Standard Dragon Rage (Haxorus / Regirock)

[Scubasage]

Pokemon: 13

• 4 Axew XY8
• 3 Fraxure XY8
• 4 Haxorus XY8
• 2 Regirock XYP

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 35

• 2 Professor Birch's Observations
• 4 Professor Sycamore
• 1 Xerosic
• 2 Lysandre
• 1 Hex Maniac
• 2 Pokemon Center Lady
• 2 Rare Candy
• 4 Ultra Ball
• 2 Professor's Letter
• 4 Trainers' Mail
• 3 VS Seeker
• 4 Muscle Band
• 4 Fairy Garden

Energy: 12

• 2 Metal Energy
• 2 Fighting Energy
• 4 Rainbow Energy
• 4 Double Dragon Energy

Strategy:

So, for those who don't know what the soon to be released Haxorus line is, here are the scans:

Spoiler

Axew – Dragon – HP60
Basic Pokemon

[C] Mischievous Eating: 10 damage.

[F][M][C] Dragon Claw: 40 damage.

Weakness; Fairy (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
Fraxure – Dragon – HP80
Stage 1 – Evolves from Axew

[C] Sharp Fang: 20 damage.

[F][M][C] Dragon Killer: 60+ damage. If your opponent’s Active Pokemon is [N], this attack does 40 more damage.

Weakness: Fairy (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
Haxorus – Dragon – HP160
Stage 2 – Evolves from Fraxure

[C] Dragon Dance: Each of this Haxorus’s attacks do 100 more damage. This effect continues until this Pokemon leaves play and you can’t apply this effect to this Pokemon more than once at a time.

[C] Sharp Fang: 60 damage.

[F][M] Dragon Pulse: 130 damage. Discard the top 3 cards from your deck.

Weakness: Fairy (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 3

Now that the list is there, time to explain some card choices:

4-3-4 (with 2 Rare Candy): This is a heavy line, but more robust in that it has a much easier time against Vileplume decks and Seismitoad EX. Rare Candy is obviously the evolution method of choice.

2 Regirock: Regirock is here for a few reasons, but the main one is that it lets me bench a pokemon without making Haxorus vulnerable to being Lysandre'd out and losing the Dragon Dance boost. It also serves as a sacrificial lamb with 110 HP to hold out against some weaker attackers or to buy an extra turn to set up.

4 Sycamore, 2 Birch: Fairly standard. I only had space for 6 draw supporters (+ VS seeker) and I felt like this was the best ratio.

2 Lysandre, 1 Xerosic, 1 Hex Maniac: Combined with VS Seeker, this little disruption package is a staple of pretty much every deck I build. Xerosic is very useful against things like Seismitoad decks or Night March, to get rid of their DCE while also putting in work against tools. Hex Maniac helps against Vileplume, as well as shutting off Shaymin-EX and some other pokemon.

2 Pokemon Center Lady: We only have 4 Haxorus, and while it is very bulky at 160 HP, having something like this lets it stick around much longer, to take advantage of Dragon Dance.

2 Rare Candy: I already talked about this before, but to recap, skipping straight from Axew to Haxorus is great.

4 Ultra Ball: Gets me whatever Pokemon I need, pretty standard stuff here.

2 Professor's Letter: We don't run many basic energy, so I'm not running more copies of this, but it does get us one of each energy we need for Haxorus. Two copies lets me see one a little earlier than I would otherwise, even if the second copy is usually going to be dead.

4 Trainer's Mail: Weak to Vileplume and Seismitoad, but it's the best card to try and dig for one of my many trainer cards that could be useful.

3 VS Seeker: I prefer a slightly bulkier supporter lineup with only 3 VS seeker as opposed to a lighter one with 4 VS Seeker since Vileplume and Seismitoad are things that exist.

4 Muscle Band: Very important since it lets Haxorus hit 180 damage for C after a Dragon Dance and 250 for FM, letting it OHKO the vast, vast majority of pokemon.

4 Fairy Garden: This lets me switch around a little easier, in case I'm forced to wall with Regirock or want to trade a heavily damaged Haxorus for a fresh one. Rainbow Energy and Double Dragon Energy both work with Fairy Garden. Other options, though, would be Training Center or Silent Lab. Training Center would put Haxorus at 180 HP, as much as an EX, and Silent Lab helps stop Shaymin-EX.

4 Rainbow Energy: Helps with using Haxorus's Dragon Pulse, as well as turning on Fairy Garden's effect.

4 Double Dragon Energy: Covers all of Haxorus's energy needs, and Fairy Garden.

2 Fighting / 2 Metal: An even split between the two types Haxorus needs. I've been considering maybe increasing the fighting energy count so that, as rare as it will be, Regirock might be able to actually attack and do damage.

 

[NintendoAlian]

First of all, I think the Haxorus line should be 4-2-4 or 4-3-4. This may seem like a lot but Seismitoad and Vileplume exist so rare candy won't always work. Since you want to be attacking with Haxorus, Miltank is basically useless since it only does 80-100 damage. You only run 3 EXs so Hoopa is a sitting duck after searching for Hydreigon(which you can only get two) but you only really need one, and Shaymin can be searched with Ultra Ball easily. I think that you should replace Hoopa with a Shaymin for more consistency, which is crucial in a Stage 2 deck. Also 4 Ultra Ball is almost a need for Stage 2 decks or at least 3 Ultra Ball and 2 Level Ball. I think that 2 Pokemon Center Lady and 3 Birch is too much, so maybe one less of each. Fairy Garden isn't going to help Hydreigon at all. It just makes Hydreigon useless since you already have free retreat. Finally, since you have Double Dragon, I don't think you need Rainbows. IMO you should replace the Rainbow energies with two more of each basic. I hope this helps!

 

[Scubasage]

Bumping with my updated list, now that we have english scans available.

 

[lyonheart286]

If I were you, I'd replace the birch's with judge from Breakthrough.

Judge

each player shuffles his or her hand into his or her deck and draws 4 cards.

you may play only one supporter card during your turn (before you attack).

The reasoning behind this is simple, with birch you have a 50% chance to only draw four cards ( sometimes it feels like a lot higher with my luck), so why not force the other player to lose his or her hand as well? It is basically a free red card. I understand the desire for 7 cards, but the consistency is worth it in my book, especially if it messes with the opponent.

 

[Javi Blizz]

Maybe you should include one copy more of a draw supporter, since against Vileplume/Toad you only have 6 draw cards, and that seems not enough in my opinion :S

 

[Scubasage]

The reasoning behind this is simple, with birch you have a 50% chance to only draw four cards ( sometimes it feels like a lot higher with my luck), so why not force the other player to lose his or her hand as well? It is basically a free red card. I understand the desire for 7 cards, but the consistency is worth it in my book, especially if it messes with the opponent.

Judge at it's best gets me the same number of cards as Birch at it's worst. That's not consistency, that's choosing to see a lot less cards than I could be seeing. If I'm digging for that last piece to set up, I want to have as high a chance of finding that piece as possible, and Birch is much better than Judge for that. On top of that, there's already a "consistent" version of Birch, which is Shauna. Shauna is also statistically worse than Birch, and Shauna still lets me see more cards than Judge would. Judge would be a good tech choice if that Metagross/Deoxys deck ever becomes super popular, but otherwise it'll often be underwhelming. I'd rather run Ace Trainer than Judge, if I was looking to disrupt my opponent's hand.

Maybe you should include one copy more of a draw supporter, since against Vileplume/Toad you only have 6 draw cards, and that seems not enough in my opinion :S

Both decks are generally slow, which gives me time to get that draw supporter. Or Xerosic/Hex Maniac, which would then allow me to use items again (Xerosic gets rid of DCE on Toad, and Hex Maniac stops Vileplume for a turn). I would like a third Birch or maybe an Ace Trainer, but space is tight as well. Maybe I can cut a Fairy Garden since Regirock can get one back for me in a pinch. Hmm.

 

[LostRealm]

I am not convinced on the fairy garden. Nice for free retreat but perhaps silent lab would be better. Perhaps adding a bridgett