Just how viable is Aggron TM

vareki

vareki

just a little weird
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1-aggron.jpg


Massive energy requirements, huge retreat cost and a Stage 2 are all stacked against Aggron. But, that doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't have a niche it can occupy

Guard Claw decreases all damage dealt to Aggron by 20, as you can see. Add onto that at least two Special Metals to pay the cost of the Attack (Assuming DCE for the colourless requirements). Thats 40 less damage per turn, on a 140 HP monster. Add in Expert Belt, Nidoqueen RR or Blissey PL on the bench and it suddenly becomes a Tank of the Highest order.

Fully Tanked, Aggron cannot be OTK'd by anything dealing less than 220 (110 for Fire Types), and dishes out 80-100 per turn.

So, does Aggron have a place in the Metagame?
 
I added in BOTH Nidoqueen RR and Blissey PL. It made for hilarious moments.

It was my Aggrotank vs a friend's Megatank.
Meganium Prime + LandminX + E-belt dealing 100 damage to Aggron TM + 4 SPMetal + Blissey PL + Nidoqueen RR + GuardClaw! Oh noez! Then I reduced 100 damage per turn. It was quite funny to see my friend's face.

I also ran Lucian's Assignment + 4 PokeHealer+, so I could either heal my active Aggron TM or leave it with 3 normal Metals, while Lucianing the SPMetals to a benched Aggron TM. I also ran Aggron RR as a tech with Return Blow, which can become pretty handy sometimes.

However, it IS slow and the best way to set this beast up is by Skarmory UD (or CoL, but I'll be referring to UD), which unfortunately requires a Metal Energy of its own. If you draw up a SPMetal + Skarmory UD in the beginning, that knocks down Aggron's potential by a little bit.

Magnezone SF (Electric Type I think?) could help this guy out a bit, sorta acting like a Typhlosion Prime. Haven't playtested it yet, on account of my breaking down the Aggrotank.

See, the thing with Aggron TM is that...

Snipers will snipe around you. 80 damage by GuardClaw + Ebelt isn't very scary if you think about it. Even if you did use Second Strike the next turn, the sniper would probably just retreat for another sniper, or another option. For example, Garchomp C LV.X could be PokeTurned, then Lux X would be brought out and take easy KOs, thereby completely bypassing Aggron's formidable bulk.

You're easily hit by conditions, unless you run Warp Energy or Warp Point. For example, Crobat Prime, Seviper CoL, and other condition Pokemon could poison you. With a heavy 4 retreat cost, it's not really viable to discard 4 Energy (DCE + 2 SP/NonSPMetal or 4 Non/SP Metal or any combination...). PokeHealer+ could help with this, although TrainerLock would clog your hand.

Blaziken FB X just...destroys this deck. Absolutely destroys. Honestly any Fire deck would beat down this poor dude. x2 Fire Weakness is not fun. x2 Weakness to anything isn't fun in general, really.

All in all, it's a really fun deck if you can bring out Aggron's full equipment. It's just not good in this current meta. Maybe next meta, with all those whippersnapper new B/W cards.

...

Did I mention Porygon Z LVX?

*MODE CRASH!!!*

(yes, this happened to me once. Was vsing a friend's PoryZX deck. Took me 4-5 turns to set up Aggron with 4SPMetals, then BAM dude lays down PorygonZ LVX and yells MODE CRASH. Needless to say, after that, the deck Mode Crashed.)
 
Finally someone mentioning this. It might be another version for stealix prime deck (running aggron instead) Since they are both metal and can use the same supporter pokemon. And You can run aggron from RR to have a nice attacker, fun staler. Since it for 1 DCE can hit the opponent for the same amount of damage it was damaged by, add in expert belt and you hit 20+.

I might build this deck since aggron is a fun pokemon and since there is 2 aggron's playable in this format it can be played a bit different every game.

As for the weaknesses and such that Hikikomori-san mentioned, every deck has their counterparts or ways to bypass their walls and such. But don't let that hinder people from building the deck. It's only when people start using "poor" decks that the decks can be improved.

 
Unfortunately, Steelix Prime is far superior in terms of metal-tanks. He's only a stage 1, same hp, same type, same weakness, the only thing for steelix is that he doesn't have guard claw,which is truthffully a good attack for a tank, but I don't think that guard claw is good ENOUGH to add an extra stage to get.
 
Steelix Prime is better, because it can get the DCE back, but I love that second attack. You could stack two Special Metal Energy and take a total of 40 less damage, plus, with Expert Belt, you could be doing a lot more damage while stayin' alive. (ah ah ah ah stayin' alive!) Decent card nonetheless. I like it!
 
@ Aburame: The weaknesses do show that it's not exactly fit for this meta. Sure it can be built as a rogue, but I was just answering his question:
Vareki said:
So, does Aggron have a place in the Metagame?
Click to expand...

I liked the deck myself. It was actually consistent most of the times (extremely surprising...)
 
i liked the aggron tank ! just imagine a 1oo damage all healed the opponent would be all like :| oh god. anyway i have to agree that steelix is better than aggron because of faster energy attachment.
 
So, a resounding "Almost, but not quite"

Oh, well, Lets try it out anyway. Should I post the skeleton list I'm thinking of here, or in the deck help forums?
 
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