Blog Discussing the Dual-Types: Are They Viable or Just Cool to Look At?

Hey buddy, glad to see you were able to crank one out this month, I was getting worried :]

Couple things. One, Shield Energy was errata'd to be applied after W/R. This brings it in line with the proper order of operations when attacking (effects on the defender are applied after W/R).

Second, Wonder Energy gives you Stardust immunity, so it's not completely bad. Just, like, 95% bad.

You have a lot of faith in Mega Steelix but I don't think it's viable at all. Too slow and too inconsistent. You need to spend so much effort powering a single one up that unless you get S-tier draws you're not gonna have a second ready to go when the first goes down. Also, you can't attach Strong Energy to Steelix-EX which I think hurts the most as it renders a third of your Energy completely dead until you evolve.

And as for you trash talking best waifu and the future BDIF, it'll get a lot better with Karen. Mega Turbo can also help keep the Despair Rays coming so don't count Gardie out just yet.
 
A very interesting read. I feel any card being having 2 types is good because you can work out some clutch wins in some matchup. The worst Weakness to have in this format right now is Grass, Lightning, Fire and Water, one of which is covered by a huge EX and the other a Spider, which is splashable in decks.

I do have to disagree on your point on Mega Gardevoir though. Its still capable of hitting for one energy and at worst, 2 energy. M Gardy can used Mega Turbo to attach and attach for the turn and has access to the Fairy Special Energy that kills Damage Swap, which could be a huge factor. It also does 110 damage for two which is huge and can deny Lysandre targets. M Garde also likes Max Potion and whimsicott. Having a metal Weakness is very good to have considering Metal loses their support. You also have to keep in mind the other M Gardevoir is also in format and can take some clutch KOs while dealing over 240 damage.

Steelix on the other hand is also not as strong as you think it may be. Garbodor is in format and you have no way to turn the ability off. At best, you have a 3 turn charge and if hammers are a thing, you'll never attack. m Mewtwo EX will also be a huge threat because a 5 energy m Steelix EX and a m Mewtwo EX with a DCE deal 190 to you after resistance and we all know in most cases, a m Mewtwo EX is packing more than two energy. The other problem is Flareon EX is faster than you and knocks you out in one hit while you can't do the same. This is on paper though because they do lose Blacksmith.

The case for Flareon EX is they do lose Blacksmith, which is a much needed nerf with how powerful the deck is but they will adapt but getting 30+ extra damage a turn is huge and one +30 on flareon knocks out Steelix.

So in terms of does dual types have a place, I do. The reason I think Steam m Gardevoir EX is so good is because it deals with Dragons and all other Psychic weak Pokemon effectively while not being Psychic weak itself. To be honest with you, I think Steam m Gardevoir is busted becuase of this.
 
No offense but this article isn't great, I get that in a 'Free Blog' you're not going to give away everything that you'd want people to pay for in the premium articles but adversely don't be pointing new players in the complete wrong direction.

Mega Steelix is terrible, going as far as providing a decklist for new players to waste their money on.

On a lesser note.

The Mega Gardevoir review knocked it down in terms of a deck of it's own, didn't touch on using it as a tech for Primal Clash Mega Gardevoir showing players to look at cards in other ways (I'm not saying that's a good deck or not either but for completeness the point should be made to show new players how to look at cards).

There was no mention of Pokemon Ranger with Volcanic Heat to allow VolcanionEX to attack again and no Ranger included in the list either.

I'd just rather there be no free blogs at all than trying to put out tier 4 card/deck analysis, the free blogs should really cover the general aspects of the game for newer players (deckbuilding, staples, etc.) rather than be premium article style but covering bad, non-competitive cards.



crystal_pidgeot said:
has access to the Fairy Special Energy that kills Damage Swap
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You really don't want to do this, Wonder Energy will only prevent the effects of Damage Swap that would be applied to the Fairy Pokemon (M GardevoirEX in this case) not the entire effect of Damage Swap, therefore Damage Swap couldn't take damage from M GardevoirEX and would have none to put onto the MewtwoEX but would remove all of the damage from the Mewtwo and have nowhere to put it so it fizzles as you're doing as much of the effect as you can, this case isn't the worst for this as the M Gardevoir ohko's the Mewtwo with weakness anyway but in general terms of Wonder Energy it doesn't prevent Damage Swap, just allows Mewtwo to heal itself.
 
sid18 said:
The free blogs should really cover the general aspects of the game for newer players (deckbuilding, staples, etc.)
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I have to agree with this.

There's not much content out there on how to approach the game for newer players. At my locals we're seeing a lot of new people joining; they've chosen this time of the year to start playing as the rotation offers a fresh start and there's less "homework" to do on the metagame.

This would be as good a time as any to release some articles that cover the basics.

That being said, I always enjoy @Serperior's blogs. In this I especially appreciate the history of dual-types (I'll be double sleeving my reverse Crystal Crobat and locking it away as soon as I get home).

As for the decks; I'm on the fence about M Steelix-EX, I have a feeling it's not as bad as previous comments have made out. I'd point out that @urwatueatandi8arceus also highlighted M Steelix-EX as being a card that has high potential in his review of Steam Siege on The Charizard Lounge, and his is an opinion I trust.

It's a "wait and see" from me.
 
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@sid18 does it really fizzle? It seems like a all or nothing effect to me. Whats the ruling?

WastedSkyPirate said:
I have to agree with this.

There's not much content out there on how to approach the game for newer players. At my locals we're seeing a lot of new people joining; they've chosen this time of the year to start playing as the rotation offers a fresh start and there's less "homework" to do on the metagame.

This would be as good a time as any to release some articles that cover the basics.

That being said, I always enjoy @Serperior's blogs. In this I especially appreciate the history of dual-types (I'll be double sleeving my reverse Crystal Crobat and locking it away as soon as I get home).

As for the decks; I'm on the fence about M Steelix-EX, I have a feeling it's not as bad as previous comments have made out. I'd point out that @urwatueatandi8arceus also highlighted M Steelix-EX as being a card that has high potential in his review of Steam Siege on The Charizard Lounge, and his is an opinion I trust.

It's a "wait and see" from me.
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As a rule of thumb for me, I triple sleeve all my old SR cards. The case for M Steelix EX, it needs a tank strat to work. You should be healing to provent OHKOs or 2HKOs. I think the decks has the right stuff to work (If you like this Pokemon, then make it work. Look at Audino EX) but going into the next format, what do you do against hammers and Garbodor? These are two very hard counters to the way people are wanting M Steelix right now. Mega Mewtwo EX is also looking to be a force to reckon with and can do heavy damage to M Steelix EX for little energy and possibly OHKO it while you can't do the same and if a m Steelix EX goes down against Mewtwo or Flareon in a single hit, then you need to respond quickly which would require you have the Link, Mega, 1 Metal energy and 2 DCE. God forbid you get hit by an N.

I want this deck to work but it has a lot going against it since these are very real threats.
 
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I really think Gardevoir and Steelix should switch places. 110 is hardly "lackluster" damage for 2 energy, surely, and Gardevoir does 1HKO Mewtwo, Hoopa, Shaymin, Dragons etc while denying easy Shaymin bench prizes for the rest of the game. I would also say that Steel is a comparatively good weakness to have at the moment, given that Bronzong has recently rotated and leaving Scizor as Steel's only real big attacker (except Steelix, but I'm afraid I don't count him as competitive) - and Steel is weak to Fire at a time where Volcanion is going to be popular.

As for Steelix, Garbodor shuts down Clawitzer hard, and 5 energy really is a huge cost when you consider that Rayquaza is going to come out swinging for huge amounts for only 3 Energy. And once one Steelix goes down, I'm willing to bet it'll take more than a turn to return the favour. And again, Fire weakness.

That said, I do like the article as a whole - the history is nice and you've done some in-depth analysis, I just happen to disagree!
 
crystal_pidgeot said:
@sid18 does it really fizzle? It seems like a all or nothing effect to me. Whats the ruling?
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It does fizzle.

Another example of Damage Change "fizzling" is when Mewtwo-EX uses it after being hit by a Regice's Resistance Blizzard. Resistance Blizzard prevents all effects of attacks, including damage, done to it by Pokemon-EX. This prevents the damage from Mewtwo-EX being transferred to Regice, instead it's transferred to... nowhere... thus healing Mewtwo-EX and "fizzling".
 
inb4 Steelix wins 2017 worlds
 
Thank you all for the feedback! :D

PMJ: Yup. School started for me, busy schedules, traveling...glad I got around to it. Ugh Shield Energy got errata'd too?! Of course I catch the Crystal Nidoking from ages ago but can't get the Shield Energy lol. Thanks for that. Yo everyone with the M Steelix hate today! xD The deck's not as awful as you think man. I personally had the 3-3 Clawitzer line because you can sacrifice a Clauncher if you start with it while making sure you still have two Clawitzer later. DCE makes it very possible to make T2/T3 Canyon Axe. Don't knock it til you try it. ;) YEAH FRICKIN KAREN I FINISHED THE ARTICLE BEFORE I KNEW ABOUT KAREN UGH. No doubt I think she will make the deck jump to Tier YAAAAASSSSS or at least an intermediate stage between that and Eh?. For me, there was just a lot of other heavier hitters out there in the format from the mindset I was in writing the piece.

@crystal_pidgeot: Wish there was a Crystal Pidgeot. One of my faves. How can...how can Gardy hit for one Energy? What am I missing here? You mean with Mega Turbo right? I think trying to squeeze in too many of these two-of Items immediately clunks the deck, and now with Karen back you're going to want to make it easier to recycle those dead Pokémon for more damage so I would disagree with that option. I see what you and sid were saying about the other M Gardy, which is fine, but to spend three turns charging up Brilliant Arrow doesn't make sense when you don't have Aromatisse for mobility and/or another form of Energy acceleration. I could see this only if you go Fairy Garden/Xerneas to Geomancy stuff and make it easy to Retreat later, but that's still three Energy for an attack in a deck that won't play DCE. We can theorymon whether Hammers will be around, but if they are, sure. The deck is toast. I won't disagree. But from we've seen and had discussed, I haven't heard of anything about this. I won't write it off because Standard hasn't really happened yet, though.

@sid18: Thanks for the input man. I'm glad you're discerning the difference between a Premium Article and a Free Blog, but I think you're missing the point here. I'm just writing. I'm not playing "keep away" with my knowledge of the game, and if I was, you best know I'd be writing Premium Articles and I'd be charging you for it. How do you know that I'm steering people in the wrong direction with what I have to say? Next Standard's meta has only been theorized, Mega Audino just won Worlds, and I'm reviewing dual-type Pokémon as denoted by the title (which was what I delivered). Granted, our opinions don't line up, and that's fine. If, after reading my article in its entirety, you're only picking out that I whiffed on mentioning the other Primal Clash Gardy, you don't like Mega Steelix, and you're upset that I didn't mention Pokémon Ranger, I'll take your criticism, appreciate it, and use it for the next article. You don't need to read the Free Blogs man if you feel like they're supposed to be geared towards newbies. Writers like @PMJ and I write these just to write these. I like this outlet for getting my thoughts on paper and I, along with thousands of other readers, take advantage of these. It's an opportunity for me and other writers to openly express what we think regardless of player level. I'm not using this as an excuse for why I missed those details earlier, but keep an open mind when you're reading these in the future if you choose to. If you're disappointed in the quality of Free Blogs or don't like the way they're written, I highly encourage you to write one of your own! PokéBeach is a great place to start a conversation (as we so clearly have done this instant) and it sounds like you would a bit to share (given the experience in your signature). I know I'd read.

@WastedSkyPirate: We talked earlier, but thank you man as always. :) Yo, Andrew did write about Steelix! I feel a little encouraged.

@Ms Hugo: Thanks for the read yo! Now that Karen's back in the game, (as I mentioned with my response to PMJ), I wouldn't oppose moving Gardy up in the tier list of dual-types right now. While I don't think we'll see Dragons all that much, you're right on the OHKOing Benchwarmers for sure. Also per my response to PMJ, I go 3-3 Clawitzer to ensure I get those DCE down asap. Those are what gets Canyon Axe going and if you can get two Clawitzer...you're pretty much golden. No doubt Hex Maniac and Garbodor cause problems, though. Glad you liked the historical aspect of my article. :)
 
It's all meh really but if you don't know how to use Galvantula to it's fullest extent then that's on you. My deck has no problem defeating most decks. Only problem I have is with fairies and dragons. But let's face it. The real extent on the upcoming season will be in Evolutions. Especially if Base Set Blastoise is reprinted and I am certainly making a Charizard deck.
 
Florges? Now that'd be something. I'm not a fan of Stage-2s because if you want to make the most of em you need to be a Grass-type for FOGP or play Rare Candy, and that in itself takes up a ton of room. I'd just play Mega Turbo at that point lol. In my MegaMan deck I ran at Nats, I found that Max Elixir was helpful, so I could see M Gardy/Max Elixir/Xerneas. You could play a split of Fairy Garden and Sky Field and kill off all the Xerneas after you've Geomancy'd a couple of times.

@Ami Dark how do you use Galvantula? Do you have your own deck based around this critter?
 
Galvantula hits Yveltal EX for 60 on the bench. Thats 120 total damage for a single random energy card in the deck. Thats a lot of pressure. Galvantula is also really good at beating Greninja.
 
I can't help but chime in on this article, and point out a double standard you've made: You make a major excuse for a many of these cards to have trouble in the future because of the rise of Volcanion-EX decks, yet you glorify M Steelix, which, by the way, will have trouble with Volcanion-EX decks. :/

Additionally, I think you severely underestimate Galvantula. It literally has the power to snipe two benched Pokemon for weakness of 60 damage each, just for one of any kind of energy. If one can find a way to strand an active Pokemon, Shaymin-EX's beware, as a lot bail-out cards like AZ, Super Scoop Up, etc, aren't there at the moment. I've seen 2-2 and 3-3 lines of them in Rainbow Force Xerneas builds. Joltiks don't matter in this regard, other than for evolving.
 
crystal_pidgeot said:
Galvantula hits Yveltal EX for 60 on the bench. Thats 120 total damage for a single random energy card in the deck. Thats a lot of pressure. Galvantula is also really good at beating Greninja.
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Yo, I've pointed out that Greninja probably won't see play because of Garbodor. The fear's too real. Losing XY Greninja hurts too because baby Shuriken KOs Joltik and just provides extra damage in general haha. I'm not going to deny that it could be a cute tech to KO two stray Shaymin in a couple of turns, but I'm pretty sure your opponent is going to wise up and simply not Bench Shaymin if they see this happening. Go ahead and take three turns to KO a Yveltal from the Bench. Your own Shaymin are gonna get Lysandre'd in the meantime.

This goes for @Lanstar's comment too. I would be more understanding to see Galvantula in Rainbow Force than in a random deck with a 2-2/3-3 line for the sake of trying to hit Shaymin. I'm kind of curious as to which lists you're looking at that can include Galvantula so smoothly. Furthermore, I think when you mean "many of these cards" you're referring to just Volcarona lol. I mention Volcanion in his bit and I discuss Steelix having a tough time with Volcanion too. What were you trying to get at?
 
Serperior said:
Yo, I've pointed out that Greninja probably won't see play because of Garbodor. The fear's too real. Losing XY Greninja hurts too because baby Shuriken KOs Joltik and just provides extra damage in general haha. I'm not going to deny that it could be a cute tech to KO two stray Shaymin in a couple of turns, but I'm pretty sure your opponent is going to wise up and simply not Bench Shaymin if they see this happening. Go ahead and take three turns to KO a Yveltal from the Bench. Your own Shaymin are gonna get Lysandre'd in the meantime.

This goes for @Lanstar's comment too. I would be more understanding to see Galvantula in Rainbow Force than in a random deck with a 2-2/3-3 line for the sake of trying to hit Shaymin. I'm kind of curious as to which lists you're looking at that can include Galvantula so smoothly. Furthermore, I think when you mean "many of these cards" you're referring to just Volcarona lol. I mention Volcanion in his bit and I discuss Steelix having a tough time with Volcanion too. What were you trying to get at?
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That is true but if my opponent isn't playing Shaymins, that means they are slower than me, which is what I want. 60 damage snipe of 2 Shaymin EXs is a big deal because now they have to deal with your spider or risk losing 4 Prize cards. Losing 4 Prize Cards to a tech is bad. It still remains to be seen but I lost to this thing because of that, just on a smaller scale. Psyduck is grass weak and I lost both of them in a single turn (I went second so I couldn't help it) and I was never able to get a Golduck Break down until it was too late. Its not something I worry about but it could be crippling if you don't check it.
 
M Steelix Ex plays a lot better with Carbink Break. Sure, Battle compressor rotates but if you can get the energies in the discard if they can't hit for 240 you can Max Potion and retreat then spend a turn or two recharging Steelix. Healing up to 230 and then continuing to hit them and their bench is very good. It does have advantage over P Groudon for hitting bench and hitting fairy and ice for weakneas too (though Groudon is still better with omega barrier)
 
I understand that 60 to both Shaymin is bad, but look. Other than Rainbow Road I don't see a legitimate deck sacrificing four slots for Galvantula. I guess every deck runs Shaymin so you could take that to your advantage, but at the same time how is it going to help you in your main deck's strategy? I can see Galvantula in maybe a rogue Stage-1 deck or something.

@MarshalBry: This is interesting and it might be worth testing too. Baby Carbink can stall and can use Strong Energy for a little extra damage. I chose Clawitzer because you can get that T2 Canyon Axe. Without dat Omega Barrier Ancient Trait, Steelix is Lysandreable and they can 2HKO it more easily without bulk before taking advantage of all that swag he can use with Special Energy boosts.
 
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