My second ZPST (and others) deck

[Cubox]

Hey there.
Since ND has now been released (yes I know that I'm slow...) I made some changes to my old ZPST deck (which you are still welcome to help me improve, though I'm currently most focused on this version).
This version is much more focused on getting the donk than the old, so I proberbly need some help with modifications for late game. This is the list:

4 Zekrom BW (Kinda obvious as the main attacker)
2 Pachirisu CL (For putting two {L} energies on it)
2 Shaymin UL (For moving Pachirisu's energies to Zekrom)
2 Tornadus EP (Formerely just a {F} tech, but still useful for the deck)
1 Zapdos ND (Second attacker. Can both bench snipe and do alot damage)
2 Mewtwo EX (Just awesome and good against for instance itself, Gothitelle and maybe even Regigigas EX (which are the main threads in my league))
Pknm: 13

4 Junk Arm (For reusing Trainers/Items)
2 Energy Search (For energy searching (Junk Arm can reuse it to get another energy)
2 Plus Power (For KO'ing pokémon tougher than my pokémon can manage)
3 Pokémon Catcher (For making opp's benched pokémon active if I for instance prefer to KO it instead of the other pokémon)
2 Xtransceiver (For finding needed Supporters)
2 Level Ball (For getting Pachirisu or Shaymin)
2 SSU (For taking back hurt or unwanted pokémon)
2 Switch (For switching out an unwanted active pokémon)
2 Dual Ball (For finding some basic pokémon that I need)
2 Pokégear 3.0 (Same as Xtransceiver)
4 Pokémon Collector (Same as Dual Ball)
3 Professor Juniper (Hand refresh)
3 Cilan (Same as Energy Search except that it can't be Junk Arm'ed)
1 Sage's training (For finding neccesary cards)
Trainers/Items/Stadiums/Supporters: 34

10 {L} (Kinda obvious)
3 {C}{C} (Preferable if {L} isn't necessary)
Energies: 13

The strategy is pretty much described above.

Please tell me what you think of the deck, and maybe even come with suggestions for modifications. Thanks

 

[Jirachi]

RE: My second ZPST deck.

I'd get rid of x-tranceiver altogether because it is not that good. I'd rather use poke gear. Energy search is not that great either.
-3 xtranciever
-4 energy search
-3 level ball
-2 plus power (usually it wouldn't be that helpful)
-3 cilan
-3 collector or 2 dual ball

+2 dual ball or 1 collector
+2-3 ssu or seeker but I prefer ssu
+1 mewtwo EX
+alot of drawing supporters. You have none which really concerns me.
+1 terrakion?

 

[Nigel]

RE: My second ZPST deck.

While your list is certainly interesting, I think that ZPST is going to need an overhaul in this format. Mewtwo-EX is a must have for this deck, and ZPST will crumble with out it. Mewtwo-EX is the only realistic counter to Mewtwo-EX, and so if your opponent is playing one and you aren't, it might just probably be auto-loss to you. You also mentioned how Regigigas-EX is a very large tech in your area. One thing this card shares with other popular cards in this format, such as the Mirror, is the weakness to the Fighting type. The way that I have taken advantage of this weakness in my ZPST builds is by playing the Fighting-type Stunfisk from Noble Victories as a counter to cards like this. Not only can this card 2-shot Regigigas and Magnezone, but it also can donk and one-shot Eelektriks, which more than likely will be popular in your metagame (as well as all others). Not just that, but this card has a resistance to Magnezone, too! You should play this card over Shaymin because not only is it a better card in general that will free up some space in your deck, but Shaymin is low HP Catcher Bait that could be a problem if you started with it or played it at the wrong time.

You could also play Zapdos ND in this deck. It can KO some of your opponent's low-HP basics early game, as well as spread some damage across your opponent's high HP Pokemon for cheaper KOs. Personally, I don't like this card in ZPST. It's too much of a fragile attacker, and this deck can't afford to lose energies. If you want, though, you could play this card with Super Rod, but I don't reccomend it.

Another option I have seen for ZPST from Next Destinies is Zekrom-EX. This card can get some easy one-shots with its 150 damage attack. This amount of damage can one-shot Zekroms, Reshirams, and Magnezone Prime. The problem with this card, though, is that the energies get discarded after the attack. Thanks to ZPST's terrible energy acceleration, this card has no chance at being playable in this deck.

From the above statements I've made, here are the changes that I'd reccomend for your deck:

-1 Shaymin EX (Catcher Bait)
-2 Prism Energy (No More Shaymin)
-3 Xtransceiver (Not out in English, yet)
-4 Energy Search (You run plenty of energies - no need to search them out)
-1 Level Ball (For better ways to get basics out - see below)
-1 Switch (3 Switch can be too unconsistent in a deck that doesn't run Pokemon with high retreat)
-1 Tornadus (Donphan isn't played as much anymore, plus we need to make room for Mewtwo-EX)
-3 Cilan (For Draw Supporters)

+2 Lightning Energy (To replace the taken out Prism Energies)
+1 Pokegear 3.0 (Better than Xtransceiver, which is not out in English yet)
+1 Pokemon Collector (4 is a staple in every deck - especially this one. A turn 1 Collector could lean the game in your favor)
+2 Stunfisk ND (As a Gigas/Magnezone/Zekrom/Zekrom-EX counter)
+2 Mewtwo-EX (As a quick sweeper that can abuse DCE and a Mewtwo-EX counter)
+4 Professor Juniper (Perhaps the best draw we have in this format)
+2 N (For disruption and refreshment)
+2 Sages Training (Get what you want and discard the rest- just like Juniper)


Overall, this is an interesting deck, and your approach to this deck has given me a good amount of interest. Keep up the good playing, and hope that I helped and that you'll accept my constructive criticism. :]

 

[Jirachi]

RE: My second ZPST deck.

Actally I don't think that shaymin EX will be that bad because it is usually played at the end of the game to finish up or to save the game to win some OHKOs if they drew 5 prizes already.

 

[Cubox]

RE: My second ZPST deck.

@Jirachi
Proberbly taking out some Plus Power wouldn't be a bad idea since it is rarely in use (also because of trainer lock). I'll remove two.
I also thought that I might need some SSU (which I too prefer). I'll add two
I have to consider the Terrakion. It's better than Stunfish (which I'll reason more a little later) since it kan OHKO the Regigigas.

@Nigel
Like Jirachi said in the last post I were only going to play Shaymin EX when my opp had drawed enough prizes to let me OHKO the Goth/Regigigas EX (while writing this I realise that it proberbly would be catcher bait against Goth). The Regigigas EX deck I play against runs Vileplume, so Cather isn't a possibility. However I think that Mewtwo EX (and maybe Terrakion) would fit better for that purpose, so I'll remove it and replace the Prism Energies with {L}.
I hardly believe that Stunfish is gonna work against Regigigas because of two things. 1 Stunfish will only power up Regigias' attack (which is the attack my opp uses). Of cause there is a chance that the Regigigas gets paralyzed, but because of the second reason that's pretty useless. 2 The deck runs Reuniclus (and Vileplume so no Reuniclus cathie ), so I have to OHKO it.
Actually the Xtransciever has been released in english. It did in Noble Victories (card number 96).
I don't run Energy Search just to search for an energy (elsewise it would be pointless to not just run the energies instead), but to be able to Junk Arm it, so that I get two energies instead of just one.
Yeah two Switch is proberbly enough. I'll remove one
Tornadus is pretty much just a second chance to prevent Pachirisu/Shaymin from being active, but now that new pokémon will be included it's fine that some (one) will be removed (if more are removed I'll proberbly end in the situation I wanted to avoid by running them).
Personally I really don't like N. ZPST is aiming for a first-turn-KO, so already there it became a little worse.

@Both
None of you really like Xtransciever (for different reasons), but I think that I'll remove one of them, 'cause I like them.
None of you like Energy Search either, but my idea is still there so I'll remove two.
I think removing three Level Balls is too much, 'cause it actually is good. I'll remove one
I don't understand why none of you like Cilan. If I remove three I got almost no way to get energies, so I'll remove one.
Both of you want me to run Mewtwo EX. I understand that it's about to get a must, and i really like it so I'll add two.

-2 PlusPower
-1 Shaymin EX
-2 Prism Energies
-1 Switch
-1 Tornadus
-1 Level Ball
-1 Xtransciever
-2 Energy Search
-1 Cilan
Total: -12

+2 SSU
+2 {L}
+1 Pokégear 3.0 (I could proberbly use another)
+1 pokémon Collector (It would be a lie to say that it's bad )
+2 Mewtwo EX
+3 Professor Juniper (kinda a must for any deck)
+1 Sage's Training (also pretty good)
Total: +12
Unfortunately there weren't enough space for another Sage's Training, but I'll proberbly find a way to get it included.

 

[infektionfoxtrot]

RE: My second ZPST deck.

I was thinking a build more around these parameters...Im at 57, trying to figure out another 3 cards. In a perfect world another 1-2 Mewtwos, I only have 2 though :
Pokemon (14)-

4: Zek B/W
2: Patchi
2: Shaymin
4: Tornadus
2: Mewtwo Ex (+2=4)

Trainer/Supporter/Item (28):

3 Pokemon collectors (Consistency)
4 PONT
2 Pokemon Catchers
3 Switch
4 Pokémon Communicators
4 Sages
2 twins
2 Juniper
2 N
2 SSU

Energy (15):

12 Lightning (+/-2 Prism: 10 lightning/ 2 Prism)
4 DCE

Theres a lot of draw support to get basics out quickly, main attackers like zekrom/mewtwo. A lot of hand refreshment, and energies. I was thinking of adding more prism because they are more versatile. With a deck of all basics, why not? I was looking at zapdos to take out bench sitters, or weakened pokemon as mentioned before.

 

[MtheW]

RE: My second ZPST deck.

I believe that you should be running zapdos in place of tornadus, or at least add a few in place of 1 or 2 tornadus. I use a zapdonk deck (zps, zapdos for the z) and the sniping is amazing early game, and it could be an alright alternate attacker, with a small chance to do 200 damage. Also it has a fighting resist, which means that it also fills the roll of helping against donphan, like tornadus does, but with the potential for more damage. I believe it would be a solid choice for your deck, and with eviolite it is not very fragile. You should definitely consider it.

 

[Cubox]

RE: My second ZPST deck.

@Infektionfoxtrot
I probably need some PONT, but atm it's difficult for me to figure out which cards to remove. After all it's important that the donk works as good as possible.
I think that two Catchers isn't enough. I think that three is needed.
I think that it would be better to use searching cards like Pokémon Collector than using exchange cards like Pokémon Communication, for instance because it requires me to already have a pokémon.

Personally I really don't like N. ZPST is aiming for a first-turn-KO, so already there it became a little worse.

This counts for both N and Twins.
I don't see what I'm gonna use Prism Energy for except of Mewtwo EX' Psydrive, but as far as I know Mewtwo is used because of X Ball.

@Infektionfoxtrot & MtheW
The Zapdos really do sound interesting, especially early-game. It kinda also makes more sense than Tornadus. I think I'll try it out.

-3 Tornadus

+3 Zapdos

 

[MDL]

RE: My second ZPST deck (which just became a ZPSZ).

I think you're making a mistake switching Zapdos for Tornadus. The ability to snipe is good; however, 1 copy of Zapdos is enough. You really don't wanna use his second atttack, which depends on luck. Also, Tornadus can deal some good damage, and imo counters Donphan/Terrakion/Landorus better than Zapdos. Also, Tornadus abuses DCE such as Mewtwo.

 

[Cubox]

RE: My second ZPST deck (which just became a ZPSZ).

@Dream To Kill
Truely I probably were a bit quick at switching out the Tornadus.
I don't understand what you mean with abuse (maybe because english isn't my main language). As far as I know abuse is a negative word, which I can't see how fits into the sentence

-2 Zapdos

+2 Tornadus

 

[MDL]

RE: My second ZPST deck (which just became a ZPSTZ deck ).

With "abuse" I meant to say that it uses DCE a lot xD

 

[Cubox]

RE: My second ZPST deck (which just became a ZPSTZ deck ).

Well that's another way of looking at the meaning