Night March

littywitty

littywitty

Chris Collins
Member
This thread is used for all competitive discussion on Night March variants in the Standard format. This includes strategies, playstyles, and techs.

You may post decklists here, but only as a means to add to the discussion. If you're looking for advice on your list, post in the Deck Garage.

Articles:
The Last Stand — ECC Overview And Standard Decks For States
Top Picks for Nationals - Discussing the Front Runners of Standard

Night March Skeleton List:

Pokémon: 15
  • 4 Joltik (PHF 26)
  • 4 Lampent (PHF 42)
  • 4 Pumpkaboo (PHF 44)
  • 3 Shaymin-EX (ROS 77)
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 39
  • 4 Professor Sycamore
  • 2 Lysandre
  • 2 Hex Maniac
  • 1 N
  • 1 Teammates
  • 1 Xerosic
  • 4 VS Seeker
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 4 Puzzle of Time
  • 4 Trainers' Mail
  • 4 Battle Compressor
  • 2 Fighting Fury Belt
  • 1 Escape Rope
  • 1 Float Stone
  • 1 Town Map
  • 3 Dimension Valley
Energy: 4
  • 4 Double Colorless Energy
Open Spots: 2


Notes:
  • Vespiquen (AOR 10)/Night March decks are also included in this thread.
 
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I am currently playing Night March/Vespiquen/Brongzong and i play one Parallel City. Should i put in a Dimension Valley instead or just drop the stadium slot altogether?
 
I've tried Steve's list but is it just me ? 'Cause I cant hit big numbers on my first turn and sometimes on my second turn. ( No offense to Steve)
When I'm using nightmarch/bronzong, I can consistently hit big numbers on my first or second turn. I have to admit, vespiquen improves the yveltal matchup and the bats as well. 'Cause it cant be picked off easily by crobat.
 
Genuine question: Why take up a slot with town map to give your opponent info when you are already running 4x battle compressor, 4x ultra ball, and 4x trainers mail?
 
Because sometimes Night Marchers get prized and that is the worst place for them to be. You need them all to be in your deck to maximize your damage output.
 
As a Night March player, what are the advantages of going first? I'm mainly concerned about the mirror, where KOs are no trouble at all and the first KO could very well decide the game.
 
Ummmm... there are no advantages of going first. you go second to take the first prize, and also you go second to see what deck they are running, and plan accordingly.
 
Going second leaves you vulnerable to turn 1 hex maniac. Imagine you cant use your shaymin. How'd you go for the explosive start. Going first is always optimal but going second is not that bad for a night march either.
 
I went to multiple tournaments where jirachi 67 and breakthrough were legal. Both tournaments I never encountered a T1 hexmaniac, and my one loss both days were games in which I went first.
 
PMJ said:
As a Night March player, what are the advantages of going first? I'm mainly concerned about the mirror, where KOs are no trouble at all and the first KO could very well decide the game.
Click to expand...

It's really only useful if you're extremely unlucky with your opening hand. It gives you the chance to Hex Maniac or Judge to disrupt their start if yours is particularly poor. It actually puts you slightly behind if you have a good opening hand since you can't play a DCE or it leaves you open to enhanced hammer, and gives them a chance to attack and possibly take the first prize.
 
Camo and I had a discussion about the advantages of going first. Basically, the turn you get to set up and possibly disrupt your opponent via Judge or Hex Maniac is worth the opponent getting the free kill, which will almost never happen if you start with Pumpkaboo. Thanks, Obama, for getting rid of lasers for us.

And even if you start with Joltik and he gets killed, so what? That's just one more Night Marcher in the discard. You wouldn't play the DCE T1, obviously.

I managed to get a T1 Hex Maniac against some poor guy who started with a lone Yveltal-EX and he scooped almost immediately.

He did, however, say that there are three decks against which you should go second: Entei, Dark decks, and the mirror (natch).

kai88 said:
Ummmm... there are no advantages of going first. you go second to take the first prize, and also you go second to see what deck they are running, and plan accordingly.
Click to expand...

Unless they start with something nondescript like Shaymin, you can usually get a feel for what deck they're running. Either way, Night March doesn't really deviate too much from its core strategy so even if you guess wrong, you probably won't be in too bad a spot.

kai88 said:
I went to multiple tournaments where jirachi 67 and breakthrough were legal. Both tournaments I never encountered a T1 hexmaniac, and my one loss both days were games in which I went first.
Click to expand...

Well, I'd say you were just fortunate then. Not to say that it's common, but a T1 Hex Maniac is still pretty much a death sentence unless you have the goddest of god hands or your opponent scrubs out. I still have to test going first in more games, but I can understand the arguments for and against.
 
PMJ said:
Camo and I had a discussion about the advantages of going first. Basically, the turn you get to set up and possibly disrupt your opponent via Judge or Hex Maniac is worth the opponent getting the free kill, which will almost never happen if you start with Pumpkaboo. Thanks, Obama, for getting rid of lasers for us.

And even if you start with Joltik and he gets killed, so what? That's just one more Night Marcher in the discard. You wouldn't play the DCE T1, obviously.

I managed to get a T1 Hex Maniac against some poor guy who started with a lone Yveltal-EX and he scooped almost immediately.

He did, however, say that there are three decks against which you should go second: Entei, Dark decks, and the mirror (natch).



Unless they start with something nondescript like Shaymin, you can usually get a feel for what deck they're running. Either way, Night March doesn't really deviate too much from its core strategy so even if you guess wrong, you probably won't be in too bad a spot.



Well, I'd say you were just fortunate then. Not to say that it's common, but a T1 Hex Maniac is still pretty much a death sentence unless you have the goddest of god hands or your opponent scrubs out. I still have to test going first in more games, but I can understand the arguments for and against.
Click to expand...


If a joltik gets ko'd T1, then you are now DOWN a prize, and with night march, that can mean life or death. what if they are using the EXTREMELY popular yveltal gallade, In which they will do whatever possible to avoid putting down shaymins, and not put down any EX's, and force you to knockout 6 high HP, non-EX pokemon. If you go first, you are now GUARANTEED to lose this matchup if they start baby yveltal.

If you guess wrong, it can mean a world of hurt, because that could mean overdoing the necessary amount to knockout anything in the mirror, making you have one less nightmarcher to use, and keep in mind they will 99% of the time find that necessary DCE to ko you.

Plus, if he did start a lone yveltal EX, he probably has an unusable hand anyway-which would likely be the main reason he scooped.

(Also, beforehand, you won't know a guys deck, so match one I would go second, and match two on prepare accordingly.)

Just my two cents
 
Okay, yeah, that's fair. Losing the first prize to any deck that doesn't run Pokemon-EX is pretty disastrous, especially against baby Yveltal.

I don't see how excessively discarding things in the mirror is a problem. Their starter is gonna be one of like three Pokemon.
 
It can potentially eliminate an extra attacker, as in the mirror, you take prize after prize until either someone runs out of energy, or 6 NightMarchers are KO'd.
That said, you need to be extremely conservative with your night marchers-so you don't run out of them. Otherwise, discard all the lampents you like.

(You don't want to discard NightMarchers like joltik or pumpkaboo, because what if one or two are prized?)
 
Even Entei has some reason to go first though, it needs Shaymin to set up everything. Basically, turn one is where you get out a Shaymin or two and really getting your game going. If you are Hexed, Night March is screwed.
 
You could play a Latios EX and some Psychic energies. Most of the time, night march really can burn through it's deck so it normally gets them quickly. The basic energies could also help with Giratina so you can play the energy still. Also basic energies could help if you can't get the stadiums or you are locked from them. You don't want to waste 2 DCEs on a basic pokemon with 60HP which we know as Pumpkaboo. Attacking on the first turn with Latios could make it so it doesn't matter if you go first or second.
 
I'm really excited for Breakpoint. The addition of Fighting Fury Belt feels like it was designed to compliment those weaker mons; 100HP Pumpkaboos and 70HP Joltiks that also deal an additional 10 damage. Also I feel like Puzzle of Time can see some very useful tech, quite possibly replacing the need for a 2-2 or 1-1 Milotic tech.
 
I actually thought about both of those. Some techs I've seen were Bunnelby, Octillary, and Xerneas. I personally play the Bronzong variant, which I play 2 Buddy-Buddy Rescue, and an AZ for easy Night March KO's. I saw someone post that they play a Target Whistle and Pokémon Catcher, so that could be one way to deal with Yveltal.
 
I've never been able to test this deck against any sort of Manectric-EX variant due to nobody playing it in my area/npt having the cards for it online, how is the match up against that?
 
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