This deck has one job and one job only - target your energy cards to keep you helpless to the point of submission. I have been playing it on the TCGO for a week or so now and I've never ran through so many concessions
The Deck;
Pokémon: (14)
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: (35)
Energy: (11)
Visual:
Strategy:
In a perfect world you will hit an Inkay & an energy on T1. I always try to start second, which is not a problem when everyone wants to go first. The Inkay & Malamar stall and confuse, and later recycle cards to the point of hitting energies over and over. Meanwhile I build up Sharpedo/Absol energy-wise, and work my way through my own deck getting cards to hand.
Worst case scenario, Malamar can drag a new Pokémon up from the opponent bench if I can't hit the active's energies. An unusual 3-2 line as the Inkay can seek out the Malamar at will. I typically only use one line in a game, but three Inkay to increase the chance of finding him early, & two Malamar in case of one being prized.
Sharpedo is the main attacker of the deck. He has the same awkward switchout move on low energy - allowing me to pull out Pokés with heavy retreat costs/no energy attached, and then later can hit a healthy 100 while offering yet another way of taking away your actives energies.
Crawdaunt is just a (pair of) benchwarmers - there for the sole purpose of evolving and getting scooped back up to abuse his ability. In a pinch he can hit for 70, although it's something to avoid relying on, and not likely to have enough energies attached unless I've been drawing dead for a few turns in a row.
I found over time that the deck was lacking some real punch, hence the single Absol EX. Just one, as he is only an in-case-of-emergencies addition. His first move is a nice way to whittle down the opponents hand, in the hopes of hitting energies by chance, which ties in nicely with Corphish's second move which does the same thing without any damage. Again, these are not Pokés I'm aiming to use often.
Shaymin is there for extra draw, Bunnelby is an escape route for the long drawn-out matches this deck tends to force, and allows me to follow the two main routes this deck takes - recycling my stuff to keep hitting your energy, or just decking you out of energies first, then the rest of your cards soon follow.
For supporters there is some obvious draw with Birch & Sycamore, and two Grunts (which become more when needed thanks to VS seeker/Malamar/Bunnelby), one Xerosic, and one Fan Club to help get the Corphish & Inkays out early. One Ultra Ball to find a Crawdaunt or whoever else I might need.
Lots of hammers of course, as that is the point of the deck, plus a few scoop-ups to recycle the Crawdaunts & occasional Shaymin / low health Poke / pseudo-switch. A pair of head-ringers to push energy costs up for the EXs I face. One Trainers Mail for grabbing what I need when I need it. The shovel is kind of a hangover from an earlier version - I will talk about that under improvements - but it can mill energy late, or set up my hand early. A pair of switches for when a Crawdaunt or ill-prepared Sharpedo gets Lysandre'd out too early or just a poor opening selection.
Sharpedo's first move & Malamar's main only hit for 30 each, so the Muscle Bands are pretty important. This deck does not hit hard at all - just disables you and wears you down. The Bands help allay that. The Stadium is there just as filler - more to knock out opposing stadiums than anything - occasionally it helps with weakness and it can be recycled if it's a Stadium war.
Energy wise there's a single DCE to get onto Shaymin or Crawdaunt/Corphish, a handful of Dangerous Energies that are far from critical (since hopefully you can't hit me anyway), and a healthy count of regular Dark. Malamar only needs a single to operate, but Absol needs three, and worse, Sharpedo discards one each time he uses his better move, so I need more than usual. Pulling them back from the discard with Malamar/Bunnely is an option but that is needed more to pull hammers/supporters/Crawdaunts. One single recycler helps keep these all in circulation and fattens up my deck again for those longer battles.
Improvements
The deck works pretty well in most cases - *if* I get the right set-up early. Really what I need here is a more Veteran player than I to run an eye over it.
Pokémon: I am tempted to add a M Absol-EX or even just a second regular. The biggest problem this deck faces is stalling itself to death, and not hitting hard enough. If I am stalling I need to be recycling too, which isn't always the case. I could afford the lack of an Absol Spirit Link since attacking energies is the priority rather than attacking Pokémon.
Supporters: I could possibly add an AZ here for Crawdaunt/Shaymin's sake, and a Steven too, to more reliably get that AZ & PFC but I am not sure what to cut?
Items: I originally ran four Trick Shovels here as it was a great tool to whittle down your Deck and keep energy out of your hand. Controlling what you could pick up. On top of this it was great early for me, so in a jam I could check my own deck to ensure next card was indeed the energy / draw / energy-targeter card I required. But as I've tweaked the deck while testing, it has become the easiest card to give way for better additions. Now I am left with just one which is not really here or there.
The Deck;
Pokémon: (14)
3 Inkay XY 74 (evolution-ability)
2 Malamar AOR 46 (trash tentacle/entangling control)
2 Corphish PRC 42
2 Crawdaunt PRC 92
2 Sharpedo-EX PRC 91
1 Absol-EX PR-XY XY62
1 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
1 Bunnelby PRC 121
2 Malamar AOR 46 (trash tentacle/entangling control)
2 Corphish PRC 42
2 Crawdaunt PRC 92
2 Sharpedo-EX PRC 91
1 Absol-EX PR-XY XY62
1 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
1 Bunnelby PRC 121
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: (35)
2 Team Flare Grunt
1 Xerosic
3 Professor Birch's Observations
3 Professor Sycamore
1 Pokémon Fan Club
4 VS Seeker
4 Crushing Hammer
2 Enhanced Hammer
1 Trick Shovel
2 Head Ringer Team Flare Hyper Gear
3 Super Scoop Up
1 Ultra Ball
2 Switch
1 Professor's Letter
1 Energy Recycler
2 Muscle Band
1 Trainers' Mail
1 Shadow Circle
1 Xerosic
3 Professor Birch's Observations
3 Professor Sycamore
1 Pokémon Fan Club
4 VS Seeker
4 Crushing Hammer
2 Enhanced Hammer
1 Trick Shovel
2 Head Ringer Team Flare Hyper Gear
3 Super Scoop Up
1 Ultra Ball
2 Switch
1 Professor's Letter
1 Energy Recycler
2 Muscle Band
1 Trainers' Mail
1 Shadow Circle
Energy: (11)
8 Darkness Energy
2 Dangerous Energy
1 Double Colorless Energy
2 Dangerous Energy
1 Double Colorless Energy
Visual:
Strategy:
In a perfect world you will hit an Inkay & an energy on T1. I always try to start second, which is not a problem when everyone wants to go first. The Inkay & Malamar stall and confuse, and later recycle cards to the point of hitting energies over and over. Meanwhile I build up Sharpedo/Absol energy-wise, and work my way through my own deck getting cards to hand.
Worst case scenario, Malamar can drag a new Pokémon up from the opponent bench if I can't hit the active's energies. An unusual 3-2 line as the Inkay can seek out the Malamar at will. I typically only use one line in a game, but three Inkay to increase the chance of finding him early, & two Malamar in case of one being prized.
Sharpedo is the main attacker of the deck. He has the same awkward switchout move on low energy - allowing me to pull out Pokés with heavy retreat costs/no energy attached, and then later can hit a healthy 100 while offering yet another way of taking away your actives energies.
Crawdaunt is just a (pair of) benchwarmers - there for the sole purpose of evolving and getting scooped back up to abuse his ability. In a pinch he can hit for 70, although it's something to avoid relying on, and not likely to have enough energies attached unless I've been drawing dead for a few turns in a row.
I found over time that the deck was lacking some real punch, hence the single Absol EX. Just one, as he is only an in-case-of-emergencies addition. His first move is a nice way to whittle down the opponents hand, in the hopes of hitting energies by chance, which ties in nicely with Corphish's second move which does the same thing without any damage. Again, these are not Pokés I'm aiming to use often.
Shaymin is there for extra draw, Bunnelby is an escape route for the long drawn-out matches this deck tends to force, and allows me to follow the two main routes this deck takes - recycling my stuff to keep hitting your energy, or just decking you out of energies first, then the rest of your cards soon follow.
For supporters there is some obvious draw with Birch & Sycamore, and two Grunts (which become more when needed thanks to VS seeker/Malamar/Bunnelby), one Xerosic, and one Fan Club to help get the Corphish & Inkays out early. One Ultra Ball to find a Crawdaunt or whoever else I might need.
Lots of hammers of course, as that is the point of the deck, plus a few scoop-ups to recycle the Crawdaunts & occasional Shaymin / low health Poke / pseudo-switch. A pair of head-ringers to push energy costs up for the EXs I face. One Trainers Mail for grabbing what I need when I need it. The shovel is kind of a hangover from an earlier version - I will talk about that under improvements - but it can mill energy late, or set up my hand early. A pair of switches for when a Crawdaunt or ill-prepared Sharpedo gets Lysandre'd out too early or just a poor opening selection.
Sharpedo's first move & Malamar's main only hit for 30 each, so the Muscle Bands are pretty important. This deck does not hit hard at all - just disables you and wears you down. The Bands help allay that. The Stadium is there just as filler - more to knock out opposing stadiums than anything - occasionally it helps with weakness and it can be recycled if it's a Stadium war.
Energy wise there's a single DCE to get onto Shaymin or Crawdaunt/Corphish, a handful of Dangerous Energies that are far from critical (since hopefully you can't hit me anyway), and a healthy count of regular Dark. Malamar only needs a single to operate, but Absol needs three, and worse, Sharpedo discards one each time he uses his better move, so I need more than usual. Pulling them back from the discard with Malamar/Bunnely is an option but that is needed more to pull hammers/supporters/Crawdaunts. One single recycler helps keep these all in circulation and fattens up my deck again for those longer battles.
Improvements
The deck works pretty well in most cases - *if* I get the right set-up early. Really what I need here is a more Veteran player than I to run an eye over it.
Pokémon: I am tempted to add a M Absol-EX or even just a second regular. The biggest problem this deck faces is stalling itself to death, and not hitting hard enough. If I am stalling I need to be recycling too, which isn't always the case. I could afford the lack of an Absol Spirit Link since attacking energies is the priority rather than attacking Pokémon.
Supporters: I could possibly add an AZ here for Crawdaunt/Shaymin's sake, and a Steven too, to more reliably get that AZ & PFC but I am not sure what to cut?
Items: I originally ran four Trick Shovels here as it was a great tool to whittle down your Deck and keep energy out of your hand. Controlling what you could pick up. On top of this it was great early for me, so in a jam I could check my own deck to ensure next card was indeed the energy / draw / energy-targeter card I required. But as I've tweaked the deck while testing, it has become the easiest card to give way for better additions. Now I am left with just one which is not really here or there.
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