Kyurem has seen, without a doubt, the most mixed reception in my experience of the pokemon TCG. Some people claim Kyurem variants will be a frontrunner for one of the best deck types in format, others claim Kyurem is overhyped, overrated, and useless overall. This card is identical to the other dragons in every way, save for having a spread attack as its main attack instead of the iconic 120 for three that has shaped this meta and the expectations we now have for "good" cards (the "magic number" for HP is a perfect example of this).
Spreading the Love: What difference does it make?
Well, for one, it makes the card very unforgiving. If an opposing deck cannot get set up, particularly any deck that relies on evolutions, you're probably looking at two or three free prizes right off the bat, while disrupting the deck's entire setup. That can be enough to completely shift the momentum of the game in your favor, KOing their remaining pokemon before they can even take half their prizes. This strongly affects decks like Tyram, Megazone, and Gothetelle; the first two suffer due to running low Twins counts to rebound from a bad setup, and the latter suffers due to the low 30 HP of Solosis, which get OHKO'ed by Kyurem.
On the other hand, if an opposing deck gets all its evolutions online, things take a sharp turn for the worst against the ice dragon. Most stage 2s and even stage 1s like Yanmega Prime have enough HP to survive a few Glaciate attacks, while dishing out more powerful attacks of their own that can either OHKO or two shot Kyurems at will. ZPST is a particularly bad matchup since its main attackers all have high HP, the low HP techs are more or less expendable when dropped, and ZPST has the fastest setup in the format: all serious problems for a Kyurem player to face, and something Eviolite only makes worse. In this sense, Kyurem relies very heavily on the other opponent, and how consistent his deck is, the Twins count he plays, and whether or not he can hit that T2/T3 setup. Whether an opponent can do that or not ultimately determines the pace for the rest of the game in a Kyurem matchup.
Even Bullies Have Friends: Possible Partners for Kyurem
While setting up faster than your opponent is a given, it pretty much defines the purpose of this deck due to its ability to bully lo HP basics but get thrashed by high HP basics. Energy acceleration is a must. The most popular means of energy acceleration at this time are Feraligatr Prime and Electrode Prime. Feraligatr Prime attaches several water energy to one or many Kyurems, while Electrode Prime sacrifices a prize card to attach any and all energy to your pokemon in play within the top seven cards of your deck, while sending any non energy to the discard. Feraligatr was originally suspected to be the popular pairing, as it provided consistent energy drops, had an attack that worked reasonably well with Glaciate, and was ultimately a deck concept we were very comfortable with due to its similarities with Reshiboar. However, Electode Prime has recently supplanted Ferligatr in quite a few Kyurem decks, leading to the hyped CaKE deck (which stands for Cobalion and Kyurem, Electrode). At a glance, Electrode Prime's Energymite seems vastly inferior to Feraligatr Prime's Rain Dance. However, Electrode Prime offers a few very important things that might be more important that even constant energy drops.
Electrode is a stage one, and that means a lot in a format built around speed, pokemon catcher, and no universal draw engine of consequence that Kyurem can enjoy. Getting a stage 2 out quickly without built in draw is very difficult, and Kyurem does not have enough of a reliable late game to really count on the T3/T4 setup. Being a stage 1, Electrode can be set up with great consistency by the second turn, which can be crucial in Kyurem. The second important thing Electrode does is deny the opponent a card that is soft to Pokemon Catcher. As soon as Electrode is dropped, the player will probably discard it to use Energymite. This leaves no support pokemon to drag out in order to kill the acceleration engine, or stall out the deck in general due to a high retreat cost. Both are very important to Kyurem, which needs constant Glaciates to score KOs. Most importantly, Electrode puts you down in prizes. This gives Kyurem a huge advantage because it can now use Twins to further speed up its setup, while denying any deck that relies on Twins (such as Gothetelle), use of its Twins unless Kyruem scores two or more KOs when it attacks. In this sense, Electrode does everything Kyurem needs to: accelerate energy, set up fast, and deny the opponent's setup.
Other Techs
In addition to energy acceleration, Kyurem decks also need a lot of disruption to slow down your opponent's setup or stall for time should the worst happen. This format has plenty of options to choose from to disrupt opponents and supplement Kyurem's attack. I'm going to break down what I believe to be the important ones below:
Judge I expect this will be a staple in at least some Kyurem decks, probably CaKE more than Kyurgatr due to the greater difficulty in setting up a Stage 2 pokemon. By forcing your opponent to constantly refresh into a small hand, you run the chance of slowing down your opponent long enough to use Glaciates with relative impunity. In a deck like CaKE especially, which can deny the opponent's Twins play, putting an opponent to four cards can shift the momentum irrevocably in a Kyurem player's favor. I will even go as far as to say that, if a CaKE deck is set up, playing Judge as a follow up instead of Twins might be the better play provided Kyurem is set up and the opponent is not. The added Disruption could be very worth it. This is a card that I think should be run in counts of three or four.
N N is a card that might see more play in Kyuremgatr decks since it gives a PONT class refresh in the early game in addition to its disruption. Those extra two cards could be very important in setting up Feraligatr. On the other hand, N also gives your opponent a larger hand to work with to try and rebound with if they are behind. It can be argued that locking an opponent down into a 1-2 card hand might be useful with N in a close game or if a deck is seriously trouncing a Kyurem variant, but cards like N and Judge are ideally supposed to stop the setup in the first place. If Kyurem is given up four prizes to a completely setup opposing deck, the game is probably lost anyway since the opponent will have enough board presence to whether a couple turns without draw unless they lose all their main attackers with energy in the following turn or two. I think N is worth running, but in smaller counts than Judge. I find 4/2 to be a good number.
Pokemon Catcher I think this card could be very useful depending on the matchup, but almost exclusively for the purpose of stalling or KOing pokemon like Cyndaquil that are weak to water. Either slows the opponent's setup down, and warrants running a least a couple, or one to junk arm if its all you can fit.
Suicune Entei Legend Moving into attack techs, SEL can be used to finish off weakened pokemon on the bench, just like Feraligatr, and if a player really fears the type disadvantage of Kyurem, SEL does cover it by being a fire type. This card could theoretically be run in either deck, though Electrode might need to use two Energymites: one to fall behind and Twins into SEL, and one to actually put energy on SEL, an investment that I'm not sold on. Feraligatr is a bit more self explanatory with Rain Dance and a simple Fire Attachment, but it makes the overall deck design even slower, which is not good for a deck that really needs the T2/T3 setup, possibly more than any deck in the format. Lightning weakness and giving up two prizes isn't so hot either.
Blastoise UL Blastoise is used for the same reason SEL would. The main differences are that it runs exclusively on water, does not give up two prizes, but is also a stage two. One advantage Blastoise offers is being able to move water energy, which is nice, but the card is a bad play with Electrode since having a stage two engine ultimately defeats the purpose of Electrode's speed. Squirtle is also a very bad start in a CaKE variant. Feraligatr is the better call if you decide to run Blastoise. I think this card is better than SEL once it gets on the board, but getting it out can be a hassle and might not be worth the trouble.
Darkrai Cresseila Legend I haven't heard too much talk about this card being run with Kyurem, but it makes sense. Running on one psychic energy, Moon's Invite is much easier to get online than either of SEL's attacks, and takes perfect advantage of Glaciate's spread by KOing key pokemon. I also think DCL's fighting/psychic weakness is ultimately better. Gothetelle can be crippled by a well timed DCL drop, and fighting pokemon have fallen into relative obscurity. The one problem with DCL is that it requires the use of rainbow or psychic energy. However, I still think it's a better play than the other two attack techs.
Pluspower Adds 10 extra damage. This card has a good use in the Donphan and Tyram matchups since it allows Kyurem to OHKO active Quilavas and Phanpys with Glaciate. This really adds pressure in the Tyram matchup since this makes any avenue to Typholosion other than Rare Candy a risky play, and that extra bit of slowing down the opponent may help. However, in other matchups, Pluspower's uses become greatly diminished.
Eviolite Great for increasing survivability. This card makes OHKOing Kyurem substantially harder and can be very useful if the opponent does get set up. I actually take a controversial stance and think that early game setup and disruption is more important than the twenty less damage late game, but it is undeniable that Eviolite provides a good line of defense against a deck that sets up quickly.
Twins Due to the fact that Kyurem has a spread attack, Kyurem can potentially abuse Twins relentlessly if it falls behind. Glaciate cannot OHKO many pokemon in the metagame other than Solosis, babies, and one of the two Tynamos. This makes two Twins plays a fairly realistic prospect, while all the while setting up multiple KOs on the opponent's board. This is an ideal position for Kyurem to be in, but also demands falling behind in prizes before your opponent is set up. Due to Electrode Prime, this is a very plausible situation, and Twins should be run in high numbers in any CaKE variant.
Overall I give Kyurem an 8/10. It has a lot of tools to help it set up and disrupt the opponent. It's spread attack is unforgiving in the early game, and there are enough techs that can help in the late game should a player choose to run one. ZPST is an abominably bad matchup for Kyurem however, and it's popularity could bring Kyurem down, especially if it relies on Electrode to get set up, giving ZPST yet another prize early on. It also has a use with Donphan Prime in the popular DnD deck, giving that deck even more type coverage. Overall, flexibility, good type advantage, Twins abuse, and an unforgiving attack provides good matchups against many other decks that rely on evolutions, making an altogether decent, and very interesting, main attacker in the HGSS on format. Personally, I think Kyurem is a very cool card.
[/sand=Magnevire] (obviously lol) -Celebi23
