Standard Improving Rayquaza Battle Arena Deck

[jamashawalker]

Recently we all saw the two battle arena decks. Ultra Necrozma and Rayquaza. I bought both of them so my partner and I can play together and see how they play out. THESE DECKS ARE AMAZING! We all were hyped for the Ultra Necrozma deck, which is absolutely true. But the Rayquaza deck has been in the shadow of the Ultra Necrozma. While playing the Rayquaza deck there's some unseen potential in this deck. It can get off a big burst of damage out of nowhere and it's pretty good if you can get the set up.

My goal with this deck, as someone who works in a game store, is to recommend this deck to people and certain changes they should add to the deck without breaking the bank. So that means no Zeraoara GX nor Dedenne GX. If you can see potential with them in the deck then we can make both

Here is the list so far:
****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 18

* 4 Rayquaza-GX CES 109
* 2 Blitzle LOT 81
* 4 Magnemite FLI 34
* 1 Tapu Koko {*} TEU 51
* 1 Zeraora UNB 60
* 2 Zebstrika LOT 82
* 4 Magnezone FLI 36

##Trainer Cards - 28

* 2 Mysterious Treasure FLI 113
* 4 Pokémon Communication TEU 152
* 3 Switch CES 147
* 1 Fisherman CES 130
* 1 Erika's Hospitality TEU 140
* 4 Cynthia UPR 119
* 2 Volkner UPR 135
* 1 Brock's Grit TEU 135
* 2 Lillie UPR 125
* 4 Acro Bike CES 123
* 4 Rare Candy CES 142

##Energy - 14

* 10 Lightning Energy SMEnergy 4
* 4 Grass Energy SMEnergy 1

Total Cards - 60

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


Description:

The deck is super turbo. It's tough not to deck out mid game. There are big pros and cons with this so far.

Pros: It can get a big burst of damage out of nowhere. Going from 90-300 damage in one turn. Some non-GX attackers can swing the prize trade in your favor. Fisherman is a great card in this deck, allowing you to recover 120 damage from the discard. Has great come back potential with all the TTGXs

Cons: It's a stage 2 non-GX deck and a stage 1. It's not the most consistent deck out there. I play a 4-4 line of Magnezone so that I can get it on turn 2 as consistent as possible and in case of gusting/sniping. Rayquaza is very frail in this metagame. Most things can KO it without much effort. The attacks can vary between big damage and small damage.


What are you're thoughts on ramping up this deck while trying to keep it modestly budget friendly? or not budget friendly? lol

 

[Matthew the Fairy Lover]

Naganadel from Lost Thunder is a better partner than Magnezone to Rayquaza-GX. Being a Stage 1 gives you 12 more spaces which is huge and has a better energy accelerator than Magnezone and works more with Rayquaza's Ability. It's also in a Theme Deck which makes it super budget. I can also recommend Ditto Prism as it can evolve into Zebstrika or into Naganadel which gives it a good flexibility. Maxing out Mysterious Treasure is important if you choose to switch to the Naganadel package which I recommend highly that you do. Volkner and Lillie are great to get the game going strong early for getting Basics out and filling your hand. Hope this helps!

-4 Magnemite
-4 Magnezone
-4 Rare Candy
-1 Erika's Hospitality

+3 Poipole (FLI 55)
+3 Naganadel (LOT 108)
+1 Ditto Prism (LOT 154)
+2 Volkner
+2 Lillie
+2 Mysterious Treasure (FLI 113)

 

[Missilistico]

Hi, I'm interested in Rayquaza too! Have you tried a version with the new Island Amulet? Rayquaza is going to die soon that way, but it will give up just a prize. Moreover, with Lana's Fishing Rod you can just recover it and the Amulet. My problem with the Naganadel version is that Rayquaza will need 2 turns to be charged at least, or you have to play Energy Switch. what do you think about it?

 

[Blergsid]

Adding on to the edits Matthew suggested, with naganadel and 4 volkner its definitely worth running at least 1 energy switch, but 2 is probably ideal. Without magnezone there's also no need for such a heavy bias for lightning energy since only volkner and koko prism care between lightning and grass, so I would say,

• -1 lightning energy
• -1 fisherman(not as strong without mag present)
• -1 mysterious treasure
• +1 grass energy
• +2 energy switch

And about island challenge amulet, rayquaza already takes 3 energy to attack so its not easy to power many of them in one game, so I really don't think its the best option, but if you want to go that route, the way to go is probably to add 4 amulets, 2-3 lana's fishing rod, and add at least 1 more brock's grit and even more energy switches to keep being able to power up rays. The cuts for this list would have to be reducing the zebstrika line to 1-1, the naganadel to 2-2 and either a volkner or lillie.