Help First deck choice? Water.dek!!

D

Darius

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Well, i want to start with this game. Too bad is not the best time to do it, cuz on 5 months there will be a rotation and noone knows if will be a regular rotation or gamefreak will rotate every set not named Sun and Moon, so I'll build around SM cards to mitigate that possible rotation-mega.

Well, probably this is a suicide, but i want to try a lapras gx deck, and really dunno which build would be the best (quad, waterbox 2.0...) because that grass weakness hurts a lot in this meta.

I will start to play after guardians, so the list will have aqua patch (and field blow if don't rise to Shaymin price). But then bulu-lurantis will be a thing, and really i dunno which tech can avoid an autolose vs that deck (wobuffet helps vs deciplume, but lurantis click solar blade and win). Maybe a torkoal? Not the best card sure but it can 2hk0 lurantis and bulu (and burn them).

Edit: probably is not as bad matchup as lurantis, but deciplume will have sableye with guardians rising, so i should be careful of that item/support lock

All advice is appreciated.

Thank you
 
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The water decks are getting some fun tools so if you want give them a try I say go ahead. Also, don't worry about rotation happening in 5 months cause you know what happens after that 5 months passes? There will be a 12 month countdown for the next rotation! It's the nature of card games. Pokémon never announces things this early so everything you're hearing is mostly speculation with a smattering of past experiences with prior rotation. I recommend new players be aware of the rotation, but don't be overly concerned when you still have just about half of the current rotation to enjoy. If it was like three weeks away it would be a different story, but by then the announcement would have happened already and we would know exactly what rotation will be. Also, since Expanded is still a thing if you get any expensive cards for current rotation you can just trade them to people who play the Expanded format.

That said, if you are really concerned about rotation then the only thing to really be concerned about is Shaymin as that's really the only main meta-defining expensive card. Pretty much everything else that's a possible target for rotation can be had relatively inexpensively, or should hold most of the trade value due to expanded still being a highly played format. (VS Seeker being the other meta defining card I would say, but they can be had for under $5 currently so I don't consider them expensive. Depending on budget you may think they are.) Orangoru or Octillary can be supplemented in as a substitute. They won't be quite as good in most decks, but they also won't run you $50 each. Octillary might be the better choice anyway if you're going with a water deck.

Waterbox or quad Lapras would be pretty good, yes weakness will hurt you, but all decks have to consider that a little bit. You could run 1-2 Weakness Policy if you're really worried about it. In waterbox you can run Glaceon EX, which once you get the attack off it's immune to Evolution attacks so Decidueye and Lurantis can't hurt you with attacks. (Abilities still work) Glaceon also has a steel weakness so that diversifies your 1HKO matchups a little bit. Also grab a Manaphy EX or two for free retreat. Throw in a Jolteon and way to power it up and you have a deck that has someone immune to Evolution attacks, and one immune to basic's attacks.

What's your local meta really like? Unless you're going to be playing at the larger regional tournaments you really just need to be concerned with your local meta instead of the overall meta. (I'm assuming you're not jumping into a Regional level event as your first tourney since you're new) Yes, it's good to be aware of it to get new ideas and know how people build decks and counter-decks. However, if literally no one plays Decidueye in your area then you don't need to be worried about it. In my area there's a weekly tournament at the local game store, we have 0 Decidueye players there so far. I usually see lurantis, a waterbox or two, Darkrai, Solgaleo/Lurantis, and a M Mewtwo just to name a couple of the more recognizable decks. You know what I play there most weeks? Volcanion since it's very consistent and has a decent matchup against most of the field. The grass players started teching in Weakness Policy to counter me. Now I need to counter that. *evil laugh*

If you have any other questions please post! I hope this long-winded post helps relieve some of the new player worry about rotation.
 
Ok ty for your reply. I am looking some shops on my city and i see some decis and lurantis or solgaleo/lurantis, that was my issue about running a lapras deck (still a 3rd expansion can givr us some good fire splashable mon, but we don't know). Even with 5 months of rotation, i can start to play after guardians rising release, on may final days (cuz no time till that moment) so with only 3 months, i pref to invest on a deck based on SuMo mons to not have a dead deck after rotation (on my city there is no supported expanded format).
 
The only question i have is. If rumours are finally confirmed, and rotation is not as allways and they rotate all except SuMo, water decks would be viable (lose eeveelutions, lose palkia, lose manaphy, lose dive ball...)
 
I highly doubt that would happen where they rotate to Sun and Moon only. As far as I know there has never been a situation where there were only 3-4 sets or so in standard, which would be the case if that happens. Personally I think it will be Generations-Current for the next rotation, which would drop PLC, DCS, ROS, AOR, BTH, and BPT, still a very large rotation thought not as draconian as SM-current, but that's a discussion for another thread. I wouldn't be surprised if the two Breakpoint/through sets stay also.

Yes, your rotation guess would lose Manaphy, Palkia, Dive Balls, and the EX Eevees so look at what you can swap in for them instead. Nest ball does the same as dive ball for all your water basics like Lapras or Orangaru. Ultra Ball is still a great search card, and can be used to grab the Tapu Lele to search for a supporter. (And lets face it, that's going to be the new Shaymin that is in just about every deck.) You also gain some other decent looking Pokémon like Alohan Ninetails, which looks fun, plus support like Aqua Patch. Water will still be very viable next rotation, barring some crazy thing being printed in the near future that absolutely kills it.

Don't forget all the other decks are also losing tons of things like Shaymin, Hoopa, and VS Seeker. It's going to be a very different game once that happens, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more Expanded things pop up so people can still use their fun XY cards. Also, say you got something like Manaphy now for the $10 it currently costs. (You only need 2 at most in a water deck so $20 max) Six months from now you can trade that with someone who does play Expanded for $10-20 worth of new cards, so you really won't be out too much as that card is still going to be very playable in Expanded. It might drop in value a little, but it won't all of a sudden become $1 binder filler. Many of the larger Regional level tournaments are Expanded so for serious competitive players they still want those cards.
 
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