• When creating a thread in the Deck Garage, make sure that you post one deck per thread, you use the correct prefix, you have the set name/card number next to each card, you give a strategy for non-metagame decks, and give translations for all cards not available in English.

    When posting in a thread, be sure to explain all your suggestions thoroughly. Additionally, do not ask for advice in another member's thread.

Expanded Noctowl

BtmnPenguin

BtmnPenguin

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hi all. I'm new to this forum and while I've been a big TCG collector since the beginning, I've never really gone into actually playing it competitively. Recently I've gotten into the online game and have created a deck that I'm wondering if I can get feedback for. It's been pretty decent thus far, but isn't without slight issues here and there. See below and let me know what you all think or if there's anything you may change at all.

Pokemon: 3
  • 1 Hoothoot BKT
  • 1 Noctowl BKT
  • 1 Noctowl Break PROMO

Trainer: 36
  • 3 Level Ball AOR
  • 4 Potion BKP
  • 4 Energy Retrieval PRC
  • 3 Pokeball
  • 4 Energy Search
  • 4 Great Ball XY
  • 2 Roller Skates XY
  • 4 Professor's Letter XY
  • 4 Crushing Hammer
  • 4 Evosoda XY

Supporter: 15
  • 3 Wally ROS
  • 4 Tierno PHF
  • 4 Pokemon Center Lady FLF
  • 4 Cheren

Tool: 2
  • 2 Giant Cape

Energy: 4
  • 4 Any Basic Energy


Obviously the main point of the deck is to get that Noctowl out as quickly as possible and utilize its High Flight attack. With a deck stacked with trainer cards (and supporters that help you draw more cards), High Flight can do a 1 hit KO on any Pokemon (Primal Kyogre EX being the strongest it's taken out in 1 hit). Also, due to the quickness in which this can occur, it prevents the opponent from retaliating unless they realize to stack energy on a benched Pokemon. In that case, that benched Pokemon would need to do 150 damage in one shot to KO Noctowl Break with the Giant Cape attached.

Like I said, though, there are some issues. One being the rare occurrence that Noctowl ends up as a prize card (in which case it's impossible to win). Another being the length in which it takes Hoothoot to be drawn at the beginning, thus heightening the amount of cards my opponent gets at the start (this has both its benefits and drawbacks; benefit in that they'll have more trainer cards to help Noctowl's High Flight attack, and drawback in it gives them plenty of cards to play with to foil my plan).

And other issues are cards that can utilize Noctowl's High Flight attack (like Mew), as well as just not getting the right cards in the beginning to quickly get Noctowl out to do major damage before my opponent can react.

So, any thoughts or ideas as to how this can be improved in any way? Like I said, I'm new at this so go easy on me lol

Thanks in advance!
 
Here are a few tips that you might find useful:

One, you might want to try beefing up the Noctowl line to where you have more than one Basic in the deck. You can play Buddy-Buddy Rescue to retrieve the Noctowl if you don't want to play more of them, but given the fact that you would lose instantaneously if your opponent KO'd your single Owl, I would definitely make this investment. After all, it is Expanded, and Expanded has some of the fastest, high damage decks in the game. Night March, Yveltal, Mega Rayquaza and Primal Groudon come to mind (all doing 240 regularly, quite a bit more than your Giant Cape could avoid). Also, if you go first, you at most will have only a 60 HP basic on the field, in a format where attacking turn 1 for at least that is rather the standard.

Another thing you should definitely do is not play four Basic Energy, rather four Double Colorless as it would allow you to use Hoothoot's "Proclaim the Night" as well as Noctowl's "Powerful Vision" with a single attachment, also shaving off a potential third attachment for the BREAK's attack.

As for your Trainer line, it should be revamped entirely. Now, that being said, I get what you're trying to do and believe me, I've had somewhat of the same idea. But the thing is, it uses the base Noctowl's attack far more than it uses the BREAK. It still plays it, but it is much easier to use the base's attack whilst still using the BREAK's attack occasionally.

Here's a list that I would use were I in your situation:

Pokemon
3 Noctowl BREAK
3 Noctowl
4 Hoothoot
(I understand that Shaymin is incredibly difficult to obtain online, so I'll refrain from adding him to this list. But if you have two or three, play them.)
Subtotal: 10

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums
4 Tierno
2 Wally
2 Lysandre
4 VS Seeker
4 Random Receiver (Like VS Seeker, it's an Item that gets you a Supporter. But it's also an Item in your hand.)
4 Repeat Ball
3 Evosoda
2 Battle City (Why not? It occasionally draws you a card, and instead of Training Center which can end up accidentally killing you when replaced, this can also help your opponent get more cards in their hand for you to potentially do more damage.)
4 Trainers' Mail
4 Roller Skates
3 Lucky Helmet (Puts more cards in your hand to have more items.)
3 Battle Compressor (They thin your deck of certain Supporters and useless cards, putting them in the Discard for your VS Seeker to use. This way you can get Wally consistently. Also, you hit what you need with Random Receiver a lot more.)
4 Puzzle of Time
1 Sacred Ash
Subtotal: 44

Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
2 Basic Energy (I'd play Fire, honestly. Some people might play Scorched Earth. You don't have much room in this to play the Scorched Earth Engine, but hey, it's an option.)

I tried making these cards rather easy to obtain given the fact that you're rather new to PTCGO, but it should perform rather well. And also take really long turns.

Hope I helped! :D
 
Kecleon-X said:
Here are a few tips that you might find useful:

One, you might want to try beefing up the Noctowl line to where you have more than one Basic in the deck. You can play Buddy-Buddy Rescue to retrieve the Noctowl if you don't want to play more of them, but given the fact that you would lose instantaneously if your opponent KO'd your single Owl, I would definitely make this investment. After all, it is Expanded, and Expanded has some of the fastest, high damage decks in the game. Night March, Yveltal, Mega Rayquaza and Primal Groudon come to mind (all doing 240 regularly, quite a bit more than your Giant Cape could avoid). Also, if you go first, you at most will have only a 60 HP basic on the field, in a format where attacking turn 1 for at least that is rather the standard.

Another thing you should definitely do is not play four Basic Energy, rather four Double Colorless as it would allow you to use Hoothoot's "Proclaim the Night" as well as Noctowl's "Powerful Vision" with a single attachment, also shaving off a potential third attachment for the BREAK's attack.

As for your Trainer line, it should be revamped entirely. Now, that being said, I get what you're trying to do and believe me, I've had somewhat of the same idea. But the thing is, it uses the base Noctowl's attack far more than it uses the BREAK. It still plays it, but it is much easier to use the base's attack whilst still using the BREAK's attack occasionally.

Here's a list that I would use were I in your situation:

Pokemon
3 Noctowl BREAK
3 Noctowl
4 Hoothoot
(I understand that Shaymin is incredibly difficult to obtain online, so I'll refrain from adding him to this list. But if you have two or three, play them.)
Subtotal: 10

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums
4 Tierno
2 Wally
2 Lysandre
4 VS Seeker
4 Random Receiver (Like VS Seeker, it's an Item that gets you a Supporter. But it's also an Item in your hand.)
4 Repeat Ball
3 Evosoda
2 Battle City (Why not? It occasionally draws you a card, and instead of Training Center which can end up accidentally killing you when replaced, this can also help your opponent get more cards in their hand for you to potentially do more damage.)
4 Trainers' Mail
4 Roller Skates
3 Lucky Helmet (Puts more cards in your hand to have more items.)
3 Battle Compressor (They thin your deck of certain Supporters and useless cards, putting them in the Discard for your VS Seeker to use. This way you can get Wally consistently. Also, you hit what you need with Random Receiver a lot more.)
4 Puzzle of Time
1 Sacred Ash
Subtotal: 44

Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
2 Basic Energy (I'd play Fire, honestly. Some people might play Scorched Earth. You don't have much room in this to play the Scorched Earth Engine, but hey, it's an option.)

I tried making these cards rather easy to obtain given the fact that you're rather new to PTCGO, but it should perform rather well. And also take really long turns.

Hope I helped! :D
Click to expand...

Interesting suggestions. I definitely do want to add another Hoothoot/Noctowl to the deck, but since it's online I have to obtain them first...

I also wonder about the energy suggestion. I originally tried to use the deck with Double Colorless, but it was so hard to obtain them since Professor's Letter and Energy Search can only find Basic Energy cards. I may add one or two in lieu of a couple of my basics. I also worry about my opponents having Crushing Hammer or Flare Grunt (which is why I have Energy Retrieval in my deck).

I liked that you mentioned Training Center (even though you didn't suggest it) because I've been looking for something else to help increase my HP.

As far as the cards that can quickly KO Noctowl, I have a question. Will my opponent have enough time to attach energy to them since my whole plan is to get this done as quickly as possible (by my second turn, I hope to have a fully energized Noctowl that can deal 180+ damage).

LOVE the Lysandre suggestion as I'd need to be able to pull out an opponent's benched Pokemon in case they are using their energy on one of them that can deal 150+ damage in one shot. I also like the Buddy-Buddy rescue idea.

Thanks for the tips! I'll try to adjust and test them out as I go.
 
Firstly, you can find all the cards that I suggested (the BREAKs being likely the only exception) very easily. Simply plug it into the trade search, and if you don't find any good offers, buy some packs with coins or cash and put out your own offer. Remember, look at what the trades people are putting up to get an idea of what people are paying for them. Plus, just throw some trades out there. People have Hoothoot and Noctowl, and they will trade them!

Yes, Double Colorless Energy is extremely worth the investment. They make up for their lack in searchability in speed. Consider the fact that each Energy attachment requires a turn to use. If an attack requires two Energy to use, or even three, shaving off a turn makes all the difference in the world. And don't worry about Flare Grunt and Hammers that much -- decks seldom use them.

Now, as to your question about the speed of decks. I think that's best answered by showing you a deck in this format as it plays in top 8. Watch at least the first four minutes of the video below. For reference, Mega Rayquaza takes three Energy to use its attack, which caps at 240 damage, 30 for each of their Benched Pokemon.


Such speed is extremely common. Darkrai/Yveltal decks can attach an incredible amount of Energy on the first turn of the game, where Night March can do its colossal damage for a Double Colorless Energy on the first turn as well. This speed is quite common, and setting up on the first turn of the game is pretty much the standard. But remember, it isn't always about setting up for the first turn -- it's about making sure that you can keep the pressure, which all three of those decks and many more can do. This lends itself to the reason why you need more than one Pokemon line in the deck, considering that you will suffer a KO during the course of a game.
 
Kecleon-X said:
Firstly, you can find all the cards that I suggested (the BREAKs being likely the only exception) very easily. Simply plug it into the trade search, and if you don't find any good offers, buy some packs with coins or cash and put out your own offer. Remember, look at what the trades people are putting up to get an idea of what people are paying for them. Plus, just throw some trades out there. People have Hoothoot and Noctowl, and they will trade them!

Yes, Double Colorless Energy is extremely worth the investment. They make up for their lack in searchability in speed. Consider the fact that each Energy attachment requires a turn to use. If an attack requires two Energy to use, or even three, shaving off a turn makes all the difference in the world. And don't worry about Flare Grunt and Hammers that much -- decks seldom use them.

Now, as to your question about the speed of decks. I think that's best answered by showing you a deck in this format as it plays in top 8. Watch at least the first four minutes of the video below. For reference, Mega Rayquaza takes three Energy to use its attack, which caps at 240 damage, 30 for each of their Benched Pokemon.


Such speed is extremely common. Darkrai/Yveltal decks can attach an incredible amount of Energy on the first turn of the game, where Night March can do its colossal damage for a Double Colorless Energy on the first turn as well. This speed is quite common, and setting up on the first turn of the game is pretty much the standard. But remember, it isn't always about setting up for the first turn -- it's about making sure that you can keep the pressure, which all three of those decks and many more can do. This lends itself to the reason why you need more than one Pokemon line in the deck, considering that you will suffer a KO during the course of a game.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the video! Strange how long those matches took, yet they were filled with so much action and so few turns. Those Vs Seekers and Compressors do a lot. Definitely going to add more Pokemon to this deck and spruce it up with more useful item cards. Thanks for all the tips!
 
Someone in my area plays this deck. He uses kangakhan ex early game to draw cards. All the while you build up noctowl on the bench. If you don't have those. Deoxys also works and gets to draw turn 1.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top