Hey guys. I submitted an article about a month ago, and Celebi23 politely PM'd me today to let me know after much consideration, they would not put it on the front page. I was a little upset, but I realized that my article doesn't have to be on the front page to be noticed. The members of PB can see the hard work I put into this, and I don't mind it not being on the front page, however, I would like to see the community of PB see my work.
So I'm sure many of you have heard of the deck. It's received some hype when Reshiram was released, and when Emboar lost its hype, Reshiram / Typhlosion was the way to go for many players. When the deck took two places in the top at Worlds (one of which won its division), many players saw the potential of this deck. I'm here to help the community of Pokebeach out by presenting the whole idea of playing this deck, and my goal is to provide an insight on how to play this deck. So let's start with the basics of this deck.
Your main attacker will most definitely be Reshiram from Black + White.
This is the main attacker, the fire that makes everything intimidated, it's Reshiram! It towers among other basics at 130 HP. Its retreat cost isn't too bad, and its Water weakness is regular for a Fire type. Decks like Samurott will destroy Reshiram, so it's something to watch for. Its first attack, Outrage, does 20 damage plus 10 more damage for each damage counter on it. This is the attack you want to be using on weaker Basics early game, rather than wasting a Blue Flare on a 60 HP Pokemon. It combos quite nicely with Typhlosion Prime's Afterburner, and turns those damage counters for you instead of against you.
Its second attack, Blue Flare, is the primary attack that you want to be using. 3 for 120 is quite a nice deal, with the only drawback being that you have to discard 2 Fire Energy in order to use the attack. It's not that much of a drawback, since Typhlosion Prime ensures that you can Blue Flare every turn under the correct circumstances (them being if you have Typhlosion Prime on the field, and/or being able to KO your opponent's Active Pokemon every turn). Make sure you use each of Reshiram's attacks wisely, since you can easily misplay by using the wrong attack, making yourself vulnerable to attacks to your active Reshiram or to Pokemon on your bench.
Our next Pokemon will be Typhlosion Prime, which is the second part of the deck. This is why the deck works so well ; Reshiram needs to be fueled, and Typhlosion fuels that fire by allowing Reshiram to attack, discard the energies, re-attach the energies, and repeat. Think of Reshiram as the engine, and Typhlosion as the power generator, because Typhlosion is Reshiram's energy source. Let's take a look at Typhlosion Prime.
As a Stage 2, it boasts an impressive 140 HP, meaning it can take quite a few hits before it leaves the field. Its Poke-Power Afterburner is the main reason people use it - in most cases, discarding energy is a bad thing, yet in this deck, the purpose is to discard energy. With Afterburner, you can attach 1 Fire energy directly to one of your Pokemon in play, at the cost of that Pokemon taking 10 damage. Also, the Power is stackable with multiple Typhlosion in play, but be careful with Afterburner, though - against certain matchups, adding the damage counters can give the opponent a chance to strike by surprise. Its retreat cost of 2 is the same as Reshiram's ; not bad, but it could be game deciding late-game (when you don't have enough energy to retreat it).
Flare Destroy is excellent in my eyes. Using Flare Destroy gets rid of the pesky Rescue Energy users, and makes Mew cry because it can't be rescued. Seventy for three Fire energy is decent, but the energy cost shouldn't be a problem when you have three or more Typhlosion Prime in play. Getting Typhlosion out shouldn't be a problem; if you have a consistent build, it is rather easy to get a Typhlosion in play on the second turn with little to no sacrifice.
So now that you know the basics of the deck, I'll briefly review it.
~Use Blue Flare to discard the energies with Reshiram or *use Outrage for no discarding. Whichever attack can net you a prize card is preferred, so always use Outrage if you can inflict enough damage to KO one of your opponent's Pokemon.
~If you used Blue Flare, use Typhlosion Prime's Afterburner to recover the two energies and attach them to Reshiram (keeping in mind you have to put two damage counters on Reshiram).
~Repeat the process until the Reshiram is KO'd or you want to switch it out.
Now that I've reviewed the basic strategy, you must be thinking that the Blue Flare + Afterburner combo isn't going to work by itself. So now I'm going to explain the other cards that you use with Reshiram and Typhlosion, and the extra support that provides a way to get Fire energy in the discard pile.
Ninetales HGSS / CoL : This card functions as an efficient way of getting your Fire energies in the discard pile early game, including a way to draw cards from the deck. Ninetales is viewed differently by many various players, namely it being useful for drawpower or a bench sitter that can cost you a prize.
Before the card Pokemon Catcher came out, Ninetales was run as a 2 - 2 line (or in some decks, a 3 - 3 line) because of its excellent consistency and the best way to mill through the deck (besides Sage's Training). After Pokemon Catcher was released, many players decided that Ninetales was a liability, so they started shortening or removing the Ninetales line to fit Supporters, such as Sage's Training and Professor Juniper, to take over Ninetales' position. If you want to consider running Ninetales as a support card, be careful of the line you run, and never run it without a hefty Supporter line. Ninetales is a good card, but it can't be the only thing you rely on for drawpower.
Sage's Training UD / CoL : Sage's Training should, with no doubt, be run in any form of Reshiram / Typhlosion. Although Sage's Training was frowned upon when it was first released in HS-Undaunted, few players realized the combo you could pull off with Typhlosion and Sage's Training. Since the idea of Reshiram / Typhlosion was sparked, Sage's Training has had a huge increase in popularity for decks that rely on getting cards in the discard pile early game, or it can serve as a deck miller to get the important cards you need to set up the field.
Sage's Training has almost no drawbacks to the deck itself. You are able to draw 9 cards out of your deck in one turn if Ninetales is in play (and you use Roast Reveal), the ninth card being the draw for the turn. It's not as much the T2 Typhlosion that you want, but the Rare Candy + Typhlosion in the hand is what you want. The sacrifice with Ninetales and Sage's Training is pretty large - you lose 3 cards (one or more of these may be energy) and an energy. The consistency of the deck, however, is what makes Sage's Training much less of a sacrifice than in other decks.
Professor Juniper BW : Professor Juniper serves as an alternate purpose to discard Fire energies early game. Being able to draw 7 new cards is great, however, the only drawback is that you have to discard your entire hand. This can be a problem, however, because you may have to discard some essential cards that could slow you down in the long run. This makes Juniper a rather tricky card, and it has been looked at that way since it was released. Sometimes you'll have to sacrifice a bit to get a new hand, but on the other hand, the sacrifice might be too great for the new hand you would be receiving. I wouldn't advise anyone to run more than 2 copies of this card, since it is slightly outclassed by Sage's Training, but it is still a card you'll really love when you use it.
Pokemon Collector : This card should be used in every deck. Since its release in Heartgold & Soulsilver (or HGSS1), it was seen as one of the best ways to search out Pokemon early game, being a necessity to use to any deck that quickly needed it's Basics on the field. It also serves as a card to search out unnecessary Basics (in this case, Pokemon that don't serve any purpose in the match) to use with Pokemon Communication, or in a deck like Typhlosion / Reshiram, the extra basics can be fuel for with Junk Arm. In Typhlosion/Reshiram, you always want 2-3 Cyndaquils T1 so you can start evolving them, so Pokemon Collector is really important to get them searched out.
Pokemon Communication : Pokemon Communication is also a card that every player should be running for early game searching. Pokemon Communication replaces the well-known card Bebe's Search, except in Trainer form. A slight drawback to Pokemon Communication is that although it may be useful, you have to put a Pokemon back in your deck in order to be able to use the card. This can be a problem, as sometimes you may have a hand with many Pokemon Communication, but no Pokemon. It could also be the opposite, where you have many useless Pokemon in your hand, but no Pokemon Communication to get them back in the deck. A smart player will know when to use Pokemon Communication, but sometimes you can be stuck with cards like these that won't help at all.
However, Pokemon Communication has a very interesting use, and it is for when you are running out of cards in your deck. When you Pokemon Communication and search your deck, you can fail the search (even if there is a Pokemon in the deck) because the contents of the deck are unknown to your opponent. This helps you buy some more time, which can win you the game, so think twice before you decide Pokemon Communication won't have any more use later in the game.
Pokemon Catcher : Pokemon Catcher is the card everyone's been talking about, and it shows use in almost every deck. This card gives Reshiram more flexibility on who to KO, and because of this card, you don't have to use Blue Flare every turn. You can just use Pokemon Catcher, bring up a weak Pokemon, and KO it with Outrage. Instead of discarding energy with Blue Flare, Reshiram can utilize Outrage better with lots of damage on a threat. Just use Pokemon Catcher, bring up the strong Pokemon, and deal more than 100 damage (hopefully) to it. Another way to utilize Pokemon Catcher is to drag up a "bench sitter" with all of its HP and Blue Flare it, further crippling your opponent.
Pokemon Catcher is definitely not the card you want to play in a count of 4 in this deck, and the reason being is because Reshiram can often hit for enough damage to score a KO, so you won't need to switch your opponent's Pokemon around every time. You need to be wise in what Pokemon you decide to drag into the Active slot, because Pokemon Catcher is a very easy card to misplay with if you bring up the wrong Pokemon, so be very careful when using this card. Nonetheless, this card should be run in a count of 2-3 in every Typhlosion / Reshiram variant.
Pluspower BW : Another useful card in any deck, Pluspower is definitely showing use in this format. Adding damage is almost always a good thing, so any player will want to stack up damage in any way they can. Reshiram's Blue Flare attack does 120 damage to any Pokemon, so it's 10 damage short of KO'ing an opposing Reshiram or a Zekrom BW. So how do we solve this problem? We use Pluspower. Pluspower will make Blue Flare hit for 130, Knocking Out any Pokemon with 130 HP, which results in making the mirror match (or a match with Zekrom BW) much easier, and even matches against cards like Gothitelle EP and Blastoise UL.
Pluspower is a situational card, however. You always have to be careful when using Pluspower, since you may use it at one point to KO a Pokemon, and then end up losing the game because you couldn't hit for enough damage. The best advice to give is this; don't use Pluspower just to add excessive damage, because that Pluspower could be the difference between a win and a loss. Use it when you need to use it, and only when you need to use it.
Professor Oak's New Theory HGSS/CoL : The last necessary hand refresh card in Reshiram / Typhlosion is Professor Oak's New Theory, abbreviated PONT. PONT is simple and straightforward; shuffle your hand into your deck, and then draw 6 cards. It has the same effect as Cleffa from HGSS/CoL, except in Supporter form. Many people like to use PONT for its simplicity and decency in hand refresh. One thing to keep in mind is that PONT is also a situational card.
PONT has its pros and cons, like any card. One pro to PONT is that while shuffling away your hand, you can shuffle away useless cards back in the deck, and hopefully draw into a better hand, and you can shuffle potentially useful cards back in the deck instead of discarding them, and getting them later when you need them. Another pro is the fact of being able to draw 6 cards. It may not seem like a lot compared to Professor Juniper, that lets you draw an extra card, but a 6-card hand has enough room for being able to play a good turn. The one major con to PONT is that you may have to shuffle an important card into your deck, which means you may need it later in the game, or even early in the game. Another con is that although PONT may seem useful at first glance, you never know what cards you will draw into, which is why players often use PONT as a last resort once they play everything they can play down. Sometimes you may shuffle away a decent hand in order to attempt to get something you need, and you may get a worse hand than before. Always be careful when playing PONT; play it like any other card, and before you play it, make sure you've played down everything you can play. One more thing to mention about PONT is that if you have an abnormally large hand (10 or more cards) and very few cards left in the deck (usually less than 5 cards), you can shuffle them back into the deck to buy you more time, like how Pokemon Communication can function as reshuffling cards back into the deck for more time, which can be crucial in a match.
Rare Candy UL : One of the important parts of the early game set up is to get a Typhlosion preferably out on T2 or T3. Rare Candy is the one of the only cards that allows a T2 Typhlosion to be possible. Unfortunately, because of the nerf Rare Candy was given (you cannot play it on your first turn, and a Pokemon must be in play for a full turn for it to be able to be used on it), a T1 Typhlosion is not possible. However, Rare Candy is still extremely useful in this deck, as it is in any deck with Stage 2s, and you can still pull off a T2 Blue Flare with Reshiram. It can also be used as Junk Arm fuel later. Also, make sure your Cyndaquil isn't in the Active position before you use Rare Candy on it - the one extra retreat cost could cause some problems.
Junk Arm TM : Junk Arm is one of the greatest cards to play in a Typhlosion / Reshiram deck. In this current format, many players recognize it as the best card in the format. This card is almost an exact reprint of Item Finder, and it's task is simple ; all you have to do is discard 2 cards from your hand, and then you get to pick up an Item card from the discard pile. Some people dislike Junk Arm for the fact that you have to discard 2 cards, but Junk Arm is another way of discarding Fire energy. You are able to get Fire energy in the discard pile for Typhlosion's use (if you whiff on Sage's Training), and you get to recover a somewhat important Trainer card, whether it be Pokemon Communication, Pokemon Catcher, or Rare Candy. Keep in mind, you cannot recover a Junk Arm with a Junk Arm.
You have to be careful with what cards you discard with Junk Arm. Sometimes you may be in a bad position and you will be forced to discard important cards to get something you might need, like a Pokemon Communication for a Typhlosion. Make sure you are positive that you won't be able to make good use of the cards you are discarding later in the game, and also make sure you aren't discarding something that would make the Trainer you get become useless (for example, discarding the only Pokemon in your hand to get a Pokemon Communication).
Now that I've given you a general idea of the cards a decent Typhlosion / Reshiram build uses, it's time to include some cards that are completely optional, but work just fine.
Rescue Energy TM : Rescue Energy is the first card that comes to mind when you need some more cards to add to a successful deck. Rescue Energy is a great recovery card, and it can often come in handy as the energy you can put onto an active Reshiram T1. If you run into a bad start, Reshiram can take a bunch of hits as you attempt to set up, and then you can simply return it to your hand when it is KO'd. Rescue Energy isn't completely necessary, as some players prefer either Revive BW or not using either of the two, but without Rescue Energy or Revive, there's always the danger of running out of Reshiram, and if that happens, the game could be over for the Typhlosion / Reshiram player.
Reshiram isn't the only Pokemon that can utilize Rescue Energy, however. Against a deck like Yanmega, your Cyndaquils are susceptible to being KO'd by Linear Attack early in the game. However, with Rescue Energy, you can ensure that there will be less trouble with setting up early game. If you opt to run Ninetales, saving the Vulpix can always be a good idea, and in dire straits where you need to retreat one of the Basics T1, but you don't have any Fire energy in your hand, Rescue Energy can fuel Retreat Cost.
Revive BW : Some players don't like the idea of Rescue Energy, because it can't retrieve Pokemon from the discard pile in odd situations (for example, using Weavile UD's Claw Snag to discard a Reshiram from your hand, or using Junk Arm and sacrificing a Reshiram), so they decide to use Revive to fix that problem. Revive is just as useful as Rescue Energy, because they both fill the same purpose ; to rescue the KO'd Pokemon. There are obvious differences between them, like the fact that Rescue Energy has to be attached to the Pokemon in order for it to be rescued, where Revive can be played at any time to rescue whatever you want. The other difference is that Rescue Energy can be played under the term called Item-Lock, where all Trainer - Item cards are not usable, and Revive BW cannot.
There are some clear advantages and disadvantages to each card, as stated that Revive is a guaranteed rescue (unless in a very rare case that a Reshiram is sent to the Lost Zone - then neither card is more viable than the other) in the discard pile, plus it combos nicely with Junk Arm - discard the Reshiram, and then just play Revive. Rescue Energy can be used as that T1 energy you might really need, and can be played under Trainer Lock. So which do you choose, when they are so similar, but so different at the same time? The factoring variable here is the term Trainer Lock, which exists in the form of Vileplume UD or Gothitelle EP. Each card requires testing against popular decks in your area. If a form of Trainer Lock is showing up in many decks you face, you may opt to use Rescue Energy. Otherwise, Revive can be used against any other deck, but the decision is completely up to the player actually using the deck. However, there is no rule saying you can't run both, and running both would be a smart idea, because you can use either one under certain circumstances.
Defender UD : Defender is yet another card that proves its value by being an optional card in this deck. Defender is quite straightforward, as its sole purpose is to reduce damage (done to the Pokemon with Defender attached to it) by 20. Against Zekrom BW or a mirror match of any sort, you know that with a Pluspower, they can hit the magic 130 damage with their second attacks and KO your Reshirams. Defender makes it so (assuming Reshiram BW has no damage on it and is not affected by any Special Conditions, or any other effects for that matter) they need 3 Pluspowers to KO your Reshiram. Its ideal purpose is to unbalance the prize exchange, with you taking a prize every turn (don't forget Reshiram's Outrage) while they are handicapped at taking a prize from that first Reshiram, giving you a clear advantage.
The problem with Defender in this particular format, Pokemon Catcher gives the opponent a chance to flush out Defender's use by using Pokemon Catcher on an unsuspecting Reshiram and possibly KO a Ninetales, Cyndaquil, or Typhlosion, which then makes the Defender a useless card. Many players choose not to play this card due to the existence of Pokemon Catcher, but it still provides some use to some daring players.
Engineer's Adjustments UL : Engineer's Adjustments is similar to Ninetales HGSS/CoL, because both of them share a similar purpose; to discard the Fire energy and draw cards from its effect. Of course, you can always choose to use one over the other, but running both isn't always a good idea, because if you're running something with one purpose, why would you run something else with the same exact objective, when you could be using that space for consistency cards? Like the Rescue Energy and Revive comparison, each of these cards have their own pros and cons. Ninetales has a consistent draw, and as long as you have the Fire energy, its Power is everlasting (until you deck out, of course). Engineer's Adjustments is not affected in any way by Pokemon Catcher, and it lets you draw one more card. So, like the decision for Rescue energy and Revive, which card is better for the raw drawpower?
Running both is fine, but Engineer's can really hold you back from using something like Sage's Training, that lets you view one more card instead of trying to risk it with Engineer's Adjustments. Ninetales also suffers from Pokemon Catcher, but the combo of Ninetales and Engineer's Adjustments is actually quite interesting - you get to draw out 8 cards in one turn, the eighth being your draw for the turn, which is almost as good as using Sage's Training with Ninetales. However, with Engineer's Adjustments, there is no discarding of cards you may need later, and you have a guarantee of discarding a Fire energy.
Samurott (ability) BW : Samurott BW is the bane of this deck's success. Any new player using Samurott can probably beat even a skilled player. In the mirror match and against Donphan though, your bane becomes your ally, if you opt to use it. Samurott can go completely on Fire energy due to its attack requiring only three Colorless energy. It can (without Defender or any other effects), OHKO Donphan (even with Exoskeleton), a Reshiram, or a Typhlosion Prime. If you use a Pluspower, you can also KO Emboar BW (ability), which can really help out in the long run.
A heavy line of this Pokemon isn't necessary, since it fits one, and only one purpose; to KO anything Reshiram can't handle, including other Samurott (though it isn't too great), so you'll probably want to go with a 1-0-1 line, or if you're really afraid of something being prized, run a 1-1-1 line. Samurott is easily techable, but running a minor line means one of the components could be prized, screwing over any Typhlosion / Reshiram player in the Samurott matchup (also, don't forget they can use Pokemon Catcher on the Oshawott and KO it before it evolves), and running a heavy line could slow down the deck, and where Samurott only serves one or two purposes, the consistency cards you had to remove can serve many purposes. Be careful if you use Samurott, and be careful of what you would potentially remove for it.
Zekrom BW : Reshiram's counterpart Zekrom is always an optional card to use. Reshiram suffers from Samurott, and sometimes, Yanmega Prime. Zekrom is almost always only used with Outrage, so no Lightning energy are necessary, and Afterburner builds up the damage you can inflict with Outrage. 40 damage on a Zekrom one-shots Yanmega, and with 80, it can KO a Samurott (though putting 80 damage on a Zekrom usually isn't a good idea). Zekrom has a massive 130 HP that allows it to survive numerous attacks like Reshiram, and its Fighting Weakness to Donphan Prime isn't as big as a flaw, because Reshiram can handle Donphan on its own.
Like Samurott, Zekrom is definitely a card that will force you to remove some important cards that you may regret taking out. Zekrom, being a Basic, isn't as severe for it being prized, but one won't cut it. Using Pokemon Catcher on a Zekrom is also less of a problem than, say, Typhlosion. You would probably want to run two Zekrom, because it only serves one purpose. However, Zekrom is an excellent counter to any Samurott or Yanmega variant.
Cleffa HGSS/CoL : One thing this deck lacks is a Pokemon with free retreat. Of course, a Reshiram start is always nice, but what happens if you can't have that Reshiram on the first turn? What if you need some decent hand refresh, but your Professor Oak's New Theory is somewhere in the deck? This is where Cleffa comes in handy. Cleffa isn't a needed card, but some call it "PONT's Impostor," due to the fact that it does the same thing PONT does, except in Pokemon form. This card shouldn't make you drop all of your PONTs. In fact, it's one of the few cards where it's actually a good thing to use them together. If you PONT for something you don't like, or if you can't play anything down, then use Eeeek to draw a new hand. Cleffa also acts as a wall to set up with because of its Pokebody Sweet Sleeping Face, and with the right coin flips, you can give yourself enough time to get 2-3 Typhlosion Prime in play. The no Weakness is excellent, and its free retreat lets the Typhlosion / Reshiram player bring it up after a Pokemon is KO'd so they can be a little less nervous about their next move.
On the other hand, 30 HP makes Cleffa extremely frail. Also, it can be a free prize for even a Basic, so Cleffa should only be played during set up (or if you are in a bad position and need to play it). Playing Cleffa is completely optional, because it doesn't provide a fuel for the deck itself. However, it is nice to use when a player is stuck with little to no options.
Manaphy UL : Manaphy is a slight alternative to Cleffa, due to the fact that it can still use the same effect, except you draw one less card. It requires one Colorless for the attack you should be using, which is Deep Sea Swirl. Manaphy also has a free retreat, giving it the same advantage to having a free retreater in the deck. Like Cleffa, you don't want to play this card late in the game, where it can be a free prize to almost anything, but it is often KO'd early in the game anyway.
The problem most players encounter with Manaphy is the energy requirement. If you have a Cyndaquil or Vulpix active with your Manaphy benched, you won't be able to actually use Manaphy for what it is meant to be used for - plain hand refresh. However, 60 HP makes it much less donkable than Cleffa, which makes Manaphy an obvious choice for early game. However, every player sees different pros and cons to each one, so try to use one and see how it works. Using both in the same deck, however, will never help, due to the fact that they serve the same purpose, so always run Manaphy or Cleffa, never both.
Switch HGSS/BW : Switch is an excellent card to counter Pokemon Catcher with. Dragging up a high-retreat Pokemon can be a problem sometimes, or you may just need to switch to save an energy for later in the game. Switch is one of the most straightforward cards ever printed; just switch your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon. Switch isn't really a situational card, either; just use it when you need it.
However, Switch is seen by some players as the 61/60 card, because sometimes the components of a deck are just too important to be using Switch. However, after Pokemon Catcher came out, many players decided to start using Switch because of Pokemon Catcher's existence. Typhlosion / Reshiram doesn't suffer too greatly because the highest retreat cost for a Pokemon in this deck is 2, but that doesn't mean Switch shouldn't be used. As long as a player sees it as necessary, they should use it. Even a Retreat Cost of 2 can be detrimental in this deck, so Switch is always a nice crutch.
So now you know the cards that are generally used in a Reshiram / Typhlosion deck, and the cards that you can use as optional support to surprise your opponent. You're probably wanting a solid list to start off of to begin playing with, so I'll provide a skeleton list of the components a generalized list usually has.
4 Reshiram BW
4 - 2 - 4 Typhlosion Prime
2 - 2 Ninetales HGSS / CoL
1 Cleffa CoL
Total Pokemon: 19
4 Junk Arm
4 Rare Candy
4 Pokemon Collector
4 Pokemon Communication
3 Sage's Training
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Pluspower
2 Professor Oak's New Theory
2 Professor Juniper
1 Switch
1 Revive
Total I/S/S : 30
10 Fire Energy
1 Rescue Energy
Total Energy: 11
The basic strategy, as already explained, would be to use Reshiram's Blue Flare attack to deal 120 damage, with the only drawback being that you must discard 2 Fire energy from the Reshiram you attacked with. To be able to pull off a Blue Flare every turn (or every other turn), you must use Typhlosion Prime to pull the energy out of the discard pile. Ninetales is an excellent card to use to discard the Fire energy (Junk Arm and Sage's Training work fine as well), and Cleffa is good when you need to set up, or if you have a bad hand.
Rare Candy is to get that T2 Typhlosion Prime out, Pokemon Collector and Pokemon Communication are your search cards that grab everything you need Pokemon-wise, and Pokemon Catcher helps for some easy prizes, or to destroy your opponent's support cards before they can evolve. Professor Oak's New Theory and Professor Juniper are great to grab a new hand if you aren't liking the one you have, and Switch can be used in dire straits if you really need it. Revive / Rescue Energy are used to recover the Reshirams / Cyndaquils / Vulpixes, Pluspower stacks damage for Blue Flare (and will have you loving it when you could have been ten damage short of winning a game), and Fire energy will be the fuel source that gives Reshiram / Typhlosion / Ninetales a purpose.
Now this list can always be changed around to fit a player's specific needs (for example, adding Samurott to deal with opposing Reshiram and possibly Donphan), and the list is always interchangeable, but this is a "skeleton" list that any new player can feel free to use when beginning to use this deck.
For the final part of this article, newer and intermediate players will want to know how they fare against the most common decks in the format, so my good friend Celebi23 and I have worked together to provide a general insight on the matchups that this deck could possibly face.
vs. ZPST (Zekrom, Pachirisu, Shaymin, and Tornadus) or ZPS + Yanmega - Even to Slightly Favorable
The big challenge in this matchup is avoiding the donk and getting setup. If you still manage a T2-3 setup, you'll generally have the upper hand since Reshiram's recovery is much stronger than Zekrom's and Tornadus hardly does anything mid to late game here. However, if they Catcher KO too many Cyndaquils/Quilvavas and delay your setup, they can get up too many prizes for you to come back in time.
Another optional card in this deck would be Yanmega Prime, which has shown a little bit of usefulness as an optional tech for Donphan, and Yanmega can easily snipe away at your Cyndaquils and Quilavas while you try to manage setting up a Typhlosion. Although Tornadus is usually the better choice, the occasional Yanmega will show up, so be prepared for it just like you would be prepared for Tornadus. In both matchups, no additional techs should be needed.
However, due to the weak late-game presence of ZPST, TyRam is exactly the opposite, and in the Pokemon TCG, the late-game is almost always more crucial (not that early-game is not crucial, but late-game is when TyRam beats ZPST, and if you avoid the donk, you almost always win).
vs. Yanmega variants - It depends, but usually Slightly Favorable
vs. Yanmega / Donphan / Zoroark - 50 / 50
vs. Yanmega / Weavile - 60 / 40
vs. Yanmega / Magnezone - 60 / 40
In all of these matchups, Reshiram has a slight upperhand because of the average HP count for each of the Pokemon (excluding Magnezone) that Reshiram could potentially face. Against Yanmega/ Weavile, you want to keep the Typhlosions out of your hand unless you can guarantee they won't get a Weavile (which doesn't happen very often), but once the Typhlosions are out, Yanmega will suffer. Weavile provides a lot of disruption with Claw Snag, and can get rid of your Typhlosions before you know it. In this matchup, just be smart and know when the Typhlosions should be in your hand, and when they should stay in the deck.
Against Yanmega / Magnzeone, the real problem is Magnezone. Without a double Pluspower (or a Pluspower + Junk Arm), Magnezone can plow through with Lost Burn, killing off your Typhlosions if they choose wisely. As long as you can Catcher KO their Magnemites and Magnetons before they evolve, you should have no problem winning this matchup.
The MegaZorD matchup is even, because depending on their Zoroark line and Pluspowers, Zoroark can give this deck a hard time, being able to KO your Reshirams right back, and then being able to deal with Typhlosion using Donphan and Yanmega. The key in this deck is abusing Catcher to get rid of their Zoruas before they can evolve, like any other Yanmega variant. A decent start should get you rolling, and the matchup will get better from there.
vs. DD (Donphan and Dragons, specifically Reshiram / Zekrom) - Favorable
Depending on what kind of Zoroark line they run and how many PlusPowers you run, this is usually fairly easy. They can't OHKO you, and if they don't KO all your Cyndaquils you'll generally win.
Be careful with the occasional Basculin EP, however. They can easily keep up after a few Earthquakes, which is where Revive / Rescue energy comes in handy. Rather than killing off the Donphans, get rid of anything that can pose a threat and keep itself alive. Fortunately, for Typhlosion / Reshiram, there isn't much that can pose a threat, due to Donphan's somewhat low damage output. Once you see Donphan, though, refrain from using Manaphy or Cleffa, since it is an easy prize late game.
vs. Gothitelle / Reuniclus - Very Unfavorable
Like google.dec, this matchup is very unfavorable due to the Trainer lock, except they can use Trainers and manipulate your Typhlosions while you can barely keep up. Also, because of Gothitelle, you can't set up 2 Typhlosions, and the locking of Pluspower makes it very difficult to KO one Gothitelle.
However, if you want to improve your matchup against Gothitelle/Reuniclus by a bit, try the following techs; Relicanth CoL + Mew Prime, Magby CoL, Smoochum HGSS, and Bellsprout TM. Relicanth allows you to send a Reshiram to the Lost Zone, and Mew can KO Gothitelle due to weakness. Magby can burn Gothitelle, and after the wrong coin flip, Reshiram can KO Gothitelle the next turn, and Smoochum moves the energy to useless Pokemon to prevent Gothitelle from attacking. However, Gothitelle counters Smoochum and Magby with Seeker and Switch, so they may not be as useful against Gothitelle. Bellsprout can move a Reuniclus to the Active slot and KO it the next turn, but once again, Gothitelle will run Switch, so it would then make Bellsprout useless. Your bst bet is to run Mew Prime and Relicanth to counter Gothitelle, but the other mentioned techs always work.
vs google.dec - Very Unfavorable
There's not a lot you can do here. Once they're setup, you're going to lose. You don't have enough disruption to stop a setup. Once they do, your best hope is to use Typhlosion on their SEL, but in general they have more than enough energy on the thing and you can't get more than 2 Typhlosion out because of Vileplume.
The techs mentioned in the Gothitelle matchup can be used here, because Mew hits Vileplume for weakness (although you have to get Vileplume in the Active slot first), while Smoochum, Magby, and Bellsprout can manipulate their SEL and keep them from attacking, and put it into KO range. If you're looking for something to balance out the matchup, Bellsprout works best to drag Vileplume into the Active slot, but Smoochum can move the energy to a Reuniclus or Vileplume (unfortunately, google.dec usually plays Seeker, so Smoochum only helps to an extent).
vs. Mirror (the same deck) - Even
This is basically a speed race to see who can get their Typhlosions set up first. If you can manage a T2 Typhlosion against them, and they are unable to get one, you are almost guaranteed a win. You can continue to Catcher KO their Cyndaquils while they struggle to make an attempt to KO one Reshiram. However, if they set up before you, you are almost guaranteed to lose.
However, due to the existence of Samurott BW, you can still win the match if you are behind. You can Catcher KO your opponent's Typhlosions while you balance out the match until Samurott is KO'd. The matchup would then become Slightly Favorable or Slightly Unfavorable depending on which player is playing Samurott (or, if neither player plays Samurott, the matchup stays the same).
vs. Samugatr - Very Unfavorable
Fortunately for Reshiram, Samurott isn't very popular, but playing against this deck means you should scoop your cards up. They have a 2-1 prize exchange rate against you and they can KO your Typhlosions to energy starve you with Catcher. Your only hope is that they get a bad start.
vs. Blatzel and Blastgatr - Even
Although you have the type disadvantage in this match, the true key is to either Catcher KO their Floatzels or Feraligatrs, or just attack away at their Blastoises, since 2 Blastoise should be in play for the Blatzel/Gatr player to keep up. They can abuse Catcher themselves and try to KO all of your Typhlosions before you can KO their support. However, both players are in a speed race to see how quickly they can KO the other player's support, so whoever can keep the fuel off the field will most likely win.
vs. Kingdra / Yanmega / Jirachi - Slightly Favorable
They can't do a lot to your Reshiram because it's a Basic and all of your other basics have 60HP. Basically, just be careful they don't de-evolve your Typhlosions and catch you off-guard. Pile as many energy on your Reshirams as possible, and refrain from using Rare Candy more than twice.
vs. Mew Variants (assuming this is Mew/Vileplume/Yanmega) - Unfavorable
Unless you run multiple Quilavas and don't prize either of them, this matchup gets pretty ugly. They can deny you all of your Typhlosions and block your trainers off. Sludge Drag gets annoying, and after that happens (since you can't afford to retreat, and even without that Yanmega), they can win an exchange against Reshirams as long there's no Typhlosion in play. If they run Aipom UL, they will lock you for the entire game using the Muk + Aipom combo, and them running Jumpluff makes it so they can Mass Attack away at your Typhlosions, you also being unable to rescue your Typhlosions, making Rescue Energy the better choice here.
I'd like to thank you if you took the time to read this entire article, and if you were thinking about playing Typhlosion / Reshiram, I hope this made you seriously consider playing it even more. I'd like to give a shout-out to Celebi23 for giving an excellent review on the matchups this deck would possibly face, glaceon and DNA for making exceptional suggestions and edits, and to Chillarmy for creating a great banner. Hope you enjoyed reading, and please comment/criticize on my deck analysis! Thanks again!
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I really hope you enjoyed this article. I don't regret my article not being on the front page at all, and I really hope you all enjoyed it. Please comment/criticize, and feel free to make any changes to the deck as you see necessary (I know there are changes to be made). Thanks again!
[/sand=Yoshidude10]
Lights Out - An article on Typhlosion / Reshiram
by Yoshidude10
Credit to Chillarmy for the banner.
by Yoshidude10
Credit to Chillarmy for the banner.
Table Of Contents
The Intro
The Support Cards (a.k.a the cards this deck needs to function well)
The Optional Cards
The List
The Matchups
The Conclusion
The Intro
The Support Cards (a.k.a the cards this deck needs to function well)
The Optional Cards
The List
The Matchups
The Conclusion
The Intro
So I'm sure many of you have heard of the deck. It's received some hype when Reshiram was released, and when Emboar lost its hype, Reshiram / Typhlosion was the way to go for many players. When the deck took two places in the top at Worlds (one of which won its division), many players saw the potential of this deck. I'm here to help the community of Pokebeach out by presenting the whole idea of playing this deck, and my goal is to provide an insight on how to play this deck. So let's start with the basics of this deck.
Your main attacker will most definitely be Reshiram from Black + White.
This is the main attacker, the fire that makes everything intimidated, it's Reshiram! It towers among other basics at 130 HP. Its retreat cost isn't too bad, and its Water weakness is regular for a Fire type. Decks like Samurott will destroy Reshiram, so it's something to watch for. Its first attack, Outrage, does 20 damage plus 10 more damage for each damage counter on it. This is the attack you want to be using on weaker Basics early game, rather than wasting a Blue Flare on a 60 HP Pokemon. It combos quite nicely with Typhlosion Prime's Afterburner, and turns those damage counters for you instead of against you.
Its second attack, Blue Flare, is the primary attack that you want to be using. 3 for 120 is quite a nice deal, with the only drawback being that you have to discard 2 Fire Energy in order to use the attack. It's not that much of a drawback, since Typhlosion Prime ensures that you can Blue Flare every turn under the correct circumstances (them being if you have Typhlosion Prime on the field, and/or being able to KO your opponent's Active Pokemon every turn). Make sure you use each of Reshiram's attacks wisely, since you can easily misplay by using the wrong attack, making yourself vulnerable to attacks to your active Reshiram or to Pokemon on your bench.
Our next Pokemon will be Typhlosion Prime, which is the second part of the deck. This is why the deck works so well ; Reshiram needs to be fueled, and Typhlosion fuels that fire by allowing Reshiram to attack, discard the energies, re-attach the energies, and repeat. Think of Reshiram as the engine, and Typhlosion as the power generator, because Typhlosion is Reshiram's energy source. Let's take a look at Typhlosion Prime.
As a Stage 2, it boasts an impressive 140 HP, meaning it can take quite a few hits before it leaves the field. Its Poke-Power Afterburner is the main reason people use it - in most cases, discarding energy is a bad thing, yet in this deck, the purpose is to discard energy. With Afterburner, you can attach 1 Fire energy directly to one of your Pokemon in play, at the cost of that Pokemon taking 10 damage. Also, the Power is stackable with multiple Typhlosion in play, but be careful with Afterburner, though - against certain matchups, adding the damage counters can give the opponent a chance to strike by surprise. Its retreat cost of 2 is the same as Reshiram's ; not bad, but it could be game deciding late-game (when you don't have enough energy to retreat it).
Flare Destroy is excellent in my eyes. Using Flare Destroy gets rid of the pesky Rescue Energy users, and makes Mew cry because it can't be rescued. Seventy for three Fire energy is decent, but the energy cost shouldn't be a problem when you have three or more Typhlosion Prime in play. Getting Typhlosion out shouldn't be a problem; if you have a consistent build, it is rather easy to get a Typhlosion in play on the second turn with little to no sacrifice.
So now that you know the basics of the deck, I'll briefly review it.
~Use Blue Flare to discard the energies with Reshiram or *use Outrage for no discarding. Whichever attack can net you a prize card is preferred, so always use Outrage if you can inflict enough damage to KO one of your opponent's Pokemon.
~If you used Blue Flare, use Typhlosion Prime's Afterburner to recover the two energies and attach them to Reshiram (keeping in mind you have to put two damage counters on Reshiram).
~Repeat the process until the Reshiram is KO'd or you want to switch it out.
Now that I've reviewed the basic strategy, you must be thinking that the Blue Flare + Afterburner combo isn't going to work by itself. So now I'm going to explain the other cards that you use with Reshiram and Typhlosion, and the extra support that provides a way to get Fire energy in the discard pile.
The Support Cards - (a.k.a the cards this deck needs to function well)
Ninetales HGSS / CoL : This card functions as an efficient way of getting your Fire energies in the discard pile early game, including a way to draw cards from the deck. Ninetales is viewed differently by many various players, namely it being useful for drawpower or a bench sitter that can cost you a prize.
Before the card Pokemon Catcher came out, Ninetales was run as a 2 - 2 line (or in some decks, a 3 - 3 line) because of its excellent consistency and the best way to mill through the deck (besides Sage's Training). After Pokemon Catcher was released, many players decided that Ninetales was a liability, so they started shortening or removing the Ninetales line to fit Supporters, such as Sage's Training and Professor Juniper, to take over Ninetales' position. If you want to consider running Ninetales as a support card, be careful of the line you run, and never run it without a hefty Supporter line. Ninetales is a good card, but it can't be the only thing you rely on for drawpower.
Sage's Training UD / CoL : Sage's Training should, with no doubt, be run in any form of Reshiram / Typhlosion. Although Sage's Training was frowned upon when it was first released in HS-Undaunted, few players realized the combo you could pull off with Typhlosion and Sage's Training. Since the idea of Reshiram / Typhlosion was sparked, Sage's Training has had a huge increase in popularity for decks that rely on getting cards in the discard pile early game, or it can serve as a deck miller to get the important cards you need to set up the field.
Sage's Training has almost no drawbacks to the deck itself. You are able to draw 9 cards out of your deck in one turn if Ninetales is in play (and you use Roast Reveal), the ninth card being the draw for the turn. It's not as much the T2 Typhlosion that you want, but the Rare Candy + Typhlosion in the hand is what you want. The sacrifice with Ninetales and Sage's Training is pretty large - you lose 3 cards (one or more of these may be energy) and an energy. The consistency of the deck, however, is what makes Sage's Training much less of a sacrifice than in other decks.
Professor Juniper BW : Professor Juniper serves as an alternate purpose to discard Fire energies early game. Being able to draw 7 new cards is great, however, the only drawback is that you have to discard your entire hand. This can be a problem, however, because you may have to discard some essential cards that could slow you down in the long run. This makes Juniper a rather tricky card, and it has been looked at that way since it was released. Sometimes you'll have to sacrifice a bit to get a new hand, but on the other hand, the sacrifice might be too great for the new hand you would be receiving. I wouldn't advise anyone to run more than 2 copies of this card, since it is slightly outclassed by Sage's Training, but it is still a card you'll really love when you use it.
Pokemon Collector : This card should be used in every deck. Since its release in Heartgold & Soulsilver (or HGSS1), it was seen as one of the best ways to search out Pokemon early game, being a necessity to use to any deck that quickly needed it's Basics on the field. It also serves as a card to search out unnecessary Basics (in this case, Pokemon that don't serve any purpose in the match) to use with Pokemon Communication, or in a deck like Typhlosion / Reshiram, the extra basics can be fuel for with Junk Arm. In Typhlosion/Reshiram, you always want 2-3 Cyndaquils T1 so you can start evolving them, so Pokemon Collector is really important to get them searched out.
Pokemon Communication : Pokemon Communication is also a card that every player should be running for early game searching. Pokemon Communication replaces the well-known card Bebe's Search, except in Trainer form. A slight drawback to Pokemon Communication is that although it may be useful, you have to put a Pokemon back in your deck in order to be able to use the card. This can be a problem, as sometimes you may have a hand with many Pokemon Communication, but no Pokemon. It could also be the opposite, where you have many useless Pokemon in your hand, but no Pokemon Communication to get them back in the deck. A smart player will know when to use Pokemon Communication, but sometimes you can be stuck with cards like these that won't help at all.
However, Pokemon Communication has a very interesting use, and it is for when you are running out of cards in your deck. When you Pokemon Communication and search your deck, you can fail the search (even if there is a Pokemon in the deck) because the contents of the deck are unknown to your opponent. This helps you buy some more time, which can win you the game, so think twice before you decide Pokemon Communication won't have any more use later in the game.
Pokemon Catcher : Pokemon Catcher is the card everyone's been talking about, and it shows use in almost every deck. This card gives Reshiram more flexibility on who to KO, and because of this card, you don't have to use Blue Flare every turn. You can just use Pokemon Catcher, bring up a weak Pokemon, and KO it with Outrage. Instead of discarding energy with Blue Flare, Reshiram can utilize Outrage better with lots of damage on a threat. Just use Pokemon Catcher, bring up the strong Pokemon, and deal more than 100 damage (hopefully) to it. Another way to utilize Pokemon Catcher is to drag up a "bench sitter" with all of its HP and Blue Flare it, further crippling your opponent.
Pokemon Catcher is definitely not the card you want to play in a count of 4 in this deck, and the reason being is because Reshiram can often hit for enough damage to score a KO, so you won't need to switch your opponent's Pokemon around every time. You need to be wise in what Pokemon you decide to drag into the Active slot, because Pokemon Catcher is a very easy card to misplay with if you bring up the wrong Pokemon, so be very careful when using this card. Nonetheless, this card should be run in a count of 2-3 in every Typhlosion / Reshiram variant.
Pluspower BW : Another useful card in any deck, Pluspower is definitely showing use in this format. Adding damage is almost always a good thing, so any player will want to stack up damage in any way they can. Reshiram's Blue Flare attack does 120 damage to any Pokemon, so it's 10 damage short of KO'ing an opposing Reshiram or a Zekrom BW. So how do we solve this problem? We use Pluspower. Pluspower will make Blue Flare hit for 130, Knocking Out any Pokemon with 130 HP, which results in making the mirror match (or a match with Zekrom BW) much easier, and even matches against cards like Gothitelle EP and Blastoise UL.
Pluspower is a situational card, however. You always have to be careful when using Pluspower, since you may use it at one point to KO a Pokemon, and then end up losing the game because you couldn't hit for enough damage. The best advice to give is this; don't use Pluspower just to add excessive damage, because that Pluspower could be the difference between a win and a loss. Use it when you need to use it, and only when you need to use it.
Professor Oak's New Theory HGSS/CoL : The last necessary hand refresh card in Reshiram / Typhlosion is Professor Oak's New Theory, abbreviated PONT. PONT is simple and straightforward; shuffle your hand into your deck, and then draw 6 cards. It has the same effect as Cleffa from HGSS/CoL, except in Supporter form. Many people like to use PONT for its simplicity and decency in hand refresh. One thing to keep in mind is that PONT is also a situational card.
PONT has its pros and cons, like any card. One pro to PONT is that while shuffling away your hand, you can shuffle away useless cards back in the deck, and hopefully draw into a better hand, and you can shuffle potentially useful cards back in the deck instead of discarding them, and getting them later when you need them. Another pro is the fact of being able to draw 6 cards. It may not seem like a lot compared to Professor Juniper, that lets you draw an extra card, but a 6-card hand has enough room for being able to play a good turn. The one major con to PONT is that you may have to shuffle an important card into your deck, which means you may need it later in the game, or even early in the game. Another con is that although PONT may seem useful at first glance, you never know what cards you will draw into, which is why players often use PONT as a last resort once they play everything they can play down. Sometimes you may shuffle away a decent hand in order to attempt to get something you need, and you may get a worse hand than before. Always be careful when playing PONT; play it like any other card, and before you play it, make sure you've played down everything you can play. One more thing to mention about PONT is that if you have an abnormally large hand (10 or more cards) and very few cards left in the deck (usually less than 5 cards), you can shuffle them back into the deck to buy you more time, like how Pokemon Communication can function as reshuffling cards back into the deck for more time, which can be crucial in a match.
Rare Candy UL : One of the important parts of the early game set up is to get a Typhlosion preferably out on T2 or T3. Rare Candy is the one of the only cards that allows a T2 Typhlosion to be possible. Unfortunately, because of the nerf Rare Candy was given (you cannot play it on your first turn, and a Pokemon must be in play for a full turn for it to be able to be used on it), a T1 Typhlosion is not possible. However, Rare Candy is still extremely useful in this deck, as it is in any deck with Stage 2s, and you can still pull off a T2 Blue Flare with Reshiram. It can also be used as Junk Arm fuel later. Also, make sure your Cyndaquil isn't in the Active position before you use Rare Candy on it - the one extra retreat cost could cause some problems.
Junk Arm TM : Junk Arm is one of the greatest cards to play in a Typhlosion / Reshiram deck. In this current format, many players recognize it as the best card in the format. This card is almost an exact reprint of Item Finder, and it's task is simple ; all you have to do is discard 2 cards from your hand, and then you get to pick up an Item card from the discard pile. Some people dislike Junk Arm for the fact that you have to discard 2 cards, but Junk Arm is another way of discarding Fire energy. You are able to get Fire energy in the discard pile for Typhlosion's use (if you whiff on Sage's Training), and you get to recover a somewhat important Trainer card, whether it be Pokemon Communication, Pokemon Catcher, or Rare Candy. Keep in mind, you cannot recover a Junk Arm with a Junk Arm.
You have to be careful with what cards you discard with Junk Arm. Sometimes you may be in a bad position and you will be forced to discard important cards to get something you might need, like a Pokemon Communication for a Typhlosion. Make sure you are positive that you won't be able to make good use of the cards you are discarding later in the game, and also make sure you aren't discarding something that would make the Trainer you get become useless (for example, discarding the only Pokemon in your hand to get a Pokemon Communication).
The Optional Cards
Now that I've given you a general idea of the cards a decent Typhlosion / Reshiram build uses, it's time to include some cards that are completely optional, but work just fine.
Rescue Energy TM : Rescue Energy is the first card that comes to mind when you need some more cards to add to a successful deck. Rescue Energy is a great recovery card, and it can often come in handy as the energy you can put onto an active Reshiram T1. If you run into a bad start, Reshiram can take a bunch of hits as you attempt to set up, and then you can simply return it to your hand when it is KO'd. Rescue Energy isn't completely necessary, as some players prefer either Revive BW or not using either of the two, but without Rescue Energy or Revive, there's always the danger of running out of Reshiram, and if that happens, the game could be over for the Typhlosion / Reshiram player.
Reshiram isn't the only Pokemon that can utilize Rescue Energy, however. Against a deck like Yanmega, your Cyndaquils are susceptible to being KO'd by Linear Attack early in the game. However, with Rescue Energy, you can ensure that there will be less trouble with setting up early game. If you opt to run Ninetales, saving the Vulpix can always be a good idea, and in dire straits where you need to retreat one of the Basics T1, but you don't have any Fire energy in your hand, Rescue Energy can fuel Retreat Cost.
Revive BW : Some players don't like the idea of Rescue Energy, because it can't retrieve Pokemon from the discard pile in odd situations (for example, using Weavile UD's Claw Snag to discard a Reshiram from your hand, or using Junk Arm and sacrificing a Reshiram), so they decide to use Revive to fix that problem. Revive is just as useful as Rescue Energy, because they both fill the same purpose ; to rescue the KO'd Pokemon. There are obvious differences between them, like the fact that Rescue Energy has to be attached to the Pokemon in order for it to be rescued, where Revive can be played at any time to rescue whatever you want. The other difference is that Rescue Energy can be played under the term called Item-Lock, where all Trainer - Item cards are not usable, and Revive BW cannot.
There are some clear advantages and disadvantages to each card, as stated that Revive is a guaranteed rescue (unless in a very rare case that a Reshiram is sent to the Lost Zone - then neither card is more viable than the other) in the discard pile, plus it combos nicely with Junk Arm - discard the Reshiram, and then just play Revive. Rescue Energy can be used as that T1 energy you might really need, and can be played under Trainer Lock. So which do you choose, when they are so similar, but so different at the same time? The factoring variable here is the term Trainer Lock, which exists in the form of Vileplume UD or Gothitelle EP. Each card requires testing against popular decks in your area. If a form of Trainer Lock is showing up in many decks you face, you may opt to use Rescue Energy. Otherwise, Revive can be used against any other deck, but the decision is completely up to the player actually using the deck. However, there is no rule saying you can't run both, and running both would be a smart idea, because you can use either one under certain circumstances.
Defender UD : Defender is yet another card that proves its value by being an optional card in this deck. Defender is quite straightforward, as its sole purpose is to reduce damage (done to the Pokemon with Defender attached to it) by 20. Against Zekrom BW or a mirror match of any sort, you know that with a Pluspower, they can hit the magic 130 damage with their second attacks and KO your Reshirams. Defender makes it so (assuming Reshiram BW has no damage on it and is not affected by any Special Conditions, or any other effects for that matter) they need 3 Pluspowers to KO your Reshiram. Its ideal purpose is to unbalance the prize exchange, with you taking a prize every turn (don't forget Reshiram's Outrage) while they are handicapped at taking a prize from that first Reshiram, giving you a clear advantage.
The problem with Defender in this particular format, Pokemon Catcher gives the opponent a chance to flush out Defender's use by using Pokemon Catcher on an unsuspecting Reshiram and possibly KO a Ninetales, Cyndaquil, or Typhlosion, which then makes the Defender a useless card. Many players choose not to play this card due to the existence of Pokemon Catcher, but it still provides some use to some daring players.
Engineer's Adjustments UL : Engineer's Adjustments is similar to Ninetales HGSS/CoL, because both of them share a similar purpose; to discard the Fire energy and draw cards from its effect. Of course, you can always choose to use one over the other, but running both isn't always a good idea, because if you're running something with one purpose, why would you run something else with the same exact objective, when you could be using that space for consistency cards? Like the Rescue Energy and Revive comparison, each of these cards have their own pros and cons. Ninetales has a consistent draw, and as long as you have the Fire energy, its Power is everlasting (until you deck out, of course). Engineer's Adjustments is not affected in any way by Pokemon Catcher, and it lets you draw one more card. So, like the decision for Rescue energy and Revive, which card is better for the raw drawpower?
Running both is fine, but Engineer's can really hold you back from using something like Sage's Training, that lets you view one more card instead of trying to risk it with Engineer's Adjustments. Ninetales also suffers from Pokemon Catcher, but the combo of Ninetales and Engineer's Adjustments is actually quite interesting - you get to draw out 8 cards in one turn, the eighth being your draw for the turn, which is almost as good as using Sage's Training with Ninetales. However, with Engineer's Adjustments, there is no discarding of cards you may need later, and you have a guarantee of discarding a Fire energy.
Samurott (ability) BW : Samurott BW is the bane of this deck's success. Any new player using Samurott can probably beat even a skilled player. In the mirror match and against Donphan though, your bane becomes your ally, if you opt to use it. Samurott can go completely on Fire energy due to its attack requiring only three Colorless energy. It can (without Defender or any other effects), OHKO Donphan (even with Exoskeleton), a Reshiram, or a Typhlosion Prime. If you use a Pluspower, you can also KO Emboar BW (ability), which can really help out in the long run.
A heavy line of this Pokemon isn't necessary, since it fits one, and only one purpose; to KO anything Reshiram can't handle, including other Samurott (though it isn't too great), so you'll probably want to go with a 1-0-1 line, or if you're really afraid of something being prized, run a 1-1-1 line. Samurott is easily techable, but running a minor line means one of the components could be prized, screwing over any Typhlosion / Reshiram player in the Samurott matchup (also, don't forget they can use Pokemon Catcher on the Oshawott and KO it before it evolves), and running a heavy line could slow down the deck, and where Samurott only serves one or two purposes, the consistency cards you had to remove can serve many purposes. Be careful if you use Samurott, and be careful of what you would potentially remove for it.
Zekrom BW : Reshiram's counterpart Zekrom is always an optional card to use. Reshiram suffers from Samurott, and sometimes, Yanmega Prime. Zekrom is almost always only used with Outrage, so no Lightning energy are necessary, and Afterburner builds up the damage you can inflict with Outrage. 40 damage on a Zekrom one-shots Yanmega, and with 80, it can KO a Samurott (though putting 80 damage on a Zekrom usually isn't a good idea). Zekrom has a massive 130 HP that allows it to survive numerous attacks like Reshiram, and its Fighting Weakness to Donphan Prime isn't as big as a flaw, because Reshiram can handle Donphan on its own.
Like Samurott, Zekrom is definitely a card that will force you to remove some important cards that you may regret taking out. Zekrom, being a Basic, isn't as severe for it being prized, but one won't cut it. Using Pokemon Catcher on a Zekrom is also less of a problem than, say, Typhlosion. You would probably want to run two Zekrom, because it only serves one purpose. However, Zekrom is an excellent counter to any Samurott or Yanmega variant.
Cleffa HGSS/CoL : One thing this deck lacks is a Pokemon with free retreat. Of course, a Reshiram start is always nice, but what happens if you can't have that Reshiram on the first turn? What if you need some decent hand refresh, but your Professor Oak's New Theory is somewhere in the deck? This is where Cleffa comes in handy. Cleffa isn't a needed card, but some call it "PONT's Impostor," due to the fact that it does the same thing PONT does, except in Pokemon form. This card shouldn't make you drop all of your PONTs. In fact, it's one of the few cards where it's actually a good thing to use them together. If you PONT for something you don't like, or if you can't play anything down, then use Eeeek to draw a new hand. Cleffa also acts as a wall to set up with because of its Pokebody Sweet Sleeping Face, and with the right coin flips, you can give yourself enough time to get 2-3 Typhlosion Prime in play. The no Weakness is excellent, and its free retreat lets the Typhlosion / Reshiram player bring it up after a Pokemon is KO'd so they can be a little less nervous about their next move.
On the other hand, 30 HP makes Cleffa extremely frail. Also, it can be a free prize for even a Basic, so Cleffa should only be played during set up (or if you are in a bad position and need to play it). Playing Cleffa is completely optional, because it doesn't provide a fuel for the deck itself. However, it is nice to use when a player is stuck with little to no options.
Manaphy UL : Manaphy is a slight alternative to Cleffa, due to the fact that it can still use the same effect, except you draw one less card. It requires one Colorless for the attack you should be using, which is Deep Sea Swirl. Manaphy also has a free retreat, giving it the same advantage to having a free retreater in the deck. Like Cleffa, you don't want to play this card late in the game, where it can be a free prize to almost anything, but it is often KO'd early in the game anyway.
The problem most players encounter with Manaphy is the energy requirement. If you have a Cyndaquil or Vulpix active with your Manaphy benched, you won't be able to actually use Manaphy for what it is meant to be used for - plain hand refresh. However, 60 HP makes it much less donkable than Cleffa, which makes Manaphy an obvious choice for early game. However, every player sees different pros and cons to each one, so try to use one and see how it works. Using both in the same deck, however, will never help, due to the fact that they serve the same purpose, so always run Manaphy or Cleffa, never both.
Switch HGSS/BW : Switch is an excellent card to counter Pokemon Catcher with. Dragging up a high-retreat Pokemon can be a problem sometimes, or you may just need to switch to save an energy for later in the game. Switch is one of the most straightforward cards ever printed; just switch your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched Pokemon. Switch isn't really a situational card, either; just use it when you need it.
However, Switch is seen by some players as the 61/60 card, because sometimes the components of a deck are just too important to be using Switch. However, after Pokemon Catcher came out, many players decided to start using Switch because of Pokemon Catcher's existence. Typhlosion / Reshiram doesn't suffer too greatly because the highest retreat cost for a Pokemon in this deck is 2, but that doesn't mean Switch shouldn't be used. As long as a player sees it as necessary, they should use it. Even a Retreat Cost of 2 can be detrimental in this deck, so Switch is always a nice crutch.
So now you know the cards that are generally used in a Reshiram / Typhlosion deck, and the cards that you can use as optional support to surprise your opponent. You're probably wanting a solid list to start off of to begin playing with, so I'll provide a skeleton list of the components a generalized list usually has.
The List
4 Reshiram BW
4 - 2 - 4 Typhlosion Prime
2 - 2 Ninetales HGSS / CoL
1 Cleffa CoL
Total Pokemon: 19
4 Junk Arm
4 Rare Candy
4 Pokemon Collector
4 Pokemon Communication
3 Sage's Training
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Pluspower
2 Professor Oak's New Theory
2 Professor Juniper
1 Switch
1 Revive
Total I/S/S : 30
10 Fire Energy
1 Rescue Energy
Total Energy: 11
The basic strategy, as already explained, would be to use Reshiram's Blue Flare attack to deal 120 damage, with the only drawback being that you must discard 2 Fire energy from the Reshiram you attacked with. To be able to pull off a Blue Flare every turn (or every other turn), you must use Typhlosion Prime to pull the energy out of the discard pile. Ninetales is an excellent card to use to discard the Fire energy (Junk Arm and Sage's Training work fine as well), and Cleffa is good when you need to set up, or if you have a bad hand.
Rare Candy is to get that T2 Typhlosion Prime out, Pokemon Collector and Pokemon Communication are your search cards that grab everything you need Pokemon-wise, and Pokemon Catcher helps for some easy prizes, or to destroy your opponent's support cards before they can evolve. Professor Oak's New Theory and Professor Juniper are great to grab a new hand if you aren't liking the one you have, and Switch can be used in dire straits if you really need it. Revive / Rescue Energy are used to recover the Reshirams / Cyndaquils / Vulpixes, Pluspower stacks damage for Blue Flare (and will have you loving it when you could have been ten damage short of winning a game), and Fire energy will be the fuel source that gives Reshiram / Typhlosion / Ninetales a purpose.
Now this list can always be changed around to fit a player's specific needs (for example, adding Samurott to deal with opposing Reshiram and possibly Donphan), and the list is always interchangeable, but this is a "skeleton" list that any new player can feel free to use when beginning to use this deck.
For the final part of this article, newer and intermediate players will want to know how they fare against the most common decks in the format, so my good friend Celebi23 and I have worked together to provide a general insight on the matchups that this deck could possibly face.
The Matchups
vs. ZPST (Zekrom, Pachirisu, Shaymin, and Tornadus) or ZPS + Yanmega - Even to Slightly Favorable
The big challenge in this matchup is avoiding the donk and getting setup. If you still manage a T2-3 setup, you'll generally have the upper hand since Reshiram's recovery is much stronger than Zekrom's and Tornadus hardly does anything mid to late game here. However, if they Catcher KO too many Cyndaquils/Quilvavas and delay your setup, they can get up too many prizes for you to come back in time.
Another optional card in this deck would be Yanmega Prime, which has shown a little bit of usefulness as an optional tech for Donphan, and Yanmega can easily snipe away at your Cyndaquils and Quilavas while you try to manage setting up a Typhlosion. Although Tornadus is usually the better choice, the occasional Yanmega will show up, so be prepared for it just like you would be prepared for Tornadus. In both matchups, no additional techs should be needed.
However, due to the weak late-game presence of ZPST, TyRam is exactly the opposite, and in the Pokemon TCG, the late-game is almost always more crucial (not that early-game is not crucial, but late-game is when TyRam beats ZPST, and if you avoid the donk, you almost always win).
vs. Yanmega variants - It depends, but usually Slightly Favorable
vs. Yanmega / Donphan / Zoroark - 50 / 50
vs. Yanmega / Weavile - 60 / 40
vs. Yanmega / Magnezone - 60 / 40
In all of these matchups, Reshiram has a slight upperhand because of the average HP count for each of the Pokemon (excluding Magnezone) that Reshiram could potentially face. Against Yanmega/ Weavile, you want to keep the Typhlosions out of your hand unless you can guarantee they won't get a Weavile (which doesn't happen very often), but once the Typhlosions are out, Yanmega will suffer. Weavile provides a lot of disruption with Claw Snag, and can get rid of your Typhlosions before you know it. In this matchup, just be smart and know when the Typhlosions should be in your hand, and when they should stay in the deck.
Against Yanmega / Magnzeone, the real problem is Magnezone. Without a double Pluspower (or a Pluspower + Junk Arm), Magnezone can plow through with Lost Burn, killing off your Typhlosions if they choose wisely. As long as you can Catcher KO their Magnemites and Magnetons before they evolve, you should have no problem winning this matchup.
The MegaZorD matchup is even, because depending on their Zoroark line and Pluspowers, Zoroark can give this deck a hard time, being able to KO your Reshirams right back, and then being able to deal with Typhlosion using Donphan and Yanmega. The key in this deck is abusing Catcher to get rid of their Zoruas before they can evolve, like any other Yanmega variant. A decent start should get you rolling, and the matchup will get better from there.
vs. DD (Donphan and Dragons, specifically Reshiram / Zekrom) - Favorable
Depending on what kind of Zoroark line they run and how many PlusPowers you run, this is usually fairly easy. They can't OHKO you, and if they don't KO all your Cyndaquils you'll generally win.
Be careful with the occasional Basculin EP, however. They can easily keep up after a few Earthquakes, which is where Revive / Rescue energy comes in handy. Rather than killing off the Donphans, get rid of anything that can pose a threat and keep itself alive. Fortunately, for Typhlosion / Reshiram, there isn't much that can pose a threat, due to Donphan's somewhat low damage output. Once you see Donphan, though, refrain from using Manaphy or Cleffa, since it is an easy prize late game.
vs. Gothitelle / Reuniclus - Very Unfavorable
Like google.dec, this matchup is very unfavorable due to the Trainer lock, except they can use Trainers and manipulate your Typhlosions while you can barely keep up. Also, because of Gothitelle, you can't set up 2 Typhlosions, and the locking of Pluspower makes it very difficult to KO one Gothitelle.
However, if you want to improve your matchup against Gothitelle/Reuniclus by a bit, try the following techs; Relicanth CoL + Mew Prime, Magby CoL, Smoochum HGSS, and Bellsprout TM. Relicanth allows you to send a Reshiram to the Lost Zone, and Mew can KO Gothitelle due to weakness. Magby can burn Gothitelle, and after the wrong coin flip, Reshiram can KO Gothitelle the next turn, and Smoochum moves the energy to useless Pokemon to prevent Gothitelle from attacking. However, Gothitelle counters Smoochum and Magby with Seeker and Switch, so they may not be as useful against Gothitelle. Bellsprout can move a Reuniclus to the Active slot and KO it the next turn, but once again, Gothitelle will run Switch, so it would then make Bellsprout useless. Your bst bet is to run Mew Prime and Relicanth to counter Gothitelle, but the other mentioned techs always work.
vs google.dec - Very Unfavorable
There's not a lot you can do here. Once they're setup, you're going to lose. You don't have enough disruption to stop a setup. Once they do, your best hope is to use Typhlosion on their SEL, but in general they have more than enough energy on the thing and you can't get more than 2 Typhlosion out because of Vileplume.
The techs mentioned in the Gothitelle matchup can be used here, because Mew hits Vileplume for weakness (although you have to get Vileplume in the Active slot first), while Smoochum, Magby, and Bellsprout can manipulate their SEL and keep them from attacking, and put it into KO range. If you're looking for something to balance out the matchup, Bellsprout works best to drag Vileplume into the Active slot, but Smoochum can move the energy to a Reuniclus or Vileplume (unfortunately, google.dec usually plays Seeker, so Smoochum only helps to an extent).
vs. Mirror (the same deck) - Even
This is basically a speed race to see who can get their Typhlosions set up first. If you can manage a T2 Typhlosion against them, and they are unable to get one, you are almost guaranteed a win. You can continue to Catcher KO their Cyndaquils while they struggle to make an attempt to KO one Reshiram. However, if they set up before you, you are almost guaranteed to lose.
However, due to the existence of Samurott BW, you can still win the match if you are behind. You can Catcher KO your opponent's Typhlosions while you balance out the match until Samurott is KO'd. The matchup would then become Slightly Favorable or Slightly Unfavorable depending on which player is playing Samurott (or, if neither player plays Samurott, the matchup stays the same).
vs. Samugatr - Very Unfavorable
Fortunately for Reshiram, Samurott isn't very popular, but playing against this deck means you should scoop your cards up. They have a 2-1 prize exchange rate against you and they can KO your Typhlosions to energy starve you with Catcher. Your only hope is that they get a bad start.
vs. Blatzel and Blastgatr - Even
Although you have the type disadvantage in this match, the true key is to either Catcher KO their Floatzels or Feraligatrs, or just attack away at their Blastoises, since 2 Blastoise should be in play for the Blatzel/Gatr player to keep up. They can abuse Catcher themselves and try to KO all of your Typhlosions before you can KO their support. However, both players are in a speed race to see how quickly they can KO the other player's support, so whoever can keep the fuel off the field will most likely win.
vs. Kingdra / Yanmega / Jirachi - Slightly Favorable
They can't do a lot to your Reshiram because it's a Basic and all of your other basics have 60HP. Basically, just be careful they don't de-evolve your Typhlosions and catch you off-guard. Pile as many energy on your Reshirams as possible, and refrain from using Rare Candy more than twice.
vs. Mew Variants (assuming this is Mew/Vileplume/Yanmega) - Unfavorable
Unless you run multiple Quilavas and don't prize either of them, this matchup gets pretty ugly. They can deny you all of your Typhlosions and block your trainers off. Sludge Drag gets annoying, and after that happens (since you can't afford to retreat, and even without that Yanmega), they can win an exchange against Reshirams as long there's no Typhlosion in play. If they run Aipom UL, they will lock you for the entire game using the Muk + Aipom combo, and them running Jumpluff makes it so they can Mass Attack away at your Typhlosions, you also being unable to rescue your Typhlosions, making Rescue Energy the better choice here.
The Conclusion
I'd like to thank you if you took the time to read this entire article, and if you were thinking about playing Typhlosion / Reshiram, I hope this made you seriously consider playing it even more. I'd like to give a shout-out to Celebi23 for giving an excellent review on the matchups this deck would possibly face, glaceon and DNA for making exceptional suggestions and edits, and to Chillarmy for creating a great banner. Hope you enjoyed reading, and please comment/criticize on my deck analysis! Thanks again!
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I really hope you enjoyed this article. I don't regret my article not being on the front page at all, and I really hope you all enjoyed it. Please comment/criticize, and feel free to make any changes to the deck as you see necessary (I know there are changes to be made). Thanks again!
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