked towards consistency
 
I'll agree that it does seem like I will need to make some changes to the pokemon line up in order to boost consistency. But I'm still not seeing how Mega Beedrill will be better on its own. At its best you 3HKO opposing megas meaning you are giving your opponent an extra turn to find the Escape Rope, Switch, Pokemon Center Lady or Olympia they need to negate Hazard Stinger's effects. Thats not to mention the fact that Zoroark and Magearna EX both counter Mega Beedrill as well. But there are counters to everything right, I'll be playing around with the list this weekend with some friends to see if I find anything that works consistently.
 
Beedrill with Garb might be good early on but good cards get tech'd against and all it would take is a single Olympia or PCL. Both of which I've already seen played a bit more since AZ rotated, oh and a new Full Heal item card is being released in Evolutions so there is that to keep in mind as well. Also a 2-2 Garb line w/ the necessary float stones is the same amount of space as a 2-2 M Beedrill line w/ spirit links. If I wouldn't be able to draw into the cards I needed before why would I do so with an evo line that can't evolve in one turn or is searchable w/ Hoopa? Much like only needing to physically bench one Garb a match I'm currently planning on only needing a single M Beedrill per match since I'm healing it with Sceptile too.

And I'm not trying to hate on Beedrill, I think its a really good card but playing a straight Beedrill deck seems risky. You'll need to hit the extra energy attachment (Max Elixir/Mega Turbo) every turn and hope that your opponent doesn't have a way to remove status or switch the active.

I think with something similar to this list it would still be better to primarily use M Sceptile and load up M Beedrill to counter the things that try to OHKO/threaten Sceptile. For example, a M Mewtwo is loading up 5+ energies in an attempt to OHKO a M Sceptile, I can use the M Beedrill to paralyze and KO it the following turn leaving the Mewtwo player in a very bad spot having lost an attacker that likely held most of his energy in play. But that's just how I'm seeing things at the moment, and like you said the concept is all just a theory right now.
 
just what if, you adapt it to run 2-2 weavile line, so you can get ride of the spirit links, run float stones on mega sceptile and be able top move then around, which would prevent lysandre on your hoopa (which maybe a major problem atm).

With weavile you could add some useful tools like weakness policy (helps against bad match-ups) or Assault vest.

To include this pokemon, I would drop 1-1 Sceptile line and 1 Shaymin.
 
Naner said:
just what if, you adapt it to run 2-2 weavile line, so you can get ride of the spirit links, run float stones on mega sceptile and be able top move then around, which would prevent lysandre on your hoopa (which maybe a major problem atm).

With weavile you could add some useful tools like weakness policy (helps against bad match-ups) or Assault vest.

To include this pokemon, I would drop 1-1 Sceptile line and 1 Shaymin.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I actually really like Weavile, in fact I'm playing a 2-2 line in my current M Sceptile deck. But I feel like working a 2-2 line into this concept would just clunk things up and I'm not a fan of reducing the Sceptile line either.

I think I'll try to find a way to fit in a Float Stone or a Parallel City to prevent the desperation Lysandre plays.
 
Arizaiaz said:
Hmm... I actually really like Weavile, in fact I'm playing a 2-2 line in my current M Sceptile deck. But I feel like working a 2-2 line into this concept would just clunk things up and I'm not a fan of reducing the Sceptile line either.

I think I'll try to find a way to fit in a Float Stone or a Parallel City to prevent the desperation Lysandre plays.
Click to expand...

Instead of dropping of Sceptile, you could use 2 spirit links for each one, because you can reuse then with weavile, reduce your grass stadium by 1, and try to fit a 1-1 line just in case.
 
Naner said:
Instead of dropping of Sceptile, you could use 2 spirit links for each one, because you can reuse then with weavile, reduce your grass stadium by 1, and try to fit a 1-1 line just in case.
Click to expand...
1-1 is too inconsistent.
 
Yea Weavile seems to make some sense here but I don't think there is enough space in the list to properly get value out of it. Since I would want to include a 2-2 line with other useful tools like Assault Vest/ Weakness Policy/ Float Stones.

Here are some of the changes I thought about making today. Not going to update the list from the first post with these till I get around to testing w/ proxies later but I think the changes will help.

-1 Hex Maniac
-1 Mega Turbo
-1 Professor's Letter
-1 Forest of Giant Plants

+1 Professor Sycamore
+1 Olympia
+2 Max Elixir

The addition of another sycamore is hard to argue against and a 4/3 Sycamore/N split should be plenty of draw support throughout the game. I decided to go with a 2/2 Mega Turbo/Max Elixir split to give me more acceleration options. The Max Elixirs may get cut again as they may end up being dead cards if I get to the point where I'm only fielding Megas mid to late game but I'm still seeing plenty of situations where they would be useful. The Olympia may seem strange but having a VS Seeker-able switching card is pretty valuable to this deck. I ran a few solitaire turns with the list and found myself in situations where the M Sceptile was in the active w/ 2 energies and I had M Beedrill ready to go on the bench. If I had needed to use Hazard Stinger in a situation like this it would require an Escape Rope or a painful discarding of 4 energies. Playing higher counts of N and Lysandre should free up my VS Seekers for other cards and an Olympia play or two a game should help me safely maintain momentum.

Cards that are on the bubble are:
Revitalizer
Skyla
Pokemon Ranger
Energy Retrieval
Silent Lab/Parallel City
Bunnelby PRC
 
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