EelZone: The deck to beat?

dBlue

dBlue

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You obviously know about Eelzone (or ChromeDome), one of the biggest threats of today's meta. It's speed and huge damage output is well known, and it has no autolosses. Right now, it's tier 1, and in the future... Well, we see the introduction of the EX Pokemon, with massive HP and high damage output ((Reshiram/Zekrom/Mewtwo)EX), these Pokemon certinly have potential, and some are easily thrown into decks such a Reshiboar/phlosion, Eelzone, and some will even make thier own deck, possibly, with Mewtwo/Gardevior. Nothing can OHKO these Behemoths (making it an even prize exchange (assuming they KO two of the opponents twice in a row and you hit it twice) due to the EX rule), except Magnezone Prime, the core of Eelzone. By Lost Burning 4 energies, no Eviolited EX pokemon can survive, making it an uneven exchange in Magnezone's favor. This is easily done with Patrichus and Eelektriks, so it appears Magnezone gets even better. In addition, Eelzone can use Zekrom EX, even better than ZPST can. It could even use Raikou EX to snipe, whenever he comes out. It seems like Eelzone is going to be the deck to beat for quite a while, and dare I say it, MAYBE, the BDIF?
This thread is for disscussing Eelzone, it's effects on the meta, and how it's going to do in the future.

On a side note, I saw on T&T prices for Mag Prime jumped from 12 to 18$. Do you think his prices will continue to rise? Would it be lucrative to buy them now? How high do you think it will get?
 
If this deck gets to out of hand then all the fighting types will probally bring it down to size since the deck only runs lightning pokemon and lightning pokemon are weak to fighting.
 
Yes, if Magnezone might see a jump in play, then more fighting types (Donphan Prime, etc) will jump to slow the play of it. So, I dont see Magnezone rising to above $30 unless it gets really, really popular before a big tournament.
 
What about Crygonal and Tornadus? They counter Terrekon and Donaphan while being easy to tech.
 
But In google' Deck, they run Zekrom and sometimes Cobalion which can counter those.
 
EonEye99 said:
What about Crygonal and Tornadus? They counter Terrekon and Donaphan while being easy to tech.
Click to expand...
Terrakion is weak to grass, and running Rainbow energy in this deck is horrible since Eelektrik can't get them back. So Cryogonal isn't an end-all answer to fighting types. Tornadus is good, Cryogonal sucks.
 
^ I meant Crygonal only for Donaphan, sorry for not pointing that out, I thought it was kind of obvious, though.

Mareepman said:
But In google' Deck, they run Zekrom and sometimes Cobalion which can counter those.
Click to expand...

Not if you OHKO w/ Crygonal. If they move up Zekrom/Cobalion to use outrage/Iron Breaker for the KO you can easily revenge KO.
If they use Terrekon, you can OHKO w/Magnezone. You should already be ahead on the prize race.
 
Okay, np.

In direct answer to the first post, Eelzone is an interesting deck. It has a great "Plan A" AND "Plan B", which is something most decks in the format lack. Six Corners, The Truth and Chandelure play every game out differently. They're reactive decks, and they do nothing but respond to the opponent's moves. They only have a Plan B, but they have enough options to win games. ZPST, Reshiram, and Durant are the opposite. They play every game the same, get your big basics up and attack. However, this "Plan A" is strong enough to make up for a lack of a Plan B if that strategy fails.

CaKE and Eelzone are the only decks in the format where you can go in with a strong game plan, but still have the freedom to modify it in response to your opponent's moves. CaKE, however, is very luck-based (Electrode), and can still be manipulated. If your opponent only has two or three big Pokémon on the field, Kyurem does very little. Terrakion, the other attacker, is a reactive one, and comes up after Kyurem. Cobalion isn't really used anymore. The deck also tends to fizzle late-game.

Eelzone is the one deck in the format where you have a strong game plan, options to back up a failing game plan, speed, and late-game power. It's a huge contender, and very hard to beat. It doesn't seem to struggle a lot against the EX's, and because of its great "Plan A", most cards can't do a lot to make the deck bad. I definitely see it being a strong contender for awhile.

The deck's one main weakness (not matchup specific; everybody knows playing trainer lock or Fighting hurts) is that it's incredibly reliant on having both Magnezone and Eelektrik out. Without two Eelektrik and one Magnezone, it just doesn't function. You generally need two Magnezone out, just so you can attack with one of them safely. That's a pretty complex setup, made very possible by Magnezone. However, before Magnezone gets setup, the deck is very vulnerable, despite Thundurus being great at taking early-game prizes. If you don't see a Magnezone by turn three, you're in deep trouble, and it's hard to come back. That's proven itself to be very exploitable by fighting types and a couple of new decks coming with the new set that I'm not allowed to talk about. How much this affects the deck's success remains to be seen.
 
Sadly it will probably bring down the play of EX's but once people stop using them the deck will get much
worse.
 
I disagree; Thunderdome (and indeed anything that uses Magnezone) will remain a dominant force in the metagame post-Next Destinies, unless some absolutely ridiculous Fighting type decks pop up that I've completely missed, but that doesn't mean that EXs won't be played much, nor will it mean that other archtypes will be left by the wayside.

Magnezone is one of the best pokemon cards that currently exists in the game; it has an uncapped damage ceiling and can KO any pokemon with the expenditure of enough energy, along with one of the best pokepowers currently legal in the format. As long as Triumphant is still a legal set, Magnezone will still be played.

EXs are clearly going to change the metagame, and lots of decks that are currently good plays will fall out of favour because of that. Mewtwo EX makes playing Gothitelle suicide, Yanmega will no longer be a strong attacker when its competition is sporting 170+ HP. TyRam will be outclassed by ERZT.

Alone out of our current format, Thunderdome will undoubtedly continue being one of the best decks well into next format, because the benefits of Magnezone prime are more than sufficient to keep it relevant. The EX rule is very favourable to Magnezone, because it really makes your Lost Burns go further; burn 4 Energy to take 2 Prizes is a very favourable transaction, and the only thing that isn't going to go down to that is an Evoilited Groudon EX!

So, I do believe that the next format will be very favourable to Magnezone; its counters will likely stop seeing as much play (because they can't really do much to what will obviously be the most popular EX, Mewtwo), meaning the field will be more open for Magnezone to become a crucial part of the metagame.

And if Magnezone chases EXs out of the format (unlikely as that is)? Well, its still Magnezone.
 
I have to disagree with just about everyone here. EelZone is definitely not a very hard deck to beat. Six corners absolutely destroys it. EelZone needs to get 6 3-energy lost burns to beat it, which is impossible because of catcher/terakkion, and six corners is becoming extremely popular now (at least in the great lakes region). EelZone is just not the dominant deck anymore. It is the most played, but it is not the best.

However, next format I do think that it will be a good play as Magnezone can easily one-shot EX's with 4-energy lost burns, getting 2 prizes for each one.
 
You do realize that Eelzone is capable of running Zekrom, who can attack w/out LZing energy, right? I find myself only needing Magnezone for the last 2-3 Prizes in just about every match. All Eelzone decks vary, but I find Zekrom a very strong card in the deck. With catcher and Zekrom, Eelzone should be able to save Magnezone for late game KOs. You can easily power up a Zekrom by T2-T3, while starting up a Thundurus in the active spot. Magnezone IS NOT the only attacker in the deck.
 
Like Magneboar, it will be a great deck, but will have a target on it. People wo lose to this deck will tech against it, so it is yet to be seen if this deck can survive the techs.
 
EonEye99 said:
You obviously know about Eelzone (or ChromeDome), one of the biggest threats of today's meta. It's speed and huge damage output is well known, and it has no autolosses. Right now, it's tier 1, and in the future... Well, we see the introduction of the EX Pokemon, with massive HP and high damage output ((Reshiram/Zekrom/Mewtwo)EX), these Pokemon certinly have potential, and some are easily thrown into decks such a Reshiboar/phlosion, Eelzone, and some will even make thier own deck, possibly, with Mewtwo/Gardevior. Nothing can OHKO these Behemoths (making it an even prize exchange (assuming they KO two of the opponents twice in a row and you hit it twice) due to the EX rule), except Magnezone Prime, the core of Eelzone. By Lost Burning 4 energies, no Eviolited EX pokemon can survive, making it an uneven exchange in Magnezone's favor. This is easily done with Patrichus and Eelektriks, so it appears Magnezone gets even better. In addition, Eelzone can use Zekrom EX, even better than ZPST can. It could even use Raikou EX to snipe, whenever he comes out. It seems like Eelzone is going to be the deck to beat for quite a while, and dare I say it, MAYBE, the BDIF?
This thread is for disscussing Eelzone, it's effects on the meta, and how it's going to do in the future.

On a side note, I saw on T&T prices for Mag Prime jumped from 12 to 18$. Do you think his prices will continue to rise? Would it be lucrative to buy them now? How high do you think it will get?
Click to expand...

That exchange will take an immense amount of setup, requiring the Magnezone player to burn 12 energies and set up three Magnezones. They will only need three Basics, and it will be easier for them to power up sinc ethey'll be throwing up some death fodder instead of sacrificing EX's.
 
And then the EelZone player can use Catcher to take EX prizes, or take prizes on the >150 HP Pokémon the EX player sends up.

Also, Magnezone has drawpower, most EX decks don't.
 
True. I suppose we will have to wait and see what happens.
 
I'm an eelzone player and tech in cryogonal because of The Truth :(. I find The Truth very easy to beat if I can save the cyogonal for the donphans. Anyway, what I'm saying is that just with one tech, donphan becomes easier to beat. So if maybe you just tech in a Mewtwo EX, that threat falls away. So, is there a really, really threataning threat out there for eelzone?
 
^Most truth have switched over to Terrakion, so Cryogonal doesn't work anymore. Not that it ever really did. Speaking of which, though, Terrakion is really really threatening to Eelzone. Especially if you run it with Exp Share or if Eelzone doesn't run Tornadus.
 
Never had much problems with Terrakion. Usually 1-hit it with Zekrom or Magnezone. (PlusPowers are godsend.)
 
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