Hey guys, lately I have been pretty bored and have started experimenting with rapidly throwing together rogues and seeing what happens. After several bad ideas that I never ending up building and some decks that I would be pretty ashamed to say that I did build, I found something kinda neat.
Card Basics.
I remembering looking into this card when it was first printed, I thought that it had some potential, 60 for a Double Colorless is pretty nifty, and its Body was ok, not really needed because of last format's all around low retreat cost Metagame cards. This format excluding Yanmega could really use some lower retreat costs, Donphan, Magnezone, and Emboar (if people still even use this) all have high enough retreat cost that you can assume, if you are under a Trainer Lock, they are not leaving your active. Metagross being able to cut any retreat cost down to zero in this format is awesome. 60 for a DCE is still good, and its secondary attack is now looking a little better since there are still some weak babies wondering around the tournament tables. Reasonable weakness and HP make this card even more of a force to reckon with. Deck uses?
Let's slow down. This card isn't going to be winning any medals by itself. 60 damage a turn is not that great for a Stage 2 in this format, it is going to need to be a back up attacker with a good Pokebody.Magnezone Prime: This seems to be the right choice. Magnezone is good with anything, and often times makes something that'd never be playable, due to its terrible inconsistency, work. I found that a strong Metagross line with Magnezone works well. Magnezone provides draw power, which is key for early game set up of Metagross, which is a decent back up attacker. This deck works the best with Roserade UL, and Celebration Wind Shaymin. Since Rainbow Energy is already a good idea whenever you are playing more than one type, Roserade is a great Donphan counter and requires little space to function properly. Shaymin is to move the Psychic or Rainbow Energy around so that you have an easier time retreating and building up multiple attackers, and also is good to get energy off of Roserade after using Energy Signal. Here is the list that I have been playing, encase anyone is in the mood to mess around with a fun, yet slightly competitive rogue that could use some love.
3-1-3 Metagross
2-1-2 Magnezone Prime
2-2 Roserade
2 Shaymin UL
Pokemon: 18
3 Pokemon Collector
4 Pokemon Communication
4 Professor Oak's New Theory
2 Copycat
1 Professor Juniper
4 Research Records (Oh wow this card is beautiful with Magnezone, controlling what you draw? Beautiful.)
4 Rare Candy
4 Junk Arm
2 Switch
1 Super Scoop Up
T/S/S: 29
2 Double Colorless Energy
4 Lightning Energy
3 Psychic Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
Energy: 13
2-1-2 Magnezone Prime
2-2 Roserade
2 Shaymin UL
Pokemon: 18
3 Pokemon Collector
4 Pokemon Communication
4 Professor Oak's New Theory
2 Copycat
1 Professor Juniper
4 Research Records (Oh wow this card is beautiful with Magnezone, controlling what you draw? Beautiful.)
4 Rare Candy
4 Junk Arm
2 Switch
1 Super Scoop Up
T/S/S: 29
2 Double Colorless Energy
4 Lightning Energy
3 Psychic Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
Energy: 13
Tech uses?
I guess I should list some ways that I think this might be able to be used as a tech in some other decks, since it can clearly work as a tech as opposed to an attacker.
Donphan Prime: The key to being creative is adding in techs to something that could do with or without them, then acting like you are a rogue player. Giving Donphan a free retreat is going to help against Roserade and or Vileplume variants that you will encounter. Most likely, you are going to want to play Metagross in a Variant of Donphan that is already playing DCE and or Rainbow Energy. In any Donphan variant involving Zoroark, having Rainbow Energy in your list wouldn't hurt you too badly because then you have the ability to Nasty Plot your way out of a tight situation. Metagross is a lil' room hog though, I will admit, but if you are able to get your list consistent with it, I could see it being a beneficial surprise to pull on an unprepared opponent.
Samurott: Meh, Samurott is a nifty lower tiered deck, that is already playing Double Colorless Energy (hopefully). A couple Rainbow couldn't hurt too badly, it is nice to have something that might be able to take a hit from a burned out Magnezone. Type coverage, quick damage, free retreat, since you are already playing Candy, you could get away with a pretty laughable line, such as a 1-0-1.
Haxorus: Considering most people who started reading this have probably already lost interest, I thought I would talk about a card I like on its own, even if it doesn't have great synergy with the card I am talking about, and isn't out yet. I lose focus on what I am doing quickly. Here is the translation or something.
This card has no weakness. Alright. An attack with 120 damage base? Nice! Oh, but wait, it has an awful draw back, you could never use this attack every turn, you would have to pay the two retreat. This is where Metagross comes in. Double Colorless is great for powering up Haxorus, and Metagross, and you can use a Psychic Energy to fill the last energy requirement so that Haxorus has a free retreat. After Giga Impact, you could retreat it, then play a Switch. Now eventually, you are going to run out of Switch, but with 4 Junk Arm, and some Super Scoop Up, you could make this work fairly easily in my opinion. Use Shaymin to move energy, retreat Haxorus into Shaymin, then pick it up after a good SSU flip, or of course, just play a switch. 120 a turn from a Pokemon with 140 HP, no retreat cost or weakness could be really good. I hope that you all keep this combo in mind after Haxorus is printed.
Conclusion
Yes! I killed some precious, precious time. Anyways I hope that you find these combos worth testing. Meatgross is a good back up attacker, something that Switch can never be, and is an unexpected tech that I feel could be worth testing in anything with a high retreat, or with an issue involving retreating under Trainer lock. Hope you enjoyed reading this!
~ Vulpix Yolk
