Pokemon:
Strategy:
Okay, so this deck concept came to mind partly from fooling around with a current build of a Round Deck. Seismitoad attacks with Round, Meloettas sit on the bench adding to Round's damage, you get the idea. I also was trying to think of a way to incorporate Plasma into a deck that could handle Pyroar, as opposed to an auto-loss like TDK or Plasma Lugia. The main strategy is to get a Shiftry up and running as fast as possible, attach a Team Plasma Badge to it, and then fill the bench with Deoxys EX to add 30 damage to Shiftry's Deranged Dance each. 4 Deoxys plus 1 other benched Pokemon (Mr. Mime is in there to protect the benched Deoxys Ex, and works well in this slot), and Shiftry is already doing 140 damage, which with the Laser-bank combo hits 170, even if your opponent's bench is empty (in which case you would knock out the his/her only Pokemon in play and win the game.) If your opponent has even 1 benched Pokemon, then taking prizes with Deranged Dance becomes even easier. Raichu works similarly: with a Plasma Badge attached, Raichu's Circle Circuit does 30 damage for each Deoxys EX in play, meaning you only need 3 Deoxys in play to hit 90 with Circle Circuit, or 180 for the knockout against Lugia EX and Yveltal EX.
Obviously, the deck can be kind of slow as it relies on a Stage 2 attacker, but there are a few ways around this, as I have found in my Round deck play testing. For one, Round, as well as this deck and all other decks that rely on heavy benched Basics support, was done a huge service by the Flashfire set thanks to Pokemon Fan Club. It costs you your supporter, but can instantly grab 2 Deoxys EX to bench, adding 60 damage to both Shiftry and Raichu's attacks instantly. Also, Shiftry's Leaf Draw is a pretty solid ability for getting the cards you need, although the deck doesn't run that many grass energy, so a solid supporter line of 4 Juniper, 3 N, and 2 Colress is still included. One downside to the deck is that damage-enhancing tool cards can't really be used due to Plasma Badge, so 4 Hypnotoxic Laser plus a Virbank City Gym are included to add an extra 30 damage if needed. The Sacred Ash is pretty important for rescuing Deoxys EX that end up in the discard pile, which I learned from doing the same with Meloetta EX in the Round deck. Skyla is mostly in there to grab one of the 2 switch cards in a pinch - I typically run 1 Escape Rope and 1 Switch, which gives me some options. Dowsing Machine is probably my second favorite Ace Spec behind Computer Search, but I think it works better here to recover the necessary Plasma Badges. Lastly, Frozen City is a nice alternative option to Virbank City Gym if an opportune situation presents itself, and if I run out of Plasma Badges later, I can replace it with Virbank City Gym to stop the effect from hurting me.
One important thing to note is that while the deck focuses on the idea of using Plasma Badge to give Shiftry and Raichu the benefit of Deoxys EX Power Connect, the deck can still function if for whatever reason you can't get a Plasma Badge out because of the nature of Shiftry and Raichu's attacks. Both can be powered up reasonably quickly thanks to the 4 DCEs, and once they get moving, the damage can really pile up. But of course, this is just an idea, and I'd love to here all of your opinions on it, both critical (constructive criticism please) and complementary. Thanks!
4-4 Shiftry FF
2-2 Raichu XY
4 Deoxys EX
1 Mr. Mime PLS (potentially replace with Mountain Ring Stadium from Furious Fists)
4 Team Plasma Badge
4 Rare Candy
4 Hypnotoxic Laser
4 Professor Juniper
4 Ultra Ball
3 N
2 Colress
1 Skyla
1 Pokemon Fan Club
1 Sacred Ash
1 Frozen City
1 Switch
1 Escape Rope
1 Dowsing Machine
7 Grass
4 DCE
Strategy:
Okay, so this deck concept came to mind partly from fooling around with a current build of a Round Deck. Seismitoad attacks with Round, Meloettas sit on the bench adding to Round's damage, you get the idea. I also was trying to think of a way to incorporate Plasma into a deck that could handle Pyroar, as opposed to an auto-loss like TDK or Plasma Lugia. The main strategy is to get a Shiftry up and running as fast as possible, attach a Team Plasma Badge to it, and then fill the bench with Deoxys EX to add 30 damage to Shiftry's Deranged Dance each. 4 Deoxys plus 1 other benched Pokemon (Mr. Mime is in there to protect the benched Deoxys Ex, and works well in this slot), and Shiftry is already doing 140 damage, which with the Laser-bank combo hits 170, even if your opponent's bench is empty (in which case you would knock out the his/her only Pokemon in play and win the game.) If your opponent has even 1 benched Pokemon, then taking prizes with Deranged Dance becomes even easier. Raichu works similarly: with a Plasma Badge attached, Raichu's Circle Circuit does 30 damage for each Deoxys EX in play, meaning you only need 3 Deoxys in play to hit 90 with Circle Circuit, or 180 for the knockout against Lugia EX and Yveltal EX.
Obviously, the deck can be kind of slow as it relies on a Stage 2 attacker, but there are a few ways around this, as I have found in my Round deck play testing. For one, Round, as well as this deck and all other decks that rely on heavy benched Basics support, was done a huge service by the Flashfire set thanks to Pokemon Fan Club. It costs you your supporter, but can instantly grab 2 Deoxys EX to bench, adding 60 damage to both Shiftry and Raichu's attacks instantly. Also, Shiftry's Leaf Draw is a pretty solid ability for getting the cards you need, although the deck doesn't run that many grass energy, so a solid supporter line of 4 Juniper, 3 N, and 2 Colress is still included. One downside to the deck is that damage-enhancing tool cards can't really be used due to Plasma Badge, so 4 Hypnotoxic Laser plus a Virbank City Gym are included to add an extra 30 damage if needed. The Sacred Ash is pretty important for rescuing Deoxys EX that end up in the discard pile, which I learned from doing the same with Meloetta EX in the Round deck. Skyla is mostly in there to grab one of the 2 switch cards in a pinch - I typically run 1 Escape Rope and 1 Switch, which gives me some options. Dowsing Machine is probably my second favorite Ace Spec behind Computer Search, but I think it works better here to recover the necessary Plasma Badges. Lastly, Frozen City is a nice alternative option to Virbank City Gym if an opportune situation presents itself, and if I run out of Plasma Badges later, I can replace it with Virbank City Gym to stop the effect from hurting me.
One important thing to note is that while the deck focuses on the idea of using Plasma Badge to give Shiftry and Raichu the benefit of Deoxys EX Power Connect, the deck can still function if for whatever reason you can't get a Plasma Badge out because of the nature of Shiftry and Raichu's attacks. Both can be powered up reasonably quickly thanks to the 4 DCEs, and once they get moving, the damage can really pile up. But of course, this is just an idea, and I'd love to here all of your opinions on it, both critical (constructive criticism please) and complementary. Thanks!