Standard PCL-STS Rayquaza-EX or Darkrai / Garbodor?

[gregt]

Hi everyone,

i registered for the first time with the motivation of getting deck advice. I currently have 2 fully constructed POST ROTATION decks and I am not sure which I should use at the next local tournament and just overall which is the best deck choice. On their own, they are each solid decks but for different reasons.

Deck 1:
The first is a standard speed mega rayquaza (hex quaza variant). As you will see from the deck list, the objective is to go deep right away and then end the turn with hex maniac since you can usually draw 2/3 of your deck without even touching a supporter, and then end the turn preventing their own shaymins, hoopas, etc. It also helps for vileplume, carbink, etc.

Pokemon:
3 Mega Rayquaza EX (Delta Evolution Version)
4 Rayquaza EX (colorless version)
4 Shaymin EX
1 Jolteon EX
2 Hoopa EX
1 Jirachi (the version that discards a special energy)
1 Raichu w/ Circle Circuit (better for the mirror match than zoroark in my opinion plus good against yveltal & darkrai decks. good backup attacker in general, free retreat)
1 Pikachu (just for the raichu)

***i've considered replacing the raichu line with a ninetails line because his ability negates parallel city and other stadiums in general, plus i can hex maniac it if i needed to do so.

Energy:

4 Double Colorless Energy
4 Lightning Energy

Trainers:
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
4 Trainers Mail
4 Sky Field
3 Professor Sycamore
3 Mega Turbo
3 Rayquaza Spirit Link
3 Hex Maniac
2 Acro Bike
1 N
1 Special Charge
1 Lysandre
1 Float Stone
1 Escape Rope

**I don't run Super Rod. It's unnecessary in my opinion. I can recover fine without it. And if too many Mega Rays go down, I probably lost the game anyway. I can consistently go off first turn but my biggest issue is having late game resources if the game doesnt end fast for some reason.


Deck 2:
The second deck is a Darkrai (Mythical Collection Promo) Garbodor Deck. It's pretty simple. Use Garbodor asap to shut off abilities, use Darkrai to keep them asleep needing two coin flips to wake up. It's a pretty fast and easy lock to pull off without many answers to it in the current meta. It isn't as fast as Mega Ray but it seems to be overall more consistent in the meta with less hate and a better prize trade without running any EX pokemon.

Pokemon:

4 Darkrai (Mythical Promo)
3 Garbodor
3 Trubbish
3 Yveltal (oblivion wing version)
1 Zoroark
1 Zorua
1 Shaymin (Just as an emergency for an early game hand advantage if my opening hand is weak)

Energy:
12 Dark Energy

Trainers:
4 Ultra Ball
4 Trainers Mail
4 VS Seeker
4 Max Elixir
3 Professor Sycamore
3 Wally
3 Fighting Fury Belt
2 Shadow Circle
2 Float Stone
1 N
1 Lucky Helmet
1 Lysandre

Biggest problem I seem to have is speed (getting it to work consistently past turn 3. I'm also at a loss for better tool cards, since fury belt doesn't help garbodor aside from turning on Garbotoxin. But once the deck goes off it's usually a win. 90 damage attacks with fury belt attached, 150 HP with the belt attached, and sleep that requires two flips to wake out of. Not to mention, since most decks run float stone over switch, they can't easily retreat, and very few decks run pokemon center lady or full heal at the moment.

tl;dr - I need deck advice for the two deck lists posted above, and reccomendations on which should be my main tournament POST ROTATION deck. They are both already constructed.

- Thanks in advance!

Greg

 

[gumball51321]

You should play Mega Ray. Also, possibly drop the Special Charge or a Hex Maniac for Super Rod. It really is an important card for this type of deck. And Hex Maniac in Hex Ray is a 2-of, rather than a 3-of, since they can clog your hand while trying to set up. And if you DO end up dropping Raichu for Ninetales, play the second Jolteon-EX in return for Jirachi. Since the other version of this variant plays Glaceon and Manaphy-EX(And usually Zoroark), you have more ways to retreat. Jirachi is good and all, but Special Energy wont be as common, so dropping it or straight up adding Jolteon #2 would be up to you, depending on your local meta. I feel like Darkrai would need much more work and playtesting to be ready for a tourney. Although it has a good prize trade, but then again, so does Zoroark/Yveltal. But anyway, hope I helped!

 

[gregt]

I added in the third hex maniac because at a small local tournament I had a hard time against carbink and vileplume decks when I only ran two. Granted, they were pre rotation decks and I ran mine with just post rotation cards. The biggest issue i noticed was perhaps i went too aggressive and left not enough resources late game. (Going for 210 damage when 150 was enough, too go off turn 1 when turn 3 was fine, etc.) But I'm not sure if that's my fault or if it's the nature of the deck, which is what attracted me to the darkrai deck since there aren't a lot of answers to garb sleep and it's stable late game. You really think jirachi is a bad call?

 

[gumball51321]

I added in the third hex maniac because at a small local tournament I had a hard time against carbink and vileplume decks when I only ran two. Granted, they were pre rotation decks and I ran mine with just post rotation cards. The biggest issue i noticed was perhaps i went too aggressive and left not enough resources late game. (Going for 210 damage when 150 was enough, too go off turn 1 when turn 3 was fine, etc.) But I'm not sure if that's my fault or if it's the nature of the deck, which is what attracted me to the darkrai deck since there aren't a lot of answers to garb sleep and it's stable late game. You really think jirachi is a bad call?

If you are playing any evolutions, I certainly think so. Actually, I think the idea about Ninetales would be good for HexRay though. My internet has been down lately, so I couldn't test, but I certainly want to. But yeah, a lot of times, hitting overkill with Ray is usually the nature of the deck, but mainly just for the setup. If you benched pokemon with the purpose of hitting harder, then it is your fault. But sometimes, people get so worried about they're setup, that they refer back to testing, so they instinctively try to hit 240 T1/T2. I do it alot, but the trick is to catch yourself before your tournament, and instead of making moves, take a little more time than usual to think about them.