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Standard Greninja BREAK Pre+Post Rotation

T

Toushima

Aspiring Trainer
Member
So the gods blessed me with a random Greninja BREAK yesterday, so I invested a little bit and got myself two more to make a Greninja BREAK deck. Unfortunately I overlooked the fact that Dive Ball and Level Ball are rotating out. So I'm looking into making the best of it, as I don't really want my investment go to waste like my Sylveon and Lycanroc decks, heh.

First up, I have my current Greninja BREAK deck:

Pokémon - 17
  • 3 Greninja BREAK BKP 41
  • 4 Froakie BKP 38
  • 4 Frogadier BKP 39
  • 4 Greninja BKP 40
  • 1 Staryu EVO 30
  • 1 Starmie EVO 31

Trainer Cards - 33

  • 3 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
  • 2 Choice Band GRI 121
  • 2 Rare Candy SUM 129
  • 2 Lysandre AOR 78
  • 4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107
  • 1 Teammates PRC 141
  • 2 Field Blower GRI 125
  • 2 Level Ball AOR 76
  • 3 N FAC 105
  • 1 Ace Trainer AOR 69
  • 3 Ultra Ball FAC 113
  • 4 Dive Ball PRC 125
  • 4 VS Seeker PHF 109
Energy - 10
  • 7 Water Energy
  • 3 Splash Energy BKP 113

Things I'm not sure of:
  • 3 Rescue Stretcher
  • 2 Rare Candy
  • Only 2 Choice Bands
  • 2 Level Ball
Things I want to try and fit in:
  • Pokemon Center Lady
  • Switch/Escape Rope
  • More Choice Bands
  • Tapu Lele?
PCL has come in clutch a bunch of time in basically every deck I've played. Somehow I only own cursed coins as I generally lose 90% of my coinflips to RNG which ends up losing me the match. Switch/Escape Rope is just to get the maximum abuse out of Starmie > Greninja BREAK. Choice Bands due to 0 retreat cost anyway. Tapu Lele because I don't have a reliable search and I've been stuck on my opening hand more than once.

Onto the theorized post-rotation deck:

Pokémon - 17
  • 3 Greninja BREAK BKP 41
  • 4 Froakie BKP 38
  • 4 Frogadier BKP 39
  • 4 Greninja BKP 40
  • 1 Staryu EVO 30
  • 1 Starmie EVO 31
From what my inexperienced eye can tell, there's no real changes that need to be made here. The loss of Dive- and Level Ball might make me want to run a 2-1 Starmie line perhaps?

Trainer Cards - 33
  • 4 Ultra Ball FAC 113
  • 4 N FAC 105
  • 4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107
  • 4 Guzma BUS 115
  • 4 Timer Ball SUM 134
  • 4 Puzzle of Time BKP 109
  • 3 Choice Band GRI 121
  • 2 Nest Ball SUM 123
  • 2 Field Blower GRI 125
  • 2 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
Energy - 10
  • 3 Splash Energy BKP 113
  • 7 Water Energy

As stated before, I'm no expert deck builder, but this seems like a decent-ish deck post-rotation deck list? I'm not entirely sure about the Puzzles as it'll be hard to get both pieces, but I put them in there to replace the VS Seekers. The Timer Balls add RNG, but after some test runs with coin flips on it I got to a 63% heads ratio, and which it doesn't allow me to find basic versions of pokemon, getting that double heads might be a deciding factor for the win, and vice versa of course.

Let me know what you think and what you'd add/remove, I eagerly look forward to it!
 
For your deck in the current standard format:

+1 Staryu- Adds consistency to the Starmie line in case one gets prized.
+1 Starmie- Makes the line more reliable, something you definitely want considering how important it is late-game.
-1 Rescue Stretcher- This card is very valuable in Greninja decks, but in order to make space for other cards I haven't found running 3 necessary.
-2 Rare Candy- The point of the deck is you put a Frogadier down and use Water Duplicates, which puts all the Frogadiers in your deck onto the bench for setup. Rare Candy doesn't work going from Frogadier to Greninja BREAK, therefore in your ideal game it's useless.
-2 Level Ball- I actually don't run any of these because it doesn't work for Greninja or Greninja BREAK, so it isn't worth it for me.
+1 N- You definitely want 4 N and 4 Sycamore for draw power in this deck.
-1 Ultra Ball- Pre-Rotation with Dive Ball and Level Ball in format you definitely don't want to run more than 2 Ultra Ball, it simply discards too much.
-1 VS Seeker- Incredibly valuable card, but I have found it necessary to drop in order to make space for other cards. Definitely one of the items I can see you not dropping if you disagree with one of my suggestions.
+1 Super Rod- Great card for recycling Pokemon and energies back into your deck. Especially if you have to discard early with Sycamore or Ultra Ball.
+1 Fisherman- Even with the Starmie line this card is great for putting energies into your hand, setting you up for plenty Giant Water Shurikens. Also feel free to discard it knowing that you can VS Seeker it back at any given time.
+2 Max Potion- This card has saved me so many times, and it works perfectly with Greninja. When you use Moonlight Slash and bring back an energy, it sets you up perfectly to heal up any damage done on your opponent's turn. This card is superior to Pokemon Center Lady in every way thanks to Greninja being a low attack cost deck.
+1 Water Energy- Being a normal energy it works better with Greninja's Water Shuriken, Starmie's ability, Fisherman, and even Super Rod.
-1 Splash Energy- As I mentioned above, because this is a special energy it doesn't apply to a lot of the cards in the deck. Don't get me wrong though, this card has definitely saved me a lot of times, I just find running 2 more consistent.

After a lot of playtesting on PTCGO, I believe this is a pretty streamlined and consistent Greninja/Starmie deck list. That being said, you should consider running Greninja/Talonflame archetype as opposed to Starmie in this standard format. The Talonflame version is far more competitive and successful in tournaments throughout this season. Trainers and energies would be the exact same, just switch Starmie and Staryu out with 4 Talonflame STS 96.

Will post changes for post-rotation deck list shortly afterwards, good luck with you deck!
 
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There have been a number of posts about Greninja recently. I've always had more success with the pure TF Greninja. It certainly will be arrow pointing up post rotation after FoGP goes away. I had hoped that the triple shuriken might be an additional plus for Greninja, but Trainer Josh said in another post that it wasn't happening from the testing he had done.

I run 4 Splash and no stretchers but that's just my preference. I also prefer Evosoda but that's because I run only two Froakies (sometimes only 1) at most to maximize the starting chances for TF. But Max Potion and Splash energy have counter synergy, but I'm not sure if Lana will be an adequate replacement for rough seas.

I'm also wondering how Alolan Vulpix might help Greninja as well. If I were to diverge from the pure TF build I might try AV with Octillery, and Mallow. But that might crowd the bench and part of Greninja is that it needs 3 open spots on the bench you can't really tech in a lot of other Pokemon.

Also worth noting is that Because of Promo Giratina Greninja will always have a ceiling. If it gets REALLY good people will tech in Promo Tina which wrecks Greninja.
 
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