Standard Kingdra

[WastedSkyPirate]

KINGDRA (BKT-BUS) V.2​

Pokémon (15)

4 Horsea
1 Seadra
4 Kingdra
2 Tapu Lele-GX
2 Remoraid
1 Octillery
1 Alolan Vulpix

Trainers (35)

4 Professor Sycamore
4 N
3 Guzma
2 Skyla
1 Brigette

4 Ultra Ball
4 Rare Candy
4 Aqua Patch
3 Choice Band
2 Super Rod
1 Rescue Stretcher
1 Timer Ball

2 Brooklet Hill

Energy (10)

10 Water Energy


Notes

This list is untested and based on hypothetical thinking. I am looking for feedback and recommendations from anyone who wishes to contribute but especially from those with experience of Kingdra or Stage 2 non-GX decks (even if that advice is "give up on this deck!").

I wanted to make this deck because Kingdra;

A) Has 2 low-Energy cost attacks
B) Can spread damage
C) Brings back memories of Darkai-EX's Night Spear
D) Is a cool Pokémon

The aim of the deck is to use Kingdra's Tornado Shot attack to spread damage, trade favourably with Pokémon-GX and win the prize race. As Tornado Shot requires you to discard 1 [W] Energy from Kingdra, I have included Starmie to recycle Energy from the discard pile. I have tried to prioritise consistency to counteract the natural inconsistency of playing Stage 2 Pokémon.

I can't see this deck winning anything major but I'd like it to be competitive at a League Challenge or League Cup.

Notable exclusions/considerations:

• Tapu Fini-GX
• Remoraid & Octillery
• Alolan Vulpix
• Garbodor (BKP)
• Hoopa (STS)
• Fisherman
• Wally
• Aqua Patch
• Energy Retrieval
• Field Blower
• Float Stone
• Splash Energy

Let me know your thoughts!


Changelog

18/09/17

-2 Staryu
-1 Starmie
-1 Oranguru
-2 Skyla
-2 Lillie
-4 Max Potion

+2 Remoraid
+1 Octillery
+1 Alolan Vulpix
+1 Guzma
+4 Aqua Patch
+1 Choice Band
+1 Rescue Stretcher
+1 Water Energy

 

[Ecko9i6]

I tried running a kindgra deck with a list similar to yours (except I didn't run starmie at all and I have an octillery line). The deck doesn't really work because it takes too long to set up for a Pokemon that does mediocre damage. Knocking out Kingdra is extremely easy and if you don't get rare candies fairly quickly, you're almost guaranteed to lose. I would remove timer ball completely and just replace it with evosoda. You'll be guaranteed an evolution instead of taking a chance to add 1 or 2 to your hand.

Believe me, I thought about this as well and thought the deck would be extremely fun to play! Turns out, the deck is so slow that it is basically unplayable.

 

[Jacktropolis]

I've played around with Kingdra online....in my testing it seems to pair fairly well with Alolan Ninetales GX.. I would definitely drop starmie in favor of octillery and add in some aqua patches...I wouldn't expect too much success tho being a stage 2 that can easily be overpowered by some basic/stage 1s puts you at a disadvantage in a good percentage of matches

 

[KabuTopgun]

I've played around with Kingdra online....in my testing it seems to pair fairly well with Alolan Ninetales GX.. I would definitely drop starmie in favor of octillery and add in some aqua patches...I wouldn't expect too much success tho being a stage 2 that can easily be overpowered by some basic/stage 1s puts you at a disadvantage in a good percentage of matches

Yeah, I definitely agree that your best shot is Alolan Vulpix+Ninetales GX. I'd also run non-GX Alolan Ninetales so you can save the GX version as a late game threat(ie this deck has the potential to force them to take 7 prize cards if you play it right). I also agree that Starmie doesn't fit this deck; Kingdra has cheap attacks and only ever discards 1 energy at a time. You should be fine with 4 Aqua Patch, a Super Rod and an Energy Retrieval...
I personally think Oranguru is fine; Octillary draws more, true, but the 1-1 line can be awkward and 2-2 is too much of a distraction IMO. You can target it with Aqua Patch, sure, but why waste energy on Hugging your opponent's pokemon?

Otherwise I wonder if it might work to run 4x Talonflame; risky, of course, but being able to grab Rare Candy and speed up the deck may be worth it. Vulpix is great, but if you miss a turn 2 Rare Candy then you're already going to fall behind.
Also might be a good idea to try a couple Tapu Koko to spread damage around(which can buy you a bit of time if turbo doesn't suit you or turns out to be too glass cannon); Horsea or Seadra can snipe to enable Brine, and I realise Kingdra can enable itself, but being able to hit anything for 90 straight off is nifty IMO and in other occasions you'll clean up some weaker Pokemon with the 30 damage off Tornado Shot.
In regards to Tapu Fini, I think it is pretty good, but bear in mind that it's going to to do just a bit more than Kingdra while requiring 3 energy and Aqua Patch to attack more than once, as well as giving them 2 Prizes which makes it harder for you to race them.

 

[WastedSkyPirate]

@KabuTopgun @Jacktropolis @Ecko9i6

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Believe me, I thought about this as well and thought the deck would be extremely fun to play! Turns out, the deck is so slow that it is basically unplayable.

Having played 10-20 games with the deck, this is the conclusion to which I've also arrived. It's fun when it works but is too slow and with a too fragile 'final form'. However, if I were to make some changes, this is what I would do:

-2 Staryu
-1 Starmie
-1 Oranguru
-2 Skyla
-2 Lillie
-4 Max Potion

+2 Remoraid
+1 Octillery
+1 Alolan Vulpix
+1 Guzma
+4 Aqua Patch
+1 Choice Band
+1 Rescue Stretcher
+1 Water Energy

With these changes, we move to focusing on a more consistent setup. Starmie actually performed very well in testing but Octillery is too good to overlook, especially when we're already running Brooklet Hill to get it out. The theory being that you'll draw into the Energy you need by using Abyssal Hand, thus Octillery nets you Energy (as Starmie would) and more. Also, although we lose the utility of Staryu's free retreat, all the basic Pokémon in the deck have a retreat cost of 1, making it easy to get Alolan Vulpix active for early Beacons.

4 Skyla was complete overkill, especially without Octillery on the bench to give you non-Supporter draw power. With Octillery, we can also cut Lillie (which is a mediocre/situational draw Supporter outside of the first turn).

Max Potion was situational and, as 140 is not too hard to hit, Kingdra often gets OHKO'd. Aqua Patch and an additional Water Energy ease the loss of Starmie and should help stream Tornado Shots.