Sadly it's been 4 months since Celebi came out with a new set of cards for the Back To Basics project. However, the format is still popular in my local area at our league. It's still played on the side at our league. It gives us a nice refreshing break from the regulate Pokemon TCG and allows us to play in a format where enormous basics aren't ruling the format. In this post I wanted to go over some of the commonly-played deck ideas that are good in the format and some not-so popular deck ideas but are notable that are being played in my area.
CharRam:
The people in my area called the deck CharRam. It features Charizard and Reshiram. The strategy is to use Charizard to attach energy from the discard to Reshiram. Reshiram's Fusion Flare attack does 40 damage plus 10 for every damage counter on Reshi. If you attach to Reshi solely through Charizard he will be doing 70 damage. 70 is a good output in this format as it will ohko almost all basic and stage 1 pokemon and 2hko any pokemon in the format. Bronzong can be used to control damage. Charizard can also be played with Heatran. Heatran's Overheat attack does 20 damage for each fire energy that is discarded. The attack does not have a limit on the damage it can do, but realistically the deck cannot attach fast enough to continuously do high amounts of damage. Reshiram is the better play as it can consistently do more damage.
Golem:
Golem is a great sniping pokemon. It can do damage equal to the number of damage counter it has on itself to any of your opponent's pokemon. Damage control with Bronzong allows you to keep just enough counters on Golem to do the damage you want. Golem can set up equickly with the help of Lucario. Since Golem also eliminates weakness from the active pokemon, you don't have to worry about your Golems getting ohko'ed unless he has a fair amount of damage counters on him. Mesprit Star can be used to drag up an opponent's pokemon into the active to avoid having your Golem being attacked when you set up the number of damage counters you want. With a bulky pokemon in the active, Golem is free to snipe the opponent's bench while your opponent uses resources to swap out their dragged up pokemon.
MSN:
MSN stands for Meganium/Shedninja/Ninjask. It focuses on using Ninjask to attack with Meganium and Shedninja supporting Ninjask. Ninjask's attack does 20 damage plus 10 for every energy attached to him. The least the attack will do is 40 since it requires two energy to attack. With the help of Smeargle and Meganium, Ninjask can quickly do 50 damage. 50 damage is enough to knock out alot of basic pokemon turn 2. If you use Smeargle twice then Ninjask can be doing 80 turn 3 which in this format can be deadly. These also don't account for any other energy that you might have in your hand. However, Ninjask is frail with only 60 HP. Shedninja's power will allow you to knock out the Shedninja instead of Ninjask and heal all damage off of Ninjask. The opponent will also not take a prize. You have to be careful of Ninjask being knocked out by a status condition such as Poison though.
Venusaur EX:
Venusaur EX does 10 damage plus 20 damage for every trainer you discard and 10 for every other card. This attack can do up to 120 and if you can get a build your hand back up then Venusaur can do high damage consistently. Venusaur's power helps by allowing you to draw a card. Smeargle helps set Venusaur up and Brycen and Steven can help keep a large hand.
Ditto Box:
The strategy of Ditto Box is to use Ditto Ex to quickly use the attack of various stage 2 pokemon. Commonly used pokemon are Venusaur EX, Umbreon EX, and Metagross EX.
Vapor Spread:
Vapor Spread utilizes Vaporeon, Nidoking, and Bronzong to spread damage around your opponent's bench while tanking with Vaporeon. Nidoking allows you to put a damage counter on one of your opponent's pokemon. However, if you use this power, your active pokemon becomes confused. The good thing is Vaporeon cannot be affected by special conditions. This also allows the deck to use Poisoned Field to add extra damage. Bronzong is also used alongside Fluffy Tail to keep the damage off of Vaporeon. Using Eevee also gives you access to Umbreon Ex and Espeon Ex and techs.
Klang Tank:
This decks strategy is to simply tank with Klinklang. Klinklang's attack reduces damage done to it by 20. Any special Metal Energies will also reduce the damage by 10 each. Klinklang will usually be reducing damage by at least 40 each turn. Bronzong will take care of any damage that Klinklang actually takes. The deck also solely utilizes special energy which makes Luvdisc a great starter, shutting over the star engines of the many decks, but it also succumbs to Super Repel.
GGG:
GGG stands for Gardevoir/Gallade/Garchomp. This deck is one of the best decks focused on React Energies. Garchomp isn't necessary, but he allows you to attack each turn with both Gardevoir and Gallade by turning all React energy into rainbow energy. The two react energy you get through Gardevoir will allow both Gardevoir to attack for up to 60 and allow Gallade to hit for 90. The downside to this deck is that is one of the bulkiest decks and requires alot of set-up.
Tyranitar EX:
Tyranitar EX is huge with 140 HP and his attack does 30 plus 10 for each darkness attached to him. It requires 3 Darkness Energies, but the stadium Elemental Paradox allows your fighting energy to be turned into Darkness Energies. The attack will be doing at the least 60 damage. His power also allows him to take a special darkness energy off of any of your pokemon that gets koed. Tyranitar is difficult to kill and can easily ko any pokemon in the format in one or two turns.
Raichu Swarm:
Raichu's first attack does 10 times the number of cards in your hand for double colorless. Raichu is a quick attacker, allowing you to hit for good amounts of damage starting turn 2.
The format is refreshing and the decks are fun to play. Some of these decks are better than others, but you can play almost any deck and not be out of the count. Playing the right techs in each deck to counter the metagame of your area also leads to some decks being more successful. As far as the people I play with and I can tell, none of these decks are an autoloss to each other which allows for great variety. Hopefully this gives insight to those who are still playing Back To Basics and entices those who haven't tried it yet to check it out and test some of these decks.
CharRam:
The people in my area called the deck CharRam. It features Charizard and Reshiram. The strategy is to use Charizard to attach energy from the discard to Reshiram. Reshiram's Fusion Flare attack does 40 damage plus 10 for every damage counter on Reshi. If you attach to Reshi solely through Charizard he will be doing 70 damage. 70 is a good output in this format as it will ohko almost all basic and stage 1 pokemon and 2hko any pokemon in the format. Bronzong can be used to control damage. Charizard can also be played with Heatran. Heatran's Overheat attack does 20 damage for each fire energy that is discarded. The attack does not have a limit on the damage it can do, but realistically the deck cannot attach fast enough to continuously do high amounts of damage. Reshiram is the better play as it can consistently do more damage.
Golem:
Golem is a great sniping pokemon. It can do damage equal to the number of damage counter it has on itself to any of your opponent's pokemon. Damage control with Bronzong allows you to keep just enough counters on Golem to do the damage you want. Golem can set up equickly with the help of Lucario. Since Golem also eliminates weakness from the active pokemon, you don't have to worry about your Golems getting ohko'ed unless he has a fair amount of damage counters on him. Mesprit Star can be used to drag up an opponent's pokemon into the active to avoid having your Golem being attacked when you set up the number of damage counters you want. With a bulky pokemon in the active, Golem is free to snipe the opponent's bench while your opponent uses resources to swap out their dragged up pokemon.
MSN:
MSN stands for Meganium/Shedninja/Ninjask. It focuses on using Ninjask to attack with Meganium and Shedninja supporting Ninjask. Ninjask's attack does 20 damage plus 10 for every energy attached to him. The least the attack will do is 40 since it requires two energy to attack. With the help of Smeargle and Meganium, Ninjask can quickly do 50 damage. 50 damage is enough to knock out alot of basic pokemon turn 2. If you use Smeargle twice then Ninjask can be doing 80 turn 3 which in this format can be deadly. These also don't account for any other energy that you might have in your hand. However, Ninjask is frail with only 60 HP. Shedninja's power will allow you to knock out the Shedninja instead of Ninjask and heal all damage off of Ninjask. The opponent will also not take a prize. You have to be careful of Ninjask being knocked out by a status condition such as Poison though.
Venusaur EX:
Venusaur EX does 10 damage plus 20 damage for every trainer you discard and 10 for every other card. This attack can do up to 120 and if you can get a build your hand back up then Venusaur can do high damage consistently. Venusaur's power helps by allowing you to draw a card. Smeargle helps set Venusaur up and Brycen and Steven can help keep a large hand.
Ditto Box:
The strategy of Ditto Box is to use Ditto Ex to quickly use the attack of various stage 2 pokemon. Commonly used pokemon are Venusaur EX, Umbreon EX, and Metagross EX.
Vapor Spread:
Vapor Spread utilizes Vaporeon, Nidoking, and Bronzong to spread damage around your opponent's bench while tanking with Vaporeon. Nidoking allows you to put a damage counter on one of your opponent's pokemon. However, if you use this power, your active pokemon becomes confused. The good thing is Vaporeon cannot be affected by special conditions. This also allows the deck to use Poisoned Field to add extra damage. Bronzong is also used alongside Fluffy Tail to keep the damage off of Vaporeon. Using Eevee also gives you access to Umbreon Ex and Espeon Ex and techs.
Klang Tank:
This decks strategy is to simply tank with Klinklang. Klinklang's attack reduces damage done to it by 20. Any special Metal Energies will also reduce the damage by 10 each. Klinklang will usually be reducing damage by at least 40 each turn. Bronzong will take care of any damage that Klinklang actually takes. The deck also solely utilizes special energy which makes Luvdisc a great starter, shutting over the star engines of the many decks, but it also succumbs to Super Repel.
GGG:
GGG stands for Gardevoir/Gallade/Garchomp. This deck is one of the best decks focused on React Energies. Garchomp isn't necessary, but he allows you to attack each turn with both Gardevoir and Gallade by turning all React energy into rainbow energy. The two react energy you get through Gardevoir will allow both Gardevoir to attack for up to 60 and allow Gallade to hit for 90. The downside to this deck is that is one of the bulkiest decks and requires alot of set-up.
Tyranitar EX:
Tyranitar EX is huge with 140 HP and his attack does 30 plus 10 for each darkness attached to him. It requires 3 Darkness Energies, but the stadium Elemental Paradox allows your fighting energy to be turned into Darkness Energies. The attack will be doing at the least 60 damage. His power also allows him to take a special darkness energy off of any of your pokemon that gets koed. Tyranitar is difficult to kill and can easily ko any pokemon in the format in one or two turns.
Raichu Swarm:
Raichu's first attack does 10 times the number of cards in your hand for double colorless. Raichu is a quick attacker, allowing you to hit for good amounts of damage starting turn 2.
The format is refreshing and the decks are fun to play. Some of these decks are better than others, but you can play almost any deck and not be out of the count. Playing the right techs in each deck to counter the metagame of your area also leads to some decks being more successful. As far as the people I play with and I can tell, none of these decks are an autoloss to each other which allows for great variety. Hopefully this gives insight to those who are still playing Back To Basics and entices those who haven't tried it yet to check it out and test some of these decks.