Expanded Fighting Ninja Toolbox (Anti-Meta)

[Laurier_Ex]

I have been making house plans, iron working and preparing myself for work these past few days. As you might have guessed, there are numbers floating all around my head (making a lot of plans) and i can't stop thinking and trying to analyse everything. Brings me to the subject of this post.

Like with the rest of my life, i have been analyzing and trying to bring up new ideas so i could make myself a more competitive PTCG deck. As i stated a few times, lately my Ninja Box deck felt like it needed something to improve the win rate against the most cunning meta decks right now (Buzzhole-Gx, Lucario-Gx and Zoroark-Gx).

Ninja Box always gave me very solid results but lately this new Zoroark-Gx meta had been a challenge to handle so i needed to see how i could improve the win ratio. Countering Pokemon that are weak to Grass, Fire or Fighting is the hardest for the deck because you have very few low investment Pokemon to include in order to have a OHKO response for those. Currently, the meta is centered around these types so making a rather drastic adjustment to the deck seemed to be needed.

This deck is basically a hybrid version of my Winona/Turbo deck combined with the core of the Ninja Box deck. IT combines a very fast deck with a very flexible one. The Ninja Box deck seemed to be a bit lackluster in regards to draw power, acceleration and retreat means. The inclusion of Winona (in conjunction with Silvally-Gx, Oranguru and Shaymin) partially solves these problems. The trade off is that the deck may be a bit weakened in regards to its flexibility and its potential to counter as many deck as it could before.

So here is the list. I won 7 games in a row so far using it and it felt very comfortable to play. I will certainly adjust a few things here and there but this list gives me a very good consistency and offers a good response to most of the current meta decks.


****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 19

* 1 Drampa-GX GRI 115
* 1 Oranguru SUM 113
* 3 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
* 2 Type: Null CIN 89
* 2 Silvally-GX CIN 108
* 1 Buzzwole-GX CIN 104
* 1 Machamp-EX AOR 90
* 1 Sudowoodo GRI 66
* 1 Jolteon-EX GEN 28
* 1 Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX UPR 63
* 2 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60
* 2 Unown AOR 30
* 1 Glaceon-EX FCO 20

##Trainer Cards - 27

* 1 Mallow GRI 127
* 2 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 1 Winona ROS 96
* 1 Parallel City BKT 145
* 1 Scramble Switch PLS 129
* 2 Choice Band GRI 121
* 1 Korrina FFI 95
* 1 Colress PLS 135
* 1 Karen PR-XY XY177
* 3 Ninja Boy STS 103
* 1 Battle Compressor Team Flare Gear PHF 92
* 3 Ultra Ball FCO 113
* 1 Guzma BUS 115
* 2 VS Seeker ROS 110
* 1 Field Blower GRI 163
* 1 N NVI 101
* 1 Sky Field ROS 89
* 3 Pokémon Communication BLW 99

##Energy - 14

* 1 Rainbow Energy SUM 137
* 4 Prism Energy NXD 93
* 5 Fighting Energy XYEnergy 3
* 4 Double Colorless Energy XY 130

Total Cards - 60

****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******

- Draw power

• Winona can set you up perfectly and allows you to dig into your deck using Shaymin and Oranguru.
• Shaymin-Ex with Mallow gets you just what you need.
• Ninja Boy manipulates your bench in order to deny prizes and give further draw.
• Korrina basically means that you have access to any pokemon you want since you can draw Pokemon Communication with Machamp-Ex, Sudowoodo or Buzzhole.

- Acceleration

• Silvally-Gx can accelerate a few Fighting energy if needed.

- Retreat

• Silvally-Gx with Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX means you have free Switch/Retreat.

- Recovery

• Rescue Stretcher is a very important item card to have since you use Ninja Boy and a single copy of multiple Pokemons.

Ideally you want to setup with Winona to start with. It provides very good drawing power and helps you setup Silvally-Gx/DW Necrozma-Gx. After, you want to attach somewhere safe and choose which attacker is best for you. You can either go with Silvally and try to accelerate energy or try to stall with Glaceon-Ex/Jolteon-Ex and stay ready for a return OHKO using Ninja Boy/Machamp-Ex.

 

[Skater_J]

Cool deck idea! I like the Winona + all the colorless pokemon combo and the toolbox strategy.

I feel like even a single copy of Marshadow-GX would be beneficial. It has great synergy with Korrina, Battle compressor and Fighting energy.

But keep in mind that if you use Marshadow, Fighting Fury Belt is a must. 150HP is just too easy to take down. Fighting Fury Belt does work well with the other basic pokemon in the Ninja box deck too. Marshadow also benefits from more Battle Compressors.

Since you play Silvally-GX, you could also play Fire and Fighting Memories to counter some of this decks harder matchups.

I think 4 x VS seekers is definitely best, I see pokemon communication is included but I think that card is too much of a gamble while VS seeker + Battle compressor is a sure bet.

*EDIT: Forget what I said about pokemon communication, I was thinking it was of random receiver for some reason

Who would you say is the key attacking pokemon in the deck? I would suggest maybe 2 of your key pokemon (such as Jolteon-EX).

I could see possibly using Tauros-GX as well. Ninja boy can change a heavily damaged pokemon into a Tauros for some surprise knockouts. Tauros also works well with Winona.

Anyway, just throwing a few ideas out there.

 

[Laurier_Ex]

I feel like even a single copy of Marshadow-GX would be beneficial. It has great synergy with Korrina, Battle compressor and Fighting energy.

But keep in mind that if you use Marshadow, Fighting Fury Belt is a must. 150HP is just too easy to take down. Fighting Fury Belt does work well with the other basic pokemon in the Ninja box deck too. Marshadow also benefits from more Battle Compressors.

My main concern with Marshadow-Gx is that you need Pokemon in your discard pile but Ninja Boy wants them in your deck. This makes for hard decisions. Marshadow-Gx works with an ability so it is more easily countered than Jolteon-Ex or Glaceon-Ex as a whole. Downside of using directly Jolteon-Ex or Glaceon-Ex is that you need to use your supporter to switch between the 2. I tried using it before but i really feel like you either need to choose between Marshadow-Gx or a heavy Ninja Boy count. If you want to include Marshadow, i would recommend to drop the Ninja Boy count and aim straight for Marshadow. Making an hybrid with Marshadow-Gx and Ninja Boy engine just does not feel synergistic at all.

Since you play Silvally-GX, you could also play Fire and Fighting Memories to counter some of this decks harder matchups.

Definitely an option. Searchable with Korrina also.

I think 4 x VS seekers is definitely best, I see pokemon communication is included but I think that card is too much of a gamble while VS seeker + Battle compressor is a sure bet.

*EDIT: Forget what I said about pokemon communication, I was thinking it was of random receiver for some reason

Vs Seeker definitely is a key card. I am sure that this deck would benefit from the extra VS Seekers sometimes so you could definitely include the max count.

Pokemon Communication is a very important card because it makes the deck way more consistent. Since there is 19 Pokemon in the deck, Pokemon Communication will be usable most of the time. Pokemon Communication is also great to include with Ninja Boy. This is because if you happen to have the Pokemon you need to Ninja Boy into in your hand, without Pokemon Communication you are kinda screwed.

Who would you say is the key attacking pokemon in the deck? I would suggest maybe 2 of your key pokemon (such as Jolteon-EX).

I could see possibly using Tauros-GX as well. Ninja boy can change a heavily damaged pokemon into a Tauros for some surprise knockouts. Tauros also works well with Winona.

I usually prefer to start with either Jolteon-Ex or Glaceon-Ex or aim for Silvally-Gx if i can't find Rainbow or Prism energy, if i want to use the Gx attack for a OHKO or if i feel like accelerating energy would be most beneficial (when against a deck weak to fighting). Having Jolteon-Ex or Glaceon-Ex prized can definitely hurt sometimes. I feel like maybe a second Jolteon-Ex copy could be worth the try but i only got a single copy. But since you play Rainbow and Prism, you have so many choices that adding a second Jolteon-Ex might not always be the best thing to do.

Machamp-Ex plays a role very similar to Tauros-Gx. It hits for 20x instead of 30x but you do not loose your Gx attack. Most of the time, Zoroark-Gx will be the Jolteon-Ex counter while Tapu Lele-Gx will be Glaceon-Ex counter. They will usually need 2 hits to KO either so this makes Machamp-Ex able to return a OHKO on either Zoroark-Gx or Tapu Lele-Gx. Tauros-Gx beign searchable with Winona would help a Marshadow-Gx deck because you could then proceed to discard Tauros but it does not very achieve a lot for a Ninja Boy deck. It is still a very strong card to include but i feel like Machamp-Ex does the job most of the time.

 

[Laurier_Ex]

Tried to make the previous deck work consistently but i felt like it was not exactly what i needed to deal with the Zoroark-Gx meta. Sylvally-Gx works great in a lot of situations but since we often have to deal with Lucario-Gx or Buzzhole-Gx, he his sometimes more of a burden than he can help. That being said, i decided to cut Winona and Silvally-Gx as a whole for now and instead focus on playing Korrina.

I tried using a thin Rampardos line first. Felt great when i could OHKO a Zoroark-Gx for a single energy attachment but then i was not using the second attack at all (tried using a counter energy but it did not pay). I went back to using Gallade BKT as the side tech of choice for a Ninja Box deck. Not only can Gallade OHKO Zoroark-Gx, Hoopa or Baby Ninetales but it helps the game flow a lot.

This is the list i am actually playing.


****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 19

* 1 Oranguru SUM 113
* 2 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
* 1 Latias-EX PLF 85
* 1 Comfey GRI 93
* 1 Ralts BUS 91
* 1 Machamp-EX AOR 90
* 1 Regirock PR-XY XY49
* 1 Sudowoodo GRI 66
* 1 Gallade BKT 84
* 1 Leafeon-EX GEN 10
* 1 Jolteon-EX GEN 28
* 1 Magearna-EX STS 110
* 1 Mew FCO 29
* 2 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60
* 2 Unown AOR 30
* 1 Glaceon-EX FCO 20

##Trainer Cards - 30

* 2 Mallow GRI 127
* 2 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 1 Lillie SUM 147
* 1 Scramble Switch PLS 129
* 2 Choice Band GRI 121
* 1 Korrina FFI 95
* 1 Fairy Garden FCO 100
* 3 Ninja Boy STS 103
* 3 Ultra Ball FCO 113
* 1 Guzma BUS 115
* 3 VS Seeker ROS 110
* 1 Field Blower GRI 163
* 2 Trainers' Mail ROS 92
* 1 N NVI 101
* 1 Sky Field ROS 89
* 3 Pokémon Communication BLW 99
* 2 Rare Candy SUM 129

##Energy - 11

* 4 Rainbow Energy SUM 137
* 3 Prism Energy NXD 93
* 4 Double Colorless Energy XY 130

Total Cards - 60

****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******


Instead of using Silvally-Gx aside DW Necrozma-Gx for free retreat/switch, i use Fairy Garden with Comfey (works with Prism and Rainbow Energy). I included a 1-0-1 Gallade BKT line alongside 2 candies. Having one of the pieces prized sure sucks but this deck can do pretty well without it in most match up. If nothing is prized, after benching Ralts (fairly easy with Ninja Boy, Pokémon Communication and Ultra Ball), Korrina can grab the candy and Gallade you need. Once Gallade is set up you can toy with your opponent using Gallade BKT Jolteon-Ex/Glaceon-Ex/Machanp-Ex.

Some pokémon can be swapped around. The reason why i often play 3 of a item instead of 4 is that you are less likely to get screwed on your opening hand. Drawing into 3 Vs Seeker on the opening hand can be irritating.

Nowadays, energy disruption is in plenty of decks. For that reason i just felt that Regirock PR-XY deserved a spot in the deck. When you sense that Crushing Hammers will be used, Regirock will make sure you do not fall behind on Energy attachment. Against Wailord-Ex mill decks you can charge up Regirock and keep your energy safe... until you decide it is time to go for a killing spree and Ninja Boy into Leafeon-Ex for 240dmg.