Standard Over the Rainbow - ho-oh deck

[garnetto]

so, i am doing a major deck shuffle with LOADS of decks so i thought i would come here for advice
please note i am on a limited budget, so please dont suggest shaymin
this deck is for 2017 standard
Over the Rainbow

4 Ho-oh (BKP 93 and 121)

2 Psyduck (BKP 16)

2 Golduck (BKP 17)

2 Golduck BREAK (BKP 18)

3 Paras (BKT 1)

3 Parasect (BKT 2)

3 smeargle (BKT 123)

3 rainbow energy

3 grass energy

3 fire energy

3 water energy

2 electric energy

3 prof letter

2 max elixirs

1 Evosoda

3VS seeker

1 energy retreival

1 super rod

1 energy recycler

1 revive

2 max potion

1 lucky helmet

2 Fighting fury belts

1 Sycamore

1 Lysandre

1 teammates

1 pokemon fan club

1 hex mniac

1 pokemon centre lady

1 shauna

1 wally

1 birches observation


SO, this is my ho-oh deck. Ho-oh is a hard to pull off power house, needing 3 types of energy to attack, and a 4th to use its fantastic healing ability.

To help with this, we have parasect, who for 1 energy can pull 3 DIFFERENT ones out of the deck and put one on different pokemon on the field. You can either use that till parasect dies and charge multiple pokemon at once, or use golduck break to move energy from other pokemon to ho-oh Golduck break also allows you to move the energy in general, making max potion perfect if ho-oh is getting worn down, or even just protecting the energy tat would be on a pokemon about to feint

smeargle is useful if you have only got the wrong energies on the field. Or to swap energies if golduck is not around, or if you have 2, swapping to fire to heal a ho-oh and swapping back. it has many many uses
any tips?

 

[solaranuss]

the trainers all look relatively good, but you could switch out the pokemon so that you would have a few more attacking options. My current Ho-oh deck format looks like this:
3 ho-oh ex (BKP)
2 smeargle
2 dragonite ex (FF)- this would probably be the most expensive piece for you to add it runs about $3.50, but it is another attacker that works well with the energy you have in play anyways, it uses 2 grass and 1 lightning to do 80 damage, plus 40 if you discard an energy (which helps make smeargle more useful).
3 Scatterbug (BKT)
3 Spewpa (BKT)
2 Vivillon (BKT) - this vivillon provides the same effect as the parasect, but at a little cheaper of a price point and you can choose to only put energy on the pokemon that you want to set up, thus making your energy distribution more efficient.
1 Vivillon (XY 17)- this vivillon has an attack that lets you do more damage depending on how many different kinds of energy there are in the deck, which works well with the motif of the deck.

If you did decide to switch up your pokemon set up I would maybe modify your energy as well to something like:

3 water
5 lightning
5 grass
4 fire

P.S. the rainbow energy doesn't work for Ho-oh's ability and Smeargle can't switch it out for anything so its not quite as useful in this deck as it would appear to be.

The only other thing I would recommend would be to maybe get some more draw support, perhaps drop 1 vs seeker and 1 professors letter (because vivillon/parasect get you basic energy anyways) in exchange for another shauna or maybe a tierno.

 

[garnetto]

i actually do love the suggestion of dragonite EX, however i am looking to make the deck 2017 standard. any similar cards post PRC?
as for vivilon, i did try that in the past and i find it too slow. even with 3 on the bench, its flip a coin worked slower, as opposed to parasect, a stage 1 over stage 2, and a garenteed 3 energy per turn. and 100 attack isnt easy to hit on turn 2 or 3.
and yea, rainbow is sometimes worse, but its also a good backup for if my smeargles get knocked out, im unable to get parasect or 1 energy type is being too elusive for some reason, weather painful prizes,, it can help with attacking, hich is of course the most important thing

 

[21times]

Parasect is an interesting idea. I run 4 larvesta/ volcarona. I also run less pokemon and more wally/ evosoda to try to ensure larvesta gets out. If I get lucky and go second, sometimes I have a Ho Oh powered up on turn two... But that is somewhat rare because it's basically luck to get Wally and larvesta turn one. Plus, because I run less pokemon, I run more N's so I try to negate any extra cards from Mulligans. Wally is good but I really do rely heavily on supporters for draw power, esp. Early in the game.

I also run float stones, if you can get two Ho Ohs powered up you can switch them in and out and give the alternative chances to heal up on the bench.

 

[garnetto]

float stones... good point. also helps to get parasect away is i need to as is 2 reteat is a little higher than id like. good pint, il try adding some of them in