I've been playing this deck and it's really fun, does fairly well. The exception of course being Mega decks of all varieties, since it lacks the knock out power in those matchups. It seems very consistent, in dozens of matches it rarely rarely dead draws. It is in the future standard format, the only real card of note from the new set is Puzzle, which is completely awesome. For Standard for the next few weeks it would be replaced with Trainer's Mail.
I'm open to any suggestions. Gengar EX is pretty much the worst matchup possible, Garbodor would be terrible so I need to find a place for Startling Megaphone and really fast M Mewtwo Y (or X I suppose) are sometimes devastating.
Pokémon: 13
So generally the strategy is to evolve Gallade as quickly as possible, since Premonition can be used to control your draw on the following turn, making sure you topdeck that supporter or energy you need. Lucario EX is a convenient starter who can abuse Premonition, drawing you cards you set up with Corkscrew Smash before your opponent can Judge you on their turn, or apply pressure to force your opponent's hand.
Fairy Ralts and Kirlia were chosen to break up the uniform weakness of your two main attackers who are both weak to psychic types.
Korrina is hopefully available every turn early game so you can set up Gallade. Once you can use premonition is becomes pretty easy to get Octillery in play and the two together make sure you're never in a bad position for the remainder of the game. It's super useful for fetching Level Ball which is an important part of the deck since you're unable to search for Ralts and the Octillery line with Korrina directly. Later in the game it fetches that second Puzzle of Time so you can recover that clutch DCE or pokemon or both.
Two match ups that I haven't played that would probably also be terrible are Entei Assault Vest and Vileplume. One would be very difficult to KO and the other would prevent streaming Gallade easily by blocking Rare Candy and Level Ball.
In matches against Aegislash EX and Giratina EX Puzzle was able to rescue basic energy from the discard and bring in the win. The thing is Puzzle is so easy to use with Korrina available almost every turn it can .make a huge difference depending on the matchup. The other option would be Trainer's Mail, however it is unable to get DCE or pokemon.
Some changes I am thinking are replacing 1 Giovanni's with a 3rd Sycamore and replacing Brigette who is rarely available early game when she would make the biggest difference (turn 1 is awesome since Korrina is more useful turn 2 if you've already benched Ralts and Remoraid) maybe a 4th Level Ball. Judge is simply to give you the option of shuffling your hand instead of discarding it all, which honestly isn't that scary unless you're under item lock, which would prevent you from playing Puzzle, which once you're set up and aren't searching for Rare Candy or Level Ball with Korrina is so easy to make happen... 2 Lysandre is pretty awesome in this deck, since it has an obvious somewhat broken synergy with Sensitive Blade, Gallade's attack, which does 130 damage when you have played a supporter in your turn.
On my wish list is Startling Megaphone for the Garbodor matchup, which I feel will be a popular strategy. A second switch card would be nice, but honestly it's seems almost best if Lucario EX never sees play. I suppose I could drop 1 Muscle Band. Don't think I need a Hex Maniac (it sucks when it gets played on me though) and it probably wouldn't pop up at the right time to save me against Vileplume anyway. A Battle Compressor or two might be nice with 4 VS Seeker and an easy way to search for it (to set up a Lysandre or Judge into discard)
I don't know. I'd like some input. Keep in mind I think 4 Puzzle and 4 Korrina is amazing and it truly does have some broken effects, fewer Puzzle simply wouldn't work since 4 (presuming 1 isn't prized ) allows you to draw 4 cards from discard over the course of the game only (requiring 2 cards twice).
I'm open to any suggestions. Gengar EX is pretty much the worst matchup possible, Garbodor would be terrible so I need to find a place for Startling Megaphone and really fast M Mewtwo Y (or X I suppose) are sometimes devastating.
Pokémon: 13
- 3 Ralts BKT 100
- 1 Kirlia AOR 53
- 3 Gallade BKT 84
- 2 Remoraid BKT 31
- 2 Octillery BKT 33
- 2 Lucario EX FUF 107
- 4 Korrina FUF 95
- 2 Lysandre FFI 104
- 2 Professor Sycamore XY 122
- 2 Giovanni's Scheme BKT 138
- 1 Judge BKT 143
- 1 Brigette BKT 161
- 4 VS Seeker PHF 109
- 3 Rare Candy PRC 135
- 2 Focus Sash FUF 91
- 3 Muscle Band XY 121
- 3 Level Ball AOR 76
- 1 Escape Rope PRC 127
- 4 Puzzle of Time BKP 109
- 3 Fighting Stadium FUF 90
- 5 Fighting Energy
- 4 Strong Energy
- 3 Double Colorless Energy
So generally the strategy is to evolve Gallade as quickly as possible, since Premonition can be used to control your draw on the following turn, making sure you topdeck that supporter or energy you need. Lucario EX is a convenient starter who can abuse Premonition, drawing you cards you set up with Corkscrew Smash before your opponent can Judge you on their turn, or apply pressure to force your opponent's hand.
Fairy Ralts and Kirlia were chosen to break up the uniform weakness of your two main attackers who are both weak to psychic types.
Korrina is hopefully available every turn early game so you can set up Gallade. Once you can use premonition is becomes pretty easy to get Octillery in play and the two together make sure you're never in a bad position for the remainder of the game. It's super useful for fetching Level Ball which is an important part of the deck since you're unable to search for Ralts and the Octillery line with Korrina directly. Later in the game it fetches that second Puzzle of Time so you can recover that clutch DCE or pokemon or both.
Two match ups that I haven't played that would probably also be terrible are Entei Assault Vest and Vileplume. One would be very difficult to KO and the other would prevent streaming Gallade easily by blocking Rare Candy and Level Ball.
In matches against Aegislash EX and Giratina EX Puzzle was able to rescue basic energy from the discard and bring in the win. The thing is Puzzle is so easy to use with Korrina available almost every turn it can .make a huge difference depending on the matchup. The other option would be Trainer's Mail, however it is unable to get DCE or pokemon.
Some changes I am thinking are replacing 1 Giovanni's with a 3rd Sycamore and replacing Brigette who is rarely available early game when she would make the biggest difference (turn 1 is awesome since Korrina is more useful turn 2 if you've already benched Ralts and Remoraid) maybe a 4th Level Ball. Judge is simply to give you the option of shuffling your hand instead of discarding it all, which honestly isn't that scary unless you're under item lock, which would prevent you from playing Puzzle, which once you're set up and aren't searching for Rare Candy or Level Ball with Korrina is so easy to make happen... 2 Lysandre is pretty awesome in this deck, since it has an obvious somewhat broken synergy with Sensitive Blade, Gallade's attack, which does 130 damage when you have played a supporter in your turn.
On my wish list is Startling Megaphone for the Garbodor matchup, which I feel will be a popular strategy. A second switch card would be nice, but honestly it's seems almost best if Lucario EX never sees play. I suppose I could drop 1 Muscle Band. Don't think I need a Hex Maniac (it sucks when it gets played on me though) and it probably wouldn't pop up at the right time to save me against Vileplume anyway. A Battle Compressor or two might be nice with 4 VS Seeker and an easy way to search for it (to set up a Lysandre or Judge into discard)
I don't know. I'd like some input. Keep in mind I think 4 Puzzle and 4 Korrina is amazing and it truly does have some broken effects, fewer Puzzle simply wouldn't work since 4 (presuming 1 isn't prized ) allows you to draw 4 cards from discard over the course of the game only (requiring 2 cards twice).