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Standard Pikachu & Zekrom-GX Deck Feedback

Catastrophia

Catastrophia

PokéBeach Articles Editor
Articles Staff
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I'm going to the UK Bristol Regionals in 2 weeks and would like some feedback/suggestions on my current decklist:

Pokémon (13)
2 Jirachi TEU-99
1 Zapdos TEU-40
1 Tapu Koko-GX PR-SM-SM33
1 Tapu Koko ◇ TEU-51
1 Zeraora-GX LOT-86
1 Tapu Lele-GX GRI-60
1Absol TEU-88
1 Marshadow SLG-45
2 Pikachu & Zekrom-GX TEU-162
1 Xurkitree-GX UPR-160

Trainer Cards (37)
3 Lillie
3 Guzma
3 Cynthia
2 Volkner
1 Acerola
1 Lisia
4 Electropower
3 Ultra Ball
3 Nest Ball
2 Switch
1 Field Blower
1 Pokémon Communication
1 Rescue Stretcher
1 Thunder Mountain ◇
1 Aether Paradise Conservation Area
1 Choice Band
2 Escape Board
1 Wishful Baton
1 Weakness Policy

Energy (11)
11 Lightning Energy

It's a pretty standard Lightning Tool Box build - it ideally wants to start with Jirachi obviously, but the first attacker depends on what deck I'm up against. In my testing, it struggles most against decks like Celebi & Venusaur-GX where the damage isn't enough to reach that 1HKO, and obviously the Zoroark-Gx/Lycanroc-GX builds.

My initial thoughts are to change out the 1 Lisia for a Bill's Analysis to provide a bit more consistency, as Lisia just becomes a dead card later in the game and I'm rarely getting the full value from it.

I currently have some random one-off trainers/tools to help deal with varying matchups but this leads to reduced consistency overall.

I'm looking for suggestions and feedback on the decklist, I'm not expecting to do very well at the Tournament as it's my first regionals, but I just want my deck to perform as good as it can with the tools I have.
 
Unbroken Bonds will be legal for that so dedenne should be put in there, as well as electromagnetic radar and energy spinner.
With the celisaur matchup, may I suggest 1 of the new zeroara that does 50x and you have to discard lighting from it? You can full blitz to that and then with a few energy switches, take a KO the following turn. Then, you can use Zeroara GX's GX attack to get more energy on the field.
 
Maybe you should also play 2 Choice Band instead of 1. Most of the times I win with PikaRom versus Celebi & Venusaur, 1 Tapu Koko GX (GX attack) and 1 Full Blitz with Choice Band and 3 Electropowers, or sometimes they just miss a full healing 1 turn and you will need less Electropowers.
 
AngryBokoblin said:
Unbroken Bonds will be legal for that so dedenne should be put in there, as well as electromagnetic radar and energy spinner.
With the celisaur matchup, may I suggest 1 of the new zeroara that does 50x and you have to discard lighting from it? You can full blitz to that and then with a few energy switches, take a KO the following turn. Then, you can use Zeroara GX's GX attack to get more energy on the field.
Click to expand...

As far as I understand, Unbroken Bonds doesn't become legal until the 17th May:

"New expansions become legal for tournament play on the third Friday of the month they are released." - Pokémon Website

Do correct me if I'm wrong though!
 
You're right about that, it's legal starting May 17th indeed. So Bristol will be in the current format.
 
lukas2aces said:
Maybe you should also play 2 Choice Band instead of 1. Most of the times I win with PikaRom versus Celebi & Venusaur, 1 Tapu Koko GX (GX attack) and 1 Full Blitz with Choice Band and 3 Electropowers, or sometimes they just miss a full healing 1 turn and you will need less Electropowers.
Click to expand...

Thanks Lukas, to be honest after some playtesting I think I need to slimline my deck to be a more turbo build. Not committing to the turn 1/2 Full Blitz weakens my late game I think, and there are too many different routes in my list currently. I'm probably going to run a list more like Philip Shulz 7th Place list at EUIC.

I will likely keep the Tapu KoKo-GX in my list to help against the mirror match, but I think I need to stop faffing around with Jolteon-GX and focus on getting that PikaRom fueled up.
 
I can understand what you're saying. On the other hand, look at the list Gustavo Wada used to win EUIC, and apparantly a bit 'slower' PikaRom list could work as well (although he did play 3 Energy switch as well so turn 2 Full Blitz is possible, in theory even turn 1 but that is not so likely).

It gives you more options against Zapdos decks (I played at the EUIC, there were quite a few), if you have PikaRom out on sledgehemmer turn it's quite difficult. And if you try to go for Tag Bolt GX, they might come with Tapu Koko GX. I guess you need 3 Zapdos or 2 Zapdos and a Jolteon line for that matchup.

It's just difficult man, you have to hit big numbers against for example CeleSaur but you also want to be able to play like a non GX deck (at least for a few prices). Based on what I've seen, I think the Zapdos matchup is more important than CeleSaur though. And I still think you can win that one by being conservative with your resources, of maybe outspeeding them (especially if you start / they miss DCE).
 
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lukas2aces said:
I can understand what you're saying. On the other hand, look at the list Gustavo Wada used to win EUIC, and apparantly a bit 'slower' PikaRom list could work as well (although he did play 3 Energy switch as well so turn 2 Full Blitz is possible, in theory even turn 1 but that is not so likely).

It gives you more options against Zapdos decks (I play at the EUIC, there were quite a few), if you have PikaRom out on sledgehemmer turn it's quite difficult. And if you try to go for Tag Bolt GX, they might come with Tapu Koko GX. I guess you need 3 Zapdos or 2 Zapdos and a Jolteon line for that matchup.

It's just difficult man, you have to hit big numbers against for example CeleSaur but you also want to be able to play like a non GX deck (at least for a few prices). Based on what I've seen, I think the Zapdos matchup is more important than CeleSaur though. And I still think you can win that one by being conservative with your resources, of maybe outspeeding them (especially if you start / they miss DCE).
Click to expand...

I'll definitely take that on board - I'm limited by my resources as a lot of players are as well.

I suppose it's wise to have a stage one option in the deck as well as Vileplume is still knocking about. I do find that that extra 30 dmg from Electrobullet is nice to make up numbers.
 
lukas2aces said:
I can understand what you're saying. On the other hand, look at the list Gustavo Wada used to win EUIC, and apparantly a bit 'slower' PikaRom list could work as well (although he did play 3 Energy switch as well so turn 2 Full Blitz is possible, in theory even turn 1 but that is not so likely).

It gives you more options against Zapdos decks (I play at the EUIC, there were quite a few), if you have PikaRom out on sledgehemmer turn it's quite difficult. And if you try to go for Tag Bolt GX, they might come with Tapu Koko GX. I guess you need 3 Zapdos or 2 Zapdos and a Jolteon line for that matchup.

It's just difficult man, you have to hit big numbers against for example CeleSaur but you also want to be able to play like a non GX deck (at least for a few prices). Based on what I've seen, I think the Zapdos matchup is more important than CeleSaur though. And I still think you can win that one by being conservative with your resources, of maybe outspeeding them (especially if you start / they miss DCE).
Click to expand...
Catastrophia said:
I'll definitely take that on board - I'm limited by my resources as a lot of players are as well.

I suppose it's wise to have a stage one option in the deck as well as Vileplume is still knocking about. I do find that that extra 30 dmg from Electrobullet is nice to make up numbers.
Click to expand...
Agreed, Celesaur isn’t going to be as big as Zapdos. As far as I know.
I think a Jolteon line would be awesome, just for security, and you never know when Buzzwole will come up and eat your board unless you pull a Swift Run. For emergencies, though.
I would also go for another Koko, because it has no weakness (eat it, Buzzwole!) and thus you wouldn’t need to spend a GX attack on Swift Run GX. You play enough Energy switching cards to be fine getting energy away from Koko, but you might want an Acerola so you aren’t at a 2-prize liability.
I’d take out Lisia and the Xurkitree for the pair, unless you’re having some real problems with Zoroark and other DCE users. Then I’d do Lisia and... well, anything else you feel doesn’t help you that much.
How specific.
 
Lord Goomy said:
Agreed, Celesaur isn’t going to be as big as Zapdos. As far as I know.
I think a Jolteon line would be awesome, just for security, and you never know when Buzzwole will come up and eat your board unless you pull a Swift Run. For emergencies, though.
I would also go for another Koko, because it has no weakness (eat it, Buzzwole!) and thus you wouldn’t need to spend a GX attack on Swift Run GX. You play enough Energy switching cards to be fine getting energy away from Koko, but you might want an Acerola so you aren’t at a 2-prize liability.
I’d take out Lisia and the Xurkitree for the pair, unless you’re having some real problems with Zoroark and other DCE users. Then I’d do Lisia and... well, anything else you feel doesn’t help you that much.
How specific.
Click to expand...

Haha thanks! I will probably sub out the Lisia for a Bill's Analysis, and I'm 50/50 on the Xurkitree-GX, purely because ZoroRoc is such a bad matchup for the deck (however as soon as an Alolan Muk comes down it becomes just as useless, and more of a liability than anything...)
 
Catastrophia said:
As far as I understand, Unbroken Bonds doesn't become legal until the 17th May:

"New expansions become legal for tournament play on the third Friday of the month they are released." - Pokémon Website

Do correct me if I'm wrong though!
Click to expand...
Sorry, you said it was in 2 weeks and I thought you meant the weekend after 2 weeks because that's when regionals are (right?)
Are all regionals on weekends?
 
Here are some of my suggestions (prior to Unbroken Bonds becoming legal):
-1 Xurkitree GX. Good enough against Zoroark, not really anything else.
-1 Cynthia. You get a bunch of support from Jirachi, so having 3 Cynthia is kind of redundant.
-1 Lisia. Too niche, and you really don't need it.
-1 Poke Com. You don't really need this and Ultra Ball is way better.
-1 Wishful Baton. You don't need this when you have Tapu Koko and Full Blitz to accelerate.

+1 Jirachi. Very good as a starter and very good to have in general.
+1 Zapdos. Very good early-game attacker.
+1 Lillie. Optimal T1 supporter, plus you can constantly use her to draw consistently.
+1 Ultra Ball. Absolutely need 4 in order to thin both your hand and the deck + get lightning energy in the discard for Dance of the Ancients.
+1 Choice Band. Being able to attach Band and Electropower to consistently OHKO most of the format (Zoroark, Blacephalon, Ultra Necrozma, etc.) is very good.
 
I would love to have another Jirachi, unfortunately, they are a bit expensive so I don't think it's an option for me before Saturday. The other Zapdos wouldn't be an issue, and I do agree that running 2 Zapdos is more optimal.

All your other suggestions seem very logical, and I'll definitely do some testing with those changes implemented.
 
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